Friday Fantasy: Haunting of Beggar’s Creek

Haunting of Beggar’s Creek is a scenario for Shadow of the Weird Wizard, the roleplaying game set on the world of Erth in the Borderlands between the remnants of once great empires and the realm of the Weird Wizard greatly changed by his magics. The unexplained disappearance of the Weird Wizard allowed all manner of creatures and strangeness to flood into the empires and kingdoms causing strife and civil war, as refugees fled into the borderlands and adventurers ventured into the Weird Wizard’s lands into explore its strangeness, hopefully stop any dangerous threats, and perhaps return with treasures both magical and mundane. Player Characters progress from Level One to Level Ten, their progress divided between three Paths—Novice, Expert, and Master, gaining greater ability, skill, and specialisation. A Novice Path begins at Level One, an Expert path at Level Three, and a Master Path at Level Seven. Adventures for Shadow of the Weird Wizard are tailored to these three Paths. Haunting of Beggar’s Creek is designed for Expert Heroes and can be run as a scenario for slightly more experienced Player Characters for Shadow of the Weird Wizard.

Haunting of Beggar’s Creek opens with the Player Characters traveling along Towers Track, one of the roads leading to Four Towers, the guild-dominated city known for the dungeons that extend deep under the city and Delver Halls, its distinctive district home to the delver companies, the groups of professional treasure-hunters who live off what they can recover from the depths. The countryside either side of the road is lightly wooded and dotted with small farms, but what catches their attention is the body of young man on the road. There is blood encrusted around his nose and eyes as well as on his face, and his bluish-white skin, feels cold to the touch. There is no obvious cause of death and no obvious sign of a scuffle. The nearest settlement is Beggar’s Creek, just along the road, a town best known for Beggar’s Bridge which crosses the creek and the large inn, the Muggin’s Rest, which caters to the townsfolk, the farmers and farmhands, and the frequent travellers on their way to Four Towers.

The scenario is a murder mystery, almost a cliché in its backstory and its set-up. The Player Characters are not suspects themselves and once they have been directed to take the body to the nearby cemetery for burial, they are free to do what they want. They could walk away, continue their journey, and leave it at that—and that is the scenario’s biggest weakness. It really does rely upon the players’ curiosity and that of their characters. If they remain and investigate, the Player Characters will discover that their discovery was not the first and the bodies of several men have been found on the road in similar circumstances. Worse, their spirits have been seen prowling the area at night and the locals are worried, including the owners of the Muggin’s Rest. So, the question is, what is killing the men and causing their spirits to walk at night instead of passing on?

Haunting of Beggar’s Creek mixes a mini-sandbox with some decent interaction and investigation with a big dollop of horror thrown in. There is a surprisingly large cast of NPCs to talk to and question, a few locations to visit—none of them overly detailed, and a distinct difference in tone between day and night. By day, it is bucolic, tinged by the locals’ concern at the curse which seems to have beset the area. By night, ghosts and worse walk, perhaps leading to situation wherein the owners of the Muggin’s Rest, their family, guests and patrons, as well as the Player Characters, all find themselves under siege by the undead! This is only one possible climax to the scenario, but it is one that can be used to push the plot behind the scenario to a conclusion, especially if the Player Characters have not resolved it by then.

There are not a lot of moving parts to Haunting of Beggar’s Creek, but they are enough to keep the Sage busy and most of them will require more preparation than most other scenarios for Shadow of the Weird Wizard. This mostly consists of a lot of NPCs and ideally a map and a floorplan. The scenario would certainly benefit from a map of the area around the Muggin’s Rest and Beggar’s Creek, and whilst the Sage will need to draw one herself, she will probably find it easier to find a floorplan of an inn to represent the Muggin’s Rest. These are perhaps the only omissions from Haunting of Beggar’s Creek.

Physically, Haunting of Beggar’s Creek is decently presented and well written.

Haunting of Beggar’s Creek is a thoroughly likeable and engaging scenario, a classic set-up in terms of fantasy and horror roleplaying. It does need pulling apart a bit to make clear all of the clues and a fair amount of preparation, but once done, this player-driven scenario will provide a good session or two’s worth of solid play.