Month: Jan 2025

The Cooks Conundrum

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Now for the next Zine of the year I present, in single page zine format, The Cooks Conundrum. I still believe that these provide DMs a lot more freedom to tinker with it how they want and open up the adventures to be more free formed and flowing than the larger booklet zines.

There is references to the blog nights which are D&D centric (regarding Friday night’s Stat-blocks) but this adventure can be used system agnostic more so than my regular Zines. As always Kobold fight club can be used to quickly balance an encounter for Dungeons and Dragons and Tetra-cube provides the stat-blocks for many of my D&D creatures.

So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, The Cooks Conundrum, and that all your rolls are made with advantage.

The Cooks Conundrum

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Yuzalef Cauldron – created in WordPress!?

The traveling caravan had been journeying together for weeks, and the party huddled around a campfire, enjoying a simple but hearty stew. As they gazed upon the mountains to the north, they noticed a flickering speck of light amidst the trees. Initially mistaken for a campfire, the light’s purple flashes set it apart. The caravan’s cook, Sebastian, notorious for his unappetizing cooking but rich storytelling, warned them about the Yuzalef Cauldron. He spun a tale about the cauldron’s purple lights, said to attract curious souls and fortune seekers, and its rumored ability to burn souls to create a cursed broth. Despite its dark reputation, some believed the cauldron’s broth had miraculous healing properties. However, those who sought it were never heard from again, leaving the truth about the Yuzalef Cauldron shrouded in mystery.

As the party huddled around the dwindling campfire late into the night, the silence became unnaturally oppressive. Their draft horse had ceased its usual noises, and only distant sounds from the mountains disturbed the quiet. Suddenly, a muffled call for help came from the wagon. Rushing to investigate, they found Glenn, the caravaner, injured and disoriented. He revealed that Sebastian had taken the horse to search for the Yuzalef Cauldron, prompting the party to hastily pack up and pursue him.

Entering the ominous forest, shadows deepened as they moved further from the campfire. The path grew treacherous, littered with roots and rocks, as the trees closed in around them. Guided by a faint purple light, they encountered unsettling rustling sounds and patches of fresh blood, hinting at potential danger. The tension grew as they pressed on, hyper-aware of their surroundings. Strange, glowing mushrooms illuminated their path as the purple light strengthened, leading them up the mountainside toward an uncertain fate.

As they reached the base of the mountains they became aware further of the danger surrounding them. Soon the predators revealed themselves with a frightful call that made them sound more canine than they were. Large mountain cats that lived nearly exclusively in the mountain range climbed down from trees, stalked through bushes and even a large female with a large mane like tuft of fur jumped down from rocks at the base of the mountain.

PDF adventure – The Cooks Conundrum

The Cooks ConundrumDownload

Thanks for joining me today for another adventure. Please feel free to leave comments if you like what you see when you grab a copy of the PDF. Next time you get a party together consider running this adventure and I hope that you enjoy it. I hope you don’t miss a thing so come back daily in the coming week and year. This is so you can experience the creation of the next adventure as it evolves and shapes out. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Travel in Wilderfeast

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Travel in Wilderfeast

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Hello all, tonight I wanted to cover something that I’m working on while I explore whether Wilderfeast will remain a permanent game that I run at my tabletop, particularly how I manage Travel in Wilderfeast. Travel is quite simple in Wilderfeast you present three options, Navigate, Forage for ingredients or Move on.

Each are you move through in order to reach your target, generally a creature like the Wraikat that is causing issues down Ghao Gan Gardens you would need to travel through each area between your starting point, generally your Parties base, a Den, and the creatures area.

For Asoai, the Foaming Shore where my wilder pack is starting their adventures I decided to recreate (and change some bits) of the map to suit the narrative I was forming for the party.

Asoai, the Foaming Shore – Created in Inkarnate

Each area, defined by a different set of coloured hex connects to others. The larger areas such as Hightable and Ocean stop should have more hex’s than the other areas. This enables me to visually track where the connection points are, the known paths between areas, but also to use the hex’s to track Signs, monitor communities and also track what the Pack does.

