Running the Games Activity

The Games Activity should be run by one or two charismatic counselors and one of the Coordinators. JCs and CiTs who are not tied to a House for the week can help set up the trails, can play characters on the trails, can join teams that need extra competitive help or help maintain Rule of Three.

Games Counselors (or Game Masters) should be thoroughly familiar with all rules and lore and should step in to adjudicate disputes with authority and charisma. Campers should look up to and respect Games Masters as confident, knowledgeable and fun officiators who are capable of coaching and giving advice worth hearing. Game Masters should strive to build up this kind of reputation and maintain it.

 

Use a Mountain Bike!

It is a requirement that at least one Game Master have a mountain bike. If you can rig it with a rack and or trailer that’s even better! It will help you set up and strike the trails quickly. It will help you get around the map very fast. It will help you get around faster in emergency situations. It will save you the exhaustion of walking/running on average 13 miles a day!

 

You are the Keeper of the Drums!

Use the drums! It is an expectation! They have power!

Use them to circle up kids at the start and end of Games!

Use them during skirmishes and duels!

If you don’t know how to play learn a simple beat. The standard AiC kit is a kick drum, snare drum and cymbal. In addition you have a tambourine and a box of noise makers.

The drums are precious and breakable! No one plays them except you and the Coordinators! Only use drum sticks, never a stick or sword!

Here’s a little lecture on taking care of your drums!

Learn how to tune the kick drum!

Learn how to tune the snare drum!

Keep the sticks and tuning key in their pouch on the kick drum! If it rains move the kit to safety. Stop all kids from playing them! Only you or the coordinators or someone you trust should move them into or out of the truck – people disrespect and break them all the time!

The drums are your responsibility and again it is an expectation that you use them!

 

Set Up the Trails

  • Set up the Trail Marking Flags. These can be set up on Sunday and left out all week
  • Set up the Territory Flags. You’ll have to set them up every day. Use a mallet, always remove them by grabbing the pole, not the flag
  • Hide the Relics.
  • Set up any special encounters.

 

Set Up the Game Start / Circle Up Area (sometimes these are different areas)

  • Hang the Big Map from tree or prop it against the cart.
  • Next to the big map hang a List of Relics and any other special charts or rules.
  • Set up the Drums: kick drum, snare, cymbal, sticks, other instruments.
  • Prop the Respawn Flags in the Cart so they are pretty.
  • Load props & costumes needed in the Cart
  • Set out the Tagger Bin and Ranged Weapon Bin
  • Arrange house piles in the grass: bows & arrows, mana, crossbows and darts, flags

 

Set the Map

As the Game Master you should take the time to think about the most interesting ways to use the parks and maps you are given. Please do set up the territory flags each day and refer to places by their names, even this token scenery can help give the sense that players are somewhere in the Realm and it will make it easier to refer to places in the game!

Make sure teams are equidistant from each other and in interesting and defensible respawn areas., Houses don’t need to stay in the same respawn area, and you can change their bases often, especially in the 3-way games. Come up with different stories for why a House is starting in a different area. It can make the game fresh and interesting to start from somewhere else each day.

 

Set the Perimeter

Make sure you check in with JCs and Counselors if they are playing characters so you can set them up in areas that need to be watched, like areas near water, railroad tracks or areas where the general public walks in.

 

Communicate Often

Use your walkies to check in with teams to see if they are ready to begin, if they have done attendance and have all their campers or to organize searches if any houses cannot locate certain campers. The Game Master should actively help locate kids. Quickly searching the trails is where you’ll be happy to have a bicycle!

 

Run a Weekly Plan

Monday through Wednesday you’re typically going to run 3-way games of Capture the Flag according to the 3-2 Schedule on the Forties. On Thursday morning we typically run a 6-way game of Capture the Flag before lunch and Follow-Your-Bliss after lunch. Some bands run a 6-way game on Wednesday too. Some Game Masters think more 6-way games are better, others like to build up to the 6-way game and focus more on the differing teams and map set-ups that 3-way games allow– it’s up to your band!

 

Make Your Circle-Ups Brief and Entertaining

And practice them! Ask each group you meet with on Monday how many newbies there are. If you don’t have a lot of newbies you can move more quickly through the rules and even get into a game of CTF right away. Do this especially if it’s a nice day out! These kids really do want to get out on the trails and they wait all year for it, so if you have the time, do it! Do not hold them back in field games if you can help it at all.

Only give the rules you need for the day. Do so loudly, with energy and in as entertaining fashion as you can! You must practice your speeches, in a mirror if necessary, and work on any routines you create with other counselors so you are on point. Strive to amuse the campers and strive to inspire them. This is why YOU are the Games Counselor, live up to it!

 

Start Monday with Melee Only

Typically we do melee on Monday, you can do crossbows if you like. Tuesdays we add bows and mana.

 

Hiding Relics

It’s a good idea to write up a little cardboard chart with relics and their powers and set it up in the Games Area . Hide 3 or 4 relics each day but always say all relics are out there! Choose interesting land features to hide relics: caves waterfalls, bridges, giant trees, etc… Learn some lore and place relics near territory flags you can give lore hints about!

 

Set up a Game with a Theme?

It’s really great after giving the rules to begin the game with a quick little theatrical intro pulling campers into the fun before heading out to the trails.  There are some scenarios you are welcome to use below, but feel free to make up your own and align them with the theme of your week!

 

Running a Weekly Score

Keep track of the score. If you do Castle Battles on Friday morning, the victors of the week are typically given the choice to defending the castle and can often choose one other team to help them.

If you have a few teams that are very young sometimes you can Ally the Scores! This means that though allied Houses may or may not be playing together on any given day, they are allied for point totals at the end of the week.

