I have done this for the "travel rules" as well. I will send it to you Jay. Essentially rather than an NPC or one Player as Coachman make a roll and it all spills out of that there are multiple roles - checked in sequence as some affect others: Experienced Traveller who obtains friendly encounters etc., Companion of the Road who keeps up spirits and avoids Party Tension increasing during the long days in close association [i also add Travel Stress to Travel Fatigue as a concept], both of whose checks can modify Coachman , and then lastly Lookout to see about hostile encounters - each can also at times have effects in the other's turf from boons/banes etc. I won't go into too much detail in this post as the board seem to have stopped recognizing the "return key" for writing posts. You add some neat additional ideas.

Rob, the return key only doesn't work in Canada

jh

A conspiracy to make us canucks look like we just run on and on an on, eh? Actually, works on my tablet but not my PC (booting up a 2nd PC to see what's up, this one is fine on other websites - fun fun), anyway, I sent file to your gmail account.

Hi,

Val, any chance you could send your travel stuff to me too please?

To No.12, I pmed my email address to you and will send stuff if you send me yours.

A timing problem

The heroes travel to Wurtbad (5 days), Talabheim (6-7 days) and then Middenheim (10 days). This is total travel time of 21-22 days or the 2-3 weeks EW states on page 72

At Talabheim they hear the Emperor has the armies of five provinces, including Averland's army (the five provinces are Reikland, Middenland, Averland, Stirland and Talabacland - see below).

• Other versions of these events (Jackdays excellent Storm of Chaos timeline) collate various information, including from this edition of Enemy Within.
• Sommerzeit 17 the Imperial army arrived in Talabheim, joining with the forces of Middenland.
• Sommerzeit 25 the armies of Averland, Stirland, Nuln and Talabheim join them and the joint force heads north (the Averland army covered the 350 miles which the heroes did marching 15 miles a day, it could arrive earlier than the 25th).

By the time they reach Middenheim (300 miles, 10 days later) the imperial army has been ambushed and the Emperor wounded - in fact this happens as they travel and they could learn it before reaching Middenheim. News of this has reached Middenheim.

Per Jackdays, the ambush took place on Sommerzeit 28, 3 days march north of Talabheim (in Hochland). News by riders pushing their horses may travel faster than a coach to but still, the ambush must therefor take place not long after the heroes leave Talabheim (as in the next day or two).

So if lining up, PC's should leave Talabheim perhaps a day after the imperial armies march north into Hochland (Sommerzeit 26).

This allows them to reach Middenheim Vorgeheim 3. That means about 15 days for events there if leaving by Vorgehim 18 for Altdorf (again to match up with being in Altdorf before events otherwise call for many personages to leave it).

Meaning

• On the Wurtbad to Talabheim trip, the PC' may find themselves among soldiers moving north to Talabheim. This is the same route Stirland's army would likely take and some of Talabacland's local forces will be travelling along the route. The Prince of Wurtbad/Elector Count of Stirland likely departed Wurtbad before the PC's arrived and they likely overtake the army.
• One of their mandatory encounters may thus be " The Road is Ahead is blocked for miles by the Army of Stirland " which is churning up the roads and blocking fast passage for a coach. At a minimum this would add two days to their trip and failure to win passage through the various companies and regiments of troops and supply wagons etc. could add even more delays - ensuring they do not reach Talabheim too soon.

• At Talabheim the PC's should either encounter the imperial army readying to leave or already left.

• An outstanding issue : the army of Averland is with the imperial forces despite the heroes having left Averheim first, having travelled the most direct route? Even if the Averland army took the same most direct route, being the same as the heroe's it will be behind them. This is fixed if the delays on the road are extensive enough that the heroes find themselves with the army. That means meeting Captain Baerfaust again. Graf von Kaufman is not with the army and the Luminary has travelled by his own means to reach the Luminark.

Delaying the heroes on their trip north by as much as two weeks becomes important.

