Athel Loren Campaign

[StyrofoamKing]

Hmm. New thought.  What if we also included a large number / decreased rarity for wild animals?  I could see the Bear being available for wabands, for example, so long as they had a 'Beastmaster' skill or something.

Dryads: Are we still going through with the Dryad warband, or should we stick to a Dryad HS?

[Master]

I'm not sure on the dryads, they definately fit, but they might be just a little too odd, personally I'm more for a dryad HS and a scenario including dryad defenders, but we could do a dryad warband.

I like the idea on animals, but I think most animals should have an upkeep like HS, this way they'll be good for a few games, and then thrown out when your warriors don't need them, they will be the thing warbands that lose a lot of warriors, and who can't get them replaced can use instead.

By the way, I've thought about the call for help thing, and I think that every warband should be able to use 25 gold for an envoy once in their campaign and if they do they will be able to hire warriors without rolling for rarity. But I need to stress they can only use this ability once in a campaign.

[StyrofoamKing]

Dryads: I think the whole 'no item/equipment' rule makes it a hard one for the campaign, so I think non-wood races make sense. Keep them as HS

Cool Scenario Idea: a treeman dying from corruption, and beserk.  The evil/neutral warbands want to kill it, the good ones want to end its suffering.

[Master]

I really like that idea with the berserk treeman, we should probably start the scenario thread on that idea.

Ok so we are agreed on dryads, I'd be happy to include them if someone started a really good thread about them and we made a good warband around it, but instead we should focus on the other warbands.

[StyrofoamKing]

Well, I remember someone (might have been DaBank) arguing against a demon warband, based on the fact that the demons 'couldn't be afraid of what goes bump in the night, cause they WERE what went bump in the night.'  Likewise, I like the idea of the Dryads being a NON-warband force, cause as much as the dryads and tree spirits MOSTLY trust the elves, they'll never COMPLETELY trust the elves.  It would make sense if the wood elves would OCCASSIONALY be attacked by woodland forces, amongst the confusion and desperation of certain woodland forces.  A dryad warband being attacked by the forest doesn't hold up as strongly.

Scenarios: cool. I'll finish 'harvesting' campaigns and mordheimer for good, existing scenarios, to save us trouble.

EDIT:
Rewards:  I think the following rewards seem to fit with the theme, plus who can take them.

REWARDS OF THE LADY - The patron goddess of Bretonnia, in her purity and infinite beauty.
TAKEN BY: Bretonnians (old), Bretonnian Chapel Guard, Bowmen of Bergerac

REWARDS OF ARIEL - The spirit of life and rebirth, leading the soul searcher to see their important role in the natural order.
TAKEN BY: Wood Elves, Horned Hunters (, Bowmen?)

REWARDS OF THE GREAT HUNTER - Whether it is Taal, Orion, or perhaps something far older and savage, the spirit walker seeks the inner strength from the greatest hunter ever.  The young warrior becomes a hair's breath between ultimate serenity and savage rage, and learns how the hunter and the hunted are spiritually bound.  Respect for your quarry, even as you kill him with primal force.
TAKEN BY: Wood Elves, Slayers, Horned Hunters, Savage Orcs, Forest Goblins, Beastmen

REWARDS OF THE DEVOURER - The darkness that grows deep in the forest, in the form of rot, mushrooms, and creatures older than the trees.  The chaos gods are here, unseen, whispering promises so faint that it sounds as innocent as the rustling of the leaves. (Same as Rewards of the Shadowlord)
TAKEN BY: Beastmen. (Also Marauders, Norse, and Possessed, if they happen to be in the campaign.)

Of course, Mercenaries HAVE no Rewards chart. They find their gods in books and cathedrals, closing themselves ever inward.  Only the forest dwellers know that the path of enlightenment and spiritual fortitude is drawn from without, among the brooks, trees, and rocks of the surrounding area.

I like reusing the 'Shadowlord' table with another name. Saves us work.

[ANSWER_MOD_DABANK]

I love the encampment rules as always I believe they could  be "touched" up but I loved the idea of creating of making your own terrain to represent your settlement. I really hope you put this in.

[Master]

Ok, include encampments. Got it.

On the rewards,

what if we made some warbands get rewards and become elite while others have a bonus when hiring henchmen instead?

Bowmen of bergerac who doesn't seem that holy, could have this refund through their give to the poor rule instead.

The devourer could basically be the same as the shadowlord, these are for beastmen, and anything chaotic, including ogres (if they are in the campaign).

Wood elves should be either hunter or ariel, as I don't think the same warband should have different tables (except if we base them on the kindreds). Personally I think we should keep them as the only ones that are rewarded by Ariel, and let the others be rewarded by the great hunter.

