Session Report - 2 MarsCon sessions

Okay, so I ran my first games in the Valley of the Old Ones setting this past weekend at MarsCon, in Williamsburg.

The first session was on Friday night and consisted of these players:

• John D - Played "Pilchard the Player", Human Bard
• Marcy D - Played "Nika", 1/2 Half Elf Priestess (Lightbringer of the Order of St. Kelvin)
• Carol D - Played "Clematis", Halfling Thief (and her corgi, Lollipup)
• Robert M - Played "Creatus the Invoker", Human Magic User (Invocation Specialist, and Brimstone his toad)
• Justin G - Played "Sigfried the Strong", Human Fighter
• Tim G - Played "Sir Everard", Human Paladin (Order of the White Lady)
• Elliott D - Played "Lotharius", Elven Fighter-Magic User (with Winston the Cat, his familiar)
• Sara - Played "Mogge the Good Witch", Human Magic User (Alteration Specialist, with Rictus her Raven familiar)
• Todd - Played "Bean", Human Thief

While the game was mostly a Dungeon Crawl (through the extended cellar layers of Finch Abbey), it started out with an encounter with two Carrion Crawlers bursting through the forest floor and attacking Lotharius, as he was investigating the dead clergy of Finch Abbey.  The opening scenes were of the (large) party of player characters trying to form some sort of group dynamic to fight off the two Carrion Crawlers.  Mayhem ensued.

During the Dungeon Crawl part of the adventure, poor Bean came close to dying a few times.  Although he was more than willing to lock some of his companion adventurers into a room with a dozen Hairy Spiders, just to save his sorry butt!  (it made me laugh - a couple of these are not experienced adventurers, and some of their antics showed it).

From the comments I got back, everyone seemed to have a great time.  Most of them were back for more play on Saturday night at the convention (we played both nights).

On the second night, neither Tim (Sir Everard) or Todd (Bean) returned to play.  And Sara (Mogge) left at about 9:00pm to attend other parts of the convention.  But I believe we had much more fun on the second night.

Winston was a hoot.  Creatus got in some seriously clever spell work.  Pilchard finally got to whip out his lute in combat.  Nika became a cleric of sustenance with crazy healing skills.  Lotharius on a suicide ride across the bridge of peril.  Sigfried became a dangerous man - threatening not only the enemy, but also breaking a handful of weapons in combat.  Clem really got to be a clever little thief, ahem ADVENTURER, as she became the master of traps and locks.  There were numerous near deaths.  Several Hedgehog People sisters of the Order of St. Brigid were NEARLY rescued.  Dark Elf archers, Ogre ambushes, pit traps full of skeletons, Winston getting stuck in the middle of a Web spell, and a secret closet with a Hooked Horror in it.  And a turkey leg for Lollipup.

It was glorious, and everyone had a great time.  Especially the Hooked Horror and Winston.