Run Date: March 28th, 2023
Last week I wrapped up a finale within the Low Fantasy Gaming homebrew sandbox I run at my local library (hot damn that's a lot of words). Since we'd been running for 8 months and found a good break point to wind down, I asked if the group wanted to try anything else. My players are chill and open for a lot of things, and since I was using ACKS (and AD&D) for various background pieces for our sandbox, I suggested trying out ACKS proper. The group agreed.
I planned to do some prep after my work week ended, but unfortunately ended up bedridden with food poisoning instead. Nonetheless, I'm stubborn and didn't want to cancel the session. Since I wasn't feeling too well, we took things slow and made it more like a casual hangout and chat than a true session. To that end, I absolutely hate how I can run games for years and a new system makes my brain shut down; even when the resolution is damn near the same.
For this experiment, I chose to use Sinister Stone of Sakkara and allow the players to start with their PC and two henchmen whose payments were already paid for the coming month. Usually I run 1:1 time, but the group decided to nix it for this session.
PCs
[Pa]: Dalinar (Lv1 Asn); Corvus Lv 1 Ftr, Amaram Lv1 Dw Cp
[Sa]: Amethyst (Lv1 Dw Vg); Rue Lv1 Cleric, Hatty Lv1 Mage
False Start
Out the gate I had an issue; What does a Lv0 of any class look like? I'm sure it's somewhere, but after having spent about an hour or so creating characters and going over various differences between this game and LFG, I wasn't about to bother with it. I'll let the half XP thing sort it out.
I opened with a quick rundown of the general setting conceit of ACKS and SSoS; flashing some of the art here and there to reinforce it. After that, I noted that the adventure had some suggested hooks if the group wanted to roll or choose any of them. My players, being the great folks they are, chose to be on a quest of vengeance for their little backwater town of Redwater (NW corner of 0707). They returned from some work and found the place ransacked and burned. Their search for clues resulted in discovering the attack was orchestrated by orcs with an MO for capture instead of murder. This hook drove them to hit up Türos Tem and inform the garrison of their loss and inquire about any help.
To SSoS's credit, I love the fact that the major NPCs have a "schedule" that can simulate the area. Too bad I didn't get a chance to prep or read most of it. When the group arrived at the stronghold, I ran them through the quick and dirty of the area. We built some more background by suggesting the party had probably come here for festivals in the past, and it helped sell just how "empty" the place had become. With their introductory pass finished, the party marched up the hill and hit up the gatehouse.
New rule for us is Charisma affecting reaction rolls. Moreover, what happens when your Face is a hench? Little Hatty got pushed up to the front to answer the questions of the slightly taller (and almost as cute) Subaltern Lynara. If my RRs in LFG were always friendly, ACKS planned to force an equilibrium. She didn't outright throw them out, but she was not in any mood to deal with some girl and her pet cat. The Subaltern pointed the party to the headquarters and told them to speak with the Legate.
Turns out, I made another mistake (it's okay, I can still BS). The party headed over to the headquarters and took a look around. They spotted the various fliers and notices posted, and I got lazy and verbatim read the boxed text (sacrilege). The good news is that there is enough there for the players to choose a route and get going, and mine have zero issues doing their own thing whether or not a module is involved. Once they were satisfied with this new information and some direction, the group joined an ever-shortening line of people who appeared to be meeting with someone (presumably the Legate). So, not only did I not realize these things were gates, but for some reason I thought the quartermaster's office thing was where the Legate stationed. Convenient for the powers that be, the Legate originally stopped by to handle some business and got caught up in the line of petitioners. Unfortunately, this didn't aid the party.
As the group stepped in and pushed another charismatic person forward (I don't remember which one), Legate Valerian wiped sweat off his face and let out a long sigh. They informed the Legate what had happened to their town he'd never heard of, and before they could get beyond that he gave them the boiler plate, "I'm stretched thin as it is and a bounty has been set to deal with it," before pushing past them and leaving. The group did not decide to chat with the quartermaster, and instead went back to town.
One of the more awkward things I experienced this session was the timing of a reaction roll. I only really used them for encounter and figuring out the initial demeanour of strangers, but I've never really used it in the context of a "first meeting." Since each NPC had a chance to offer something on a high result, I felt obligated to open with it. This resulted in a bit of adjudication on lower results because Hostile doesn't necessarily mean "String them up!" Not yet, anyway.
