Wednesday, 11 March 2026

Campaign ‘26: Exiles of a Thousand Islands, Session 7

This is a report concerning the seventh session of Pariah: Exiles of a Thousand Islands, an old school sandbox game set in [a version of] the world of  A Thousand Thousand Islands, as described in a series of zines and seminal adventure Reach of the Roach God, all by Zedeck Siew and Munkao.

Campaign '26 is a challenge issued by RPG blogger/man-mountain Nathan Bateman in this post:  participants pledge to run or play a game for most of the year 2026. I have sworn a sacred oath to run a PARIAH Campaign using the ATTI zines (and accompanying adventure, Reach of the Roach God) for the whole of 20026. 

A group of outcast hunter-gatherer elders and a gang of youths have crossed the perilous seas in dugout canoes and landed on a mysterious island. Though they are surviving off the land, they have lost one of their number to a tiger attack. The elders are looking to secure the future of their new home by contacting neighbouring settlements and spirit-of-the land, both in the Here & Now and through the parallel realm of the Dawn.

On their trip to Dawn they were informed that gold was to be found in a range of rocky hills to the east: this was confirmed by a mysterious crow-spirit, who offered to trade them the lives of their youths for some gold. They declined, electing to seek gold the old fashioned way. Previous session reports below:

Session 0

Session 1

Session 2

Sessions 3-6

A Sunda Crow

Session 7: 5th March 2026 

Who Played

Players were represented this session by Brett Slocum, Louis Jenner and Tinhead Ned.

Characters:
  • Brooding Mountain and The Cuckoo, outcast male youths
  • Hard Boulder, outcast female youth
  • Sweet Told No Lies and Monsoon Swallows Pride, elderly male pariahs
  • White Moon, adult male pariah

What Happened

Day 7th of 3rd Month of Dry Season. Clear skies, morning.
I'm going to detail this as a series of bullet points for brevity:
  • Party headed towards volcano in the west, but following coast rather than ridge line.
  • Travel by foot, with plans to scout for suitable places to leave canoes on future missions
  • Mostly rocky with some sandy beaches, multiple inlets but all shallow enough to cross (this will be different when the monsoons come, especially at high tide)
  • Party have been told gold is to be found in the cascades and streams of the north and eastern slopes
  • They follow coast as far as possible, plan to approach volcano from northern slope
After some lunch they start the ascent, soon noticing a stand of bamboo, violently shaken by a localised tornado. The bamboo whistles beautifully, White Moon goes to inspect
  • Approach and hear a jealous voice "She's Mine"
  • White Moon reaches out a hand to the bamboo against the advice of Sweet Told No Lies
  • Receives a hand-slap from an invisible entity
  • The party witness the wind coalesce into the figure of a semi-corporeal male figure
  • White Moon cuts a dead cane from the clump, leaping back before being harmed by the wind spirit
  • The spirit postures and pouts, but when the party explain they're on their way it soon gets back to ravishing its beautiful bamboo
As they ascend the highlands grow more verdant, densely forested. They follow the route of a currently dry stream, occasionally witnessing trickles of water.
  • A low tremor shakes the earth
  • A large body of mud tears itself from the hillside and slides down, just to the east of the pariahs
  • It shimmers with gold.
  • Once the tremor has passed, the party poke the mud with stick. It's now solid but the flecks of gold are no longer visible, perhaps having sunk below the surface
While they poke around Monsoon Swallows Pride gros aware that he is being watched. He turns to the see the figure of an adolescent girl, crouched in the boughs of a tree:

Wingseed by Munkao

  • The girl watches for a bit, asks what they're doing
  • When party explain "looking for gold", she says there's more valuable things to be found in her forest
  • Offers to be a guide through the forest to the west. Party say they're busy.
  • She advises the party how to reach the streams on the east slope (I think she confirmed ther ewas gold there but can't remember)
  • Tells them to call for Wingseed if they need a guide on the way back
As Wingseed heads to the west, the party notice that a garlanded dog follows after her. It stops for a little bit, to give them all a stare:

