[Games] Fort Griffin - the Playtest

[jordangreywolf]

This past weekend, I ran a playtest over at Goober_Chris's place, with a bunch of folks from the Necronomicon gang helping out, and a huge custom game table.

FORT GRIFFIN SESSION NOTES:

TLDR: Playtest went well with 5 imaginative players with varying degrees of energy. Most problems were due to hasty errors in the character sheets (copy-paste errors setting up pre-gens) and because I didn't have "cheat sheet" print-outs of the scenario/house rules. "Platinum Benny" and "Retroactive Benny" setting rules worked well. "Missed Me!" rule has some use, but is klunky (an ongoing problem). PC Pre-Gen selection could use some tweaks.

DETAILED SUMMARY:
The scenario was loosely based upon the Post Office Robbery "fork in the road" for the "Ka-BOOM!" adventure hook from the Fort Griffin main document, combined with my "Mission Impossible" narrative concept.

My basic premise was that "Bad Bart" and his gang had made a slapdash attack on the bank, shooting Sheriff Cruger in the process, but accomplishing little more than to shower bullets everywhere and then ride out of town with deputies Mansfield, Adamson, and Wilson in hot pursuit along with a hastily-gathered posse of any able-bodied person capable with handling a gun and riding a horse.

"Big Nose" Kate came rushing up to the wounded Sheriff shortly thereafter, revealing that one of Bart's gang had been boasting to her of a "foolproof" plan to hold up the Post Office -- and that the half-hearted "bank robbery" attempt was nothing more than a decoy to draw a posse of able folks out of town (with the Sheriff getting shot as a lucky bonus). The real purpose? Early that morning, the rest of Bad Bart's gang would ambush the stagecoach on its way into town, and use it as a means to sneak a bunch of no-goods up to the Post Office to hatch a robbery.

As it so happened, the Sheriff -- still alive, but wounded -- managed to limp over to the Post Office to try to warn Jet Keenan, but the eccentric postmaster/pharmacist was out back on his porch, with every sort of "DO NOT DISTURB!" sign posted around, so he settled for young George Jones, the assistant, instead. As it so happened, Epitacio Naranjo (clerk at York and Meyers Outfitters) and Circling-Hawk (a Tonkawa guide/scout) were at the post office. So were the Hurvey siblings ("Marvelous" Muriel the aspiring actress and singer, and her brother Jules the stage magician) had just arrived with their luggage, met by Avery Lamb, who had come over from the Frontier House where they would be performing.

George, Epitacio, and Circling-Hawk were deputized on the spot to help defend against Bad Bart's attempted robbery, while the Hurveys volunteered to lend their assitance. (We only had 5 players in our playtest, so nobody played Avery Lamb. Just as well, really, because I don't think he was very well-equipped to contribute to the mood of the scenario.)

THE STREET SCENE:
I set up the table with a rough representation of the section of street where the Post Office & Drug Store building appears on the map of the Flats outside Fort Griffin. This meant the Occidental Hotel was across the street and to one side, and there were a few small buildings on the map that weren't actually labeled, so I had some leeway in what they'd be represented as. I had cobbled together a foam-core-and-mat-board building using the footprint dimensions of KK's map tile artwork for the Post Office to represent (of course) the Post Office itself, and I set the map tile (glued down to a foam-core board) over to one side of the map area to represent its interior since I had reasonable expectations of something important going on in there.

I represented the Occidental Hotel with an Ertl Cowtown "Cowtown Hotel" but with some custom replacement signage to change it to the Occidental. Other "generic" buildings included a Barber Shop, Livery/Stable, and a small unidentified shed. As happenstance, my "Tablescapes" Rolling Hills terrain boards (that I'd painted up in a "dry earth" scheme for use in wasteland or desert town scenarios) happened to feature a number of boulders that the players mistook for massive piles of manure littering the street. I obliged by tipping over a wagon next to the scene, and positioning several "laborers" next to it, as if they were busily (albeit slowly) trying to clean up the mess of an unfortunate and smelly accident.