Back in town, the party asked after the Guildmaster Aeropos. He was just about to close up shop when the party interrupted; and as the rolls so far have shown, he had little patience for faffing about. They asked about the missing merchants and he gave them the quick and dirty. He said there was a reward but didn't specify what, and that was about it. I made another mistake here and said the merchants were headed to Siadanos instead of (northern settlement here).
The party's day hadn't been spectacular, but at least tomorrow held promise. While the players perused the menu for the Traveler's Inn (which lead into a discussion about fish sauce, worchestershire sauce, and dashi stock) the set out their hooks and decided on a plan of action: They would travel to Siadanos (another place I know nothing about) to ask about the missing merchants. While on the road, they'd keep an eye out for any new raids they could (pick clean) investigate.
There was a bit of discussion about travel speeds and encumbrance, and thanks to the road there wouldn't be too much of a delay. However, I did end up overthinking what the difference between "Inhabited" and "Clear, Grass" were in regards to wilderness encounters. I've never actually had to consider the difference despite using the encounter rolls for some of my LFG generation. Anyhow, the group didn't hit any encounters until their third day, and it was a small band of disinterested ogres just passing by while searching for food. Funny enough, the party was surprised by them as they stepped out of a small grouping of trees on the side of the road. The question I asked myself at the time, however, was whether or not they should have shifted to hostile and tried to eat the party. Oh well.
In (generic cool city) Siadanos, the party spent half the day roaming around asking various merchants about the two that were missing. They got lucky and encountered a large group about to ship out, and that were conveniently familiar with those who were missing. The party learned that they had indeed stopped by Siadanos and had been on their way back a little over a week ago. This confirmed to the party that the pair were raided on the main road somewhere. With the main business done, they perused the wares and I got to flip around the book to inform the players they could not, indeed, afford that +1 Shield.
After staying the night at a local inn, the party headed back toward Türos Tem. During their first day of travel, they spotted a party of well clad and wealthy elves carrying the head of a horned green lizard and bearing a large jingling sack. The elves completely ignored the party, but Dalinar couldn't let the jingling go. It was obviously a suicide mission. It was obviously stupid. "It's just the first set of characters that will probably die anyway. I'm gonna go for it."
While the rest of the party moved forward and set up camp, Dalinar tailed the elves. He did quite well here, though predominately because they were too busy singing about their victory. Once night fell, Dalinar began his invasion. The elves had set up watches, and Dalinar attempted his first real roll and boy was it a failure. I have to say, however, that I don't know if ACKS has a resolution system for "opposed checks" like other games. I ended up just reverse engineering the usual: The watch-elf failed his (whatever perception or spot is called) by 1, but Dalinar failed his Hide and Move Silently by 10 or more. The elf perked up and let an arrow fly, missing Dalinar. The trainee assassin took this as his chance to book it and revealed his position, though, it seems ACKS elves don't see in darkness/low light. A short chase with a few more blind shots resulted in the elf giving up the chase, though not before wounding Dalinar.
Dalinar made it back to camp with Hatty's cat guiding him. They checked over the damage and we discussed the healing rules. While the familiar/cat has Healing as a proficiency, I took the word "natural" as a codified term. This meant that unless Dalinar wanted to spend the entire day resting here on the road, he wouldn't be getting any of those HP back. The group decided to go ahead and push on toward their goal.
Their next day of travel had them come across a group of, again disinterested, giant boars digging away at some open roots and fresh mushrooms. The party did the wise thing and let them feast. On the final day, at the crossroads that split north and south, the party spotted a broken wagon down a decline. They headed over to investigate, and found it was a reasonably fresh attack. Dalinar even managed to find a few stray copper pieces stomped into the dirt, and Hatty's cat indulged on the leftovers of a broken barrel of fish sauce. The group looked over the tracks, and though they didn't have anyone that was skilled in it, they decided they might try their luck. With that, we paused.
Afterword
I made a lot of mistakes, and honestly wasted a couple hours faffing about. In hindsight, I should have ironed out that railroad a bit, if for nothing else than to get bogged down in the other mechanics we're new to (combat may be interesting). My players are great for giving me pieces to mold into something functional, though my lack of proper prep left me stumbling. My goal is to give the players a fair shake at the system and its capabilities, and today I failed that. We'll get 'em next time.
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