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“I don't think Sonia's death was an accident,” explains Celyse, warming her hands at the fire. It's late, and an unseasonable chill has set in around the manor. If nothing else, it reflects her mood.
“Foul play?” asks Tymothi. Even with her back turned, Celyse can all but hear the steward's eyebrow arch. “Based on what?”
“Something Sonia told me herself,” replies Celyse. She turns and looks over the small office where Tymothi manages the countess's affairs. She crosses the distance to him and shares what she knows in a quiet voice. He listens, asking no questions until she is done.
“Who else have you told?” he asks.
“Just you.”
“I see. I shall discuss this with the countess in the morning. For now, I think it best to keep this quiet. Phillip, especially, doesn't need these thoughts gnawing at him with his sister's death so fresh.”
“Yes, I think you're right,” sighs Celyse as she departs. “Perhaps my fears are groundless,” she muses to herself. “In any case, I've already left my letter with the town clerk to be sent with the morning's post.”
She returns to her bedroom, jumping at every shadow cast by the statues in the gallery and every sound that could be a muffled footfall. “You're imagining things,” she whispers.
The nearest statue tips and falls toward her...
Welcome to Let's Play Legacy of Dragonholt!
Thanks! Uh... what is it?
Legacy of Dragonholt is a one to six player narrative adventure by Fantasy Flight Games, a relatively new release. Set in the Runebound setting, the game is essentially a Dungeon-Master-free D&D experience where you and your party work your way through a pre-written story adventure through following the guidebooks and making decisions, somewhat like a choose-your-own-adventure book. It tells the story of the village of Dragonholt and the misfortunes that befall it that can only be put right by a band of scrappy heroes.
Aside from colourful characters and a mound of setting details though, the game also involves over two hundred story variables, a large village and map to explore, six quest books, time tracking and a skill and health system for managing your party's progress through the game. It's pretty much a whole computer RPG written out on paper, and I loved playing through it.
I loved it so much, in fact, that now I'd liked you to join me in Let's Playing it!
For this Let's Play, I am going to ask for six hero ideas submitted by you, the reader (see further down for details). Once we have our party, I will work our way through the game books, referring some decisions to the thread for everybody to vote on (and layering in a bit of our party's own story as we go, naturally). I'll play the game mostly straight, presenting the text and decisions and other game materials as appropriate while hiding some of the behind-the-scenes management like ticking story variable boxes. I'll also make a couple of minor tweaks, mostly to show off more side dialogue, but the core gameplay stuff should remain intact – if we screw up an encounter or run out of time to do something, we've missed it.
Okay, that sounds fun! How do I submit a hero?
Like I said, I'll need six heroes, so send me a PM with a name, race/subrace and class, along with any appearance, background and personality details you want as well. I'll take it from there, though all readers are invited to join in on discussing the story and voting on decisions. I'll try to take the first six heroes I get though I do reserve the right to pick for sake of party balance or to filter out any questionable submissions – no pop culture references, please (Heironeous the # is still acceptable). The game doesn't really feature character portraits, though feel free to attach one if you want (personally I like the Pillars of Eternity ones).
First, pick your Race. as well as your sub-race. The main effect, aside from some story options, is two of the skills you pick have to come from your racial list.
Human: You know these, because you are one (probably). Divided into the Baronial humans, classically medieval folks of castles and farmlands, and the Free Cities humans, more cosmopolitan and commerce-focused.
Dwarf: Short, stout and proud, respected warriors and crafters. The Dunwarr dwarves are the stoic and isolated traditionalists of the mountains, while the Forge dwarves come from a city integrated with humanity and are more open and involved.
Elf: Tall, graceful and wise. The Latari elves are particularly aloof and magical, following their ancient rituals and customs apart from everyone else, while the Dawnsmoor elves are an active elven contingent in the Free Cities providing guidance to the “younger races”.
Gnome: Small and jovial, renowned for their hospitality. The Burrow gnomes live quiet and pastoral lives out of the way of big events, while the Wanderer gnomes travel in caravans from town to town.
