Clockwork and Soulsick Campaign

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Introduction

The following article are player-facing game notes for the participants in my latest campaign, Clockwork and Soulsick.

The notes are intended keep my players up to date with the game, and for me enjoy a bit of creativity associated with the game.

The system used is Robert Schwalb's Shadow of the Weird Wizard / Secret of the Weird Wizard (or SWW as I call it).

The game is inspired by the following works of art:

That said, I am reinventing, rebuilding and readjusting the setting with OSR sensibilities, which means:

  • This is going to be dungeoncrawling game, with gunpowder weapons, swords
  • Fast-paced action
  • Hard choices
  • Dark secrets
  • Sustainable setting concepts (see below)

Sustainable setting concept: Ye olde Soulslike games are mostly postapocalyptic survival horrors with short duration expectancy, whereas in my game, while the game is intended to be deep in gothic levels of dark, it is still intended to take place in a world that cares about everyday stuff.

Gaming Resources

To prepare for this game, I have reached far and wide, plucked and bit down into juicy fruits of giants influencing roleplaying industry. Trying to give the credit where its due, this is the list of key gaming resources I rely on, in no particular order (aside from the first):

The Premise

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Clockwork & Soulsick, Slides presentation for the players. Contains vital information about starting situation, the setting and the mechanics. The key story points follow below.

Count Gedrich will see you presently

  • You’re in an bedroom. It’s high class, exquisite, and slightly dusty.
  • There are prominent clockwork designs everywhere.
  • You are manacled in a semi-sitting position on a portable wooden bed.
  • There are several people in the same position as you.

The Stick

  • You’re ex-convicts. Your records and recent memories were purged at request of count Gedrich.
  • Count Gedrich needs capable folk to deal with imminent crisis.
  • Your first mission is to prove yourselves.
  • You may leave, but your options are limited to an exile.
  • You must sign an agreement to continue.

…and the Carrot

Immediate:

  • Basic equipment
  • 7 days of food
  • Letters of commendation
  • Keep what you earn

Satisfactory conduct:

  • Employment by Gedrich Estate, salary included
  • Periodical injections of Elixir of Renewed Vigor
  • Legal access to city of Marnhay

The Characters at the Beginning of the Story

Adventure #1: One Bad Apple

An original adventure, with changes to accommodate the campaign. Note that the changes may mean that the story may veer far away from the original intention of the authors as I am planting seeds for several things to take place later. Also, this journal is written to provide characters with the recap summary, so things are likely to look quite different from their perspective.

WARNING! Thorough spoilers for the scenario follow.

Mila:

There is trouble in Two Forks, an eastmost village. The villagers requested help - apparently their blacksmith lost their mind, and violently assaulted his neighbor. Get a coach, make your way there and resolve the situation. Conduct yourself with proper dignity, discern the nature of the problem, punish the guilty and provide a report. The people need help. Gather your equipment and leave.

Session 1

  1. The heroes wake up, learn about their situation, read the agreement, sign it. GM NOTE: More info in the Slides presentation.

    • They are Count Gedrich pet police project.
    • Their sentences were purchased off Yardmakers, their memories wiped clean. There are no known relatives or attachments. They may have been incarcerated for a long time but they feel good and healthy. Apparently, there is something called the Elixir, and for their continued and satisfactory service, in addition to salary they may expect further infusions.
    • The Elixir improves health, extends life, and is available for purchase to citizens in good standing. There are no known side effects unless one overdoses or uses a bootleg copy. GM NOTE: The Elixir is also a good in-game explanation why heroes heal at such astounding rate, and why being in count's service is a great idea.

  2. Travel by the coach takes four hours. During that time, the party learns about partial abandonment of eastern quarters of Marnhay, and various speculations, as provided by the coach shotgun rider. Shayna is seasick.

  3. Arrival around ten o'clock at Two Forks - a small, village on a misty morning. A local, a village chief, one Elder Myriam Shew provides a welcome and brief introduction.

    • Victor the smith has violently beaten half to death his partner, Megan (Megan is an immigrant, nowhere to turn, so she lived with him despite occasional bout of violence) three days ago. Elder Myriam put a request for help to the landowner, count Gedrich.
    • His two drinking cronies took a lot of damage, but eventually managed to put him in his workshop.
    • Ever since Victor has been comatose during daylight, and howling like mad at night. Since his workshop is away from the village, the people live with it, however it hasn't been easy on their morale.
    • Trivia: The village is famous for the ale produced in the brewery. The people employed there are allowed to have a drink per working day, and most save to have a Revelday (i.e. last working day of a week) drinking together in the evening.

