FIRST TIME AS DUNGEON MASTER - THE SESSION
Good day
fine readers! Welcome to Part 2 of this series, where I recount and reflect on my first experience as a
Games Master. If you are yet to read Part 1, it is located here. In this second
post I will be recounting the adventure as it happened - quite a different story
from the one we planned.
The day of the game was fairly nerve-wracking. Although all the players are good friends of mine, I was still exceptionally nervous. I think the fact that one of the players was our usual GM was especially intimidating – what if I tripped up on my setting knowledge and they caught my mistake? I do not think that any amount of planning could have alleviated this fear - well, any planning short of several years intensive study of the Warhammer Fantasy setting.
The session began with the players being tasked with an unusual, seemingly boring quest by their employer – Arkat Fooger. Travel to a farm on the outskirts of a small village about a day's ride from Marienburg (the city where the players live and work), and make contact with a farmer (who is a friend of their employer) – Sidric Vogt. Sidric has been having trouble with his sheep, and is at his wits end searching for a solution. Hence, he contacted his old friend Arkat to cash in on a favour owed, as a last resort to solve his problem.
After eight hours in the saddle the players reach the village of Poep. It is the kind of small country village which has only one shop, one church and one pub. Here, there are a variety of NPCs (non-player characters) who the players can interact with if they wish. Alternately, they can continue straight on to the farm, Woolly Way. They chose the latter.
Woolly Way boasts a large and once-prosperous-looking farmhouse. In the distance behind the house, a large barn is visible, and the tree line of a forest which the farmyard backs onto. Off to the left are fields housing the sheep and a handful of other assorted animals roam the yard – sheepdogs, chickens, a few milking cows. The players' first glimpse of the family is of the only son – Bartholomeus (Bart) timidly scampering out of view. They soon meet Sidric who seems pleasant enough, but at his wits ends with the farm and Villianda, his highly chatty and inquisitive youngest daughter.
Sidric sits the players down at the table and gives them the brief. Seeming to forget that they are meeting this man for the first time, none of the players bother to introduce themselves properly, instead hounding him with a strange assortment of questions about the nature of his sheep problem. Although he does his best, Sidric is given a resoundingly odd first impression of the group. He explains that his sheep have been vanishing mysteriously. He thinks that they might be dying - but he is yet to find any corpses. When pressed a little further, he admits that he believes there may be a sheep-thief, but he has no idea who would want to take his sheep or why. During this discussion, a wispy and timid looking teenage girl opens the door to the farm. Upon seeing that her home is crowded with strangers she flees instantly. Sidric explains sadly that that is his daughter Anki. He is not sure why, but she has become extremely reclusive and difficult to talk to of late. He also gets noticeably agitated when the party do some prodding as to why the farm seems to have fallen into disrepair (some more tactfully than others). Particularly, he gets upset when the party ask about an un-mended hole in the back fence. Sidric ends his explanation by inviting the party to have dinner with his family later in the evening, leaving them free to explore the property and devise a cunning plan to catch the sheep thief.
So what does the party choose to do at this point? Why, split up of course! Seraphine, the jaded fourteen year old swashbuckling pirate and Jonathan, the female (yes, a female named 'Jonathan') coachman decide to investigate the suspicious hole in the fence. Villianda offers to show them around the farm (read: she is really excited to have new people to play with), so she accompanies them. Seraphine and Jonathan are very nice to Villianda, and so she begins to open up to them, eventually divulging that "daddy doesn't want to fix the fence because this is where mummy died" in a child’s emotional wail. After admitting this Villianda becomes quite upset and the players have to work to calm her down. Once that is done they notice that Anki is hanging around the entrance of the barnyard, seemingly talking to herself. They overhear her reciting a strange mantra about dreams and reality. Talk about your teenage existential crisis.
Meanwhile, heavy handed interrogator Garfield and carpet merchant Halfling Theodore survey the rest of the farm's perimeter - particularly the side that meets the forest – looking for clues. They strike gold when they discover a second hole much further along the fence.
Shallyan Priestess (read: healer) Ahgaliandriel, Wolfgang the Sigmarite Zealot and street magician Seigfried return to Poep to investigate – find potential suspects and ask some questions about this strange family. Wolfgang and Ahgaliandriel (predictably) want to go to the church first. There, they meet a nun and the priest – Father Abel – who they interrogate regarding the Vogt family, and the church's apparently neglected responsibility to counsel them. The devoted have only good things to say about the family, and defend their neglected responsibility only by repeatedly stating that the Vogt's don't want any help or counsel.
