Session log with a mechanics focus
Curtain raised one morning with the players in a shrine where they had individually washed up. The old woman shrine-keeper shuffles over and they get the lay of the local land from her. They ask her for the local problems and she mentions hearing rumours of two groups troubling the locals
They hike down into town, first test of the 'travel' mechanics of overloaded encounter dice roll per hex-traverse - hexes being 2.5mile
Arriving at local village they introduce themselves as come to help and are brought through to the inn, fed and talked through what information the locals have.
With the few hours of daylight remaining there is some information gathering, practicing of magic and two of the party help the local thatcher finish his work
The day ends with mixing with the locals as they come in from the fields and some more information on what the locals understand around them. All told this gives them the sense that south-west there is some nearby bunch of tree-whispering snatchers and somewhere further off north-west there are a shaven-headed bunch of arsonists and murderers.
One of the party talks with some just-arrived traders and wants a fancy cloak they have but lacks the coin, getting a personal objective to find some fancy furs to trade.
Next day they eat, and talk to one of the hirelings also at the inn, who has tangled with the tree-whispering snatchers they are going to investigate.
They set out, guided by the hireling fighter, skirting the fungal forest hex, passing a dark pool and spotting a giant otter (rolled 'percept' on the encounter die). They tangle with the otter who proves unexpectedly fierce and gives the barbarian a serious bite before they collectively down it but botch skinning it. Otter won initiative and proved equal to a party of level ones for two rounds.
System-wise this was fascinating - I had said the barbarian, being a local of this relatively wild area probably had knowledge on skinning a beast and was going to just let him do it - but they rolled for whatever reason and got a nat one - so I took the dice's judgement and no giant otter skin for them.
They set off past the locals turf cutting operation (rolled locality), traversed a hex of dark pools (fatigue - con saves or take a 2024 style level of exhaustion), then arrived at a hex with a vile shrine in it.
They investigate this sacrificial alter then burn/tear down the tabernacle over it. This attracts a group of the cultists, I rolled low on the number so it was just a short, mean fight where they took two prisoners. Cultists won initiative and it turned into a glass-hammers fight - on both sides whoever landed a blow did significant damage - the PCs just had the numbers.
They decide the fire probably attracted attention and decide to head home. Lugging the prisoners over the dark pools slowed them down and daylight was fading by the time they got back to the turf cutters and travelled home with them for safety in numbers.
Thus ended the session - back at the inn / their new hub.
What worked really well - this was done with only one character sheet among folk, just our recollection of what a barbarian, sorcerer or warlock ought to be able to do.
It worked really well - where dice were rolled it was typically so high or low that the hit/miss was obvious.
The hex-traverse mechanics worked well enough - it was a short enough trek over-and-back to find the tabernacle but it will be interesting once/if they try and root out the rest of the cult because staging out of the village and travel time will leave them with very little daylight on any given day to deal with them.
Another thing that worked as the image above - a hex-template in a protector pocket, put the locations they had actually seen on it in blue, but locations they had just heard of in orange and then let them decide what they would do. Orange things got turned to blue as the night went on.
All in all, a satisfactory first test.
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