Thanks for the updates milkducks. Still fascinating even with the changes. I wonder, though, if the new DM will be as story driven as you were, or if he's more action minded. Both have their place of course, but his gloss over some of the changes make me wonder. And I wonder how your groupo will react.
It's hard to say what his style's going to be like at this point. A lot of the changes throughout the city are ones that I sat down and talked with him about; stuff that I thought was happening behind the scenes that was ready to come to out in the open. I agree that the story needs a little fleshing out. I get the impression that Akkarin maybe wants to take the group in another direction, and I can understand that. I'm totally fine with it, honestly. I think maybe he doesn't want to mess with the Strasa stuff I've written, and would maybe feel a little more comfortable once we get away from it, and start working on the story he's got in mind.
But it's too early to tell, at this point.
We haven't played for a while, and we actually won't be playing for another two weeks. School is back in session, and we've all just been really tied up. I've been using the downtime to produce content for my YouTube channel, which, at this point, is dedicated to Call of Duty. If you'd like to check it out, here's a link: www.youtube.com/user/THEmilkducks?featur... -- In the video, I go 118 kills and 6 deaths, and I talk a little bit about how people can avoid being stuck in the situation we've put the other team in, lol.
Anyways, check it out if you'd like. And remember to rate, comment, subscribe, and favourite! >.>
I'm incorporating Strasa into my ongoing campaign - and I thought I would share this intro I wrote up to try and capture the flavour of the City. It is incomplete - unfortunately I left a section of the write-up at home, but this is the majority of it.
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Strasa, The Raining City
Though rumours and hearsay are a common knowledge, none of the small party have ever laid eyes on the mythical city of Strasa. Nestled high in the mountains between two towering peaks in a deep, sheltered valley, it is said that the Raining City has been subject to a great and extended downpour that has lasted for generations. And, though the distance between Goodstead and the City is not all that great - the countryside has grown more and more dangerous with every passing year. Kobolds, Gnolls, Goblins and Orcs rove the hills in packs; extending their warrens and building strongholds out of the many small, crumbling holds and keeps littered about the hillsides. They are remnants of the Time Before the Rains, when this country was populated by many a minor Baron and Noble seeking to carve out some small part of the land for themselves. This danger, coupled with the endless patterns of showers, torrential downpours and monsoons make the passes south of Strasa all the more treacherous. Mudslides and flooding rivers are common, giving rise to the frequent need to find new routes through the mountains; to build new roads and establish more trade routes from the southern baronies. As such, Strasa survives primarily on three major sources of income: Trade from the north, beyond the mountains where the lands grow dry and flat; Arcane Research from the many colleges established throughout the City; and finally tourism.
Few know quite when or how - but Strasa sits upon a waygate; a nexus into the elemental plane of water from whence pours and endless torrent. Growing initially as a focal point for travellers, pilgrims, mages at study and finally adventurers. This combination, or so it is told, led to an influx of wealth and an economy that would not be easily doused by the unusual weather. When one layer of the old city was washed away or flooded, the intrepid settlers would build upon the ruins - growing ever skyward. The towers would creep to new heights, and the people would build their homes anew - or so it was said.
Now, as it grows late in the summer and our heroes find themselves navigating the steep and water-logged passes leading into the mountains, they cannot help but wonder at this strange, ancient City. It has been over a century since the rains last paused - but it is said that Strasa is much older still than that. Only those amphibious or adventurous souls powerful enough to brave the dark depths are able to plumb the ancient ruins and foundations of the Raining City - and who knows what they will find. Crushed by the pressure of cold, frigid waters, what ancient tomes or relics still survive to tell the story of the City's mysterious past.
Mysterious, indeed, is Strasa - and it is that which brings these brave Adventurer's to its gates.
For a day, the party trek hard across the valleys between the towering black peaks of the mountains. Here the land is boggy and perpetually waterlogged under foot. Some slopes, usually to be expected devoid of any scrub or plant life are found surprisingly green and verdant. Many rivers and streams flow through these valleys, pooling into great lakes that force these heroes off track for hours at a time. Others still flow ever down wards, back the way they had come - heading into the hills and lowlands. Some twenty of thirty miles to the south, beyond Goodstead lies an enormous, sprawling marshy woodland - home, apparently, to untold numbers of Lizardfolk and other beasts.
