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About This Game

This game is intended to be a series of one-shots where players will have their character that can progress, but each one-shot has a defined beginning and end. In essence, this will allow for different stories to be told with different players as people come and go, but still allow for character progression for those who want to stay.

Game System

Worlds Without Number

Detailed Description

The Mystery of Elderglen

AdventurersontheRoad.jpg.c616f4a78a240e88360241e12da3baf3.jpg

Hail, brave adventurers! Your courage, cunning, and strength are sought for a quest of high intrigue and danger.  An esteemed academic from the renowned city of Erilune has tasked you with a mission:  to retrieve a potent arcane artifact hidden within the foreboding reaches of a sorcerer's lair near the isolated village of Elderglen.

About five days distant, the academic promises that this will be an easy journey, and anticipates your return in a fortnight.  The reward for the artifact is a sizable 1000 silver pieces, enough to make it well-worth your while.  However, the more savvy amongst you realize that 1000 silver for a simple "step and fetch" job is far more money than the task otherwise suggests.  And besides, if it were so simple, the academic could just send a Grad Student, after all.

However, and perhaps against your better judgement, you have accepted this quest, and find yourself four days into your journey, a day's walk outside of Elderglen.

Players will be asked to create a character using the World's Without Number rules, as written. A free version of the rules is readily available online. To start with, this game is designed to be ran as a series of one-shot adventures. The idea is to allow people to have characters that progress, and potentially even die. At the end of each one-shot, there will be a chance to break, write a new adventure, re-recruit, retire characters as desired, roll new characters as desired, and continue on.

For this first adventure, as part of the migration to Baldr, my hope is to bring in new players. As such, new players will take priority, however I will also likely over-recruit, as I anticipate a high level of attrition with newer players, as is the nature of Play-by-Post. That means, if you're interested, regardless of whether you are brand new to the website or an old hand, please apply!

For myself, I am also fairly new to Worlds Without Number. It is a rules set that I find really interesting to read, but have not had a chance to practice as much as I would like. Patience will be needed all around, however I believe that, together, we can have a great time weaving a new myth!

 

