Curse of Strahd - S5E12 (53) - Yesterhill once more

We find our heroes working their way north along the Luna River valley, having reconsecrated the shrine to the Weaver in Berez. Night is falling and they are making best speed towards Vallaki.

Our dramatis personae:

Ser Adon de Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Paladin, from a knightly background, with two human retainers and a priest), played by Paul (dr_mitch). Lawful Good. Married to Ser Alys.

Kelwarin (Kel) (a half-elf Sorceror flush with the powers of wild magic, an outlander), played by Graham (First Age). Chaotic Good.

Gaddock Teeg (a halfling wizard and former prizefighter), played by Alex (Doggetay), Neutral Good

Ser Alys de Adon-Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Fighter with a soldier background, currently the leader of the town militia of Daggerford), played by Tom (Guvnor). Lawful Neutral. Imagine a slightly greener take on Grace Jones... Married to Ser Adon. 

also featuring: 

Ireena Kolyana (a human warrior, daughter of the Burgomaster of Barovia, Twice-Bitten reincarnation of Strahd's unrequited love, Tatyana) - upgraded as a sidekick.

and introducing:

Muriel Vinshaw (a member of the Keepers of the Feather, travelling with the party to repay them for rescuing her),  a wereraven upgraded to a sidekick (yes, I know that breaks rules as she started at CR2 but frankly I don't care)!

All characters are level 9. Sidekicks are level 8. I hadn't had a chance to level up the sidekicks in the gap between session so I was prepared to cut them some slack

__

19th December, late afternoon.

The party pressed forward, with Ser Adon making heavy going of it as he pulled the body of Roscoe along   behind him on the stretcher. His wife would have helped him, but she had her own burden, a wolf which they'd captured to use in the ritual to reconsecrate the Huntresses shrine on Yesterhill. The weather continued to conspire against them all, with snow swirling around. They had hoped to save time by fording one of the Luna's tributaries, but when they reached it they realised that it was in full flow, cold, rushing and deep. Instead they had to track east, around the lake and double back. As they reached the far side of the lake, they noticed that - high up on the mountain road to the east - the sails seem to have been restored to the Old Bonegrinder, the coven's lair that they had previous burned down. A thing of concern.

Night had fallen, and sound was deadened by the snow around by the time that they reached the Old Svalich Road. After a quick conversation, they decided to turn west and head to the Vistani camp rather than spend longer than needed travelling to Vallaki.

They reached the camp and were welcomed with open arms and celebration. As they warmed themselves by the fire, they contemplated their next move. Gaddock focussed onto the fire, trying to draw a portent of the future through a divination. It all seemed to be going so well, right until the point that mists appeared in his vision and the voice and visage he could see in his mind's eye turned into that of Count Strahd. Could he trust this or not?

20th December, early morning

Rested up, our heroes departed to the west, towards Yesterhill. The solstice was nearly upon them and they had no time to spare for they feared that Count Strahd was retaliate against Vallaki if his awful tithe was not met. They wanted to have freed the land from the dominance of the darkness before this happened, if possible. Roscoe's body was left with the Vistani for safe-keeping so it wouldn't be a burden.

They travelled through the light snow and growing morning light, conscious that they could hear wolves calling in the distance and returning to the feeling that perhaps the land was watching them once more. Unaccosted, they reached the foot of the hill by late morning and started to climb up, the light of the beacon from Argynvostholt giving them cheer and despite the snow and light mists. Soon they could see the wall of mist that marked the western edge of the domain. They followed the path through the earthwork enclosed space with the standing stones, only to spy two of the Forest Folk druids praying in the stone circle. Swiftly, brutally, the party fell upon them lest they report their whereabouts to their patron, Strahd. The druids were consumed by a fireball cast by Kel before they had a chance to act.

The dark grove where the shrine and Gulthias Tree was located were just ahead. They noticed that there was an eery silence as they entered the half-light of the trees. Kel and Ser Adon made light with spells and the javelin, at which point the whole grove seemed to rustle, and the trees became full of movement. Suddenly the air was full of stirges, followed by Strigoi. Ser Adon rejoiced at the chance to play stirge splat again. The party became involved in the grim act of fighting off hordes of enemies, each of them weak individually, but with strength in number. Their blood draining weakened the party members when they got through their defences, but our heroes prevailed with grim determination. Ser Adon used his blood spear, exulting in the energy that it gave him. Ser Alys and Muriel were weakened by the blood-sucking monstrosities, but they decided to press on.

Heading under the remains of the Gulthias tree, they reached the shrine that they'd visited previously. Gaddock crossed to the island and started to prepare the ritual. Ser Adon dropped the wolf beside him and they slaughtered it ritually. As the blood started to flow from the predator, the tree roots in the chamber started to twitch. The Gulthias was dormant, not dead. A low moan filled the chamber, and the larger roots started to blindly reach out towards the party, hungry for sustenance. The noise and roots panicked Ireena and Kelwarin, who fled towards the entrance. Ser Alys launched herself at the root that went for the couple, hacking at it. They made it past and out. Gaddock continues with the ritual, hoping nothing would attack him. Ser Alys was grabbed by one of the roots so Ser Adon and Muriel set about it, trying to free her. A desperate fight ensued, with three of the party trying to stop the roots reaching Gaddock before he completed the bloody ceremony. 

As he completed the chant, the Gulthias roots shrivelled, and the tree let out some kind of whimper. There was a cracking blast of energy; the altar was struck with lightning; outside Kel and Ireena saw the lightning connecting the shrine below to the web of darkness above in the clouds, just as it happened at Berez. The Gulthias, struck by the lightning, was shattered and burning. The second of the two shrines was cleared. Another step had been taken towards defeating Count Strahd. 

Next, they had to return to the Old Bonegrinder, which had somehow returned to a better state of repair.

GM Notes:

The Old Bonegrinder glimpse was some foreshadowing of things from the past that will return to haunt the party.

The fight with the Stirges and Strigoi was designed to reduce maximum hit points. It wasn't the best tactic that Strahd could have used, but I figured that he could quickly protect Yesterhill with creatures like the Stirges. I also wanted to explore how dangerous a horde attack would be.

