[WFRP] The Bloody Crown OOC XV

[rax]

The chief's hall is not designed like a fortress or a prison; it's a wooden longhouse where the chief would hold court. Picture a discount version of Theoden's place in Edoras.

Then I think we're on roughly the same page. I was thinking of a deluxe Viking longhouse. That would entail one, maybe two, entrances, no windows, and a hole to let out the smoke. Would the same apply here, just on a larger scale? And is the roof tiled or thatched?

[-Sentinel-]

Oh hey, [censored because of forum's ban on politics]! Thought I'd never see the day.

---

Here's a first draft of my proposed spell. I need some ideas for two more thematically appropriate ingredients that would be hard to procure but wouldn't require us to venture outside the Reaches. Bonus points if they involve some questing, and not just paying people a pile of gold to make or find stuff for us.

Also would be great if it included some way to at least partly suppress or exhaust the Book's magic during the casting, because casting a ritual typically takes hours and I don't know how many WP tests vs. rapid aging Elsa can take.


Holt’s Grand Ritual of Aethyric Unbinding

Type: Arcane
Arcane Language: Magick
Ingredients: A master-crafted pair of scissors with obsidian blades,
Conditions: The caster must be blindfolded or otherwise unseeing for the entire duration of the casting, so as to better focus their second sight on the Aethyric threads making up the target item's enchantments.
Consequences: If you fail your Casting Roll, you accidentally sever yourself from the Aethyr. You forever lose the Magical Sense skill, and thus, the ability to cast spells (be they Arcane or Divine). Whether there is a way for the caster to ever regain their magic is up to the GM, but this would likely require some form of divine or daemonic intervention.
Description: This spell permanently unravels the enchantments woven on a magical item, turning it mundane again.

[TheSummoner]

It was long overdue. I'll summon the lollypop guild.

LCP, Sieghard has a fair bit of exp banked since completing Captain. I've been reluctant to do this, but would you allow him to gain Charm as an elite advance? I think he's gonna need it and it's either that or find a career I can justify him switching to that offers it.

[LCP]

Sounds fair to me. 200XP as per ushe.

Is Sieghard going to Manann's Keep alone? With Ingwald in Ravenskird, Hanna in Manann's Keep and Ludo away, is he putting anyone in charge of Painford while he's away?

Here's a first draft of my proposed spell.

I assume this is first draft in the OOC-looking-for-suggestions sense and not in the ready-to-start-the-ROS-rules-process sense - correct me if I'm wrong.

A general suggestion, if it's useful: an easy way to come up with more thematic links for ingredients is to make the ritual more specific in what it does. e.g. if you specify you're using Aqshy to try to literally burn the magic away, then you get links to things to do with fuelling a fire. If you specify you're trying to unbind necromantic magic, you get links to things that are opposed to necromancy. If you specify the target is supposed to be a book you get links to things that are opposed to nerds.

[LeSwordfish]

Consequences: If you fail your Casting Roll, you accidentally sever yourself from the Aethyr. You forever lose the Magical Sense skill, and thus, the ability to cast spells (be they Arcane or Divine). Whether there is a way for the caster to ever regain their magic is up to the GM, but this would likely require some form of divine or daemonic intervention.

Feels a bit nuclear - would this not prevent you from ever trying the ritual again?

[LCP]

Forgot to reply to this:

Then I think we're on roughly the same page. I was thinking of a deluxe Viking longhouse. That would entail one, maybe two, entrances, no windows, and a hole to let out the smoke. Would the same apply here, just on a larger scale? And is the roof tiled or thatched?

Yes, that's about the shape of it. The roof is tiled with wooden shingles; it's been described before as having its front-facing gable lined with raven's skulls, with a big carved wooden raven head at the end of the centre beam.

[-Sentinel-]

I assume this is first draft in the OOC-looking-for-suggestions sense and not in the ready-to-start-the-ROS-rules-process sense - correct me if I'm wrong.

Correct. Still need a couple more ingredients, and I welcome suggestions.

