Bloodfall 9: Bloodstein

I am not a true believer in TNB, but I do recognize the Braunstein as a valuable tool to resolve some types of scenarios within your campaign that crop up organically. Much to my dismay, I realized that the Bloodfall campaign had many factions at odds with each other that were barreling towards conflict. Because it's a living campaign, this friction could not be ignored until I felt like feeding it piecemeal to the players. I was going to have to run a Braunstein session.

I am wargame coded. I tried to set the conflict up in an interesting way, which I thought I did ok at, but after stepping back it was clear that I had a wargame scenario that we were going to resolve differently. I needed many fewer zero-sum goals but this is why we try new things. My previous events have all been play by post.

The Roster

Madcow - Leadbelly, Captain of the Guard
WeatherReport - Halforn Halfornson, previous Jarl's son
Joshinyu - Jibberwall Goblins
Matthew - Jarl Fost, High Priest of Odin
Polyfamous - Howler the Blackblade, Gnoll Chieftain
Hollyfelled - Xandir the Shaker and the Sons of Loki, Cthaylor Cultists
Bdubs - Viseworth the Taxman
Boldvay - Olvar Goldeneye, Comall Trading Post
J - Sandwich Goblins

The McGuffins

The Falcon Idol - Installed by PCs. Permanent Plant Growth, infinite food, big status/wealth
The Blackblade - Legendary sword of Howler the Gnoll King. Unifying force for beastmen.
The Witness - Info on the previous Jarl's suspicious death.
The Jarl's Seat - Meet the new boss...

Each faction had overlapping interests in at least a few of the McGuffins, plus their own individual things like survival, unification, revenge, or greed. I set a basic resolution system of a CRT for combat and 2d6 for anything else, then immediately shot myself in the foot by declaring that movement had to run through the DM. My vision of watching different conflicts develop and be resolved independently was dashed.

Despite my best efforts to ruin things, the players persevered, spending most of the time negotiating, setting, and breaking alliances. There was bribery, treachery, and double-treachery, all the greatest hits. I made the mistake of trying to keep tabs on everything which eventually turned into information overload. Add to that the need to track movement and special actions like theft, spying, and recon and I was toast. It was a mistake to emphasize the war element over top of the shenanigans element at the same time.

Ultimately, the goal of any of this is to set up solid scenarios for the campaign's PCs to play out during sessions. This event ended with the namesake town of Bloodfall under siege by a coalition of beastmen and Cthaylor cultists, the beastmen shooting themselves in the foot by killing their outside supplier of arms and armor, and the town's unsurprisingly infamous tax collector MIA.

There were several PCs allied to various factions and they all survived their various conflicts. On review, play was strong all around but Fost was closest to all of his goals. He maintained his seat as Jarl and possession of the Falcon Idol. He failed to discover the witness, but so did everyone else. Gnoll King also hit a goal and also wins the trophy for Funniest Voice D&D with his Scandinavian accent. I give myself a D-. Set up was poor, adjudication clunky, but we did get to an interesting resolution that all agreed was the right play.

Braunstein is the right tool for some jobs, but not every job. It helps to run it well and identify the correct application. Maybe this conflict needed a more dedicated wargame approach but we got there anyway. Special thanks to the good sports of Bloodfall. Let's see how the PCs get out of the siege.