This supplement adds information for running Vaesen in the UK (p.5-39), adding a new HQ (Rose House, p.41-45), 1 new Talent (p.16, Fostered), 3 new Archetypes (Athlete, Entertainer, Socialite, p.46-49; updated background tables, p.150-153), and 13 new Vaesen. (p.51-83). The UK information includes idea seeds for various locations.
In addition to Vaesen's idea of Old Ways vs Industrialization, this supplement adds the idea of tension between social classes.
The book includes 3 scenarios, ranked in my order of preference:
Old Meg
The Hampstead Group
The Llantywyll Incident
In the maps shown, marked in red is the general location of the scenario. London is shown as an orientation point.
Most of my sessions are 3 hours long. Different groups take different times, but my run times are here for comparison purposes.
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Old Meg
Location: South Gloucestershire, England Pages: 22 Run Time: 2 sessions Hook: A young woman is dead near standing stones and her former suitor is going to hang for the crime.
This one is the most complicated scenario out of the three and the most enjoyable to run.
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The Plot: Daisy accidentally woke up Old Meg who is now rampaging through the countryside killing whatever she finds. Due to clan feuds, Billy is blamed for Daisy's death. The PCs need to navigate the various clan rivalries, learn about the history of Saint Birren and Old Meg, force Old Meg back to her stone form, and imprison her. Vaesen: Hag (p.64, Mythic Britain & Ireland) Location of Note: Standing Stones
In my run, the PCs dragged her stone form to the church yard, and then busted her up with the help of the villagers, and then buried the broken bits throughout the church yard.
To add more color to the game, I made the May Fair include a May Queen and King. Of course, Jenny was the May Queen and Billy was the May King. Daisy went to The Cave (p.100) to beg for Old Meg's favor. Inside the cave is various graffiti: D + B (inside a heart), and other love tokens, carved into the rock wall from various generations of lovers.
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The Llantywyll Incident Location: Llantywyll, Wales Run Time: 1 session Hook: A minister tried to disprove that Christianity causes bad luck in the mine, so he conducted a chapel service inside and caused a minor collapse. The mine is currently closed.
A very straight forward investigation.
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The Plot: The Coblynau were insulted and need to be placated. If the minister enters again, the mine will collapse on him. If the Coblynau are chased out, the mine will become unproductive and unsafe. The Coblynau need to be apologized to and the minister needs to be prevented from entering the mine in the future. Vaesen: Coblynau (Knocker, p.66, Mythic Britain & Ireland) Location of Note: Slate mine
Wyvern
My only issue was that the introduction letter actually gave out too much information, I'd actually shorten it and let the PCs figure some of it out themselves by talking to the NPCs.
In my run, the PCs got the Doctor and the Engineers on their side, so they easily convinced Mistress Thomas to ban any non-miners from entering the mine, for their safety. This in effect, prevented the minister from entering the mine again.
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The Hampstead Group
Location: Hampstead, England Pages: 20 Run Time: 1 session Hook: A man is missing, last seen at an artist colony.
Another straightforward investigation.
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The Plot: The Glaistig is charming all the men and slowly eating them. The bodies are in her closet. Brother Martin is already dead. The PCs have to navigate the uptight upper class neighbors and the manipulative residents of the artist colony. Basically, exposing the presence of the bodies will solve this mystery. Vaesen: Glaistig (p.62, Mythic Britain & Ireland) Location of Note: Bohemian artist colony
There's a few inconsistencies in the scenario:
The description of the Newford House (p.139) is that it's a 4-story mansion, but the map only has two floors and an attic. Either say it's a 2-story mansion or duplicate the first floor a few times. I found it easier to just make it a 2-story mansion.
The bodies are in Kitty's closet (p.142). But on p.145, it says it's in the spare bedroom. I'd go with the closet description.
I found it odd that all the NPCs are closed mouthed about Newford House. I'd add different degrees of discretion/indiscretion, so there's more variance.
In my run, the PCs actually snuck up to her room and surrounded her with crucifixes. More than one PC had the Holy Symbol talent. This drove Kitty to flee out to the Roof Space (see map, p.139). Before she could escape, another PC shot her and turned her into mist. The result is that she'll reform and move elsewhere, taking as many of the artists with her as she can.
This 104 page book (including endpapers and such) consisted of 4 unrelated scenarios; each set in a different season. No pre-gens were provided.