Community

OSR
  1. What's new in this game
  2. Tecumseh
    Otto Eckhart Otto is pleased, and a bit relieved, to see Xan back on her feet. After ensuring that the prisoner is secured, he steps aside to converse with the others out of the captive's earshot. "It matters not," he says of the bandit's story. "Our course is the same either way. "If they lick their wounds and wait for easier prey, then we are not affected. It stings to leave a pit of vipers for some other unsuspecting traveler to fall into, but we have neither the manpower nor the remit to address it ourselves. "If they come looking for retribution, we want to be in the same formation we are now. "Moving will not benefit us. We are a slow caravan. Tracking us and catching up to our new position would be trivial." He thinks for a moment, a less pleasant thought coming to mind. "Perhaps the biggest risk is if they wait to strike after we've broken formation and are on the move. We may need scouts with sharp eyes to give us warning." He glances at Naihm, who is indeed a scout but who may or may not have sharp eyes. Of course, Otto had not noticed the bugbear until it was too late, so he should not judge the observational power of others.
  3. another aka
    Xan Lycas Pain induced shallowness gives way to deeper breathing as Éabha prays. When Xan realises what has happened she takes the other woman's hands in a firm, callused grip. "I am sorry to have needed your help. It is my own fault for not being able to take out those bandits, or at least take their blows." Releasing Éabha's hands for a moment, she pulls her feet beneath her and uncoils to standing in a smooth motion, and then reaches down to help the priestess to her feet. "But I am grateful. Thank you."
  4. another aka
    In agreement re: staying put for all of the reasons stated above. We'll have to trust the answers provided by our honoured guest until he's proven to be duplicitous or day breaks, whichever comes first. However, it is still worth asking him about point 2 & 3. We could put the odds in our favour regarding the bandits taking revenge, by treating the bodies of their peers with a modicum of respect (e.g., arranging them under tarps) if we think that they might care. There is also the option of placing traps along the section of deer path nearest our camp.
  5. Tecumseh
    There's a lot going on here. We can probably move through some of this conversation more expediently OOCly but we should summarize our conclusions ICly when we're done. Okay, here are some of the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns: 1) Whether this guy is telling the truth. I was hoping Xan could give us some insight but unfortunately she's out of the relevant Effort until the morning. 2) If there is a big bandit camp, how will they react? Would they look for revenge, or for easier prey? 3) Whether the Bandit Leader we killed was the big boss or just the lieutenant. Did we chop the head off the snake? There could still be a Bandit Captain out there. I think staying put is the right call. We'll be significantly outnumbered if we attack the bandit camp. Plus, as Bobcloclimar points out, it would require us to abandon our guard duty. Our tight defensive formation with the wagons that allowed us to control chokepoints is what put us in a good position to survive the first attack. If we're going to be attacked again, I don't think it makes sense to abandon that position and the advantages it provides. I don't want to be attacked by two dozen bandits, but if they're anything like the first dozen then we'll have the advantage of arms and armor, in the sense that we can consistently avoid Shock while simultaneously being able to consistently apply Shock. The ranged element is still a concern, but we have an ace up our sleeve with Eabha, who can help us stay on our feet.
  6. Ikul
    I would expect that, in about two hours, there's going to be roughly a score of bandits around us who are going to be much smarter about attacking us.
  7. Bobcloclimar
    I'm guessing two dozen is probably an overstatement, but at the same time, an hour up a deer path that the wagons can't follow isn't something we can do unless we're willing to abandon our charges. I suppose that, come light, Toktok could have the bandit show him where the path starts and mark it for later - we can hand the bandit over to the next militia patrol and tell them where the alleged camp is.
  8. Powderhorn
    Day 5 - The Road North of Erilune, Late Night "About two dozen!"
  9. Ikul
    Suibne picks through the corpses to, first and foremost, retrieve his various weapons, and secondly assess if the bandits themselves have anything of value. "How many more of you are there?" he asks, turning back to the bandit with his still-bloodied 'lucky' dagger in one hand and a piece of cloth in the other as he cleans it.
  10. Powderhorn
    Day 5 - The Road North of Erilune, Late Night The surviving, captured bandit, being interrogated by an apparently very angry dwarf, after seeing his comrades fall around him and not seeing any left in the area (but more corpses still), quickly doesn't seem to have any resistance left in him. "There's a camp about an hour's walk east of here, just follow the deer paths!"
  11. Primeval Stasis
    Sorry all. Rough week. Hopefully I did what was needed.
  12. Primeval Stasis
    Eabha An arrow flew out of the dark. The armor Otto gave her was enough to turn it, but the force of the thing still knocked her to the ground, taking the wind out of her and rattling her head around a bit. The next thing she hears is Otto calling out for help. The shock of it snaps her back to reality. In a moment, Jorrow is at her side. "They need you, kid." Though a believer, he still defaults to viewing her as a daughter. Eabha takes a brief second to steady herself and get her bearings now that the fighting is over, then rushes where Jorrow guides her. Sorrow takes her as she sees that it is Xan that has been badly wounded - she saw the young woman trying to defend her during the attack. Kneeling, she hovers her hands over the wounds. "Mother Airmed," she prays, "protect those who help your servant girl." A feint orange glow, almost indiscernible, passes between her hands and the woman. Anyone happening to notice Naihm as she trots up would see a light shimmer to her orange coat as well. OOC Healing Touch (2d6 + 1) on Xan Tireless vigor regenerates the 1 hp hit to Eabha.
