DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 30B: Golems & Ghouls

As Agnarr leapt into their midst, he could see one of them peeling flesh from its own arm and chewing on it.

“They’re eating themselves?!” Agnarr could hear Elestra’s horrified gasp from behind him, but he paid it little heed as he hacked his way through the ghouls.

For a moment it seemed as if Agnarr would dispatch them all – his flaming blade tore easily through their frail frames. But then the last of them leapt suddenly upon him and got its teeth into him.

This might be a little early to talk about this, but over the rest of this session and the next few sessions you’re going to see a lot of horrific beasties and strange curses get unleashed in the Banewarrens, by both the PCs and NPCs.

Something you’ll notice (albeit not with these ghouls), that most of these banes will either (a) attempt to flee after engaging the PCs or (b) target someone other than the PCs as their first (or subsequent) action. This, of course, creates long-running problems for the PCs, as they deal with the consequences of these ancient evils breaking loose into Ptolus or just wreaking havoc on their allies.

This is, of course, thematically appropriate for the Banewarrens, which were originally built to lock all of these banes away from the world; sealing them in a prison from which they were never meant to escape. Whether you agree with the Banelord’s belief that there’s a Principle of the Conservation of Evil that the universe abides by or not, there’s little question that mucking around down there not only risks releasing a whole bunch of evil stuff, but also a whole armada of ethical questions about your responsibility for having done so.

But this also reflects a broader GMing tenet I believe in: Spray your bullets.

What I mean by this is that when we think about releasing something into our campaign, we have a tendency to think about it strictly in terms of how it might intersect and affect the PCs: There’s a phase-shifting troll loose in the Banewarrens, when will it attack the party?

In other words, we aim it very precisely at the PCs.

This makes a lot of sense, because, of course, the other players are sitting at the table with us. Our entire focus is on continually generating and communicating the fictional game space for them to take their actions in. So there’s an obvious predilection, whenever something might happen in the game world, for us to aim it at the PCs. It’s target fixation.

What I’m suggesting is that, when we shoot stuff into the campaign, we should get a little sloppier with our aim: Don’t just hit the PCs. Start hitting stuff all around them. Their friends, their allies, innocent bystanders, even their enemies. To continue our metaphor, let stuff ricochet around a little bit and see what happens.

The ricochet is actually quite important, though, because if stuff happens and the players never learn about it (or its consequences), then it’s probably wasted prep. So you want to have stuff impact things around the PCs, but then you want the consequences of that to ricochet into the PCs: they read the newspaper headlines, they find the body, their friend calls them for help.

The benefit, of course, is that this makes the game feel more dynamic and believable: The PCs aren’t the only people who exist, moving through a world of shadow puppets. Instead, the world is filled with people who seem to be living lives of their own.

And this will also mean, when the bullets in question are being shot in response to the PCs’ actions, that their choices will become even more meaningful.

Campaign Journal: Session 30C – Running the Campaign: Honor Choice with Judo
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

SESSION 30B: GOLEMS & GHOULS

September 20th, 2008
The 16th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

The rest of the group returned to the Banewarrens. They had not yet finished exploring the farthest reaches of the complex and, since they had nothing better to do while guarding the door, they decided to finish their sweep.

Opening the last of the unopened doors leading out of the generator room, they looked into a wide hall leading to another of the rune-encrusted and warded doors. In the center of the hall, a 12-foot-tall statue of a helmed warrior, made out of interlocking metal plates, stood like a vigilant guard. Patches of rust could be seen on it here and there.

Fearing that it might be a golem or, failing that, some other sort of trap, Tee entered the hall cautiously. Unfortunately, her caution was in vain. Scarcely had she crossed the threshold before the statue suddenly leapt into motion, charging down the length of the hall and slamming its heavy iron fists into her chest.

Tee was thrown back by the ferocious blow. Her head smashed against the wall and she slid to the ground, slumping into unconsciousness.