So instead I propose this:

Rewards of the Lady - Bretonnians, of all types.

Rewards of Ariel - Wood elves, of all types. (perhaps kindred based instead)

Rewards of the great hunter - Savage orcs, Slayers, Horned Hunters.

Rewards of the devourer - Beastmen and other chaos. (basically rewards of the shadowlord).

Bowmen could have a bonus when hiring, not sure on mercenaries though, I like the idea of them gaining no bonus in this campaign as they are in fact on foreign ground.

Also, we need to find a theme for the campaign, last we spoke about this we had a few ideas, here are what I remember:

Idea #1:
Some entity has invaded the forest, spreading dark seeds that corrupt the forest through the forest, these makes the forest spirits go mad.
Extra stuff with this setting: Dark seed powers, Dark seeds instead of wyrdstones, a wrathgul forest that wants to destroy them all.

Idea #2:
Rumours have reached the outer lands of mighty artefacts spread through the forest, everyone wants them and invades the forest, the wood elves use these weapons to repel the invaders.
Extra stuff with this setting: A great explanation for the magic items we have discussed, reason for everyone to be there.

Idea #3: Unlucky heroes.
The warbands was in the forest by chance when it suddenly decided not to let them escape, they not have to fight to survive. Only having a forward base and the other warbands they wage war in their futile attempts at escaping.
Extra stuff with this setting: Great encampment explanation, gives a storyline to work with.

Idea #4: Something else? Some combination of the above?

[StyrofoamKing]

Encampment rules:  Well, I think we should include both.  Have a normal scenario chart (which includes 'siege', 'frenzied mob', and 'encampment raid'), but also include extended rules for a) Athel themed camps, and b) a 'raid' system for determining scenarioes.  The extended camp rules would be optional.

Bowmen:  I would argue that the Bowmen are honored by the lady (and even have a damsel with them)... but on the other hand, most of the Rewards of the Lady we agreed on sound very 'knightly'.  Not sure.

Multiple Reward options: Oh, sorry, forgot that rule. "Once a hero pursues the rewards from one spiritual source, that hero cannot seek rewards from any other path."  So you could have a Wood Elf band with your Sorceror seeking the wisdom of Ariel, and your Kurnos champion seeking rewards from the great hunter.

Shadowlord: I guess anything chaos or skaven makes sense, really. Ogres too.

THEME:  Here's my thoughts.

1. I'm biased towards it, as I came up with it. That, and I'm proud of the term 'rotwood'.

2. Plain, but works well.

3. Not a fan, considering they can 'occassional' visit outposts outside the forest. For a one shot game or scenario getting lost makes sense, but for a campaign, it's a little week.

NEW ONES
4. The changing seasons idea you liked (combined with 1 or 2.) The idea that the balance of the forest has been offset, and the forest is drifting randomly through the seasons.  Snow falls on flowering trees, leaves grow from green to brown in a night, and then back again.  The creatures and treefolk are thrown into dissarry, and the alliance between elf and treefolk is temporarily forgotten. For the forest dwellers, it's an endurance race to survive. For the spawn of chaos, it's a chance to strike the forest at its weakest. (another possible cause: a stray arrow/bolt from an assassin wounding ariel? she's likely to recover, but it's chaotic till she does.)

5. Stolen from a White Dwarf: A winter campaign in the forest. The enemies strike when the tree spirits are their weakest and slumbering. The defenders of the border lands most do their best to defend themselves, surviving savage attacks from their enemies and the elements.  (not a bad one, but Cianty just did a whole 'ice' campaign, so no sense repeating it if we like another idea better.)

[Master]

Ok, I think we should combine 1 and 4 then, I really like the idea of seasons.

I remember now, at the beginning of each turn each player rolls a dice, on a 1 the season changes one season backwards, on a 2-4 the season remains as is, on a 5-6 the season changes one season forward.

In the spring all forest spirits & animals receive +1 movement and +1 initative.
In the summer all forest spirits receive +1 toughness. When the season changes to summer all forest spirits also regain one lost wound, standing up immediately if they are knocked down or stunned.
In the autumn all forest spirits & animals receive -1 movement and -1 initative (down to a minimum of 1).
In the winter everyone halves their movement, and receive -1 to hit, both close combat and shooting, forest spirits receive -1 toughness.

Then we could make a special character, who has spells centered around the seasons and a spell to change the seasons, he would be the perfect addition to a warband wanting to fight an enraged treeman, or any warband who has some forest spirits and such.

