We finished our old Iron Heroes campaign on Saturday, and decided to immediately start our new campaign rather than delay. The game was earlier today.

Premise: The three PCs are all brothers, sons of one Errol Dessinger, the wealthy Sheriff of Brackenwell. They are all children, and will age and pursue their fate as the game progresses.

The setting: Edwardian / early 20th century technology (crude ICE-powered cars, steam engines, guns, clocks) is unevenly distributed. In the great cities, tremendous wonders, possibly even magic, can be found, while in the backwaters, life continues as it always has. Despite the rapid advance of technology, only a limited industrial base supports it - guns, cars and clocks are still all handmade.

Brackenwell is a small town in the northern reaches of Thelmia, a backwater province of the Kingdom. Thelmia is bordered by a near impassable marsh to the east, mountains to the north, and plains filled with "barbarians" to the west. About a two-day ride south is Arkhaven, a city of the Kingdom where the strange dwellers of the marsh mingle with Kingdomfolk.

The PCs:

Lincoln Dessinger - Lincoln is 17, blond, and heavily muscled. He was born before the family's ascent to power, and has been a manual laborer since a young age. He was sent off two years ago to train in the far north with the border patrols maintained there by the Kingdom. He is good natured, but socially awkward and eager to prove himself to his father and to others. Due to the influence of his mother and the family nurse, he is a "Christian". He is a lawful good Man-at-Arms 1. He is played by Rob.

Chase Dessinger - Chase is 15, has black hair, and is the family's black sheep. He is daring, adventurous and full of pubescent angst. He is constantly getting himself into trouble, and escaping by the skin of his teeth. He is the closest to Desiree, their sister, and is constantly trying to impress her. He is irreligiously animistic, like most others in their society. He is currently classless, but will become a chaotic neutral Harrier 1 when he finally gets class levels. Chase is played by Chris.

Wayland Dessinger - Wayland is 12, has auburn hair, and is the family prodigy. He is the baby, and has the best toys, best outfits, and a tremendous interest in science and the world around him. He is childishly imperious, fastidious, and an atheist in the way that only a twelve year old boy can be. He loves animals, and complicated machines, and wishes to be a doctor when he grows up. He will be a neutral Executioner 1 once he gets class levels. I play him.

NPCs:

Errol Dessinger aka "Errol the Grey" - Our father. Formerly a mere soldier in the Kingdom's army, he has come to be the wealthy and important sheriff of Brackenwell through force of character. He is responsible for the defense of the northern and western part of Thelmia from barbarians, and for maintaining the peace throughout it.

Charisse Dessinger - Our mother. A depressive, very pretty, and "French". Spends most of her time drifting in thought. She is from the far south, where larger cities are to be found, and seems to resent life in Brackenwell.

Desiree Dessinger - The Dessinger sister, 14. Chase's confidante. Not very ladylike.

Tabitha - The Dessinger family's nurse, responsible for raising the boys. An alcoholic, and much loved. Responsible for filling the heads of the gullible with a great deal of nonsense.

Session 1: A Trip to Arkhaven

The session begins with Lincoln being ordered back from the camp in the mountains where he has been training. He must return to Brackenwell urgently to accompany the family on a trip. He is to return with Gruss, his mentor at the camp and a friend of his father's.

When he arrives, his siblings are glad to greet him, though his mother and father are unavailable. He is informed by Tabitha that they are travelling to Arkhaven in the morning to visit Baron Cromwell, its lord. No one seems to know why. After much waiting around, he manages to see his father for a few moments. Errol quizzes Lincoln tersely about how his training goes, and even compliments him - a rare occurrence - when Lincoln tells him that he won a duel against an older man.

An awkward family dinner happens. No one who knows wants to talk about why the family is going to Arkhaven. Chases is excused after claiming he is not feeling well. He goes to his room and pretends to be asleep.

The siblings have planned an after dinner excursion to the market, but Chase refuses to be "woken" for it, and they leave him. After they've gone, Chase awakes, and begins knotting sheets together.

It is revealed that a certain young man by the name of Richard, from a poorer family than the Dessingers, has insulted Chase on a previous occasion, and Chase is out for revenge. Specifically, Richard's father is rumoured to own a pocketwatch, a rare treasure, and the only one of its kind in Brackenwell. Chase, hoping to shame his rival and impress his sister, decides to steal it.