Overall layout was 2'x3' on the table (not counting the map-tile post office interior "call-out" to the side). I deliberately had more buildings (and taller ones) on one side of the street than the other, with the intent that this would be the side where the GM would be standing, but due to physical constraints (this was a HUGE game table, and I had to use a sock-grabber to reach minis to move them around) I actually ended up at one end of the street (where the carriage would come in) instead. Fortunately, the game table was an interesting design that had a RECESSED area for the map and miniatures, and players didn't report problems seeing over the buildings to witness the action. (Actual setup at the convention will be much different, though, on a smaller round table -- a major contributor to my move to go with combo table-tent-character-sheets rather than full-sized sheets.)

PLANNING & PC STRENGTHS:
I based the PCs off of NPC profiles in the Fort Griffin supplement, but beefed them up with Edges and skills to get them to the equivalent of 30 xp Seasoned characters. For some, I stripped out a few Knowledge skills that struck me as rather extravagant expenditures (e.g., Epitacio's "Knowledge (Bible)") and instead listed "Common Knowledge Areas" for each character: My idea was that I'd just list certain topics of particular importance to the character, and that, due to his story background, would qualify for "Common Knowledge" rolls rather than requiring actual skill point investment.

For giggles, I introduced the idea that Jet Keenan was so socially awkward that he essentially got the All Thumbs Hindrance with a vengeance whenever in the presence of a beautiful woman. For this reason, upon hearing that he was mixing various chemicals in his lab out back, Muriel abandoned a plan to go pay a visit to him to inquire about her plans to make some "ether bombs" -- and instead consulted with George.

George's main "story benefit" was his access to the post office and pharmacy itself, backed up by his Medicine and Chemistry knowledge (treated as ACTUAL Knowledge skills, rather than just Common Knowledge topics, as I had high expectations that they'd get some use). During the planning stage, his first role was to come up with some "ether bombs" (a bunch of "ether" and/or other "knock-out gas" in very fragile jars, loaded up into some of Muriel's hastily-emptied out travel bags), and the other was to prepare a tray of laudinum-laced drinks to offer to the parched stagecoach passengers & driver as they arrived (presuming they didn't immediately start shooting the place up).

I played up Epitacio's guitar-playing to turn him into something like a "bard," with a suite of Command skills, but those ended up being entirely irrelevant to the scenario, the way everyone was so far spread out. (Savage Worlds' treatment of "Command" as something with such a tight radius really does NOT work well with the idea of multiple people spreading out and planning an ambush.) His main contribution in the planning stage was his position as a clerk at the Outfitters, so he had considerably more leeway in what types of useful equipment he could conjure up to facilitate various schemes the other players dreamt up. This included a ladder to prop up against the post office, a tightrope to string between the rooftop of the Post Office and the Occidental Hotel across the street, and several packets of gunpowder hidden in spots around the street (base of a tree, behind a cactus, etc.) in hopes that they could be triggered for distractions in a gunfight. He was eventually positioned behind the Stables, so he'd be completely out of line of sight of the stagecoach when it first arrived, but could quickly get to the scene as needed.

Muriel's position as an actress and performer meant that she was perfectly happy with waiting out in the open for the arrival of the stagecoach, positioned outside the Post Office with her (ether-bomb loaded) luggage, with the pretense that as the stagecoach arrived, she could start tossing her "luggage" aboard under the pretense that she was expecting to take a ride out of town on it. She also took some of the gunpowder to load into a reticule (a sort of lady's mini-purse/pouch) dangling from her sleeve, in case she needed a getaway distraction.

Jules had a lot of potential as a charismatic stage magician, and with the pretense that his mastery of "stagecraft" could be put to use to create various deceptions. He charmed "Big Nose" Kate, interrogating her further, teasing out that she had actually some ADVANCE knowledge of this plot, but she had only come to the Sheriff out of spite, because one of her fellow "soiled doves" had been shot during the "just for show" bank attack. Further inquiry revealed that there was simply no way all of Bad Bart's gang was going to hide on the stagecoach -- the interior was so cramped that only up to 6 fairly thin people might ride in it if they /alternated knees/ in the middle -- but rather that some of Bad Bart's co-conspirators were recruited from local ne'er-do-wells situated somewhere in the vicinity and ready to join the fight once the plan hatched. She also revealed that, unless the coach driver was shot during the heist of the wagon, Bart would likely have the original driver operating the coach, under threat of death, so as to minimize the chance of an unauthorized driver arousing suspicions. (This revelation thwarted some of Muriel's suggestions to "simply" plant explosives in the street to blow up the stagecoach on its way into town.)