The Gulthias imposed a frightened condition against Kelwarin and Ireena which made them flee from the chamber; fortunately, everyone else made their save. Ser Alys was in grave risk from the root attacks; fortunately, Ser Adon's counter-attack was a critical, freeing his spouse. 

The journey in this session

26 October 2022

Curse of Strahd - S5E11 (52) - Back to Berez

 

Our heroes have successfully made it down the mountain from the Amber Temple without significant injury, having repeated their trickery to bypass the gates guarding Tsolenka Pass. As the pre-dawn light reaches us, we find them preparing to break camp and head to Berez to reconsecrate the Huntresses' shrine.

Our dramatis personae:

Ser Adon de Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Paladin, from a knightly background, with two human retainers and a priest), played by Paul (dr_mitch). Lawful Good. Married to Ser Alys.

Kelwarin (Kel) (a half-elf Sorceror flush with the powers of wild magic, an outlander), played by Graham (First Age). Chaotic Good.

Gaddock Teeg (a halfling wizard and former prizefighter), played by Alex (Doggetay), Neutral Good

Ser Alys de Adon-Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Fighter with a soldier background, currently the leader of the town militia of Daggerford), played by Tom (Guvnor). Lawful Neutral. Imagine a slightly greener take on Grace Jones... Married to Ser Adon. 

also featuring: 

Ireena Kolyana (a human warrior, daughter of the Burgomaster of Barovia, Twice-Bitten reincarnation of Strahd's unrequited love, Tatyana) - upgraded as a sidekick.

and introducing:

Muriel Vinshaw (a member of the Keepers of the Feather, travelling with the party to repay them for rescuing her),  a wereraven upgraded to a sidekick (yes, I know that breaks rules as she started at CR2 but frankly I don't care)!

All characters and sidekicks are level 8. They have hit a milestone, so when they reach a place of refuge they'll be able to level up.

__

19th December, Morning.

The pre-dawn light was in the sky as the party were dusted with a light covering of snow as the magical hut faded away. It was still, and cold in the sheltered clearing that they'd camped in. Snow deadened sound and breath created clouds as they spoke. They broke their fast, then started along the old road. After an hour or so, they started to turn through the light brush scrub, and up the slope to head west to Berez, with Ser Adon pulling Roscoe's body up hill on an improvised stretcher.

As they climbed up the slope, Ser Alys became aware of the howling of a wolf pack behind them. A quick conversation ensued; they needed to capture a predator to reconsecrate the shrine, so perhaps one of the wolves could be the predator. They set an ambush, startling the wolf pack as it came over a ridge towards them. A short and bloody fight ensued; between them Ser Alys and Ser Adon grappled and trussed a wolf, before killing or driving off the others. There was some clever use of an Enlarge spell to give the warrior's an advantage.

Heading cross country.

Alys took the wolf, and Adon continued with Roscoe's frozen corpse. The way was rough, made treacherous by the snow and ice and the wind which cut into them as they lost the cover from the slope caught it full force. Ser Adon found himself struggling with the load he carried. Was it sorrow at the loss of his friend or just the bitter environment? Either way he found that he was very tired.

Eventually, they started to make their way back down into the Luna River valley towards the swampland around Berez. The dusting of snow didn't make it much better to look at; cold, muddy, snow covered, it was a treacherous environment. Unsure of exactly where the shrine was, they first made their way the old church in the centre of town and followed the path out towards the east towards the monument that they'd seen previously.

The monument was surprisingly well preserved; they were shocked to see that the likeness on the statue was that of Ireena. The inscription read "Marina, lost to the Mists". They concluded that this was another incarnation of Tatyana, just like Ireena, her soul unable to escape the lands under Count Strahd's control. As they reflected, the party became aware of a moaning from the swamp behind them. They saw figures moving slowly out of the swamp. Kelwarin and Gaddock responded with fireballs and bolts, and the warriors cut down an unusually large snake. The threat was quickly extinguished.

Deciding that this wasn't the shrine, and that they'd need to somehow cross the river to the standing stone circle they'd seen previously, they turned back into town. As they reached the centre, Gaddock suggested that they checked out Baba Lysaga's hut in case it had some of the items they needed for the ritual (including stone jars for the predator's organs). The hut lay on its side, abandoned. There were some nerves climbing in, but it was soon apparent that the witch remained dead. After some scrambling around they found wooden bowls, stone jars and other artefacts needed for the ritual. 

All set, they headed down towards the river, passing an enclosure where some goats still grazed, left behind after the party had slaughtered the Barovian women who were living in the ruins and tending them. The river was at least 300 feet across, and flowing cold and swift. They decided that wading through wasn't an option as it looked too deep. Instead, our heroes used magic to cross the divide.

At the stone circle shrine to the Weaver.

They reached the standing stones and started to prepare for the ritual. Gaddock pulled his notes out, and studied the markings on the monoliths. Quietly he swore. The rest of the party looked at him. Gaddock looked embarrassed as he admitted that he'd made a mistake; this was the Weaver's shrine, not the Huntresses' shrine. They needed completely different items for the ritual. There was much cursing. They needed fruit and berries, honey and goat's milk.

Between them, they had enough berries and fruit in their provisions. Gaddock managed to find some honeycomb in his spell components, but they needed goat's milk. No-one had any. Ser Alys recalled the goats on the other side of the river and looked expectantly at Gaddock and Kel. They looked sheepishly at her and admitted that they were all out of spells. Ser Alys fumed. Kasimir then told Ser Alys that he could give her the power to fly, if only for a short while. Alys agreed, and took to the air with what seemed like an amount of glee.

She landed by the enclosure, and had to decide which of the goats to take. Which was female? Which would give milk? She had to draw on long forgotten memories from her childhood before she made her choice; she managed to subdue the right animal, then flew back before the spell faded. On landing she faced her next challenge - remembering how to milk a goat. Fortunately, it came back to her, and they had the right components for the ritual.

