Warren J. Dew
2010-07-09 03:31:04 UTC
I was surfing the net and noticed a Peter Knutsen reference on the
Steve Jackson Games board from last year to me having "hinted at" an
all dwarf party in my Laratoa campaign. I was surprised I hadn't
provided more than hints - and also surprised when I found my last
mention of them in this newsgroup to be around 2003. I figured I'd
provide an update in case anyone was interested.
As background, Laratoa has a large abandoned underground dwarf city -
I'm sure you'll recognize the concept - with its inaccessible west
gate not far from the largest above ground dwarf city, and a fabled
east gate on the unexplored other side of the mountain range.
Starting some time in the 1990s player time a group composed mostly of
dwarves decided to try to find a pass through the mountains - or
perhaps they found a fragmentary map, I forget - and find the east
gate. Over a few years of player and game time, the group explored
the pass, lost its human member, and decided to try to start a
permanent base on the far side of the mountains from which to run
raids on the goblins that now occupied the area near the east gate.
The initial trips involved setting up supply caches in the pass so as
to have enough supplies to support exploration time on subsequent
trips.
As of Laratoa year 1623 - some time around 2000 player time - the
dwarves had selected a site near the east end of the pass to mine out
a base. By Laratoa year 1629, the dwarves had finished carving their
fort, had it permanently manned, and started raiding the goblins.
After each goblin raid, they would spend some time - it usually ended
up being about two character years - recruiting new and replacement
dwarves, upgrading equipment, and training. At first they subsisted
on hunting, but then they established trade with the human natives to
take care of most of their food needs.
In Laratoa year 1637, the dwarves decided to establish an outpost
closer to the east gate and the goblins, and to set up a smithy at the
fort for mining tool repair. It is now Laratoa year 1642, and the
outpost is ready for its gate to be installed and for permanent
habitation. We're now doing one of our periodic switches between
player character groups. The following summary of the status of the
dwarf group - prepared to help us remember where we are when we come
back to them - may provide some of the flavor of what the group is
like. Discussion continues after the summary.
----
This is mostly a note to document the current status of the dwarf
group as of the end of the session on 2010.06.23, as the playing group
is probably now planning to move back to County Janistaar.
The dwarves are currently divided into four groups in three locations.
The fort, where the dwarves have been for the last few decades, is
manned mostly by recent immigrants from Zokat, drawn largely from
Karis' acquaintances and Fundul's relatives. Crystal, the only long
term dwarf group member in this group, is currently trading with
natives for enough food to support all dwarves on the east side of the
mountains. The fort has approximately one year's worth of trade goods
on hand. Madir is fully loaded repairing mining tools. Dima is
awaiting training in the native language so she can move to the
outpost and start trade there. The group is not quite big enough
simultaneously to maintain a watch and to make supply runs to Zokat.
This group consists of:
Crystal (wjd)
Dima (sh)
Madir (sh)
8 NPCs mostly of moderately low level
date: 1642.08.28
The outpost, which is about half way between the dwarf city east gate
and the fort, is currently being excavated; Rogar and Stonehead have
been working on it for about three years. The gate complex has been
completed and the gate itself ready to be installed using hardware
brought over on the last few resupply trips to Zokat. Quarters behind
the gate are cramped for the semipermanent residents, and extremely
cramped when the supply group is also in the area. Sufficient
supplies have been accumulated to support an immediate raid on the
goblins if desired. This group consists of:
Stonehead (sh)
Barik (sh)
Gumnad (sh)
Mara (sh)
Thram (sh)
Dain (wjd)
Thorin (wjd)
Golar (wjd)
Thorkell (kab)
Kasov (npc)
Rogar (npc)
date: 1642.08.28
There are seven long term members of the dwarf group who have been
delivering food and repaired mining tools from the fort to the
outpost, returning to the fort with broken mining tools and coal, and
joining with some of the dwarves at the fort to make resupply runs to
Zokat. They are currently accompanied by Thorfid, the closest thing
the royalists have to a king, and two of his body guards, who
accompanied the group back on their latest resupply trip to Zokat.
