Wednesday 1 April 2020

The Alchemical Factory

This tale picks up "The Dark Conspiracy" campaign from where it left off here.... The Quest Finale

After leaving Beska and his companions at the entrance to Maeldoraz's burial place, the court mage Nicodemus had travelled northwards to Kislev, "the land of the ice queen", on the next part of his mission. Unfortunately, when he arrived at the provincial town of Gerslev in the Southern Oblast, he was totally unaware of what fate had befallen the party of adventurers.

Nicodemus spoke to Shanaera Elaralei, head of The Order Of The Temple Of Our Lady Myrmidia, explaining that he had been made aware that cultist's serving the cause of Maeldoraz had gathered in number somewhere near Praag. He needed her to take a body of Templars and track down these servants of evil, and put a stop to whatever activities they were up to. (Which he was convinced were part of a larger, sinister scheme)
He himself had further pressing business to attend to in Couronne, but she should send news of her mission to Altdorf, where he would be returning at the earliest opportunity.


Shanaera bade her old friend farewell and immediately summoned her sergeant, Lena Duchannes, to assemble the other sisters and prepare to set off for the Eastern Oblast with blade maidens Gielda and Kyrene scouting ahead.
After several days travel, the main body of eight Templars reunited with the scouts, who had learned that the cultists had last been sighted at an old alchemical works on the outskirts of Volksgard, less than a day's march away.
The battle sisters arrived that same evening and approached their target cautiously.
After forcing an entry, the warband began searching through the works without finding anything but broken furniture and scattered papers. Then just as they entered a room filled with old potion bottles, an explosion rocked the whole factory, destroying walls and taking down what remained of the roof. (left to right) Cambric, Shanaera, Carbonel and Berta found themselves dropped through the collapsing floor of the room into a cellar complex.
Hundreds of potion bottles had shattered and spilled their contents across the floor, and a cloud of dust restricted their vision (16 inches). Separated from the rest of the warband, and with no way of climbing back up, the four servants of Myrmidia must find a way out of the cellars and reunite with their companions. Unfortunately, some of the randomly mixed potions caused by the mysterious explosion had also spawned something - something that now needed to feed.
The initial board se-up with the "Alchemical Monstrosity" out of 'line of sight' close to the centre, and four treasure tokens. A rat hole in the middle of the opposite wall to the party, and two doors in the corners - only one of which will provide a way out. 
The sisters advance looking for a way out and hear something large scuttling in the dust laden gloom not far away.
Each turn starts with a D20 initiative roll. The party 'loses' initiative on a 1 - 7 and two things happen. A giant rat swarm emerges from the hole, and any 'monsters' act first. 
The party won initiative on turn one and moved forwards. The Monstrosity couldn't see the party so moved randomly towards one of the doors - which turned out to be the same one that the party were heading towards!
Aware that they are not alone they split into pairs, Shanaera and Berta heading towards the middle of the cellar,
 while Cambric and Carbonel picked their way along the right hand wall.
With the party still out of sight the Monstrosity dices again for which door it heads for, and now sets off for the opposite corner. 
Distracted by the glint of something valuable, both groups detour and pause briefly to pick up two items of treasure, 
 
while the loud scuttling can be heard moving away from them.
Suddenly a pack of rats as big as cats appeared from a hole in the wall, (The party had 'lost' the initiative roll.)
 but for now, the Monstrosity remained in the far corner. (It is still has no line of site to any of the party, and its random move was again for this door, so it remained in position)
Shanaera stepped forward and cast an Elemental Bolt at the rats, destroying them but weakening herself in the process.
She is a Thaumaturgist and the Elementalist spell suffers -2 on its casting roll, which she failed by 4. A wizard can choose to expend health points to 'boost' the casting roll before calculating damage. In this instance, Shanaera lost 4 points of health to make sure the spell worked, and she killed the rats.
At this point Cambric had reached the door and found that it opened onto a stairway, but whether it saw Shanaera and Berta advance, heard the dying shrieks of the rats, or Cambric's shout - the Monstrosity was advancing!
Giving up on any thoughts of taking further treasure, Shanaera and Berta ran for the open door, Carbonel and Cambric saw them and took it as their cue to exit the room ahead of them, securing the stairs leading back up to the ground floor. The monstrosity continued to give chase,
and at that moment more rats appeared from the hole in the wall (The party lost the initiative roll!) and the tentacled beast attacked Berta, causing horrific wounds! (7 points of damage, reducing her to just 3 health)
Berta was badly injured and unable to retreat from the melee. Shanaera turned, determined to save her companion, and not knowing what strengths or weaknesses this strange creature might possess, she cast a "Push" spell (a low target number spell so it had a high chance of success) on the foul beast.
The monster was pushed directly backwards out of the fight and the wizard and her swordmaiden fled, slamming the door closed behind them. The party won the initiative roll and took to their heels!