As they started to prepare for the ritual, the fog rose quickly up from the river. Most of the party took defensive position, concerned that they could be facing an attack from the forces of Strahd. Carefully, Gaddock carried out the ritual, chanting and marking out. As it drew to a conclusion, everyone felt their hair starting to stand on end, and a tingling. All of a sudden, lightning crackled from the shrine to the stones around then shot into the air; where it touched the sky, a dark web of energies could be seen. This roiled and moved, widening and adjusting as the lightning burned into it, tearing at its nature. And then, with a final flash of energy, the lighting and dark web disappeared and the mist fell back from the standing stones.

They rested for a while, hoping that they'd struck another blow against the Dark Lord of this domain. After a discussion, they decided to press on towards Vallaki, following the river, even if it meant that they may have to travel in darkness. The Solstice was fast approaching and time was precious.

GM Notes:

The poor weather and fatigue has Ser Adon at disadvantage, something significant if they get into combat; as he also has to carry either the body of his friend or the wolf, this won't go away until he gets some proper rest.

I spent most of the session from the start realising that Alex had misread the handout on the shrine, so was preparing for the wrong ritual. The look on his face was priceless when he realised he'd got it wrong. The other players have absolute trust in Alex (he's the only one really making notes like me) and hadn't really bothered to read the material.

Tom did take a bit of exception that I didn't make the components for the ritual immediately available, and required some work to get them. The river crossing became significant; Ser Alys having to draw on a skill that she didn't have - animal handling - caused annoyance, but she did fine. However, these rituals are really important if they want to weaken Strahd from the enhanced CR27 monster that he is, so I was happy to be the 'arsehole' DM in this case. Completing the rituals correctly is key, and I loved the ingenuity that the players showed.

The proximity of the Solstice concerns the players; they're worried that Strahd will attack Vallaki if the tithe isn't paid. They may be right. This meant they didn't want to take the time to allow Ser Adon to recover properly. Perhaps this will be an issue...

Still playing catch up with these notes, but only one behind now.

23 October 2022

First Impressions - Heirs to Heresy - the Fall of the Knight's Templar - RPG

Heirs to Heresy by Osprey Games.

Heirs to Heresy is a roleplaying game about the fall of the Knights Templar in 1307 published by Osprey Games. It's an attractive 192-page hardback with lovely artwork and clean layout.

TL;DR: Heirs to Heresy has a solid game engine and a great framework for building a campaign around the fall of the Knights Templar. There's scope to range between the mundane politics of their fall and the full embrace of the many conspiracy theories that surround them. The book is nicely illustrated and well laid out. 

Heirs to Heresy (HTH) is written by Alan Bahr, a designer who has always left me impressed with the ideas he presents but I've always felt the systems (for example Cold Shadows) a little lacking leaving a feeling that the game has ended up a little undercooked and under-edited. I'm pleased to report that HTH breaks this feeling; the game system is coherent and well presented. The only obvious error is a layout one (part of the Holy Grail's Relic entry is under the entry for the sword of Hugh de Payens), but all the content is there. Bahr also clearly states that the book is meant to be a framework of rules and setting which you'll need to make your own.

The campaign will open on the night of Friday 13th October 1307 as the forces of the King of France take action (with the Pope's blessing) against the Knights Templar who are declared traitors and heretics.The characters are knights of the order who escape carrying with them a treasure, hoping to find refuge. This could be in Lisboa, Malta, Rhodes or even Scotland or England; the choice could be the character's own or they could be given a destination at the start by the Grand Master (GM), as the destination will likely determine the length of the campaign. The characters are numbered amongst the thirty that escaped.

The core game engine uses 2d10 with the addition of skill and attribute ratings. This is either against a task based target number representing the difficulty, or an opposed roll in a contest. Rolling doubles is a critical success. There is no fumble mechanic. Rolls can be at advantage or disadvantage (roll 3d10 and either keep the best or worst two results) and there are simple rules to encourage teamwork for aid in a test.

The character generation section opens with a brief history of the order and the countries of Europe that the Templars may have come from or travel to during their escape.

There are a number of key decisions to make in character generation. First of all, a player needs to decide whether their knight is dedicated or versatile. Versatile knights have balanced attributes whereas dedicated knights have focused on a couple of areas. There are six attributes; Might, Vitality, Quickness, Intellect, Courage and Faith. Versatile knights will have attributes between +3 and +1; Dedicated knights range between +4 and 0. Intellect and Faith limit how many advancement points you can gain in a session.

The next choice is for skills; again you can chose between focused (one skill raised high) or well-rounded (where you're a jack of all trades and capable in most areas). Well-rounded characters have more skill points in total but the skills are lower.

There are a short number of derived characteristics, and then you chose your starting equipment and establish the relationships within the group. It's simple, and quick. I do think it would lend itself well to being hacked into a playbook for convention use.

A knight's Faith attribute determines the number of Faith Points that they have. These can be spent to re-roll tests, affect incoming and outgoing damage and to power esoteric abilities, gifts and the use of relics. They can be stacked but only recover slowly (through prayer, or a single point every Sunday). However, should a Templar sin, they can lose Faith Points.

Combat uses the task system but works differently for Mobs and "Fearsome Foes". Mobs are a form of Mook rules and only get to act if a Templar fails to do damage on their action. Each point of damage will kill a member of a mob, so it's likely the heavily armoured knights will cut through lower grade opponents quickly. If the knights are facing only Mobs as opponents, the combat system works narratively with the Mobs only acting if a character fails to inflict damage. If a Fearsome Foe is faced, the initiative system is used. This involves putting a token into the bag for each Templar and Fearsome Foe. When a Templar token is drawn, one of the player knights gets to take two actions, with the same applying when a Foe is drawn. Mobs continue to act if a Templar fails to do damage on their action.

There are a variety of actions available to give some tactical variety. The game uses broad zones for combat rather than absolute distance. Damage for knights and fearsome foes first degrades stamina, and then causes crippling blows. The player decides which of the four different conditions for a crippling blow is most apt to select.

Mass Battles have their own rules and Templars take the lead for units. The rules are simple but more crunchy than personal combat.

