[WFRP] Actual Play Mini-Redux: Through the Drakwald

[Gaffa]

To join the celebration of the return to roleplayingof one of the finest games of all time...

A brief summary of how my players, at least, are doing with the default adventure, "Through the Drakwald". Needless to say, minor spoilers follow.

This is my on-line play group; we use the GRIP game server and a voice chat on Yahoo to do a pretty darn reasonable simulation of face-to-face gaming. Still, things are a bit slower than actual f-t-f, and between character creation and explaining the differences in the rules to the players (three of them were veterans of my seven-year (real time) WFRP 1.0 campaign; only one was entirely new), we got up to about the mutant attack on the bridge and that was about it.

I guess we should introduce the crew briefly. Farlieth is an Elven Vagabond from Marienburg, of all places, with a beautiful 50 BS (and, in typical Warhammer style, no bow to use). Belgar is a Dwarf Pit Fighter, who rolled 2 for his Toughness. Zakanlok is a Dwarf Burgher who manages to start with the highest WS in the party, while Ulf is a Human Zealot (of Myrmidia!) up from a small, failing farm just outside of Wissenburg (which is where he picked up the Good Word of the Lady of Battles). Both the Dwarfs are from dwarfholds outside the Empire. Belgar quit fighting for money in Zhufbar as the recent Storm of Chaos meant few people wanted to pay to see combat when they could see plenty of the real stuff for free, while Zakanlok desired only sweet, sweet profit and was traveling the Empire, trying to build up a simple mining consortium. Belgar met Farlieth on their mutual travels, and they arrived at Untergard by pure chance. Ulf had been attracted by the famous battle that had taken place there only a few weeks ago, while Zakanlok had just arrived hearing nothing of any battle, hoping to set up shop.

The very first official action of the game was Zak wanting to use his Consume Alcohol Skill in raising a toast to the heroes of Untergard to get friends. He rolled a 00, and thus started the scene roaring drunk, which just added to the fun.

They wander out to hear the speech of Captain Schiller when the mutants attack. The greedy Farlieth and Belgar were far away from the bridge, hoping to convince the Captain to take them on as Watch so they could get extra rations, so it was up to the hungover Zakanlok and the oddball Zealot of Myrmidia, both near the bridge for their own reasons (Ulf so he could see the crowd clearly; Zak so he could retch up his stomach discreetly). As the chaos broke out, it fell to those two to hold the bridge, until Farlieth and Belgar could wind their way through the crowd to show off for Schiller. Ulf had them hold a line as the mutants charged into them, and a bloody skirmish began, lasting almost two minutes by the time it was done, with parries, full attacks, defensive stances, and guarded attacks aplenty (plus a few nasty charges from the mutants). Farlieth and Belgar arrived soon enough, however, and that helped save Zakanlok's life, most likely, breaking the mutants' line and allowing the sudden influx of town guard to come and drive them away for good, although the mutant with horns and fur proved to be unusually tough to kill (he never hurt anyone, really; just took over a minute to die).

Of course, they spent about two Fortune Points each to get the combat to go the way they wanted it, but, hey, it's their call, and I like the inclusion of the Fortune Points in the game. Helps give a nice player-driven boost to survival without spending the all-important Fate Points, but they're not that powerful. Zakanlok got a flesh wound across the left arm while Farlieth got one on the right arm; Farlieth's Heal Skill took care of those without a problem.

They scouted out the carriagehouse where the mutant sniper was supposed to be hiding, with the help of the Watch, but couldn't find a trace of the coward. The Watch did not feel like following its trail into the forest, either, so back across the bridge in time to hear the Woodsman's Tale.

Well, the pit fighter and vagabond were willing to risk the odds by attacking the encroaching Beastman force, but the rest of the party (and the rest of the town) were not. Between the Dealmaking Zakanlok and the gossipy Farlieth, though, they managed to convince Captain Schiller to loan them some spare gear (mainly armor was all he could spare, taken from the bodies of the fallen) to allow them to better fight any enemies they found on their flight from the town, to be returned to Schiller's manifest upon arriving at Middenheim.

And that was it. The players had fun; I had fun returning to one of my favorite systems of all time. Happiness and dead mutants for all...and a drunken dwarf as well.

