FOTN Evangelists
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No cyber-bullying, no racism, no spam! Keep discussions civil and respectful or you will be banned!
No cyber-bullying, no racism, no spam! Keep discussions civil and respectful or you will be banned!
Re: FOTN Evangelists
going to be evangelizing this wonderful game to my college gamers club this coming semester in the form on Fafnir's Treasure every other week to allow people to try all the different premade classes. Also doing an introductory presentation at one of the meetings, maybe two.
Re: FOTN Evangelists
fyi, there is a thread at https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads ... pg.838665/ that's gettign a lot of good press for FOTN
Re: FOTN Evangelists
Probably a little late on this one, but...
I'm putting together some games for the local club. I've got 8 players, and Richard and Austin are coming to play on our big roll out on May 1st.
I'll keep this updated if possible.
Working on some sagas to tell --- going to do the classics:
Jarl has a Karl
--- The Dweller's Jarl has not heard from one of his Karl's and send the group to find out why tribute hasn't been sent.
--- Find trolls instead and either dead, or missing people.
--- Fight trolls, find the people
But I've Gotta Pee
--- Have the players spot a storm on the trip back (via ship of course), and make it clear that it's a good idea to stop at a port to wait it out.
--- Have them meet Bard, the Karl, and his friends and family. If they get on, have Karl invite them back in 2 weeks for a feast.
--- Food is short, dooo eeet
--- Que sage from the core book
Of course, we need some raids. Some peaceful ones where tribute is offered as most Vikings were willing to negotiate, amirite? Then some fun with Francia.
Just for a start to get things underway.
I'm putting together some games for the local club. I've got 8 players, and Richard and Austin are coming to play on our big roll out on May 1st.
I'll keep this updated if possible.
Working on some sagas to tell --- going to do the classics:
Jarl has a Karl
--- The Dweller's Jarl has not heard from one of his Karl's and send the group to find out why tribute hasn't been sent.
--- Find trolls instead and either dead, or missing people.
--- Fight trolls, find the people
But I've Gotta Pee
--- Have the players spot a storm on the trip back (via ship of course), and make it clear that it's a good idea to stop at a port to wait it out.
--- Have them meet Bard, the Karl, and his friends and family. If they get on, have Karl invite them back in 2 weeks for a feast.
--- Food is short, dooo eeet
--- Que sage from the core book
Of course, we need some raids. Some peaceful ones where tribute is offered as most Vikings were willing to negotiate, amirite? Then some fun with Francia.
Just for a start to get things underway.
Re: FOTN Evangelists
Wow 8 players for a first game, that's ambitious! I would suggest taking a look at the Norn's Sanctum sub-forum for tips and tricks for first-time Norns. this is a good thread:
viewtopic.php?t=79
The trick will be to keep it moving so no one's waiting too long. You mentioned Richard & Austin, use them to help the new players by answering their questions quietly, without disturbing the flow of the game. Seat them equally distant around the table as planted veterans to help noobies. They can also help audit the damage dealt by your monsters while you move onto the next initiative combatant without waiting for all damage to be counted out from your last attack.
If you get stuck on how a rule should work and even with veterans you need to look it up, better to make up the resolution on the spot, take a personal note to look it up after the game, and keep rolling, rather than pause the whole game and start pouring through the books... especially with 8 players.
Remember to use cinematic actions for denizens, use fun combat tactics that involve the environment, it'll be memorable for your players.
Good luck!
viewtopic.php?t=79
The trick will be to keep it moving so no one's waiting too long. You mentioned Richard & Austin, use them to help the new players by answering their questions quietly, without disturbing the flow of the game. Seat them equally distant around the table as planted veterans to help noobies. They can also help audit the damage dealt by your monsters while you move onto the next initiative combatant without waiting for all damage to be counted out from your last attack.
If you get stuck on how a rule should work and even with veterans you need to look it up, better to make up the resolution on the spot, take a personal note to look it up after the game, and keep rolling, rather than pause the whole game and start pouring through the books... especially with 8 players.
Remember to use cinematic actions for denizens, use fun combat tactics that involve the environment, it'll be memorable for your players.
Good luck!
Re: FOTN Evangelists
I was about to say most of the same thing.For your side, especially for the fighting sequence, keep it simple regarding action used by your denizens and once or twice you can go full on special abilities and power to make it more cinematic and heroic. This way will shift the naration of action toward your players which in turn make them engage in the game, go around the table and promtp them to describe what they are doing and use the 'yes and ...' if they need help in their description. For the rest, like Andrew said, abuse, in a good sense 
, your veterans !