Dangles by Munkao

The party had to the eastern slopes, locating the stream. They make camp, building a fire and setting watch:
  • During the night one of the youths is awoken by a plaintive cry "Help!" it calls, in a weak voice
  • A mouse deer with the face of an old woman emerges from the forest
  • As it comes to the fire, the party are awoken. They discuss what to do
  • Old Mouse deer issues trembling mono-syllable only, warning "not me help – you!"
  • Just on the edge of the fire: four giant leeches appear...
There the session ended, with no further play for a fortnight.

Notes

On reflection, the first part of the journey was a little drawn out because I was asking the party to make decisions when there were no real risks. If this were a dungeon crawl, it would be akin to asking them if they want to keep going when they're halfway down the corridor. I think the first 45 minutes of play could have been progressed in about a third of the time, and then we would have had and concluded our first actual combat!

Pacing is something I do struggle with in open sandbox play. I think my strategy will be to provide information and move on, if there's no immediate risk. The players have the chance to rewind and address something if I've moved too fast, or they can make a note and investigate it in a later session.

On the latter point it's been helpful running a parallel campaign of Dolmenwood: two sessions in and I feel the pacing is sufficiently brisk while still being player-led. The set-up of the broader Dolmenwood sandbox has also given me food for thought, though this has largely just reignited what Luke Gearing has been telling us for a while about Carcosa and showing us in his game Wolves Upon the Coast.

To conclude: I'm looking forward to the campaign really picking up now, especially since the introduction of more of the ATTI material (Wingnut is a resident of Upper Heleng, which I've place in the adjoining hex) and some actual life-threatening violence. Potential TPK situation if the party aren't clever! It's just a pity that we've had to take a week off and won't be back until 19th.

Addendum: Experience

I haven't been tracking experience!

Elders don't gain experience (they've gained it already), they're not usually sent on expeditions but the players have grown attached to their starting characters and have been sending them all over the place.

However, I've changed my mind and decided it would be cool if youths could grow diegetically, the same way pariahs do (i.e. through Xs).

Here's my breakdown:
  • Session 1 (arrival, camp, weird moth guy): no experience given
  • Session 2 (scouting and base-building): no experience given
  • Session 3 (recce westward): Xs for Hard Boulder and The Cuckoo for surviving the trip west, Xs each for surviving the homeward journey (2 Xs each, placed anywhere)
  • Session 4 (trip to Quiet Lake): White Moon gains an X against EITHER their Entheogens skill or their Death Save for failing to properly engage with the Sorcerers Sage. Xs for Brooding Mountain, Hard Boulder, White Moon and The Cuckoo for surviving the trip west. Xs for Brooding Mountain, Hard Boulder, White Moon and The Cuckoo discovering Horsehead Cave.
  • Session 5 (explore  to Quiet Lake): Xs for Brooding Mountain, Hard Boulder, White Moon and The Cuckoo for locating the Village by Quiet Lake. Xs for Brooding Mountain, Hard Boulder, White Moon and The Cuckoo for surviving the trip home
  • Session 6 (Vision Quest into the Dawn): no Xs for anyone as this was just Sweet Told No Lies and Monsoon Swallows Pride
  • Session 7 (trip to the eastern hills): X to White Moon for stealing the bamboo;  Xs for Brooding Mountain, Hard Boulder, White Moon and The Cuckoo for locating the Gold Stream. Xs for Brooding Mountain, Hard Boulder, White Moon and The Cuckoo for surviving until camp is made (they may not make it through the night!).
Below I've listed the total Xs Pariahs have received so far:
  • Brooding Mountain 6 Xs placed anywhere
  • The Cuckoo 8 Xs placed anywhere
  • Hard Boulder 8 Xs placed anywhere
  • White Moon 7 Xs placed anywhere, 1 X placed against either death save or Entheogens skill (if he doesn't have this skill, he can begin to learn it)

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