Warhammer system thoughts: Efficiency in Presenting Information, Or, How to Speed Up and Simplify Combat

[for those that haven't heard, Old World Warhammer the wargame is back ... or it will be sometime in the next few years.]

An excellent post over at the Alexandrian about how the exchange of information about rolls between players and the GM affects the flow, enjoyment, and feeling of complexity in an RPG.

Besides being a well-written post in itself, it got me to thinking about applying it to WFRP. I've seen several people criticize the new edition on forums or the subreddit for being complex, especially the new way of doing combat where hitting and damage are the same roll. But I haven't found the system to be particularly complex, especially on the player-facing side. (Obviously, it's way more complex than basic D&D but probably about the same complexity as fifth edition.) I think two things are going on here. One, the efficiency of the exchange of information as per the Alexandrian article. Two, differences in assumptions between the older editions or D&D and the new edition.

The latter issue is tough to tackle, and it really requires a 'close reading' of the rules to combat or time spent watching other people play the game. I noticed in the Mud & Blood podcast, the players and GM had ALOT of trouble with the new way of doing combat because they were mixing up the old rules and had decided to use a 'quick method' of calculating success levels that they kept forgetting they were using. Play the game more, and make rulings until you look it up in the current rulebook, I say.

The issue of information exchange, the former issue, is an interesting one though. I like Alexandrian's point about the different exchanges that happen when firstintroducing the game versus the players gaining some familiarity so that if you tell them the enemy's AC, they can perform certain calculations themselves and have a more efficient (and fast and fun) info exchange. Thinking about this for WFRP is instructive, because if the new combat system's information exchange could be streamlined this would speed up the game immensely and should eliminate the "complexity" complaint I've heard.

So first, before the players know what's going on, I think you have to stick with the uber-simple but more time consuming exchange of asking for success and then helping them calculate SLs. Like so:

• GM: Roll to attack with your bow.
• PC: I got a 37.
• GM: Ok, what's your Ranged Basic?
• PC: 45
• GM: Ok you hit, you got 1 SL because you rolled one tens digit under your skill. What's your damage with your bow?
• PC: 7
• GM: Ok, the goblin is wounded. The goblin has an arrow sticking out of him (internally calculates 7+1 for the SL, 8 - Goblin's Toughness + Armor of 4; 12 wounds - 8 -4=8 wounds remaining). 

Soon, the PCs should be able to make this go much faster:

• GM: Roll to attack
• PC: I got one success level with a 37
• GM: Ok, the goblin didn't dodge so how much damage did you do?
• PC: (knows to add 1 to bow damage of 7) 8
• GM: (now taking less time to calculate) ok, the goblin's wounded.

This is less complicated than the usual rpg way of next requiring a damage roll because there's fewer tasks involved. Additionally, the WFRP d100 system if fairly intuitive and shouldn't be too hard to remember three things: (i) roll under whatever your skill is, (ii) each tens digit under your skill you roll adds 1 success, (iii) doubles (33, 22, 66) are critical hits or fumbles. But there's a couple of twists in the new edition for most combat.

Advantage

Current WFRP adds the advantage mechanic (as as has been said before, should be Initiative or Momentum) where each prior successful roll adds +10% (effectively 1 SLs) to later rolls, accumulating infinitely until the character is wounded. Most, including I, soon capped this (6 advantage for me). This is relatively easy and straightforward to add though, and doesn't matter if the GM or the player is tracking it:

• GM: Roll to attack, you have 2 advantage.
• PC: Ok, (internally adds +20 to skill to be skill 65; rolls 37) I got three success levels. That's 10 damage.
• GM: Great, goblin has (internally, 12  wounds - (10 dam - 4 toughness)) 6 wounds left and an arrow sticks out of him. Increase your advantage (to 3).

Better, though not strictly necessary since it's a fairly mundane calculation, is to make the PCs track their own advanatage. So the GM just says roll, and the PC can calculate his successes. After all, the GM is tracking the NPCs advantage, so the less stats in his mind the faster the game.

The Hard Part

The other twist is that in WFRP, to eliminate the former 'whiff' of missing a lot (which still sucks in low-level D&D), is in melee, you count relative successes to hit and parry. So if I hit by 1 and you fail your parry/dodge by 2 SLs, I add 3 to damage. Currently, I think a lot of GMs and groups are making the GM only do this math. This is inefficient, like the example in D&D of never telling the PCs what the AC of the enemy is and then rolling their damage for them. Too much calculation by one player of the game:

• GM: Roll to attack, 2 advantage.
• PC: (rolls) I got three success levels, so...
• GM: (rolls, gets 1 SL to parry) Ok, so what's your damage?
• PC: 7
• GM: (needs to calculate, and remember, ok so 3-1, +2 to damage 7, so 9 damage, now what's his toughness, minus 4; 5 damage minus wounds of 12...) uh... goblin has 7 wounds left. Increase your advantage.

Doesn't look that bad on paper, but in play, it's much slower. And can be slower than requiring another input in the form of a damage roll. So what to do? Make the PC calculate the total damage.

• GM: Ok, roll your attack against the goblin.
• PC: (knows has 2 advantage) Three success levels.
• GM: Ok, (simply looks at dice and calculates SLs) the goblin got 1 SL to parry, so what's your total damage?
• PC: (subtracts 3 SLs - 1= 2, adds to damage of 7) 9 damage!
• GM: Ok, goblin has 7 wounds left 

This is much faster and feels less complex than the other way of not having the player calculate that. Even faster, in big combats (the relative brain-space or mental math isn't that bad for a 1:1 or 1.5:1 PCs type ratio) is to, like the DM who gives the monsters' ACs to speed play, give the enemies' Toughness + Armor. Then the GM is only recording reduced wounds. Very fast, and 1 dice roll on each side is quickly resolving things.

• GM: Ok, roll your attack
• PC: (+2 advantage) Three success levels.
• GM: The goblin rolled 1 success level to parry, and has a toughness bonus of 4 (really 3 toughness and 1 armor protection point) what's your total damage?
• PC: (3-1+7=9) 9 minus 4, 5 damage total
• GM: Cool, the goblin has 7 wounds left. (moves to next player's turn quickly)

This is much better than players bored, waiting for the GM to do calculations and slowing down the combat. The trick is, your players need to practice and the GM needs to train/help. 

For awhile, doing the first iteration of simply knowing how to calculate SLs, recognize critical hits, and see how much damage their weapon does is great. Play several hours this way. But generally, roleplayers (i.e. people over age 10-11) can handle the addition (bah dum!) of knowing how to calculate their own damage by adding both (i) the advantage modifier and (ii) modifying their SLs. This is very similar to the D&D player trick of rolling your d20 to hit and weapon damage die at the same time, so you can instantly tell the DM everything once you know the Monster's AC. Except in current WFRP, that AC knowledge is basically how many SLs the enemy has. And, in WFRP it's far more important this happen than D&D players rolling both dice at the same time. 