But such is not their destination - at least for now. They travel onwards and upwards against the current, sometimes forced to fjord rivers and streams ranging from mere inches deep to fifty yards across and as deep as a tall man at the centre. These prove dangerous crossing against the fast flowing waters, but nothing untoward befalls the party. They simply grow weary, wetter and colder - even though it is supposedly still summer.
They camp the night under a rocky outcrop beside a tall stand of pines that shelters them from a cold wind. The wood here is always damp - and lighting a fire even in the shelter proves to be all but impossible. Each twig and branch must be labouriously dried before it will burn - and it is all they can do to build a blaze barely big enough to dry their clothes and return some warmth to aching hands and toes. The night is grim and cold, spent with cynical thoughts of turning homewards - but when the first light of morning finally lights the overcast and grey sky the Adventurers are finally greeted with their first glimpse of the Raining City - tall grey spires of stone that tower, innumerable against the dark sky but visible despite the grim weather. So high do some of them reach that they scrape the very clouds and their tips are hidden from sight. It is a sight that leaves jaws open in wonder and words dying on the tongue.
Galvanised by the sight, the heroes throw on damp clothes, don dripping armour and mount their sodden horses once again and press on through the trees towards the final ridge that stands between them and the City - eager to find shelter and a warm meal at long last. As they near the crest of the muddy hill, more and more towers materialise from the mist - filling the horizon between two gigantic peaks with clawing grey fingers of granite and marble of a variety of width, shape and height so great that it boggles the minds of these heroes; men who have never seen buildings of such magnitude or multitude.
Now they reach the ridge and can see below them Strasa in all its glory. Rising from a most enormous lake that laps at the steep, stony slope some hundred feet or so below them, the Raining City is - at water level - a most complicated and bewildering tangle of canals, bridges, boats, floating walkways and squat stone buildings perched atop one another as rights might climb over their fellows to stay away from the rising tide. At least from a distance, the City appears to have been built quite literally upon the remnants of its own former incarnations - constructed over generations to form a strange, multi-layered sprawl of communities wrapped around the spindly granite towers that loom overhead. Eager to explore and, of course, to find shelter - the heroes negociate down the final, steep slope until they run along the edge of the great lake. Here the waters twirl and dance with endless eddies - as if this body of water literally wells up from the very ground as well as falling from the heavens in curtains. From there, the party need not venture far before they find themselves upon a muddy, rutted and well travelled track. A makeshift dock has been erected here, stretching out across the water allow for several ferries to be drawn back and forth on chains and ropes across the expanse of water to the City. Though in places the outskirts of Strasa extends as far as the solid ground of the valley slopes, here seems as good a place as any to cross.
The ferryman and his crew are dressed in long coats of hide and leather, with wide brimmed hats that droop under the weight of a constant soaking but seem to serve well enough to keep the rain from eyes and faces. Amongst the men that crew the wide, flat bottomed barge are one or two stranger types: Tall, blue skinned creatures with gangly limbs and a fine webbing between their long fingers and toes. They are watersouls, a type of elemental folk known as Genasi.
We did play, yeah. I've been reluctant to post about it, though, because not very much happened. Akarrin, by his own admission, didn't spend a lot of time writing up this last session (even though we had almost a month of down time in-between games). And that's not a big deal, but our last game was pretty underwhelming. I'll see if I can bullet-point it for you:
We've been framed for the killing of these Strasan citizens, and apparently for war crimes. We killed the Purple Cloaks who tried to apprehend us, but weren't able to get any additional information about what's going on. After we defeated their ambush, we decided we probably had a few minutes to go over our options before we left the cistern.
Virgil urged us to act quickly against the Council. They're expecting us to be brought in and tried as traitors; if we show up with naked steel in hand, we can take them totally by surprise. My character, Mogr, sees the whole situation as a challenge from Talos (Kord), but he's not as eager to charge in and start lopping heads off (despite the fact that he's a Barbarian, lol). As the Prince of Hollowhome, Mogr understands that you need more than a crown and scepter to rule; you need to win the hearts and minds of the people. That's the problem with this Counci; nobody likes them -- they dissolved most of the original guard and replaced them with sellsword companies loyal to their coin; rumors abound of ties to the Thieves' Guild, and some say that these new Councillors had a hand in orchestrating Zessith's bloody attack on Strasa in the first place; an open resistance has begun to take root throughout the Raining City, in fact ...
Mogr believes that it isn't time to act just yet. He believes the group should temporarily flee. The 'Watch are heroes to the people of Strasa: they were well regarded, in fact, even before they saved the city from Vhauglohrl and Zessith. These people will know the truth about us. They will remember who we are and all we've done for the Raining City. They will know that the charges against us are false -- that it's just an attempt by a corrupted Council to sweep us away, and keep us from interfering with their affairs.
