We’ve wrapped another Blood Prairie Campaign!
At this point, we’ve completed four full games of Blood Prairie, with one ongoing. We’ve played ‘Bounties’ (2 players, 2 sessions), Hilltop Hymnal/Hard Rain (2 players, 3 sessions), Seven Nights to Silver Silo (3 players, 3 sessions, TPK), and now a second run of Hilltop Hymnal/Hard Rain (7 players! 3 sessions). Add that to our ongoing ‘Welcome to Derricksland’ Campaign (6 players, currently 3 sessions with one more to go), and we’ve really started to kick the tires on this thing.
I’m happy to report: it’s awesome! Once we wrap the Derricksland game, we’ll move on to prepping the ashcan version, so that all you lovely internet folk can help us playtest this thing. Comment below if you want to be on that list!
But before we do that, let me tell y’all a little about our most recent trek through the Blood Prairie.
Back to the Blood Prairie
It’s been a minute since I personally have run the same module twice — probably not since we were playtesting our two-pagers. I also had two players (Chelsea and Gabriel) who had played this same adventure before (as Virginia Slim, the Hard Case, and Salos, the Unemployed Angel), so I wanted to mix things up a bit. So I made a few changes to the map. This:
Became this:
Behold my MS Paint skills and lukewarm Jaquaysing! Weep! Tremble!
Dramatis Personae
In any case, armed with a slightly expanded adventuring scenario, I allowed myself to be talked into running a seven-person table. I normally have a pretty hard cap at six, so this was new territory for me. Our first session had six PCs who were:
West Virginia Slim, Hard Case, sex worker, and twin sister of Virginia Slim. Separated at birth from her sister, who was born on the Eastern side and therefore got the better name.
Alana Khan, hard-drinking Occultist and co-cult leader alongside…
Captain Percival, cavalry officer and Occultist.
Ox, the slow-witted Hard Case, gifted with unreliable second sight. Follower of Alana and Percival.
Valentine ‘Zero’ Panic, swaggering Wild One. Admirer of West Virginia.
Doctor Spencer, Frontier Psychiatrist with an interest in organs and gambling.
Blood Prairie Preamble
Just like last time, the group was travelling through a seemingly endless graveyard under the red ring of the eclipsed sun when they came to Nephilim’s Rest. Atop this man-made hill was a crooked, ruined church; lights within indicated occupancy.
Gulliver McGovern, the undercover angel found therein, offered the party wine and shelter before trying to talk them into helping him with a spell he was working on, a resurrection spell. He needed several magically-significant types of water to prepare the ritual. He already had the common ones (morning dew, engine’s steam, rich man’s spit, snowmelt, and spring rain); now he needs the tricky ones (a tear shed for the death of wicked soul, water that drowned a witch, and icemelt from a comet). Would the players help him?
After some brief consideration (should we kill this guy and take his money?) and questions about the recipient of the resurrection (‘Would this work on God?’ ‘The strange ‘priest’ looks shifty and scuttles off’), they agreed to help.
Off to the races!
Session #1
So off the team went. They met the gamblers in the hex directly west and, although most of the Posse managed to avoid temptation, Ox and Dr Spencer were ultimately moved to try their luck. When they discovered that one of the gamblers was cheating, they managed to avoid murdering him, instead stealing his clothes and leaving him at the mercy of his other two victims. So far, the team was talking a pretty callous game, but doing less actual crime than Salos and Virginia did.
Leaving the Gamblers, they (mercifully) headed north along the new path. They came across four weeping widows burying a bigamist (tetragamist?). After some poorly chosen words, Alana Khan was belted in the mouth and damn near killed by a perturbed mourner; I believe there was an implication that Alana was a fifth wife. Understandably, this went over poorly.
The party smoothed it over by offering to help dig the grave. Handkerchiefs were offered, and after some probing questions, it was determined that the dead fella was probably enough of an asshole to count as a ‘wicked soul’. The wet hankerchiefs were wrung into a bottle. First reagent down!
They helped the widows bury their shared husband. After they had departed, Zero dug up the body, upon which he found ten wedding rings. In a fit of romance, he split them with West Virginia, who agreed to be his wife five days a week, so long as she could still ply her saucy trade on the weekends. Romance!
North!
