We began by creating our Stronghold, Iliad. It defends a harbor and port. It’s enemies are Hostile clans, never conquered, a neighboring rival crown, and raiders by sea. It is fortified with a bottleneck approach, a palisade outer wall, stone and timber longhouses and a deep cistern. It’s armory includes spears, hide coats and leather helmets for 60.
We next created a people, the Odyssians (Rights -1, War 0, Wealth 2). They are 50 souls in 6 households with 8 warriors. They are defined by being the descendants of Odysseus. The are tall, barrel chested with olive-brown skin. They are known for their amber, ivory and furs, their craft and skill, their far reaching trade routes, their individual skill at arms and the might of their gods. They speak a mix of Greek and Inuit. [Notables (created later on, but included here) include King Leon (+2) who aspires to loyalty and piety and who’s conscious allows him murder, and Cosmas Eukleides (+2) who aspires to courage and loyalty and who’s conscious allows him blasphemy. Cosmas is recently married to Opik Eukleides.]
After creating our people we selected playbooks and created characters. Our characters include:
Zopyros Amaruq the Blacksmith, of the Odyssians.
Sauri Eukleides the War-Captain, of the Odyssians.
Connacht Mac Duguith the Troll Killer, of the Briciu.
Opik Eukleides the Peasant Beauty, of the Uki Maja
Zopyros is a free landowner with the right to confront his betters for justice, rally warriors from among his peers, and slay whom he must. He is the head of his household which specializes in metalwork and includes an armory, fortifications and a sacred shrine. He has trade connections and a reputation. His land is entirely within the stronghold Iliad.
Sauri has the right to wage war as he sees fit. (and the beginning of session one, the scouts one and the single combat one.) He is the head of his household which includes vassals (the Karmian people), who work his vineyards, farmland and cattle. His lands lie along a river, and he has a trusted advisor (Connacht). His son is Cosmas Eukleides.
The Karmians (0 Rites, 1 War, 1 Wealth) are 300 souls in 40 households with 40 warriors. They are defined by being all who live on the south bank of the river delta. They are small, stocky, and bone-pale. The are known for their vigilance against monsters, their archers, their loyalth, their rich lands and their towering monuments. They speak greek. Notables include Nicolaus (+2) who aspires to courage and patience and who’s conscious allows brutality and murder. Nicolaus serves as the lieutenant in Sauri’s war company.
Connacht has a humble place in Sauri’s household as a thrall, but is a trusted advisor. (He has the encounter something unnatural, provoke a troll, single combat and strike a quarry’s trail rights)
The Briciu (2 Rites, 0 War, -1 Wealth) are 300 souls in 40 households with 40 warriors. They are Iliad’s enemy, the hostile clans never conquered. The Briciu are defined by speaking the same language, they look wiry and ruddy. they are known for their fearlessness vs. death, their insularity, their sorcery and enchantments, their physical prowess and their superb metal work. They speak the celtic language. Their leader is Veringor (+3) an unrivaled warrior who aspires to honor and whose conscious allows vainglory. His advisor is Avor the Sorcerer (+2) aspires to patience and conscious allows lying. Fathdar (+3) leads their War Company and aspires to honor and whose conscious allows blasphemy.
Opik has the appear on the battlefield, confront someone, radiant and stunning and receive gifts and offerings rights. She is the head of her household, which includes forests and hunting lands, a great hall, a library and a sacred shrine, but comes with burdensome duties as the leader of the Uki Maja. Opik recently married Cosmas Eukleides of the Odyssians to cement an alliance between their people. While the Uki Maja are a matriarchal people and Opik expects it will remain that way, she took Cosmas’ last name as a concession to the Odyssians.
The Uki Maja (Rites 0, War 1, Wealth 1) are a warrior order that include 16 souls in 16 households with 16 warriors who are defined by their common experience. They are barrel chested, short and a mix of olive brown and bronze brown. They are known for their insularity, their individual skill at arms, their physical prowess, their great beauty and their subtle fashions. They speak Inuit. The Uki Maja rule over the Uki Noma clan of people.
The Uki Noma (Rites 2, War -1, Wealth 0) are 30 souls in 4 households with 8 warriors who are defined by living in the Uki Maja’s forrests and hunting lands. They are short and bronze-brown. They are known for their insularity, their sorcery and enchantments, their veneration of priests and priestesses and their loyalty. They speak Inuit.
Since Zopyros’ player was finished with their character first, they were given the task of creating the remaining enemies of the stronghold.
The Brasha (Rites 0, War -1, Wealth +2) are the Iliad’s neighboring rival crown. They are a clan of 30 souls in 4 households with 8 warriors. They are defined by living in a certain place. They are tall, willowy, wiry and bronze-brown. They are known for their rich land, their great beauty, their subtle fashions, their devotion to law and their loyalty. they speak persian and hebrew.
The Eyeslo (Rites +1, War +1, Wealth 0) are the Iliad’s raiders by sea. They are an outlaw band of 12 souls in 1 household with 8 warriors. They are bound by a single common experience, sailing on the sea. THey are hulking, short, red-brown and ruddy. They are known for their fearlessness in the face of death, their elaborate cosmology, their brutal raids, their physical prowess and their garish fashinos. They speak Celtic and Russian. They are lead by Mungo Lyosha (+3) a brutal pirate who aspires to piety and who’s concious allows brutality, murder and robbery. Zopyros has had run ins with Mungo previously, where the two fought in single combat, each leaving the other with scars.
