Whoop Whoop! Better session today.  Finally finished the battle of the Mother Tree and completed the first leg of this campaign.

Last session we left the Elf hanging to the edge of a pit trap but an unsuccessful strength check left him sliding to the edge and finally the sodden ground gave way dropping him into the hole.  As he fell his quick reflexes allow him to grab a hole in the wall of the pit  and was able to stop his descent.  Pulling himself up he looked into the small hole and could just make out the top of a skeleton’s head and realizes in disgust that he was looking into a coffin .  A set of red glowing eyes watches him from the darkness and a rat jumped a him from the darkness.  One unsuccessful discipline check later and he completed the journey to the bottom of the hole.  One observation check later and he finds he is standing in a great cavern under the tree, in the darkness there’s movement all around and he realizes the place is full of the undead.

Up near the tree the Elf, Human and Priestess are all making range attacks on the tree while the Dwarf gets up close and personal with the tree putting the hammer to good use.  The tree opens its great mouth to call for reinforcements when suddenly the Dwarf has the idea that maybe he can cause more damage to this foe from the inside and makes a dash for the opening.

Below ground the Elf is fighting for his life in the darkness with two skeletons and things are not going well.

The Dwarf crawls into the gaping hole leaving the Mother tree feeling quite violated.  Emerging into the hollow interior of the tree he makes a quick descent of slime and snot, think Goonies water slide, to find himself knocking over the Elf, springing to his feet and helping the elf, who had been knocked unconscious by the undead.

Above ground the winged Demon started strafing runs on the characters.  Slicing the Priestess shoulder open on a successful attack the Demon felt on top of the world until the blood on its claws started to burn him.

This whole part of the campaign has been based on a piece of powerful comet that has been taken over by Neergal the god of disease and rot.  The Priestess being a tool of Shayeela goddess of healing who fights Neergal with all her might could of been more of a force against the tree.  This did not happen the way I thought it would.  She stayed back and helped the other characters with blessings.  Even after a Intuition check which pretty much told her she had more to do she did not step up to the plate. Well thats the way it goes sometime and you can’t control the players characters for them.

When the Dwarf entered the melee with the undead they moved back and did not want to engage.  Using a Observation check the Dwarf realized that the cavern was of Dwarf construction and the Undead were Dwarves themselves.  Using his Dwarf knowledge he was able to detect the small signs left by his people that pointed to the exit and emerged into the sunshine dragging the Elf.

After the Elf was back on his feet it was all out group attack on the Tree and Demon until finally victory was theirs.

I will write up a end of campaign summary with my thoughts about the system and my writing campaigns experience in a future post, but for now I am signing off,  I’m in Scotland and I don’t want to waste the day!

I have a mind like a sieve, no really, and sometimes I can’t remember what I had for tea yesterday.  Then throw in the factor that we have two weeks down time between each WFRP session which gives me just enough time to forget about 10% of the rules.

After the great session last time with everything flowing seamlessly, story flowing,  a good pace, iPod GM Toolkit being a god send, I was really looking forward to getting back into the GM flow.  I got set up and the session became a nails down a blackboard experience.

I made the stupid mistake of not taking the toughness off  the wounds….AGAIN,  AAAaaaarrrgh.  I was also having trouble with the ipod App.  I could not remember what combination of prod, poke, swipe, tap, dribble, swear and hold I had to use.  Some sessions you have it…and other times it is just better to pack up and go home.  With going home not being an option, I get pissy if I don’t game every now and then – just ask the girlfriend, it was just time to suck it up, grin and bear it and get it done.

Last session the group had just knocked one of there own characters out due to suspicions that he was a traitor.  They build a stretcher to carry him and then used it to drag him.  Then it was back to the original plan of following the disease infected merchant to his “Mother”.

When the unconscious character started to show signs of coming around the group stopped and it suddenly became a session of Law & Order.  The Dwarf took the lead in cross examining the accused until the group were satisfied that he wasn’t any threat.  Then he was released from his bonds and was allowed to help in the fight ahead, mind you with a Dwarf keeping a close eye on him and carrying a hammer which turns his foes into the consistency of mince meat, you have a tendency to be on your best behavior.

On the merry group went into the dark putrid forest when they came across a river of slime.  Think Ghostbusters 2, which there were many references to out of character, and you will be on the money.  Traveling up stream the group came across a guarded bridge and it was up to one of the elves to sneak up and get a closer look.  Steve took up his dice with confidence and rolled.  Not a single hammer in sight, Oops!

