Mortal Coil
Ok a gaming post so those without interest in gaming will probably want to skip it
Mortal Coil (MC) is a new game to me and I wanted to play test it to see how the conflict resolution worked and more importantly how the game prep worked as I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find the necessary time prepping games and MC has a new way (to me) of game set up. We had two sessions, one creating the theme and world we would be gaming in and the other playing, it could have stretched to two sessions playing but as a deliberate choice I ensured that conflicts had to be resolved and it would all come together with a bang.
Session 1 - Theme creation, magic, and character creation.
From my point of view this was the area that I was most interested in, MC has a set start up involving all the players and the GM sitting around the table and with no preconceptions coming up with the theme document; this is a document that gets amended during play and states what the game will be about, where and when it is set, what is magic in the world, creatures, supporting characters and villains.
Players were roh_bela_arraha, bratu, and action_dave
We decided:
Mortal Coil Theme Document
Theme: Dark and Sinister
Where: Newfoundland
When: Early Autumn 1000 AD
Just arrived within the past week, settlement building has began, the long ship was used to make the long hall the only permanent structure so far.
Outlawed from Iceland - after burning down the homestead of the man who killed the middle brother of the Thane and the Warchief.
There are 40 Norse left, 20 men, 10 women and 10 children
On the trip over there was rough seas and storms (the gods were angry) several people were lost. A couple have vanished since the landing including the Thanes wife.
Magic is moderate (13 token pool), magic isn't defined until it's in play, players or the gm need to sacrifice tokens to define magic, all magic has a price (this worked out really well)
Learnt and Taught
Some people have a natural affinity, magic is everywhere.
Places of Magical Power
Parlour tricks
God magic
Natural Magic
Runes
Supporting Characters
Helga
Warchief
Villains - The players haven't seen more than the names of the villains the rest is mine alone.
Scraelings
Demons
No contact just glimpse
Tattoos, painted + Red!
village of 200 discovered just nearby.
Warchief (Thorgrim) - wants to be Thane has arranged a deal with the Chief of the scraelings to have his brother killed.
Boat Following - Son of the Thane (Gunnar) killed by the brothers, wants to kill them both, on board is Helga and Astrids father and bodyguard.
Bodyguard wants Astrid for himself, father wants to return her to Iceland.
Chief of the Scraelings has made a deal for ironmaking and the ale from the warchief, in exchange he will kill the thane and leave the rest alone.
Shaman of the Scraelings; doesn't trust the Chief and wants to kill all the Norse, he's kidnapped several members of the Norse in order to learn about them, he has tortured them.
The Characters are;
Lothbrok Thane of the Worlds End Colony Youngest brother - 23
Wife has disappeared since the landing, has three children; girl 8, girl 6, boy 5.
Surviving brother Warchief
Astrid the Cold Hearted
Daughter of a leader, will be a leaders wife, dragged here against her will. Married to the Warchief
Orm the Skald
Keeper of the Peace
Keeper of the lore
Envoy to the Gods
Defender of the Ale
Wife Helga left behind
Characters each have passions that tie them to each other and to supporting characters through; duty, love, hate, and fear.
For me this worked fantastically, within 3 hours we had a playable setting, that all the players were enthused about and had player buy in, characters directly tied into the setting and a workable structure. All that was required for me to do was to flesh out the villains a bit and throw together some situations to create conflict.
Session 2 - The Game.
We started the game in the Longhall, bang a longship had been spotted, the Thane and his brother argued, eventually the warchief goes to scout, after convincing his brother he should go on a hunt, followed by his wife, she sees him speaking to the chief of the scraelings, they each cut the palm of their hand and bind an oath in blood, the warchief returns to scouting and Astrid sacrifices a token to define natural magic as;
Nature magic allows you to communicate and have an affinity with animals. Price: Can't speak to anyone else and is in a bit of a trance.
and watches the scraeling chief send out his men in an obvious ambush.
The Thane and Orm set out on a hunt following the tracks of deer they wander further into the dark woods, bang they find a woman with her eyes burnt out, and tongue removed, it's the thanes wife. Shocked and horrified they return to the village.
