Polaris
Chivalric Tragedy at the Utmost North
I finally had the chance to play Polaris again, and this time with my long-time friends Fredrik Dahlman and Daniel Malmqvist. We have been gaming together (semi-)regularly since about 2003, and gotten to know each other and our likes and dislikes very well. More of our past in gaming is spread all over this site.
Polaris is a beautiful story game, geared towards a long-term campaign with a definite tragic end in about 12+ sessions. I have played the game once before, but had to quit that game after only a few sessions due to health issues, which I have yet to recover from. Once I am able to regularly travel again I hope to hook up with Anders and Jonas again, and perhaps play another game of Polaris.
Read more about our mindset for starting the game
Our regular weekly game at this time is supposed to be The Governor's Daughter in The Burning Wheel, but we haven't been able to play much lately. My chronic headaches have been getting in the way, as has the medication, and other real life obligations from the rest of the group (moving, new relationships, jobs, vacation, etc.). Anyhow, those who have been able have still met and played some boardgames and a little inSpectres and talked about our main game.
Our gaming group consists as always of me, Joachim "Yoki" Erdtman, the de facto gamemaster of the group, Lars Karlsson, Fredrik Dahlman, and Daniel Malmqvist. Dahlman, Lars and I have been friends since grade school. I'm born 1970, they in 1971. Daniel is a school mate of one of my cousins, and former roleplaying buddy, and quite a bit younger, born in 1982. I am actively trying to encourage the others to dare pick up the gamemaster reigns, to allow me to recharge my batteries, and with a few more forays into GM-less play such as Polaris, who knows...
We had a player character die during the second session of The Burning Wheel game, which punched the winds out of our sails a bit, since the campaign was still trying to get off the ground. The fact that it was Lars killing Daniel's character also left people feeling like we have issues of trust to deal with. We've cleared this up though, and it basically came down to Daniel breaking the agreed upon theme document and in doing so humiliating Lars' character, we took a moment to consider, I offered Daniel the chance to burn a Persona Point to buy a Complication, and get out of dying, but he chose to die — fair enough!
Since then we've fought real life trying to get the game going again, and also burned up a new character for Daniel. My headaches have been awful, and I've cancelled several sessions last minute, actually my wife had to as I couldn't even get to the phone, but we've kept in touch. Lars also mucked up our schedule, by having real life demands that made Thursdays unfit for gaming, so we scrambled to accommodate Tuesday nights instead. Dahlman had to juggle work schedules, but managed to switch evenings, around so he's now free both Tuesdays and Thursdays, talk about dedication! Then Lars booked a holiday from Tuesday to Tuesday missing two in a row...
So Daniel, Dahlman and I have been meeting for a while. Talking roleplaying, playing card, and boardgames (as can be seen in Holken). However, this can only last for so long. Dahlman is notoriously impatient and loathes any kind of gaming that isn't roleplaying. He sees it as a waste of time, as it doesn't create anything, and doesn't leave any lasting impressions or memories. While I certainly don't agree, I love roleplaying enough that you don't have to twist my arm much to get me to roleplay, when I'm able. On recommendation of my neurologist I have lowered the dose of my medication, am now feeling a bit more alert, and let them convince me to start another game in Lars's absence.
We first looked at Spirit of the Century, since it's a pickup game, and would be perfect for winging standalone adventure at the drop of a hat, when a player is missing, but since character creation is pretty much a game on its own and all should be present for it, it was shelved. We then looked at other alternatives, and as I was not willing to gamemaster, and Dahlman has previously given his thumbs down to Contenders, Polaris won pretty much by elimination. Well, I love the game so much that I was not about to complain.
Dahlman read the entire background chapter out loud, to set the mood, allowing for him and Daniel to grasp what Polaris is really about. This was great. We then delved into creating characters, and you can see the result of this below. I also started discussing the structure of the game, but once we got as far as the conflict mechanics, it was too much talk and too little action, so we started playing instead.
Enough of the past now, or perhaps, time for another retelling of the past. More wisps of memories from utmost north, a time mostly forgotten, except for a privileged few, who still hear the tale of the brave in their restless minds as they gather in the candlelight to share the stories with their friends. This is the story about three such friends, and the stories they shared.
Session 1
Long ago, the people were dying at the end of the world
Scene 1 - Yoki's
But hope was not yet lost, for Canis Major still heard the song of the stars.
I took the first scene. Dahlman first "volunteered" Daniel to take the first scene, but Daniel was suffering acute stage fright and had a deer in headlights look, so I grabbed the spotlight instead and framed the first scene around my own Heart - your Heart is your protagonist in Polaris. I wanted to show the guys how to cut to the chase, and get to the meaty part of a scene without waffling. So I said something like...
And so it was Canis Major walked into his sister's room in Tallstar Remnant, finding Sirius in her bed violating her!
We start with free play, roleplaying back and forth, but only a little. Daniel is still shell shocked. He doesn't know what to do. We had read and discussed the sections in the book about Guidance, and what the Heart, Moon, and Mistaken were responsible for respectively, but it was still a bit too alien to him. I played Sir Canis Major, my Heart, Dahlman Sirius one of my Mistaken, and Daniel Wezen, my baby sister and a New Moon character.
"Unhand my baby sister, Sirius!" barks Sir Canis Major. "Why should I? Will you rat on me to your senator as usual?" counters Sirius. "Wezen, get out of bed and cover up!" shouts Sir Canis Major. "But I can't, Sirius is my elder." whimpers Wezen.
