Our long developed Rolemaster campaign finally kicked off this week with a brand new story, and new characters. Our group of future heroes begins the game as active members of the village of Hadryn’s Hold, an isolated mountain town. Visitors stopped coming to the location years ago, and live has always been safe and controlled, protected by a line of wardstones said to protect the people from evil forces. It is a time of growth currently, and a new set of children are coming of age at the annual ceremony. The group, active and contributing members of the town, enjoy the celebration – remembering fondly their own journey years before.
For this session, we are trying a new mechanic to establish inter-character relationships, a process that we spent the first half of the session on. In this, each character selects an Ally, a Rival, a Debt, and a Grievance – one of the other characters fit each of the roles. Based on discussion, they decide the circumstances, and the characters earn a bonus Rolemaster skill Knack for each connection. Mechanically, the characters gain several small bonuses (+5 in Rolemaster scale) on specific skills. Story wise, it establishes a stronger connection to several of the other players, and hopefully will encourage more roleplaying.
We are also utilizing a new tool for background music and ambience in the story, using the SoundTale application. This feels much cleaner and fits our process much better compared to tools like Syrinscape or Foundry’s built in options. And since we are not using laptops or digital tables for this game, it has a minimal footprint that I can run on the streaming and recording system.
No doubt we will have plenty of additional articles, but let us know if you have questions about our game, our house rules, or any of the tools we are using.
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