Bravo Retainers of Haven

Bravos are catch-all term to describe and small group of upper class hooligans who feel the need to prove their status by bullying their inferiors, spending far too much on their appearance and equipment, and get into conflict with other bravos over (real or imagined) slights against their honor. The bravos aren't a formal gang or organization by any means - in fact if they actually organized they might be a force to be reckoned with.

Bravos are difficult to deal with at the best of times, but as adventurers, the PCs have a slight advantage.  The bravos are generally impressed with members of the Guild of Defenestration because they actually go into the Underworld and survive! They are even more impressed with freelancers who ignore the "shackles of society" and do their own thing. If a PC is able to convince a bravo to join their crew as a retainer, they get a valuable ally.

Some Rules: Bravos are difficult teenagers and as such social interactions are rolled with Disadvantage. Adventurers are somewhat respected and get to add half their level to reaction rolls when dealing with Bravos.  As freelancers who buck the system, the PCs do not have Disadvantage when interacting with them ... until they act like "the man". Once a Bravo Retainer is part of the party, the party gains Advantage for all future Bravo encounters as the Bravos all want to one-up each other.

Bravo Stats
Roll as regular henchmen, but Attack and Defense must each be at least +1. Also roll once on the Boon and once on the Bane tables.

1d6	Boon	Bane
1	Always has a loaded pistol hidden upon their person	Always intoxicated on (d4) 1. Booze 2. Cocaine 3. Weed 4. Vengeance
2	Knows all sorts of folks; advantage on social interactions in the Bravos' district while they are with the crew	Has a mean streak that will be their eventual very public and very profane downfall
3	Has  KO of +8 - the guy just won't go down!	Overconfident in a way that the players have never seen - the bravo will eventually assume they are in charge of the party
4	Secretly an amateur alchemist; attempts to identify potions are made with Advantage	has a pack of enemies that are out to get them - and all associates (the party) as well
5	family heirloom is a magic weapon that the bravo took out of the case in the family home	Universally despised by the noble houses because they are, in short, an insufferable asshole
6	accomplished warrior; the bravo has at least one warrior initial ability	has a secret agenda that involves tricking the party into a dangerous situation to trade their lives to make up for past mistakes

Guild of Defenestration and Dungeoneering Chapters

The GDD membership roster is always in flux because it is a dangerous job. Folks die in the Underworld, retire from adventuring, or just quit and go do something less fatal. At the same time new recruits are always coming in with the promise of riches, a sense of duty to protect the city, or they literally have nothing else to do or lose.

As of this moment, in-game there are 36 GDD chapters active in Haven.

Name (Chapter)	HQ	REP	Members
The Dragonborn (119)	Copper & Brass	0	7
Bloody Syndicate (172)	Tanners District	-1	5
Ox Horn Crew (237)	Riverbend	0	2
GDD Chapter 264	Bentworth	-1	5
The White Dragons (273)	Mirebranch	1	6
Geoff's Ghost Brigade (302)	Pease Park	0	4
Dungeon Ravagers (313)	Ars Magus	-1	1
Redcaps (324)	Bentworth	0	5
GDD Chapter 330	Richardtown	-1	4
Gloomriders (359)	Tumbledowns	0	6
Order of Flame and Ice (407)	Richardtown	0	5
GDD Chapter 453	Iron Hill	-1	5
Rembrant's Ravagers (466)	Iron Hill	-1	5
The Wild Ones (482)	Shady Thicket	-1	5
Golden Wolf Pack (488)	Grinders District	4	10
GDD Chapter 501	New Hope Village	-1	5
GDD Chapter 511	Grinders District	-1	6
Orchid Club (523)	Elmgate	1	5
Untamed Brotherhood (566)	Archeron Point	0	5
Ogre's Doom (588)	Mirebranch	-1	2
Unbridled Passion (594)	Quail Point	1	8
GDD Chapter 635	Old Town	-1	4
Knives of Light (637)	Kilsea Jawn	-1	5
Gentlemen of Success (638)	North Gate	2	8
Pistoleers (645)	Windward	-1	3
The Angels of Hope (656)	Archeron Point	-1	4
GDD Chapter 695	Temple Plaza	-1	2
The Night Runners (719)	Smouldering Wharf	3	9
Spider Company (731)	Tigertown	0	5
Brunwick's Badgers (737)	Watcher's Hill	2	9
Maxi's Cobra Squad (845)	Grinders District	0	6
Forsaken Sisterhood (872)	Tumbledowns	1	1
Freedom Front (902)	Pease Park	1	2
Exquisite Philosophers (938)	North Gate	0	PC Crew
Needle and Thread and Blood (950)	Watcher's Hill	1	7
Jade Thorns (972)	Temple Plaza	3	2

