Hot Cicada Summer
Well, that was an unexpected break from blogging. I pulled back from keeping up with TTRPG releases, online discourse, and crowdfunding at the same time.Meanwhile, my gaming itself has transitioned from online to almost entirely in-person.
Since most of my gaming has been as a player rather than GM, I've noticed that I'm a better player in-person. Online I can sometimes tune-out involuntaritly. I hate it but it's a thing.
One group that I'm a part of started with Dolmenwood but once we found out that we're all wanting to explore a stack of games we started swapping GMs and games when it makes sense. In addition to Dolmenwood, we've played Mothership, Cairn (the GM's session recaps), Microscope, Mouseguard (which I missed), and probably something else I'm forgetting. Cairn and Microscope were new to me and thus the most memorable.
I don't think I played Cairn properly - I never could get a handle on my character and how it could have progressed. Definitely a game that needs deep player buy-in. I probably should have reworked the character early on to get some kind of vision for it. The Scrivener background didn't spark as many ideas as I assumed it would. It was exciting to me at the time!
I have yet to step up and take a turn, wanting a Pirate Borg campaign I run at another table to end first. I've offered to run Cloud Empress, Blades in the Dark, and an undecided system for Caverns of Thracia. Probably other stuff, too. The stack is tall, you know?
Last night, I cracked open Cloud Empress again to go over the starting adventure. The live plays I've heard of this adventure didn't thrill me, however, when I was reading it something clicked. It's tight, time-boxed, and a straight-up railroad. I'm a sandbox GM at heart but I know from experience that starting one can be tough. This is where funnels or railroads can come in handy if you're not straight-up in media res'ing it. That's what this adventure is - a slip-n-slide that drops the players off in what's expected to be a hexcrawl. The time-boxing, if the GM sticks to it, limits the adventure itself to an hour and a half once things get started. Perfect for a one-shot with the possibility of future hex-crawling.
At the same time, the fiction finally clicked with me as well. I've been a fan of this game since it was a zine but I have to admit the setting never felt real to me. That is, until last night when I could picture myself or the party in it. The delapidated cloud city of supercilious Cloudlings drifting through the poison mist, gathering water to purify and sell to the doomed Farmerlings below. The other remaining cloud cities dots in the sky around you. The rickety sky barge loaded down with purified water ready to take the party to the Lowlands. Down in the lush "wastelands", these Farmerlings toil in dirt that kills them with its toxicity. The ever-present substance called chalk in these Lowland Wastes permeates everything, providing a source of magic and decay. Rumors of the missing Cloud Empress somewhere in the Lowlands below the city. Other rumors of the giant locust-like Imago brood emerging seven summers too early.
Okay, I'm feeling it now. It took a long time for me to internalize the setting, which has been my biggest hurdle in running Cloud Empress. It seemed too distant and almost overly fantastical before but I'm getting excited to dive into this. Be right back, need to strap on a rebreather and urine recycler.