first time Ars SG documents his first campaign

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

My group meets every two weeks, for about 5 hours. One of the players is relatively new to role playing, the other three have years of experience, but all of us are new to Ars Magica. Reading of some of the unique difficulties of introducing players to Ars Magica, I decided to structure the campaign by starting small, building one piece at a time.

In the first session, I described the setting and rules. Then I solicited the players opinions on various story and campaign options (high or low fantasy, hack and slash or politics and intrigue, is magicc sinful, is the church basically good or evil, etc). Perhaps not surprisingly, most of them expressed an interest in a covenant in a magical regio, a high fantasy game where they could develop power in isolation, without mundane consequences or fear of running afoul of the hermetic code. This was a bit disapointing to the player who has done the most reading, as he was interested in playing a gurnecius quasitor, and to me, as I've read a lot of forum entries cautioning against giving new players a spring covenant in an isolated locale. I think their desires had something to do with my discussing the code at length in introducing the setting, particularly interfering with mundanes, without really discussing what interraction is acceptable. Finally, they were given a brief generic background description (mercenaries involved in a reconquest seige in Iberia) and created their first grogs.

2

In the second session, I described in story form their role in the six month seige. Based on the characters they created, I decided they were not part of the main beseiging force, and instead had been hunters, foragers, and procurers of supplies for the army, as well as guarding the baggage train. When the seige broke and the town was sacked terrible things were done to the inhabitants - the failure of the army to observe the truce of God, and other offenses, had caused the dominion aura to be lifted and the infernal to creep in. Disgusted, the grogs turn away from the slaughter...and meet a mysterious man wearing a scarlet cap. Fortunately, one of the grogs has the covenant upbringing virtue and recognizes the redcap for what he is. He offers the mercenaries employment guarding a group of scholars and philosophers who reside in a remote mountin valley on the far side of the pyranees.

They accepted the offer and were told to travel to a village near the coast of the bay of biscany, where he would meet them again and escort them to the covenant. 3 days of travel through the northern spanish countryside were narrated, allowing me to establish the setting a bit, reminding the players that this is "the real world," not a typical fantasy setting - there is not a tavern and inn in every village.

3

Finally, they arrive in the village, and while waiting for the redcap, are drawn into "the Revenge of the Raiders" scenario from ToME - SPOILERS FOLLOW. I built on the idea that one of the children is gifted. The redcap wants the kid for a magi in his home covenant, but doesn't want to upset them by simply abducting him. So he agreed to help the defending fey by locating heros who can defend the village. This will make the villagers grateful to the grogs, and willing to do whatever they (or their new friend) wants, but since the grogs aren't technically in his or the covenants employ yet, he hopes to avoid charges of molesting the fey.

Given that they have no companions or magi, I'll be scaling back the threat a bit and scaling up the villagers, and perhaps making a convenient relic or magic item available, but the intention here is to teach them the basic combat, group combat, and mass combat rules (as per LoM) as the vikings attack in three increasingly powerful waves over three nights.

4

Sounds like fun - I'll be looking forward to your posts about what happens :slight_smile:

5

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing! I'm looking forward to the rest.

6

Raiders scenario without magi needs to be tonned down, yup. Great for teaching combat for sure! A single ship should be enough to cause plenty of problems for them.

If things are going badly you can always arrange for a pair of magi to arrive with a few grogs from the covenant.

I would give them bonuses if they pray in the church before the battle. They are battling "heathens" to protect the weak, after all. Remember to set up traps like spiked holes and the like! Night battles are great to get good results there

Looking forward to read your report! :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Xavi

7

Thanks for the responses and suggestions. I'm writing this on my phone, currently my only internet connection so my apologies for typos and such.

In my version of tRotR, the real vikings struck in 820 - this is about 25 years before historical for the Bay of Biscany, but my players have already told me they don't care that much about historical accuracy. Hence the village is called St Sebastian, although the real town is much larger and placed in a different location. Many villagers were killed, but they rallied around the defense of the town church, where a miracle occured - St. Sebastian, a patron of soldiers who himself survived a hail of arrows used in an attempt to kill him (per catholic book of saints), protected the defenders from the vikings' javelins, allowing them to eventually route the attackers. The bodies of the vikings were buried across the river in the woods.

Stories about the horrific attacks and the miraculous salvation became central to village lore. although the legend did not spread far, it did attract a group of malicious fey. 100 years later, the fey-viking-ghosts struck. The slaughter was nearly complete. Those who hid in the church were protected by the bell-ward, but the vikings razed the village, fields, and food stores. Afterwards, the survivors slowly rebuilt the village.

By 1020, another group of fey had taken an interest in the legend. Horrified by the senseless destruction of the village, they resolved to tell a more heroic tale. They spirited away a promising young villager, trained him in the arts of war, sent him off on the reconquest, and arranged for him to return to the village, with a magic sword captured from the moors, at the correct time. He believed the legend of the last attack, and sucessfully predicted the date of the next cycle by analyzing the tombstones in the church graveyard. Defenses were prepared, women and children were hidden in the church, and the village was sucesfully defended. The knight was amongst the casualties, and was buried with his sword on the church grounds.

