Fiction for the new setting document

In the dim flickering light of the mud brick fortress, Panjang watched as the wizard Azax removed his chromed space helmet. The old wizard reached up to scratch his scalp, itching from the flay mites with which he had formed a symbioses. The mites had turned Azaxs skin translucent his scratching hand and itching head a display of bloody exposed muscle both fascinating and hideous. Panjang tried not to stare; he glanced down at his ornate curl toed shoes and smoothed his long mustache with a practiced hand. The wizard settled his slight frame on the silk carpet alongside Panjang, removing the filigreed robe that concealed the rest of his raw red body. Beneath the robe, Azax wore an elaborate leather harness and girdle, armored with strange white ceramic plates, ancient Yeti battle gear reclaimed from a shoggoth pit.

The wizard produced from his purse a stack of hexagonal golden coins, each imprinted with a unique bar code. He placed them on the carpet with a flourish, Panjang half expected blood to be flung from the old man’s hand; it was hard to remember he still had skin.

“One hundred ancient gold coins, the Companies cut from the last contract.” Azax head bowed slightly, not a sign of deference to Panjang, but of loyalty to their organization.

Panjang too bowed his head, and collected the coins. “For the Company, these will assist in fortifying the kraal around our spaceship; our henchmen have reported deep ones prowling the perimeters at night.”

The Wizard snorted; “We should have destroyed the temple of Dagon when we had the chance, the Chief of the Blue Men was a misguided savage, but at least he struck a blow that we as of yet have been unable to.”

Panjang raised a bushy black eyebrow, “Unable to or unwilling?”

“Ha!” Azax stood up, a powerful presence filling the room. The old man subsumed by the wizard.

“If you refer to my Cousin Jabba the Sea Blood, I can assure you it is not for his sake that the temples still stands. I have no loyalty to the deep ones, and when the time comes he shall not stand in my way. Now if you'll excuse me, the Mistress Jaingaiva awaits my call, good evening Panjang the Samarajyan.”

Panjang clasped his hands together before his chest and made a salaam to the old man. The wizard threw his robe over his shoulder and stalked out of the room dim light reflecting off of his translucent skin.

Panjang too arose from the carpet. “I must look to my spear and shield” he thought to himself, “for this night smells of blood.”  

Ravenloft Play Report Part 4.

We played on a different night this week, got started late and had an abbreviated session. The game provided a good transition from the introduction and exposition of the campaign to a new chapter. The party now has a clear idea of the situation, and a goal; defeat the Count.

Having acquired powerful holy artifacts the brave adventurers decided to enter Castle Ravenloft itself, and set off to reconnoiter the vampire’s lair during the daylight, embarking on the next part of the campaign, the “dungeon”.

The game began with a return to the burgomaster’s estate and the party in possession of the reliquary of St. Ravenloft.  Ireena and Ismark were overjoyed that the powerful artifact had been retrieved from the darkness of the castle. They asked that it be returned to its place of honor on the family altar where they hope its holy power will keep the Count from Ireena. Unwilling to part with the sacred leg bone Dastur pledged to use the object to defeat the vampire, arguing that this is the only way Ireena and Barovia will truly be safe. Ireena accepted, stating that while his plan is a gamble Dastur is correct, but Ismark was more pessimistic, concerned that the party will inadvertently deliver the relic back into the darkness. To provide some measure of protection for Ireena, the party helped her move to the Church placing her in the care of Father Donavich.

Before leaving the village, Nicolo the Warlock attempted to command the superstitious Hadjuks to abandon the tavern and join the company. Making a convincing argument that not only is the defeat of the Count the only way to leave the cursed land, but that the castle is probably full of loot. He successfully persuaded the Sirdar and the rest of the Hadjuks followed their captain.

Now at full strength , the company consist of Anthaar Zweck Champion (lv 7 fighting-man) , Reichsritter Ulrich von Reffner Thief (lv 8 thief) , Monsieur Mellin Viète  Knight of the Rose Cross (lv 6 elf/initiate) , the Dastur Archbishop (lv 7 cleric) , Nicolo Oliverio Warlock (lv 7 magic user), Ya’qub Hero (lv 4 fighting man) leader of the Moorish guard of two swordsman (lv 3 fighting men), and Sirdar Bajo swashbuckler (lv 5 fighting man) leader of the Hadjuks (a hero and three swordsmen). Altogether a most impressive and well-armed band of 13 stalwart mercenaries, they set off for Castle Ravenloft in the early morning, matchlocks primed and steel sharp.

