LOTFP session report #2

The characters were tasked to find out why a certain logging camp wasn't providing the baron with lumber. When they entered the logging village they saw that one of the lumberjacks was under attack by a formerly living compatriot. Turns out that the other lumberjacks disappeared the day before while out cutting wood. The one survivor was there because he stayed behind in the camp. The one lumberjack told them that the day before a wizard stopped in the camp, but that he already left before dawn.

When our players got to the clearing, they discovered a trail of blood towards an ancient burial mound. Inside of said mound they found out that the sarcophagus was empty and that there were scratches on the inside of the lid. The specialist also found, after a search check, that there were some persons some time before them who dragged something either from or to the tomb.

Once they were outside they were attacked by some zombie-lumberjacks. After quickly defeating them (seriously, the specialist keeps on throwing in the 15+ range) they followed a trail through the woods and came upon a ruined cabin, now home to Leoric. Leoric was the wizard who stayed at the logging camp and who was currently doing some research towards mushrooms. He's not too pleased about that, since he is the lead apprentice of Merlin and this is way, way below his status. He told them, in between complaining and bitching, that the one survivor was grilling him for "how to raise the dead" and things like that.

The party didn't like the sound of that.

They went back to the camp, did some interrogation, determined he was a warlock, kicked him inside his wooden cabin, set fire to it (what? you think they can go an entire session without them putting stuff on fire?) and waited for the fires to burn down. During the interrogation they found at that by putting a certain symbol on a dead body and putting that body inside an ancient Pictish tomb the body would be raised from the dead and would be enslaved to whoever he saw first.

Wizardry in Weird Anglia

When a magician casts his first spell, it's a moment of joy and relief -- all those years of study and hardship have finally led to a tangible effect. However, there's a side effect to channelling the power of the Outer Darkness: a symbol shows up on the forehead of the magic-user.  It looks like he has been branded with extraordinary precision.

This symbol manifests a glow whenever magic is cast by the magician, and varies according to the power of the individual bearing the symbol. It's illegal for the magician to cover his symbol; normal God-fearing citizens are entirely within their rights to ask the spellcaster for papers that show that he is registered as a a spellcaster. Those papers also prove that he does not show sympathy for the infernal powers and will use fire to fight fire, as determined after a lengthy inquisition by the local (arch)bishop. Wizards incapable of showing those papers are to be burned at the stake by the inquisition.

Inspiration - As Above So Below

So, I watched As Above So Below again a couple of days ago. Those poor players of mine will be going through the same ordeal soonish in a slightly adjusted scenario. I was thinking of letting them search for a missing wizard down an ancient barrow and so they accidentaly enter a Judeo-Christian hellscape. 

You know, the standard "oopsiedaisy, should have read the inscriptions above the door" scenario.

Since they're only first level this should work out just fine. Lots of crying, "fuck no" and "I nope straight the fuck out of there", "I trip the henchman and run away".

Looking forward to it.

LOTFP session report #1 - Notes

I had some requests for this, so here goes. Transcribed from my scribbled-on-the-toilet notes.
Base concept: demon in the mirror needs a vessel.

Mirror was brought into the village by the artist from the far east. It’s indestructible by normal means.

The mirror contains a demon, trapped there by an ancient cult of satanists. Needs a certain amount of energy to manifest herself in human form (via a vessel, needs to be a young innocent virgin). That energy is provided via sacrifices. She remains bound to the mirror (needs to be in “view” of the mirror). The mirror can show certain visions to chosen targets. The inhabitants of this village were promised a better harvest in return for obedience and a vessel. The ones who didn’t want to join them in the new cult were used as a sacrifice.

The players were brought in because the vessel was the daughter of the local baroness, and they were her retainers. The daughter disappeared when she visited the artist.

To conjure the demon

• The conjurer needs to pose the bodies of x-amount-of-innocents (like, 20 or so) in a certain pose and drape the innards in a pentagram pattern around the summoning area 
• The mirror needs to view the scene during the carnage and the construction of the pentagram/scene.
• The vessel needs to be painted in white paint and a lot of inverse crosses (she needs to look like a mini-black-metal singer) and put in the middle of the pentagram.
• The demon takes possession of the target.
• Chaos ensues.