In 1120, having "won" the contest, the heroic fey had control of the story, but it was the evil fey who could attempt to interfere and wrest control. They spread the view that the ghosts had been utterly defeated 100 years ago, if indeed such a ghost story was to be believed at all. When the ghosts returned, the villagers fled in a mass panic, and most were cut down - the village was razed completely, except the stone church and mill, and abandoned. The evil fey had regained control of the story.

In 1180, the land was granted by the holding noble to the church. The village was rebuilt, the church re-consecrated. New villagers were settled, all young couples, giving the village an unusually uniform feel. The heroic fey decided on a two-pronged strategy. They caused the children of the drowned to be born, children with fey blood who could have visions warning of the return of the raiders. They also recruited/were recruited by an outsider to locate heroes who could lead the defense of the village.

So far, the pc's have noted that the village has no elders and little social-economic differentiation. They have been told that some of the village children are unusual. They've heard a "ghost story" that several children claim to have drempt variations of, and one of the players had a vision of bloodthirsty anger and nausea when the churchbells were rung.

Tomorrow they plan to talk to the priest. I'm making him more prominent in the story. He doesn't believe the ghost story, instead thinking that the village died out due to war, plague, or some other, more common cause. He's an intellectual who thinks the best way to combat catharism, heresy, and superstition is education, so he earnestly provides a free parish school to all the village children, even if some of them are "deformed" and difficult to manage (particularly the gifted one.)

Beyond this meeting, they have a few avenues of investigation and possible means of deliverence. The relic of St Sebastian and/or the knight's sword could turn the tide of the battle. The children could give hints of what's to come. The church graveyard, or the burial mound of the vikings, could give clues about the past.

The biggest problem that i see right now is that, if they are expecting ghosts, they won't have prepared all the mundane traps that the adventure suggests and will get slaughtered, or just run and hide because they don't know how to "kill" a ghost.

This is why I'm planning for the attack to come in 3 waves over 3 nights. The first night, they will see a red tide travelling upstream at sunset, a portent of what's to come. A small viking craft, with 10 warriors, will appear, skirmish, and retreat - a chance to use the basic combat rules. In the light of day, defenses can be prepared and the villagers organized into a fighting force. The second night, the same number will appear, but engage fully - a chance to use the group combat rules and morale rules from LoM. The third night, two small boats (10 each) and the leader's craft (25) will appear. That engagement will be handled using the mass combat rules from LoM, so it shouldn't be too deadly. But these are only grogs, so I am ok with up to 50% dead by the end of the third night. If things are going too easy for them, I'll definately throw more ships into the fray.

8

Well, your writing skills on a phone are greater than mine on a regular keyboard!! :smiley:

Nice rewrite of the background!

I would say that 45 warriors on the third night would be waaaay more than a challenge. If they are taking the brunt of the fighting they are likely to be 100% dead by the end of the story. If you want to reward their acts you can say that the mortal wounds were glamour and after a few hours they recover consciousness. beaten but not slaughtered.

An option for them NOT to expect ghosts but real people could be the vikings attacking a fishing smack or a nearby hamlet before to gather intel. The villagers might hurt some of them and a guy can come to San Sebastian to warn the others since the vikings said they would raid the larger village the next day to find more loot. Or something like that.

A cool relic could be one of the arrows that stuck San Sebastian. This would fly unerringly and strike dead the leader of the warband when shot buy someone putting some effort and faith into it. The sword (fae origin) can be cool as well, but desecrating a tomb is not very christian so the (extremely cool, BTW; companion material!) priest might oppose it until he sees the heathens coming to beat the crap out of his flock.

Cheers,
Xavi

9

I understand that 45 might seem excessive, and perhaps it is. But here's my plan:

There are 2 factions in the village; those who believe the ghost story, led by the eldest of the children of the drowned (who holds a role, whatever the equvalent of a reeve would be in an ecclesiastical village) and those who believe the priest, who preaches that ghosts don't exist, and even if they did, they'd be powerless against pious christians, so the best thing to do is put faith in God, not superstition.

So one role for the players is to take the side of the village leader without alienating the priest.

I like your idea of any outlying village being raided first, and might use it. My idea (frankly, my idea now, generated by this conversation), is that during the day, if they actively investigate, this will be their reward, if not, they'll be less prepared. If so, the first night, the 10 raiders will jump out of the beached boat one and two at a time. If there is no prepared defense, they will attack the first few houses they come to, kill the men and children, carry off the women, and as the alarm is raised and the villagers and PC's begin to respond, they will beat a fighting retreat to their ship and depart.

Morning, as bodies are buried and wounds are tended, will reveal that the eldest child of the drowned has been training about 20 able-bodied men in the woods. They aren't a "trained group," but they can fight with pitchforks and throw javelins.

