As promised, this is a write-up (actual play) of my first Scarlet Heroes game.
Nan-Ko is a Skandr human Fighter, former blacksmith, living in Nordheim as his saga begins.
I rolled 10/11/13/11/10/10 for his stats, so invoke the rule of 16 somewhere to turn Str from 10 to 16
- Str 16 +2 bonus
- Int 10
- Wis 10
- Con 13 +1 bonus
- Dex 11
- Cha 11
Next, assign some Traits (free-form, rather than chosen from a skills list, more like Risus)
- Mighty Thews (former blacksmith): 1
- Iron constitution: 1
- Cat-like tread: 1
- Aided a talented thief: 1
Goals: one day, I will be a king. But for now, I will need to collect funds to finance this destiny
The old favourite mini-game of buying starting gear out of initial money, and calculating how much it all weighs results in the following:
- Leather armour & shield (AC6)
- Broadsword (1d8)
- 2 knives (1d4, throw 15'-30')
- backpack
- Common clothes
- crowbar, 50' hemp rope, 10 torches, 1 gallon waterskin, rations for 2 days
Total load 69 lb. Can carry 80 lb with no penalty. (may leave some torches and rations at home, or dump them on the adventure, to allow more loot)
 |
| Nan-Ko the Northman (as imagined by AI) |
Character creation is complete.
The troubles of Weeping Lotus
Start with an Urban adventure, threat level 1 for a first effort
The adventure says: a target belongs to a group or ethnicity that is suffering problems from an antagonist.
Draw the Target, the Antagonist, and a Crime. If the Antagonist is inside the group, they committed the Crime on an Actor, infuriating outsiders. If the Antagonist is outside the group, they want to hurt the Target with the Crime. Scenes revolve around calming tempers, preventing harm, and getting justice for the wronged.
The target is Weeping Lotus, a Shou-Blooded Honest gravetender, ex-lover of Nan-Ko
The Antagonist is a Wretched Eshkanti miser, the crime culprit
The crime is Blackmail, taking place in an isolated area and only witnessed by a random stranger who has not spoken out
Weeping Lotus scrapes a living by tending to the graves of the departed in return for small payments from their families. If it were known that he is part-Shou, it could be the end of this life for her. There is already trouble in town about the shou-blooded living among the people of Nordheim.
Now an Eshkanti has threatened to reveal her ancestry unless she pays for his silence. The meeting was probably not observed by anyone and she can't identify the man.
She approaches Nan-Ko, asking for his help.
 |
| Weeping Lotus |
Nan-Ko begins with an investigation scene, to see what he can learn. Very quickly he is waylaid by a hostile figure, while still at the local smithy (where he helps out). If he wins the fight, he will retrieve some kind of a clue to the opposition.
The foe is a trained soldier, with 2 rabble to back him up
The soldier is attempting to ambush Nan-Ko, so they make 2d8 skill checks, +1 for the soldier, also +1 for Nan-Ko's cat-like tread. Rolls are 8 (soldier) & 15 (Nan-Ko), so no ambush, just go straight to normal initiative.
Nan-Ko attacks the Soldier but it's a miss. However, with the fray die he does 1 HD damage to a rabble-guy in passing and takes him down. The fray die reflects the casual way that the hero knocks down the lower-level rabble that turn up to support the main opponent. Event the main opponent can fall victim to the fray die, if he is no higher level than the hero, as we shall see.
Now the attackers fight back. The soldier rolls a miss, and the rabble also rolled a miss.
It's not time for a morale check yet, the opposition fights on.
Round 2: Nan-Ko attacks the Soldier and misses again. With the fray die he does 2 HD damage to finish off both his assailants.
Before the authorities can arrive, Nan-Ko checks the bodies and retrieves a valuable clue to his opponent's identity.
For the next scene, Nan-Ko decides to use his clue to generate some Action. He decides to take the clue to ... A Mighty War Hero (a stranger), to disgrace the anti-Shou activists.
The Hero's initial reaction is a flat refusal. Nan-Ko's challenge will be to convince the Hero to consider the evidence. Perhaps there is something that Nan-Ko can do for the Hero in return?
