This is the first of our upcoming series of two-shots! We’re looking forward to playing and reviewing a variety of systems, and we’re starting with one I’ve already done a cursory review of, Beyond the Wall! For those interested, the cover image is my contribution to #Inktober featuring the two characters present in both of our Beyond the Wall games, Gwydion and Dierdre.

We decided to do character creation for this game since it’s such an integral part. The players choose a “playbook”, roll on tables to determine their childhood and first opportunity to exercise their power, and end by rolling some recent events in their village that tie directly into the semi-randomized adventure. In this case, our three characters were the Self-Taught Mage, the Untested Thief, and the Would-Be Knight. As they developed their characters, I was supplied with a series of tables which helped me create an adventure with an initial hook (the Fae have killed someone in the town!), a motivation (they weren’t shown hospitality by someone from the town), a side-quest (someone steals something), a main quest (travel to a place for the Faerie King and perform some eccentric task), an intermediate obstacle (a magical maze), and the final conflict (three hags guarding the site). There were several other options to roll for, but I felt too rushed for time to really integrate them well into the story, so I ended up leaving them out. More on that later.

The adventure began with the trio, Gwydion (Would-Be Knight), Dierdre (Self-Taught Mage), and Arden (Untested Thief) in a tavern, deciding to take revenge on the Fae for killing one of the town’s occupants last night. The next day, they approached Gwydion’s father, who was the town’s blacksmith, and obtained some iron weapons. As they were preparing to set off into the forest, however, they were distracted by Dierdre’s parents, who explained that their expensive dining set had been stolen. The trio tracked the theft back to the village locksmith Owen, Arden’s former thief-master, and convinced him to give back the plates. Having fulfilled this obligation, they continued into the forest where they were led to the Faerie King Winsler’s Court. He explained that he had been wronged by Owen, and the other Fae of the forest had abandoned him. To regain his honor, he demanded that the trio of adventurers undertake a quest for him – to carve three runes in the shore of the Unending Sea. He also warned them that any deal made with a Fae creature was binding, and any gift given demanded a favor be returned.

The party agreed after some debate, but soon arrived at a strange and magical clearing. No matter which way they attempted to exit, they always returned to the same spot. Eventually, they found out that by staying still in the center of the clearing, they would find the exit, and they continued on their journey.

The three eventually arrived at the shores of the Unending Sea, but before they could carve the runes, they were approached by three elderly women who invited them for dinner. While they attempted to negotiate their way out of it, Dierdre began scribing the runes, and the discussion soon devolved into a brawl. The trio narrowly avoided death as the three women turned into hags, but managed to defeat them with the aid of their iron weapons as Dierdre finished scribing the three runes.

When they returned to Winsler’s court, they were met by a wide assortment of Fae creatures, and Winsler returned the favor they had done for him by freely giving them a gift of 24 Faerie Gold. The three returned to town as heroes, and before they could charge Owen with theft and endangering the town, he and Arden hurried out of town to travel to the great city to the south.

That was pretty much it! It was a fun game, but in retrospect, I had a hard time judging the pacing with the pregenerated adventure. There was a lot that could have happened, and with more time, I think the options it provided would have produced a wonderful adventure that would have nicely filled up the session. Unfortunately, I rushed through the adventure design process and it cost me. To any GM’s considering running Beyond the Wall, I’d heartily recommend you learn from my mistake and take the time you need to plan a good adventure around the prompts you’ve been given.

We enjoyed the mechanics, they were simple but efficient. The personalities and backgrounds given by the random character creation tables were amazing, and all three players noted how fun it was to play very different characters.

As you’ll see on Saturday, I think our second game of Beyond the Wall was significantly improved, and I’ll go over the reasons why, then. That said, I’d heartily recommend Beyond the Wall. I’ve always enjoyed – both as a player and a gamemaster – low level play (the attacking goblin tribe, the bandits, and the village traitor) over high level play (demigods, ancient dragons, and other dimensions). I’d go as far as to say that Beyond the Wall is designed for that low level play feeling, and executes it extremely well.

Until next time, folks!