Telling your players their enemies' toughness+armor should speed this up even more. And gives the GM more mental space for bigger combats, using various weapon rules, and so on. Generally too, players can figure this out very fast and you should be singing along. 

My 2 cents, inspired by a great one from the Alexandrian.

More Warhammer session recap: Sailing to Aquitaine

Dramatis Personae

Onfroy - fencer and louche extraordinaire, with a fetish for female urine

Willem of Nye - death wizard, searcher of artifacts, seeking of Enochian and Elohim mysteries

Regis aka Don Gonada - spy and huckster, the voice of reason

Okra, a female ogre smith, good at smashing, always hungry

Twiggett Plumbottom, halfling thief

Stomply Rockcrusher, ornery dwarf Ironbreaker

The madcap Warhammer fantasy roleplay adventures continued. Now, mutated berserking freak companion Boneshard long dead, new holder of the Chaos Blade Onfroy with newly mutated goat-legs (hidden with a long dress thing compounding his already-bizarre appearance), the companions sail on the Swan Maiden to Bordeleaux.

The captain of the Maiden then refuses to land in Bordeleaux unless the party pays the notoriously expensive docking fees levied by the Duke. After some haggling, the party therefore is dropped off south of the river mouth. There, they ingratiate themselves with a minor landholder who is vassal to Bordeleaux. Learning through drunken revelry that the Duke Albericht of Bordeleaux in fact knows Regis from many months ago when Regis helped thwart the ratmen attack upon the City, the lord offers to bring him to the Castle Bordeleaux in exchange for a kind word and better position at court. 

The presentable members of the party are presented at Duke Albericht's court (e.g. Onfroy and the Ogre are left behind). Greeting the Duke himself, Regis convinces him that they are now a mercenary-type company who will attempt to kill Duke's now-rival, Agravaine the Usurper, murderer of the true Duke of Aquitaine, in exchange for some supplies and right to claim any loot. Duke Albericht agrees, sorely pressed since plague and war have ravaged his lands the past year and a half or so. While his army gathers in preparation for a late spring campaign against Agravaine, he entrusts the group with a war-boat captained by Estaine Mustaigne and a bevy of boatmen to take the fight to Agravaine. 

[DM's notes: There was a lot of confusion here about getting past the city and we had to retcon where the party landed when everyone realized there was miscommunication about paying fictional docking fees. Such is D&D eh? But it ended up being a fun side quest dealing with the lord and roleplaying his interest in the motley group.]

The party then set out with Capt. Estaine down the river Morceaux towards the upriver Castle Aquitaine, last visited by Boneshard and Regis as Agravaine had it under siege. 

Along the way, Estaine asks the party what they want to do about possibly being seen from the few castles lying along the river between Bordeleaux and Aquitaine. Somehow, the group decides that they want to raid one of these keeps for treasure. Coming upon a castle upon about a day and a half's sail from Aquitaine, they launch a night-time raid using the wizard's teleportation spell.

the keep they decided to raid

[DM's note: I definitely gave all wizards an overpowered spell by houseruling that Teleport can be used on not only the caster, but one additional touched person per 2 success levels. Channeling for a quite a time with a skilled wizard resulted in being able to teleport the whole party past the castle walls. This was a ruling I made over a year ago on the skaven adventure, and here it is, biting me.]

Once inside the castle, the murderous group made a short attempt to sneak around and get the lay of the castle features, chiefly by the very good hider Twigget. But a door opened, and Stomply Rockcrusher was like, fuck this, and laid waste to a whole room of guards with the help of Okra the Ogre and Willem's death magic. The alarm was raised, and several knights inside the donjon including a knight who was clearly the lord fought with the party. But Willem used a Lock spell to keep the porticullis shut, which was reinforced when Regis and Onfroy murdered their way up through into the gatehouse and jammed the chainwheel. Though Okra could not fit through the towers' stairwells, Willem managed to teleport them up several floors in pursuit of knights who backed away after seeing his death magic lay waste to their fellows. The Lord himself, still nameless to the party, managed to get away back up the upper floors from where he came, but not without many of his men-at-arms being slain beneath ogrish warhammerand fell magicks. And the locking of the porticullis ensured the roused and mounted knights and bowmen from the courtyard could not lay waste to the party. In short, I was impressed how the party used the confines of the castle donjon against its occupents - enabled of course by Willem's spellcraft.

keep knight, with a bec de corbin

The party has now made its way up all the stairs, rummaged quickly through the lord's bedroom, and made it to the roof, hearing sounds from there. Regis and Onfroy have emerged from the stairway in one of the donjon's four towers to see the Lord and the last of his keep guards attempting to lower his treasury strongbox. Beneath, the lord's ladywife and children had clearly just escaped the keep by being lowered on ropes. The party blasted the rope, heard the treasure spill to the ground, and now confront the Lord and his last guardians.

Lord Bartheleme of Houndshead

Why I Like Warhammer, A Review

Yes, another long-winded theory post. You're welcome.

This is a sort-of review of why I've come to enjoy Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay so much, despite it being a bit over complicated and some other flaws. For the past few years, like my adult gaming life circa 2010 to present, I've gravitated towards rules-light and simple rpgs, trusting in the theories behind Old School play where mechanical complication is just boring and frustrating, and neglects the unique feature of tabletop rpgs that a group of friends can simply talk about what's going to happen-it's not a competitive board game because there's a gamemaster/DM. But nevertheless I've gravitated towards the complexity of WFRP 4th edition, which is considerably more rules-complex than say Basic/Expert 1980s D&D.

And so noted in the previous post about running a rules-complicated game, one may think: why bother running a rules-complicated? Well, the truth is the gameplay at the table that emerges feels different between one game versus another, even with similar settings and types of adventures (murder-hoboing, investigating, etc.). I've now run WFRP 4th edition for almost 2 years, and so can compare it to similarly length run games like my 2010-2012 osr B/X D&D game (used Adventurer Conqueror King rulebook), a 2013-2014 B/X game (hombrew rules) and my 2014-2016 D&D 5e game. 

Core Mechanic - Pretty Simple In Play

Players only have to know one rule about reading their dice: under their skill is success, over is failure, criticals on the doubles. This is actually simpler in play than even Basic D&D, where they may have a d6 roll or 2d6 roll in addition to their d20 combat roll, spells autosucceed while are limited in number, etc. In contrast, everything in wfrp is pretty much this simple roll. It leads to what I like to think of as a 'nat 20' effect: excitement and joy when the dice roll something that always mean an exciting critical success/fumble. This is reinforced by WFRP's awesome critical charts: I love that these rolls for magic or combat lead to crazy shit like demons appearing or an arm's bicep being lopped off. Super fun in play. I was recreating the feel of this gonzo randomness in my basic D&D with homebrew/cribbed from blogs charts, but the WFRP charts are as great as these, so why not just play this game?

I also like the first digit representing a bonus, like Strength Bonus, which lends itself to extra effects like how much damage you do. Actually very simple and elegant in play as well, because you always know these and they are intuitive to players in a way that +3 for 16 or 18 STR is not.

