Against the Grey description from the itch.io page:
A system agnostic adventure about anthropomorphic animals taking up arms to defend their forest against the greed of the Grey.
We're using an extremely rules light WIP system by Huffa called Being and Time which you can learn more about by following Huffa.
Images all taken from our discord server...
Setting
We are a heterarchical cell of rebels fighting against a Dutch East India Company-like organization called the Greenwood-Grey Company colonizing an Early Modern-ish Forest society.
The entire world of Against the Grey is itself just one hex of a larger "hex crawl" including material generated with Between the Skies and various elements created by us as a group. For instance, in our campaign, The Mycelium Matrix is integrated into the setting. It is part of a larger connected universe of campaigns and one-shots.
Characters
As is typical, we had some turnover in the first couple sessions, but I believe/hope we've settled into a regular group. For the first session, the following characters were present:
Jabronski (Me)
A rock.
Vacillates between slightly agitated and at peace with the universe.
Gastrolithic neurotoxic "frog" companion.
Can sporecast from within the companion.
Grench (Russ)
(they/them). A two-tailed fox. Somewhere around thirty years old – seventy short of the hundred two tails is _supposed_ to take. Never left the forest. Thinks technology is dark magic.
Can transform into people (with fox-like faces)
Flying squirrel companion, Walnut (scout)
Poorly-kept sword
Acorns of healing
Maude the Badger (Onya)
(She/her) Gun lovin, bomb throwin, grumpy old lady.
Onya: "Loosely based on my grandma, and an old weird anarchist I met as a kid. Both were kinda scary and problematic."
In typical Session 1 fashion we were still figuring things out, and we very much derailed things by the end of the session, but it was fun. Later sessions we hit our stride, but hopefully this is still entertaining. The Eye Panopticon was one of my inclusions to the setting ;).
Play Report
The PCs' cell is just outside of the Grey compound on a mission to steal a sample of the Spirit distillate. The Spirit distillate is in a locked shed at the opposite end of the camp, and can not be touched during transport lest one become Eye-Monster'd.
There are two guards moving in rotation around the perimeter of the camp. Tax, a badger known to Maud, is overseeing some workers at the center of the camp. Recon by Kitsch's squirrel Walnut determines Tax has keys, probably to the shed.
The group split up, with Maud and Grench staying where they are and Kitsch and Jabronski heading around the perimeter to the opposite end near the shed.
...
During this time a light from the Eye Panopticon shines on a small building near the shed and a window in the building appears to glow red in response.
...
Grench decides to capture(??) one of the guards by...eating his head. The resulting screams alert the rest of the camp. Maud at this point throws some self-igniting fire oil to hold them off, which, unfortunately, also sets Grench's pants on fire. Grench ripped off the guard's head and doused the fire in blood. Tax and two workers run to the scene. Maud, still hidden, sees her old friend Tax was distracted by this madness, and shoots him in the head.
...
Jabronski scouts the shed. They notice Spirit distillate is leaking out, convenient perhaps, but also dangerous. The shed's door, where the leak is occurring also faces the glowing red window. After his return, Kitsch throws Jabronski through the glowing red window. The light disappears and is replaced by two owl eyes. A matte black owl emerges, holding Jabronski, ready to fly away with him. The owl is not paying attention to Kitsch. Kitsch bashes the owl, which grabs them, throws Jabronski away, back towards Maud and Grench's side of the camp, and starts flying away.
...
Maud takes Tax's musket, murders a worker and scares the other off. More Greys are running over. Maud and Jabronski head around the perimeter of the camp, taking advantage of the confusion to get to Kitsch. Grench decides to stay behind and try to change into one of the guard's uniforms to blend in.
...
Kitsch transforms from human form into fox form and slips out of the owl's grip and scurries under the shed. The owl begins tearing the shed apart in an attempt to get to them.
...
En route to the shed, Jabronski goes into his frog companion's mouth and enters the mycelium matrix to discover that the owl, the Eye Monster panopticon, and a third mysterious point far to the northeast are connected via glowing threds of mycelium info transfer.
...
The owl is making slow progress getting to Kitsch and becoming increasingly covered in Spirit distillate. Jabronski and Maud arrive. Jabronski can see the Spirit distillate infecting the owl in the matrix. This is clearly _bad news_. Maud throws fire oil on the owl. The owl becomes more enraged and tears the vats of Spirit distillate open. Kitsch barely escapes. The owl is drenched and goes full Akira/Eye-monster abomination.
...
The compound is in an uproar.
...
Grench is putting on pants.
Sounds like fun! I am kind of attracted to systems that let you play as an animal! I haven't had a chance to really dig into it yet, but there's a game that I saw mentioned on Zedeck Siew's page called In the Light of a Faded World that ... kind of speaks to me. Not sure how else to put it.
ReplyDeleteOh also, I *love* the idea of playing a rock! Even better that it is named Jabronski.
I had the idea for Jabronski like a year before we started this campaign and I had even told Huffa about it, so I appreciated that she let me do it.
DeleteIt's been really fun playing a character who has basically no physical capacity to speak of, so basically everything I do has to be about working with others, or interfacing with reality itself via the Mycelium Matrix.