We returned to Sutherlands amazing hex map, and move the party token 6 hexes a turn. They traveled down the road past the scene of the battle with the errant zombies. I rolled 1d6 for random encounters every turn, encounters occurring on a 1. On the third turn I rolled up an encounter.  

Where the Svalich road is crowded by the dark forest, massive webs blocked the path. Some thought is given to burning the webs, but it is decided to order the Moors to go forward to cut them down. This of course draws the wrath of giant spiders. Two attacked the moors on one side of the road, as another slithered from the dark trees opposite. The party responded with a fusillade of matchlock fire followed by a charge. Dastur the Zoroastrian was bitten and when I asked for a save versus poison or death the tone of the battle immediately changed. The spiders became a worthy foe, and all eyes were on the d20 rolls. A few tense saving throw rolls later and the spiders were dead. Ulrich attempted to remove the poison glands from the dead arachnids and I ruled a 3d6 WIS check with failure resulting in save vs death, he argued for INT and I conceded. He successfully removed 1d3 applications of type D poison, for which he risked his life.

The party continued following the road up into the Balinok Mountains, the temperature dropping and the snow falling harder. They encountered more spiders, this time spotting them from a distance. Deciding not to risk more deadly saving throws, the Frenchman Mellin hurled a fireball at the creatures while the rest of the party fired a volley of shot from long range. This effectively ended the encounter, and Ulrich again successfully risked his life for more deadly poison.

Once in the mountains the band headed north eventually reaching an old Byzantine bridge crossing a canyon through which the Svalich river flows. Under skies dark with thunder snow, they met a specter haunting an abandoned shrine built on the column of the bridge. The specter proved powerless in the daylight, so Nicolo parlayed, but declined the apparition’s invitation to join him in throwing themselves off the bridge. Continuing north the party arrived at a crossroads where stood a black driverless carriage, pulled by a team of silent black horses. Without much hesitation they entered the vehicle, henchmen hanging from the roof and sides and were quickly conveyed through the pass to the gates of Castle Ravenloft.

Before them crouching on a lone a spur of the mountains, the black castle loomed, separated from the gates by a thousand foot drop. A rickety drawbridge was extended, the gates open. Each member rolled against a 5% chance of falling. Everyone made it but the leader of the Hadjuks, the Sirdar Bajo. The rest of the party watched helplessly as he fell screaming to his death in the fog far below. At this point the remaining Hadjuks failed a morale check and refused to go further. Nicolo ineffectually attempted to rally them, then the Champion Zweck interceded and threatened the Slavic border reavers, the fear of the grim Dane was enough to persuade them to go on. The party then moved on into the courtyard of the Castle, the cowed Hadjuks in tow.

Declining to enter the main gates, the band found a door on the north side of the courtyard and after fully exploring the exterior entered the castle itself. The side door opened into a room lit by dust covered windows to the east; they found a table with a moldy tome atop it a door to the north, and stairs leading down to the south. Zweck declared his intention of forcing the north door open.

At this point, I got up to make some raisin toast. We play on Roll20, and I use my speakers rather than a headset so from my kitchen I ask the players to make a few rolls on my behalf while I butter the delicious toast.

Zwecks’ player makes the First roll: 1d6 to open the door. Result: failure

Failure to open a stuck door generally results in a wandering monster check.

I asked Nicolo’s player to make the Second roll: 1d6 for random encounter. Result: encounter

Then the Third roll: 1d12 for encounter type. Result: 2d8 wights

Then the Fourth roll: 2d8 for number of wights. Result: 16 wights

I get back to the table with my toast and prepare to shove 16 wights into a 20 by 20 room that already contains 12 adventurers.

I determined that it made sense for the wights to be coming from up the stairway, so:  

From the darkness a gibbering horde of 16 putrid wights came grasping up the stairs, a cold light shining in the black pits of their eyes. Marching order was somewhat ambiguous (we need this to be clearly defined in the future.) So after some hem hawing we figured out that Mellin and Ya’qub stood at the top of the stairs.