The hero (let's call him Three Ox Man) would like to discover a secret. Perhaps Nan-Ko's association with a famous burglar will allow him to get access to the secret's hiding place?
Nan-Ko rolls 11+1 for his past association, which is a success. He retrieves the secret. Three Ox Man will accept this service in return for publicising Nan-Ko's clue. Tick off the clue and collect 2VP.
Now Nan-Ko has to make good on his offer of a favour to Three Ox Man in return. This will be an investigation unrelated to the problems of Weeping Lotus. Nan-Ko must search a ...social club to find the clue. Regardless of the search outcome, there is a 50% chance of a fight afterward.
Three Ox Man has asked Nan-Ko to look for something in his father's locker at the club. The Hero suspects that his father is involved in some crooked deal, but needs evidence.
Nan-Ko attmpts to sneak in at night and break in to the locker: 5+1 is not a success, but there is no fight, so he makes it in and out undetected.
Did he search the locker? (Oracle, unknown, +1 for thievery) Yes. There was no evidence there.
Is this enough to satisfy his honour with Three Ox Man? (Oracle, Unknown) Yes, But ... something Nan-Ko thinks he knows is actually wrong. Three Ox Man has discovered a problem with the clue that Nan-Ko brought him. Nan-Ko must investigate further. Because of this delay, the adversary gains 1VP.
For his next move, Nan-Ko must infiltrate a fence's shop, where there may be clues to the financial backing behind the anti-Shou faction. If he fails to pass as one of the faction, there will be a fight.
Relying on his past association with a thief to give him the right vocabulary, and his brief encounter with three of the gang, Nan-Ko just barely manages (9 exactly) to pass as a messenger and is handed a token in return.
Using the token, Nan-Ko tries to achieve some Action. He has an address for a safehouse to deliver the token. Waiting for dark, he slips out to trash the place. Relying on his cat-like tread to allow him to enter & leave undetected, he rolls 12+1 for another success.
Unfortunately he leaves just as another of the gang is arriving, leading to a fight. He faces a veteran and three Thugs. This is going to be a tougher fight than the last one.
Basic initiative (no simple roll for surprise?) means that Nan-Ko goes first, and targets the veteran. He misses. With the fray die he takes out one of the thugs.
The veteran and two thugs all miss (just).
Nan-Ko strikes again: he misses the veteran, but with the fray die he takes out the other two thugs, leaving the veteran on his own.
The veteran hits Nan-Ko for 2 damage (down to 7 hit points).
The veteran takes a morale check, but easily brushes aside the loss of the thugs. Their support means little to a seasoned fighter like this.
Nan-Ko and the veteran miss each other for two rounds. This could take a while, if they keep rolling low.
Nan-Ko scores a clear hit at last. The broadsword bites and takes 1 of the veteran's 2HD.
The veteran misses again. I declare another morale check, but 6 is a pass.
Another round sees both characters miss. Then Nan-Ko strikes and just scores a hit. Damage is just enough to finish the veteran.
A tough fight leaves Nan-Ko wounded but victorious. He drags the bodies into the house to delay their discovery and slips away home to recover. Bandaging his wounds restores the 2HP damage. 2 more VP to Nan-Ko.
The next morning, Nan-Ko is set upon by an inquisitor from the temple of Inren, the purple god of "and everything else". The inquisitor is a Tank, backed up by 3 thugs, and is clearly just here for a fight. His protest at Nan-Ko's neglect of the Nine Immortals is barely a front, before weapons are drawn. The opposition continues to step up the level of resources they will send to silence Nan-Ko.
The fight lasts 18 rounds. The three thugs fall to the fray die in the first two rounds. The inquisitor is above the fray. He wounds Nan-Ko four times, reducing him to 2 hp before Nan-Ko finishes him off.
Nan-Ko is drained. Binding his wounds, he heads across town to beg sanctuary from Three Ox Man. He recovers 2hp for this first aid.
Three Ox Man agrees to take Nan-Ko into his house to recover, but it will cost a significant service once he is ready.
Nan-Ko has a clue from the Purple Inquisitor and 1VP for surviving the attack.
