u/needle-knight

Asking for my wife and I: Are there any gun shops/gun ranges in the Eastern Panhandle area that don’t give ultra-conservative or MAGA vibes? Like libertarian/2A vibes are fine, obviously, but I just want to know if there is a place that, theoretically, wouldn’t have a problem with a woman, person of color, or queer person walking in there. Also, bonus points if they are friendly with people who don’t know a ton about gun care or gun purchasing (we know about gun safety).

Not an ad for them, but a random google search led me to find out that Medieval Collectibles used to have a Ren Faire, LARP; and SCA Event Directory. Alas, it hasn’t been updated since 2022/2023! But what was there, at least in my state, was a pretty good accounting of what was going on in 2022. However, with some Google Fu, I’m sure some intrepid newbies will be able to track down more up to date info on events that sound interesting to them. Maybe word will get back to them that people would appreciate this kind of resource in the year of our lord 2027?

https://www.medievalcollectibles.com/category/renaissance-faire-sca-and-larp-event-directory/

What do you think? Helpful: yea or nay?

Ok so I am trying to suss out the lore behind the Delian Tomb.

DELIUS is inscribed on the crypt. In the note, it says it is likely the name of someone interred in the crypt. However, we never find out who Delius is. I think there are a couple theories.

The Delian Tomb and Delian Order of Knights are from the Caelian Empire.

The first fresco shows starving, wounded humans drinking from an ornate silver chalice - the Cup of Iulius - and turning into powerful, healthy warriors who battle a horde of demons.

The second frescoe shows a fallen knight and a large silver chalice being carried by a procession. Of warriors into a tomb carved with the name “Delius” atop its entrance. Was the knight interred in an already existing Delian Tomb or was the tomb constructed for this knight, named Delius?

In the Hall of the Brave, a statue of a human warrior holding a spear has the inscription of what the adventure calls the Riddle of Delius. Is the spear-wielding warrior Delius?

At the warded stairs to the second level is an inscription that says “Iulius’ cup shall remain free from the hands of the unworthy.” We can infer that all the challenges in the tomb are to find out if a person is worthy of obtaining the cup.

The tomb is full of undead, some of which are Delian knights. We know from the summoner that necromancy is not inherently evil. In fact, one might argue that, often, the summoned undead are just manifestations rather than actual corpses. Can we assume that the Caelian Empire or at least the Delian Order frequently used necromancy for good or at least neutrally?

The Gilded Hand retrieved the Knight Commander’s Ring from the Cressan Tomb (described as similar to the Delian Tomb) in Wend named after a Caelian knight named Cressa. A cult worshipping the demon lord Aurumvas was operating out of the tomb. The ring is a gold band with an emerald cut in a shield shape. It is said that there are many such rings buried in similar tombs. So are we right to assume that the Delian Order was fairly great, with many Caelian knights being members?

Orson is a retired courser who holds the Amulet of the Delian Order, a brass amulet in the shape of a shining sun. Is this the Delian Order’s symbol? Coursers come in two but Orson is solo. Should we assume that his partner was killed trying to retrieve the Amulet? I assume that Orson decides to retire near the tomb to keep a watchful eye on any worthy or unworthy adventures and keep the Amulet safe but close by.

The sarcophagus in the first chamber of the second level is shaped like a knight with a feathered sword and a bird-like helmet. Howeber, the sarcophagus is a fake and contains no body.

In the Hall of Triumph, if the puzzle is solved, we learn about the following knights who defeated Parthus the Bleak:

Cornelia (whom we see later) who wear a cowl and wield a glaive.
Portia who wears a lion helm and wields a sword.
Aeolias who wears a falcon helm and wield a spear.
Septimus who wears a plumed helm and wields an axe.

Let’s talk about Aeolias. Is the fake sarcophagus an additional red herring to throw off overly perceptive adventurers? He wears the falcon helm but does not wield the sword, unlike the sarcophagus. Was the spear wielding knight (of the Riddle of Delius) Aeolias? Are the helms and weapons in this Hall the real relics or just representations?

