Landlords for WFRP

Started a campaign of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1e), set in the small town of Osburg. I figured the characters might want to rent rooms long-term instead of just staying at an inn, so I prepared a few landlords.

Characters in WFRP have different social levels depending on their career, and each landlord is suitable for a particular social level.

• A: Nobility
• B: Professionals, academics
• C: Craftsmen, tradesmen
• D: Laborers, criminals 

 

The Horn of Plenty (A)

Inn quarter, 400/- per month.

Luxury inn that offers long-term rooms. Servants and courtesans on staff can be hired by guests. Owner Grunhilda Kruger controls several inns, taverns and brothels in Osburg. 

Berthold Heinemann (B)

Castle quarter, 100/- per month. No elves, dwarves, or halflings.

Retired university professor from Altdorf. Can teach the skills Read/Write and History.

Etelka von Borgenschlag (B)

Castle quarter, 100/- per month.

Rich widow. Donates to artists and temples, has influence over the burgomeister Albrect Adelich. Wants to improve Osburg's reputation and attract sophisticated people to the town. Manipulates her tenants in this aim, if they seem useful.

 

Apprentice House (C)

Hammer quarter, 60/- per month. 40/- for apprentices of local artisans.

Big and lively house, overseen by retired blacksmith Gottolf Schmidt. Monthly 10% chance that non-apprentice tenants are run out to make room for new apprentices.

 

Pierre & Louise Grimain (C)

Bretonnian quarter, 50/- per month. 40/- for Bretonnians.

Married Bretonnian couple. 7 children who often bring friends over. Daily 10% chance that children investigate a tenant's room. 

Wilfrieda Kurst (C)

Schauplatz, 50/- per month.

Talkative middle-aged woman. Always knows the latest gossip. Spies on her tenants and spills anything juicy to her many acquaintances.

 

The Bad Badger (D)

Golden quarter, 30/- per month.

Hole-in-the-wall tavern run by Anna Pflugerbach, a woman in her thirties who is friendly with the local footpads. Rooms are above the tavern, and measure about 2 square meters / 20 square feet.

 

Gitta Fleischer & Johanna Gräber (D)

Axtstrasse, 30/- per month.

Young women, sickly looking, scabs. House built on the hillside up to the Garden of Morr (graveyard). Secret tunnel leads to the graves; Gitta and Johanna steal corpses to eat. Nightly 10% chance of graverobbing. Their feast can be heard in tenants' rooms. Every feast there is a 10% chance that Gitta and Johanna fully transform into ghouls (permanently).

 

Holger Spitkopf (D)

Hammer quarter, 30/- per month.

Grouchy, impulsive old man. Basement rooms with minimal windows. Monthly 20% chance that rent increases by 1d10/-.

 

Malina Erkendorfer (D)

Old town, 30/- per month.

Elderly woman, almost deaf. Interested in potted plants. On the top floor lives Zacharias Erichsen, who plays violin nightly, calling upon the power of Malal to protect him from Tzeentch's attacks. Nightly 20% chance that music disturbs sleep of other tenants, preventing wound and magic point recovery.

Ghibli-esque RPGs

I saw some discussion about Ghibli-esque RPGs on the NSR discord, and it made me think about what systems I would use for games inspired by the Studio Ghibli movies. Of course, the Ghibli movies are quite different from each other, so I picked out a system for each one.

And it's only the Hayao Miyazaki movies, because those are the ones I've seen.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

There's dynamic action and big weird monsters. A girl gets shot with a machine gun and keeps going. Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition should work great!

Castle in the Sky

I think there's like three dungeon crawls in this movie? Any old-school D&D would be fine, but I'll go with Tunnels & Trolls. Pazu would rack up a lot of AP from all the stunts he has to do.

My Neighbor Totoro

So the kids are doing a bunch of esoteric stuff with the spirits and the adults don't notice anything is off, but the magic is real because the mom got that corn in the end and it did cure her illness. Sounds like Mage to me! Adults = sleepers.

Kiki's Delivery Service

Cargo delivery, patrons, random encounters, desperately trying to stay afloat in a harsh gig economy - Traveller is a perfect fit for this movie, if you replace the spaceships with broomsticks. I do want to add some Call of Cthulhu mechanics though: if you run out of SAN, you can't fly anymore.

Porco Rosso

Your life is a failure, you're out of money, the secret police is looking for you, and you're a pig for some weird reason. Yeah, you're in an Electric Bastionland game.

Princess Mononoke

There's a lot of fighting in this movie, with lots of body parts getting slashed/shot/bitten off. Also a demon infection disease. I think Rolemaster is the right system for this one.