The second half of Jules's preparation was that he went over and charmed the Madame at the Occidental Hotel (I played it up as more brothel than mere "hotel"), and enlisted the help of some "soiled doves" there to help him with a strange scheme to provide a distraction by having mannequins lined up at the windows to pop out the window at the sound of his "signal shot" (i.e., whenever gunfire started). The /idea/ was to dress up the mannequins to look like potential combatants/reinforcements to distract enemy gunmen, but he stuck a little too closely to the decision on the part of the group not to spread news of the impending attack around too much, since they couldn't count on which folks around here might be in on the scheme (and Jules and Muriel, being outsiders, were particularly poorly matched to the task of picking them out). Jules spread the story of this being an elaborate scheme to put on a big production to celebrate his sister's arrival in town, and somehow the ladies got the notion that therefore the mannequins (and a few dress-forms) should of course be sussed up in the nicest dresses and bonnets they could manage. (This particular interpretation, however, would not be revealed until later, as Jules had a Hindrance of being a bit of a Ladies' Man, and ended up getting rather *distracted* during the rest of the planning phase.)

Circling-Hawk's Tactics knowledge provided a potential excuse for some "retroactive" placement opportunities (more on that later), but during the planning phase he mostly just used Jules's presence at the Occidental as a pretense to get access to the rooftop of the hotel, where he could set up a sniper position completely hidden from the stagecoach during its advance into town, but with a good view of the post office and the likely end point of the stagecoach during the heist.

...

THE ARRIVAL:
The stagecoach arrived. I called for Notice checks ostensibly for players to Notice the stagecoach in timely fashion, but it was largely an excuse to feed them with additional details (suspicious behavior observed among various of the "innocent bystander" models I'd scattered on the street, for instance) for especially high rolls. Jules noticed belatedly that although he'd seen 5 windows facing the street upon entering the hotel, he'd only visited FOUR rooms facing the street once inside. He rushed over to investigate the fifth one, at the corner, and found that it was a "private suite" that had been paid for ahead of time ("for two silver dollars!") and -- of course -- the door was not only locked, but it felt like a piece of furniture had been wedged up against the door. Jules engaged in a bit of trickery, putting on his best fake-French accent and playing up the "room service" role, to goad the lone man inside to at least come to the door to drive him off. With a series of inventive stunts and some fortuitous die rolls, he managed to get the would-be sniper to come to the door to shoo him away, whereupon Jules "accidentally" spilled a drink on him, proceeded to whip kerchiefs out of his sleeve to try to "clean up the mess," and in a sleight-of-hand maneuver, deftly removed the gunman's pistol during the process -- then suddenly changed demeanors as he threatened the man with his own pistol, and directed some girls to lead him off. Inside, he found a buffalo gun set up at the window in a sniper position, trained on the front of the post office. Co-conspirator #1 down!

The coach finally rolled up in front of the Post Office, with the driver obviously uncomfortable (leaning to one side -- as there was a gun poking through a slot in the passenger compartment and goading him in the side to remind him of its presence) -- and then a couple of lean men got out, forcing the driver to get down and go in front of them as they went inside. Inside, George played the part of being completely oblivious to any schemes, happily serving up some laudinum-laced shots of whiskey as a complementary service to the driver and any passengers. One of the bandits (and the driver!) fell for the scheme, but the second bandit was suspicious (high Notice roll!) and declined -- briefly trying to get George to summon Jet Keenan, but failing that, dropping the ruse and demanding that George turn over a lockbox behind the counter. George made as if to comply ... but then deftly pulled out a shotgun he'd been hiding just behind the counter and at the ready for just such a situation. The bandit made some hasty declarations along the lines of, "H-hey, it was just a joke, young man!" as his compatriot stumbled and dropped to the floor, and he, alone, edged his way back to the entrance of the post office ... and at that moment, Muriel tossed her "luggage" onto the wagon, causing a big cloud of noxious fumes to burst outward. Due to a complication (1 on the die), Muriel was caught in the blast as well, but she managed to cover her face with a kerchief in time, and dashed out of the expanding cloud. A bandit who'd been hiding atop the carriage (surrounded by boxes arranged as "cargo," but apparently filled with sand to serve as a makeshift firing position) leaped off and bolted for the nearby stables, as another fellow burst out of the luggage compartment on the back. The remaining bandits crammed into the passenger compartment failed to get out in time, and succumbed to the vapors, passing out.

