Gallows Corner, Behind the Screen
This post is both a player and GM report at the same time! I'm calling it a Referee Rundown, a Mirror Report, the Director's Commentary, Behind the Screen? Something like that. One of my players in the Gallows Corner one-shot wrote a great play report, and I'm going to provide my side-by-side feedback of my thought process in response to what the players did.
Play Report comments will be in callout boxes like this.
The Setup
First, let's talk about what the Quickstart in Gallows Corner provided. I had a single spread of a pre-generated adventure. I've already spoken a bit on my overall review of the game in the latest Carouse, Carouse, so I won't be highlighting specific mechanics, layout, historical accuracy, etc. Here's what the Quickstart provides:
There's a little to go off of but not a lot. I rolled on the Motivations table, getting the result "To try and free a political prisoner" OK...Great. Who is the political prisoner, and why is this ragtag group of peasants* trying to free them?
I've also never been to London. I lived on an air force as a kid briefly in England but beyond that, I know nothing about London's layout and only some of its history. Rather than let it discourage me, I went into research mode to ensure I had a loose idea of what the hell to do. I found a map with numbered points of interest to use throughout play. Beyond that, I went in blind. To be fair, the quickstart does give brief descriptions on these historic places as well as the type of area they're set in. Personally, I wanted a smidge more which is why I went scouring the internet.
*In my research prep, I discovered the term Peasant wasn't coined until 15c.
The Party
- Pat, Hershel - a Mummer Impressionist
- Joa, Will - a Scrivener (Mind). Young court writer
- David, Honest Cuthbert, an alleged pickpocket from Liverpool. Orphan who was raised on the streets
- Emily, Hob, a blacksmith. Proud of his town and his work. Increasingly conflicted about the right thing to do
- Matt/Sheila, Maggie Devers, a servant, has become rebellious since her sister was killed. Stubborn and calm.
The Brief
Outside the Tower of London
We open at a protest outside the tower of London. Midday on a workday, early summer and we start to see people leaving their posts to walk to the Tower. We all are part of an underground group that's met before to seed the revolution. Proud to be revolting. Heard word that this protest is a distraction so that a prisoner inside can escape, we have been tasked with making sure the prisoner (Richard March) can escape.
One of the Hooks in the adventures is a protest that's happening at the Tower. It felt like a good, chaotic starting point that (1) made sense and (2) gave players different ways to engage with the space. Also Richard March was a random NPC that I rolled up as players were introducing themselves.
The prisoner is on the top floor of the keep. We all have been making our plan. People we recognize: John, a tenant farmer, has brought all of his sons to be a part of the protest. The constable and the guards are in charge of the Tower. The Sheriff of the city, John Northampton, has also been summoned. There's a moat around the keep as well.
Prisoners in the basement of the Tower probably makes more sense, but I also assumed there were servant quarters and kitchesn down there hence why the prisoner was on the top floor. I also wanted to encourage them to either be creative in going through the tower or something ridiculous like scaling its walls. Did it make much sense on a practical level? Uhh, probably not. John was also a NPC I rolled up and gave him 3 sons who work his lands. I was pulling a lot of knowledge of my time playing Pentiment in this set up scene until I got my footing a bit more even though that game is set in the 1500s.
We open with Hershel's crowd work act, which is doing impressions of the minor nobility and building toward my impression of the Sheriff to draw aggro.
I was so excited when we ended up with a Mummer player. It's a fun class that added a lot of absurdity to the one-shot, and there was much banter between myself and this player. Since the tower had its own set of guards and jurisdiction, I added some political strife between the Sheriff and the Constable which added chaos to the already tense scene. I did use the listed NPC John Northampton from the Quickstart under the Sheriffs generator page which was super helpful in channeling him.
Maggie drops by the shop and loudly complains about the crowd in order to be inconspicuous. The shopkeep mentions the delivery entrance but sighs and goes into a tirade about how no one wants to work anymore, they all died in the plague. Hammond will let her into the service entrance on the side, tell him Eva sent her. Hands her a parcel with produce and spices.
Another random NPC rolled up! This time, a grocer who's simply trying to protect their wares. She complained of people refusing to work and "kid don't do anything" these days. It was a tongue-and-cheek character that was whipped up out of nowhere.
While the guards are going after Hershel, Honest Cuthbert is trying to pick their pockets. Will is trying to get in by claiming that one of the Nobles requested a Scrivener. Ellis Witcher has an assignment for a Scrivener to get details about the country. The guard ushers Will in and Will brings Hob with him under the pretense of forging something for him to fit into the country.