A Dance with Death (spring) Fireheart (summer) The Devil on the Moor (fall) A Winter's Tale (winter)
On the maps for each scenario, I've circled Upsala in green as a reference point. Red is the destination.
Most of my sessions are 3 hours long. Different groups take different times, but my run times are here for comparison purposes.
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A Dance with Death
Season: Spring
Location: Nusnäs, Sweden Pages: 20 Run Time: 1 session Hook: Two cows drowned, police won't help, person suspects something supernatural did it.
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Plot: Lisbets Boel and The Neck have tricked Gustav into luring farmgirls into Lake Siljan to drown them. Gustav drowned two cows, with the magic he learned from The Neck, but chickened out when he tried to drown Pers Ida. The PCs must banish The Neck before Gustav is bewitched by The Neck, uses The Neck's fiddle, and lures all of the farmgirls into the lake. Vaesen: The Neck (p.144 core book) Location of Note: Lake Siljan. A fäbodvall, a summer farmstead. Kulning, Swedish herdcalling.
Each time the PCs went into the Forest, I had them roll Vigilance or run into the bear. If they succeeded, they would spot the bear and avoid it. The bear is also why the cows and goats are brought in at night. This also explains the bear trap (hidden by leaves and staked down) in front of Gustav's cabin. Otherwise, the bear trap makes him seem paranoid and crazy.
I decided that The Neck needed the human sacrifices to extend the life of Lisbets, so she would be immortal, so they could be together forever. Each life sacrificed extended her life for 5-10 years. I also noticed that it looked like The Neck wanted female sacrifices, so I decided gender likeness was required.
Swärds Jenny did suspect something supernatural because of the tapestry in the dining cabin, now missing, and stories of people drowning in the lake. Why else call The Society for two drowned cows?
Gustav's Magic is only 2, good luck with his Trollcraft spell DANCE (Observation). With two dice against the PCs having Empathy + Observation dice, the spell probably won't work. You might want to add Gustav's Empathy of 1, so give him 3 dice with the spell. I also had the PCs roll save throws each round Gustav played his instrument (vs Gustav's 3d6). Once you failed a save throw, you were entranced.
In my game, the PCs (in Countdown 1) followed the enchanted PC to the Lake and ambushed Gustav, knocking him out and took away his knife. They presented him and the tapestry they had found in his cabin to Swärds Jenny. The PCs prepared a trap made of wooden boards painted with Christian symbols and steel, and convinced both Jenny and Ida to help (expecting them to lift up the boards at the right time). They had Gustav call out to The Neck. The Neck showed up, but he made Gustav play his fiddle. Only Ida was entranced, and started walking into the lake, so the PCs stabbed Gustav's knife into the ground between Gustav and Ida breaking the spell on her. The knife symbolically cutting the link between them. One of the PCs shot the fiddle, destroying it. The Neck, pulled out another musical instrument (an instrument one of the PCs had gifted The Neck in an earlier scenario, years ago) and started playing. With Magic 12d6, that enchanted everyone. The Neck made Gustav walk slowly into the lake and drown. Once that was done, The Neck transformed into a fish and dove into the water. The PCs never figured out Lisbets involvement. But the PCs told Jenny to put up a fence facing the lake and put Christian symbols on it. This basically solved the mystery. If the PCs did manage to fence in The Neck, I was going to have Lisbets come out of hiding and free The Neck, but that didn't become necessary.
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Fireheart Season: Summer
Location: Lake Hären. Smolandia, Sweden Pages: 22 Run Time: 2 sessions Hook: Brother is influenced by an evil preacher-woman, a servant of Lucifer.
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Plot: August Härenstam is actually influenced by Dragon (gold) Sickness and so is Beata Gideonsdotter, the preacher-woman. August stole dragon gold to start his ironworks and uses eternal dragon fire to run his blast furnace. The dragon has started to wake up and will notice his missing gold. The PCs must appease or get rid of the dragon before it lays waste to the countryside. Vaesen: Dragon (p.45, Seasons of Mystery) Location of Note: Lake Hären
I found the timeline a bit odd. In the background story, August stole the dragon fire and gold ten years ago (p.25) and was slowly affected by the Dragon Sickness (p.31). Beata had shown up a few years ago (p.36) and was affected by the Dragon Sickness after given a coin. Why does it affect Beata and the PCs so easily (p.31, Dragon Sickness)? Also, some of the gold must have been spent to start the Ironworks, so not all of the gold in the strongbox is from the dragon, it must be a mix of dragon gold and new gold. One explanation is the awakening of the dragon, increased the influence of the Dragon Sickness. But I decided to compress the timeline. August, through desperation, due to the drought, returned to the cave. He bought the failing Ironworks a few months ago with the dragon gold. With the hotter (dragon) fire, he made higher purity iron ingots, and has made the Ironworks profitable. Beata had shown up two weeks ago. Soon after, Alfred had a falling out with his brother. Then a week later, his parents died. And so he contacted the Society.
