Helvéczia: Journal de Campagne, 1

 

Having wrapped up our Masks of Nyarlathotep game, we met this week to begin our Helvéczia game.  A month or so ago I pitched the game as one of three options for the group, and they were unanimous in choosing it.  None of my players were familiar with the game at all, but my short description was: "17th century fantasy Switzerland.  Rapier duels, early black powder weaponry, dark comedy religious strife.  Sort of a mix of Three Musketeers, Princess Bride, and Solomon Kane."  I've been digging more into the recommended reading M. Lux provides - Dumas, Grimm, Hoffman, and Grimmelshausen have been added to my library and greedily consumed, but I've also found good inspiration in Voltaire, Maupassant, and Mortimer's guide to Restoration Britain - I would love to see a similar book for the continent.  But I've found plenty of touchpoints to reference when explaining the rather niche setting and my players have been enthusiastic about it.

Helvéczia First Impressions, pt. 3

 

Previously posted at the RPGPUB, collecting here to begin campaign notes.

Finished reading Helvéczia over the past couple evenings. The second half of the book is the Gamemaster's Almanac. This kicks off with a lot of GMing advice. A surprising amount, actually. I can't think of very many RPGs on my shelf that really give much attention to that. Topics include when and how to to use checks, describing the setting, offering the players interesting choices with meaningful consequences, dialogue techniques to improve the game flow, designing adventures in wilderness (including 3 methods of exploration), dungeons, and villages, creating adventure hooks and diabolical plans, and varying the style of play to focus on combat, exploration, intrigue, and so on. It's all good general GMing advice but also does a great deal to illuminate how the author envisages the game running. One thing that is very clear is that Helvéczia is a game that has been played a great deal, as almost every topic discussed seems to draw on his own gaming anecdotes.

Helvéczia First Impressions, pt. 2

Previously posted at the RPGPUB, collecting here to begin campaign notes.

I'm really enjoying reading this. Finished up the Players' Rules yesterday. Starts off with an introduction to role playing picaresque adventures and recommended reading - I've had to add a lot to my reading queue. Then moves into character creation.

Helvéczia First Impressions, pt. 1

 Previously posted at the RPGPUB, collecting here to begin campaign notes.

The box features great art from Peter Mullen. He's always a favorite, and this piece, with its undead monks and that stylish fellow with the handcannon, is peak Mullen. The box is very sturdy. Much better than the 5e starter/essential boxes, I'd say it's comparable (but deeper than) the recent Call of Cthulhu starter set box.

Masks of Nyarlathotep Retrospective

Third time's a charm.  Last night, after 11 months of play, my group completed our Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign.  It was my third attempt at running it.

Lots of spoilery thoughts about the campaign in general ahead.

Fiction in Airhde

On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. A Houseless God & Other Tales and The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales, both by the Troll Lord Stephen Chenault. They contain a total of eight short stories that follow the adventures of the knight Eurich Gunshoff and a group of companions that grows as the stories progress.

Mr. Chenault is a very engaging writer. I read a lot of old Appendix N literature and Eurich's adventures would fit in well with that tradition. The action is frequent and varied, seeing Eurich trade blows with a nice variety of interesting fantasy monsters. He definitely has a code of honor befitting a knight, but he is equally driven by a wanderlust that Conan or Elric would find relatable.

The thing that most impressed me about the stories though is how well he develops the Airhde setting while rarely indulging in overblown exposition. There is talk of the gods and philosophies on the end of the world and the afterlife are important to the characters, but the world feels like it has a rich history. As Eurich travels through the Darkenfold and later into the realm of Kayomar and further north into the Gottland, these places feel alive and storied and full of possibility.

I look forward to reading more of Steven Chenault's writing, and I'm definitely inspired to explore Airhde further. While I've read the Codex and the Player's Guide and about half of the A series, running A0 and a bit of A1 is my only experience running the setting.

Gary Con XI

Another Gary Con is in the books.  Sticking to tradition, I roomed with the same guys as last year (Judge Jeff of Spellburn and Appendix N, weird illustrator David Hoskins), and this time we were joined by David's friend Harry, who was attending Gary Con for the first time.  This year I decided to run games as well and signed up for three games.  A bit naively I chose to run three different systems, so I lugging way too many books into the Con.