As we progressed through this part, it became clear that the game generates a lot of paper (which is neither good or bad.) We found the people sheet with both the warriors and notables on it most useful. Though if I were to print it out again I would put the additional notables sheet on the back side, instead of the rules for generating new peoples. I printed two of each people sheet, and we filled them all. I would be sure to bring extras next time.
The above took us approximately 1.5 hours and now we were ready to begin play.
Zopyros went first and declared that they spent the last season Working the Land. This was described as working with the fishermen of Iliad, helping them maximize their efficiency, and store up a great bounty of food.
Opik spent the last season travelling. In her travels she visited the lands of the Brasha, where she learned that the King of the people was sick and his wife the Queen was plotting to take the throne and return the people to the old ways upon his death.
Connacht spent the season celebrating the holy rites of his people, communing with Egghoth the Briciu God of the Stones.
Sauri spent last season with the Karmians, Preparing for What’s Coming. They established Fort Homer in the Briciu territory, with 1 fortification; an unusually rich treasury. It was decided that Sauri and his War Company had captured the holy treasures of the Briciu, including the Cauldron of Eternal Life and the Torch of Eternal Light.
We had enough developed at this point to start play.
King Leon invited Zopyros, Opik and Connacht to council. He had just received a messenger from Fort Homer. The Briciu have the fort under siege, and Sauri and his war company are unable to escape back to Iliad with the treasures.
Zopyros and Connacht leave the meeting determined to consult with the gods and determine what to do. Opik attempts to Muster Warriors to form her own war company to save her new husband’s father.
Zopyros returns to his forge and consults his gods of fire and anvil. He fails his roll, and learns that Briciu sorcery is being used to protect their warriors from steel forged in Iliad.
Connacht offers blood to the God of the Stones, He fails his roll and is shown a vision of the horrible trolls employed by the Briciu.
Opik attempts to muster her warriors and fails her roll, learning that the Uki Noma have risen up in her absence, and the Uki Maja have no warriors to spare until they quell the unrest in their forest.
While they deliberate on their next move, two warriors (Diana and Wallace) from the Briciu arrive at the gates of Iliad. Zopyros, Connacht and Opik arrive at the gates and hear their demands. Opik is in her full radiance when she enters the scene, striking fear in Wallace and intriguing Diana. Diana informs them that Veringor will show mercy. If King Leon provides the Briciu their great bounty of fish, and returns their treasures, the Briciu will allow safe passage for Sauri and the Karmians to return to Iliad.
Meanwhile at Fort Homer, Sauri plans an attack, to break the siege and escape north along the river with the treasures.
(Here we tried the Co-MCing, as the scene moves to another location. Zopyros’ player became the MC, and Connacht’s player took control of the Briciu and their War Company)
Siriu leads an attack at dawn, planning to follow the sun Apollo all the way home.
Siriu leads a War Company consisting of 40 Karmian archers (War +1, Harm 3, Armor 2) outfitted with mail coats, iron helmets, spears and bows against Fathdar’s Briciu War Company consisting of 40 howling warriors and spear throwers (War 0, Harm 4, Armor 1) outfitted with spears, swords and round shields.
Siriu, leading the attack, rolled a 12 on the dice for a total of 13. His Karmians struck hard, struck unexpectedly, drove a wedge into the enemies and drove the enemies back (he gets an extra one because of his right as a war captain). Fathdar’s War Company came under attack, rolling a 5+0, choosing to strike a particular person in the enemies force (siru.)
In the end the Karmians deal 3 Harm +1 for Archers +1 for striking hard -1 for Fathdar’s companies armor for a total of 4 harm established. Fathdar’s company does 4 Harm - 2 for armor to the Karmians and 4 Harm -3 armour to Siriu himself as a heroic Briciuian spear throw strikes the War-Captain in the knee.
At this point the Karmians have crossed out “We are strong and whole” and “We are bloody” leaving them limping, and the Briciu have crossed out “We are strong and whole”, “We are bloody”, “We are limping” and “We are gutted” leaving them butchered.
And this is when the game came to a grinding halt. It was clear in our mind from those results that Siriu and the Karmians had probably broken the siege and were able to escape, but when it came to counting our fallen we could not figure out how to relate the instructions to the war company sheets to the fiction.
After 10 minutes we decided to call it a night.
We closed the session by doing our experience.
Some comments we discussed at the end of the session:
1. We felt there could be more guidance with “their numbers” section of creating a people. It was hard to relate our expectations to the numbers listed to what each household included (especially where options like slaves, professional soldiers or vassals were selected by the PCs.)
2. Because the rights don’t have names like moves did it made talking about them difficult. Often we had to resort to reading the entire right aloud, instead of being able to have a shorthand summary like you would with the name of a move. This slowed our conversation down significantly, and in some cases introduced confusion.
3. We all would love a real complete example of how the battle moves are supposed to play out, especially the Counting Your Fallen move. We were stumped.
Creating this world and our peoples and characters was a ton of fun, we are excited to play again (in ~ two weeks) to explore our characters and this situation more thoroughly.
You can click here to check out the Stronghold map we created during this session.