That day should be a power struggle between the priest and the "child" with the pc's in the middle. Hopefully they will convince the priest to bless the troops, and not to oppose the opening of the hero's tomb - a wise person might suggest that, for the arrow that was lodged in St sebastian's body to have been retrieved, someone had to desecrate his corpse.

So in the second fight, each of the 4 PC's will have up to 5 men under him. The PC's will have better than 2:1 numerical strength, but their allies are of course well armed and armored than the vikings. They may have the blessing of a saint (making the church-bell ward more painful and distracting to the vikings) and a magic sword too (the intention is to keep the exact powers of the sword vague, but they are able to make it flame, which can then shatter the ice-bone axes of the vikings).

They should win this fight handily. If they are pious and thankful to st sebastian in the morning, they will get an additional boon, perhaps a mass healing; if not, they will lose his blessing and the church-bells will have no effect the third night.

Now, as for the climactic third night's battle. With several PC's possibly wounded and several of the villager's best warriors possibly dead, how do I not expect to kill all the pc's on the third night? They should have plenty of knowledge of the raider's tactics, as they will intensify, but not really change over the nights.

I will not fight this one as a melee, but as a battle. The vikings have the strength of numbers and equipment advantages, but the pc's should have the terrain/deployment advantage and bonuses from the magnitude of the relic and sword. I will run each of them through a battlefield vignette. If things go badly up till then, culminating in last stand before the church. In at least one of these, the relic can save the day if needed. I was planning on the priest parading the relic and giving everyone immunity to ranged weapons for that scene of the battle, but I like your idea of him giving it to a pc, who fires it at the leader, not the war chief but the mysterious robed one, commanding the battle from the safety of his ship, killing him and disordering the remaining vikings, who can then be routed by a rallied village force in the climax, if things have gone well for the pc's. But the point is, by doing the "series of battle vignettes" approach of the battle rules in LoM, and narrating the moments between, I think I can avoid killing ALL the pc's.

10

But this is my first Ars campaign, so the feedback about lethality and other topics is appreciated.

This weekend is an off week, I'm short a player, so I was planning on running a prequel set during the siege. I'm thinking of modifying "the hospitalier's due" from ToME. (SPOILERS) My idea is that the venetian owed the hospitaliers a debt. The beseigers are expecting a shipment of two trebuchets. The venetian lies and says they are intended for the moors. He connives with the most craven of the hospitaliers, allowing the trebuchets to be stolen by the hospitaliers, who rough up the teamsters sent by the army to retrieve the goods during the transfer from Enrico's warehouse. The enraged commander sends an armed force to retrive his property, which is rebuffed with some losses. He decides to send a small group (the pc's) to investigate the merchant and get him to make good on the loss, and/or infiltrate the hospital and retrieve the trebuchets.

Ideas, suggestions, etc? They need to be able to resolve things in a single 5hr session, preferably without loss of any pc's. This is early in the seige, so there is time to recover before the main story) and if anyone does die, they can assume that a similar replacement forager joined the army in the intervening months.

11

It's always good to hear about sagas, especially new ones, but I'm particularly enjoying this. Hope it all goes well.

12

Thanks! Writing it out here has helped me to develop things. Anyone have. suggestions for running the hospitalier's due, for a group of 3 grogs with limited religious knowlede and social skills? Also, the request being for "high fantasy overall," anyone have suggestions on how to add a fantasy element to this quite mundane story?

13

If memory serves... The Hospitallers have some stuff the PCs want back, right? I can't remember whether that text makes any assumptions about what that stuff is, but it doesn't have to be books or money; it could be vis that exudes strange magical effects, enchanted items that could be easily and accidentally triggered, or even throw in a jealous fairie or two who each want their own due.

14

scroll back up two entries, you'll see my summary of the adventure as modified. Note that the grogs, in this phase of the story, do not work for a covenant. They are mercenary foragers attached to an army involved in the reconquest of Iberia. So I'm hard pressed to make it magic stuff. Trebuchets made the most sense to me.

15

Aha! I see.

I think there's still room for magical "stuff" being involved. Magic comes in all sorts of shapes in Mythic Europe, so you could still have spell-like vis, some sort of vis enchantment, objects of virtue, etc. and none of them necessarily need a magus involved. There are all sorts of charms and trinkets that grant virtues or counter-act flaws. Things to do with Puissant Leadership (always handy for massed combat and siege), or salves of perfect healing from the far-off Holy Land, perhaps, or three stones that each have the power to destroy a castle wall, perhaps. Those might not be too overtly magical, but they could heavily influence the course of the siege.

