An RPG seems to have become something of a Christmas tradition with my family-in-law. This game is powered by my hacked-up version of Feng Shui, which removes attributes and does a lot of culling for simplicity. It was well-received when I explained the basics compared to Wushu which was deemed a little too dependent on player creativity last time around. This way everyone has an idea what they can and can't do.

I decided to manage the game in two sessions to preserve player enthusiasm and energy, and to give them some breathing room as well.

Session 1 - Brainstorming and Chargen

First we had to create the game. I told them there were three things we needed; the world, the situation and the characters. Which order I wasn't fussed, as long as we did them all. They wanted to do characters first, so there we began.

Interesting thing was that everyone went for a mixed-role character. Another strange thing was that they actually conformed in a lot of ways to three D&D classes, even though none have played D&D tabletop, and only one has played D&D CRPGs.

The cast are as follows:
Mikasi (played by my wife, A): A shapeshifting foreigner from the badlands. He lives in the wilderness and protects it as his preserve. Basically he's a druid (Adept-Warrior), even down to using a spear and controlling the elements.
Ulrik Shadowfoot (played by my brother-in-law, M): A guide, tracker and scout local to the area. In D&D-speak, a ranger (Expert-Warrior).
Adrithiel (played by my sister-in-law, R): An elven dabbler, troubadour, entertainer, banished from the court and locality of the village. A bard (Adept-Expert) essentially.

So with characters done, we moved on to the wider world. More outlandish suggestions, like Greek-inspired antiquity or Renaissance with gunpowder were dismissed immediately. They wanted Medieval, LotR-esque stuff (so there are elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs and goblins as well, I guess). Feudal society too, English-style. So we have a distant king, a baron in charge of this Shire/region and a knight who's the local power in the village where they base their operations.

We discussed magic, they wanted it to be present among gifted invididuals and known about, but not common. Magic wasn't feared and hated, but neither were there hedge wizards on every corner offering cantrips, or production lines of magic weapons. They were happy with my stricture that all magic items were unique investitures of power, not commonplace.

The nation is expanding and borders on the remnants of an old empire. The village is on this frontier, and there are riches to be had out in the badlands for those willing to brave the dangers. Old things from the empire, even survivors and monsters. The village itself is built on the site of an old dwarven mining outpost. The mines and quarries have largely ceased functioning, being too hard to work, and only a few dwarven families have stayed on. The population is mostly human, but with a few non-humans.

Finally the situation. They liked the idea of travelling the wilderness, given there's a heavy concentration of wilderness skills and archetypes. I suggested the caravan protection gig, and later defending the village. They came up with the idea of the caravan being the last few dwarven families heading home, to the mountains. Which are of course on the other side of the badlands. Not being rich, they could only afford the services of Ulrik as a tracker. Mikasi was heading home from the village, so signed on for safety in numbers, and Adrithiel was leaving, so anywhere sounded good.

So there we have it, characters, a fictional world and a situation. Now I've just got to come up with something to meet their expectations!

Session 2 - The game

The main event commenced on Boxing Day, no one was really in the right frame of mind on Christmas Day. I started out with a quick briefing of the rules, such as they were. I just talked through the Rules Briefing at the back of the book, then said we'll work it out as we go since it makes more sense in play.

We got straight to the caravan on the road, and I had each of the players tell me where their characters were. The dwarves were nervous, and so stopped Ulrik ranging out ahead of the convoy, instead he was stuck sitting in the lead caravan. Mikasi was on horseback out to the side, and Adrithiel was riding in the middle of the convoy.

They'd been several days from Quarton (the hilltop village where they'd departed, a corruption of "Quarry Town") without event when they came across a fallen tree blocking the path. Ulrik got down to investigate the tree as some dwarves went to unpack axes. Mikasi dismounted and shape-shifted into the form of a hawk, flying high above to look down. Adrithiel started to play music in an attempt to keep everyone calm.

Ulrik could see even without getting close that the tree had been felled by axes, not infirmity or lightning. From aloft Mikasi spotted the glint of metal, and forms moving towards the convoy from the flanks. Adrithiel's music didn't strike a chord with the dwarves, who began demanding she shut up.

   Here was the first inkling of just how random Feng Shui can be, I guess even moreso when I'd switched the dice out, so they used d10s instead of d6s. Fewer explosions of extreme success or failure, but wider range of possible results. R got a shockingly bad result on her Performance which we laughed at and reasoned "everyone's a critic". But it was to become something of a pattern, really poor results which often killed the mood or brought frustration.