Chris rolls pretty spectacularly. First, he manages to knot the sheets together and slip down two stories to the ground. Then he manages to dodge Richard's dog, and slip in through a latrine window on the upper floor as the family dines downstairs. He makes his way to the master bedroom unheard, picking locks like a master burglar thanks to excellent rolls, and roots around until he finds the watch. He ducks into the closet just as the lady of the house comes back to the master bedroom to change, then dashes out - only to be seen by the family servant. Some grapple attempts are made, but Chase manages a powerslide between the servant's legs, a leap out the window, and a soft landing in the newfallen snow below. He dashes off, one pocketwatch richer.

Only Desiree is shown the watch, which is then stashed in a large orrery of Wayland's in the room the two (Chase and Wayland) share. Desiree mentions to Chase that she's heard something about a marriage, and wonders if he knows anything about it, but he doesn't. The sheets are ruined, and Chase blames Wayland for it. The siblings sleep uncomfortably on their straw mattresses.

The next day, everyone's things are packed by the family servants, and loaded onto wagons. Lincoln has only his weapons, traveling gear, and some formal clothes prepared for him to use on this visit. Chase brings the watch, his switchblade, and a bad attitude. Wayland has the servants pack his magician's kit, his miniature sextant and compass, his insect-collecting gear and insect collection, Peter his pet rabbit and the appropriate rabbit-tending equipment, several different changes of clothes, some borrowed astronomical/astrological computation tables since the servants unreasonably refuse to pack the orrery, a small collection of textbooks on assorted subjects, writing materials, his miniature telescope, a child-size physician's bag complete with working stethoscope, and assorted writing materials, but only because he is packing lightly.

In addition to the Dessinger family, handlers, and guards, various hangers-on and assorted other persons come along in other wagons. A large celtic cross statue, a gift from Errol and Charisse to Baron Cromwell (a fellow Christian), is also to be transported.

The journey takes one week, and is not very eventful. The boys catch up, and the younger ones get to know Lincoln a bit better after his two-year absence. The trip itself is mildly complicated by the geography of Thelmia. The only road between Brackenwell and Arkhaven runs along the top of the plateau separating Thelmia proper from the marshlands (found at the bottom). In a few cases, the road narrows dangerously, and in general it runs very close to the cliff-edge of the plateau.

Tabitha warns the boys repeatedly, as she has forever, about the things that dwell in the marsh. The barbarous habits of the marsh people are excoriated, though Tabitha knows nothing about them. She also warns the boys about "Sleepwalkers", traditional bogeymen of the marsh that are similar to Will O' Wisps (though this term is not used to describe them in game). Wayland is doubtful about the whole business, and insists the marsh people are probably friendly, though no one else agrees.

One of the stops along the way is at a Christian temple on the outskirts of Arkhaven's territory. There, Wayland is jumping up and down the steps keeping himself busy when he really does encounter a marsh person, one of the priests. Marsh people are significantly taller, thinner, paller and more gangly than regular Kingdomfolk, and are thus visually distinguishable. Wayland only gets out a few questions before he is called back to the wagon, but is reaffirmed in his interest in all things marsh-people-related.

Upon the arrival in Arkhaven, the future adventurers, their nurse, sister and luggage are escorted to a fortified building only a short distance away from the keep. A second marsh person follows them in, and then breaks off with Tabitha and the rest of the low ranking adults.

The Dessinger kids end up in a large common room where they will stay with other visiting children. Two teenagers are there already. They are Arin and Priscilla, 17 and 16ish respectively. They're siblings, and wear red and gold, which are the colours of the Kingdom and the king rather than any particular noble family or house within it (though we aren't nobles, our "house" colours are grey and black - Wayland has a tailored double-breasted coat with half-cloak, riding boots, gloves and pressed pants in these colours, which he is wearing). Arin is gracious and charming, and he and Lincoln start to get along immediately. Priscilla's a snobby bitch, but she's smoking hot, so Lincoln and Chase just let their hormones wash away their pride.

