Supplement Four
Mongoose
In my game (that is focussed on a clan of Cimmerian Barbarians, starting from a young age, following the characters through life), the very first obstacle I tossed at the players was something I devised called the "Ras Croi". In English, this translates from this particular dialect of Cimmerian to "Race of the Heart" or "Race to test the Heart".
I basically created a long foot-race around the village with plenty of natural obstacles (the endurance test for the race itself, swimming, moving through difficult terrain, jumping off a cliff or over a crevasse, balancing on a log over a crevasse, climbing, throwing, etc). Starting at age 12, young clansmen run the Ras Croi, and those that finish, start their journey towards manhood (being accepted as a warrior for the clan) via a three year warrior training program. Those that fail to finish the race can try again the following year.
The elders in the clan use the Ras Croi to determine which young clansmen are physically mature enough to begin warrior training and which are not quite physically ready to begin combat training.
It's not a super original idea, but I did make it up from scratch (got the term "Ras Croi" from an online Celtic translation program, then changed it up a bit to sound "cool"). And, it was the centerpoint of our very first game session.
Well, imagine what my players thought when they went to see the new Conan movie and saw young Conan run around the village with a sparrow egg in his mouth.
"They're runnin' the Ras Croi!" My players said to me as we watched the movie in a group.
That was kinda neat.
I basically created a long foot-race around the village with plenty of natural obstacles (the endurance test for the race itself, swimming, moving through difficult terrain, jumping off a cliff or over a crevasse, balancing on a log over a crevasse, climbing, throwing, etc). Starting at age 12, young clansmen run the Ras Croi, and those that finish, start their journey towards manhood (being accepted as a warrior for the clan) via a three year warrior training program. Those that fail to finish the race can try again the following year.
The elders in the clan use the Ras Croi to determine which young clansmen are physically mature enough to begin warrior training and which are not quite physically ready to begin combat training.
It's not a super original idea, but I did make it up from scratch (got the term "Ras Croi" from an online Celtic translation program, then changed it up a bit to sound "cool"). And, it was the centerpoint of our very first game session.
Well, imagine what my players thought when they went to see the new Conan movie and saw young Conan run around the village with a sparrow egg in his mouth.
"They're runnin' the Ras Croi!" My players said to me as we watched the movie in a group.
That was kinda neat.