One easy prospect is that they are arrested - fake reasons for their arrest being released (traitors seeking to reach Middenheim as part of a plot against the Empire) and not freed until Captain Baerfaust and the Averland forces catch up. This false accusation was created by Adele Ketzenblum against anyone coming after her.

I'm not sure what other options there are - other ideas? I know some tables may not pay that much attention to dates etc. but may players vary between not doing so and paying pretty close attention. They would definitely wonder about the Averland army getting to a battle so quickly.

A timing problem The heroes travel to Wurtbad (5 days), Talabheim (6-7 days) and then Middenheim (10 days). This is total travel time of 21-22 days or the 2-3 weeks EW states on page 72 At Talabheim they hear the Emperor has the armies of five provinces, including Averland's army (the five provinces are Reikland, Middenland, Averland, Stirland and Talabacland - see below). Other versions of these events (Jackdays excellent Storm of Chaos timeline) collate various information, including from this edition of Enemy Within. Sommerzeit 17 the Imperial army arrived in Talabheim, joining with the forces of Middenland. Sommerzeit 25 the armies of Averland, Stirland, Nuln and Talabheim join them and the joint force heads north (the Averland army covered the 350 miles which the heroes did marching 15 miles a day, it could arrive earlier than the 25th). By the time they reach Middenheim (300 miles, 10 days later) the imperial army has been ambushed and the Emperor wounded - in fact this happens as they travel and they could learn it before reaching Middenheim. News of this has reached Middenheim. Per Jackdays, the ambush took place on Sommerzeit 28, 3 days march north of Talabheim (in Hochland). News by riders pushing their horses may travel faster than a coach to but still, the ambush must therefor take place not long after the heroes leave Talabheim (as in the next day or two). So if lining up, PC's should leave Talabheim perhaps a day after the imperial armies march north into Hochland (Sommerzeit 26). This allows them to reach Middenheim Vorgeheim 3. That means about 15 days for events there if leaving by Vorgehim 18 for Altdorf (again to match up with being in Altdorf before events otherwise call for many personages to leave i Meani On the Wurtbad to Talabheim trip, the PC' may find themselves among soldiers moving north to Talabheim. This is the same route Stirland's army would likely take and some of Talabacland's local forces will be travelling along the route. The Prince of Wurtbad/Elector Count of Stirland likely departed Wurtbad before the PC's arrived and they likely overtake the arm One of their mandatory encounters may thus be " The Road is Ahead is blocked for miles by the Army of Stirland " which is churning up the roads and blocking fast passage for a coach. At a minimum this would add two days to their trip and failure to win passage through the various companies and regiments of troops and supply wagons etc. could add even more delays - ensuring they do not reach Talabheim too so At Talabheim the PC's should either encounter the imperial army readying to leave or already lef An outstanding issue: the army of Averland is with the imperial forces despite the heroes having left Averheim first, having travelled the most direct route? Even if the Averland army took the same most direct route, being the same as the heroe's it will be behind them. This is fixed if the delays on the road are extensive enough that the heroes find themselves with the army. That means meeting Captain Baerfaust again. Graf von Kaufman is not with the army and the Luminary has travelled by his own means to reach the Lumina Delaying the heroes on their trip north by as much as two weeks becomes impo One easy prospect is that they are arrested - fake reasons for their arrest being released (traitors seeking to reach Middenheim as part of a plot against the Empire) and not freed until Captain Baerfaust and the Averland forces catch up. This false accusation was created by Adele Ketzenblum.

I would also love to be able to take a look at this pamphlet, my email is [email protected]

@valvorik

I have a couple suggestions for your two week delay.

The first idea centers on a Semaphore Machine from 1 ^st edition Enemy Within. Semaphore machines are a network of signaling machines built on hilltops and high towers and use signaling flags and great beacons. Now, someone, perhaps cultists, or a local noble, has sabotaged/burnt/blown up one of the Semaphore Machines in order to break the line of communication to Altdorf thus effectively cutting the rest of the line off. His intention is to incite rebellion by claiming that the Emperor has been assassinated etc. Before we get to that, a local plenipotentiary or other authority figure orders the PCs to help with the rebuilding effort and securing the safety of the workers. Declining to help is considered treason. This process will be plagued by the villain’s efforts at sabotage and rebellion and takes around two weeks.