PCs wondered if there was something sexual going on between Beata and August. I had Alfred infer that that was true, part of her unholy influence. I did come up with a funny scene, but didn't get to use it. If the PCs had snuck into the Director's Villa, they could overhear August and Beata in the master bedroom making ecstatic sexual sounds, but with the odd occasional clink of gold coins (they're actually just fondling the coins).
PCs also wondered if Beata was a descendant of the sorceress who called down the rainstorm (p.28, Excerpt from Myths and Folk Tales of Smolandia). Otherwise, why would she have an obsidian knife and the Lexicanum Draconicum? (p.39, Clues). This may also explain why she showed up, but unluckily got Dragon Sickness.
p.42, The Dragon's Cave, map. It looks like there's water in there. Maybe it's dried mud from when the lake flooded the entrance, but with the dropping water level, the dragon can fly out of the big entrance to Lake Hären. I made the crevice to the small opening a tight squeeze, nothing the dragon can get through.
I also had Alfred know the location of the dragon cave entrance, but he never saw the full dragon or gold. He saw part of a scaled serpent (to keep it a secret that it's a dragon) and fled. At that time, the cave was more water logged.
In my run, the PCs split up into two groups. One got work at the Ironworks and snooped around. The other group looked around the lake. Eventually, they got Alfred to show them the cave. The PCs entered and talked to the dragon. It demanded its missing gold and interest payment. "If you don't fix this, I will." During the evening sermon, one group snuck into the Villa and stole the chest of gold. The other group joined the sermon and Inspired (multiple successes) the Ore Boys into going to the dragon cave to get the gold horde. August tried to stop them, but was unable. Beata and August followed the mob, but hung back. In the cave, the dragon easily heard the mob and breathed fire into the small tunnel, setting Ore Boys on fire. The surviving Ore Boys fled. Outside, the PCs with the stolen gold arrived. August and Beata confronted the PCs and in the fight, August was knocked out and Beata was picking up the gold (one of the PCs dumped the gold on the ground). Inside, the PCs told the dragon its gold and the thief was outside. Outside, the PCs dragged August's unconscious body away and made sure they were far enough away from Beata. The dragon showed up, breathed on Beata and ate her. It took all the gold (old and new), warned the PCs to leave it alone, and returned to its lair. The PCs took the unconscious August to his brother. When he regained consciousness, the Dragon Sickness was gone and he acknowledged his unreasonable behavior and agreed to sell the ironworks and go to America with his brother.
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The Devil on the Moor Season: Fall
Location: Jutland, Denmark Pages: 22 Run Time: 2 sessions Hook: An engineer asks for help suspecting dark forces.
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Plot: Something's been damaging the steam engines at the moor. The Chief Engineer believes it's locals dealing with black magic, summoning vaesen to do their dirty work. Instead it's two local boys doing the sabotage. But the Chief Engineer is carrying Sandemann's journal and had disturbed the bones of a murdered baby, Sandemann's illegitimate baby. This gives rise to the Myling bent on revenge against Sandemann who is long dead, but its misplaced focus is on the journal and whoever is carrying it. The PCs must put the Myling to rest before it kills too many people. Vaesen: Myling (p.142, core book)
Here's some stuff I had to infer and invent to make sense of some NPC motivations:
Signe Andersdotter was spinning tales to keep Sandemann interested in her. Making up stories that confirmed Sandemann's wildest imagination. These fantastic stories wound up in the journal.
The journal's handwritten entries and close proximity to Sandemann made it his treasure and imbued some Sandemann-ness to it, making it the focus of the Myling's hate.
The Jensen brothers had approached the Moreland Society's camp and were turned down as laborers, as the Moreland Society have their own experienced workers that they trust. This embittered the brothers and was the spark for sabotaging the equipment, making them unintended geniuses where they would claim that the draining of the moor would destroy their people as there would be no more peat to dig, justifying their actions.
