Your Vaesen Starter

A good starter set has to do a number of different things. It has to introduce and explain the roleplaying game it is a starter set for, whether that is the roleplaying game’s setting, mechanics, or both. It has to both tell and show what the players and their characters are expected to do in the setting and how they do it, first with the rules and then with a scenario. It has to provide everything that a group needs to play—rules, scenario, pre-generated Player Characters, and dice—and ideally more. Maps, handouts, tokens, and the like are all items that will help bring the world of the roleplaying game’s setting to life and give the players something to look at and interact with. Above all, a good starter should showcase the roleplaying game and entice both Game Master and her players to want to roleplay more with the rules and in that setting by picking up the core rulebook, and if the contents of the start set support continued play, whether that is providing an extra set of dice or maps for the setting, then all the better.

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The Vaesen – Starter Set is the introduction to Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, the roleplaying game based on Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Scandinavian Folklore as collected and illustrated by Johan Egerkrans, and published by Free League Publishing. It is an investigative horror game set in Scandinavia during the nineteenth century, using the Year Zero engine first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days, and subsequently a wide array of roleplaying games. It is set in the Mythic North of Scandinavia in the nineteenth century, a time when old traditions and secrets of the past clash against modernity and industrialisation. In dark forests and deep valleys, along brown rivers and at the edge of forgotten groves, in the eaves and in the shadows, there lurk creatures and monsters called ‘Vaesen’ that have begun to hate man. In ages past, everyone knew how to interact with Vaesen so that both could live alongside each other. Now many of those that knew have died or left to find work in the cities, whilst others have come to the mountains and the rivers and the forests to plunder and exploit what they want in the name of progress, so destroying the homes of the Vaesen and making them feel unwanted and unloved. In the past, a secret organisation known as The Society investigated both the Vaesen and their clashes with mankind, but it has long dissolved, its members retired or confined to an asylum, and its headquarters, Castle Gyllencreutz, in the Swedish city of Uppsala, shut up. Yet there are still those who have the Sight, those Thursday’s Children, who can see Vaesen, and perhaps they need a purpose worthy of their gift?

This is the set-up for both the Vaesen – Starter Set and Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, but the Vaesen – Starter Set is designed to be an introduction to not just the rules and the setting for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, but also to its set-up. This will involve both players and their characters learning about the Vaesen, The Society, and Castle Gyllencreutz, and preparing for further investigations and more mysteries. It designed for play by five players and the Game Master and will provide them both one or two sessions’ worth of play.

Open up the Vaesen – Starter Set and what the Game Master will find first is a set of ten Vaesen dice and Initiative cards. Below that is the ‘Getting Started’ sheet which provides a quick introduction to Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, what to do first with the contents of the Vaesen – Starter Set, and what to do after a group has played through its contents. Below that are three books. The first is the sixteen-page ‘Rules’ booklet, the second is the twelve-page ‘The Haunting of Castle Gyllencreutz’ scenario book, and the third is the forty-four-page ‘Codex Occultum’. Underneath that is a set of five Reference Sheets—one per player, three handouts for the ‘The Haunting of Castle Gyllencreutz’ scenario, five pre-generated Player Characters, and two maps. One of the maps is a particularly good cutaway map of Castle Gyllencreutz, which is new to Vaesen, whilst the other, larger map is double-sided, one side showing the Mythic North, the other the city of Uppsala, home to Castle Gyllencreutz.
Anyone who has played a Year Zero roleplaying game will instantly grasp the rules for Vaesen, but they are quickly and easily explained in the ‘Rules’ booklet. To have his character undertake an action, a player will roll a number of six-sided dice equal to a combination of his character’s Attribute and Skill, plus whatever bonus or penalty dice the Game Master awards, such as from the situation or a Talent. To succeed, all he needs to roll is typically one Success or six—though sometimes it may be more—on any of the dice. Extra Successes can be expended to gain various effects. In combat, this will be more damage, but in other situations it will usually mean learning more information. These are tailored to the scenario in the Vaesen – Starter Set, but are further expanded upon in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying.

