I was looking at running it with Burning Wheel.
If any others know that system and these adventures, I would really like some ideas to pitch at the players to help make Beliefs.
I have not run BW yet so will be starting with some demo adventures from the Adventure Burner, so I have some time.

Golotha: The Deeper Dark is pretty much done - honest. I just can't get around to finishing the supporting locations properly. Anders has kindly donated the character art again.

It's portions of Mejetus: Ancient Shades I may want to playtest at IviniaCon so, there is no excuse, Deeper Dark will be out before IviniaCon unless there are sufficient new folks attending in Lund who haven't played it.

Sorry the FF&F's look doubtful - I may get as far as suggesting which of the existing FF&F write-ups have proven apporiate during play to give some sense of the knods of PCs that work and at which skill levels.

Part 3 does include a small amount of voice acting (blind seeress, hooded villain, posh arcanist: the usual range of fantasy stereotypes) nothing too extreme compared to some from parts 1 & 2.

I would have it no other way...although I may have used Anglo Saxon phrases to 'ahem' describe what I stereotypically phrased as 'Celtic tendencies' in storytelling at certain times I am a terrible racist

As a random piece of feedback; I was concerned with the amount of exposition held within the tale telling (partly because I had not printed it out at that point and following it on a scrolling screen was a bit bewildering). However; when played the players were completely on the ball and in the zone; so I would encourage more. It played out very much like a Cthulu adventure; the awful inevitability deliciously drawing in to the denouement

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Plots and schemes are the same thing..

I can only guess (and fear) what you did to those poor mountain rams.

Yes - I worry about including it too.
I suppose I default to providing a 'script' on the grounds a GM has the option of skimming and then putting it anyway they want.

Perhaps the best of all possible worlds would be a small box somewhere on those pages that says 'the key things they need to learn/find out from NPC X is ...' and 'The following example indicates how they might be told'.

What do you think?

Something along those lines. You already put mini flowcharts in the scenes which is like what you suggest.

What I did was to create my own..grand flowchart for want of a better word..which clearly laid out the progression of events in the adventures entirity as they need to happen. I hate nothing more than to be scrabbling around not quite sure what is 'suppossed' to be happening next. (Optional scenes; such as the asides in Golotha; incorporate well into a flow chart.) This I got down to a two page chart which at a glance gave me the whole picture of the adventure. (On this chart I then had references to Page numbers to go to for more information. In theory; if I knew my stuff well enough; the flow chart would be enough, and at times it was.)

Another thing I found was that the wealth of information in the 60 page adventure PLUS the articles (Afarezirs, Tirsa, Cynswyr Ariensun, The Trident Inn etc etc etc) made each line of my Flow chart a mini adventure in itself; which for me benefitted from external organising as well as the already internal..pointers. All this structural information needed is in the text already; but is often mixed in with everything else (NPC STATS, Rules Suggestions, myths, pictures etc.) and thus could not be easily re-called by my average brain

This was made more necessary by the intertwining of our own story into the tale. I ended up with another 24 pages of material; which REALLY meant I needed something extra to keep me focused.

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Plots and schemes are the same thing..

Hi Peter,
Any chance those flow charts are available for the all consuming Harn fan?
That may help me pick the idea's for Burning Wheel beliefs.

Allan

Unfortunately not; they were in pencil scrawl and I think were discarded after the sessions finished. If they do turn up in all my gumpff I will let you know. I have no concept of Burning Wheel; but wonder what 'beliefs' are in it; if a flow chart of sequential events can inform them ??????

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Plots and schemes are the same thing..

Beliefs in BW are a form of Goal interpretation for the player and advancement for the character.
So other systems may mention having goals for the character, BW actually rewards you for playing with them.
Its also a form of buy in for the player to the situation. You can download from the BW site the first 75 pages of the rules for free where it talks about Beliefs.
Heart of Darkness has this exploration/find the person situation, but you need to generate Beliefs for the characters that ties them into the situation and to each other. The start of the adventure does not seem to spend much energy explaining how the group are together or want to be involved, bar the basic 'here's the adventure lets do it'. BW needs a bigger buy in.

So my problem is time is short to read the entire adventure, but I need to find those hooks to hang beliefs on.
Like; the mercenary captain you are looking for did something nasty to people you love, etc. But I still need some way to explain how the group is together and offered the job. Unless there was no group and each person has either been ordered to go, or learned about the job and got themselves to the meeting etc.

Anyway enough ramble, I may have to spend the time to read the text.

Allan

Righty ho....the buy in.

The root of all evil is connected to the heart of darkness (the thigh bone is connected to the knee bone...) so if players have played HoD there is impetus from that...I forget the suggested buy ins for the HoD. However; my own group have their own reason's to be adventurers; which I will try to summarise. However; they are quite far down the ole adventurin' line; and original driving forces get entangled with obligations and circumstances etc...you know how it is

Ovidshe Shek Pvar- To further her learning; and by this process hopefully attain advancement.
Outcast Sindarin. To meet with the lost Dark Elves (and ultimately rid Harn of the scourge of humanity)
Foot soldier of the Lady of Paladins.- Fanatical Laranian; anything to serve the goddes and belittle her enemies.
Household Laranian Priest. To do the will of the goddes and also serve church and serve employer.
Serf/militiaman/thief. Stay alive; get rich, live life to the full and obey masters. If they are watching.
Sailor: A recent addition; raison d'etre somewhat forced...stay alive get back on old ship; find former employer and get out of Rethem! (But probably get Rich safely is the best summary)