Typical allied houses by age are:

Hart (older) – Draech (younger),

A’quilah (older) – Sahngliér (younger)

Arko (mid aged) – Hakkarl (mid aged)

In tallying a weekly score give every team points. The first-place team will get the same number of points as there are houses. Then reduce the number of points for each place until the house in last place has one point. For example.

3-way game                          2-way game                          6-way game

1st place = 3 points                1st place = 2 points                1st place = 6 points

2nd place = 2 points               2nd place = 1 point                 2nd place = 5 points

3rd place = 1 point                                                                 3rd place = 4 points

etc…

 

Castle Battles

If you run a Castle Battle of Friday morning there are suggested rules in the Book of Games. Each Band does this a little differently. The Band of Storms typically does an alternative Friday activity, but we advertise that band a little differently so they are often the exception to the rule!

 

Invest in the Game, Coach the Players

This is the Games Activity. Although we mix up gaming, free role playing and creative arts throughout camp, respect the games in the Games Activity like we respect free role playing in castle and creative building in the Armory. Don’t undercut the competitive nature of games if you don’t yet understand why these games are fun. Trust camp, lean into playing and learn why these games are so much fun!

We want the kids to invest in the games and play by the rules. Therefore it is important to respect the rules and coach kids through victories and defeats rather than undercut the rules if a team is losing or downplay a victory to avoid salty feelings. The score is important, never ignore it or throw it away – we ask campers to invest in the game! Some bands wait until after lunch to wrap up with a score if there have been contentious disputes that need settling. If we help campers be their best selves through both victories and losses they become better people and over time camp actually becomes easier because we are actively working to instill a legacy at camp of playing fairly and in the right spirit of the game!

All counselors should be doing their best to coach their teams and should be actively playing the game. A guide is included below and a video of Julian coaching Sahn-Gliér a victory against Hart! Though we typically do not want counselors capturing flags and tagging kids out with indiscriminate skill and abandon, we certainly want them helping their team with their swords as well as their wits! Its more fun if counselors play with campers and more importantly it gives counselors a chance to role model how to play in the spirit of the game!

 

Tactics and Strategies and Inclusion

Game Counselors and House Counselors should be very familiar with the Strategies and Tactics outlined in the Dance of the Flags which can also be found as a chapter within the Book of Games. Understanding strategies and tactics will help you help your counselors finds tactical roles suited for all players. Of course, players can also be engaged by hunting for relics or seeking characters. If you have players who insist on being characters have them be characters who are either on your team or allied with your team so they do not work against their own team. Never ever allow players on your team to work against your team. Always convince them to do otherwise.

Seek to instill a respect for inclusion in every team! For example, if a group of boys is always running out for offense when the whistle blows leaving the same group of girls at home to defend, it’s up to counselors to change this up and make sure everyone is playing the way they want to play and sharing the burden of all strategies.

 

Adjudicating Disputes

There are three ways of doing this: making the decision on your authority, getting clarification from counselors behind the scenes or in working it out in large groups.

Making a decision on your authority is most efficient, and this is why you must build and maintain your reputation as a knowledgeable and impartial Game Master with charisma. If you have these qualities players will listen to you and accept your rulings.

Adjudicating behind the scenes is useful when there are different accounts of an event and one team or both teams think the other is cheating. Get as many eyewitness reports as possible and ask a few counselors from each team to interpret what happened. Then make a decision and report it after lunch or at circle up with a brief explanation of why YOU decided it. Don’t mention other players or counselors. Don’t state that anyone convinced you, just mention the facts as you have heard them and own every decision you make as an authority – it’s better if players are salty with YOU and not each other!

Adjudicating in large groups is best when the dispute revolves around an interpretation of our imperfect rules! Adjudicating in large groups can be more contentious but can also be highly rewarding if players see how large groups can work through disputes. In a large group you will set yourself up as the sole impartial judge and will present the dispute and two (or more) possible outcomes. You will ask to hear two arguments for each outcome, usually this is two arguments for something and two arguments against something, ie did Hart capture the territory before the whistle blew or did it not? These arguments must be limited to thirty seconds and after hearing you will use your authority and charisma to level a wise decision.

If any counselors undermines your decision of authority speak with them after the campers have gone home or speak to a Coordinator to address this behavior. We cannot have salty counselors undermining the Game Masters.

 

Playing Characters

It is awesomely fun to populate the dangerous trails of the Realm with characters who can present the players with obstacles, with quests, with friendships or with sideline entertainment.

Characters can set themselves up on the trails to be discovered or join and play with a team if needed. Characters should be mindful not to undercut or imbalance a game too much and should generally avoid congregating at respawn bases where they will distract the defense of flags.

Characters can be silly or heroic or anything in between, but if a counselor is not getting the interest of players they should quit being a character and help in playing the game instead! No character should be ignored on the trail for terribly long before throwing in the towel – if a quest or character doesn’t attract players in Games they very well might in Castle where more kids may be looking for quests and characters instead of flag captures!

 

Weapons Rules

  • 2 Handed Weapon: up to 36” from the top of your hand to the tip.
  • 1-Handed Weapon: up to 24” from the top of your hand to the tip.
  • Dagger: up to 8” from the top of your hand to the tip
  • Crossbows & bows: target is whole body not including neck and head, no minimum range, helmet makes projectiles bounce off armor.

More weapons coming in 2025, stay tuned!

  • Mana Spell: Tossed from hand or spun  like a flail
  • Flame Spell: goes through armor– respawns target
  • Root Spell: goes through armor & shields – immobilizes target’s feet for a fifteen count
  • Wash Spell: Dispels Root at any time and flame if target is hit within roughly 3 seconds

More spells coming in 2025, stay tuned!

 

Relics

A complete list of relics and powers will be available here in 2025! Stay tuned!

 

 

GUIDE TO COACHING

To see some of the principles below in action check out these great examples of coaching!

