Watch Well Games: Issue #38
Record of Lodoss War E2 Analysis. Audio Review of Karkion #3: Galdran's Tomb. Traditions from Beyond the Vale Interview.
Welcome to our RPG community newsletter!
Hi, I’m K.J., and today
joins me again as a guest writer.Want to connect more with community? I post Notes every 3-4 days to bring us together and share ideas. I hope you’ll join in the conversation.
📖Read
I’m currently reading my review copy of Outside the Box by Magnus Seter (courtesy of Fandrake).
In the next newsletter, I’ll have a proper write-up. (Hint: It’s fascinating!) If you like, use the link above to purchase the PDF/e-book. I’d like to know your thoughts from reading this!
✏️Wrote: Record of Lodoss War - Episode Analysis, Part 2
Special guest writer CJ Weigel
Episode 2: Blazing Departure
From Wikipedia:
In an origin episode, Ghim sets out to find Leylia, Neese's daughter who has disappeared. Meanwhile Parn steps in to save Liara from a group of attacking goblins. Once the goblins have dispersed, Etoh appears, and together they return to Parn's village. However the locals are unhappy at the death of one of the goblins as they know the goblins will want retribution against the village. It is revealed that Parn's father was a disgraced knight. Elsewhere Ghim meets up with Slayn, whilst an elf notices goblins on the march. Parn dons his father's armour, and Etoh accompanies him to destroy the goblins. After killing two goblins, they are notified by the elf that the village is under attack. They hurry back while Slayn arrives at the village and kills several goblins. Parn fights the goblin leader and is nearly defeated but finally kills him after being given strength by Slayn. The locals are annoyed with Parn for bringing about the attack on the village, but the elder decides instead on banishment that Parn should investigate the source of the evil befalling Lodoss. Etoh, Ghim and Slayn join him whilst the elf looks down from above.
Building from the non-linear storytelling from the last episode, we now have a whole backstory episode. Starting off, we learn that Ghim is trying to find the priestess’s missing daughter and get the impression that he blames himself for her disappearance. This isn’t even a recent disappearance; she went missing seven years ago, and Ghim has spent those years stewing over it. This is a great backstory that a GM can work with!
We also get to see Parn’s call to adventure, as he steps in to save a damsel in distress. He’s outmatched and losing the fight against a group of goblins, but manages to strike one of them down, scaring the rest off. Here we see a bit of world building in the role-playing, as the NPCs tell Parn that if he left the goblins alone, they would leave the village alone. The common people always have an opinion about goings-on, and that helps breathe life into the world you’re creating.
I like that Parn’s equipment is an heirloom from his backstory. In OSR systems, weapons and armor can be costly, so this provides a good way to set a character up for success. It comes at a cost, however; as we’ll see later in the series, a character with an emotional tie to their gear pass up on the opportunity to upgrade! After contemplating the armor, which he seems to deem himself unworthy of, he sets out with his old friend Etoh to attack the goblin warrens before they can retaliate. Unfortunately, he’s too late, and thanks to a helpful tip from a mysterious elf (who we already know is Deedlit), he knows to rush back to the village where he can challenge the goblin leader!
This chain of events provides a nice, clear connection between the characters, and provides more insight into their personalities. We know Parn is hot-headed but noble; Etoh is his childhood friend and eager to help as an exercise of faith; Ghim has his own side quest and turns to Slayn for help; and Slayn is drawn into the conflict while trying to defend the village. All we’re missing at this point is Deedlit, currently being a bit of a stalker, and Woodchuck, who we’ll meet soon.
One aspect of this episode that I haven’t used in my games, but will moving forward, is cutscenes from the monster’s point of view. They generate some of the best tension in the episode, especially before we know what the monsters are. In a game, you could use this to foreshadow ambushes, reveal hints about a dungeon layout, or just communicate the active threat to the players. I think it could be really cool!