If you fail the puzzle, a voice says, “With the past forgot, Parthus the Bleak rises to fight once more!” A ghost then appears with specter and shade minions. Is the ghost the actual ghost of Parthus, entrapped by the Caelian Necromancers after his defeat? Was he a demon worshipping cultist who unleashed a demon horde on the world?

The circular bronze Delian Shield is split in half. The right half has an emblazoned sword. The left half has an emblazoned dragon. Is this the personal heraldry of Delius? Was it broken in battle or with intention by the tomb builders?

The treasury contains a false Cup, but many real treasures from the exploits of the Delian Order. They slayed fire giants, a thorn dragon, and a basilisk. So we can assume that the were dedicated to facing more than just demonic threats. Was the giantslaying axe, Heelcutter, the weapon of Septimus?

The final room of the tomb contains the cup and Cornelia’s sarcophagus. Cornelia announces herself with “No fell hand shall seize the Cup of Iulius so long as Dame Cornelia has bones with which to do something about it.” She emerges from the sarcophagus and strikes her infamous glaive into the ground, causing undead minions to arise.

The cup of Iulius grants power depending on the liquid drunk from it. 1000 year old Caelian wine and the blood of innocents have the same effect. Is there anything to conclude from this? Would the wine have had to be 1000 years old during the time of the Caelian Empire? J was not a letter used by the Romans and thus Iulius is the same as the name Julius. Like Caesar. Can we assume that Iulius was an emperor of the Caelian Empire?

As an added note, Castle Andreas and Fort Forsaken are both from the time of the Caelian Empire. Was the fort a precursor to the castle? Did Delius operate out of castle? Was there a demonic war in the Broadhurst area 1000+ of years ago? If you do not continue to drink wine or blood from it regularly, there is a high chance you will die. Did Cornelia and the other knights die from using the Cup?

So, who is Delius? Here are some theories:

1. The most obvious is Cornelia herself. While most humans in Orden have one name, it could be that the Caelians, like the Romans, used three names. She could have been Cornelia Delius [insert Latin-esque surname here]. Her sarcophagus is the final one of the Tomb. There are a dozen in the Hall of the Brave on the first level, and the only other is a fake one in the second level.
2. Was the Delian Order older than Cornelia? Maybe Delius was the founder and he was entombed there first, possibly in the false sarcophagus with the bird helm. His knight commanders, like Cornelia, Cressa, etc. continued his legacy by facing great threats to humanity. Perhaps when Cornelia died, they removed Delius’ remains to another, more hallowed tomb, and dug out a deeper level to place Cornelia and the cup in. Her spirit and those of other knights lived on to protect the cup from tomb intruders.
3. Delius’ body was unrecovered. Perhaps there was nothing left of his body to bury (despite the frescoe) and so the empty sarcophagus is his. He, like Aeolias, wore a bird helm, but wielded a feathered sword. Perhaps his soul was eaten by a demon and thus Cornelia was left to protect the cup rather than Delius himself. Maybe all that was left of him was his sundered shield and a sun amulet. This theory could be merged with the one above. Maybe two levels was not enough to protect the cup and Cornelia led the Order to carve out a third level where she would eventually be buried with the Cup.

Anyway, that was all the lore I could scrape from the Delian Tomb adventure. What’s your head canon? What answers have you given your players? Mine keep asking questions about the Delian Order so I am working to have some answers for them.

UPDATE: The left half of the Delian Shield is emblazoned with a sword. The right half is emblazoned with the head of a dragon. The head of a thorn dragon can be found in the treasury. What if the empty sarcophagus was Delius, who cut the head of the thorn dragon with his feathered blade?

Hi, I’m needle-knight. This guide is mostly for costumers and LARPers, but is applicable to anyone interested in a combat sport that needs armor. I wrote this because I see a lot of posts that are some variation of “I bought this armor, why doesn’t it fit/work with my other armor?” “Is this armor any good for X?” or “What do I wear under this armor?” My goal is not to tell you what to do or where to go, but what to consider when purchasing.

