(anti)HeroQuest: the count must die!

[Thierry Michel]

I finally ran a one-shot historical HQ last week - it was my first GMing in 15 years or so.

I had made pre-gens for the 3 players (ruthless warrior, cunning merchant, impulsive ex-nun) and I wanted mainly to stress the mood and the setting (merovingian france) over the plot.  So I delivered a situation in the hands of the players: assassinate a fugitive, with some obstacles: the king had just granted his life to the man, the man still had some supporters, the man was hiding in a holy place and the players had histories and enemies of their own. The situation was based on an historical anecdote, so I knew pretty much who was where and could do what and I gave players total freedom after the initial exposition.

[ I suppose this style  of play qualifies as Simulationist (as I understand the term) since for me it was pretty much the equivalent of the "sandbox" play in computer games (i.e. interact with the setting). I tried to emphasize various aspects: weakness of the central power, conflicts between warriors (franks) and nobles (gauls), importance of kinship, connections, personal leadership etc.]

The game ran smoothly, all of the contests save one were simple contests against moderate difficulty (from 14 to 1W). I wanted the players to feel like competent rogues so I toned down the suggested dificulties a bit (too much, actually, I think, as they didn't suffer major drawbacks but since they spent enough time as it was scheming and making plans I suppose it wasn't a problem).


I was ready to unleash various events int he path of the players should the game bog down, but after a slow start they made things move by themselves (the fact that one of them is usually a GM might have helped).

My decisions were occasionnally sub-optimal, notably for the final contest which took the form of a combat on the stairs of the church - I wanted to wrap things up quickly (it was late) so I didn't throw everything I had at the players, resulting in a relatively easy ending.

A few points will need addressing if we play again (I hope so):

first, of course, more challenging opponents

second, I have a minor problem with the abstract wealth system, in that the merchant was supposedly greedy, but this character trait was a bit difficult to play without "real" money

third, I'm not too sure I played right  the switching of ability mid-fight (basically the target threw his sword and tried to get the churchmen to get out and shield him).  I switched the primary ability of the NPC (from melee to manipulate or so) when it was his turn to bid, while keeping his melee ability when he was opposing the swordfighting roll of the warrior turn. Correct ?

in the same fight, the merchant fought through the melee skill of his 2 bodyguards (one giving double APs to the other), so when he got rid of his opponent, he could then suddendly transfer the points to the warior in the main fight. Did I miss something there (I suppose a roll should have been made, but I wasn't sure on how to justify it in-game) ?

[Brand_Robins]

For the abstract wealth, there are a few issues. First, I think that a greedy person can be greedy regardless of how much wealth they already have -- and the aquisition of more wealth can happen without tracking coins. However, I've still sometimes felt the same as you, and a slightly crunchier wealth system can be nice -- especially for merchent and mercenary centered games. I'd suggest starting with Wulf's Wealth Table as a way to work things like that out -- it's Glorantha centered, but you could probably convert it. It's found here: http://f2.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/EPhNQC-aOCVD5yUPM5JsORPZwbcokAcGsjmiM-k6B51B_gplRYk8fvVp2C53-asqen6bGt341xidpaopAIjtgOwqJTa2Si3s_tfsP4fQTCYF/Wealth.PDF  (you may have to be a member of the HeroQuest Rules Yahoo group to get it).

I talked about switching contests over on RPG.net already, so I'll shut up about that.

As for the AP switch, I'm not exactly sure what happened. Can you give me a few more details?

[Thierry Michel]

and here's Ben's write-up of the session, for something more meaty [ I'm impressed,:) ].

Thierry volunteered to run the first game, a historical game using the Hero Quest mechanic. So no Glorantha, no Gods and Magic, but rather the court of King Hilperic in the 6th century kingdom of Neustria. Pig shit, intrigue, blood money and excommunication.