And at that point ... we drew cards, because the jig was up, and we definitely had some action on our hands!

RETROACTIVITY:

The "Mission Impossible" conceit of this scenario was that I'd allow Bennies to be used in more interesting ways than usual.

0) Of course, there would still be the most basic use of a Benny to reroll traits, to make Soak rolls, to remove Shaken status, and -- if you had the No Mercy Edge, reroll damage as well.

1) I gave each player 1 "Platinum Benny" (white chip with "platinum" sparkles) that could be used exactly like a normal Benny, except that it could be used ON BEHALF OF or AGAINST anyone or anything on the table, or could be used to reroll ANY random effect. My only caveat was that you had to come up with an in-game excuse (however stretched!) as to how your character might possible effect this change of fate if it affected someone else -- perhaps shouting a word at the right time to warn someone to duck, for instance. (This last twist was just to add more of a "shared storytelling" element rather than just more "dumb luck.")

2) I used my favorite "Missed Me!" house rule: If a bad guy attacked you, BEFORE damage was rolled, you could spend a Benny to force him to reroll and take the WORSE result. (This is of course no guarantee of a miss: the enemy might still roll just as high, or higher on the reroll.)

3) Bennies could be used in the game to effect a "retroactive" plot development to reflect additional planning that the PCs made "off-camera," but which is only revealed during the action. For instance, we know that Epitacio acquired some gunpowder and placed a few packets of it around the area, but what if during the gunfight it would be REALLY useful if the gunpowder had been planted RIGHT OVER THERE behind those barrels (but nobody actually specified that earlier?). A player could spend a Benny and then make (let's say) a "Knowledge: Tactics" roll, and on a success -- why, yes, he actually DID think to place the explosive right there for just such an occurrence as this. Or, one example I gave was that Muriel might throw herself in the way of the stagecoach in a gambit to force it to stop, but she hadn't counted on one of the bandits being in the driver's seat, and he is perfectly fine with running her over: she could spend a Benny to "explain" that that wasn't REALLY Muriel diving into the street, but rather she'd pushed a mannequin in a dress to make it APPEAR that Muriel was falling in the street ... and we'll resolve it with a Common Knowledge check (costuming is one of the Common Knowledge areas), or perhaps Persuasion, or perhaps Agility -- the player is open to find some skill or Common Knowledge area on his or her sheet to try to use as justification for the gambit. Success? Sure, you pulled it off!

4) Not really Bennies at all, but I gave 5 Adventure Cards to each player, with the instruction that each one of them could only spend 1. They were free to trade in cards that they thought were irrelevant to the scenario (I goofed and had one card pertaining to "Arcane Background" that I had failed to pull out of the mix, so that one got traded in), and they were free to trade with EACH OTHER (unless that particular person was up in the initiative order -- no waiting on your action so you can card-trade!).

[Note: In retrospect, the players had a lot of fun with the "Platinum Benny" concept, but there was some confusion between it and the "Missed Me!" rule, particularly given the potential overlap. I think we sorted it out, but I could still see it being a stumbling block again.]

THE SHOWDOWN:
Revealed co-conspirators included a "mourning widow" was actually a man in a dress and veil, who pulled out a shotgun from underneath the dress ... but before he got to do anything, Circling-Hawk targeted a packet of gunpowder attached to the base of the tree with a rifle shot, triggering an explosion that knocked the tree over on the bandit. (Here we had a use of the "retroactive Benny" with Circling-Hawk's "Knowledge: Tactics" to justify that he'd have thought to have the packet placed to knock over the tree in just the right way ahead of time.) At the sound of gunfire, the ladies in the Occidental pushed the mannequins and dress forms to the window. One of them (set up by the lady Jules spent a little more time with) had at least some semblance of a "weapon" -- brandishing a broomstick, that is.

"Black Bart" threw the leather cover aside on the rear luggage compartment of the stagecoach to reveal ... a gatling gun! Jules took up the buffalo gun and shot the gatling gun, damaging it enough that "Bart" would require a bit more effort to get the gatling gun operational. The bandit who'd been on top of the carriage dashed into the livery -- encountering Epitacio, who shot him in the arm. The bandit dropped his gun, and dove into the stalls, while Epitacio rushed toward the street.