A general suggestion, if it's useful: an easy way to come up with more thematic links for ingredients is to make the ritual more specific in what it does. e.g. if you specify you're using Aqshy to try to literally burn the magic away, then you get links to things to do with fuelling a fire. If you specify you're trying to unbind necromantic magic, you get links to things that are opposed to necromancy. If you specify the target is supposed to be a book you get links to things that are opposed to nerds.

Fair! Thank you, this should help.

Not sure what's the opposite of necromancy, though. Is it life, or is it acceptance of death?

Feels a bit nuclear - would this not prevent you from ever trying the ritual again?

Consequences for failed rituals are always pretty harsh, and usually involve the ritual's magic bouncing back on its caster (often with lethal results). This seemed like the logical consequence.

If I fail, I suppose this is the kind of "injury" that I could prevent with my lone Fate Point, as I would if the consequence were death. And if I no longer have that Fate Point by then, and fail the ritual, I still get to do some interesting roleplay by making Elsa try to reinvent herself as a person. It's got an element of tragedy to it, like Jaime Lannister losing his sword hand.

[TheSummoner]

Sounds fair to me. 200XP as per ushe.

Ok, before making it final, I did think of an alternative I'd like to float by you. Sieghard's got a fair bit of experience banked and has the minimum requirements to be done with Captain. While Charm is the priority skill at the moment, I would prefer switching him to a new career and giving him room to grow a bit more over just buying it as an elite advance if that's an option. The issue I'm running into with that is the exits from his current and previous careers that offer it don't really fit the character (it's rather hard to envision him as a Duelist or Merchant for example). Basic careers are on the table, though many of those run into the same issue and also raise further questions on the direction he'd go in the future.

If you'd be willing to go outside RAW though, there is a Steward career. It might not be on Sieghard's career exits, but it is literally his title and the mix of skills and talents make sense as things he'd pick up overseeing the Thornwood. He doesn't have the trappings either, but for that I'd argue that his one set of normal craftsmanship noble's garb and big fancy manor accomplish the same if not more in terms of status and are a lot more practical in a place like the Border Princes than two sets of best craftsmanship noble's garb (the writing kit he could just buy and since he's mostly literate now, it's a sensible purchase anyways.)

Opinions on that idea or other career options are more than welcome.

Is Sieghard going to Manann's Keep alone? With Ingwald in Ravenskird, Hanna in Manann's Keep and Ludo away, is he putting anyone in charge of Painford while he's away?

Shortly after the locusts when we enacted the rationing, Ingwald was recalled to Painford to handle the bookkeeping. Sieghard brought Rike with him to Ravenskird when he first went there and put her in charge when he left with it mentioned that he'd be returning to check in and help manage things as time allows.

After that, it got a lot less explicit. The plan was to enact the same rationing in Ravenskird, so it's reasonable to say that would involve sending him back and it's also reasonable to say that Ingwald could be doing a lot of back and forth keeping track of the numbers. If he's in Painford still, then he can look after it. If not, then another one of the veteran crossbowmen can keep things under control while Sieghard is away. Let's say Petar. Painford is fairly agreeable so I don't forsee there being an issue with that during Sieghard's hopefully brief absence.

Correct. Still need a couple more ingredients, and I welcome suggestions.

If you specify the target is supposed to be a book you get links to things that are opposed to nerds.

The ritual requires a dozen bloodbowl players to be present. For the duration of the ritual, the captain of the team must repeatedly dunk the casting wizard's head into a chamberpot while the rest of the team chant "Swirly! Swirly!"

...Or if you want to go with the fire theme instead, I dont know... The remains of a thousand year old tree blackened and charred to the core by flames. The blackened bones a creature killed by dragonfire. A best craftsmanship sword forged in the heat of a volcano. One hundred packets of Taco Bell diablo sauce.

Consequences for failed rituals are always pretty harsh, and usually involve the ritual's magic bouncing back on its caster (often with lethal results). This seemed like the logical consequence.

If I fail, I suppose this is the kind of "injury" that I could prevent with my lone Fate Point, as I would if the consequence were death. And if I no longer have that Fate Point by then, and fail the ritual, I still get to do some interesting roleplay by making Elsa try to reinvent herself as a person. It's got an element of tragedy to it, like Jaime Lannister losing his sword hand.

