At the Inn of the Green Glade

And now for another installment of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition actual plays:

Our heroes Finubaryel, the high elven bounty hunter, Athela, the wild elven blade dancer, Lutz, the Reiklander smuggler, and Volcifar, the Reiklander wizard's apprentice of the Grey Order have spent a night at the Green Glade Inn, run by a halfling and his two daughters. They had been escorting Lord Rickard Aschaffenberg from the burnt remains of Grunwald Lodge to Bogenhaven. During the night, Volcifar had been attacked by a Skaven, but he chased it of and went back to sleep.

In the morning, a scream awakes everyone. Going down into the taproom, the heroes see the corpse of Astrid. She was one of the guards of Lord Aschaffenberg. Apparently, she had stabbed herself to death with her sword. At least the sword was still stuck in her neck. Athela carried the corpse into the stable in order to search it for any signs of poisoning. Volcifar did a quick magical examination and found out that Astrid had been influenced by magic.

Meanwhile, Lutz talked to Mona, the innkeeper's daughter. She told him about bad dreams she had been having, a strange figure with the heads of two vultures trying to talk to her. She also said, that Morr wasn't guarding her dreams anymore. After talking to Mona, Lutz found strange footsteps leading from the forest to the inn. Apparently, some beastman had walked to the inn and climbed the wall leading to Volcifar's room.

Volcifar was taken aside by Lord Aschaffenberg who wanted to know about the suicide of Astrid. He assured him that it was not a suicide and that they would try to solve the mystery surrounding her death. Also, finally he took the time to negotiated a proper payment for saving his lordship and escorting him savely to Bogenhaven.

The party of adventurers (actually swords for hire) met in Volcifar's room and exchanged information. Well, actually Volcifar was doing most of the talking. He told the group about his strange vision of Tzeentch, that he hadn't burned the book on the nature of demons, and that he had chased away a Skaven. Finubaryel, Athela and Volcifar decided to finally burn the book. Lutz choose to look around the room and the inn some more.

Lutz didn't find any trail of a wounded Skaven leading away from the inn. So he suspects that it might be hiding on the roof or in the cellar. But his search didn't turn up anything. In the room he found a strange sigil carved on the underside of the table. It seemed to be related to dreams and nightmares but neither Finubaryel nor Volcifar could make sense of it.

Volcifar and Athela tried to the burn the book and failed. Drowning it in water also failed. Therefore, Finubaryel tied knots around the book and sealed them with wax. Then Volcifar hid the book again.

Earlier, Lutz had given him the message that the wizard's apprentice had found on the body of the dead witch hunter at Grunwald Lodge. Volcifar took the time to decode the message after having a flash of insight about the code (well, the player had been doing some research). But Volcifar didn't have time yet to tell the other characters what he had deciphered.

Finubaryel talked to the innkeeper. He told her that Astrid's death was already the second suicide at the inn. The other one immolated himself. It all seemed related to the visit of a stranger that looked suspiciously like Vern Hendrick, the manservant of Lord Aschaffenberg. Before the lodge was attacked, Finubaryel told Vern to save himself and leave the lodge. Apparently, Vern wasn't as innocent as he seemed.

Everything found at the inn seemed to bear some relation to Morr, the god of death and sleep. Mona told them there was a small temple nearby. They decided to take Astrid's corpse to the temple in order to have her burried and ask the priests of Morr some questions about the strange sigil.

Arriving at the temple after a short hike of about three hours, the heroes found the cemetary to be overrun by strange diseased rats, ravens perched on the temple roof, and blood smeared inside. Finubaryel talked to a raven who gave her short answers. Apparently, they had to search for some stone that covers an entrance to the crypts.

While trying to reach the temple again, they were attacked by a swarm of rats. But managed to defeat them without sustaining any injuries. After the battle, they discovered a tombstone belonging to a certain Vern Hendrick...

Defeating Adalfridjur

I am a bit worried about the final confrontation with Adalfridjur, the spectre queen. If I am going to stat her, the group will probably be able to slay her with a couple of blows. The fighter has a magic weapon spell on his axe, the cleric has an empowered magic weapon spell on his staff, and Lucius possesses the silver sword that the cleric stole from the sarcophagus of Adalfridjur. All weapons have proven to be effective against incorporeal undead. But so far, the spectre queen hasn't slowed down when Grimdrig hit her with his axe.
Okay, Adalfridjur is a lord of the undead arcane ememy. She is intelligent. She knows that Durgar can easily turn her shadows. So, thinking off-screen, what can she do to get to Rafnar? She can summon more shadows (about 6 seem right). Then she can recruit a follower or toady. Someone whose loyalty can be bought. Someone who can't be turned and who has access to more bodily threats. Overwhelm the heroes with numbers to get to Rafnar. Not strictly one of her moves, but something I could snowball.