The wights won initiative; Ya’qub was level drained and then withdrew. Mellin was unsuccessfully attacked, and then used his boots of levitation into float to a position where he was safe from the wights claws. Ulrich’s player advocated running, his advice was unheeded and he joined Nicolo in a silver bullet volley with pistols that would last the rest of the encounter. The Dastur drew forth the holy leg bone f St. Ravenloft  from the reliquary, and boldly strode forward with the light of Ahura Mazda filling his body, and the power of Jehovah shining forth from the bone, he rolled to turn the vile undead, 2d6+2 for the relic and hits 14. The wights withered before the might of God. Suddenly, the fight didn’t seem so bad. Dastur and Zweck took the front, bashing at the two remaining undead with the magic bull mace, and Zwecks +1 misericord. The rest of the party proceeded to fire volley after volley of silver bullets filling the room with the clamor of reports and the stench of powder. Once the smoke cleared, the wights were truly dead.

I allowed Zweck to redeem his botched door opening attempt, and he forced the north passage open revealing a set of stairs ascending. With the choice of going up or down, we called it a night.

After awarding XP, Ya’qub regained his lost level. The Sirdar Bajo thus far has been our only casualty.

The party is now within the walls of Castle Ravenloft. Let the gothic dungeon crawling commence!

Ravenloft Play Report Part 3.

The remnant of the once proud dell’Aquila Rossa mercenary band  find themselves trapped in the desolate snow covered land of Barovia. Having been lured into the inescapable fog by an ancient vampire Count Strahd von Zarovitch. Finding allies in the children of the late burgomaster Ismark and Irrena Kolyana his adopted daughter. It becomes apparent that for an unknown reason Ireena is the object of the Count’s desires. She now has no sanctuary from the dread vampire as the night the burgomaster died a shadow demon took from the families home the Relic of St. Ravenloft. An object of great holy power and the only thing keeping her safe from the Count.

The party is determined to discover a means of escaping Barovia without foolishly confronting the Lord Vampire and heads west along the Svalich road to seek answers in the Gypsy camp.

The Hadjuk’s in the companies employ prove unwilling to face the horrors of the land. In superstitious dread they refuse to move from the Blood of the Vine Tavern. The party leaves them and sets off with their faithful Moorish guard. Nicolo, the elder Venetian Warlock is stricken by the gout, and stays behind in the church to ruminate with Father Donavitch.

We used the beautiful hex map by David Sutherland III and moved a token across the board, I ruled they could move 6 hexes a turn and rolled for random encounters. This is a style of play that the group hasn't done much of but is a staple of classic D&D. I want to encourage more of this tactical “Wargame” style of old school exploration and play. Plus we have this great map let’s take advantage of it!

The party is hounded by worgs as they trudge through the snow towards the gypsy camp. When they reach a point between a cliff face and the forest edge the worgs ambush them. The party makes quick work of the beast, and wisely elects not to pursue the remaining creatures into the woods.

Nearing the pool at the base of the Tser falls, the party comes to the Gypsy camp. The Gypsies dance around a roasting boar as accordion music fills the air. A charming dark eyed Gypsy girl named Dika invites the party to partake in wine and pork, and they do so with some trepidation. Finally joining the gypsies in the revels, Ulrich wins at dice, Zweck sells his pistol for 100 doubloons, and the Zoroastrian catches a little girl picking his pocket but lets her go. The Frenchman uses his boots of levitation to perform amazing feats of dance around the fire, impressing Dika enough for her to invite him back to her caravan.

While the Frenchman pursues the pleasures of Gypsy flesh, the Cleric is invited to Madam Eva’s tent to have his fortune read. The old gypsy oracle lays the cards before the Zoroastrian foreseeing the obstacles and objectives that lie within Castle Ravenloft.

That night, Dika comes to the Frenchmen crawling on hands and knees through the red silks inside the caravan. Opening his arms in anticipation the Frenchmen is horrified to see her face transform into that of an ancient vampire, his foe, Count Strahd. The Count charms the Frenchmen, and learning from his last attempt, instructs his victim to forget this encounter and await further commands. This is a small mercy for the charmed Monsieur Viete who forgets his horror and spends a blissful night in the arms of Dika the gypsy.