It's hard for me to argue against that without it feeling like a cop out, but I'd keep in mind the sort of gamble you'd be taking. Failure would mean Elsa goes from being the strongest combatant in the party to the weakest. Even without his hand, Jamie still had the Lannister name and the authority and loyalty that comes with that. Elsa would be losing a lot more in that comparison. I guess I'd at least caveat it with "Elsa only suffers this effect if she actually fails the casting roll. Not if she succeeds on that part but destroying the book is just not possible."

[LCP]

Ok, before making it final, I did think of an alternative I'd like to float by you. Sieghard's got a fair bit of experience banked and has the minimum requirements to be done with Captain. While Charm is the priority skill at the moment, I would prefer switching him to a new career and giving him room to grow a bit more over just buying it as an elite advance if that's an option. The issue I'm running into with that is the exits from his current and previous careers that offer it don't really fit the character (it's rather hard to envision him as a Duelist or Merchant for example). Basic careers are on the table, though many of those run into the same issue and also raise further questions on the direction he'd go in the future.

If you'd be willing to go outside RAW though, there is a Steward career. It might not be on Sieghard's career exits, but it is literally his title and the mix of skills and talents make sense as things he'd pick up overseeing the Thornwood. He doesn't have the trappings either, but for that I'd argue that his one set of normal craftsmanship noble's garb and big fancy manor accomplish the same if not more in terms of status and are a lot more practical in a place like the Border Princes than two sets of best craftsmanship noble's garb (the writing kit he could just buy and since he's mostly literate now, it's a sensible purchase anyways.)

Hm... I'm not saying 'no' (it does seem very justified in-character) but I am a bit reluctant to completely short-circuit the career system.

Looking at the careers, Steward does seem explicitly designed to represent a head of household staff, rather than a local governor. If you do want a career change to represent growing into that role, how would you feel about Politician? The name makes it sound like it's for playing as Boris Johnson, but the description makes it very clear that it includes the kind of appointed official that Sieghard is, it has plenty of talky skills and it exits into Noble Lord.

Shortly after the locusts when we enacted the rationing, Ingwald was recalled to Painford to handle the bookkeeping. Sieghard brought Rike with him to Ravenskird when he first went there and put her in charge when he left with it mentioned that he'd be returning to check in and help manage things as time allows.

After that, it got a lot less explicit. The plan was to enact the same rationing in Ravenskird, so it's reasonable to say that would involve sending him back and it's also reasonable to say that Ingwald could be doing a lot of back and forth keeping track of the numbers. If he's in Painford still, then he can look after it. If not, then another one of the veteran crossbowmen can keep things under control while Sieghard is away. Let's say Petar. Painford is fairly agreeable so I don't forsee there being an issue with that during Sieghard's hopefully brief absence.

Ah, if I've just misremembered where Ingwald is then that's fine. So Ingwald's in charge and Sieghard's not taking anyone with him south?

[TheSummoner]

Politician was one I had looked at, but dismissed because I wasn't sure it was fitting. Reading the description more closely, I'm thinking that dismissal was partially colored by modernism. If you think it's a better fit for Sieghard's position, I'm open to it. Is big fancy manor a suitable standin for best craftsmanship leather jack and pamphlets?

So Ingwald's in charge and Sieghard's not taking anyone with him south?

Sieghard will take Thom with him since he was initially in Hanna's group in Manaan's Keep. Aside from him, he'll leave everyone where they are and make due with the people he already has there. He'll also leave instructions to send Ludo south if he returns before Sieghard does. From an OOC perspective, I imagine I'm going to have to resolve things in Manaan's Keep or fail to before that's an option, but from an IC one, it gives him a plan B and it also puts us back in the same place.

<I’m busy here Giorgio! Do you want us to let just anyone wander through, eh? How many more people do you want to get eaten?>

I think it's safe to say that as soon as Sieghard hears about this, a line has been crossed from "nominal loyalty to Sforza in the name of stability" to full on "Hang the bastard, hang him high! Hoist his body to the sky!"

[LCP]

Politician was one I had looked at, but dismissed because I wasn't sure it was fitting. Reading the description more closely, I'm thinking that dismissal was partially colored by modernism. If you think it's a better fit for Sieghard's position, I'm open to it. Is big fancy manor a suitable standin for best craftsmanship leather jack and pamphlets?

