Sunday, January 11, 2009

Duchess & Factions Scenario

It seems to have been agreed by both Saschen-Vindow and vile Stagonia to "suspend" the storyline of the Duchess of Saschen-Vindow's journey to unite with Koenig Ludwig. Instead it will be played out on the table top during the SYWA Convention in March, 2009.

Currently the Duchess is in rooms at The Crooked Kobold, just over the border from Stagonia. She has pistols in hand and . . . there are horses beyond the walls, shouts in the courtyard and the sound of heavy boots on the stairs.

---==xXx==---

Herzog Ignatz proposed a scenario with four factions (beside the Duchess herself, of course):
  • Schinderfranz's chauffeurs
  • Mme de Winter's Black Legion
  • Raubenstadter Frei-Hussars
  • Stagonians (but which ones?)
Numerous other factions were proposed as well, including:
  • Ludwig's Stagonian Dragoons
  • Rotefort, agent of Stagonian Queen Mother (a de Sade with her own agenda)
  • Duke's loyalist Dragoons (i.e., her husband's forces)
  • Duchess' Noble supporters (from Saschen-Vindow)
  • Local militia looking for smugglers, etc.
  • Rowdy Nobles looking for fun
  • The Inquisition
  • Count l'Beauphaup & Unter Gruntshuffen malcontents
  • Witch hunters OR vampire hunters
  • Friendly hunters who will help Duchess (as a lady in distress)
---==xXx==---

So now it is more-or-less up to those who will be attending the SYWA Convention to decide just what rules to use, how many factions (and which ones) to include, etc.

Others are of course welcome to suggest "agendas" for the different factions decided upon (although controlling Imagi-Nations will have the last word on this).

Gentlemen, we await your various comments.


-- Jeff (as "EvE" Inhaber)

16 comments:

Prinz Geoffrey said...

I am up for anything and any set of rules. Look forward to playing. As I am newer to the community I will defer to my betters for setting up the scenario, but am willing to help in any way possible.

Der Alte Fritz said...

As the person who will probably be running the game, I was thinking of using my own "Croat Terror" skirmish rules. These are a variant of "Woodland Wars" by Tom Kelly (who also wrote "Desparado").

I have plenty of buildings to make up a complete town, including the Inn, stables, a church and numerous other buildings.

I have Mme de Winter's Black Legion and I can use other troops to stand in for the other factions. Probably each player will command 12 to 20 figures, tops.

I would think that 8 players and factions would be about the maximum number that would work with these rules and this scenario. I would suggest leaving it up to Alan to decide which factions to have in the game, since they are his characters.

Nothing is set in stone, so things can change. These are only my initial thoughts so far.

Bluebear Jeff said...

I would suggest prioritizing the factions . . . one through eight . . . so that if only five people are there to play you use the first five; if seven, use the first seven, etc.

And not all of the factions are Alan's by any means . . . although I grant you that perhaps he should consider setting the priorities mentioned above.

But those "controlling" other factions should be allowed to indicate their agendas (e.g., deliver her to...).


-- Jeff

Frankfurter said...

This kind of gaming excitement is exactly what I was rooting for ... now, whether or not I'm able to travel to South Bend (right now, it's 50/50) There'll still be anticipation and wonder and interest.
You have to love the ingenious and mischevious ideas !!
:)
A

abdul666 said...

Probably not worth the trouble and effort but... what about the organizer / umpire having an additional fraction 'up his sleeve' he could throw in (under his control) to prevent the game from turning untimely short?

abdul666 said...

For instance, if someone attending owns the 30mm (Willie?) "Hunt" set... The irruption of a group of hunters with their hounds and horns could provide a distraction allowing the umpire to restore the balance.

If not needed otherwise they could provide some 'comical relief' - and an opportunity for losing players to evacuate their rage: remember all these movies where a group of teenagers in easterbreak or the like run into deep trouble and are horribly slaughtered one after one?

Der Alte Fritz said...

Lots of good ideas here. I would suggest that Alan and Herzog Ignatz boil down the list of contenders and then the owners of those factions could send in their agendas for their characters. Then the actual players in the game will have a sort of "script" that tells them what their mission is or who they must eliminate or who they might make alliances of convenience with, on the game table.

I also like the idea of having some unexpected events or parties showing up. Perhaps there could be a list of 12 Random events that are triggered by the roll of two D6. The number of pips corresponds to a particular random event

Prinz Geoffrey said...

Maybe David of NBA could make a nice Crooked Kobold sign design and we could make a miniature sign for your Inn. Was the Inn inside a town or was it at a cross roads all by itself near the boarder?

abdul666 said...

Jim,
2D6 make some events far more unlikely to turn on than others -of course that may precisely be what is wished (you'd need a D12 for equiprobability).

tradgardmastare said...

Love the idea of the inn sign - fantastic!Broken down ,peeling paint, malevolent kobold depicted upon it in all it's foulness! I imagined the inn to be in a rather run down and dodgy hamlet- the sort of place one would expect to find in the vicinity of Stagonia. Non- player characters like villagers/ the village night watch could be included too - even a pack of wolves...
Jim's rules are super having used them - they would work well. As he is the gamesmaster I feel the final decesion should be his ( incidently anyone out there interested at looking seriously at adapting Morheim for EvE useage?) to make.
I happy to help choose factions if you wish ,but as Jeff mentioned I did not think many of them up . Personally I think ,although the Duchess is a fun character,she should not be made to survive at any cost. A real danger of her meeting her demise would sharpen the operating procedures/plans/tactics of the factions concerned.
We need also to give a brief thought to what will happen afterwards - perhaps a rescue scenario,ransom demands etc
I am enjoying this planning and await more comments with interest...
Alan

Der Alte Fritz said...

The Duchess would appear to have "value" to a number of parties. So I doubt that she would meet her demise (or at least I would do my darndest to see that such an ending doesn't occur) 8^)

Bluebear Jeff said...

Jim,

A few factions (for example, perhaps her estranged husband, the Duke) might well prefer her "dead in Stagonia", where blame can be put on their vile king.

Which brings up a point. The inn is supposedly a short way from the Stagonian border. Perhaps that vile border should appear on table (for various reasons) . . . with or without a "border guard" (another possible faction with a different agenda).


-- Jeff

Prinz Geoffrey said...

My Black Scorpion Governor's Daughter arrived today. I am waiting for the base-coat to dry now. Will post the finished product on my blog. Where exactly is Stagonia located in Europa?

Bluebear Jeff said...

Stagonia is amorphous . . . but is theoretically where Bavaria is . . . not that that is really critical.

And Saxe-Bearstein is theoretically where Bohemia is . . . but again for our purposes they really could be anywhere in central Europa.


-- Jeff

MurdocK said...

Grand Mappe 7 covers the whole of the continent and should help in the location of places?

abdul666 said...

The action will probably start in an urban environment, thus with actors on foot, but do the parties need to have some of their members duplicated mounted, or to include a mounted contingent, in case of a chase?