I recently wrapped up a ten session Abyssal campaign that started the week after the full Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave Draft Manuscript came out.  We had a blast, and if you are on the fence about preordering Abyssals, I highly recommend you pull the trigger.  

Our game took place in a school for Abyssals about 30 years after the fall of the Scarlet Empress.  

Format

The plan: Seven to ten two-hour sessions, every week, with optional attendance.  The goal was to have a low-stakes, low-stress game that would fit easily into most schedules.

Two-hour sessions were the biggest challenge and were amplified by optional player attendance.  I ended up running it with a very episodic structure. Once it became clear that my players were invested, we concluded with a three-part finalé.

One tool I relied on heavily was narration.  In one session, the physical education instructor had everyone run a gauntlet.  Players rolled initiative and spent their turns sprinting while fending off battlegroups, environmental hazards, and the teacher’s powerbow.  We got through the first round and then realized there were only about 10 minutes of session left.  Rather than run long or cut our scene off, we determined the outcome of the race based on everyone’s first round rolls. Then, starting with the winner, each player narrated their outcome.  The best part was that the player who came in fourth had a really funny description of epic failure, which meant that the player in last had to do even worse.

Whispers

The Whispers merit was very popular among the players.  For those not familiar, Whispers represents a character’s connection with the Neverborn – eternally dying titans existing in a state of omniscience, impotence, and agony.  Whispers offer a variety of powerful benefits including amping up the power of certain charms.  The only drawback is that the Neverborn don’t care if your character is trying to focus on something other than their eternal suffering, represented by the ST being able to penalize the character once per session.

As a Storyteller, I found this challenging.  Most merits with drawbacks are very specific about when they are relevant.  Giant penalizes disguise rolls; hideous characters subtract their appearance from seduction attempts; supernatural merits are often conspicuous.  Because a Storyteller can claim Whispers at a high-stakes moment, a low-stakes moment, or not at all, this is complicated to manage and leaves a lot of room for resentment.  Thankfully, that was never an issue with our group, but I could see it coming up in a higher-stakes environment.

One thing that Whispers is exceptional at is explaining variance.  Whether it’s the Day Caste triple botching an athletics check or the Moonshadow winning a footrace, Whispers can be a fun and flavorful way to explain the unlikely.  This led to some excellent and hilarious roleplay moments.

In my future games, I’ll probably adjust the drawback to be a bit more rigid and tied to the narrative.  Or maybe the penalty should just come after an especially good roll.

Tone

Saving the world is serious business.  You know what’s not serious?  Being an evil underling of an evil underling.  I don’t know if it was something I encouraged, the players, or a quirk of the setting.  What I do know is that the Abyssals my players created were romantically perilous, drank coffee, and became friends before circle mates.

In one scene, what could have been a brutal hazing turned into an uplifting moment after the Dusk caste’s victim passed her trial and the villainous monologue turned out to be about standing up for yourself when authority would rather bring you down.  In another, players discussed how to make the Day Caste’s blood as appealing as possible to the Bat Lunar with whom they were traveling.  At the end of it all, our Daybreak spent all of her crafting experience on a grand origami statue of the whole circle playing their weekly game of Necromancer: The Descent.

My Big Takeaway

I’ll leave you all with my own personal takeaway: As a Storyteller, your games don’t need to be grand and innovative.  You don’t even need to be all that great at telling stories.  Build a space, invite good people into it, and step back.  It will be fun.

Special thanks to my incredible players.  It was a privilege and an honor.

Eusis: Scarlet Steel that Holds the Final Rose

Burnmad: The Author of Beautiful Tragedies

Hejtan: Forgotten Silence That Blooms Enlightenment In Graves Of Martyrdom

Kess: The Last Known Survivor

Glader: Scorned Rook of Broken Faiths and Ashen Fields