I had Granny Thea collapse to her knees in tears when the PCs showed her the photo of Signe. The locals who were sharpening scythes approached menacingly, but Granny waved them away.
I made the steam engine and pumps noisy, so there was a lot of shouting. For meal times, they idled the equipment, lowering the noise, rang the dinner triangle, to call all the workmen to the dining tent which held long tables and shared benches. Massive piles of food would be put on platters and the workmen ate like machines.
The baby was drowned, so the crushed skull was just from being buried for so long in the bog, not from violence, but inspecting it is inconclusive. The damage could also have happened when it was sucked into the steam engine.
Instead of a Heron, I went with a large black raven as it seemed more like a common form used by various Vaesen.
In my run, the PCs told Granny about the infant's bones and if they are her grandchild's it should be buried with her daughter's body. Granny agreed to attend the interment. The PCs told Preben they needed the bones to put the vaesen to rest. Preben wanted to salt and burn the bones, but the PCs convinced him to hand it over, but Preben tells them if it doesn't work, he'll dig it back up and salt and burn it. Granny's not sure the bones are of the right child, so the PCs did a seance to call the infant's spirit. The black bird shows up instead, faces the PC who has Sandemann's journal and says, "Sandemann, burn, burn, burn." PC realizes the bird is staring not at his face, but at where the journal is. PC burns the journal and the bird's hate disappears and turns into a baby and it then melds into the bones in the small casket the PCs brought. Granny agrees to give her name, Thea, to the baby. And she would just be called Granny from then on. The PCs bury the baby in Signe's grave. One of the PCs is a priest and he consecrates the grave. My group did an excellent job. For flavor, when the PCs returned to the camp to get the baby's bones, I had a commotion in the camp where someone had found Jens face down in the bog, drowned.
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A Winter's Tale Season: Winter Location: Russia, near St. Petersburg Pages: 20 Run Time: 2 sessions Hook: PCs are invited to a meeting of people who know of the supernatural.
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Plot: This is a bait and switch, instead of having a scenario at the supernatural convention, the PCs suffer a coach accident and are stuck in an inn surrounded by deathly cold. Father Frost is kept out by a Nisse that is upset and withdrawing his protections. The Winchester Brothers are also at the inn and act as foils and making things worse. There is a ticking clock as Father Frost encroaches on the inn. The PCs must figure out a solution before everyone freezes. Vaesen: Nisse (p.148, core book), Father Frost (old man winter, no stats, force of nature) Location of Note: St. Petersburg
As the above video noted, Storytelling Night is a bit heavy handed. Having the NPCs tell story after story (info dumps) is horrible. I instead would rather have this information come out when the PCs talk to the NPCs.
I made Axel and Ester husband and wife and added a love triangle. The coachman Ilya Ermakov was having an affair with Ester. I also accidentally made Imre and Krööt Trygg's children instead of the cook's, when I was running the game, I forgot who's kids they were.
I made Axel a budding casino owner, wanting to bring in entertainment in addition to card games, hoping to make his inn a destination spot instead of a stopover.
Greyfoot, the Nisse, generally appeared as a cat inside the inn and when someone tripped or had an accident, the cat would be underfoot each time. In the kitchen, the cat is fed, but not its favorite food that Ester used to give it.
In the stable are the Campbell brother's midnight black horses. In the carriage house should be the brother's black colored buckboard wagon. I'd make the wagon too small to carry everyone to safety.
In my run, the PCs cut a deal with Greyfoot, offering him a home back in the old country in Castle Gyllencreutz and a promise to show him due respect. They also cut a deal with Father Frost, giving him the inn in exchange for safe passage. As the PCs leave with all the surviving NPCs (the Trygg family with new jobs at the castle), an avalanche destroys the inn.
This 112 page book (including endpapers and such) consists of 4 unrelated scenarios. No pre-gens are provided.
On the maps for each scenario, I've circled Upsala in green as a reference point. Red is the destination.
I really enjoyed all 4 scenarios. If run correctly, with some GM inspiration, all 4 scenarios can be really, really good.
Ranked in order of preference:
1. The Night Sow
2. The Silver of the Sea
3. A Wicked Secret
4. The Song of the Falling Star
Most of my sessions are 3 hours long. Different groups take different times, but my run times are here for comparison purposes.