Reputation and Standing

Chapters with a -1 Reputation (new chapters) often haven't chosen a name yet and just go by their guild chapter number. As the chapters clear dungeons and make a name for themselves they grow in reputation. Currently the chapters with the highest reputations are:

• The Golden Wolfpack (488): What a crew! Everyone knows the Wolfpack. This crew is lead by Master Silas, a powerful if somewhat reclusive wizard. They take on the toughest dungeons that crop up and have quite the reputation for community service, actually serving as local watch in the Grinders.  Dirk and Dudley, a twin brothers, are accomplished Explorers act as the public face of the Wolkpack. They are well liked.
• The Night Runners (719): The Night Runners are generally known as bastards and have a powerful if bad reputation. But for all their dubious practices, they are effective. 
• Jade Thorns (972): The Jade Thorns have close ties with the Church, led by a high level templar named Jadus (her personal reputation is stellar). Unfortunately, they had a major loss in their recent expedition and have only two surviving members. They are recruiting.
• Brunwick's Badgers (737): Brunwick is tough and tenacious as so is the rest of his crew. Their current claim to fame is the head of an actual dragon they recovered from the depths. These folks are all about glaives and rifles - they are big game hunters almost more than dungeoneers.
• Gentlemen of Success (638): The renowned explorer Theresa Flutter and her husband Killington, a scoundrel of no small water, are a well respected crew that, above all else, are known as civilized and courteous to all. They also have influence and ties to several of the noble houses.

Month-to-Month GDD Chapter Rules

Each month, roll 2d6 for the guild chapters to see what is going on with them.

• 2: Something Awful
• 3 - 4: Disastrous Delve
• 5 - 6: Lose Members
• 7: Business as Usual
• 8 - 9: Gain Members
• 10 - 11: Successful Delve
• 12: Something Amazing

Business As Usual

No changes of any significance

Gain Members

The group gains 1d2 1st level NPCs of a random character class (1d10).

• 1 - 3: Warrior
• 4 - 5: Scoundrel
• 6 - 7: Explorer
• 8: Templar
• 9: Paladin
• 10: Wizard

Lose Members

The group loses 1d3 random members through the usual reasons - dungeon death, retirement, or just leaving to do something else.

Successful Delve
1d3 random members gain a level. Roll 1d10+the crew's Reputation. On a result of 1-5 the chapter's Reputation increases by 1 point.

Disastrous Delve
They went in a Hole and things went very poorly. Each member has a 50% chance of being killed in the dungeon. Those that survive have a 1 in 6 chance of gaining a level.

Something Awful & Something Special
Perhaps I'll make a specific table for these things, but they are open-ended events meant to be major changes for the chapters. Something Awful might be a TPK, whereas Something Special could be finding a major artifact or a serious change in standing.

Much like the gang rules, these are meant to keep things dynamic. Ignore results that are boring or would take things in a direction that is completely bunk ... or don't! Breaking the campaign is one of the most interesting and fun things a GM can do.

Adventures and a Gang War

Adventures in Fantasy
We've had 3 sessions since last I updated - one complete adventure run by Eric and another just getting started.  A summary for your amusement.

A Terrible Time with Alexander
In the Crossed Rapiers the crew was relaxing and listening to a band ,,, but something was wrong. Turned out it was a monster that dilated time and mind controlled everyone and was sucking out everyone's brains. We couldn't have that and laid waste ... until the thing escaped. But we couldn't escape the tavern! Found ANOTHER dungeon entrance in the place and started exploring.

