Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Bogdanwaz on January 11, 2020, 12:19:40 AM
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I’ve begun another RPG campaign using Frostgrave/Ghost Archipelago as the base rules.
This one is based on the Monster Blood Tattoo series by D.M. Cornish. I've posted a report on my blog:
https://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/01/monster-blood-tattoo-peltrymans-behest.html
There’s a trilogy, Foundling, Lamplighter, and Factotum, and a forth book of unrelated novellas, Tales from the Half Continent. It’s an incredibly imaginative fantasy world that Cornish has provided a huge amount of details - there are large glossaries in the back of each book of the trilogy.
In this world, humanity has been engaged in an struggle against “monsters,” sentient creatures who inhabit the wilderness between the large fortified cities. One of the worst things for a human to be accused of is being a sedorner, someone who demonstrates any sympathy for the monsters.
While there is no magic per se, many characters exhibit special powers based in weird science and alchemy. Many of the specialized monster-hunters have undergone surgical body modification to give them the special powers, such as telekinesis or the ability to manipulate electricity. Technology is a blend of mechanical and biological machinery. For example, many machines, particularly ships are driven by "gastrines" living organisms like muscles which produce the energy required for the machine functioning. There are also devices called sthenicons that are wooden boxes worn on the face containing biological organisms that enhance human senses but have the risk of embedding themselves into the wearer's face.
The setting is the Half-Continent, part of a larger world called Harthe Alle. The world of the Half-Continent is based heavily on early 18th century Europe but, if anything more Baroque. The great power is the Haackobin Empire, a collection of bickering city-states not unlike our Holy Roman Empire but with a much more powerful Emperor. There are other analogues to Earth cultures.
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Love these books.
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Brilliant battle report, really catches the flavour of the books. I have my own MBT project on the 'to do' list - this is a good stimulus to crack on.
I was trying to decide between Frostgrave and Mordheim as my rules engine. How did you decide to replicate monster-hunter abilities? Wits and Leers were exercising me...
Great work!
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I have been obsessed with this series of books, I am in the process of converting and drawing up lists for use in Thud and Blunder. DM Cornish has great world building skills and inspirational art, perfect for miniatures based gaming.
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loved the campaigns you aar'd (?) on the frostgrave board.
don't know these books at all.
What you've shown so far in the blogpost is as fantastic 'as usual'; great 'look' with the miniatures and terrain, and wonderful narrative quality.
a little concerned that the literary world-build is Tolkienesque in it's simple-mindedness (i.e. Lausids = Ottomans / eastern (european) 'evil' guys allying with the 'monsters'), but hopefully / presumably there's a bit (lot) more to it than that.
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Thanks, all! Bloggard, the human nations in Monster Blood Tattoo are all primarily analogues to the 18th century nations on Earth. (According to Cornish's blog, the Lausids are based on Polish/Hungarian culture while the Turkamentine Empire are the Ottomans.) The books take place entirely within the Haakobin Empire which is roughly analogous to the Holy Roman Empire. Although this is based in real history, Cornish goes far beyond in providing a unique history, culture, and atmosphere to Empire.
The books definitely do not treat the human/monster relationship in a simplistic, black and white manner with the human culture having some pretty dark and creepy elements to it and the monster culture being very diverse. Cornish also created a whole vocabulary for this world that gives it a unique, very baroque feel. Each book of the trilogy has a different tone and focus as well. Foundling reads almost like a Dickens novel about the misadventures of an orphan, while Lamplighter is more of a military adventure story, and Factotum deals with political intrigue and revenge that's not unlike Game of Thrones. The novellas in Tales from the Half-Continent are very different as well, almost Lovecraftian.
As you may have gathered, I'm a big fan of the books and would highly recommend them to anyone who's interested in a world that's very different from the standard LOTR/D&D fantasy quasi-medieval fantasy worlds.
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ah right - thanks for the elaboration.