In the morning the party leaves the camp to return to the village. Dika gifts a scroll of etherealness to Mellin. Nearing the bridge over the Svalich River they see a mass of disfigured humanoid shapes awaiting them. Through the fog a group of 15 hideous zombie creatures attack. Dastur the Cleric finds he cannot turn the creatures, and Anthaar Zweck again attempts to bravely put himself between the party and their foes. There are too many of the creatures for the Champion to cut them all off, and he is surrounded by six, the rest moving on towards the party.  The fight becomes a slog in two different areas with the party including the Moors south of the river, and Zweck versus 6 enemies on the bridge itself.

The zombie creatures, when taking 5 or more points of damage lose limbs that then act autonomously. This leads to me making 15-20 attack rolls per round. Zwecks player had an impressive amount of hubris during the fight, believing his high AC and large amount of HP would make him nigh invincible. It was only a matter of time before he suffered a critical hit, which was then confirmed by rolling another 20. (about a 1/400 chance) Consulting the Anduin critical hit chart resulted in the poor Fighting Man having his Achilles heel severed with a loud pop.  He fell and no longer having the protection of his high AC was immediately mobbed by the remaining creatures. Zweck nearly succumbed to the assault only to be saved by the rest of the party at the last moment.

This fight took its toll, and the party limped into the village to rest at the burgomaster estate. They assisted Ismark in burying his father’s rotting corpse and consecrating the grave. And decided to wait the night at the estate rather than journey cursed Barovia in the darkness. Before retiring they visit the Church and speak to Father Donavitch about Madam Eva’s fortune. The old priest confirms that there is a chapel and throne in the Castle, but warns them against a direct assault against the Count.

Late that night Ireena is as usual, pacing the halls of the estate awaiting the inevitable assault, the party minus Ulrich the Thief assisting her watch. Sounds come from the attic and Ireena shrinks in fear. The party bravely ascends the stairs only to come face to face with a ghost. Succeeding in their saving throw versus fear the stalwart band confronts the apparition. Zweck falls victim to a magic jar spell and his soul is wrenched from his mortal frame into an old porcelain doll. He watches from the dolls glass eyes as the ghost possesses his body. The Cleric Dastur then successfully cast dispel magic on Zwecks body forcing the ghost out and restoring Anthaar's poor soul to its rightful seat. Meanwhile the Frenchman on the attic steps hesitates questioning if he can take any effective action.

Zweck never one to question an aaction and now whole, attacks the ghost with his torch to no effect. The Cleric cast protection from evil 10 foot radius, a choice that subsequently saves the party. The Ghost reaches out to touch Dastur and I succeed in my attack roll but forget to add the -1 to hit for the protection spell, so I roll again and miss. This happens twice. The protection spell prevented the party from aging 20 to 80 years! At this point Ulrich awakes and charges up the stairs, only to fail his save versus fear, he immediately ages 10 years and runs away in fear for the remainder of the encounter. Zweck changing tactics strikes with his magic dagger, while Dastur swings his holy bull mace, this time they deal damage and the ghost flees from melee allowing them to strike successfully again. Now, the Frenchmen uses Dika’s scroll to become ethereal, and while in the ethereal plane sees the Ghost for what it is, a tortured Hun chieftain, with no pity Mellin throws a fireball and since he is now in the same plane as the apparition the magic flame strikes true. Back in the real world, Dastur and Zweck finish the now damaged ghost with their magic weapons.

With about an hour left of his etherealness, Mellin uses the opportunity to fly to the Castle and scout. He can see more ghost, wights, and other foul undead that exist in the ethereal plane prowling the various levels of the castle including a massive red heart at the top of a tower. He also notices radiant golden light emanating from a neglected altar. Risking the chance of becoming corporeal and trapped alone within the Castle, he swoops through the walls and collects the holy objects. He then flies as fast as possible towards the village the magic wearing off with the Frenchman about a thousand feet above the ground. Fortunately he has boots of levitation and can cast Fly, so he returns to the party safely with the Reliquary of St. Ravenloft and the medallion of Our Lady of Ravenloft.