My credentials are that I am an SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) heavy fighter who has been fighting in armor on and off since 2005 when I was a youth fighter (age 15). (Despite my username, I do not claim to have the rank of Knight in the SCA or any other game.) I have dabbled in LARP and go to my share of Ren Faires, etc. I have bought, created, and fixed a variety of pieces of armor in my time. I can post a picture of my kit in the comments for you to critique haha. I took some college classes in theatrical costume design and most of my skill is in sewing. The pourpoint and padded chausses in my kit were sewn by me. Most of my other armor is purchased.

Caveats: I expect some pushback from the living history crowd as the SCA permits a lot of anachronisms (hence the name). I am a man. I try to take women into account, but men and women can and do wear the same armor, assuming it is made for your proportions. I am American. I expect some pushback on some of my statements from Europeans, particularly. I don’t claim to know everything and this guide is far from comprehensive. It is mainly a collection of opinions and observations formed by my career. I have been asked for my advice on armor a lot, particularly from LARPers and newer SCAdians. You’d have to ask them if it was good advice. I’m not even really giving advice on where to look for armor. This is a guide for what to think about when you looking and ordering.

For this, I am talking specifically about wearable armor, so display helmets or suits of armor are ruled out. I am also mostly focusing on historical (or an attempt at historical armor). There may be some great fantasy armorers who don’t fit what I am saying. I don’t know; I don’t look at super fantastical stuff. I also am not counting stuff you make yourself. If you can make it yourself, good, great, this advice is not for you.

First step is know what you intend to do with it: Halloween costume in the dark on a cold October night? Ren Faire costume under the blazing summer sun? LARP, where you need speed, functionality, and safety? SCA, where the armor standards are very specific? Buhurt, where you depend on your armor to keep you from serious injury? Know the rules of your game. Tell the armorer what your game is and what they need to know to make you something you can use.

Try to look at actual art and extant pieces from history. Some modern artwork is okay but know that you get more medievalisms and fantasy designs. Not all of those designs are functional. Finally, learn to ID AI and avoid it. Even if you aren’t going to fight in it, the more functional your armor is, the more comfortable it will feel to wear. So, that said, try to get an idea of what you want to wear. Try to find someone else who wears that. See how their kit goes together. Ask them what they would have done differently!

Okay so let’s really get into it.

There are four types of armor. No I’m not talking chain vs. plate or steel vs aluminum, yada yada yada. The four types of wearable armor you can buy are: one-size-fits-most, sized, custom, and used.

One-size fits most is the most common wearable armor you can buy. It is mass produced, often in countries wear labor is dirt cheap. Let’s hope the makers are even getting paid at all. It ranges widely in quality, and consistency of quality. It may only fit you if you have a standard male body type (or whatever they decided was the standard male body type). You may question who or what it was even intended to fit. Many people immediately start here. It’s not cheap but it’s not as expensive as custom armor. However, if you buy four sets of cheap one-size-fits most armor, you may have not had to pay out the money all at once but did you actually save anything?

Sized armor is like modern clothing. They give you option of Small, Medium, Large, XL, etc. and maybe a sizing guide if you are lucky and you check you measurements against it. These armorers are general decent. These are the armorers that new SCAdians try to look for. Someone who has a couple different standard sizes they can crank out by order or maybe even have in stock if you are lucky. They might be operating out of the US or whatever country you are in.

Custom armor is like a tailored suit. If the armorer is as skilled as they claim to be and you have them accurate measurements, this is about the best armor you are going to get. It is expensive, even if you don’t get the fanciest stuff. But, barring disaster, it should last you for a long time. Many of these sellers, right now, are out of Eastern Europe like Ukraine. They have access to metals like titanium for cheaper than you can get in other countries.

Finally, used armor. Facebook marketplace has a lot of people trying to sell used armor (and new armor). When buying used armor, you want to try to learn as much about the armor as the seller knows. You’ll regret if you don’t (but also common decency may prevent you from pestering them. You should try to find out at least: where they got it, what they used it for, what the sizing or measurements are, what it’s made out of, and why they are selling it (if they tell the truth). This ought to tell you whether the armor was originally one of the three type above. You can maybe determine its value and whether it is worth it to you to buy it. Keep in mind that even nice, expensive custom armor made for someone else… was made for some else. Making it “one-size” armor for you, unless you closely match the size of the seller.

