Blasted brains.pdf

BLASTED BRAINS

A SCENARIO SET IN MORDHEIM

A SCENARIO FOR WFRP

Prepared by

François Dubé

frankdube28@hotmail.com

(Ulric in BI’s Forums)

JUNE 2005

TABLE OF CONTENT

1 THE SCENARIO........................................................................................................................................................................................ 3

2 THE CHARACTERS................................................................................................................................................................................. 4

2.1 T HE CHARACTERS AND THEIR PASTS ....................................................................................... 4

2.2 LE ARNING WHO YOU ARE ........................................................................................................ 4

2.3 W YRDSTONE , M UTATION A ND M AGIC IN M ORDHEIM ........................................................... 5

2.4 C HARACTER SHEETS ................................................................................................................ 6

3 THE CELL ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 10

3.1 D ARKNESS STRIKES ............................................................................................................... 10

3.2 L IGHT AT LAST ....................................................................................................................... 11

4 FIRST STEPS IN THE CITY OF THE DAMNED .............................................................................................................................. 13

4.1 T HE B O UNTY HUNTERS ......................................................................................................... 13

4.2 E XPLORING T HE WIZARD MANSION ...................................................................................... 15

4.3 N IGHT OF THE LIVING DEADS ................................................................................................ 16

5 BALDRED THE INSANE SCIENTIST ................................................................................................................................................ 16

5.1 R EVENGE AT LAST ................................................................................................................. 16

6 THE SHADOW LORD ............................................................................................................................................................................ 19

6.1 F ACING THE S HADOW L ORD .................................................................................................. 19

7 TRYING TO GET OUT .......................................................................................................................................................................... 20

7.1 M ADNESS ............................................................................................................................... 20

7.2 U NDERSTANDING M ORDHEIM ............................................................................................... 21

7.3 R UNNING IN THE DARK .......................................................................................................... 21

7.4 M ORDHEIM TWO DAYS AFTER THE FALL OF THE COMET ....................................................... 22

7.5 LE AVING MORDHEIM ............................................................................................................. 23

8 REWARDS ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 23

Blasted Brains : A scenario for

WFRP

By François Dubé

2 / 23

05-12-16

Are you afraid in the dark? When every muted sound could be the

approach of death, when every shadow could conceal your doom. What

about the darkness you bear within? Who are you? You don’t recall. What

terrible secrets lurk within your past ?

You want to fight but do you know how? You need the aid of others to shed

light into this darkness. Can you trust them? What awful recollections

escape them, hidden from the mind's eye?

You want to find more about your past. But first, you need to survive.

BLASTED BRAINS

1 THE SCENARIO

In the dark you can scream

But do you really want to be heard?

Blasted Brains is a twisted horror scenario, based on the premise that the PCs do not know who they are and

where they are. Each player begins the adventure with a blank character sheet, filling in the details over time as

their past unfolds. The key elements of the scenario are:

- The PCs all suffer from the ‘Blasted Brain’ disorder described in the WFRP rulebook (p.202). Unlocking

knowledge of who they are and what happened to them is a large part of the challenge of this scenario.

- The PCs are in Mordheim in the year 2000 IC, two days after the fall of ‘Sigmar’s Fist’, a terrible meteorite

that strikes the decadent city, leaving devastation in its wake.

- The deadly environment of the city makes even basic survival a pressing, urgent concern. The PCs will

need to rely on each other to escape this nightmare, and use their resources carefully.

- In order to survive, the PCs must escape before mutation, insanity or daemonic possession overwhelms

them, turning them into mindless monstrosities, NPCs controlled by the GM.

Alternative Settings: Though set in Mordheim, the scenario can be played in a devastated Imperial city in the

wake of the Storm of Chaos. It may also be played a terrible nightmare, the PCs awaking in the year 2522 IC to

discover it was all a dream.

The main scenario can be played as an introduction to WFRP. It can also be expended into an epic campaign

centred on Mordheim.

Blasted Brains : A scenario for

WFRP

By François Dubé

3 / 23

05-12-16

2 THE CHARACTERS

If I but knew who I was...

This chapter describes the Player Characters proposed for this scenario and the background and rules to be used

in conjunction with the Blasted Brain disorder they suffer from. Optional rules for play in Mordheim are also

presented.

2.1 THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR PASTS

This scenario includes eight pregenerated Player Characters recommended for play. Each player should select

the character they want to play based on the reading of ‘Personal Details’ by the GM, or be allocated a character

randomly. The gender and name of a given character can be changed if desired. For small groups of players,

some of the pregenerated characters can be run as NPCs to increase the power, competence and survivability of

the group and to ensure the group has at least one healer. These NPCs can also contribute to the mystery of the

scenario by introducing elements of doubt and fear in the minds of the PCs. The GM may also decide to

customise the proposed characters, though they should be careful while doing this since a few characters possess

skills and knowledge tied to the potential success of the scenario.

At the start of the adventure, the PCs (and any appropriate NPCs) find themselves in a dark cell beneath the ruins

of a wizard's mansion. Unbeknown to them, they were used as experimental subjects by the mad wizard,

Baldred, forced to drink bizarre concoctions and subjected to torture. As a result of the drugs, torment, and the

effects of the Dark Magic spell, Vision of Torment, the PCs all suffer from the disorder, Blasted Brain (see

WFRP, pg.202 for more information), experiencing a temporary loss of memory. As the adventure unfolds and

the PCs investigate their pasts, their memories, both good and bad, will gradually return. Baldred also branded

the PCs with runes of Chaos, gleefully informing them that if they ever succeed in escaping their cells, they will

only face persecution and possible execution at the hands of witch hunters anyway. The discovery of these marks

can be perilous indeed, though the GM can decide that a few PCs actually were Chaos cultists in their forgotten

past.

