Hi just got done running the " eye for an eye" demo scenario with two pcs , I was just wondering how did your session/sessions go?

The two pcs were:

A high elf envoy most geared toward the social aspects of the game (int 5 ! )

A Reiklander initiate of sigmar , a pretty balanced character.

The investigation phase of the adventure did not go so great my , subtle clues did not go so great in fact even my not so subtle clues were not really being picked up on , however we are all new to RPGs so perhaps this was to be expected.

At least at dinner none of the pcs had the venison for dinner . during the second course of the dinner when the beastmen start to upset the manhounds the high elf envoy went with the kennel master to check out what was going on , during this time the initiate stayed and finished his dinner and later went with Lord Aschaffenberg to have brandy.

They eventually found the cultists climbing the chimney to get to the roof , they killed the cultists guarding the the ladder but just missed stoping them from summoning the deamon. The book had stats for a weaker deamon so I let them fight that one , they fared pretty well and made short work of it . During this time the external threat was wreaking havok and the pcs went down to meet the threat.

It eventually came down to the pcs vs the wargor , the wargor KOed the intiate of sigmar and then did the same to the high elf . I thought that once they had killed the deamon and got the painting they would possibly escape however they were intent on fighting the wargor so I guess they chose there fate.

Everyone had a great time and cant wait to play again . So if you guys want to share how things went for you that would really cool ! thanks and take care : )

5 players. They explored about 1/2 of the house before they found the cellar entrance to the temple. At that point I had have the cultists (the ones that really didn't matter) attack. After defeating them they were beat up from the beastman attack and this attack so feeling that they got the cultists they went to sleep. They knew the dinner was drugged and elected to skip it. So, being the nice GM I am, I gave them just enough time to rest and get back a few wounds before the second beastman attack. The managed to stop the demon summoning. However one character died in the struggle.

Hi all,

We had four characters and the first combat (Beastmen) resulted in one character being beaten up pretty badly. Exploration of the grounds/hosue went well and then after dinner a fight with the cultists resulted in the demon not being summoned. I had to improvise some things but I think it went well and everyone had a good time.

Mark

The three characters where a dwarf scout (we missed the fact that dwarfs can't be scouts at creation), a reikland thief and a wizard apprentice (bright).

The trip there went good, the dwarf tried to bore the others to conceal that he was a scout (for some reason), this didn't work and they listened intrested on his life story. During the beastman encounter the dwarf does basically everything himself while the wizard gets his first insanity and fails to cast a single spell.

Inside they first go to the "hospital" as they are all inured, they speak to the people there but doesn't find out anything (though we all have a laugh at the mad dwarf).

The wizard uses magical sense to see if something is wrong in the house and I leads the thief to the room with the painting. After thinking for a long time on where in the small room it could be they get the idea to remove the large curtain that covers one wall and finds the painting. They give the painting to the sigmar sister who places it in the shrine.

Meanwhile the dwarf goes to the garden to investigate, he learns about the plants and tells the doctor that it may cause the symtoms that people seem to have, the doctor says he will be careful and investigate it. Then the dwarf finds the smithy and searches it, he doesn't find anything but considers it to be in such a mess that he should clean it up, by doing that I allow him to find out that a hammer is missing.

At dinner everyone eats the venison except the dwarf who ate both venison and goose. The wizard succeeds in his save against the poison, everyone else doesn't. The dwarf goes out with dinner to make sure the guards get something to eat as well.

After dinner they talk to the lord about the painting but the lord is too tired to think. The wizard is curious and takes a magical sense, I point to a direction and they make a small hole in the wall there, they can see the fireplace interior, they go down to it's beginning and thinks for a while, then the wizard lights it with his magic and they soon get complains that the lords chamber is being filled with smoke. The wizard goes to a wall where he feels it could be and understands that it is under the house, he askes for a basement and is shown the wine cellar, they don't find the path there so he askes if anyone might have gunpowder ,is told about the stableboys blunderbuss, finds the blunderbuss, takesd most of the gunpowder and blasts the wall away frightening the chanting cultists, before they get time to react he kills their leader with a well placed fireball and most are slewn shortly thereafter, those that attempt to flee are stricken down with fire when taking the stairs to the library (burning down the library in the process).

