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Author Topic: Up the Black River Without a Paddle (Sellswords & Spellslingers)  (Read 968 times)

Offline The Bibliophile

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 329
    • Scrum in Miniature
Our most recent gathering of the Second Saturday Scrum Club (the group that meets once a month for friendly fights across my dining room table) was devoted to playtesting the scenarios for Sellswords & Spellslingers I plan on running at Historicon in July. After our earlier club game with this system, Steve Braun smartly observed how the game is almost perfectly tailored for running a scenario based on the Robert E. Howard's "Beyond the Black River" in which Conan and his companions spend nearly the entire story attempting to evade the rampaging  Pictish hordes in the wilderlands that the Aquilonian empire is struggling to colonize.

My aim is to run two linked scenarios based on the story in a four-hour time slot at Historicon. On my blog I've shared a good number of pictures on the preparatory work I've been doing.

I've never run a convention game before (indeed, I've only attended three game conventions in my life, the first being Historicon a little under a year ago), and I hadn't read "Beyond the Black River" since I was a teenager, though like many of its readers, it's seared into my memory and ranks as one of my favorite Howard Conan stories.



Below are a few photos from my blog of the playtest game from a couple of weeks ago as well as the many pieces (terrain, cards, etc.) I'm crafting for the Historicon session.

SCRUM IN MINIATURE blog: https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2018/06/up-black-river-without-paddle.html























Again, terrain tutorial and lots of in-game photos at my blog, SCRUM IN MINIATURE: https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2018/06/up-black-river-without-paddle.html
« Last Edit: June 19, 2018, 09:01:04 PM by The Bibliophile »
Scrum in Miniature (my gaming blog): http://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com
Scrum Con (my miniatures+RPG convention in Wash, DC): https://sites.google.com/view/scrum-con/home
Above the Fray Miniatures (my minis company): https://sites.google.com/view/abovethefrayminiatures/home

Offline The Bibliophile

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 329
    • Scrum in Miniature
Re: Up the Black River Without a Paddle
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2018, 06:43:08 PM »
And, okay, for those who really want to read about the playtest game, I encourage you to check out one player's excellent recap over at his blog, Third Point of Singularity. It contains spoilers, though, so if you want to play at Historicon and be surprised, I'd bookmark it for later reading.

https://misternizz.wordpress.com/2018/06/11/beyond-the-black-river/



Offline The Bibliophile

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 329
    • Scrum in Miniature
Re: Up the Black River Without a Paddle (Sellswords & Spellslingers)
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2018, 09:03:05 PM »
Another play aid I've created this afternoon to reference during the scenario introductions and help ground players in the setting.