Against the Wicked City: Actual Play Report #1

Campaign Overview:

My wife Helen and I wanted a home campaign, playing mostly “duet” with me as GM and her playing. She plays in three of my games regularly (4^th Edition DnD and Werewolf the Apocalypse monthly, Out of the Abyss 5^th Edition DnD every couple of months), but we both enjoy our duet games where there's a little less social exertion.

I picked Against the Wicked City (http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/p/against-wicked-city.html), a wonderful Romantic Fantasy setting by Joseph Manola, inspired by Central Asian mythology and the Silk Road. The Wicked City itself is a great cesspit where, despite the corruption and horror that might seem to overwhelm the characters, love and hope are possible and valuable. The assumed system is a version of B/X D&D, aka Moldvay Basic D&D. This is a simple ruleset which, for various reasons, can encourage creative play and lateral thinking, taking the emphasis off combat. I picked one of the adventures he has written, to give me a little less work, and we got started.

I had Helen roll up three characters (in Ability order, roll 4d6, keep best three dice, HP = rolling a die type determined by class, reroll 1s and 2s, add Constitution modifier), and then pick classes from the five basic ATWC classes – Fighter, Trickster, Traveller, Scholar, and Noncombatant. The numerous other classes require “unlocking” via in-game play, which is awesome. The first four basic classes map on to the B/X classes, with the Trickster being a more rounded Rogue, and the Traveller and Scholar being nonmagical versions of the Cleric and Magic User, respectively. A cool thing with these is that Joseph gives them class abilities which no other class has – Fighters can always knock down mundane doors and the like, whilst Scholars can always bring to mind technical information they might ever have conceivably read. The Noncombatant is a little different, but is intended to be the equivalent to the standard fantasy trope of the “heroic bystander”, the kid sister or impractical fop who gets caught up in the adventures. They're good at things like not being attacked, automatically passing certain stealth rolls, and hitting enemies on the head with vases.

All the characters speak their own language as well as the Trade language. Their reading and writing abilities were determined via referencing their Intelligence scores to the relevant B/X table.

Characters:

Temujin (Fighter, Cavalryman, Apostles of the Great Revelation – Devout)

Str 16, Dex 8, Con 9, Int 7, Wis 17, Cha 15, 5hp

Temujin is a weird character stat-wise, but that's part of the fun. He's strong and wise, and quietly charismatic, but otherwise a bit subpar. He rolled his subclass as Cavalryman, which led to the idea of him as a sort of Mongol tribesman, of the ruling family of the tribe but exiled long ago. He waits to come into his own. Til then, he wanders the Great Road. He is profoundly religious. He met Arlo a while ago and they have formed a friendship. Temujin has a fine warhorse.

[Fighters get the following class abilities, for future reference: Feats of Strength, which means they can knock down normal doors or flimsy structures, and can bend iron bars and the like with a Strength check; and First Aider, which means they're helpful for healing party members in the 24 hours after a fight.]

Arlo Benyamin (Traveller, Huntsman, Order of the Divine Horizon – Semi-Devout)

Str 15, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 14, Cha 13, 8hp

Arlo is, in a broad-based manner, the statistically best character. Dex and Con bonuses go a long way. Over the long run he won't be as good at combat as Temujin, but at 1^st Level they're pretty much equivalent. Arlo is on his Pilgrimage, travelling from one Temple-Fortress to another. He's a competent and serious man who values the social function of his people's faith. He reluctantly took Nathaniel under his wing when Temujin and he came upon the runaway. Arlo has a hunting dog which travels with him.

[Travellers get the following class abilities: Herbal Healer, which means they help with healing when travelling in the wilderness; and Wilderness Expert, which means they can find their way almost anywhere and can pass very difficult tracking/similar tasks via a Wisdom roll.]

Nathaniel Joachim (Noncombatant, Amateur Archaeologist, Order of the Divine Horizon – Non-Devout)

Str 10, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 9, Cha 13

Nathaniel is a a would-be archaeologist who has left home (abruptly) to discover the world and make his name. He likes comfort, is a bit of a charmer, and has comfortably the most money of the group. He has tagged along with Arlo and Temujin quite happily, appreciating the protection they offer, and finding it nice to have someone else who speaks his native language. He reads a little of an important defunct script from a ruined civilization on the Silk Road. He has, as mentioned above, a bunch of fun abilities to do with seeming harmless.