Character Creation

This is just random enough and the characters emerge as pretty robust and interesting, even if they're nominally just a 'human thief' in D&D terms. In WFRP, you can roll randomly for all your stats and your starting Career, which are more granular/individualized than the 4 to 9 main classes of D&D. Everything from Scout, Runner, Ambassador, Villager to Wizard and Warrior Priest. Mechanically, this edition makes skills only add to the basic statline, so no need to remember if someone has a Lore (Botany) skill to make a Intelligence test to know abotu a plant or the like. Instead, just roll it; and your players will figure out real quick if she has a bonus, because what player doesn't like a bonus. There's also no fiddling with dividing untrained skills in half and the like, it's a simple increased percentage. Humans roll some random traits like Strong Back or Perfect Pitch, which give some mechanical effects but also round out the character in a way that's inspiring, maybe my knight with great pitch is always humming a tune. In contrast with basic D&D or even 5e D&D, the Wfrp character creation randomness and more specific careers provides a lot more 'personality' for starting random characters. This is reinforced by the much more historically-grounded (I'm a historian by training) careers too, stevedores and servants have logical contacts and roles in any adventure location/setting anyway, leading to immediately imagining charming little backstories. For some people, they can come up with an awesome unique character with a voice and some likely friends and reasons for adventuring with the super bare-bones "Dwarf Fighter," but for many people, we need a little more to hang our hats on. WFRP provides that. It also allows some versatility; I can pick duellist  or protagonist with noble blood trait for my player who wants to be the Marquis from Rob Roy.

Another thing I like is that the lack of levels in WFRP keeps the world a more level playing field. Your starting Villager may just be a villager, but he has more survivability and impact in combat (or in gossiping) in the way a level 0 or level 1 d&d character does not. I know from the times I've played WFRP (or 40k rpgs) versus played my theoretically-beloved Basic D&D that I identify more with my slightly more complicated, more skills-listed, more random traits-having WFRP/d100 characters than I did with my D&D characters. This is despite totally buying all the "emergent play" and importance of building "character" *ahem* story through smartly played PCs.

So, it doesn't bother me that the character creation process takes longer than in D&D (and frankly, it's not that much longer if you know what the Talents do). After all, the player characters are "the main thing," so it won't hurt to spend a few minutes making them. If you need quick characters, make about 6-7 pre-generated characters and use those. Or use this really awesome instant generator by Paco. 

No Damage Rolls

I absolutely love that there is no second damage roll in this edition of Warhammer! The fact that the better you hit, the more damage you do is so intuitive. It helps narrate combat and I never have the problem with new players I have in D&D where they're like confused about why they roll again after rolling to see if they hit; it's all in the same roll. Sadly, there is a bit of math: 1) determine success levels of you and opponents, 2) subtract lower, 3) add net SLs to damage, 4) add any weapon effects to damage, 5) subtract enemy's Toughness plus Armor for the location on the body, 6) finally, subtract this last number from Wounds. I'm an adult, so I can do this after a few practices, but this is a bit daunting for new players or those who don't like to pay attention to the math. Fortunately, I can hand wave that by simply asking players to tell me their SLs, but there is a bit of a slow pause sometimes while I quickly do the mental math (people nowadays notice 1-2 seconds this takes to do). It's still worth the change, but over time, I would want to tell my players how to calculate their damage and damage resistance or use macros or something.

The Winds of Magic

I also love the way magic works in wfrp. First, that it's a skill makes it feels like every wizard book you've read, from Name of the Wind to Harry Potter. Wizards are smarter or less smarter, strong willed enough, and if they have both in a good combination, they can cast great magics, whether from their memorized repertoire or directly by reading the spell directly from a spellbook. Specifically, this works by casting spells itself being an Intelligence-based Language skill- your Potter-esque need to pronounce and articulate your magic words properly, combined with the scale of effects being based on your Willpower. This always present ability to cast spells, with rolling criticals causing great cascades of magic is just so much more evocative than the d&D game but never really in fiction picking of a spell that always works. The D&D spell system may be satisfying to an accountant like Gygax, but I'm increasingly dissatisfied these days with it in my imagination games. I also like in Warhammer how each wizard feels different, say between Death Wizards and Grey Wizards and Fire Wizards. There are some universal spelsl like Fly or Fear, but they also have 3-5 different powerful spells from their own school. My complaint with the spell lists in WFRP is the same as with 5e d&d: too much combat, need more whimsical, weird, and plot-spells. I've sought to ease this problem by introducing the wackier and more useful-outside-of-combat spells from WFRP's 2nd edition supplements. 

Gritty Combat, Realistic without Whiff

Biggest problem with 5th edition D&D is the superheroes feel of the combat, and sometimes how boring it is with its emphasis on high probability to hit and high hit points (how fast can you whiddle those down through naming powerz you have on your sheet!). In OSR games, sometimes there is a hit point problem at middle and higher levels, but also the characters don't feel like have much heft or weight to them. A level 1 PC or 1 HD orc feels like a paper-thin creature always on the verge of death, while a 4-5 level character is an unstopple juggernaut, even though both are 6 foot tall creatures of solid bone and flesh. WFRP has a nice balance: the PCs, even when powerful, have a human-scale number of wounds and a bad series of rolls can quickly kill them, but the way the numbers work, they (and experienced foes) usually can be confident they will wade through 4-5 regular ass soldiers with ease-though much more slowly than in D&D. This makes combat not something to pretty much always be avoided, as in OSR games, nor always engaged in as in D&D. Instead, combat is fun, because it is both something PCs can have become competent in while remaining risky with unexpected happenings. 

Another feature I like, is that the Size rules for bigger creatures, from Ogres to Dragons, really make those creatures extremely different and challenging. An Ogre has 30ish Wounds with higher Toughness compared to a humans (even a good warrior's) 11-15 wounds, plus the size rules give some hard hitting bonuses to hit in melee even when the Ogre's skill at swinging a sword is much lower than a master swordsman. This leads to PCs fearing larger foes, knowing a lucky roll can easily kill them while they are unlikely to kill the foe in one shot, without just making them unstoppable. Instead, they have to do things like in movies: think about using lots of arrows while trapping a foe, using poisons, etc. Much better than D&D's simple hit points, that make Ogres really just feel like 3rd level Fighters or whatever (same hp, same to hit, etc.) without the nice interplay of feeling like a clumsy but hard-hitting dude.

The Complicated Rules are Basically Just House Rules, A Story

Ok, so there are alot of "conditions" and "talents" and "traits" in the new WFRP, which are things I hate in general and specifically hated in D&D third edition and other bloated rpg games. This means shit like Unconscious or Amputated or Broken are defined terms that you have to look up when you want to know whats going on. I do dislike this, but after playing using the rules for awhile, I've come to find out that they really don't need to make the game play any slower or more complicated than even super simple basic D&D. To do this, though, you do have to treat these Talents, traits, and conditions more as "rulings" than "rules." Let me explain.