Turns out we were the targets of something awful. Children of the Mater - tentacled monstrosities that (maybe) controlled time and illusions. We wandered around a dungeon that turned out to only have a few rooms, but they were all from different times. Took us quite a while and some clever adventuring to get that sorted out.  Luckily, we also found a central location and a strange device and a TON of clues ... about us ... and a journal

Turns out that changing the settings on the strange device opened a portal. We were able to figure out the (sort of) binary code and align that to the journal entries and start exploring. This got VERY weird. In the end, it was determined that we had written the journal ... which was very disturbing as we figured it out after Tiger Mott (my wizard) had started and it explicitly listed several of our own deaths. It was exceptions (as was the journal which was an actual prop).

In the end we figured out that the Children had imprisoned the Master, a fellow who was once a human named Alexander and now some sort of demi-god. Freeing him was pretty epic. As was the crazy skull mast Tiger Mott picked up. ALso his magic went awry and he is now made of porcelain. Also he had a temporary familiar that also wanted to kill him.

Most notably, this was the first Sorrow in Haven adventure run by someone that wasn't me! And it all worked out GREAT! I was quite pleased.

Gangs and Other Fun
The newest adventure the crew is a bit tricky write about as the players are in the midst of sorting out what the fuck is actually going on. Here is what they have figured out for sure - the Black Leg Gang is in some sort of turf war with the Serpent's Eyes. In the middle of this GDD Chapter 111 (the Dungeon Kings) has gone missing, presumed dead. There is a tie-in between the BLG and 111 as apparently 111 was in a dungeon and found a "cypher" to open an Ageless Vault (which probably contains mad loot and powerful magics) the Serpent's Eyes have discovered. Everyone is racing for opening that bad boy. Also, the Hammers are hunting down some demons, a mercenary band is also missing and possible possessed, and a group templar are involved asking a lot of strange questions. Oh - and the major crime family of Haven is involved somehow as well. All of this in a single session? Just wait until things really get rolling!

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Real Life Adventures
They are done! I've completed the first printing and binding of Sorrow in Haven. I hand bound 16 copies of the book. Which was an arduous task. And this is a serious binding - end papers, sewing, hardcovers, and all the good times. We'll be playing with this as the rules for some time as V2 is under way. I'm pretty sure the print copies of v2 (or any more v1 copies) are going to be sent out or print on demand. I'm quite proud of myself, but my hands hurt. but the book is gorgeous! I'll post up some images later this weekend.

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Gang Wars
This really works for any faction-on-faction conflict. In this case I wrote it up specifically for the gang war between the Black Leg Gang and the Serpent's Eyes. I actually used a form of this for the noble houses as well.

For each gang, determine

• Number of Members: a gang has 2d6+6 members; the 2d6 explodes like an Amazing Roll (roll 12 and add another d6, repeat each time a 6 is rolled).
• Resources: how much the gang has to work with, roll 2d6+6 and assign the action modifier like it is a primary attribute (+0 to +3)
• Influence: how much sway do they have, roll 2d6+6 and assign the action modifier like it is a primary attribute (+0 to +3) 

in this scenario, we've got:

• Black Leg Gang (16 members (+2), resources+1, influence +0)
• Serpent's Eyes (13 members (+1), resources +1, influence +2)

Then each day (or whatever time period) roll 1d6 to see what shenanigans are afoot in their conflict and 1d6 to randomly determine which gang is "rolling":

Activities

1. Plotting and Scheming
2. Fighting in the streets
3. Shift of Influence
4. Shift of Resources
5. Outside Interference
6. Major Event - roll again and double it!

Plotting and Scheming
The gang is making plans for a future event, getting things in order, gathering information, recruiting, or leveraging contacts.

• Action Roll: 2d6+nothing (vs target 7)
• Legendary Failure: The plans are discovered, roll again for the other side with Advantage
• Critical Failure: this plan sucks ... gain Advantage on the next Activities roll
• Failure: Plans didn't work out ... maybe next time
• Success: excellent plotting, sir! ... gain Advantage on the next Activities roll
• Critical Success: excellent scheming ... gain Advantage on the next Activities roll and immediately make an Activities roll
• Legendary Success: this is going to hurt ... gain Advantage on the next Activities roll and immediately choose which Activity to engage in

Fighting in the Streets
All out brawling, ambushes, or sneaky murdering. In any case, someone is going to die.