Advancement points are gained each time a critical is rolled, but a character can only gain as many as the highest rating of either their Intellect or Faith. They can be spent as a downtime action to boost attributes and skills.

Optional rules are given for Gifts. Very much like feats in other RPGs, these mark your character out with a special ability. It's suggested that the GM allows a character to gain a gift every four sessions or so. 

The section for the GM - or Grand Master - is useful. It discusses building a campaign, session zero and safely tools. The campaign opens on the fateful Friday 13th and will end when the last character dies or they reach Avallonis. Ava lloris is the name that the game gives for the place the Templars are escaping to. It could be a physical location such as Lisboa, or something holy or magical.

There is good guidance for campaign development, covering length and destination. Obviously, travelling to England will take less time than travelling to Malta or Portugal.

Once that's decided, the next step is to decide the level of Esoterica appropriate for the campaign; this is how much mysticism or magick is to be found in the world. You can run a mundane, political game; an infused game with hints of magick and mysticism; or a mystical game where demons, angels and fae stalk the Earth and the battle between Heaven and Hell is fought openly. In this case, Templar characters can learn magic and all the Esoterica rules are used.

Finally, the GM needs to decide on scale. Are the Templars feared with a reputation that makes enemies think twice, or has their downfall led them to be mocked or diminished. I think their could be some fun moving this in a game as news of the Order's fall and trials for heresy spreads.

The toolkit approach continues with a discussion on how to prepare for the character's journeys and a discussion of the likely pursuit (King Philip IV's forces, or perhaps the Holy Inquisition). Creating appropriate foes and allies is discussed, along with what happens when the characters go off-piste from your plans. The importance of consistent tone & theme is stressed. There's also guidance on tailoring combat to make it memorable.

Page 99 sees the interesting parts of campaign development. This is guidance for the GM in establishing their truth about the Knights Templar:

• Who and how where they really founded?
• Why were they given the Temple Mount in Jerusalem?
• How did they grow and obtain such power so quickly?
• How was their reputation built?
• What were their links to the Cathars?
• Why did the Templars not resist more effectively?

There are discussions about the way the Templars could have been Guardians of the Holy Grail, or the lineage of Christ, worshipper of unholy powers or Gnostic knights aligned with the Cathars. Alternatively, it could be that they planned to establish their own nation-state thanks to their massive holdings and control of finance, or that they have dark links to the (now defeated) Order of Assassins. .

The fun in this toolkit approach is that every game will be different dependent upon the choices taken. The challenge is the preparation needed. You aren't going to play this without some work upfront. That's not a bad thing, just something to consider.

Relics of Saints, Old Testament figures or even of the Christ were very important to Catholics in this period, and Heirs to Heresy gives options to use them. These range from the Holy Grail, through Solomon's Library and Seal to artefacts significant to the history of the Knights Templar. Each relic has some basic powers, with further effects unlocked if a character invests advancement points. There's not a large number presented but the format is simple to adapt for yourself.

There are journey rules; the Templars must decide if they wish to travel on main roads (risking recognition but meaning they aren't going to get lost) or to head onto back routes using the Explore skill. Going off the main roads does give the opportunity to lose pursuers.

Downtime varies dependent upon whether you're in the wilderness or somewhere civilised. In the wilderness some areas will be too dangerous to do anything other then sleep, eat and stand watch. If it's a safer area, the knights will be able to take actions such as trying to conceal their trail from pursuit, training, praying (to restore Faith Points) or recovering health.

Civilised areas can be dangerous too. The larger the town, the less likely this is the case, as the Knights will be able to blend in better than in a small town or village. However, the pursuers are likely to draw closer when characters stay somewhere civilised if they aren't discrete. However, civilised locations provide the opportunity to find out information, improve attributes & skills, and meet allies (as well as all the actions available in wilderness areas).

The proximity of pursuit is modelled by a pool of pursuit points the GM holds. The pool starts at the number of knights; should it reach double their number, the pursuers will act. Typically this will involve a patrol or enemy knight discovering them. It can also make it harder to find somewhere safe to spend downtime. Characters can also increase the pursuit pool through their actions - anything drawing attention is likely to create more interest. If the Inquisition is close by, things will escalate.

There's a comprehensive section covering the enemies that the characters can face, whether mobs or fearsome foes. Some foes will have qualities that give them a unique feel or ability. These are used to address fantastical abilities for mystical or magical opponents. Mobs include peasants, men-at-arms, wolfpacks, goblins and fairies soldiers. Fearsome foes include knights, hunters, inquisitors, assassins, boars, bears,  and even angels and demons. Hellhounds and dragons are possibilities as well as more traditional horror foes.

If your campaign includes Esoterica, this will manifest as magicks, blessings and martial esoteric.

Magick requires the character to learn the Gnosis skill. This is usually only possible if they have access to the Library & Seal of Solomon (one of the relics in the game). Spells are arranged in three circles of power and are cast through rituals. Each circle is progressively harder to cast. The third circle can bring heaven to earth, albeit temporarily. It can also be used to bind an angel or demon into providing a gift. Failure to strike a deal will condemn the caster to hell. They can never spend Faith Points or attempt bargain with a demon again. There's an extensive list of demons and angels at the end of the book, providing details of the gift they can provide. 

Blessings can be obtained from relics or any other route the GM feels is appropriate. They require the Templar to have a sufficient level of piety (represented by the sum of their faith and religion skill) to work. A sample list is given.

Martial esoterica are abilities related to combat and can be leaned by whatever route the GM feels fit. They aren't necessarily magical; the right mentors or teaches could show a knight how to do them.

Heirs to Heresy wraps up with an introductory adventure "The Flight from Paris". It's designed as a framework to kick off a campaign. There are four pre-generated characters. It's worth noting that the game, by default, takes a diverse approach to characters. The scenario has a simple structure, but had me quickly thinking about how to run it. I suspect that it needs fleshing out a little and the first steps of the journeys the knights will take as they flee will need to be prepared for. 

In summary, Heirs to Heresy has a solid game engine and a great framework for building a campaign around the fall of the Knights Templar. There's scope to range between the mundane politics of their fall and the full embrace of the many conspiracy theories that surround them. The book is nicely illustrated and well laid out. 

