10.09.2009

Eberron: Prophecy of Ascendence, Parts 47 & 48

Taylor was in town for a week and joined us for session 47, but things didn't seem to go as some expected, with the party retreating from the collapsing temple compound within the Starpeaks and heading back to Fairhaven through various means.

This found most of the group doing some information gathering and purchasing of some goods. Carl brought in his new character, a Karnnathi general investigating the strange happenings in Aundair for national security reasons, in an arena fight with Roark.

After visits to Vey and reigning Vacht, who had travelled over 900 miles away, back in, the group ventured back to the Starpeaks (session 48) and back to the temple, doing some cursory exploration. After clearing out the nests of Xoriat beasties through cleansing fire, the party pressed on and looped back around into the grotto area where the portal had been destroyed.

Looking out into the water of the area and seeing the dire sharks, sustained likely solely through the grace of the Devourer, since they were otherwise trapped in the temple, some things started to dawn on the PCs...things such as each major event in the campaign being tied to a religious place, though of various faiths, and how each coincided closely with a holiday.

Though the party came to some good conclusions as a group, it wasn't until we were down to Vacht, Velakus, and Druss (formerly Murmur) that most of the better revelations started to happen.

They have decided that The Nights of Long Shadows in Vult, the time that "celebrates" the birth of the god The Shadow, is the culmination, which leaves our heroes with only 2 and a half months of game time to get their shit in gear and stop whatever is happening.

10.06.2009

Heretical Text! The Foreseeable Future Of Dark Heresy

It's probably not known by some of my regular readers, but Dark Heresy was not played last week, and I'm somewhat sad to say that it wasn't played tonight. David and I discussed it briefly, and his thoughts on the matter are the same as mine, of which I was thankful.

Both of us agree that a large part of the momentum of the game petered out when we lost over half the group (first with Carl, then more importantly, Taylor and Josh, in that order.) That coupled with 2 new characters, that have had to jump in mid-story, and Sam not returning, have done nothing but complicate things a bit more.

Not that complication in gaming on the "viking hat" side of the screen isn't a good thing, I usually like the challenge, it's just too much of a challenge too soon, I guess. I want to run a decently paced game that holds the attentions of and entertains my players and myself, and right now, neither my heart nor head are in the game. I feel burdened, and it's creeping into gameplay.

I think everyone involved can honestly say it is likely for the best that I take some time to "fix" the game, as such. To do a little prep and get myself caught up and all my thoughts loosely sketched out. I don't need a storyline. I've been winging the whole thing, but I do need some up-front prep that will help flesh out what's going on in the game and will paint a better picture both of what I imagine as I brainstorm and what I want to convey to the group as they explore the Imperium.

I guess that's it...nothing too groundbreaking, but I wanted to be more clear than I was before on the reasonings, and maybe shed some light for those of you who read and are interested in the DH game.

In the interim, I think I'm gonna run some one-shots and do some playtesting sessions for ideas I have for the upcoming Dark Sun and other games. Maybe even knock out a session of some game I have setting on the shelf. Scion? Vampire? Marvel Super Heroes? I dunno.

I do want, again, to point out that Dark Heresy is NOT ending. I just need a break so the game doesn't spiral into a shitstorm that there's no recovery from. Sorry to my players.

p.s. Foreseeable is a messed up word, man. I mean, wtf.

10.05.2009

Blah

Behind this week for a number of reasons.
I'll catch the game stuff up and have some musical inspiration for you on the morrow, hopefully!