As before, there are some nifty tips we can pick up from the episode:
Each character should be connected to the others. I like to steal an idea from FATE Core. Each player describes their character’s first adventure - something small and personal - then the player to their right works with them to figure out how they were involved in the adventure. Fabula Ultima also has a good mechanical system, where each character has a specific emotional connection to at least one other character, which can be used for various bonuses.
Every character should want to adventure. Each character has a reason and a desire to leave the village behind. Bilbo Baggins is a classic character, but even he is coerced out of his hobbit hole! If he didn’t, we wouldn’t have a story.
Use the monster’s point of view. This works well as an occasional cutscene, foreshadowing what the party could encounter.
Don’t forget to check out the free adventure to accompany this episode on my Patreon! This month, I’ve made a small hex map for your players to explore.
CJ returns November 28th with his analysis for episode 3.
🗺️Made
From Schlau: “ ‘Meeting Hall’ is a fantastic map for a rural town in just about any setting. There are two versions. A standard meeting hall and a disheveled adaptation ready for spiders, goblins, or whatever else you want to defend against.
Anyone who joins at any of the paid Patreon levels will get this complete map pack for free (the map pack includes all versions and layers).”
Not ready to commit? The complete map pack is also for sale on Patreon and DriveThruRPG for $3. All offers listed here good until November 1st.
🎲Played
Karkion #3 (a Dragonbane supplement) is out now, and you can grab a copy here (Swedish) or here (English). Join me as I share an abridged narrative of our game session, which includes a few GM tips and our group’s assessment of the adventure written by Tomas Brattström. [CW: Cover of Karkion in video below has outline of arachnid.]
Accounts of Adventure - Karkion #3: Galdran’s Tomb
*****THIS AUDIO MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*****
If you prefer to read the transcript, you can find it here:
🎤 Tips & Tricks
I interviewed* Demetrio Tripodi, creator of a third party Dragonbane rules supplement Traditions from Beyond the Vale available now on Kickstarter.
Describe your creation in 10 words or less. New options and mechanics give a boon to your games!
What was the most rewarding part of the creation process when making this? Seeing it all come together. I have lots of homebrews for various systems scattered through my notes but seeing this with a nice layout, flavor text and illustrations feels really good, something to be proud of.
If you could go back and do it all over again, what would you do differently in the creation process? I would slow down, especially while writing the first couple of drafts. I’ve had to redo page layouts a few times because I was too eager to make my writing look nice and then realized I had to rewrite a lot of it.
What advice or encouragement would you give new creators? Don’t be afraid to aim high! You can always scale things down later. Also, take breaks. If you are stuck on something, move to something else or even stop for a while. When you go back with fresh eyes you will see things differently and inspiration may even strike in the meantime.
How did you discover RPGs? A friend in high school introduced me to D&D 3.5. It was probably the worst game I’ve ever had but it got me interested in the hobby so, perhaps, it wasn’t that bad after all.
What other hobbies do you enjoy aside from RPGs? I play videogames often, mostly RPGs. Aside from that I’ve always enjoyed filmmaking. Writing a script and gathering some friends to tell that story together has always been fascinating to me…a bit like playing TTRPGs.
Anything else you want to share about this project? Everything that made it into the project is there because I think it adds something to it. It is all meant to be as flavorful and unique as possible, you won’t find much that is simply a way to deal damage. My goal was to have options that let characters do cool (and sometimes funny) things in line with the “mirth and mayhem” theme of Dragonbane.
*Interview has been lightly edited for brevity.
ALL Stretch Goals have been unlocked! You can back this creation until Thu, October 31, 2024 7:00 AM CDT.
That’s a wrap. Remember:
Newsletters are free.
My Pocket Quest 2024 entry Conscience of a Con is now a Copper best-seller on DTRPG (and the updated 2nd edition is on sale now).
Hedgehogs have poor eyesight, good hearing, and a keen olfactory sense.
Outside the Box looks like a great book. Looking forward to seeing your review. Also, I love the part about a monster’s point of view! I’m going to try that in my next game with the fam. 😊