Just a little update however…
In the last Realms of Cthulhu adventure (after “Anarchy in the Ukraine”) the group was contacted by Bartholemew Ronson (The London Bank Manager from “Dueling Necros”). He bid them to travel to London at their earliest possible convenience to meet with him. Upon their arrival they found his house on fire and, after sending the cab off to summon the fire brigade, ran around back to find Mr. Ronson being dragged off by some masked cultist types.
Our Heroes rush to the aid of Mr. Ronson.
The Cultists were all slain and hidden in the bushes at the back to the property until the fire brigade was finished.
Some occult tomes were recovered from the secret cellar deep under the ruins of Mr. Ronson’s mansion.
I can’t remember what happened after that.
The last couple Savage Saturdays I didn’t have anything ready for another Cthulhu adventure so we played a coupel Fantasy games.
First we made some characters using the Fantasy Character Generator Toolkit to make some completely random characters. While this is fun, and it does a really good job of fleshing out a character background in a way that most players are too lazy or lack the imagination to do, it often makes characters that are virtually unplayable – and even harder to come up with an appropriate figures for!!
Here’s what everyone came up with…
Jerrot “the Hawk” Twoflowers (John)
Ag d10, Sm d6, Sp d4, St d6, Vg d4,
Pace 6, Parry 2, Toughness 4, Charisma -4
Skills: Shooting d4, Notice d10, Stealth d10, Persuasion d8, Lockpicking d8, Climbing d8, Streetwise d6, Riding d4
Edges: Low-Light Vision, Strong Willed
Hindrances: Overconfident, Loyal, Phobia (Major-Stairs), Very Ugly, Enemy
Gear: clothes, backpack, blanket, lockpicks, flask, Dagger (str+d4), Bow (Range: 12/24/48, ROF 1, Damage: 2d6)
The Hawk (Jerrot Twoflower) is an adult elf. He has strawberry blond hair and brown eyes. He is otherwise pretty average – other than the fact that he is fuckugly.
His parents were powerful merchants who owned three stores in the capitol city. Their family had residedt there since the very founding of the city untold generations ago. Jerrot’s dad is alive but going a little funny in the head, and his mother is also in poor health. While his mother treats him fairly his father thinks him a disgrace. Jerrot had two younger siblings. He has a sister (only 10 years younger) who is terribly jealous of him. He also had a brother who was about 30 years younger, but died in a work related accident (took up with a human and became a traveling merchant, fell off wagon and got run over).
In his youth Jerrot tried to make up for his lack of fine physical features with a charming personality (+persuasion). He was also very good at Hide and Seek (+notice and stealth). He somehow also developed a frightful fear of… stairs (fell down them a few too many times…?)
During his adolescence fell in with a bad crowd and became a petty thief (+lock pick and stealth, may become thief). He became very good at what he did (overconfident), and was fiercely loyal to his friends (loyal).
Theiving seemed more interesting than working in his parents shop so he continued his nefarious teenage hobbies as a profession. He mostly flitted about the city pulling off minor jobs, and tried his hand at being a highwayman. At some point he robbed the wrong person who swore he’d see Jerrot hanged (Enemy – Male, half-orc, entertainer, seasoned, leader of a small group - 2d6 followers – will attempt to kill Jerrot)
Ilesha (Brenda)
Ag d8, Sm d6, Sp d6, St d6, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 5(7)
Skills: Fighting d6, Shooting d4, Notice d4, Persuasion d6, Knowledge (geography) d4, Intimidation d6, Knowledge (Law) d6, Streetwise d6
Edges: Low-light vision, Berserker
Hindrances: Bad Temper, Young, Outsider, Major Delusion (I am the captain of the city guard)
Gear: Clothes, Chain hauberk, Backpack, bedroll, blanker, canteen, flint an steel, handcuffs, rope, Shortsword (Str+d6)
Ilesha is a spirited young half-elf girl of 12 or so… She is bald and has red eyes(!?). She is Jerrot’s niece.
Her parents were powerful traveling merchant/traders. Her dad (Jerrot’s younger brother) fell off one of the family’s wagons and was run over and died. Her mother is alive and well but is struggling to keep the family business going while raising seven children. Ilesha has two older sisters One treats her well, while the other ignores her. She also have four younger brothers. Three are alive and well and treat her fairly, the thirs was sold into slavery…!?
The family operates from a large village surrounded by farmland. They mostly brought farm goods to the city and returned with goods for the regions farmers.
Ilesha was an angry child, when bullies tried to steal her toys the red mist descended (berserk). A strange old man once told her she’d have a glorious career (+1 roll on professional table – so…one roll… as , being a youngster she would have none…).
