The Nisse

The first demihuman race for my campaign is the Nisse. They are named after one of the magical creatures my grandmother used to tell me stories about. I think there was a little song she sang at Christmas time but I don't remember that. It was in Norwegian which I no longer even understand much less speak (to my shame I tried to sing some of the songs and I couldn't even finish the ABC's). *hangs head in remorse*

Her stories of the Nisse are more complicated that the other stories of trolls, giants, witches, and stuff. A Nisse might be a little creature (I imagined them as three feet tall or so) but they were as strong as a strong man. While they were secretive and shy, they were intricately tied to a farm. Even though they might live in holes in the ground, they were attached to the local farm/s emotionally and in some ways physically. A Nisse enjoyed a prosperous and orderly farm. If there was something out of place, a Nisse was not happy. Expect to find the cow's tails liberally dipped in manure, hay stacks moved from one field to another or even taken to the neighbors and the horses tired with tangled manes in the morning.

A contented Nisse would see cows giving good milk, the beer (which my great grandfather brewed on a 'dry' reservation) would be tasty and frothy, the horses would be content with gleaming coats and shiny manes and tales from all the extra attention they got at night. Manure would be easier to clean, fields more fertile etc. The point was that Nisse like an orderly farm and would act accordingly.

As a character race I see them as a race of people who are much like the farmers of Norway. Nisse would love well cared for fields and gardens, a neatly kept (underground) house, outbuildings, sheds, and barns. In my campaigns adventuring Nisse would fit into a kind of fighter, cleric, or thief role. Non-adventuring Nisse would live on farms either in their own villages or sharing a farm with the 'big folk'. I see them in a privileged, tenant class on the farms that they work for 'big folk'.

Nisse are small sturdy folk between three and three and a half feet tall with work roughened red hands and weathered faces (the men more than the women). The men grow short beards after they reach one hundred and fifty or so years old. They have light blond to light brown or red hair, and blue or green eyes. Nisse live for hundreds of years especially if they live on an active and prosperous farm. If the farm they are emotionally attached to becomes rundown over time the Nisse will also begin to 'age' eventually becoming a haggard, angry creature, skinny and bedraggled with thick tangled graying hair and beards.

Male Nisse dress in an over tunic, under tunic belted at the waist with draw string trousers or leather britches, heavy farmer's boots. Most men dress in blues, browns, or greens or in undyed wool. Female Nisse wear a long outer tunic, an inner tunic, pinned at the front at both shoulders and belted with a leather or woolen belt. They wear low boots and shoes. The women wear a colorful inner tunic and light outer tunic.

In nature, Nisse are calm cheerful people with a good work ethic and strong desire to see things in their proper place. Adventurous Nisse are looked upon as not quite respectable as they do not stay in their proper place and fit in with the rest of the community. In a Dungeon World campaign they might be a subset of the Halfling race. They would fit nicely there.

Switching Post

Okay,

Here we are and our Pathfinder DM or GM dropped out. I'm volunteering to run a game. I suggested Dungeon World and OSRIC and I said I'd even do Pathfinder except I've never run Pathfinder and find it to be clunky as heck.

I am hoping that the group chooses Dungeon World I am anxious to play that game and I find it to be just about what I am looking for. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Problems with the New Game

The game went swimmingly for all and the players had a grand time. But there were a few problems. Nothing that made the game less enjoyable but they did hamper play and immersion.

First we had no hard copies of our game. I was surprised to find how much of a difference that made. We had enough computers, ebooks, etc for all players and the GM to be working off electronic copies but that is not the same as having a paper and ink version. I think giving away all my books, supplements, boxed games to the neighbor boy might have been a mistake. Especially in light of the price tag some of these game resources command on eBay.

Second, we had no dice. And by no dice I mean no dice. Not just a shortage of d4's or being forced to roll the same d10 twice to get a percentage, there was nothing. So we went with eDice, namely the D&D dice roller. It was both responsive, quick and easier than actual dice and yet it was not the same. Not even close.

None of the players complained but for me it was not the same, no pausing for a funny quip or that moment of prayer for a particular roll, no rattle of dice, no laughter as we chased a die across the floor and into the dog's water dish. I was surprised at how attached I was to my little talismans even after decades of not using them.

And finally, we didn't have any hard copies of the charts. Again, this is something that I thought would be a non-issue but that I actually found to be both time consuming and disconcerting. It was like reaching for a stick shift and finding you're driving an automatic.

Well that's all for now.

New Campaign

Yesterday was no posting as we were actually playing RPGs. Using OSRIC our intrepid adventurers started on their quest in 'Shadowvale, Labyrinth of Despair'. Providing an escort for a sage and Father representing their employers, the Holy Church, the four players made it from Nova Venita to the ill-omened Shadowvale and the mysterious underground maze. The vale is a known haunt of werewolves, various undead, and treasure hunters both authorized and unauthorized.

Puzzled by a small altar possibly containing either a Christian offering of Bread and Wine and a single golden rose, (or perhaps it was a mockery?) The party elected to check the cracks and openings near the entry for a way to bypass the whole problem. The mage's familiar (a nice little toad), was raised to the level of the cracks where he was immediately struck by the strong pervasive smell of carnivorous bats, lots of them. Stephen the toad also noted that the holes were too small for anyone to transverse, so back to the mage's pouch went the toad and back to the altar went our adventurers.

Our Paladin, who might as well have been named 'Pretty Stupid' (INT 6) obediently grasped the rose when asked to by the sage (who assured him it was perfectly safe). BTW our Paladin is a long time roleplayer who knows better than to make INT his 'dump stat'. With no obvious effects from the rose, the party elected to move on again. Our 'expert treasure hunters' and 'scouts' found and disarmed a trap then missed the trap triggered by the first trap's disarming. Our paladin got singed but nobody was majorly hurt.

After exploring a few seemingly innocuous rooms, the party stood on a narrow ledge with a short drop to the room below and opened a door. The room was full of bats, thousands of bats. The paladin (again!) and the lantern bearing, gear carrying hireling, Luke went over the edge to stone carved steps below. The lantern was shattered, nobody was hurt but before the party could regroup the noise attracted orcs, lots of orcs. Through fortuitous series of roles, and some bad luck on the part of the orcs a whole passel of them got fried in a nasty webby, oily, barbeque with 'Burning Hands' ignition. Burning, squealing, flammable orcs provided the only light for our humans until the dwarven thief got the back up lantern going.

That's where we ended for the day, fleeing orcs, a scorched and bruised party. We'll see where they go from here next week.

Creating Characters

I had two people create characters for my campaign. We have a paladin a member of the Holy Order of the Knights of St Michael and St Christopher and a elven fighter/magic user. They will start out at third level. Our elven fighter/magic user is a first time player and I have always found that starting at level 1 is fine for some new folks but not others.

Tomorrow we'll see how they do.