Second idea is that a local noble has hired local thugs to set his (almost barren) fields ablaze so that he can then claim compensation from the Empire Treasury. The thugs did a little bit too good of a job and started a forest fire. The forest fire destroyed much of the livelihood of local wood-elves. The situation is very tricky as the elves have started poaching and raiding human farms. Maybe a group of mercs has been hired to deal with the elves. The PCs are captured by elves or drawn into these events by the farmers who have been caught in between the two factions. Solving the situation will take time and they could easily get lost in the half-burnt forest fighting partially charred, insane dryads or tree kin.

Thanks to those who posted or emailed suggestions about delaying PC's etc.

I ended up with the "wrongfully jailed by a witch hunter, after a frame up job by cultists" route.

I'll post that in my game log hopefully over weekend. In meantime I move on to the challenging Middenheim sequence.

I have the 2nd edition Ashes of Middenheim which is great fleshing out rest of city etc. Aligns very well with the material in EW though I noted EW moves the Castle Rock depot - I suspect simply to make it fit more easily on the map they give. Ashes would have it in the lower right corner or so of that map, much closer to the east gate. I think I will keep it there.

I will be using a blown up version of the map of city from Ashes (easily googled up for those interested). Players can write in location names as they identify ones of interest.

Hi,

For anyone who is interested I have written a couple of short scenario's for the journeys during TEW. Let me know if you want me to email them to you.

Apologies in advance for my grammar and layout errors!

Hey Valvorik!

I would be very interested in all your made-up stuff you have for TEW, as i'm starting my campaign this week! my email is im2pwrfl4u at hotmail.com

I'll likely post updates on play sessions here on the forum!

Thanks a lot!

Telk

All sent off, good gaming and please do post reports.

Rob

Wow, thanks a lot, all this stuff is absolutely AMAZING!

I just finished going through it all, and wow, its just insane work!

Thanks a LOT!

On the "is it 30 sessions" question. My group is midway or more through Middenheim and just passed 40 hours of play (if you assume 4 hour session norm, then 10 sessions). I extended the trip with more action etc. and have added a minor and major task to help the ritual get going in Middenheim which seems, to me, to be a likely amount of "homebrew" additions.

I'm enjoying it, though I suspect my players are not really getting the scale/complexity of what is going on. I "outed" the existence of a "progressive conspiracy" to them via Adele to help them along on that front.

Laughing as I type this.

Prepping Part Three and paying attention to Panther Knights as the Pistolier Character is interested in becoming a knight and joining that order. So I google "Preceptor Niklaus von Berkhardt" (page 107) to see if he's canon, has any Chapter House associated (don't find anything but...)

Find "Nick Berkhardt" (whose history is German), the protagonist on the Grimm TV series (which I do watch)

Now I want to have "illusion concealed" werecreatures popping up everywhere!

Anyway, consulting Sigmar's Heirs, I decided there is a Chapter House at Middenstag and that is where he was Preceptor.

Highly reccomend anyone GMing this to have the Temple of Ulric require a wolf kill per PC and NPC taking part in the ritual! Some really good fun!
I also added a an NPC for an "aha" payoff later in Altdorf. He is Willy, a graduate student, and Red Crown member, who has been "helping" Oppenheim with his work. As he is taking part in the ritual, he was there to ensure that each PC killed a wolf, even if he had to grieviously wound it himself first.

Later in Altdorf when the Red Crown and PCs tangle, any that die will be Willy, and they will know they (and Oppenheim) were manipulated in a pretty smooth way.

Wolf hunt was fun indeed. 3 of 4 regular PC's have a wolfskin, that may give them a fortune die in the Ritual. I created a sheet (like my travel sheets for those who have seen them) with one of the 4 roles of ritual in each box and the check to help track which PC takes on what. In a pinch, Max will help out.