Pausing on the stairs to catch their breath, the party examined the treasure they'd picked up before setting off to try find the rest of the warband.
Rolls on the treasure table : 3 potion (cordial of clear sight, poison and elemental absorption*),
a bag containing 25 gold crowns and a potion bottle of construct oil.
Experience points from the encounter - 30xp for the wizard exiting the door, 5xp for killing a rat swarm, 50xp for exiting with two treasure tokens = 85xp.

I have to say, I REALLY liked this introductory run through of the Frostgrave system, and the fact that I can weave the existing Olde World campaign around it so easily is a bonus.
The rules are simple but not simplistic - never seeming to "get in the way" of enjoying the game, and you can't ask for more than that!

I apologise  for the blurry photo's that intersperse the lucky 'almost in focus' ones that I managed to get - this is what happens when you're so wrapped up in the action that you lose concentration regarding the warzone correspondent phase!

If you've spotted anything I've done wrong as a newcomer to these rules, please don't shout at me, but feel free to leave a (quiet) corrective suggestion along with any general comments or questions you might have.
* Oh, and can anyone tell me why the B turns into a P when absorb becomes absorption??

Thanks for reading, stay safe and..........

24 comments:

  1. Wonderful stuff Greg & glad you've enjoyed using Frostgrave rules, as for your question I sorry I can't help B's & P's were never my strongest point :)

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    1. Thanks Frank, I need to get a few more games under my belt to get more of a feel for them, but from first impressions these could easily become my "go to" fantasy skirmish rules :-)
      I find it amusing that common words can just look 'wrong' when I type them and make me question the validity of my English O level 8-)

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  2. Top job stitching all the different rules, settings and miniatures together. Just re-read/read the trio of posts and it all comes together so well its giving me food for thought.

    Nice use of Frostgrave and how you presented it in this episode. I have played it twice, against a human opponent - and found it too open to exploitation of certain magic spells stealing treasure from under my nose - but I reckon I will give the rules another go, but solo and with more emphasis on a scenario.

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    1. Cheers Roy. I started wargaming back in the 70's, when some people made wargame figures and some (occasionally the same people), wrote rules to play wargames with. "Closed systems" where specific figures HAD to use specific rules (or vice versa) is a concept I've never subscribed to and I've always been happy to mix and match in the pursuit of an enjoyable game, so it's quite natural for me to run a campaign set in the Warhammer Old World, using D&D for the adventures, Dragon Rampant for the battles, and giving Frostgrave a go for the skirmishes :-)

      I heartily recommend trying Frostgrave solo or co-op, and tweak it as much as you like - eg, ditch the spellcasters and treasure tokens and it's a solid skirmish game, or drop the apprentice and choose the remainder of a "party" from the soldier types (thief barbarian ranger)and throw them into dungeon delve.
      It really is a flexible system :-)

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    2. Greg, I've lost all the emails I used to have for fellow bloggers so can only tell you I've started a new blog via your comments.

      I've just posts a 4AD report - though its a bit wordy and features no photos of painted figures yet. Here's a blog address if you're interested.

      https://theblogtillideleteit.blogspot.com/

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    3. Cheers Roy, I'll be following :-)
      I don't seem to have your email either, so we'll have to sort out a secure exchange.

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  3. Great first adventure using your frostgrave rules Greg, and lucky escape at the end.
    As for B's & P's would be down to the fact that English is an amalgamation of multiple languages over time which changes the emphasis and pronunciation of letters. You should here people trying to pronounce Celtic words and names using phonetics ! LOL

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    1. It was a joy to play Dave - a simple (but not simplistic) system, and I'm looking forward to playing some more games :-)
      You're absolutely right about our language being a patchwork quilt of evolved influences, but I'll leave the Celtic phonetics ta, I have enough on my plate listening to my wife trying to pronounce English - she's from Yorkshire :-)

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  4. This solo adventure seems to have worked a lot better than the multi-player adversial games I've read (they all seem contrived to me). It seemed to roll along at a good pace too.
    All your rapid prep for this game worked well and I'm not one to comment upon blurry photos, given my record. (it looked great to me)

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    1. Thanks Joe, and I have to admit that I would never have bought into Frostgrave to play the kind of games for which it was intended. We must have read the same game reports :-)
      Ah, but you didn't see the pile of photo's that ended up on the digital version of the cutting room floor :-) Perhaps it was the pace of the game that caused 'camera shake' - I'm sure I had the same settings and lighting as usual, but I'll be conscious of it for the next game.

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  5. Even prior to getting hold of a copy of Frostgrave, I did feel that these rules had a feel of the Olde World. And Roger and I did each put together a warband for this game, which was more of a painting challenge, as I didn't have a copy of the rules. What this means is that I do have a wizard, apprentice and various soldiers already painted up. Not sure what critters I have available, which might prove a bit of a stumbling block to doing the same, but your post does provide inspiration for members of the GSI (Gamers Self-Isolating).

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    1. You can use whatever critters you've got Jez, just use the stats from the nearest thing in the Bestiary section (and tweak it if you so wish). There's also loads of 'monsters' to add from other modules, online groups, and the authors blog.
      The stat lines are very straight forward, and writing up your own monsters would be pretty easy too :-)

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  6. Fabulous! I had a look at Frostgrave when a couple of my friends started to get into it, but by the time I got myself sorted out they had moved on to the next thing. Somewhere I even started a list, I wonder where that went?

