Altought this post is called Playtest 1#, this is not the first playtest, but it's the first playtest since I posted Four Crystals to Itch!

The Situation

I tried to plan a playtest but this week was rough on me. 

My basic idea was for the Adventurer's to be on a ship and that ship is attacked by an island's artillary cannon. After the ship sank the Adventurers find a way to reach the solitary island. This island has two things going against it: 

1. First is the pirates that took control of the cannon tower and controls the nearby ocean, this means the villagers can't leave to go fishing. 
2. Second is the Sahagins (fish people) who are ruining the village's crops in order to turn the island into a swamp, by vomiting giant quantities of salt water into land.

I wanted the villagers to be desperate.

Action and player agency

When they reached the island, three things were aparent to them: the tower, the fishing hamlet and, in the centre of the island, a village.

They were pissed at the tower so they scouted to see what would happen. Soon enough, a pirate ship approached the island and started to supply the tower. They devised a plan to infiltrate the tower and disable the cannon. On a random encounter, two Sahagin showed up, they were not hostile towards the party but were not friendly either. The party decided to leave them alone and heard the clear sound of vomiting.

The Rogue climbed through the window and was met by six pirates sleeping around a small fire. After a successful AGI check, the Rogue leaves the room and heads towards the front door, where there are two pirates playing cards. The Rogue quickly dispatches on of them while the rest of the party bursts through the front door and kills the other. They then decide to burn the whole tower (is a regular thing they do.)

While this is burning, they assume the pirate ship notices and they decide to steal a small boat from the pirates. They managed to reach the pirate ship and kill the captain violently (is a regular thing they do.). They then proceded to take control of the ship and leave the island.

Thank you for reading this report of a small "wing it" playtest. I hope to encourage you to share your experiences playing Four Crystals.

Have a nice weekend and happy playing!