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Dawn of Magic
For those who don't know, my weekly GURPS campaign, Dawn of Magic, has been running since October 2002. We've had seven players in total -- Bonnie ("Leif"), Éric ("Vlad"), Marc ("Mushamee"), Martin ("Kaeso"), Mike ("Rufus"), Robert ("Recnam"), and Stéphane ("Vinz") -- but two (Éric and Robert) are taking breaks for family reasons. We meet Tuesday nights.
Dawn of Magic is a fantasy game of sorts. While it has wizards and monsters, it focuses more on the political (generals, high priests, and emperors; legions and cults; and all manner of alliances, betrayals, and warfare), the mythic (Amazons, messiahs, gods, the making and remaking of creation, realms outside time and space, etc.), and the intersection of the two (primarily, what happens when realities and their gods clash, and the champions of each must unite disparate cultures and traditions under a single banner to battle their opposites for creation). Major side themes include legendary alchemy (e.g., the secret of orichalcum), necromancy, and family soap opera (marriage, love affairs, children, and so on). Minor themes are all over the map -- we've had entire game sessions dedicated to cooking and feasting!
Stéphane has a website that provides far more background than I intend to repeat here. What I will do is recap what goes on each Tuesday. This is mostly for my players . . . but everybody is welcome to read. Be warned: This won't make much sense unless you know something about the campaign!
Time: Afternoon, Odin 15, 1002 Imperial Reckoning.
Place: Underground headquarters of supposed "assassins' society," somewhere under the ruins of Kapital.
Last Event: The group just navigated a trap-filled 5×5 grid of underground corridors, and reached a stairway down.
The stairs lead down to a landing, and another flight goes the rest of the way to the foyer floor. Vinz realizes that the floor is fake -- fabric decorated with earth and pebbles. Rufus uses his extrasensory gifts to see that it hides a deep pit full of rusted metal, and to discern that the "door" to the lower level is a fake, with no passage beyond, and has never been opened. Thus, retracing of steps is needed to reach the other stairway found earlier. On the way, Vinz nearly falls into a pit trap and is grabbed to safety by Rufus.
The door to the far stairway proves tricky: the lock is concealed by a puzzle of moving wooden tiles. When Vinz finally picks the lock, the door erupts outward, pivoting on its lower edge. Vinz narrowly avoids a head-crushing blow! Examination reveals that the door was powered by springs and weighted with lead.
Within is another open staircase, with a landing, in a foyer. It looks just like the earlier one. Examination reveals it, too, to be a trap -- stucco-covered boards posing as stone stairs, no doubt concealing doom. Mushamee spots iron rungs down the side of the flight, however, and the party descends that way instead.
This door to the lower level turns out to be real . . . and also a sinister construct. Rufus' psychometry shows him that the Starfish-Men made it down to this level, battered the door, and were sucked lifeless by some godlike force that used their souls to fashion a new door. Nice. But it isn't cursed -- it just objects to being battered. So Vinz carefully unlocks it.
Beyond is another 5×5 grid of passages, parallel to and beneath the one on the level above. The machinery for the complex traps upstairs is all down here; this is the "machine room." A painstaking search reveals no doors out of the maze at the edges, so the group ventures inward. The central area emanates the supernatural residue of death, left by a battle between men and Starfish-Men. Rufus is the first to sense it, but Vinz's sixth sense also picks up on it.
Cautiously moving into the central intersection of the grid, it becomes clear that there's a heavy circular tile in the floor, a kind of "manhole cover." Every effort to open it comes to nothing: Kaeso's engineering skills, Leif's great strength, Vinz's gift for locks and traps . . . nothing works.
Suddenly, Vinz senses danger and ducks a chill touch. The others are less fortunate, and are numbed and weakened -- that is, all but Mushamee. The heroes wheel to face the threat and see undead shadows of some sort coming down all four corridors. Mushamee's good fortune appears to be because the light shed by the Sun Armor of Ré holds the evil spirits at bay.