Okay, now some major considerations for buying armor that is sized or custom.

First, know your measurements. Learn the proper placement of measurements. Do you know your waist from your hips? If it is difficult to take your own measurements, get someone you trust to help you take them down. Write them down and save them in your phone. You may need to do it again, though, because…

You need to know what you are going to wear under your armor. So many newbies buy their armor then ask, what do I wear? With one-size armor, it’s not a big deal because that stuff probably doesn’t fit right anyway. But if you are sizing your armor, you need to take your measurements over your arming garments. First, know what underwear you are wearing. If you are a person with breasts, what are kind of bra are you wearing? If you are wearing a lot of compression-wear, it will change the fit of certain armor pieces. If you have long hair, how are you wearing your hair under your headgear?

Additionally, what sort of padded garments are you going to wear? Many LARPers buy these huge padded gambesons make of polyesters that they don’t need because they don’t get hit that hard (not to mention will make them overheat). Figure out what is the thinest, lightest arming jacket, etc you can wear for the thing you want to do. We are all living during global warming, after all. Pick natural fibers. Make sure it fits (literally and stylistically) the armor you are hoping to get. (Or make sure you pick armor that fits your padding.) Is your armor going to attach to the jacket with points (cords)? Or are you just buckling it over top? If you are wearing chain, you need to measure for that while wearing your arming garments. Don’t over measure because chain has some stretch. If you are wearing plate over mail, you need to measure while wearing your arming garments and chain. This goes for helms as well. Most armorers who are making helms for contact sports are intentionally leaving room for 1/2 inch padding. Other armorers may not. Know what padding and chain you plan to wear on your head and let them know.

Finally, weight changes. Many of us have them. I know I have. Sometimes it’s unavoidable. But, if you plan to make a major change to your body shape, if you are intent on losing or gaining weight, maybe try to achieve that goal before buying armor.

A note on fit and warning signs. Good armor conforms to the human anatomy and works with it, not against it. If you see armor that does not flair at the waist or articulate at the waist, that is a warning sign. As for people with big bellies and no waist to hip ratio, this matters less. However, a good brigandine will cinch at the waist to help distribute the weight off your shoulders. Keep an eye out for how the armorer is displaying the attachment method. True full plate is often pointed (tied with cord through eyelets) to an arming coat and/or belt. If the armor is depicted with straps, try to determine what those straps are attaching to. If there are no straps shown, you may be left to figure out yourself how to attach them.

A note on armoring skills. I highly recommend that people who want to wear armor, particularly those who are going to wear it for combat sports and LARPs, learn a few armoring skills that will help you keep your armor in good repair or will help you make adjustments to better fit your armor to the rest of your kit. These are:

Sewing. Mending tears in your arming garments. Making eyelets for arming points. Making alternations to better fit your unique measurements.

Riveting. Receta pop on armor all the time. Having a ball peen hammer and a mini anvil will be useful. When I did LARP I noticed a few people had busted armor. Turned out they didn’t know how to fix it or have the tools. I would offer to fix it for in-game gold.

Learning to cut, punch, and sew (or rivet) leather. Your straps will break: your buckles will break. In addition to riveting above, being able to cut new straps, add buckles, punch holes for the buckles, or fix the stitching on sewn leather it’s important.

Chainmail. Learn how to repair your chainmail. Butted chain is simple but will eventually need fixing. Riveted is harder but hopefully you won’t need to fix it as often.

Armor care. Learn how to polish your armor, if it is mild steel. You can spray paint (typically black) the insides of your mild steel armor to resist rust from sweat. Learn how to care for chain to remove rust. Learn how to care for leather to avoid cracking and mildew.

Mini guide to materials:

As far as metal goes, find out what gauge (thickness) your game requires, if applicable. Most combat helms you want to be 12 or 14 gauge steel. 16 or 18 is for costume only, IMO.