Also, I hesitate to let simple "magical weapon" spells be the end of her. I think she can only be harmed by the silver sword. It was designed to bind her and to slay her.

So, finally her stats:

Adalfridjur, spectre queen of the derro dwarves
(intelligent, solitary, terrifying)
Attack: 1d10*b (withering touch)
HP: 20
Armor:0 (permanent magical protection, can only be harmed by the silver sword)
Special Qualities: insubstantial, ignores armor
Adalfridjur was the very first queen of the first-dwarves. It was she who devised the methods for becoming undead and eventually transforming into demon queens. Her legacy was passed to the warrior queens of the derro dwarves in form of the Tome of the Forgotten, detailing the final descent into hell and back. Now she is loosened on the world, seeking to be again the first to complete the transformation and free her sister-queens, daughters and granddaughters from their barrow-prisons in the Skogurhörmulegur.
Instinct: To seek true immortality.

• Turn their haunt against a creature
• Bring the environment to life

Notes: To start with, Adalfridjur gets all the abilities of spectre as established by the fiction. Her instinct is taken from her status as arcane enemy of the lord of the undead variety.  She gains the two spectre moves. Then I go the the monster questions. In addition to the spectre stats I give her permanent magical protection as defense (but this is not raising her armor; instead the spectre queen can only be harmed by a very specific weapon: the silver sword she was burried with), she is known for her skill in offense and her uncanny endurance. Her magic mostly derives from the GM moves for arcane enemies. She is as smart as a human, and Adalfidjur is kept alive by something more than biology, and she is terrifying to behold in her ragged undead state. I am going to add her stats to the front.

Adalfridjur is one step away from invoking the impending doom of her danger. If she does, I'll move her to the campaign front and update her status to planar force: demon prince danger. Dungeon World will change for the worse.

If she is defeated, the heroes will be celebrated, but have the dubious distinction of helping Rafnar survive. This triggers the next stage of the dwarven-elven skirmishes.

Three players or four?

First, is three a group of three players really the sweet spot? Nimea thinks so. I don't quite agree. Three is an ideal number if there are no frictions between the characters and everyone is basically getting along. If one player has a different agenda for her character or the players don't get along so well, three is toxic. In the end it will tear the group apart.

If I can't go with three, I am going with four players. That is the sweet spot in my opinion. Still, everyone's turn approaches fast enough. If there is some friction, it usually isn't with all players. If one player really has a different agenda, the group is not critically weakened.

So I think,  my response is to go with three players, when everyone is getting along in and out of character. Four it is when there players and/or characters don't get along very smoothly or a completely new player joins a group.

A new danger for my Dungeon World game

So far, the dwarves from Svarturvigi are skirmishing with the elves of the Aelfrick Forest or as the elves call, it the Airgiodach Forest. The elves have retaliated against Friarsbridge, not knowing about the allegiances of the human town. What will happen next? I can see the grim portents of the next impending doom.

1. Friarsbridge calls for help in Solacebury.
2. Militia from Solacebury attacks an elven village.
3. The elven druids awaken the soul of the Airgiodach.

Impending Doom: Pestilence. The Aelfrick Forest turns into a cursed land.

The question I can't quite solve: should I let those events happen off-screen and simply start to treat the Aelfrick Forest as a new danger? Or should I involve the players? Then I would have to decide what the danger is that causes the Aelfrick Forest to turn into a danger itself? Is it an ambitious organization: The Solacebury militia or the Druids of the Airgiodach? Is it a horde: the Solacebury militia or the Elves of the Aelfrick forest?

The aggressor seems to be the militia. Maybe seizing an opportunity for capturing the elven lands. On the other hand, the elves are retaliating against the aggressions of the dwarves. Yes, that seems right. Solacebury is trying to capitalize on the opportunity, and never realize what danger they are actually unleashing.

And again, the heroes will be the ones to trigger events. When (if) they get to Friarsbridge, the mayor will ask them to go to Solacebury to ask for assistance. If they don't, word gets send with Sorrenson's caravan.

Depending on how the fronts play out, things could get very messy in that corner of Dungeon World. This front will be titled: "The Darkening of the Airgiodach" (module series DA). Now, I am of to writing a new adventure front.

