I’m fascinated by prep, in all its forms – one-shot, long-form, session notes, handwritten scribbles. My own and others. A quick check online leads me to believe lots of you are, too. So, I’m going to showcase this on the blog. I can’t promise every session I’ll share my prep notes, but I’ll try and do it where I can!

These are also going to be 50% patreon exclusive – half of them will never be released to the public – so spread the word, and let me know if you’d like to share your own prep and talk to me about it. This one is not patreon exclusive – it’ll be hitting the Burn After Running public blog a week from today. So enjoy! If you want further details or have actually run the game, let me know; I’d be delighted to hear how it goes. For this, of course, you can actually watch the actual play as well – we had a lot of fun, and, I think, a complete gaming experience in 1 hour 20 minutes or so.

I was determined to run Legend in the Mist on Unconventional GMs, and so needed to work out a way to get a full story in less than 2 hours – and then I happened on their Halloween Creature Pack, which contained a lot of the challenges here. In terms of gameplay, Legend in the Mist is really nice to prep for – basically, you just need to think in terms of challenges. Each scene has some NPC notes, where it fits into the plot, and then 1-2 challenges that are the game bits the players must engage with.

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Obviously, I’ve not copied out the published challenges here – but I’ve given links, either to the Core Books (these are 2 books printed, but one .pdf – the reference is to the .pdf) or to the Halloween Creature Pack. The Challenges presented have loads of flavour and detail in them, so that’s why some of this looks a little sparse. Although, my usual approach is to go quite deep with the first scene, and a lot looser with the rest of them. If you’re watching along with this, we also used the pregenerated characters from Son on Oak games, which are incredibly good. It’s testament to how excellent this game is that it can handle the classic adventuring trio of “beekeeper, mighty wizard, and man with pig” and still keep everything balanced and fun.

The Harvest Hag

Upper Hartland lies on the edge of the Witch-wood, a cold land of icy lakes and suspicious folk. You are travelling here, hearing of rumours in the Witchwood, a vast shadowed forest where creatures of Twilight dwell. You arrive just as autumn’s chill really hits – winter is coming, and food is tight up here.

Scene 1 – Eastwall

Purpose: To launch the adventure plot – to find what has poisoned the harvest

What’s Really Going On: Amandine took some flowers from the Corn Maze, where a Harvest Hag dwells, and the hag is now taking revenge on all the villagers.

Eastwall sits at the edge of Upper Hartland, its proudly fortified stone wall to the east – on the side of the Witchwood – in contrast to the crumbling boundary elsewhere.

You arrive at the village square –  a young girl has been hauled before a crowd of onlookers, and is being accused of witchcraft.

Cast

Amadine, desperate girl – she knows she stole some flowers from the forest and was cursed, and was trying to banish the curse in her own way with a blood sacrifice of a rat she caught

Warden Ammit, grim-faced and grumpy, leads the accusations. He is keen to kill all suspected witches – God will know his own, he says.

Mayor Flaherty is bumbling and good-natured, but thinks this regrettable incident might need to be followed through if the village is to survive the winter.

Challenge: Use the Witch Trial (Halloween Creature Pack p5)

In addition to the Witch Trial, below, the villagers are suspicious folk and winter is coming.

Assuming they manage to dissuade Ammit (or even if they don’t) they are given a couple of days to work out what had really cursed the grain.

Speaking to the girl reveals that she is an orphan, and was brought up by Gwendolyn, the old wise one in the forest. Gwendolyn isn’t trusted much by the village, but knows the ways of the forest. Amandine got lost in the corn maze, but found some beautiful flowers, and took them home to Gwendolyn. They are now on display in her cottage.

The grain store is easily searched – rats have invaded it and taken much of the grain – the villagers have laid traps and moved out what remains and placed it in temporary storage, but fear the rats will bring disease and worse. They find ears of corn amongst the rats, which might lead to the old corn maze – a haunted place where nobody goes.

Asking around the villagers, an old gossip, Edwin, can tell them of the last curse – when it was indeed a witch, but one in the old corn maze.

Scene 2: Investigations

• Find the Old Wise One, Gwendolyn, who trusts no-one – especially not now. She lives in an old cottage on the edge of the wood, growing her herbs and writing her books. She knows that the curse is probably a witch, and knows the Harvest Hag lives in the Corn Maze. She does have cursed flowers hanging from a basket outside the house, which Amadine took from the corn maze

Challenge: Gwendolyn is a Respected Elder (p117 in Core Book 2)

• Traverse the Corn Maze yourself – to find clues. This will lead them straight to the Hag.

Challenge: Corn Maze (p4 in the Halloween Creature Pack)

• Ask around the village – why was Amadine accused? Edwin will speak to them if they must. He does however love the drama and is also a suspicious folk.

Challenge: Crafty Rumormonger (p114 in Core Book 2)

Scene 3: The Harvest Hag

THESE POINT TOWARDS SOMETHING DARKER – a HARVEST HAG – who can be found in the Corn Maze, in an open clearing where the grain sits, along with a beautiful garland of flowers – still missing some.

Challenge: The Harvest Hag (Halloween Creature Pack p7) is accompanied by Plague Rats (p162 in Core Book 2). Unless they can find a way to bypass them, they need to tackle the Plague Rats first.