 

Enthusiasm and Charisma

Stay enthusiastic and give your team active goals when at your base, like…

  • “Always be on the lookout for Counselor Akin!”
  • “Scout and occupy the best lookout points for incoming trails and sneak paths!”
  • “Be a Suicide Sally for us, my friend!”
  • “You, practice stalking and splatter vision, we need an ambusher up in Hákkarlan territory.”

Staying enthusiastic and positive and active and charismatic as a coach is sooooo important to team morale. A smart team beats a dumb team. An enthusiastic team beats and bored team… and sometimes beats a smart team too!

When you can add the story back in. Sing songs or engage in appropriate conversation for your warband! Talk of the glory you will win for your people or the riches you will take home when you topple the opposing king!

 

Listen and Find Roles!

Good coaching means also good listening, players who feel listened to feel valuable and will be more enthusiastic about playing for their team. You can usually find a role for everyone if you’re creative and thoughtful and enthusiastic enough… remember Suicide Sal? Send a Suicide Sally to meet any serious threat approaching your base, they might take someone out but in getting tagged out almost immediate will get your respawn going!

 

Praise everyone, all the time!

Also notice, praise and celebrate your players and your opponents for every little success. Round up your own players at the top of the game, before initiating any plan and at the end of the game for a little pep ritual like “put your sword in the circle, now raise it for a hip-hip-hooray” Sings songs and chants together! These morale building exercises make players feel like they belong to something and it can have a powerful effect on their feeling valuable and responsible to a group.

As a counselor if you see a valiant battle or some sort of success tell the story briefly but with enthusiasm on the radio. Praise your opponents too and build up their reputations, make everyone feel valuable and capable, the game will be so much more fun. Like when you see a good fencer come over the hill warn your whole team how good of a fencer she is! Boast of her past accomplishments, say you will take her on and then die leaving it up to your players! Or if you see someone sneaking up on your base maybe don’t see them right away, let them feel sneaky until one of your players catches them and then say “My god I didn;t even see you! Look how close they got to our flag! This dude’s a dang NINJA!” Just strive to be SO MUCH FUN! You are modeling the best way to play these games and it will stick!

The more people buy into and invest in the game the more fun it will be.

 

Plan on attacking… a lot!

Always have a defense plan. Start with that. But if you also do not have an attack plan you will not win. It’s a balance, you need a constant defense but you should also keep a constant attack going on your opponents – force your opponents to play defensively if they can. Keep the initiative! If your opponents are always reacting to you then they have less time time to mount attacks against you! If you are only ever really defending that is all you will end up doing – reacting to other teams attacks – and you will lose by attrition. Attack sometimes even of there is no hope because it will force the other teams keep more of their players at home and not attacking you! Becoming feared is one of the best things your team can do.

 

Affinity Squads?

If your team is enthusiastically coordinated try a round playing with affinity squads. This is a group of 3 players who ALWAYS stick together. 3 are better than one and if coordinated can do a lot of damage. If you just have 3 in a squad you can have more squads!

If one in a squad is tagged out in a battle the others will fight until they are also tagged out – this way, no one really gets afraid of being tagged out and they tend to play a little more aggressively/decisively. The squad tends to tag out more opponents in an encounter even if they all get killed, and they all respawn together. Unless there is an immediate opportunity to tag a flag or something the squad should all resawpn together so they benefit from their full strength.

 

Explore and Imagine All Possible Attacks

Find all possible approaches to your base, not just trails but obvious ‘sneak paths.’ A sneak path is a likely approach through the woods from the direction of another base. Expect stalkers to come down sneak paths… pay attention and remember where stalkers are coming from. Post a scout to look down all trails and sneak paths at all times if you can afford to.

 

Set up a Home Ambush

If you have an obvious trail leading in to your base and can hide a quiet person in tall grass or behind a tree up along that trail passed where a warband would trod down to meet you, DO SO! Have your defense line up to lead the aggro warband passed your ambusher so they can sneak up behind and tag everyone out in the back! This is such an easy set up and it usually works!

 

A FEW BASIC STRATEGY TIPS (Many more coming in Dance of the Flags!)

  • Your highest goal should be to take a flag without it being noticed. Older kids often like to challenge themselves by running a flag stealing mission WITH NO WEAPONS! If they achieve this write a song about it on the spot!

 

  • The more flags you have at your base the more players you should keep on defense.

 

  • The top of the game is for scouting out and capturing flags, the middle of the game is for defending flags if you’ve got them, the last five or six minutes of the game is for capturing territories (and defending flags).

 

  • Set up a territory capture plan early in the game. Tell players to break into groups of two or three and be aware of the time. If they know the map, assign them a territory to capture in the last 5-6 minutes of the game. Everyone should report back to base in the last ten minutes of the game to formally initiate this plan. Tell players during the game to remember where they saw territories. Remember though if you have a lot of flags keep a heavy defense as late as you can afford to.

 

  • If a rule allows you to consolidate territories non-adjacent to your captured/consolidated territories always capture and consolidate territories far away from your own and preferably near another team’s base.  We try not to allow this anymore because it’s such a potent strategy and it can quickly unbalance a game, but if it’s an option use it! If this rule is in place though seek to defend territories near your base in the last ten minutes of the game with everything you’ve got!

 

  • Always accept an invitation to an alliance, even if you know you can’t keep it. Alliances mean little in CTF and they are rarely if ever team-wide. Accepting an alliance just means you might have less players to worry about attacking you.

 

TACTICS

Attitude

In a fight that includes two people of the same height who have little skill in sword play, the more aggressive player usually wins. Gaining initiative and forcing unskilled players to react to you usually works in your favor. This changes fast when facing opponents with real skill, and in this case over-aggression and over-confidence will usually get you tagged out.

 

How to tag em all out!

Play by the rules but never play ‘fair’.

