This weekend I kicked off my newest 4E D&D campaign, set in the Wild West-y world my friend Jeramy and I have been designing for some time (tidbits can be found over at our D&D blog, LevelAndClass.com). I had previously written about the world and ran a couple of gaming sessions in it, but I haven't been able to run a full-fledged campaign in the world to really put it through its paces, so I'm excited.
The players are PhD students from my wife's program, some of whom have never picked up a D20 in their lives: a scandalous situation for any college student, let alone those who liked school so much they want to make their careers out of it. One of the players is a very experienced D&D player (and a freelance designer like me), so he and my wife are helping the other new players learn the ropes while I have my hands full wrestling down the campaign setting so their players can hog-tie it.
The Cast
"The Fallen Greve" - An eladrin warlord and nobleman who has returned from the Feywild seeking to reclaim his lost kingdom (Greve is his title from back then). The trouble is, he doesn't remember where he left it, and its name has been erased from existence. This is being run by the "veteran" player, who is playing him as a Don Quixote-style figure out of place with the world around him. His character in the first session also gave the other PC's the nicknames I'm using for them here.
"The Bloody Wench" - My wife's half-orc fighter, a mercenary who typically works guard duty for the many guilds based in the city of New Lenid. As I mentioned the last time I wrote about her, my wife has been feeling very Slayer-ish as of late, and she's playing the half-orc to the blood-soaked hilt.
"The Red Warrior" - A tiefling avenger working as a bounty hunter for the prison-city of Cornerstone. He gets his powers through his devotion to Saint Adelet the Judge, the patron saint of justice. He was called the Red Warrior by the Fallen Greve because he wears a large red cloak that covers his horns and tail.
"The Crystal Gentleman" - A shardmind psion, this character is a curiosity. He was unearthed by dwarven diggers back in the old country, but doesn't remember anything before then. Shortly afterward the empire was destroyed by dragons and he fled with the other refugees across the ocean to the new world. No one knows anything about what he is or where he came from, and he is searching for those answers.
The Setup
Like any good D&D game, it started in a bar. Specifically, the Last Gasp saloon outside of New Lenid. The shardmind was working as a barkeep and drawing in curious travellers to see this crystal creature, while the half-orc used this place as a frequent watering hole and place to look for work.
Things began to get tense when the eladrin noble walked through the door flashing a gold coin, demanding a goblet filled with distilled rose petals and to "speak to your local viscount!" Gold is far more scarce in this world than most others, so it naturally drew the attention of everyone in the bar: this included a handful of human prospectors, some other out-of-work mercs, and a group of hobgoblin thugs. The shardmind went back to speak to the owner and see if they did have distilled rose petals, while the bar's patrons started slowly reaching for their weapons.
About this time the door opened a second time, and the tiefling swept in in his red robes. One of the hobgoblins noticed his features as he pulled back his hood, and started snickering.
"Hey, Red," it chuckled, "feelin' horny?"
This brought a round of guffaws from the other hobgoblins. The tiefling cocked his head.
"Not after I left your filthy mother's place last night."
The hobgoblin he'd insulted blinked, then roared and threw their table through the window.
It was time to roll for initiative.
The Brawl
The eladrin leaped to aid the tiefling, but the prospectors shoved a pair of crossbows in his face.
"Come on now, pretty elf," they taunted, "give us the rest of that there gold and we won't send yeh to meet yer ancestors."
Meanwhile, the half-orc was getting pissed her drinking had been interrupted, when the other mercs in the bar threw their drink at her, narrowly missing her head. "Hey, green-shkin!" they slurred as they pulled wickedly-long knives, "You took our lasht job, and we're gonna take it out of yer pretty face!"
At this point the shardmind had returned from the back room and noticed things were far rowdier than he had left it. In response, he used his telekinetic powers to start throwing people out of the bar.
In short order the eladrin was able to get away from the prospectors and help the avenger kill off the hobgoblin thugs. The fighter mopped up the mercs in her face, and the shardmind helped clear the room of the rest of the trash. As they took a breather at the end of the fight, the eladrin sat back and started laughing.
"I hadn't had that much fun since the last Great Hunt!" he shouted.
The Adventure Begins
After a bit more roleplaying the group finished congealing into an actual party. The shardmind asked to follow the eladrin so he could help find his kingdom and hopefully learn more about the history of this world. The avenger needed to find the local sheriff, which the eladrin took to mean "viscount" and decided he needed to see him as well, and the half-orc was the only one who actually knew the sheriff and how to deal with him. So they left the bar, headed into New Lenid in search of a sheriff, and began their journey into the Open Range.
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