Chasing the Sunset is a West Marches-style exploration game using Fellowship 2nd Edition‘s Horizon rules.
Fairmeadow Fair is a campaign using Dungeon World rules.
GM note: I started runing Chasing the Sunset after Fairmeadow Fair had been going for a year. Fairmeadow Fair was using mostly Dungeon World rules, but I threw out encumbrance, Fronts, variable damage, and 3-18 stats with modifiers. So was I really playing Dungeon World? Since Fellowship did more things that I liked, and Chasing The Sunset could handle multiple parties in the same fictional world, I asked my players to join Chasing The Sunset’s shared world. They agreed, and this is the transitional session.
Behind the screen (I don’t play with a screen. It’s a metaphor.), I attached the map of Fairmeadow and its surroundings to the continent on which Chasing The Sunset takes place. Lucia the Paladin was easy to convert to Lucia the Heir, but Gleador the Druid has no counterpart in Fellowship’s rules, so Gleador’s player created a new character, Dryden the Collector. In this session, that player played two characters from two different rulesets at the same time in the same fictional space!
People from Lucia’s far-off homeland have important news, and are searching for her in the other continent that she’s traveling in. Mara is Lucia’s servant, and Will is her bodyguard. With only vague information of her whereabouts, they have taken many wrong turns, and gone up several rivers, with and without paddles. Her childhood friend Dryden is with them, although he wasn’t invited. They finally find the river that leads to Sugar’s crossing. Mara and Will have proper papers and easily clear the bureaucracy in the port city, but Dryden isn’t really supposed to be there. He creates a distraction by firing a special bean into the river near the ship he wants to board. The bean rapidly grows, emerging from the water, separating into two branches, and forming a bridge from one side of the river ot the other. Everyone is amazed, and Dryden can easily slip on board and duck into Mara & Wills’ cabin. They are a bit annoyed by his shenanigans, but they are also grinning.
Later, Gleador and Lucia are rowing south on the river as the boat containing their friends passes. They spot each other and yell and wave. Lucia and Gleador turn their boat and attempt to catch up to the larger vessel by rowing hard, but they are too slow. Gleador transforms into a water horse with a dolphin tail and a frog’s grabby tongue. With Lucia on his back, he easily catches up to the boat. Mara shouts that she brings news from home. Gleador attempts to stop the boat by shoving it sideways into the shore. Once the boat is stopped, they can all speak calmly, right? The boat’s pilot is very upset by this attempt to wreck his boat, and the crew rushes out with poles and the like to get Gleador away. Lucia tells Will and Mara to jump overboard! Gloeador won’t be able to carry all three of them. Mara jumps to land on Gleador’s back. Will is about to jump in the river and swim for it, when Dryden emerges! He pulls out a smooth, flat, round stone, about the size of his hand, and starts spinning it. It magically generates force that lifts him into the air. He spins it faster, overcharging it so it lifts Will also, and he flies the two of them to shore! Lucia uses her special bloodline power to make the boat crew forget the past few minutes, and everyone meets up on shore.
GM note: Is this “make people forget the last few minutes” power going to become a problem? Time will tell!
Mara delivers important news from home. “Your mother, the Queen, has died of natural causes. You are the heir.” She hands over a symbol of royalty: a leaf brooch. Lucia pins it to an inner layer of clothing, so it’s not always visible, but it’s easy to flash when appropriate. Mara continues. Lucia’s younger brother is ruling in her absence. The royal family knows that Lucia doesn’t want to rule, and that she’s out here questing to remind people that the old kingdom hasn’t vanished. They support Lucia’s life choices. Now that she’s queen, she must be attended properly, so Will & Mara, people that Lucia knew back when she lived in the palace, will travel with her. Mara’s about Lucia’s age, so they grew up together. Will is older and was more of an uncle figure. He’s got grey hair and doesn’t talk much. He’s a bodyguard, and taught Lucia some fighting skills when she was young. The Queen’s death is sad, but not unexpected. She was old. Lucia had made her peace with her mother’s death already. She knew when she left that she would not see her mother again.
Dryden was not sent as part of Lucia’s entourage, but here he is! he explains that he had to tag along and help Will and Mara. He always has a sense of where Lucia is. You see, long ago, he was using Lucia’s bathroom to mix some potions so that he could track foxes, and Lucia spilled the concoction on herself. Lucia remembers, and points out that it never would have happened if Dryden hadn’t destroyed his own washroom with a previous experiment.
Gleador speaks up. “Alas, this news is grievous!” He showed Lucia a secret Druid ritual (and was exiled for it) in order to secure peace between the Druids and her kingdom. He promised the Queen that he would follow Lucia until she herself became queen, and now that vow is fulfilled. She has other companions, and he can go to regain his standing with the Druids in the Sapphire Islands to the south. Gleador thanks Lucia for her faithful companionship, and fondly remembers their many close calls. “Journey well. We will cross paths again.” With that, he transforms into a Phoenix and flies away! A single feather falls as he leaves, and Lucia picks it up as a keepsake.