Mad Men of Gotheim

[Zisse]

We just played mad Men of Gotheim last weekend. We had a great time and enjoyed the short adventure.

It is good for a one-shot filling a 4 hour session.

I listened to wreckless dice' podcast version of it before, which gave me a good overview. The podcast actual play is around 2-3 hours. I did not finish the podcast before we played it ourselves. Hence I was not well prepared for the final encounter. Afterwards I realized that I would improve in the way the monster stats are provided in WFRP 4. In contrast to e.g. D&D, the traits are just listed and you need to know them by heart or look them up on the fly. In D&D* I am used to the NPC descriptions providing a full explanation of the traits etc. That would have helped me a lot in the last encounter.

We liked the adventure overall, I really liked the description and pictures of the inhabitants of Gotheim. The plot is a little linear, although it has some sandbox elements in exploring the town and interacting with the inhabitants. In my view you cannot expect more in such a short scenario.

I gave it 5 stars on DTRPG.

Your comments?

*: We played this scenario through Fantasy grounds with D&D rules, three first level characters. It worked fine. Let's see, how well this works, when the characters level up.

[mormegil]

Played two weeks ago on Roll20, WFRP 4th Ed rules.

The village got flooded, the players lost their horse, only 6 villagers escaped alive!

The players got a real biting, but after a Fate, Res, and a bit of Corruption, they came back one piece. Though the Dwarf was Unconscious for 2 days.

All in all excellent time, I really enjoy Solo creatures in this edition.

[Arnizipal]

All in all excellent time, I really enjoy Solo creatures in this edition.

Did you have to modify the stats of the creature at all?
I might run this in the future so any suggestions are welcome

[mormegil]

All in all excellent time, I really enjoy Solo creatures in this edition.

Did you have to modify the stats of the creature at all?
I might run this in the future so any suggestions are welcome

As is the creature is very powerful.

You need to remember well the Size rules cause this is half the fight.

What actually happened with my party is that the Wizard and Cleric lost their Terror Checks, so that the Slayer, Hunter and Riverman where left to fight the monster.

Corrosive Blood makes it impossible for the players to gather advantage which is the only mechanism in their favor.

The creature is Great as it is!

[Arnizipal]

That's good to hear
I had a similar experience with the mutant leader in the Making The Rounds scenario.
He bleeds brass when hit (counts as corrosive blood) which, together with the "regular" mutants outnumbering the party made for a very tense fight.

[CommanderCax]

All in all excellent time, I really enjoy Solo creatures in this edition.

Did you have to modify the stats of the creature at all?
I might run this in the future so any suggestions are welcome

I did not had to modify its stats. It ran quite well for us. Much better that the Basilisk or even a lonely Troll recently, because it has a lot of nasty special rules that you need to know well before combat though.

• Armour 3,

• Bestial,

It shies away from fire and gains a Broken Condition if struck by it. In defence, it only uses the Dodge Skill. If it loses more than half its Wounds, it will attempt to Flee unless protecting its young or cornered

• Bite +9,

On its turn, the creature may make a Free Attack by spending 1 Advantage. The Damage of the attack equals Rating and includes SB.

• Bounce,

The creature can bounce high, perhaps with powerful limbs, magic, or stubby wings. When Charging or Running, it doubles its Movement Characteristic, and can ignore all intervening terrain and characters as it leap over them. (Move 7 - Walk 14 - Run 56)

• Corrosive Blood,

The creature’s blood is corrosive. Every time its is Wounded, blood splashes free, and all targets Engaged with it take 1d10 Wounds modified by Toughness Bonus and Armour Points, to a minimum of 1.

• Distracting,

The creature distracts or confuse foes, possibly exuding a soporific musk or nauseating reek, or maybe its appearance is bizarrely horrifying. All living targets within 5 yards suffer a penalty of –20 to all Tests. A target can only suffer this penalty once, no matter how many Distracting foes there are.

• Infected,

The creature, or its weapon, carries a nasty infection. If it causes a living opponent to lose Wounds, it must pass an Easy (+40) Endurance Test or contract a Festering Wound (see page 187).

• Maddening Aura,

At the start of every Round, every Character within 20 yards of the creature must make an Average (+20) Cool Test. If failed, roll on the Creeping Irrationality table. If Fumbled, the Character also gains +1 Corruption Point — further, should the Character become corrupted, this automatically results in a Mental Corruption. Where relevant, any Maddening Aura effects are cumulative.

• Night Vision,

• Size (Enormous),

Impact if two steps or more larger (unit die to damage). It multiplies any Damage caused by 2; this multiplication is calculated after all modifiers are applied. All successful strikes against smaller targets activate the Deathblow rule, even if the target survives (see page 160).
Defending Against Big Creatures: You suffer a penalty of –4 SL when using Melee to defend an Opposed Test. It is recommended to dodge a Giant swinging a tree, not parry it!
Terror (2).
A creature that is larger ignores the need to Disengage if it wishes to leave melee combat; instead, it brushes smaller combatants out of the way, moving where it wishes.
Opposed Strength Tests (and similar), it wins automatically.
Stomp as a Free Attack, by spending 1 Advantage (+5), as they kick downwards or otherwise bash smaller opponents out of the way.

• Tail +8,

The creature’s tail is capable of sweeping foes from their feet. On its turn, it may make a Free Attack by spending 1 Advantage. The Tail does Rating Damage, which includes its Strength Bonus already. Opponents with a smaller Size than the creature, that suffer any Wounds from the attack, also gain the Prone Condition.

• Tongue Attack +5 (12),

The creature’s prehensile tongue can wrap itself around prey, dragging it to a grisly end. On its turn, it may make a Free Attack by spending 1 Advantage. This is a ranged attack that does Damage equal to its Rating (the range is in brackets). If the attack hits, the target receives 1 Entangled Condition and, if a smaller Size, is dragged towards the creature, and is Engaged in melee combat. The creature can then choose whether to release the target, perform a Free Attack using its Weapon Trait, or to keep the target wrapped in its tongue, initiating a Grapple (see page 163).

• Venom,

The creature’s attacks are poisoned or envenomed. When it causes Wounds, its opponent gains a Poisoned Condition. If no Difficulty is marked to resist the Venom, it is assumed to be Challenging.

• Weapon +9