The elf was spotted lurking in the undergrowth. A quick blast on the warning horn and the group were up to their necks in Beastmen before you can say, “Was that a horn?”.  Mmmmmm group of adventures or Beastmen? Which ones better, only one way to find out……FIGHT!

This fight had everything.  I brought in a spell caster on the bridge which turned the air so thick every time the group wanted to move they had to spend fatigue.  Arrows whistled through the air from the range attacks from the far side of the river and the sound of metal on metal from the melee battles on the adventures side, dead bodies were pulled into the river by black slimy tentacles emerging from the dank putrid waters and a rumbling sound coming from deeper in the wood.  But without toughness being subtracted the bad guys were a bit of a walk through, I could tell something was missing but I had no time to sort it out as I wanted to keep the action going.  So how to make a easy combat a bit more exciting, queue the Dwarf!

The Dwarf launched himself into an all out attack on the Wizard, which as it happened was standing on the bridge.  With a mighty blow not only was he turned to mush he was driven through the wooden planks making up the walkway.  As the bridge became unstable it began to sink into the dark waters giving the group a time limit to get across.  As the Dwarf and his ward were in close proximity of the expanding hole in the bridge it was a average (2 purple dice) athletics check to jump across.  But by the time the other members of the group arrived the bridge had sunk further under the water requiring an hard (3 purple dice) check.  One elf made it across the swirling pool of death with help from his companions on the other side.  The Priestess was not so inclined to try the jump and asked for protection from the remaining group member.  As the bridge sunk out of view the infected merchant started across and was dragged under the mirky waters by the tentacles, screaming all the way until it was cut of in a gurgle as his head submerged leaving a stream of bubbles and then everything was calm.

Oh great, a split party AGAIN!

Dwarf, Human and Elf struck out towards the rumbling sound coming from the woods and was confronted by the main antagonist for this section of the campaign.  A putrid, obese, pus flowing tree with roots that can strike out like whips.  The tree was unable to trap the group in a pit trap it had constructed so everyone started wailing on the tree itself.

The Priestess and her protector were stuck on the wrong side of the river without any encounters planned.  A quick hack and slash of the campaign story allowed me to move the last encounter with the Wizard.  As they checked the river for a way across they heard a scream from just up ahead.  Running to help they came across the Wizard, he had tied his lover to the tree and as the adventures watched he pressed a green glowing stone into her hand.  The green stone could be seen glowing and crawling under her skin as it moved up her arm disappearing under her sleeve reappeared as it moved up her neck.  Her screams were silenced when the stone disappeared into her skull.

The Wizard turned to the group and with a smile on his lips but tears flowing down his cheeks shouts “If I can’t have her, then no one can!”.  As he taunted the players his lover starts to shudder and transforms into a huge winged demon.  Reaching out she grabs his head in her massive hand and twists it completely off, much to everyones shock.  You could also tell the Wizards was quite shocked by the look on his face as his head was thrown at the Priestess.

The Priestess tried to reason with the demon and as the human host fought a internal mental battle they both made a run for it.  The demon regained control, took to its wings and chased the fleeing group down.  Digging its claws into the backs of their clothing both members of the group were lifted high into the air and were dumped unceremoniously into the branches of the Mother tree.  YES! group back together.

Both players crashed through the tree branches on the way to the pus sodden ground.  The Priestess was able to pass her acrobatics check and was able to control her descent better than the Elf.  As the Elf hit the ground he rolled into the pit trap.  Using a brilliantly rolled check he was just able to grab the mucus sodden ground just before falling to the bottom.

That was where we had to end the session in mid combat but with time running out it seemed like a good place to halt.  At this point i told the guys I was having a problem with the bad guys again and they seemed to be weaker than usually.  It was at this point that Tristan (Dwarf) asked if I was taking the toughness off the wounds. BALLS, ARSE, BUGGER, “Yes of course I did!”, BUGGER, DAMN, SHITE ,FECK……..sob!

So in the last session the group headed off in three different directions. The dwarf had headed out in search of a fallen comet, one of the elf’s searched the village for more information about the evil wizard and the priestess and elf had run back to to the chapel for reinforcements.  They also found the missing member of the party who had been on holiday for a week.