I used Max (referenced in text), full name Maximilian Plonk, as the student aide to the Professor (it you have seen the TV crime detective show with the pyschotic professor savant and his graduate student there to keep him on track that's the relationship).

He's clean himself but has friends who are Red Crowners keeping tabs (they showed up in person as 'volunteer students guarding the Professor' when the witch hunter took an interest). The master agent of the Red Crown in Middenheim is a book dealer, Bertelsmann, who has gotten the Professor many of his "best finds" including the forged ones...

The rest is in flux as I ponder having the Red Crown try to destroy the Professor's notes. To outsiders it would look like Chaos trying to stop this new weapon of purity being perfected - really it's the Red Crown wanting to make sure no one gets too close a look at the research etc. This will be their last act before word reaches Middenheim that the Red Crown has been destroyed in Averheim and they suspect treachery by the Black Cowl. They will then switch to wanting to steal the clapper to frustrate their rival cult's plan.

I'm enjoying following along

I'll be running TEW soon.

Would you mind passing along your files to me as well? I especially am intrigued by having expanded travel info.

Thanks,

Doug

Sure Doug, send me a pm with your email address.

For those using the wolf-hunt, if wanting a properly cured hide etc. to wear I think you need to add about a week or so for that process. That gives some time for making contacts for career transitions, healing and getting some more news of the war in.

Or even a little side adventure or something.

Our Pistolier went to Knight of the WHtie Wolf after that..he has you to thank

jh

Cool, my Pistolier player (Wilhelm) is heading to Panther Knight. They could be rivals! (He's a member of a dueling club....)

Maybe they both have an initiate test - go teach those so-and-so's a lesson by showing up that new initiate of their's.....

Stealing stuff from other adventures, so SPOILERS:

My PCs expressed an interest in Theodosius Von Tuchtenhagen, who's barely more than a footnote in the adventure. If you need more character development on him, the Black Fire Pass adventure presents some extra annoying habits, and makes him a murderer, too. His pet wizard has a different name and slightly different description there. I had need for a minor conspiracy to embroil him and one of the PCs fathers in. So I made them both members of The Gourmand Society from Lure of Power . Pretty minor stuff in the big picture, but useful for flavor.

My PCs were very active with various subplots, and it took 12 sessions to get to the Triad fight. They'd been to the Tannery and Sluice Drain on day 4 thanks to a Ranaldian blessing, and killed a bunch of skaven henchmen then. So I needed to add a little something to the Triad fight to adjust for their XP and make it more interesting.

So I stole the final chapter of The Edge of Night . It's got (loose) rules for trudging through a booby-trapped sewer, followed by a 3-room fight against skaven. I added 12 clanrat henchmen and 1 non-hench gutter-runner to the Triad, and it proved a good challenge for a 2nd-rank Knight of Myrmidia, Trollslayer, Bright Wizard and Ranaldite. Set it up like Edge of Night's fight. Henchmen and gutter-runner in front room. Skrabb & Grott in second room and cause a rally step when they join the fight. Back room had Krasskulk busy forging the bell. 1 PC was KO'd but none died. Worked like a charm, and felt properly climactic. It was a lot of cards (actions and monster) though, and took up a ton of table and mental space. Consider yourselves warned.

Heads up about PCs and Intuition checks: If the PCs start narrowing in on the Black Cowl, they may start throwing Intuition checks at the various NPCs that could potentially be behind the mask. GMs need to be prepared for that.

Baerfaust in particular is a real easy suspect to eliminate if he's NOT the cowl, due to his low Fellowship and lack of Guile. If they're using Intuition on him, remember to add his Fierce Confidence ability as 3 black on the roll. The overall difficulty will still be low, but the big pile of black dice may raise just enough doubts. What you really don't want is for the PCs to fail the check but still infer clues out of the difficulty.

Other ideas on how to discourage metagaming on Observation and Intuition checks: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/86947-observation-tests/

It's important to remember Intuition is not mind reading or even lie detecting, it's "there something more, he's hiding something, he's nervous, he's very glad you asked that, he's holding back". It's also not evidence to convince a 3rd party.

