#407

Jul 19, 2026

Work

I’ve taken next week off work, I plan to spend the whole time sleeping in and doing nothing of importance.

Books

No books this week.

Roleplaying Games

Hot Springs Island

This week’s session was taken up by the four-day New Moon Party at the island’s central volcano. This was a single extended social encounter, with some set-piece events, and we all had a good time. I came up with a little system for running competitions (see below), and the players got to interact with some NPCs and finally meet Svarku, the head of one of the major factions on the island.

Svarku’s a real charmer—genuinely interested in people, friendly, bestows gifts, hands out quests—and so it was a real downer for the players when Svarku declared that business was over, it was time to relax, and with a clap of his hands summoned forth 17 enslaved nereid strippers. Just as intended.

I came up with 8 competitions that would happen over the 4-day event (along with social encounters, exploration of the volcano, meeting Svarku, and so on). Each had an associated skill check, and if the players succeeded the check then they did fairly well in the contest; if they failed the check, nothing bad happened, they just did poorly. I’d hand out a random minor arcana tarot card for the player to use as inspiration to narrate how they did.

But if they passed the check they could choose to gamble: save vs doom to get a major arcana card, and either do incredibly well or make a complete fool of themselves. Win or lose, people would take note and talk. Furthermore, on a missed save vs doom, the character would lose half their HP (representing injuring themselves badly in the contest), and if they failed two contests they’d be left at 1 HP and too injured to enter any others.

It worked pretty well. The players generally did gamble on the save vs doom, and only one character got knocked out. The contests were:

  • Grand Melee: melee attack roll vs AC 12
  • Skeet Shooting: ranged attack roll vs AC 12
  • Javelin Toss: STR check
  • Lava Rock Skipping: DEX check
  • Obstacle Course: DEX or STR (whichever is worse) check
  • Race: CON check
  • Drinking: CON check
  • Boasting: CHA check

In addition to these contests there were also general carnival games, which resulted in one character winning a plush steam elemental core.

Miscellaneous

The garden has been suffering in the heat and drought these past few weeks, it’s gone a bit brown and crunchy. I’ve watered it a little, but not much as there’s a hosepipe ban. In principle it should spring back when the rain finally comes, but it’s a bit discouraging to see it fade away after it finally began to bloom.