Now I was not looking forward to this session. I find it difficult to keep all the players engaged in the story when there are two separate groups, but now I had three on my hands. So during the down time from the game I came up with a plan.  Now the thing I had to remember was not to spend too much time on one group. Keep the action flowing but make sure everyone was getting their time in the spot light.

In the previous session while visiting the chapel the group had hatched a plan about releasing the tainted merchant and follow him to mother. So decided to tie him on a leash and follow him to the location of  ‘mother’. They attached the kiddy reins and let him go. He acted very dumbfounded as he did not trust the party members but started to move off into the woods.

Now there are many places where inspiration for story lines come from and this is no exception. The idea for a minion leading the good guys to the big bad came straight from Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode ‘The Gift’.  In this episode Tara, who has had her sanity ripped from her, leads Buffy and the gang to the main villain who is opening a portal causing an influx of monstrous creatures into our world.  What can I say?  I love that episode and Amber Benson acting really stands out as her ability to show the total distrust she has for the group by just her body movements is brilliant.  It really leaves an impression and it was something that I could not reproduce in the session much to my shame.

The dwarf meanwhile come across the crater where the comet landed.  To his dismay, but not really a surprise, the comet piece was missing but due to a unsuccessful observation roll did not notice the strands of web that was around the clearing and was set upon by a giant spider.  On a side note I cant wait for the new creature manual for this system to appear as I feel I’m beginning to use the same enemy’s time after time.

In the village the elf was attacked by the small children who had awoken while he was finishing the search of the Wizards house.  I used the henchmen rules for this encounter and the children were dealt with quite quickly.  Though if the noble dwarf was present I’m sure he would of kicked seven types of shit out of the elf because while in his blood lust he stabbed the children in the back as they ran away.  After the ass whooping he decided to follow the dwarf to the comet site.

As the merchant led the priestess and the elf into the forest they came across a injured traveler who was asking for help to protect his family.  As he was bleeding out the priestess gave him some much needed healing and they were off to save the family.  What they were not expecting was a Rock Troll trying to kill two girls.  Lucky the girls were able to keep the cart they had been travailing on between themselves and the pile of rock that was trying to pound them flat.

The dwarf at this point was making short work of the spider and had already pulverized two of it’s eight legs.  As the dwarf delivered a mighty blow to the body of the spider it suddenly remembered that it had an important meeting that was anywhere where the dwarf wasn’t and made a run for it.  The dwarf was about to put the spider six foot under when suddenly he heard a lot of shouting coming from close by.  Funny enough it sounded like someone was about to get up close and personal with a Rock Troll. With a sigh he ran to give a helping hand.  As he took off his armor made a Chink Chink Chink sound that disappeared off into the distance.

The elf who was looking for the dwarf was suddenly taken by surprise by a six legged spider which was moving like had left the iron on.  It took one look at the elf, decided life was too short and ran off in the other direction.  As the elf listened to the spider making a hasty retreat through the forest he suddenly noticed a chink chink chink sound which reminded him of a dwarf accelerating to charging speed.

When the dwarf burst into the clearing you could almost hear the sigh of relief from the priestess.  He quickly assessed the situation and took no time at all in picking a fight with the large rock with attitude.  There followed what can only be described as a mighty battle and everyone took a turn wailing on the Troll.  At one point the Troll was so pissed it picked up the cart and tried to hit the dwarf with it.  But the dwarf was having none of it and smashed it to smithereens just as it was about to turn him into an armored can of spam.

When the dust settled from the carts destruction there was a bunch of round rocks on the ground and in a sudden twist of fate the travelers tried to retrieve them while threatening the priestess and the human to keep away.  After the Troll was turned to rubble there was a tense stand off between the adventures and the travelers.  In the end the travelers decided they had to see a man about a dog and limped away.  The human fired a warning shot above their head to make sure they got the message to bugger off.  but in an unfortunate turn of events the warning shot was more of a direct hit to the leg, there had been no warning and the dwarf pummeled the human into unconsciousness, much to the shock of the group.  The dwarf then hog tied him and in the stunned silence that followed he showed them the wanted dead notice that he had found in the last session.

Honestly the group was quite stunned by the turn of events.

This turned out to be one of the best sessions I have run and I was happy how it had turned out.  Also what a cliffhanger to end the session on.  Always leave them wanting more as the saying goes……

If there is one thing I hate about GMing its when the party decides to split up.  Well it has happened to me over the last three sessions and it is getting worse each time the group sets out.

