Army of Darkness RPG

Tabletop/ Pen and Paper Game
This week I started running Army of Darkness RPG by Eden Studios. It's a d10 system. My only other experience running a game was All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Only 3 players showed up: an experienced player who chose to play Duke Henry the Red, and two players brand new to tabletop gaming, who chose to play the Wiseman and the Blacksmith. The Wiseman was a bit weak, and I was planning for combat with the undead, so I gave him some healing potions and a sleep spell which weren't in the pre-made character sheet.

EPISODE 1 PILOT
The Evil Awakens
The first thing I do is forget to give exposition on the 12th century England setting, how King Edward sits in the thrown, yadda yadda. But instead I start with: “We start before the events of Army of Darkness, and before the evil plagues the lands. Lord Arthur and Duke Henry are at peace. Henry is visiting Arthur’s castle to discuss trade and stricter boarder regulations, namely, keeping Henry’s men out of Arthur’s territory.“

ARTHUR’S CASTLE
“The castle lies near a cliff, its North and West walls nearly flush with the cliffs. The castle is solid, with thick walls and tall towers overlooking the most obvious approaches. There’s a dry moat around the entire wall. As you travel inside you view the single large gatehouse equipped with a double portcullis, drawbridge, and murder holes. This is the only way in or out as far as you know.”
Henry’s high Knowledge roll gets this about the castle:
“Arthur’s castle isn’t very big compared to other castles of this time, and it’s not particularly elaborate. It’s a mishmash of styles—reflecting the regular ruling family’s on-again, off-again approach to keeping up with the neighbors (and has nothing to do with limited set design budgets). Some of the towers are swuare and over 200 years old, while others sport a snappy round design which offers more protection from heavy missiles in a siege. There are probably 500 people living in and around the castle.
Inside the castle walls you see stables and a hitching post to the left, and a row of 4 catapults to the right along the southern wall which sports several shacks selling various goods. At the center next to an open hole in the ground there is a tall tower that dwarfs the eastern tower. Connected to the tower is a building, probably quarters. The north-east quarter is walled off to the peasantry. Many things, like the knight’s shields, bear a symbol of a black lion on a silver background.”

The discussions make very little progress. As Arthur and the Wiseman escort Henry to the Workshop, where the Blacksmith is. They are approached by a messenger. “There has been no word from the Mill, and anyone who has gone to check it out has not returned.”
Wiseman advises Arthur not to investigate the Windmill without some kind of airplane. Arthur (Non Player Character) has no idea what a plane is, but knows it would take far too long to build. Wiseman sends carrier birds to see if anyone is at the Mill. The birds roll a 2 and do not return.
A missing peasant Mill worker appears into the Workshop. Wiseman succeeds on a spot check and sees “very nasty claws in serious need of a hacksaw manicure” before the worker has a chance to do anything.
The player asks to use the sleep spell at this point. This is just an introduction to a Deadite enemy, and I know there is much tougher combat ahead, so I recommend not using it. [I still need to learn to let the players make their own decisions]
Wiseman bashes the Mill Worker with his staff, which knocks him back. His hood falls and reveals a rotting face.
The Worker Uses ‘Horrify’: using a spinal column as a cane, he dances with the top of his skull as a hat. He jumps, sinks down, get back up and lasso all around, spin, claps his hands, does the robot, then the sprinkler, and finishes it off with a Henry Winkler. [This is taken from Evil Dead The Musical].
Deadite: "I'll use your brain as a loofah!"
This horrifies the characters in the room, forcing Arthur and his knights to run screaming in terror, or faint on the spot, leaving only the Player Characters. Henry and the Blacksmith both have Nerves of Steel, so the Fear Test -5 leaves them merely startled.
Henry, “I’m standing next to the weapons rack? I grab a spear. What’s the floor made of?”
Me, “It’s an earthen floor, and whatever you’re doing it’s gonna earn you an Experience Point.”
Henry impales the Deadite straight through the torso, pinning it to the ground. It pulled itself off like Bloody Mary in Sean of the Dead. While trying to attack it again, Henry rolls a one and knocks his arm on a nearby wall-mounted torch, setting his arm on fire. Wiseman pulls the cloak from the Deadite and puts out the fire. The Deadite grabs Henry who in turn skewers it through the jaw with a sword. The blacksmith [which the player gave a name of Smithy Black] grabs a hammer and smashes its head like a watermelon, splattering the Cast with gore. However, the corpse continues to twitch, its claws reaching for Wiseman. Henry sets the twitching body on fire.
After the fight is over, Arthur returns and tries to play off his cowardice. Wiseman changes his mind and advises Arthur to investigate the Mill immediately. Arthur wants Wiseman to go with them for Deadite advise, but he refuses. So the player of the Wiseman has to switch to another character, and she chooses a horse. War Horse, in fact, with barding. [I warn her that she won’t be able to communicate or make group decisions]
The Blacksmith is good friends with the Miller, so he goes with Arthur to investigate. Henry has been looking for something more interesting than a drunken bar fight, so he insists on coming along. Arthur resists much of this, but feeble NPC is easily convinced.
The quickest way to the Windmill location is through the nearby forest.
The group finds a corpse of a woman near the forest who died in an unusual way. “Tree branches have punctured her vital organs, she looks like a pincushion for splinters. Whatever did this was no crazed Mill worker.” Fear Test -4 for NC-17 gore. Arthur and all his men run away. Again. This is mainly to go easy on me, as I am having trouble keeping up with learning/teaching the rules and controlling NPCs at the same time.
With a roll of a natural 10, Henry makes a colorful joke which keeps one of Arthur’s knights from running away, but is still a bit shaken. Plus, someone’s gotta be riding War Horse.
Henry rolls for his own knights, who seem to be tough and don’t mind the sight of mutilated corpses.