16

I finally noticed your tag line - it just occured to me that I'm communicating with THE Mark Lawford. May I say sir, that Lords of Men has been my favorite AM publication so far. The advanced combat options are a great expansion without bogging down the game; the interference chapter is invaluable in exploring the relationship between the order and mundane elites. While my players are clamoring for high fantasy, the fiefs, peasantry, politics, and titles chapters are really helping to ensure that the fantasy is grounded in a realistic, coherent medieval world - I drew on the peasantry chapter when narrating their journey across the countryside and arrival at the village in RotR, and was particularly thankful for the description of the Iberian system of titles. The mews and stables rules will come in handy when we finally get to the covenant (more on that later).

Finally and most importantly, the massed combat rules. I've been playing fantasy rpgs for 25 years; I've seen countless systems struggle with mass combat, failing to varrying degrees. This was the first time I've seen a system that works! It allows for the players to significantly contribute to the outcome, be involved in strategy, tactics, and individual heroics, maintains a narrative feel, and doesn't force playing out the entire battle or reduce the outcome to a few die rolls. Some things are a bit loosly defined, but by integrating combat groups, morale, and (most lacking) fleshing out the effect of success/failure of the three (or more) battlefield events, nearly any medieval conflict could be played out. I can't wait to use these rules in RotR!

Now that I've gotten my gushing fan adoration out of the way, to the topic at hand. This is a "prequel" vignette, to a story that opened with events similar to the fall of Constaninople (dominion aura absent in crusader camp and town, treachery from within helps the beseigers, streets run red with the blood of moors, jews, cathars, and catholics as the invaders run amok). This was primarily to give the pc's a reason to want to travel away from the beseiged town rather than share in the spoils, thus to accept the redcap's employment offer, and to stick with this new contract when the going gets tough in RotR.

But we can't move forward with RotR this week, as we're absent a key player, the knight who can get an audiance with the village priest and gain the respect of the pro-believe-the-ghosts-are-coming faction. He's a lecherous drunk of a knight, with a title, sword, and, horse, but no lands, and he's been released from his lord's mesnie, where he was a bacheler knight, ostensibly so he could fufil crusader vows, but really to avoid the scandal of leaving due to lack of sufficient support, or being kicked out for his bad habits (his region of origin, Gascony, uses the French system; again, thank you for LoM. Although I wondered, "failure to provide for a household voids his oath of fealty, allowing him to seek other employment" per page 30, but what about the lords response, or actions in anticipation? Can the granter of a noble title take it away as well?) So he's not the best candidate for "party ambasador," but given the alternatives, he's the best hope they've got.

The others are: an ex-slave axe-wielding mercenary slav who believes he's descended from vikings and mongols, an archer with a feral upbringing, and a skinchanging brawler (ahem, a "liger") with odd dress, "moorish" features (obstensibly a christian, actually heretically non-religious) and a covenant upbringing. For first time AM players, they managed to create an interesting group of grogs. Their instructions were to create free men who could fufil some role in an army laying a long seige. Based on what they gave me I decided that they had been attached to the baggage train, acting as guards and foragers, hunting, gathering, and strong-arming villagers to feed the crusaders.

So, unable to continue with RotR until all 4 players are together next week, I decided to give the 3 available folks an episode from their shared backstory of supporting the crusading army in the reconquest. Leafing through ToME for inspiration, I came upon tHD, and it seemed a good fit nearly as written.

An army in the field laying seige has a desperate need of supplies, and I had already narrated that the dastardly infidels had poisoned surrounding wells and burned fields before reteating to the safety of the walled town. So a major derailment risk of this adventure (that the group will simply write off the loss rather than risk offending the hospitaliers or the code) had already been removed. Even the simplest foodstuffs could be deemed irriplacable.

The next problem is -why would the hospitalier's take stuff from their fellow christian soldiers? I decided that the venetian Enrico owes a debt to the hospitaliers. At the same time, he received supplies bound for the reconquest army, but has not been paid, so he is loathe to release them. He can't simply give their supplies to the Hospitallers, as he doesn't want to lose future contracts, so he conspires with Brother Gilbert, the self-enriching and self-centered hospitaller.

Gilbert considers the reconquest a distracting side-show to the real fight in the Holy Land, jealous of the resources being diverted away from his faction. Enrico provides him with the location of the warehouse and arranges for his guards to be absent. Gilbert informs his brother-knights that the supplies are being smuggled to the moors. When the knights arrive, Enrico and company are arguing with the reconquest folks, who lack funds but still want their goods. The reconquerers drive off the guards, and in turn are beaten by the hospitallers, who take the goods. When word of this seizure reaches the reconquerers, a force is sent to the town to demand return of their goods. Iberian politics are complex, and Gilbert is able to convince his superiors that while they appear to be christians, they are allied with moors and not to be trusted or believed.

Enrico has paid his debt, Gilbert has impressed his superiors with his resourcefulness, and Fulk and Hermann are pleased to have new resources for the ongoing crusades in the holy land. The only unhappy party is the supply chief of the field army, who needs these supplies for his lord's own little crusade in Iberia.

