Rowan Tree and Red Thread

I got my gaming group together on Thursday night to give the Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple character generation a whirl. It went really well!

Daniel Solis (gobi) has been running a playtest of the character generation rules for Do, and my group graciously indulged me and agreed to give it a whirl on Thursday night. The group consisted of

mylescorcoran - Nomad/Hero - F
alaimacerc - Dreamer/Orphan - M
marzut - Dreamer/Runaway - F
Peter M - Warrior/Graduate - M
sammywol- Warrior/Castaway - F
irishkate - Noble/Fugitive - F

Each is listed with the character's Origin and Departure (roughly their childhood background and reason for ending up at the Temple) and their sex.

We spoke briefly about the mood and decided to go with a Wind style, meaning a small scope and a lighthearted tone.

We got stuck into the naming and descriptions of the origins and departures. Given that we had pre-set origins/departures I think we rather skipped over the details and I'd emphasize getting some more specifics from the players if we were doing it again.

Choosing worldly names gave us a bit of a pause, as it often does in roleplaying games, as the blank page effect can scare some people. We had more success with the Temple names and moved on to Step 3, creating the Troubles and Rescues, the real meat of the session. As you can see we didn't develop the 'gets into trouble' and 'solves problems' elements too well, and that was mostly my fault for not emphasising it enough.

In general we had a bloody good time with the character generation. sammywol told me afterwards that "we had more roleplaying in the character generation than we do in some full game sessions." I was impressed that we managed to keep on topic and work through in about 2 hours or so, as we are normally a very digressive group.

Step 3 in the character generation is essentially a series of creating and resolving dilemmas - 'Troubles' in the game parlance - in a round robin style. Each player starts with their character sheet and passes it alternately to the person on their left and on their right to have the other players characters appear in and help solve (or complicate) some event from the player characters time at the temple. The rules cover this quite nicely, with a very helpful swimlane chart to show the movement of character sheets and the actions taken at each stage.

On that point, we probably deviated most from the rules as written with the separation of roles of Host, Storyteller and Troublemakers. Each character's trouble and resolution was more of a free-for-all, with everyone chipping in with both troubles and possible solutions. I tried to direct each player initially to think of their Temple name and of how that would be reflected in the way the troubles were created and resolved, but as the characters went round the table it was perhaps too easy to lose track of that.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of the game, and my players were certainly positive about the character generation. We had a great time and there was a lot of laughter and riffing off the scenes that came from the characters' stories and the characters and colour implied. Master Li Peng is a long-suffering fellow, as you'll see below.

We ended up with the following pilgrims.

Ilsa the Falling Water of the Fire Monkeys (sammywol)

My Pilgrim usually gets into trouble by 'being Greta Garbo'. My
Pilgrim usually solves problems by...

Ilsa was the Warrior/Castaway - F and appeared at the Temple through the waterfall one day, having fallen into a river at home, a home now lost forever.

Falling Water got in trouble at the Temple when she overheard an illicit liaison between Master Li Peng and a student while working in the Laundry. She was stuck in a basket while the two made whoopee and couldn't get away.

Jonquil the Timely Pause came to the rescue by yelling fire and causing Li Peng and the student to flee the building in a state of undress, but got into trouble when the half-dressed pair ran straight into a group of novices being shown around the Temple grounds.

Finally Bethann the Happy Kitten came to the rescue by lighting Master Li Peng's robe on fire with a cunning cantrip and calling out "there's the fire!", allowing both Falling Water and Timely Pause to slip away.

Ilsa the Falling Water has a Bond of Suspicion to Happy Kitten and a Bond of Trust to Timely Pause.


Gryco the Bending Tree of the Fire Monkeys (Peter M

My Pilgrim usually gets into trouble by finally losing his temper. My Pilgrim usually solves problems by...

Gryco was the Warrior/Graduate - M

Bending Tree got in trouble at the Temple when a bullying classmate gave him an annoying nickname ('Loose Trousers') which Bending Tree bore with increasing hidden anger until, unfortunately, it caught on and Master Li Peng used it one day. Bending Tree socked him on the nose.