In some ways, however, this proved fortunate for her. No sooner had the iron golem delivered its tremendous blow than it was seized with a violent vibration which shuddered through its iron plates. A moment later a pulse of magical force burst from it – catching Agnarr in mid-stride as he rushed towards it with his sword drawn and throwing him backwards with a muscle-rending jolt.

And then it simply fell apart. From the seams of its broken form a strange substance poured like thick syrup, glowing with a strange blue light that seemed to sear the retina.

Dominic, with a rush of concern, dashed to Tee’s side. But she hadn’t been badly hurt. In fact, he was able to rouse her easily.

Agnarr had scrambled back to his feet and backed cautiously away from the oozing heap of misjointed metal. Tee, in frustration, gave the heap a spiteful kick and—

It exploded in a hail of semi-molten metal. Shards of the former golem embedded themselves deeply into the walls of the chamber.

Tee spent the next several minutes with Dominic prying shards of metal from her arms and legs.

THE TALE OF A TRAITOR KNIGHT

“What?” Tor gaped.

“It’s true. Kabel and several other traitorous knights attacked the Cathedral. They were driven back and the Godskeep was shut against them.”

“What happened to Kabel? Was he killed?”

“No. He and several of the other traitors managed to escape. Sir Gemmell is pursuing them now.”

The knights loyal to Rehobath and Sir Gemmell were wearing red sashes to identify themselves. (“Red for the novarch’s robes,” the knight explained.) Kalerecent took one and Tor, keeping his private reservations to himself, did as well.

Kalerecent was uncertain what they should do: The Godskeep had been ordered shut until Sir Gemmell’s return, which meant that Rasnir’s body couldn’t be brought into the chapel. “Nor do I want him to lay here on this common field where his blood might mix with the blood of traitors.”

Tor explained that Rehobath himself was interested in the Banewarrens. He felt that they should report directly to him.

But when they tried to reach him, they found themselves stymied by the bureaucracy of the Cathedral. They were eventually escorted to a small antechamber within the Cathedral by one of the priests and told to wait.

They did so patiently and, in due time, Brother Heth Neferul arrived. Tor and Kalerecent quickly told their tales of the Banewarrens. When Heth was satisfied, he asked them to wait again and turned to leave.

“A moment, please,” Tor said.

Heth turned back to him. “Yes?”

Tor chose his words carefully. “We were told of Sir Kabel’s betrayal. I have reason to believe that he may have been… compelled in this treachery by the recent chaotic events that have been happening throughout Ptolus.”

“You believe he may not have been in his right mind?”

“It’s a possibility,” Tor said. “I have found Kabel to be a loyal and honorable man. There would need to be some reason for him to do what he has done.”

“I see.” Heth nodded. “I will mention this to Sir Gemmell.”

He turned and left them alone.

THE FLESH-FEASTING GHOULS

Tee broke the seal on the door that the malfunctioning golem had been guarding. Then she stepped back and waved Agnarr into position.

Agnarr opened the door. Beyond it he saw a long chamber of dust-ridden stone. Near the center of the chamber, also covered in thick, choking dust, crouched four corpse-like ghouls, their skin blackened with bruises of dead, coagulated blood. At the sudden motion of the door in their ancient prison, the ghouls turned with creaking suddenness – staring hungrily with their black, pulsing eyes; their dry, parched mouths hanging open to reveal countless, needle-like teeth.

The moment hung for an instant, and then the ghouls burst into motion with horrible speed – their ancient limbs casting up clouds of dust as they bounded towards the open door.

Agnarr slammed it in their faces.

They took a moment to gather themselves. Agnarr could hear the ghouls snuffling around on the opposite side of the door, but he waited until he had met the eyes of his companions and made sure that they were ready.

Then he smashed the door open again. The heavy iron caved in the skull of one of the ghouls. As Agnarr leapt into their midst, he could see one of them peeling flesh from its own arm and chewing on it.

“They’re eating themselves?!” Agnarr could hear Elestra’s horrified gasp from behind him, but he paid it little heed as he hacked his way through the ghouls.

For a moment it seemed as if Agnarr would dispatch them all – his flaming blade tore easily through their frail frames. But then the last of them leapt suddenly upon him and got its teeth into him.

