Chapter IX: The Game Master
dithering. Continually fighting in darkened streets and clear fields gets a little repetitive, so try to choose interesting and different locations to set some of your fights in. Keep your descriptions of the effects of various attacks relatively brief so as not to bog down the combat, saving your best imagery for the more spectacular critical hits. If your players all feel the need to take a deep breath at the end of one of your combats, then you’re definitely doing it right. a w orThy f oe Your PCs should always be the protagonists, or lead characters, of your adventure; whoever, or whatever, opposes them is therefore an antagonist. There is an old truism that states you can, “measure a man both by those he calls his enemies and by those who call him an enemy in turn.” All the best adventures have a great antagonist for the PCs to face off against. In game worlds that have clear-cut definitions of good and evil, the PCs are often heroes and their main opposition is usually some sort of villain. The Old World though, is composed of many shades of grey morality, as opposed to black and white. WFRP supports a wide variety of PC types, a number of which may be just shy of being villains themselves. Mind you, there is a massive difference between PCs who rob a greedy merchant for his change and a Vampire Lord who has all of the children of a subjugated village put to death one by one in front of him so he can study their expressions as they die. Those PCs are just being practical; that Vampire Lord is likely a great, if exceedingly deadly, antagonist. Of all the NPCs you spend time thinking about and writing up, you should put your most effort into the PCs’ main opponent. You should know how he came to be who he is and what he now wants. By considering the antagonist’s motivations, you will know how to properly roleplay his reactions to the PCs thwarting of his schemes. Some of your PCs’ opponents will have lackeys and henchmen that you’ll need to detail as well. The enemy, though, need not necessarily be one individual. If the PCs have taken on a Chaos cult, they may not meet a single, specific foe for a long time, if ever. Instead, they will have to contend with a series of subtle attacks, all of which should have some sort of tell-tale sign to indicate that the hated cult was involved. Occasionally tailoring the enemy for direct opposition to the PCs can be fun. For example, if your PCs are thieves, then their foe could be a virtuous and solidly ethical Captain of the Guard famous for always bringing lawbreakers to justice or a creepy Witch Hunter who believes them guilty of unspeakable crimes. It’s often a good idea to occasionally have an opponent that your PCs cannot readily slay without serious repercussions, such as a corrupt politician or Chaos-tainted noble. The more impressive the PCs’ foe is, the greater they are for taking him on.
limited timetable or a great distance to be crossed in a short span of time. By incorporating these difficulties into the whole, you make your adventure more demanding and therefore, more interesting. h umour Roleplaying is meant to be a fun activity and levity should always have a place at your table. Some situations are just inherently funny and don’t be too surprised if your players start laughing on occasion. This is not only appropriate, but also necessary if you are running a particularly bleak adventure. Laughter safely eases the tension players are feeling when some particularly grim things are happening to their characters. It isn’t always easy to come up with elements in your adventure that are meant to be funny, but it’s worth it if you can. There are a number of beings in the Old World that, from our safely removed point of view, can be fairly entertaining, such as the wild antics of Night Goblin Fanatics on Mad Cap Mushrooms. Remember that many occurrences that could set your players to laughing will still have their PCs running for their lives. C ombaT The iron tang of blood, mixed with a hint of oiled steel and the sulphurous stench of gun smoke; all these scents your PCs will come to know far to well, for this is WFRP and the Old World is beset with wars, both great and small. Few adventures indeed pass without any swordplay. While there are a number of role-playing games that suffer fools to live, WFRP is not one of them. It is no accident that Fate points are an inherent part of the game; your PCs are going to need them. This leads to an interesting effect though: you may find that your PCs start actively avoiding combat if they can help it when they realize just how deadly it is. This isn’t bad at all: the Old World is a dangerous place, and they’re just growing wise to that. When considering how a fight will go in your adventure, remember that the majority of NPCs (and soon enough, PCs) are well aware of how quickly a straight fight can go wrong. Many warriors will look to get whatever advantages they can, e.g. ambush, greater numbers, superior weapons, etc. Some of the more sinister will use poison or run away at the first sign of trouble so they can come back and slit throats when their foes are asleep. Think about how your NPCs will react to injury or loss. Very, very few beings are willing to fight to the death. If they’re clearly losing a battle and given a chance to surrender, they’ll probably take it, if they haven’t already run away. Combat scenes should always be run as fast as you are capable of doing them while still accurately keeping track of what is going on. Give PCs the barest amount of time to figure out what they’re going to do and if they hesitate, tell them they just lost a half action because of their
s ole s urVIVor Gertrude approached the outlaw camp, pleased that she had finally lost the pursuing Roadwardens. She had been away for several days, taking a circuitous route to ensure that she was not followed. She knew Artur would have her head if she led the lawmen back to their hideout. When she reached the first lookout post, no challenge was forthcoming. Gertrude immediately nocked an arrow and scanned the surrounding woods. With no threats visible, she crept forward towards the outlaw camp. She should have encountered at least two guards but the woods were empty. Something was wrong. Gertrude approached the camp silently, sidling up behind a large tree. She poked her head out for a quick look and her worst fears were confirmed. The bodies of her comrades littered the bloody ground. The camp was a shambles: tents slashed, boxes smashed, and supplies scattered amongst the dead. Gertrude did a circuit around the camp but found no one. At last she entered the camp to count the dead. She found Artur nailed to a tree with tent spikes. A crude symbol was carved into his forehead. It was Orc work. Gertrude cursed under her breath. While she was ducking the Roadwardens, the Orcs had wiped out her band. She was the only survivor. The Outlaw gathered up as many arrows as she could find, then smeared her face and hands with soot from the fire pit. The Orc trail was easy enough to find. No one trampled the forest like the Orcs. She disappeared amongst the trees, carefully tracking her prey. She may not be able to kill them all, but Gertrude would take her vengeance. For Artur and all her comrades. The Orcs would come to fear this forest, Gertude swore.
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