[Shining Dragon]

I, Shining Dragon, read this post and heartily aprove! :D

[Fulsrush]

A Dwarf pit fighter with a starting Toughness Bonus of 2?

Hmm. He must have taken a particularly nasty injury in the pit then.

[Jason D]

I ran this adventure yesterday, my group's first experience with WFRP. It was a lot of fun. We managed to get through the entire scenario (and I dropped in the opening bit from "Carrion Call" from Plundered Vaults, just before they got to Middenheim), with a few eye-openers:

- my players are used to a certain level of "badassitude", and the danger level and sometimes ineffectualness during combat flummoxed them. They got a lot smarter about combat after the initial encounter with the mutants.

- I'm thinking of tweaking Initiative, as the Dwarf character is a bit discouraged that he will ALWAYS attack last in the round. (or at least it seemed like that to him). I'd like a bit more variability.

- The encounter with the Elves went bloody very fast - when the lead Elf said to his companions "I think we should kill the old woman anyway" our soldier PC opened fire with his rifle. No chance of a parley after that.

- The PCs immediately reverted to the most venial of characters, money-grubbing, looting the dead, scrounging for food, drinking as much as they could, arguing with everyone, etc. It definitely seemed a bit change of pace.

- In a freakish bit of coincidence, I called for a Perception check, and all three players rolled 03 on percentile dice, at the same time. The odds are a bit extreme there (10,000 : 1?). We took it as a good sign.

- They didn't think twice about the reason for the encounter with the Elves and any suspicions about Granny.

All in all, a lot of fun. We play again on Thursday.

[Gaffa]

A Dwarf pit fighter with a starting Toughness Bonus of 2?

No, he *rolled* a 2 on his Toughness. Being a Dwarf, he starts with 30. So, TB 3 for him. Sorry for being unclear! :)

It was interesting the tactics each PC took. The Zealot, who saw the mutants first, immediately tried a Public Speaking Charm roll, not so much to lead people as to point out the threat...which succeeded in alerting close to half the town on its success. The Burgher, with the abnormally high WS (I like how 2.0 might give you a character in a trading career with huge combat capabilities), calmly strode towards the mutants on his own (and was the guy who thus had to be saved by the others). The Pit Fighter tried out all his various methods of destruction, and even gleefully ripped off one mutant's leg with his bare hands (go Wrestling!). The Elf, with a 20-level WS, bemoaned her lack of bow constantly, but used her higher Agility to pick and choose the skirmishes, charging into each to help out and then fade back.

[Gaffa]

- I'm thinking of tweaking Initiative, as the Dwarf character is a bit discouraged that he will ALWAYS attack last in the round. (or at least it seemed like that to him). I'd like a bit more variability.

While it is, obviously, your game to play as you wish :), the idea that "dwarfs strike last" is pretty well engrained in WFRP. That's part of the reason they let them wear heavy armor without any real penalties.

[Jon 45]

The Dwarf should be able to spend a Fortune point to add 1D10 to his Initiative, right?

[Gaffa]

The Dwarf should be able to spend a Fortune point to add 1D10 to his Initiative, right?
Yup, that's another way to get a small boost. The dwarf could also be content with being last and spend a Fortune point to get another half action in a round (or more than one, as I don't believe that you are limited in the number of Fortune you can spend in one round).

[Fulsrush]

- my players are used to a certain level of "badassitude", and the danger level and sometimes ineffectualness during combat flummoxed them. They got a lot smarter about combat after the initial encounter with the mutants.

It's always a lot of fun watching players realising they aren't actually playing heroes any more, isn't it? "Dude, I got hit once! You can withstand a single hit with a sword, right?"

- I'm thinking of tweaking Initiative, as the Dwarf character is a bit discouraged that he will ALWAYS attack last in the round. (or at least it seemed like that to him). I'd like a bit more variability.

I'm going to see how it goes in the campaign I'm starting next week (Enemy Within, but expect another Through The Drakwald play report coming soon...). However, if my party's Dwarf character has too many problems, I might change Initiative to 2D10 + Agility. That increases the range of Initiative values, so makes it more likely that the Dwarf gets the first turn, yet still puts him some distance behind the more agile members of the party.