In the long hall the warchief is standing on the table and exhorting the men of the village to take up arms and raid the longship, stating his brother isn't strong enough, the Thane enters and a staring contest ensues between the Thane and his brother, Orm tries to help sway the villagers to the Thanes cause but Astrid whispers poison in their ears. The warchief backs down for now.
The hall emptied the Thane and Orm discuss what to do with his wife.
Orm defines magic;
Limbs can be reborn\regrown - Price: It requires a sacrifice of another persons limb, the limb might not be what you want, in this case you might see through the eyes of another what you shouldn't see.
The Warchief seems overly concerned about his brothers wife, he goes to get a sacrifice. The Thane and Orm however believe that she should be put out of her misery.
The Thane comforts his children whilst Astrid refuses to brew the poison for Orm that would ease her to the after life. Orm defines magic;
Ale can make you happy and eases pain - ignore light wounds in combat. Price: Only intermittently tell the truth for a while (how it works GM replaces words and character doesn't know that the words were changed) and a bad hangover for the person who drinks it. - Same amount of words must be used.
Orm brews his special ale and eases the pain of the Thanes wife, then goes to speak to the villagers, Loki takes control of his tongue (the price for the ale) and the villagers believe that he wants to sacrifice them all, starting with Astrid and the children until the Thane knocks him unconscious. (This price was brilliant fun and really screwed over the characters)
The warchief returns dragging a woman with him, bang it's Helga Orm's wife, he demands that she be sacrificed to save the Thanes wife; Astrid and the Thane argue, she realises that her husband loves the Thanes wife and her love for him changes to a passion of hate. Orm challenges the warchief to a duel and defines magic;
Ale makes the brewmaster fight better (+2 to grace) Price: -2 to wits - if wits go below zero passed out drunk.
swigging ale the fight rages, Astrid defines magic;
Can bind the air around a person to immobilise them - Price: Can't move from the same spot while the other is bound
and binds her husband immobile just as Orm drives his staff into his head leaving him lying on the floor and the staff sticking a foot into the ground where the warchiefs head should be.
bang Firebrands hit the roof of the longhall, the other vikings are attacking. Astrid kneels beside her husband, seeing all going to ruin around her she cold heartedly cuts off the hand that was cut to make a pact with the scraeling chief.
Gunnar the leader of the vikings out for revenge approaches the burning longhall, he allows the Thanes children to leave and then enters the hall sealing himself and the Thane in, they fight, the Thane gains the upperhand and breaks the axe of Gunnar with his fathers sword, thane defines magic as;
Heimdall his head counts as a sword, wits add to force. Price: Wits can only be used for fighting for a day.
He gives Gunnar a sword so he can enter Valhalla and then strikes Gunnar down.
Meanwhile outside Orm throws himself into the thick of the fight but is cast down, Orm defines magic as;
invoke a god - Price: Conflict, 9 days hanging on the tree, if you lose you die.
He calls upon Odin and summons him, as Odin unleashes Gugnir his spear; let the slaughter begin, Orm realises that he has condemned everyone to die. Astrid confronts Odin and wins a battle of wits, she convinces him that he should kill the scraelings first.
As the screams of the scraelings echo from the distance the villagers and vikings flee until only Orm, Astrid and the Thane remain, they hear the thunder of Sleipners hooves coming closer;
The Thane defines magic as;
If Heimdall is invoked he blows the Jallahorn - Price: Ragnorak has begun.
but pauses before condemning the world to Ragnorak.
and instead defines;
A sacrifice will make a god depart - Price: a loved one
Orm and the Thane hoist a rope over a nearby tree and hang the Thanes wife as a sacrifice to Odin, the sounds of hooves fade.
Finito.
Conclusions, the price for magic is suppose to be defined by the GM for player defined magic, however letting the players define it themselves really lets them screw themselves over.
Conflict system, got better as we got the hang of it, I'm still not wholly convinced though.
Set up was amazingly quick compared to the number of times I've spent weeks trying to come up with something that would appeal and get player buy in.