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The Silver of the Sea
Location: Fjällbacka Archipelago
Pages: 22
Run Time: 3 sessions
Hook: A dead priest washes up ashore with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Another priest suspects foul play at Wrecker Isle.
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The Plot: Every new moon, Zacharias Amundsson sacrifices a human to his true mother, a mermaid. This brings herring to the island and makes the Amundssons wealthy. When he tried to sacrifice the priest, the priest in desperation committed suicide. The PCs with an NPC priest are the meddling kids who the Amundssons will try to sacrifice this new moon. Vaesen: Mermaid (p.140, core book) and Kraken (new creature, only stat: Might 14) Location of Note: Götta Canal
Of note, the map for Wrecker Isle on p.11, the labels for the Residence and Inn are swapped. The house should be far away from regular foot traffic going to the Inn. Also, the Inn should be bigger than the house. Of interest, there are two outhouses, one for the Residence, one for the Inn.
The Warehouse on p.19. Since the priest, Vicar Carl Eric Hedquist, was killed out at sea, it doesn't make sense that there's large blood stain here. I'd change this to having some blood on the pendant. Maybe he was hit over the head here and the blood is from a head wound. If that's the case, I'd tell the PCs there's some blood here, maybe from a minor cut, not the blood from a gunshot wound to the head.
I'd also emphasize that (Ship) Wrecker Isle has very old, rotted remains of boats scattered here and there, looking like exposed rib cages of whales, with shattered pieces of glass and crockery on the rocky shore. But the sailors at the Inn don't seem perturbed. This way the PCs might ask about their fearlessness and find out that the fierce storms of yore have abated for decades.
Graveyard Isle should have grave markers scattered everywhere. I'd make Orvar the official/unofficial grounds keeper. He doesn't get paid, but everyone acknowledges that he earns his right to stay on the island. When people are buried there, he gets a token payment for upkeep, usually spent on drink, but he still has to fish for his food.
Route through Götta Canal (in blue)
1832 Grand Opening of the Götta Canal
Modern view of the Götta Canal
In my run, the PCs went back and forth from Wrecker Isle to Fjällbacka multiple times. They checked with the Constable and Coroner. They even left Oscar Uddgren alone on Wrecker Isle, so I decided to kidnap him and put him in a herring barrel for the new moon sacrifice. The PCs rescued him. The PCs then leveled charges of kidnapping on Pete and Pace. The Constable arrested them. The Herring Baron hired a lawyer and paid their bail. The PCs understood what was happening with the sacrifices, but decided that prosperity and less ship wrecks in exchange for a monthly sacrifice was a good trade and decided to leave well enough alone. Weeks later, Oscar mysteriously drowns in his own bed and the charges against Pete and Pace were dropped.
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A Wicked Secret
Location: Färnsta
Pages: 32
Run Time: 2 sessions
Hook: An industrialist sent two trusted men to Färnsta to buy forestry land. One came back raving mad, the other is missing. The ravings sounded like Society business. Can the Society look into this for a handsome fee?
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The Plot: Secret cult members, elders of the village, sacrifice one of their own every generation to renew a pact with their pagan gods who enriches the forest. The cult leader, Märta Karlström, doesn't want her people to sell their land to the industrialist and sent the Grim to kill the industrialist's agents. One was murdered, the other escaped, but lost his sanity. Märta has decided to kill everyone against her, including the local priest and villagers. And also sacrifice Vilhemina Skytt in a ritual to renew the pact.
Vaesen: Church Grim (p.129 core book).
In my run, the PCs arrived in August von Meijer's coach, so the coach and coachman would be at their service while in Färnsta.
The PCs found Hammarström's body and the brushed over giant-sized cat prints. The body was at the edge of the graveyard, so that still matches with the Grim protecting the church grounds. They confront Ingvar Nyström who eventually tells the PCs about the Church Grim. The PCs ask the priest to take them to the local coffin maker and get a coffin made for Hammarström's body. While there, they find out more about Märta and Dorotea.
The PCs had also met Vilhelmina Skytt and were invited to her mother's house. They spoke to Dorotea and found that she was in the midst of bargaining with the two previous agents of von Meijer before they disappeared. She tells the PCs what her price was. PCs agree to inform von Meijer.
The PCs send Hammarström's body back with the coach and a letter to von Meijer with Skytt's offer to sell.