So "I am not the Black Cowl" (Intuition alarm, he's holding back/hiding something) - is it that he is the Black Cowl or is it that he is pretty sure he knows who is but not willing to reveal it or something else.

I don't conceal from PC's that just some like cards have modifiers that can include auto failures to overcome, some NPC's can have that too. A really slick liar may have 2 secret failures on every check against them.

Also, with such higher up types, I would make clear that asking direct questions about that sort of thing is very dangerous. It's high stakes gamble as the target will take offence etc.

Almost lastly, I would not hesitate to change the stats of the Black Cowl. They have carried off a powerful deception with the blessing of Tzeentch - they've got Guile up the wazoo, so to speak.

And truly lastly, the Black Cowl will surely spot you spotting them - if you do, the next thing that happens is that you've got a sword sticking right through you.

The Middenheim bit has this statement at the end of ritual:

It's important to remember Intuition is not mind reading or even lie detecting, it's "there something more, he's hiding something, he's nervous, he's very glad you asked that, he's holding back". It's also not evidence to convince a 3rd party.

I agree it's not mind-reading, nor is it evidence to convince an NPC 3rd party.

However, it is explicitly lie detecting.

Per the Player's Guide, page 22:

"Intuition (Int) Basic Skill. The ability to trust instincts about people, places and things. The gut feeling that lets a character know if someone is lying , ...

Specialisation options: detect lies , ..."

So "I am not the Black Cowl" (Intuition alarm, he's holding back/hiding something) - is it that he is the Black Cowl or is it that he is pretty sure he knows who is but not willing to reveal it or something else.

...

And truly lastly, the Black Cowl will surely spot you spotting them - if you do, the next thing that happens is that you've got a sword sticking right through you.

The (potential) issue is not the Black Cowl. The Cowl has plenty of ways to cover his tracks, or make the PCs regret having been so bold.

The issue is the other suspects, being innocent and ignorant, are very easy to cross off your suspect list. Per the notes on pages 58 to 59 of the adventure, the two major NPCs that aren't the Black Cowl have officially never heard of the Black Cowl prior to the Witch-hunter showing up at the party on Day 8. You can cross them off your suspect list by simply asking them on first contact "have you heard anything about this mysterious crime boss who wears a black cowl?" Since the Black Cowl is mentioned on a few of the PCs Background cards, that's not an unreasonable question for them to ask right away.

The stock response from 2 of the 3 major suspects is basically either "No, I've never heard of him" or "the witch-hunter mentioned him yesterday, but I'd never heard of him before that" depending on whether you ask the first or second time you see that NPC. Either response, as written, would allow for a low-risk intuition check from the PCs to find out if this statement is a lie.

There are several routes around this problem.

• You could really obfuscate your rolls. The players don't know the real difficulty of the check, so they can't be sure they didn't need another success to get to the truth.
• You could crank up the Intuition difficulty due to plot relevance and/or some crazy Tzeentchian influence, openly and regardless of who they're interviewing. Then apply some really nasty chaos-star or bane consequences if the PCs botch the roll. Difficulty 4 purple, and double chaos stars means you give offense and make a permanent enemy even if the NPC was innocent. Or whatever.
• Each NPC can be given a minor secret to cover up, so that they're all lying a little bit. Perhaps they were approached by the Black Cowl (or one of his minions) with a bribe or blackmail. They tell the PCs they'd never heard of him, but a good roll reveals this to be untrue. Now you still have to ferret out exactly what it all means, but at least there's no single roll that eliminates 33% of all possible suspects.
• You could bolster the cast list with extra nobles and guild leaders so that there aren't 3 or 4 obvious Black Cowl suspects. That's a lot of work.

There's a lot of ways to handle it, but it could blindside the GM if you aren't prepared. It's potentially a critical issue. I find it a little surprising the adventure as written doesn't offer any advice on the topic at all.