- The PCs immediately reverted to the most venial of characters, money-grubbing, looting the dead, scrounging for food, drinking as much as they could, arguing with everyone, etc. It definitely seemed a bit change of pace.

Sweet, sweet WFRP...


- In a freakish bit of coincidence, I called for a Perception check, and all three players rolled 03 on percentile dice, at the same time. The odds are a bit extreme there (10,000 : 1?). We took it as a good sign.

333? You should have been playing Unknown Armies... ;)

[SteveD]

I, Shining Dragon, read this post and heartily aprove! :D

I, Steve D, echo these sentiments!

Two weeks till my game starts....sweeeeeeet!

[AikiGhost]

- I'm thinking of tweaking Initiative, as the Dwarf character is a bit discouraged that he will ALWAYS attack last in the round. (or at least it seemed like that to him). I'd like a bit more variability.


I wouldnt if I were you. Dwarves are slow for a reason, its the one disadvantage to playing one. Same way as elves have the racisim problem.

[Maggan]

- The PCs immediately reverted to the most venial of characters, money-grubbing, looting the dead, scrounging for food, drinking as much as they could, arguing with everyone, etc. It definitely seemed a bit change of pace.


Aaaah, WFRP at its finest! That's one of the reasons I love the game.

My PCs have already been clobbered insensible and robbed by three 12 year old street thugs, resuced a kidnapped fine lady only to find out that she's a cultist so she vanished and they can't really tell anyone 'cause of politics, jumped from a bridge in Altdorf but missed the intended barge and plummeted into the filthy water screaming a curios battle cry, and been given a beautiful ring as a token of appreciation for inadvertantly helping a chaos worshipper, gained 1 Insanity Point ... and killed some Brettonian spies, earning them the enmity of some duke or the other.

And all PCs are at 0 wounds. All in all a busy first session!

:D

M.

[Fulsrush]

Aaaah, WFRP at its finest! That's one of the reasons I love the game.

My PCs have already been clobbered insensible and robbed by three 12 year old street thugs, resuced a kidnapped fine lady only to find out that she's a cultist so she vanished and they can't really tell anyone 'cause of politics, jumped from a bridge in Altdorf but missed the intended barge and plummeted into the filthy water screaming a curios battle cry, and been given a beautiful ring as a token of appreciation for inadvertantly helping a chaos worshipper, gained 1 Insanity Point ... and killed some Brettonian spies, earning them the enmity of some duke or the other.

And all PCs are at 0 wounds. All in all a busy first session!

:D

M.

Phew... sounds good.

[Gaffa]

Can't dance...might as well continue.

Week 2 of our glorious semi-return to WFRP for my on-line gang of players (you can meet them at the top of this thread) was marked with a bit of difficulty, in that it was raining where I live, and my glorious cable modem I pay so much for frizzes out on me whenever the weather changes in any way, shape, or form. The trouble's in the wiring outside the apartment, that much I know. Then, two of my players have newborn kids, and both of them were acting up. Between those diversions, we didn't quite get through Through the Drakwald. Alas, alack. I did download some nifty PDFs for the new incarnation of Warhammer, though (calendars, etc.).

But, off we go. As always, spoilers for "Through the Drakwald" are contained in this post.

The story left on the misty, wind-swept day of 25 Nachgeheim, after Our Putative Heroes (TM) defeated a small group of mutants without much ado. For what it's worth, I picked Nachgeheim based on the dates that the real Storm of Chaos ran in our world -- starting in July, and then (supposedly) a 62 day invasion of the Empire. So I started in the seventh month of the Old World, went down 62 days, and then added six more just for safety's sake. But enough about me...

25 Nachgeheim.
Zakanlok Doreflingir, Dwarven Burgher, was upset. He couldn't find anything to drink in Untergard besides water, not for any price. Still, he had managed, with the help of that damned Elf, Farlieth, to wrangle a nominal assistant position with the Town Watch under Captain Schiller, at least until they reached Middenheim. This provided both him and Farlieth with basic arms and armor, to help protect the common citizens of Untergard on the dangerous trip through the Drakwald. He had also bought a badly torn and suspiciously stained leather helmet -- really, just a strip of old leather with some half-torn cord holding it under his chin -- for the outrageous price of three marks, but a Dwarf could not be too careful these days. He spent a lot of time talking to the various families left in the town, and got himself a position helping to drive the carts along the road.

