Date of play: 2/20/2014

Players: Ryan, Brenna, J.C., Natalie, Tim

Our Kingdom: Alanaria, a magical world populated by talking (also magical) animals.

Threats to the Kingdom:

(1) The appeal of domesticity: Alanaria is linked to Earth, and it is possible for animals to travel there and be “cared for” by humans. They also lose most of their intelligence and all of their magic by doing so, but the simplicity of it is still a draw for many.

(2) The escape of the Dinosaur-Titans: As Alanaria is linked to Earth, many of the things on Earth have a (sometimes severely altered) mirror image on Alanaria. One such thing was the dinousaurs, called Dinosaur-Titans here, frightful monstrosities that were imprisoned many years ago after a great war. There is some risk now that, with the humans digging up the dinosaurs on the other side, the Dinosaur-Titans might also break free from their underground prison.

(3) Predation: While the animals of Alanaria do not need to eat to live (and do not die at all if not acted on by some outside force), there has been an alarming trend lately of animals eating each other to gain power. These “Chimeras” take on aspects of the animals they consume. As the game begins, they are little more than a rumor.


Locations:

(1) The Lightfall: A beautiful, massive, upward-flowing curtain of lights.

(2) Crystal Creek: A watering hole and, well…creek.

(3) Ornella’s Stand: A giant monument marking the final resting place of Ornella, the courageous unicorn that finally drove back the Dinosaur-Titans at the end of the great war.

(4) The Crack: A black crack in the air itself that allows passage between Alanaria and the world of the humans.

(5) Rainbow Forest: A forest filled, appropriately, with rainbows.

(6) The Helix: A glowing helix of light at the center of a huge, circular depression in the ground. Spiritual site.

(7) The Hall of Elders: Where the Eldest members of each race in Alanaria (of which there are many) sit to hear the pleas of citizens and give (almost universally taken) advice.

(8) The Armory of Tooth and Claw: Animals in Alanaria have no natural way of inflicting harm. The Armory contains implements that allow Alanarians to inflict injury and death. It has been all but ignored since the war with the Dragon-Titans ended.

(9) The Shore of the Sugar-Sweet Sea: Citizens of Alanaria come here to fish (quite literally) for ideas, inspiration, and other…less expected…things.

(10) The Crone’s Hut: A strange creature lives here—an Alanarian version of a human—doling out mystical knowledge.


Characters:

(1) Moon Xene, winged hedgehog (Power). She is the wizard-protector of the Rainbow Forest. Her wish for the kingdom is that we will make peace with (later amended to “allies of”) the Dinosaur-Titans. Her issue is that she is gullible. Her bond with Bolan is one of professional respect for each other’s judgement.

(2) Bolan, raven (Perspective). Bolan is the Observer of Life. It is his “job” to watch the Crack. Bolan is too eager to share his 2 cents and has a reputation as a doomsayer. His fear is that something will come back through the Crack. This is later changed to a fear of other worlds. Bolan’s issue is that he has an inability to sugar coat, which leads to nobody wanting to listen to him. His bond with Wysteria is one of confidants and friends, Bolan’s only friend in fact.

(3) Wysteria, spider monkey with chameleon abilities (Perspective). Wysteria spends most of her time watching (could also be read “spying”). She is youngish and inquisitive. She tends to be under the radar of the other animals and lacks responsibility. Her fear for the kingdom is that it will succumb to fear and become more structured in the process of becoming “safer.” This is later changed to a fear that the kingdom will forget the chimera. Wysteria’s issue is that she is curious to a fault. Wysteria’s relation to Koji is one of fear and respect, since he caught her doing things she should not have been.

(4) Koji, fox (Touchstone). Koji is the second eldest fox alive. He acts as a helper to the Fox Elder. Koji is also a veteran of the Dragon-Titan War. His fear for the kingdom is that it will lose what’s left of its fighting spirit. His issue is that he is a hothead. His bond with Glimmer is that he fought with her mother during the war and has become a sort of parental figure since then.

(5) Glimmer, unicorn (Power). Glimmer is the daughter of Ornella, the legendary unicorn that fought back the Dragon-Titans at the end of the war. She is trusted and her word is highly regarded. Her fear for the kingdom is that we will choose power over the lives of our friends. Her issue is that she has a fear of crowds. Her bond with Moon Xene is that Moon Xene witnessed her murdering another animal a long time ago, and has kept quiet.


First Crossroads: Will the Kingdom close the Crack for good. Outcome: Yes.

Second Crossroads: Will the Kingdom execute the Chimeras. Outcome….the Kingdom did not last long enough to make a decision.


Continued in J.C.'s reply, below (Continuation previously in a 2nd post)....

I'm going to cheat and put the continue down here… The following all written by Tim.