The players move on to talk to the shopkeeper - Shelley. Similarly to Father Abel, she has nothing negative to say about the Vogt's - just laments passionately about how horrible it must have been for them to lose Elyn (Sidric's wife). While Shelley is unable to provide any useful rumours she certainly has plenty to say about everyone in Poep's private lives. Not wanting to learn the entire history of Poep and all its rumours and scandals, the party quickly depart - some more quickly the others.
Wolfgang tires of Shelley's chatter the fastest, and so goes outside to spread Sigmar's good word upon anyone who will listen. While demonstrating how 'cool' his flail is to the local kids, one of them – Alistair – begins to tease and egg him on. Wolfgang responds to the bait and for a moment it seems as though the Sigmarite is going to get into a scuffle with the teen. Just in time one of Alistair's companions touches his shoulder, visibly calming him, and the altercation is avoided.
Having failed to convert the teenagers, Wolfgang approaches village crazy 'Frank,' and attempts to befriend him. Wolfgang endures a long espousal of bullshit from Frank, insisting that he is the most reasonable individual he has met since arriving in Poep. After a few minutes of conversing though, Frank seems to forget where he is, and introduces himself afresh. The other players emerge from Shelley's shop and decide it is time to get back to Woolly Way.
Ahgaliandriel, Wolfgang and Seigfried return to the farm shortly before dinner. Wolfgang demands a private conversation with Sidric. He leads him outside and, it not so tactful manner expresses the opinion that there is something very wrong with Sidric's children, and that they could benefit from some extra support - from the village clergy or otherwise. Sidric at first reacts angrily, but as Wolfgang's sincere desire to help becomes evident, the anger slides away into sadness. He says he'll think about it and the pair returns to the dinner table where the rest of the family, and players, are assembling. Just as Wolfgang is about to take his seat, Anki seems to mouth the words 'thank you' to Wolfgang, in a manner quite unlike her usual jerky interactions.
Dinner is a somewhat awkward, but overall a pleasant affair. Sidric asks the players about their lives in Marienburg, and the players meet the last two siblings - Francisca and Sylphie. Physically these sisters are very different, but their attitude towards the players is the same. Both are the image of disinterested teens, responding to questions with the absolute minimum required effort, and expressing interest in things only gothic teenage girls would want to talk about. They are, in short, moody as hell and only interested in finishing their dinner so they can return to their bedroom.
Following dinner the players spend a while swapping information and developing a plan to catch the sheep thief. They split up in a complicated manner that they hope will give them vantage over the entire back fence (the side meeting the forest) of the property. Some players go into the barn to watch from the loft, and the rest split up to guard the two breaks in the fence. Seraphine stayed in the farmhouse to 'protect the family,’ but really she seemed suspicious of Sylphie and Francisca and wanted to ensure they did not leave the house.
Hours pass, and the players struggle to resist falling asleep. Most of the players are able to endure until midnight, when the thieves appear. Wolfgang snoozes lightly for a few inconsequential rounds, and only Garfield falls into a deep sleep. While the rest of the players fight strange bestial shapes in the dark, Garfield is transported into an ethereal, seemingly endless corridor with many doors. Entering a few of them reveal strange, disconnected scenes. One is a primary school classroom another, scenes of pure carnage. Eventually a set of stairs reveal themselves to him. Ascending the stairs Garfield witnesses what really happened to Elyn (Sidric's wife and the children's mother). During a wicked storm she rushes to the barn to calm the animals, who are disquieted by the storm’s thunder. On her way there she is struck by a falling tree, her head receives a nasty wound and she bleeds out in the rain. The family, who were stuck in the village during the storm, do not find her for many hours. After witnessing this scene Garfield is again faced with a set of stairs. After ascending these he meets a woman chained by the ankle to a chair in a bare room. It is Elyn. He tries to help her, but she insists that she can only be helped from outside, and repeatedly asks him to help her children.
Meanwhile the rest of the party have been engaged in a long and fruitless combat against what turns out to be sheep-men. These beasts are more concerned with stealing the sheep than fighting the players, and eventually flee into the forest. The party follows. This is where the tone of the game started to unravel for me. Everything became a lot darker than I had envisioned.
