The Godfell Stone Episode 1

Last night we began the Godfell Stone campaign. I think it went fantastically. We had three brand new players, who had never touched a polyhedral before, and Bridget and Daniel, who are veterans. I placed them at the table so that the new players had access to the veterans easily.

We got started a little late (9:30), since one of the guys had to wait for his wife to get off work, so we only had an hour and a half to play.

I did a lot of prep for this session. A lot. But I think it payed off, in the end. The players all looked forward to reading their campaign guides, and they loved seeing their painted miniatures on the battlefield. I had everyone’s cards cut up, placed in sleeves, and separated by type.

I began by reading the campaign introduction, which the players listened to carefully, making mention back to it throughout the session. I explained they were a band of adventurers, brought to the monastery to investigate the disappearance of the stone. Daniel, one of the vets, playing Berend, Dwarven Warpriest, suggested they all roll skills. Starting to the left, they all individually looked at their lists, and discovered that the magical barriers in the building had not been breached, suggesting that it was an inside job, the room was immaculately clean, and the abbot of the monastery told them that they recieve new priests every ten years from the priests of Ioun in Hammerfast.

Let’s talk about the abbot for a second. On one side of the table, we had Daniel and Emmanuel, the Warpriest an the Elf Ranger, respectively, who took the game fairly seriously (as we’ll see later), as did Bridget (Deva Mage) who sat at the opposite end of the table. On the other side of the table sat Kody and Larry, the Dragonborn Rogue and half-Elf Avenger. Oh, Kody and Larry.

They were certain that the abbot was in on it, and wanted to kill the 90-year-old man, trying to convince the others to kill him. They are the two wise-crackers of the group, and had a blast, I think. Larry also decided he didn’t like Emmanuel’s Wolf animal companion, an devised ways to kill it. I imagine the two characters are going to find themselves in conflict quite a bit.

As they began their investigation, two specters rose from the ground. “Give us the Stone!” they shrieked. The abbot dropped to his knees, in horror. The ghosts moved in on the abbot, spectral swords raised. The heroes moved to react.

At this point, Initiative was explained, they rolled, and began. After a round of explaining their powers, and them making a few attacks, the abbot ran to one side of the room, and crouched down. Suspicious, the Half-Elf Avenger ran to his side to see what he was doing. Had he not double-moved, he would have killed the abbot, I think. As the heroes battled the ghosts, the abbot pried up a slab in the floor, revealing a staircase. “Quickly!” he shouted, “This way!”

Seeing that their weapons were having little effect, the Mage, Rogue and Avenger decided to run for it. The Warpriest and Ranger decided to stick it out and take down the spirits. Utilizing surprising tactics, they actually managed to destroy the ghosts, leaving only their armor behind. They breathed a sigh of relief, before more spectres appeared.

Deciding to cut their losses and run, the Ranger and Warpriest fled to the stairs. The abbot told the Warpriest, “You are descending into the catacombs. perhaps there is something down there you can use.” With that, he pulled the slab back over the stairs, leaving them in darkness. The heroes could hear the scrams of the abbot above them as the ghosts moved in on him.

That marked the end of the session. i thought it went very well. There was a lot of RP, some great combat, and we had some good laughs. I had two encounters planned, but only got through one, so it looks like I won’t have to plan anything for the next session!