Wildendrem 1: from freeform openworld to Brobdin Wood
Last year I started an open table OSE game at the local gaming club. The plan was to have a big open world that anyone could step into and play. I had thought that every week I would get a random, different group of people. And I would never be really seeing the same faces again; however, that was not the case. I quickly developed a core group of players who turned up every week. And there's quite a few, eight in total.
Probably too many, but they're good people, an eclectic group, who just seem to mesh well.
This was an open world. West Marches style game where we the world was developing through play. They had set up camp in a small abandoned town, and we were planning on creating some rules for building their base up.
Fast-forward to last week and I am in my new full-time job, my 5-year-old has just started school, and my 2-year-old is, well... a 2-year-old (oh and I end up in the emergency department with a bleeding head and a concussion, but that's another story). I was genuinely dreading preparing for my game the following Friday night. I was pouring through my adventures and zines for some spark on inspiration and... Wildendrem wouldn't leave me alone.
The Switch
We've been playing for a while, but I couldn't continue. I would not have the brain space to maintain a West Marches game that literally doesn't have any through lines yet. However, it was weird. I'd thrown a lot of weird stuff in there. Our little space was fucking weird and didn't resemble any form of traditional fantasy. This was a point in my favour when porting an existing party into Gnolune.
I basically told the team at the start of the session that with my new job, running that sort of game would be tough and would anyone be opposed to the change. All were cool with it.
Good people.
Enter Cluster Fumm
The world the party had been adventuring in had an immense wall through the centre of the island. At one end of the wall, it had fallen down, and the forest behind it was spilling out and growing into the field. Looking at the Gnolune map, Brobdin Wood was going to fit nicely with what the party understood about the region.
I picked Gluster Fumm as the conduit between the known and the unknown. A bold and accident soldier who just wants to be known throughout the lands for their mighty deeds felt like the right fit. He is the perfect mix of clumsy and dashing. I had him march out into the forsaken lands (I explained this dead world has something that Aethur had vanquished) in search of a party of daring adventurers.
I also accidentally wrote his name as Cluster Fumm in my notes, and after a few trips and stumbles, he was dubbed Cluster Fuck. So, that's good.
Cluster left like an appropriate character for this. He wants to be famous but isn't good enough for it. He's got an inheritance and some cool armour, looks the part but can't follow through. Cluster knows enough about the Gnolune to be a guide, but not a great one as he is focused on his own fame and blind love of the Silvered Nobles (This isn't in the book, but I felt right to me for his purpose). I want Cluster to get them into their first adventure, maybe their second, share some of his biases with the party and then leave or die. Obviously, I can't control that, but that's the plan.
The Outcome
They're in.
They wen't The Champion & Blackguard, met some weirdos, learned some tales, and got a few hooks. Cluster has done his job, mostly. The party really doesn't know what to think of him at the moment, but they're deciding to stick with him for a little while at least.
Wildrendrem definitely felt daunting while reading it the first time, but when running it all just kind of clicked. The rumours are quest hooks; the locations are all mentioned by many NPCs in many places. Whilst it feels broad, it is all connected like a spider's web, that no matter when you step; you are prey to the woven stories.
Their next step is into Brobdin Wood to find The Weeping Beast.