Chronicles Pre-Alpha Test, Session 1

Greetings everyone!

As I stated previously, I will be posting the test-play of my personal game system here.
So far, we only have one session.
Additionally, the players are the sort that do what they want, when they want.
Which, for testing purposes, makes things all for the better :)
Things will be a little childish.

I won't be putting up any of the rules in this post necessarily, but I will clarify if anyone has any questions.
Both players are human. Their skills, perks, and archetypes... I currently don't remember (and also might end up confusing the narrative a little).
I'm also continuing to work on a playtest document for Chronicles so that you, in the comfort of your own home, can help me develop this game :)

Without further ado...

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The scene opened on the town of Riverwatch in the early hours of the morning.
Demigod, a mugger with a penchant for magic, saw what he thought would be an easy mark:
Sparky, a wandering tinker and priest, whose packs seemed laden with goods.

He made his approach...
And...
Successfully knocked Sparky to the ground!
Sparky attempted to roll over and get into a better defensive position, but wasn't quite quick enough.
Now was the moment for Demigod to act.

He attempted to knock out Sparky with a punch to the back of the head, but ended up hitting a shield he was carrying instead.
Then, with some acrobatic-shenanigans, Demigod attempted to kick Sparky but the priest was able to jump up to his feet before the hit could connect.

But, of course, this is when the town guard would happen by and see the scuffle.
Both of them attempted to lie their way out of the situation.
Something about a "friendly sparring match."
The town guard weren't buying it.
So, the two of them were placed into police custody until someone started making sense.

There, they met someone who would forever change their lives.
An old man that was chained in the adjoining cell.
"Chamby."
So called because he smelled and looked like he was a chamber pot.

The party soon formed a bond with Chamby, who quickly revealed that he had some magical talent and could easily escape his restraints at will.
Which got the two to thinking about escape.

So, they formulated something of a plan together.
Demigod used some of his magic to telekinetically lift the cell key off a guard.
And quickly the two escaped.
They also let Chamby out.
Because... you know... honor among thieves and all that...

However, it wasn't long before the guard was upon them!
Sparky tripped the sentinel, knocking him out.
Demigod, seeing an opportunity, snatched up the guard's sword.

Then, to help mask their escape, they decided to perform a mass jail break.
Sparky attempted to call upon his god's power to bend the cell bars, but his deity had no interest in this feat.
So, with just the key, they ended up performing the jail break.

Just as they and their fellow mutineers exited the jail, there was a thunderous roar from overhead.

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And that's where we ended the session.

While I haven't had any feedback from Demigod's player yet, Sparky had the following to say:
He liked the simplicity of the system and thought that character creation was fun.
He disliked the lack of loot and felt that while combat was balanced, the guards were too easy to take down.
Overall, however, he says he has no major changes he'd suggest at this time.

But, we might have more down the road :)
Until next time, readers, may the dice fall in your favor!

An Interview: Dan Van

Hello, great big world!

Today, due to no progress on either homebrew content or the Praerus campaign (still updating/changing characters for the party), I will be starting my interview project.
And, to get the ball rolling, I thought I'd ask a few questions of Dan Van, the man playing Saito (though he plans on changing to a wizard during the next story arc). Whose birthday was also on Sunday :)

Without further ado, here's a transcript from the interview (done via Facebook, whole thing [sic] with very minor editing):

Interview time! You ready for this?

sure

Cool. To begin, when... 

42

When did you first delve into the darkness that is roleplaying games?

So much typing lol

In college , I met some people on the same dorm floor i lived on who were gamers .

And the game you played that forever set you down this dismal path?

Ya, I suppose what appealed to me was the idea of making something up. Pretending to have the power of a Wizard or cleverness of a Hobbit tongue emoticon

So, D&D then?

Actually no the very first game was L5R but d&d wasnt that far behind.

Neat! That makes you relatively unique from most gamers. If you had to choose a game that you would have started with, which would it be? If not L5R.

That is a pretty tough question. At the time of me starting it was pretty much 2nd ed D&D and L5R that my friends were into. 3rd edition happened not to long after i started gaming. Which was much simpler a system to understand.

Indeed it is unsure emoticon
Of all the games you've played in your illustrious career, which system do you like best?

Again with the difficult question. There are some very unique systems that are fun but you have to have the right group. So for all around id say pathfinder. it got rid of most of what was wrong with 3.5 though now its getting to bloated as we have talked about.

Indeed it is unsure emoticon
That is twice I've said that now.
Sorry for hard questions, but that's what interviews are for lol
Alright, how about this one: favorite character you've ever played?

Oooo... that a good one. Best concept i only played for a short time. He was a young prince who struck a deal with a Demon to save his kingdom, but the demon turned on him and used the prince to murder everyone in the kingdom except him. The prince then became a restless spirit driven to find this demon and kill him. While his kingdom because this haunted legend. So my character would appear every so many years tracking this demon down , it was great in concept but hard to play in with a party.

Wow. That's pretty awesome actually. But I can totally see that being hard to have in an actual group. Now, on a similar vein: any characters that you've regretted playing?

Not so much regretted playing but regretted actions. early on in gaming before i understood things as well . I always felt my characters had to succeed. And i remember just blatantly cheating, and it just killed the mood of the game. Just felt bleh .

Understandable. But those days are behind you now, yes? (Says your current DM)

Other than that D6 yes lol

Yeah. But I let that thing slide anyway lol
So what are your honest impressions of 5e, anyway? Feel free to blast it to pieces of you'd like smile emoticon

It's not really that different to me from past things. I like the proficiency idea and the way spells slots work. But id like more skills even just double where there is now. And more player options. Like fighter has 3 types it can go into. And you cant do that till 3rd level.

When you say more skills, do you mean more skills to choose from, or more skills trained? I'm assuming the second one.

Bit of both. Even more secondary things. I like a player who takes something kinda goofy and makes use of it. Like fishing, farming, or blacksmith.

Gotcha. Well, Dram is planning on being the cook... Now, if not 5e, what would your preference be for our group's next game?

Tough call. Id like to see people in a super hero game because we talk a lot of comic stuff. But a anime style game could also be fun if we can keep keep certain people away from tentacles.

I couldn't agree more! Lol Dialing of super heroes, time for the required question of every interview: if you could have one super power...?

That is supposed to say talking, not dialing.

I have the cheating answer the power cosmic (cause im a big silver surfer fan). or Immortality.

Both good answers. If not a little OP...
Well, I think this is enough for the blog for now and I feel weird interviewing someone I already know, so that's a wrap! Thanks for your time smile emoticon

No worries. (More was said after this, but this is end of transcript)

And there you have it!

As for this past Sunday, many laughs and raspberry-lemonade cupcakes were had.
We spent the whole time we would have normally gamed with 5e playing "Runebound" by Fantasy Flight instead.
I may do some sort of review here in the next few days for those folks that haven't experienced it yet...
Anyway, everyone enjoyed themselves Sunday. And that's all a DM can ask for :)

As previously mentioned, this coming Sunday is a no-game day (it's my 7th wedding anniversary and I have schemes in motion).
So, next week's update(s) might be... another interview? A review? Who knows.

Until then, may the dice fall in your favor!