Anno Domini 1837 The Crossing at Benares

The Setup

You do not need a shared backstory for how you got here. Some came up the lake on a small local ferry, others off a larger schooner — it does not matter, and it is not worth dwelling on. What matters is that you all step onto the same wharf within moments of each other, strangers converging in a loud, busy, unfamiliar town. This is the natural moment to introduce your characters to one another for the first time.

Location note

Cooper’s Wharf is a real dock near Church Street, close to the mouth of the Don River — genuinely close to where the Gooderham & Worts distillery stands. The distillery does not get its own dedicated wharf until the 1840s, so in 1837 it is visible and smellable nearby rather than right at the water’s edge. St Lawrence Market, operating since 1803, sits just a short walk north — close enough that the market and the wharves function as one connected, compact hub of the town.

Sensory Texture

  • Sound & motion: cargo being unloaded, tradespeople and dockhands moving in every direction, general hustle tied to the very real, very active distillery construction happening nearby.
  • Smell: the early distillery — grain, mash, new construction — carried on the air.
  • Sight: a mix of vessels at the berths — tall-masted sailing schooners alongside early steamboats, since both were genuinely working Lake Ontario side by side by 1837.

The Dock Agent

A no-nonsense woman working the wharf, mid-shout at dockhands about crates and ropes when you arrive. She does not offer a warm welcome — new arrivals are background noise to her. Mid-instruction to someone else, she jerks a thumb at a weathered notice board nailed up near the wharf and mentions, almost as an afterthought, that Fort York’s forge is looking for hands — barely breaking stride. If you want more than that, you will have to go read the board yourselves or catch her between orders.

The Path Into Town

Walking north from the wharf, you pass through the bustle of St Lawrence Market — farmers, small merchants, carts, the ordinary noise of a growing colonial town — before the tavern sign comes into view just across from the market. A clean, walkable through-line: wharf → market → tavern, with the job board already planting Fort York in your minds before you ever sit down for a drink.

What This Scene Is For

  • Letting you introduce your characters to each other naturally, without forcing it
  • Planting Fort York as a destination before the tavern does it again
  • Establishing York’s texture — busy, industrialising, muddy, alive — right out of the gate

Worth remembering

Look up. Look at things. Ask about things. This campaign rewards the player who examines the ship instead of the dock.

Further Reading