GM Blog: Episode 5 (Patreon)

Am I going to open every one of the GM Posts with 'well, I'm very ill'? It seems to be the case. I was prescribed antibiotics yesterday for a rather nasty infection and I'm really feeling yucky today after completing Episode 6. Last night was super hard to playthrough (and not just because one of the cameras went down just 10 minutes before going live!), but it was super fun, so that more than made up for it. I'm now really looking forward to Episode 7: The Darkest Hour!

Anyway, none of that's important for this post. So, let's put that all aside and take a look back to Episode 5: Darkness Gathering, and have a discussion about changes made and why, and anything else that pops up.

Episode 5 covered a chunk of Chapter 8 of Enemy in Shadows, pages 86-99. Like last episode, this one had some cuts to the content presented in the book, and it also had a few additions. Let's have a meandering chat about those, eh?

To the Bullet-pointing Mobile!

• The Elephant in the Room. Three of my players know this part of the adventure very well, so I had to decide exactly how much to change to keep them on their toes, and how much to keep the same. So, between sessions, I told them changes would be coming, but actually played it relatively close to the book. So, they were kept guessing, but not too hard. In the end, there were only two major changes made: Magirius was dropped and a Tzeentch Cultist of the Vigilant Eye was added.

• PC Connections. The PCs in this game are connected to the core plot directly. To reinforce this, I gave each of them a connection to the NPCs as a special bonus for this session. If the connection was used in this session, the PC in question gained a bonus +25XP, which applied a gentle pressure to the players to use the bonus immediately, but the special rules I offered could be saved if an individual player preferred. The bonuses I provided were:
  Alamennowyth may select any NPC aged 50 or over and state that she had a relationship with them if they passed through Nuln between 2482 and 2487, as determined by the GM. She may define the nature of that relationship, with different ramifications for the nature of that choice. (Lindsay chose Magistrate Richter.)
  Birdie may claim any NPC she encounters was the target of a Skaven spying mission she was sent on in the past, gaining bonus information. She may state if the mission went well or poorly, with different ramifications for each.
  Elrick may claim he met any NPC encountered if they were passing through Ostland, Talabecland, or Middenland, Reikland in 2509-2511, as determined by the GM. He may state if the encounter was positive or negative, with different ramifications for each.
  Gerhart may choose any NPC and claim he has dined with them in the past if they have been in Altdorf between the years of 2510-2511, or in Ubersreik between the years of 2508-2510. He decides how the meal went, with different ramifications for how the meal went (Ed chose Grand Duke Leopold of Middenland).
  Luitpold may select any NPC and claim they have met in the past if they have ever been in Middenland between the years 2508-2511, as determined by the GM. He may state if the relationship was positive or negative, with different ramifications for each.
  Yume may notice an NPC in the local area giving off signs of the Crooked Fingers, initiating contact with the local Ranaldans. She can also determine the figure’s rank as she prefers, and if they have met before, and what sort of relationship she had, with different ramifications for each choice made.
  All of those are not only useful, they also provide an opportunity for each PC to discuss their individual backgrounds a little and connect them to the expanding NPCs pool.

• Extra Connection. Supporting Alamennowyth's far broader personal history and her connections to Nuln, she was given a connection to Teugen, who she met when he was young and studying in Nuln. She used that connection to gain access to Teugen in the stream, but that meeting ended poorly as the other PCs were too rude and upset the already edgy councillor.

• Magirius and Steinhäger. Magirius, for all I love the poor chap, was dropped entirely. However, his plot lines were still included, but through Steinhäger instead. In essence, I conflated the two NPCs and built a new Steinhäger that looked like Steinhager but kinda acted like Magirius. So, why did I do this? Well, primarily because it had almost zero impact on the core of the adventure's plot; however, it significantly simplified the NPC pool for PC navigation through. PCs have a habit of overthinking and over-planning. I wanted the Shadows Over Bögenhafen arc of the campaign (the second arc - the first arc being Mistaken Identity) to be concluded in 4 sessions. So, I had to ensure the PCs didn't have too broad an NPC pool to wade through, or they'd be theorising about plots and counterplots for entire sessions. That would be fine for a home game, but it was potentially a bit boring for a live-streamed version. Therefore, I simplified it to two main suspects to investigate: Teugen or Steinhäger, and that was enough to keep the PCs guessing for both this episode and the next. As neither Magirius nor Steinhäger have any further impact on the later campaign, this was a pretty easy decision to make as the benefits it brought significantly outweighed the negatives - it also kept the players that knew Magirius was the weak link (because they had played the adventure before) somewhat unsure where to go for their core clues.