• Action Roll: both gangs make a 2d6+members roll, attackers gain +1
• Legendary Failure: massive losses ... 1d6 attacking gang members died 
• Critical Failure: serious losses ... attacking gang loses 1d4 members
• Failure: losses ... attacking gang loses 1d2 members, the enemy loses 1 less
• Success: good brawl ... attacking gang loses 1d3-1 fellows, but opposing gang loses 1 more than that
• Critical Success: definitive victory ... attacking gang loses nothing, opponents lose 1d4
• Legendary Success: slaughter ... opponents lose 1d6 members

Shift of Influence / Resources
The population is taking a stand, bribes are payed, or the law is getting involved. Resources work the same way, just replace resources with influence.

• Action Roll: both gangs make a 2d6+influence
• Legendary Failure: gang loses 1 influence, opponent picks it up
• Critical Failure: lose 1 influence
• Failure: Nothing changes ... 
• Success: gang gains 1 influence
• Critical Success: gang steals 1 influence from opponent
• Legendary Success: gang steals 1 influence from opponent and gains 1 additional influence

Outside Interference
Another group gets involved, for good or for ill (roll 1d6).

1. Gain 1d4 members from recruitment
2. Gain 1 influence through propaganda
3. Gain 1 resource via clever management
4. Lose 1 resource brought on by local resistance
5. Lose 1 influence caused by a bad reputation
6. Lose 1d4 members because they are incarcerated or just leave

Major Event
Something big just happened ... really big. Roll again on the Activities table but double the results. This event can stack up meaning a single event can wipe out a gang or put them in a position to crush their opponent.

An Example of All This Jazz

Day 1: The Black Leg Gang starts a street scrap with the Serpent's Eyes. They win the fight but lose 1 member, the Eyes lose 2.

Day 2: The Eyes retaliate in a major way, attempting to ambush the Legs, but they fail! The Eyes lose 2 more members as only one member of the Legs is taken out of action.

Day 3: There is an outside influence on the Eyes - their bad reputation causes them to lose 1 influence.

Day 4: The Legs, seeing an opportunity, attempt to shift influence their way. They manage to convince some of the locals that the Eyes are the problem and gain 1 influence.

Day 5: The Eyes start plotting and scheming, they need to get back in top! They have a good plan it seems, let's see how it all pans out.

Day 6: The Legs continue their assault on the influence of the Eyes, but they critically fail as the Eyes plan comes to fruition and they lose the influence they so recently gained.

So after 1 week (my game week only has 6 days)

• Black Leg Gang
• From: 16 members (+2), resources+1, influence +0
• To: 14 members(+1), resources +1, influence +0
• Serpent's Eyes
• From: 13 members (+1), resources +1, influence +2
• To: 10 members (+0), resources +1, influence +1

How Does It All End? Who Wins?
No idea ... these tables are just to get things moving and keep the action in the background interesting. If one group gets too powerful or too weak perhaps I'll just decide. If we look at the total modifiers Legs +3 to +2 and Eyes +4 to +2, we could say the the Legs are winning as they lost 1 less total modifier point than the Eyes? One could argue they are both losing, but the Eyes are losing more.

What about 3 or More Gangs?
When you roll to see who is making the activity roll, also choose a random target. Want to mix things up even more?  Have each gang make an activity roll each day to see what is happening. The possibilities, as they say, are endless.

In any case, the players' crew is going to get involved and they are going to really make things happen. The point of this is to keep things dynamic and happening so as they players get involved they aren't dealing with "scenes" or a stagnant situation which only they can resolve. The PCs act in a living world and this helps give a little old gang fight a spark of life.

Updated Initiative Rules

The initiative rules in the early drafts were effective, but frankly I just didn't like them. They didn't fit with the rest of the system. After a few experiments, most of which I'll mark as failed, the following was decided upon. It does a few things:

1. It allows for a GREAT initiative roll to really impact how much time you've got to do things. surprising the enemy is bad-ass again.
2. It is easy math that the players can do and doesn't depend (as much) on what other people rolled. 
3. Spending END on initiative makes sense now (had little impact before)
4. Additional Initiative dice have a better impact as well, making that a worthwhile advance.
5. The ambush rules are much clearer and a good ambush plan GUARANTEES the entire party will go first and quickly if it is well executed and really makes it likely if at least somewhat well executed.