To dispel the demon

• Disrupt the pentagram.  
• Cover the mirror OR take the girl outside the summoning circle.

To generate the village

• Throw 10D6, 1D12, 1D10 and 1D8 on a paper. D6 = house, D8 = artist’s house,  D10 = tavern, D12 = church (with the sacrifices). Balance the number of peasants according to player party. Or don’t.
• the tavern is a regular tavern, use any of the many maps available. Same for the church.

Creatures

• Peasant: 0HD fighter, 1 attack @ +0/1D6, ML 8, 3HP, AC12
• The demon: 3HD, 1 attack @ +3/1D6 necrotic damage, ML 12,12 HP. Immune to regular weapons. Cast suggestion at will, maximum two parallel targets.

Misc

• The demon in my game was called “Audrey”. Like the character in Twin Peaks. I was planning to play her as such but my players prevented the summoning.
• I just printed a list of random Tudor names and crossed one of as needed.

LOTFP session report #1

We play in some kind of Tudor-ish England. Didn't really think the setting the whole way through, but the general technology level is early 1600's. Using RAW LoTFP rules, for now.

The two players (one fighter, one specialist, both level one) are retainers in the service of Lady Burrow tasked with finding out where her eight year old daughter Agnes disappeared to. She was last seen in at the house of a portrait painter located in Oakstream, a small hamlet, where she went to have her first portrait painted. Neither she nor her cohorts showed up.

Our two heroes arrive at the village and think it's creepy that the streets are almost empty. They find out where the painter lives by buying the information from the regulars at the local tavern. When they arrive at the painter's house they find that there are a lot of apprentices milling around, but no Agnes in sight. They fix it so that they can stay the night at the painter's house, and search for clues regarding the location of the girl. None are found, but it turns out that the painter hadn't had any orders for quite some time now -- pretty weird considering the activity in and around the house. When confronted with it, he told them that he was painting a big mural in the church.

... so, naturally, the first instinct was to break into the church. They promptly found an abattoir consisting from about 50% of the townspeople, all murdered and mutilated, all facing an unbreakable mirror. While they were searching the premises the painter entered and attacked them. He was promptly shot in the leg (critical, so the leg was torn into pieces) and died. His last words were "she is coming".

Fleeing the church, our band of heroes was met with a bunch of villagers wielding clubs. Shooting her other pistol, the specialist killed the leader of the mob and caused the other ones to flee (failed morale check). After beating a hostage almost to death they found out that Agnes was kept in the basement of the inn, and that she was being prepared to be a vessel for "she who is in the mirror".

Arriving at the inn, they ambushed the search party that was preparing the girl for transport. Four dead peasants later Agnes was rescued. They went to the church, blocked the exits and threw some torches through the windows. They later went from door to door and killed any people they encountered (which were none of them, and not everybody was in the church). They also found a journal detailing the travels of the artist, and him encountering the mirror somewhere "in the east". When they went through the rubble from the church, the mirror was nowhere to be found ... .

So, basically, my adventurers burned down a small hamlet and massacred a whole cult during their first LoTFP session ever. I'm so proud.

Blood Sucking Darkness

Magic-User Level 1
Duration: Special
Range: 0


This spell causes the magic-user to magically bond with a swarm of bats. He has to make contact with the bats himself (they don't magically appear), and up to 2 two times his HD in bats can be controlled. The spell only affects regular and vampire bats. Every night the magic-user needs to "feed" his swarm, donating his own blood at a cost of 1 CON/night. In return he is able to look through their eyes and give them rudimentary commands ("Guard this place and alert me if someone approaches", "follow that bandit and find out where the camp is", ...). 

He can dismiss the bats by spending the night sealed in a room where the bats cannot enter. When dawn approaches the animals die one by one and the spell is broken. The spellcaster will regain his CON at a rate of one point per night. If even one animal can suck his blood he loses one constitution point, the animals keep on living and the spell remains active.

If the magic-user is reduced to zero constitution points while under the influence of the spell, the bats die after fully draining the spellcaster.