Review of The Faceless Howl part one

 Kabuki Kaiser was most generous to provide me a copy of his latest adventure. I am really thrilled to offer my opinion once finished reading. Unfortunately, at this time, I am unable to review after a playthrough. The Faceless Howl is a 42-page sword and sorcery nightmare for Many Sought Adventure and other OSR games, and concerns PCs stumbling into the trouble to be found in a troubled village. And I enjoy having a good catalogue of this village is suffering... scenarios on hand. But I am using one currently. DCC's Doom of the Savage Kings...

and then one of the PCs couldn't make the session and an old player resurfaced and I immediately grabbed The Faceless Howl off the shelf and contrived reasons for this material to fit into the current happenings in the game. The one thread I have to work is with the current player who hits all the sessions. Not his character though. No, he is on a new PC, but this is the second time in so many adventure arcs the price of success/aid is with dedicating oneself to marriage with the patron dispensing the goods. I decided there is a contest between the gods (as there always is) which requires mortal betrothal with a magical being.

Here is the PC Jacque, Knight of Jet's perspective of the insertion of this adventure material on the fly..

We enter the shadow realm of dreams and gods, and must enter the transformed Jarls' hall, which is now a mighty Keep, to recover the Mask of Nerm. Jaques is at first scared by this realm of shadows and the lack of colour, but is relieved to come across a beautiful woman who seems to know her way around this monochrome realm. She swaggers up and introduces herself as Frisco Shans, a hunter, and she seems to have expected to meet Jaques. So, with some suspicion but believing that this has something to do with his god Yadar, he agrees to team up with this wild woman. We then head towards the black yet gleaming curtain wall of the Keep and begin climbing up the broken statue-lined slope which leads to the Keep's massive gateway, and where we meet an armoured figure standing patiently by the open gates as if waiting for us. We approach slowly, ready for combat, but the figure greets us warmly and introduces himself as Sir Belamont, a knight of the Order of the Gryphon. And he is very glad to see us. He believes we have been sent to aid him in his quest to recover the infamous bejeweled gauntlet. This artefact will enable him to return home after many years of questing. So after a brief talk, we agreed to help him as it seemed the easiest way to get into the Keep and its Libarium for the item we needed. Gaining entry to the Keep is suspiciously easy, but as we cross the threshold, the temperature drops, as well as the portcullis; it seems we are now locked into recovering these artefacts, as well as the Libarium..

I am channeling the Shadow Plane from Moorcock's first book in his Elric series. Also the idea of different "champions" of the gods uniting to aid each other in similar goals I am lifting right from Moorcock as well. The second book in the Elric series, called Sailing on the Seas of Fate, has multiple versions of the same champion uniting into a single group dedicated to completing a deadly mission on behalf of the gods. So I'm working with competing nuptials in some mad contest of the gods involving the PCs (living and dead) for some greater goal. If I play faithful to genre tropes this should leave the main characters of the story doomed, with minds shredded and bones jellied. But this is roleplaying games so there must be an avenue of success. An opportunity to beat the odds and somehow win out.

How is the module working? Organized well to be able to use at the table very fast. This is because of the adventures layout. Large titles, bullet points and terse, evocative text gives a Game Master a decent chance of keeping the encounter coherent while leaning into the adventure's original features.

What are these features? I'll give my thoughts after this week's game session. We should finish the adventure and so I won't be giving out any spoilers.

Chronicals of Xoth, Handful of Stars Session Report

The latest description of recent events of the campaign as described by Jaques, one of the PCs;

We flee from Khadar city and head into the hills. As we climb higher into the mountains, we come across a mixed column of militia and villagers, who are taking a young woman (Morgan) to a stone circle. After talking to a few of the villagers, we find out that the young woman is to be sacrificed to a demon hound, saving the lives of the other villagers.

We decide to get involved, so unable to fight the guards decide to head back to their village to gather more information. The village is called Hirot. The large man we saw leading the column is the Jarl of the village; he is worn but still a bear of a man, especially when clad in his armour and wolf pelt and he leads a small group of similarly armored men.