So if I'm playing basic D&D with no rules for "Ablaze" or "Fatigue" like you have in WFRP, if a player decides to have his character throw a molotov cocktail, I don't know what the mechanic effect is. I know there should be one: swords do 1d6-1d8 hit points of damage, burning protester/freedom fighter oil should do something to a creature's flesh if there's a direct hit, so something should happen and I should adjudicate somehow. Buried within some basic d&d rules there's stuff like 'burning oil does 1d6 damage,' so I could try finding that half-remembered rule too. What do I normally do in D&D, though? I make up a damage, like 1d4, and then make up another rule for the fire, like it goes out with a successful saving throw or something. I reward the character for a good idea, make something up, just like I would with whether a person is convincing or the kobolds think the halfling is charming, and move on. In WFRP, in contrast, there's definitely a rule that I'm vaguely aware exists. But it's not on my player's character sheet, because it's not her usual sword attack or one of her listed skills (Create Fiery Oil Bomb), just like the impromptu 'burning oil' idea in D&D. So in reality, the dilemma is pretty much the same as in D&D: if its not readily accessible (WFRP), it's as good as nonexistent (basic D&D). Apply this analogy to all sorts of mechanical effects based on player ideas that come up all the time in rpgs. What to do?

Well, let's handle it the right way as a game master, fast and loose and not making other human beings sit around while you read quietly to yourself; a rule is rarely that important**. So in D&D, you come up with a spot ruling, do the same in WFRP. The fiery oil does +4 damage, depending on how well you hit with your "Ranged Thrown" attack skill, but it lasts 3 rounds or something. The onyl difference is that later on, rather than say to your players that you'll keep ruling it that way, you tell them, "Hey, this is what the molotov does, but I'll look it up later and we'll follow the rulebook the next time." In this way, rather than accumulate house rules like you do in d&d, you're simply learning/remembering the house rules in the rulebook. And guess what, you can look up the rule in WFRP, and be like, "That's dumb, I liked the way I did it last night better." And this works for almost all the conditions and traits and talents I've encountered in WFRP, and it makes a better game experience. Like I've done it with the Carouser talent for one character, and molotov cocktails, and "Broken" (failed morale test) and Fatigue (though this one was really close since it's a simple-10 to all tests). And it works out great, you don't need to stress about remembering all the rules. Don't treat the game book like a bible, where every rule is written in stone and sancrosact; let the rules be your servant, not your master.

(Turns out, there's even a bolded term for my PC's molotov (it's on the weapons chart as a incendiary!) and it inflicts "Ablaze" conditions, with a page reference. My spot rule was influenced by my players arguing abotu the likely real world effects of getting fire inside a helmet, so it ended up working out well, and next time I used the gentler rulebook ablaze rules, but I told my players this).

** One exception is Critical Hits and Magical Catastrophes (really, magical critical hits). These are gory, highly effect what happens in play, and spectacular. It's worth it to stop play for everyone at the table to wait with bated breath to find out that the warrior's eye just exploded all over the ground. But do bookmark those pages.

The Bottom Line: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb

So this is why I don't mind the "complicated" rules of Warhammer and love the way it feels at the table. The basic core mechanic is in some ways more simple than D&D, since even spells are a based on # success levels (10s digits) on a 1d100 roll. Then the combat is just crunchy and satisfying enough, where I realyl feel like my player characters go through medieval combat. I hear the crunch of the metal in my mind's eye, to mix metaphors. And the complicated rules can really just be learned/memorized as you play, once you've played through needing to use them. I've had a lot of fun with this 'complicated system' and you can too.

WFRP House Rules

I figure I'll also use this space to note some house rules I've added to play warhammer. 

XP rewards: 50 XP for a full session, plus 1 xp per shilling (so GC = 20 xp) recovered adventuring. This gives a bit more 'purpose' for my players, and results in an appropriately Warhammery murderhobo vibe. I don't want my warhammer characters to be indifferent to money, ever, for Sigmar's sake!

Advantage: too overpowered as written, reduced to max +6 Advantage, and gained only on successful hits (not successful parries) with melee or ranged weapons. I really need to reduce this to max +4 frankly.

Magic: spells are too difficult rules as written, so 1/2 CN required (round up). This means instead of 10 successes to cast some of the bigger spells, the PC needs 5. I started this house rule with 1/3 CN, but it really needs to only be 1/2. Effectively, casting number is a penalty to the difficulty of the casting roll, with the ability to channel more successes before the decision Language test.

Arms: I recently added an expanded weapons list found in the Ratter zine #2 (bec de corbin, arming swords, etc.). These are just cool flavor, and I'm a bit of a gear-head when it comes to medieval arms and armor, so don't mind the extra fiddliness.

Fortune and Resolve/Resilience: characters have max 4 Fate/Fortune, and Resolve/Resilience is now used passively - those with it immediately spend it to avoid any effects they receive without having to declare it. It was too many options to keep track of and slowed things down. I actually think it's pretty dumb they added Resolve/Resilience; Fate/Fortune was elegant and worked.

Bretonnian Bloodshed - wfrp session recaps

Good lord, I'm the worst. Have not updated the campaign recaps since May. My excuse is that I moved cities and jobs, but it's really I could have carved out a few minutes. These posts are good for thinking about 'next adventures' with the group, anyway, so I really should keep up with them. These are very handy in remember stray plot threads and generally in prepping adventures, so it'd be for my own good too. Here we go:

Dramatis Personae

Onfroy - fencer and louche extraordinaire, with a fetish for female urine

Boneshard - terriblely corrupted mutant Norscan berserk, hellraiser-skin, disguised with a great helm and gigantic black cloak

Regis aka Don Gonada - spy and huckster, the voice of reason

Okra, a female ogre smith, good at smashing, always hungry

Twiggett Plumbottom, halfling thief

Stomply Rockcrusher, ornery dwarf Ironbreaker

Dragonsbridge and the Grey Mountains

After reaching Dragonsbridge on their way through the Grey Mountains of Bretonnia, the party continued to carve a path of bloodshed, violence, and similar hijinks through the land before returning to their old quest - killing Lord Agravaine who messed with them at the beginning of the adventures.

In the last recap, we ended with the party reaching Dragonsbridge, a castle guarding the lone pass through the mountains from Gisoreaux to Couronne. The group made some plans with a creepy hedge wizard named Ferregus to obtain a key to a sealed cave beneath the castle where a dragon was reportedly entombed. Initially, the group was going to sneak in, but Onfroy, drunk, picked a duel with one of the gate guards with some critical successes on Entertain (Taunt) rolls. We rolled with it, and Onfroy not only killed the guard but began wrecking mayhem in the castle yard. Things went south when the overall garrison was roused, and Boneshard and Onfroy were captured after the gates were shut and several knights pinned them down. Regis managed to disguise himself as a regular guard (who he had killed) in true spy fashion, and was able to move about the castle. He steals the key from the lord's chambers, while Onfroy manages to disarm the castle torturer in the dungeons and protest to the lord that he was undertaking an honorable duel (with some good rolling and judicious expenditure of fortune too). DM's note: the lord agreed to release him because he thought he could spy on Onfroy and find out the mutant's other accomplices, perhaps able to blackmail some noble rivals with a confession from Onfroy or the mutant. But he wanted to know where the group came from. Unfortunately for the lord, these plans unravel as Onfroy uncovered the spy, Regis supplied Ferregus with the key to the dragon's chamber through Ferregus's accomplice, the 'washer woman' Mathilde, and all hell broke lose when the dragon breaks free while Onfroy and Regis are making their escape with stolen horses and more convincing lies from Regis.