In General

1. Everyone makes a Ranked INIT Action Roll.
2. Highest initiative roll starts on Count 0
3. Each additional character starts on Count (highest roll - their own roll)

Character/Monster	Initiative Roll	Initiative Count
Kent	8	(12-8) = 4
Justine	4	(12 - 4) = 8
Thurn	11	(12 - 11) = 1
Gang of Ghol	12	0
Pack of Giant Rats	7	(12 - 7) = 5

• The combat count starts at 0.
• Any character with an initiative count of 0 gets their next declared action at half speed.
• Combat count increments as normal/everything else is the same

Situational Awareness

Alert

Alert characters are on guard and specifically watching for danger in a specific location roll initiative with Advantage. For example, watching a door or hallway while the rest of the group is doing other things.

Wary

This is a character’s general state. No modifiers t the roll.

Distracted

Characters that are distracted because they are engaged in other activities such as arguing, picking a lock, or searching an area are distracted. These characters roll initiative with Disadvantage.

Ambushing

An ambush is when a character or group has a specific plan of attack and knowledge of their enemy and the situation. Kicking down a door where the enemy and specific terrain is unknown does not count an ambush, but it may catch the targets distracted.

Ambushing Unaware Targets

An unaware target is unprepared for a fight. When ambushing unaware targets. The character that rolled the highest gets an initiative count of 0 and all other characters in the group get an initiative count of 1. The unaware targets will have AT BEST an initiative count of 5. The entire target group must be unaware of the attack.

Ambushing Aware Targets

If the target group is aware of a possible attack but still being ambushed, the ambushers roll with Advantage but the target of the ambush rolls based on their situational awareness (Alert, Wary, or Distracted), which can be different for different members of the group.

Note: one can be alert or ambushing but not both)

Surprised

A surprised character has an initiative count that has not yet been reached. Once a character's first  initiative count comes up they are no longer surprised. Surprised characters may still defend themselves, but do so at Disadvantage. Shields may only be used if they were readied before the combat began

Mitigating Surprised

A character may grab another character to mitigate their surprise. Average the current and surprised character's counts. The mitigating character has no penalty to defend and can step in and take the hit from any incoming attacks.

Sorrow in Haven Monsters and Books

The last edits are being completed on the first draft of Sorrow in Haven. The 'beta' copy of the book has been made (and some obviously adjustments are in order). With that in the final stages, I've moved on to parts 2 and 3 of the project: the monster book and version 2 of the main book.

Monsters
First, re-creating all of the 'classic' monsters is not a particularly fun or rewarding experience. So for the most part I decided simply not to. The majority of monsters are new creatures, things that haven't existed before. As I was writing, though, I realized that some of the classic monsters should show up. Most of them have been included in the "Creatures of Dust" group - these are the more common creatures that characters (and players) may know about.

I'm going to break the monsters into 3 volumes, just for management purposes. Creatures have a "class" that is similar to level and are rated A-E based on where they might show up in a dungeon. The Threat value for individual creatures varies on a given class, but overall, higher threat is a 'higher' class rating. Volume 1 will contain classes A&B, volume 2 C&D, and volume 3 will have class E, Astral, and Gloom encounters. Volumes 1 and 2 will contain 132 monsters, volume 3 128 monsters, and both will have appendices for some extra fun (although I'm not sure what just yet).

Main Rules v2
The rewrite of the main rules is for two purposes. The first is to add new details, rules, and concepts into the official rules. The second is to expand on some concepts that are touched up but not explained as well as I'd like or need to be updated/revised/expanded. The game is the same, just with some more polish on it. All of that comes together to create a single book that is an entire game, including some monster highlights, so a new GM or player can pick it up and jump right in.

When?
That is the fun part, isn't it? Earlier in the year I had a MASSIVE data loss situation. Entirely my fault, although i'll blame technology for as much of it as I can get away with. The monster collection had to be entirely recreated, the dungeon generator I use for inspiration also needed to be (and is still in the process) of being rebuilt from the ground up. So next year? I plan to have the main text completed by the end of June 2019, then the art and editing and all that fun stuff needs to happen. SO this whole project might be ready in 2020. Let's say 2020. 

