Frostgrave: Mortal Enemies - Book Extract

Want to learn about the new system for creating archenemies and nemeses for your tabletop in Frostgrave: Mortal Enemies? Author Joseph A. McCullough has you covered with another sneak peek...

There are two main ways to build your Mortal Enemy.

One is to roll on the Mortal Enemies Template Table. This gives you the basic form of the character, telling you if they are human (or humanoid, at least) or if they are something more exotic such as a demon, construct, werewolf, or fire giant. Rolling on a variety of sub-tables then modifies their stats, gives them magic spells or powers, identifies what equipment they are carrying, and, of course, determines what thugs and mercenaries they are leading. These tables provide immense variety and, really, just the act of rolling on the tables to see what you get is a lot of fun!

The second way is to start with your own concept. Maybe you just bought a cool new mini to use, or maybe your warband was savaged by some creature in your first game and the story of your nemesis has already begun. With this approach, you can still use the tables, selecting the most appropriate results each time instead of rolling as you craft the character of the villain you are building.

Either way, by the time you are done, you will have a unique threat with very specific capabilities that will pose a greater challenge than any random monster previously encountered!

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"Brent has created a new wizard, Kazorik the Summoner. During Kazorik’s first expedition into the Frozen City, his warband is ambushed by a vampire that tears through his apprentice and rearguard. It’s only thanks to a timely casting of the Imp spell, and a great deal of luck, that Kazorik survives and manages to defeat the vampire. After the game, Brent is still thinking about that desperate, brutal fight with the vampire, and decides it would make a great mortal enemy.

While the imp dealt it a pretty good blow, the vampire is undead, so it’s sure to be back, looking for revenge. So, Brent opens the ‘Creating Mortal Enemies’ chapter and gets started. Brent already knows he wants the mortal enemy to be a vampire, so he picks the vampire template instead of rolling on the table. It’s a dangerous move, since a starting vampire is already Threat Level 18, but the coolness of the story is worth the risk. Next Brent rolls on the Stat Modification Table and gets a ‘16’. Yikes, the vampire gets +2 Fight and +2 Health and its Threat Level increases by 12!

Starting to doubt the wisdom of this move, Brent rolls twice on the Ranged Attack Spell Table, getting a ‘1’ and a ‘4’. So the vampire’s primary attack spell is Animate Skull and its secondary is Bone Dart, which both seem rather appropriate. Rolling twice on the Utility Spell Table yields a ‘13’ and ‘17’, so the vampire’s primary utility spell is Invisibility (uh oh) and its secondary is Strength. This means that the vampire might prove hard to get the drop on if its invisible.

But at least this will be cancelled when it casts one of its own spells, and could even lead to the strange situation where the invisible vampire casts Strength on one of its henchmen, thus losing its invisibility. An odd foe indeed! The roll on the Out of Game Spell Table comes up ‘16’ so the vampire gets Rat Scent, meaning there are definitely giant rats in Kazorik the Summoner’s future!

Rolling on the Special Ability Table generates a ‘13’ or Magic Attack. However, as the vampire already has magic attack as part of its template, no special ability is gained. There’s a bit of luck!

A roll on the Magical Equipment Table gets the vampire a Ring of Slow Fall. Not too terrifying, but there goes the strategy of pushing him off a tower.

The last roll is for the vampire’s gang. A ‘10’ means he gets 2 Thugs, 2 Infantryman, and a Templar. A solid little force when mixed with the fearsome leader.

Then it is time for the finishing touches. Brent decides to name his new mortal enemy Grethlaw the Shadow Walker as that seems a suitably grandiose name for such a villainous creature. He puts in his Threat Level of 30 and finally sets the Ambush Number as 21 (This is the number given to a mortal enemy that has just appeared in a game).

So begins a new chapter in the history of the Frozen City. Kazorik the Summoner has returned to his new base to lick his wounds and count his treasure, having no idea that Grethlaw has survived the fight and is even now plotting his revenge and rounding up a gang of his own. Brent the player, however, knows that somewhere in the not-too-distant future of the campaign, there is a vampire with Fight +6, who throws animated skulls and fires bone darts, gunning for his wizard!"

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Frostgrave: Mortal Enemies is out March 28th in the UK and April 30th in the US.

Pre-order now.

• Frostgrave
• Wargame