After a brief sojourn away from the castle, and seeing that a dragon has wrecked havoc on it before flying off into the mountains, Regis and Onfroy returned to save Boneshard. More hire-wire combat ensues and they manage to capture the Lord Drakemont in the chaos and his son and wife. There is a negotiation with the garrison commander, and the group is allowed to leave in exchange for no harm befalling the Lord's family.

Lord Drakemont

The group then spends several days on horseback in the windy, cold, snowing, starving mountains. They are attacked by orcs and a strange horse-monster before coming upon an Ogress, Okra, who had been working as a smith for the orcs before the warboss cast her out for eating too much of their foods. The group smashes up some orcs together before finally reaching site of the nearest town in the mountains' foothills, Souen. A halfling n'er'do'well Twiggett was in town and learned that three knights sworn to the king to find the chaos warrior (Boneshard, though they did not know his name) had hired a ranger guide through the mountains. The knights soon find Onfroy, Boneshard, Regis, and Okra on the mountain trails and battle ensues. In a striking moment, Boneshard is slain as a questing knight, Sir Bourchard de Montcalm, rammed his sword to the hilt through Boneshard's heart (in game terms, he was criticalled, rolled a 99 or 100 result to the body, and had no permanent Fate points left to avert). Okra then smashed the knight's skull in with her warhammer. While the questing knights were soon defeated through Okra's and Onfroy's prowess, Boneshard was dead---a blessing in disguise as now Regis, as the party's face, could disclaim that they were associated with the chaos warrior and mutant. 

Souen

An amethyst wizard from the Empire, Willem of Nye (Boneshard's player's new character) was also traveling in Souen, following the tales of Boneshard's demonic sword that he had obtained some ancient stories on. The lord of Souen, Alaric, shamed by his marshal Sir Godefroy into riding out  to confront the chaos warrior, summoned his men-at-arms to ride out. The wizard, a foreign notable, was allowed to accompany them as a dignitary (ah, the class solidarity of the elite!). Godefroy approached the wizard secretly offering him a stack of gold, like 30 crowns, to kill Alaric. Gossip gathered by Twiggett revealed this was because Godefroy sought to marry Alaric's daughter and gain his lands, but Godefroy refused, seeking a better alliance for his daughter. Willem agreed but then crossed Godefroy by casting a sleep spell on him as he sought to provoke a fight against the party, who Lord Alaric had begun to negotiate with. Regis sold the lie that they were mercenaries who had helped the knights kill Boneshard, and they were welcomed to camp in Souen. Alaric, though, realized what Godefroy had attempted to do, and so enlisted Regis to have him killed in a duel - he could not kill Godefroy openly himself, as Godefroy, a younger and martial man, had the respect of his household knights and troops. After insulting him profusely at dinner, Onfroy quickly slew the man (a lucky critical that slashed apart Godefroy's arm). Alaric then invited them to leave, with a bag of gold as a reward (20 GC i think?).

Outside Souen, the companions were greeted by their old patron, Lady Griselda, first in raven-form and then skyclad. She reached an agreement with Regis for them to resume their Olde Quest: kill Lord Agravaine, now Duke in the south. She offered to purchase them passage on a ship she hired in L'Anguille for the purpose, and they would take the group south where they were to figure out some way to kill the Duke. 

Griselda emerging from raven-form (kelly hensing)

The companions then traveled west, trying to avoid settlements. They were thwarted when hunting deer for Okra to eat, as several hunting knights found Regis 'poaching' as he stood over a freshly killed deer. A typical combat followed, with the knights' entourage of footsoldiers scattered and fleeing after some bloody work by the ogre and fencing-masters. Now equipped with fresh meat, but forced to hide from any settlement whatsoever, the party promptly wandered into a town to obtain a boat to travel to L'Anguille on river. A new companion, Stomply the ornery dwarf, tired of negotiations with the boat's owner and sons, killing them and they attempted to row and steer the boat out of town as footmen caught wind of the party's presence and sought to stop them. Through some luck and Okra the Ogre's well-placed anvil throw, the pursuing ship of men-at-arms was sunk. They group then got the vessel stuck several times and abandoned it to continue to L'Anguille on foot. 

Finally in L'Anguille, the party, now 6 strong with an ogre, managed to not kill everyone and sailed away on the Swan Maiden, south to find fell Duke Agravaine.

Bretonnians! WFRP 4 NPCs

I created a list of stats for commonly-found Bretonnians folk in the spirit of WFRP first edition where they published lists of NPCs in the sourcebooks and adventures so you had all the stats you needed to kill maim steal and get kill maimed and stolen from.

These stats are for 4th edition WFRP and I have found them to be very handy. Not only can I pull up a random knight's stats for when my player inevitable stir the shit, when preparing an adventure I simply write down the guy's stats (Sworn Knight, Entertainer, Damsel, whatever). It's great.

This one also has my Bretonnian character creation rules - two new careers Bretonnian Knight (Knight Errant to Grail Knight) and Battle Pilgrim. I interpreted the famous Bretonnian 'Damsel,' who are prophetesses and priestesses of the goddess the Lady as Mystics careers under the new rules - except they can cast the full Lore of Heavens spells! Much cooler and dangerous that way. I also assume noble women generally can be wizards after training at the Tower of the Enchantress, there studying Life, Light, or Beast lores.

Anyhoo, below is the link to pdf of the Bretonnian stats.

Longshanks Guide to Gaming: On Running a Rules Complex Game like WFRP4

Warning, a long theory and GM/referee advice post follows. Another warning, some of this advice is repetitive, but so be it.

Backstory. After running D&D 5e and rules light old-school basic D&D (Lamentations of the Flame Princess) for several years, I started running the new edition (fourth) of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP) - as is clear from many of the recent posts on this blog. I was skeptical however of running it, and was worried that I would stop to go back to a rules-lighter system like OSR D&D, but I was intrigued when I bought the new WFRP book and so gave it a shot. I had run WFRP 2nd edition in the past, and that lasted about 4-5 sessions before I got fed up with running it for 8-9 players and went back to OSR D&D. But my players in my current WFRP4 group had all played Call of Cthulhu before and Deathwatch, both d100 systems, and I loved there was a lot of options for a low magic campaign. I also knew we'd all enjoy the Critical Wounds/Hits tables. 

This, as again you can see from the numerous posts about it, has been wonderful and rewarding. But I definitely have had to make some adjustments to the WFRP rules-as-written to make the game play fast and fun. I thought I could summarize some of how I have been running the game into some general principles applicable to most games on the heavier-crunch/complication side of the spectrum so that they play more like a fast and imaginative simple, uncomplicated game like B/X D&D. 