THE MISTY FOREST
The Woods have become enveloped in a mist. The fog cover has turned the forest into a dark and loathsome place.
“After walking for several hours, you realize you’ve been going around in circles. The trails have been changing when you aren’t looking directly at them, trees vanish and appear out of nowhere. Suddenly, trees begin blatantly moving unnaturally before your very eyes.“
A Knight nearest to a tree inexplicably becomes entangled by vines/tendrils. They pierce his skin. The Cast Members try to fight off the animated trees from pulling knight off the path, but eventually some larger branches gab hold and rip him away from the group at a terrible speed.
After the players decide to continue on, they hear nearby a horrible scream silenced by a sickeningly wet crunch.
It takes several rolls to look for a way out of the woods while trying to evade/escape vine attacks. Eventually the woods open to a desolate clearing.

THE WINDMILL
“You see the tall Mill, its giant blades creaking eerily in the dim moonlight, which you savor over the now-too familiar fog of the woods.” Successful spot check reveals The blades are turning, but there is no wind in this desolate place.
War Horse breaks open the door, splintering it with one kick. A Blood Geyser erupts from the doorway.
“A stream of putrid blood douses all of you in like a fire hose, causing you to slip and otherwise knocking you around like big bloody rag dolls. Make a Wil roll or lose a Drama pt. After 3 Rounds, the stream stops.” 2 players lost Drama Points. Henry’s knights run away. The blood dies down and the Cast is miraculously clean by the next scene.
The Miller’s workers are found inside, merely skeletons and rags of what used to be their clothing. The Miller himself is a Deadite, and attacks Henry. During the fight 3 of Henry’s knights come back from the woods, but are now also deadites. Their swords do ungodly amounts of damage. [at this point I remember that slash/stab does twice the damage, after getting past the armor. I also realize I forgot to give the players a chance to get armor] Henry drops below 0 Life Points several different times. War Horse tramples, squishes, and bites the deadites into submission, and even grabs a sword in its mouth and cuts a Deadite in half.
Henry need immediate medical attention and has to be strapped to War Horse and get thru the woods (the quickest route). Blacksmith is unable to calm his spooked horse. They get a bit lost in the woods, but there’s no way I’m killing off Henry the Red before Ash even shows up.
They get back to the castle and the Wiseman reveals that there is hope; “A Promised One will deliver us from the terrors of these Deadites. “

Post-Game:
Damage is really high for enemies. No more deadites using swords.
A White-Board will help for keeping track of where people are.
If there are more than 3 enemies, have them attack different players instead of all ganging up on one person, which is mainly why Henry took such a beating.