For sure - he's already been appointed as the local governor, those are some very convincing trappings.

[rax]

@ -Sentinel-

A general suggestion, if it's useful: an easy way to come up with more thematic links for ingredients is to make the ritual more specific in what it does. e.g. if you specify you're using Aqshy to try to literally burn the magic away, then you get links to things to do with fuelling a fire. If you specify you're trying to unbind necromantic magic, you get links to things that are opposed to necromancy. If you specify the target is supposed to be a book you get links to things that are opposed to nerds.

Since Elsa is a fire wizard, wouldn't it be appropriate for her to focus on using fire for the ritual, as LCP suggests above?

A thematic ingredient could then be something like the "fire lit in a volcano" ingredient for The Body Gilded ritual, or a fire lit using a specific and unusual fuel. For a combination of fire and death, perhaps a fire lit from the bones of dead men? Or maybe even bones from an undead creature? (I hear the group knows where to find plenty of those )

Another possible ingredient: the book must be wrapped in the funeral linens of a mummy (a normal or an undead one), which are highly flammable, and set on fire using the magic of Aqshy.

A thematic fire condition could be that the book must be placed in the flames of the fire and remain there for the duration of the ritual (could be more difficult than you'd think with a Book of Nagash)? Or that there must be multiple such fires set in a circle and the ritual must be performed within the circle?

Another fire condition - the caster must intentionally inflict a burn injury on themselves while casting the ritual, or perhaps cut themselves and drip blood into the flames? This probably requires losing one Wound permanently, like the Warning Wound effect from Night's Dark Masters.

A fiery and anti-nerd condition (or maybe it's an ingredient): an Orc shaman must be convinced to cast the Fires of Vengeance spell at the book a certain number of times during the ritual. Can't get more anti-nerd than an Orc, and they're historically enemies of vampires and Nehekarans, so the book would be a thematically appropriate target for the spell.

More anti-nerd stuff: The caster must desecrate (rip/tear, scribble dirty jokes, wipe their bottom with) a book stolen from a priest of Verena. Then maybe burn it for good measure during the ritual.

Something anti-necromancy: The ritual must be written down and read from parchment made from the skin of a necromancer (Klammenberg comes to mind if the party remembers where his body ended up), or written down with a pen made from a necromancer's finger bones? A necromancer's heart must be burned in the thematically appropriate fire as part of the ritual?

And if you go with the fiery theme, you'll probably need a very expensive brazier to do all the burning, though that may not count as a thematic ingredient.

@LCP
Would it make it easier to research the ritual if it's made really specific, i.e. it can only be used to disenchant a Book of Nagash?

...and this is the limit of my creativity for the evening. No energy left to post IC today, but hopefully tomorrow.

[-Sentinel-]

It's hard for me to argue against that without it feeling like a cop out, but I'd keep in mind the sort of gamble you'd be taking. Failure would mean Elsa goes from being the strongest combatant in the party to the weakest. Even without his hand, Jamie still had the Lannister name and the authority and loyalty that comes with that. Elsa would be losing a lot more in that comparison. I guess I'd at least caveat it with "Elsa only suffers this effect if she actually fails the casting roll. Not if she succeeds on that part but destroying the book is just not possible."

The description I provided already says "if you fail the casting roll". I think it's a whole other thing if the ritual goes off but proves insufficient for the task at hand. It's like the difference between Filomena (the cannon) blowing up, or her cannonball simply failing to breach the wall. The cannonball might bounce back in your general direction, but at least you're not taking a faceful of sharp metal splinters at extreme short range.

Since Elsa is a fire wizard, wouldn't it be appropriate for her to focus on using fire for the ritual, as LCP suggests above?

I agree. I see it as using the wind of Aqshy to burn the other winds (presumably Shyish) that make up the threads of the enchantment. The winds of magic go beyond the elements that symbolize them; Aqshy means not only fire, but also fury and destruction.