Three characters :

[*]Odowaer (Chloe), a Francian ex-nun who ran away from the convent with her lover, was subsequently repudiated, and now earns a living obtaining information from the members of King Hilperic's court and selling it to the best bidder.
[*]Albinus (Christophe), a Gaul merchant dealing in slaves and intelligence.
[*]Sigdebert (Yours truly), a Francian noble and excellent swordsman who has the King's trust and often eliminates his enemies by provoking them to duels that he always wins. Unfortunately, he has no more funds left to pay blood money and a number of influential families want him dead.
[/list:u]

It starts in the court of Hilperic in Nogent, as a delegation of monks arrives from Tours to discuss with the King the matter of Leudaste’s excommunication. Leudaste is the erstwhile count of Tours, a lecherous man of lowly origin who raised to this place of power through intrigue and corruption. Unfortunately, in his ascent, he has made one very powerful enemy : Queen Frédégonde...

The monks have been sent by Gregoire, bishop of Tours. Led by Friar Martin, they request of the king that he confirm Leudaste’s excommunication, asserting that he has been brewing trouble, telling everyone that it would soon be lifted. Gregoire wants the excommunication firmly confirmed so that he can start stabilising Tours with the help of the new Count, Eummonius. However, good Christian that he is, Gregoire also asks of the king that he ask for the protection of Leudaste’s life. Once excommunicated, he will be an easy target, and Gregoire does not want to be responsible for a man’s death.

King Hilperic agrees on both counts. He confirms the excommunication, and ask that no man lay fist or sword on Leudaste. Excommunication is enough punishment. Keen observers of the court life notice that this second statement does not please Queen Fredégonde in the least...

A few hours later, Sigdebert, Albinus and Odowaer are met by Lodevald, one of Queen Frédégonde’s men. He suggests that some people in important positions would be much pleased if Leudaste was to meet with an untimely end, provided nothing can be traced back to the king or the queen. Our trio of dubious morality gets the message real quick and start on their way.

As they prepare to leave Nogent, however, Sigdebert’s uncle Gontran warns him that the family of Baldrick, a young man he killed in a duel, is after him and he’d better get the hell out of Nogent if he diesn’t want to end up skewered. Sigdebert ask for his uncle to advance him the blood money, but his uncle declines.

Sigdebert and his brother Héribert leave with the cover of the night and meet up with Albinus’ chariot of slaves, Odowaer and her maid Badine (?) on the next morning near the Roman highway. Nothing major happens during the week-ling journey to Tours. Sigdebert is paranoid and way of any large troop of armed men they meet on the road. Albinus manages to befriend one of the monks who happen to be travelling the same highway with Friar Martin, on their way back to Tours. He learns that Leudaste has sent an emissary of sorts to Tours in the person of Rifulk, a corrupt monk who tries to stir trouble and gain support for Leudaste’s return.

Upon arriving to Tours, Odowaer tries to locate Rifulk. She learns that the sacristan of the cathedral is a good friend of his and approaches him to try and contact Rifulk, but the sacristan denies any connection. Meanwhile, Sigdebert goes to meet with the new Count, Eummonius, ostensibly accepting the count’s mission to eliminate Leudaste (thus shifting the potential blame from the Queen to Eummonius, should blame be sought...) There he learns that Leudaste has taken refuge in the Basilica of Poitiers, where he continues his whoring and wining in the House of God.

Albinus also tries to locate Rifulk, but his business contacts, though aware of the man, do not know where he is to be found. Our friends discuss their plans and Albinus purchases poison from some contacts, just in case. They decide to not wait to find Rifulk and head directly for Poitiers to find Leudaste.

On their last evening in Tours, the innkeeper tries to convince Sigdebert not to stay for the night. After some menace he finally blurts out that three men have been looking all over town for Sigdebert. Learning that there is only three of them, Sigdebert makes public comments disparaging their manhood and suggesting they stink of the piss of cowards.

Unsurprisingly, not long after, Sigdebert is confronted by Bladaste, one of Baldrick’s cousins, who accuses him of cowardice. Sigdebert laughs the insult off, suggesting that since Bladaste needs two other men to take him on, he must be the coward. Bladaste looses it and the three men attack. Sigdebert deftly avoids a thrown francisque and disarms Bladaste in one swift blow. Bladaste and his goons flee, and Sigdebert is left to celebrate his victory and make fun of them publicly again.