While at the Village Hall, the PCs learn about the old families of Färnsta, that Märta and Dorotea didn't get along. That the oldest structure was the church. It was there before the village. They also learn more about the Church Grim. The PCs got the stink-eye from one of the land owners, especially when one of the loggers talked about the Grim. They also learn that the locals think both of von Meijer's agents vanished two weeks ago when the church bells rang.
The PCs remembered that Lindesköld had said that the beast tried to get into the house where he was staying which was Karlström's house, no where near the church. They inspected the outside and on a success, I told them they also found brushed over giant-sized cat prints around the house. Suspicious of Karlström, they arrange to stay overnight at the Skytt house.
That night, the church bells ring and Nyström dies. The PCs stay indoors until morning. I put Handout 2C in Nyström's pocket as the PCs had already searched the standing stones and found nothing. They return to the standing stones and go east and find a boulder standing against a hill. Using a pry bar, the boulder easily slides away, revealing a tunnel. Following the tunnel, they find the ritual space underneath the church. They dig under the pentagram looking for the Grim's body, but don't find it. After a Challenging Investigation test, they find hidden in the foundation stones the Grim's body wrapped in cloth with ancient runes written on it. They set it on fire with their lantern oil. Smoke starts entering the tunnels and they feel an earthquake. The PCs flee. Outside, they see the church on fire and the stones collapsing.
The PCs decide to leave town before the villagers come after them. They go to the Skytt house to gather their belongings and leave town with the Skytts in their horse drawn cart. This also solves the issue of Karlström trying to sacrifice Vilhelmina which the PCs didn't know about.
The Skytts sell their land and accept the invitation of the PCs to relocate to Upsala.
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The Night Sow
Location: Mölle
Pages: 18
Run Time: 2 sessions (ran this twice, both times took 2 sessions).
Hook: A friend asks for help at the Mölle Seaside Hotel. The problem is a secret that can't be revealed until you show up.
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The Plot: Lighthouse keeper Magnus Lundin is the protector of Mölle. For generations his family has protected the strong magic available at the Hill. The Sisters of Satan (amateur witches) started tapping the Hill's power and accidentally turned Katarina Jönsson into the Gloson. Lundin decided to do something about it. He got control of the Gloson and has been eliminating the witches with it.
Vaesen: Gloson (new creature, full stat, p.74). Location of Note: The Lighthouse
Of note is Molle Seaside Hotel on p.67, "moved all their beds into a single room." I'm looking at the map of the hotel and the only thing that makes sense is that they moved Olga's beds into the Satan's Sisters Room, not moved their beds into Olga's Suite. Then they converted Olga's Suite into a workspace. If that's the case, the two beds in Olga's room should be in the Satan's Sisters Room. I think that makes more sense and when the PCs enter the Satan's Sisters Room, it'll be wall-to-wall beds. I'd actually add a giant pentagram drawn in the middle of Olga's Suite's floor, possibly covered with an area rug.
In my run, my PCs decided attack Lundin at the Lighthouse. Lundin fired his pistol from inside the lighthouse while the Gloson TPKed the party, easily breaking every PC. A new set of PCs decided to investigate why the previous group disappeared in Mölle. This time, they discovered not only was there a Gloson, but there were 4 new piglet Glosons (the TPKed PCs). In some legends the Gloson is accompanied by piglets. The new PCs negotiated the transfer of ownership of the 4 piglets for a promise to find for Lundin a child-bearing wife (with the Sight), so he can continue his lineage. Undoing the Gloson curse was up the the PCs. Once that was figured out, Lundin promised he would undo the curse on Katarina.
I did change how the magic worked. I decided there were strong ley lines at the Hill. Lundin knows the spell for making a Gloson, the spell is written on the Rooting Cave wall, but not how to undo it. The Linden staff only controls the Gloson. I had Lundin claim that once the witches changed Katarina into the Gloson, it would ravage the area, indiscriminately killing everyone, so he took control of it and used it to eliminate the threat of the witches. He changed the TPKed PCs into piglets to teach them a lesson (for trying to murder him for no reason, at least from his viewpoint). He's been lecturing them and Katarina daily on morality.
Location: Arensburg on the island of Oesel
Pages: 16
Run Time: 1 session
Hook: A cousin's wife has gone insane and a priest says his newborn son is under an evil influence.
