Last night saw the sixth game of the Reign of Winter via Google+ Hangout occur. It was also the lightest on that we have been for players since perhaps the very first game. The event had 7 people meant to be attending (one of them an interested viewer) and at the very beginning there was myself and only three other players, the two mages played by +Martin M and +Angie M along with the cleric of Erastil played by +Matt Guyder . Things were looking grim indeed as I knew there was a fair bit of conflict in the game that I had prepared for.
We waited for ten minutes and sent some messages out to the regular players that I could think of off the top of my head to no effect so we started the game. The players were about to make their way from the area that had the creepy doll in it from last week and as they moved on they found some freshly scrawled writing in the snow. The writing warned them to turn back lest the Winter destroy them and I was waiting for the mages to sprout into their detect magic mode only to find they largely ignored it. They thought enough of the writing to think it may have been a trap and so pushed their sheep (yes, the mage had a sheep that he cuddled up to at night! No it wasn’t his familiar) across the writing.
The sheep exploded as the Glyph of Warding triggered splattering the cleric with poorly cooked mutton and also being caught in the blast. In fact this started to become a bad night for getting hammered for Jack Churches the Cleric of Erastil! The trap cleared just in time for Alan Chemist, the human Alchemist run by +Reece Carter to show up to cheers from the other players. They travelled on with the snowstorm getting more fierce and forcing their travel to slow. They fought a couple of tree men type creatures before setting camp and being ambushed by an air elemental and the Mephit that had caused so much trouble last week. It was around this time that Urgunn, the female Dwarf Fighter played by +libby furr turned up, again to cheers from the party as the Cleric and the Alchemist had both fallen unconscious in the battle with the Mephit and air elemental.
The group then pushed on, coming across the worst conditions that they had faced yet. Four to six foot snow drifts. Snow and ice whirling around them in a blizzard reducing visibility down to a poor 5′. Then they happened into the camp where the winter portal is located. The battle began in earnest as they were attacked by surprise, before we called it half the party were deafened and they were fighting a number of enemies simultaneously. Enemies that are native to this environment and have the advantage of being able to see clearly and move freely.
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| We use the roll20 system in our hangouts to simulate a virtual table top for our game. |
The game had to be called at this point, halfway through the battle. If I had continued I think the entire party would have been destroyed, or at least most of them. They were short handed and it showed. The conditions were set against them and they needed the breather. Hopefully this will come in the form of a more balanced group next week as the stragglers catch up and join the battle!
Have a look at the video. Due to our use of screen share in the hangout you will begin to get a feel for what a system like roll20.net can offer you and your players in a Google+ environment. I could not screen share for much of it as it would have revealed too much to my players but I did where I could. I hope you enjoy it!