I am running a group through a (somewhat modified) version of the Enemy Within, and we had our first session last night. It went pretty well, but there were some things I could do better as a GM. Plus, with 7 players, it is a handful.

Our heroes are: Vilir, a Dwarf agent who works for the Steinhager family in Bogenhafen (he decided that without my prompting - it made me very happy!), Enzo a Tilean scribe, Kate a young girl who wants to become a healer, Thalos a woodelf hunter, Quinn a recently retired soldier, Amaranta an Estalian Gambler and Mateo a pitfighter looking to get out of the pits.

Vilir hired the group to accompany him as he brought some important documents to Altdorf. They all got free carriage fare and 5 schillings up front to go with him. About 3 hours out of their village, they were beset by Goblins who seemed driven into a frenzy by hunger. The greenskins slaughtered all the horses quickly, and made off with one of the bodies before being driven off. This was my intro fight for the group, to get them used to the mechanics. It had some fun moments - like Mateo swooping down to grab Kate and lift her on top of the carriage before Goblins could get her, or the normally cautious Dwarf being driven into a reckless frenzy by his hatred of Goblins. It took a little bit, but it was important to me to introduce the mechanics to folks.

Now, they were stranded, and could not make it to the coaching in by nightfall. They reluctantly started walking. About an hour later, a wagon comes by carrying Ivan Hendrick, the agent of Lord Aschaffenberg, who recognizes the Steinhager sigil, and insists that these travelers be the guest of his lord. They are not too excited by the idea, but it seems better than camping the night (especially with no camping gear or food.)

On the way to Grunewald Lodge, they talk with Hendrick a little but quickly become concerned about the rustling noises in the forest. The elf actually almost plunges into the forest by himself to hunt out the noises (which would not have gone well for him) but demures. To the shock of anyone who has not played the module before, they are ambushed right before reaching the Lodge (where the gate guards are mysteriously sleeping..) This fight is much tougher for them, despite Enzo helping out his boss with his improved defensive position. The beastmen are still no match for the large group of heroes, but they leave some lingering damage, including 2 fairly serious critical hits (the players are learning to respect attacks that cause automatic criticals..) Enzo finds himself alone facing a Gor at one point, and suffers a grievous wound to his stomach, and Amaranta gets her bell rung by a blow to the head. Neither critical can be healed by Kate.

Finally making it inside, they are shocked to see the state of the house, sleepwalking servants, dilapidated walls, and chaos hordes in the forest. Not the place they want to be. They make a deal with Lord Aschaffenberg (who tries to hire the Soldier and the Pitfighter to work for him, but they show their loyalty to the Steinhager family. Heh heh.) that they will look into the weird doings around the Lodge tonight, and then tomorrow he will send them to Altdorf in his coach.

We ended after the tiniest bit of investigation. The PCs are already thinking poison of some sort, but think it is delivered through drink. For some reason (partly my description, partly Kate's innocence) they trust the cook. They do not trust the doctor they meet (and neither does Hendrick who complains about how long healing is taking..) and one of the PCs asks him for something to calm his nerves. None of the PCs want to admit to the doctor they are wounded, for fear of his ministrations...

Next session will be the investigation, and dinner (where everyone is having the delicious vennison! Although the gambler is trying to cook her own meat to somehow swap them. I'm amused to see what will happen there!) And then off to Altdorf to start the Enemy Within!

I spent a lot of time prepping for this session, but still feel like the rules were not solid in my head. I need to get a lot more familiar with them, especially since I have one player who wants to understand why everything happens and starts examining the mathematics of every action. I am definitely more on the fast & loose side of things, and I need to be more grounded in the rules. But, I really enjoy the system - I think of WFRP as a hybrid between D&D (which is what most of my players play) and story games like Fate (which is what I would prefer..)