I had great fun running the game, thanks to my players.
Mortal Coil (MC) is a new game to me and I wanted to play test it to see how the conflict resolution worked and more importantly how the game prep worked as I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find the necessary time prepping games and MC has a new way (to me) of game set up. We had two sessions, one creating the theme and world we would be gaming in and the other playing, it could have stretched to two sessions playing but as a deliberate choice I ensured that conflicts had to be resolved and it would all come together with a bang.
Session 1 - Theme creation, magic, and character creation.
From my point of view this was the area that I was most interested in, MC has a set start up involving all the players and the GM sitting around the table and with no preconceptions coming up with the theme document; this is a document that gets amended during play and states what the game will be about, where and when it is set, what is magic in the world, creatures, supporting characters and villains.
Players were roh_bela_arraha, bratu, and action_dave
We decided:
Mortal Coil Theme Document
Theme: Dark and Sinister
Where: Newfoundland
When: Early Autumn 1000 AD
Just arrived within the past week, settlement building has began, the long ship was used to make the long hall the only permanent structure so far.
Outlawed from Iceland - after burning down the homestead of the man who killed the middle brother of the Thane and the Warchief.
There are 40 Norse left, 20 men, 10 women and 10 children
On the trip over there was rough seas and storms (the gods were angry) several people were lost. A couple have vanished since the landing including the Thanes wife.
Magic is moderate (13 token pool), magic isn't defined until it's in play, players or the gm need to sacrifice tokens to define magic, all magic has a price (this worked out really well)
Learnt and Taught
Some people have a natural affinity, magic is everywhere.
Places of Magical Power
Parlour tricks
God magic
Natural Magic
Runes
Supporting Characters
Helga
Warchief
Villains - The players haven't seen more than the names of the villains the rest is mine alone.
Scraelings
Demons
No contact just glimpse
Tattoos, painted + Red!
village of 200 discovered just nearby.
Warchief (Thorgrim) - wants to be Thane has arranged a deal with the Chief of the scraelings to have his brother killed.
Boat Following - Son of the Thane (Gunnar) killed by the brothers, wants to kill them both, on board is Helga and Astrids father and bodyguard.
Bodyguard wants Astrid for himself, father wants to return her to Iceland.
Chief of the Scraelings has made a deal for ironmaking and the ale from the warchief, in exchange he will kill the thane and leave the rest alone.
Shaman of the Scraelings; doesn't trust the Chief and wants to kill all the Norse, he's kidnapped several members of the Norse in order to learn about them, he has tortured them.
The Characters are;
Lothbrok Thane of the Worlds End Colony Youngest brother - 23
Wife has disappeared since the landing, has three children; girl 8, girl 6, boy 5.
Surviving brother Warchief
Astrid the Cold Hearted
Daughter of a leader, will be a leaders wife, dragged here against her will. Married to the Warchief
Orm the Skald
Keeper of the Peace
Keeper of the lore
Envoy to the Gods
Defender of the Ale
Wife Helga left behind
Characters each have passions that tie them to each other and to supporting characters through; duty, love, hate, and fear.
For me this worked fantastically, within 3 hours we had a playable setting, that all the players were enthused about and had player buy in, characters directly tied into the setting and a workable structure. All that was required for me to do was to flesh out the villains a bit and throw together some situations to create conflict.
Session 2 - The Game.
We started the game in the Longhall, bang a longship had been spotted, the Thane and his brother argued, eventually the warchief goes to scout, after convincing his brother he should go on a hunt, followed by his wife, she sees him speaking to the chief of the scraelings, they each cut the palm of their hand and bind an oath in blood, the warchief returns to scouting and Astrid sacrifices a token to define natural magic as;
Nature magic allows you to communicate and have an affinity with animals. Price: Can't speak to anyone else and is in a bit of a trance.
and watches the scraeling chief send out his men in an obvious ambush.
The Thane and Orm set out on a hunt following the tracks of deer they wander further into the dark woods, bang they find a woman with her eyes burnt out, and tongue removed, it's the thanes wife. Shocked and horrified they return to the village.