So here's what Mogr believes are our options: Attack the Council and take them by surprise. The problem here is that you risk the whole thing looking like a coup; We could also stay in the city for a while, join the Resistance, and work to slowly take them down. The problem here is that we're putting our friends and family at risk by association. The Council will undoubtedly strike back against the people we love if we stay, if even just in an attempt to keep us from having any place to hide; Finally, we can just leave for a while. We have the element of surprise at this point -- we could use it to strike, sure. But we could also use it to slip out of the city undetected. Again ... the people will know the charges against us are false, so the Council can say whatever they want. Nobody's going to believe it anyway, right? While we're away, the Resistance will continue to grow. Discontent with the Council will continue to rise. And eventually, the people of Strasa will call for these guys to be taken out of power -- they'll cry out for someone to help them, and whisper to one another that they wished the Raven Watch would return ... and then we would. We could sweep back into town, save the day, and it would be at a more appropriate time.
That was Mogr's idea, anyway. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was probably the most fun we had all night. That, like, 5-10 minute conversation amongst the group about what we should do, where we should go, etc.
Akarrin indicated that if we left, the people would likely side with the Council on the issue, however. I can't see the reasoning behind that, but he's the DM. Still, though, we decided it would be best to take off and learn more before we decide to take action. We need more information, frankly. On the way out of the cistern, we were approached by Captain Sternheart (who you may myself, but added as an NPC when Phedre decided to play a rogue). Sternheart was wearing a Purple Cloak, and Greenbottle's a known-associate of the Thieves' Guild, so we weren't sure what to expect. Sternheart explained that he's working as a Resistance fighter from within the Purple Cloaks, trying to learn more information. And Greenbottle revealed himself to be a Resistance fighter as well. They knew tha we had been set up, and offered to help us slip out of the city -- they said the Resistance has its eyes on a new location for its headquarters, a few miles outside the city, but it's currently occupied by hobgoblins. We told them we could take care of it, and that we'd meet them at that location in several hours.
The moment we left the cistern, and headed out into the streets, we were apparently spotted. Not even by guards, by the way: we were POINTED OUT to the guards by a citizen, who recognized the cloaks we wore (Virgil skinned the Dire Wolf we fought in like Game 3, and had cloaks fashioned out of the pelt for all of us). It kind of bothers me, as the former DM, because I have always written and explained that the people of Strasa really love the 'Watch ... and I'm not totally sure how they know that the Council's looking for us ... but he's the DM, and if that's what happened, I'm not going to argue. So we began a Skill Challenge, and Akarrin needs more work on Skill Challenges, that's clear, but he's new to 4th Edition and I had the same issues at first.
The challenge was to get out of the city while being chased by the guards. This should more or less have just been played out as a series of skill checks, because basically one of the only relevant skills is Athletics. Phedre tried to use Stealth to sneak into the crowd during the commotion, but Akarrin didn't want us to split up (we thought splitting up would be the best option, because individually, we had a greater chance of escaping, but again, that's fine), so the crowd of citizens actually blocked her path. I delayed my action, choosing to go after all the other characters in my group: I knew that Virgil had a high Athletics check, but Phedre was being hassled, and I didn't know yet how well Victoria would roll, so I wanted them to go first. It turns out, yeah, only Vigril rolled well. So, with the Purple Cloaks closing in, I had Mogr stand in the way and use Intimidate to draw their attention. I figured I had the best Athletics and Endurance of anyone on the field, and if I absolutely had to, I could fight these guys a round or two, then break away and keep running.
Mogr drew the guards in for a round while everyone else made off, and I ended up toppling over some carts and food stands in front of the Cloaks before turning tail and running as well. I quickly caught up to the others, and we were making progress against the guards, when we saw a butcher up the street walk out of his store; he saw us running, recognized us, and signalled for us to head down into his basement. We decided to go for it, and as soon as we went down the stairs ... he closed the door and locked it. And suddenly, we were in a fight against a group of Purple Cloaks that were lying in wait for us.
What? How did this guy know we were being chased? Did the Purple Cloaks like SCRY the situation or something, lol? And have their guys not only cut us off, but hide down inside a butcher's basement where we may or may not even try to take refuge? Anyway, we fought these guys off pretty handily. I had mentioned to Akarrin that he'd probably want to use more minions than I do, because when he was playing, the group had access to a wide variety of AoEs that could obliterate a whole field of minions (that's why I didn't use them a whole lot), but with the Wizard replaced by my Barbarian, we're much more single-target-focused. He ends up using A LOT of minions, though, and we have the potential to completely wreck them when we're prepared for it. Which we were.
