Demihumans Session One: Introducing Bilgeton

Demihumans Session One: Introducing Bilgeton

We have completed our first session of +Robert Bohl's Demihumans, and it went beautifully!

We've got an enclave (named Bilgeton by the humans) set up next to a city (named Florageist). It is located on a sprawling peninsula that consists largely of swampland in a subtropical climate . . . similar to Florida). One of the main economies of Florageist involves harvesting rare orchids which contain remnants of magical power.

The company consists of:

• a gnome involved in manufacturing drugs (for both medicinal and recreational use . . . she is not particular, though she does take pains to ensure that those purchasing the drugs aren't harmed by them); 
• a disillusioned traitor who used to do military service for Lord Coval, but who now hangs around in a tavern taking odd (and sometimes shady) jobs and struggling with his guilt; 
• a troll who keeps a secret garden in the nearby swamp and who hides a rock with a strangely glowing algae under her tongue; 
• an elf who is upset by the way the humans are disturbing the ecosystem of the swamp and who is both curious about and unsettled by the gnome's magic. 

In terms of enclave preliminaries, I went once around the table with each of us setting up one detail about the enclave and its environs:

I established the geography/climate; one player thought of names; another established the proximity of the enclave to the city; a third came up with one aspect of the city's economy (the magic orchid idea); another one set up a general government for the city. Finally, player decided on who the original founder was (it turned out to be orcs, though the elves then took things over before the humans came).

The "once around the table" idea isn't quite by the book, but I think it served a nice purpose: It went fairly quickly, and it gave some players some footholds for thinking about their characters.

We then went into the character playbooks and then did the work of setting up gnosis and legacy.

For our next session, we will go through the enclave surplus and needs choices, say a few more things about the adjoining human city, and then we will be off to the races with some role-playing!

Rob has shared some of his most recent innovations to the enclave materials, so I'm going to be incorporating that material. I'm also going to be focusing on specific character moves to see how those work out in actual play situations.

The group is excited about the next session on Sunday, with many casual conversations about the game occurring during the week.