Orc: Strong and warlike, orcs have a history of conflict with the other races until necessity forced them to work together, and tensions remain. Tribal orcs still live according to their nomadic customs, while Stone-Dweller orcs have adopted more of the static customs of their new allies.
Catfolk: A dextrous and wily people, rarely seen by the other races. The Hyrrinx live amongst themselves in hidden villages, occasionally striking out into the larger world. Nevertheless, a few Half-Catfolk have resulted, awkwardly caught between both cultures.
Your Class, like your race, has an attached list of class skills you have to pick two skills from.
Alchemist: A potion-mixer, who can use their concoctions to heal, fight, and other interesting effects.
Bard: A subtle magical musician, known for being personable, dextrous and clever.
Brawler: A rough and tumble thug.
Knight: A trained warrior and minor noble.
Sage: A learned scholar, perhaps in the arcane, runic magic, theology and so on.
Thief: A pick-pocketing rogue.
Wildlander: A wilderness explorer and survivalist.
Next are the Skills. I'll handle picking skills to ensure a balanced party, which involves choosing between five and eight of the game's 25 skills. Each character must have two skills each from their racial and class lists (duplicates count, so if both your class and race list streetwise as a skill then picking that will satisfy one requirement for both), but every additional skill you pick above five will cost you two stamina off your maximum stamina of 14.
Stamina functions like your health, and can be chipped away by actions (usually skill failures of some kind). If reduced to zero stamina a hero has one of their skills disabled and regains one stamina. In this way you can't be killed outright by stamina loss, but without the right skills making headway in the game is almost impossible. Stamina can be recovered in a variety of ways (healing potions, sleep) and you typically recover one disabled skill a night – which makes charging ahead once you're low on stamina very dangerous.
So send in those character submissions and we'll get this show on the road!
///
[When the six party members are submitted, I'll record their current status in the OP in blocks that look something like this:]
(ACTIVE)
Name: Matthias Wellsy
Race: Baronial Human
Class: Knight
Stamina: 14/14
Skills: Empathy, Willpower, Military, Duelling, Endurance
Items: Healing Potionx1
///
[A sample from partway through the intro questbook to show what the regular content will be like, I expect]
Braxton hefts a heavy steel shield and slashes her longsword threateningly at one of the approaching bandits. Mariam produces two flasks and unstoppers one of them. A thick, acrid smoke pours from its open mouth as she holds it aloft, ready to throw.
Three of the bandits suddenly rush forward, charging the camp. Mariam hurls the smoking flask which smashes against one of their bucklers. A billowing cloud of acidic fog erupts from the impact site. The bandit shrieks and flails, dropping his buckler to the ground as it dissolves.
The two other bandits continue their charge. One swings an axe at Mariam, but Braxton catches the blade with her longsword and slams her shield into the man, sending him tumbling to the ground. The third bandit dodges around Braxton and darts forward straight toward the party, spearpoint trained forward.
>(Pronk Overland) Dodge the attack.
>(Shem Scalder)Catch the spear and disarm the bandit.
>(Matthias Wellsy)(Dueling)Deflect the spear and counter attack.
>(Aerialla Loresong)(Arcana)Blast the bandit with a rune.
[The first option to get three votes from the audience goes forward, which we'll say is Matthias Wellsy's action]
With instincts born of long training, Matthias braces himself, readying to parry the incoming thrust and counterattack. As long as Matthias doesn't slip up, he could drop the bandit in a single attack...
(Check for Agility or Athletics – Matthias has neither)
Matthias swings his sword to deflect the spear, but only manages to divert it from a killing blow to a piercing jab into his shoulder. The spearpoint comes out black in the firelight, covered in his blood, and pain flares all along his arm.
(Matthias loses five stamina)
Ignoring the pain, Matthias lunges forward and catches the bandit off-guard. He attempts to block with his spear, but he knocks it aside and then follows up with a thrust that leaves the bandit bleeding on the grass. He steps back, taking a moment to assess the situation.