Anyway, that's basically everything that happened. We're losing a lot of our momentum, as a group, and that's what bothers me, to be honest. This is what always happens to me, lol. The reason I always have to be the DM is because nobody else wants to do it. I like DMing, though. I honestly do. It's just that ... I'm 27 now, and I haven't been able to be a player since i was like 16. I want to play more than just about anything, but it always falls on my shoulders to run the group.
Anyway, that's basically everything that happened. We're losing a lot of our momentum, as a group, and that's what bothers me, to be honest. This is what always happens to me, lol. The reason I always have to be the DM is because nobody else wants to do it. I like DMing, though. I honestly do. It's just that ... I'm 27 now, and I haven't been able to be a player since i was like 16. I want to play more than just about anything, but it always falls on my shoulders to run the group.
I can agree that the DM role is a great one, but it's nice to play, too. The rotating DM style works for my group, but that is mainly because in addition to myself (I've been running and playing a LONG time) there are two other DMs in the game who are experienced with D&D and other systems.
I think one thing that I detect in your post is a disappointment with how your setting is being handled, and that is a reason that even in our group, we rarely share a setting. Only you can run Strassa like you envision it, and your preconcieved ideas of how the populace 'would' act will be something that you struggle with when it flies in the face of how the other person is running 'your' game... doesn't make you bad or wrong, just human. Strassa is your baby, after all!
You also have the added issues that follow a 'rookie' DM. The whole 4e flying by the seat of your pants deal is great, but remember your first adventure? You wrote stat blocks and backstories for 4 hit point kobold hunting parties about warring tribes, and the kobold hall of kings where the kobolds of legend are buried, said to rise again in the time of the great Wyrming... only to have the PCs slaughter them in about 3 rounds, skipping entire segments of your 'story'.
Remember the panic the first time your group went "off the rails" even a little? "OMG, they don't WANT to fight the slavering ogres that are said to have wiped out a whole platoon of the King's Army?!? That's my big crescendo for the night! If they skip it... WHAT WILL I DO? I got it! Absolutely original idea.. if they won't go to the OGRES, the ogres will go to THEM!" (Okay, maybe I'm the only one who ever did that... and maybe sometimes still does, when I'm not careful..)
I think you have to just divorce yourself from your setting, and consider this 'new' Strassa a completely foreign place from the one you created. It'll help your disbelief in the changes, and after all... maybe the Watch only THINKS the populace is really into them.... they could be deluded.
edit: as for getting more play time and less DM time... I hear you, brother. If you figure it out, pass it on! Maybe you could look into the Encounters in your area, or maybe even Living Forgotten Realms to get your every once in a while playing fix?
As a matter of fact, yes. We're playing tomorrow night. It's going to be good, I think. Virgil's player has a new girlfriend who's in to the same kinds of things he is, so she's coming along to meet everyone, and watch the game. She's considering making a character (she has some experience playing Pathfinder, but not 4e), so that's going to be interesting, too. I'll let you guys know what happens.
Also, and I guess this is a bit of shameless self-promotion here, lol, but since I've not been DM'ing this D&D group, I've actually been spending a lot of time developing my YouTube channel. I'm still busy going to school full-time, and watching our son during the day (we're due to have another baby in December, too), but I've been working pretty hard to put out content twice a week for a little over a month now. I'm a competitive gamer, and my channel focuses on Call of Duty, primarily. My goal is to help people understand and develop their playstyles, increase meta-knowledge with information on maps and weapons, etc. For being such a small, new channel, it's actually growing very quickly. If anyone's interested in that, please swing by and check it out. Every comment, rating, subscription, etc helps me grow.
The game was fun tonight! Unfortunately, Virgil's player was sick, so not only did we not get to meet his new girlfriend, but I had to end up playing both Virgil and Mogr. I have a very strong understanding of Fighters in general, and I'm far-and-away the player with the most 4e experience, so I didn't mind taking on that extra baggage. I made some risky choices early on in an encounter with him that paid off short-term, but ended up hurting a lot over the course of the fight, lol. I maintain that it was a good move, but the battle played out in a way I couldn't have expected, and it ended up biting me in the end. But whatever; we survived, lol.