Mild steel. The cheapest. The heaviest. It will rust if you don’t polish it. It can be painted or blackened to cut some of that. It can also be intentionally rusted. Many pieces, especially chain will come oiled. Removing the oil means not staining your cloth arming garments, but losing the protective layer. You have to choose which you want and how you will combat rust in the future.

Stainless steel. Lighter, tougher. Doesn’t rust. Unhistorically shiny, but can be blackened. Expensive.

Titanium and other steel alloys. Light, strong. Oxidizes a bit but doesn’t rust. Good for brigandine plates. Also typically expensive.

Aircraft aluminum. Very light. Slightly less malleable than untempered steel. Oxidizes a bit but doesn’t rust. Some armor purists may find it distasteful, maybe even offending. Between mild and stainless in terms of price.

As for non-metal materials, I really only have input that relates to combat sports.

Picklebarrel Plastic. Good for SCA but not much else.

Wax hardened leather. Good armor, if made by someone who knows what they are doing. I own a pair of Torvaldr bazubands from my old kit.

Unhardend leather. Fine for costuming and LARP. May be one layer of thick, heavy leather or many layers of thinner leather. Not suggested for full contact sports, though I know plenty of SCAdians who wear only heavy leather for body armor.

EVA foam or 3D printed plastic. Good for cosplay. Some LARPs accept it, others don’t.

Anyway, that’s all I have for now. It may be too generic of advice. Let me know what questions you have. Those who have bought and worn armor, what lessons have you learned that newbies ought to know?

Reposting to r/Armor, r/SCA, and r/LARP. Let me know where else I should repost.

Short version:

I started running a Draw Steel campaign as a modified version of West Marches with my extended friend group as the players at the beginning of this year (2026). I didn’t get as many people to join as I hoped – I am running it online and a number of invitees said they didn’t want to play online – and I lost enough players to the point where I really only had 5 players I could count on. So rather than open it up to the online community, I chose to transition it to a traditional campaign. I started it with the intention that I would one day maybe try to document my process if I was successful. Since I’m not, I might as well see if anyone wants to ask me anything! 
 
Long version:

OK, so I had an idea for how to do Draw Steel as a West Marches style campaign. I wanted to run it over Discord and a VTT (I used Roll20, but will eventually transition to Codex) and try to invite my friends and my friends’ friends and frame it as a game that would bypass the usual scheduling problems as no one would have to leave their house and no one was required to play each weekend. However, of the 17 people I invited over the course of the game, only eight players joined while the most prevalent reason for the others not joining was preferring to play TTRPGs in person. (Playing online was what worked for me, my wife, and my best friend, so… yeah.)

I came up with A LOT of extra rules to make Draw Steel work with West Marches. Most of them I created because I expected more people. I thought eventually some of those people who declined would see the light and join, or I would meet new friends, or whatever. This meant that a lot of my rules were overkill. Some rules I created without fully understanding how Draw Steel would work in action and had to rework them as I went. So let’s go through the campaign up to and including the transition and talk about some things that worked and didn’t work.

I started off with Delian Tomb and Road to Broadhurst and I was on the verge on bringing in Dark Heart of the Woods storyline. To rewind a little bit, I did start this off with an in-person one-shot of Delian Tomb Part 1 prior to Thanksgiving of 2025. One of my players (Player E below)also ran part of Delian Tomb Part 1 for his friends. I had hoped to combine both groups and that we could start with Delian Tomb Part 2. Unfortunately, three of my players and two of his players did not join us. So, what ended up happening was that, his character (Human Tactician) and player D’s (see below) Polder Shadow were the only characters to be carried over to Part 2. The Polder Shadow had been the one who earned the title of Violet’s savior, having freed her from the chains, killed Vorgosh, and carried her from the tomb (strong Polder!).Player E’s player (Player F below) created a new character (Devil Fury) and 4 new players joined her on the Road to Broadhurst. After that session (January 31, 2026), all the characters joined together to tackle Quests around Broadhurst.