The biggest problem crunchy games like WFRP suffer from are:

1. Rules Bloat: Remembering how to-hit, damage, wounds, healing, combat manuevers, feats/talents/powers, and spells work and work together can slow everything down when you want to have the most excitement: life-or-death combat. I suggest addressing this with referee familiarity, quick sheets, and making a decision and moving on.

2. Decision Paralysis: The number of rules for stuff your character can do often leads players to look for the sheet for answers instead of coming up with in-game solutions, and not knowing what to do when its your turn in combat. I address this in my game by calls for action, asking them to describe actions (not use game turns), and moving on.

3. Constrained Thinking: Similar to the above, thinking in terms of game mechanics (since there are so many) instead of in-game and real-world thinking. Rules-heavy games can be great toolboxes, don't treat them like a computer system or computer game where everything should be addressed from the rules' perspective. Instead, imagine whatever you want and let the rules of the game help you determine a fair way to resolve things. 

Overall though the advice of the late Dave Brockie of GWAR is the best and will see you through: KEEP IT MOVING.

So, here are DM Nick Longshanks's principles for running a rules-heavy game like WFRP (or D&D5e, etc.). These principles are for the sake of fun while playing a game. Don't let the game rule you, you rule the game.

1. Keep it moving! Cannot be said enough. Do not stop the game to look something up unless its really crucial/worthwhile like a PC's critical hit or otherwise evening-making/breaking. Call for actions. Have enemies attack or arrest the PCs if they're dithering. Make 'em roll Endurance or get the plague if they're farting around. Decide what a rule will be if you cannot remember and no body else does; you'll correct it later or whatever. 

2. Only call for rolls if something interesting or unexpected will happen if the character fails. No Perception test needed for listening at a door (they're already listening at the door, jsut tell them what they f'ing hear!). No Charm test to see if the barmaid likes you (who cares). You don't roll Ride/Dex/Agility for traveling, you do it when wolves attack your horse or you're racing away from a knight or whatever.  Every roll slows down the game and breaks up the flow of player interaction, jokes, and imagination time, so make them interesting and worthwhile (ie. they should affect the plot outcome). Most published adventures and games for these systems are filled to the brim with bad examples of boring as paint-in-the-numbers skill checks that a just a snooze fest. Look, any RPG sucks donkey if its just you sitting around rolling dice that don't mean anything while the GM narrates stuff. Get away from that by: (a) telling the players what happens, no need to slow down the narrative or dialogue with a roll (I look under the carpet, I knock on the door, I greet the NPC-most gameplay does not require rolls). 

3. Players describe what they’re doing, you tell them what to roll or roll for them if it’s secret or simply tell them what happens. This is related to the above. Do not stop players asking for different stat to roll if it makes sense. Think about what the roll really means: it's simply a randomizer based on the in-game character's fiction to generate interesting results. Don't make the characters memorize their character sheet, their concept should tell them and you as DM all you need to know (really). So call for descriptions of what they do, you tell them what they roll or if nothing interesting happens if they fail the roll, just tell them what happens.

4. If you don't know the correct rule, make a ruling! Rather than slow down to look something up or argue, make a ruling and move on. If it was wrong, explain later and announce the rule going forward. If this results in house rules, all the better. You're much more likely to enjoy a house rule than a "condition" rule buried in the rulebook anyway. 

5. Know how to run a combat, cast a spell, and heal well. These generally are what go beyond a base mechanic like roll under percentage or roll high on d20. Understand the basics of combat (surprise initiative attack defense damage healing death) and spellcasting/magic. Don’t worry about fiddly exceptions until you’ve got some basic combats under your belt. Run some mock combats by yourself before gaming, and have basic foes before introducing more advanced foes with special abilities and spells when you're playing with characters. 

6. Have reference guides. Make some quick sheets for yourself and the players with character creation outline, combat, spell casting, equipment list (damage, armor, costs) and common monsters/NPCs. This last part is really your basic setting/campaign creation, and you can make random encounter charts off these. Then when writing adventure outlines you can just write Cutpurse or whatever, and reference it. Making these yourself is helpful because then you learn the complicated rules. But if you buy these, it's fine, just anticipate fudging and making a ruling and moving on more at the beginning.

7. Decisions have consequences. Don’t pull punches to preserve the ‘story;’ the story is what happens due to players decisions, and if you give plot immunity, it’s boring for everyone. This also preserves the unique thing of the medium of RPGs over movies, books, and video games: your imaginary characters can do anything but you have some rules to introduce the tactical and decision-making/problem solving bits that makes any game or sport fun. 

8. A description is more important than a mechanical effect. So if a character has the Carouser or Attractive talent, that is more important as a description than the mechanical effect of a bonus to certain rolls or whatever. The feat should not be driving a call for rolls, it should simply have the natural consequences. So an ‘attractive’ woman should have no problem drawing attention and distracting a drunken man, no need to roll (unless there is something interesting like a failure means learning he’s not attracted to women). 

9. Disregard "canon." To the extent you have a fictional world with a lot of backstory and 'canon,' ignore this at whim. You're doing all the work of running the game for your (ungrateful) friends, they don't get to one-up with some shit some stranger asshole made up about elves. Part of the fun for all DMs is making setting background stuff and plots, so don't get that derailed by some know-it-all player or worse yet, stranger working for a company, to tell you how to imagination-elf-game. That's some middle school shit no body should have time for. Sure, if you all agree you're sticking by Tolkien or Warhammer 'canon' and that's part of the deal or fun for your friends and you, sure, but the default should be that what the DM says rules. 

Folks, you're playing a roleplaying game, not a movie or videogame. Use the fact that the DM is a thinking, human being who you're playing with. You don't need to outsource your friends' imaginations to a rulebook, which is a tool, not a cage. If you're using a game with a lot of rules, the latter is always a danger moreso than rules-light games where it's intrinsic that you won't have rules or rolls for lots of situations. But if you run the rules-complicated game more like that, you can have just as much fun but without needing to make up a spot/house rule for as much stuff. Also, I enjoy different weapon/armor interactions so there. Happy dicing!

Soulstealer Sword

Write up for the chaos magic sword that has taken on a strong prominence in our weekly WFRP game. The sword was thrown into a river in Gisoreux due to warping one of the companions, and then recently retrieved by one characters prayers to the chaos gods and spending a permanent Fate point. I like a magic item with a history and personality so here goes. Much of this is secret to the players.

Mighty zweihander (SB+5, hack, damaging), graven with an open eye at the base of the blade. (1) Ignores all APs (not TB), (2) +SB damage (x2) against Large or larger foes, (3) whispers dreams of madness and bloodlust into the wielder: Cool (WP) test after slaying someone with it to avoid gaining Corruption 1 points; Cool (WP) test to not get lost in slaughter, such as the sack of a city or raid, which leads to more corruption if innocents are slain. While on such a 'bender' after failing the corruption test, wielder gains effects of frenzy. The soul the sword ultimately steals is the wielder's; after becoming a chaos mutant, the wielder finds his mind bound to do the bidding of Margubilex, a chaos demon prince.