The thing’s poison rushed into the barbarian’s veins. Agnarr felt his joints lock almost instantly and he fell with a heavy thud to the floor. The ghoul was upon him in an instant, tearing gouges of flesh out of his back and feasting upon them.

The ghoul was so lost in its blood-lust that it scarcely seemed to notice when Dominic caved in its skull with his mace.

Dominic managed to get Agnarr back on his feet and used his holy powers to purge any remnants of disease from the wounds on his back.

They decided that it would be better to wait for Tor to return before continuing their explorations. There had been a moment of true fear when they had seen Agnarr felled. Having Tor’s blade would make them all feel safer.

They retreated back to the room that Kalerecent had been holed up in, thinking it to be fairly defensible, and settled down to wait.

THE AFFAIRS OF THE CHURCH

Brother Heth Neferul returned with Rehobath, Sister Mara, and Brother Thad.

Thad quickly crossed to Tor and shook his hand enthusiastically. “Master Tor! Such an honor to see you again! Whenever I think of the important work you’re doing… And to travel with the Chosen of Vehthyl! It must be such an hon—“

“Brother Thad.” Rehobath’s cold voice sliced through the young priest’s ebullience. “Sir Kalerecent and Master Tor. I am glad to see you both. Brother Neferul has told me all that you have told him. I am sorry to be so brief with you, but – as you know – there are other affairs demanding my time.”

“Yes, of course,” Tor said.

“Brother Thad believes he may be of some help,” Heth said.

Thad nodded eagerly. “Yes. Of course. While the known lore of the Banewarrens is quite limited – even within the Archives of the Church – and divinations have proven quite limited, now that you have access to the actual contents of at least part of the Banewarrens its possible that certain rituals might prove useful.”

He pulled a scroll from his robes. “This scroll describes an arcane ritual. If Master Ranthir were to perform it in front of the sealed door, it should reveal its secrets. It might even reveal how such a door could be opened.”

“Do we want to open the door?” Tor asked.

“It’s more important than ever that we recover the Sword of Crissa,” Rehobath said. “The troubles of today reveal the deep schism within our faith. With the Sword in our hand we would have a powerful symbol to unify those who have lost faith in the Gods.”

“I’m still worried by these reports of the others seeking to gain access to the Banewarrens,” Sister Mara said. “I think we need to use the Order of the Dawn to secure the entrance.”

“That’s a mistake,” Heth said. “We don’t want to draw undue attention to the site. Besides, Master Tor and his friends have already taken care of those responsible.”

“There may be others.”

“There may be,” Rehobath said. “But in light of our… recent troubles, I think it would be unwise to divide the strength of our Order until certain dangers have been properly dealt with.”

“I will return to that place and stand guard,” Kalerecent said. “I swore an oath by the side of my squire that I would not rest until that evil had been laid to rest. I ask only that I be given an hour to stand vigil by the side of Rasnir’s body. It waits not far from here.”

Rehobath nodded. “So it shall be. And I shall see to it that leave is given for Rasnir’s body to rest in the chapel of the Godskeep.”

Kalerecent knelt and kissed the ring of the novarch.

When the church leaders had left, Tor returned with Kalerecent to the carriage where they had left Rasnir’s body. They carried it to the chapel in the Godskeep and Tor left Kalerecent there, praying over Rasnir’s body.

Running the Campaign: Spray Your Bullets  – Campaign Journal: Session 30C
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 30A: The Breaking of the Dawn

The red-sashed knight approached with his sword drawn. Tor and Kalerecent stood calmly, careful to give no cause for alarm. As the knight drew nearer they raised their hands and displayed their rings. The knight relaxed slightly, but kept his blade on guard.

“What happened here?” Tor asked.

“Sir Kabel attempted to assassinate the Novarch.”

If I could only give one tip to GMs about pacing in RPGs, it would be to do a cliffhanger every single time the opportunity presents itself. It’s virtually impossible to have too many of them.