The players lose the sheep-men the forest, but notice a strange fog which leads them to a horrifying site. A circle of clearly chaotically possessed teenagers are milling about an altar over which some kind of demonic talisman hovers. The ringleaders are familiar to Ahgaliandriel, Wolfgang and Siegfried – they were amongst the teenagers Wolfgang spoke to in Poep. Alistair seemed to have demonic horns sprouting from his head, and is even more prepared to fight than before. Beatrice, the female leader, seems to flitter and change before the players eyes as she talked. Amongst the other teenagers are Sylphie and Francisca. This is what Elyn meant when she asked Garfield to save her children. Speaking of Garfield, up until this point he had still been split up from the rest of the party. While the rest of the players encounter this grisly scene, and are ineffectually debating what to do, Garfield is dropped back into reality, behind the altar. Clearly perceiving it to be the source of chaos, he smashes it quickly. All of the teens, apart from the two leaders, fall to the ground unmoving. Alistair and Beatrice continue to advance.
The day of the game was fairly nerve-wracking. Although all the players are good friends of mine, I was still exceptionally nervous. I think the fact that one of the players was our usual GM was especially intimidating – what if I tripped up on my setting knowledge and they caught my mistake? I do not think that any amount of planning could have alleviated this fear - well, any planning short of several years intensive study of the Warhammer Fantasy setting.
The session began with the players being tasked with an unusual, seemingly boring quest by their employer – Arkat Fooger. Travel to a farm on the outskirts of a small village about a day's ride from Marienburg (the city where the players live and work), and make contact with a farmer (who is a friend of their employer) – Sidric Vogt. Sidric has been having trouble with his sheep, and is at his wits end searching for a solution. Hence, he contacted his old friend Arkat to cash in on a favour owed, as a last resort to solve his problem.
After eight hours in the saddle the players reach the village of Poep. It is the kind of small country village which has only one shop, one church and one pub. Here, there are a variety of NPCs (non-player characters) who the players can interact with if they wish. Alternately, they can continue straight on to the farm, Woolly Way. They chose the latter.
Woolly Way boasts a large and once-prosperous-looking farmhouse. In the distance behind the house, a large barn is visible, and the tree line of a forest which the farmyard backs onto. Off to the left are fields housing the sheep and a handful of other assorted animals roam the yard – sheepdogs, chickens, a few milking cows. The players' first glimpse of the family is of the only son – Bartholomeus (Bart) timidly scampering out of view. They soon meet Sidric who seems pleasant enough, but at his wits ends with the farm and Villianda, his highly chatty and inquisitive youngest daughter.
Sidric sits the players down at the table and gives them the brief. Seeming to forget that they are meeting this man for the first time, none of the players bother to introduce themselves properly, instead hounding him with a strange assortment of questions about the nature of his sheep problem. Although he does his best, Sidric is given a resoundingly odd first impression of the group. He explains that his sheep have been vanishing mysteriously. He thinks that they might be dying - but he is yet to find any corpses. When pressed a little further, he admits that he believes there may be a sheep-thief, but he has no idea who would want to take his sheep or why. During this discussion, a wispy and timid looking teenage girl opens the door to the farm. Upon seeing that her home is crowded with strangers she flees instantly. Sidric explains sadly that that is his daughter Anki. He is not sure why, but she has become extremely reclusive and difficult to talk to of late. He also gets noticeably agitated when the party do some prodding as to why the farm seems to have fallen into disrepair (some more tactfully than others). Particularly, he gets upset when the party ask about an un-mended hole in the back fence. Sidric ends his explanation by inviting the party to have dinner with his family later in the evening, leaving them free to explore the property and devise a cunning plan to catch the sheep thief.
So what does the party choose to do at this point? Why, split up of course! Seraphine, the jaded fourteen year old swashbuckling pirate and Jonathan, the female (yes, a female named 'Jonathan') coachman decide to investigate the suspicious hole in the fence. Villianda offers to show them around the farm (read: she is really excited to have new people to play with), so she accompanies them. Seraphine and Jonathan are very nice to Villianda, and so she begins to open up to them, eventually divulging that "daddy doesn't want to fix the fence because this is where mummy died" in a child’s emotional wail. After admitting this Villianda becomes quite upset and the players have to work to calm her down. Once that is done they notice that Anki is hanging around the entrance of the barnyard, seemingly talking to herself. They overhear her reciting a strange mantra about dreams and reality. Talk about your teenage existential crisis.