On the following day, the trio leaves for Poitiers. They travel faster because the weather is more clement. When they reach Poitiers, the town is in turmoil. They quickly learn that Leudaste is indeed barricaded inside the Basilica. Odoweare dons her nun habit (she kept it for just such an occasion) and investigates the inside of the Church. There is indeed a group of men who have established camp in one of the aisles. The resident priest seems to be doing his best to ignore them. Although she observes the men (and the accompanying women) for a while, she can't quite pinpoint which one Leudaste is (despite knowing that he has a missing ear…)

On the basis of this observation, our characters decide to go visit Father Felix, who runs the Basilica. They deliver to him the news that Leudaste's excommunication has been confirmed, and the king's mercy. They then pressed him to kick him out since his life was no longer forfeit. Father Felix refused without the backing of the local Count, Bérulf.

Sigdebert then used his status as 'close advisor to King Hilpéric' (a somewhat overstated title) to obtain a hearing with Count Bérulf. He again overstated the truth by telling Bérulf that he had been sent specifically to inform him of the king's decisions, and more specifically tested Bérulf's willingness to ignore the King's orders concerning the safety of Leudaste. Since Bérulf wanted nothing more than kicking Leudaste out but didn't seem too hot on dealing with him ostensibly.

Since time was running out (for the players as well as the characters), Albinus, Odowaer and Sigdebert hatched a quick and dirty plot to eliminate Leudaste. Odowaer once again donned her habit, and ran into the Basilica, warning Leudaste that Rifulk had sent her to warn him that the excommunication was confirmed and that Count Bérulf would soon be informed. Leudaste was suspicious at first, but a quick quizz of Father Felix confirmed the information. Odowaer informed him that Rifulk had arranged for him to be hid in a monastery in Bourgogne (her knowledge of Church Organisation came in handy !) and that she had horses and an escort ready. Leudaste decided to leave, but he took two of his trusted men with him.

Just as they got out of the Basilica, as they were going down the stairs towards the horses, a hooded warrior (actually Sigdebert) charged Leudaste and engaged his men. He benefited from the high position, but soon, Leudaste's other goons flooded out and things were looking less hopeful. Fortunately, Albinus and his two bodyguards joined the fray and took some of the pressure off Sigdebert's shoulders.

Sigdebert pressed his advantage, although one of the Leudast'es rogues nearly toppled him off his horse. When things started to look Grim for Leudaste, he threw his sword and started crying mercy, trying to attract Father Felix's attention, but at that moment, Albinus and his bodyguards managed to dispatch some of the rogues that protected Leudaste. The three of them rushed the remaining bodyguards, and Leudaste was finally at Sigdebert's mercy. With no pity whatsoever, he slashed the erstwhile count's throat and fled the scene, coming back a few minutes later as Sigdebert and pretending that he was horrified at the deed…

[Thierry Michel]

As for the AP switch, I'm not exactly sure what happened. Can you give me a few more details?

Of course. We had two simultaneous contest, the first between the count and the warrior and the second between his followers and the merchant's men (the merchant's character fighting by proxy so to speak).

The merchant side got lucky early, so he sent his oponents fleeing the contest with light wounds while the other fight was still going on.

At this point, his surviving men engaged the warrior's opposition which i ruled by simply transfering the APs from the merchant to the warrior (to reflect the fact that the merchant's men APs were now attached to the remaining fight). In retrospect, I suppose I should have made the merchant roll for the transfer, but I didn't see how it could fail (+ it was shorter that way).

[Brand_Robins]

At this point, his surviving men engaged the warrior's opposition which i ruled by simply transfering the APs from the merchant to the warrior (to reflect the fact that the merchant's men APs were now attached to the remaining fight). In retrospect, I suppose I should have made the merchant roll for the transfer, but I didn't see how it could fail (+ it was shorter that way).

Egh, it's questionable -- but I don't think you did anything wrong. I might have let the merchent keep his own APs and just had him join the second fight through his followers rather than giving everything over to the warrior, or I might have had him roll to AP lend to the warrior, but I also might have done what you did, especially if under time constraints and/or not having any idea what you'd do on a failed transfer roll.

Really, all in all it sounds like you did a better job your first go than I did on mine....