I have taken over a new campaign. Our players rolled up some new characters and I am going to do the GMing.

So far we have a Human Ratcatcher, Human Navigator, High Elf Bounty Hunter, and a Ogre Maneater.

The Navigator has been assigned to map out the Drakenfeld Woods near Middenheim. There have been some strange disappearences in the area. Every expedition into the woods winds up dead with body part everywhere.

They have been told by an old man in town to stay away from that acursed place. Many years before there was a family that lived there, there was a fire and the family was slain, since then no one has been able to get near the place.

On a side note there are some huge horse prints found around the edges of the forrest....

They failed a folklore test and think they belong to some Knights of the White Wolf...(the Ratcatcher is from Middenheim)

I am leaning toward them coming up on a shrouded figure on a huge horse..... well it will be Archaon... I am also replacing all of the wound cards with the severe cards.

Basically I am setting them up to get slaghtered on their first mission.... Grim and Perilous world

Any suggestions on where I should go after that? Should they wake up with no gold left and be in a Shallyan hospital? Or should I just kill them and have them start new new characters?

Unless they know this is "testing rules", I think sending them into a no-win is a very bad idea, grim and perilous or not, and starting by changing combat rules equally bad.

Particularly if you don't have a plot line after that encounter.

I gave them many options to not go in the woods. I want to make Archaon a recurring villain for them. He doesn't kill them yet, he just wounds them and allows them to escape and get treated by the shayllans. I think I will have a dozen knights of the white wolf show up at the last minute. I also won't reveal who he is, just hint at it. After this intro mission I want them to go north and revisit the whole crimson rain story arch we completed with our last set of characters. Kinda like a cross over.

Here's what I'd do instead:

* Instead of showing archaon right away, perhaps have several occurrence of evidence of his passing. He of course, wouldn't be alone and would have a lot of minions. This is a chance to foreshadow: coughing, dying beastman, "Archaon is here. You will meet him."

Have several locations to explore, such as ruined village, charred farmhouses, a newly designated herdstone, mutated trees from his passing..maybe have him annhilating the knights and the PCs come across the battle (rather than the PCs being saved by the knights).

give some specific things for each character to shine:

Navigator - have some tracking, way-finding, or something relevant

Ogre- share some news or war stories and experiences or stories that he would know

ratcatcher- lots of nature lore checks..what the animals are up to

bounty hunter - perhaps one of his bounties is out here in the woods, and is a dangerous foe, but when the PCs come across him, he is terrified.

Here is a related article to watch out for http://www.madadventurers.com/angry-rants-gotcha/

I took into consideration the ideas that have been given me. I have decided that I will leave a ton of clues that Archaon is in the area. They will run into a Knight of the White Wolf, who will warn them off. They will see his head rolling towards them at some point in the woods. They will enter into a burned out house, if they investigate they will find a big sword on a table. If they touch it, they will have a vision of a river of blood, and they will move their stance meter to full reckless. I might give them a temporary condition card to match it.

If they try to take the sword, it is too heavy to lift, and they hear a demonic laughter as well.

Once they leave the house, they will see a Huge Black Horse, with a shrouded Knight in black next to it, walking towards them. On the other side of the clearing, they will see roughly 12 more Knights of the white wolf. The leader will yell out to them "run you fools"..... hopefully they run... I've given them plenty of chances to not face Archaon 1 on 1. If they run, they will feel frozen in place, and everything will go dark, they will hear a voice in their heads telling them "you are not ready yet, but I'll be watching you". When they are able to move again, they see all the knights dead, but the Horsemen is nowhere to be seen.

When they get back to town, they will have a runner with a message come up on them, telling them that he could not find the old man they wanted him to tail... no one in town knows of this old man who was warning them off. ( The Navigator hired the runner to tail the old man, he didnt trust him )

Now if they decide they want to fight the HUGE Horseman, on a HUGE Horse... well that would be up to them, I've given them plenty of chances to avoid that battle....

I want to make Archaon a recurring villian... even if they dont know he is there.

Another thought on this. Before they leave town, have rumors that a contingent of white wolves has not returned and that there is a rumor of something in the area...

jh

I personally dislike the idea of killing off characters for the sake of it.
I understand that the Old World is grim and perilous ; but if people have to consistently make new characters to play I can see them getting pissed off quickly.
Having them enjoy the game world and explore is a lot more fun - if they happen to do something completely ridiculous and die ; so be it.
But don't set players up to fail - it can really spoil the fun (imo), and isn't the role the GM should take: Set the scene, provide options (and repercussions), and let the players enjoy the game.
If they suspect the game is designed to kill them, (and the GM is being harsh) the group won't last.

My group, despite being almost rank 3 (albeit missing limbs), spent so long being paranoid of dying (and coming incredibly close more than once) - they know (almost) every fight could be their last and play accordingly. They know they could very well die, but understand it'll be because they haven't prepared or are too reckless. (Ironbreaker is so terrified of fatigue, he never goes into reckless anymore)