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    1. Many thanks Sir M. I was put off by all the initial hype, which portrayed the game as a competitive "race to grab the loot and scarper", beer & pretzels affair. Don't get me wrong, it looked fun for those into that kind of thing.
      I'm happy to have been proved wrong, and looking forward to see just how far I can manipulate the system for some narrative gaming :-)

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  7. Hi Greg it's interesting what turns people off and on with a rule set and the game concept. I played 2 initial games using the grab the loot and scarper concept, something I dislike, but it was a bit of fun because we'd had a long day with a more serious game as well as a beer or two. However if you ignore the artificiality of treasure just lying around to be picked up by some wandering loon and that you are required to build a points based gang but put some thought into the scenario I totally agree with you thay are a solid set of rules. It's just the setting that I find a bit naff.
    They certainly seem to have given you a good game, and running away is a sound tactic ;) especially if you can run fast.

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    1. It's certainly a matter of personal taste John, which is why the oft asked question across forums and social media "Can you recommend the best rules for (whatever period)" is pretty pointless (and not to mention, LAZY).

      As you know, I'm running through a solo D&D campaign st the moment, and all I'm really looking for is an 'off the peg' system that will make the combat more fun to play on the table. "Thawbarrow" might be the answer, but there's a couple of other systems I've got earmarked for the job to try out yet - and it seems I'll have plenty of time to do that :-)
      Oh, it doesn't matter HOW fast you can run if the other feller has the initiative ;-)

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    2. When we play Frostgrave, we often make the "treasure" other useful things instead.. such as supplies for the local village, valuable/necessary spell components, scattered parts of a machine (cast aside by goblins who raided the local community), the missing parts would mean the local community can reopen their mill once again and feed it`s inhabitants etc etc. Cuts out the `loot` mentality and allows keener narrative.

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    3. That's definitely the way to go Stevie, especially if you're just slotting the game into a wider campaign context.
      TBH it was part laziness (I couldn't be bothered substituting the "loot" element other than to allow the party to pick up clues about the cultists) and partly deliberate so that I could review the suitability of the rules "as writ" for my purposes.

      Second edition has been out for a while now - obviously essential for those who play face-to-face 'competative' games, but fortunately a non requirement here :-)

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  8. OMG I can`t believe I missed this. The whole gang has gone into serious `close down` mode here and it feels so weird not having our weekly games or regular contact. As a result I`ve barely been checking post or blogs.... but WOW how I missed this one of yours bud, is beyond me.

    WOW is all I can say. Its spectacular mate. Wait `til T sees this, she`ll be so happy (this is her kind of thing). You`ve melded Olde World and Frostgrave seamlessly, but perhaps best of all, its sooooo apparent you`ve really embraced this one and taken it to heart. WELL DONE Greg. This is superb.



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    1. Many thanks Stevie my friend, and don't worry - I'm fully aware that your hobby time is restricted at the moment (but I DO hope normal service will be resumed in the near future)
      The Frostgrave system is definitely a "keeper", and may well turn out to be the 'grail' I'm looking for. Only time will tell, and I'm using the time I have during lock down to try out a few different systems I've had my eye on for a while :-)

      Since posting this write-up things have become a LOT worse out in the real world, I sincerely hope my buddies on the Emerald Isle are taking the very best of care and you're all staying safe x.

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    2. Awww its great to hear back in comments my friend (loved your gmail one too) and is good to hear you and yours are safe. Everyone is fine here mate, we`re all just little islands of solitude is all, waving across the great divide at each other and hollering with megaphones at one another hehe. Yeah things are ramping up and the garden has taken on a new priority of necessity.... foooooood!!! Its great being a prepper -:-)

      Talking of grails. I`ve got a tit bit for you now, one that will change your hobby life for ever - no going back once you eyeball this. Stick with it to the end - all 22 parts, you will NOT regret it, I assure you.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ag6U3a8eM&list=PLDvunq75UfH_GAUWYcYSGL_vftZG0nzR-



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    3. "hollering with megaphones at one another" - strange you should mention that, since tonight I'll be setting up an amp and loudspeaker and we'll be giving our locals a rendition of 'We'll Meet Again' during the 8pm applause for the NHS :-)

      Watched the first episode straight away of Me, Myself and Die, and yep, I'm in! :-)
      Oddly enough, I've been considering 'Savage Worlds' for some time now, and this has given me the nudge to give it a go!

      Cheers buddy :-)

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  9. This is one of the most exciting things I`ve seen you do Greg. I sat riveted, then re-read it from the beginning to the end all over again just to devour every morsel and crumb.

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    1. Oops! Sorry Tarot, I missed your comment when you posted it - fortunately "his nibs" has just commented and I spotted you here.
      Glad you enjoyed the AAR, and I hope you're now enjoying the game itself (which I assume you are playing from Stevies comment) :-)

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