We’ve previously discussed cliffhangers at the end of sessions, but here we have a cliffhanger happening in the middle of a session. This is made possible by the fact that the players have split the party: If they were all together, I wouldn’t be able to cut away from Tor immediately after delivering the shocking news that Sir Kabel has attempted to assassinate the Novarch.

This is one of the primary reasons why, in The Art of Pacing, I described splitting the party as pacing on easy mode: There are just so many extra tools you have at your disposal as soon as the PCs are no longer all together in the same scene.

The trick, of course, is getting the PCs to split up in the first place, particularly when “don’t split the party” has become such a maxim in RPG fandom.

The key to this is that the PCs need to have multiple desires which cannot be resolved sequentially (i.e., they either have to both be done right now, or they can’t be done or become much more difficult to do). This tends to rather difficult to pull off with a linear adventure, but often happens all the time and with little or no effort with non-linear scenarios that you’re actively playing.

In this case, of course, the PCs want to both help Kalerecent take Rasnir’s body to the Godskeep AND keep the Banewarrens securely guarded. They can’t be in two places at the same time, and so splitting the party becomes inevitable.

CAMPAIGN COLLISION

What happens over the next session and a half is one of my favorite moments form the entire campaign. And the fact that it kicks off with this scene — of two knights of the Order of the Dawn bearing the body of their dead comrade home at the very moment that the Order is breaking in a bloody conflict — is, if I may say so, about as perfect as one could hope for.

Which is why it’s so interesting that I didn’t plan for any of this happen.

Let’s peel back the curtain here and take a closer look at how this played out.

First, as I’ve previously discussed a bit, the schisming of the Imperial Church was intended to play out as a background event. It was intended to add some depth and flavor to the campaign world in a way that was, at best, tangentially related to what the PCs were doing.

But Dominic unexpectedly presented himself to Rehobath as the Chosen of Vehthyl, which allowed Rehobath to move up his timetable and declare himself Novarch several weeks earlier than I’d expected. And then Tor ended up getting squired in the Order of the Dawn, placing two of the PCs at basically ground zero.

The schism was now very much onstage.

Second, I had keyed the Breaking of the Dawn — in which Sir Kabel gathered loyalists within the Order at the tournament field north of Ptolus to arrange the arrest of the “False Novarch,” only to be betrayed by Sir Gemmell — to my campaign status document as a timed event: It was going to take place at a specific date and time.

Third, Tor — completely oblivious to this — made plans to take Iltumar the would-be hero to the tournament field and do some practice swordplay with him in an effort to give his aspirations a path that didn’t lead straight to the chaos cults. By sheer coincidence, Tor scheduled this training excursion with Iltumar at the exact same time Sir Kabel was going to be at the tournament field.

This prompted me to prep the events of the Breaking of the Dawn in much more detail — basically as a mini-scenario, since it now seemed quite likely that Tor would be directly involved. But then the evolving situation with the Banewarrens caused Tor to cancel his plans with Iltumar!

Regardless, the Breaking of the Dawn was still keyed temporally.

The fourth element here, of course, is Kalerecent. Rather than being keyed to a specific time, Kalerecent was keyed in a status quo: Whenever the PCs arrived at the Banewarrens, he would be waiting with Rasnir’s corpse. (A sufficiently long delay in the PCs reaching the Banewarrens, or if they had come to the Banewarrens and then left again before actually meeting Kalerecent, might have changed that. But that’s purely hypothetical since it didn’t play out that way.)

So in my prep notes, these two things — Kalerecent wanting to take Rasnir’s body back to the Godskeep after being assured that the Banewarrens were secure and the Breaking of the Dawn — were completely unrelated to each other. It was entirely coincidental that things played out this way. And, in fact, it’s quite easy to imagine a scenario in which:

• none of the PCs chose to accompany Kalerecent;
• Tor stayed in the Banewarrens (“as a fellow member of the Order, I’ll take up your oath, Kalerecent, until you can return”) while some other group of PCs accompanied Kalerecent;
• the PCs screwed up and the Pactlords killed Kalerecent when they returned to the Banewarrens;

or any number of other possibilities.