Spirited Away

This movie is all about working a shitty job while dealing with dangerous otherworldly entities. It's Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay! Just need to write up a Bathhouse Worker career.

Howl's Moving Castle

A small team of weirdos try to save the world from devastating war. F.I.S.T., right?

Ponyo

So the whole world gets imbalanced when Ponyo leaves the sea, and that causes a series of apocalyptic events. MÖRK BORG has a good mechanic for that!

The Wind Rises

Yeah, this is just a dude who makes planes and stuff, and then his wife gets sick. For games set in contemporary times with little to no combat or supernatural stuff, I like to use GURPS. Bonus: If the Jiro player actually wants to design those planes, I'm sure GURPS has extremely detailed rules for that.

The Boy and the Heron

Now this movie is far out. The boy moves between a number of strange locales with strange people, and it's probably an allegory for something or other. I will choose Between the Skies for this one. It's very good at strange.

And that's all of them!

Until Miyazaki makes his next final movie

Taken by the Blood-Men

I made Taken by the Blood-Men, an entry for Idle Cartulary's Zungeon jam!

It's a 1st level dungeon adventure, statted for old-school games, 5th edition, Into the Odd, and Tunnels & Trolls. Captured by horrifying Blood-Men, can you survive and escape?

You can download the adventure here, and you can read more about zungeons here.

Using Chainmail for Multi-Character Gaming

I ran a game using a combination of Chainmail and OD&D rules. It was a lot of fun!

The OD&D actual play by Bandit's Keep was a big inspiration, and Marcia B.'s Fantastic Medieval Campaigns was a great resource for the OD&D and Chainmail rules.

 

Points values from Fantastic Medieval Campaigns

Here's the basic gist of how I did it:

- Let each player build a band of characters with a total value of 10 points, using the points values from Chainmail. I disallowed those creatures that cost exactly 10 points.

- New characters can be recruited by paying gp equal to the points value times 100.

- Basic infantry and cavalry can be recruited in towns, but you can also try to recruit any creature you meet in the wilderness or in the dungeon, using the recruitment rules from OD&D. If your party is worth less than 10 points total, you can recruit for free in towns to get to 10 points.

- Make reaction rolls when encountering NPCs (2-5 attack, 6-8 uncertain, 9-12 friendly). If they are uncertain, roll again next round.

- Resolve combat using Chainmail's mass combat rules. Don't use the "Combat between special units" rules. For creatures that lack a defense value, use the same value as for attack. No creature is immune to normal attacks.

- Wilderness movement and encounters work as in OD&D.

- In dungeons, track movement round by round as if the dungeon crawl was a continuous combat. Roll for random encounters at the end of every round. Cavalry have to dismount before going into the dungeon!

- XP is awarded for gathering treasure (1 XP per gp) and for defeating enemies (XP equal to points value times 100). XP is divided equally among all characters.

- Characters level up using the Fighter XP progression from OD&D. Every level gained means they count as one more fighter in combat (make one more attack, survive one more hit), and also improves their morale by 1 point.

- You don't need to track or pay for basic equipment, food rations, inn rooms etc, but at the end of every month, you must pay gp equal to 1% of each character's XP total (as per the OD&D rule).

* * *

The game was set in the Land of the Winterwind, the great northern wilderness. I was going to have three players; two called in sick but me and the last player went ahead. I let him spend 30 points on his starting band. He went with 1 great orc, 2 orcs, 2 elves, 5 goblins, and 2 fairies.

Having heard a rumor of an underground ruin full of shining gems they went north. On the way they met a few ents and a werebear; fortunately they were friendly. They reached the dungeon, went inside, and the carnage began.

The party killed goblins, slime folk, and crystal beasts in the cramped tunnels, but also saw their own members fall one by one. They rescued a captured human but he got killed later. In the end only two characters were left: the great orc and a fairy. They ran into 7 archers as they were about to leave, and gave them most of the treasure they had found to not have to fight them. The orc and the fairy made it out with a few gold pieces and gems, a +1 extendible claw staff, and almost enough XP to level up.

Filthy and bloodied they made their way to a nearby dwarf hold, where they could finally relax, and try to take in what they had just experienced.

Then they recruited a couple of rookie dwarf fighters, and prepared for the next expedition.

Encounters: Highwaymen

<- Encounter index

Roll 1d10. After using an encounter, remove it and write a new one.

