The Enemy Within

TEW #1: Mare Tales and Murder

July 31, 2014 by Paul

I haven't posted about the first session of The Enemy Within yet as this week has proved busier - and more tiring - than I'd expected. The session, to my mind, went well enough - though I'm a poor judge!

At the very end of our character generation session, last week, the four characters arrived in Delberz on the river. It isn't clear where they have come from or how far they have travelled. We left that open for later clarification.

The group - doctor, road warden, dilettante and urchin - made their way to The Charred Mare drinking hole near the docks and acquired a drink through deception. The doctor, Eva, sought a game of cards, but came away wanting, as the crowd seemed more into knuckle bones or the knife game. The dilettante, Amelie, negotiated a place to sleep for the night with Rummel, the owner of the Mare.

Erich and Konrad (urchin and road warden, respectively) followed some of the drinkers out of the Mare and into the warehouses beyond. They talked their way into a grain store, and found an illicit fighting club in the basement. Losing money on a wager, they nevertheless found out some potentially useful information. Much hard feeling about diversion of river traffic to another local dock, further downstream, with cheaper fees was diverted to rumour of corrupt road wardens exacting unreasonable taxes on local travellers. A few more knowledgeable locals suggested bandits, going by the moniker of the Black Feathers, rather than warden taking advantage of traders taking to the road instead of the rivers. It would also appear that two well-to-do senior merchants were behind the fight club, and were not above a little slavery on the side.

Eva and Amelie, back at the Mare, found themselves in the company of Pierre, a traveller from Brionne in Bretonnia. He claimed to have a calling from The Lady that had led him to take to the road, though Eva suspected him more of a conman and a card shark. Indeed, both ladies lost a few coppers to his game, though Eva could not see any cheating going on. Pierre claimed that a bout of gout had slowed his travels, but that he would be leaving Delberz by coach in two days. He departed and the ladies followed him at a distance. He appeared to become aware of them and ran - but when they followed and caught up with him he claimed to have simply mistook them for ne'er-do-wells after his money. Eva continued to suspect him of something more, but allowed him to go on his way.

The following morning, the group went into the better quarter of the town to find Erich's friend Franz, servant to a merchant family. When they visited the address, they found the house quiet and their knocks unanswered. Queries with neighbours suggested the house had received visitors the previous night.

Investigation round the back found the rear door unlocked, and a dead body in the kitchen, apparently stabbed to death with a fine-bladed weapon. Further investigation found two further bodies - clothes suggesting servants and both apparently slaughtered with animalistic savagery - in the dining room. Erich recognized one of the mauled bodies as Franz. Eva checked the bodies over thoroughly and the wounds suggested weaponry like animal claws and teeth.

A count of bedrooms in the house suggested at least two missing persons - one servant and one of the owners.

Amelie discovered an odd brooch in the kitchen - three silvered sticks forming a rough triangle - and a faint trail of muddy footprints in the entrance hall, leading down the service passage into the kitchen, then diverting into the dry store.

A thorough investigation of the store found a loose slab at the back giving access into a hidden cellar, containing further supplies - and a broken wall. The hole in the wall - broken in from the outside - revealed a rough, dark passageway with a cool and fetid breeze. Erich - having seen the brooch and the tunnel - made a connection with old tales of creatures living in underground tunnels and a cult serving something called the Horned Rat.

Fearing blame if discovered, the group went out to the street to hail local authorities and alert them to the tragedy.

From a GM perspective

The Enemy Within is all about the long game. As I said at the start, I thought it went well - because I need to spend time scattering around threads and clues for what lies ahead. I believe it entirely possible that one or more of the meetings or discoveries made so far might go somewhere soon - or later on - while others might prove to be red herrings or ventures running parallel to the main thrust of the story.

I've been keen to build up my background reading with some thematic and relevant material. This week, I have been casting a gaze over the Road Wardens section of Shades of Empire - which also has value in parallel because of the other organisations covered. I have no plans to use anything from this book unmodified. However, there's enough here to get me thinking, plotting and planning. Of all the things I need right now, I need a plan. Also, ready-made maps and notes on locations help.

In addition, I have also been reading Death & Dishonour, which has definitely provided me with some Warhammer spirit. The variety of stories doesn't necessarily intersect with my own intentions, but the feel does - and a few elements have led me to read further. Pierre and his reference to The Lady might not have appeared without Rest Eternal from this book.

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Let's Talk

July 22, 2014 by Paul

Personally, I found the first session of The Enemy Within interesting to participate in. The session focussed solely on character generation (and a stronger me should have called the session to a close at 10.15PM, instead of kicking off the start of the adventure). Despite best efforts by one player, we rolled no dice - because Gumshoe character creation is about building - whether in terms of personlity, associations, drives or the slightly chrunchier business of assigning points.

I suppose I could have muddied the waters of creativity by bringing some kind of random character creator tool along, but... You notice I said 'muddied the waters' back there. Random tables might occasionally offer a nudge or a push, but they also often serve to constrain and bound creativity. The stuff you roll becomes a wall, a prison - and you miss the fun of the journey.