With fresh information, powerful artifacts, and a new sense of confidence the Party prepares to assault the Castle itself.

Ravenloft Play Report Part 2.

The party left the Inn at daybreak, assuring the anxious Inn Keep that they will return and settle their accounts. I gave them an opportunity to provision themselves before entering Borovia , but they hand waved the notion, apparently  confident that they had everything they might need.

Soon they find themselves in the fog and passing through the gates of Borovia.  Under a grey sky in the snow covered woods they discover a corpse with another letter from the Burgomaster. This letter warns away any travelers, urging that Borovia be quarantined against the outside world. Nicolo the Magic User  quickly spots several key differences between the two letters, one referencing the object of the quest, Ireena Kolyana as “the love of my life”, the other as the burgomasters “daughter”. Date discrepancies, and the conflicting general thrust of the missives has the players deducing they have been lured to Borovia and they wonder at the audacity of anyone intentionally misleading such a powerful group of adventurers.

While discussing the implications of the different letters, the Svalich woods come alive with the howls of worgs, eight of which attack the party. This fight was pretty much a straight up brawl, with the worgs immediately moving into melee. Several pistol shots rang out, and Anthaar Zweck  the Fighting-Man made impressive work of the beast. The Magic User was bitten, and quickly became aware of his “squishiness” moving out of melee to take pot shots with his wheel-lock pistol and commanding the parties Moorish allies to assist against the worgs.

The party then moved west down the road and in the afternoon entered the Village of Borovia. They heard the wails of a woman coming from the west, and being the hero’s they are decided to head straight for the source of the moaning. This leads them into the main square where they discern human shapes in the fog, which turn out to be zombies. A gentle reminder from the DM of his ability and Dastur the Cleric boldly steps forward to turn the unholy creatures with the power of Ahura Mazda. Zombies don’t stand a chance against a 7th level Cleric…

Once they reach the source of the wailing, there is some dithering about possible traps and whether or not to investigate. Eventually wrapped in his cloak of elvenkind Ulric the Thief sneaks upstairs to find Mad Mary who tells the tale of Gertruda the daughter she has kept locked away and that is now missing. The old woman pleads for the party to rescue the girl who she fears has been taken by Count Strahd the Vampire who apparently takes most of the women of Barovia into his power. The players try to get more information from the old lady, but she refuses to speak about the Count, making the sign of the evil eye and asking Jesus to save them all.

The players then investigate the rest of the town, finding it mostly abandoned. Looking for signs of life, they come to Bildraths Mercantile. Realizing they are probably unequipped to face vampires they try to buy the appropriate accouterments. Outrage and shock ensue as Bildraths names exorbitant prices with a  smarmy attitude. Nicolo discusses burning the place down and murdering the merchant and Dastur the Cleric wonders if Borovia is actually worth saving.

Eventually they make their way to the “Blood of the Vine” tavern. They order food and drink, and while the mutton is being prepared meet Ismark the Lesser, son of the late Burgomaster. Ismark confirms the party’s suspicion about the letters, but offers no speculation as to the intent of bringing them to Borovia. He informs them that they cannot leave the land as the fog which surrounds it is poison. Only the gypsies may pass freely from the lands of Borovia. He then ask that they assist him in saving his sister Ireena Kolyana whom the Count seeks to make a vampire bride. The players agree and after Ismark assures them they do not want to eat the tavern’s mutton they venture to the Burgomasters house.

At the house, signs of battle are everywhere. The body of the burgomaster lies rotting in the parlor. Ireena and Ismark explain that he passed several days ago , but that recently all the graves have opened and the dead walk the streets so they are afraid to bury him. Ireena  is the adopted daughter of the burgomaster who found her in the woods when she was a child. She wears western style clothing, and appears to be a capable warrior wielding an old fashioned longsword.  She explains that the Count has bitten her twice, and that their home was once defended by the Relic of St. Ravenloft but that the relic was captured by a great black shadow demon two nights ago. She now fears that nothing will stop the Count from taking her into his possession.