  • Always seek to outnumber your opponents.
  • Always seeks to surround your opponents.
  • Always seeks to stab them in the back without a fight.
  • Practice this with your campers!

Surrounding your opponents is ALWAYS a good idea, then any person facing an attacker is more of a distraction and the teammates behind them should do the tagging, like wolves taking down a large animal. Practice this with your team at respawn!

Try to not let a trail keep your mind from seeing how you can surround your opponents by moving off trail and into the woods. Your typical warband advances down a trail clumped up in a shield wall. Form a counter clump in the trail to stop them, but send at least one teammate off trail to try and walk behind the enemy line (two people if possible – one on either side) with the purpose of tagging your opponents in the back – even if the opposing team sees this, they will lose their resolution to stay in a clump and will start backing up to protect themselves. The minute they back up rush them!

If YOUR team gets attacked this way (ambushers trying to creep around you) immediately send your most intimidating or most skilled fighters into the woods to eliminate the ambushers. Or, you can avoid this altogether by avoiding clumps and shield walls and instead spreading out across the woods on your approach to a base or through a dangerous area. Unless you’re playing for dramatic affect sometimes stalking is better!

 

Intimidation works

If you know you can intimidate other warbands into running away without a fight do so. Don’t be a jerk and don’t be mean, but make a war-like face, slap your shield with the sword, shout or chant together and try rushing as a group – sometimes this works! Sometimes if you’re not trying to sneak (because there is simply no way to sneak) and you’re marching a warband into fight, a strong, loud unified chant is enough to throw your opponents into a confused panic. Likewise NEVER panic at home. Stay level-headed and stick to your plan. As a coach be clear and loud and bark your commands but do not look like you’re losing even if you think hope is gone – you really just never know… anything can happen in this game, it is so unpredictable!

 

Ranged weapons are for controlling the theatre of melee!

First of all, USE all your ranged weapons and keep most of them for defense. A crossbow or bow sitting on the ground by the water bottles is a crying shame!

Use your ranged weapons more to maneuver and control the motion of opponents than to tag them out. Use them to back them away from your flags or vulnerable players!  Take out skilled players or armored knights if you have an easy shot… but wait for that easy shot! If you have a crossbow, even without a nerf dart, cock back the drawstring and aim it at opponents to control the battle – it works fast!

 

Relics

There is always a compelling case to be made for keeping team-stunning relics like Thor’s hammer at your home base! A relic unused is also a crying shame!

 

 

THE INITIATE SCOUTING PARTY

A wonderful thing to do on the first day of games with a lot of new or young players is to have a charismatic counselor organize a scouting party. Your goal will be to sneak through the woods without being seen and find a sneak path to another base. There you will quietly survey an enemy base and try to visually identify where its flags are and how many are on defense and what their attitude appears to be (Bored and easy targets? Motivated, aware and scary? Loud and easy to sneak up on? Coordinated and thick? Non-existent?) If you can, you will send a sneaky player to snatch a flag and sneak it back to you or run it home while you defend them from chasers.

Before heading out be a little theatrical! Have your players circle up and speak in grave tones that this is a very dangerous and important mission and none of them may return home alive. Vow to try to keep the alive and have them make the same vow to you. Then off into the woods! Remind them to stalk as quietly as possible and not to talk or even whisper until you can group up close and consult on your next move. Teach them a couple hand signals for stopping, hiding, coming together and moving forward. Let different players lead, ask them what they think is the best option. Stay charismatic but also listen and share leadership, use your charisma to support the leadership of another less confident player and follow them. Ask your players who’s good at sneaking, who’s good at running, who’s good at swordplay, who’s good at strategy games and use them for what they say they are worth to sneak up to a flag, sneak it out and run it back home!

 

 

SAMPLE STORY STARTS

Sometimes it’s fun to start a game of Capture the Flag with a short background story and scene you can set up for the players to act out before the head out to set up the game. Here are some story starts you can use to inject a little story into the game right away.

 

Aquila v. Sahn-Gliér

SCENE (must play out before battle):

Aquilan rangers come across a strange and seemingly warlike people who treat them without the usual respect they get from the commoners they protect. The Aquilians are lead by Sabrah Ranraki who has been charged with the task of protecting this realm’s commoners from bandits.

These foreigners wear armor and carry weapons somewhat in the style of the Ogrekin they live near and have befriended. They seem like bandits indeed and must be up to no good!

The Sahn-Gliérans on the other hand are actually on a hunt for the greatest boar ever: what they call the “Dragoon Beast.” These warriors are all equal and have no superior, they will be puzzled if the Aquila’s ask to speak with their leader or authority. The are of the ancient and respected family of Utlaga! They will not be stopped, especially by shiny fancy knights. They are proud of their clothing and armor and see no reason to have to please anyone but themselves. They maintain they are enemies of none and may not take being accused of being bandits lightly!

Aquilan Goals: Persuade the foreign bandits to turn and leave or escort them through and

beyond this territory.

Sahn-Gliéran Goals: To convince these strange knights that they are from an ancient noble

lineage and the Boar Hunt is no banditry. The will only suffer so many insults before enraged.

Battle Game:

Skirmish to see who defends. Defeated side is routed and must flee. Defeated sets up two flags in home territory (symbolizing hiding out), they are not permitted to leave their territory but must defend both flags for 45 minutes. Attackers are taken prisoner by defenders and may only be released by a a jailbreak. Defenders respawn as usual.

 

 

 

Hákkarl v. Hart

SCENE (must play out before battle):

Hákkarl’s ships were spotted some days ago and now the warriors from these ships are camped out on the foothills of Harti territory. Their captain is Rollo Gylfang a chieftain of the Mead Hall from across the northern sea. Gylfang has promised his people much and plans to deliver it. These are his Jarls, his noble vassals from neighboring towns in Ikkerikland!

