Repositories of Adventure

    Since I first started getting back into role-playing games in the summer of 2020 I've been using these government green notebooks (green monsters, if you know you know) for all my rpg needs. Today I flipped through my current notebook to look at what I have prepped so far for the open table I've been running, making this mesmerizing gif afterwards. Maybe one day I'll post some scans of pages from my notebooks that I think are particularly inspired or worth sharing. But today I'm going to talk a little bit about my Open Table and how I think it's going.

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    I've only ran two sessions of the open table so far and I would say both were pretty successful. The first had three players attend, with one joining midway through while the second had four players, one of which was a player from the first session. I'm running the table in my default setting but without an era defined. The adventures are taking place in a region of the dwarven empire called Red Reach which comprises two neighboring dwarf-holds in the mountains before an endless expanse of savannah.

    The hold that players start in is called Bara-Kraz and I've been comparing it to that legendary hive of scum and villainy, Mos Eisley. Bara-Kraz is a corrupt city of organized criminals well known for the sunken colosseum which once entertained thousands at the base of the mountain and the mountain itself, which houses the Ormstone Mine. The population is primarily dwarven with a secondary population of elves and a sizable population of working class humans. The biggest thing going on in the city right now is a strike by the human miners who demanded higher pay from their dwarven employers. Unwilling to part with their gold, the dwarves have blockaded the entrance to the mine and are essentially going to starve the miners out. It has been one month since the strike began.

    My goal with Bara-Kraz was to kill some of my own sacred cows: humans are not the dominant species, this is a criminal run city, these aren't your typical honorable dwarves, etc. I think the players thus far are interested in the way that this isn't something they usually see but it's not so different as to be alien.

    When it comes to the actual content of the sessions I'd say that the first hour of play is usually spent deciding what the group wants to do and the next two hours are spent doing whatever they decided on. So far both sessions have taken place in Ormstone mine and neither group has progressed past the second level of the mine. One of the things I've been trying out is being extremely minimalistic with my actual prep and relying more on drawings and the effect I'm aiming for rather than writing everything out. Here are some thoughts I have on specific things I've been minimalizing:

• Extremely Minimal Room Descriptions: My goal with this was to take up as little space in my notebook as possible to reduce the amount of space I need to cover with my eyes to get the information I need. I think the reason for doing it is good but I still haven't nailed the right ratio between too much and not enough description. I'm trying to remember that all I really have to do is explain to my players what the place is and that can be as easy as saying, "it's a tunnel" or "it's a supply depot" but I catch myself wanting to be more descriptive than I know I have to be.
• Extremely Minimal Stat Blocks: Something I already did a lot of but I am making it even more minimal by sometimes not even writing a stat block and just keeping in mind what sort of challenge the monster is supposed to impose. I think this can work but it also makes me feel like I haven't set anything in stone and everything is subjective. I don't like saying it because it sounds pretentious but it feels like doing not having things specifically outlined lacks verisimilitude.

    I still need to experiment with my minimalism to find a point where I have enough information to run an awesome session but where I don't have to write so much information that making my prep notes is a three hour block of time I have to plan for.

    Something else to note from these early sessions is that there's been two combat encounters so far! The first was a tense situation between the striking miners and the party where the miners thought that the party were strike busters sent in by the dwarves. That fight ended when the party accidentally killed one of the miners and intimidated his friend into submission, luckily the striking miners didn't hold a grudge as Johann was a bit of an agitator amongst the strikers.

    The other combat came last session as the party went to the supply depot on the second level trying to find more food for the miners. Inside they were attacked by a stark white gecko-like creature covered in, and able to spit, an acidic mucus! Korda the Dragonborn managed to slay the foul creature but not before it let out a silent shriek that summoned more of its kind to stalk the party as they returned to the miners with a crate of food.

    The open table has been great fun and I look forward to continuing to post play reports and my thoughts on how I've been running it. Until next time!