They did defeat the cult but in doing so they destroyed most of the building. They where forced to work for free a couple of months in rebuilding the house afterwards but got payment for the day they investigated and destroyed the cult.

thank you everyone for sharing , I really love reading about other peoples expierences running the same adventure as me.

hi we will wrap up the modul next session, at the moment it is pretty FUBAR

party:

human grey wizard
human scout
human roadwarden
dwarf soldier
dwarf rat-catcher

they totally screwed up the investigation, by spending several hours training to slot the "flanking manouver" talent card in the party slot. than they used most of the time outdoors, checking everything including the well and pond. They did however find Korden`s hammer and the chaos temple. But by the time they discovered it was dinner time. Although they had picked up the blashemous books from the temple, they forgot it in their room (so the cultists did retrieve the books easily). all ate venison and 2 players where knocked out by it. They where to late to stop the ritual and gave chase to the rooftops, killing or maiming several cultists.

At the rooftop they defeated the cult leader and the deamon. Only to witness several beastmen climbing over the walls. The Roadwarden who where allready critical wounded and close to death, did not follow the rest of the party to the rooftop. He instead made an attempt to flee, Upon reaching the stables, he was gunned down and knocked out by the mutant there holding a blunderbuss. Olver Gand the NPC hunter, heard the gunshot and swiftly killed the mutant by setting his dogs upon him at this point it was 3 in the morning. and we ended the session.

Not knowing the wereabouts of the Roadwarden the party`s tension is rising. Several of the player-characters are critical wounded, distressed, fatigued or even strained or temporary and even permanent insane. next session they will have to deal with the beastmen.

They know they fouled up the investigation, and now suffer the full consequence of it. Respect to my players they intend to make wrong right, by paying for their mistakes. But I fear at least one PC will die. I feel particular sorry for the rat-catcher who didn`t show up until the second session, and thrown right into the middle of it, with only a rudimentary understanding of what`s going on.

next session is sunday, and I am anxious to know how it will go.

Mal Reynolds said:

I was cracking up reading this. I think the 3am part might have had something to do with their epic failure. Maybe if they all die you can call it a "demo" and start fresh. Either way, they are learning more lessons than groups that go from A to Z easily. It will help later on ... should they survive.

Genesis said:

I think you`re right they always fail, sometimes catastrophical when we play late. the same happened when we played Spires of Altdorf. I think they will make it, going to make some rolls on the drugged NPCs to see if any of them awakes to assist the players with the beastmen. I do plan to use the grunewald lodge as a base of operations for the PCs. So when they succeeds, the lord will offer them to stay (at least until he can replace the lost staff), and take jobs that fit their station (like some can be guards, other cooks or servants or librarians).

I have made a short module where they will have to escort poor Korden to Karak Azgaraz, to have him fully recuperated and restored there.

good gaming

(I'll begin with ' Day Late' as an intro) So, three guys meet in a bar...

Gunther Reiklitz - a Burgher from Helmgart, disowned from the family business due to indolence and arrogance but hoping for a change of fortune.

Levin Muller - a Mercenary, sell-sword, hired-blade and bodyguard. Working for Gunter and goes where the money is.

Cadsatril Starfire - Swordmaster Initiate of the White Tower; as part of his training Starfire is travelling the Old World seeking 'challenge'.

Meanwhile...

Hethedaen Blackcairn - Kithband Rogue (Thief) stalks the Beastmen that killed his kin through the woods.

Gunther awaits his brother, Rutger, who is due by coach. He is hoping that Rutger brings word from his father, allowing him back into the bosom of the family. Starfire also awaits the same coach as he is expecting a very special package - he knows he's get stares (mainly because of the SEVEN FOOT SWORD!!!), but he's become used to that. A commotion outside draws the attention of all in the inn; a dying coachman bursts in and announces that the coach has been attacked. Recognising a plot hook when they see one, our heroes head off to the aid of the coach motivated but filial duty, personal need and shiny silver coins respectively.