, your veterans !Re: FOTN Evangelists
Thanks, I appreciate the recommendations!
I've been running rpg games for 25 years now, from world of darkness, 4 editions of dnd, savage worlds, shadowrun, pathfinder, warhammer 40k ffg, star wars d20 and FFG, and some others. So Im not coming in cold on this one thankfully. Even so, 8 players is more than I would usually allow in a game.
I'm treating this as an all day 1 shot (or kick off if people like it) with some major themes, like a movie introduction to a franchise. With that many players, I'm going to probably cluster them together with connected backgrounds and with an extrovert and experience roleplayer mixed with some of the more introverted and new players in each cluster to help promote inter-player exchanges. That will help fill deadspace when I might get tangled with another group.
For running, I've learned that the two secrets are energy and pacing --> the storyteller sets the mood and speed.
Because of this, I tend to get myself kind of hyped up, and try not to sit down much. A couple beers and a coffee tend to help, so long as it doesn't slow da mathes, as they say. If I can keep the energy up, and then push - not allowing players to wait til their turn to start thinking, to keep things from digressing and to keep side conversations from diverging from the game, I think I can move it along. I've run some 3 day events myself with about 10 players that worked pretty well, if a bit exhausting.
I'm planning on keeping the foes pretty basic - equal destiny and essence, and the main villainous foes detailed with a turn based cheat sheet. Essentially, preplan their turns with abilities written out so that I don't have to look anything up.
I also designate a rules lawyer, who does all look ups while we continue forward. This tends to help keep things from stopping if we arent sure on a rule. I make a call, they start looking it up, and we move on, fixing it right next time.
My wife played dnd with us last weekend, and finally had a great time. She immediately updated my game room to be 'better', which meant a big upgrade. I have some initiative flags on a sword coming, picked up some stone rune sets to supplement the Fotn ones I bought, and my dad is excited to use his viking 28mm miniatures and ships. So I'll need some big viking on viking action in this.
My thoughts on a basic story outline are:
1. Local jarl, one of Fairhair’s less famous sons, is doing the same thing Blood Axe is doing. That is; reaffirming his loyal vassals and territory before making plans to advance on his neighbors. He hasn't heard back from some of them, so wants to put together some of his more loyal and capable vassals to deliver his words to them.
2. The first visit finds an empty hall, and village. The group can search the village and find smashed homes, ripped doors, and some old blood.
3. I'll guide them either to discover some survivors hiding out in another village hall, half starved and terrified. A tribe of trolls has moved in, and hunted the people, taking their things and settling into the area. If they are not destroyed, they will move on to the surrounding villages and decimate the people. The Karl offers a sum of money and his daughters hand (and dowry) for saving his lands.
4. Fight the trolls in their caves and homes.
5. Return trip, they see a huge storm brewing. One of the other Karls is not far away, and they will need to make the detour or risk shipwreck in the storm.
Intermission
6. Enter in Bard and Egil and that beautiful mess. I'll modify it a little bit to suit the group, but it'll essentially be this:
a. They roll up on the Karl Bard, and he is preparing a feast for Jarl Eric Bloodax's visit (instead of the Vaettir). Interestingly, it isn't for the Jarl who THINKS Bard owes allegiance to, but his rival Blood Axe. This puts the group in a little pickle The Karl seems to have been in the process of swearing on the ring of their jarls brother.
b. I'll have some intrigue here with an agent from blood axe who is very charismatic, and has convinced Bard that Blood Ax is best through economics (FOOD!) and strength.
c. The group can try to convince Bard, but Blood Ax is already on his way there for a swearing in feast. The group is invited to stay for the feast, and Bard tries to convince them to either join, or try and get their Jarl to realize that he has no chance of winning a throne, and its much better to join Blood Axes cause.
d. If they don't kill Bard, Blood Ax arrives, and the feast moves forward with Egil also arriving and has a beef he's here to push. He's trying to start trouble, but have Bard or another be the instigator so that Egil can 'play victim' and finish his vengeance kills. He'll try to get the players on board, feeling out that they are outsiders and might help him kill Bard and turn away Blood Axe and either take over the lands, or put someone allied as Karl.