The Hartii diplomats are lead by Aleesh of the Family Dumnonii, she is also known as the Voice of Dumnonii. She is known for her wisdom and unwavering courage, she approaches the camped out Jarls to find out who they are and what they want and to see if battle can be avoided. She has no illusions however about the aspirations of the Ikkerik and their eagerness to battle.

Hart goals: Tiburon warriors are a threat to the security of our people. Assuage the Ikkerik

warriors to leave with offerings… or threaten them to leave!

Hákkarl Goal: We have come a long way and cannot come home without land to offer our

people or they will lose confidence in us. We must have land. Lots of land! And good land to

farm and grow on. Gylfang is very confident.

 

Battle Game:

If diplomacy fails both tribes retreat to prepare for battle.

2 Flag Capture. Territory Superiority: Armor bounces all projectiles and daggers. 45 minutes.

1 flag captured means the victors have stopped the army from advancing.

2 flags means the victor has driven the army away and the loser must cede territory.

Equal flags captured denotes a tie, no change in power.

 

 

Arko v. Drake

SCENE (must play out before battle):

Arkan diplomats have travelled far to find Wyddic chieftains of the House of Draech in their own homeland; a dangerous mission. Draechi often slay intruders without warning or remorse-this tactic has kept them free from foreign rule and has protected their sacred woods from pillage and destruction, they see it not as evil but necessary.

Arkans come to ask the Draechi chieftains if they will join Arko in driving the Hartii from the highlands. Arkans site the abuse of commoners from some of the noble families of Hart as a reason for Draech to join them in an assault to free the commoners of the highlands from Hartii despotism. Draech may argue that the Bracelet of Knights (think Knights of the Round Table) are not despostic and that the Bracelet has included many Draechi Warriors; together they drove the Iztani Empire from the realm and now the chieftains wonder if the newcoming clans are in the realm to invade just like the Iztani did a hundred years ago. Is this the real reason for Arko’s visit? To turn the House of Draech against their sisters in the House of Hart, to divide and conquer?

The Arkans are lead by Aescer and Aethel Heorgeneat, brothers. They travel with their weorod of 16 Huskarl warriors prepared for battle. The name of their Weorod is Honeytooth, which sounds absolutely ridiculous to the Draechi but is very satisfying to the rustic House of Arko.

The Draechi are noble Wyddic lords of the ancient and renowned family of Aillach, and are not to be trifled with lightly. They all have dragon names and consider the Arkans completely ridiculous rustic bumpkins whether or not they say they have a “kingdom.”

Arkan Goals:

To not get killed trying to find Drakian chieftains to talk to. To convince the Drakians that it is in their interest to turn against their cousins and become allies with Arko!

Draechi Goals:

To ascertain the real reasons for Arko’s visit and assess their trustworthiness. If not deemed trustworthy they will be killed on the spot.

Battle Game: Skirmish. Defenders must flee. If the Arkans loose it is a game of Escort and the brothers must not perish after Drake sets up ambushes all the way home! If Draech loses, the Arkans pursue them into the forest. Defeated Draechi set up two flags in home territory (symbolizing hiding out), they are not permitted to leave their territory but must defend both flags for 45 minutes. Arkans are taken prisoner by Draechi and may only be released by a jailbreak. Draechi respawn as usual.

Some territory is lost if 2 flags are stolen. If both flags remain intact the attackers must cede

territory!

 

 

Hart, Aquila, Hákkarl

Ancient tensions between the House of Hart and A’quila have been reigniting lately.

The Aquilan Paladins lead by Irbrahma Ran’raki have seen themselves as unflinching advocates for justice and with inadequate diplomatic effort are currently attempting to force a powerful Hartii family from the Bracelet of Knights to turn over a particular warrior for the accidental slaying of an Arkan were-priest along the Aquilan Crossroads.

Aileesh voice of the Dumnonii challenges the authority of the Paladins, and especially in the terrain of the Crossroads which Hart and Aquila have long contested. In no uncertain terms Aileeshghpiug has told the Paladins to back off or face a full out assault from the Bracelet of Knights and losing the Crossroads all together.

If things on the brink of war between these two ancient clans weren;t bad enough up shows Jarl Rollo Gylfang and his allies of the Hákarla. They have set their flag in Laugmyri and claim both the crossorads and the ancient forest of Ghul Leesh as there domain. The Bonny Fair Princes must pull back from. The Hákarla are growing while the Bonny Princes just get older. It is best they just get on with it, dying that is, and leave the stewardship to the people of the future. The Hákarla. There is no future in the Realm of dottering ancient Realms that are only fit to be replaced. The Hákarla recognize no difference between Hartii Lords and Aquilan Paladins ; they both speak an unintelligible.

Hart and Aquila feud add Hákarlans landing ashore.

 

 

 

 

Draech, Arko, Sahn-Gliér

The Arkans are lead by Aescer and Aethel Heorthgeneat, brothers. They travel with their weorod of 16 Huskarl warriors prepared for battle. The name of their weorod is Honeytooth, which sounds absolutely ridiculous to the Draechi but is very satisfying to the rustic House of Arko. They seek to force the Draechi to turn over several of their chieftains associated with the order of the Bracelet of Knights a Hartii-dominated order of nobles associated with the abuse of Arkan commoners. The Arkans consider the dragon lords evil and mean-spirited.

The Draechi are noble Wyddic lords of the ancient and renowned family of Aillach, and are not to be trifled with lightly. They own that several of their lords are Bracelet knights but deny the abuse of commoners. The Bracelet is an ancient order that drove the Iztani invaders away forever. Maybe the Arkans real intent is not different from the Iztani warriors of old? These Draechi warriors all have earned dragon names and are proficient slayers of forest intruders. They consider the Arkans completely ridiculous and rustic bumpkins whether or not they say they have a “kingdom.” Draechi often slay intruders without warning or remorse-this tactic has kept them free from foreign rule and has protected their sacred woods from pillage and destruction, they see it not as evil but necessary.