Then I will consider if a Kickstarter is worthwhile. Not really to MAKE money (which would be cool) but to share my project and maybe break even. I'm doing this as a labor of love and will have everything completed and payed for and ready to go if/when a kickstarter happens, so it all comes down to production, which is going to be all done by hand. Because I can. and no PDF because I don't want to make that. I know that a lot of folks will not want such a thing, but i'm old school and like my books.

Recent Play Reports
I've been pretty awful about posting play reports on the blog. I mean clearly, this is the first thing posted in months. But the good news is that a massive and wildly complex adventure came to a close. It was a hard test of the rules and 99% of things worked out. More interesting, is that the first game being run by someone OTHER than me is happening! We've had one session which was awesome. Another session is pending, but work travel (not just mine) has borked things up a bit. In any case, the game goes on!

Tales from Haven (Mini-session Report)

Haven is a terrible place. Just terrible.

This session we had a loss of players, so decided that the two who were able to make it would make new characters for a side-campaign. It was an amazing disaster, a vignette into the world of the adventurer, and pretty damn fun.

Drogo the scoundrel was a petty thief, scheming cartophile, and was sorely lacking in moral fiber.
Izzy the wizard was an escaped slave from a Lydosian Research ship that made his was on the tides to Haven along with his physically wrecked former mentor Jimmy.
Jimmy wants a meat pie. Jimmy thinks it smells down here. Jimmy, formerly Sir James, was Izzy's henchman (the henchman rules work really well)

Side Note: the Henchman Rule Roll your stats and total the action modifiers. If the total is 0 or less, then the character is a henchman, not a playable adventurer. Set them aside and roll again. Keep rolling until you get a viable player character. You can keep 1 henchman that you previously rolled as a loyal retainer for each positive point of PRESENCE modifier.

Both were dirt poor (failed "Working Hard" and poor starting funds rolls) and Destitute (alley living at its finest). A lot of table time was spent describing the terrible memories and backgrounds of these hard luck characters. The were probationary members of the Guild of Defenestration but weren't looking for a dungeon run, so I asked the players what rumors their characters had heard. Two things popped up

1. A warehouse in Richardtown, owned by the Guild of Bricklayers and Cobbilists, had recently had some breakins and was hiring unsavory types to guard the warehouse. No Cops. Inquire at the Hogg's Nipple on Bell Street.
2. There were several sightings of disturbingly large rats on the Briteside docks. The Sunflower House (Seamstress Guild local 121) near the Briteside reported seeing some sort of unclean commingling of man and rat outside in the back alley.

Two great rumors, immediately combined, and an adventure was spawned.

Getting Things Going
Drogo knew Harry, the Guild (BL&C) Steward and along with his crew met him in seriously seedy Hogg's Nipple. After much haggling and henchman Jimmy getting drunk, the party agreed to the watch job at the warehouse. They were clearly suspicious of the "no sniffing around and mind you post" talk, but had a few hours to kill. Another band was hired for the earlier shift - some tough guys that were always getting jobs first.

After a successful pickpocket on a minor noble slumming in Richardtown, the crew went to the warehouse. No=one answered the door. after some scouting and climbing up to the second floor window, Drogo saw some wan candlelight.

It Starts to Go Bad
There was stealth and skulking about in the dark. The party stumbled upon the body of one of the tough guys. They found a single candle left on an open crate, various crates opened and contents spilled about, and the bodies of the other tough guys and the guild nightman Smitty.

There were some silver candelabras and other material that looks the like guild warehouse was being used as a smuggling or fencing base - something unsavory. All the stuff lying around that weren't bricks and cobbles was pretty good ... so why was it there?

Izzy peeked into the astral and was immediately swarmed by the Gloom and mosquito. He came back quickly. No one had a good feeling about this situation. They followed a blood trail through the dark warehouse to find, hidden beneath a crate, a grate that leads into the undercity. Sewers and dead dungeons. Uhg.

GM Thoughts: Clues The tough guys and Smitty not just killed, but mutilated, was a clue. The source of their demise was clearly something dangerous and tough. The multiple candles indicated there were multiple foes. The lack of dead foes, whoever they are, further adds to how dangerous they are. The loot left lying about means they were after something specific, not just treasure. Peering into the Astral and seeing Gloom means something mystical is involved. GM Tip: don't tell the players, show them.

