Atomic Floozy Adventures

WHAT – Urd and Brimir’s Hold

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by

atomicfloozy
in ,

Campaign Preparation

Characters

The characters were created the normal way characters are created in WHAT (Warrior Heroes Adventures in Talomir) with two exceptions. Since this is the tale of two sisters, Urd and Tofa, I decided to give Tofa a single Star Power die, and I eliminated Alignment all together. Though we as humans often exhibit tribal animosity toward others, it doesn’t consume most of us to the point of being a defining trait, at least that is my belief. Not all Republicans are fascists, but quite a few are, and others, sadly, just tolerate them.

Urd Snorrissdottir is the younger of two sisters and is a Skjaldmaer, a female warrior known as a shield-maiden. She is the main character or Star of the campaign.

Urd will come to be known by many titles, Urd the Shieldmaiden, Urd Sword Sister, Urd the Ugly, Urd the Undefeated, and perhaps most known as Urd the Unmerciful. She also eventually becomes Queen Urd of Nordheim. And yes, she is a composite of Red Sonja, Valeria, and Belit to name a few.

  • Star or Grunt: Star
  • Race: Human
  • Nationality: Mirholme
  • Male or Female: Female
  • Reputation: 5
  • Class: Warrior
  • Skills: People 4; Savvy 5
  • Attributes: Wary, Lucky
  • Weapons: Ax, Sword, Dagger
  • Armor: AC4, Shield

Tofa Snorrissdottir is Urd’s older sister and is a Volva, a magic user often known as a seeress or witch. In this campaign, all magic users will use Black Moon magic. In the tradition of Robert E. Howard, magic should be rare, dangerous, and its use eventually leads to madness.

  • Star or Grunt: Grunt with one Star Power die
  • Race: Human
  • Nationality: Mirholme
  • Male or Female: Female
  • Reputation: 4
  • Class: Caster
  • Skills: People 3; Savvy 4
  • Attributes: Cast Spells, Magic Resistant, Wary
  • Weapons: Staff, Sword, Dagger
  • Armor: AC4

Brodir Nikolasson is a skilled tracker who served with the sisters’ father and feels obligated to look after them.

  • Star or Grunt: Grunt
  • Race: Human
  • Nationality: Mirholme
  • Male or Female: Male
  • Reputation: 4
  • Class: Ranger
  • Skills: People 3; Savvy 4
  • Attributes: Tough
  • Weapons: Sword, Dagger
  • Armor: AC2

Grimkel Reinnsson a warrior from Skagi.

  • Star or Grunt: Grunt
  • Race: Human
  • Nationality: Mirholme
  • Male or Female: Male
  • Reputation: 3
  • Class: Warrior
  • Skills: People 3; Savvy 2
  • Attributes: Wary, Cruel
  • Weapons: Spear, Sword, Dagger
  • Armor: AC2, Shield

Swein Arisson is a skilled archer and companion of Brodir.

  • Star or Grunt: Grunt
  • Race: Human
  • Nationality: Mirholme
  • Male or Female: Male
  • Reputation: 4
  • Class: Shooter
  • Skills: People 3; Savvy 4
  • Attributes: Agile, Duty
  • Weapons: Bow, Dagger
  • Armor: AC2

Setting

In some stories the setting itself is a character. It is the time and place where the interaction of characters and events happen. It can be abstract or heavily detailed. It can be real or fictional – or a combination of both.

WHAT can be played in any setting you wish from Golarion, Krynn, The Forgotten Realms, Barsoom, to Hyboria. You can even create your own world. The rules do come with its own setting, Talomir. Talomir resembles Robert E. Howard’s Hyboria where each nation resembles a nation or culture from history.

This campaign takes place in Mirholme, Talomir’s equivalent to medieval Scandanavia (the Norse culture). Setting up a campaign in WHAT starts on page 65 and I can choose one of three areas in Mirholme – an area containing a Capital (national or provincial); an Interior area including coastal areas; a Border area which is the area containing the border between nations. I’ve chosen an Interior area called Brimir’s Hold named after an ancient giant who lived and ruled there.

Point-to-point Campaigning

I usually don’t do much in the way of planning out a campaign. I often use the Quick and Easy Campaign system found in many Two Hour Wargames rulesets, or I just let the unfolding story tell me what to do next.

I’ve recently discovered what I think is a fun and cool on-line map drawing app called Perilous Shores. You choose from a list of parameters and the app draws a random fantasy map for you, which you can then alter to fit your gaming needs. You can draw three different sizes of maps depending on how large of an area in which you wish to campaign. Since my attention span these days is that of a butterfly flittering from one project to another, I chose a small area.

When drawing a map for a point-to-point campaign it is important to include the things that the local citizens would know about – woods, mountains, streams, settlements and places of interest such as ruins, towers, etc. To keep the map from being too crowded, I decided to a roll a 1/2D6 for the number of settlements and another 1/2D6 for the points of interest. In this case I came up with three settlements (2 villages and 1 town) and two points of interest.

Using Perilous Shores (which is free by the way), I’ve generated a map I’m happy to use in the campaign. Traveling from one point to another requires playing a Wandering Encounter (page 99). For an added twist, roll a 1/2D6 at the end of the Wandering Encounter and you have discovered a mysterious location not on the map such as a cave or a bandit camp.

Starting the Campaign

We begin as per page 65, with an Involuntary Encounter. I know you are supposed to roll on the Involuntary Encounter Table to determine which one to play, but I’ve chosen to start the campaign on the road to Lodgenfir and many of the involuntary encounters don’t make sense for a traveling party, so I chose the one that makes sense – a robbery.

Next Time

Next week, bandits attempt to rob Urd and her party. Though Urd is the Star character and takes care of the day-to-day operations, her sister, Tofa, is the actual leader who is driven by visions to seek out and discover magic.

The blog is into its 14th year. And I appreciate everyone who has taken a moment to read a post or two. Let me know what you think and what you’d like to see. Your comments are always welcome.

One little thing before I go, yesterday eggs at my local grocery store were $17.99 for 18 eggs, thanks to all the misogynist bigoted white folk who made this possible with their misguided votes for a fascist felon.