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The Plot: The von Kaiserling's child is actually a changeling. Hugo von Kaiserling didn't return a kantele as promised to a Troll village, Kaali Village. Until it is returned (with a tight deadline), his child will not be returned / exchanged.
Vaesen: A whole Troll village Location of Note: Kaali Lake, a crater lake
Kaali Lake
kantele
In my run, the PCs got the children exchanged, but that enraged Father Cornelius and made an enemy of him. Soon after, Father Cornelius (Russian Orthodox Church) started picketing Castle Gyllencreutz with the other priest (who was Lutheran) that was already protesting the evils at the castle. Both were now joined in a common cause. Then one day, both priests suddenly disappeared....
Pages: 92 total (75 pages of scenario text, 4 pages of handouts).
Runtime: 9 sessions taking 3 hours each session. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 5 took two sessions each; chapter 4 took one session.
Campaign is 5 chapters, each chapter is a scenario.
This is the first campaign for Vaesen. It was originally a podcast of actual play and converted into a campaign. I listened to 3 episodes of the podcast and I felt it was ok (this was a 3 part prologue and became the first chapter of a 5 chapter campaign), there was too much anachronistic side chatter that I didn't like, so I stopped listening to it. I did note that the podcast was slightly different from the published campaign in minor details.
Since the campaign was based on the core book, there were no new Vaesen in the campaign. A number of published scenarios included new Vaesen. This campaign does highlight and bring in various bits of Swedish culture that is missing from the core book such as Fika and Valborg. Mining is a big industry too.
Overall, the various chapters has a tenuous throughline. Chapters 1, 3, and 4 can easily be played as standalone scenarios, chapters 2 and 5 less so.
I think the overall impression of the campaign is that it's ok, but not the big blockbuster campaign people were expecting. There's also some implications about a key element of the campaign that may have major repercussions to Vaesen lore, so inserting this campaign into your world may change some things irrevocably and also some of the chapters may have a chance of TPK. I'll discuss these things in the spoiler section.
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The Green Stones
One of my main concerns is that this campaign introduces a green stone that is the solidified blood of giants. One of the properties of this stone is that it absorbs Vaesen magic and attracts Vaesen to it. Once it absorbs the magic, the magic can be accessed. This is a major magical item and it's not guaranteed that these stones will be destroyed by the end of the campaign.
I decided to call this green stone Magnussonite as there's no official name for it.
In chapter 2, we learn that miners working for Svea Mining Corp were deemed insane and were taken to Upsala Asylum for treatment, but in reality, they were seeing Vaesen. It's not clear what gave the miners the Sight, if it's exposure to Magnussonite dust or that Magnussonite attracts Vaesen like moths to a flame and that increases the chance of a miner to suddenly notice Vaesen. One of the PCs visited the Asylum and saw the insane miners acting out, swatting at Vaesen, running away from them, attacking them. The PC instantly understood that the miners looked insane, but were just reacting to the Vaesen normal people didn't see. In my game, the PCs convinced Sigrid that the miners weren't insane. Sigrid has the Sight. And it was easy to show her that the miners weren't insane, but had the Sight.
In chapter 3, the PCs killed the Lady of Cold, a frost giantess. Her body shatters like stone and her heart becomes a giant green stone. I made it the size of a large steamer trunk and weigh several hundred pounds. The PCs sold it to Svea as they needed to pay off back taxes for Castle Gyllencreutz. In my game, Linnea Elfeklint has been in the Asylum for at least a decade and no one has paid the property taxes on the rundown castle. Once the PCs started to cleanup the property and upgrade it, the authorities noticed this and sent tax collectors. A number of Players used Resources as a dump score (yeah, a number of Players like to min/max), so nobody could afford the back taxes. Property tax is called fastighetsbevillning. Castle Gyllencreutz is a fairly large estate. Selling the heart also got them an invite to the Abisko Mine in chapter 5.