Play: During the first Crossroads, the Kingdom was relatively prosperous. The main concern on the Elder Council’s mind was that one of their number had disappeared. The game started with them questioning Bolan as to whether the missing Elder may have gone through the Crack…and, of course, per the Crossroads, whether it might not be safer to close the Crack for good. It is here that we heard the first rumors of Chimera, as someone brought up that the Elder might not have gone through the Crack at all, but may instead have disappeared for…less palatable reasons. During the Crossroads, Glimmer asked Wysteria to carry out the dangerous task of looking for evidence of the Chimera (partly due to Koji making a statement that he thought the Chimera could be monsters coming back through the Crack). While no evidence was found tying the Chimera to the Crack, a visit to the Crone turned up something just as unpleasant. While it required some convincing—which is to say a healthy dose of Unicorn-hypnotism—the Crone admitted that she had actually come back from the world on the other side of the Crack and was purposefully advising citizens of Alanaria to pass through to the other side (to become livestock and pets for her human brethren). She also let slip that there were many other worlds connected to ours as well. We (which is to say Moon Xene and Glimmer) decided unanimously to close the Crack.

Unfortunately, that was a bad idea. Bolan had predicted that a drastic change would come to our world if we closed the Crack, and this change came in the form of the Sugar Sweet Sea beginning to rise…and underneath the waves were not just the usual bits of inspiration and poetry (and occasional odd things that seemed to be originating from the human world). Instead, objects and living creatures from the Other worlds began to show up, and some of them had tentacles and limited manners relating to personal space and the right to not be savagely injured. And so the Armory of Tooth and Claw was reopened after millennia of peace, and the citizens of Alanaria began to arm themselves.

Which leads to the second Crossroads, and the opening scene wherein Wysteria witnessed the Jackalope Elder, Aloisius, savagely murdering one of the bird citizens. She quickly brought this information to the other PC’s (after being transformed briefly into a mushroom for protection by Moon Xene) and Aloisius—now able to fly—was captured and imprisoned beneath Ornella’s Stand. But while the criminal was behind bars, a chain of events had been set in motion…and Alanaria could not now escape its impending doom. With so many of the animals armed, the draw of Chimera-hood was growing stronger and stronger. Aloisius was killed in his cell by the Swan Elder, and in a desperate attempt to set things right, Moon Xene performed a ritual at the Helix. Its intention was to draw the souls of the consumed animals out of the Swan Elder, possibly giving a method to stop the vicious cycle. It worked, but unfortunately not in the manner expected. The souls entered the bodies of other animals nearby, creating even more Chimeras. All the boxes on the Crisis card were now checked.

Violence and predation spread like wildfire. And then a disruption in the Helix caused all the animals (mostly Chimera now) to be sucked through it and spat out into another world. In this new world, the once peaceful citizens of Alanaria—driven mad with their new hunger and altered horribly by the passage between worlds—became rampaging monstrosities. The battle of the Crossroads was lost before a decision could be made, and the kingdom (quite literally) collapsed in on itself.

We had a lot of interesting ideas with this game, really letting our imaginations run wild—it probably helped that we were sitting right next the other group playing Metrofinal. Speaking for myself, I never felt like I fully got into my character…which was unfortunate. We made a unique and bizarre setting, though, so that was a plus.

This was the first Kingdom game I have played that used Reactions. I’m not sure if they were a later addition to the rules or they just never came up in the (pre-release) games I played before. They ended up being used pretty heavily, with important plot points often taking place in player’s reactions. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but it definitely surprised me. This was also the first Kingdom game I have ever played where Crisis destroyed the kingdom before the end of the second Crossroads.

Thanks to J.C. for facilitating and to Brenna, Ryan, Natalie, and J.C. (again) for creating—and subsequently destroying—a new world with me.

I feel like "[w]e made a unique and bizarre setting" and "I never felt like I fully got into my character" go together. It's hard to get fully immersed in play and become someone else when the someone else is the platonic ideal of unicornness.

I really enjoyed this session and the fantastical (if dark) world we created but it seems that the more fantastical the world, the harder it is to lose yourself in the story.

When I wrote this, it never occurred to me that I could cheat on the character limit by replying to myself. Lesson learned. Thank you J.C. for showing me how to conquer the system.

there has been an alarming trend lately of animals eating each other to gain power. These “Chimeras” take on aspects of the animals they consume.

I am all in.

This was the first Kingdom game I have played that used Reactions. I’m not sure if they were a later addition to the rules or they just never came up in the (pre-release) games I played before.

Yep, reactions were a late evolution that solved a lot of problems that had been coming up since early playtests. The key is to be strict and follow the rule that reactions can only be a short statement ("this is me, doing this"). If people start cheating and using their reactions as micro scenes -- or doing things that aren't actually reactions to the previous scene -- it gets out of control.

I feel like "[w]e made a unique and bizarre setting" and "I never felt like I fully got into my character" go together. It's hard to get fully immersed in play and become someone else when the someone else is the platonic ideal of unicornness.

Yep, what J.C. said. Pretty much in all games, the more exotic the setting and the characters, the harder it is to role-play. That's one of the reasons Fiasco is always so easy: you're playing a normal person in the real world. It's very easy to relate and know what your character would do.

One of the things I advise for groups learning Kingdom is to stick to very obvious and concrete settings to start. If you look at the seeds, things like Bandits in the Sheriff's Wood, Cactus Flats, Battleship Orion, Banner of the Black Serpent or any of the real world modern examples like the hospital or the newspaper. Much easier to get the hang of the rules that way.