The PC's are then assigned the task of recovering the goods, by any means necessary. Some of the scenario options (p84) are more likely than others. Visiting Enrico is most likely to result in simple quick resolution, if it occurs to them to look into him. Negotiation will likely fail - they don't have anyone the hospitallers would buy as a credible christian with pure motives. Stealth, of the mundane sort, might work, if the stuff is small enough, but might also get them killed. Blackmail probably won't come in, the play length is too short, and attack would be suicide.

Side note: in more generic fantasy settings, there is always a "town guard" that forms a police and defense force. Does anyone know what the situation was in a medieval town? What forces would they have, how would they be armed/equiped/dressed, would they actively patrol streets, what power would they have, etc? This isn't adressed in the adventure, and I don't have city and guild. The town has a bishop, mayor, and Lord, if that helps.

It doesn't really matter what the item is, its just a macgruffin, so I think you are right, that is a good place to insert a more fantastic element. I should mention that I will be using the outcome of this adventure to rationalize the seige outcome. If they succeed, that is what turned the tide. If they fail, that is why the seige took so long. If they meander and don't complete the adventure, the supplies simply arrived too late to be of any relevance.

Similarly, it would be excellent if the outcome of the PC's actions retroactively explains the infernal taint that crept into the beseiging army. It makes their victory bittersweet; I'm a cruel SG that way. Perhaps the item itself is infernal? Perhaps the PC's could be seduced into doing something sinful in town and carrying the taint back with them? Perhaps Enrico is really a demon, and he seduces the PC's by helping them steal back their stuff?

I liked your item ideas. This new system is still hard for me to work with when I get down to the fiddly bits of the 4 realms, translating all the options into a coherent final product can be daunting. Can anyone propose an item(s) that would fit this story? With rules description? I have access to the realms books. It would be great if the item could be something capable of eventually turning the tide of the seige, but not immediately. The storyline needs time for pc wound recovery if they get injured in this adventure.

17

I finally noticed your tag line - it just occured to me that I'm communicating with THE Mark Lawford. May I say sir, that Lords of Men has been my favorite AM publication so far. The advanced combat options are a great expansion without bogging down the game; the interference chapter is invaluable in exploring the relationship between the order and mundane elites. While my players are clamoring for high fantasy, the fiefs, peasantry, politics, and titles chapters are really helping to ensure that the fantasy is grounded in a realistic, coherent medieval world - I drew on the peasantry chapter when narrating their journey across the countryside and arrival at the village in RotR, and was particularly thankful for the description of the Iberian system of titles. The mews and stables rules will come in handy when we finally get to the covenant (more on that later).

Finally and most importantly, the massed combat rules. I've been playing fantasy rpgs for 25 years; I've seen countless systems struggle with mass combat, failing to varrying degrees. This was the first time I've seen a system that works! It allows for the players to significantly contribute to the outcome, be involved in strategy, tactics, and individual heroics, maintains a narrative feel, and doesn't force playing out the entire battle or reduce the outcome to a few die rolls. Some things are a bit loosly defined, but by integrating combat groups, morale, and (most lacking) fleshing out the effect of success/failure of the three (or more) battlefield events, nearly any medieval conflict could be played out. I can't wait to use these rules in RotR!

Now that I've gotten my gushing fan adoration out of the way, to the topic at hand. This is a "prequel" vignette, to a story that opened with events similar to the fall of Constaninople (dominion aura absent in crusader camp and town, treachery from within helps the beseigers, streets run red with the blood of moors, jews, cathars, and catholics as the invaders run amok). This was primarily to give the pc's a reason to want to travel away from the beseiged town rather than share in the spoils, thus to accept the redcap's employment offer, and to stick with this new contract when the going gets tough in RotR.

But we can't move forward with RotR this week, as we're absent a key player, the knight who can get an audiance with the village priest and gain the respect of the pro-believe-the-ghosts-are-coming faction. He's a lecherous drunk of a knight, with a title, sword, and, horse, but no lands, and he's been released from his lord's mesnie, where he was a bacheler knight, ostensibly so he could fufil crusader vows, but really to avoid the scandal of leaving due to lack of sufficient support, or being kicked out for his bad habits (his region of origin, Gascony, uses the French system; again, thank you for LoM. Although I wondered, "failure to provide for a household voids his oath of fealty, allowing him to seek other employment" per page 30, but what about the lords response, or actions in anticipation? Can the granter of a noble title take it away as well?) So he's not the best candidate for "party ambasador," but given the alternatives, he's the best hope they've got.

The others are: an ex-slave axe-wielding mercenary slav who believes he's descended from vikings and mongols, an archer with a feral upbringing, and a skinchanging brawler (ahem, a "liger") with odd dress, "moorish" features (obstensibly a christian, actually heretically non-religious) and a covenant upbringing. For first time AM players, they managed to create an interesting group of grogs. Their instructions were to create free men who could fufil some role in an army laying a long seige. Based on what they gave me I decided that they had been attached to the baggage train, acting as guards and foragers, hunting, gathering, and strong-arming villagers to feed the crusaders.