The Posse rested before heading north. They crossed some haggard bandits who didn’t trouble them before coming across a lake, frozen to near-perfect clarity. As they crossed the lake, they passed over a town, flash-frozen with struggling corpses suspended beneath the ice. The only thing emerging from the ice was a churchspire, apparently with someone camping within.
As they approached, a lanky ice devil unfolded from behind the spire. His human plaything/prisoner/cultist pressed the party for meat. They provided it and actually managed to negotiate their way out of the situation. Unfortunately, as they were leaving, someone mentioned comets, which (for reasons the Posse never discovered) set the Cold One off.
The ensuing gunfight came within a razor’s edge of catastrophe; guns refused to fire, icing up as their triggers were pulled. The cultist advanced with an axe and burning blue eyes, flashing everytime a gun failed to fire. After the cultist fell, Captain Percival struck a deal with the Cold One; the party would replace the human toy they had slain in exchange for mercy. The devil agreed, but with a timeline: two days!
The party headed West, hoping to hit the town of Three Witches in time to find a replacement for their new creditor. Unfortunately, they rolled a random encounter: Man-Eating Horses! We left off there for the session, to return in two weeks.
Session #2
Ox and Dr Specer couldn’t make it for this one, but we were joined instead by Parker, played by our own Kate Turner: a short-statured gunslinger and Cavalry veteran with a false leg. Riding across the Prairie, chased by a pack of carnivorous horses, Parker spotted the Posse and, taking some chances, decided to run right toward them.
This fight was, to be honest with you, a playtesting learning experience; I think I’ll change around the encounter distance rules a bit before we get the next version out!
In any case, after waiting for the horses to arrive, the players managed to fight them off. It turned out Capt Percival and Parker knew each other from the cavalry, so, given the mysterious absence of 33% of the party, they decided to enlist Parker on their quest. The team made camp as Cpt Percival rode their horse into town, hoping to get a hop on the deal he made with that devil.
Town
The party made town, talked the Church of the Almighty Dollar into feeding the Ice Devil one of their debtors, did some shopping, and looked for reagents. It turned out the town was down to one Witch but, more concerned with cash than casting, the Posse looked for work rather than attempt to drown her.
They were directed to the house of Draupadi Singh, a missing witch and former triumvir of the town. Only a river stood between them and their goal. The Ferryman cheerfully informed them that passage west, into Vampire Country, was free; coming back would require them to find some cash.
Little Witchouse on the Blood Prairie
When they got to the house, they found it cursed, nearly frozen shut and filled with a localized blizzard. Alana Khan and Percival got to their witchy-work, summoning up the Cold One (who totally didn’t remember them) and bargaining for protection from the cold. Only problem? They had just 10 minutes to explore the house before they started to freeze to death.
Last time I ran this, the Posse had a counter-spelling Angel on hand; this time, no such luck!
It was decided that the Posse would split up to canvas the house, getting the lay of the land before attempting to solve any mysteries or do any looting. Parker and the Occultists surveyed the first floor; West Virginia and Zero climbed up the iced-over stairs to check the second story.
Let’s Split Up!
Unfortunately, they did not do so quietly. The Vampire hiding in the Guest Bedroom was alerted and fled to the Watercloset, where he levitated up to the ceiling to wait in ambush. Zero stuck his head in the bathroom and looked side-to-side, but not up. The Vampire struck!
One change we’ve made during playtesting is giving mature vampires a bit of super-speed. They have the Alacrity ability now; they roll initiative twice, taking two separate turns each round. This particular vampire, Caliban Dwyer, happened to beat the whole party with both rolls. Zero was grappled and bitten before anyone could react. The party downstairs struggled to get up the stairs as West Virginia, actively mourning her recently acquired part-time husband, fought the demon with her silver dagger.
Somehow, West Virginia managed to eke out a win. The Vampire was slain, but it was too late for Zero, who died on that water closet floor.
We had about ten minutes left in the session, so we did a quick loot of the house. The party found some screaming zombies (the Unquiet Dead) in the basement, and wisely decided to leave those doors closed. Cpt Percival looted the library, resulting in a trapped book unleashing a harpoon trap! Percival barely survived, and we ended the session on that upbeat note.
Session #3
We had a full house! All seven characters were ready for the finale.
