Dealing With Disappointment

Bloodfall Bust 

I mentioned at the end of the last post that the coming Bloodfall session was ripe with opportunity. Thorgal's plan to exact vengeance on Kirk's behalf was inspiring! However, just like Appendix N, not everything goes according to plan.

I wish I could tell a tale of righteous flame consuming soulless elven heathens. I wish could talk about the way the dastardly ambushers tried and failed to strike down our glorious viking forces! It is not to be.

Elfless

We fumbled the ball. There was a miscommunication on who was running the show (lack of leadership/calls), what resources were available, and other details. This was not helped by my own rolling of an Elf in the "session where we kill the elves."

We could have leaned harder into aggression, leaned into the viking roles and sagas, communicated better, or streamlined everything. Mistakes were made. That's okay, though, we all make mistakes. What matters is what you do with them.

To begin, I played Ælrond the Elf during the session. I knew the potential consequences and was ready to go down in flames; it's part of Elite Play. What I didn't expect was the softer approach from the others. This is a mix between the human and the character: I'm a PC sitting down at the table and courtesy suggests trust and accomodation. We also want to avoid mudcore crabs in a bucket. 

"Let me tell about my adventures in a Human University!"

Ælrond's existence muddied the waters too much, and should have either not happened or been a proper TNB all-in by attaching him to the Elf Force in which our session goal was targeting. In addition, we had some timing confusion since others had gone out to look for hooks and may or may not have made it back by "session start." This was a small bump and easily solved by reviewing Kirk's Will and holding the funeral. 

Once the party was sorted, we met with the Elf Force who were only willing to send a small squad for negotiations. The travel through town was awkward, the longhouse was a warehouse, and the party was precisely what you'd expect from the soup aisle. The awkward affair ended as it started... dull and boring. Thorgal and Raylan tried to make something come of it, and Ælrond even got to use a fancy orb to glimpse the Emerald City. There was no recovering the ball after this, and even Plan B was a failure.

What followed was a review of hooks, options for scores, and overall grasping at straws. The rest of the session was milk runs and some short exploration in the hopes of learning more targets for future sessions. We did find a cool ancient library with sexy Sphinx! Ælrond even got himself a fancy tome from Atlantis!

The end result? Lots of roleplay, plenty of tongue-in-cheek jokes, some players having to drink away my Elvish rambling (1:1 roleplaying boyos!), and some information for the future. Post-session, we came together to review what went wrong and to go over what we could, or should, be doing better.

What's the point in all of this? Improvement. I've said before that the strength of the club is brotherhood. We lift each other up and encourage improvement. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than the conventional player (and person) and pick each other up when we're down. 

I am deeply disappointed in the follow-up to Kirk's death, however, Brig did a wonderful job explaining how furious Bloodfall was at his loss, their desire for justice, and even the respect (real or fake) the Elves had for Kirk's zeal. His name will continue to live within the campaign; time keeps ticking and TNB doesn't stop. Sooner or later, the Elves will get theirs. By hammer or by flame!

Svarthold and Stanson

Given the theme of this post, I want to write about Svarthold and my boy Stanson. His situation focuses more on things happening at the management/organization level; included for transparency. North of Svarthold was the island of Gulleyja, a place of oddities, hauntings, and pulp world-building. If Bloodfall is a TV season with primary plot, Gulleyja is a monster of the week pulp adventure. Every session was a high risk, high reward setup with blood, death, and GIANT OWLS! Seriously, so many owls that it's a mainstay now.

Hail to the King, baby.

However, due to a club conflict I know little about, the direction of Gulleyja needed to shift. As J mentions here, some 85% or so of the content he was piecing together had to be adjusted or canned. That's a lot of energy to move around and repurpose. As a result, Svarthold/Gulleyja will be wound down or tabled.

J deserves credit for running an exciting series of sessions right out of Appendix N! These great adventures and joyous sessions are what make their loss all the more disappointing. As for us players? I told you we're the ones driving the bus, right? Whether canon to Urf or no, Stanson and crew will go out in a blaze of glory! All hail King Stanson of Gulleyja!