A thematic ingredient could then be something like the "fire lit in a volcano" ingredient for The Body Gilded ritual, or a fire lit using a specific and unusual fuel. For a combination of fire and death, perhaps a fire lit from the bones of dead men? Or maybe even bones from an undead creature? (I hear the group knows where to find plenty of those )

The good news is that we know where to find volcanic cracks. We once fetched volcano fire for the late Beatrix Fassbender.

Another fire condition - the caster must intentionally inflict a burn injury on themselves while casting the ritual, or perhaps cut themselves and drip blood into the flames? This probably requires losing one Wound permanently, like the Warning Wound effect from Night's Dark Masters.

Interesting. I've also been considering permanent alterations to Elsa's body, like perhaps extra tattoos that might provide protection from Shyish or act as a conduit for Aqshy. Presumably the ink and designs would need to be quite specific.

A fiery and anti-nerd condition (or maybe it's an ingredient): an Orc shaman must be convinced to cast the Fires of Vengeance spell at the book a certain number of times during the ritual. Can't get more anti-nerd than an Orc, and they're historically enemies of vampires and Nehekarans, so the book would be a thematically appropriate target for the spell.

Sounds a bit too outlandish for me.

More anti-nerd stuff: The caster must desecrate (rip/tear, scribble dirty jokes, wipe their bottom with) a book stolen from a priest of Verena. Then maybe burn it for good measure during the ritual.

*sound of Adelbert indignantly pounding against the gate of Morr's realm*

In all seriousness, I don't think I want to anger Verena! Also, I'd rather avoid an overly scattershot approach. A ritual should be an arrow, not a blunderbuss.

And if you go with the fiery theme, you'll probably need a very expensive brazier to do all the burning, though that may not count as a thematic ingredient.

I've thought about a brazier before, when I was considering a souped-up Ruin and Destruction. The spell ingredient for Ruin and Destruction is "a white-hot piece of coal", so a ritual with similar effects might involve a larger amount of burning coal. (Which an assistant would need to replenish once in a while, because rituals take hours to cast.)


@ LCP: I've been talking about enchantments in terms of weaving and threads, and I just want to make sure this is an appropriate simile? Because if it is, ingredients might involve things such as woven or knit items, cobwebs, complex knots, etc.

[LCP]

Would it make it easier to research the ritual if it's made really specific, i.e. it can only be used to disenchant a Book of Nagash?

My point about specificity was just that it gives you more hooks to hang linked ingredients on. There's no other secret mechanic at work.

I've been talking about enchantments in terms of weaving and threads, and I just want to make sure this is an appropriate simile? Because if it is, ingredients might involve things such as woven or knit items, cobwebs, complex knots, etc.

What am I, the simile police? If that's a comparison you want to make, go for it - I don't see any reason Elsa couldn't think that way.

[LeSwordfish]

Could perhaps include something that's been unwoven - the longest thread from a prince's doublet, or something.

[TheSummoner]

Ok, so Sieghard's exp expenditure

Academic Knowledge (Strategy/Tactics) +10
Career change to Politician
Charm
Command +20
Public Speaking
Schemer
Perception +10

Could've gone with master orator. It probably would've been useful, but it seemed weird to jump from untrained charm to that in one big advance. Maybe if he manages to prevent a massacre, it'll feel more justified.

[RossN]

*sound of Adelbert indignantly pounding against the gate of Morr's realm*

In all seriousness, I don't think I want to anger Verena!

Don't forget by the time he died Adelbert had abandoned Verena for good (though of course that itself might render anything that belonged to him mystically useless.)

[Thragka]

Well, I’m not sure that the other PCs were fully aware of the extent of Adelbert’s apostasy at the moment of his death. But it would be funny if he continued to shoot his legacy and the party in the collective foot from beyond the grave!

[LCP]

I think it was in front of everyone when Adelbert renounced Verena - just after the escape from Nath.

[-Sentinel-]

Don't forget by the time he died Adelbert had abandoned Verena for good

Heh. Forgot about that.

---

Let's try this. I made it more fire-based.

I'm keeping the consequences from the first draft. I hear your concerns, TheSummoner and LeSwordfish, but rituals are supposed to have harsh consequences if failed. If I go easy on myself, LCP would be well within his rights to decide my spell isn't as powerful as I envisioned it. Also, this offers better roleplaying opportunities than "the caster is burned to a crisp".