It Gets Worse
In the undercity they follow the blood trail and eventually find a dead ratman, his guts spilling out as he tried to hold them in. His end is merciful, but the trail ends. The adventurers wander the sewers a bit, rouse something large from one of the cistern, but eventually find where they believe the ratmen are holing up - in a dead dungeon connected to the sewers (surprise! come on - it was an improv adventure and i was pretty tipsy).

Hearing faint flute and banjo music, the party creeps forward, but in the first room Drogo falls into a 20' pit trap filled with garbage and refuse. Ouch! The music stops, Izzy holds a rope as Drogo climbs out and from one of the other doorways 3 ratmen rush out.

The fight is tough, the ratmen are barely damaged by anything (very high DR against non-silver), but the pit in center of the room features as main point. Izzy gets knocked out, but not before two of the ratmen are shoved into the pit. Unfortunately, the last ratman managed to knock Drogo into the pit, ending the combat and the game.

TPK, but valiantly fought.

Epilogue

• More G.O.D. member go missing on unsanctioned missions. The Guild cannot protect you if you don't follow the rules!
• Rumors about town are that there is a new king of the undercity. a Sir Jimmy, who claims to be king of the ratmen.
• Smitty was post-mortem implicated in a smuggling operation. The warehouse was shut down for a month for detailed inspected. the Guild of BL&C were furious. Parts of the city are falling into disrepair as a second Guild War seems to be brewing.

GM Thoughts
TPK is both satisfying and unfortunate. I'm definitely not the opponent of the other players and I want them to succeed, but at the same time watching things completely collapse into chaos and death is pretty fun from the GMs side. How many times the players have destroyed my clever plans or circumvented my amazing traps. The TPK also adds some seriousness to the games, makes retreat an reasonable option, and makes success, when it does occur, to be that much sweeter.

What I did like out of this adventure was a bit more flavor for Haven came out. Guilds, neighborhoods, and seedy activity all around. At one point the players were talking about stealing whatever contraband they could from the warehouse and ditching, which would also have been fun and interesting. The minor noble they robbed (from House Doorn) would have come looking for them had they survive, adding some potential political intrigue. ANd during character creation is was learned that Cardinal Tichonderoda has a map that shows a generally unknown entrance into Sorrow.

So while the adventure at had ended in disaster, I'd say the session was a success from a world-building and fun perspective. And after all - this is a game and fun is the main objective.

Knowing about Monsters

Sorrow in Haven has an setting where dungeons are all over the damn place. As such, it is implied, although not stated outright, that all characters have some knowledge of dungeons and their inhabitants. At the same time, discovering new things and having monsters be new and mysterious is part of the charm.

Everyone how plays D&D knows that kobold (dog-faced or dragon-babies - it doesn't matter) are little shit-stains that are not a threat to seasoned adventurers. Describe a kobold and other than Tucker's Kobolds, who are more of a "dungeon element challenge" than a "monster to deal with", and players get ready to knock the little bastards around so they can get on with the good part of the adventure.  They are trash mobs.

Not know what a monster is or does is fun, but if EVERYTHING is unknown, then each encounter is effectively a random battle as far as the players are concerned. I've decided to combat the "everything is unknown" and the "players read the monster manual" issues to create a sense of tension using the following

1. General Knowledge
If the players encounter a "common" monster, I'll use the name.  If anyone thinks to ask what they know about the critter, I'll give them one piece of info. The Explorer class has the "Dungeon Lore" advance and gets to ask about specific stuff, like what kind of dungeon they are in. If the dungeon type is known (and I don't hide it from players) they may have heard about the types of monsters that inhabit a type of dungeon. These are "common knowledge" things and while never outright falsehoods, they may be skewed versions of the truth.

Some examples

• If the part encounters an Angel's Crown, I'll use that name.  A piece of information I'd offer is "they are known to be very aggressive in groups".
• In a Tombs dungeon, players should watch out for Plague Rhinos (strange huge beasts that are infected with a rotting disease).
• Blood Ogres are known to stomp around Gorhaven dungeons. They are easily swayed by music played on a silver flute.

2. The "Monster Lore" Advance
The character knows about monsters - in fact with an INT Action Roll the player gets to ask the GM a number of questions - any question. That is some direct meta-gaming stuff right there, but it does the trick. Critical and Legendary failures produce dubious results (or outright lies from me). At the same time, a Critical or Legendary will give the player more info as I wax on about whatever.