That’s really the beauty of prepping scenarios that can be actively played: You never know how all of your disparate toys will come together to create something of astonishing and unexpected beauty.

Campaign Journal: Session 30B – Running the Campaign: Spray Your Bullets
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

SESSION 30A: THE BREAKING OF THE DAWN

October 12th, 2008
The 16th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

Agnarr beat on the wall where the umber hulk had disappeared.

“Maybe it’s gone away to die,” Elestra suggested.

Agnarr took small comfort from that small hope, but pursuit was impossible and they didn’t dare to go any deeper into these unknown caverns in their current state. Nursing their wounds, they retreated back towards the Banewarrens.

When they returned to where Kalerecent was waiting for them, they found him with his sword drawn. Seeing that it was them, he sheathed his sword and hailed them. He had heard the sounds of combat and been worried for their fortunes.

They described their encounter with the lamia, the arrival of the reinforcements wearing bone rings, and their eventual triumph. Kalerecent nodded. “I’m not sure how many goblins there were, but I think you’ve disposed of those I fought before.”

“Except for the green-skinned crone who went through the door,” Ranthir said.

“Yes. Except for her.” Kalerecent’s face was grim.

But with the other creatures slain, Kalerecent felt the complex was secure enough that he was willing to return to the surface with Rasnir’s body… as long as some sort of watch was kept on the door. Tor had sworn himself to help Kalerecent in bearing Rasnir back to the Godskeep, but the others agreed to stay behind and keep a watch over the Banewarrens.

Kalerecent carried the body himself. Tor walked at his side. The others came as far as the mansion before bidding them goodbye.

Once Kalerecent was out of earshot, they returned to the closet where they had left the orc woman tied up. Yanking it open, they found her still bound and gagged inside.

They removed her gag and showed her the weapons and rings of her comrades. “We killed them,” Tee said. “We can kill you. Now tell us what you know.”

But the orc woman was reticent. She sneered. “You have only made it more certain that I will never speak to you.”

“Aren’t you speaking to us now?” Agnarr frowned.

Dominic leaned in close. “Can’t we speak to the dead?”

But the orc woman said nothing.

“I don’t think it’s working,” Elestra said.

“No, seriously, I’m asking: Can’t we speak to the dead?”

Tee gagged her again and shut the door.

THE GATES ARE SHUT

Kalerecent only had to carry Rasnir’s body as far as the Emperor’s Road. Once there, Tor was able to hail a carriage. (They had to pay the carriage driver a little extra to bear Rasnir’s body.)

They rode in silence down into the Temple District. As they were approaching the Street of a Million Gods, however, the carriage began to slow. They were still a few blocks away from the Cathedral.

Tor leaned out the window and looked up at the carriage driver. “What’s going on? Why are you stopping?”

“Some sort of disturbance, sir,” the carriage driver said. “We should be able to ride through, though.”

Tor could see it now: Clotted groups of people were streaming down the street in the opposite direction.

Kalerecent frowned. “I don’t like this.” He opened the door and stepped out of the carriage. To the driver he said, “Wait for us here. And guard the body of my friend with your life.” To Tor he said, “Are you coming?”

Tor nodded and climbed out of the carriage, as well. He tossed a few coins to the driver to “compensate for his pains” and followed Kalerecent down the street.

As they approached Discourse Street, the furrow of Kalerecent’s brow deepened. “The gates of the Godskeep have been shut.”

“Is that unusual?” Tor asked.

“I’ve been a knight of the Order for seven years. I’ve never seen them shut before.”

Something was wrong. Kalerecent led the way as they circled around towards the south gate of the keep. As they passed between two of the Cathedral’s outbuildings and emerged into the courtyard between the Cathedral and the Godskeep, they were met with a grisly sight: The south gate, too, had been shut and dozens of bloodied bodies were strewn across the grassy sward. Members of the Order wearing red sashes were moving between the bodies. Some where being healed… most of them were not.

Kalerecent stepped out into the open and Tor followed his lead. One of the red-sashed knights inspecting the corpses spotted them and stood up. “Halt!”