Battle ensues, with Leif, Mushamee, Rufus, and Vinz each guarding a cardinal point, while Kaeso remains safely in the center -- he's no fighter! Mushamee clears his passage using the Sun Sword of Ré. Vinz erects a magical shield and then defeats his foes with Deathfang. Leif goes berserk and takes Necros' Spirit Reaper to his opponents. Rufus has little luck, but soon Mushamee is there to join him and end the battle.
The final shadow speaks to Mushamee: "You have bested my guild. You have earned the right to pass below. The way is clear. Strike me down and set me free. Then destroy those who destroyed us." Mushamee obliges, and in the end, the squad has dispatched 16 undead.
As all but Mushamee are wounded by chill touches, healing becomes the next order of business. Leif gets to work with his shamanic powers, while Kaeso whips out some alchemical healing elixirs. Soon the group is ready to go.
Mushamee takes the guildmaster shadow at his word and commands the "manhole" to open. The cover unscrews itself from the floor and reveals a ladder down into a dank cavern. Rufus senses an other-dimensional echo down there, so the heroes descend cautiously. There are no further tricks or traps, however.
Leif smells death in one direction . . . the same direction from which Mushamee smells gold and Rufus senses the supernatural pall of Death. That's clearly the right way to go! After a short, cautious march, the group spots eyes glowing in the distance, and hears quiet-but-menacing moaning.
The squad approaches closer. Rufus' special sight identifies a force of 24 wights. Leif's vision reveals that they're made from the corpses of Starfish-Men, and equipped Starfish-Man fashion: falchions, stout shields, and (rusty) scale armor. They appear to be aware of the party but guarding a sealed portal.
After a brief discussion, the group decides to light up the enemy, as only Leif can see in the dark and Mushamee's armor only sheds useful light out to about 50'. Kaeso will splatter the area with glowing alchemical goo. This will let Leif, Rufus, and Vinz engage in archery practice until the enemy responds.
The plan is put into action. Sure enough, Kaeso's light and the first arrows trigger a charge. A surprisingly rapid charge, by all 24 undead. The arrows stick in them but don't kill or even slow them. Even Leif's mighty Bow of Su mostly just seems to make them mad!
As the monsters approach, the heroes discard bows and crossbows, draw blades, back into a box formation, and prepare for encirclement. Mushamee and Leif each cut down a wight on first contact, while Kaeso levitates thanks to a magical elixir and starts firing fiery bolts from above. Vinz erects a magical shield for himself.
To be continued . . .
Dawn of Magic is a fantasy game of sorts. While it has wizards and monsters, it focuses more on the political (generals, high priests, and emperors; legions and cults; and all manner of alliances, betrayals, and warfare), the mythic (Amazons, messiahs, gods, the making and remaking of creation, realms outside time and space, etc.), and the intersection of the two (primarily, what happens when realities and their gods clash, and the champions of each must unite disparate cultures and traditions under a single banner to battle their opposites for creation). Major side themes include legendary alchemy (e.g., the secret of orichalcum), necromancy, and family soap opera (marriage, love affairs, children, and so on). Minor themes are all over the map -- we've had entire game sessions dedicated to cooking and feasting!
Stéphane has a website that provides far more background than I intend to repeat here. What I will do is recap what goes on each Tuesday. This is mostly for my players . . . but everybody is welcome to read. Be warned: This won't make much sense unless you know something about the campaign!
Time: Afternoon, Odin 15, 1002 Imperial Reckoning.
Place: Underground headquarters of supposed "assassins' society," somewhere under the ruins of Kapital.
Last Event: The group just navigated a trap-filled 5×5 grid of underground corridors, and reached a stairway down.
The stairs lead down to a landing, and another flight goes the rest of the way to the foyer floor. Vinz realizes that the floor is fake -- fabric decorated with earth and pebbles. Rufus uses his extrasensory gifts to see that it hides a deep pit full of rusted metal, and to discern that the "door" to the lower level is a fake, with no passage beyond, and has never been opened. Thus, retracing of steps is needed to reach the other stairway found earlier. On the way, Vinz nearly falls into a pit trap and is grabbed to safety by Rufus.
The door to the far stairway proves tricky: the lock is concealed by a puzzle of moving wooden tiles. When Vinz finally picks the lock, the door erupts outward, pivoting on its lower edge. Vinz narrowly avoids a head-crushing blow! Examination reveals that the door was powered by springs and weighted with lead.