In the long hall the warchief is standing on the table and exhorting the men of the village to take up arms and raid the longship, stating his brother isn't strong enough, the Thane enters and a staring contest ensues between the Thane and his brother, Orm tries to help sway the villagers to the Thanes cause but Astrid whispers poison in their ears. The warchief backs down for now.
The hall emptied the Thane and Orm discuss what to do with his wife.
Orm defines magic;
Limbs can be reborn\regrown - Price: It requires a sacrifice of another persons limb, the limb might not be what you want, in this case you might see through the eyes of another what you shouldn't see.
The Warchief seems overly concerned about his brothers wife, he goes to get a sacrifice. The Thane and Orm however believe that she should be put out of her misery.
The Thane comforts his children whilst Astrid refuses to brew the poison for Orm that would ease her to the after life. Orm defines magic;
Ale can make you happy and eases pain - ignore light wounds in combat. Price: Only intermittently tell the truth for a while (how it works GM replaces words and character doesn't know that the words were changed) and a bad hangover for the person who drinks it. - Same amount of words must be used.
Orm brews his special ale and eases the pain of the Thanes wife, then goes to speak to the villagers, Loki takes control of his tongue (the price for the ale) and the villagers believe that he wants to sacrifice them all, starting with Astrid and the children until the Thane knocks him unconscious. (This price was brilliant fun and really screwed over the characters)
The warchief returns dragging a woman with him, bang it's Helga Orm's wife, he demands that she be sacrificed to save the Thanes wife; Astrid and the Thane argue, she realises that her husband loves the Thanes wife and her love for him changes to a passion of hate. Orm challenges the warchief to a duel and defines magic;
Ale makes the brewmaster fight better (+2 to grace) Price: -2 to wits - if wits go below zero passed out drunk.
swigging ale the fight rages, Astrid defines magic;
Can bind the air around a person to immobilise them - Price: Can't move from the same spot while the other is bound
and binds her husband immobile just as Orm drives his staff into his head leaving him lying on the floor and the staff sticking a foot into the ground where the warchiefs head should be.
bang Firebrands hit the roof of the longhall, the other vikings are attacking. Astrid kneels beside her husband, seeing all going to ruin around her she cold heartedly cuts off the hand that was cut to make a pact with the scraeling chief.
Gunnar the leader of the vikings out for revenge approaches the burning longhall, he allows the Thanes children to leave and then enters the hall sealing himself and the Thane in, they fight, the Thane gains the upperhand and breaks the axe of Gunnar with his fathers sword, thane defines magic as;
Heimdall his head counts as a sword, wits add to force. Price: Wits can only be used for fighting for a day.
He gives Gunnar a sword so he can enter Valhalla and then strikes Gunnar down.
Meanwhile outside Orm throws himself into the thick of the fight but is cast down, Orm defines magic as;
invoke a god - Price: Conflict, 9 days hanging on the tree, if you lose you die.
He calls upon Odin and summons him, as Odin unleashes Gugnir his spear; let the slaughter begin, Orm realises that he has condemned everyone to die. Astrid confronts Odin and wins a battle of wits, she convinces him that he should kill the scraelings first.
As the screams of the scraelings echo from the distance the villagers and vikings flee until only Orm, Astrid and the Thane remain, they hear the thunder of Sleipners hooves coming closer;
The Thane defines magic as;
If Heimdall is invoked he blows the Jallahorn - Price: Ragnorak has begun.
but pauses before condemning the world to Ragnorak.
and instead defines;
A sacrifice will make a god depart - Price: a loved one
Orm and the Thane hoist a rope over a nearby tree and hang the Thanes wife as a sacrifice to Odin, the sounds of hooves fade.
Finito.
Conclusions, the price for magic is suppose to be defined by the GM for player defined magic, however letting the players define it themselves really lets them screw themselves over.
Conflict system, got better as we got the hang of it, I'm still not wholly convinced though.
Set up was amazingly quick compared to the number of times I've spent weeks trying to come up with something that would appeal and get player buy in.
I had great fun running the game, thanks to my players.