At dinner, Listra Cromwell, the Baron's daughter, also about 17, ("the Betty to Priscilla's Veronica") is a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dull evening. Once again, the older Dessingers lose their good sense when she comes around and aren't able to get out more than mumbled hellos and awkward small talk. Wayland, undistracted by feminine wiles, greets Oliver Cromwell, the Baron's son, who is approximately his own age. Oliver is a bit dumb, but good natured. He has a tonsured head like the Christian priests in Arkhaven, and seems spiritually inclined.

Fortunately, he is in the company of Orum, who is the marsh person who followed them in earlier today. Wayland pesters Orum with questions and inadvertently insults him by calling his a "marsh person" (they prefer "Easterner"), though Orum brushes it off since he's a kid and because he's really interested. Orum gives Wayland a piece of glazed and roasted batwing to try, and that just about makes Wayland's week.

Nothing happens until the next day. Listra is supposed to lead the visiting children on a tour of the nearby (non-marsh) forest, which is a hunting preserve for the city. Arin and Lincoln are competing for her attention, though Arin is the more charming and graceful. Lincoln is always a second too slow to help her if she stumbles, or to offer her a hand over a tricky spot. Chase keeps on trying to mack Priscilla, though she won't give him the time of day.

Wayland is dressed in his khaki hiking shirt and shorts, and has brought along his insect-collecting equipment, figuring that the marsh is the perfect opportunity to add to it. He attempts to get Oliver interested in the process of capturing, cataloguing, killing and pinning insects in the pursuit of science, but Oliver spins him some bullshit line about even insects having souls. Still, a moth and a beetle meet their fate in the killing jar as the group moves. It's a ruthless business, that science.

Everyone comes to a halt when Listra sees a deer torn to shreds, with the remnants laying in the middle of the path they were going to take. Some of the other kids are crying, and even Arin doesn't quite seem to know what to do. Lincoln's mountain training kicks in though, and he's able to use the Survival skill to realise that whatever did this was bigger than wolves. He scans the area, looking for trouble, but can't see anything. He recommends turning back, but Listra doesn't seem to want to, and Lincoln doesn't press the issue so that he doesn't look like a coward. No trouble comes.

Once they get back, Priscilla gets Listra, Desiree, Arin, herself, Lincoln and Chase to ditch the younger kids (including Wayland and Oliver) and leads them to the Cromwell family graveyard. She shows them an open grave she discovers, and dares Lincoln to climb down in it. Everyone but Lincoln hangs back nervously to keep an eye out, but Lincoln jumps on down in it. Priscilla jumps in after him, and all of a sudden makes a move on him while no one is looking. Lincoln, who has never so much as kissed a girl before, is completely startled and almost relieved when the others look over the side. Priscilla pretends nothing happened, and no one seems to've seen anything. They haul themselves out.

A couple of days pass, and Priscilla seems to be ignoring Lincoln. And indeed she is. He works up the courage to ask her to go for a walk in the woods, and she shuts him down brutally, telling him that he's so far beneath her rank that she's rather kill herself than be seen in public with him. Lincoln shuffles off, mortified.

The next morning, Arin storms up and tells Lincoln that he's scared Arin's sister, and if he ever tries to harass her again, he'll fuck him up. Lincoln is totally confused, and agrees not to bother her.

Later that day, Desiree is taken off by some maids, and shortly thereafter, a blood curdling scream is heard. We all go bounding off to find her, and it turns out she's in a bedroom surrounded by maids, including Tabitha, all of whom are comforting her. It seems she has to stay in Arkhaven while the rest of the family returns. Chase takes this the most badly of the three of us. He nearly picks up Desiree and bolts, except that Errol is in the doorway. He knocks Chase aside with a slap and tells him to accept it and get the hell out of the room. Chase obeys unhappily.

We're packed off the next morning after that. Desiree does not come. Wayland leaves Peter the rabbit, his rabbit-tending equipment, and a detailed list of instructions on rabbit-care for Desiree in the hopes it will cheer her up. Tabitha refuses to explain why she is being left behind, as do the other adults.

Journey ho! We go back along the same way we came, until a few days later we're at one of the narrow points at the edge of the plateau. A sudden storm has struck, and some of the horses begin panicking. One wagon nearly falls over the edge, but guards and handlers are holding it from bowling off the precipice. However, the wagons are all tied together, and as the rope jerks suddenly, our carriage begins to go over. There isn't enough manpower to save both carriages, so _someone_ gives the order to cut our carriage loose. With a heart-sickening clump, we go bowling over the edge, into the greenery three hundred feet below. Death is almost certain, and in the fall, as the carriage jerks and twists, Tabitha, Lincoln and Chase are all knocked unconscious. Wayland is the only one who manages to avoid being knocked out, but he's pinned under the unconscious body of Chase.

