On Tuesday we began the new Song of Ice and Fire RPG campaign that I've named "Ashes of Empire." It stars House Ashe, a minor noble house situated on an island in Lake Elenta known as The Star of Elenta.
The members of House Ashe are:
Lord Bregan Ashe, played by Victor - Honorable and militaristic, Lord Ashe is very concerned with reversing several years of failing fortunes of his house. He seeks to bring in wealth and power to restore the glory of House Ashe.
Azamir Ashe, played by Morgan - The brains of House Ashe, and younger brother to the lord, Azamir is Bregan's legal heir, as the lord hasn't found time to take a wife as yet. Azamir once plotted to take the lordship himself, but an encounter with kidnappers that cost him the life of his wife Annabelle convinced him that things are safer behind the scenes.
Delvan Eyerbaith, played by Linda - Heir to House Eyerbaith, the last remaining vassals of House Ashe, Delvan is a sneaky fellow that no one is quite sure what he has planned. Which is how he likes it.
Helena, played by Luke - A master duelist and swordswoman, Helena is the house champion. She has been working with Azamir of late trying to increase the readiness of House Ashe's troops.
Lucien the Black, played by Chris - Dangerous retainer to House Ashe, Lucien has concerns about House Ashe's rivals, House Sidrake. To combat them, he has been training a spy that he plans to use to infiltrate their holdings.
To start things off, House Ashe had a small family get together on the eve of the new year. This allowed the players a chance to interact and get to know each other. And, frankly, for the players to start to get to know their own characters too.
After that had been going on, I presented them with some messages outlining major events coming up. An invitation from a nearby wealthy widow to come to her holdings in late spring, a demand that Lord Ashe and some of his troops attend a wargame being held over the summer by his liege, Duke Florent, and the announcement of a tournament being held by Lady Sidrake, House Ashe's main rival.
After these things had been discussed, we went through a couple months of realm management, then started the trip to the widow's lands. At which point they were ambushed by pirates!
I do love a cliffhanger.
Overall, we spent as much time finalizing everyone's characters as we did actually in play. Fortunately, with that out of the way, we can move on to more interesting stuff. It wasn't the most dynamic of campaign openings, I admit, but I felt it best to start slow as everyone was learning a new system. We'll see things pick up in three weeks when we play next.
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