Some examples

• Mike gets to ask 2 questions. He asks "Can a Succulent Jeff be trusted?" The short answer is "No", but a critical success might be "They seem like good allies until you go to sleep, then they disappear with your stuff"
• His other question is "What special abilities do they have". They have a few, i'll answer with one of them on a normal roll "They have bursts of incredible speed" or on a better roll I'll add in "they are immune to non-magical damage".

3. The Phantasmagorica as Loot
In short, the players can find pages from the monster book I've written as loot. There is some in-game chatter about The Cornelius Papers, but in reality, they get all or some of the stats of the monster entry.  I'm also encouraging players to keep their own monster book for reference... which leads to #4

4. The Lore Keeper
Adventurers have limited access the the Guild of Defenestration's Lore Keeper. Depending on their reputation within the Guild, they can get some time with Ingref. She is the current Lore Keeper and a bit frazzled at the utter lack of organization the previous Lore Keepers had - also there was a fire and a lot of info has been lost.

In any case, there is a chance, depending on the type of information they are looking for, that Ingref can answer a few questions, find some rumors or legends, or generally give the adventurer's a leg up. The more the adventurer's do, the more time they get with her, which is another reward for successful play - more information.

Tangent Thoughts on Info as Loot This goes back to my long-standing believe that information can be loot. Not that I'm keeping information hidden (the game is hard enough already), but special information, a little extra insight, clues to how things work, bits of history that tie to setting together, all work to create a complete setting with things happening outside of the narrative of actual play without anyone having to read reams of my poorly written backstories. Players won't give a flying fuck if Agroth VonKranakek left his noble wife of House Albon for the non-noble Theresa Bloch and the political implications of that action ... unless it directly affects the game, but why would they know that unless they happened to be scholars of nobility? That kind of thing.

Back to the Lore Keepers - Reputation
The adventuring crew's reputation is a simple number. The current average (MEAN average) adventurer level multiplied by the highest threat value of a dungeon level they have defeated ("they" being the ongoing guild chapter as long as there isn't a TPK, in which that value is reset) plus the number of dungeons the Players have explored.

Reputation: (average level x highest threat) + dungeons explored.

The current party has a Reputation of 6

• average level: 2 (rounded 1.75)
• highest threat: 2 (Gardens of Kesh)
• dungeons explored: 2 (Gardens of Kesh plus the Tomb of Agaroth)]

The party's reputation is the NUMBER OF REAL LIFE MINUTES they can ask questions of Ingref. I tend to ramble on a bit, so if it goes over because I'm puttering and being poetic, I don't hold it against them. This isn't role playing time with Ingref, that is completely different - and can actually give the players a bit more info.  Jinxy was courting her with flowers and, if that character hadn't become forever lost in the Labyrinth of War, would get some extra time with Ingref beause he was nice to her.

Tangent Thoughts on Rewards for Role Playing Sure I throw around some XP and Advantage from time to time as a reward for role playing, but I also give players more options - extra information, new paths, new types of currency (influence and favors as currency is an entirely other blog post). The more someone role plays, the more I get to role play and improv, which I love. Role playing that is on target (not that self indulgent shit where players won't do something obvious because they character wouldn't - which unless they have a better option is usually just garbage ... or those jerks who are clearly ignoring the group dynamic to bring out some aspect of their character's overworked past to dominate the game space as a replacement for therapy ... but I digress) can really get some of the best rewards out of the game. Sure mace that cripples foes with each strike is bitchin, but so is getting a free lifestyle increase because you are known about town as having tea regularly with Kira Lightwater of House Doorn. She is well liked ... and if she likes you then you must be worthwhile as well (either as a good person or a potential contact to woo to gain her favor).

5. Monster Clues
Last, but not least, some of the "loot" are clues as to the types of inhabitants of a dungeon. If players pay attention to and ask questions about the clues, they'll get some insight into what is going on. This lets players plan a head a bit while continuing to explore. I'm a pretty big fan of this one as well. What the hell strips the flesh off bones and also chard the bones? Flame Beetles - those giant bugs are nothing but trouble, but good scavengers I hear.