  4. The heroes visit Megan at Victor's house. She's in bad health.

    • Hayden, as an Apothecary, examines her (GM NOTE: Natural twenty. That's all the information plus two questions) and learns that Megan's state is worsening - broken ribs, high chance of internal damage, and something else, a sickness of some kind (a greenish rash).
    • Another successful medicine check (GM NOTE: against DC 14, yes, that's me being nasty) and she recalls there is a legendary disease called soulsickness that turns people into monsters. The disease eats at one's soul, and the heroes make a guess that it is spread via raw physical violence (i.e. being beaten with naked fists is a way to get it).
    • Pete arrives (one of the two drinking cronies). He's also damaged, and slightly feverish. Hayden examines him, and also finds traces of the sickness.
    • The party - quite scared of a zombie apocalypse outbreak at this point - examines comatose Victor (after tying him like a bacon) and find that he is now even more massive brute, with crude features.
    • Elder Myriam Shaw is found to be uninfected.
    • The party considers their options (GM NOTE: yes, mercy killing is on the table).

That's it for the first session.

Session 2

  1. The characters interview villagers:

    • Megan the immigrant, living at Victor the smith place/with Victor the smith
    • Pete, the drinking buddy of Victor the smith (infection status: very early)
    • Bill, the second drinking buddy of Victor the smith (infection status: very early). Bill claims seeing suspicious children playing in the village occasionally.
    • Ruprecht, the third drinking buddy of Victor the smith (infection status: progressed to fever and weakening)
    • Ruprecht's wife, Sylvie
    • Dirk, the owner of brewery
    • Father Clegg

  2. Established facts:

    • All villagers are tenants to Gedrich estate
    • The village, Two Forks, is famous for its beer and brewery (brewery owner: Dirk Dirkenson)
    • On Reveldays, brewery employees have drinking evenings
    • Occasional domestic violence: Victor is an abusive partner to Megan (Megan is an immigrant, she has no family to fall back on, so she is clearly at Victor's mercy)
    • Victor severely beat up Ruprecht and then Megan after a drinking bout with his friends
    • Bill sees strange children playing in the village
    • There were occurrences of graffiti (fecal matter suspected) on village hut doors on the huts (and the forge) that are close to the forest
    • Dirk the brewery owner, is clearly abusing his position to take advantage of girls working at brewery
    • Dirk is not infected, sports a streak of incredibly bad luck, has at least three painful ulcers
    • Two weeks ago there was an altercation during a Revelday drinking evening - an old man was thrown out by Victor and his drinking buddies, after the old man tried to stop Dirk from groping Edna, a girl working at the brewery
    • Edna claims that on Reveldays, when people have a lot of drink, foreign people sometimes come (including the old man), and she also says that the old man appreciated her dancing. Other villagers do not seem to recollect the presence of the foreign people. She also claims that the old man loved beer and lemons.
    • Father Clegg has recorded the graffiti. The characters were able, after much deliberation, to somewhat decipher the markings as "get the fuck out of there" in a language similar to Archaic

  3. The characters' take:

    • Weird folk like to visit the village. The weird folk and the old spooky forest have something in common.
    • Dirk is cursed. They (the heroes) promised to help him for a cask of premium beer and a lemon.
    • All who supported Dirk are being persecuted in some ways. The sickness is particularly worrisome.
    • They are in agreement that Victor the smith is not worth rescuing. They are now looking for an opportunity to make it look legal.
    • They plan to leave in the evening to attempt to make contact with the old man.
    • They know they are running against the clock now. Still, they take a six hour rest to recover used up abilities.
    • Accompanied by evening howls of thrashing hulk of a former smith, they depart in the evening gloom toward the forest.

GM NOTE: That's it for the second session. The story turned dark. Also, Jurgen's player decided that as a priest, he's using the paraphernalia of the High One but he's an agent of the Tempter, the High One's fallen counterpart. I haven't fully decided to embrace the default pantheon of the game yet, I am letting the players to establish facts, so to speak. For now we have a monotheistic faith of the High One, with heretical version deifying High One's counterpart, then we have animistic multideity cults of divine spirits, the so-called Old Faith. There will be more, of course.