The Sword was first wielded by Kislevite-turned-Chaos-champion warlord Ivar the Bloodletter 600 years ago, who sacked many towns in Ostland and Nordland before being defeated by wood elves and Imperial forces. It was said to be a gift from the Chaos Prince Margubilex the Mighty, who's 'secret name' is rumored to be inscribed in chaos runes on the underside of the crosspiece. Ivar's Norscan allies rescued the blade after the battle of the Soddenfields, and after many wars in the frozen north, the sword came to the hand of Grimdane the Black who was slain by a Grail knight Sir Ghishelm 200 years ago while raiding up river from Bordeleux. Grimdane also slew the Grail Knight, and the blade was interred with him in a Grail Chapel erected in Sir Ghishelm's memory. 

The recent turmoil unleashed by the War of the Plague between Agravaine of Aquitaine and Duke Albericht of Bordeleux allowed a beastmen warherd to sack the nearby settlement and seize the sword from Ghishelm's tomb, where it had called to the brayshaman. It then came into the Party's hands. The sword seeks to transform the wielder into a mighty warlord who can cut down the great champions of order. 

The Perfect, Enemy of the Good

so I’ve been trying to post a few more blog entries but have been delayed by family business. My daughter of 2 is now going to bed at 9 instead of 8, losing me an hour of free time each night. I’ve decided to simply post off my phone to keep content coming; if the nifty pics I used to include suffer so be it. I don’t want my session write ups getting lost any longer and is like some review space. Expect more content but worse edited, ha!

Lamentations - House Rules for New Campaign

As part of my reconsideration of running Lamentations of the Flame Princess but properly rules-as-written, I of course had to muck it all up and add a bunch of house rules. To make the mental ability scores more applicable, I apply them to set categories of saves. The other major feature is a Casting Roll so magic-users and clerics are limited to a number of known spells, that may be swapped out or replaced with difficulty, but can cast them as long as they keep rolling well. I think this is both more fun at the table, as a wizard is worried about any time they cast a spell and yet could spam a bunch of spells. I ported over the sleep exhaustion rules, already present in the game, to make this complete.

Additionally, I added some AD&D classes: Paladins, Rangers, and Bards, and a more status-based Fighter, the Knight. The last is basically just a Fighter that eschews the starting Base Attack of +2 for a starting Melee Attack of +3. The backgrounds and idea for their status are stolen from coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com's Knight GLOG class, but made simpler for Lamentations play. Also taken from skerples at coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com is a devastating Death and Dismemberment table. It's in between instant death and a gentler table that makes 'death' no big deal.

Hope yall enjoy! I've already started running at my table, and the cleric casting rules and ranger are being playtested.

WFRP4 - Campaign Session Reports Updates - From Bordeleaux to Dragonsbridge

Lord Agravaine, the player's nemesis

Oh boy, it has been awhile since I updated the WFRP4 session recaps. I knew it had been awhile, but not as long as it has. So there’s no way I’m going to go into the detail I did before for this post. Instead, I’ll try a bullet point list of the highlights and then maybe add back in some detail once we’re all caught up.

Map of Bordeleaux

Dramatis Personae

Boneshard, Norscan Marauder Champion (tier 3 career)

Regis de Pubiens (nomme de guerre – Don Gonada de Ciudad de … I don’t remember, some estalian identity)

Onfroy Proudhon le ‘Wretch’ – a new character who joined later.

Events

• As mentioned, with the aid of a chosen band of knights from Duke Alberich of Bordeleaux and four High Elf archers from the Ambassador’s guard, Boneshard and Regis plunged into the city sewers to find the Idol of Flies and stop the skaven plans.
• After many ambushes along the way, the adventurers made it to a skaven undercity with a slavemaster’s platform in the center of a market-looking square. From the derelict state of the affairs, the town looked semi-abandoned but then the group heard a crowd from a distance. Carved into some old sewers (built by High Elves in Bordeleaux’s far past?) was a large auditorium. The characters murdered some ratmen guards and snuck closer – there was a skaven Grey Seer before the Idol, his thousands of ratmen minions chanting and squeeking. The characters unleashed mayhem, ambushing the Seer with burning oil flasks and attaining several critical hits. Regis broke his leg jumping from the rafters to grab the idol, successfully chucked to Boneshard. Regis is captured while the knights hold off the rodent throng in the sewer and Boneshard runs out carrying the Idol. They make their way to the nearest sewer manhole, several passages and rooms past, and with some lucky rolls, Boneshard escapes.

• Boneshard makes his way through the streets as whatever skaven have amassed beneath the city boil out, frantically seeking the Idol. The Duke's men, warned by the characters, fight back, fires spreading throughout the city.
• Regis is captured by the skaven master Grey Seer, now burned. (He spent a permanent Fate point to survive.)
• After resting a few hours, Boneshard finds the Elven ambassador Menilthir who assists in finding Regis and teleporting Boneshard and himself below the streets. Boneshard kills the ratmen guards (and a ratogre), saving Regis
• The group advises destroying the Idol. In a ritual, Menilthir and priestesses assist in melting it down while fighting continues.
• Bordeleaux is saved, for now, though the rats have left behind disease and destruction. Not on the scale they could have unleashed with the Idol.
• After doctors' care, Boneshard and Regis now seek to save the cursed duke having destroyed the Idol of Flies and so travel to Castle Aquitaine.
• In the wilds on the journey, Boneshard receives a dream vision of a herdstone - with a large and powerful sword leaning against it. 

• Boneshard finds the beastherd, to Regis's dismay. He defeats the minotaur champion of the beastherd and the beasts bow to him. This lets him claim the sword, which now speaks to Boneshard in his mind. Regis goes along with the situation, but works with Boneshard to find a place for the beastherd to be wiped out in their raiding and rapine of the local Bretonnian towns. After gaining much corruption, the beastherd is drawn into a village which Regis prepared to defend itself a few hours before, and Boneshard cuts down the beastman shaman. Boneshard keeps the Sword of Souls.
• [DM note: Boneshard and Regis both gained much corruption in this episode. Boneshard's earlier acquisition of an enchanted bone necklace that summoned worms provided the pathway for the chaos sword to enter his mind and tempt him.]

• The duo emerges from the woods and soon finds Castle Aquitaine, but besieged by Lord Agravaine's host. They manage to signal a knight riding a pegasus and make it into the castle to tell Duke Armand's council their story of the Idol and that its destruction should free the Duke from the curse. The Damsel of the Lady, Dame Helvis believes the adventurers and lifts the magical slumber from the Duke. He is indeed no longer cursed. A new plan emerges: the adventurers will take their pages from the sorcerer's grimoire, captured in Castle Greemley many moons before, and letters from Agravaine to him and the summoning a pestilent demons to the King of Bretonnia, to formally accuse Lord Agravaine of sorcery. The Duke Armand, honor bound to defend his seat and his loyal men, will stay to fight off Lord Agravaine.

