Siegfried & the Forest Sauvage Example I, pt. 1

Playing an adventure twice using the Omen GME

Omen is a ‘Gamemaster Emulator’ that I’ve been working on and is now close to being finished. A Gamemaster Emulator (GME) can be used to play an RPG system solo. If you like to learn more about Omen, you can do so here.

Introducing: Omen GME

The following adventure is a demonstration of how Omen works. To prove Omen’s versatility, I will play the same adventure twice. I only use Omen GME, a setting book (The chapter ‘Sauvage Forest’ from Pendragon’s Great Pendragon Campaign) and Tricube Tales as the system.

Omen uses a Scene-structured approach to your adventure. Formatting for the adventure goes like this:

text formatted like this is info rolled up in the Scene Preparation phase using Omen

“Followed by text like this, to show how the scene is presented narratively”

“Followed by this text style, a quick narrative to give you an idea of how I played said scene.'“

I will not digress in discussion HOW I played that scene, just remember I use Tricube Tales. Omen is only used to prepare scenes and as an oracle.

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First you will need a setting, a Player Character, a system and a first quest or adventure idea. Here’s what I wrote before I started:

“I’m Siegfried, bastard son of Aliduke of Laverstock. I left Laverstock Manor in pursuit of glory, fortune and perhaps - my own lands. The whole year I wandered the land, slowly drifting northward. I spend the winter at the castle of Longvale. There strange tales are told about the unexplored Sauvage Forest. A permanent mist covered the vale. That winter, children from the vale became ill while others disappeared. Folk spotted twisted looking knights, Fiend knights they said, watching the valley’s entrances.
Harred, Lord of Longvale, said it was the spirit of Sauvage forest, seeping into his valley. A brave knight should be sent to the King of the forest, the only one who controls the magic of the forest. But none of the pagan warriors dared venturing into the forest.
And so I left Longvale in the spring, together with my brave squire Ifan and my horse Misthelm. Before I left, Harred spoke to me about the entrance of the forest and the reclusive castle of Tribuit that doesn’t welcome Harred’s folk - and those lands must be crossed before I can reach the heart of the Sauvage.”

Nothing says more ‘Enchanted forest’ than the works of Franco-Belge illustrator François Bourgeon and his ‘Compagnons du Crépuscule’

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With this info and the stuff in the settings book, I have enough to imagine an expected list of scenes:

1. Travel to the Rollright Stones (the entrance)

2. Meeting the Tribuit guards there

3. Getting lost in the Forest

4. The search for the Tribuit Castle

5. Finding and staying at the castle

6. Leaving the castle

Now it’s time for Omen. We assign a Scene Rating to each scene and test the rating to see if a Theme comes up and if Omen inserts scenes. This is how the list looks when I’m done:

1. Travel to the Rollright Stones (the entrance) - Rating: 3, No Theme

2. Meeting the Tribuit guards there - Rating: 1, Theme: Personal

3. Getting lost in the Forest - Rating 1X, Theme: Social

4. Added Scene - Rating 1: Personal

5. The search for the Tribuit Castle 1X, Theme: Search

6. Staying at the castle - Rating 2

7. Leaving the castle - Rating 1, Theme: Clock

8. Added Scene - Rating 1 - Fysical

Once we start play we’ll be sidetracked from the list but when one of these events come up, we return to this preparation.

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Now we have everything to get started. Let’s go through the first couple of scenes in this article. Siegfried starts with the default 3 Omen tokens.

Scene 1. Travel to the Rollright Stones (the entrance) - Rating: 3, No Theme
TN: (Rating + Omen) 3 + 3 = 6
DR: 7, fail

No theme, so a fail means nothing more than an ill omen, you add some tension or danger to the scene.

Siegfried makes his way to the Rollright Stones. They are a strange feature in the landscape, a looming evil that would scare most strangers.

Siegfried knows the stories. The stones only roll on midsummer’s night. He’s not frightened by still moves past them in a wide turn.

2. Meeting the Tribuit guards there - Rating: 1, Theme: Personal
TN:(Rating + Omen): 1 + 3 = 4
DR: 7, fail

The 'Personal'theme now shifts to a personal Refusal. Whatever you've had in mind to do with your PC, he refuses.

Behind the stones looms the forest. The road now becomes a mere path. Soon enough dogs start to bark and 3 knights appear, followed by 8 footmen and their hunting dogs. A knight comes forward and introduces himself as Berrant, knight of Tribuit.

Using the Omen NPC module. Berrant has a Neutral character, his attitude towards Siegfried for this scene is: Cautious.
Character stays with the NPC and is rolled up only once, while attitude is rolled up each scene, with Omen tokens being a modifier to the roll.

He urges Siegfried to return, saying Tribuit doesn’t welcome strangers.

Siegfried replies he doesn’t pose any danger to Tribuit and just wishes to pass through.

Berrant considers this and challenges Siegfried for a joust. If Siegfried wins, he’s worthy to continue his travels. If not, he becomes a prisoner of Berrant.

Siegfried agrees, but as the knights charge towards one another, Siegfried swift horse jumps into the thick forest, and they manage to get away. Ifan makes use of the confusing to run for it also, in a different direction.

Remember the Theme here is Refusal. Siegfried would have fought the knight fair and square. The Theme 'Personal' is always a great opportunity to do some character exploration, see the next 'Personal'scene. 

Siegfried runs deep inside the forest. After following a stream for a while, here returns to the path, only miles further where he met the guards. There he lays in wait and it only takes a short time before he spots Ifan on the other side of the road. Together they continue.

Scene 3. Getting lost in the Forest - Rating 1X, Theme: Social
TN: 1 + 3 = 4
DR: 6, another fail

The Theme 'Social' becomes 'Enemy'. Now this doesn't mean a fight per-sé, but at least presents a real danger.

The setting book gives a couple of enemies you can encounter once lost in the forest. I roll on that table and get a spriggan.

A dark, wrinkled, large tree ominously looms over the path. Siegfried, who studied the lore of the area a bit over winter, recognizes the danger in advance. “A spriggan! Don’t listen to what it says Ifan'“, as he drags the squire onto his horse and gives it his spurs. Misthelm dashes past the spriggan, though he seems to slow down a bit, raising his ears, but Siegfried is adamant.

4. Added Scene - Rating 1: Personal
TN: 1 + 3 = 4
DR: 3, succes

This is an insered scene by Omen. The Personal theme becomes a simple challenge, something on a personal level. I don't really come up with something so I roll on the sparks table:
Action/Theme: Defy Trick, Focus: Poor

The path becomes hard to spot, it’s poorly traveled, and it branches out in many places, each side path looking peaceful and safe. Siegfried simply follows one, hoping it will take him to a main road, ideally one past Tribuit castle. But he has no clue where he is. He curses, wishing he spent more time hunting with the Lord of Longvale instead of reading up on regional lore.

Nothing really happens here, but the inserted scene opened a little opportunity to dive into some character exploration.

That’s all for this first part. You only saw a little of how Omen works. So far we didn’t burn any Omen tokens, nor rolled critical successes or started clocks. But we’ll see all that in the next article!