Cook the Chaos | Running A Session

starting the session | watch rolls | fleshing out rumours | ending the session

 

starting the session

If this is the first time you’re playing here, before or after the character(s) have been created, it’s good to kick things off by outlining the general premise of the setting. Feel free to narrate this or adjust as you see fit...

 

So before we get going, the idea behind The Realm is that everything takes place at the far reaches beyond anything close to civilisation, where pretty much everyone lives and dies within, at most, a few miles from where they were born, where life's no more than hand to mouth, toiling away until you eat your supper and go to bed. Every day. No exploration, no dreams of something better, where travellers and adventurers might come and go, but raise no more than an eyebrow from those that live here. It's a place where rumours and gossip might well be whispered but there's never a chance in hell it'll be followed up, and crucially, it's a place where everyone understands absolutely that beyond the safety of the town walls and the farms lies nothing but danger, a world of nightmare and death, a realm that only fools explore at their peril.

 

And so those fools, that'll be you lot. You differ from these people. Within each one of you is a feeling that there's more to life. For whatever reason you've felt a call to explore, to create, to fight, to learn, and those rumours everyone else tries to ignore, they burn inside you, they make you crave deep down to do something about it, because in this, the furthest reaches of civilisation, what the hell else is there to do?

 

You can then begin the game with something like this...

 

The scene fades up, and we see all of you within The Keep around this huge oak table. Like, massive. On the table, aside from spilled drinks and the remains of your last meals, there's etched a number of locations in The Realm, scratched notes, vague maps and trails, rumours. Like, long before you guys came to this place, others like you have already ventured out into the wilderness, and those who've survived the brutality and the chaos magicks of The Realm have come back and shared the tale, etching that brutality right into this very table, just like you will if you survive. And around the table right now, other than you lot, you can all look up and see milling around some of those other folk like you, those who've felt that call. They're pointing at notes and working out plans. You've all, in your own ways, found a home in The Keep. Those other folk might be heading out on another quest somewhere else in The Realm, but you guys, you guys in various ways have come together with the idea of following up this rumour you’ve heard about... [ADD THE RUMOUR OR JOB THEY’RE FOLLOWING UP].

  • So can each of you tell us who you are, what you look like, what’s likely to catch others’ eyes about you?
  • And who is it that’s heard this rumour or job?
  • What were you up to when you heard it?

And as you stand about at this table, what’s your chat about your next steps, how are you actually planning on following up this rumour or job?

 

roll with it

After the intro, you can then take the player(s) to the first rolls of the session. The party will be starting out at The Keep, so in the first session, you as GM or the player(s) can roll to see what kind of terrain this home base rests within.

 

Watch rolls - weather, terrain, survival

Travel in The Realm is measured in watches - morning, afternoon, night. For each watch, roll to see what the weather is like, what the terrain is like (unless they’ve been there before), and maybe ask the party to roll 1d6 for navigation. They’ll head out in the direction of the rumour they’re following up, but if they roll 3 or under, the weather or terrain etc. will turn them around, so roll another 1d6. 3 or under and they end up travelling in the complete opposite direction. 4 or above and they head one turn left, so if they’re heading north, they’re now heading west. Given that they’re heading the wrong way and might get fatigued as they expend energy having to get back on track once they realise it, roll on the mishaps table to see what might happen.

 

More watch rolls - points of interest, encounters, chaos magicks

For each watch, you can roll also to see what points of interest crop up on the party’s journey no matter if they’re lost, for any encounters that might happen, and for any chaos magicks lacing the area in which they travel. Remind them to chalk off their rations & resources.

 

Need something quicker?

Here's a quick watch rolls generator that takes everything from the game deck and allows you to generate them with one click. Remember, of course, that the results from these rolls are only there to give you some sparks for laying out conflict for the player(s), so take what you need, chuck out what you don't, or ignore them altogether and create something that sounds cool to you.

 

Don’t sweat it - check out all your ingredients

So you might think you’ve got nothing but a blank recipe to work with, but as the characters head out into the wild, after a few quick rolls your imagination will have at its disposal the party’s chains, discords, failed careers & what’s gone wrong lately, plus the weather, terrain, mishaps, points of interest, encounters, and chaos magicks. Mix it together, and see what that cooks up!

 

Usually, unless you hand wave travel, it’ll take at least two watches to get to any location in The Realm, apart from The Town, which is just a one watch journey from The Keep. So once you’ve sorted your watch rolls, during travel or if they reach their destination or a point of interest, to give you head space to work out what’s coming up next and to cook the chaos you’ve all rolled up, ask the player(s) what they see or think, and try and get them talking about the rumours they’re following up, or about anything connected to their characters’ motivations or reasons they’re in The Realm, maybe even linked to their chains & discords, and get them chatting with queries like:

 

  • What does the party look like as you travel, who’s walking with who, what’s the chat?
  • You’re an empath, right, so how does that impact on your travels?
  • What about this place is catching your eye?
  • You’ve been travelling this way for some time now, how’re you making sure you’re going the right way?
  • What did you make of this rumour or job, what’s the plan if you get where you’re going?

 

Look to the tables, to the dice, to the players

In this sense, if you ever struggle to visualise what to present for the character(s), or if you don’t have the answer to a question, remember that The Realm is created by imagination. It’s a setting that will unfurl as you all explore, with everyone able to introduce new ingredients to the mix. So whenever you think it’ll make the most impact, keep rolling for changes in the weather, or for new chaos magicks and encounters, etc., and no matter the results, always to look to ask the player(s) (or oracles if cooking solo) what they are making of it, what the character(s) see, hear, feel, until you have enough of a rich stew of conflict in your mind to be chewed!