RPGs and Kickstarter

This is the post I never wanted to write, but an email by Marc Miller I received from the Citizens of Imperium list today kind of provoked me into finally publishing  a post about Kickstarter and RPGs. Basically, Marc Miller's email was a "thank you" for the Traveller 5 Kickstarter  (a Kickstarter I did not participate in, by the way.) What caught my attention was that last paragraph:

"This chronicle of Kickstarter Print RPG records may be incomplete or mildly inaccurate:

Far West set the record at $49,324 August 28, 2011.

Deadlands Noir set the record at $117,648 June 14, 2012.

Rappan Athuk set an interim record of $117,649 June 15, 2012.

Traveller5 grabbed the record title around June 20, and has held it since. As of Midnight June 30, the number stands at $272,463, 1941 Backers."

Not only is the number for the Rappan Athuk kickstarter wildly inaccurate (it has currently gathered almost $250,000), but it shows that apparently the bottom line seems to be the most important thing.

I will not be going into the whole argument that I think that Kickstarter should be primarily used by independent publishers to get their RPGs out. I realize it's an exercise in futility. Also, when looking at White Wolf, their fans seem to have learned their lesson after plediging 50 bucks for an 80 page product in the V20 Companion kickstarter. "Children of the Revolution" got only about half as many backers and barely funded.

Since the bottom line seems to be the most important thing for Rappan Athuk and Traveller 5, I would like to take a look at some other figures. Namely, percentage funded and number of backers. In my opinion this  tells a bit more about a project than the amount of money you're generating.

Of course, percentage funded depends on your initial goal. But it seems to be, that Kickstarters asking for less than $10,000 in the first place consistently do better than Kickstarters that ask for amounts close to $10,000 or even in excess of $10,000. The other fact seems to be the price for a hardcover option. But that is consistently around $50. With the noteable exception of Traveller 5.

I've ranked a couple of project according to their percentage funded. The selection is completely subjective based on the projects mentioned in the email from Marc Miller and those projects I was interested in. Projects marked with an asterisk are ongoing as I write this post. Numbers may change.

Kickstarter	Funding level
Dungeon World	2,071%
Appendix N Adventure Toolkit*	1,683%
Deadlands Noir	1,470%
Traveller 5*	1,167%
Far West	986%
Technoir	970%
Rappan Athuk*	924%
Myth & Magic PHB	481%
V20 Companion	192%
Children of the Revolution	110%

Traveller 5 is ranked 4th in this. Deadlands Noir, Appendix N Adventure Toolbox and Dungeon World all did better. Compared to Traveller 5 they all had pretty modest goals around $5,000 (or in the case of Appendix N Adventure Toolbox even $1,000). Still, raising 1,167% of a $24,000 goal is no mean feat! Also the Big Black Book is pretty expensive. As you can see, V20 Companion and Children of the Revolution, both by White Wolf, didn't do nearly as well. Their goal was set to $50,000, though.

Now, the number of backers are even more interesting. Because I believe backers actually equal the reach of your game. If we assume that a rulebook or a supplement is primarily bought by the game master, and that an average gaming group has around 4 players, then each book equals 5 people reached. Also, backers active on the internet spread the word and show their active support.

Again, the same list of projects sorted according to backers and thus reach:

Kickstarter	Backers
Dungeon World	2,455
Traveller 5*	1,983
Deadlands Noir	1,140
V20 Companion	1,134
Rappan Athuk*	867
Far West	717
Technoir	622
Children of the Revolution	589
Appendix N Adventure Toolkit*	504
Myth & Magic PHB	402

Traveller 5 is ranked second in this list. For a game that is approximately 25 years old that is no mean feat. Appendix N Adventure Toolkit ranks next to last, putting its numbers a bit more into perspective. Deadlands Noir and V20 Companion are doing equally well, showing a strong support. Dungeon World again is on top of the list, exceeding Traveller 5 by almost 500 backers. That is a very impressive feat for an indie game that is essentially a rules hack of Apocalypse World and thus no two years old. White Wolf experienced a sharp drop in backers between their V20 Companion project and the Children of the Revolution project.

Backers will in the end determine the success or failure of a kickstarter project. They determine the amount of money you make of this project and any follow-ups. So the key here is, building a strong community even before you start the kickstarter. Something Traveller 5 and Dungeon World have clearly succeeded in. In conclusion it might be a good idea to consider stretch goals based on the number of backers, in addition to those based on the amount of money raised.

So all that remains is to congratulate all project initiators on their successfully funded projects!


P.S. Does anyone know of a Kickstarter for an RPG rulebook or supplement that has funded higher than 2,000%? Or has more than 2500 backers? Then leave a comment, please.

P.P.S. The next factor one could consider is the time difference between estimated delivery and actual delivery of the finished product. I am looking at you Far West (estimated delivery: Dec 2011, actual delivery: not yet as of July 1, 2012)!