After a day with Three Ox Man he is restored to 6HP, but would need an extended rest to recover any further. The case won't wait.
Word of the Inquisitor's demise spreads widely. Nordheim becomes hotter for Nan-Ko (+1 point of heat).
Using the inquisitor's clue, Nan-Ko initiates an Action scene. He must convince an ally of the foe to betray them. If not, they must fight.
The ally is a ruthless moneylender, Uncle Ching, financier of the whole anti-shou faction.
Despite having no relevant traits, Nan-Ko succeeds (14 rolled) in turning Uncle Ching away from the enemy. 2 more VP brings Nan-Ko's total to 9. One more successful scene should bring this adventure to its finale.
Nan-Ko decides to investigate, going back to the fence's shop to search for another delivery, so that he can locate another of the gang's hideouts. There's a 50:50 chance of a fight, whether he finds the clue or not.
Rolling +1 for thieving skills, Nan-Ko succeeds in picking up another delivery with an address. He also gets out without a fight. Great job. That's the 10th VP.
The story cuts straight to an Action scene. Nan-Ko must destroy information necessary to the foe's plan. On a failure, face a Fight.
Breaking in to the gang's next hideout, Nan-Ko hopes to locate their evidence of Shou ancestry, so that he can put a stop to their targetted attacks.
Challenge roll: 12+1, a clear success for Nan-Ko. He finds and destroys the records. The gang is broken and Weeping Lotus can rest easy.
A difference of 9 VP between Nan-Ko and the opposition is a complete success for Nan-Lo. The Eshkanti miser is forced to abandon his attacks on Shou-blooded inhabitants in Nordheim.
The rulebook suggest 1XP per "session" of play. I think this adventure required four separate sessions, although two of them run together into a full afternoon's activity. There were 3 fights across 9 scenes. Some scenes were basically just a challenge check that was passed. I think I'll award 1 XP per fight and 1 for the rest of the adventure. It feels more concrete, but may not work so well in an adventure complicated by failed challenges. Let's see.
Nan-Ko gains 4XP and goes up to 2nd Level. He takes a 2nd point in cat-like tread, following his burglary successes.
A favour for Three Ox Man
There is an item that Three Ox Man would like Nan-Ko to acquire for him. It is a grey jar, located within a dungeon not far from Nordheim's walls. There may be some wilderness crawling to precisely locate the dungeon first.
The place is a natural fortress, known as Scar Keep. It is not large inside (1d6 locations) and a Threat level equal to Nan-Ko's HD (2). The main inhabitants are dwarves (at least, that's what Three Ox Man says, no mention of repenters among them)
Since the wildernesss section is only just outside the walls, the threat level is just 1.
Three Ox Man will provide provisions for the trek: 7 days worth, with 2 wineskins of water. Nan-Ko can carry this load instead of his usual rations and rope with 1 lb of carrying capacity left over.
I've adjusted the rate of water consumption, or else even a strong guy like Nan-Ko couldn't carry provisions for any useful duration. For future wilderness adventures I'll take a different approach.
To create the grey jar, I made up a quick maguffin table to be used whenever the adventure needs a random physical object. It can be used with a list of colours to be more specific (e.g. resistor colour codes).
- bottle or jar
- book
- scroll
- weapon
- armour
- staff or wand
- jewelry (p83)
- statuette
- garment (p83)
- seal, mask or fan
Nan-Ko leaves Nordheim by the Mountain Gate, which leads toward his homeland in the North.
>---<
/0412 \
< Scrub >---<
\hills/0513 \
>---< Scrub >---<
\hills/0613 \
>---< Cold >
/0514 \marsh/
< Taiga >---<
\hills/
>---<
/0515 \
< >
\Gate /
>---<
Day 1, into Taiga hills 0514. No encounter. No event, so the event threshold rises to 2. No feature, so the feature threshold rises to 2.
Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).
Day 2, N into 0513. No encounter. No event, threshold rises to 3. Feature found.
For this adventure, will assume that a nearby feature is Scar Keep, but rolled anyway: a farm village.
