Wednesday 26 February 2014

Vikings & Valkyries - Session Six

Session 6 (January, 2014)

(Back to Session 1)

This year's first face-to-face gaming session, during which we tested the mass combat rules found in the M&M Companion (slightly changed to reflect minute differences between M&M and V&V), some general raiding rules (mostly inspired by Aegir's Fire), and my crudely programmed village-generator; lastly, the party returned to Jarl Olaf Gunnbjörn's court and became involved in the local politics.

The party consisted of the following characters:
  • Harald Greentooth (Viking 2), veteran javelin-thrower and spear-wielder
  • Jormund (Sorcerer 2), cunning sorcerer
  • Gottfried Flogasson (Prince 2), designated tank of the party, also of noble heritage
  • Esya Valdensdottir (Huntress 1), a hunter living in the forest
  • Freydís (Priestess of Freya 1), a priestess coming from a secluded community of Freya-worshippers
After explaining how the mechanics work, the party recruited some willing warriors to accompany them on a short trip to raid some Fir village. When they were done, they chose a target and mass combat ensued. The players' side suffered minimal casualties and they swiftly looted the place.
Referee's note: Between sessions we talked about what they were going to do (i.e. go raiding), so I prepared for it. I designed simple procedures for recruiting warriors, determined their stats, revised the mass combat rules, and determined how sailing towards the Fir shores and back works. I also put together a simple program for generating villages (the number and stats of their defenders plus loot); it worked great, although we concluded that large villages - such as the one the party attacked - needed better protection. Anyhow, it was a nice experience.
Sailing towards home, the party decided they would sell their treasures in Jarl Olaf Gunnbjörn's settlement. Arriving there they - again - became involved in petty politics: Varghöss (former fiancé of the Jarl's now only daughter, Ingrid) demanded that Olaf give back the betrothal gifts; unfortunately, it was known that Varghöss had more supporters than Olaf did. The party decided they would help him and came up with a plan: Gottfried could defeat Varghöss in a duel (if needed, with Jormund's psychic help) if he was formally defending Ingrid's wealth and her family's pride; so Gottfried espoused to Ingrid.

Some of the party members visited Varghöss and told him about Gottfried and Ingrid's engagement and his intentions regarding the duel. They agreed they would meet in a few days when the local lords gather to pass judgement concerning his and Olaf's dispute.

Out of five lords (other than Olaf and Varghöss's father), three seemed to be on Varghöss's side before the duel; however, after Gottfried's oration and the fact that he almost killed Varghöss, they ruled in favour of Olaf. Of course, everyone knew that this was not the end of it and the ongoing conflict between the two families would only escalate.
Referee's note: Talking about their plans made it clear to me that they were more interested in local politics than raiding a raiding campaign. Well, at least it was a nice programming exercise.
(Next session) 

No comments:

Post a Comment