Meanwhile, heavy handed interrogator Garfield and carpet merchant Halfling Theodore survey the rest of the farm's perimeter - particularly the side that meets the forest – looking for clues. They strike gold when they discover a second hole much further along the fence.
Shallyan Priestess (read: healer) Ahgaliandriel, Wolfgang the Sigmarite Zealot and street magician Seigfried return to Poep to investigate – find potential suspects and ask some questions about this strange family. Wolfgang and Ahgaliandriel (predictably) want to go to the church first. There, they meet a nun and the priest – Father Abel – who they interrogate regarding the Vogt family, and the church's apparently neglected responsibility to counsel them. The devoted have only good things to say about the family, and defend their neglected responsibility only by repeatedly stating that the Vogt's don't want any help or counsel.
The players move on to talk to the shopkeeper - Shelley. Similarly to Father Abel, she has nothing negative to say about the Vogt's - just laments passionately about how horrible it must have been for them to lose Elyn (Sidric's wife). While Shelley is unable to provide any useful rumours she certainly has plenty to say about everyone in Poep's private lives. Not wanting to learn the entire history of Poep and all its rumours and scandals, the party quickly depart - some more quickly the others.
Wolfgang tires of Shelley's chatter the fastest, and so goes outside to spread Sigmar's good word upon anyone who will listen. While demonstrating how 'cool' his flail is to the local kids, one of them – Alistair – begins to tease and egg him on. Wolfgang responds to the bait and for a moment it seems as though the Sigmarite is going to get into a scuffle with the teen. Just in time one of Alistair's companions touches his shoulder, visibly calming him, and the altercation is avoided.
Having failed to convert the teenagers, Wolfgang approaches village crazy 'Frank,' and attempts to befriend him. Wolfgang endures a long espousal of bullshit from Frank, insisting that he is the most reasonable individual he has met since arriving in Poep. After a few minutes of conversing though, Frank seems to forget where he is, and introduces himself afresh. The other players emerge from Shelley's shop and decide it is time to get back to Woolly Way.
Ahgaliandriel, Wolfgang and Seigfried return to the farm shortly before dinner. Wolfgang demands a private conversation with Sidric. He leads him outside and, it not so tactful manner expresses the opinion that there is something very wrong with Sidric's children, and that they could benefit from some extra support - from the village clergy or otherwise. Sidric at first reacts angrily, but as Wolfgang's sincere desire to help becomes evident, the anger slides away into sadness. He says he'll think about it and the pair returns to the dinner table where the rest of the family, and players, are assembling. Just as Wolfgang is about to take his seat, Anki seems to mouth the words 'thank you' to Wolfgang, in a manner quite unlike her usual jerky interactions.
Dinner is a somewhat awkward, but overall a pleasant affair. Sidric asks the players about their lives in Marienburg, and the players meet the last two siblings - Francisca and Sylphie. Physically these sisters are very different, but their attitude towards the players is the same. Both are the image of disinterested teens, responding to questions with the absolute minimum required effort, and expressing interest in things only gothic teenage girls would want to talk about. They are, in short, moody as hell and only interested in finishing their dinner so they can return to their bedroom.
Following dinner the players spend a while swapping information and developing a plan to catch the sheep thief. They split up in a complicated manner that they hope will give them vantage over the entire back fence (the side meeting the forest) of the property. Some players go into the barn to watch from the loft, and the rest split up to guard the two breaks in the fence. Seraphine stayed in the farmhouse to 'protect the family,’ but really she seemed suspicious of Sylphie and Francisca and wanted to ensure they did not leave the house.
Hours pass, and the players struggle to resist falling asleep. Most of the players are able to endure until midnight, when the thieves appear. Wolfgang snoozes lightly for a few inconsequential rounds, and only Garfield falls into a deep sleep. While the rest of the players fight strange bestial shapes in the dark, Garfield is transported into an ethereal, seemingly endless corridor with many doors. Entering a few of them reveal strange, disconnected scenes. One is a primary school classroom another, scenes of pure carnage. Eventually a set of stairs reveal themselves to him. Ascending the stairs Garfield witnesses what really happened to Elyn (Sidric's wife and the children's mother). During a wicked storm she rushes to the barn to calm the animals, who are disquieted by the storm’s thunder. On her way there she is struck by a falling tree, her head receives a nasty wound and she bleeds out in the rain. The family, who were stuck in the village during the storm, do not find her for many hours. After witnessing this scene Garfield is again faced with a set of stairs. After ascending these he meets a woman chained by the ankle to a chair in a bare room. It is Elyn. He tries to help her, but she insists that she can only be helped from outside, and repeatedly asks him to help her children.