If the pack invests their downtime in building a defensible position in Hightable then I want to be able to represent that on the map. If they move from one area to another but we have to finish the journey part way through the session I want to be able to track where we left off as well as any other notes. This map is just the beginning and with my 3d printer and some magnets I think I should be able to get something that really gives life to the map.

Now the example of using this for a defined area with defined travel points like Wilderfeast isn’t the Limit as you can probably get really creative with coloured Acrylic and magnets to represent the changing in territories for a political RPG. Or you could track plot points that move, like a caravan of bad things that will take three weeks to move three hexes towards the nearest city and the party have to find them first.

What ever the situation is the map making tools in Inkarnat were fun to use for this and I am excited to see where I take this little project of mine. Hopefully in the future I can showcase it working with the other three regions also following the same process.

That’s all for tonight. Don’t forget that tomorrow I aim to get the second* Adventure for the 2025 year out as a Zine so make sure you come back for that. Don’t forget that next week I will also be kicking off on the next journey for the year so make sure to comeback again next week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with Advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Pasu Mountain Cat

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The Pasu Mountains are home to the Pasu Mountain Cat, a fearsome hunter who prowls the mountains and forests for prey. It’s only fitting that the first creature stat block for the year be so shamelessly modified from an existing block to make these lower level encounters as easy as possible to play with.

Sturdy and muscular, this cat is a fusion of puma and lynx, with thick tufts of hair resembling a beard. It stands three feet tall at the shoulders, ready to traverse the rugged mountain terrain and take down its prey with swift, powerful pounces. Beware of traveling alone in the mountains, adventurer, for the Pasu Mountain cat hunts in packs and can strike when you least expect it.

So grab your coffee to go, consider hiding your supplies for in tonight’s adventure the hunters become the hunted!

The Pasu Mountain Cat

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The Pasu Mountain Cat – Created in WordPress?!

A stout cat with large shoulder muscles and thick tufts of hair that look like a beard it has no real strong features. A cross between a large puma and a lynx the Pasu Mountain cat stands three feet tall at the shoulders and is large enough to take down a grown man.

The Pasu mountain cat moves swiftly up and down the mountains using its sure footed feet to traverse across the worst of terrain. It hunts as a family unit so wherever there is one there is likely others and it is frequently heart not seen with its tell-tale call that sounds strangely canine.

It prefers to attack prey that is isolated by rushing and pouncing on them before they can react, knocking them to the ground with the force of its pounce before bitting for the face. Swift predators who can climb nearly as well as they can move across land they are a problem for many underprepared adventuring parties.

Mountain Cat – Created in Tetra-cube.

Thanks for visiting tonight to get a look at the creature that I had planned for this weeks adventure. More tabletop content will come during the week as we conclude this adventure and look at other things for the tabletop. So don’t forget to come back over the weekend and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Pasu Mountains

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The Pasu Mountains are the home this week of our little adventure this week. The steep rocky climb up the mountain is only broken up by a thin path that is seldom travelled. This week the mountains aren’t necessarily the place of our adventure but very nearby would be.

So grab your coffee to go, strap on your hiking boots as we climb into tonight’s adventure!

Pasu Mountains

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Pasu Mountains – Created in Inkarnate.

The Pasu mountains backs onto the Wildmist forest which is dense with trees and bushes that make travelling through this are difficult. Apart from the beasts of the forest, bears, wolves and big cats there is also a large population of forest dwelling goblins that pose a threat.

The trees give way rocky soil as people push towards the mountain where rocky hills and protrusions take over the mountain side. Trees litter the side of the mountain providing cover and food for some of the creatures that live on the mountainside. The paths along the mountain travelling upwards are formed by the people, a hardy folk, that live on the mountain.

