Hi, everyone

I am supposed to run a session of WFRP 3 tonight without much time to prep for it, so wanted to come here to get some advice or just ideas.

My players have just finished Eye for an Eye (which they failed completely - the daemon has been summoned and has killed all of the lodge inhabitants with my unfortunate heroes barely escaping into the woods wounded and partially insane (yay, Warhammer!). I am planning to run Edge of Night in Ubersreik next, but before I get to that I need one transition session and that's what I wanted to get your input for.

I have two surviving characters - a Gambler and a Agitator - both from Kislev, desperately struggling to rattle the Empire's class system.

I'm thinking on the way through the forest they can be captured by a bandit gang preying on the travelers around roads connecting Ubersreik with northern smaller cities. So I want the session to consist of a complicated escape attempt that can take advantage of the Gambler's skills in picking locks and stealth as well as the Agitator's negotiation skills. Maybe make a map of the camp with tokens for sentry placement and have them race against a time progress tracker that shows how much time they have before their disappearance is noticed. What kind of locations/characters/encounters would you recommend for such a game? What kind of complications would they face, what kind of challenges to overcome?

Any ideas you guys can throw at me would be much appreciated!

There might be a third player joining the game as well and I'm planning to cast her as either the fellow prisoner or a member of the bandit gang who wants out and helps them escape.

Thaaaaank you!

The first thing I'd say about a 'taking all the PCs prisoner' type scenario is that you have to have th eright sort of players. Some players really hate that sort of thing and some would even rather die than be taken prisoner. So I would say that's a risky plan but that's between you and your group, especially as there is no system imperative for being taken prisoner. You might want to try something like Discipline vs outlaw's Strength modified by outnumbering factors to force the PCs to submit, if they are against it.

Having some guard dogs might be a cool idea. That way the outlaws can not bother with the prisoners for a while confident their hounds will give the alarm if they try to escae, and giving the PCs an interesting problem.

You could have a patch of spinewort or bramblethorn or something around the edge of the camp and have a 'Chaos Star: suffer a wound' effect with a discipline check or the victim will have to say 'Ow!'

You could have the bandits playing a gambling game within ear shot of the prisoners. The gambler might be able to convince them to let him play. His life/freedom could be the stakes, with the bandits having no intention of fulfilling their part of the bargain, but it could buy some time.

You could have a really large, smelly and intimidating outlaw 'taking a shine' to one of the PCs, and the PC might try to take advantage. Having a PC trying to flirt against his sexuality with a psychopathic brute is usually comedy gold.

You might want to think about having the daemon from aEfaE turn up at some point, too, hot on the heels of the PCs, which might even inadvertently help them out. And it will give them another chance to put things right.

You could also give the chance for the PCs, if they do escape, to come across von Saponatheim in his coach on his way to Ubersreik, with the perfect intro to EoN. They might even need to temporarily hijack the coach, to get away from the pursuing outlaws/ cultists/ daemon/ or all three.

And this thread should probably have gone in the GM section.

Thanks, monkeylite.

My duo are not the most heroic of characters so they will definitely prefer capture to death. Also I want to drive home the message that Empire's forests are a bad place for a stroll and nothing but unpleasantness can come of it especially without a guide with some nature's lore.

Having said that - you bring up great ideas. The guard dogs and the brute attracted to a PC are excellent (one of the PCs already has a bit of a reputation of attracting all the wrong women).

I actually was thinking about bringing back the daemon as well - I think that will make a great finale to the scenario, plus will provide some commotion for the PCs to run away.

Tying this in with a carriage as intro to Edge of Night is brilliant! I don't have the adventure itself yet, but I'm sure I can make the carriage generic enough to work only as means of escape and then expand on it during next session.

If people have more ideas I would love to hear them!

It's an interesting idea. But I can't help but wonder why the bandits would go to the trouble of taking them prisoner? If they rob them, they get their stuff and can be done with them. Alternatively they'd just kill them, take their stuff and be done with them. Taking people prisoner is a lot of work, a lot of hardship and unless there is something to be gained in taking them prisoner why would a bunch of bandits bother.

I think I'd perhaps suggest another idea, but it could still give you a similar feel. Have the players being harried by the demon or some beastmen on their journey back to town. They get turned around, its dark, its creepy - its the old world after all. Have them stumble upon some cabin in the woods, it doesn't look occupied at the moment, but leave some clues that it has been used somewhat recently and perhaps stocked with some simple provisions if they need to stock up on something or perhaps some bandages or even a healing potion(s) if they are beaten up.

Then have a small group of bandits arrive during the night, only they don't need to present themselves as bandits, nor would the perhaps initially. They could approach as a group of hunters and try to befriend the party. But really they are just trying to assess their worth (rob, kill or kidnap). Try and play up the sense of tension that something is wrong. Your players will likely assume they are bandits anyway so really you are just trying to almost down play that fear. But every now and then let something slip that could indicate that they are bandits.

Hopefully you can build up some tension and just around the time when the players have come to the conclusion that they are bandits and that the bandits are probably going to kill them have all hell break loose. Have the demon attack and some beastmen also attack. Then the players are either forced to join with the bandits to ward off the demon and the beastmen. Ideally I'd try and persuade them the help them out just long enough to get everyone occupied so that they can slip away during the chaos.

Thanks, Kryyst

You bring up a great point that it wouldn't make sense for bandits to capture the PCs.

PCs stumbling into bandits' camp by accident and then having a tense encounter with the returning bandits is a much better way to go about it.

More feedback is welcome!