Recommended

22 October 2022

Curse of Strahd - S5E10 (51) - Forbidden knowledge

 

Our heroes have split the party in three! Gaddock continues to study in the library with Exethanter the Lich, while Kelwarin, Ireena and Muriel have travelled deeper into the Amber Temple to consult a model of Castle Ravenloft to give them some ideas on how to successfully penetrate its defences. Meanwhile, Sers Adon, Alys and Kasimir the Dusk Elf are hunkered down in a room near the entrance having broken Neferon's instructions not to interact with the Dark Powers. They're kind of certain that he knows and won't be happy.

Our dramatis personae:

Ser Adon de Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Paladin, from a knightly background, with two human retainers and a priest), played by Paul (dr_mitch). Lawful Good. Married to Ser Alys.

Kelwarin (Kel) (a half-elf Sorceror flush with the powers of wild magic, an outlander), played by Graham (First Age). Chaotic Good.

Gaddock Teeg (a halfling wizard and former prizefighter), played by Alex (Doggetay), Neutral Good

Ser Alys de Adon-Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Fighter with a soldier background, currently the leader of the town militia of Daggerford), played by Tom (Guvnor). Lawful Neutral. Imagine a slightly greener take on Grace Jones... Married to Ser Adon. 

also featuring: 

Ireena Kolyana (a human warrior, daughter of the Burgomaster of Barovia, Twice-Bitten reincarnation of Strahd's unrequited love, Tatyana) - upgraded as a sidekick.

and introducing:

Muriel Vinshaw (a member of the Keepers of the Feather, travelling with the party to repay them for rescuing her),  a wereraven upgraded to a sidekick (yes, I know that breaks rules as she started at CR2 but frankly I don't care)!

All characters and sidekicks are level 8. This was the first game in a few sessions with all the players back.

__

18th December, Afternoon.

Muriel, Ireena and Kel tried their best to memorise as much of the layout of the Castle as possible. A moment of euphoria turned to disappointment when they found a portfolio marked as containing the plans of the castle, only to find that time had aged them to the point of illegibility. The paper was breaking up as they exposed it. A brief conversation followed as they considered exploring a bit further into the temple, but after discussion they decided that it was more prudent to return back to the library. 

Setting off quickly, they made their way through the dark abandoned halls, amber hues reflecting from their lights. They soon reached the collapsed landing, and crossed into the back of Exethanter's chambers. As they came in, their eyes were drawn to the serene statue of the hooded god of secrets. There was something fascinating about it, especially the darkness within the hood. Soon they found themselves seated in front of it, along side two long desiccated bodies, contemplating the secrets hidden within. If only they could learn what they meant! Fortunately, Muriel managed to resist being drawn into this long enough to call out to Exethanter and Gaddock, before they too were ensorcelled. Exethanter arrived soon after, and broke them from their trances, apologising that he hadn't warned them about the need to call out before they reached this room. Kel recalled that the Lich had indeed warned them of this, but was just happy to be freed.

It took a further few hours of study for Gaddock to complete the annotations on how to carry out the rituals, and then they prepared to depart. Exethanter offered Gaddock an opportunity to join the Order; there was much he could learn and the death benefits were excellent. Gaddock declined again, gracefully.

Kelwarin reached out to Adon and Alys with a spell to find out where the were. The warriors explained their predicament; they were pretty certain that Neferon knew that they'd tampered with one of the dark powers and that the temple's guardian would feel obliged to attack. They agreed to move as quickly as possible out once the others had got clear.

As the group left Exethanter's study and reached the bottom of the stairs, the door at the base of the huge statue where Neferon lived cracked open and light washed out. Neferon looked at the group, shaking his head; he told them that they were welcome to leave and return, but unfortunately their friends weren't. They'd meddled with things best left untouched and had been warned - as result they weren't allowed to leave, it was too dangerous. Our heroes made their goodbyes and headed across the temple, quickly climbing to the balcony. They headed out, up the stairs. 

As they headed out, Adon, Alys, and Kasimir used magic to escape. Between the warriors, they carried Roscoe's body. The spells brought them out of the entrance. They heard Neferon calling out "Oh no you don't", and another ball of fire burst around them, with Muriel taking the brunt of it. They ran. 

As the sun was dropping, they reached the perilous bridge near the spire, but crossed it carefully, with most of the party on hands and knees to avoid slipping and falling to the depths below.

As they exited the canyon, they came across a group of Mountain Folk hunters who warned them that the giant bird was aloft, and the wolves were running. Word seemed to have spread through the folk that the party weren't a threat.

Pressing on into the falling light, they soon reached the section of path the avalanche had buried. They fitted the snowshoes and got out the walking sticks that Adon had insisted that they bring. Gaddock used the levitate spell he had to remove the weight of Roscoe's body. Kel, moving ahead used his dark vision to scout the path and dropped pebbles to mark the right route. He kept up a constant patter of encouragement to the rest of the party. Perhaps it was this constant chatter that distracted Ser Alys; somehow, the surefooted warrior lost her balance and slipped. If it hadn't been for Ser Adon's insistence on the walking sticks she'd have surely gone over the edge of the mountain.

It was close on sunset as they reached Tsolenka Pass; the guarded gate and bridge were ahead. They spotted a shadow crossing the sky and realised that the Roc was hunting. The plan was simple; run across the bridge then use the magic spells they'd used the previous time to get quickly past the gate and any guardians that it may have. As they hunkered down, planning, Kel was startled by the nuzzling he felt in his ear. It was the large goat they'd encountered previously. It seemed to have some retained affection for them.

They ran, the goat following. Behind them they could hear the beat of wings and a cawing. The Roc had seen them. Putting on a burst of speed, they reached the clearing as the Roc plummeted. The spells worked, and they looked back to see the Roc rising into the darkness, with the goat hanging from its feet. Somehow, it had been distracted by their use of magic and the giant bird bird had struck.

