After a busy afternoon and spending a bit too long adding more details to the Avermeet adventure I ended up settling on a few different concepts involving Inns, Taverns and Stores. These are the birthplace of adventures, hooks and sometimes plots so its only natural to have a few up ones sleeve. So in my journey to find the best kick-off point for this adventure I got lost amongst the art, the possibilities and so we will have to settle on what I discovered (and had AI create for me) for this weeks content.
So grab a coffee, sit back and let’s walk down a street that may be all too familiar.
Inns, Taverns and Stores
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The humble inn. A place where jobs are posted, party members can rest and thieves can attempt to steal special items from said parties. A place where the adventure can be born, escalate or conclude or all three and it’s found in nearly every single campaign.
They provide an opportunity for any number of NPCs to legitimately have a reason to bump into or simply be near the party at the right time and place of our choosing.
The general store, or store in general can be host to any number of things which can provide our parties with a means to spend their gold. It also provides us, the DM, with a way to introduce a MacGuffin into the parties hands. A conveinent plot development, an item, a NPC, knowledge or tools can be gained from the general store – so its not just for rations, rope, 10ft poles and torches never mind… Everyone always has darkvision.
But Stores can provide points of plot too. An illegal storefront that is selling stolen wares (much like my first adventure-zine.) or it could be the focal point of the adventure where the suspect works at a store. Or knows who did it, or was a victim of the villain. There are nearly too many options here for us to investigate but that just shows how versatile these key buildings can be.
And lastly the Tavern. A place for food, drink, gambling, song, dance and murder. That’s right another building for stories to take flight, take a sudden unexpected twist or end with is Taverns. They can be blended with an Inn but I would expect the clientele of a tavern to be detrimental to a good nights sleep. Taverns can also have the most fun with their names too. Five Fat Ravens Tavern, The Fatty Pheasant, or my personal all-time favourite, the Frisky Mare. Taverns just need an adjective and a noun and you got yourself a tavern name. Nearly fool-proof and your parties will remember it for ages to come.
Thanks for visiting tonight. Not quite the zine I was hoping to get published tonight, or two of them in fact, but it was still a fun write-up and night of art discovery for myself. Don’t forget to come back next week as we continue on this path and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 