At the beginning of this session the group was already split, we had a different player on holiday and a single player in the woods fighting a inbred family who were sacrificing any locals they could get their grubby little mitts on.

Now, I was lucky at this point as the dwarf player and myself were both early to the gaming session.  We had just enough time to get most of his roleplaying over with before the rest of the group arrived.

We had left the dwarf dealing with the family as they were pouring the blood from the sacrifices into a large pool of gelatinous mould that had been gradually taking over the forest.  The mother was splashing around in the mud, blood and mould mixture why the other family members were generally milling about until they were attacked.  I was not too worried that only one party member was dealing with this as it was the bloody dwarf and he is wearing what can only be described as a cocoon of amour that superman would have difficulty penetrating.

After the family had been dealt with I decided it was time to get the group back together to make my life as a GM easier.  So as the dwarf continued onto the chapel to get help with the injured at the village I decided that the other three members of the group would meet him there.  As the dwarf moved through the forest he came across a dead bounty hunter that looks like he had been killed by the missing member of the party.  In his nap sack there was a crumpled piece of paper with a image of the missing party member with a bounty for return of his dead body.  Can we say future story point?

So after some creative bending of the story I was able to get the whole party to the chapel and the party was back together as an adventure group, WHEW!

After some social interaction the group was able to get a party of healers with protectors to head to the entrenched village to give a helping hand.  The adventures were shown a group of injured villagers that were being looked after at the chapel. Amongst the injured was the merchant that disappeared during the trip to Hound-slick.  He was delirious and kept shouting that he needed to get to mother.  The players also found out that the wizard had stolen one of the priestesses, his ex lover, the night before.

The group were then off to the next village to see if they could find any information about the rouge wizard.

And this is where things got from bad to worse.

The idea for the village was that the whole place had been poisoned by mould being placed in the village well, the adults had been turned into the beast men that were attacking the other village.  All that was going to be left in the village was a resilient old man and the children who were running in small packs which would then attack the players at a given point.

Queue some fun scare tactics with the patter of small running feet, glimpses of small figures running from house to house and a really scary nursery rhyme being sung by small children’s voices drifting over the roofs.

So here was the first problem.  Two characters, the priestess and one of the elves, made a run for it to get help when the kids attacked.  They dashed to the horses and left the other two behind.  Balls!

The other two were helped by the old man and barricade themselves into a house to defend themselves from the attack that was about to happen.  The children attacked the house and one character dealt with the group of children that broke in upstairs while the other looked after the old man downstairs.  After the attack was over the old man told the adventures about a comet that had fallen one night, how the wizard had been convinced that he could win back the heart of the one he loved with the meteor and then the old man with a final gasp expired.

In the morning while the children slept the elf had a look around the wizards house to see if there were any clues about what was going on and came across a journal.  The journal started out with love poems to the lover he had left behind and then turned into delirious rants about a figure called Mother.  While he was doing this the Dwarf went to look for the comet in the general direction that the old man had pointed… Oh for F&%$ sake.

So not only have I got three different groups to content with this week I also have to contend with the possibility that my brain will leak out my nose before the end of the session.  Oh well, guess what? I think I am going to have some fun this week and see if I can make it really gritty.  Watch out people, the shit is about to hit the fan.

Last night gaming went a lot better but due to work encroaching on gaming time and with a player absent we only had time for one encounter before we had to pack up. So as you can already tell this is going to be a quick post.

Combat was greatly improved this time round after last sessions muck up.  Combat felt more fluid and the characters were not the unstoppable force they had been.

I also used the group mechanics with great effect to produce 2 packs of wolfs with 6 creatures in each pack to give the players a bit of a work out.

Each wolf had wounds equal to its toughness (5) giving the pack a total of 30 wounds (5 wounds times 6 creatures).  Any wounds dealt to the pack standee are dealt to the group as a whole, when the amount of wounds pass the level of wounds equal to a wolf toughness one dies.  So the first one dies at 5 wounds the next at 10,15 ,20 and so on.

When the pack attacks only one creature rolls but the others assist giving an extra white dice for every creature assisting. So if a single wolf attacked the GM would role 2 blue dice + 2 green conservative dice + 1 black die for the bite power and 1 purple die for the players defence.  If the whole pack attacked you would also roll 5 white dice along with it giving a better chance that one of them they are going to chow down on the players.

In the end the combat was well balanced and we had fun.

I am so looking forward to the guys finding out what awaits them at the next village……………OOooh now that’s nasty!