Been a while since I’ve done a map. About seven layers for the ground texture were done to give the effect. Overlapping cliff and craggy hill art textures give the mountain some elevation along with four types of trees. A nice easy one for the start of the year.

Thanks for visiting tonight to get a look at the map we have planned. Don’t forget to come back for some stat blocks for fight night and also, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Cauldrons Price

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Some say that the Cauldrons price is your soul, others say that its a few branches and twigs. The truth is neither but its still a price that many are unwilling to take. Tonight we explore the cost and what people are willing to do to sake their desire for the Cauldrons power.

So sit down amongst the purple flame, settle down for there is a tale to tell in tonight’s adventure!

The Cauldrons Price

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As the party dispatched of the last big cat that had apparently been stalking them through the forest they realised what had cause either Sebastian or the Horse to be wounded. Finding the blood becoming less frequent but still horse and now human tracks moving up a narrow path towards where the purple light flickered the party readied themselves for what ever lay ahead.

As they moved up the narrow path that rose at a steep incline they began to realise how easily it would be to slip over the edge and, after a little while they found evidence it was also difficult for Sebastian as a bloodied hand print pressed against a flat bit of exposed stone. Hurrying now they reached a small overhang of rock where the purple light of a crackling fire shone on the rock above, the path underneath and the huddled form of Sebastian next to a cauldron.

A man sat stirring the pot as he glanced with tired eyes that appeared to be much older than he did. ‘More folk brought to the light of the Cauldron it seems. You lot though appear to be in much better sake than he did.’ he said as he nodded towards Sebastian. ‘I gave him what I could to heal the bite marks, but he lost a lot of blood and hasn’t woken yet. He is not long for this world.’

The man looked up at the horse who had ripped down a branch from a nearby shrub, the scratch marks on its side already healed. ‘It doesn’t work as well on animals you see. Works good enough on humans but animals. The Cauldron just heals minor things. Of course it can save the man here but there is a price. The Cauldrons price differs but for him to survive he needs to take my place. You see I came to the Cauldron with an incurable disease. The clerics turned me away and I would be dead soon but I followed the purple light and was put in the same place as he.’ he stopped for a moment to sip from a copper ladle.

‘Take the place of the Cauldrons Stirrer and you are granted immortality and your wounds and illnesses are healed. Stir for as long as you would have normally lived or until you find a replacement as there must always be one who stirs the Cauldron. Once you’ve served your time then you are free as long as you can get someone to stir for you. I have been free for a while now, a decade perhaps, but none have come to the cauldrons light to take the ladle – the Cauldrons price was too great.’

‘If he was to agree to the price he would survive, there is something else wrong with him, a deeper illness one that has broken the man he used to be. Even if his physical injuries were healed and his blood restored his life would be short any way. A “gift” of the cauldron,’ the man quoted looking sadly at it.

‘So if he does not stir, what is this man to you? Do you take him in his current state or do you wish for his life to be longer but bound to the Cauldron for the next fifty years.?’ he man asked as he stopped stirring

Thanks for visiting tonight to continue on with this weeks adventure. So Don’t forget to follow along this adventure daily for the remaining days this week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Sebastian Softcote

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Sebastian Softcote is no famous chef, nor is he a good cook but he knows stories and is eager to take opportunities when they arise. Even if that risks his soul apparently. As the party scramble to catch up to the old but tenacious cook they learn a bit more about the land they travel through and its residents.

So grab a coffee to go, tie up your laces and lets get a start into tonight’s adventure!

Sebastian Softcote

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The Yuzalef Cauldron – created in nightcafe.

As the party huddles around the dwindling campfire a few hours after the others retired for the night the silence around them starts to feel unnatural. The strong draft horse that had been pulling the caravan had ceased snorting about an hour ago and despite some distant noises towards the mountains it was quiet.

Slowly a low groan can be heard from the wagon, where the horse was tied before a muffled call for help came forth. Rushing to inspect they found Glenn, the caravaner who had offered to take them to their destination, was slowly pulling himself off the ground, a lump on his head.

