2024 Session 2: TLQuest. Week 0

 Hi everyone!  This week I'm just going to give some details about the coming session and prompt you to start thinking about session goals - we'll actually set goals next week.  As usual, EVERYONE is welcome, you don't need to play along with the prompts at all, and you are very welcome to discuss whatever you like in the chat - the prompts are just for fun (and probably, since it's me, somewhat overdone...)

Dates:

• START and set session goals - Sunday 19th May
• Mid-session goal check in - Sunday 30th June
• WRAP UP and report on session goals - Sunday 18th August

This is probably not a perfect fit for any schedule, but it works with our roughly one session in each four month block structure, and gives us 14 session weeks which feels like a reasonable amount to get something done.

Theming:

I'm going to try & do a D&D theme.  Since it's being done by me, it's likely to be a bit verbose and possibly over-elaborate, but let's see how it goes!

For those who don't know, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is basically playing make-believe with friends, with dice included to vary the situations and results achieved (adding luck or chance into the world).  It's a table-top role-playing game where players each adopt a fantasy world character, and the characters embark on adventures in a world which is described by a game master or dungeon master (GM or DM).  A player might ask to do something - "Rax the Wizard is going to try and break down the door" and how they want to do it - Rax might try to use a spell to set fire to the door, or try to kick it down.  The GM will decide what kind of dice check is needed (in this case a "spell hit check" or a "strength check").  Rax' player then rolls a dice and adds or subtracts points to reflect how skilled the character is in that area (e.g. Rax is a might have a spell hit bonus of +4 and a strength bonus of -1 - wizards are usually intelligent but not very athletic - characters can't be good at everything).  They then compare that number with a pre-determined number for how strong the door is (depending on material etc.) and that determines if they succeed or fail.  If the spell hits the door, or the kick causes damage to the door not Rax, another dice is rolled to see how much damage is done.  We'll be including dice rolls in this session, but in a very simplified form!

The system of D&D can be applied in a very wide range of settings and story types, but it was originally designed for a pretty classic pseudo-medieval Europe fantasy type setting, and that's where our adventure will take place.  There are three main "elements of play" in D&D, exploring the world, social interactions with other characters in the world, and combat encounters, and I've blocked out a plan that will look at all of those things.

This week's gameplay: session zero.

In D&D, we usually start with a "session zero" in which 

• the GM outlines the kind of adventure they're planning and any house rules (for example, a game I run for my nibling and their friends is set in a fantasy city, and the players are setting up and running a Cat Cafe which is strangely appealing to the fey, it's a light-hearted low combat game with house rules like "nobody will die" and a custom add-on "successful cake baking" system - on the other hand, the main game I currently play in is "grim-dark" - 60 years ago a rift to the Abyss opened and the world was invaded by demons.  Cinvilised communities cling on in small fortified towns where they are threatened by many challenges, and our characters are members of a hunters guild which exists to protect the towns but is also at constant risk of corruption by explosure to demonic influence (house rules provide a system for this).  We are exploring the remains of the world beyond our town, seeking out artefacts and books from before the demons arrived to help us defeat the four demon lords who currently rule our area, and protect the fishers and foragers who make sure the town has food from the demon lords and their mutated minions, as well as all the other monsters that are taking advantage of the chaos like orcs and goblins).  
• Players talk about the kind of character they want to build for this game
• Everyone discusses what they do and do not feel comfortable with.  There are various terms in use for this - one example is "lines and veils".   A line is something that is absolutely not included in a game - for example, maybe the group never want to encounter any mention of torture, or want their group pets to be immune from damage (the dog is NOT allowed to die!), group members are not allowed to steal from each other but they are allowed to insult each other - and a veil is something that exists in the game world, but is not interacted with in any detail by this group (e.g. there are brothels, and they might overhear gossip about who has been going there, but their adventures will never take them into a brothel)

TLQuest will begin next week as you each design your characters.  You will all be playing a character who has a reason to be travelling around and engaging with the world.  In week 3, you will all find yourselves in a roadside tavern, where you will see a noticeboard where people from the local area have posted opportunities for work, requests for help, items for sale etc., and you will decide to band together to follow up one of those opportunities.  

your TLQuest prompt is - since this is a game of make-believe and you can play any kind of character you want, what kind of character might you play this session? an idealistic young folk hero, a wizard seeking out new knowledge, a morally-grey chancer moving on from trouble, a local hunter, a treasure seeker, a mercenary travelling to their next job, a travelling bard looking for good stories, a young noble looking for adventure - so many options! (I'll also have a Roll A Dice options for character creation in coming weeks).   

"Real-world" prompt:

As we think about the coming summer, are there any lines (definite NO) and veils (things to be kept in the background) you want to impose on your plans?  Perhaps you're going to put all teaching firmly behind a veil until September, or have a clear "no new projects" line for yourself?

So, welcome to Session 2!  Introduce yourself if you want, talk about either or both prompts if you want, all are welcome