Heading into the somber village, we see that some of the buildings look to have been destroyed by something, and there are not a lot of people out in the streets, and the whole village seems to be under a cloud of despair. So we quickly make our way to the squat and solidly built Inn, The Sign of the Wolf Spear

The Inn is owned by a man called Brogan, who is also the father of Morgan . We ask the few tired patrons about the sacrifice and are told about a group of adventurers who came through several weeks ago, who claimed to be searching for the tomb of a mighty warlord named Ulfheonar. The tomb is shaped like a vast serpent and contains vast wealth and a mighty weapon of immense power. Those we talked to say that they must have failed and released the tomb's guardian, a demon hound, a hound that now stalks them. Nothing seems to be able to stop it, not walls, not guards, not the Jarl or the Priest. The hound was smashing its way into homes and ripping apart families and coating whole sections of the village in blood. None of those who attempted to fight back or track it survived.

The Jarl now hides in his hall along with what remains of his guard, and his seer Syliler Ru, the man who came up with the sacrifice draw. Some of the villagers hide in the Chapel with the insane Priest Beacom, who was driven to despair and thus madness. He now believes that the only salvation is through the mortification of the flesh. His chapel is now filled with people whipping themselves until the blood flows from their ragged backs, as the Priest has told them that only through their blood and suffering can the beast be appeased.

The Inn isn't the only place to stay, as there is a shelter called the Three Rats, which seems to be aptly named. So far, we have had no reason to go there, finding the Wolf Spear more to our tastes.

So, hearing the villagers' tales, we committed to helping them as much as we could, knowing that we would get no help from the broken Jarl. We began to make plans. We now know that the tomb is to the north of the village, whilst the demon dog heads to the swamps to the northeast after it's kills, and both may need to be investigated. The Priest is spoken to, but Beecom believes that only by the mortification of the flesh can the hound be stopped. As his god Justica has told him that this and the surrendering of all earthly wealth is the only way to wash away their sins and get her protection.

The ancient chapel has a beautiful stained glass window which shows Justica defeating this demon hound using a mighty warhammer. This hammer still exists but is kept in the chapel waiting for the worthy; the Priest will not use it nor will he let others. The Priest has two acolytes who help him guard the hammer and are half-crazed due to them constantly whipping themselves.

Genn stays at the Inn, gathering more information about the lottery, the Seer and the Priest and learns that some suspect that the hound is not a demon but rather a real creature trained by someone. When asked why someone would do this, he is told that scared people are easier to control and those who had the means to leave have left, leaving only the lost and desperate in the village awaiting their fate.

Jacques leaves in search of a large net and is told that the widow Yamay is the best weaver for miles around, and if anyone could make a net strong enough to hold the hound, it would be her. Knocking at her hut, he is met by an old crone, and it becomes quickly evident that she is much more than just an old woman. She knows a lot about the situation and tells Jacques that she can indeed make a net strong enough to hold the hound, but she will need something in return, and what she wants is a husband. Jacques is taken aback somewhat but agrees as he sees that she is old like him, and it wouldn't be a long marraige and he could end up with some money and a home. Also, if he survives the hound, the villagers and Jarl would surely be grateful. Yamay laughing gets up from in front of her fire and reaches up to the roof beams and begins to pull down withered heads. She removes the few strands of hair that still cling to their dead flesh and begins to turn the wheel, weaving the hair into a large net as a now worried Jacques looks on in horror.

Genn, meanwhile, has arranged to get some supplies, including a lot of flammable material and, more importantly, a few others who will help us fight this creature. He also manages to get us a way to leave the village after the gates are closed, as one of the Jarl's men who guards the gate is in love with Morgan, his daughter (the woman currently chained to one of the standing stones) and can be convinced to help. The young man's name is Nothan of the night watch.

The village adventure comes with a priest, so I needed to add a new go

JUSTICA, THE IRON SCALES God of the Susrahn Hillmen Origins & Nature Before the great river-cities of Susrahn rose their ziggurat temples to gods of grain and celestial fire, the hill clans of the interior highlands worshipped older, crueler powers. Justica is the eldest of these — not a god of justice as the civilized lowlanders might understand the word, but of primal reckoning: the inexorable settling of debts, the balancing of blood for blood, the grinding inevitability of consequence. He is imagined as a colossal figure carved from black mountain granite, his face expressionless and featureless save for two hollow pits where eyes should be. In one hand he holds a great set of scales fashioned from iron and bone. In the other, a flint-headed maul the size of a war-elephant. He does not pursue. He does not rage. He simply waits, and the scales always come level in the end. The hillmen say he was old when the world was young — that he watched the giant-kings raise their cyclopean fortresses and said nothing, knowing their ledger would one day balance. It did.