I know it can be overwhelming to have someone ask you to create a character from scratch. More so when you only have minimal information to go on. I offered no crutches. I didn't bring any rule books or game supplements. I gave a swift, potted overview of the Old World, in terms of rough alignment with our world, in terms of geography and history.

I really didn't want to get into the specifics of Warhammer's incredibly rich back story - and whenever a player suggested they have some association with a city, deity, personality or whatever, I suggested we leave it blank. Gumshoe works if you hold back a few build points and assign them to abilities that present themselves as needing expertise in play - and on that same basis, connections and associations warranted leaving a blank space to fill them in later when they mattered.

In the end, we essentially sat around and threw ideas around the table, bouncing them off each individual's own take on their character and back story. Initially, we picked out a type - like doctor or dilettante - and then began to drill down. We needed to work out:

• why the character had chosen to give up their career and take to the road,
• how they knew at least one member of the party, and
• what was their driving motivation

Along the way, we could learn a little more about family, personality and the idiosyncracies of their existence.

It started slowly - I expected it to; once we got going, however, the discussion flowed and different people offered constructive thought and feedback on the backgrounds emerging around each character. When something sounded good, positive feedback followed - and often a further thought or idea. If something didn't gel quite right, people contributed their own thoughts.

For example, we have Amelie, daughter of a noble Bretonnian family, shipped off to become a nun somewhere in the Old World. The order seems to have had hospital and alms duties, and Amelie contributed to both. In the end, however, the demands of the lifestyle didn't sit well with her and she became a run-away, taking to the road.

The player suggested she now had a small home in a town - but, that didn't sit right with another player. Amelie was all but disowned by her family and hadn't heard any word from them in at least five years. She had been with a holy order for much of that time... Where was the money for a home coming from? Better that she find a place to stay with someone, working for her keep - like with the aspiring-but-ultimately-thrown-out-of-university-for-lack-of-funds doctor Eva - another player.

So, for the start of this adventure, we have:

• ex-friar, recently road warden Konrad
• daughter of noble family, ex-nun, recently back-street surgeon's assistant Amelie
• sometime aspiring doctor, now non-guild back-street medic Eva
• street urchin Erich, on the run for his life, illicit substance provider to Eva

Of all the characters, I think Erich has the background warranting more investigation. Konrad and Eva have more details filled in, but neither has much consideration of family or the reason they ended up in their first career. Amelie has the richest back story, much filled in by other players as part of the discussion. Everyone has a few hooks, with blanks around a CITY they're worked or studied in, ORGANISATIONs they're in trouble with, DEITIES they have served, and so forth. All good stuff - and I'm looking forward to developing it.

Character sheet-wise, I need to make the text bigger! I also need to correct Skulldiggery (!) and remove Current from Profession, as it isn't and should be Recent.

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And So It Begins

July 20, 2014 by Paul

I assure you I have nothing but the best of intentions in running a game of The Enemy Within. I played it more than 25 years ago in the first blustering spurt of roleplaying that made up my gaming career. Back then, I enjoyed to play - something I find it an increasing struggle to do these days. We would spend long, lazy, sweltering summers playing games in a friend's family's caravan, out on their front drive. I suspect we didn't drink enough water, which might explain the at best hazy memories and sense of delirium about the whole period.

Initially, I played a gnome; later, I followed his demise with a heavily accented road warden.

In the cold light of day, all these years later, The Enemy Within has retained a spot in my gaming heart - and has become a bit of a classic. I suspect it has a lot to do with people of that period playing it and recalling it fondly, rather than any specific superiority of design or content. Certainly, the campaign arc lacks somewhat from the haphazard writing approach generated by the growth of the Games Workshop juggernaut over the period of TEWs publication. Many others have given the matter much greater thought than I, so I don't propose to re-tread old ground here.

Tomorrow, I run the first session - all being well - at my local STURP (Stockport Unorganised Role Players) group, which will more than likely handle character generation and background. We'l see how it develops and progresses from there - and, I'll keep this ramshackle blog updated - or interlinked with other sources like my Google+, Twitter and Tumblr - as we move along.

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Character Sheet

July 13, 2014 by Paul

A Gumshoe character sheet for The Empire Within - it's a first draft and a work in progress. Probably needs quite fine handwriting to get stuff into the spaces available...

I have tried to keep to the flavour of the First Edition skills, while also including a spread that will work with Gumshoe. In some instances, you might want to broadly interpret what a WFRP skill represents in terms of a Gumshoe Ability.

For example, Consume Alcohol is carousing and such like. You have the ability to ply individuals with drink to extract information, while remaining in control and sober. You might find this the only means to dig up information from vagrants, bar room regulars and high society inebriates.

Currently, I'm working on the basis of capable, but ultimately green, adventurer material. At creation, a character will get 60 points for General Abilities with 15 points in Network (as per Night's Black Agents ability), and Investigative Ability points based on group size:

# of players	Investigative Build Points
2	31pts
3	23pts
4	21pts
5+	19pts

You can see my proposed character sheet for the game posted up over on Google+ or RPG Geek.

Originally posted at Google+. If you care to comment, you can do it on Google+