I guess I'd still be a bit disappointed if the books ultimately follow the usual stereotypes with the Eastern (european) types being, well, badder than the others, even if the others can be bad too. Had my fill of that one way and another. But I'm seriously considering them based on your description and have just suggested them to a pal who's struggling to find something to read in that area...
But anyhow, looking forward to more blogposts - looking as tho' it'll be epic!
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Just to clarify a little more, the books deal very little with "international" affairs, just occasional mention of it, mostly in the "explicarums" (glossaries) at the end of each book in the trilogy. The main conflict is the one between humans and monsters, some of which are man-made. Such politics as are in the book is about personal squabbling within the empire and is more question of personalities than "races/nationalities", if that makes sense.
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Just read on the Facebook group that DM Cornish is meeting with Netflix today! Excited :-*
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We just did the second session of the role-playing campaign I've been running set in the MBT universe, The Peltryman's Behest. I use the Frostgrave rules as the base system.
I had previously posted the prologue session. This was the first session of the main part of the campaign and I've written up a report of what happened on my blog along with more pictures at:
https://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/01/monster-blood-tattoo-rpg-peltrymans.html.
To make a long story short, seven years after their encounter with the Duke of Owls, our heroes are presented with the dying request of their former comrade peltryman Valentine Portent to recover the body of his deceased step-daughter which had been stolen by graverobbers. More pictures and details on the blog.
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We've completed the third session of our Monster Blood Tattoo campaign. As previously, I've posted a report and pictures of what transpired on my blog:
https://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/02/monster-blood-tattoothe-peltrymans.html
Our heroes return to the city of Brandenbrass seeking the body of their late comrade's deceased stepdaughter. Investigating the king of the grave robbers, their surveillance turns to battle as one of the party members acts a bit rashly.
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Great books. Good to see others gaming it. Played a few sessions of an RPG based on this. So much fun.
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Beautiful action shots! The half continent sounds really cool, not sure i grasp the wooden box on the face thing?
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Lovely stuff :-*
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fantastic gaming as ever.
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Thanks for all the kind comments! Scatterbrain, much of the technology in the books is based on weird biologics. The wooden box is a device called a sthenicon which contains an creature that, when the wearer puts the box on, puts tendrils into the wearer's eyes and nose that greatly enhance the wearer's senses. If worn too long, the box becomes permanently attached to the face.
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We were able to do our fourth session of the MBT role-playing campaign, The Peltryman's Behest. Our heroes conclude their attack on the ashmonger Scollfyld and discover that the remains of Albany Portent have been sent much farther afield.
More may be found on my blog:
https://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/02/monster-blood-tattoo-peltrymans-behest-3.html
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What a great collection of hats in this adventure! Why did they ever go out of fashion? boggles the mind.
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We were able to do the fifth of our weekly sessions of the MBT role-playing campaign, The Peltryman's Behest.
Our heroes, facing arrest for a crime they did not commit, escape Brandenbrass but not before a most unexpected encounter. Undergoing an attack at sea, the mystery of the Albany Reeves grows.
More may be found on my blog:
https://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/02/monster-blood-tattoo-peltrymans-behest-4.html
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Loving this! Your AARs really capture the flavour of the books (with some nice plot links), the games look full of action and really fun, and I'm impressed with your terrain collection!
More please!
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Thanks for all the kind comments! Scatterbrain, much of the technology in the books is based on weird biologics. The wooden box is a device called a sthenicon which contains an creature that, when the wearer puts the box on, puts tendrils into the wearer's eyes and nose that greatly enhance the wearer's senses. If worn too long, the box becomes permanently attached to the face.
That is disturbing!
And that is a great looking boat!
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We did the sixth session of our Monster Blood Tattoo RPG campaign, The Peltryman's Behest.
Our heroes encounter the dubious entertainment provided to an Imperial army, meet some old friends, and arrive at the ruins of Winstermill.
