Exploring the Chained Coffin
Welcome to Family Game Knights, our regular tour through of the Shudder Mountains and The Chained Coffin box set.
For those uninitiated with the Chained Coffin, creative lead +Michael Curtis and the rest of the Goodman Games crew have created a wonderful and vibrant fantasy campaign setting based on Appalachian myth and legend. As someone who spent nearly every summer vacationing at Hungry Mother State Park in western Virginia as a kid, with many day trips to the Great Smokey Mountains, coal mine tours, and outdoor theater at the Cherokee Reservation, the Shudder Mountains feel right at home.
It's my intention on running pretty much all of these Family Game Knights sessions in the Shudder Mountains as a campaign.
Here are our previously spun yarns:
- Session 1 - Sour Spring Hollow (from The Chained Coffin)
- Session 2 - Moonricket Bridge (from Tales of the Shudder Mountains)
- Session 3 - Doom of the Savage Kings (from Doom of the Savage Kings)
Also to note: I'm working on a Shudder Mountain soundtrack through a YouTube playlist. Any suggestions? Here's where I'm at so far.
The Adventuring Party
- Jen
- Wize Wizard McBride - Cleric
- Evie
- Jefff - Warrior (she plans to add another "f" after each gained level)
- Carrie
- P. Specs - Thief
- Andy
- Waldon - Thief
- Jeremy
- Sir Huey, Keeper of the Sacred Door - Warrior
- Melinda
- Kadabra - Wizard (name generated randomly with the DCC Rulebook)
- Frank
- Zzizzle Fenderbender - Dwarf
- Ella
- Quinn - Cook
- Lucca - Electrician
- Blaze - Cryo-Sleeper
- Tristan
- Talu - Hunter
- Dwalk - Woodcutter
- Carmac - Wheat Farmer
Doom of the Savage Kings, Part Two
Another interesting evening in the Walls household during our Friday Family Game Knights.
Before kicking off last night's game, I had to set up our two new players (Ella and Tristan) with some zero-level characters via the Purple Sorcerer character generator. Typically players don't get much of a choice when creating these characters, but I let each of them choose their origin. Either they could play Vinlander (Viking) natives of Hirot village, or they could be from the "World of Tomorrow" like Frank's characters.
Ella chose the World of Tomorrow, and Tristan the Vinlanders.
Out background story for these six new characters was that Talu, Dwalk, and Carmac were scouting the nearby region surrounding Hirot when they came across Quinn, Lucca, and Blaze. The latter were associates of Zzizzle Fenderbender, and were looking to link up with their Dwarven friend. When they returned to Hirot, they were assigned to the village savior Kadabra's party as attendants.
The party decided to spend some time in Hirot looking for clues on how to defeat the Hound. They knew that they could kill the creature with the magical Wolf Spear and then bind it using the enchanted hair of Ymae's hut. Sir Huey's first stop was at his betrothed's home.
Sir Huey asked the Mad Witch Ymae for more information regarding the slaying of the Hound, but was pretty much told the same clues as before. They did discuss their upcoming honeymoon, however, including a staycation at the Sign of the Wolf-Spear.
Kadabra figured that she could get Broegen to lend her the spear from his wall. Broegen seemed disinterested, but offered to just make her a new one. This came across as bizarre, so the Wize Wizard McBride cast Detect Magic only to find out that the item at the tavern was nothing more than a painted prop... a replica of the real thing.
Apparently the real Wolf Spear was located in the Tomb of Ulfhoenar to the north. The party also learned a few other potentially helpful clues:
Okay, that had to be a first! Although technically she wasn't getting new "converts", she was just getting "Likes." I'm not sure I would've counted this if I knew what exactly she was doing.
The party traveled into the chamber, led by Blaze. But then the water, which the party new was magical from an earlier Detect Magic spell, formed into a great Serpent Spirit. Blaze got crushed by the water, and the party had to team up and defeat the elemental threat.
The party continued to search the chambers and revealed the following:
... to be continued ...
Before kicking off last night's game, I had to set up our two new players (Ella and Tristan) with some zero-level characters via the Purple Sorcerer character generator. Typically players don't get much of a choice when creating these characters, but I let each of them choose their origin. Either they could play Vinlander (Viking) natives of Hirot village, or they could be from the "World of Tomorrow" like Frank's characters.
Ella chose the World of Tomorrow, and Tristan the Vinlanders.
Out background story for these six new characters was that Talu, Dwalk, and Carmac were scouting the nearby region surrounding Hirot when they came across Quinn, Lucca, and Blaze. The latter were associates of Zzizzle Fenderbender, and were looking to link up with their Dwarven friend. When they returned to Hirot, they were assigned to the village savior Kadabra's party as attendants.
The party decided to spend some time in Hirot looking for clues on how to defeat the Hound. They knew that they could kill the creature with the magical Wolf Spear and then bind it using the enchanted hair of Ymae's hut. Sir Huey's first stop was at his betrothed's home.
