Session One: A ham collision and Italian improv
Our two pals Avanti and Hotakatashi arrive at last at the grand market of Khedris. Here they observe the roiling mass of the festival, its games and celebrations alive with the patrons and potentials of the merchant caravan. They are directed by a besashed guide to the center pavilion where the recruiters are judging applicants via a series of polite contests.
Hotakatashi trundles over to the archery range and picks up a bow. He examines it for a bit, nocks an arrow and draws back, wavers a bit at the target, then fires wide and far away from his mark. He does this five times and walks away with a grin on his face, proud of himself having accomplished nothing.
After watching Hotakatashi make a fool of himself, Avanti tries his hand at the sparring contests. Here the players get another chance to see the combat system's potential. I was able to try out various strategies against Dave with different styles of opponent. He defeated the first handily and in his confidence attempted another to impress the judges - he lost, and they were not impressed.
Hotakatashi now attempts to spar. A word about the sparring: the rules are simple, it is combat between two opponents using a sham or very simple fist and leg attacks. Nothing terribly deceptive, nothing injurious. It gives the judges a chance to watch the contestants' reactions. The first to score three hits on his opponent wins. So, now, we return to the story.
I thought it would be amusing to face Hotakatashi off against another Sumotori. Why not? If one would travel all this way, surely that wouldn't stop another. Apparently there is a Japan analogue in this world, so therefore there are analogous Japanese foreigners, in addition to Italian foreigners and other sorts. It can easily be explained that the Sumotori himself wanted to face Hotakatashi, because they immediately began posturing and throwing insults at each other - not honorable sumo behavior, but I suppose that is why Hotakatashi is traveling.
The Sumotori makes an attack on Hotakatashi, who dodges, and then drops his sham and immediately attacks the sumotori with a strong push. What follows I can only describe as fifteen minutes of laughing and shaking my head as I drop into some fudged wrestling mechanics (as I didn't have them on me) and attempt to defeat Hotakatashi, who summarily tosses the sumotori to the ground and slams his knee into his testicles.
Hotakatashi was disqualified.
Meanwhile, Ol' Slim, who has also just arrived in town, saunters on in with his pet ox and is immediately recognized by the handlers as herdsman material. He stands around and talks ox shop with the guy for a while then heads over as a pretense to impress some animals and does so with ease. Right away he is told he can be in for a job.
Having squared himself away another impressed fan under his belt, Ol' Slim decides to spend the rest of the day looking for real work: a new contact within the city of Khedris, one he might be able to rely on, even if temporarily, on his way to Mashanda where he intends to establish a new trade. Here he meets Slick Willy, a wiley chap with an in on the poison trade. What then followed was another fifteen minutes of Mike and I bullshit RPing as Italian mobsters, it was horrible, but essentially Mike got ahold of some product to sell.
What Ol' Slim did was take Willy over to his previous contact in gunpowder to front him some cash, turning in his favor. It took him a day to locate Jimmy (so my previous description was a bit off: he got his job with the caravan the second day, after his initial encounter with Slick Willy), who promptly told him to take the money only if he fucks off and doesn't return. Ol' Slim handed Willy his dough and, like the snap of a finger, acquired himself a new trade.
(what happened was a judicious application of the contacts mechanic, and the favors mechanic)
Hotakatashi trundles over to the archery range and picks up a bow. He examines it for a bit, nocks an arrow and draws back, wavers a bit at the target, then fires wide and far away from his mark. He does this five times and walks away with a grin on his face, proud of himself having accomplished nothing.
After watching Hotakatashi make a fool of himself, Avanti tries his hand at the sparring contests. Here the players get another chance to see the combat system's potential. I was able to try out various strategies against Dave with different styles of opponent. He defeated the first handily and in his confidence attempted another to impress the judges - he lost, and they were not impressed.
Hotakatashi now attempts to spar. A word about the sparring: the rules are simple, it is combat between two opponents using a sham or very simple fist and leg attacks. Nothing terribly deceptive, nothing injurious. It gives the judges a chance to watch the contestants' reactions. The first to score three hits on his opponent wins. So, now, we return to the story.
I thought it would be amusing to face Hotakatashi off against another Sumotori. Why not? If one would travel all this way, surely that wouldn't stop another. Apparently there is a Japan analogue in this world, so therefore there are analogous Japanese foreigners, in addition to Italian foreigners and other sorts. It can easily be explained that the Sumotori himself wanted to face Hotakatashi, because they immediately began posturing and throwing insults at each other - not honorable sumo behavior, but I suppose that is why Hotakatashi is traveling.
The Sumotori makes an attack on Hotakatashi, who dodges, and then drops his sham and immediately attacks the sumotori with a strong push. What follows I can only describe as fifteen minutes of laughing and shaking my head as I drop into some fudged wrestling mechanics (as I didn't have them on me) and attempt to defeat Hotakatashi, who summarily tosses the sumotori to the ground and slams his knee into his testicles.
Hotakatashi was disqualified.
Meanwhile, Ol' Slim, who has also just arrived in town, saunters on in with his pet ox and is immediately recognized by the handlers as herdsman material. He stands around and talks ox shop with the guy for a while then heads over as a pretense to impress some animals and does so with ease. Right away he is told he can be in for a job.
Having squared himself away another impressed fan under his belt, Ol' Slim decides to spend the rest of the day looking for real work: a new contact within the city of Khedris, one he might be able to rely on, even if temporarily, on his way to Mashanda where he intends to establish a new trade. Here he meets Slick Willy, a wiley chap with an in on the poison trade. What then followed was another fifteen minutes of Mike and I bullshit RPing as Italian mobsters, it was horrible, but essentially Mike got ahold of some product to sell.
What Ol' Slim did was take Willy over to his previous contact in gunpowder to front him some cash, turning in his favor. It took him a day to locate Jimmy (so my previous description was a bit off: he got his job with the caravan the second day, after his initial encounter with Slick Willy), who promptly told him to take the money only if he fucks off and doesn't return. Ol' Slim handed Willy his dough and, like the snap of a finger, acquired himself a new trade.
(what happened was a judicious application of the contacts mechanic, and the favors mechanic)