Not necessarily convergent goals to say the least This is where my Maguffins have come in. Loosely put; they are hunting/forced to hunt an undead renegade sorcerer who also happens to be a 'renegade/outcast' in the eyes of the Church of Morgath. Each individual has varying degrees of 'glue' that tie them to this task:

Shek Pvar: A renegade must be followed.
Outcast Sindarin. Has been secretely been bidden to do so for the Gulmovrins crimes against elven kind (A sort of test to join the Dark Elf Fraternity as well)
Fanatical Foot Soldier...It is a Morgathian...
Priest...It is a Morgathian...but also employer/fuedal master?, A wealthy knight (and secret shek-pvar) has been tasked with this by Melderyni..advisors.
Serf. Fuedal master (same one as above) A wealthy knight (and secret shek-pvar) has been tasked with this by Melderyni..advisors. The serf does what his Lord says.
Sailor. Was on the ship that the wealthy knight and the others (above) bought passage on. Has been flung into the arms of all of the above and must be wondering how soon he get away from them

This 'chasing the wizard zombie' task was then woven into HOD and the ROAE. So essentially; I cheated. (Or crafted existing players in seemlessly ) The normal motivations for players doing HOD and ROAE were superceded by my own maguffin. So unless you want your players beliefs to tie in with chasing an undead zombie sorcerer...my notes will be useless

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Plots and schemes are the same thing..

You're right - I made no effort to create any backround for the characters that might have led to them having a common interest in the opening scene of HoD. There are too many potnetial GMs out there (with too many diverse groups of players) to do that. Or am I missing the point about what you are missing?


If I was starting a group from scratch - so they have no histroy together as Peter's group obviously has then I'd adopt something like the approach in the most recent incarnations of FATE. It uses a pre-game that helps generate links between characters, and also generates the 'Aspects' they want to see used by the GM. It might be that those relationhsips and aspects are driveres ot PC action that come close to the 'Beliefs' you're seeking.

I'd then seek to find ways to link the drivers the PCs define to the story being told in the adventure.

For instance - the pregame helps a player refine the character concept to include 'Conflicted Laranian' - brought up in a manor that changes hands between Rethem and Kanday during Ezar's War. His parents are subject to forced conversion to Laranianism and he grows up a zealot under the eye of a local priest drafted into the manor to ensure compliance with the new doctrine.

However, his parent continue to think of themselves as Rethemi, and the Laraniansim he learns under the birch rod of the priest is complemented with a sense of lost Rethemi-ness and even an unfocussed longing for his Rethemi heritage.

Now, to connect that to HoD: He might find himself travelling North to see whether 'the old country' is everything his parents described. They tell tales of the noble savage, Arlun, who shaped Rethem and the young man seeks knowledge by travelling north to meet some Kubora for himself. HoD becomes a journey of discovery among the Kubora where he is driven by curiosity about ther culture as much as the 'mission' as described. All he needs is an excuse to go upriver, but will he be fascinated or disgusted by what he discovers.

Consider a very different character, brought up in the slums of Golotha and absorbed into a life of crime. Perhaps he's sent, or perhaps he escapes, to Tormau to seek employment fomr the local Guild master. He's already working for Jamys when the strnager with a funny South Rethem/North Kanday accent arrives in town asking questions about the Kubora and their culture. He is drawn into the adventure as Jamys' eyes and ears - though that may not be something he shares with the other PCs.

What about a Knorran acolyte/priest? Perhaps easiest of all - she's in search of knowledge about something called 'Song of the Fallen God' which is referenced in a dusty tome of letters from a Corani commander in Peran to his wife at home. 'It seesm to me these savagaes will beleive anything at all ... they even think some lake or marsh in the wilderness was caused by a god falling out of the sky. Imagine it!'.

And finally ... my summary of hooks to save you reading HoD - though you'll need to before starting to play anyway, I'd suggest.

Mysterious locations;
Unknown peoples;
the blurring of myth and history;
simple greed;
desperation to get away from civilisation (for a while).
a missing person enquiry

Root of all Evil is premised on the PC group having completed HoD, so once they are in at the start it shouldn't be difficult to motivate them into the second episode. It wouldn;t be right to include too many spoilers, but the same drives would apply as above.

Thanks guys that was great.
Quote;
Or am I missing the point about what you are missing?
No that was it.

Defiantely lots to work on, thanks again.

Allan

I have a question about the weather in Peran:

Did anyone create a Peran weather chart, i.e. from Nuzyael to Morgat or anything between?

My question is based on the HoD page 7 and 8 / wearing armour:
"Within a league that will become impossible as the heat is such heavy armour will generate Fatigue..."

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everybodyTHINKShimselfSOwellSUPPLIEDwithCOMMONsenseTHATevenTHOSEmostDIFFICULTto PLEASEneverDESIREmoreOFitTHANtheyALREADYhave. RENEdescartes.

I will admit that I didn't generate the weather - I invented a heat wave to get a suitably oppressive atmosphere going.

It needn't make a lot of difference if you want to use a standard weather chart. My advice would be that the forest is generally a little wetter until you get up into the hills and that it's a little more on the humid side of the typical Rethemi coastal climate in the deepest forest.