So, unable to continue with RotR until all 4 players are together next week, I decided to give the 3 available folks an episode from their shared backstory of supporting the crusading army in the reconquest. Leafing through ToME for inspiration, I came upon tHD, and it seemed a good fit nearly as written.

An army in the field laying seige has a desperate need of supplies, and I had already narrated that the dastardly infidels had poisoned surrounding wells and burned fields before reteating to the safety of the walled town. So a major derailment risk of this adventure (that the group will simply write off the loss rather than risk offending the hospitaliers or the code) had already been removed. Even the simplest foodstuffs could be deemed irriplacable.

The next problem is -why would the hospitalier's take stuff from their fellow christian soldiers? I decided that the venetian Enrico owes a debt to the hospitaliers. At the same time, he received supplies bound for the reconquest army, but has not been paid, so he is loathe to release them. He can't simply give their supplies to the Hospitallers, as he doesn't want to lose future contracts, so he conspires with Brother Gilbert, the self-enriching and self-centered hospitaller.

Gilbert considers the reconquest a distracting side-show to the real fight in the Holy Land, jealous of the resources being diverted away from his faction. Enrico provides him with the location of the warehouse and arranges for his guards to be absent. Gilbert informs his brother-knights that the supplies are being smuggled to the moors. When the knights arrive, Enrico and company are arguing with the reconquest folks, who lack funds but still want their goods. The reconquerers drive off the guards, and in turn are beaten by the hospitallers, who take the goods. When word of this seizure reaches the reconquerers, a force is sent to the town to demand return of their goods. Iberian politics are complex, and Gilbert is able to convince his superiors that while they appear to be christians, they are allied with moors and not to be trusted or believed.

Enrico has paid his debt, Gilbert has impressed his superiors with his resourcefulness, and Fulk and Hermann are pleased to have new resources for the ongoing crusades in the holy land. The only unhappy party is the supply chief of the field army, who needs these supplies for his lord's own little crusade in Iberia.

The PC's are then assigned the task of recovering the goods, by any means necessary. Some of the scenario options (p84) are more likely than others. Visiting Enrico is most likely to result in simple quick resolution, if it occurs to them to look into him. Negotiation will likely fail - they don't have anyone the hospitallers would buy as a credible christian with pure motives. Stealth, of the mundane sort, might work, if the stuff is small enough, but might also get them killed. Blackmail probably won't come in, the play length is too short, and attack would be suicide.

Side note: in more generic fantasy settings, there is always a "town guard" that forms a police and defense force. Does anyone know what the situation was in a medieval town? What forces would they have, how would they be armed/equiped/dressed, would they actively patrol streets, what power would they have, etc? This isn't adressed in the adventure, and I don't have city and guild. The town has a bishop, mayor, and Lord, if that helps.

It doesn't really matter what the item is, its just a macgruffin, so I think you are right, that is a good place to insert a more fantastic element. I should mention that I will be using the outcome of this adventure to rationalize the seige outcome. If they succeed, that is what turned the tide. If they fail, that is why the seige took so long. If they meander and don't complete the adventure, the supplies simply arrived too late to be of any relevance.

Similarly, it would be excellent if the outcome of the PC's actions retroactively explains the infernal taint that crept into the beseiging army. It makes their victory bittersweet; I'm a cruel SG that way. Perhaps the item itself is infernal? Perhaps the PC's could be seduced into doing something sinful in town and carrying the taint back with them? Perhaps Enrico is really a demon, and he seduces the PC's by helping them steal back their stuff?

I liked your item ideas. This new system is still hard for me to work with when I get down to the fiddly bits of the 4 realms, translating all the options into a coherent final product can be daunting. Can anyone propose an item(s) that would fit this story? With rules description? I have access to the realms books. It would be great if the item could be something capable of eventually turning the tide of the seige, but not immediately. The storyline needs time for pc wound recovery if they get injured in this adventure.

18

I finally noticed your tag line - it just occured to me that I'm communicating with THE Mark Lawford. May I say sir, that Lords of Men has been my favorite AM publication so far. The advanced combat options are a great expansion without bogging down the game; the interference chapter is invaluable in exploring the relationship between the order and mundane elites. While my players are clamoring for high fantasy, the fiefs, peasantry, politics, and titles chapters are really helping to ensure that the fantasy is grounded in a realistic, coherent medieval world - I drew on the peasantry chapter when narrating their journey across the countryside and arrival at the village in RotR, and was particularly thankful for the description of the Iberian system of titles. The mews and stables rules will come in handy when we finally get to the covenant (more on that later).

Finally and most importantly, the massed combat rules. I've been playing fantasy rpgs for 25 years; I've seen countless systems struggle with mass combat, failing to varrying degrees. This was the first time I've seen a system that works! It allows for the players to significantly contribute to the outcome, be involved in strategy, tactics, and individual heroics, maintains a narrative feel, and doesn't force playing out the entire battle or reduce the outcome to a few die rolls. Some things are a bit loosly defined, but by integrating combat groups, morale, and (most lacking) fleshing out the effect of success/failure of the three (or more) battlefield events, nearly any medieval conflict could be played out. I can't wait to use these rules in RotR!