The Sahn-Gliérans are on a a prolongued sacred ritual hunt for the greatest boar ever: what they call the “Dragoon Beast.” These warriors are rough even by Sahn-Gliéran standards: indistinguishable from Orcs and Goblins by most Draechi or Arkan standards, but they are all equal and have no superior. The destroy any that stand in their way and do not recognize the borders of either Arkan or Draechi authorities. The Sahn-Gliérans will be puzzled if the Draechi or Arkans ask to treat with their leader or authority. Among Sahn-Gliérans they are of the ancient and respected band of Gulbotla and given leeway to roam as they wish! They will not be stopped, especially by shiny fancy knights. They are proud of their tusk and tooth adorned clothing and armor and see no reason to have to please anyone but themselves. Both Draechi and Arkans consider them raiders, “Utlaga” in the Sahn-Gliéran tongue and to this they take great offense. They maintain they are enemies of none and will not take being accused of being bandits or raiders lightly!

Arkans farmsteads and meadhalls now infringe upon the forest destroying the sacred groves that both Drakians and Sahn-Gliérans honor in their own ways. Unruly hunting parties of Sahn-Gliérans have been slaying “tresspassers” on land they now consider part of their happy hunting grounds and Draechi have set up an aggressive watch of strikers that kill all along the frontier without warning in an effort to keep both Sahn-Gliérans and Arkans at bay. Each group now in open war seeks to drive the aggressors far from this part of the realm where their livliehoods and misunderstanding now clash in open conflict.

Each team seeks to drive it’s opponents out of the realm.

 

—

 

Finally, here’s an old circle up script Julian used to open Monday. Though this is not a Games Speech and it’s way too long, it give you some idea of the flavor you can create.

 

CANTASTORIA OPENING SCRIPT (Long Version)

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Look around, friends, and know where ye are! I ask you: Is this Hennepin County?

    CAMPERS: Yeah! No! Huh?

Is this Saint Paul?

   CAMPERS: Yes! No! Huh?

 Is this Schmidt Regional Park?

   CAMPERS: Ok stop it now! Can we just PLAY!!!??

Nay child! Those words are fading from your memory! Now we no longer even know what they mean! Now they are gone! Behold! We are in the Realm!

 

CAMPERS: Big deal!

Look around ye and look into a vast and myth-shrouded land! An ancient land. A land where the great bear and dire wolf cross-claws with the basilisk and dragon. A land where Dwarvenfolk and Ogrekin still dwell. A land alive with magic, vastly-uncharted and full of adventure.

Child, do you see that silver-capped mountain looming high above the treetops?

  CAMPERS: Huh?

 That mercurial peak ready to throw a blizzard upon us? Do you see it?

  CAMPERS: No!

 You don’t?

  CAMPERS: No!

 But look there, child! It’s unimaginably large before you?

  CAMPERS: No, it’s not there and I don’t see it!

Who sees it?

  CAMPERS:    I do!       I don’t!

Well I promise you all: you WILL see it before the end of the week! Some of you may even climb its very peaks. Here in the Realm, lives will be lost, fortunes will be found, kings and queens will fall and sorcerers will be born! If you live, you will have stories to tell, stories that will be hard to believe. Yet they will happen to you here. And you may yet live to tell them! You MAY!

Unfurl the cantastoria with a fanfare!

The Houses
Hear now and behold the story of the coming of Humankind to The Realm! For you are their descendants, and the inheritors of their wisdom and lore.

Gesture to the kids.

Descendants of the Six Esteemed Houses, are you present?

    CAMPERS: Kids hopefully shout HURRAH!

 Hear me then and know from whence you have come!

Ages have passed since the first of Humanity sailed across the Four Seas. In the dreams of our ancestral seers the eorð-sigils appeared and called on them to seek The Realm. Where these sigils came from none now know. Whether sent from Thing, from The Weavers, from a forgotten Goddess, perhaps even from the living land itself, the earliest seers heeded the call of the sigils.

The Earliest People                                                                             

A long time has passed since the first of humankind crossed the vast Western Sea. Some say the land of their birth was overtaken by the sea itself and lost from memory. These First Comers were the ancestors of the Houses of Hart and Draech! Here here! Lords of the Wyddic Peoples let us hear you!

Gesture for these Houses to raise a shout and graciously bow before Hart and Draech.

The ancestors of the people of the Houses of Hart and Draech first came to the Realm as one! Behold the Aelereddad!

In gracile, silver-gilded ships they came. Dragon-eyed and lofty, they were the first to harness the power of magic after the instructions of their sigil-bearing seers. In the valley of Mabon their civilization rose and fell, along with the greatest city ever seen in the Realm: Dumnonia. Oh Dumnonia was a lofty city destroyed by a Sorrow that rose as large as a mountain and as terrible as a hurricane! The sorrow was overthrown but in the wake of that tragedy many of the Aelereddad left to find healing in the mountains and the rest fell into feuding until the first House of the Realm was formed!

House of Hart

Behold the Mighty House of Hart! First Esteemed House of the Realm! Born to Re-Unite the Aelreddad!

  CAMPERS: Fanfare and shouts

Unification of all feuding houses in Mabon was achieved in the miraculous formation of the House of Hart, whose founder demanded to be forgotten in name since the Esteemed Houses were meant to supplant the power of the feuding families.

But just as peace and prosperity returned to Mabon, the feared Empire of Iztan from far over the southern sea arrived in the Realm and assailed the people of the House of Hart who resisted subjugation for almost three centuries. But in the end the Elder Wars of Empire the Iztani stopped sending reinforcements from across the sea. The House of Hart destroyed the seven great fortresses of Iztan in the Realm and moved the High Throne of Esteemed Houses to the City of Icénia, most prosperous and cosmopolitan city of the Realm. To this day the High King holds court in Icenia. Hail, might Hart!