This group is currently located at the outpost and consists of:
Kurzon (sm)
Sapphire (sm)
Farin (kab)
Hrolfr (kab)
Olaf (kab)
Norag (kab)
Gror (wjd)
Thorfid (npc)
2 NPC body guards
date: 1642.09.07
Finally, there is Karis' group in Zokat, which includes no player
characters. They are holding Leitha, the goblin captive that was
recently freed by the travel group.
----
As mentioned in one of those "hints" years ago, I think the dwarf
group is an interesting example of a subcampaign where the objectives
are primarily nonsentient. The ultimate objective is of course to
defeat the goblins, but the players don't really expect to play long
enough to see that happen. Both of the currently active players have
remarked that they like the story that is being created, though.
It's interesting to contrast the group with a group composed of elves
in another part of the campaign. The elves have ongoing interchange
with humans; the dwarves have no contact with humans and limited
contact even with dwarves outside their group. The elves take great
pains to maximize the chances of survival for every member; the
dwarves accept some losses as inevitable and recruit to replace them.
Most interesting, though, are the very different approaches the two
groups use to the same problem. The elves are also raiding the same
goblins using a different path, but they remain based in the human
lands and each raid constitutes a separate - and often long separated
- "adventure", with no real ultimate goal in mind. The dwarves, in
contrast, are focusing on constructing an infrastructure to advance
towards their ultimate goal, with individual expeditions integrally
serving that goal.
Also of interest is the passing reference to the freed captive in the
above summary. Leitha has been held by the goblins for, it seems,
over sixteen centuries. That's a very rare opportunity for the player
characters to learn about the past. The dwarves, however, haven't
shown much of an interest, and are mostly interested in more practical
questions, such as whether it's possible and whether it's ethical to
ransom Leitha off to any of her relatives that may still be around,
and how to locate said relatives.
I hope that's of interest to some of the old members of the group.
Warren J. Dew
Steve Jackson Games board from last year to me having "hinted at" an
all dwarf party in my Laratoa campaign. I was surprised I hadn't
provided more than hints - and also surprised when I found my last
mention of them in this newsgroup to be around 2003. I figured I'd
provide an update in case anyone was interested.
As background, Laratoa has a large abandoned underground dwarf city -
I'm sure you'll recognize the concept - with its inaccessible west
gate not far from the largest above ground dwarf city, and a fabled
east gate on the unexplored other side of the mountain range.
Starting some time in the 1990s player time a group composed mostly of
dwarves decided to try to find a pass through the mountains - or
perhaps they found a fragmentary map, I forget - and find the east
gate. Over a few years of player and game time, the group explored
the pass, lost its human member, and decided to try to start a
permanent base on the far side of the mountains from which to run
raids on the goblins that now occupied the area near the east gate.
The initial trips involved setting up supply caches in the pass so as
to have enough supplies to support exploration time on subsequent
trips.
As of Laratoa year 1623 - some time around 2000 player time - the
dwarves had selected a site near the east end of the pass to mine out
a base. By Laratoa year 1629, the dwarves had finished carving their
fort, had it permanently manned, and started raiding the goblins.
After each goblin raid, they would spend some time - it usually ended
up being about two character years - recruiting new and replacement
dwarves, upgrading equipment, and training. At first they subsisted
on hunting, but then they established trade with the human natives to
take care of most of their food needs.
In Laratoa year 1637, the dwarves decided to establish an outpost
closer to the east gate and the goblins, and to set up a smithy at the
fort for mining tool repair. It is now Laratoa year 1642, and the
outpost is ready for its gate to be installed and for permanent
habitation. We're now doing one of our periodic switches between
player character groups. The following summary of the status of the
dwarf group - prepared to help us remember where we are when we come
back to them - may provide some of the flavor of what the group is
like. Discussion continues after the summary.
----
This is mostly a note to document the current status of the dwarf
group as of the end of the session on 2010.06.23, as the playing group
is probably now planning to move back to County Janistaar.
The dwarves are currently divided into four groups in three locations.
The fort, where the dwarves have been for the last few decades, is
manned mostly by recent immigrants from Zokat, drawn largely from
Karis' acquaintances and Fundul's relatives. Crystal, the only long
term dwarf group member in this group, is currently trading with
natives for enough food to support all dwarves on the east side of the
mountains. The fort has approximately one year's worth of trade goods
on hand. Madir is fully loaded repairing mining tools. Dima is
awaiting training in the native language so she can move to the
outpost and start trade there. The group is not quite big enough
simultaneously to maintain a watch and to make supply runs to Zokat.
This group consists of:
Crystal (wjd)
Dima (sh)
Madir (sh)
8 NPCs mostly of moderately low level
date: 1642.08.28
The outpost, which is about half way between the dwarf city east gate
and the fort, is currently being excavated; Rogar and Stonehead have
been working on it for about three years. The gate complex has been
completed and the gate itself ready to be installed using hardware
brought over on the last few resupply trips to Zokat. Quarters behind
the gate are cramped for the semipermanent residents, and extremely
cramped when the supply group is also in the area. Sufficient
supplies have been accumulated to support an immediate raid on the
goblins if desired. This group consists of:
Stonehead (sh)
Barik (sh)
Gumnad (sh)
Mara (sh)
Thram (sh)
Dain (wjd)
Thorin (wjd)
Golar (wjd)
Thorkell (kab)
Kasov (npc)
Rogar (npc)
date: 1642.08.28
There are seven long term members of the dwarf group who have been
delivering food and repaired mining tools from the fort to the
outpost, returning to the fort with broken mining tools and coal, and
joining with some of the dwarves at the fort to make resupply runs to
Zokat. They are currently accompanied by Thorfid, the closest thing
the royalists have to a king, and two of his body guards, who
accompanied the group back on their latest resupply trip to Zokat.
This group is currently located at the outpost and consists of:
Kurzon (sm)
Sapphire (sm)
Farin (kab)
Hrolfr (kab)
Olaf (kab)
Norag (kab)
Gror (wjd)
Thorfid (npc)
2 NPC body guards
date: 1642.09.07
Finally, there is Karis' group in Zokat, which includes no player
characters. They are holding Leitha, the goblin captive that was
recently freed by the travel group.
----
As mentioned in one of those "hints" years ago, I think the dwarf
group is an interesting example of a subcampaign where the objectives
are primarily nonsentient. The ultimate objective is of course to
defeat the goblins, but the players don't really expect to play long
enough to see that happen. Both of the currently active players have
remarked that they like the story that is being created, though.
It's interesting to contrast the group with a group composed of elves
in another part of the campaign. The elves have ongoing interchange
with humans; the dwarves have no contact with humans and limited
contact even with dwarves outside their group. The elves take great
pains to maximize the chances of survival for every member; the
dwarves accept some losses as inevitable and recruit to replace them.
Most interesting, though, are the very different approaches the two
groups use to the same problem. The elves are also raiding the same
goblins using a different path, but they remain based in the human
lands and each raid constitutes a separate - and often long separated
- "adventure", with no real ultimate goal in mind. The dwarves, in
contrast, are focusing on constructing an infrastructure to advance
towards their ultimate goal, with individual expeditions integrally
serving that goal.
Also of interest is the passing reference to the freed captive in the
above summary. Leitha has been held by the goblins for, it seems,
over sixteen centuries. That's a very rare opportunity for the player
characters to learn about the past. The dwarves, however, haven't
shown much of an interest, and are mostly interested in more practical
questions, such as whether it's possible and whether it's ethical to
ransom Leitha off to any of her relatives that may still be around,
and how to locate said relatives.
I hope that's of interest to some of the old members of the group.
Warren J. Dew