Muriel climbed up the ladder onto the rooftop of the Post Office, and when three of the "laborers" near the manure spill proceeded to pull weapons out of the mess and proceeded to grab hostages from the fleeing bystanders, Muriel started putting on a performance on the rooftop to distract them. Jules, meanwhile, made it down to street level and dashed across, hid behind the shed, then pulled a rope to reveal (retroactive preparation!) ... a big flight of doves that flew out, further distracting the henchmen!

George had a moment of heroics as he slid across the countertop and rifle-butted the bandit who'd fled out the front of the store (only to back away from the "exploding luggage"). Another bandit down!

By this point, Circling-Hawk simply shot "Black Bart." But then, the *GM* spent a "retroactive planning" Benny to reveal that -- aha! This "Black Bart" was merely an *impostor*, disguising his appearance with a big hat and a fake nose. The real BAD Bart was among the "fleeing bystanders" ... and had gone around the back of the Post Office to take Jet Keenan as a hostage. George's heart practically skipped a beat when he heard the commotion, and Jet Keenan's protest that, "Don't jostle me so -- I'm making *heart* medicine!" (All around the table, everyone -- out of character -- immediately guessed at the implications of this.)

Muriel continued her "act," walking across the tightrope that now happened to take her directly above the stagecoach, where the bandit who'd been shot in the arm had rushed to the stagecoach to take up "Black Bart's" position by getting the gatling gun back in working order. Before he could find a target to unload lead on, however, she suddenly dropped her reticule purse right on the gatling gun's hopper. (I had indicated that there was a "Malfunction Rating" chance for the ammo to blow any time the gun took damage -- basically a 1 in 3 chance. That didn't happen this time, but Muriel's player elected to use her Platinum Benny to reroll this die, since I'd declared that it could reroll ANYTHING. Lo and behold ... KABOOM!) Alas, the tightrope snapped, but Muriel managed to make it to the hotel side of the cable, caught it, and swung over onto the side staircase -- albeit landing somewhat roughly.

So, Bad Bart came out the front with his hostage in time to see the flaming wreckage of the stagecoach being dragged away by a panicked team of horses. Circling-Hawk started sniping distracted henchmen, giving their hostages a chance to escape, while Jules wrestled another henchman into a big pile of manure. George kept apace with the bandit leader, and came to the realization that Bad Bart wasn't quite right in the head. In fact, he referred to the little iguana perched on his shoulder as "Bad Bart," and seemed to be consulting with it. (What a twist! The real Bad Bart is the iguana all along?) (Note: I only did this because the Reaper mini I used happened to have ... an iguana perched on the bandit's shoulder. Of all the weird details to include, eh? This is what happens when I'm improvising too much with a half-written scenario.)

Epitacio came out in the street, saw Jet Keenan holding the flasks, and offered himself as an alternative hostage. George, on a lark, tried to "voice" the iguana to encourage Bad Bart's "sidekick" (that is, the crazy human bandit everyone had previously assumed was Bad Bart) -- and the guy went along with it. Jet Keenan caught a glimpse of the astonishing Muriel, and was about to get "All Thumbs" with the flasks, when Epitacio rushed in and took them from his shaky hands.

As Jet got away, and just as Not-Bad-Bart was about to press a gun into Epitacio's back, Circling-Hawk made another crazy sniper shot and took down the bandit leader. "Oh, Bad Bart, I have failed you for the last time!" the crazed bandit exclaimed, as he sank to the ground. The iguana just hopped onto a nearby warm rock, saying nothing (because, after all, it really was just an iguana).

And so, our heroes were victorious!

OVERALL NOTES:
* I had lots of copy-and-paste errors on the table-tent sheets, but for the most part they seemed to work well. I might try to see if there's some way I can make more efficient use of the space and blow up the type size a tiny bit.

* My idea for "Common Knowledge Areas" could use some tweaking. Basically I'm trying to just expand what a raw Smarts roll could be used for, but this has odd implications. I gave George a d10 in Smarts so he could have Jack-of-all-Trades (which didn't really come into play, but COULD HAVE), but only d8 in Kn: Chemistry and Kn: Medicine. If I'd treated, say, "Pharmaceuticals" as a "Common Knowledge Area" rather than an actual Knowledge skill allocation, he'd have gotten a better deal, with a d10 Smarts. Avery Lamb, on the other hand, wouldn't get much out of any "Common Knowledge Areas" since he only has d4 Smarts. Also, some of these so-called "incidental" knowledge areas were far more applicable than others. I plan on revisiting all of them.