The report is on my blog:
http://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/02/monster-blood-tattoo-peltrymans-behest-5.html
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We did the seventh session of our Monster Blood Tattoo RPG campaign, The Peltryman's Behest.
Our heroes are attacked by the undead in the ruined fortress of Winstermill but discover an important clue regarding the object of their search.
The report is on my blog:
https://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/03/monster-blood-tattoo-peltrymans-behest-6.html
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That's good use of the black plague zombies!
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We did the eighth session of our Monster Blood Tattoo RPG campaign, The Peltryman's Behest.
After escaping from Winstermill, our heroes have several interesting encounters on the Wormway.
As previously, I have a report of the session on my blog:
https://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/03/monster-blood-tattoo-peltrymans-behest-7.html
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Great scene!
Those shadow deep cultists look great, were they fun to paint?
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With all of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 quarantines, our gaming session were disrupted. However, we recently were able to resume our campaign using the Discord app to "meet" virtually. While I'm not at my usual residence right now, I did bring along some figures and scenery in hopes of continuing with the pictorial chronicle of the party's adventures. So without further ado, on my blog is the ninth session of The Peltryman's Behest, in which our heroes find an old friend, make some new ones and escape the clutches of the wily Lady of The Wight. The blog at:
https://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/04/monster-blood-tattoo-peltrymans-behest-8.html
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I've posted on my blog a photo report of the next installment of our (now remotely conducted) RPG campaign set in the Monster Blood Tattoo universe using the Frostgrave/Ghost Archipelago rules as a base.
In this episode, our heroes continue traveling down the Wormway and make an important discovery and are then attacked by fearsome cultist of a slumbering monster sea god:
https://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/04/monster-blood-tattoo-peltrymams-behest-9.html
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Good to see the adventure continues. As always, you set up a very nice table.
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I've posted on my blog a photo report of the 11th installment of our remotely-conducted RPG campaign set in the Monster Blood Tattoo universe using the Frostgrave/Ghost Archipelago rules as a base.
In this episode, our heroes defeat the cultists who have been occupying an Imperial fortress but discover this may not have been the most helpful move. They also discover a troubling fact about their world.
The blog entry may be found here:
https://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/04/monster-blood-tattoo-peltrymans-behest.html
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We played the next to last session of this campaign, The Peltryman's Behest, a RPG campaign set in the world of D.M. Cornish's Monster Blood Tattoo series and using the Frostgrave rules system as our base mechanics.
In this session, our heroes finally encounter Dr. Corvinus and, after a hard fight discover the secret for which the body of the late Albany Reeves was taken.
The full report is on my blog:
https://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/04/monster-blood-tattoo-peltrymans-behest_21.html
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Oh no. Poor Albany. What have they done to her? :o
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I'm really enjoying this thread - the games look really fun, and your telling of the story is realy flavourful and reminiscent of the books, which I love.
Kudos!
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Thanks for all the kind words. This was quite a fun project for me and my group. But all good things must come to an end and so, the conclusion of the story is posted on my blog:
http://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/2020/04/monster-blood-tattoo-peltrymans-behest_28.html
Our heroes complete the peltryman's behest and fulfill their friend's dying request, perhaps not quite in the way anyone thought it would.
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great looking game and wonderful narrative / story.
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A really fantastic campaign and an incredibly detailed battle report. Truly inspired.
An excellent ending for Albany! :-*
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Thanks all, I'm glad folks enjoyed reading the reports.
I'm very glad we were able to finish the campaign even though the last half had to be done remotely. My son and I were in one location and he used his phone camera to broadcast the table while I narrated and the players indicated what actions they would take with their figures. Of course not as good as in person gaming but Zoom worked fairly well even when we had, for some sessions, up to 10 players.
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was thinking you must have been using 'remote' gubbins ... 10 people, blimey. That must have taken some juggling.
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Bravo! An excellent and touching conclusion to the saga. Really impressive.