Meanwhile the rest of the party have been engaged in a long and fruitless combat against what turns out to be sheep-men. These beasts are more concerned with stealing the sheep than fighting the players, and eventually flee into the forest. The party follows. This is where the tone of the game started to unravel for me. Everything became a lot darker than I had envisioned.
The players lose the sheep-men the forest, but notice a strange fog which leads them to a horrifying site. A circle of clearly chaotically possessed teenagers are milling about an altar over which some kind of demonic talisman hovers. The ringleaders are familiar to Ahgaliandriel, Wolfgang and Siegfried – they were amongst the teenagers Wolfgang spoke to in Poep. Alistair seemed to have demonic horns sprouting from his head, and is even more prepared to fight than before. Beatrice, the female leader, seems to flitter and change before the players eyes as she talked. Amongst the other teenagers are Sylphie and Francisca. This is what Elyn meant when she asked Garfield to save her children. Speaking of Garfield, up until this point he had still been split up from the rest of the party. While the rest of the players encounter this grisly scene, and are ineffectually debating what to do, Garfield is dropped back into reality, behind the altar. Clearly perceiving it to be the source of chaos, he smashes it quickly. All of the teens, apart from the two leaders, fall to the ground unmoving. Alistair and Beatrice continue to advance.
The
players seemed to feel that they had little choice but to cut them down. This
was a frustrating –I had hoped that this scene would have clear diplomatic
option - slaughtering all the teenagers should not have been the obvious
option. Unfortunately, those players who were undecided about the situation, or
were leaning towards reasoning with the cult were overpowered by those who
wanted to attack. The ringleaders were hopelessly outnumbered and, despite
their chaotic powers, were taken down quickly but it was a gory display. As
some of the teenagers began to wake up lost and confused, the carnage upsets
them even further. Safe to say it was a day none of them are likely to forget.
At a loss as to what to do with all these blubbering children, the kindest of
the party convince the rest to bring them back to the farm house. The players
were now in the uncomfortable position of being responsible for a band of
emotionally traumatised teenagers, most of who were sitting on the forest
floor, crying like babies.
On their way back to the farm, the players notice that several of the sheep are sporting strange disfigurements. The sheep-men appear to have returned to their original state. Returning to the farmhouse Sidric is outraged with what the players have done. He refuses to believe that there could be a cult in Poep, and is at a total loss as to what to do. After a lot of arguing, and a lot of extreme suggestions – including burning down all of Poep – Ahgaliandriel leads the party to a more peaceful solution. Instead of condemning these corrupted souls, she volunteers to take them back to the Shallyan temple in Marienburg in the hope of rehabilitating them. Sidric is disgusted at what has happened, and Anki, Villianda and Bart look on forlornly as their sisters are taken away from them forever.
As the party traipses down the long drive, leaving Woolly Way, some glance back. In the second storey window of the farmhouse is the ghost of Elyn. She looks gaunt and exhausted, and as though she will not be leaving any time soon.
Congratulations to you if you managed to read all of that! I will be back soon with Part 3, which will evaluate how I feel the session went, and the many areas I learned I need to improve on. You will also discover the secrets of the session – namely, what the players were meant to do to succeed.
On their way back to the farm, the players notice that several of the sheep are sporting strange disfigurements. The sheep-men appear to have returned to their original state. Returning to the farmhouse Sidric is outraged with what the players have done. He refuses to believe that there could be a cult in Poep, and is at a total loss as to what to do. After a lot of arguing, and a lot of extreme suggestions – including burning down all of Poep – Ahgaliandriel leads the party to a more peaceful solution. Instead of condemning these corrupted souls, she volunteers to take them back to the Shallyan temple in Marienburg in the hope of rehabilitating them. Sidric is disgusted at what has happened, and Anki, Villianda and Bart look on forlornly as their sisters are taken away from them forever.
As the party traipses down the long drive, leaving Woolly Way, some glance back. In the second storey window of the farmhouse is the ghost of Elyn. She looks gaunt and exhausted, and as though she will not be leaving any time soon.
Congratulations to you if you managed to read all of that! I will be back soon with Part 3, which will evaluate how I feel the session went, and the many areas I learned I need to improve on. You will also discover the secrets of the session – namely, what the players were meant to do to succeed.
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