I would like to expand on the new actual play stream announcement I made last weekend in this blog.
On November 13th, our group will stream live (and on youtube the next day) the next chapter of our Beasts & Barbarians campaign on Google Hangouts On Air!.
You may not be familiar with the GRAmel's setting for Savage Worlds called Beasts & Barbarians so let's start by explaining what it is. Written and developed by +Umberto Pignatelli , Beasts & Barbarians is a Sword and Sorcery setting.
TVTropes.org defines Sword and Sorcery as a sub-genre of Heroic Fantasy that is less glamorous and all about fast paced action. "Sword and Sorcery stories are about mighty warriors fighting supernatural horrors with blade in hand, either an Eldritch Abomination or Evil Sorcerer." TVTropes.org goes on to say that "Robert E. Howard is widely seen as the trope make of the genre with Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock being the trope codifiers a generation later."
What you get with Beasts & Barbarians are all those influences with a heavy dose of Clarke Ashton Smith thrown in. A dose that ties everything in with pure poetry. Basically, it's Conan the Cimmerian, Elric and Lankhmar with the serial numbers filed off at it's core but with Umberto injecting it's own mythology. The setting is very well supported with many adventure modules containing Books of Lore (gazetteers) and expansion books for mercenary or gladiatorial style campaigns as well as full-on regional guides like Jalizar, City of Thieves or Tricarnia, Land of Princes and Demons.
I feel the setting rules really capture the tropes of the genre. I've been running Beasts & Barbarians game for over a year now and it's always fun. It all started with a few one-shots here and there online.
The hook was simple and very old school. "You are a group of adventurers, carousers and anti-heroes who steal, pillage and raid temples or ruins in order to fund your carousing habits. When your purses are empty you go back out still hungover and find some more coins to spend on more wine, women and entertainment." It was simple yet effective. The same people kept coming back for more, embracing the larger-than-life nature of their character. I had to make this a real campaign for a few reasons.
First, I realized I had found the RPG setting for me. I was burnt on traditional "tolkienesque-inspired" fantasy. This was dark, primal and made me embrace the neanderthal in me. It was the same sort of epiphany I had after watching the movie Fight Club and reading the novel.
I also felt I had a core of players I connected with it. I didn't have to explain where I was going with these adventures much. Everybody played their characters according to the tropes of the genre. Every one of them had read Sword and Sorcery tales. Everything fell into place. Their characters were vibrant.
Which brings me to the last reason why I wanted to turn this into a full campaign. Simply put, I wanted to learn more about these characters the same way you keep reading a novel or move on to the next book in the series. We had barely scratched the surface. We needed to go more in depth.
So we did. Some players wrote journals and made artwork. This, folks, is when you know the players are enjoying their characters and the campaign.
In the next preview I will give you an overview of what happened during the last year. I might even use some material from the character's journals some player wrote. But in the meantime I'll introduce one of the player and share with you what he had to say about his life as a gamer and his character.
+Stephen Dragonspawn is an eloquent and charismatic player. He brings a spark at the table through a vivid impersonation of his character Kron the Barbarian. He adds all these small details and quirks to Kron that makes it feel real. Just when you think you have his character figured out he brings another dimension to it. He narrated the best Interlude I've heard by revealing how Kron likes to defend the weak. Stephen is also the king of puns and sexual innuendos during game sessions and helps keep the mood light and fun for everybody.
So I will leave you with what Stephen had to say and see you next week for the next preview:
"Reading thru Marvel comics on the late 70s and 80s, I saw adds for the D&D RPGs and was curious about them, but not having any hobby stores near home and not having access to a suitable means of conveyance to get to them, I had to wait until high school when I would be old enough to get on a bus to the closest hobby shop (which was 10 miles away, in the freezing snow, and uphill both ways, LOL!). There I bought the famous Red Box, with money saved from my summer job. I tried to get some friends on my street interested, but it didn't seem to be for them. I still bought the Blue, the Green and the Black boxes, reading thru them and daydreaming of all the adventures I could be having, if only I had some willing victims, I mean players, PLAYERs, that's what I meant, yeah, that's the ticket."
"It was not until high school and college that I would find my first D&D group by answering an add on the billboard of the same hobby shop where I had bought my Red Box. But this group were already experienced players, they played AD&D. So I graduated to AD&D too.Later on I discovered other systems & settings, such as Robotech, TMNT, Shadowrun (1rst ed.) Cyberpunk 2020, Earthdawn, TORG, Storyteller, Legend of the 5 Rings. After a break from RPGs, D&D 3rd ed. (and of course 3.5 and 4th). Another short break and I discovered the Shaintar setting which made me get my Savage Worlds rulebook out of mothballs. I briefly joined a friend's Pathfinder game, but to me it just seems like "D&D-the Quest for Stuff". I've been running my Shiantar campaign now for 2 years and I love it, and so do my players.I play Kron, the loincloth bearing, battle-axe wielding Barbarian. Dark of hair, blue piercing gaze and rippling muscles. He cleaves thru enemies and stands up for the downtrodden or bullied. His birth is marked by special yet mysterious circumstances. He was exiled by his father under some difficult times. After that, Kron traveled and took on odd jobs to subsist and enjoy a few aspects of civilization that he discovered, such as fine wine and fine women. He met Argoth when he willingly entered the gladiatorial pits, in order to pay off serious debts. He has travelled with Prince Elkyr in order to aid the man regain his honor, get revenge on his brother as well as find a way to heal Kazan's beloved, which is still completely unresolved. What does the future hold for the sabled-haired barbarian? What does Destiny or Fate have in store for Kron? What is was his birth supposed to bring about, or perhaps stop from happening? We shall see.regards from Stephen."
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