e. Blood Axes warriors come, so no matter what happens there will be a big show down with Egil, the people that show up to support him (that he had planned on arriving after he had time to start trouble), and Blood Ax and his men, with Bard and the players in the middle trying to pick sides. Anyone who doesn't pick a side will be punished as a traitor, so there won't be any bystanders.
f. The battle will be on the grounds in the town, on the beach, and at sea, so I'll plan a multi-staged combat with different groups, and plan out some commanders with names and basic personalities. This will depend on what the players decide to do. It might just be single battle, or two simultaneous ones (which I prefer to do in most games. So we have one initiative tracker combined for bother combats and jump back and forth between them, allowing all players to be ‘in it’, as opposed to all in one combat where some may be left in back or out of the way and not feel engaged). This will also be relegated based on time available too. I’ll probably need an hour for it.
g. Aftermath – a player might become Karl here, and another might have become that Karl at the previous location, taking a moment to marry the girl, then axe her dad if they so desire, or a Karl’s son otherwise. They’ll head back to their Jarl and relate and plan what comes next. Then as a group we’ll decide if this will become an off again on again campaign, or a one shot that was fun.
I’m fixing my drinking horns, working on an intro song to sing poorly by the Jarl as a dinner blessing, and reading the original sagas to try and get in the mindset. I’ve gone through the core book, denizens of the north, and the creatures of myth and what-have-you. I got the last book as I’ll be making the pregens with social combat maneuvers, as I find those are very helpful if someone isn’t sure what to do in a social encounter of which I tend to run many.
I’ll also have Rich and Austin there, from your team at Garycon and your Fireside Chats. Rich and I are going to go over some items beforehand to clear up and confusion I have with the rules, of which I still have some. I read RGS 3.0 in Creatures yesterday, and I like how it has tidied up some of the elements, but will need to study and practice a little to smooth it out.
If it goes well, I may record it to clip up and promote your game on youtube once I launch my tiny, nobody channel, or for posterity for myself if everyone doesn’t sign off on final release forms, or most likely, if this one’s recording quality is poor. I feel strongly though that some liveplay sessions on youtube would do a great deal of good for the system, and there aren’t any yet present. Many new gamers I’ve spoken to like to see it a game played to get a feel for how it goes, and aren’t as lucky as myself to play out test scenarios at game conventions with the author
I can do a full write up if you'd like. Might good to post on a blog or the like. Do you have one for Fotn?
I've been running rpg games for 25 years now, from world of darkness, 4 editions of dnd, savage worlds, shadowrun, pathfinder, warhammer 40k ffg, star wars d20 and FFG, and some others. So Im not coming in cold on this one thankfully. Even so, 8 players is more than I would usually allow in a game.
I'm treating this as an all day 1 shot (or kick off if people like it) with some major themes, like a movie introduction to a franchise. With that many players, I'm going to probably cluster them together with connected backgrounds and with an extrovert and experience roleplayer mixed with some of the more introverted and new players in each cluster to help promote inter-player exchanges. That will help fill deadspace when I might get tangled with another group.
For running, I've learned that the two secrets are energy and pacing --> the storyteller sets the mood and speed.
Because of this, I tend to get myself kind of hyped up, and try not to sit down much. A couple beers and a coffee tend to help, so long as it doesn't slow da mathes, as they say. If I can keep the energy up, and then push - not allowing players to wait til their turn to start thinking, to keep things from digressing and to keep side conversations from diverging from the game, I think I can move it along. I've run some 3 day events myself with about 10 players that worked pretty well, if a bit exhausting.
I'm planning on keeping the foes pretty basic - equal destiny and essence, and the main villainous foes detailed with a turn based cheat sheet. Essentially, preplan their turns with abilities written out so that I don't have to look anything up.
I also designate a rules lawyer, who does all look ups while we continue forward. This tends to help keep things from stopping if we arent sure on a rule. I make a call, they start looking it up, and we move on, fixing it right next time.
My wife played dnd with us last weekend, and finally had a great time. She immediately updated my game room to be 'better', which meant a big upgrade. I have some initiative flags on a sword coming, picked up some stone rune sets to supplement the Fotn ones I bought, and my dad is excited to use his viking 28mm miniatures and ships. So I'll need some big viking on viking action in this.
My thoughts on a basic story outline are:
1. Local jarl, one of Fairhair’s less famous sons, is doing the same thing Blood Axe is doing. That is; reaffirming his loyal vassals and territory before making plans to advance on his neighbors. He hasn't heard back from some of them, so wants to put together some of his more loyal and capable vassals to deliver his words to them.