Here are some of the basic rules of my campaign (though I have linked the full document): 

New Heroes must start at Level 1. 

Players could create a second Hero after playing one session. 

Players could retire Heroes between sessions. 

On Discord, I would have a Quest Board with Quest Rumors (written in character from NPC’s). When scheduling sessions, the party would choose which Quest Rumor they would pursue. 

No character could be on the more than one Quest at a time and no player could have more than one character on the same quest. 

Respites would be done in between sessions on Discord. 

Heroes only got Victories during sessions where their players were actively playing. This meant that every Hero had varying amounts of XP. Some were much closer to Level 2 than others when we transitioned.

Scheduling - Unlike a typical West Marches game, because I was the only Director, the game revolved around my schedule and when I could play. This meant that we only played every other Saturday (or Sunday, if necessary). I ran two quests at a time, so roughly one weekend a month would be dedicated to each Quest. At the end of each session, players could chose whether to stay on the Quest or return to the inn to Respite. If they can completed the Quest, they were required to Respite. I did not closely track the timeline, but whenever each group took a Respite consecutively, I considered that the end of one Cycle and the timeline officially synced up. The end of a Cycle progressed the world clock so Quest Rumors might get updated and “villain clock” events might occur. For those who are familiar with Delian Tomb and the events that trigger after so many respites, I basically halved that number and wrote down that it would trigger after that many Cycles. This is because two parties could theoretically complete twice as much as one party in the same number of Respites. Syncing things up at the end of a cycle also allowed the party compositions to change periodically. In order for a session to get scheduled, a minimum of three players were required to sign up and the party maximum was five. All others would be waitlisted. Typically I struggled to even get the five. If the players wanted to continue the Quest next session, they would get first priority to sign up to the next month’s session. If they couldn’t make it, then other players could jump in with an available character. 
Delian Tomb ended up being great for how I was doing West Marches with Quests because it had the main Delian Tomb Quest, plus the three side quests, (plus Road to Broadhurst and the Dark Heart of the Woods), which meant I had a variety of options for the players to choose from each Respite and the stakes seemed real if they chose to ignore one. 

At our peak we had the following characters (grouped by player): 
Player A: Dwarf Conduit of Creation and Protection // Revenant Dwarf Undead Summoner 
Player B: Dragon Knight Fire Elementalist // Devil Troubadour Auteur 
Player C: Human Censor Paragon of Sun // Revenant Human Caustic Alchemy Shadow 
Player D: Polder Black Ash Shadow // Goblin (Homebrew) Prowler Beastheart with Bear Companion 
Player E: Human Vanguard Tactician // Time Raider Punisher Beastheart with Deinonychus Companion 
Player F: Devil Berserker Fury 
Player G: Hakaan Chronopathy Talent 
Player H: Human Telepathy Talent 
And me, who had turned Violet into a Human Fey Summoner with the plan that Player A would run a few sessions (He still might). 

At this point, the Heroes, as a whole, have: 
Saved Violet from Vorgosh in the Delian Tomb. 
Saved the goats of Broadhurst. 
Defeated the >!Werewolf!<. 
>!Cured Mikael and the Devil Fury of lycanthropy.!< 
>!Arrested Brune and made peace between the Millers and Percival and Vaugh for the stolen food.!< 
>!Wiped out the Forsaken Wraiths (with the exception of a couple prisoners).!< 
>!Given Fort Forsaken over to Gogellwyc and the Silver Wood elves.!< (Figuring out how to incorporate the Wode Elf band from Road to Broadhurst into the Delain Tomb story was INTERESTING.) 
Saved a local militiaman from the bandits and learned that his convoy that was taking goods to Lord Kenway was lost in Byre and only he made it out alive (the others are MIA in Byre). 
Opened an Adventurer’s Guildhall in Broadhurst (to the relief of Gweldyr the innkeeper) and signed a Guildpact. 
>!Convinced Ilwyth to switch sides and give over the ring.!< 
>!Recovered Orson’s sun from (tricked players into thinking his!< >!son!< >!was taken by) the Arixx.!< 
Get through (almost) the first 3 encounters of the second level of the Delian Tomb. 
Escorted Feoc, Myrna, and Hector back to the Crossroads near Wend with the intention of heading to Byre afterwards (only to have to retreat due to the restructuring fo the campaign).