 

fleshing out rumours

Breathe life into rumours & jobs

We’ve talked about travelling through The Wilderness. Using watch rolls and all the other tables and information at your disposal, hopefully you’ll have enough to spark your imagination playing solo or whilst running the game, remembering that if you’re playing with others, given that you’re starting on a blank page with just a few basic locations in The Realm, the player(s) should be encouraged to join with you in building something together that you all find cool.

 

But what about when the character(s) reach their destination? Their objective in the session may have been to follow up on a specific rumour, but that’s all they, and you, have to work with. So how do you flesh that out? How will you know what they’ll face once they reach the place the rumour’s pertinent to?

 

Well yeah, you may have guessed it. What they end up facing might depend on your collective imagination around the table, and on rolls on whatever random encounter decks or tables you might have to hand. Beyond that, however, if you’re not sure how best to flesh it out and nothing comes up naturally, say, from the player(s) as they talk about any fears, hopes, or suspicions they might have as they talk about the rumours or jobs they’re following up, remember what the rules section said earlier about setting things up for the player(s)...

 

Hook, conflict, resolution, twist

Let’s say they’re following up the Taxing Problem rumour in this deck. It takes place in The Town. So if you’ve never been to this location with them before, the party will make its way through The Wilderness, working through your watch rolls, and ultimately may reach its destination. And here’s where it then gets even more interesting...

 

They’ve not been here before. So if you don’t have any ideas yourself about The Town or the rumour, maybe try to mould what they face around these four elements - hook, conflict, resolution, twist.

 

First, what does The Town look like when they cast eyes on it for the first time? Maybe ask each of the players what grabs their attention. The rumour talks of a potential uprising about taxes, and preparations for some war. So the hook might be fights in the street between the populace and guards, or the place is on lockdown given the unrest. The conflict might be the brutes mentioned, who’ve been charged by the local authority to collect taxes, or maybe they’re acting alone and are claiming they’re tax collecting but actually are doing it for their own gain and the local guards for some reason aren’t doing anything about it. The resolution will depend on how the party reacts to this, how the character(s) get involved, so if they get into a fight with the brutes or guards or end up taking advantage themselves or they try negotiating with the local authority, think about what might flow naturally from that. And for the twist, unless something comes up organically as the situation escalates, you can always introduce something else unrelated, like creatures get loose from their cages, an explosion in the marketplace, some inciting incident that interrupts the scenario and might take things in a completely different direction.

 

Don’t think too far ahead

So it’s best not to worry too much about how the rumour or job might unfold as time goes on. Treat it like any other encounter. Focus on the moments, ask the player(s) what they see, hear, feel, or are fearful or suspicious about, and build it out collectively from there. Who knows what’ll happen, but no doubt it’ll be chaotic!

 

ending the session

Closing off the session

Remember that each session is self-contained, so the idea is that the party will begin and end the session in The Keep. As the session nears its end, unless something comes up naturally to end the session and give the party a reason to return to The Keep, you’ll need to mention that the session’s about to end, and you might want to ask someone to come up with a narrative way the party needs to do an ‘about turn’ and head back. Then roll to return.

 

Roll to return

You can just explain that obviously they’ve now seen how difficult and potentially wild it can get out here beyond The Keep, and so to return safely there, you’ll be using a mechanic called roll to return, basically to see how safely they all manage to get back home. Check the mechanics for that in the keeping track section.

 

The idea is that you don’t really need a narrative reason to bring it to an end. If one comes up naturally, fair enough, but no need to search for a cliff-hanger or something cool. The player(s) will have seen how difficult the journey has been up to that point, so the roll to return is really just a means to reflect how dangerous the return to The Keep might be, something that says right guys, let’s wrap this up and if something’s not been resolved yet, you can try again next time. If you’re in the middle of combat even, you can just say things are getting a bit hectic and you all feel the need to scarper and regroup at The Keep.

 

They might ask you if their character(s) can just rest where they are and move on from there next time, but first, this may prove too dangerous, as anything can happen in The Realm when you’re not careful, and second, next session they might end up venturing out with other players and different characters. So it’s usually best that everyone returns to The Keep. That said, if as a group you decide it wiser for the party to pause and continue next time where the characters left off, go for it, and if someone does end up unable to make it to the next session, maybe their character’s accidentally left behind for that session, or you can roll on the missing players table to check what happens with the absent characters. The player(s) should then make sure their character sheets are up to date, because the next time they play with them, they’ll start out with everything in stasis, including their health.

 

Final remarks

And then it’s just about congratulating them (or yourself) for making it back to The Keep, telling them that once they’ve rested, their character(s) will begin to carve out some notes on that big oak table, sharing their tale and rumours with other adventurers and folks milling around The Keep.

 

So at this point or after the session’s ended, the player(s) can be reminded of what they need to do per their roles (sharing a session summary, any map that’s been drawn, updating The Stash & the time clock), and then everyone might have a chat about where they’d like to head next time in The Realm, what rumour they might want to follow up, having in mind that in future sessions, they won’t have to play in the same group and can pop in and out whenever they like.

 

what's next?

Ok, so from here you might want to...

...move onto the stash

...return to the cook the chaos intro

...or double check the rules of the chaos

Remember, though, that you can navigate anywhere on the site using the menus on each page, and if you ever get lost, roll 1d6 and we'll see what perils you encounter!