Test Games: The House of Waters

[Jubal]

Another write-up of a game from the later part of last year.

The House of Waters is the Palictaran scenario from the Heart of the World setting section. The basic pitch of the scenario is that the players arrive as part of a merchant caravan in a small town that ends up surrounded by competing armies, controlling a river crossing with heavy wooden fortifications.

I've run half the scenario so far, hoping to run the rest in the new year.

Some things I discovered:

• I need a logical reason why the players don't just run away down/up river and leave the villagers to their fate. No boats, possibly, or dangerous rapids.
• The players ended up very very focused on trying to get the two leaders to meet directly, and overcoming their reluctance to do so. I hadn't really anticipated that bit, so I was at a bit of a loss for how to avoid them just coming up with refusals and getting frustrated. Maybe I need defined secondary characters who the generals can send for negotiations?
• I think I want more fantasy nonsense in the whole thing. It's currently the most high-realism scenario whereas actually I'd like more of a flavour of Kavis in there.

And some things that worked:

• I think the dynamic between the two leaders works as I'd hope. The Murtec general behaves in ways that come across as pompous, weird, or even a bit creepy, but he's a) actually good at what he does and b) actually doesn't want to kill innocent people. Conversely, Valavan Preshtu, the independent forces' general, is more straightforward and has a lot of traits we tend to admire, but is holding together a rather rough rabble of troops and because he sees the villagers as being from his area, is much less interested in sparing them given their initial refusal to let either army in.
• The Palictaran vibe I think mostly works, though I could have done with more food/plants/wildlife to build the descriptions out more.
• The religious elements played a bigger role than I expected and I think those have worked so far, though that has led one player down a bit of a relgious proselytising line which, again, unanticipated, needs work.