Nausicaä FKR Catch-Up (Session 4)

Playing catch-up on the session reports for my Valley of the Wind game over on the FKR Collective Discord. We took a bit of hiatus off for the holidays as well as some work scheduling difficulties, so we played one session months ago, and one session just last week which I will make a post for soon. So this is a report for a session we played back in November.

This will be the short format I’ve been trying out on my Barrowmaze reports. Feel free to leave feedback, especially if you are a player in this game and I’ve forgotten details.

Cast

Player Characters

  • Ezel the wanderer, played by Truzzy_02
  • Gaspar “Sarge” Brunel, pilot and sharpshooter played by ceacelessCarbine
  • Nessa, a spy-on-the-run, played by Ven (gendernihilist).

NPCs

  • Olmay, young child found aboard a downed ship
  • Belsinde, Olmay’s mother and military scientist for Torumekia
  • Imnion, Torumekian mechanic

Summary

  • Returning to the group in a circular viewing chamber, looking down into a three-story room filled with the grey substance, the horrific man-shaped creature with the shiny dome helmet, and multiple prisoners latticed up in the goo.
  • The group coordinates a dual plan, many utilizing an ancient elevator shaft to get down into the first floor, while Gaspar shoots the creature with his seed cloud gun, freezing it temporarily.
  • Nessa and Ezel make their way to free two captured prisoners, but the helmet on the monstrous figures falls into the pool, animating into a worm-like shape, that slams and strikes both of them, injuring them both.
  • Nessa’s captures “helmet” falls into the goo, producing yet another threat. (I think I forgot to mention in the last report that they fought a dog-like creature with one of these, Nessa found her nullification effects temporarily held it off and was able to retrieve the helmet after Gaspar shot the creature).
  • Ezel utilizes a pressurized container taken from the circular, slamming into the creature but knocking him back.
  • The party continues to scramble, multiple gambits are run as the group frees Olmay’s mother and another prisoner.
  • Ezel is knocked unconscious and dragged by one of the creatures, heading towards a northern section of the complex as the party is separated.
  • Circling through the halls, the group reconvenes on the other side of Ezel as he is coming to, slowing and distracting his captor.
  • Ezel utilized a quick flint and spark wheel to immolate the arm of his capture. The flames turning the twisting gelatinous structure into cracked and brittle char.
  • Regrouping, the party plans their escape.

Thoughts

Lots of fun, lots of planning, and a lot of hectic rolls as many of the characters came very close to the risk of death – something I always leave on the table when anyone is wounded but making risky actions.

Lots of fun, inventive play. Lots of awesome in-character planning, coordinated attacks, fun use of powers and equipment, and overall a great environment.

Some of the details may be a bit sparse because this is off of notes I made months ago, so anything I forgot or got wrong I apologize for.

Nausicaä FKR Setup & Session 1

Since FKR style play is getting more attention I thought it would be a good time to pitch an open table game using my Primeval 2D6 system over on one of the Discord servers devoted to the style.

I met up with other members and pitched a few games – running a West Marches style game, an investigative horror game, an Ars Magica-alike, as well as a game set in Hayao Miyazaki’s setting where the Nausicaä manga takes place.

Almost everyone immediately expressed interest in Nausicaä being their top pick, so we started discussing the game, potential places to play, character ideas, and we landed on playing somewhere out “off the map” so to speak in our own corner of the world, making it easier for players to drop in and out without knowing the plot, as well as letting us handwave a lot of details.

I should preface this and probably every session that I am notoriously anti-canon. I want to draw on the imagery, themes, and broad-level assumptions of any source I’m using – Nausicaä included. So if something contradicts established lore – that’s the canon of our game. This is by no means to disrespect the source material, the creators, or the fans, but rather to allow our table to celebrate the world in the way that’s the most fun for us.

chargen and session follows