Keestake, the old man they’d rescued, lead both groups to a long abandoned temple to “the Goddess”. Group A chose to investigate and search the temple before settling down, but group B didn’t feel the need.

During the night, the Goddess reveals herself as Tymora. Planning to sink the island in outrage due to the orcs desecration of her temple, she offered the castaways a full night to make good their escape.

They were informed of magical treasures hidden in the manor – tools that could help them escape.

A bit of a change up in the respective rosters at this point. Some players joined both parties, and some left group B.

Roster update to come.

Having climbed off of the beach to get a better look at the island, both parties discovered it to be fairly barren, lacking in visible settlements or any life other than the tough scrub grasses. The situation growing dire, colder as the day wanes and the rain continues, a direction is chosen and the group heads out to try and find what shelter they can.

Heading east, they come across a battle in a ravine between a group of orcs and a group of goblins. They manage to rescue Keestake, an old man, who offers to lead them to shelter.

The old man, Keestake, was personal groom to the Seak King Viledel, a great Northman chieftan who’d conquered the Korinn Archepelago a century ago. He told them that the orcs and goblins had come to find Viledel’s lost treasure, which apparently includes a functional boat.

Party A

Upon spotting the humanoids fighting in the ravine, Olaf immediately leapt to the strategy of tumbling boulders down onto them. The others joined in, soon burying the combatants under a torrent of earth and stone, without taking any damage. In addition to rescuing Keestake, they liberated a number of weapons from the battlefield.

Party B

Party B’s first impulses were to rescue the old man and to wait until the goblins and orcs had finished each other off. One of them attempted to sneak down to him, but was spotted by a goblin archer, and shot in the arm. He still managed to free Keestake.

There were still five wounded but heavily armed goblins remaining after the last orc fell, including the one who had spotted the player, so they elected to flee with the old man rather than risk the confrontation.

Game Setup

The campaign opens for both groups of players having been kidnapped by slavers while going about their daily business. Kept in the dank hold of a cramped slaving galley, manacled to their plain wooden bunks, stripped of all their equipment, play begins shortly after the ship crashes on the shore of some unknown island.

Other than the players, the only character present is Melisana, the daughter of a powerful merchant.

The chains binding them to their bunks were still intact, and even if they had the skill with which to pick them, there was nothing around with which to attempt it. The keys remained just out of reach on a peg.

The slavers themselves, as well as the other slaves, had all but vanished. The sole remaining was the drunken half-orc slaver Hafrik, wandering up and down the beach, out of sight until the party managed to free themselves and look out of the hole in the hull. With the fallen mast laying across the hatch up on deck, out the hole in the hull was the only way out.

Added to this was the looming spectre of hypothermia. The winds were strong, the temperature low, and the rains omnipresent.

The beach holds no shelter, but some easily scalable cliffs offer access to the rest of the island.

Team A

Team A’s initial efforts were limited to pulling really hard on the chains – a fruitless task, as they were tough enough to restrain an ogre. Eventually, one of them noticed that their bunk had been damaged, and managed to work his chain free, then grab the keys and free the others.

Noting Hafrik, there was some discussion regarding attempting to contact him. After it was pointed out that his cruel nature and attitudes would make cooperation very unlikely, they chose to rush him en masse, most armed with hefty pieces of wood.

Joined by the dwarf Olaf (a late-joining player who’d been thrown free of the wreckage and unconscious on the beach), they managed to bear him to the ground where he was quickly beaten to death. Lars claimed his broadsword and Blackbird his dagger – nobody wanted his armor, as it stank of unwashed half-orc.

After this they chose to explore the upper deck of the boat for supplies, finding only a crossbow, bolts, and a wooden chest. Lars decided to take the chest, and initially Blackbird took the crossbow, though she elected to leave it on the beach when the group climbed the cliffs.

Team B

Team B started a week later than Team A did, and their posting rate is a bit slower, so these updates will likely come at the rate that they progress through the adventure.

Team B’s initial reaction to the chains were much more creative than A’s – nobody tried to break free with physical force, but rather one player attempted to snag the keys using his pants as a whip. Kallor quickly discovered the damage to his bunk as well, breaking free and freeing the others.

Reactions to Hafrik’s presence were varied as well. Rather than confront him directly, they chose to climb up to the top deck first to find anything useful against him, and there was no discussion of working with him.

Most of the group delved into the hold, leaving Isolde and Cass alone on the upper deck as Hafrik (who had easily spotted them) climbed up to attempt to recapture them. Jon managed to take hafrik down almost singlehandedly, first grabbing his arm and then driving a knee into his crotch, and claimed all of the slaver’s gear before anyone else could even think of it.

While most of the players rushed to attack – or at least offered moral support, Greist remained hidden in the hold during the combat.

Down below, the chest was opened and the charts, log books, etcetera brought out into the rain rather than kept safe in the chest, carried out by several of the characters.

Comparison

There was a bit less of a sense of instant comradeship among the characters among the members of Team B, though in some ways their solutions and such were more creative.

Both groups were given the same character creation restrictions – create 75 point characters, normal commoners, who will grow into adventurers over the course of the game.

Team A

• Blackbird is a Ffolk woman, abandoned on a wild island as a girl.
• Dolmar is also Ffolk, a farm boy. His player has taken a lot of magery.
• Josiah, a Ffolk farmer.
• Lars, a Northman sailor.
• Olaf, a dwarven accountant.
• Redhawk, a Ffolk half-elf with magery.
• Turus, a charismatic Ffolk farmer.

Almost all of the members of Team A are Ffolk, and three of them have mild shyness. Even the Northmen speak some Larik, though. Two players have magery to some degree.

Team B

• Cass is a grumpy old man.
• Greist is a scholar of sorts.
• Isolde is a druidic acolyte.
• Jard is a Ffolk fisherman.
• Jem is a Northman who doesn’t speak Larik.
• Jon is a Northman fisherman.
• Kallor is a Ffolk dwarf blacksmith.

Unlike Team A, Team B has a more even mix of northmen and Ffolk, as well as a lack of one language the entire party speaks. They only have one mage, and he was a late entry and isn’t yet listed above.

Both parties have at least one character who hasn’t yet entered the game. It should be noticed that Team B’s players had the luxury of seeing the other characters created for the game while creating their own, but that Team A’s don’t have access to the other players’ character sheets.

I’d like, ideally, for both parties to have equal numbers at all times.

Party selection is just about complete. As an experiment, I’ve chosen to run the campaign simultaniously at two locations with two seperate parties, just to see how it goes. I won’t be linking to either group directly – that way nobody can peek.

While both parties may end up taking different courses of action, both will start with the same circumstances. In situations where both parties are dealing with the same circumstances, I’ll wait until both parties have passed that point to avoid spoiling anything for the later party.

The Parties

Until the parties think of names for themselves, I’m just going to refer to them as Party A and Party B.

GURPS: Forgotten Realms is a play-by-post game set in the land of Faerun prior to the Time of Troubles. The player characters are peaceful commoners from the Moonshae Isles, kidnapped by slavers, who will soon embark on a life of adventure. Play will consist of old 1e and basic TSR DnD modules converted to GURPS 4e.

GURPS Forgotten Realms is currently accepting new players.

Novices to the Forgotten Realms, GURPS, and play-by-post gaming are welcome, as long as you have a basic mastery of spelling and grammar, and can write in an entertaining fashion.

What I’m Looking For

I’m anticipating a minimum daily posting rate. Character concepts should be more or less normal commoners, set to become professional adventurers. More information can be found here.