Castle Aquitaine

• [DM note: I made extensive siege rules if the adventurers had stayed, but they decided to come up with this plan of traveling to the King and I said to myself, that works.]
• With Sir Jaspert, the pegasus rider, Boneshard and Regis travel by flying horseback to the north. Then suddenly they are attacked in the sky over the Forest of Chalons near the western mountains of the Massif Orcal by a griffon, who slays their pegasus and they crash into the forest.

actually a lammergeier getting territorial with a vulture, but too cool not to share

• after crashing in the Forest, they encounter a traveling ne'er do well named Onfroy Proudhon le Wretch, wearing a wig on a horse. He was searching for work before getting lost in the forest after a drunken spree with a bard named Jarlyle. 
• The now three encounter a giant stag with many antler points, which speaks in their minds as the "King of the Wood." He will grant safe passage to the hungry travelers for removing an encampment of lumberers from the woods.
• Led to the camp of lumberjacks, Onfroy immediately accosts them at their palisade gate. They shoot arrows, yelling that they are free men not serfs of Onfroy. Armed with his Soul Stealer, Boneshard and Onfroy make short work of the 15 or so woodsmen who resist with but axes and gambesons. They take a few prisoners as slaves, and are allowed to leave the forest by the King of the Wood. They pass a troll crossing, slaying one of the river trolls.
• [DM Note: I did not expect their aggressive posture to the woodsmen to go so smoothly for them, but if you don't roll a critical, your PC got the Frightening trait, and they have some good rolls, they can carry out quite impressive feats. They also made short work of the trolls, which I forgot to use the surprise for.]
• The lord of the nearby manor allows the adventurers to stay as guests, as they reveal they are on an errand for the king with a known knight Sir Jaspert. They recover from the encounters in the woods and prepare to head north. They consider buying horses but do not have enough coin for Boneshard to have a horse.

Boneshard had gotten pretty ridiculous at this point

• They come to a monastery, really a nunnery, a few days travel to the north as they head for Gisoreux. Outside it's wall, a knight awaits with a lady nun. He challenges Boneshard to single combat, as she has had a vision of an evil and corrupted Norscan who should be slain. Boneshard agrees, and is badly wounded in the charge. Onfroy decides to attack the knight, seeing things going badly. Jaspert, horrified, steps in on the side of the Lady. Boneshard slays the knight, but Onfroy is blinded by the nun's prayer. They reach an agreement not to kill the nun to be left on their way. Jaspert refuses to travel with these men any longer, and takes the nun back to the monastery shrine.

• The party soon makes it to Gisoreux, bribing their way past the quarantine order on all southern travelers. While at an inn, they discover a man spying on them, having been paid good coin to report tales of a traveling Norscan and his companions, including an Estalian. They slay the man in an alley, then confront the innkeep if he has any knowledge. Onfroy, drunk, decides to stab the innkeep for the coin he demanded for his information not being good enough for Onfroy. All hell breaks lose, Onfroy tossing an illegal petard onto the doorframe soon after the local guards arrive. The Duke of Gisoreux's men-at-arms arrive soon thereafter. After much butchery and the use of flaming oil, the adventurers manage to escape. But they were spotted by the knight commanding the city men-at-arms.

• They steal a boat and collapse, exhausted in the slums outside the docks. Here they are taken in by the stevedores guild. Sometime around then Boneshard has used the chaos sword enough to develop a mutation, scaly skins granting 1 armor point. He was also having dreams of travelin to the Chaos wastes and becoming a mighty champion by slaying a chaos troll. The scales marked him as chaos-touched. 
• With her stevedores and spies in the slums of the docks, the Guildmistress Adele finds them, smiling to find Boneshard is chaos-touched. She offers them hospitality in her hall and revealed her interest in certain grimoire that spoke of opening a portal to the Realms of Chaos by orgiastic ritual. Sure enough at the full Morrslieb moon she brought Boneshard down to her secret temple to conduct a ritual with her and her cultists. During the orgy, Boneshard mutates further, growing spikes from his scales.

Adele at the ritual

Boneshard's spikes, approximately

• Boneshard dons a large helmet and black cloak to hide himself in public. The companions then decide to follow up on some leads, but end be drawn to near the Hall of Justice in the main Gisoreux square. Realizing they've been tricked, they knock out the investiagotr, but everything goes sideways for the adventurers. A general "hue and cry" is raised, and all within the city are mandated to grab weapons and seize the companions. Men-at-arms are assembling in the square. While distracted, somehow Regis steals Boneshard's blade as the adventurers scatter to the four winds running away.
• Separated, Onfroy and Regis make their way to the Stevedores Hall. Regis decides to set it afire to burn out the heretics, while Onfroy gets involved in a duel with a Hall's guard. Onfroy slays the guard, and before being found by a knight leading a continegent of men, they hide in the back alleys and escape.
• Meanwhile, Boneshard has been trapped on a main street by a large force of men-of-arms and knights. He throws down a burning oil flask as he is hit by several arrows. Three knights charge him, and he takes a lance wound as well. Bleeding, Boneshard cuts down a knight and intimidates the others. Then a mighty knight on a black destrier, his silvered armor fine and filigreed, leaps over the flames. Boneshard challenges him to one on one combat, which the knight accepts and combat is joined. Before his lance reaches Boneshard, however, Boneshard calls upon the dark powers to smite his foes, and knight's helmet crumples and he falls from the horse. Boneshard gathers the body, dragging him from the city as the gate's guards are too frightened to stop him.
• [DM note: through a long discussion with player badgering, I let Boneshard's player spend a permanent Fate point to kill the knight with a bunch of corruption points rather than merely save his own life - he would have died had he taken much more and was already burning Resolve to stop his bleeding critical.]

An impressionist rendering of Boneshard v. the knight

• That night, the companions tried to escape through the villages and hamlets ringing Gisoreux. They heard the howls and yelps of hounds and hoofbeats as the city gathered some force to find them. The companions successfully hid but abandoned the captured knight's body. They made refuge outside a village and found a deer for meat, but were soon found by some local knights, who they killed and stole their horses. Having been found, they decided to resume their quest to find the King in Couronne and resumed travels north.
• After getting lost in the ravines and valleys of the River Oise in rainstorms, the companions find the royal road. Exhausted, beset by a pack of wolves, they make their way to the village outside the Castle Dragonsbridge, which bridges the Oise in the mountains of the Pale Sisters. Winter had fallen and so the snows had come to the mountains.

Dragonsbridge

• In a tavern in the village beneath the mountain and castle, the characters take a room for the night and stable their stolen horses. With a knock at their door, a stranger introduces himself as Ferregus. He offers the characters a deal, but also a warning: the Lord of Dragonsbridge has been tipped off and is sending men. The characters escape and make their way to Ferregus's mountainside cave. There he offers them a bargain: he needs a key from Dragonsbridge to free a slumbering dragon beneath the mountain, and in exchange will aid the adventurers in any of their goals, as he will be a powerful Dragon Master.

what slumbers beneath the mountain?