Nan-Ko avoids the village, but notes that it appears to have been built by pre-human hands and is now partially destroyed. The walls are of earth-cored stone, with towers skewed and tilted. There is widespread planting within the walls, and the buildings are of muted pastel colours.
Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).
Day 3, SE to 0613, in case the keep has been missed. No encounter. No event, threshold rises to 4. A feature is found (on a roll of 1) and it's a dungeon!
Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).
Day 4, time to explore Scar Keep.
The first area Nan-Ko discovers is an armoury, with an encounter and hidden treasure. There's a cave bear in here (using encounter tables p78 for the hills nearby). The bear has 7HD and totally out-classes Nan-Ko.
Reaction roll: scorn. The bear growls at Nan-Ko to get lost, which he promptly does. Roll: he's outside the keep, he didn't stumble into one of the other areas.
Nan-Ko reasons that the bear has taken up residence here. Either the dwarves are blocked in, or there must be another entrance. He goes looking.
Nan-Ko finds another way in, leading to a vault. No encounter or hazard, but hidden treasure M2 (200GP). Not a feature.
He searches the vault, looking for his objective, which isn't here. Each turn of search, he rolls a check and if successful, generate a valuable object from p83. If the object exceeds the remaining value of the trove, replace it with a purse of coins. Also remember to roll for wandering encounters each turn.
Turn 1 he succeeds in discovering a tourmaline gem worth 100GP
Turn 2 he finds nothing
Turn 3 he finds nothing and has become nervous about company, so moves on to the next area.
In the Commisary, Nan-Ko triggers the entry trap. His saving throw (2d8) is a failure and he takes 2d4 damage (1HP). The room is otherwise empty, and only leads to the armoury and the bear. The dwarves and Three Ox Man's grey jar are apparently long gone.
Nan-Ko binds his wounds and returns to the vault, to spend another 3 turns searching before calling it a day.
Immediately he recognises that a table is decently made and probably worth 40GP, but too big to carry
Next turn he sees another table worth 60GP
Finally he succeeds again, and this time realises there is nothing left to find.
He hurries out before any wanderers arrive.
Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).
Day 5 Nan-Ko decides to ask in the village about the dwarves. He doesn't like to return empty-handed.
I'll play this as an urban investigation scene. Nan-Ko visits the village and approaches a man carrying books, who happens to be an erudite bookseller, with the intention of paying him for information.
The bookseller (Svejn Alvis) is human, probably a mix of Skandr and Eshkanti, dressed soberly in dark clothes.
Rules note: not much clue about size of a bribe, except that the equipment table has a minor bribe at 5gp, major at 400gp. Nan-Ko is going with 10GP for this situation.
He rolled even, so Svejn is happy to pocket the coins and share what he knows about the dwarves: when the cave bear moved in, it killed many of them and the rest fled NW past this village and beyond.
Nan-Ko has some supplies remaining, so he'll explore 1 more hex to the NW.
Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).
Day 6, NW to 0412. Encounter. No event, threshold rises to 2. No feature, threshold rises to 2.
Nan-Ko runs into an ogre (with another 5 in a lair nearby).
Nan-Ko strikes first for 2HD.
The ogre strikes back for 2HP leaving Nan-Ko with 11.
They miss each other for two rounds, and then Nan-Ko strikes for 2HD and the ogre goes down.
Time for a quick grab at the ogre's purse before scarpering. Can't see how it comes off.
Roll for company as a 1 on d6 - not this time, but the others are surely on their way.
Another grab for the purse. Got it this time, off comes the ogre's bag. Nan-Ko hurries back to the village to avoid the rest of the ogres.
Loot from the ogre is 60 gp, 6 earrings (Cheap Jewelry) worth 30gp each, 1 finger ring (Costly Jewelry) worth 100gp
Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).
Day 7, home to Nordheim & report back to Three Ox Man. It's bad news, but there's a clue to where the dwarves took his jar. Also, in a spirit of sharing the spoils, Nan-Ko hands over the gem he recovered from Scar Keep. It should cover the costs of equipping Nan-Ko for the search.
Three Ox Man makes a reaction roll (as friendly NPC, +1 for a modest bribe) and is "persuadable". Nan-Ko makes a charisma check to persuade him (12) and aces it. This was a good effort and Three Ox Man is well pleased at the efforts Nan-Ko has made.
