Tattered Fates, Post Play

Back in May 09 I read and reviewed the Dark Heresy adventure Tattered Fates.

We finished it last night. Overall, it was a lot of fun.

Choo Choo My players didn't complain too much about the railroading of starting the adventure already captured. I think it was because it was already done, "off screen," so we didn't have one of the those long fights where the players have to lose.

High Times Finding the dying Inquisitor was a high point, as was wandering around Xicarph wondering what the hell was going on. The best part was watching my players decide which baddie to trust. The criminal boss at the big fighting pits? Or the more powerful, but creepier Spider Bride? They went back and forth on that issue, but came down with the fighting pit boss. The Spider Bride was just too creepy.

Lows The low point was the Widower. The game mechanic to kill the Widower was an interesting one. If the players did less than 20 hit points in a round, there was no effect. If they did 20 or more, the Widower died. I had heard the Widower was too easy to kill, especially if the party has a powerful pysker (we do). So I bumped it to 30, and he still went down before harming the party.

Why? Well, it really made sense for the Widower to take out trash talking Heron Mask first. I should have had him sneer at the Beloved and rip open a player, but I thought a demonstration of his power would be exciting. Oh well.

Then there are the players. They like to unload on the first round and go for a quick kill. Burn Fate Points, use special weapons and ammo, whatever helps.

Then there are the weapons my players had. The adventure starts off with them bare knuckled and fighting hand to hand, and gives ideas on where the players equipment might be stored, should the GM want to give it back.

I considered not giving anything back, but the psyker had his brain, and the rest of the adventure threatened to be the psyker and his little friends. So I had most of the equipment sold off, but not the melee weapons. As I my players reach the upper levels, I'm really opening up the equipment choices to keep the others competitive with the psyker, so there were two power weapons in the mix, including Greel's power scythe from the House of Dust and Ash.

What I wish I had done: Changed the Widower to die only on the second round where the hit points exceed the threshold. Maybe even the second consecutive round.