2.2 LEARNING WHO YOU ARE

During the scenario, the PCs will get the chance to learn more about their Skills and Talents, as well as their past

background. Each time they find themselves in a situation where their forgotten Skills, Talents, or background

would prove useful, the Player can make an Intelligence Test for the character to see if the appropriate part of the

PC's memory returns. With regard to the PC's actual characteristics, these will come back faster. After the first

battle with the mutants, the Players will know the WS, BS, S, T and Ag of their character. Int, WP and Fel will

be learned after a game session or two; enough time to allow for some role playing between the PCs. The GM

should keep hidden the Talents that increased the starting values of the PC’s characteristics until the end of the

scenario to make it harder for players to know which Career they pursued.

Here are a few examples of memory recovery:

• A PC is injured. The other PCs gather around him, unsure of what to do. On a successful Intelligence Test one PC with

Heal or Surgery says: ‘ I think I can do it, I don’t know exactly why, but I think I healed wounds in the past. ’

• During combat, PCs who fight in the melee or use ranged weapon make an Intelligence Test. If successful they learn of

one Skill or Talent related to this situation: ‘ I don’t know exactly why I was trained to do that but I know how to stun

these Chaos-ridden fiends!’

• If facing a written text that the PC can read, the PC instantly recalls that he can read. The same happens when he hears a

language that he understands.

Here are examples of bad ways to play the memory recovery:

Blasted Brains : A scenario for

WFRP

By François Dubé

4 / 23

05-12-16

• A PC is injured, other PCs gather around him not knowing what to do. On a successful intelligence test one PC with

heal or surgery says : ‘I think I can do it, I was a barber-surgeon in the past.’

• Players start naming skills & talents or lifting things or training with their sword hoping to roll intelligence tests. No,

this should not work. They should only get a feeling of the characteristics, not the exact numbers. On the other hand

this works for weapon specialisation.

• PCs see for the first time the ruins of Mordheim and say : ‘ This could be Mordheim. ’ This should not work since it

appeals more to the players knowledge than to the PCs knowledge who would not really recognise at first their own city

(it has been savagely destroyed). On the other hand, intelligence tests are allowed when facing special monuments or

buildings. It is also possible to change the name of the city so that all the knowledge the players have on Mordheim

does not change too much their role playing.

Characters will also have ‘flashbacks’. It is best to write them on a sheet of paper and give them only to the PCs

who have them. The PCs will then be free to tell what they recall or not. It is also possible for GMs to give

flashbacks to the PC’s as they remember skills and talents.

Optional rules (It all comes back to me know): When the PCs learn half of their skills and talents, they are entitled to an intelligence test

each time they discover a new trait of the background. A successful intelligence test allows them to remember exactly who they were and all

the skills and talents they have.

2.3 WYRDSTONE, MUTATION AND MAGIC IN MORDHEIM

It was a time before Teclis

And magic meant danger

In Mordheim, the players will be exposed to wyrdstone dust and perhaps to wyrdstone crystals also called

‘stones of power’ that they are likely to consider as gem stones. Such exposure is likely to drive them insane and

to cause them to mutate into creatures of chaos.

Once per day, while in Mordheim, the PCs must roll two willpower tests. The first one is for mutation. The

second one is for insanity. On failed willpower tests they gain one mutation and/or one insanity point

(remember that halfling are immunised to chaos mutations but not to loss of sanity). This is on top of direct

exposure to the horror of Mordheim and to the direct touch of wyrdstone. For direct touch of wyrdstone a

willpower test is made. One test is required every hour if the PCs keep the wyrdstones on their hands or as a

necklace. If carried in a backpack, one extra test is made every day with a negative modifier on the willpower

tests of –5%/wyrdstone carried. PCs can get as much as +30% bonus on willpower tests if they don’t touch the

wyrdstones directly or if they use iron or lead coffers to store them.

Optional rule (Mutation points): Instead of mutating after a failed WP the PCs can get ‘mutation points’. When you get 6

mutation points, you must succeed a willpower test or you gain a random mutation. Your mutation score is then reduced by

6. The mutation gained begins to grow the same day and takes D10+3 days to grow. Sadly, there is no escape from

mutation except perhaps to cut the arm or leg that is mutating. If the last mutation point gained is by handling a wyrdstone

the mutation is automatically a tentacle or similar mutation of the hand.

Optional rule (Magical sense and Wyrdstones): When seeing a wyrdstone a character with the skill Magical Sense sees a

small glow coming from inside the gem stone. When touching it for the first time, the character is overwhelmed by dark

magic and, on a failed willpower test, drops the stone. The character can then make an intelligence test to know if he

remembers this skill (and that what he had just experienced is about magic). If he succeeds he will be able to say that the

stone has a strong aura of magic in it.

Optional rule (Magic before Teclis): Before Teclis magic was more experimental and more dangerous for spell casters.

Casting was also less efficient. The dices rolled are six sided dices instead of ten sided dices (other rules stay the same).

Optional rule (Winds of magic): Magic is so strong in Mordheim that spell casters get +3 to their casting roll because of the

winds of magic caused by wyrdstones.

Optional rule (Casting with wyrdstone): Casting with wyrdstone as a spell component gives an additional 6 points to the

casting roll. This, on the other hand, has bad side effects. First, you must roll a willpower test to see if you gain one insanity

points and one willpower test to know if you gain one mutation point. Then you are considered as having used dark magic

and are subject to side effects (see p.159 of the rule book) when you roll doubles for a Tzeentch’s curse. After the casting,

part of the wyrdstone disappears (0.1 enc). When reduced to zero enc. the wyrdstone turns into dust.

Blasted Brains : A scenario for

WFRP

By François Dubé

5 / 23

05-12-16

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