Session 3

  1. Evening foray into an old, old forest:
    • The heroes find a path, remains of a road made of reinforced stone. The undergrowth is so dense that attempting to follow anything but the path in the evening gloom is difficult.
    • It gets dark, and so they light a torch.
    • Following the path, they reach a split, with a stone signpost. It points into two directions (generally toward left and right), however the faces (it has facsimiles of faces instead of hands) are too faded to indicate anything. The continue to the right, toward a gently rising hill slope. The path changes to broad stone steps. At the top, they see remains of two-room hut (it was partially reclaimed by the forest, and one of the walls is missing). A dim light is visible.
    • Within the hut, there is a kettle being heated with slow burning charcoal embers. There is a light snoring coming from the other room.
    • The heroes gently wake the sleeper, and find out it is an ancient, infirm old man. They are clearly torn between unhappy with being woken and the happiness of having some company. Offered beer, the old man wakes fully and gratefully accepts.
    • As the old man drinks, he visibly recovers, his face becoming smoother, the manner of speech and movement improving, and his eyes open, showing glowing yellow eyes.
    • The man, actually a bauchan, accepts four questions, three for a beer keg, and one for a lemon. He also reveals his name, Salty Lemon.
  2. Finally, hard information:
    • The village is doomed unless a bad apple is taken away from the forge, and the sick people are healed.
    • To heal, the heroes need to procure a gem from a debtor from a ruined temple. The temple has been taken over by a bunch of nasty killer kid-like menaces, goblins, but the debtor is still there, probably still plying its nefarious trade (Lemon suspects that the debtor sold the bad apple gem to the goblins for some favor). However, the debtor should still have a healing gem.
    • The bad thing is that Lemon can brew only five doses of a cure, as other ingredients come in limited supply.
    • The heroes are grateful and leave for the village, as night raid on goblins may be too risky.
  3. The crisis at the village:
    • A crowd of panicked villagers surrounds the forge, as the howling and thuds indicate that the state of the smith progressed from bad to worse.
    • Taking too long to debate the options, heroes yield the initiative, as fully transformed Victor bursts from the forge breaking the door.
    • Fight!
    • The heroes stack debuffs (Hayden), use "surround" debuff and stab, slash and shoot the former smith.
    • Victor goes down, leaving severe bruises on Shayna.
    • Heroes secure the bad apple gem and go to sleep.
    • As they wake up, Shayna feels itchy and notices slight rash with greenish tint. Looks like Victor may still get the last laugh.

GM NOTE: Need to improve my bookkeeping skills. A simple combat, and yet tracking debuffs required making notes. Probably will add a simple Google Sheet for notes.

Adventure #2

STATUS: ready; custom-made with multiple imports; multiple story dependencies (expecting changes).

GM NOTE: This is not railroading, this is me having fun. If the characters veer wildly, by dying, abandoning count's service, going rogue, I am fine with scrapping it. The adventure is sandboxy, 22 pages long, contains Adventure #1 Intro, Outro, Downtime, Marnhay FAQ, Adventure #2 Intro, Content and Out, and Downtime.

GM NOTE #2: So far I love SWW minimalistic take on adventure writing - this means I can put a lot of stuff into the game at little effort. My work so far includes also:

  • Multiple in-game files (statblock excerpts)
  • No fewer than five different Python random generators (with 46 resource files)
  • Image files (DALL-E, SWW extracts)
  • OSR assets (bought, found, made by fans, made by me)

GM NOTE #3: I find the lack of suitable city resources disturbing. Yes, there are laundry lists for city encounters, however they are quite unfitting for what I have in mind. What I have done so far, I have assembled multiple building blocks, most random generator assets, and most notably from Swyvers RPG.

Adventure #3

STATUS: almost complete (pending resolution of previous episodes); custom-made with multiple imports; multiple story dependencies (expecting changes).

GM NOTE: The adventure is mostly completed. I tried generating dungeon parts using ChatGPT o-1, and I am not impressed. Creating a consistent locale is beyond it despite multiple guidances provided. Still, some filler details were interesting. ChatGPT excels at creating setting specific detailed laundry lists, random encounter concepts or producing descriptions. It fails to remain consistent, fails to create convincingly elaborate structure maps.