PART 2 of my first game of COJ
As Azim & Zeno were taking possession of the shipment of opium, screams and shouts started to be heard in the vincinity. (I forgot to mention that Zeno’s gang stayed in front of the first house where the PCs met Timeus giving his speech to the crowd)
Brother Timeus and several other members of his congregation ran towards the direction of what started to appear to the PCs as a battle going on.
Azim decided that their mission came first and therefore stayed with the mule while Zeno rushed towards the battle, running through the houses now deserted. When he arrived where he left his brothers in arms he found them fighting fiercely in a shield wall formation (he chose the move at character creation) against what appeared to be a larger group of guards mostly made of Westerner fighters. Two of his men were already wounded, one of them showing a grim and bloody injury where a crossbow bolt hit him. Quickly Zeno, assessed the situation (he made a perception move in battle and asked for the best escape route which was back towards where the mule was) and then decided to block the entry of the house he was in collapsing the ceiling. He managed to gather the other raiders without more losses and to destroy a joist (face danger + steel with a 10+).
The gang then started to run back towards where Zeno left Azim who had a lot of difficulties in having the mule advancing (at least the way HE wanted). But no time was to lose as the collapsing roof wouldn’t delay the guards for too long.
NOTA : Perhaps my mistake here was that I wanted to have them face a moral dilemma having the girl from the well and/or Timeus being targeted by the guards but as Zeno succeeded his move I decided to go along.
They decided to flee through the Essenian district. (I called for a Face Danger +edge for Zeno as he had to keep it together and +steel for Azim as pulling the mule was pretty exhausting
NOTA : I thought to made a move for the mule but didn’t really have time and thought in the end that a face danger would do the trick. But anyway the mule could still be the target of some of my move : it’s kinda difficult to transport some barrels through a city like Jerusalem and its rocky countryside ‘well that is to say if they don’t have a gang helping them)
Azim managed to drag the mule (and the opium) without too much trouble but Zeno got a 7-9. So I had him to make a choice between saving one of his man who was shot by a crossbow but then all the ennemy gang will finally find them or basically leaving his man to die but he would then escape the guards. He chose the second option and then took a -1 spirit as a raider.
Then i don’t recall exactly what happened but if i remember it correctly the PCs started to argue about what course of action they should do regarding of the shipment…in a middle of a chase. So after a while (and told them that it was dangerous, that they were still chased…) I decided to go for a hard move : as they finally agreed to go on with the mission and finally got out of the Essenian district, they faced a smaller gang of guards (actually I thought that the guards splitted in two smaller gangs : one chasing, and the other one surronding them). At once Zeno and his men shot several of the opposition (thanks of another move he took from the raider’s playbook) and decided to go for the kill (he chose the option of being ready for a mêlée fight). The battle was as quick as it was bloody and the gang was (almost too quickly) dispatched.
NOTA : it was during this fight that we started to have some questions about the raider as I’ve discussed in another post.
Azim, Zeno (and the mule) finally got to the walls and one of the gate (I decided it surely was one towards the port) and as they assessed the situation (one of them successfully managed to score a 10+ on a perception check) they saw a shadowy figure leaving the guarrison followed by what appeared to be the captain visibly smiling at the mysterious emissary and poking something in his hand with content (I thought it was obvious he just received a bribe and didn’t want to make things too easier for the PCs either so I didn’t described more than that. But nevertheless, Azim and Zeno took the mule and walked directly towards the gate…
NOTA : at that moment I was thinking : “the guards captain just got a bribe to look for some sucpicious individual who will probably try to pass through the gate with a shipment of opium, and they are going right at him…” so at first I thought this was a very bad idea and wanted to make a hard move but then I realized that I wasn’t probably clear enough about the bribe thing so I decided to let them try away to see what happens.
Two guards speaking loud in frank and visibly drunk (stereotype here? maybe back then! haha) stopped them as they approached and asked them what they were carrying in those barrels. A glimpse of envy sparkled in their ox looking eyes…and Azim stated it was oliva oil. (He made a fance danger+Shadow and brilliantly scored a 10+). The guards looked at him with disgust (and a big disapointment!) and let them through.
The two Fraeters left the high walls of the City of Judas lit by torches and braseros behind them as they were entering into the darkness of the countryside. Will they reach the port of Ashdod in time and alive?…. Let’s see what happened to them in the last part!
Hope you’re still enjoying that but most importantly I’m opened to any feedback : regarding the way I used moves, the story, anything.
Nice report! And most definitely, nice job!
Thanks for posting it.
A few notes (positive ones!): the setup with the girl and the priest was correct (you setup some mood, some color, and prepare possible future events), and I believe you did well by not generating more trouble since their rolls were good and you might have side-tracked the mission (which is on a tight timeline already).
Make a custom move for the mule only if the animal gets to be a significant character of the adventure. The mule could bring some comic relief with its custom move – it could be fun and turn the animal into a memorable companion if the characters depend on it, and the mule shows some “personality”.
Otherwise, he’s just a target or trigger of your moves; so again I think you chose very wisely.
Very good also the -1 Spirit to the Raider: that’s exactly the kind of hard decisions this character has to make.
About the bribe: it depends on your Players’ style, but usually I tell mine clearly what’s going on, and specify perhaps that the characters might not be aware of that yet, but I make sure the Players know what’s going on and what’s at stake.
If I can ask a couple of questions, then: general impressions from GM and Players? Favorite parts/mechanics?
What did your Players choose for Background? any chance to bring one or two of those elements up in the port of Ashdod?
Thx for the feedback Davide! So as a GM, it was a bit hard at first to get into the moves mechanic : I’ve only played at couple DW games but this is not something specific to COJ but to every AW hacks in general. I still feel a bit how to say “limited” to a certain course of action waiting for my PCs to fail to introduce a new peril,, and so on. But after some thinking I believe it´s only due to my too litteral approach of the system (and my lack of experience with it) I really lile the conditions though and especially the taint mechanic even if we didńt there yet. I am also eager to have a real tactical fight as the one we has in this first session were somehow boring but it´s absolutely more a matter of my PCs lacking a lot of imagination (it happened in a lot of other narrative games I’ve been running with them) but now I really feel more and more comfortable with it (and as a fan of Robert E Howard I have plenty of ideas and situations to throw at them combat wise!)
As for my players they had mixed feelings about the game but mostly because it was a first and they were kinda surprised by the system (and it was late) but again my bad.
Regarding their BG, Azim chose a motivation to join the Iron Fist : to redeem himself thru combat and some issue from his past that will come up soon (linked to his fellow followers of the book of Q). As for Zeno, his player chose an issue as well that he will have to face about Tobbias the former leader of his gang that he plans to rule (chosing the leader move as his first advancement) and the other was also a motivation to join the brotherhood to escape (well he shall sure think so!) his troublesome past.
I am currently planning another session which will probably take place next week (I hope!) with another group of players who are more used to this kind of game mechanics.
Looks like Zeno is most likely to meet Tobbias and his new gang at the port of Ashdod 🙂 For Azim I couldn’t tell right now how to bring up his background but perhaps it’s worth trying. Especially if you are not sure it’s going to be a long campaign you should not hold back: bring forward the background elements. (my 2c of course)
Well that’s something I’ll sure think about for our next game! As for now, we did finish the first scenario already (speaking of which I’ll have to post the third and last part of my gaming report).
But using the BG elements is really something I want to see next time! I love to play with my PCs’ motivations and most of all their fears and hopes.
oh, yes, so we will wait to know how did it end… I’m curious to know if they made it to Ashdod or someone managed to stop them!