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Dave Allen

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Posts posted by Dave Allen

  1. Posted

    Hi there. I wrote the scenario and Bertolac's reading seems pretty close to what I intended people to get from it. I also wrote a possible plot hook to the end of the scenario that some GMs might like to make pursuit of the priest's expedition into a possible future adventure (I've yet to see the final draft so that may not be in SoF).

    As such the fate of the priest and his expedition is left up to the GM. If you find it an annoying loose end then just take it that the men were wiped out by the wiles of the Famine Fiend and his beastmen. That seems the easiest way to resolve the issue and if the PCs pursue the lead they might just find the site of a recent battle and the priest and his followers counted among the slain, or a sole survivor could return to Hugeldal during the course of the adventure to report the battle.

    However - it is a pretty safe assumption in the Empire that if a small band of intrepid men march off into the wilds to do battle with beastmen and don't return then they have probably died. In such circumstances no news is not good news, and this is why the dwarfs of Hugeldal (as well as others) regard the expedition as a failure.

    Of course though, GMs are encouraged to make up a different outcome should they wish, perhaps the priest and his followers are still roaming the hills fighting a guerilla campaign against beastmen, or held prisoner. If you fancy fleshing that out as something your PCs want to get involved in it will serve just as well.

    But if you don't then the easiest thing is just for them to be dead.

  2. Posted

    When designing the blessings I was thinking of a number of Grey Magic spells that are described as illusions, I'd also say the blessing would see through things like glamours or the special ability of the Changeling and stuff like that.

    It is ultimately up to the GM. If you wish to be strict about it the blessing could only work against those spells described as illusions. I would be tempted in my own games to allow it to be used in a more limited way against all manner of disguises, but I'd be much more vague about what the Verenan can glean from things that are not technically illusions.

  3. Posted

    valvorik said:

     

    I think the "ball as written" needs the "faction contest" aspect to it with PC's in the mix.  This could be blended with possibility that the "overt reason" PC's attend ball is not simply to advance a noble faction but to suss out views of them, perhaps they are tied to a noble faction that believes in Skaven (the target) and is at risk of being ridiculed for this outlandish foolery.

     

     

    Yes, perhaps if the PCs have retained links to Aschaffenburg after Eye for an Eye he could agree to meet them in Ubersreik after some of the rat themed events take place and ask them what's going on. Seeing as he is feeling vigilant in regard to Chaotic happenings after his brush with he cult he might be willing to take rumours regarding skaven more seriously than his peers, and arrange meetings with the Verenan and/or important dwarfs as a result (as they seem likely candidates for sections of society that aren't involved in the denial of skaven).

    That strikes me as a logical inroad, though I'm sure reasons why the Pfiefrauchers, Jungfreuds, Holzenhauers or von Saponathiems might want to either expose or deny the extent of the skaven menace would also be easy enough to invent.

    You could even go through the list of NPCs present at the ball and decide on how they would respond to someone insisting on the existence of skaven, with options including:

    • Warmly supportive and glad to find someone else who supports the idea "I thought I was the only one!" and so on.
    • Dismissive - "not these alarmist conspiracy tales again". Might even remain incredulous in the face of hard evidence,
    • In some way bought or compromised by the skaven - vigorous denials and may even wish to silence the PCs.
    • Uncaring - but might be swayed by the events of the night.

    Perhaps the skaven are already on the trail of an NPC who is working to expose them (the Verenan priest, let's say) and news of the subject being broached by various nobles and adventurers (together with the auspicious waxing of Morrslieb) leads them to concoct the plot to mutate the guests at the ball.

    The PC presence at the ball therefore serves two functions - network with important Ubersreikers whilst they jockey for power and find out which ones are amenable to the idea of taking the skaven threat more seriously.

    Meanwhile the skaven motive is more clear - to silence the meddling humans (and elves and dwarfs).

  4. Posted

    Morph said:

    My main tip is to integrate the Skaven earlier, perhaps one of the noble houses is working with them, and the PCs uncover a plot to poison the attendees at the ball. You'll need to prepare a good hook for the start and lots of things for the PCs to do.

    Something I thought might make an interesting twist would be to tie it in with the idea that much of Imperial society does not acknowledge the extent of the skaven threat, and that some of the guests at the ball, such as one of the noble factions, the dwarven guests or the verenan priest, could be trying to spread the truth of the matter.

    Then the grey seer, rather than being a renegade with an uncertain agenda, could be a loyal servant of the council who has been sent to silence/discredit such voices - hence the plot to turn people into mutants.

    To make such a plot work you could have the players encounter some of the skaven-themed hooks outlined in the adventure's introduction. If they express a belief in skaven to NPCs they could meet with some derision, but also make inroads into an alliance with some forces in the city who are trying to expose the truth of the situation.

    Attending the ball, then, could be simply suggested as a way of networking with influential Ubersreikers in the hope of recruiting a few important folk to the cause, and it just so happens that the skaven also choose the event in the hope of silencing those who seek to expose them.

