The Adventures of Pryndaal the Wizard and his Odious Apprentice Dafydd

[amunptah]

Inspired by the freeform RPG and wargaming movement FKR (Free Kreiggspiel Revival), I started up a fantasy campaign. For my first game I kept the rules light and loose, giving each character a couple of actions per round, and using a 2d6 roll to determine success at actions. The more difficult the action attempted, the higher the dice roll woudl need to be. Hit locations were determined with a d6 roll (1 head, 2 right arm, 3 left arm, 4 torso, 5 left leg, 6 right leg). To determine the degree of injury I considered the level of protection at the hit location, along with the degree of success of the attack roll. I drew little stick figures for each character and wrote the injuries in at the matching locations, and factored those in for future actions (e.g. damaged leg slows the character).

Adventure 1 - The Spellbook of Raggazark

Pryndaal, impatient and scurrilous, heard tell that fellow wizard Raggazark recently came into possesion of a powerful spellbook while adventuring in the Grove of Withered Troll. But later the next day, while resting up in the village of Garmsby, Raggazark conducted some kind of magical experiment with the book, and this led to a wild conflagration that engulfed the village in flames and took the life of Raggazark. Pryndaal rushed to Garmsby to try and find the spellbook before any rivals can locate it. He took along with him his apprentice Dafydd, he of the great squint, and two skilled mercanries hired from an inn on the main road through the region: Nyle the fighter, and Gidwin the marksman.

I rolled for random time and weather, and determined it was a cloudy day when they arrived at the outskirts of Garmsby. As Pryndaal's group emerged from the forest Elramis the Egotistical, chaos magician, and his band of killers, ambushed them from the trees on the right. With Elramis were Wulf, a highly successful thief; Snell, a common Thug; and Bambang with his blackpowder rifle.

I also rolled up some random spells for Pryndaal, Dafydd and Elramis. Pryndaal received Enveloping Sphere and Flaming Circle. Dafydd, apprentice as he is, received the highly appropriate Stupefying Eye. Elramis, power hungry and slightly mad, received Consuming Ice, Devilish Blast and Binding Lock.

The village contained 6 ruins. To search a ruin a character would need to get to the deepest or highest point, then spend an action to search. On a roll of 6 the spellbook would be found, and would then need to be carried to safety back along the road.

Turn 1
Pryndaal wins initiative. He rushes forward for the centre of village. Dafydd heads for a large building to the left, possibly inn, thinking it the probable location for spellbook. Elramis moves his gang forwards. Bambang tries a difficult long rang shot at mercenaries but misses. Wulf runs for a corner building furthest from Pryndaal's gang, but trips and falls on the way. Finally, Gidwin returns fire at Bambang with his crossbow, but misses.

Turn 2
Pryndaal retains initiative. Dafydd reaches the inn and heads towards the ladder to the upper floor. Wulf picks himself up and moves to ladder of his chosen building. Nyle dives to cover behind the burned out shop at the centre of the table, but trips while doing so. Elramis heads into the shop from the other direction. Gidwin quickly reloads and fires again, hitting Bambang square in the head, taking him down. Pryndaal reaches the window next to Nyle and casts Flaming Circle through it at Elramis. Elramis hastily pulls up a defensive ward, but receives some burns on his right arm and torso.

Turn 3
Pryndaal maintains initiative. He runs inside the shop and assaults Elramis, thumping him on his burning arm with his staff, causing Elramis to drop his prized skull staff. In response, Elramis stoops low and slashes at Pryndaal with his dagger, cutting him on the right leg, then collects his skull staff. Nyle clambers up and runs into the shop to assist Pryndaal. To the north, Wulf reaches the upper layer of the corner house but finds it empty. Dafydd likewise heads upstairs in the inn. His prediction regarding was correct, and he finds the spellbook in the scorched rooms of the upper level. Gidwin makes another masterful shot, this time at Snell, who had ducked out of cover for just a moment. Snell too goes down.