Ellis Witcher was a Noble NPC I rolled up for the Scrivener to get in. It made sense to me that visiting nobles would stay in the Tower while conducting business or on behalf of royals. When I rolled him on the Lords and Ladies generator table, his Motivation in life was to farm, so I angled he was eager to have someone document his willing journey from Noble to Farmer in a dramatic fashion. Probably my favorite NPC I created for the session.
The Sheriff has requested another ten guards from the outer wall of the keep so security has gotten tight at the main gate. Cuthbert is getting the crowd to chant that the Sheriff is a coward while Herschel is doing Scooby Doo/Looney Tunes antics to the guards. The constable is shouting for the Sheriff to get ahold of things. Hob and Will successfully get over to the Servant's entrance to meet up with Maggie. Inside the keep, the three of them blend in and Maggie says "Look like we belong, gentlemen!" They pass by a workshop, a small hospital. Someone from the workshop offers to help, so Maggy claims that she needs to drop off a parcel and pick up some laundry. Gets sent on her way.
The group split up quite a bit in this one-shot which was cool. Splitting the party caused no issues for me as a GM, and it made narrative sense give there were multiple ways to get beyond the Tower's perimeter.
Back in the melee, Herschel and Cuthbert spring their plan. Cuthbert successfully steals a few guard caps and Herschel disguises them as guards to call a hasty retreat. Works too well unfortunately and earns them a massive asskicking from John and his burly boys. They are in the keep with kicked asses.
Combat in this game is fascinating. It's fast and snappy, and I really enjoy it. There's 1 contested roll and then it cascades into narrative flavor. I want to see it in action, literally, more and also expanded upon. I'm curious about the inspiration for the mechanic.
Inside the Tower
Maggy makes her way to the wardrobe tower and meets up with another serving woman, Elizabeth. Maggy says that she's discreetly delivering a message to a noble and asks for medical care for Herschel and Cuthbert, inviting them in. She's older and has been a maid here for a long time. Cuthbert complains that his halberd was stolen and asks if he can get another one before anyone notices. Is told to talk to his captain, but Herschel intervenes and says "it's better to be honest, let's check in the armory and accept our lashing". Elizabeth gets a rag to let us clean up our faces in the kitchen in the undercroft area. Maggy says she's to put a letter under Lord Witcher's door - he's an odd sort. Elizabeth takes the parcel. Lord Witcher will meet us on the ground floor in the Great Hall. Hob is going to make his way to the armory with Herschel and Cuthbert. Maggy and Will offer to meet Lord Witcher in a parlor room instead of the Great Hall.
Every single player was contributing ideas and asking me questions about the layout and what they could do. Once they made it inside the Tower, the focus shifted into devising a plan. This one-shot turned heist was ridiculous, but I loved it.
Cuthbert and Herschel's cover story at the armory is that the Sheriff fucked us with his directions, and Hob is there to get measurements.
Maggy and Will agree to forge a letter for Lord Witcher - "My lady is intrigued by him and has sent a scrivener. My lady can't imagine a farmer in such fine clothes, you should give her your fine clothes as a sign of your affection". They decide to go knock on his door, a short nondescript man. Maggy attempts to persuade him, he puffs out his chest at the nobility of his theoretical life as a farmer. They forged the letter as "Lady Guinevere". He quickly reads it and will await a change of clothing. He hands the clothing to Maggy in a bundle, and Will and Maggy dash upstairs.
This was so silly and absurd of a plan, and maybe I should have made the Nobles and Guards a little smarter than they were, haha. I wasn't sure how to do it. Maybe they don't recognize these people are being members of the Guard? I wasn't sure how to continue adding obstacles to the players that weren't environmental. A list of social snags would have helped me, and if I hadn't started my prep for the session that morning an hour beforehand, I might have come up with something a bit stronger, narratively.
The guards in the armory are worked up by our comments about the Sheriff and are cutting jokes with us. Hob requests a few more guards, claiming that the main court has been breached. We send the last guard on his way, I grab Witcher's clothing with the intent of impersonating him and will give my guard clothing to March.
Hot headed guardes making dumb choices felt right.
Hob successfully destroys the lock as we throw guard clothing into the cell for Richard. He changes into the guard clothing and we run down to Witcher's room. We bind and gag him as the guards march up. One comes to the door and I impersonate Lord Witcher, haranguing the guard and asking for a carriage to be brought to us at once. Cuthbert robs Witcher blind and we change Richard, Hob, and Cuthbert into swaggy clothing to catch the carriage. They say that we'll have to go out the Servant's entrance but they send us out with guards as escorts. We squeeze into the carriage, make it work, and the group leaves with Richard in style.
Impersonating a noble, distracting guards, and mocking the Constable is exactly what I imagined revolting peasants would be doing! I'm curious how this would have resolved in a follow-up session though. It's easy to see how a campaign of this can be filled with both shenanigans and rich community.