Sir Huey asked the Mad Witch Ymae for more information regarding the slaying of the Hound, but was pretty much told the same clues as before. They did discuss their upcoming honeymoon, however, including a staycation at the Sign of the Wolf-Spear.
Kadabra figured that she could get Broegen to lend her the spear from his wall. Broegen seemed disinterested, but offered to just make her a new one. This came across as bizarre, so the Wize Wizard McBride cast Detect Magic only to find out that the item at the tavern was nothing more than a painted prop... a replica of the real thing.
Apparently the real Wolf Spear was located in the Tomb of Ulfhoenar to the north. The party also learned a few other potentially helpful clues:
- The Hound couldn't be slain by just weapons.
- The tomb of Ulfhoenar held an ancient chieftain, a savage king that was known as the wolf-slayer.
- The Jarl had a sorcerer who was in control of the Hound.
- The Hound could turn people into wolves by biting them.
The party decided to try their luck at the Tomb of Ulfhoenar and headed north out of Hirot village.
The tomb was located in a great mound, and the party had to slosh through a pool of water to get to the entrance: a giant stone slab. Moving the entrance was going to be difficult, so my wife Jennifer wanted to have her character's new god Cthulhu assist. I've never had a PC use Divine Aid before, so I asked Jen if she was really sure she wanted to perform this action, despite the ramifications. Jen said "yes", so the Wize Wizard McBride begged Cthulhu for aid, and a giant tentacle reached out of the ground and moved the stone slab. All of the water from around the area rushed into the tomb, flooding its unknown depths.
Then I informed Jen that her character had suffered ten points of disapproval. Needless to say, Jen was not thrilled and she wanted to know how she could reduce the disapproval. I told her that she could reduce a point for every convert. Well, that got her two members of the party who were up for worshiping the elder god. But she needed more.
That's when Jen asked if she could use Twitter to gain converts. I told her she could, and she then posted this:
Okay, that had to be a first! Although technically she wasn't getting new "converts", she was just getting "Likes." I'm not sure I would've counted this if I knew what exactly she was doing.
The party traveled into the chamber, led by Blaze. But then the water, which the party new was magical from an earlier Detect Magic spell, formed into a great Serpent Spirit. Blaze got crushed by the water, and the party had to team up and defeat the elemental threat.
The party continued to search the chambers and revealed the following:
- A central chamber that served as a drain for the Serpent Spirit.
- A pair of stairwells leading down. The party followed neither.
- A collapsed chamber with a chest containing a magic, Lion Head Shield.
- A great room with a massive, mosaic covered stone door.
In that last chamber, the dwarf Zzizzle Fenderbender thought something was off. The giant door seemed to be too heavy for any mortal to lift. If there was going to be an exit from this chamber, the team would need to find another way.
... to be continued ...
(GM's Note: If I left out any great stories, I invite my players to let me know and I'll include them in the recap.)
PS: James Montgomery on Facebook suggested that a Twitter Monster should appear in next week's game... so this just happened.
PS: James Montgomery on Facebook suggested that a Twitter Monster should appear in next week's game... so this just happened.
A Fine Selection of Quotes from the Table
"So, are we Broegan's Heros?" - Jen's jokes are the WORST!
"Staycation honeymoon?" - Andy tormenting Jeremy, as the latter's character, Sir Huey, has destined to marry the Mad Witch Ymae, and he was offering a stay at the Sign of the Wolf-Spear Inn in Hirot.
"Have we met the 'year-old sorcerer' yet?" - Jen thought I was saying "year old" instead of "jarl."
"This is TOTALLY Moana!" - Carrie commenting on the Serpent Spirit in the Tomb of the Ulfhoenar.
"You're getting Octo-biceps." - The Wize Wizard McBride summoning the might of Cthulhu's blessing upon Walden.
"Is it a one-handed shield?" - Andy was worried that his new magic shield was a variant that does not exist in any campaign.
Oh look... +Marc Plourde just stat'd up a 2 handed shield...
"Staycation honeymoon?" - Andy tormenting Jeremy, as the latter's character, Sir Huey, has destined to marry the Mad Witch Ymae, and he was offering a stay at the Sign of the Wolf-Spear Inn in Hirot.
"Have we met the 'year-old sorcerer' yet?" - Jen thought I was saying "year old" instead of "jarl."
"This is TOTALLY Moana!" - Carrie commenting on the Serpent Spirit in the Tomb of the Ulfhoenar.
"You're getting Octo-biceps." - The Wize Wizard McBride summoning the might of Cthulhu's blessing upon Walden.
"Is it a one-handed shield?" - Andy was worried that his new magic shield was a variant that does not exist in any campaign.
Oh look... +Marc Plourde just stat'd up a 2 handed shield...
Campaign Crematorium
- Blaze - Crushed by the watery Serpent Spirit
No comments:
Post a Comment