  5. Posted

    Sometimes I think its good to keep a note of which PC is the most intuitive, or the most observant, or money-wise or whatever. Then in situations where someone isn't being truthful you can say to the player(s) with the most intuitive character something like "it doesn't strike you as particularly plausible" if they aren't picking up on it themselves.

    Or you could use it in another sort of way, so if the librarian is moaning about how hard he has to work all the time you could mention as an aside to the PC with the highest observation that the library is dusty and disorganised despite his claims that he works really hard, or that the coachman is sneering at his wounded companion complaining about his bad leg or something.

    So in other words if the players are just not chasing clues or cross examining people I think it's OK to give them a couple of clues anyhow based on who is the most intuitive or observant on paper.

    However, I wouldn't want to just let the players sit back and learn everything anyway. If your players are missing things because they aren't proactive I'd suggest that when you finish the module you could point out that they didn't question people or search for clues, and how it would have made things easier or more fun if they had - in the hope that they will be a bit more forthcoming in future.

    Another way would be just to roll with it, and if they complain about not finding anything out offer tosell them a clue for a fortune point, and then use that to provide a relevant piece of info to the most intuitive/observant PC.

  8. Posted

    Sounds to me that you picked a very apt rationale for the agent's background and motives, and whilst the troll slayer seemed a bit of live wire that's to be expected.

    So from your write up it doesn't seem like roleplaying was an issue at all - that the more sensible dwarfs had to compensate for the death-seeking nutjob sounds pretty interesting and fun to me.

  9. Posted

    Thanks to Einehund and SStreet and anyone else who had a good time running or playing in Journey to Black Fire Pass - it's great to know the adventure played out as intended and that people got through the first episode wiithout too much bother. Shame that the second episode claimed dwarf lives, but it goes to show you shouldn't underestimate the Orcs and Goblins that infest the black mountains and the lands beyond.

    It's a shame episode three didn't get an airing in your games. But if the action wrapped up fairly nicely at the end of episode two then it's nice to know the episodic thing worked OK.

  10. Posted

    Fresnel said:

    WFRP encourages players to play zealots/fanatics.

    No more than it encourages them to play soldiers, wizards or rat catchers. Plenty of characters may try to carry on if they developed a mutation they could conceal, and perhaps search for some sort of magical or surgical cure.

    But yes - a mutation isn't be handed out lightly, nor lightly dealt with by the sufferer.

  11. Posted

    When working on the rules I had a very interesting talk with another WFRP fan about the possibility of redemption and how it was a generally overlooked theme in Warhammer (for some obvious reasons - it is a grim world after all).

    There were a few different takes on the issue, for example in the short story "Ignorant Armies" by Kim Newman a corrupted young noble is essentially cleansed by the sacrifice of his retainer, and even quite severe mutations vanish leaving him as he was before his corruption.

    On the other side of things people afflicted by mutations bear them whether or not they are decent or civilised or make sacrifices, and other stories have hinted that once a person devotes himself to chaos there is no turning back.

    So it is a little vague because there is no real "recipie" for ridding oneself of corruption. Cleansing a chaos temple might well help - but what if the person doing the cleansing is unworthy for some other reason (for an extreme example - a Nurgle cultist 'cleansing' the temple of a Tzeentchian rival or something).

    So it's up to the GM to take a sort of metaphysical look at the actions of the corrupted individual and ask "all things considered - is he worthy or not"?

    The only thing I would say is that ridding oneself of corruption should be tricky - perhaps forming the basis of a quest in itself. Dropping a pfennig in the poor box at the local Shallyan institution does not count.

  13. Posted

    Sure, and I think Skretth's attempts to practice necromancy away from the prying eyes of his fellow Grey Seers is perhaps best explained as an attempt to develop a skill that will give him an edge over them. I don't personally see Skretth as being the skaven behind the Poison Claw cult, but more that he has subverted the Delberz cell to his own ends.

    Thinking on it more it's clear from The Ritual that the cult has it's birthplace in Tilea, and that those assisting Skretth are "misguided" members of Clan Skryre, so I would lean to veiwing the Poison Claw as being set up by Clan Skryre originally, and that most of the functioning cells work according to the instructions of their Skryre contacts, but that the Delberz cultists had been co-opted by Skretth and his renegades at the time of the events of The Ritual.

  14. Posted

    Ta - I think that is the easiest way to sort it. However both MCV and Thorvid mention some neat ways of making it a more complex and convoluted manner, and given the various ways in which these noble families can be tied (with a bit too much closeness for comfort in some cases) taking this as a cue to question Andreas' legitimacy and/or status as a second son due to a step sibling is fair enough.

    As to whether Andreas has been treated in a callous manner by being packed off to manage Grunewald Lodge, I would certainly agree on a personal level (leaving aside the matter that he was a chaos worshipping scumbag for the moment). However as far as I am aware it wasn't unknown for aristocratic families to effectively hide their more embarrassing relatives from public sight with such a degree of disregard, if not worse. Even as late as the 20th century George V effectively confined his son John to house arrest because of embarrasment regarding the boy's epilepsy and learning difficulties. In a sense Andreas' exile to Grunewald isn't as harsh as that - it wasn't really a punitive or final action, but done in the hope that a spell in the country would straighten the boy out. Of course it didn't work out that way...