Time for XP. Only 2 sessions and 1 fight make this a 2XP adventure. Nan-Ko advances to lvl 3 and takes a point in Wanderer.
The Hunt for the dwarves
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| The dwarves with a grey jar |
Nan-Ko offers to spend another week following the trail of the grey jar and the fleeing dwarves. Three Ox Man is pleased to supply provisions for a further expedition and wishes him well.
>---<
/0311 \
>---< Heavy >---<
/0211 \Taiga/0411 \
< Heavy >---< Mntns >
\Taiga/0312 \ /
>---< Mntns >---<
\ /0412 \
>---< Scrub >---<
\hills/0513 \
>---< Scrub >---<
\hills/0613 \
>---< Cold >
/0514 \marsh/
< Taiga >---<
\hills/
>---<
/0515 \
< >
\Gate /
>---<
Day 1 Nan-Ko is retracing his steps through known territory. Rather than exploring at 1 hex per day, he is travelling at a rate described on p21. For convenience I have reversed the table to show the time taken to cover 3 miles (from the hex edge to centre or from centre to edge).
- Clear 1hr
- Road 40 mins
- Forest/hils 72 mins
- Jungle 90 mins
- Swamp 2 hrs
- Mountain 10 hrs
On this basis, he can reach the centre of 0412 in 7 hrs precisely. He will camp for the night near the edge with 0312.
There is an encounter, but no Event. Nan-Ko encounters 5 Shou Orcs during the night as he is camped. They are 80' away when they first notice Nan-Ko and close in to melee range before he is aware of them. Move to combat and the orcs go first.
Rules question: how to assign weapons to the Orcs?
List all the types used by the enemy (e.g. orcs may have 2-handed, 1-handed, light, small or a light bow for d6). Now roll a selection for each figure in the group, e.g. a d10 for these 5 options.
This group has 2 with 1-handed weapons d8, 1 light d6, 1 small d4, 1 bow d6
The orcs strike. One hits for 2HP (leaves 15). The others miss. Nan-Ko misses in return.
New round, back to normal sequence.
Nan-Ko hits but does no damage. The fray die puts down both of the 1-hander orcs.
The orcs strike back: one hits for 2hp, one hits for 1HP. Another hits for 2hp. Nan-Ko is down to 10.
Nan-Ko strikes and takes out both of the melee fighters. The Fray die puts down the archer, since at night he would have to be close-in to fire, close enough to take a swipe from Nan-Ko's sword.
Nan-Ko binds his wounds and is on 12hp going forward.
Did they have treasure? 1/8 for random encounters (p122), 1/12 for beasts. Roll 5d8 and not one had any.
Day 2 NW to 0312. Wierdly, this exploration only takes a standard 1 day, although it would take 10 hours to hike to the middle of the hex. Whatever.
No encounter. No Event (threshold rises to 3). No Feature (threshold rises to 3).
Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).
Day 3 NW to 0211.
Encounter an Orc-Tinh, a living spirit who has become immortal. The Tinh is on the way to visit a friendly neighbouring community. It is disinclined to fight unless it seems necessary.
Can Nan-Ko ask it about the dwarves? Reaction roll for NPC stranger: annoyed. Check on charisma (no relevant plusses) 15 is a clear success. The oracle says "Truth". The Tinh tells all. The oracle says "Exploration".
The Tinh takes no interest in Dwarves; if Nan-Ko explores further, he may find them, but the grey jar is poison and he should not touch it.
Event: a snowstorm traps Nan-Ko for 4 days
Day 7 the snow abates, Nan-Ko must return to town.
Three Ox Man is open to be persuaded by Nan-Ko (reaction roll, followed by charisma check): 8+1 he believes that Nan-Ko has told the true story of his adventures.
Three Ox Man releases Nan-Ko from his quest for the grey jar (although in his heart, he intends to keep looking for it).
2 short sessions, but still 2XP for Nan-Ko, who remains 3rd level.
I hope this example of play shows how a game of Scarlet Heroes flows.
Until next time, health & happiness to you all.