Twenty minutes down the road the three become aware that something is moving through the woods to their right, bracing themselves for combat they are confronted by an intense Wood Elf with drawn bow. However, an awkward stand off is broken when beastial howls are heard from down the road. Rushing to the source of the noise the heroic foursome witness a scene of devastation, four ungors batter at a ruined coach, whilst a larger Gor beats at the stuggling figure of Rutger Reiklitz.

Bursting into action, Blackcairn the Wood Elf begins to pepper the Gor with long range archery to no avail and the others draw their blades and advance towards the coach. Starfire meets the charge of the ungor pack with a great sweep of his blade, slaying two of them instantly while Gunther and Muller rush to Rutger's aid.

Finally, a well -placed extreme shot from Blackcairn draws the Gor's attention away from his exhausted adversary and towards the men bearing down on it. It blows it's great war horn and lowers it's head it charges the armoured man but it simply opens itself to attack and is battered by a hefty blow from his sword, reeling from this hurt it is finished off by a deft strike from the portly burgher. Meanwhile, the Swordmaster despatches the remaining ungors with two deft strikes.

The group take stock whilst Gunther sees to his brother, who has fallen unconscious. While binding his brother's wounds a chance glance up allows the burgher to shout a warning to the Wood Elf who is about to be ambushed by another group of ungors led by a Wargor. Blackcairn beats a hasty retreat to the safety of the coach and he and Muller lay down a withering hail of arrows and bolts which decimates and scatters the ungors.

Starfire advances to meet the worthy challenge of the Wargor head on and is met by the head of the Wargor which knocks him sprawling. They're follows a flurry of blows and sweeps from the two as all the power of the combatants is brought to bear. In a matter of moments, the Elf drops to his knees in exhaustion, the Wargor impaled on his great blade.

Reiklitz tends to his brother, Muller stands guards and Blackcairn takes grisly trophies from those that killed his kin. Starefire drags his weary body to the coach to search for his package and discovers a corpulent man, Klaus von Rothstein, who had cowered in there during the raid. A heated exchange ensues and the rain begins to beat down, which is only calmed when Reiklitz intervenes and acts as a negotiator. Von Rothstein is offered protection and an escort to safety (along with a handling fee of 10 schillings) and Starfire gets his package - rare sword oil, all the way from Hoeth.

(and now 'An Eye for an Eye')

Greeted as heroes at the inn, the group contemplate their future. Gunther Reiklitz is told by his brother that his father will not accept him back until he has made something of himself. With Gunther not now travelling to Helmgart, he terminates his contract with Muller, who now needs gainful employment. After bringing vengeance upon those that slaughtered his kin, Blackcairn is faced with the long journey over the mountains to Athel Loren, or continuing to visit his hatred upon the foe. Although victorious, Starfire was almost found wanting in the duel with the Wargor, and seeks to develop his skills against creatures that fight with no honour. Therefore, each in their own way is presented with an ideal opportunity when a grim-faced man with a bandaged hand approaches their table and offers them work.

The man is Vern Hendrick, servant to Lord Ascaffenberg, and he offers work determining the source of the strange behaviour of the staff at Grunewald Lodge. To the humans he offers silver and social connection. To the Elves he offers further opportunity to tangle with Beastmen. They agree to go and within couple of days they are on a wagon to the lodge.

As the wagon approaches the gate, a familar cry is heard and Beastmen burst from the undergrowth. Arrows and bolts fly driving ungors off again, and the Gors that continue the charge are met with cold steel. The last of them is skewered by a seven foot blade launched across the wagon.

Once inside the compound they are greeted by Lord Ashaffenberg who ushers them up to his room and explains that he would like them to discreetly investigate the strange behaviour of the staff. The investigation begins...

Hethedeann Blackcairn explores the grounds, talks to the coachmen and the kennel master and discovers that there are some strange practices taking place in the herb garden.

Cadsatril Starfire visits the guardhouse and discovers that a SEVEN FOOT SWORD is a hindrance in the investigation as it seems to intimidate humans, especially because it it carried by an imposing High Elf.

Levin Muller visits the kitchens and discovers that the chef is extremely tetchy and has bad breath.

Gunther Reiklitz, frankly as adept in social situations as he is inept in a fight, visits the infirmary and hears rumours of sinful staff, listens to the ramblings of a vacant gardner and ponders the muttering of an insane Dwarf. He then visits the library and discovers forbidden texts, suspicious librarian and eventually a trapdoor beneath a rug.

