Sven the Coachman

Bazgaan the dwarven Mercenary

Timothy (some call him Tim even though his real name isn't even Tim or Timothy but is some other crazy name like Tiberius Frostmoore the 3rd but its a big secret because he's really an outcast noble or something crazy like that) the Gambler

So session 2 was planned for 6PM as usual with Z saying he'd be over an hour early to get started on his character. At 5:45 still no Z, though X and Y have already arrived. The phone rings and Z's jeep has rolled a chaos star and he's stranded 20 minutes away. He asks to be picked up so I run and get him. Late start and we have a character to make. Sweeeeeeet.

He flies through character creation, opting for lower stats and more cards. We got started around eight o'clock. We dive back into the followup at the cemetery. Now, in the background, I've been thinking that Nole needed his mother exhumed for two reasons. The reason he gave Sven, which is she wanted to be buried in Geissbach was true enough. But what he didn't tell Sven was that he really needed to get her modestly valuable brooch to help pay off some debt that Wando the loan shark is holding over him. What happened next is what I really like about low prep.

We had already decided that Tim the Gambler was going to be tied in through a previous meeting with Lord Aschaffenburg. They had hit it off and Big A had invited Tim to join him at Grunewald Lodge once he got moved in. All good stuff. The coachman was supposed to give him a lift from Ubersreik after picking up supplies and luggage.

Well Y throws out how funny it would be if Tim was actually in the coffin they had just dug up! So I ask the table, "Well guys, we need to decide, is he going to be in the coffin?" Z responds that Tim is definitely in the coffin. BOOM! On the fly Z decides that he had earlier played in a card game and saved Noel a serious loss to one of Wando's conmen gamblers who was trying to basically win enough to take the pub from Noel. It should have been a sure thing but Tim saved the day and quickly became a target for a very pissed off Wando. So Noel and Tim fake his death, used some mysterious Romeo and Juliet herb to put Tim in a deep coma, and now Noel has come to retrieve him. Sven and Bazgaan have been DOUBLE duped and are none too happy when Tim starts waking up, yelling and rapping on the coffin lid from the inside.

So a funny little scene unfolds with everyone getting introduced and Sven letting Noel know that, make no mistake about it, they are most square now...all debts are paid in full. Noel agrees. Bazgaan is just pissed.

Well, since Sven and Bazgaan are pretty wounded they decide to stay the night in a back room of the pub. Tim would really like to get out of town but is willing to give it a night. The next morning, Sven and Bazgaan are having breakfast in the front and are approached by a couple of Wando's men. They explain that things went poorly last night but Wando would like to make them an offer. Wando is concerned about too much attention coming his way for the cemetery robbing and would be appreciative if Sven or Bazgaan would give some assistance towards framing Nole for all of it. They politely refuse.

The thug is disappointed but accepts their answer. He goes on to offer Bazgaan a position with Wando, since there's an opening or two now, essentially filling Randal's role. Bazgaan tells him that he's on a contract, but maybe he'll get back to him (which would be pretty awesome if he goes for it!). On the way out Wando's man turns and tells Sven that Wando found some work for Shanna and that if he has any interest at all in her wellbeing that he should reconsider the frame job, then exits the pub. As GM I have no idea whether Y feels any connection to Shanna but he did have a hand in landing her in this situation. I just wanted to put some pressure on him to see if it resonated.

Well after everything gets explained to Nole he gets to feeling pretty hopeless, like he's never gonna get out from under Wando. Tim takes the opportunity to convince Nole, with a successful Charm test, to hire the group to take care of the Wando situation in whatever way possible. A successful opposed haggling test later and they've convinced Nole on a price they like AND to get them half up front. Somehow Tim got wrangled into paying the other half, still not sure how that happened. They say that they need to wrap some things up with Aschaffenburg but they'll be back in town soon to get started.

They set off for Grunewald Lodge, by way of Geissbach but part way through the trip Sven decides he just doesn't have it in him to deal with Shannas father in the village so he wants to skirt it altogether. I offer him, I think, a 3 challenge Ride test to blaze a path through rolling hills/fields and not get stuck. He succeeded, so a pissed off daddy was avoided. Had he failed I was so going to have them break down at the edge of a field that the father was out working in! Oh well.