Paradigms:

We rolled religions for Helen's characters from the ATWC random tables, adding a few details to them to flesh them out. However, to systematize the process before – and to offer a “sort-of alignment” - I've renamed them “paradigms”, and defined character attachment to them in a threefold way – Devout, Semi-Devout, and Non-Devout. The first assiduously follows and believes in the paradigm, the second engages with some aspects of it (e.g. inner spiritual exercises, social functions), whilst the last is largely indifferent to it, though probably not terribly hostile. I think this in a very simplified way reflects the way most of us engage with the paradigms that direct our lives, and avoids a Good/Neutral/Evil categorization. It's partly inspired by Vampire: the Masquerade – one of the cleverer mechanics introduced by the “even worse super-bad-guy” faction, the Sabbat (who I think were mostly a cover for potentially unhinged misanthropy on the part of players) was the idea that vampires who abandoned the “Path of Humanity”, broadly normative human morals, would need some other Path if they wished to stave off their bestial nature. Some Paths were pretty savage and horrifying; some were, in a strange sort of way, almost admirable. And so we get to this.

The Order of the Divine Horizon

The Order is a minority sect, marginal and grudgingly tolerated. A dualistic religion with two divinities (Utu, Lord of the Sun, and Inanna, Queen of the Earth, who are brother and sister), both of which are revered equally as king or queen of one half of reality. Its core belief is that worldly pleasures are sinful and asceticism is the path to holiness. The faith includes strong elements of folk magic, with the faithful encouraged to wear charms and talismans for good luck and to utter hymns and incantations to protect themselves from evil. The trade networks that the Order has established along the Great Road play an important part in keeping the religion alive. The religious life of the faith is built around a handful of large temple-fortresses, where all religious and ceremonial activities are concentrated. A key proof of piety amongst young adults is undertaking a pilgrimage between temple-fortresses prior to marriage, delivering post and gifts from their parents and from each temple-fortress they have visited along the way. The temple-fortresses have “Outer Courts” with hostels and merchants for outsiders, whilst the Inner Courts are reserved for members of the Order (which is a hereditary matter). They are major stops on the Great Road.

The Apostles of the Great Revelation

Originally hailing from another land, the Apostles were persecuted into oblivion and is now extinct in its homeland, living on only amongst of the clans of the High Steppes. The Apostles worship one god (Goktanri, “Sky God”) – all others are false. They believe that if only the Reign of the Faithful could be instituted everywhere, then everything would be perfect! That we are being justly punished for the sins of our ancestors. That the End of Days is upon us, and we must prepare ourselves for the final battle of good and evil! Due to the syncretic fusion of its teachings with the shamanic traditions of the area, the faith is actually mostly concerned with the management of troublesome spirits. The faith places a strong emphasis on the practise of silent meditation. Its holiest ceremonies are very quiet and very serious. Every faithful household maintains a small family shrine within its dwelling-place. The faith has exacting ritual purity requirements, which its followers are expected to observe scrupulously (although many of them don't).

Mini-Sessions 1-4 – The House of Granite, Ganbataar's Clan, and the Nine Valleys People

Our initial “session” has actually consisted of four mini-sessions, due to the trouble of us being tired out at the end of long days! But this represents about three hours of play.

The action starts with the party arriving at the House of Granite, a Divine Horizon Temple-Fortress on the Great Road. Arlo offers his services to the Master there, Zephaniah, who is a friend of Arlo's parents – they met many years ago on their Pilgrimages. Zephaniah asks Arlo to collect some fine horses the House has purchased from a nearby steppe clan. The three travellers ride out off the Great Road, east of a range of mountains, towards the rough area the clansmen should be – Arlo, using his Wilderness Expert feature, easily tracks the movements of the nomads, and they come upon the camp with no mishap.

They discover the young chief they have been sent to meet, Ganbataar, has recently gone missing after a hunting trip near the taiga to the north. The party meet Ganbataar's three closest associates: Narangarel, his no-nonsense fiancée, who is organising an expedition to find him; Batbayar, his best friend, who Ganbataar beat out in the ritual contests to succeed the old chief; and Terbish, a wily old stager and friend of Ganbataar who has just returned from service to the Khan. All three were on the hunting trip where Ganbataar went missing. Batbayar reports seeing his friend disappear into the forest with a strange woman, and doesn't hold out much hope for finding him, but seems willing to aid Narangarel in whatever way she wants. Terbish tells Arlo he just thinks that the young chief was killed by a local taiga dweller, and the best they'll achieve is find his body and start a war. These three, plus two cousins of Narangarel, make up the expedition, and the party go with them, seeking to accomplish their aim of getting the horses promised.