Holt's Grand Ritual of Fiery Unmaking

Type: Arcane (Lore of Fire)
Arcane Language: Magick
Ingredients:

• Four tall brass braziers full of burning coals, lit with fire from the very bowels of the earth, each fed every hour with the same type of item as the target item (e.g., if the target is a book, you would need to burn books).
• A master-crafted pair of scissors with obsidian blades.
• A circle made from a mixture of salt and finely-ground bones that have bleached in the sun for at least a year.

Conditions: The braziers must not go out during the ritual. In order to better focus their second sight on the Aethyric threads making up the target item's enchantments, the caster should be blindfolded or otherwise unseeing for the entire duration of the casting; seeing anything with their eyes will require them to pass a concentration test in order to remain focused on their work.
Consequences: If you fail your Casting Roll, you accidentally burn away your own connection with the Aethyr. You forever lose the Magical Sense skill, and thus, the ability to cast spells (be they Arcane or Divine). Whether there is a way for the caster to ever regain their magic is up to the GM, but this would likely require some form of divine or daemonic intervention.
Description: This spell calls upon the purest essence of Aqshy to burn straight through the enchantments and substance of a magical object, like a red-hot knife through butter. In theory at least, this should result in the destruction of the target item in both the physical world and the Aethyr.

LCP, let me know if the ingredients are specific enough. Some of the ingredients for pre-made rituals are stuff like "a gong blessed by a dying priest", but the ritual creation system has a mechanic that can add complications to existing ingredients, so I'm erring on the reasonable side.

Once I have your green light, I'll secretly write down my estimated casting number, casting time, etc., and you'll write down yours. We can DM them to another player for "safekeeping".


Notes on the ingredients:
- The obsidian scissors have a dual link with the spell's nature and purpose: obsidian is good against magic and is of volcanic origin, which fits the firey theme. The dwarfs can likely craft the scissors for us, and I fully trust in their craftsmanship.
- The raven skulls from Morr's Seat would be a good source of finely-ground bones. I specify "bleached in the sun" because of the sun's probable link with Aqshy. The people of the Raven Hills are our allies in the fight against Nahorek, so they'll be cooperative, especially with Wadim and Bardhyl on our side. As for salt, it's often associated with protection against magic.

[LCP]

LCP, let me know if the ingredients are specific enough.

You mean enough to get a +3 each on the Research Results table?

The braziers and the scissors seem clearly linked. The circle of salt and bone dust seems weaker, but you've shown your working, so I'll buy it.

Once I have your green light, I'll secretly write down my estimated casting number, casting time, etc., and you'll write down yours. We can DM them to another player for "safekeeping".

What, you don't trust me?


The RoS ritual rules seem a little vague to me on whether you roll on the Research Time table or not for the first draft. Since the process is already plenty long, I'm going to err on the side of 'not', and say that you're ready to try to cast your first draft at the end of the 1 month it says in that section. If I have my dates right I think that takes you pretty much through to the summer solstice - probably a good time for fire magic.

As well as writing down the secret numbers, though, you'll need to assemble all these ingredients by then (and if you're not counting on succeeding on the first time, you might want to stock up with multiples). It's 2 days' journey to Mirino, a week to Savonne, and almost 2 weeks to Morr's Seat (unless you fancy going by what's left of the desert road). What do you want to get from where, and who do you want to send to get it?

Some considerations:

• Obsidian is not a material in high demand. If you want the dwarfs to make you something out of it, you'll probably have to find them some first.
• Depending on the casting time, it sounds like you're going to be burning a lot of books. Books are fairly precious things - you probably won't find someone with that many books to sell outside the city (or maybe one of the big towns), and if you do, they will probably charge a lot.
• Four tall brass braziers will be heavy and bulky (not to mention the coal) - probably not something that an ingredient-fetcher can carry without pack animals or a cart.

[LeSwordfish]

I believe we discussed Ludo having a small collection of books that he could perhaps donate? As in, at his home in Sermena.

[LCP]

That's slipped my memory but sounds OK. If it comes to it, maybe you could define how many he has (and how many he's willing to see burn) - but of course the bigger obstacle is that he's not in Caerfort to volunteer.