If a player fails a roll, he can instead choose to Push the roll. This enables the player to reroll the dice which did not result in Successes in the hope of getting some or more Successes. Doing so will inflict a Condition on the Player Character, either Exhausted, Battered, or Wounded for Physical Conditions, or Angry, Frightened, or Hopeless for Mental Conditions. Suffer too many of either Physical or Mental Conditions and the Player Character will be Broken, meaning that he cannot act. Damage from combat is also inflicted in terms of Conditions. The Initiative Cards, numbered from one to ten, determine when a Player Character, NPC, or Vaesen acts each round, though it is possible to swap Initiative cards between Player Characters and/or friendly NPCs each round, and in each Round, a Player Character has a Slow action and a Fast action. A Fear test is required if a Player Character encounters a Vaesen or magic, the number of Successes required determined by the Fear value of the creature, magic, or situation. Overall, the explanation of the rules in ‘Rules’ booklet is brisk, but covers most situations and is backed up by examples of play. It also provides explanations of what roleplaying is and what Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying is.

The ‘The Haunting of Castle Gyllencreutz’ scenario book opens with the Player Characters being invited to a tavern in the poor part of Uppsala where they will meet the elderly Linnea Elfeklint. She will tell them that like herself, they are one of Thursday’s Children and have Sight, which means that they can see creatures known as Vaesen that most people cannot. She will also tell them about The Society and Castle Gyllencreutz and that she wants to restart The Society. However, she will explain that she does not have access to Castle Gyllencreutz as her ex-fiancé possesses its deeds and that recently other Thursday’s Children have gone to the castle and not returned. This half of the scenario sets up its mystery, whilst second half involves investigation in the castle itself. The castle is in a dilapidated state inside and out, and is haunted by strange lights. The final confrontation is ethereal in nature and players who are prone to fight may be at a disadvantage. The scenario is short, but it set the Player Characters with ready access to Castle Gyllencreutz and further play of Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying.

The five pre-generated Player Characters consist of a Hunter, a military officer, a priest, a writer, and a vagabond. All five have an illustration and some background as well as full stats and game details, including notes on what each think of the other four Player Characters. Each player will have a Reference Card, which neatly summarises the rules for ease of play.

The third booklet in the Vaesen – Starter Set, the ‘Codex Occultum’, is actually the thickest and is effectively the players’ own copy of Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Scandinavian Folklore as collected and illustrated by Johan Egerkrans and their characters’ guide to the Vaesen. From the Ash Tree Wife to the Wood Wife, it illustrates and describes some twenty-two Vaesen and how they might be banished, appeased, or otherwise dealt with. This is lovely little reference work—both in game and out—and it is highly likely the one item in the Vaesen – Starter Set that the players will return to over and over. Lastly, the maps of both Uppsala and Mythic North are excellent, whilst the one of Castle Gyllencreutz shows it in its prime, potentially a status that the Player Characters cab return it to in the long run. It certainly gives the Player Characters some idea of what the castle was like and what might be behind the locked or otherwise inaccessible parts of the castle.

Physically, the Vaesen – Starter Set is very well presented. Both the ‘Rules’ booklet and ‘The Haunting of Castle Gyllencreutz’ are easy to read and grasp, whilst the physical components are of a high standard, particularly the maps and the ‘Codex Occultum’.

The Vaesen – Starter Set is a good starting package for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, except for one thing and that is the depth of play it offers in the box. A single scenario is less than what is expected of a good starter set today, yet the straightforward physicality of the Vaesen – Starter Set actually makes it a worthwhile purchase. Not just the Vaesen dice and the Initiative cards, but also the maps, especially the one of Castle Gyllencreutz, and of course, the ‘Codex Occultum’ handout will all support continued play of Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying long after the players have roleplayed the scenario in Vaesen – Starter Set. Arguably, the Vaesen – Starter Set is a better accessories kit than an actual starter set, but its scenario is by no means bad, and will get a Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying campaign off to a good start.