Now that I've gotten my gushing fan adoration out of the way, to the topic at hand. This is a "prequel" vignette, to a story that opened with events similar to the fall of Constaninople (dominion aura absent in crusader camp and town, treachery from within helps the beseigers, streets run red with the blood of moors, jews, cathars, and catholics as the invaders run amok). This was primarily to give the pc's a reason to want to travel away from the beseiged town rather than share in the spoils, thus to accept the redcap's employment offer, and to stick with this new contract when the going gets tough in RotR.

But we can't move forward with RotR this week, as we're absent a key player, the knight who can get an audiance with the village priest and gain the respect of the pro-believe-the-ghosts-are-coming faction. He's a lecherous drunk of a knight, with a title, sword, and, horse, but no lands, and he's been released from his lord's mesnie, where he was a bacheler knight, ostensibly so he could fufil crusader vows, but really to avoid the scandal of leaving due to lack of sufficient support, or being kicked out for his bad habits (his region of origin, Gascony, uses the French system; again, thank you for LoM. Although I wondered, "failure to provide for a household voids his oath of fealty, allowing him to seek other employment" per page 30, but what about the lords response, or actions in anticipation? Can the granter of a noble title take it away as well?) So he's not the best candidate for "party ambasador," but given the alternatives, he's the best hope they've got.

The others are: an ex-slave axe-wielding mercenary slav who believes he's descended from vikings and mongols, an archer with a feral upbringing, and a skinchanging brawler (ahem, a "liger") with odd dress, "moorish" features (obstensibly a christian, actually heretically non-religious) and a covenant upbringing. For first time AM players, they managed to create an interesting group of grogs. Their instructions were to create free men who could fufil some role in an army laying a long seige. Based on what they gave me I decided that they had been attached to the baggage train, acting as guards and foragers, hunting, gathering, and strong-arming villagers to feed the crusaders.

So, unable to continue with RotR until all 4 players are together next week, I decided to give the 3 available folks an episode from their shared backstory of supporting the crusading army in the reconquest. Leafing through ToME for inspiration, I came upon tHD, and it seemed a good fit nearly as written.

An army in the field laying seige has a desperate need of supplies, and I had already narrated that the dastardly infidels had poisoned surrounding wells and burned fields before reteating to the safety of the walled town. So a major derailment risk of this adventure (that the group will simply write off the loss rather than risk offending the hospitaliers or the code) had already been removed. Even the simplest foodstuffs could be deemed irriplacable.

The next problem is -why would the hospitalier's take stuff from their fellow christian soldiers? I decided that the venetian Enrico owes a debt to the hospitaliers. At the same time, he received supplies bound for the reconquest army, but has not been paid, so he is loathe to release them. He can't simply give their supplies to the Hospitallers, as he doesn't want to lose future contracts, so he conspires with Brother Gilbert, the self-enriching and self-centered hospitaller.

Gilbert considers the reconquest a distracting side-show to the real fight in the Holy Land, jealous of the resources being diverted away from his faction. Enrico provides him with the location of the warehouse and arranges for his guards to be absent. Gilbert informs his brother-knights that the supplies are being smuggled to the moors. When the knights arrive, Enrico and company are arguing with the reconquest folks, who lack funds but still want their goods. The reconquerers drive off the guards, and in turn are beaten by the hospitallers, who take the goods. When word of this seizure reaches the reconquerers, a force is sent to the town to demand return of their goods. Iberian politics are complex, and Gilbert is able to convince his superiors that while they appear to be christians, they are allied with moors and not to be trusted or believed.

Enrico has paid his debt, Gilbert has impressed his superiors with his resourcefulness, and Fulk and Hermann are pleased to have new resources for the ongoing crusades in the holy land. The only unhappy party is the supply chief of the field army, who needs these supplies for his lord's own little crusade in Iberia.

The PC's are then assigned the task of recovering the goods, by any means necessary. Some of the scenario options (p84) are more likely than others. Visiting Enrico is most likely to result in simple quick resolution, if it occurs to them to look into him. Negotiation will likely fail - they don't have anyone the hospitallers would buy as a credible christian with pure motives. Stealth, of the mundane sort, might work, if the stuff is small enough, but might also get them killed. Blackmail probably won't come in, the play length is too short, and attack would be suicide.

Side note: in more generic fantasy settings, there is always a "town guard" that forms a police and defense force. Does anyone know what the situation was in a medieval town? What forces would they have, how would they be armed/equiped/dressed, would they actively patrol streets, what power would they have, etc? This isn't adressed in the adventure, and I don't have city and guild. The town has a bishop, mayor, and Lord, if that helps.

