The Heirs of Ruin Play Report 1

I've been rather slow and/or late updating over the past few weeks due to planning out an adventure path for Dark Sun, titled The Heirs of Ruin. My group has been clamoring for it since the books were released last year, and I've finally got a chance to put them to use.

By popular demand the group began as prisoners or slaves to Balic's arena. I pitched a variety of character hooks, but Beth was dead set on playing Maximus from Gladiator. I don't mean that she wanted to play a general that was betrayed, forced to participate in the arena until he got a chance for revenge; no, she is literally playing Maximus were he transplanted to Athas. The rest of the cast involves an elven politician (Artful dodger rogue) that was lobbying for abolishing slavery, a swordmage/warlock hybrid sunsoul genasi captured by slavers while searching for something (ie, lost magic to free primordials), and a goliath shaman that escaped from Balic before being shortly re-captured by a legion lead by Maximus.

Due to technical difficulties it took an hour to get the game rolling, so we only got through a pair of encounters involving a band of silt runners and an id fiend. I have to say, that poster map out of Bloodsand Arena was super-fucking handy. There wasn't much in the way of social role-playing, though I'd hoped to spark something by letting Kamon know that Beth's character was responsible for the murder and capture of his escaped slave tribe (something that none of the players knew beforehand). Ah well, maybe Beth's brooding will incite something.

This session could have gotten a lot smoother, as I'd forgotten to implement a few things due to lack of sleep and trouble getting character sheets printed. First, I'd hoped to get a system going where the audience could affect the outcome of the battles by cheering/booing/throwing stuff. Second, I'd totally spaced handing out glory boons for characters that took the most damage and did the coolest shit. I'll need to remember that at the start of the next game (where the players will have the chance to escape). I'd also liked to work in some notoriety, which will bite them in the ass once they're outside, as being easily recognized is a bad thing when you are an escaped prisoner trying to lay low.

That was basically it for the first session. Hopefully next session goes smoother and runs longer, so if nothing else I can write something a bit more interesting (and take pics).