Saturday, January 21, 2023

Weekly Update - 2023-01-20

I'm still mired in my job change (which came complete with a looming deadline), but this week I've mixed in a cold just to keep things interesting. I hope y'all are having a better week than I.

What I'm reading

I'm really admiring all of the cool things folks are posting about Dungeon23. Here are hree you should check out:

I just finished a second pass through the first three episodes of The Darkened Threshold I'm slowly convincing myself that I need to play more Carved From Brindlewood games and maybe even write one myself.

I also just reread Maze Rats. Once My Monday group finishes Winter's Daughter, this will be the next short game I run.

In my offline time, I'm bouncing back and forth between Swords of the Serpentine and Blades in the Dark. I want to run both of these games this year. I just need to find out when and where.

What I'm writing and drawing

One conflict I'm running into as I write my Dungeon23 is how I want to write my descriptions. I absolutely love Ben L's lush writing in Through Ultan's Door but the house style of OSE is growing on me. I've been writing text entries to this point, but I think I need to try out the OSE version. A good first step would be to rewrite some entries into that - maybe even a couple of my favorites from Ben.

I'm hoping to finish the Fettered Factory maps next week. Then I'll be moving on to a redraw of the upper floors of the Ruined Monastery of St Amruss and the library (and crypt) beneath it.

What I'm playing, running, and planning

Martin Luther King Jr Day meant no lunchtime game at work. I'm excited to pick up Winter's Daughter next week. We've had a long break, so it will be important to get a quick recap to remind everyone where we are and then dive into some action to shock us back into play.

Wednesday's game was focused on putting together the clues we've gathered over the last several sessions and deciding what our next steps ought to be. It looks like we're going to dive back into investigation mode, with an eye to figuring out which factions a couple of NPCs belong to and how we can play those factions against each other.

On Thursday, the PCs spent a while navigating a cluster of flooded caves by boat. They found an exit guarded by bugbears. 

Due to their semi-alliance with Shuzgrap, the new bugbear chief in the Lost City, (and a really good reaction roll) they avoided an immediate fight but were stymied in how to move forward. 

They went back to the network of caves to look for another path. When they couldn't find one, they decided they needed to blitz the bugbears and get past them. Since they'd spent a couple of hours re-exploring, I gave them a small chance to surprise the bugbears and they did. We made it through their initial attack.


When we pick up next week, I'll be leading with a pair of questions:
(For the paladin) What would Galzar, the Lord of Battle, think of your breaking truce with the bugbears? 
(For everyone else) How do the bugbears react to your attack after your previous negotiations?

No comments:

Post a Comment