Tips for running Vaesen

 

I'm a long time gamemaster but very new to running Vaesen, the game of Nordic horror roleplaying. But it's become one of my new obsessions. Now I'm going to be offering up a little bit of advice for running the mysteries from the books. At least what I've learned so far. 

Before I begin I will say I used the Starter Kit to introduce my group to the game. Letting them get a feel for the game before making their own characters. It worked rather well and they were ready to dive right in after that initial taste. 

First. Take notes for yourself. There is actually quite a bit of detail put into their published adventures. So making a few notes and maybe even scribbling out a relationship map can work rather well. It's easy to forget something from one particular location that may be an essential clue for later on. 

Second. Practice saying the names a bit. I'm from the middle of nowhere in the United States. So when it comes to Scandinavian names for people and places let's just say it's a bit of a rough go. While reading through the adventure before running it say the names out loud a few times. It's better than stumbling over it for the first time in the middle of the game.

Third. Use the handouts. Most are available on the Free League website to download. These help so much to set the mood and they've put some obvious work into them. Now most of the mysteries also have pictures of the main characters to boot. So if you have the pdf print those off as well if you can. That and props are always advisable at most gaming tables, especially where mysteries are concerned. 

Fourth. Let the players figure stuff out first. Don't push them towards the set motion that you think will work the best. Especially if they have the codex from the Starter Kit available. If they start reading through that trying to figure out what they are up against LET THEM. Figuring out what kind of Vaesen they are up against is only half the problem. 

That's all I have for now. As I keep running more mysteries out of the books I'll post up any more advice that I may have. 

Vaesen Starter Kit play review

 

This review is for the Vaesen Starter kit from Free League Publishing. Vaesen is a Nordic horror roleplaying game based off of the artwork of Swedish illustrator and author Johan Egerkrans. It uses the Year Zero Engine that powers many of the Free League products. 

You can pick up the physical starter kit at your friendly local game shop (like the one I work at) and if they participate in the Bits n Mortar program you get the pdf for free.

If not you can pick up the physical copy over on Amazon while the pdf is available for purchase over on DrivethruRPG in the regular version or optimized for Roll 20 VTT . 

This review is based on actual play where I ran the starter set for a game group at my local shop. I was not gifted the kit for review but was actually purchased by myself.

Straight out of the production quality is top of the line. The box is very durable and strong, all the material inside is printed on quality stock. You get a set of ten dice, initiative cards, maps (of the mythic norse, the city and castle) and everything else you really need. Including rules summary hand outs that come in very handy at the table for the players. You get a condensed version of the rules in one booklet that is easy to navigate and the adventure itself in another. To go through this episode you have five pregenerated characters. 

The adventure itself is pretty straightforward. You little group of 'Thursdays Children' (those who can see the Vaesen) are approached to investigate a castle formerly occupied by a group called the society. It has since fallen into massive disrepair and other Thursdays Children have been lured there and gone missing. Given the tools you need in the form of a booklet with information on many of the Vaesen types and a map they set off. 

I will say the pregenerated characters all seem to fit really well. None of them fall into the fifth wheel problem I've seen with other starter kits. Each one has a purpose and comes in very handy at various times. Now a couple of them reference a few things that aren't discussed in this kit but nothing major that would ruin any sense of the game. Just had us flipping pages for a bit. 

With the group I played with they figured out what the encounter was beforehand by using the booklet of Vaesen and grasping a few clues. But they also snagged onto a red herring that could have also been in there. So it's not one of those discover everything at the end kind of stories. The ended is open ended and can lead you straight into regular games using the full corebook.

The mechanics are easy as most Year Zero Engine games are. Roll a number of six sided dice, sixes count as successes. Most checks require only one or two successes. Various rules for pushing the rolls are there to help get you success at a cost. There are no hit points but a more narrative condition system which helps set the tone of the game even more.

Not to mention that the artwork is also immaculate. Every Vaesen product I have looked at has been beautiful and this one is no different. 

In the end I give this starter set two thumbs up and highly recommend it to others.

UPDATE: Here is a Reddit Thread where a person running the starter kit asks a few questions and gets some really answers. 

Getting ready to run Vaesen.

 

Well I've wrapped up my short four session stint back into my Cyberpunk 2020 campaign. Putting the Church of the Righteous Hand in a position to really alter the future of Night City if they choose to do so. But it will be a while before we get back to that. Most likely it's going to be a campaign I bring back a couple times a year for a few sessions. 

So the next game I will be running is going to be Vaesen from Free League Publishing. Ever since I saw it on the shelves at my FLGS it had my interest. But it wasn't until I got to play in a game at DieCon last year that I finally decided to take the plunge and buy the game. But there's a lot to take in and I couldn't quite figure out where to start. 

So finally they came out with a Starter Set and I picked that up.

Told my group I will be running the starter using the pregenerated characters. That way they get a feel for the system and setting a little bit before making their own characters. Then after that I'll be running the published adventures straight out of the various campaign books. 

I'm excited to run it. My group is excited to play it. So it's going to be fun. If I can just finish wrapping my head around the starter kit by next Sunday. 

Vaesen acquired

 

Well after giving the game a try at DieCon I knew I was going to pick this one up. So using my gift card money at the shop I work at some purchases were made. So now I have acquired the Vaesen corebook, gm screen and dice. Not sure when I'll get around to running it. Hell I still have to read it. But I'm thinking this one will be a great addition to game night once folks get used to the more rules light nature and overall strangeness.