Sunday, April 28, 2013

Dungeon World - New Beginnings

Yesterday was a new chapter in the Dungeon World campaign being run by Michael Bay, the name of the campaign is "Screams In The Darkness". It was particularly fitting for this episode! Some of the characters had died in the last session so this had something old and something new.

The biggest change was realigning the group to being mercenaries in a wonderfully lawless town named "Gondgul". It has various influences, including Dwarven, Pharazonic (Egyptian) and numerous others. In the absence of government, the city is run by rival mercenary "expeditionary companies", wizards and religious orders.

Three characters returned from previous sessions, the Shaman, Thief and Fighter. The new characters were a Paladin, a Barbarian and my character, a Mage. I've never played a Mage or Wizard in a fantasy game before, I've tended to play front line law and order characters so this was a great chance to try something different.

I chose a magical path known as "The Mask". It's really all about illusions. My character can solve general problems magically which aren't related to his school, but that comes with a penalty. When he uses magic aligned with his path (misleading others,avoiding notice,cunning plans) he gets major bonuses. On the other hand, there are heavy restrictions....he can never use magic for brute force or to break facades. This was great because it forced me to play a style which was non-confrontational.

The game itself was excellent, a security operation to protect a warehouse, leading to the classic trek through underground sewers and ruins. I had a succession of spectacular failures in my attempts at spell casting, one which left us in complete darkness and having to abandon the mission! The dynamic within the group was fun as always,with a real sense of mischief from the various roguish characters. Michael did a nice touch in giving each character their own plot threads here and there.

The session ended with a revelation that there were Dwarven ruins beneath the city,plenty of exploration ahead of us.After levelling up, I added a new magical path for my character, "The Twilight",giving him the ability to manipulate shadows.The penalty? He can never create light or fire, very apt after the failures this time around. It was a great session with a more gritty feel this time around.



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