The 3D6 Seven, Nine, Eleven, Thirteen, Fifteen Spread

 These are your degree of difficulty, failure, and success array built into the first fantasy roleplaying game, and has been returned to again and again by modern game design to leverage the powerful resolution mechanic it is. 

This is your yes, but; yes, and; no you fucking die "complication" written into this bell-curve and is at least the core mechanic of the Hero System. It is easy to appreciate. Seven thru fifteen is a tight spread you can expect to land somewhere in on an "average" basis, and has enough shade to not seem completely binary. 

Difficulty Class is set on a less swingy basis when using 3D6 than if a D20 is rolled, but still chance rules and there is tension built into each roll, which is routinely exploited at the table for the better enjoyment of all. Coming up with a Difficulty "Class" or Difficulty "#" takes seconds to decide, and with further thought what degrees of success and/or failure  would look like start to paint their way into the picture. 

Chronicals of Xoth Recap of Chapter 1 Whisper of Midnight

 The live stream session can be listened to in its utter mundane entirety on the Vanishing Tower Youtube channel. 

Here is the nice recap of the game session from one of the players, now on his second PC of the campaign.

1. Notes for Whisper of Midnight. We are currently in Khadar in the land of Susrah, a decadent city full of conniving Priests and powerful Merchants, like many in Susrah, they follow the god Baal-Khardah mainly, but other dark gods as well. We are with Lion Diamond and his guard/companion, Laker the Axe, trying to sell the almost mythical sword Bloodstone that they took from Ironthorn's body. Back at the ruins of the Tower of Eternity. We take rooms at the Bargain Pleasure Inn, and Lion seeks out Garlord, a well-connected merchant involved with glass blowing who is based in the Red Bull market. After a tense moment or two, Garlord agrees to make inquiries about potential buyers. We have to deduct some money for the rooms, which came out to 45 bronze? We then head to the dishevelled mansion of the Lady Donna Rosa, an old friend of Lions. The place is falling apart, but she greets us warmly, if with the slight disdain of a noble. It seems that Dimond plans to hide the sword here until it is time to sell it, as the sword is already making waves in the city. The sword is hidden in the fireplace in the Garderobe by the main audience chamberLady Donna Rosa has an idiot son. The Blood Stone scimitar is a legendary weapon tied to both Religion and Kingship. It is a powerful symbol of power and legitimacy for both.
2. Joran is the head of the Glassblowers Guild, so the boss of Garlord We end up drinking at another Inn and Genn ends up fighting a Priest after we mention the Bloodstone scimitar. Genn deals with the priest fairly, but it's time for the party to end and for us to leave before he brings his guards/mercenaries to teach us the error of our ways. As he seems to be one to hold a grudge. Getting back to our quarters, we find out that the deal seems to be on, but it has to be overseen by the Thieves Guild, and they want their cut but promise protection. Genn hides 25 silver behind a rock near the Print and Engraving shop and gets 15 high-quality bullets for his sling. The leader of the Thieves Guild is unknown, but rumour has it that it might be the Viscount himself. The main Guilds are the Glass Blowers, the tanners and the Charcoal burners. The deal is discussed, and we need to bring the sword to the Hall of Midnight where the Thieves will host the auction, but they want to check the sword first to make sure it's not a fake. There are also rumours of an ageless Sorcerer called Peopolis who was the mentor to the fell Sorcerer who currently inhabits the Tower of Eternity. It seems he had the sword once, explaining how Ironthorn got it.
3. The Thieves guild will receive the payment and then we will receive the diamonds from the thieves guild, but it will be there, but it won't be in front of anyone. No one will know who we are. So as part of the service
4. So, currently, we are in one of the upper rooms at the Bargain Pleasure discussing how much we should trust the Thieves guild, how to get the sword to them safely and trying to guess the potential buyers and how dangerous they will be to us after the sale.