Returning to the library with the others, the group confront the librarian, Otto Geizhals, and come to the conclusion that they is something unholy beneath the floor. Once Otto is bound and unconscious all but Muller descend into the bowels of the lodge to discover tunnels that lead through the house, a secret shrine to the ruinous powers, more forbidden tomes and a painting (their investigations ha stuffed up so badly earlier, that Piersson had moved it) that just to look upon almost unhinges their minds.

Retreating from the shrine with the books as evidence, the three are met at the steps by the prone form of a dead librarian. When footsteps had approached the room, Muller had panicked and pushed Otto down the stairs to hid him, unfortunately killing him in the process when his skull struck a stone step. A brief search of his person revealed the cryptic note 'Goose is Good'.

Putting together all they have discovered, along with a good deal of fanciful conjecture, our heroes decide to take their evidence to Lord Aschaffenberg. However, they discover that dinner is being served and they burst into the Great Hall demanding that nobody eats. Lord Aschaffenberg, takes them, along with his senior staff, to his study and listens to what they have to say (I put in a social combat here with Piersson - who wasn't suspected - trying to misdirect the noble). Lord Rickard is persuaded that there are sinister elements to his staff, so he has Karla Wagner arrested, cancels dinner and asks the groups to prevent entry to the shrine until morning when a proper investigation can take place.

Realising that they don't have the whole picture the group decides to split. Starfire and Gunther continue to investigate which leads them out to the Guardhouse again to interrogate Wagner, however, before they get there a yammering from the kennels alerts the household (well, some of them) to the Beastman attack. With almost a dozen men (and one very scary Elf) manning the walls, the Beastmen are repulsed without gaining entry to the compound. However, during this time nobody really notices that many of the staff are missing...

Meanwhile, Muller has blocked entry to the library whilst Blackcairn waits hidden in the wine cellar (the group assumed that Lord Rickard was ample guard on the door in his room - a fair assumption). The Elf sees someone enter the cellar, and when he he isn't spotted, nearly a dozen come through and enter the secret tunnels. Blocking the door behind them (so they can't escape), he rushes round to the library to warn Muller. Whilst they are discussing what to do they are surprised the the appearance Of Albrecht Krug and Pieter Koch from the trapdoor and a furious fight ensues.

Despite Krug's frenzied attacks, the Elf is able to break a window to call for help (sadly not heard because to the fight outside), and eventually slowly wear down and slay the mutant with a series of deft strike. Koch gains an initial advantage over Muller, disarming and overwhelming the mercenary, however the tide turns when Blackcairn flings a vial of ink from the librarian's desk into Koch's eyes and Muller is able to press forward an despatch the traitorous guard.

Realising time is of the essence, the two descend into to the tunnels and witness the ritual taking place. A well aimed arrow from Blackcairn severely injures Piersson, revealed at last as a cultist and a mutant, however his blasphemous litany runs through the Elf's soul and almost deprives him of his senses. Half of the other cultists rush to protect the ritual, but Levin Muller has stopped pulling his punches and kills all three with brutal efficiency but he is not in time to prevent the sacrifice of Todd Heistlenburger as the ritual is completed.

Eldritch light floods the chamber and Piersson makes to flee to the roof. However, the resolute pair are unphased by the unholy scene and Muller drives onwards into the remaining cultists. Hethedaenn Blackclain nocks his final arrow and looses it. It flies true and embeds itself deep in Piersson's back as he reaches the door. The slave of chaos pitches forward. Dead.

The cult defeated and Beastmen repulsed, Lord Ascaffenberg is full of praise for the foursome and promises to provide them with whatever he can. The chaos shrine in sealed until the Sigmarite temple in Ubersreik can be contacted. Lord Rickard is keen to keep things discreet so that his does not upset his impending wedding and drafts a very careful letter to Graf von Bruner.

The heroes take a few days well earned rest before leaving in search of further adventure...