As she entered her adolescence she was sent to the city to live with the elf side of her family as her mother could not handle her any more. Upon her arrival in the city she decided she was the new captain of the city guard…
(yeah… okay this is how it worked… despite being a “youngster” and having no rolls on the profession tables I let her roll for a career and gave her the basic career package; she became a City Guard. Then I gave her the one roll on the professional table – from the “strange old man” event in her childhood. She rolled 99; “Promoted to Captain”… as she had also rolled a “Major Delusion” on her sole roll on the adolescence table we dicided that she, in fact, believed herself to be the captain of the city guard and wandered around the city inspecting and giving orders to all the guardsmen – the guardsmen, of course, humor her most of the time, thinking it rather hilarious…)
Brother Tobias
Ag d4, Sm d8, Sp d8, St d8, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 2, Toughness 5
Skills: Throwing d6, Knowledge (Battle) d4, Knowledge (Religion) d6, Intimidation d4, Climbing d4, Healing d8, Persuasion d4, Faith d10
Edges: Secret Friend (Trow King), Arcane Background (Miracles), Healer, Power Points x2
Hindrances: Enem, Cautious, vow (pray five times a day)
Gear: Clothing, prayer mat, 2x Throwing Axes (3/6/12, Str+d6), Backpack, bedroll, blanker, waterskin, flint an steel, candle, soap, torch, food
Brother Tobias is a middle-aged human with red hair and brown eyes.
He grew up in a large village in the hills. His family had only recently settled there having fled their ancestral homelands due to political upheaval. His father had been an officer in a unit of Light Infantry loyal to the king who was deposed. He has recently returned to his homeland to fight against the tyrant and has not been heard from since.
Brother Tobias mother alive and in poor health and thinks Tobias a disgrace (perhaps for not going along with his foather…?). He has five siblings. An older sister (by two years) wh o ignores Tobias), a sister less than a year younger who left home some time ago, but had always taken an interest in Toias. He had one brother, a year and a half younger, who dies of the plague. He has two other younger sister,s 2 and 4 years younger, the elder physically bullies tobias, while the younger takes great interest in him and all that he does.
A god (of healing) called tobias to serve him at an early age (may become priest, lots of bonuses). In his spare time he used to climb trees that were too high for his friends (+climbing). A strnge old man also paid him a visit to proclaim he would have a glorious career (+roll on professional table)
In his teenage years he was accepted by a knight as a squire (not skill bonus but had the option of becoming a knight..). At one point he thought he’d fallen in love and eloped. After a couple weeks he grew bored and sent her home. Her father has never forgiven Tobias and wants revenge (Enemy – Mercenary- Cavalry, Seasoned, DWARF(!?), swears to kill family). Afterwards he realized he should think before he acted (cautious). He also made friends with a Trow King. It swore Tobias to secrecy and he never broke that promise. The Trow King remains friendly to this day.
Tobias became a Novitiate in the church of the god of healing… He had strong faith (+Power Points). He became a full priest (+Spirit, Faith, healing, Knowledge). He took a major vow (to pray five times a day), Received a blessing… was strong in the lord… bla-bla-bla… oh, and then he became the member of s secret society… “The Faithful” a sect of hard-core believers in a diety (at first I thought it’d automatically be the diety that he is already a priest in… but, oh no! “If the character is a priest and rolls a different diety, he is a turncoat to haid faith (not the sect). The Faithful perform acts of intimidation against priests of rival gods and despoil their temples”… and so he became a member of The Faithful… for the God of Death…
yeah…
We decided that Brother Tobias was the cousin of
Anyway I made a character for myself for fun…
Nelwyn Darkleaf
Ag d10, Sm d8, Sp d4, St d6, Vg d4,
Pace 6, Parry 4, Toughness 3
Skills: Fighting d4, Shooting d10, Notice d6, Stealth d6, Knowledge (silversmith)d6, Gambling d4, lockpick d4, Streetwise d6, Tracking d6
Edges: Jack of all Trades, Ally
Hindrances: Small, Cautious, Minor vengeful, Enemy, Minor “vow”
Gear: Clothes, Cloak, Quiver, Arrows (20), Bow (Range: 12/24/48, ROF1, Damage: 2d6)
Nelwyn Darkleaf is a smallish adult half-elf. He has platinum blond hair and dark blue eyes, and a perpetually reddish nose…?
He comes from a family of silversmiths that lived in a small village in the jungle…? They have lived there since the dawn of time.
Nelwyn’s dad is alive and well and treats him fairly. His mom, also alive and well, more or less ignores him. He also has three sisters. An older one that hates him, one that’s about the same age that worships him and a younger one that “left home” and no one has any idea where she’s gotten to, who used to always tattle on Nelwyn.