Wilds

• 1 rookie highwayman in need of robbery experience. Wants to apply to a highwayman company.
• 2 servants of highwaymen interview the party to determine if they are worthy of being robbed.
• 3 highwaymen and their dog on a picnic in beautiful landscape, discussing the finer points of highway robbery.
• 4 fans looking for their highwayman idol, Danil the Dagger-Demon.
• 5 highwaymen ride up to the party and congratulate them on the honor of being robbed by the Crimson Crossbows.
• 6) Insolvent noble tries highway robbery, along with 5 servants. Dislikes the uncomfortable wilderness.
• 7 dwarven highwaymen. Methodical and professional. Ask for an inventory of the party’s valuables to calculate whether they are worth stealing.
• 8) 3 highwaymen meeting 5 aspirants hoping to join their company, questioning them and testing their skills.
• 9) 5 highwaymen robbing 4 traders. One trader secretly in love with the highwayman leader.
• 10 highwaymen of the absolute elite. Will only rob royalty and high nobility. They laugh at the party’s poverty and raggedness.

 

Rural

• 1 noble was rude to a highwayman company, who took his money, his horse, his servants, and his clothes. Furious, wants revenge.
• 2 highwaymen visit the village leader to discuss buying intel on passing rich travellers.
• 3) 2 lovestruck youths compete for the affectations of a visiting highwayman.
• 4 highwaymen ride through the village with great pomp and circumstance. Villagers fascinated.
• 5 highwaymen hiding from pursuing soldiers in a friendly farmer’s barn.
• 6 highwaymen arrange a dance at the village green.
• 7 highwaymen forced to stay at cheap inn. Disgruntled.
• 8) 5 highwaymen meet 3 fences to sell stolen goods.
• 9 highwaymen crash the local economy through excessive spending of stolen wealth.
• 10) Two companies of 5 highwaymen in the street with weapons drawn, arguing about robbery rights in the local area. Villagers hide indoors.

 

Town

• 1 highwayman in jail. Mob of angry fans demand their release.
• 2 concerned citizens speaking in public about the dangers of glamorizing the highwayman way of life. Townsfolk mostly disinterested.
• 3 incognito highwaymen spying on merchant company.
• 4 elven highwaymen on decade-long break from robbery, overheard talking about their hidden treasure.
• 5 highwaymen daringly rob the party in the middle of the street (after bribing the guards). It’s mostly a publicity stunt.
• 6 highwaymen hiring porters for an extravagant clothes shopping trip.
• 7 highwaymen, the Regents of the Road, have massive bounty placed on their heads by town officials.
• 8 actors making a play about legendary highwayman “Perfect Johnny” said to operate in these parts. The script writer would love to meet him.
• 9 drunken fans debating which highwayman is the best. Brawl will begin soon.
• 10 highwaymen holding a ball at the fanciest tavern in town.

Wilderlands Encounter Index

So, I'm starting a Rolemaster campaign set in the Wilderlands. Rolemaster has a nice big chart of NPC encounters (Rolemaster Classic Creatures & Treasure 10-03), but I wanted some more detail for my encounters. So I'm going to try and write encounter tables for each kind of NPC, one for each area type (Wilds, Rural, Town, and City). I'm counting all rural and town areas in the Wilderlands as "border" areas. Note, not all NPCs appear in all types of areas.

Here is an index of the NPC types. I'll add links as I write them up.

Locals, working

Locals, playing/relaxing

Locals, traveling

Locals, hauling goods

Local rowdies

Actors/minstrels

Fishermen/hunters

General travelers

Merchants

Messengers

Nobles

Pilgrims

Priests

Refugees

Assayers/tax takers

Constables

Police guards

Police patrol

Militia unit

Soldiers

Scouts/watchers

Military guards

Military patrol

Military unit

Assassins

Bandits

Beggars/cripples

Burglars

Highwaymen

Muggers

Pickpockets

Cutpurses

Raiders

Spies

Thieves

Trackers/searchers

Vigilantes/fanatics

Adventurers

Character Tokens from Plastic Caps

 

I'm going to start a Rolemaster campaign (as you may know, 2024 is the year of Rolemaster), and I figured it would be nice to have some character tokens to keep track of distance and positioning and stuff. Here's how I made them.

 

I took a sheet of paper, made it wet, and daubed it with acrylics in various colors. (Watercolors probably work even better.) After drying, I flattened it under a heavy book.

 

 

I got some plastic caps and spray painted them black. These are from yogurt packages; I eat yogurt every morning, so I can collect a lot of these over time. 

Using a template slightly smaller than the caps, I made circles on the paper and drew some funny faces. Pencil first, then ink, and black acrylic to fill in the background.

 

 

I cut the portraits out...

 

 

...and glued them inside the caps, on top of the screw ridges.

I'm satisfied with these. Sturdy, looks pretty good, and I can make a lot of them. Bigger caps can make bigger monsters!