Just Another Day in the Hollow Earth...
The session of Hollow Earth Expedition (HEX) last night was terrific. I mean, yes, most of the Friday night gaming sessions go really well, and the player characters get into their characters, and give me lots of positive energy to play off, but last night was exceptional. (There are no spoilers here, so I don't feel it necessary to put it behind a cut.)
While fleeing from a T-Rex attack, the party stumbled upon a series of ruins in the jungle that appear to be Mayan influenced. Johanna Kroyden (Kathy's character, a jewel thief) discovered what appeared to be a cache of gems in a chamber the group found in the step pyramid, but decided not to risk it herself. Instead, she had Matty (the character of my goddaughter and Kathy's oldest, Ellie, the street urchin stowaway that the group met during their trip to South America, whom they took in) go into the chamber first to get a couple of jewels (but actually to make sure the room was safe). Marie Valentin (Joanne's character, a medical doctor) chastised Johanna for endangering the child needlessly, to which Johanna replied that any child who could take on a small boa constrictor and kill it herself was not likely to find danger in the room with the jewels. Ha!
Suffice it to say, by the end of the session, Matty has been kidnapped by what appeared to be the guardians of the step pyramid, creatures that resembled furry white apes, Johanna was being blamed for the whole mess and felt somewhat guilty about the whole thing, Willie, Nick's big game hunter, had more than met his match, and to make matters worse, the villainous group of Nazis led by Helmut Ungaar who have antagonized the characters for the last three months of the campaign showed up on the character's trail - with what appear to be lizard-man servants!
When we finished up for the night, around 1:15 am, SteveB, Kathy, Nick, and Tom said that this had been one of the best sessions of HEX that we had played, and that they loved the whole albino ape thing even if they couldn't figure out what was going on quite yet. Joanne joked that it was "just another day in the Hollow Earth" for the characters, and said that she has found the game to be more entertaining than she ever expected it to be. As for Ellie, well...my goddaughter was sound asleep by that time (she went to bed about 10:00, which her mom and dad let her do on the Friday game nights). Me? I got home about 2:00 am this morning, tired, but pretty content.
Goddess, but I love it when a plan falls into place like that!
While fleeing from a T-Rex attack, the party stumbled upon a series of ruins in the jungle that appear to be Mayan influenced. Johanna Kroyden (Kathy's character, a jewel thief) discovered what appeared to be a cache of gems in a chamber the group found in the step pyramid, but decided not to risk it herself. Instead, she had Matty (the character of my goddaughter and Kathy's oldest, Ellie, the street urchin stowaway that the group met during their trip to South America, whom they took in) go into the chamber first to get a couple of jewels (but actually to make sure the room was safe). Marie Valentin (Joanne's character, a medical doctor) chastised Johanna for endangering the child needlessly, to which Johanna replied that any child who could take on a small boa constrictor and kill it herself was not likely to find danger in the room with the jewels. Ha!
Suffice it to say, by the end of the session, Matty has been kidnapped by what appeared to be the guardians of the step pyramid, creatures that resembled furry white apes, Johanna was being blamed for the whole mess and felt somewhat guilty about the whole thing, Willie, Nick's big game hunter, had more than met his match, and to make matters worse, the villainous group of Nazis led by Helmut Ungaar who have antagonized the characters for the last three months of the campaign showed up on the character's trail - with what appear to be lizard-man servants!
When we finished up for the night, around 1:15 am, SteveB, Kathy, Nick, and Tom said that this had been one of the best sessions of HEX that we had played, and that they loved the whole albino ape thing even if they couldn't figure out what was going on quite yet. Joanne joked that it was "just another day in the Hollow Earth" for the characters, and said that she has found the game to be more entertaining than she ever expected it to be. As for Ellie, well...my goddaughter was sound asleep by that time (she went to bed about 10:00, which her mom and dad let her do on the Friday game nights). Me? I got home about 2:00 am this morning, tired, but pretty content.
Goddess, but I love it when a plan falls into place like that!