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Episode 13 Did Your Character Write It Down?

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Theme: Poetic Pitbull Revolutions, by Diablo Swing Orchestra; used with permission.
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Warning: gameplay recordings may and probably do include language and material offensive to some listeners. Ok, many listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

We pick up where last episode ended, with the Headlanders set adrift in that most dangerous of locales - genteel society.

Rae's man-whoring reaches a new, creepier level.

Adam's lone-wolf wandering almost gets him killed.

Tim continues to be the only member of the group who gets it when people insult them.

As Laird Eastman alternates between high praise and sharp ridicule the Headlanders boldly hang in and try to make the most of the situation.

Mingling, pressing the flesh and making nice with the rich, they find themselves face-to-face with the one thing that the Headlanders fear above all else - politics.

A storm is a'comin', and the Headlanders have to start counting their acquaintances and deciding which ones to turn into friends and which into enemies.

Notes

The conversation they have with the young noble sets up the conflict I actually had in mind when designing this setting. I introduced the characters before shit got real, and had them play through the evolution of the chaotic, violent state the continent eventually succumbs to; in effect I walked them through the birth of the setting as it'll be described when I write it up. The chapter book will have Amity already in a state of higgledy-piggledy after the empire pulls out, with some territories completely lawless while others are under tight company control.

I think it played out better to see things change for the worse rather than to just drop the bad stuff in as back story. Since I sandboxed the campaign, however, I had no control over how long it took for things to play out. I also made no attempt to limit how the party reacted to the news. There are a few world-changing events that they instigate later in the campaign that were completely their idea.

There's also a discussion about an hour in about the difference between charms and abilities. At the time this conversation took place, abilities hadn't yet been codified in the rules, although they were there. Basically, a charm is a spell you cast, and spell casters get a success every time they use them. Abilities, on the other hand, are permanent bonuses that characters have all the time; since nothing is done to make use of their effect, there are no successes to using them, they simply modify other skills which do get successes. Rae had been giving himself a success for wariness and a success for increased perception, even tho he was only actually using increased perception but getting a bonus to that for havingwariness. Make sense?