Farlieth, Elven Vagabond, meanwhile tried fruitlessly to find a bow in town, but what few she found were either broken or being asked for at an outrageous price, so she decided to trust to her swordarm, as well as her new-found traveling companion, Belgar Zakdinson, a Dwarf Pit Fighter, who didn't really care what was going to happen, so long as he could fight things for money. The last alliance of the Heroes of the Bridge, Ulf Kruckenburg, a Human Zealot of Myrmidia, spent the day helping the townspeople pack their few belongings and speaking to anyone who would listen about the glories of Myrmidia, which earned him mainly painful silence.

Farlieth put her travling experience to good use to try to get food supplies arranged for the town, and realized that there was going to be a tragic shortage during the trip north to Middenheim (none of the Heroes of the Bridge took any part in the town debate over whether they should go or stay, beyond Belgar offering to fight off any Beastmen that came...the newcomers did not think it was their place to say). She had over a week's supply of food carefully packed away, but it could be rough later on, especially in forests thick with Chaos refugees and depleted of food by weeks of armies foraging on either side of the river. Belgar, in fact, was already hungry, so he headed over to the eastern side of the river where Father Dietrich was overseeing the burning of the mutant corpses. The Good Father was soon chasing Belgar away from the crispy mutant flesh, as the Dwarf seemed willing to experiment if a mutant with a pig's snout tasted like pork. "Just a bite!"

The night came upon silent mist. Belgar slept in front of the town gates, hoping that the Beastman warband would arrive and he could kill himself some Chaos.

26 Nachgeheim
Travels on the road. Each PC did what one would expect. Farlieth wandered the woods near the caravan, both scouting for foes and looking for game (she had little luck the first few days). Ulf walked silently alongside the caravan, also looking for potential enemies, now cowed into silence by the lack of interest in the Maiden of Battles by the townspeople. Zakanlok drove a cart sometimes, and talked up the townspeople in other times, already trying to work out ideas on how much mining would be needed in Middenheim if this Chaos invasion was truly done. Belgar trailed behind the caravan, running a bit to catch up now and then, hoping that cowardly mutant armies would attack from behind so he could kick some ass.

27 Nachgeheim
The caravan passed east of the sacked village of Grimminhagen. The Heroes heard of the problems the refugees from Untergard had with Grimminhagen, but Zakanlok and Ulf, in particular, felt bad just leaving the village in their wake without warning them. Ulf therefore strode boldly into the village, where he had an abortive meeting with Gunter, the Bailiff, who thanked him for his warning, and insulted the people of Untergard once again. His duty done, Ulf jogged to catch up with the caravan. There was no game caught this night, either, and belts were tightened further.

That night Granny Moescher vanished. The Dwarfs quickly volunteered to Captain Schiller to find her (Zakanlok to get more favors due him, Belgar in the hope of kicking mutant hinder), and Belgar gathered the other Heroes of the Bridge while Zakanlok sweet-talked Hans Baumer, the Woodsman, into following Granny's trail. That was easily done, but they were surprised to find Granny facing down a small kithband of Elves, accusing her of being a witch.

Ulf was quick to use his Public Speaking to come to Granny's defense. "Withered and crone-like she may be, but she is no witch indeed!" After Farlieth was willing to speak on Ulf's behalf ("He fought some mutants with me. Does that count?"), the Elf leader, Gilmir, was a bit more relaxed, until Ulf shared the warning of the Beastman horde to the south. Gilmir and his kithband then left immediately.

Granny thanked the group profusely for their help, and everyone headed back to the camp. Belgar was now bored senseless and very hungry.

Next installment: 27 Nachgeheim: Belgar gets fed! Ulf debates Belgar! Belgar picks a fight! Zakanlok and Farlieth look on with silent helplessness! More Warhammer fun, in the Warhammer style, where only you can slowly starve as you cross a forest with a bunch of refugees!

[SteveD]

Nifty!