Our coach hits something but rather than smashing apart, whatever it is flexes and softens the fall. As the only one awake, I clamber out from beneath Chase and take a quick peep around. The carriage is upside down, and everything we'd packed has fallen out onto the roof, which is now the floor. Chase is in the carriage, Lincoln is half out of it, unconscious and hanging by his belt off a projection in the carriage doorway, and Tabitha's limp body has smashed a hole in the front of the carriage and now hangs limply on the footboard.

It turns out that we are caught in a giant spider's web slung across the canopy of the trees. I start panicking and trying to wake up Chase, but with no luck. I spend a few rounds trying to wake him and Lincoln up, but they don't respond. Then I hear the chittering.

A few rounds of chittering have gone by without anything appearing, but then it's time for the spiders to appear. They're biggies. There's a little one (a size Small spider - about as big as a dog) and a big one (about size Large). I'm still having no lucky waking up anyone as they start to come closer. The little one goes first, and it climbs into the coach. Wayland pretty much panics, grabs an unlit torch from the pile of debris on the roof of the coach, and starts swinging at the spider. I have a miniscule chance of hitting it, but I do get off one lucky blow, and it slows down. The big spider is eating the horses, with the survivors dangling in mid-air and screaming as it does.

Finally, the older boys wake up, Chase first and Lincoln the round after. Chase pulls his switchblade and starts saving my 12-year-old ass from being spidered. Team Dessinger manages to avoid death by spider only as the force of everyone banging around in the coach causes the webbing to partially break underneath it. Tabitha is webbed to the coach, and we can't free her in time before it smashes into the ground, but the rest of us bail and make it out.

Once we realise Tabitha is dead the shit hits the fan. Wayland was injured and is slung over Chase's shoulder and therefore can't see shit, but Chase and Lincoln are freaking out and screaming at one another and so on.

We get as much shit together as we can (three torches, Lincoln's spears) and head any that's away from those webs. It's night-time, in the middle of a rainstorm. We fall into ditches of water, slip in the mud, and end up being chased by these wolves that shoot spikes and we have to climb up this cliff to escape them and then they circle around and we have to climb back down and then this anaconda attacks one of the wolves and so on. Miserable, absolutely miserable.

Finally, as the last of the spike-shooting wolves disappears, another marsh-person shows up. This guy is a ranger-type who introduces himself as Jared, and who seems to've been sent to find us. He finds the idea of kids wandering through the marsh hilarious, but is otherwise business-like and uninterested in jaw-jaw. We end the session as he brings us to his camp and lets us settle in for the night.

Commentary to follow.

My buddy Rob is Etheroe, and my buddy Curtis, the DM, is Metrivus here, so I expect them to comment as well on this. You can see Rob's summary of the same session, with a different emphasis on certain features, here: http://www.therpgsite.com/node/773

Basically, this game looks like it's going to be structured in a way that is a reaction to our last campaign (Partially recorded in the Iron Heroes for Bad People AP thread). That game was set up to accomodate relentless and remorseless PvP combat within the confines of a typical campaign. To do that, Rob had to use a somewhat rigid plot structure that would force the party to continue to associate, no matter how much they might want to kill one another. Unfortunately, as the PvP began to die down (shortly after the death of Victor, the session after the last one I recorded) the plot became more railroady.

In reaction to that, Curtis decided to break the plot of this game open and make it much more open-ended, while constraining the initial premise. Being brothers, the PCs have natural reasons to support one another, which means that we don't need to worry about the game spinning apart as the characters go their separate ways.

The first session of this game was one of the strongest we've played in a long time. We recently changed our group composition, losing a player, and while I like the guy we lost as a person, it seems like his low energy and unwillingness to play a role were contagious. Without him, this game looks like it will recapture the feeling of our previous high point in roleplaying - our university games.

I want this game to be able to become anything, but also be interesting in its own right.  For me, it is an exercise in DM theory and any and all comments are welcome.