He approached with his sword drawn. Tor and Kalerecent stood calmly, careful to give no cause for alarm. As the knight drew nearer they raised their hands and displayed their rings. The knight relaxed slightly, but kept his blade on guard.

“What happened here?” Tor asked.

“Sir Kabel attempted to assassinate the Novarch.”

Running the Campaign: Cut on the Cliffhanger  – Campaign Journal: Session 30B
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 29C: Skirmish in the Cauldron

“Friends of that meddlesome paladin!” The minotaur turned back towards the northern passage. “Stop hiding like cowards! Attack!”

The minotaur dashed forward, quaffing a potion that caused him to suddenly blur with speed. Bunching his powerful leg muscles he leapt up onto the thick rim of the immense iron cauldron.

“They’re drinking our wealth away!” Tee cried, firing at the minotaur.

I’m a big fan of consumable magic items: Drink a potion, it’s gone. Use up the charges in a wand, it’s done. 5^th Edition D&D turning a bunch of consumable items into permanent items via recharging charges is somewhat inexplicable to me.

See, the great thing about a consumable item is that you can give it to the PCs with an almost completely clear conscience: If you give them a permanent item and it screws up game balance, then you’ve got a permanent problem. Miscalculate and give them a consumable item that’s more powerful than you thought it would be? It’s a self-correcting problem.

In fact, you can do this deliberately: Here’s an incredibly powerful item far beyond anything you’d normally be able to get your hands on. It can literally change the course of the entire campaign… but it’s only got one charge. Use it wisely.

(You’ll see some of these uber-powerful consumables show up in future sessions.)

Monte Cook’s Numenera is a game that leans in hard on consumables: A billion years in the future, cyphers are the enigmatic remnants of the mega-civilizations which lie between our own time and the neo-Renaissance of that far-flung epoch. All cyphers are consumables and the vast majority of them are one-use items. Furthermore, due to strange interactions between cyphers it’s very dangerous to carry more than a few of them, so you’re heavily motivated to use the stuff you’ve got so that you can pick up more.

It’s a fantastic mixture of lore and mechanic: The cyphers are constantly injecting a wild mixture of new abilities, keeping the game fresh and exciting.

Even when treasure hordes get larded with consumables, though, I too often see GMs ignore them during encounters. As you can see here, that’s not my philosophy: My bad guys will use their personal stockpile of consumables to best effect, which has the dual effect of (a) injecting them with unexpected abilities and (b) enraging players who are being blasted at the expense of their own reward!

But it’s a good rage: It motivates players to think strategically and strike hard to preserve “their” loot. It’s a very diegetic way of rewarding better performance with bigger rewards.

When I’ve set up an encounter, I actually enjoy rolling on some random magic item tables to generate one or two or a grab bag of consumables. It’s a great way to shake up an encounter and make it a unique experience: An elite squad of goblin commandos who suck down potions of giant strength are very different from the ones with potions of gaseous form or invisibility.

TANGENT: THEATER OF OPERATION

In Running the Campaign: Dungeon as Theater of Operations I talked about how you should stop thinking of an encounter as “belonging” to a specific room and instead start thinking of the dungeon as a holistic environment.

I mentioned that when you, as the GM, think about the dungeon this way and run encounters this way, that the players will also learn to think that way. And you can really see that in this session:

• The lamia flees from Area 11 to Area 10.
• NPC reinforcements arrive from Area 1.
• Agnarr is forced to flee down towards Area 17.
• Ranthir blocks the hallway between Area 10 and Area 17 to cut off the reinforcements.
• Later, Ranthir races up through Area 6 and into Area 3 to try to cut off the goblins’ escape.
• Missing some of them, he chases them through Area 1 and down the long hallway, while Tee also fetches up in Area 3 and takes out some of the other goblins.

This is an encounter that could have stayed locked to Area 11. Instead, it ranged across almost the entire dungeon level.

Campaign Journal: Session 30A – Running the Campaign: Cut on the Cliffhanger
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index