2. The first visit finds an empty hall, and village. The group can search the village and find smashed homes, ripped doors, and some old blood.
3. I'll guide them either to discover some survivors hiding out in another village hall, half starved and terrified. A tribe of trolls has moved in, and hunted the people, taking their things and settling into the area. If they are not destroyed, they will move on to the surrounding villages and decimate the people. The Karl offers a sum of money and his daughters hand (and dowry) for saving his lands.
4. Fight the trolls in their caves and homes.
5. Return trip, they see a huge storm brewing. One of the other Karls is not far away, and they will need to make the detour or risk shipwreck in the storm.
Intermission
6. Enter in Bard and Egil and that beautiful mess. I'll modify it a little bit to suit the group, but it'll essentially be this:
a. They roll up on the Karl Bard, and he is preparing a feast for Jarl Eric Bloodax's visit (instead of the Vaettir). Interestingly, it isn't for the Jarl who THINKS Bard owes allegiance to, but his rival Blood Axe. This puts the group in a little pickle The Karl seems to have been in the process of swearing on the ring of their jarls brother.
b. I'll have some intrigue here with an agent from blood axe who is very charismatic, and has convinced Bard that Blood Ax is best through economics (FOOD!) and strength.
c. The group can try to convince Bard, but Blood Ax is already on his way there for a swearing in feast. The group is invited to stay for the feast, and Bard tries to convince them to either join, or try and get their Jarl to realize that he has no chance of winning a throne, and its much better to join Blood Axes cause.
d. If they don't kill Bard, Blood Ax arrives, and the feast moves forward with Egil also arriving and has a beef he's here to push. He's trying to start trouble, but have Bard or another be the instigator so that Egil can 'play victim' and finish his vengeance kills. He'll try to get the players on board, feeling out that they are outsiders and might help him kill Bard and turn away Blood Axe and either take over the lands, or put someone allied as Karl.
e. Blood Axes warriors come, so no matter what happens there will be a big show down with Egil, the people that show up to support him (that he had planned on arriving after he had time to start trouble), and Blood Ax and his men, with Bard and the players in the middle trying to pick sides. Anyone who doesn't pick a side will be punished as a traitor, so there won't be any bystanders.
f. The battle will be on the grounds in the town, on the beach, and at sea, so I'll plan a multi-staged combat with different groups, and plan out some commanders with names and basic personalities. This will depend on what the players decide to do. It might just be single battle, or two simultaneous ones (which I prefer to do in most games. So we have one initiative tracker combined for bother combats and jump back and forth between them, allowing all players to be ‘in it’, as opposed to all in one combat where some may be left in back or out of the way and not feel engaged). This will also be relegated based on time available too. I’ll probably need an hour for it.
g. Aftermath – a player might become Karl here, and another might have become that Karl at the previous location, taking a moment to marry the girl, then axe her dad if they so desire, or a Karl’s son otherwise. They’ll head back to their Jarl and relate and plan what comes next. Then as a group we’ll decide if this will become an off again on again campaign, or a one shot that was fun.
I’m fixing my drinking horns, working on an intro song to sing poorly by the Jarl as a dinner blessing, and reading the original sagas to try and get in the mindset. I’ve gone through the core book, denizens of the north, and the creatures of myth and what-have-you. I got the last book as I’ll be making the pregens with social combat maneuvers, as I find those are very helpful if someone isn’t sure what to do in a social encounter of which I tend to run many.
I’ll also have Rich and Austin there, from your team at Garycon and your Fireside Chats. Rich and I are going to go over some items beforehand to clear up and confusion I have with the rules, of which I still have some. I read RGS 3.0 in Creatures yesterday, and I like how it has tidied up some of the elements, but will need to study and practice a little to smooth it out.
If it goes well, I may record it to clip up and promote your game on youtube once I launch my tiny, nobody channel, or for posterity for myself if everyone doesn’t sign off on final release forms, or most likely, if this one’s recording quality is poor. I feel strongly though that some liveplay sessions on youtube would do a great deal of good for the system, and there aren’t any yet present. Many new gamers I’ve spoken to like to see it a game played to get a feel for how it goes, and aren’t as lucky as myself to play out test scenarios at game conventions with the author
I can do a full write up if you'd like. Might good to post on a blog or the like. Do you have one for Fotn?