Anyway it was obviously an ambush, to which one of the players yelled "It's a trap" in Admiral Ackbar's voice. We'd been watching the Star Wars edition of Robot Chicken.

Orcs sprang out of the trees, an arrow bouncing off the helm of a dwarf scolding Adrithiel and another lodging in the arm of one unpacking equipment. Mikasi weaved some magic, bringing thunder clouds and dropping a lightning bolt on one of the orcs. Ulrik met a charge of two orcs by the roadblock, and went in both blades flashing.

   So we had our first combat. Definitely a learning experience for all involved, I kept gently trying to tease description out of the players with "how did that happen" and "what happened next". I didn't enforce the "repetition increases the difficulty" rule, because that would have merely added annoyance and frustration, I think.

Ulrik fared well against the orc mooks, Mikasi used the elements and as a weapon and made diving attacks, and atop one of the caravans Adrithiel hurled lightning and javelins. One of the orcs set a caravan alight, Mikasi diverted a raincloud to respond although it merely stopped the blaze spreading. When the leader of the ambush appeared, he charged for Ulrik and the two of them fought furiously. A lightning bolt from the storm overhead felled a tree, separating the combatants for a moment.

   The difference in effectiveness against Named Characters was quite notable. Adrithiel's Blast and javelins weren't terribly effective, apart from the one time R rolled very well. Ulrik and the orc leader chopped lumps out of each other, though the orc took the worst of it. Ulrik's Both Blades Flashing and Mighty really counted when it came to damage-dealing stakes, even though he was using shortswords.

I realised the round after I was unfair to A in turning her lightning attack into an environmental hazard. It should have been just a more interesting variation on Blast. Being a little rusty with crunchier rules-sets was to blame there. I said as much shortly after, she wasn't that bothered.

Yet in spite of dealing grievous wounds, the orc leader fought on, even with a javelin through his leg and broken collarbone, bleeding profusely from leg and neck.

   Here was another source of irritation in combat - the death check for Named Characters. First time they went over 35 Wound points, there was pretty much no chance of them going down. Second or third time, there was almost no chance of them staying up.

I didn't make enough use of the environmental treats I'd planned for the scene, like a snake falling on someone or a hornet's nest to be used as a weapon. I helpfully hinted at the presence of some of these things, but I should really have had the mooks do something with them.

The orcs finished, Mikasi dropped into cover behind the treeline to change forms, but was seen coming out by one of the dwarves, who was a little unnerved. A look from the emerging shaman was enough to really put the willies up him. They set to work clearing the tree, and within a couple of hours were moving again.

Tracks ahead showed a large group of orcs moving in the direction of Quarton, of which this ambush was just an offshoot. There was no way they could continue to escort the caravan and get back in time to warn the village. So they set to convincing the dwarves that they didn't need any further escort, and the need of Quarton was great.

   Again the randomness of the dice were an irritant here; we had some piss-poor rolls in trying to convince the dwarves that they'd be safe enough. I was using a ripped-off reaction table from D&D of old in my head, whereby successes moved from neutral, through favourable/unfavourable to friendly/hostile. First attempt shifted to unfavourable, then it was uphill from there.

At first the leader of the dwarves, Grimnir wouldn't be budged. He had a contract and they were only halfway with who-knew-what out there. The attack was proof of the danger. Nothing any of the three said would convince him otherwise. Adrithiel, reminding them of the danger to the villagers, unawares put doubt in his mind. Then Mikasi performed a foretelling, and could see little further danger if they kept moving. Eventually they were convinced, but promised Ulrik would only get half of what they'd agreed, since he'd only taken them halfway.

They made their way back the way they'd come at great speed, travelling faster than the convoy had. Along the way Adrithiel patched up Ulrik and gathered some herbs. Mikasi went into another trance to scry the danger to Quarton. It all got cloudy after a week and the involvement of an orc priest was key. The orc was also probing the future, which muddied things still further.

When they arrived at Quarton, the town was sleepy, no sign of attack or alarm. At the gates (the curtain wall was only a palisade to keep animals out, not proper fortifications) they were challenged, and the two guards recognised Adrithiel, who was supposed to be banished. They set to arguing about whether or not this was the same elf.

   Here ensued a comic scene with diplomacy failing, and Mikasi creating mist which Adrithiel used to sneak past them. Again the dice spoiled some interesting roleplaying and social skill use.