[LeSwordfish]

Not a huge amount (but he was intensely proud of them) - (1d6+3)[7], let's say.

[-Sentinel-]

You mean enough to get a +3 each on the Research Results table?

I mean if they're sufficiently rare or specific to fulfill the "long-term planning and thorny preparations" requirement (RoS, p.170).

The RoS ritual rules seem a little vague to me on whether you roll on the Research Time table or not for the first draft. Since the process is already plenty long, I'm going to err on the side of 'not', and say that you're ready to try to cast your first draft at the end of the 1 month it says in that section. If I have my dates right I think that takes you pretty much through to the summer solstice - probably a good time for fire magic.

RoS is admittedly not the best-written sourcebook, but I gather ritual creation goes this way:

1. Create the Ideal (what I've just done above). Afterwards, the player and GM each separately estimate the ritual's casting number, casting time, etc., and keep their estimates secret for now.
2. Spend a month of in-game time writing the first draft.
3. At the end of the month, the player and GM compare their estimates to determine the modifiers for the Research step.
4. Next comes the Research step. It takes 1 to 5 months; thankfully, it skews towards the lower numbers, instead of being 1d5. At the end of this period, assuming you didn't blow yourself up, roll 1d100 on Table 6-11. This is the part where a ritual's consequences, casting number, ingredients, etc. can change (for better or worse), with generally better results if you earned lots of positive modifiers from the drafting phase. (Though the 44-46. More Casters result is actually a lot worse in most cases than, say, 9-15. Linked Consequence.)
5. Only then can you attempt to cast the ritual. This means that the minimum ritual creation time is two months, so we'll be past the solstice (but still in summer). If we're lucky.
6. Per the rulebook, there's an extra step where, even if you did everything right (including casting the ritual), there's only a flat 20% chance that your ritual will actually work as intended. But we agreed to ignore that part, because ritual creation already takes up enough time and resources without needing to do it multiple times until you get lucky.

As well as writing down the secret numbers, though, you'll need to assemble all these ingredients by then (and if you're not counting on succeeding on the first time, you might want to stock up with multiples). It's 2 days' journey to Mirino, a week to Savonne, and almost 2 weeks to Morr's Seat (unless you fancy going by what's left of the desert road). What do you want to get from where, and who do you want to send to get it?

To be honest, I was kinda hoping ritual prep would be something of a shared medium-term quest for the PCs, not just Elsa's pet project...

[LCP]

I mean if they're sufficiently rare or specific to fulfill the "long-term planning and thorny preparations" requirement (RoS, p.170).

I see. I think those bulletpoints are more trying to put you in the right frame of mind for the whole process than setting up a checkpoint you have to pass at the beginning, but yes, your draft seems to be in the spirit of what a WFRP ritual is supposed to look like.

1. Spend a month of in-game time writing the first draft.
2. At the end of the month, the player and GM compare their estimates to determine the modifiers for the Research step.
3. Next comes the Research step. It takes 1 to 5 months

This is the point I was referring to (you didn't have to write the whole thing out, I've got the book!). In the first section, The Ideal, it says:

[...] you must spend a month of game time in research before the process can continue. [...] At the end of that time, you have assembled your First Draft.

The stuff about rolling on the Research Time table comes in the next section, which seems to imply that's the next thing you should do, but it doesn't explicitly state that the first draft requires more research. It just says that this is a loop that you should iterate, and we've already been told in the previous section that the research time for the First Draft is 1 month. 'Research' doesn't get capitalised or otherwise turned into a special game term anywhere (unlike First Draft and Final Draft), so there's no particular reason to think they're not talking about the same thing.

Then, under the next section:

At the end of each period of research, you attempt to cast the newly modified Draft.

Well, we already completed a period of research, the 1 month to come up with the First Draft. And while on the one hand, the text strongly implies that you've done a round through the let's-mess-with-your-ritual tables ('newly modified'), on the other, why would you be modifying it if you haven't tested it out yet? For all rounds except the first, the Draft is clearly the thing that you try to cast; if the First Draft is different why don't they spell that out?