It doesn't really matter what the item is, its just a macgruffin, so I think you are right, that is a good place to insert a more fantastic element. I should mention that I will be using the outcome of this adventure to rationalize the seige outcome. If they succeed, that is what turned the tide. If they fail, that is why the seige took so long. If they meander and don't complete the adventure, the supplies simply arrived too late to be of any relevance.

Similarly, it would be excellent if the outcome of the PC's actions retroactively explains the infernal taint that crept into the beseiging army. It makes their victory bittersweet; I'm a cruel SG that way. Perhaps the item itself is infernal? Perhaps the PC's could be seduced into doing something sinful in town and carrying the taint back with them? Perhaps Enrico is really a demon, and he seduces the PC's by helping them steal back their stuff?

I liked your item ideas. This new system is still hard for me to work with when I get down to the fiddly bits of the 4 realms, translating all the options into a coherent final product can be daunting. Can anyone propose an item(s) that would fit this story? With rules description? I have access to the realms books. It would be great if the item could be something capable of eventually turning the tide of the seige, but not immediately. The storyline needs time for pc wound recovery if they get injured in this adventure.

19

Things vary by region but you can assume that in large towns and cities there was a town guard. In smaller ones the town guard are soldiers of the local noble. The town guard will stop crimes being committed, but will not investigate a murder unless it is a murder of a notable. They have (nor plan to have) no detectives like the current police forces. Their numbers will not be very large. The local nobility will have their own personal guard (think Romeo and Juliet, even if it is 3 centuries later) but none of these will be as significant as the military assets of the Hospitalliers in town.

In Iberia you have the particularity that towns rapidly developed their own city militias. They had their fueros (charters) that made them a source of manpower for the conquest of Muslim iberia. they can be more motivated or less motivated, but most towns that deserve such a name will have a militia of spearmen and crossbowmen. the castillian towns were famous for being LESS than motivated, which created the sentence "at good time, green sleeves" (a buenas horas, mangas verdes) in Spanish to represent when you are late, since they tended to arrive when the battle was already decided :laughing:

For the item I would make it a barrel of a gray looking powder. When mixed with beer (the beer consignment might be in the hands of the hospitallier as as well if you want) it makes the people drinking it earn the Major Immunity to Iron for Moon duration, making them impervious to most weapons. that would ensure that a full assault on the walls has a high likelihood of success. However, it has the side effect of making you also be extremely sadistic, lecherous, irreverent or a similar sinful behavior until there are no virgins alive in a (say) 1 mile radius of you.

Obviously that is an infernal item with a psychomachia effect embedded with the gift. An effect that makes everybody develop a propensity to turn a captured city into hell on earth. It will be sold as an alchemical powder to the crusaders.

If you find the "until" effect too unpallatable (one of our troupe members does not like us running infernal stories for that kind of stuff) make the effect last 3 days straight giving the personality trait of "likes to loot +5" to all the drinkers.

The item can also be faerie, since it has a high level of human interaction, and faeries in 5th edition feed on human emotions and the like, the stronger the better. Not all faerie are happy tree huggers, but there are faeries of mass murder. I always suspected that Jack the ripper is really a faerie yearning for media attention and fear.

I prefer Enrico being a simple faulty human. He is less of a caricature than most characters that usually creep in RPGs. :slight_smile:

If you do not want to make the effect immediate, make the preparations for the grand assault not be ready. the last assault went really badly, so the current morale is low and the troops need to be stimulated before the new assault is launched. The noble plans to make a celebration and launch the assault in the next morning. he has been told that the gray powder will make his soldiers more agrerssive and less likely to suffer damage from the enemy weapons. He did get his sword opf alchemical steel from the same source and he has been feeling confident that he can purge the place from the presence of the infidels ever since (cursed item anyone?). he has become more militant and agressive towards his moorish neighbours. This place he is besieging is just the last one.

Hope that fits the bill :9

Cheers,
Xavi

20

Brilliant ideas! Thanks! I'd quote details, but just typing is hard enough. The interface isn't very phone-friendly.

The barrel will have to be a small barrel, so they have some hope of sneaking it out if they, say, pretend to be sick to get into the priory.

I like the idea though, definately using it. And yes, even with immunity to iron, they'd still need tgrebuchets to batter the walls, mining, materials for seige towers, time to construct them, etc. All that could easily take months. A three-day effect would make sense, one of the shocking acts was that the raping and pillaging of the city continued into Sunday, the thrid day. But I think the "until" duration idea is perfect; the lecherous knight's reaction (played by a female pc) was "at this point, there's just no sport in it."

And it works with my sick sense of humor. The PC's are responsible for bringing back the source of the army's downfall; two armies of god squabbling over an infernal item is wicked.
That's if they succeed in bringing it back. If not, perhaps the powder was sacred; something like ashes from palm Sunday of a notable cathedral. The soldiers were to have been anointed with it, protecting them from iron. Without it, the seige grinds on for months, and it is the lack of food and water that drives the army into the arms of the infernal?