PortCon: Basic D&D
The first game I played at PortCon Maine 2014 was Basic D&D. The game was player/character driven. My character, Hank, was a human priest with little personality to start. His whole concept was that he tries to subvert the evil queen by being kind and helping the oppressed populace.
The party dwarf was enamored of his own beard to the point of acting like it was a sentient being. His charisma allowed him to attract followers to see his legendary beard. The places he went offered him free services for the pleasure of hosting his beard. He also had a horse, Bethany, and a bearded axe with bearded armor, fashioned after his own beard.
The dwarf fell in our first battle, and my cleric was able to heal him due to a boon from his deity (the first level Basic cleric does not have healing spells). From that point on, the dwarf considered me to have saved his life.
The dwarf had a hireling, a halfling torchbearer, who followed him around, held up his beard, took care of his pony, was responsible for torches, and for lobbing the master's Molotov cocktails. The halfling was able to perfectly perform every act he tried and often outshined the dwarf.
The party elf had two iterations, once played by a guy whose backstory was being a liaison between the land of the elves and the lands of men. He was a helpful scout until he decided to take a situation into his own hands instead of reporting back to the party. Then he got captured, and we had to try to rescue him from superior numbers.
The second person to run the elf was more aware of the character's sword, bow, and spell abilities, and she used them appropriately. She aided us in making wise, helpful decisions.
We had another human, a hermit, who joined us but was killed by evil clerics he ran off to fight on his own. The lessons above, of course, highlight not splitting the party.
The cleric was able to avoid a battle with a wounded ogre because he could speak ogrish. We traded some "elf meat" (rations rubbed over the elf's body to retain her odor) for info and the promise of safe passage.
The dwarf lost his axe in a fight. He lost his beard to a treacherous party thief who was trying to cause in-fighting (this was another gamer who likes to cause trouble and was luckily only around for a few minutes). At the end, the dwarf even lost his horse to unstable flooring in an old palace. He wept bitter tears, until the Silver Princess herself came to comfort him.
Our cause was won by the Princess bequeathing her caring wisdom on her sucessor. We vowed to help her rule wisely, rewrite the laws, and coordinate with the other races of the land.
The party dwarf was enamored of his own beard to the point of acting like it was a sentient being. His charisma allowed him to attract followers to see his legendary beard. The places he went offered him free services for the pleasure of hosting his beard. He also had a horse, Bethany, and a bearded axe with bearded armor, fashioned after his own beard.
The dwarf fell in our first battle, and my cleric was able to heal him due to a boon from his deity (the first level Basic cleric does not have healing spells). From that point on, the dwarf considered me to have saved his life.
The dwarf had a hireling, a halfling torchbearer, who followed him around, held up his beard, took care of his pony, was responsible for torches, and for lobbing the master's Molotov cocktails. The halfling was able to perfectly perform every act he tried and often outshined the dwarf.
The party elf had two iterations, once played by a guy whose backstory was being a liaison between the land of the elves and the lands of men. He was a helpful scout until he decided to take a situation into his own hands instead of reporting back to the party. Then he got captured, and we had to try to rescue him from superior numbers.
The second person to run the elf was more aware of the character's sword, bow, and spell abilities, and she used them appropriately. She aided us in making wise, helpful decisions.
We had another human, a hermit, who joined us but was killed by evil clerics he ran off to fight on his own. The lessons above, of course, highlight not splitting the party.
The cleric was able to avoid a battle with a wounded ogre because he could speak ogrish. We traded some "elf meat" (rations rubbed over the elf's body to retain her odor) for info and the promise of safe passage.
The dwarf lost his axe in a fight. He lost his beard to a treacherous party thief who was trying to cause in-fighting (this was another gamer who likes to cause trouble and was luckily only around for a few minutes). At the end, the dwarf even lost his horse to unstable flooring in an old palace. He wept bitter tears, until the Silver Princess herself came to comfort him.
Our cause was won by the Princess bequeathing her caring wisdom on her sucessor. We vowed to help her rule wisely, rewrite the laws, and coordinate with the other races of the land.