The players spend the night in the House, and Ulric who cannot resist a damsel attempts to woo Ireena. As a result he is on watch with her downstairs when the house is assaulted. A swarm of bats fly down the chimney filling the front rooms. Wolves circle outside the boarded windows. Suddenly one of the bats becomes a man of evil aspect that stands before Ulric. The Thief fails his save and becomes charmed. The rest of the party awakes and rushes downstairs only to find that the vampire has transformed into a bat and flown away with the rest of the swarm.  

Knowing he has been affected by the vampire’s magic, Nicolo and Dastur discuss who should attempt to dispel the charm, with the Cleric finally casting Dispel Evil. He succeeds releasing the Thief from the Charm.

The next day the Party decides they need to visit the gypsy camp west of town in order to find out more information on the Count, as well as a way out of Barovia if it becomes necessary. They also realize they need silver bullets and set about town until they find a disused smithy in order to melt down silver coins to make shot. Inside the smithy rust monsters lurk. I gave the party a break and allowed the monsters to be struck without rusting weapons, only affecting metal with a successful hit themselves. Nicolo the Magic User uses Charm Monster on one of the creatures bringing it under his control, and promptly naming it Anthony. They use much of their silver ducats to cast bullets in anticipation of facing werewolves and vampires.

They subsequently visit the Church and meet Father Donavich the Orthodox priest, who offers them holy water in return for dispatching a couple of werewolves who stalk his grounds. By this time it was getting late, and I jumped past the tracking of the werewolves and straight into a combat encounter, assuming that a Thief with a cloak of elvenkind should be an effective scout.  

I gave the party a surprise round as a reflection of successfully stalking the beast and preparing an attack. They were at long range and together with their Moorish retainers formed a firing line while the thief sneaks off to the flank in an attempt to backstab one of the creatures. The muskets, arquebuses, and pistols fired silver bullets at the werewolves opening the combat. After a two rounds of somewhat ineffectual fire, that saw three weapons jam (perhaps the fog and snow dampened the powder) and the werewolves moving closer, Zweck the Fighting-Man bravely moves to intercept the beast while Nicolo decides to throw a fireball. Both werewolves made their saves and I think the players were somewhat taken aback at the amount of damage the lycanthropes had absorbed thus far. At this point, Ulric the Thief is positioned for a backstab netting a +9 to hit… And he misses much to the chagrin of the table. The werewolves are now in melee with Zweck the Fighting-Man who fires a pistol at the one who has been the target of all the silver bullets. He gets lucky and rolls exploding firearm dice three times doing a considerable amount of damage and dropping the werewolf to its knees. Nicolo realizing that this creature has taken 50+ HP in damage is perhaps getting nervous and desperately cast a sleep spell on the other werewolf. I misinterpret the Swords and Wizardry sleep spell chart , reading 4+ HD as four or more hit dice, not 4 hit dice + a modifier and rule that the creature falls asleep.

As they dispatch the fallen lycanthropes, the beasts transform into young women. This does not even cause a moment’s hesitation in the grizzled veterans as they administer the coup de gras. They search the area and find some much needed ancient byzantine gold coins in the wolf’s nest.

Returning with the heads of the young women, the Priest is relieved and grants them 1d3 servings of holy water a day. He tells them of Count Strahd von Zarovich the Vampire Lord of Barovia, who has ruled in death for over four centuries. He cautions the party to seek out the Tome of Strahd in the castle in order to find information before facing the Vampire.

I awarded XP for monsters, treasure, and undertaking the quest. And we called it a night.

A fun game, the players seemed somewhat distracted at the beginning, but were actually asking for more game towards the end. (I extemporized the rust monsters and werewolves) 

I wonder how they will react once they start getting level drained...

Ravenloft Play Report Part 1.

I got an itch for vampires and undead hunting and my other campaign is more eldritch than gothic horror. So I bought a .pdf of I6 Ravenloft and was smitten, immediately  deciding to run a “mini-campaign” with the module. In order to turn up the gothic dial, I decided to set the game on earth in the late 16th century. A time of transition between the familiar d&d renaissance era, and the baroque early modern period. Armor, guns, and religious strife with a veneer of ornate ruffs and dashing noblemen. An earth setting also allows the great drama and fiction of earthly faiths versus the undead, and should prove easier for characters to act within a familiar milieu.

Since the module is recommended for 6 to 8 characters of level 5 to 7 I granted the players 64,000 XP to start., putting most classes except the thief at level 7.