In chapter 5, I had to do more heavy lifting to make sense of the elements presented. The lab with the shelves of dead Vaesen had shock value, but didn't make sense. How do you kill so many Vaesen? How do you collect so many? So, I decided inside the mine was a Vaesen trap. Spiked iron cages (very medieval) held Magnussonite. Vaesen get attracted to it and when they touch it, it drains their power and powers up the stones. The weakened Vaesen are then killed. What prevents the Vaesen from running away with the stones? The stones are held in place with iron prongs much like what holds diamonds onto a ring. Who kills the Vaesen? The miners with the Sight who were at the Upsala Asylum were given a new job at the mine. To keep to the scenario where Sigrid enters the mine to get the Vaesen bomb, I decided there's a Magnussonite repository / vault in a played-out part of the mine. The Vaesen trap is there too. Inside the vault is the giant heart that was purchased from the PCs, it is still unpowered. It sits on a wheeled cart. When they tried to wheel out the heart, I had Lisa's Revenant attack, in an effort to keep the stones where they belong. The PCs used the heart to defeat the Revenant, knocking her onto the stone several times, and finally defeating it, but at the same time charging up the giant heart, making it pulse with Vaesen power. Sigrid had a detonator filled with Magussonite and told the other PCs to flee before she sets the heart off. Two PCs didn't trust her and watched as she got possessed by the Revenant and started to open up the gate for the ginormous giant (see campaign book cover). After a fight, the PCs forced the detonator onto the heart and set off the Vaesen-nuke.
I didn't like that Sigrid had murdered Karl, so I left that out of the scenario. I decided that Karl would hire investigators to look into the PCs and their involvement with Sigrid's disappearance.
There's also supposed to be some early warning system as Svea didn't want another repeat of the Abisko Mine Disaster. I decided it's some sort of non-modern air horn, Gjallarhorn. The miners have been drilled to leave the area orderly and quickly when it's sounded. Sigrid set it off as soon as they got near ground level with the heart. This emptied out the mining area and reduced the number of casualties due to the Vaesen-nuke.
I also explained Sigrid's aging as the magic that kept her youthful was being continuously drained by the Magnussonite.
In my game, only one piece of Magnussonite survived. It was one of the two that Franzibald Hansen had. The PCs are currently using it to negate the Gloson curse placed on one of the PCs. That PC was turned into a Gloson piglet. The Magnussonite causes the curse to cycle, draining the curse until it's powered up, then as the stone leaks power and becomes ready to drain the curse again, the curse reasserts and changes the PC into a Gloson piglet again.
Potential TPKs
Chapters 3, 4, and 5 have a chance of killing PCs and a possible TPK. In chapter 3, the frost giantess broke 2 of the 4 PCs. One PC was able to distract the giant and dodge multiple attacks as the 4th PC actually took down the giant. It was pretty close to a TPK. If the 3rd PC failed a single dodge, it would have been a TPK. In chapter 4, the Lindworm can enslave the whole party and cause a TPK. One PC was broken by the Lindworm and the other PCs basically surrendered and they traded Mikaela for Eira as per the scenario's setup. In chapter 5, the Vaesen-nuke has the potential of a TPK. Two PCs were annihilated by the nuke at the end of the scenario and one PC was broken by the blast. That said, my Players loved chapters 3 and 4.
The mines worked three 8 hour shifts, so its operations ran 24 hours.
When I ran the scenario, PCs wanted to tour the mine. I said, it's too dangerous, but bribed miners were willing to let them have a very limited tour of the first level. I did find it interesting that in chapter 1, the Myling was buried deep in the mine which doesn't make any sense. In the podcast, the baby's body was buried under the church floorboards, but when they wrote up the campaign, they placed the body deep in the mine.
Of particular note is the very end of the video where pigeons are confused by different colored concentric circles. They can't enter doorways and windows with that displayed. I found that was an interesting fact (if true) and could help explain why Revenants can't pass a Christian symbol painted in tar (p.151 core book under Ritual). This could be a cool rationale for Vampires and their aversion to holy symbols too.
In my game, the PCs put Lisa in one of the rooms in the Abisko Research Center and painted Christian symbols over the doorways and windows. While the PCs were at the banquet, she (under the influence of the Revenant) used a pillow case to smudge the symbols and this allowed her to escape and get to the mine.
Fika
In chapter 1, Fika is introduced. It's a wonderful thing to introduce as part of Swedish culture.
Falu Red
Falu Red is mentioned in chapter 1.
Falun Mine
The Swedish Royal Coat of Arms
The PCs see it prominently displayed at Upsala University for the royal visit in chapter 2.
Period Ice Breaker (chapter 3)
Bergen, Norway
Sørland
Værøy
Viking Long House
Royal Mounds of Gamla (chapter 4)
The 3 big mounds from left to right are Freya, Thor, Oden.
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