[StyrofoamKing]

I think we should do it closer to weather (except for maybe one special scenario, with constantly changing seasons.) Roll at the beginning of the game for the conditions, then at the beginning of each round, roll 1D6: on a 1, the season changes once more. Reroll

ROLL 1D6
1 Winter - roll another 1D6:.
    1 Dead winter - (insert here)
    2 ____ etc
    3 blah (and so on down the line till 6)
2 Spring - roll another 1D6:.
    1 full bloom - (insert here)
    2 Rainy season
    3-6
3 Summer - roll another 1D6:.
    1 Sweltering Sun - (insert here)
    2 ____ etc
    3-6
4 Autumn - roll another 1D6:.
    1 Autumn Fall - (insert here)
    2 ____ etc
    3-6
5-6 Reroll

Special character: I like. Should he be a DP, or a scenario specific NPC? Could be neat.

[ANSWER_MOD_DABANK]

Do you guys have the two DPs that VCCount made on the old old SG forum? They were both Bretonnian based.

I will look to see if I still do.

[Master]

Everything from back then is gone with one of my old laptops

It is possible to acces to site though but not sure what to search for.

Ok, we do it like that weather table.

I'd like the DP as a regular DP, perhaps only hireable through a special scenario? He could be like a reward to be allowed to hire for 1 or 2 games.

[Identity]

Just got back from a couple months overseas. I don't have time to read up on your progress at this moment, but I should be able to over the next week or so. Glad to see you've been making good progress. I hope that I can make some helpful contributions!

[Joker2and53]

Hey folks.  I've been following your work on this campaign vicariously since its beginning on Tom's Boring Mordheim Forum.  I think you guys are doing a great job pulling ideas together, in fact, I'm a bit jealous as I simply don't have the time on my hands to make cool things like new Mordheim settings.  Regardless, I had come up with a couple very preliminary ideas I thought you might be able to develop into something.

1. a harpy hired sword or dramatis persona.  I don't know alot about harpies, and I haven't played with or against a chaos army since warhammer 5th edition.  It always seemed to me that all the hired swords and DPs in Mordheim were, for the most part, neutral to good, rather then evil.  I don't know how well the flying rules would work out, but perhaps you could offset the Harpy's flying abilities, with a great eagle hired sword or DP available to the wood elves, and a falcon or two for the bretonians. 

2. Have you considered using the Dwarf Rangers list from the Nemisis crown supplement?  I never saw them mentioned in any threads, but I might have missed a post about them somewhere.  I never actually played with them, but they always kind of struck me as hippy foresty dwarfs, and might fit in with Athel Loren.  And since they are already written, very little work for you guys. 

3. a unicorn as a mount?  Alternatively, unicorns as a henchman choice, along with some other woodland creatures (falcons, wild boars, or Orion's Hunting Wolves?), perhaps combined with the driads, which represent the physical fighting abilities of the Forest itself (as distinct from the wood elves). 

Again, feel free to ignore these ideas, I just thought it might help the creative juices.  A few other things had popped into my head as I was writing this, but that's probably enough out of me.  I need to get back to studying, but do please keep up the good work, I have enjoyed watching this develop. 

[StyrofoamKing]

First off, we're absolutely cool with new ideas. Please, shout them anytime you get them.

1. Harpies: They're generally regarded as near mindless, animalistic creatures, so unless it was a 'Beast in the Woods' style NPC-DP, I think the idea of a DP-Harpy is out in my book. As far as a Hired Sword, they'd be a great idea, although not normally an Athel Loren-thing (their biggest habitat is Naggaroth, an ocean away.)  Personally, I'm saving them for the 'Dragon Isle' campaign, which I'll work on sometime in the next, oh, 10 years. (Chad came up with some awesome flying rules, and 'Dragon Isle' is my dream to use them all together, adding some of my own flying ideas, plus some 'bound monster' rules, yet to be developed.)

2.  Dwarf Ranger List: My biggest beef with the 'Dwarf Rangers' warband is that it has no rangers in it (rangers, in old WRB, were crossbowmen with double-handed axes... I can get runesmiths, slayers, longbeards, clansmen, beardlings, and crossbowmen, but no rangers?) If it had been called 'Runesmith's Retinue', I would have loved it three times more. I haven't talked about it with Master, but I don't think they will go on the 'recommended' list, but I don't see them as 'forbidden'.  I can definitely see NC hired swords like 'Dwarf Pathfinder' and maybe the 'Runesmith Journeyman' showing up, though.

3. Unicorns: I think they might show up as possible mounts to purchase (stags too). As written, they have multiple wounds, however, which definitely changes how they play as mounts.  I know that multi-wound mounts show up in BTB, so I'm curious to hear feedback on those before the unicorns have a cemented place.  And yes, I can DEFINITELY see them popping up in random events, as a creature of the forest itself. Thanks for the reminder, lest I forget.

I'd love to hear your other ideas when you get the time.