I’m in! I might take 6/10 off to let folks have a heist without a potion-slinging weirdo at the table. 🤓 🧪 💥 💣 ⚡️

7th Session: Relics of Hiraeth (Moving this to its proper home) ChatGPT is doing better at these summaries, without much editing from me. I plugged in Tristan’s feedback. The bot has been on me about “pressure,” and I think it’s starting to become natural. --- Introduced new player character: - Gohg’gree a fungal druid/steward connected to the forests beneath the Tattooed Mountains (SOOOOO amazing to hear the entire table loredump on their own world without any participation from me. Even though it was probably a little too much, I will allow myself this guilty pleasure just this once.) - Session centered around ascending the rune-marked stair toward the pagoda - Environmental set piece: - Rain striking the stone steps created shifting resonant tones - Body weight altered pitch and vibration of the stairs (implication that the node may eventually require harmonic realignment) - Lindworm disappeared from direct sight, hopefully increasing uncertainty/tension - Caravan continued ascent while Fryona’s labor countdown escalated - Raptors harassed the caravan during traversal - One bystander was severely injured; Docent stabilized/healed them - Session ended with trawlers catching up to the party: “Oi, I told you I smelled it… It smells like an angel cut open an orange.” (The bot loved this line.) --- Systems in Play - Countdown clock for ascent/progress (started at d10, reduced from 10 → 7) - Fear used more for: - slips - lost ground - environmental setbacks - caravan instability (rather than pure combat escalation) - Environmental traversal became the primary challenge rather than monster lethality - Music/soundscape used heavily: - drone ambient - resonance tones - rainfall textures - helped reinforce the “living system” feel of the node Songs: “Somnium” and “Cave Paintings” by Robert Rich “The Magnificent Void” and “Altus” by Steve Roach --- Worldbuilding / Emergent Lore New established truth (JW added): - all lindworms possess exactly two primary appendages

8th Session: Relics of Hiraeth Session clocks for the WIN! Or, as the bot says. “‘pressure’ becoming the actual engine of play rather than combat.” Once I laid out and explained the multiple clocks in front of the players, telling them how we’ll tick them up or down, their behavior changed a lot since last time. - ascent/progress clock (“The Deafening Steps”) - Trawlers (faerie hunters) catching up - Fryona going into labor Almost all of them stopped defaulting to, “What do I attack?” and started thinking in terms of: - progress - positioning - concealment - scouting - (… aka “utility”) - protecting NPCs - manipulating enemy perception - helping each other Examples: - carrying Fryona uphill - creating false campfires to misdirect the Trawlers - using darkness/fog/rain for concealment - distracting enemies instead of an HP slog - using mobility/control powers tactically rather than offensively New theory: Pressure encourages players to be proactive. Daggerheart Note: Fear works MUCH better when used as… - instability - lost progress - worsening conditions - rather than “monsters attack.” Adjustments like these make our sessions feel more alive. The Lindwyrm also worked better as a “dangerous environmental intelligence” rather than a boss monster. (… I mean, until they tried to align the node.) Important GM lesson: Players began engaging with the node/alignment system naturally once they saw: - environmental effects - recurring patterns - emotional consequences rather than lore exposition. A fun complication: The Lindwyrm’s breath blew about the hallucinogenic vapor from the caldera to create visions that revealed each character’s deepest fear. Mechanically this was a simple reskinning of Daggerheart’s juvenile flickerfly, although it really helped with thematic cohesion using player-authored truths (callbacks from games ago), created emotional stakes, and added depth to the characters without a bunch of heavy backstory expo.

No worries! I’ve been burning my candle at both ends in the best way lately, so it’ll be nice to catch up on unpacking after the move. Glad to hear your travels are safe and productive. ☺️

The Chrysalis Revolver is “Gothic grimdark desperate western magic diesel punk Frankenstein” Our Monster of the Week game had a good one. I’ll dig it up when I find it in the move.

Ah. Not much to write home about. “The Other Side: Sci-fi Urban Fantasy”

Great lineup! Looking forward to playing with y’all. 😁

Agreed! It’s a good game to learn, period. Every system needs a flashback mechanic. I had a great time. Thanks to all of you for putting up with my antics. 🙏 I think we as players could lean into some of the other crew and player character XP triggers and try to tone those muscles a little bit. It would also be nice to tie together some downtime actions for multiple players, maybe have some scenes together after the score, if time allows.