User blog:Junkman00/Blog Post 1: Twenty Sessions in Var'Tareen

A few weeks ago I ran the 20th session in Var’Tareen. It was a short and silly game. But I think this is the perfect arbitrary milestone to commemorate with my first blog post. In this post I want to look back and talk about some of my favorite parts of the first 20 sessions, discuss some milestones, and look ahead to describe how I want to run future games. I plan on using Var’Tareen a lot. I really love the idea of having a connected world that I can draw on at any time. By running several campaigns across the world, I can better understand Var’Tareen. It allows me to have a more authentic and fleshed out world. It also gives me things I can draw on in the future. Take for example session four of Silver Mists and Bloody Tides. In that session the players met Li-Shara. This was the first time we got to meet a god. It was an impactful and powerful moment that led the characters to better understand the weight of their choices. But it also helped me as a GM. It helped me understand the power and role of the gods in the world. In the future when I bring another god to the game, I will be able to run them better having already had practice here.

Before this post goes too far I want to take a short detour. I want to once again emphasize that the goal of having a well played world, isn’t to stack lore on top of lore in every game. My goal is to have the world be as accessible as possible to new players. That means that the lore on this wiki should be a resource if players want to look further, not a barrier to new players. If you’re reading this you probably are the kind of player who wants to do that. So I have a request. Use this wiki. Edit your character, add in information I might have missed to pages you read, correct a spelling mistake or grammatical error. I still have about thirty articles to write, and a dozen more to edit. These articles include places, characters, historical events, organizations, a few items, and a monster. Plus I’m always looking to upgrade the readability and usability of the wiki. You should always feel free to write the article for your character, or add in any information otherwise missing from the wiki. Cooperative story-telling should be cooperative.

With that out of the way let's mark some milestones. We’ve played three campaigns, a one-shot, and started what I call an anthology game. Each one has explored a different place. We looked at Carufell, the border of Roadon, the Southern Isles, Sar-Makashi, and the forests of Toalla. We’ve had 14 players total (not counting me the GM), 3 of them have played multiple characters. Cameron, the player with the most sessions has played in 13 total, Ryan has played in 11. Matt became the first player to reuse a character when he played Al'Sys in the first game of The Hunters’ Codex. We commissioned artwork for Silver Mists and Bloody Tides. We’ve had 20 player characters and 33 key NPCs. There’ve been a lot of great ones. Trying to pick a favorite NPC I’ve wrote has been hard. From Cults of the North there is Thèandìl and Ingrid. From Silver Mists and Bloody Tides there is Lord Keel, Janie Kerias, and Leucothea. That last one is thanks to Dante. By writing an NPC character he enabled great interactions and some of the best RP I’ve ever had at my table. And in the Snake in the Sand there was Mezzin Qolat. If I thought about villains my favorite would be Curek the Iron Eye. He had a great death at the hands of Jack. But Warren Kassett had a great end at the hands of Ellenora. Picking a favorite PC is kind of taboo, but now that the games are over I can slip. Jack and his interactions with the world were amazing. His relationship with Leucy was genuine and his backstory critical to the function of the game. Krin fit so well into his game, I couldn’t have written someone in better. Both of these characters just worked so well in the world. They used the information here to build their narrative. Of course I am thankful to everyone who has played. There have been some amazing moments from all of them. A few of my favorites are Tal’s talk with Thèandìl on the way to meet the Nurmendemar, every interaction Ellenora had with Ingrid, Kayn killing Strongarm, the time Al’Sys took a life in the tavern in Sar-Makashi, Jack and Leucy reunited, J’Kar’s dialogues with Lord Keel, Sylvie passing out in the crow’s nest after over exerting herself to save the ship and Jack’s life, and all the laughs from Hobbsington. If I missed anything you loved, feel free to comment with your best moment or favorite character.

The next big question is of course, ‘What’s next for Var’Tareen?’ Well to explain that let me first describe the kinds of games I want to run. I’ve divided them into three categories you might have seen on the wiki homepage. First there are campaigns. These are games longer than one session with the same player characters. Then there are one-shots. Finally there are anthology games. Think of these as loosely strung together one-shots exploring similar themes. I want campaigns to the main force in storytelling. Campaigns will explore important moments in the point of present. A point I have roughly set to AeP 440. These can be varied length. So far campaigns have been 3, 7, and 8 sessions. One-shots I’ll run when we only have time for a session. These will be less impactful on the world and generally not add too much to the narrative. Finally anthology games will be set through any time in Var’Tareen but seek to collectively add to the narrative. The two I have plans for are a series of games looking at unique monsters, and a series of games exploring historical battles. Right now I have plans to run the second game with settings in the War of Ascendance, on Cherak shortly after the war but before the founding of Roadon, the Merchants Rebellion, the War of Nezeril, the Unification Crusades, and the Second Desert War. The current plan is to run these in chronological order but I’m open to change if anyone of these settings jumps out and calls to you.

But what do I mean by impactful moments and overall narrative? Well you might have picked this up or had me tell you, but let me formalize it. I want the games in Var’Tareen to explore the reintroduction of living enchantment. This doesn’t mean there is an overarching plot. Rather this has to do with the scattered effects of enchantment around the world. For example Ingrid in Carufell, Vreeli Szere as an Iron Tempest Commando, and Lord Keel’s journey to find living enchantment rituals. The next big thing I want to explore is the upcoming Mordish Civil War. On one side is Keel, Janie, J’Kar, their Count and their strength and flying rituals, on the other the Kaiser and his agility ritual. Perhaps he has more but for now it’s all we’ve seen. How will living enchantment change the war? I want to run about 20 sessions in that setting over several campaigns, set on both sides of the conflict, and exploring anyone else affected. Cameron also has plans to run a game as a prequel to the civil war. After that we have a few choices. Maybe next is Toalla. That and Dri’Faran would be the only major regions unexplored. I want to run an entire game set in a city. Perhaps seven sessions in Spring Dale or Veleseo. If it’s Spring Dale we could see Ingrid again. Then a game about the choosing of the next Grand General in Roadon. Prasus Ka is old and about to retire. After that maybe a return to the Nurmendemar. Then who knows? Notice how the anthology games don’t directly comment on the overall narrative. The monster one explores living enchantment on animals. The history one helps us understand the current political and social situation. There is no chosen order yet to the games after the civil war. But all together they form a narrative. Or rather I certainly hope they will.