Within is another open staircase, with a landing, in a foyer. It looks just like the earlier one. Examination reveals it, too, to be a trap -- stucco-covered boards posing as stone stairs, no doubt concealing doom. Mushamee spots iron rungs down the side of the flight, however, and the party descends that way instead.
This door to the lower level turns out to be real . . . and also a sinister construct. Rufus' psychometry shows him that the Starfish-Men made it down to this level, battered the door, and were sucked lifeless by some godlike force that used their souls to fashion a new door. Nice. But it isn't cursed -- it just objects to being battered. So Vinz carefully unlocks it.
Beyond is another 5×5 grid of passages, parallel to and beneath the one on the level above. The machinery for the complex traps upstairs is all down here; this is the "machine room." A painstaking search reveals no doors out of the maze at the edges, so the group ventures inward. The central area emanates the supernatural residue of death, left by a battle between men and Starfish-Men. Rufus is the first to sense it, but Vinz's sixth sense also picks up on it.
Cautiously moving into the central intersection of the grid, it becomes clear that there's a heavy circular tile in the floor, a kind of "manhole cover." Every effort to open it comes to nothing: Kaeso's engineering skills, Leif's great strength, Vinz's gift for locks and traps . . . nothing works.
Suddenly, Vinz senses danger and ducks a chill touch. The others are less fortunate, and are numbed and weakened -- that is, all but Mushamee. The heroes wheel to face the threat and see undead shadows of some sort coming down all four corridors. Mushamee's good fortune appears to be because the light shed by the Sun Armor of Ré holds the evil spirits at bay.
Battle ensues, with Leif, Mushamee, Rufus, and Vinz each guarding a cardinal point, while Kaeso remains safely in the center -- he's no fighter! Mushamee clears his passage using the Sun Sword of Ré. Vinz erects a magical shield and then defeats his foes with Deathfang. Leif goes berserk and takes Necros' Spirit Reaper to his opponents. Rufus has little luck, but soon Mushamee is there to join him and end the battle.
The final shadow speaks to Mushamee: "You have bested my guild. You have earned the right to pass below. The way is clear. Strike me down and set me free. Then destroy those who destroyed us." Mushamee obliges, and in the end, the squad has dispatched 16 undead.
As all but Mushamee are wounded by chill touches, healing becomes the next order of business. Leif gets to work with his shamanic powers, while Kaeso whips out some alchemical healing elixirs. Soon the group is ready to go.
Mushamee takes the guildmaster shadow at his word and commands the "manhole" to open. The cover unscrews itself from the floor and reveals a ladder down into a dank cavern. Rufus senses an other-dimensional echo down there, so the heroes descend cautiously. There are no further tricks or traps, however.
Leif smells death in one direction . . . the same direction from which Mushamee smells gold and Rufus senses the supernatural pall of Death. That's clearly the right way to go! After a short, cautious march, the group spots eyes glowing in the distance, and hears quiet-but-menacing moaning.
The squad approaches closer. Rufus' special sight identifies a force of 24 wights. Leif's vision reveals that they're made from the corpses of Starfish-Men, and equipped Starfish-Man fashion: falchions, stout shields, and (rusty) scale armor. They appear to be aware of the party but guarding a sealed portal.
After a brief discussion, the group decides to light up the enemy, as only Leif can see in the dark and Mushamee's armor only sheds useful light out to about 50'. Kaeso will splatter the area with glowing alchemical goo. This will let Leif, Rufus, and Vinz engage in archery practice until the enemy responds.
The plan is put into action. Sure enough, Kaeso's light and the first arrows trigger a charge. A surprisingly rapid charge, by all 24 undead. The arrows stick in them but don't kill or even slow them. Even Leif's mighty Bow of Su mostly just seems to make them mad!
As the monsters approach, the heroes discard bows and crossbows, draw blades, back into a box formation, and prepare for encirclement. Mushamee and Leif each cut down a wight on first contact, while Kaeso levitates thanks to a magical elixir and starts firing fiery bolts from above. Vinz erects a magical shield for himself.
To be continued . . .
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