Hajimi the Bent Arrow came to the rescue by slapping an imaginary bee off Master Li Peng, covering Bending Tree's angry outburst, but got into trouble when Li Peng took swift revenge and hypnotised her into think she was a bee as punishment.

Finally Relaf the Lingering Wave came to the rescue by 'realigning' Bent Arrow's 'insect' chakras with some rather intimate massage and returning her to herself.

Bending Tree has a Bond of the Protector to Lingering Wave and a Bond of Rivalry to Bent Arrow.


Relaf the Lingering Wave of the Fire Monkeys (alaimacerc)

My Pilgrim usually gets into trouble by allowing his mind to wander. My pilgrim usually solves problems by contemplation and chakra massage.

Relaf was the Dreamer/Orphan - M and came to the Temple after his family were lost in a massive storm.

Lingering Wave got in trouble at the Temple when he forgot to feed the sky-whales, and they grazed on the Masters' prized orchid garden.

Bending Tree came to the rescue and chased the sky-whales out of the orchid garden but got into trouble when a passing Master told him off for treading on the the orchids.

Finally Timely Pause came to the rescue by loudly announcing the new gossip about Li Peng and the student's liaison at the laundry, which so interested the chiding master that she left off berating Bending Tree.

Relaf the Lingering Wave has a Bond of Approval to Bending Tree and a Bond of the Mentor to Timely Pause.


Bethann the Happy Kitten of the Fire Monkeys (marzut)

My Pilgrim usually gets into trouble by letting her curiosity run away. My pilgrim usually solves problems by speaking her mind.

Bethann was the Dreamer/Runaway - F

Bethann the Happy Kitten got in trouble at the Temple when she followed a pretty butterfly into the Great Room of the Delicate Vases on Tiny Pedestals and brushed against one of the tallest and most fragile and knocked it off its pedestal.

Falling Water was sweeping the floor and came to the rescue by grabbing the falling vase with a superb leap but go into trouble when her broom fell against another pedestal and set off a domino effect of toppling vases.

Finally, Bent Arrow came to the rescue with a wuxia style move, catching the falling vases in her suddenly sweeping sleeves and depositing them all back on their pedestals just before a Master came
by to check on the progress of the floor cleaning. The Master was surprised to find the vases all on the wrong pedestals but said nothing.

Happy Kitten has a Bond of the Crush on Falling Water and a Bond of Admiration to Bent Arrow.


Jonquil the Timely Pause of the Fire Monkeys (irishkate)

My Pilgrim usually gets into trouble by letting blurting out whatever is on her mind. My pilgrim usually solves problems by stopping to think.

Jonquil was the Noble/Fugitive - F

Jonquil the Timely Pause got in trouble at the Temple when she wished for silence at the Koi Pond and the mischievous fish closed her mouth.

Lingering Wave came to the rescue by manipulating Timely Pause's chakras with a massage. He freed her voice and knocked her out in the process, but got into trouble when he was discovered loosening her clothes.

Finally, Falling Water came to the rescue by pretending that Lingering Wave and Timely Pause were rehearsing a scene from a play very much like Othello.

Timely Pause has a Bond of the Protector to Lingering Wave and a Bond of the Promise to Falling Water.


Hajimi Falkiri the Bent Arrow of the Fire Monkeys (mylescorcoran)

My Pilgrim usually gets into trouble by bulling straight ahead but in he wrong direction. My pilgrim usually solves problems by heroic kung fu.

Hajimi was the Nomad/Hero - F

Hajimi the Bent Arrow got in trouble at the Temple when her bottom was pinched in a line in the refectory. She took offence and poured soup on the wrong culprit.

Happy Kitten came to the rescue by shouting "Food Fight!" and throwing porridge but got into trouble when she picked up a pie and threw it at Master Li Peng's face.

Finally, Bending Tree came to the rescue by leaping to intercept the thrown pie. As he leapt his trousers caught on a piece of furniture and were pulled down round his ankles and he fell to the floor. Master Li Peng found this so funny he decided not to punish Happy Kitten.

Bent Arrow has a Bond of Rivalry to Bending Tree and a Bond of the Protector to Happy Kitten.

As I said, an excellent evening's entertainment and we were only making characters. If the actual play of the game in earnest is anything like last Thursday night I'd say Daniel has a winner on his hands.