To be clear, I don't think on balance that the interpretation I'm putting forward here is very likely to be Rules-As-Intended*, but I think it's Rules-As-They-Can-Be-Read**, and it could save you 1-5 IC months (which, if you roll poorly, is the rest of the campaign). You're the one doing it, so it's up to you which you prefer. The rolls on the previous tables don't modify the Casting Attempt table, so I don't think I'm trying to tempt you into doing something more dangerous here.

To be less rules-y about it, ROS also very explicitly gives the GM leeway to mess with its formula, and I'm still very open to doing that. I haven't really had time to sit down and think about How I Would Do It - with the group split so many ways it takes all my game time just to keep up - but if you have requests for things you want to modify, don't hesitate to ask.

To be honest, I was kinda hoping ritual prep would be something of a shared medium-term quest for the PCs, not just Elsa's pet project...

Then you're going to have to rope them in - not going to happen if you don't ask them. Although some of the other PCs do have some quite high-priority things of their own going on at the moment!



*Most notably, the RAI way forces you through at least one cycle of the 'roll dice with modifiers depending on how closely your expectations match the GM's' stuff, while if you do it my way, you have a 20% chance of bypassing that step.
**and as an experimentalist, Rules-As-They-Make-Most-Sense-To-Me - you don't go tinkering with something before you've collected some data as to what needs tinkering with! But I don't want to fall into the trap of thinking that a renaissance magician would be working like a 21st century scientist, so this isn't as relevant.

[LCP]

The only thing I specifically want to do in Painford - probably the day after returning back - is to make a bit of a speech to the locals, including his plans for entering the timber industry and a general encouragement to keep their chins up. If you don't have any surprises for the 21st or 22nd, i'm happy to write all the way to that (or to go on pause until everyone else is caught up).

The only surprise (IC not OOC) is that Jarla will have arrived in Painford on I think the 19th and will be waiting around for Ludo's return.

I'm also not certain at present whether Sieghard will be back in Painford when Ludo gets there, or still down south.

[-Sentinel-]

Well, we already completed a period of research, the 1 month to come up with the First Draft. And while on the one hand, the text strongly implies that you've done a round through the let's-mess-with-your-ritual tables ('newly modified'), on the other, why would you be modifying it if you haven't tested it out yet? For all rounds except the first, the Draft is clearly the thing that you try to cast; if the First Draft is different why don't they spell that out?

I still think a research step was intended to happen, but if you're going to save me a few in-game months, I'm obviously not going to insist on my interpretation. I appreciate it... I'd hate for Elsa to be effectively out of the game for almost the rest of the campaign.

Note that a month of research would still take us past the summer solstice, to mid-Vorgeheim (assuming no excessive delays in gathering the ingredients). The next astronomical event is Geheimnistag, the Day of Mystery. If I recall correctly, the attack on the Temple happened on Geheimnisnacht. Is it a particularly ill-omened time, or simply a good time to cast powerful spells?

Then you're going to have to rope them in - not going to happen if you don't ask them. Although some of the other PCs do have some quite high-priority things of their own going on at the moment!

Fair! I don't think it would be reasonable for Elsa to walk away from the Book and her research to go gather ingredients, so I'll deal with this by sending some IC messages.

[LCP]

I still think a research step was intended to happen, but if you're going to save me a few in-game months, I'm obviously not going to insist on my interpretation. I appreciate it... I'd hate for Elsa to be effectively out of the game for almost the rest of the campaign.

Cool. Let's say it's 1 month research then, and we'll still roll on the research table, 'cos it's fun.

Note that a month of research would still take us past the summer solstice

Blerg, sorry, I got my mental wires crossed there - I'm tracking weeks since the famine clock started and also of the ritual research and I think I mixed the two up.

The next astronomical event is Geheimnistag, the Day of Mystery. If I recall correctly, the attack on the Temple happened on Geheimnisnacht. Is it a particularly ill-omened time, or simply a good time to cast powerful spells?

Yes. It's the one night of the year when both Mannslieb and Morrslieb are full. The flow of magic is strong and in Warhammer that's bad news.

Geheimnisnacht was also the night when the Library appeared the year before.

[LeSwordfish]

is it too late for us to just put it back in the library