Last weekend was UK Games Expo, and as always we had a great time playing RPGs, hanging out with our friends, and shopping for new games.
This year, work on an upcoming project for Kobold Press had meant I didn’t have time yet to write the follow up to Trouble at Kobold Crown, my D&D Adventurers League adventure set in Murghôm, so I got to enjoy being a player in four RPG sessions over the weekend.
First up was the new tier 1 Murghôm adventure, The Ghosts of Ganathwood, written by Ian Hawthorne. I brought back my druid PC Vander Snowstrider whose previous adventures were Ice Road Trackers back at D&D Celebration in 2020. This excellent adventure involved a hunt for willow vines in the Ganathwood, and featured a mysterious portal, the eponymous ghosts, and an encounter with the fey. Our DM did a great job conveying the Murghôm setting, and explaining how D&D works to our friend Alison who was playing her first ever game.
On Saturday afternoon, we played in Flotilla of Fate, the new Murghôm Epic written by Colin Tweddle. I brought back Oglander Trell, the wizard I’ve been playing in AL games since we went to Gen Con in 2014. The adventure featured multi-table shenanigans as we attempted to evacuate the occupants of a Murghômi town under attack by a black dragon by river. This involved grabbing a decent boat, picking up useful gear, and taking on as many evacuees as possible without overloading our vessels – we took two, obv!
We had to negotiate a series of perilous rapids, battle flying monsters in a canyon, and get everyone to safety when we inadvertently sailed into the nesting grounds of territorial dragon turtles! We had to abandon our trusty skiff Bluenose and escape on our raft. Our DM Shane had built brilliant terrain, and the adventure used a series of innovative mechanics. Tremendous fun!
That evening we took part in the Pirate Borg multi-table tournament, playing the adventure Into the Maelstrom – Castle Ravenloft on board a pirate ship.
As we explored the ship, making deals with a coven of sea hags and a Dr Frankenstein-type mad scientist to obtain the items we needed to slay the pelagic vampire Albrecht, an ominous bell sounded every half hour to let us know another innocent person had been slain by the vampires. Our Harbourmaster Leonie would draw a playing card and tear it in half each time this happened. These cards represented specific individuals, some of whom we had a personal connection with and were supposed to be rescuing. Oops!
In the game’s final half hour, our merry crew of somewhat tipsy pirates confronted Albrecht and his hideous bride and managed to slay them both with a few seconds to spare as the clock struck midnight. Three PCs perished in the fight, but we finished a very respectable second in the tournament, only beaten by a lucky roll on a treasure table that earned the winning team an extra 1 million points!
If you haven’t played Pirate Borg, I highly recommend it. We recently finished a year and a half long campaign and had a great time.
Our last game was Scent of a Killer, the first scenario in City of My Nightmares, the new Vaesen adventure book, run by Martin Wheeler who we’d played with at last year’s Expo. Set in Stockholm, we investigated a series of grisly deaths, seemingly caused by a large dog. This was a really fun game to end on and reminded me why I like Vaesen so much.
All in all, it was a brilliant few days, and we can’t wait for next year. The hotel is already booked!
If you’d like to keep up to date with my game design work and other posts, please do join my mailing list – there’s a sign up form below and subscribers receive a free Parsantium supplement.
Discover more from Richard Green | Game Designer
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Richard Green | Game Designer 