Grimvember 2019 is here! Will you do it "For Love or Money"?

This year's Grimvember is almost over, but there I still have a couple of scenarios to cover. Today I take a look at Brian E. Kirby's "For Love or Money", which can be found in the 2nd edition's "Plundered Vaults" anthology.

This is a tough one to play. Not because it's overly hard, or badly written - quite the contrary. Kirby made a fine job of weaving a tale of a father who hires a bunch of heroes to find his missing daughter. No, it's the ending. I'm not a squeamish person, and I don't mind "difficult" topics in my games, but "For Love or Money's" ending really got me shuddering with unease. But first things first...

The heroes have been hired by one Bela Dustermann, a noble living in a Wissenland village of Mittleresdorf, who needs them to find his daughter Julianne. Apparently the girl ran away with a young, handsome rogue, Rudiger Kaltblut. Herr Dustermann really wants his daughter back, and is willing to pay the PC's a rich sum of money, if they'll be able to accomplish this task.

He certainly looks like someone with deep pockets!

It soon becomes apparent that not all is as it seems, and that Bela has some pretty dirty skeletons in his closet. Not only that, but the Skaven are afoot as well, and the idyllic Mittleresdorf faces a severe case of full-on rat assault, coupled with some good, old fashioned Chaos body horror!

Make no mistake - this is a nasty scenario. It's very in the spirit of 2nd edition WFRP, especially when it comes to artwork and descriptions, but the overall tone is simply depressing and friggin' dark. In this manner it actually reminds me of "The Thousand Thrones" campaign, and how utterly bleak and hopeless it was, from start to bottom. That said, just as with the aformentioned "1k Thrones", these traits are really what makes "For Love or Money" work. Just be mindful of that, if you decide to run this scenario.

Kirby really made the village of Mittleresdorf interesting, and a fantastic "template" to use as a your usual, sleepy village, where something nasty is going on just under the surface. Its inhabitants are your typical Old Worlders. They're nothing special, but their characters are detailed enough, so that the GM will have no problems with smoothly using them in his games.

"Standard" dosen't always mean "boring"!

Combat is pretty easy, and not that challenging, but that's actually a good thing. "For Love or Money" is not really about swinging swords. Its main themes are horror, hoplessness, and the utter depths of malice and corruption, into which a man might descend, if he'll court Chaos. There are still enough encounters to satisfy most muderhobos, but they're really not the essence of this adventure, and that's a good thing, in my opinion at least.

"For Love or Money" is really one of those scenarios which you remember, even many years after playing it. I've GM'ed it back in 2010, and can still remember how uneasy and horrified it made me feel, but also how solid and worth playing it was as well. So I do recommend it. Just be mindful of what I've written before - it's not an easy scenario to read, run and play.

Just so we're clear on that topic...

Until next time!

Xathrodox86