They pressed on, in the end stopping at the point they'd rested previously, near where the vampire spawn had attacked the mountain folk family. They planned an early start the next day to press on and, after some discussion as to whether to go to Vallaki or not, they decided to head to the Huntresses' shrine at Berez instead and to immediately start the reconsecration of the banes.

GM Notes:

The section through the Avalanche was run as a skill challenge (3/4 needed for no consequences and success). The player's have made a serious error here. The Huntresses' shrine is at Yesterhill, not Berez. Alex read the notes wrong and everyone else is looking to him (Gaddock) for the next steps. I had to keep a really straight face when this happened.

The decision to go to Berez not Vallaki or the Vistani encampment was made by the players in the knowledge that although they've reached the milestone for levelling up, they can't do it until they reach a place of safety.

Roll20 has had further improvements; as a GM or player you can now whisper using the audio to a single player. The interface continues to be sharpened up. 

This is being written up a fair bit later than I wanted, due to work and convention preparation for Furnace. I've another two to follow up with.

15 October 2022

Furnace XVII - After thoughts

Back at the Garrison

 

This year, Furnace returned back towards its usual size as people seemed to be more confident about coming out. However, the long shadow of COVID continued to cast itself over the organisation. This manifested in people dropping out in the last week with COVID or similar symptoms. As organisers, we'd asked no-one to come if they had symptoms. On a practical side, the big impact on us happens when it's a GM. As we'd been tight on games in a few slots, losing a GM - especially one running in two or three slots - is a challenge.  It made Elaine's life challenging on the run up, and during the convention itself, mainly as we'd decided to stay fully pre-booked like Revelation and North Star. This is one thing we will revisit; we may revert to part pre-booked next year as having physical sign-up sheets helps people self-manage in these situations.

I'd originally planned to take Friday off work to finalise preparations, but things didn't go to plan. I got free of work at 13:30 but fortunately, I was pretty much prepared. I needed to read through Blue Planet and do some more tweaking on the second scenario, but I was lucky that the one of the games that I'd planned (The Slow Knife) was co-created at the table and that the first Blue Planet scenario was straight from the QuickStart (and I'd run it twice before). The curve ball came during badge production. At Furnace, I've a more nebulous role than North Star. I prepare the registration forms, do some of the publicity, handle safeguarding, produce the badges and raffle tickets and anything else needed. Graham does Garrison liaison and acts as front man. Elaine deals with the games organisation. It's a well oiled machine, but badges were my curve ball this year. The eldest child managed to break the guilliotine the weekend before doing a school project, but worse - on Friday - as I assembled the badges I discovered that  the box I thought was full of badges was empty and I was short about 25 for the convention. 

I headed into town, and found the local stationers could only offer visitor style badges at £1.50 a pop, so I declined. Getting home, I went through drawers and finally found enough slightly larger badges to cover the event. I was pretty relieved; next year I'll check the week before.

I saw the family off to the fencing competition that they were going to and then headed down to the Garrison, much to the the disgust of the cats who were not impressed that I was leaving them as well. Arriving earlier than usual, I had this vision of Slot 0 in the bar with friends that I hadn't seen for a while. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Graham had sensibly decided to set up the night before as we could get it, so I found myself moving tables and then building up some screens we'd purchased to try and reduce noise between tables in the Armoury and Dungeon areas. I think my engineering background came out to make that a bit easier (Graham had built one when I arrived and looked quite fraught) or maybe it was just the fact that two of us made the job a lot easier.

By the time we reached the bar they'd already called last orders, but we managed to get a pint as residents. Drank that, but didn't stay too late. Went back to the room and read through the Slow Knife again. I had a good night's sleep, albeit a bit warm and was waiting in the queue with Graham and Elaine when breakfast opened at 8am. Had the Mickey taken out of me by Graham when he tried to order my cooked breakfast (two bacon, two poached eggs, a sausage and mushrooms)  because we'd done enough of these to get a good idea what we all liked.

Got up to the venue, put out signs for tables and added X-Cards on them all. Set up my bring-and-buy. Got all the badges out and ready. Quick words with Paul and Fil from All Rolled Up and a welcome to Patriot Games. Said hello to lots of people, and then - as usual - Graham was doing the welcome speech without any warning so I was late with the attempt to video him, enough that it wasn't worth posting to social media.

Blade Runner in full flow.

Slots 1 & 2 saw me playing Remi's Blade Runner game. This used the material from the starter set. Remi had painstakingly assembled the map from printouts which he'd stuck together, and had multiple tablet devices so we could say 'enhance...' and scroll and pan. We had a mixed crew of Replicants and Blade Runners. Our mission was to locate renegade replicants so that the Wallace Corporation could recover them; although we could use deadly force, it wasn't preferred. I had a replicant forensic specialist who was putting the anal into analyst; think of him as a child who is being pushed too much by his parents to achieve, something that came to bite the party later. The drive to be efficient defined him and meant I was pushing rolls if I failed.

The game used the new version of the Year Zero Engine where you roll two dice - one for attribute and one for skill. Base dice are D6 (success on a 6) but they can be as large as a D12. If you roll 6+ it's a success, 10+ two successes. There is a push mechanic which can generate stress. Replicants can push twice. Stress broke my efficiency focused replicant, and then we rolled the "Mother, let me tell you about my Mother" result on the stress table. So my character had a psychotic break and tried to kill the human detective (played by Graham) who had been needling him about how good he was at his job. Fortunately, we managed to find a narratively sensible way to keep the scenario going. I really like this take on YZE; the characters feel more competent and it feels less swingy.

The Crime Board and GM

I loved the way this scenario (which is from the starter set) worked out; it felt like a proper slow burn investigation and the interaction in the scenario and between characters vindicated my belief that the game has more legs than Alien. We ended up pulling out the cork board I'd brought to put the map and clues on rather than cramp the table, and it looked great. Remi ran it brilliantly and it was lovely to play with a mix of friends and people I'd talked to on forums for years but had never met before.

Lunch via Morrisons. Each year it seems that the choice gets worse, but I think Morrisons has been on a slow nose dive for a while. Dinner was the traditional KFC run that Keary, John and I do. We did the usual sharing of book tips and gaming chat.