Making their way past the thoroughly confused guards, Mikasi and Ulrik rejoined Adrithiel and headed for the knight's house. Two of his men-at-arms barred their way and asked what their business was. They weren't impressed with demands to see Sir Leopold, but eventually sent for the castellan since Sir Leopold was out hunting.

   More rubbish social rolls...

On hearing the gist of what they were about, the castellan, a sensible man, hurried them inside away from the ears of anyone else. They explained the ambush and the tracks they'd seen. He sent a page to bring the knight back, and promised to say words in Adrithiel's defense. After all it had been Sir Leopold who banished her. But the orcs were a more pressing concern.

   Again a few poor social rolls, which I had to fiat away because the castellan not believing them or refusing to tell Sir Leopold would have dragged things out.

They went to the inn to await the return of the local lord. Later on that evening a man burst into the inn, wounded, and screaming orcs had attacked his farm. At first he couldn't be calmed,

   Poor social skill roll, again. I was getting to the stage where I considered dispensing with them altogether.

but eventually he got his story out. Orcs attacked his home, killed his livestock and took his family away. Someone had to help. So naturally our brave adventurers got to work.

Ulrik found their trail from the farm, counting around a dozen individuals. They followed the trail to a clearing where a big group of orcs were around a campfire, with tents around them and two coralled off areas. One containing oxen, the other the prisoners.

They began their attack taking out the outlying orcs and sentries watching the prisoners.

   I was in two minds here, by the book an unaware target doesn't have a defense and thus should have just been taken out. On the other hand it seemed pretty anticlimactic for them to be just killed, their numbers whittled down without a fight. So I had usual combat rolls against mooks, and the comedy of errors that was M's dicerolls with ranged combat. For some reason he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with his bow, yet up close he chopped things to bits.

Sentries dealt with, Mikasi sneaked round to free the prisoners, and Adrithiel and Ulrik woke the camp up. The orc shaman emerged from his tent and ordered someone to kill the prisoners. That orc only made it as far as Mikasi, who had already released the woman and her children. A steady stream of arrows, lightning bolts and javelins from Adrithiel and Ulrik cut down orcs, while the shaman sent ineffective blasts of ice in response. The oxen jostled around uneasily, and Adrithiel shot out the rope holding the gate shut, sending them stampeding out.

   Unfortunately all the orcs successfully dodged out the way, the mooks even getting the first dice explosion of the game. That was a bit of a damp squib.

Mikasi spent a long time fighting a single orc, Ulrik cut several of them to ribbons with his swords, and Adrithiel and the shaman duked it out with magic. Shaman took to the air, leaving his bodyguards to charge Ulrik. When the dust settled, our heroes were victorious, and the shaman plunged into the campfire, dead.

   Ulrik's comedy of errors continued. When he'd cut down the last orc and switched to his bow to attack the floating shaman, he missed. Every single time. Not one attack in about ten could hit the shaman. What's worse is that his skill with Ranged Combat was identical to that with Close Combat.

Death checks were problematic again, I think we needed to reset our expectation around them. Basically that inflicting 35 Wound Points didn't mean the Named Character would shortly be croaking. Since they usually took 50+ before it was a done deal.

We ran out of time at that point, dinner called.

Aftermath and feedback

To be completely honest, the system was a bit of a disappointment to me. It seemed to serve more as a blocker than enabler, and trying to stay within what it expected proved a chore at times.

R did find it much easier to know what to do with something more structured, and appreciated not having to just make stuff up. M and A, though said while the process at the start, brainstorming the world, situation and characters was useful, they weren't so sure the system added much. In some ways the fact that it was a blank sheet and fantasy aided where having to be Star Wars in the previous game had not.

We talked about re-making the characters in Wushu and playing out the final scenes with that. They were more keen about that than R was, though she was willing to try.

As it happened I think people were too tired to continue after dinner. We'd been playing for the better part of four hours, and I think that was more than enough.

Still a useful learning experience. I really do find even lighter crunchy systems hard to run. Book lookups were a necessary evil, but not something I enjoyed. All the mucking about with addition and subtraction during play wasn't much fun either, whenever Named Characters were involved, or PCs got hit.

But the process used to arrive at the game from nothing was pretty successful. Everyone felt like they had a better handle on their characters and the events as a result. Certainly better than just creating characters, then me going away to come up with a scenario.

Afterwards A said she now had a much better idea of how an RPG actually works, and why it could be fun. She even suggested later that maybe she should learn how to GM so she could run something for me!

Anyways, we watched Star Wars: The Phantom Menace after dinner, which filled me with the desire to run/play a Star Wars RPG, but everyone is going today so no dice. Another time...