Many of the great families of Hart suffered grievously under the brutal regime of the Iztani Empire, and the families who formed Hart’s elite Bracelet of Knights claimed the mantel of Empire for themselves after the fall of Iztan. For this reason, though the Iztani Empire has now long passed into history, deep wounds remain between the Knights of Hart and the Paladins of A’quilah, and a vengeful spirit is often visited upon Icenia by these wounded families!

   Another shout from the House of Hart.                                

House of Draech

Now behold the High House of Draech! The Hidden People, Keepers of the Secret Flame!

  CAMPERS: A shout from Drake.

The origins of the House of Draech lie in the tragedy of the downfall of the Aeleredadd, which you have just heard. In the fall of Dumnonia wise ones of the family of Gwybda made a horrible sacrifice to banish the monstrous Sorrow but they were left with a curse they could not heal.

A new sigil called the people of Gwybda to a healing place. In dreams, a mythical dragon from their ancient homeland lead them out of the ruined Mabon Valley and into a most hidden and magical place. Following their dreams they found this place in reality and called it the Aergwyll, the dreamland. When the people left behind in Mabon formed the House of Hart the people of the Aergwyll formed the House fo Draech in friendship. In the mystical Aergwyll knowledge of Gwybda was developed into powerful arcane disciplines guarded by an order of magificars in a university on the edge of a vast and bottomless lake. This order was the secretive Gwybdwylli who with a single song brought down the walls of Khad Zhere in the Elder Wars of Empire.

The people of Draech have changed much over the centuries, but many families of Hart say they see an ancient version of themselves in “The Clan of the Hidden Song”, a version of themselves before they were changed by the Elder Wars of Empire. In any case the highest families of Hart have always sent their children to the Aergwyll for good raising.

School Yourselves! Here stands the noble House of Drake!

  CAMPERS: The Draechi shout!

The Empire

Now as I was saying, nigh six hundred years ago, from across the southern seas, came… the Empire!

  CAMPERS: Booooo!     Yay!

In low, squat, iron vessels they rowed, powerful and innumerable. And their triremes smashed into the Realmic shore. Setting villages ablaze they claimed the fertile valley if the Icen River and all the lands of the Realm for their Queen!

Hey kid, you ever hear of the Romans?

  CAMPERS: Yeah (yawn) my mom’s an archeaologist…

The Romans were mewling babies in comparison! The Romans would’ve scattered like scared bunny rabbits had they come upon the Iztani! Listen and quail you foolish child, for Iztan was a hot arid land far across the Southern Sea with cities whose buildings touched the clouds!

  CAMPERS: Yeah right!

 Yet pride and progress had them throw their faith behind a queen who became an emperor and who threw nothing back at her people but war and conquest. Their Emperor, (mockingly) glory-be-to-she, was at first rumored to immortal as a goddess, later she was simply rumored to be simply undying and by the time of the conquest she was rumored to be cursed as living death itself. By this time her empire reached to all four corners of the world. When they came to the Realm, 600 years ago, whole clans of Iztani were forced under the lash to take up arms and fight in foreign lands against peoples who were not their enemies. And when The Queen’s mighty empire receded after centuries of conflict it left these lash-driven warriors alone in a hostile land, encircled by enemies with ancient grievances against their master and now against them.

House of A’quila

Behold the Paladins of A’quila! Marooned by Empire! Called by Justice!

Bow before Aquila and gesture the Aquilans to shout!

The last of seven Iztani citadels the Empire abandoned to Hartian vengeance was Khad Zhere. During its siege, many Iztani escaped and followed the prophet Grisla on a treacherous journey to the Northern Islands. In that long, treacherous escape, Grisla taught her followers the Way of A’quilah which had come to her in dreams from Quileth the Plumed. Grisla preached a way of righteous thoughts, words and deeds that would result in every person born on Earth finding peace, prosperity and purpose. Her followers believed their people’s suffering and eventual redemption would come as prophesied when they atoned for the death and destruction their ancestors had brought to the Realm. Within a year of her arrival in the Northern Islands, every city-state there was following the Way of A’quilah.

The Way of A’quilah is a system of law written in the Codex of Plumes that the Paladins believe will help them end the cycle of vengeance in the Realm. They believe they can unite Iztani and Wyddic powers and ultimately free Iztan from the nameless one.

Their vow has brought them back south to mitigate the oppression the Bracelet of Knights now heaps upon the common people of Rhaetia. Thus, the Paladins have come to be viewed by many Rhaetian commoners as torch-bearers of an ancient and forgotten authority, as silver riders on the roam. They are often called upon to end blood-feuds between families or to champion disputes with abusive overlords. Many in Rhaetia now truly believe the Paladins possess an ancient authority that casts them as the rightful protectors of the common people.

Acknowledge the wisdom of The Paládinic Sanctuary of Aquila!

  CAMPERS: Another shout!

The Newcomers

Hart! Drake! Aquila! These are the Elder Houses, and though the Elder Wars have long passed, the calling of the sigils of the Realm has never ceased. Behold now, the Newcomers! Oh Potent Houses of Arko! Sahn-Gliér! And the ferocious House of Hakkárl!

  CAMPERS: Shouts from The Newcomers!

 The first Newcomers were Ghoddic and Khodéic people from dying lands, east of The Realm. They were warriors and farmers in search of a new home, lured by the stories of magic and fallow land. These Newcomers had vastly different traditions and languages from the Elder Houses and followed an alien pantheon of goddesses and gods.

House of Arko

Behold the House of Arko! People of the Bear! Honey-toothed! Mead Gulpers! Wealth Builders!

  CAMPERS: The Arkans shout!