The conspirators gathered for the Slow Knife.

Slot 3 was The Slow Knife, a conspiracy story game where you tell the tale of a young person (the Knife) whose promising life was cut short by four conspirators who had been jealous in some way. Using card prompts we construct a crime board which tells how how the Life annoyed the conspirators, how they arranged their downfall, the way they prospered and turn towards infighting and rivalry, and finally how the Knife's revenge is worked out. It was a bit arts and crafts as we constructed the connections with string, pins and cards on the cork board, but it was great fun. 

They really didn't like the Knife, Émile.

The set up took over an hour, but once we got going into the four acts of the game itself a strange momentum gathered as we co-created the downfall of the four villains. It was a sprawling mix of ambition, double-dealing and general nastiness. The cards were wonderful; they gave the players permission for their characters to be nasty to each other and build a decades long tale of revenge. I think two of them planned to buy the game after playing it; I guess that shows how well it landed.

By the time we finished Slot 3, it was after 11pm, and although the bar was open, I decided against visiting it because I wanted to get a good night's sleep under my belt before running Blue Planet. I was a bit nervous, which was irrational as I'd run the first scenario a couple of times before and it had been well received.

The final board.

Slot 4 and Slot 5 on Sunday saw me taking the players on a trip to Poseidon, the Blue Planet, in the year 2199. They were all members of Red Sky Charters, a native crewed boating company struggling to survive under crippling debt. The first scenario was the QuickStart one ('Trouble in Paradise') where Red Sky Charters gets drawn into a tangled web with mobsters, incorporates and the native rights movement, the New Gaian Collective. They managed to successfully navigate their way out of trouble, in one case literally feeding a gangster to the fishes. 

I'd had four players sign up for both sessions so there was some continuity; in the end, only three could make it because of illness, but I had five players for each session. This was fun, because I had seven characters available, so it shifted the dynamic between sessions. I have to shout out Neil's portrayal of a dolphin (uplifted cetacean) as one of my highlights of the day. I'm glad he enjoyed it; he's wanted to play the game for a quarter of a century!

Slot 4's crew - I forgot to take a picture in Slot 5 unfortunately.

I'd written the second scenario as a sequel occurring perhaps three to six months after the events of the first. The players managed to control some hot-headed youths and discharge a favour they owed the New Gaian Collective. Of course, more favours were earned in both directions; this would have been fantastic for an extended campaign. I'd deliberately built a set of flashbacks into the scenario tailored for each of the characters to explore their relationship with the friction between incomers and the natives. It seemed to work well. Eventually, they successfully liberated a number of natives from indentured employment for an incorporate whilst avoiding an atrocity or two.

I loved it when Steve's character, who was leaning towards joining the movement against incomers point blank refused to take any action against GEO-SAR, the VTOL search and rescue run by the UN) despite being asked to by the hardline NGC activists. All the way through, Elaine's character Drew, who wasn't a native, was trying to keep Red Sky solvent and at the same time walk the line between natives and incomers.

The Blue Planet game engine works well; it's light and has modern tweaks for relationships. Combat is brutal; you don't want to be shot (which I guess is reflective of real life). One character took a bullet and ended up effectively out of action until they could get proper first aid. It's a simple dice pool system; you get between 1 and 3 D10 depending upon your skill specialisation, and have to roll under a target number derived from your skill number and attribute. 

The game seemed to land well with the players; subsequently, a couple of them have mentioned that they'd like to play a mini-campaign if I run one when the final book is released. I think that suggests that the setting resonates. The new campaign frames will work well if they're all written as well as this one.

All of a sudden, it was all over and time to go home! The dates have just been released for next year, for the convention's coming of age party, but before that we have Revelation and North Star.

12 October 2022

First Impressions - CY_BORG roleplaying game

CY_BORG - cyberpunk shenanigans

CY_BORG is a roleplaying game which hacks the Mörk Borg game engine and stylistic art punk ethos to a gritty, dangerous cyberpunk setting.

TL;DR: I'm really impressed with CY_BORG. It's perfect for pick up and play Cyberpunk shenanigans. It is art punk and style-led, but there's a very simple and playable game with comprehensive support for the GM. it leaves me wondering what I do with that copy of Cyberpunk RED on my shelf; The Sprawl will remain my 'serious' cyberpunk game, and CY_BORG has taken the fun/fast/frantic mantle.

Physically, it's the same size as 'Old-School Essentials', a small hardcover book with around 166 full colour pages. The layout and images blend together in a riot of colour and shape, echoing the genre. Occasionally, some of the palette choices are unusual - for example pink text on blue - but it never quite reaches the point of illegibility. I'm not sure how it'd work if you're colour-blind though.

CY_BORG's default setting is the city of Cy. The city endures after a catastrophe, or maybe multiple catastrophes. Nanotech is rife, and dangerous as it can infect like a plague. The net exists, interacted with by apps. The powers in the city are the gangs, cults and corporations, locked in a Darwinian struggle for supremacy. So far, so cyberpunk!

The book opens by describing different districts of the city, short passages packed with hooks and mood-setting images. This is the tone of the book; it sparkles with ideas and hooks but never goes deep into setting. Broad brush with spaces.

The description of districts is followed by a D66 table of headline events. These are elements to drive a short campaign. The speed it progresses can be agreed between the players and GM. By default, an event is triggered by a roll of 1; the dice used depends upon the rate of progression wanted. The roll for a 'miserable headline' event is made every midnight. The seventh event will reveal something of the nature of Cy (but it's a spoiler so I'll not discuss it further).

Rule #00 for the game is that characters cannot be loyal to or have sympathy for the corps, cops or the capitalist system for they are the enemy. They may end up doing missions for them, but that conflict is at the heart of the relationship. Characters are punks, outside the system.

Character generation is quick; cash and gear is quickly rolled on a table. You can choose to have a class (but it's optional), or just roll abilities

Abilities are Agility, Knowledge, Presence, Strength & Toughness. You roll 3D6 and reference a table to get a modifier ranging from -3 to +3. There are no skills; the abilities are used instead. Classless punks get an edge in rolling abilities to account for the benefits having a class brings.

