Takeaways from running Kriegsmesser
Kriegsmesser is a little RPG in zine format by Gregor Vuga, of Sagas of the Icelanders fame. According to the author, the project started out as a collection of 36 professions for Troika, but thematically in the tradition of Warhammer FRP. Gregor explains that he only afterwards decided to include the small ruleset that now allows us to play Kriegsmesser on its own.
A few weeks ago, I ran three sessions of Kriegsmesser, using the Warhammer scenario "Shadows over Bögenhafen". What follows is a list of things I want to remember and learn from. It is not a review in any sense of the word, and I couldn't honestly write one - our game was very rules-light, we handled most scenes without any dice-rolling.
- The careers are nicely fleshed out and Warhammeresque, even including the obligatory "ferocious dog" assigned to the "Vermin Snatcher". In true Troika spirit, the careers are almost pregens, with little or no customization needed. This, however, also makes them a bit two-dimensional. I would have liked a few more open questions, more alluring details which remain open until the player fills them in.
- Related to that, I thought that most were missing some kind of edge, something more than a profession, for example a trait that might suggest something unusual. What would it mean to be a Charismatic Rat-Catcher, a Talkative Outlaw, a Simple-minded Alchemist?
- Alternatively, a previous occupation would also help, because these always beg the question: Why did you go away? Thus, we might have had a Nobleman's Bastard turned Coachdriver or a Lady's Maid turned Alchemist, a Vermin-snatcher who grew up a Tanner's daughter ... In hindsight, I really could and should have created such a contrasting table myself, to help my players make characters that were a bit more fleshed out.
- The actual dice-rolling mechanic is Blades-inspired: Roll as many dice as the numerical value of your skill indicates, usually between 1 and 4. If you have no skill, roll two dice and take the lower. However, that seemed a bit too low, as in many situations, you will have no die. I soon started awarding a bonus die to straightforward actions.
- Only the highest die decides on the outcome. A 6 is a full success, a 4-5 is a success with complication and a 1-3 a failure. As much as I like this mechanic, I felt players should aways get one die and add their skill. In Troika, players can always roll skill alone, and in Blades in the Dark, they can trade in Stress to get at least one die in an area where they are not competent.
- There is a Luck stat starting at 6. You can always roll Luck and expend as many points as you want, rolling that many dice. To me, this mechanic seemed to be the ideal substitute for Saving Throws indicated in the original adventure. Sadly, my players protested vehemently - they didn't like the idea of depending on Luck at all. I have yet to understand why.
- Kriegsmesser suggests you can handle combat narratively as a sequence of rolls or use a separate subsystem. I haven't tried either, we had just one action scene (the finale) and no proper combat. One thing I would have used though are the excellent tables for "Terrible Injuries". To indicate the peril of an action, I would have warned the player that on a failure, they would have to roll on that table to find out what happened to them.
- One thing I planned to add to Gregor's system were conditions as a way of recording changes to the character, which I much prefer to TP and the like. In practice, I did assign conditions, but forgot to tell the players about them ... I may not have been at the height of my GMing skills in those three sessions.
I have read Kriegsmesser at least twice from cover to cover and really enjoy it, but I felt the basic system needed quite a bit of tweaking. I'm sure I'll look into it again, but probably only for background and inspiration – and because it is very well written.