THE PCS:
> The Hurveys appeared to be quite capable, and the players appeared to have a lot of fun with them, though a lot of it was because I was rather flexible in what exactly could be accomplished with a Trick, and they were very GOOD at Tricks.

> George and Circling-Hawk appeared to have their fair share of utility in the action, and I could see them being employed in other ways as well. Circling-Hawk, however, had something of Avery Lamb's problem in that he was far better equipped to take action during the "action" phase, and didn't have so many obvious resources for the "planning" phase, other than to find himself a good sniper position.

> Epitacio was very involved, but that was largely because of the player, not the PC build. He had an interesting dynamic of having a decent combat ability with his gun, but his "Pacifism" compelled him to always make called shots to a limb rather than aiming for the heart. I may reconsider his Edge build-out where I tried to make him something of a "bard" with Command Edges, since those didn't come into play at all, with everyone as scattered as they were.

> I may replace Avery Lamb entirely. He's a good character during the "action" phase, as he's simply a good combatant, but the d4 Smarts seems to discourage much on the planning/cerebral side, and minimizes what "Common Knowledge Areas" I gave him that could be of any use.

THE MECHANICS:
My "Missed Me!" house rule has issues. I'm obliged to pause after rolling a hit against a player to see if he wants to spend a Benny for a reroll, and then I roll damage, so it slows down the flow. Players more naturally want to spend a Benny AFTER I roll some ridiculously high damage ... but if I allow that, "Missed Me!" becomes exponentially more powerful (and renders Soaking nearly moot). I like the IDEA that "plot armor" should be to give bad guys "bad aim" ... but not SO much that even if a bad guy has a gun held to your head, you'll never even consider surrendering because somehow he'll STILL miss. I also like that it grants plot armor to someone who's not big and tough (high Vigor): cowboys in the movies generally don't bounce bullets off their chests. (Or, in other words, "Soaking" feels inappropriate for anything other than bar room brawls, more like an attempt to abstract the "hit points" dynamic of D&D and its ilk, minus the bookkeeping, rather than to simulate anything *cinematic*. I don't like the common suggestion that if someone Soaks the roll, I say, "And ... the bullet missed you!" That's a masking-tape solution. Somehow the big tanky guy with high Vigor and Toughness is HARDER to HIT than the little squishy rogue, by that mechanic.) So for the time being, since it serves a thematic purpose, I'm sticking with it until I find something better. (Just saying, "Spend a Benny, make the enemy miss" would create *new* problems.)

"Platinum Benny" was popular, but in some ways I think it might have been overly redundant with Adventure Cards and the expanded role of Bennies in this game. At some point, I've probably added TOO MUCH complexity

"Retroactive Bennies" were the starring attraction, and only got used three times ... but it still worked well enough that I can envision using this as a "planning mechanic" for future games. During the overview of the game, as people were looking over their character sheets, I got questions like, "What is Knowledge: Tactics for?" I said that, "While certain skills have very specific applications covered in the rules, in the scope of this scenario, part of the fun is coming up with a good reason why your skill should apply to a given situation. Maybe when you spend a Retroactive Benny, you could argue that with your Knowledge of Tactics, you anticipated that a bandit might take shelter behind that cactus, so you stashed one of those gunpowder packets right behind it, so you can trigger it now. For a Benny, you roll your Knowledge: Tactics to see if you placed it correctly ... and then you roll your Shooting to see if you can set it off this round with a bullet." Hence, Knowledge: Tactics got some use.

(Re: Planning Mechanic for future games: If the PCs have the time and brainpower to PLAN an ambush, in order to disuade them from spending actual hours trying vainly to predict where everybody and everything needs to be, I could have the leader roll Kn: Tactics/Battle and score the group a pool of "Retro Bennies" -- one per success and raise, let's say -- that could be used by any member of the party during the upcoming scheme.)

"Adventure Cards" were probably overkill at this point, but the players still seemed to enjoy them, so I may still use them at the convention anyway. In any case, I figure if I were to write this up as an adventure, the inclusion of Adventure Cards (or not!) would be a decision for the GM to make as a matter of setting the "difficulty level" for the scenario. (Adventure Cards = make the scenario a bit easier.)