Next up was the Ambush outside of Grunewald Lodge. I led into it by describing a tree down in the road ahead, right about the time that the Gambler started to spot beastmen (successful Observation) casually moving in. Sven wants to make a Ride check to get the wagon around the tree without having to slow down. He fails the check but gets a number of boons. The rear wheel catches on a limb and it kicks the wagon around sideways in the road but the boons tell us that they're in a good position to get going again if they can make a check to free the wagon from a divot. Sven makes an Animal Handling check to coax the horse back into action and with a helping die from Bazgaan who's helping free the wheel.

Right about here is where Z wanted to try and scare the beastmen with a shot from his pistol. The Beastmen were out of range but he just wanted to basically spook them and I for the life of me couldn't come up with a good roll for him to make to do it. I was frustrated that I couldn't work that out for him but he said it was no big deal so we just moved along. I really hated doing that though.

Anyway, success at freeing the wheel put them rolling down the road again and the estate was in sight. The gambler spots the real ambush at the wall up ahead and so they proceed to attempt to get the guards to open the gate as they rapidly approach. This was a bit of a weird scene because I know that if the guards see the beastmen below they're not gonna want to open up. So we sort of fudged a bit and I let them make a Fellowship check to convince the guards to recognize them as they approached. They succeeded.

As the gate begins to lower the beastmen charge forth to make the opening, no longer concerned with the wagon and I call for a Ride check to rule the scene. If they make it, all is well. Fail, and there's big problems on hand. Sven rolls a Ride check, and I let Tim and Bazgaan roll a helping die as they fire pistol and crossbow respectively to help clear the way of beastmen. The Ride roll succeeds, with a success from the Gambler (who gets to narrate his shot ringing out and spittling a beastman's skull) and Y gets to narrate Sven masterfully handling the horse and wagon to cross the bridge just as it hit the ground and overrun the few beastmen who had entered the gate house. Great success!

We ended the night there as the dust cleared and the drawbridge was raised.

Some comments. Overall we had a good time but the very late start stole some of the mojo I think. It wasn't quite as hopping as the first session. We only put in two hours of play but we did make some headway. I especially loved the opening scene and the closing scene.

Things are set up nicely with Wando and all of that back in town too. I've actually really enjoyed the freedom of that whole story line. Very little prep and the guys are sort of springboarding enough off of my scenes to start pulling in their own directions, which is cool.

I was really frustrated with not being able to adequately make a call on intimidating the beastmen with the pistol shot. In retrospect I should have probably just said that it was ineffective (because I think legitimately think it would be) or gave the beastmen a simple Discipline check. I just hate making the roll fall on the NPC/Opponent. If my players are trying to do something, I want them to be making a roll.

We also had a weird moment as we tried to figure out what to make of the Fake Out card. Z wanted to try and imitate a nobles wagon as they approached the Lodge, in order to convince them to open up. This was extremely awkward for two reasons. The whole notion stretched all believability for me but more importantly, impersonating a stranger seemed counterproductive to getting the gate opened on the fly. I hate telling my players No though, so this was uncomfortable. Z agreed to drop it though, as he didn't really feel like it was appropriate after we talked it out. Whew!

The dice were really starting to get a good feel to them this session and I really enjoyed being able to riff off some cool scene stuff based on the lay of the dice. Sometimes the banes and boons just really paint themselves into the scene. Other times its not so easy and they sort of get glossed over. Helping dice have been a lot of fun so far as well.

you should have said to Z at the beginnig that its always easier to get cards then up his stats ;-)

Yeah, the guys asked for advice on what was the best way to build and I had no idea. That's why we're considering everything a test run for a while, with the option to change anything about the characters at later date.

The way I see it, it's no more difficult to buy that 4 stat during play than it is four cards or train four skills. The cards and skill training generally seem to make you better in specific areas than the stat increase. The stat increase though gives you a broad benefit.

The exception I think is with opposed tests though. A 3 stat with an expertise die up against a 3 stat gives 2 challenge dice. The 4 stat with no expertise dice would only bring you 1 challenge die. I've been a big supporter of Opposed Tests all along but this an area that bothers me about them. In a lot of cases they make the higher stat more important than training, I don't like so much.

Anyway, we're still figuring it all out.