Since I've been experiencing feelings of withdrawal because of a serious lack of gaming, I was delighted when the GM who had contacted me last month set another date for a first gaming session (the last one, to which I couldn't go because of my cold, ended up being canceled).

So we all met up on Friday, got to know one another a bit, created our characters, and had a long evening full of board games, shop talk and laughter.

I'm not usually good with strangers, and I'm hopelessly tense in social situations with people I don't know and have no idea what to talk about with, but in this instance, I felt comfortable right from the beginning. I sincerely hope that we'll keep on getting along this well and that the group will stay together and game regularly.

The first gaming session was set for Sunday and was also fun, but I ended up being glad that creating my character's background began and ended with finding him a historically accurate name, because I doubt I'll have the chance to play him again any time soon.

But first let me go back a little and explain a bit about the background of the gaming system the adventure was set in - "Castle Falkenstein". Essentially, it's a steampunk setting in Victorian times taking place in a slightly different Europe ("Neurope") in which the US never became a world power and Prussia, Bavaria, Austria (and the other German states) never merged into the German Empire. Further divergences from history are the existence of magic and various faery creatures (including dwarves and dragons).

Our adventure was set in 1867 at the Royal Court in Vienna, to which we'd been sent as part of the entourage of the new Spanish ambassador. I played a Spanish naval officer who was secretly a member of the Freemason lodge (and thereby a magic user able to cast spells in the areas of alchemy and illusions).

Fun fact: The two guys of our gaming group played women, the other girl and me played men.

Anyway, our characters had been ordered to meet with a dwarven emissary in a Viennese café, receive a dispatch, and hand it over to a German nobleman during the evening's masquerade ball.

The dwarf was accompanied by an apparently mute, very pale young human woman of whom we only learnt the first name. A seeming accident with a steam-propelled car in front of the café created enough confusion that the dwarf's companion was abducted right underneath our noses. The dwarf received a message that her abductor would exchange her for the dispatch in a few hours, and told us he'd only give it to us tonight if we managed to find and save her.

Not having much choice, we agreed. Then three of us set off in order to question the actors who'd created the diversion in front of the café, and our fourth, a noblewoman of Prussian descent, took off on her own.

What we didn't know was that she was a double agent for Prussia who'd apparently never heard of subtlety, for she followed the dwarf into an empty alley and attacked him from behind hoping to knock him out and steal the dispatch. She ended up shooting him when he didn't go down immediately and killed him in cold blood so that he wouldn't be able to identify her later.

Unaware of those events, we managed to identify the dwarf's ward's abductor (a French nobleman who'd arrogantly undertaken no measures to conceal his identity) and informed an associate of the dwarf's we'd been told to contact.

That was essentially where the adventure ended prematurely. The associate, a dragon who usually avoided interfering in human politics, had a crucial interest in saving the missing woman (for she wasn't really a human, but an automaton created by the dwarf and animated by the dragon's magic who'd cease to function if too long away from him). He put the fear of god in the French officer and his superiors, rescued the girl, and had 'our' Prussian baroness arrested and incarcerated for the rest of her life - in fact, she was lucky that he didn't kill her outright.

Result of our little caper: The adventure, set to entertain us for several gaming sessions, ended after only one. In-game, the diplomatic relations between Spain, Greece and various other countries were at an all-time low, and our characters barely escaped being sent home in disgrace.

I think the GM will have us try another gaming system and world the next time.

Honestly, I don't understand our fellow gamer's motivation. Why did he do what he did? How could he not see what a enormously bad idea it was - acting as a fucking assassin in a setting heavy on diplomacy? I facepalmed the entire time. The GM took it with surprising grace - despite all his hours of prep work wasted.

I think my next character will be a thief or assassin. After all, when one member of your group is clearly insane and you can't fight 'em - join 'em.