Actual Play – Dyson’s Delve (6/27/2014)

World_of_DungeonsGM: Matt Klein
Players: Dale Horstman, Twlya Campbell, Karen Twelves, and Sean Nittner
System: World of Dungeon
Dungeon: Dyson’s Delve

Man, this was a fun game. We took our time eating dinner at Cafe Presse and didn’t want to have to race back for the SAT-03 slot at GPNW. Fortunately, I hang with the most awesome people. Matty K offered to run World of Dungeons for us and so he did.

We cleared out most of the first level of Dyson’s delve in single session and we did this almost uniformly by making our enemies fight each other. First rat vs. ferret and then later zombie warrior vs. goblins. Good times!

Some highlights

Serious pressure on our adventurers, to find a new home for our people before ork raiders took over our lands. We could hear their drums beating in the distance.

The bestowal of titles. Isoldor of the North was really big on giving out titles to other people. Everyone but her fellow ranger who so very much wanted one.

The healing magic that required the life of our rat companions.

Arguing about how we should open up various and sundry sarcophagi.

Character quirks

Amen? Anen, A-something? It doesn’t matter, she is my best friend and will be the high priestess of blandario. (Karen)

Omid the life coach, outdoors-man wizard, who was pretty sure everything could be resolved by by dialog…as a verb. I kept getting the impression that “lets dialog” meant “be quiet now, I’ll kill you in your sleep later.” (Twyla)

Isoldor of the North was a nut. She was insanely devoted to her friend Anda or whatever, and though Ann was the chosen of blandario but was also irrationally protective of Omid breaking her heart. Isoldor talked to animals (little squeaks of the rats, growls of the wolf) and left from rock to rock and climbed the wall do she didn’t have to touch the floor…until she did. (Sean)

Xamder was pretty burly. He actually knew the woods and stuff. He wanted a title though and didn’t know how to get one, or how Isoldor kept making them. Also, against undead on principle, which was worth of discussion when we were talking about binding the dead to do our bidding. He spent most of the game trying to keep our guide from shitting himself. Poor guide. (Dale)

Thoughts on the game

This was a silly game. I think all of us were a bit punchy from stuffing ourselves at dinner and didn’t expect a dungeon delve to go so deep (we almost cleared one level…of 10!). Matt was great a humoring us. Karen was playing an Ann Veal character (from Arrested Development) that everyone forgot the name of as well as forgetting the name of her god. When the chips were down she jumped into action but as soon as someone looked she was just standing there looking a little dumbfound all the time. I was this totally hyper teenage girl that was just a spaz. She climbed on walls when the floor was right there, she was obsessed with her friend’s dating (even though she couldn’t remember her name), and she talked to animals. Like a lot.

This relates back to my Night Witches game on Friday night. There is an improv game call New Choice  where two improvisers are talking and a 3rd will cut them off and say “New Choice” and person who was just talking has to change what they just said. The 3rd person keeps saying “New Choice” until they are satisfied.  The thought, as I understand it is that your first idea is boring, your second idea is just the obvious opposite or way too gonzo, and your third idea is really interesting. Here’s a snippet from Ken Levin’s blog post:

Example:

Me and Fred are in a Costco.

Fred: What are you here to buy?
Me: Cheerios.
Andy: New choice!
Me: 300 rolls of toilet paper.
Andy: New choice!
Me: A case of Trojans and a dozen oysters.

Later in the scene:

Fred: I don’t have cash. Do you take American Express?
Andy: New choice!
Fred: Do you take the Diner’s Club card?
Andy: New choice!
Fred: Do you take second-party Group-ons?

Isoldor was totally my “New Choice” after playing my typical angry woman with an axe to grind in Night Witches the night before. I knew I wanted something different and my first new idea was manic and zany. Not a very good choice either. In fact, probably much worse because the character was all shtick and no substance (at least with my angry women, I can always channel something to be angry about).

So I think I need to start playing this exercise when making a character. Take my first, most obvious concept and throw it out the window. Take my second concept and throw that out the window too. Then see what comes next!

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