Dicey Stories

Dicey Stories

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Dicey Stories episodes

  • DS118 | Wesnoth | Echoes of Invasion: Still Waters Run Deep | Part 2 of 2

    Tric and Heppa get lost in the Estmark Hills and stumble upon a criminal enterprise.

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      • GM Notes

      I had definitely intended the campaign to start with an exploration of the southern battlefield, but a failed Geography check took us way off course. Fortunately, I already had some ideas bouncing around in my head for adventures further down the line. The events in this episode were inspired by the Irish folk song Hills of Connemara. I particularly like the version performed by Gaelic Storm. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rREMPw8U2No

      The character of Hepalonia started our game with Intolerance as her Flaw, and in the first few sessions, her player wrestled with how to portray that, hence some of the ignorant comments about humans that you hear in this episode. Eventually, we shifted her Flaw to Ignorance, since that was more comfortable for the player. One of the things I really enjoy about RPGs is watching characters come to life through play. For Heppa's player, discovering the character as we play is more important than the adventures that happen around that, so it was important to get her to a place where she was comfortable.

      Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

      Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

      Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

      1 hr 12 min
    • DS116 | Wesnoth | Echoes of Invasion: Still Waters Run Deep | Part 1 of 2

      Lord Thrandolil of Estbryn Forest commissions his daughter Hepalonia and nephew Tric Manu, two young elves at loose ends, to seek a magical artifact on his behalf.

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        • GM Notes

        This arc is the Echoes of Invasion season 1 opener. It contains spoilers for the Battle for Wesnoth campaigns Eastern Invasion and the South Guard, as well as references to Liberty and the Legend of Wesmere.

        Prior to starting play, we decided as a group that the PCs would be cousins and settled on the general concept of the game involving searching for magical artifacts on behalf of a patron. I asked the players when making their characters to come up with some NPCs in their village. This first episode was a chance to bounce the PCs off of those NPCs to help the players get comfortable with their new characters. 

        The character of Tric Manu, who is inspired by the writings of outdoor humorist Patrick McManus, is a half-elf. You will frequently hear us refer to him as an elf, since that is his cultural upbringing. The player gave me, the GM, permission to do whatever I wanted with the background of Tric’s parents, some of which I start hinting at right from the beginning. That's going to be a major thread running through our campaign.

        Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

        Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

        Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

        1 hr 9 min
      • DS115 | StarCraft | FRAWD Investigators: Liberation Day | Part 1 of 9

        Removed from the warfront, Frank regains equilibrium with the help of Lilly and Imogen. Lilly has drinks with Durian on Korhal while Imogen meets Kate Lockwell in a dark Augustgrad alley.

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        Note 1: This arc is the FRAWD Investigators season 3 opener.

        Note 2: This arc features Ted, who appeared previously in our unrecorded pilot. If you’re curious about the events discussed, read the narrative write-up of that story here.

        Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

        Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

        1 hr 6 min
      • Wesnoth: Echoes of Invasion

        Thirtysome years ago, the lich Mal-Ravanal and his undead hordes were beaten back from the gates of Weldyn, capital of the human kingdom of Wesnoth. In the intervening decades, Wesnoth has recovered under the benevolent rule of King Konrad II. Of course, all of this is irrelevant to two young elves simply looking to see the world and avoid responsibilities in their small forest. Isn’t it?

        Jump to Arcs | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3

        Setup

        Wesnoth: Echoes of Invasion is a tabletop roleplaying campaign set in the world of the video game The Battle for Wesnoth. It takes place during the Silver Age, three decades after the events in the mainline campaign Eastern Invasion. Our characters are young elves from a small forest on the edge of the Estmark Hills, two cousins both eager to avoid settling into a boring career. Their first adventure together is to seek an artifact on behalf of a researcher in their village, a task which sets in motion events that will change their lives in ways they never imagined. The themes of Echoes of Invasion include belonging, healing, responsibility, judgment, and legacies.

        Echoes of Invasion is played using the Genesys roleplaying system now published by Edge Studio. We also occasionally reference the Mythic Game Master Emulator’s event meaning tables for inspiration. The release of each episode’s audio will be accompanied by a serialized, narrative write-up of the adventure.

        Background

        If you know nothing about The Battle for Wesnoth, that’s fine! Neither did one of our players prior to starting this game. But if you do know Wesnoth, don’t worry; the rest of our group is quite familiar with the world from playing the video game. Although I enjoy turn-based strategy and am partial to hex maps, what I really like about Battle for Wesnoth are its storylines. When my turn to GM came up, I decided it would be the perfect world to explore in a tabletop RPG. Echoes of Invasion draws heavily upon Eastern Invasion, but I pulled details from many other campaigns as well, including some User-Made Content (UMC). I will provide specific spoilers and references for those as we get to them. I also made frequent use of materials at wesnoth.org, including the timeline, maps, unit descriptions, campaign dialogue, and discussion forums. Some details, though, we have made up for ourselves, drawing inspiration from the Realms of Terrinoth fantasy sourcebook for Genesys. 

        Art

        Our lovely character illustration was done by Del Borovic. She was great to work with. You can find her online at delborovic.com. As for our map, I drew that. It is nowhere near as beautiful, but I had fun pulling out the colored pencils.

        The music for our podcast episodes is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

        Arcs
        Season 1

        6 min

      About Dicey Stories

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      stories shaped by dice - a (mostly Genesys) tabletop RPG actual-play podcast with emphasis on storytelling - listen to us play or read the serialized narrative