Because the lack of players made it so I was struggling to schedule sessions and I really liked the dynamic I had with my friends, my players and I agreed to condense down to one set of characters. 

Current party is: 
Player A’s Summoner 
Player B’s Troubadour 
Player C’s Censor 
Player D’s Beastheart 
Player G’s Talent 

What we are doing with the other characters is kindaTBD. Player A had the most XP/Victories between his two characters, so I immediately had them all of the above listed characters move to that equivalent: Level 2 (16 XP) and 3 Victories (since they were mid Quest)

Here are some things that didn’t really work: 

I created a reward system to engage players and reward them for their engagement. While its something I would probably do with a larger group that included strangers, it just didn’t feel good to do with a small group of friends. I called this system Guild Standing and players could earn points for showing up when they were supposed to, taking notes and posting recaps, posting in character journals etc. You could only really lose points by dropping out of games you had signed up for. Points would eventually unlock things for you in the campaign and having the most points in a party made you Party Leader, in order to make executive decisions when players couldn’t agree. This mostly never came up and wasn’t necessary because of the small player base. Player D just really liked getting points, even if they were meaningless, and most other people didn’t care. The same 2-3 players are/were always notetaker. Anway, I abandoned the Guild Standing about halfway through. 

Most of the rules I wrote for scheduling and waitlists were unnecessary because there wasn’t an overwhelming demand to join extra sessions. I almost never used the Waitlist. 

The players were split three ways about RPing Respites on Discord. 1/3 were not fans, 1/3 were fans, and 1/3 were not responsive to my questioning. This was exacerbated because I was saving way too much content for Discord. Sessions ended up being me trying to fit 1-2 combats in per session and leaving all the RP for Discord. I took the feedback and slowed down and allowed for more RP during sessions. Going forward, Respites will probably be a combo of in session and on Discord, depending on the player and the scenario. It was kind of agreed that the >!Lycanthropy cure ritual!< and the signing of the Guildpact/opening of the Guildhall would have been better if roleplaying in session rather than through Discord chat. 

Not sure if the travel rules would have worked as they never established a base in another settlement. 

Not tracking days was a little confusing for some players. I may do it now that we are one party. I had to alter the rules on projects, respites, and followers a bit to accommodate. Those will probably all go back to normal. 

Anyway, I have posted a link to my rules document, so feel free to ask questions. Feel free to use it as inspiration. Critiquing it is probably unnecessary at this point and I wouldn’t advise using it wholesale because a lot of it was what worked specifically for me and my schedule and my group. If you have multiple Directors or available more than once every two weeks, the scheduling rules probably need to be altered for you. I just backed Crows. It seems like it is much better suited to West Marches. TBD on whether I will try again with Crows and whether I will try in person with friends or try to open my heart to playing with strangers on the internet. 

So this came up in a post a while back and I’ve been thinking about it now that I’ve run combat with a retainer. I really don’t think a Retainer should count as 1 Hero for calculating Encounter Values. I may try 2 Retainers = 1 Hero as suggested in that post. Echelon 1 Retainers are much weaker than a Hero given that they only have a signature ability and no Heroic Abilities at Echelon 1 (I assume they are still underpowered at higher levels).

Anyone have a good defense of 1 Retainer = 1 Hero besides that Draw Steel was well playtested? My only thought is that I am doing it wrong by not taking the Retainer into account when it comes to Hero Tokens and Malice? I haven’t been counting the them as a Hero for those. But even if I did, doesn’t that balance out?

My main source of reasoning was that I ran the Arixx combat with 4 heroes and a Retainer (Ilwyth). I left the beastie at full health. The combat dragged on for so long, I finally decided to drop 80 Stamina from it as if we had only 4 Heroes so that we didn’t have to take the encounter to a third session.