The earliest of the hardy waves of new-coming pioneers were the Ghoddi. They sailed west to the Realm to escape famine and subjugation and were quickly pressured by the House of Hart to fight the Iztani in the Elder Wars of Empire. These were the first Arkan Huskarls and they had followed Aescer Heorthgeneat across the Dark Sea though his twin sister Aethel remained in the east.

In old Middangeard, the twins were earls of Clan Hunigtoth, the “Honeytooth”, and their people were facing twin evils, a terrible drought and the ascendency of a tyrant. Those Ghoddi who travelled west across the Dark Sea and helped drive the Empire from the Realm were eventually granted lands and a kingdom by The House of Hart. They formed their own esteemed house the House of Arko under their first queen, Aetrig.

In comparison to the Elder Houses, the House of Arko is rustic but noble nonetheless. The Ghoddi established small feudal lordships in Realm and rebuilt civilization and culture along their own lines. Elder Houses often characterize Arkans as simple but hearty, as foolish and yet noble at the same time. Arkans tend to characterize A’quilans as over-spoken and haughty. They tend to speak of the High-Born of Hart as distant, lofty, dragon-eyed or misty-headed. They rarely brush elbows with the people of the House of Draech.

It is rumored that some among the Arkans still keep to an ancient tradition of were-priests. These dréowudu, as they are rumored to exist, shape-shift into the likeness of great bears at certain times of year, though the purpose of this practice is unknown. It was rumored that both Aescer and Aethel themselves were dréowudu.

In their great Mead Halls the Arkans feast and sing. Indomitable and magnanimous in spirit, in conflict one is hard pressed to shake an Arkan warrior, as she has learned to laugh in the face of danger and dying in combat brings the souls of Arkan warriors forever after to the Waldgeneort, Meadhall of the Gods. To an Arkan, life is too short to live without joy and a valorious death assures joy ever after!

Raise a Mead Glass to the Mighty Huskarls of the House of Arko!

  CAMPERS: The Arkans shout!

 House of Sahn-Gliér

Now behold the Untamed House of Sahn-Gliér! People of the Hunt! Orphans of the Great Sahn!

  CAMPERS: The House of Sahn-Gliér shouts!

 The Khodé have a lineage connected to the people of the House of Arko. And while both peoples came from east of the sea, the Khodé have been much more tenacious in holding on to their old traditions. They formed the House of Sahn-Gliér merely for the formality of political recognition after struggling to consolidate land late in the game.

From their first ship landings on the northern shores of Nagooth, the Khodé allied with outcast goblin peoples living in the region and fought fiercely with rivals in the west and north to establish a claim on the vast lowlands known as the Sahn. Heck, many in the House of Shan-Gliér nowadays are full-blooded goblins! There is little love from the Elder Houses for the ‘new’ House of Sahn-Gliér, and for a long while the Arkans mistrusted their new neighbors as well. Arkans rarely describe their cousins as friendly, but the people of Theh House of Sahn-Gliér do have a loyal nature and are highly respected as oath-keepers. Thankfully the Khodé and their goblin siblings do not rise quickly to anger, though they rarely forgive and never forget.

The goblin name for the region the Khodé first inhabited was incorporated into the name of their Esteemed House: The Wild Ones of the Sahn. Through the traditions of the Khodé, the old world of the ‘newcomers’ can be glimpsed at: warrior-gods and sacrifice, trial-by-combat and the blood feud. Central to Khodé cosmology is the sacred hunt of Toor-Toorch, the Great Boar, a hunting custom very similar to the tusked and horned goblin-people of the Sahn who first showed the Khodé kindness and mercy as foreigners in an alien land. Warriors will disappear for years on a sacred hunt, a practice known as Utlaga. Other clans called warriors in Utlaga, outlaws, for Utlaga travel wherever the hunt calls them and challenge any who stand in their way!

Make way for the Potent House of Sahn-Gliér!

  CAMPERS: Sahn-Gliér shouts!

House of Hákkarl

If the coming of these Newcomers weren’t enough, the last half century has seen all peoples beset upon by sea wolves of the north! Behold the Ikkerik House of Hákkarl! The Seekers! Hell Ravens! And Fortunate Ones!

   CAMPERS: A shout from Hákkarl!

The Ikkerik came from the cold and furious north, escaping a winter that had not ceased for three long years. Desperate and starving, teams of Ikkerik grasped thick hawsers and dragged their Drakkar Ships over hundreds of miles of frozen waves until the salty ice cracked beneath their very feet and they were free! They pulled themselves into their ships from the slushy brine, shook off the cold and wet in their wolfskin mail and rowed south, unceasing!

When Ikkerik warriors first arrived in the Realm, they were fearsome and bold and it seemed to other Newcomers who met them, that warriors from an ancient age had arrived. The Ikkerik spoke in an archaic and formal fashion, yet their ships and machines were cleverer than any ever seen. They called themselves the Hákkarla or seekers, for prophets among them who dreamed of the Sjohere called for the Ikkerik to sail south and find the green land promised for their children. A prosperous people who never take residence far from the sea, a confederation of free towns under no higher authority, the House of Hákkarl was formed as the House of Sahn-Gliér was… a mere formality for entering greater political matters of the Realm, though the Ikkerik care little for the High Throne in Icenia and take what they will and from whom can.

None here humble themselves before Hákkarl! Stand tall in front of the free house, and lords of none! On your feet now!

   All shout?

Where Will You Go Today?

Now the history has been recounted to thee! Where will it go from this day forward? None can say! We live in a dangerous and cynical age. An age of military adventure and political opportunism! The Age of the Newcomers. Have eyes in the back of your head, kid! And realize sometimes your best choice is a bad choice among worse ones! The balance of power swings unpredictably. All are allies! All are enemies! How will you and your house navigate these impossible times? Go forth! Get thee out of my field! Begin!