As they travel out, after some time travelling, they get a Random Encounter ping, and meet 9 Skullwearers – half-insane cannibals who have the facial bones of their victims sewn to their faces. I wondered if this might be the very swift end of the plucky adventurers, but rolled Reaction anyway (2d6, low means aggression, high means peaceable, modified by Charisma of your side). I rolled a natural 12, and the Skullwearers' leader rode down to meet Narangarel. He politely asked if the travellers had seen any merchants recently, as he desperately needed to “buy items...of various kinds”. Narangarel and the others denied seeing any other travellers, and then Narangarel told the Skullwearers not to follow them. Presumably the nutcases wanted an easier target than 8 armed warriors (well, 7 armed warriors and one robe-wearing dilettante).

The expedition arrived at the edge of the taiga, and met two reindeer-herders travelling along a causeway through a marsh. They received directions to the nearest village of the Nine Valleys People, the tribe that inhabited the local area. The PCs let Narangarel engaged with the local chief and his shaman, and then encouraged the steppe clansmen to camp away from the locals so they could discuss the matter. It turned out the chief had claimed not to have seen Ganbataar. Terbish gain expressed scepticism of success, whilst Batbayar told a fireside story of the Mourning Khatun, a great queen of the steppe nomads who had ruled well whilst her husband was away at war. When the Khan died in battle, she apparently retired to the taiga, where she must have died. Batbayar wondered if they might find her grave on their wanderings.

The next day, the travellers continued on to another camp of the Nine Valleys People, where they came upon more outsiders – a woman from the south with 5 mercenary guards. The woman was arguing with the local headman. The new arrivals spoke to Tuyaara, a local girl, who said she hadn't seen Ganbataar and explained that the outlander woman was called Galiya was from the Wicked City, here to look for relics to take home. Once the searchers were alone again, Batbayar voiced his suspicion of Tuyaara, who he considered quite beautiful – perhaps she was the one who had bewitched Ganbataar.

Temujin approached Galiya, who explained she was an archaeologist who was here to find the former home of a khatun from the steppes, a tower somewhere nearby which she wishes to excavate. Galiya offered to hire the three adventurers at 1sp a day each, though she was sceptical of Nathaniel's use (but Temujin rolled well on a Charisma check). Temujin explained their contract would have to end if they saw Ganbataar, to which Galiya agreed. Temujin explained this to Narangarel, who thought it was a good way to cover more ground – and to keep an eye on Galiya, whose exotic nature made her suspicious.

Arlo then saw Tuyaara sneaking out of the village with a sack, and sought to follow her. He was, however, unable to undetected, and there was a minor confrontation between the two, with Tuyaara eventually going on her way alone. Arlo returned to the village and asked him about Tuyaara. The headman mentioned her drunk uncle Elley, a difficult man but also a shaman who pleases the spirit, especially the Rosefinch Mother, the founder of the Nine Valleys People. It turned out Elley lived in the area this particular camp of Nine Valleys People usually inhabited. Arlo wondered (privately) if Tuyaara was off to see Elley.

Tuyaara returned and was confronted by Batbayar who accused her of knowing where Ganbataar was – Arlo stepped in to calm the situation down. Tensions were left high between the steppe clansmen and the local tribesmen. Later, Nathaniel approached Tuyaara at her fireplace. Reaction roll was a 10, +1 for Nathaniel's modifier and +1 for the Noncombatant bonus when blood hasn't been shed. The two spoke for a long time over dinner, and Nathaniel won Tuyaara's trust. Tuyaara said the locals did actually know where the khatun's tower was, but weren't telling Galiya in case she desecrated it, as they expected she would (and as in fact she had essentially said she would). This would cause the spirits to be angry. Nathaniel explained the purpose of archaeology, but also recognized the problem. Nathaniel then explains they're here to find their friend, and Tuyaara suggests her uncle Elley might know something about it, or at least can ask the spirits. She offers to take Nathaniel to Elley, who agrees. Nathaniel explains his plan to his friends, and feigns food poisoning the next morning. Arlo and Temujin ride out with Galiya, and roll a random encounter – Taiga Random Encounter 8, a local shaman and her assistants, who meet Galiya's group as it searched for the khatun's tower.

At this point, Helen is a bit suspicious of several people – Batbayar might be jealous over losing the clan chiefdom to Ganbataar, whilst Galiya may or may not know about the chief but certainly does seem to be a danger to the local spiritual equilibrium. Her party is now split between the combat-oriented characters accompanying Galiya, and Nathaniel off to see Elley (whilst staying in the general vicinity of Narangarel's expedition).