Test are made by rolling a D20 equal to or higher than a difficulty rating. By default this is set at 12 but can vary down to 6 or up to 18. You add your ability modifier to the roll.

The character classes available are the shunned Nanomancer (infected by nano tech, it has given you weird powers), the Burned Hacker (you found something out and your life is in danger as a result), the Discharged Corp Killer (you've been discharged from service with extreme prejudice), the orphaned Gear Head (an engineer more comfortable with machines than people), the Renegade Cyber Slasher (a 'borged assassin with lost ideals), and finally, the forsaken Gang-Goon (your gang is gone, and you need to make your own way). The classes all tweak the settings for HP, glitches and can make you better at certain tests.

There are tables for your style, features, wants, quirks and obsessions. These are optional, but should be useful for inspiration and also for the GM.

Weapons and armour are randomly generated and range from a broken bottle to high powered guns and mono-filament blades.

Each character has a debt to pay off, to an impatient creditor. This is a motivation to take jobs, else they come to obtain body parts to make your payment.

There are some short equipment lists; like most cyberpunk games you can use tailored drugs to enhance your performance, or recreational drugs to harm or give pleasure. Cybernetics cover most of the areas that you'd expect, and the brain box option gives you a way to cheat death. If it isn't destroyed.

Apps are described, along with how to use them. Track people with a beacon worm, attack their cyberware but get it wrong and you could be facing a backlash that could hurt or kill you.

Nano-powers are effective (you can control people, heal people by drawing essence from another, and even recover memories from the recently dead) but there's always the risk of triggering an infestation.

All characters have glitches - these allow you to nudge the outcome of tests and damage rolls.

Damage taken reduces hit points; if you hit zero you can fall unconscious or potentially die (based on a D8 table roll). Below zero, you're dead unless you have enough money to call an emergency response team to save you.

You can also get Cy-Rage from hitting zero hit points. In this case, your implants misfire and you start to attack people nearby.

Combat is pretty simple; a D6 roll determines whether enemies go first or you go first. It's all player facing, so you roll to hit and also roll to avoid being hit. A natural 20 gives a crit - it doubles damage and reduces armour by a tier. If you're defending, you get a free attack. Fumbles come with a natural 1 and are bad if you're defending as you take double damage and your armour is reduced. If you're attacking, you can run out of ammo, or have a weapon break or even explode. Armour reduces damage taken by a dice roll. Auto fire weapons allow extra attacks if you hit (up to three) but at the cost of higher ammo use. There are a selection of additional mods ranging from cover to aiming and suppressive fire. I'd probably use them all. There are also simple morale rules - enemies may flee or surrender if they have tough opposition.

Character improvement happens at the GM's whim; they can do it after a number of missions, after enough credits are earned or when targets are met. You can increase your hit points or try and increase your abilities. If you have high abilities already, there's always a chance they may degrade. The abilities option affects all five of them, and in most cases negative or low scoring abilities will increase.

There's a section on opponents, and all the expected notes are hit. Gangs, security operatives, roadwarriors, crazed cyborgs, corporate killers, nano-infested cultists, drones, enhanced beasts, horrors and droids all have entries. Vehicles are covered with a few short rules, primarily focused around combat. There are two options which you tailor with weapons; armoured cars (which could be wheeled, hover, tracked but all use the same basic stats) or milcorp gunships (think VTOLs and helicopters). Mechs are an option, and extremely brutal. The section ends with <Ghosts>, AI entities or perhaps the detached egos of netrunners) that can attack through the RCD net interface that most people have. If you're interfaced, you're vulnerable.

The book then moves on to provide GM resources to tailor NPCs and prepare missions. The OSR heritage is shown with the use of random tables. There's a D100 table to pull up the key features of an NPC. In a similar way to player characters, the table has entries for style, features, role, obsessions and quirks. There's a separate D20 table for what they want.

The mission generator has nine linked random tables so let's try it out!

A Bodega owner acting on behalf of a clan of road runners offers 3000# if you escort a cult leader from an underground parking garage in Galgbacken in the Hills. The garage is protected by United Citadel Security. Theres a complication though - the events are being recorded.

That sounds kind of fun. Let's explore the Location, using another table. The garage is covered in Anti-Nano propaganda. There are abandoned mannequins which are actually knock-off skulker droids with sharp claws. The locked maintenance door leads to the temple of a small but violent cult.

I reckon there's enough there for a good evening of play. There are also tables for corporations and cults. The random section rounds out with a D100 table for random city events, and another table for net events.

The book concludes with "Lucky Flight Takedown", an introductory heist. where the characters are hired to raid a local casino which has manipulated the local neighbourhood into crippling debt. They need to destroy all record of the debt and prevent the casino coming back at them. Ideally, this should avoid mass murder and be low profile. There's a bonus if they rescue a local who's already tried to complete the mission and gone missing.

There's a decent set of floor plans, and relevant random encounter tables along with typical casino patrons and NPCs. It's a good heist scenario which should introduce the game well. There's an appendix of corps with key details of these capitalist foes. The index is well organised and useful, especially considering the coloured snow-storm of gorgeous artwork throughout the book. The end papers have useful random tables at the start (what's in their pockets, weather, names and infested items) and a comprehensive rules reference at the back.

Overall, I'm really impressed with CY_BORG. It's perfect for pick up and play Cyberpunk shenanigans. It is art punk and style-led, but there's a very simple and playable game with comprehensive support for the GM. it leaves me wondering what I do with that copy of Cyberpunk RED on my shelf; The Sprawl will remain my 'serious' cyberpunk game, and CY_BORG has taken the fun/fast/frantic mantle.

Bonus content: the Kickstarter also offered a digital asset pack which is very useful. A large map of Cy, with reference material on the back. A pad of A5 character sheets. Another pad of locations (floor plans with some random tables to customise) with multiple copies printed at A4. Another scenario where the characters get to crash a party to repossess some prosthetics! The pack is definitely worth considering, if only in digital.

Recommended.

6 October 2022

Post action thoughts on the game blogged on 27 November 2022