• The Vigilant Eye. I added a Tzeentch Cultist of the Vigilant Eye to the Temple of Verena (Enemy in Shadows, page 142-143). Why? Well, Volker Drauchen is awake in our campaign and has taken direct control of his cult. Drauchen has decided Unter-Magus Else Überraschung, the de facto leader of his cult while he slumbered, would better serve the purposes of Tzeentch by helping the PCs stop Teugen and Gideon. He also wants to start the process of corrupting Gerhardt. Drauchen believes Gideon is supposed to fail to better ensure the Great Architect's Plan succeeds, something Gideon is not privvy to. Why does Drauchen think this? Well, Bögenhafen has a weakened skein between the worlds (which is why Morrslieb can look bigger there), and Drauchen is certain the city has a bigger part to play in the End Times. So, Drauchen cannot, and will not, allow it to be destroyed by the premature opening of a Chaos Gate. So, Else is there to help the PCs, even though that means she has had to break her cover in the Watch.

• Else Überraschung. Else, who is posing as the High Priestess of Verena, has murdered the real High Priestess, Greta Harnokken (the only Blessed cleric in Bögenhafen in our game, thus a threat to Tzeentch's plan). Knowing the Initiates of Verena already have the Schaffenfest off, she feels safe that she is unlikely to be discovered for a few days at least. This gives her enough time to enact her twofold plan:
  1) Support the PCs. The first part of her plan is to supply the PCs with information to support their understanding of Teugen's plan, and to organically lead them to interrupt Gideon's ritual. She intends to do this by entirely mundane means by either a) ensuring the correct books and scrolls are left in the PCs path should they research the Verenean library, or by b) offering information herself.
  2) Corruption. Else also intends to introduce Gerhardt to the concepts of studying Chaos and subtly expose him to the idea of free thought and Change. Although she knows her influence upon the PCs may be discovered somewhat easily, she nevertheless believes any ideas she introduces to Gerhardt will sink in as they are insidious. Through the course of the episode, she indeed leads in that direction, and Gerhardt proved to be receptive. Later, when the party was elsewhere, Else also worked on Lukas - who proved somewhat less receptive.

• Temple Corruption. To support Else, Drauchen has used the murder of the blessed priestess of Verena to desecrate her temple. He then resanctified it as a Temple of Tzeentch as he intends to use the location as a central hub for his cult - a blatant and some would think crazy plan (don't all cultists worship in basements?). He then uses one of his spells to confuse the Holy Visions Talent (I'll pop my Tzeentch spells up later). The PCs, of course, do not know that Holy Visions can be fooled, which will make its reveal, if it comes, as somewhat of a shock.

• Bögenhafen Map. Much like the Festival map (see GM Blog 4) I purposefully did not provide the PCs with a map of Bögenhafen. I did this for the same reasons as before - to keep the adventure running swiftly and stop the PCs jumping on every minor location they could spot on the map.

• NPCs. I significantly downplayed any influential NPC who were not Steinhager or Teugen to keep those two NPCs in the PCs' focus, and ensure a tighter resolution to their investigations. For example, the Ruggbroders were barely mentioned. If I was playing a home game where there was more time to let the PCs work through the ebb and flow of the city's politics, I would have used all the extra NPCs and added far more besides, but that would have made for a far looser presentation of the adventure for our stream, so I instead simplified affairs to keep the pace relatively speedy.

• Prophet of Doom. I kept the ravings of Ulthar to a minimum as we've already had multiple prophets spouting nonsense in the stream. So, he glided by when he was on his way to the Pit and offered some ravings at the PCs. I don't intend to have him ripped up by Gideon as he doesn't pose a great threat to the Daemon. Instead, Giodeon will silence him with Purple Brain Fever, which is slower and nastier.

• The Evil Eye. The PCs are repeatedly assaulted by Sixth Sense pings throughout the session. This marks when Gideon or Drachen is watching the PCs. Drachen notes the PCs are noticing his passing, so later casts a spell to be invisible to Sixth Sense. For the players who've played the adventure before, they will assume all the Sixth Sense pings are Gideon.

• The Invitation. I did not use this plot point. The PCs didn't need the guide it offered.

• Hired Muscle. This plot point was not used as Teugen concluded the PCs were not much of a threat after meeting them.

• Gottri's Body. The PCs completely forgot about this plot point. As I mentioned in GM Blog 4, this is a Sin for Luitpold, which I'll drop on him when it becomes clear, or at the end of the Bögenhafen arc of the campaign.

• Bad Moon Rising. I ramped up the Corruption of Morrslieb, and will make it even worse as the ritual draws close. If the PCs go out into that green hell, then it's on them - Corruption will stack and I'm cool with that. However, as noted by the end of the episode, the PCs came up with a somewhat cunning and definitely ridiculous way of avoiding exposing their flesh to too much of the Chaos Moon's green light: lead-lined boxes. On their heads. Hahahahah.

• The Crossed Pikes. The opportunity for Yume to gain access to this location was offered, but Sage chose not to pursue it. So, no Ranaldans for this part of the campaign.

• Praying for Guidance. I used some of this for our two blessed clerics in the party. But, as mentioned before, we've had a lot of prophesy nonsense already in the campaign, so I chose not to give this too much weight,

And that should do for Episode 5

We'll have Episode 6 up on Monday. I'll pop up the GM Notes for that episode before Episode 7: The Darkest Hour, goes live.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this blog or feel I missed some important stuff from episode 4 that needs to be discussed, 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!