I had my regular five players show up and they made the following characters.

Anthaar Zweck a Dane. Level 7 Fighting Man.

Anthaar is a 18 STR fighter with heavy armor and a lot of HP. He proved to be quite formidable.

Dastur a Persian, Level 7 Cleric.

A Zoroastrian Priest, not exactly what I had in mind when I imagined Inquisitors versus zombies, but hey let’s go learn about a new religion!

Mellin Viete a Frenchman, Level 6 “Elf”

Mellin’s player had a definite character in mind , wanting to portray a diabolical French proto-libertine. He saw himself as a fighter with some occult powers, the b/x Elf was a perfect fit.

Nicolo Oliverio a Venetian , Level 7 Magic User

Nicolo’s player is familiar with Italy, and understands that the Venetians had their fingers in everything at this time. His elder wizard is the de facto leader of the company.

Reichsritter Ulrich von Reffner a German, Level 8 Thief.

Ulrich’s player had an idea for a pistolero and I suggested a thief. He is a womanizing ne'er-do well with a Knighthood from the Emperor.

I created a random d30 table for appropriate backgrounds, the Dane, Persian, and German were all rolled randomly. All in all quite a balanced and powerful party, with three spell casters and a combined 35 levels.

I generated spells and magic items randomly. The magic user lucked out and got fireball and lightning bolt. The Cleric has a bag of holding. The thief got a cloak of elvenkind, making him pretty much invisible. The elf has boots of Levitation. A smattering of +1 weapons and armor all around.

The setup is that the players are all members of the “dell’Aquila Rossa” a mercenary company that has spent the past 10 years in the service of the Holy Roman Empire. They fought Protestant Werewolves in Germany, Muslim Sorcerers in the Levant, and finally the Turk in Hungary. The company paid off and out of work scatters to the wind. Leaving the players with little money and a mercenary banner. They establish themselves at an Inn on the borders of the Habsburg and Ottoman empires and seek to recruit the fierce local Hadjuks so that they can venture south and sell their services to the Duke of Alba who raises a force to relieve the besieged Knights of Malta.

From this point the I6 module begins with the Gypsy delivering a letter from the Burgomaster of Barovia. Hard pressed for lucre , and with an enormous tab at the local Inn the players venture forth to save the Burgomasters daughter. In their company are three Moorish slaves turned mercenary compatriots, and five local Hadjuk recruits of dubious loyalty.

2000 GP will slow you down

Encumbrance Rules suck. 

I understand and appreciate the point. 
1. A person can only carry a certain amount of crap before they suffer consequences 
2. In D&D those consequences are reduced movement. 
3. This forces another resource management choice to the game. 

I like resource management in theory, but I tend to forget it in play. 
I also use very loose movement rules, so reduced movement rates because you are carrying 40 pounds over your limit based on strength doesn't really work for me. 

I really do want my players making hard choices based on resources and resource limitation. (Do I carry this halberd or wear plate mail? Do I drop this sack of 2000 coins to escape the Carrion Crawlers or do I stand and fight? ) 

I tried to use the elegant Lamentations of the Flame Princess encumbrance rules, but again found them too fiddly in play. 

So I just wrote some new rules. 

Encumbrance

A person of average STR (no STR modifier) can carry 50 pounds of equipment plus arms and armor without being encumbered. For each point of STR modifier an additional +/- 20 pounds may be carried. (Example: STR 18/+3 allows 110 pounds of equipment, STR 3/-3 can carry 0 pounds of equipment without being encumbered.)

If you are encumbered movement is reduced by half (thus it takes two move actions to move one range band in combat), you suffer -1 to all d20 rolls, and skill/attribute checks will be more difficult.

Each point of STR bonus allows a character to carry one encumbering item without penalty. (Example: Ibash has a STR of 17/+2, he can carry a great-sword and wear heavy armor without incurring an encumbrance penalty.)

Some items and weapons will have a "tag" like the weapon characteristics of later editions. (I will likely elaborate more on this since I have abandoned variable weapon damage.)

One of these tags is "encumbering".

I will periodically look at a players equipment and judge if they have more than 50 pounds of junk.

Generally, coins weigh 1/10 of a pound each...