While not a super genious, Nelwyn certainly showed an amazing ability to recount facts his parents never knew he had ever learned (“Lesser Prodigy” - Jack of all Trades). A foolish dare almost got him killed, however, and he quickly learned to look before he leaped (cautious). When someone picked on him or stole his toys he never cried or grassed on them. He got even (Minor Vengeful)
In his adolescence he turned out to be a bit of a book-learner, reading a smuch as he could (+smarts). He and a friend swore to remain friends forever, becoming “blood brothers” (Ally – Female, Halfling, bounty Hunter, Heroic)!? His father let Nelwyn accompany him to the tavern where he took up with some ill-favoured sorts (+gambling)
One thing led to another and somehow Nelwyn moved to the capitol and became an Assassin!? He started out in surveillance (+notice, streetwise, tracking) but then had an opportunity for a Big Hit , unfortunately the mark had powerful friends (Enemy – Assassin, seasoned, Human, male, leader of large group – 5d6 – out to kill Nelwyn…). Things went from bad to worse after that. He assassinated a Druid and the God of Nature took offense – Nelwyn can not sleep outdoors (equivaent to a vow – gains level of fatigue – presumably he is harassed by birds and squirrels and instest if he tries to do so and thus cannot – gaining him the level of fatigue…). At some point along the road he grew a conscience and had a change of heart and decided to become a… City Guard… further rolls on the professional table would have been on that one… but I didn’t have anymore – ti did however give me a reason for knowing one other member of the group – the CAPTIAN of the City Guard of course!!
That night we played a quick encounter. I said Nelwyn, through his contacts, had found out that a group od assassins, disguised as City Guard, were going to assassinate a visiting dignitary… He wormed his way into the dignitaries personal guard detail…
They were unsure who the other assassins were or when they would strike, to they had to follow the dignitaries around.
Turns out it was the guys out front…. Before the group could do anything the Dignitaries wife and personal body guard were down.
The whole group jumped in and took out the assassins saving the dignitary.
Here is “The Hawk’s Journal” entry on the evenings shenanigans (submitted to me by John):
The day dawn brisk and clear, I was in my usual perch, high atop a building. I was both vigilant and planning, always planning, for my next job.
I am still unsure of my niece Alisha, or her cousin, the priest. Her eyes seem to be glowing angry and red all the time (note to self, get her checked for pinkeye), she also claims to be captain of the guard, but she wears no tabard and her "office" is the shed behind our home. The priest seems to spend all his time on his knees... praying. The next thing I suppose is the priest will claim to be the God of Thunder. The other one is Nelwyn, the midget, he is a mixture of dangerous like a rattlesnake and skittish like a newborn colt, a bad combination for a city guard. I think, based on his looks, he tends to spend too much time in the wine. It appears my job will be to protect them all, a job I do not take gladly. The Hawk was born to fly solo.
The Hawk has heard rumblings of an assassination attempt on the Ilien Ambassador's life, I guess it will be up to me to protect him as well. I set up my forces, with three pikeman on the ground in front of him, the Ambassador, his wife and his security guard together. Behind them I station the bowmen, Alisha and the midget. Tobias brings up the rear, struggling to keep up, because he needs to pray every 3 minutes.The Hawk soars above, on a building. It is hot out here, hot and dirty, but I fear the work will get hotter and dirtier before too long because too late, I realise that the three pikeman are all assassins!
They strike before I am able to warn my team, killing the ambassador's wife, and his body guard. The fight commences, my bow whistles and critically wounds one, to be kill by another bowman. The ambassador wounds one, and Alisha kills him with a lucky shot. I almost have another one as my bow sings death again, Fie these men are tough, and Alisha kills the one I had severely wounded. The midget meanwhile tags one with a lucky shot but it must have only hit his cape as he is attacked again immediately. The midget and the crossbowman tag team the final assassin and the Amabssador is safe for now. I instruct the priest, Alisha and Nelwyn to guard the ambassador while I fade into the background. The Hawk needs no recognition, he only does what must be done.
THE NEXT WEEK
The Game Room still being in a state of… um… reorganization… and me still not having anything prepared for our Cthulhu campaign… I ran another little fantasy skirmish scenario.
This week Christian also made it. He also rolled up a random character… I can’t be bothered to type out another right now…
For the encounter I had the others wandering down a dark alley when Nelwyn Darkleaf came skittering around the corner. He ran up to them and said “Thank goodness I found you! You have to help me!” Before they could do anything 5d6 ninjas came following him around the corner
The gang
I think Nelwyn was killed….
Surprisingly none of the others were. I had kind of thought it’d be a party-kill encounter and I could have them all make new character for Rokugan and rekindle my Legends of the Five Rings campaign… The feeling has past, however, and after taking this past Saturday off, I’m hoping next week they’ll be back battling cosmic horror in the 1920s!