Turn 4
Elramis wins initiative. He casts Devilish Blast, knocking back Nyle and giving him a festering boil on his right hand. Pryndaal holds back the blast with a ward, but Elramis takes the opportunity to run from the ruins towards Dafydd's escape point on the road. Dafydd, sensing trouble, heads swiftly downstairs, pausing near the doorway of the inn to cast Stupefying Eye at Elramis. He fails to catch his eye however, and the spell wanes. Wulf runs downstairs and sprints down the main street towards Dafydd. Gidwin takes a snap shot at Elramis as he moves into view, hitting him in the chest, but Elramis somehow stays upright. Pryndaal sets off in pursuit of Elramis, while Nyle dives back out of the shop and slashes at Wulf as he passes, causing a light wound to his leg.

Turn 5
Pryndaal wins back initiative. Dafydd runs for the safety of the corner of the inn. Elramis, his line of sight to Dafydd blocked, turns his attention to Pryndaal behind him. He casts Devilish Blast once more, and despite Pryndaal being unprepared for the sudden attack, the spell merely causes a few pustules to break out on Pryndaal's left arm. Elramis ducks behind a tree to hide from crackshot Gidwin. Pryndaal retaliates with Flaming Circle, layering more burns onto Elramis, causing him to drop his skull staff and start limping on his right leg. Wulf continues his sprint down the road, but the wound to his leg causes him to fall.

Turn 6
Pryndaal retains initiative. Nyle moves to block Elramis and cuts him on his dagger arm. Wulf cuts off Dafydd's escape route, but Dafydd quickly reacts, casting Stupefying Eye at Wulf. Wulf begins moving in slow motion. Elramis brushes past Nyle and casts Binding Lock on Dafydd, rooting him to the spot. Gidwin retaliates, firing point black at Elramis, hitting him squarely in the chest and finally taking the maniacal wizard down. Pryndaal steps forward and tries to cast the protective Enveloping Sphere over Dafydd, but the spell actually takes effect over Wulf, who is partially blocking his line of sight to Dafydd.

Turn 7
Wulf wins initiative. He staggers towards Dafydd, slashing out slowly with his sword as if underwater, but misses. Dafydd can only watch as the sword comes within an inch of him, willing himself free of the Binding Lock. The rest of Pryndaal's party move up to surround Wulf.

Turn 8
Pryndaal wins back initiative. Dafydd rushes past Wulf, but trips and falls in his haste. Wulf spins and pounces, injuring Dafydd's sword arm. Pryndaal runs towards Dafydd, but instead of helping his servile apprentice, snatches the spellbook from his grasp. Nyle, more concerned with Dafydd's plight than his master, attacks Wulf, striking him once more on his wounded leg. Gidwin, unable to take aim into the swirling melee, taunts Wulf in the hopes of making him surrender, but the threat falls like a cold bowl of porridge onto a kitchen floor.

Turn 9
Wulf seizes the initiative. He vaults over Dafydd and slashes at Pryndaal, wounding him on the right arm and causing the spellbook to drop to the floor. Gidwin grabs the book and runs to safety. Pryndaal, with a roar, incinerates Wulf with a blazing Flaming Circle, finally ending all resistance. The party slump to the ground, victorious.


They leave the ruins of Garmsby after quick rest to refresh themselves and bind their wounds. Pryndaal's injuries are relatively superficial, and his pustules will surely be cured by some poultice from a local healer. Dafydd and he should recover after a couple of days of rest. Nyle's festering boils are more problematic, and will require some magical assistance to cure. They decide to set off toward the closest town, Black Hollow, to recuperate, and for Pryndaal to examine the contents of Raggazark's spellbook.

Hours later, night falls over Garmsby, and the body of Elramis stirs...


Hope you enjoyed the write up. I was really pleased at how dynamic the battle felt, and I feel excited to start incoporating some more narrative and RPG elements into my games without needing to switch rule system. I just think about what is most likely, consider the various factors in a situation, determine a difficulty and roll. Very liberating!

If you would like to take a look at more FKR ideas for your games, I recommend reading this blog: https://darkwormcolt.wordpress.com/ and joining the Discord: https://discord.com/invite/njtEJRc

At some point soon I will write up a one page set of guidelines for skirmish miniature play in this style.

[amunptah]

Some photos of the game.