Whitewall At Tentacles

From: John Hughes <nysalor_at_...>
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 22:17:00 +1000


Apologies if you've already been bombarded with this on the main Gloranthan lists.

A little time ago, there was a question about the Whitewall events at Tentacles.

My convention report is now online at

http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/tentacles.html

and in it you can read, among mysteries diverse, of the seminar Joerg and I gave on the siege, and of the Whitewall sentry module I ran on the battlements by night.

In fact, the most relevant bits are...

"Then came the second Gloranthan seminar, 'Warriors Went To Whitewall', an
overview of the siege of the last Orlanthi city, presented with Gloranthan loremaster Joerg Baumgartner. Whitewall is an epic setting and an epic story, one that has been attracting a lot of attention lately through the WhiteWall discussion group and associated Wiki site. Joerg and I tried to do it all justice. In particular, I enjoyed telling my own version of how the defenders vanquished the Crimson Bat, using a very Greg-ish mix of careful research, studied reflection, and letting new bits surface in the telling.

...

"Come sunset, another quick change of mental gear, and it was time to run my
first session of 'Stormhold of Southland'.

Knowing that I would be in a very special location, in preparing for Tentacles I wanted to write something to both reflect and celebrate this. 'Stormhold' is set at night upon the walls of WhiteWall, the last free Orlanthi city. Now on the very apex of the hill behind Stahleck there is a viewing platform/battlement that looks down on the castle and the glorious expanse of the Rhine Valley. (You can see a daytime view from the platform at
http://www.klaes-w.de/webseiten/mittelrhein/bacharach_burg_stahleck_8413.htm

This, after sunset, became our sentry walk upon Tarkalor's Gate. The atmosphere upon the battlement was just *perfect*, with the lit castle below us, skiting clouds, a furtive crescent moon and the chill, silent dark. It wasn't difficult to imagine the besieging Lunar lines set before us: for the distant Rhine provided baleful red globes and parallel lines set bright against the darkness.

In the module, five strangers come together for the lonely starwatch, and in the course of the long and bitter night confront hopes, fears, and memories as well as other, more physical threats. The size of the battlement allowed the sentries to pad their watch just as on the walls, with the brooding silence cut by their soft murmurs and occasional shouts of terror.

Stormhold was an example of what in Australia we call a multiform, a freeform in miniature with a focus on characterisation, emotional intensity and atmosphere. Each running of the module was very different, through that may have something to do with the fact I couldn't read my notes in the dark. :)

During my first session, one over-enthusiastic sentry took an in-game command over-literally-jumping up onto the parapet, perhaps unaware of the twenty metre drop to the rocks below. Thank you Stuart, I really didn't know my pulse could reach a hundred and fifty beats per minute!....

It was a** magical** con. My thanks again to the Tentacles Crew, and to Joerg for all his help.

Cheers

John


nysalor_at_...                     John Hughes
Questlines: http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/

... a flying arrow, a crashing wave, night old ice, a coiled snake, a bride's bed talk, a broken sword, the play of bears, a king's son.

Powered by hypermail