GM Blog: Episode 1 (Patreon)

After every episode airs, I'll drop a bunch of bullet points discussing the changes I made from the published adventure, and why those changes were made. They'll also provide a bit of an insight into what's coming next.

In Episode 1, we made our way through Enemy in Shadows, pages 11-27. And, for all we followed the adventure relatively closely, many changes were made. These changes were added for two primary reasons:

1) To speed up play - I wanted the first episode to end with Gerhardt finding Lieberung's corpse, and that would mean some sections would need to be skimmed over.

2) To reinforce some core themes early and pin down some PC-specific details.

So, let's do the bullet point thing!

• The heroes are not a ragtag band whose thirst for adventure pushes them to Altdorf. Instead, the party have a full backstory for why they are on the backroads of southern Middenland, and it's intrinsically linked to the events of The Enemy Within. For the moment, the most important part of that backstory is that Gerhardt is wanted by Altdorf's court, and many of its representatives will do almost anything to secure him. However, no one knows where he is.

• All coach services are restricted by the roadwardens in the Duchy of Delbrenhof. This means coaches are not running as normal in the area where the campaign begins. This is in place for two reasons, one public and the other private: 1) Public: Increased mutant activity has made the roads too dangerous. This is accurate and also matches the PC's recent pre-stream experiences. 2) Private: Word that Gerhardt is in the area has spread, so the roads were locked down by agents of Altdorf's court to slow his passage, should the rumours be true. It is expected that this will make it more likely that Gerhardt will be trapped in Delbren or one of the other larger towns and villages in the duchy.

• The coach leaving the Coach and Horses is not a Four Seasons coach. After all, why would a standard coach be leaving so late in the day? It was replaced with an unmarked coach containing Altdorf court agents on the trail of Gerhardt and Ume (Yume is Ume's cover name). Both were last seen in Delbren, and the coach was heading there as fast as possible. The agents' investigations will continue as the PCs head south, and it's possible the agents may catch up, depending upon future PC choices. The agents will likely start at least 10 days behind.

• The Coach and Horses had frescoes of the gods added, including a defaced image of Sigmar. This was done to confirm the polytheistic nature of the Empire and immediately make it clear that there are elements in Middenland, even this close to Altdorf, that have problems with Sigmar. The Sigmarian Heresy has spread far across Middenland, and this is just one sign of that. It also gave Luitpold something to potentially tackle if he wished - if it had been investigated, Herpin the bartender would have eventually been uncovered as the culprit.

• The Coach and Horses was simplified. I had no desire to detail the inn and all of its rooms - it would only complicate and slow play. Instead, a smattering of NPCs were described and the PCs were initially left to their own devices as they had their own problems to resolve.

• Lady Isolde von Strudeldorf is not what she seems. 'Isolde' is someone completely different. This was done for two reasons: 1) To introduce the concept of doubles, fakes, and lies. 2) To introduce the dangerous issues of travelling openly. 'Lady Isolde' is actually Lady Emilia, the eldest daughter of House Ahlen and an astute politician and spy. She's travelling to Altdorf to investigate what happened in the Volkshalle on Hexenstag when a Reikland Diet vote was pushed through to remove the Jungfreuds from Ubersreik. She carries paperwork from her father granting her the right to represent his Prime Estate, the Duchy of Ahlen, and use his vote in the Volkshalle. Little did she realise that Gerhardt, a Jungfreud, was sharing an inn, and later a coach, with her! If she had, she would likely have attempted to take him back to her father as a political prisoner. Isolde has not heard the rumours of Gerhardt being in the area. Lady Isolde also offered a natural target for Gerhardt to approach if he so wished.

• I played down Blackie and kept the crow quiet. Because 'Blackie' is a spy. The real Blackie is dead. The imposter Blackie did not want to draw attention to itself. If any PC had inquired about Blackie, Gustav would have mentioned his crow was surprisingly quiet. But none did. 'Blackie' will appear again later. Both Alamennowyth and Elrick failed their tests to spot the bird was suspicious for magical reasons (these were taken in secret and could not be rerolled for... reasons).

• I initially removed Phillipe Descartes from the taproom. I wanted the PCs to concentrate on their own concerns before giving them a very simple line of Gamble tests that 'Phillipe' adds, which I added later. The scene was a handy way to remind everyone how opposed tests work before heading into combat later.

• Phillipe Decartes is not a Bretonnian; instead, he's an Altdorfer and a practising Ranaldan. This was done for two primary reasons: 1) To reinforce the themes of fakes and lies; 2) to give Ume something unique for her to spot as a Ranaldan, and potentially engage with, giving her a touch more to do in the early inn scene. When Gerhardt spoke Bretonnian, 'Phillipe' almost panicked. Phillipe will pop up again in Ume's Altdorf Tale between episodes 2 and 3.

• The Rumours from page 15 were not used. These are being kept for episode 2 and the Tales of Altdorf.

• The journey on the coach was simplified. I didn't want to dwell too long on this section as time was tight and I wanted to move on to the ambush.

• During the ambush, I kept the combat rules simple. More rules will be added in later combats. For example, I didn't worry about the rain making bows harder to use, or the terrain being slippery, or ensuring our Actions and Moves were using the full rules we have available. That will come later. It's good to start simple and add layers of complexity later when it won't slow things down.

• The Mutants were significantly beefed up. Like, massively. My PCs have about 4K XP each (at a guess, I should check), so can easily handle, or avoid, almost any combat. I won't be balancing any of the combats to the PCs' capabilities. Instead, I'll be making the antagonist NPCs as powerful as they should be. Given my PCs are all mostly kids, this means sometimes they will be massively out-classed, and at other times they will have a huge advantage. But, they have Fate points (extra lives), so it's not something I generally need to worry about. Combat will always be deadly - Fast SL and our simplified Advantage ensure that.

• The Mutants were there to kill Lieberung. It was not a random attack. Knud, the leader of the Mutants and a member of the Red Crown, survived the combat and is returning to tell his masters that he was successful in mission. But he's also going to explain that he spotted a second Kaster Lieberung!

That's the core differences. If you have any comments or questions about this, or feel I missed some important stuff, post here on patreon, where the PCs can't see, or in the #all-access-lawhammer channel in LAWhammer, where, again, the PCs can't see!

No need to spoil things for them! :D