  13. Bobcloclimar
    Toktok makes sure the captive is well-secured, then sits uncomfortably close and glowers at him in his best bad-dwarf impression. "Where th' rest o' ye hidin', ye bastard?"
  14. Tecumseh
    Otto Eckhart Otto let Eabha take care of Xan. He won't be much help there. He helps pat down the bandits. The clubs are of little worth, maybe as firewood at best. The buff coats have perhaps more value, but they're bloody, which means that they didn't keep their occupants whole and intact. He won't bother to strip the armor off but won't object if someone else does. When it comes time to interrogate the prisoner, Otto knows that his youthful face won't inspire much concern. Instead he stands nearby, hoping his armor serves an intimidating presence. The actual questioning would probably be more effective coming from someone else.
  15. Powderhorn
    Day 5 - The Road North of Erilune, Late Night With the field cleared, the dead can be rifled through. Treasure recovered is as follows: 9 buff coats 2 short bows 40 arrows 9 clubs 1 small shield 40 pieces of silver The unconscious bandit eventually comes to for interrogation.
  16. another aka
    Sounds good
  17. Tecumseh
    I think we're waiting on some healing from Eabha. ping In the meantime, should we sort through any loot and interrogate the unconscious bandit?
  18. Bobcloclimar
    Toktok lets Otto see to Xan, while he polices the weapons of bandit chief before heading back to the circle to check on the others.
  19. Ikul
    Suibne rushes at the downed bandit, yanks his axe out of the body, and raises it above his head, a wordless roar after the fleeing bandits turning into "AND DON'T COME BACK, YOU COWARDS!" before spinning around to his allies. "Everyone okay?" he grabs the dead bandit by the collar and drags the body back towards the circle of wagons.
  20. Powderhorn
    Got it, thanks!
  21. another aka
    Yes, I had, but I do not require external stabilisation: Xan has 2 points of Effort per Art, and I'm now committing her second point of available Effort for Thought Noble Arts for the day. Xan won't have access to Effort from that pool until she "has had a good night's rest". The previous use of Effort to fuel Thought Noble Arts (i.e., to read surface thoughts) remained committed only so long as the power was active.
  22. Powderhorn
    - I believe you already committed effort for the day for Mind Over Matter to heal 1d6 earlier in the scene? I believe you may need to be externally stabilized, but if I'm misreading something, feel free to correct me.
  23. another aka
    Xan Lycas Unlike her punches, the bandit's club connects well, and it smarts like the dickens for a beat; then pain that had seemed so present begins to ebb, steady waves of darkness lapping at her vision in its wake. It is familiar. She knows that she should be annoyed, but cannot quite remember why. She mouths the words I should sit down as her knees buckle. 3 hours ago, Tecumseh said: "Eabha!" he calls out to the caravan with a tone of urgency. "Some help, if you please!" In the brief time that they have been travelling togther Otto's voice, muffled though it was, has never sounded like this. Something was wrong. What do you need? Concerned at the lack of reply, she struggles against the inky quiet that has drapped itself over her consciousness and speaks again, only this time actually making a sound. "I can help," the pugilist calls out softly, eyes still closed. "I only need a moment to catch my breath." The bruised (if not broken) ribs were not helping with that particular endeavor. ooc Instant: Commit effort for the day for Mind Over Matter to stabilise (Thought Noble)
  24. Tecumseh
    Otto Eckhart Otto pulls his axe out of the bandit leader's neck. "Such a waste," he murmurs, watching the man drain into the ground. He is curiously unbothered by the encounter, and seems to have something of an ambivalence to killing, at least if it's done in self-defense. He slaps Toktok on the shoulder as a reaffirmation of their survival. He turns to survey the scene and notices that Xan is down behind him. He rushes over to her and kneels down but - not being a healer - doesn't know what to make of the damage. "Eabha!" he calls out to the caravan with a tone of urgency. "Some help, if you please!"
  25. another aka
    That is correct. I will likely commit effort again as an instant action in order to have Xan stabilize herself
  26. Powderhorn
    Day 5 - The Road North of Erilune, Late Night Suibne's axe drops one bandit, and then the quick pair of blows from Toktok and Otto drop the bandit leader perhaps shockingly more quickly than was anticipated! The bandit facing Xan sees her struggling under the blows, and, while he too struggled, decided the best option was to attempt to get one more hit before fleeing. The last cudgel came down, dropping Xan, but with the leader down, and comrades dropping like flies, he too thinks better of his odds and flees the ambush! Once more, the night is quiet, save for the heavy breathing of those so recently in the fight. Dungeon Master I figured the best way to handle fleeing was if they got to the edge of the map, successfully fled. Some of those are likely already much further than their location would indicate! I believe I have it right that Xan is down, I was tracking her at 2HP? If I'm wrong though, we can fix that easily enough. Looks like one was knocked unconscious with non-lethal damage. Final map just for everyone's edification, and the yellow X is the one unconscious as opposed to dead. Final Map
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