The Kin-Strife
Jan. 27th, 2013 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatI think I may have mentioned once or twice that I've been running a (more or less) Warhammer game based on Oxrandir's Kin-Strife MERP module. I've been running it once a month (in good months) since just after we moved into this house and it finally came to an end last weekend.
`Ragnor' has kindly been keeping a campaign diary of the whole thing, though I'm not sure if he will ever post the final 64th part.
The game ended up being a mixture of the adventures suggested in the Kin-Strife module and Oxrandir's "Eyes of the Blind Night" module that he published in Other Hands (though I've no notion off-hand which issue it was in). I felt the Kin-strife module itself didn't have an obvious conclusion and though there were tight links and a fairly clear narrative thread between the Lond Ernil and Osgiliath sections, the other sections (Minas Ithil, Minas Arnor, Umbar and Pelargir) were less well tied together. Eyes of the Blind Night had a much stronger narrative drive and a good climax but was placed after the actual Kin-strife and didn't really engage much with the Gondorian politics.
My basic idea was to take the characters on a leisurely tour around Southern Gondor (Pelargir -> Minas Ithil -> Umbar - I skipped Minas Arnor because I couldn't think of anything interesting for them to do there!). During these wanderings they would gradually learn about the background threat posed by the Cult of Benish Armon, and Neithan's back story. Some of this involved sections from Eyes of the Blind Night (where there were particular clues to be had) though I usually sent them to the relevant places under some alternative pretext. In true Amulet of Zarg fashion the party also got to inherit, steal or otherwise stumble upon the five vital components of the key to Fuinur's Well. The game then moved into the fairly well integrated Lond Ernil and Osgiliath sections and finally joined up with the Eyes of the Blind Night module where it headed south of Gondor to the Raj, the Mirror of Fire and Fuinur's Well. I linked various party members into the story either by ancestral links to players in the back story, or via loyalty or friendship with Neithan - though in general it was as "friends of friends" - for instance one PC was Ilvirin, a lieutenant of Rastarin (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
firin's original character) who plays a prominent role in the kin-strife module. Ilvirin got to take on much of Rastarin's role without such close ties to Neithan as Rastarin would have had (probably just as well in the event)!
I had to provide several detours for "tombs" because B. picked "Tomb Robber" as one of his early careers and so required tombs to rob. This immediately forced us into the conundrum that nice Numenoreans don't have tombs and so, in the end, they explored a lot of vaults.
I've already chronicled how the party rather efficiently got rid of Neithan, the module's tragic hero (or unrepentant trouble-maker depending upon your point of view) - there may have been cheering when, in the penultimate game, some time after the party had introduced Neithan to an unmarked grave, I read out the fateful words "This is the moment that Neithan will choose to betray the characters".
Lastly, around Easter this year, I realised the game needed an entirely different ending. At the point of Neithan's death the party naturally acquired the Kuilëondo (his magical jewel with an evil cat maia trapped inside). They very quickly decided that a) this was probably a bad thing and b) should be destroyed if at all possible. At this point they had already decided to go to the Mirror of Fire where the great lamp Ormal fell to earth and scorched the ground, in order to seek out Fuinur's Well. Obviously it instantly occurred to the party that it might be quite hot and fiery around there and it therefore might be a good place to offload their evil jewel. I thought this was a terribly good idea and so the final confrontation was among the dying fires of Ormal, fighting the now released cat spirit Tevildo.
Of course they now want a follow up. I'm thinking about it. If I do one then I'll be ditching the Warhammer system, though I'll be keeping Fate points which I think are an excellent idea (always assuming you aren't that interested in actually killing the characters). I don't know what they'll do - Ragnor appears to be strangely keen on the idea of some kind of fact-finding camping trip into Mordor, and there's always Angmar as well I suppose, not to mention, I believe, a rather good MERP module set in Tharbad.
`Ragnor' has kindly been keeping a campaign diary of the whole thing, though I'm not sure if he will ever post the final 64th part.
The game ended up being a mixture of the adventures suggested in the Kin-Strife module and Oxrandir's "Eyes of the Blind Night" module that he published in Other Hands (though I've no notion off-hand which issue it was in). I felt the Kin-strife module itself didn't have an obvious conclusion and though there were tight links and a fairly clear narrative thread between the Lond Ernil and Osgiliath sections, the other sections (Minas Ithil, Minas Arnor, Umbar and Pelargir) were less well tied together. Eyes of the Blind Night had a much stronger narrative drive and a good climax but was placed after the actual Kin-strife and didn't really engage much with the Gondorian politics.
My basic idea was to take the characters on a leisurely tour around Southern Gondor (Pelargir -> Minas Ithil -> Umbar - I skipped Minas Arnor because I couldn't think of anything interesting for them to do there!). During these wanderings they would gradually learn about the background threat posed by the Cult of Benish Armon, and Neithan's back story. Some of this involved sections from Eyes of the Blind Night (where there were particular clues to be had) though I usually sent them to the relevant places under some alternative pretext. In true Amulet of Zarg fashion the party also got to inherit, steal or otherwise stumble upon the five vital components of the key to Fuinur's Well. The game then moved into the fairly well integrated Lond Ernil and Osgiliath sections and finally joined up with the Eyes of the Blind Night module where it headed south of Gondor to the Raj, the Mirror of Fire and Fuinur's Well. I linked various party members into the story either by ancestral links to players in the back story, or via loyalty or friendship with Neithan - though in general it was as "friends of friends" - for instance one PC was Ilvirin, a lieutenant of Rastarin (
firin's original character) who plays a prominent role in the kin-strife module. Ilvirin got to take on much of Rastarin's role without such close ties to Neithan as Rastarin would have had (probably just as well in the event)!I had to provide several detours for "tombs" because B. picked "Tomb Robber" as one of his early careers and so required tombs to rob. This immediately forced us into the conundrum that nice Numenoreans don't have tombs and so, in the end, they explored a lot of vaults.
I've already chronicled how the party rather efficiently got rid of Neithan, the module's tragic hero (or unrepentant trouble-maker depending upon your point of view) - there may have been cheering when, in the penultimate game, some time after the party had introduced Neithan to an unmarked grave, I read out the fateful words "This is the moment that Neithan will choose to betray the characters".
Lastly, around Easter this year, I realised the game needed an entirely different ending. At the point of Neithan's death the party naturally acquired the Kuilëondo (his magical jewel with an evil cat maia trapped inside). They very quickly decided that a) this was probably a bad thing and b) should be destroyed if at all possible. At this point they had already decided to go to the Mirror of Fire where the great lamp Ormal fell to earth and scorched the ground, in order to seek out Fuinur's Well. Obviously it instantly occurred to the party that it might be quite hot and fiery around there and it therefore might be a good place to offload their evil jewel. I thought this was a terribly good idea and so the final confrontation was among the dying fires of Ormal, fighting the now released cat spirit Tevildo.
Of course they now want a follow up. I'm thinking about it. If I do one then I'll be ditching the Warhammer system, though I'll be keeping Fate points which I think are an excellent idea (always assuming you aren't that interested in actually killing the characters). I don't know what they'll do - Ragnor appears to be strangely keen on the idea of some kind of fact-finding camping trip into Mordor, and there's always Angmar as well I suppose, not to mention, I believe, a rather good MERP module set in Tharbad.