    It could certainly be that certain members of the von Bruner family are highly concerned about Andreas' disappearance, and might be very keen to talk to the PCs in the vain hope of learning some comforting news about what became of him. And if the PCs were so insensitive to such nobles as to tell them outright that their son/brother/cousin/whatever indulged himself in depraved daemon worship they might make themselves distinctly unpopular.

  15. Posted

    The other great thing about using skaven as an adversary is that the PCs who confront or defy a particular group of skaven will almost certainly be acting in the interests of another group of skaven whether they know it or not (and they probably won't). This can lead to some interesting plot convolutions as the PCs may receive surreptious assitence from the same foe they seek to eliminate (as happens a lot to Gotrek and Felix in Skavenslayer).

  16. Posted

    I think that one thing which Toby's article could shed some useful light on is the motiviation and makeup of those humans who form cults of the Horned Rat. In previous adventures, stories and articles were such cults have been mentioned the gerneral assumption seems to be that they are working for the skaven in general sort of terms.

    As Toby illustrates, Skavendom, whilst a recognisable entity and culture, is far too multifaceted and fractious to effectively work as a whole through human agents. Such cults are therefore almost certainly in contact with skaven go-betweens who merely act on behalf of a single facet of skaven society, such as a clan at the most - more probably a faction within a clan such as the various ones Toby supposes in his article or a single maverick skaven such as Thanquol.

    This could make the skaven cult a particularly interesting adversary for a party of adventurers, as they work on behalf of a hidden enemy that even the cult have only a very limited understanding of and who might even be maverick wierdos by the standards of 'typical' skaven.

    There is also the possibility that two different skaven cults - the Poison Claw and the Yellow Fang for example, might be the pawns of very different facets of skavendom. Perhaps the Poison Claw were set up on the instigation of Warlord Gnawdwell of Clan Mors, and whilst they beleive they are worshippers of the horned rat and skaven in general they are actually working to further the schemes of Gnawdwell in particular. Perhaps the Yellow Fang are the human eyes and ears of certain Clan Eshin cells. Perhaps the two cults would fight sooner than cooperate. Perhaps their very existence is seen by some Grey Seers as heretical, whilst other Seers, such as Thanquol, see human agents as key to bringing about the Great Ascendancy.

  17. Posted

    Andreas von Bruner, I would say, is the second son of Lord Heissman von Bruner, who is a cousin of Graf Sigismund von Jungfreud.

    You could have him being the eldest son - but I'd say the spare would be treated in such a manner whilst the heir would not - so I'd ignore the mention of him as eldest son in preference to the mention of him as the second son.

    That's just my feeling - YMMV.
     

  21. Posted

    Andreas von Bruner, I would say, is the second son of Lord Heissman von Bruner, who is a cousin of Graf Sigismund von Jungfreud.

    The relationship being notable simply due to the importance of the von Jungfreuds in the area. Possible friends in high places for the PCs.

    You could have him being the eldest son - but I'd say the spare would be treated in such a manner whilst the heir would not - so I'd ignore the mention of him as eldest son in preference to the mention of him as the second son.

    That's just my feeling - YMMV.

  23. Posted

    I think what might be nice is to have aquirk of the gathering energies syphon off some of the wizard's energy. He feels this process and can tell that the winds of magic turn gale-force for a moment - in the direction of the trapdoor.

    This should alert him to the passage - but what effects might it have?

    The cultist's might be alerted, but I think a nice additional effect might be for it to 'power up' the daemon, so to speak - giving it an extra point of defence or something.

    Another effect might be that the wizard finds it harder to cast magic until the daemon is slain - adding a misfortune dice to future channelling rolls.

  24. Posted

    If I were you I'd let them rest if they really need to. If there are just two of them in the party and they are already badly injured I doubt the rest of the game will be much fun unless they regain a bit of strength. Perhaps the doctor could even see to their wounds - which might make for an interesting twist if he gains their trust.

    I think a great way to justify the delay of the ritual would be to have some heavy clouds sweep in in a sort of south-westerly direction - which seems to happen a fair bit in this corner of the Reikland - and obscure the night sky. The cultists will therefore probably delay their plans as the light of Morrslieb is a desirable component of the ritual.

    To make things a bit more challenging you could then have some of the more helpful NPCs doped at the dinner, so they will not be much help the following day - that strikes me as apt punishment for the party being unprepared for battle.

    However, if the party simply aren't geared up for fighting it might be worth thinking about missing the beastmen out of the final act, as the cult and the daemon will provide plenty of challenges to the PCs if all the helpful NPCs are out cold.

  25. Posted

    Another thing that might help is to get in the habit of describing (breifly) two or three items in each location the PCs enter.

    "The kitchen is dominated by a huge roughly cut oak table, littered with all manner of kitchen implements and ingredients."

    And so on.

    This way your players will recieve the clues, but also a lot of window dressing info, and they won't be able to distinguish the clues without further investigation.

    Plus it helps with the atmosphere.

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