(A great adventure with plenty of variation. I thought they were going to stuff it up initially but once in the library Gunther found the books and picked at that particular scab until it bled information. They did well convincing Lord Rickard to abandon dinner and the additional social combat worked really well. With the house able to defend itself the Beastmen were doomed to failure although things still could have gone wrong because they left the chaos books lying around in the study and didn't properly guard the shrine. However, once the mutant and soldier were out of the way the cultists were no match for militant characters and they died in three rounds.)

Wow ! thank you for the detailed write up I really enjoyed it .

Extremely useful runthrough, thankyou! A couple of questions:

1. Did the players find two beastman fights in succession a bit repetitive at the start? I wasn't going to run 'A Day Late' to start, but they go together so well in your write-up I think I've changed my mind.

2. Can you provide a bit more detail on how you ran the social encounter with Rickard? I'm still a bit shaky with this whole social encounter business.

Thanks!

In terms of the Beastmen fights, they were a bit repetitive, but they did present the players with an opportunity to try out tactics they'd learned in the first fight and really get to grips with the system in a similar situation. In the Day Late fight they made mistakes such as the Wood Elf stood at long range using Extreme Shot with his Shortbow, not realising that he had the opportunity to move forward and use Ranged Shot more effectively, also the Sword Master allowed himself to be charged by the Wargor and almost got creamed because of it (in fact the Wargor took the SM down to 0 Wounds but took his final wound in the process from fatigue). In the second fight they used the system to their advantage, the Mercenary and the Wood Elf fired at Ungors because they were more likely to do significant damage and the Sword Master made sure he got the first blow in against the Gors so the fight was swinging in his direction from the start. The second fight was still slow, but so quickly after the first it was great practice.

As to the Social combat, my players really enjoyed this and I feel it was much smoother than the one in A Day Late (unless everybody knows about the package, this is a bit weird). Basically, they marched into dinner with an armful of Illegal Books, I had Rickard bring them to his study along with Hendrick and Piersson (the Captain might be appropriate too). I used the 10 space tracker that's used for the rest of the adventure.

Taking it in turns players used Perform a Stunt (the only Social action in the party wasn't appropriate) to try to influence Rickard that he's got a serious problem. They actually spoke to him and based on what they said I decided whether they were using Guile, Intimidate or Charm. They gained Fortune for providing evidence and were able to assist the next speaker (although they had to do or say something that would count as an assist), and gained Misfortune for making spurious accusations or unsubstantiated claims. Likewise, Piersson spoke against the PC's accusations that there was a Chaos cult in the house . Piersson using Guile is frightening.

A success moved the PC (or Piersson's) token one space, extra success (I think it's two on the card) moved it twoIf the PC's got to halfway first, Hendrick joined their side (if Piersson got there first, Hendrick would support him). Chaos Stars knock you back one. If the PC's got to the end first, Rickard cancelled dinner, if Piersson got there first he goes back to dinner and says he'll look into it in the morning.

I also threw in my own house rule about social standing. Each character belongs to a tier; brass, silver or gold. Trying to influence a character of a higher tier gains you one misfortune per difference, so the Mercenary (brass) trying to influence Rickard (gold) added two misfortune. It was for this reason that the FEL 2 Mercenary stayed quiet during the whole conversation simply nodding at appropriate moments counted as assisting). I also through in a bit of discrimination in that the Elves always get 1 misfortune when talking to Humans.

My players really like this, even though they said it felt weird in the conversation in A Day Late. Again, I think having the chance to try it out in the demo got them into it later. It was interesting to see them handing off to each other in conversation, "My colleague from Ulthuan knows more of such things than I and can enlighten you," and turning the conversation to seek greater advantage, for example when the Burgher used Guile to move the conversation from the poisoning (about which they only had some circumstantial evidence) to the Cult for which they had more (a temple, for instance).

I wouldn't use social combat in all situations, really only pivotal conversations are worth the effort, but I found this quite easy to come up with on the fly. Indeed, I think it will push the players to look closer at the Social Action cards for character development as while the cut the Beastmen to bits, they almost dropped the ball in conversation.

I love the social combat you added! My players are RIGHT about to hit that area and I think this will flesh it out nicely. Well done - and thanks to everyone who is sharing!

Thanks very much for that description. It's going to be interesting to see how it works - my players are used to just roleplaying such situations, but the way you describe it, it sounds really interesting.