Honestly, this session could have been three sessions all on its own. With so many players, everything takes a little longer; that’s something I knew but didn’t really take into account when I promised this campaign would run for three sessions!
Live and learn, I guess! Then forget what you’ve learned, and keep on living!
The party set to healing, looting, and burying their dead. In Draupadi’s reliquary, the comet-cannister was found, meaning the party only needed one more component. Zero was replaced by Seven, a cult survivor and Frontier Psychiatrist with a criminal past and a connection to Alana Khan. In the middle of the funeral, riders with torches were seen approaching, so the Posse scuttled back inside the house.
Riders on the Storm
Four vampires rode up and banged on the door, provoking Ox to yell out that they were just hobos, not looking for trouble. The Vampires, stoked to find the house was not as empty as they assumed, started angling for an invitation inside. Dr Spencer and West Virginia poured Holy Water on their heads, igniting one and sending the other three off into the darkness, swearing to return with more vamps to burn the house down.
Newly motivated, the party decided to return to town, travelling on horseback and barely avoiding the vampires. Some quick thinking (and a three-fold overpaying of the ferry fee) got them across the river before the vamps could catch them.
Town and Travel
In town, West Virginia got a tattoo commemorating Zero, as the rest of the Posse hatched a scheme to move against Baba Yaga Ironteeth to get their last component. They used their occult powers to turn her guards against her. After that, picking up water that drowned a witch was easy.
They headed south along the river, securing a wanted organ trafficker, a wagon-mounted Gatling gun, and a photograph of the gang standing next to a gigantic wooden bowl. This same wooden bowl had been the site of some pretty damn fine roleplaying back in Session #1 of this adventure’s first outing; it’s wild how different two treks through basically the same adventure were! They’d ultimately set the organ trafficker free to distract some wolves: lateral problem at its finest!
When it Rains Like Revelations
The party made it back to Nephilim’s Rest and began the ritual. I won’t recount the details of how it went wrong; they’re much the same as in the last recap. The battle played out much differently, though.
The Occultists spent the battle trying to use magic to help. The fruits of their labour were:
- a Blizzard
- turning all of their horses into carnivorous horses
- and getting taught an oracle spell.
Not exactly the decisive magical artillery they brought to bear against Baba Yaga Ironteeth.
Parker, operating the gun, had previously pointed it at the church, convinced that Gulliver was up to nefarious bullshit. West Virginia and Dr Spencer spent the first section of the battle trying to rotate the wagon, so the machine gun would face the zombies. Meanwhile, Seven threatened the horde with a keg of Holy Water they found earlier.
Ox, thinking fast, decided to lead the carnivorous horses towards the zombies. The Hard Case proved intensely durable — at first. Once surrounded by the howling dead, Ox began to lose Grit. Using his last turn of consciousness, he managed to detonate his firebombs, going up in a literal blaze of glory.
Victory?
Around this same time, Parker managed to unleash the machine gun on the endless sea of ghouls, vapourizing large sections of them. Victory seemed possible… but then the hill shifted under the team, as the buried giant that gave Nephilim’s Rest its name came alive.
Dr Spencer was nearly crushed by the giant zombie’s arm. With surgical assistance, they managed to stop the bleeding in time to see reality’s new god breach the inverted sea hanging in the sky and announce itself. Dr Seven was holding Spencer’s guts together during this otherwise attention-commanding moment.
Although Percival was willing to join what appeared to be the winning side, Alana Khan and Parker refused to surrender. Using a barrel of holy water, a machine gun assault, and a winning bluff, they managed to convince the interloping god that this dimension was less abandoned by the divine than it appeared. The monster retreated, leaving the dead frozen in place as the summoned blizzard replaced the magical rain Gulliver had summoned.
End of Session
With a mere two casualties (Ox and Zero), the Posse had cleared the adventure! Loot was apportioned, perks chosen, new friends congratulated, and the session ended. We’re all looking forward to the next campaign!
Stay tuned for our Derricksland recap and the Ashcan release; it’s close now! Leave a comment below if you’d like to receive your copy when it’s ready. We need all the help we can get, so if you’re willing to run this crazy game for your table, tell us! There’s room in this here posse for a few more. Check out the previous recap here, and check out our other blog stuff. Might I interest you in the Mad Moor, a horror-fantasy setting for 5e, medieval-fantasy-style DnD?