To heck with this I say. I grab Sirius and ram him headfirst into the elaborate headboard of the bed wrecking his face against it! And we're in conflict, exit stage left for Daniel and Wezen, now it's just me and my Mistaken, that is Dahlman. But only if Sirius disembowels Wezen with his huge claws first, says Dahlman. And furthermore, I say checking off my Ability Theme, using my Lore of Demons Aspect, Sirius is so badly scarred from being slammed into the headboard that he's forever marked as a demon. Daniel, as the judge approved of the use of the Theme. It shall not come to pass, states Dahlman, who freaked out over my willingness to have my sister day in my first scene. He always hates seeing NPCs die, and was totally counting on me to back down, but hell no! Now I actually have a reason to hate that bastard Sirius, this is a great start to the game. I have to roll my Light Value or less on 1d6, but get to add Zeal since the Mistaken called for the roll, so it's 5 or less, which I make and the conflict ends. Next I roll for Experience, and roll over my Zeal, which results in a complete refresh of all my Themes.
And so it was that Sir Canis Major found himself covered in his baby sister's still warm innards, having unmasked his cousin as a demon and broken his face against the headboard of the bed, feeling as if a weight was tugging at his heartstrings...
Scene 2 - Dahlman's
Dahlman was a bit lost at what scene to frame, he first stated that Sir Sheratan was "travelling to the South," but I suggested that it wasn't nearly meaty enough. How about a crusade against the Mistake, a big battle, funeral of the penultimate Aries, etc. The result...
But hope was not yet lost, for Sheratan still heard the song of the stars.
And so it was that Sir Sheratan and Sir Maaz found themselves fighting back-to-back, surrounded by a demon host, far to the south.
Whoa, there's the deer in headlights look again. Daniel is Dahlman's Mistaken, and since Dahlman framed as scene with nothing but antagonists, I as his Moon had nothing to do in the scene, but offer suggestions or judge conflicts. It was all up to Daniel to offer proper opposition. I look at Dahlman's protagonist record sheet and suggest that Dabih the Butcher swoops down on a frost dragon, which bites off Sir Maaz head, but I only seem to overwhelm Daniel, who once I shut up finds his bearings and delivers...
Towering over the demon host, shoving them violently to the sides, out steps Dabih the Butcher, the fallen Knight. He holds loft his Sun Sword and skewers both Sir Sheratan and Sir Maaz on the flaming sword!
But only if the Sun Sword turns to ice and I break it with a mighty swing with my Starlight Sword, adds Dahlman. But only if Sir Maaz bursts into flames and dies first, counters Daniel. And that is how it happened, says Dahlman ending the conflict.
And so it was that Sir Sheratan found himself pierced by the Dabih the Butcher's Sun Sword, only to destroy it with his righteousness, while his brother Sir Maaz died, leaving him the sole heir to Aries.
We actually messed up the rules a bit here, as Dahlman and Daniel tried to go at it without using the reference sheets. Dahlman did use the key conflict phrase "And furthermore..." to state that the Sun Sword turned to ice, and exhausted the Blessing Theme and the Aspect of his Starlight Sword, but since this was then followed up by a "But only if..." phrase by Daniel, and accepted by Dahlman, we retrofitted the conflict to be all "But only if..." phrases.
But that all happened long ago, and now there are none who remember it.
And so ends our first foray into Polaris. I was very pleased. Pleased that I got to play this awesome game with my best friends, pleased that they took the time to read and discuss the background material, pleased that we had two very cool albeit short scenes, and pleased that we're already talking about squeezing in another weekly gaming session so we can keep playing Polaris regularly! Hoody hoo!
The Protagonists
Sir Canis Major
Yoki's Heart
| Offices | Knight of the Order of the Stars |
|---|---|
| Blessings | Starlight Sword Bound Companion Scuti ('the shield') |
| Abilities | Lore of Demons Technique: Song of Truth |
| Fate | Senator Draco |
| Mistaken (Dahlman) |
Sirius (cousin, scarred demon with claws) The Deaf Lier |
|---|---|
| Full Moon (Daniel) |
Senator Draco Sir Sheratan |
| New Moon (Daniel) |
Bound Companion Scuti Sir Andromeda Wezen (baby sister, dead) |
| Zeal | Light | Ice | Weariness |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Sir Sheratan
Dahlman's Heart
| Offices | Knight of the Order of the Stars Sole Heir of Aries |
|---|---|
| Blessings | Starlight Sword |
| Abilities | Lore of Demons |
| Fate | Senator Draco Idea: The South |
| Mistaken (Daniel) |
Senator Draco Dabih (the butcher, fallen knight) |
|---|---|
| Full Moon (Yoki) |
Speaker Taurus Sir Canis Major Sir Andromeda |
| New Moon (Yoki) |
Companion Scuti Cancer (jealous ex) |
| Zeal | Light | Ice | Weariness |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Sir Andromeda
Daniel's Heart
| Offices | Knight of the Order of the Stars |
|---|---|
| Blessings | Starlight Sword Wings of the Northern Lights |
| Abilities | Lore of Demons Lore of the Outer Wastes |
| Fate | Senator Draco |
| Mistaken (Yoki) |
Cassiopeia (mother) Almach (daughter, 'weasel') |
|---|---|
| Full Moon (Dahlman) |
Sir Canis Major Sir Sheratan |
| New Moon (Dahlman) |
Companion Scuti Senator Draco |
| Zeal | Light | Ice | Weariness |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |