The Great Game
To mix it up here at the FtH page, every Tuesday or Wednesday I’ll be posting recaps from the weekly role-playing game sessions that I run for a group of people typically every Monday night. This game has been a concurrently running series of adventures using the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons first edition rule set, with some second edition additives that make sense and we’ve all allowed in as canon. The game uses the published Greyhawk world setting, a creation of Gary Gygax, from his own games he ran as D&D was being developed.
This particular game has been running since the early months of the year 2000, a sequel to a series of games also in the World of Greyhawk. While not directly associated with those games, it does continue from the events from them. Initially, the game was meant to be small, starting with just four players. It soon expanded to five, then many more as players left or couldn’t continue regularly due to occupations or other life situations. As of now, there are ten regular players, an abnormally large group to some Dungeon Masters.
Since 2000, the adventuring group has only spent about four years’ worth of actual time by their own records – there is a calendar created for the game, easily referenced for time keeping and other specifics – and their world has seen much change, from their own machinations as much as mine. Characters have come and gone just as players have, either through death or disillusionment or even disappearance. At present, there are ten Player Characters (PCs) and five Non-Player Characters (NPCs). For the uninformed, PCs are those played by an actual player and NPCs are those played by me, the DM. At times during these recaps, I’ll try to remember to incorporate informative bits for those that don’t know D&D or the setting. Overall, I’ll try to keep the recap to a story mode as much as possible.
As a game that’s been running for so long has quite a history and background, it’d take weeks for me to write up the entirety of what has occurred. It might also be a mite boring. For and introduction to the recaps, I’ll try and be as brief and as recent as possible to keep it topical.
The group, in general, is known as the Fond of Justice League, or the FoJ. Over time, they garnered money, prestige, and most specifically, notoriety. The FoJ eventually was invited to gain a stronghold in a territory known as Dyvers, which is a Free City with land holdings. In doing so, they had to swear fealty to the ruling council of Dyvers and choose someone to become raised to the title of Baron. One of their number, Solstrum Ironwood, was a high born Grey Elf Cavalier with a good and lawful disposition. He was chosen to become the territory’s Baron and start in on building a standing militia. The rest of the FoJ worked on building up the territory as a base of operations, which continues to this day.
During the time of settling in, another of the FoJ members, Giraud, a half-orc warrior, started a school for abandoned and orphaned children. Older children became enamored with the FoJ and graduated from the school as the first protégés, who called themselves the Alpha Men (Plus Kora). The Alpha Men (Plus Kora) went on a few missions for the FoJ while they themselves were too busy, and then more fame and notoriety came to the territory alongside the protégés. For a time, members of the Alpha Men and the FoJ intermingled on adventures, up to the current day, where the FoJ as an adventuring group has likely ceased to be.
Recently, it had become known that an enemy of the FoJ was on a hunt for a rare artifact, a “rod of power”. Needing to find a magical rod themselves, a group was sent to intercept their enemy and recover it, if their enemy had found it. During this mission, it was discovered that the “rod of power” is the Rod of Seven Parts, a massively powerful and unique item of ancient law. Needing it to solve a crisis revolving around the wife of an FoJ member, the group chose to find the missing pieces of the artifact, against all advice. Presently, the group has five pieces of the rod, losing only two party members in the process.
Regardless of intent, need or desire, after a long and ugly trip to the Elemental Plane of Fire and the fabled City of Brass, the group has decided to take a break from the search. Months ago, their druid, Killian, was killed and resurrected. This event caused some consternation within her order, which sent a delegation to inform her that she needed to perform an act to reset the balance of nature. She was pressed to remove a vampire lord from a nearby land by a certain date or be sacked from her order.
The group to assist Killian consists of 15 people.
- Zeke, a human Fighter of the 4th level
- Giraud, a half-orc Fighter of the 8th level
- Riko, a half-orc Fighter of the 9th level
- Morton, a human Illusionist of the 15th level
- Nadrine of Talmanulbut, a human female Cleric of the god Pelor (God of Healing and the Sun), 3rd level
- Golbagai, a half-orc Fighter of the 8th level
- Shoshana, a human female hireling/associate of Morton (NPC)
- Fezgil, a Valley Elf Magic-User/Cleric of Boccob (God of Magic), 6th level in each
- Henna Tallowleaf, a female Wood Elf Fighter of the 1st level, hireling of Paxalor (NPC)
- Killian, a human female Druid of the 7th level
- Paxalor, a half-elf Fighter of the 6th level
- Hannah Fury, a human Fighter of the 3rd level
- Gerrit, a human mercenary and hireling of Hannah (NPC)
- Graham, a human mercenary and hireling of Hannah (NPC)
- Zebediah Obadiah, a human Cleric of Pholtus (God of the Sun and Light), 1st level (NPC)
Their mission is to locate the vampire known as Lord Staad, who has taken over a section of a hilly region known as the Lorridges, which borders two minor countries. Little more than that is known, other than it’s been thought that he’s been active for over two years. As some of the group has had some previous experience with vampires, they are invariably paranoid about the situation.
Next week, a proper recap of the game that has occurred, with hopefully less static facts and more fun.
Follow the The Great Game to the “first” chapter!
For some great sites that give an overview of the World of Greyhawk, in which the setting first saw print in the mid-seventies, visit: The Wikipedia page, fellow gamer Grodog’s page, or the wiki page.
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