‘Where is he…’ he said as he stumbled to his feet. ‘Sebastian, he raved about borrowing the horse to search for that damn cauldron.’ it took a moment for Glenn to realise what had happened. ‘He took off with our horse! We have to go after him, those woods is dangerous. Besides, who knows what trouble he might have gotten himself into chasing after campfire stories?’

The party hastily packs their belongings while they get ready to leave the caravan and Glenn behind. The forest looms like a shield for the mountain ahead, its shadows deepening as the night grows darker the further from the campfire they move. The air is filled with the scent of damp earth and the occasional distant call of a creature as they move deeper into the territory of the creatures that call this mountain home.

As they cross into the deeper parts of the forest, the path becomes increasingly treacherous as tree roots, rocks and burrows litter the path and rough tracks they are able to occasionally see via moon and torch light. The trees close in around them, their twisted branches like skeletal fingers reaching out in the night. The underbrush is thick, making every step a challenge. But the faint, flickering purple light in the distance serves as their guide.

More than once the party hear a rustling sound nearby, something moving through the underbrush but nothing reveals itself as the party continue on. They freeze with each rustle or sudden burst of noise from a creature moving at speed around them, listening intently for any signs of danger but it doesn’t come, not swiftly or directly in any case. The first sign of something being wrong is a patch of blood, fresh enough to be the last hour or two, aligning with the tracks heading towards the mountain and the beckoning flickering light.

It could be that of an animal, a coincidence, or it could be something far more sinister and Sebastian and the horse, their only way to travel the roads with speed and safety could be in danger. The tension grows as they press on, each member of the party hyper-aware of their surroundings and searching for more signs of what happened, yet none come apart from the occasional droplets of blood heading towards the purple light.

As they get closer to the source of the light, the ground becomes uneven, dotted with strange, faintly glowing mushrooms that cast an eerie glow at the base of old trees. The purple light grows stronger the closer they are, illuminating a narrow path that seems to lead up the mountainside.

Thanks for visiting tonight to get a feel of where this adventure is going. As its the start of the year again I tend to do a few low level encounters for new DMs but don’t fret, I will ramp up quicker this year to higher level adventures. Tomorrow night we will explore further, an encounter perhaps and catch up to Sebastian. So Don’t forget to follow along this adventure daily and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Yuzalef Cauldron

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This weeks adventure revolves around the Yuzalef Cauldron, a vessel of both renown sought after for both its infamy and noble legacy. For who who do you blame when something is used for evil, the instrument or the minstrel?

So sit down, grab a bowl or two and let’s get stuck into tonight’s adventure!

The Yuzalef Cauldron is at the centre of many folktales in the region for the right and wrong reasons. Some say its the cure for all man-kinds illnesses, all curses and injuries heal before its healing broth. An equal number say that its broth traps the soul to burn the kindling that keeps the purple flames alive only to create more broth to ensnare more unfortunate souls.

One things for certain… Practices of the arcane would pay a handsome reward for any who can return with the cauldron and that its riches would buy a new life for any man or woman.

The Yuzalef Cauldron

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The Yuzalef Cauldron – created in nightcafe.

The party huddled around the camp fire of the travelling caravan that they had been travelling with for a few weeks as they moved through the region. As they all took a bowl of a crude, yet tasty and hearty stew they looked upon the mountains to the north of them. Slowly one by one they realised that there was a spec of light that flickered amongst the wall of trees that littered the mountainside.

Anyone would be forgiven for mistaking it as a campfire except for the flashes of purple that came from the same spot. The caravans cook, Sebastian, fancied himself in a league of his own for his cooking, and he was right but it wasn’t a league people wanted to be in. However, despite his failing as a cook he managed to have a story for just about everything, any natural or unnatural phenomenon he had an answer for it, fact or fiction was yet to be determined.

But old Sebastian followed their case and put his spoon in his bowl as he chewed on the knuckle bone of the rabbit they had caught. ‘Beware the the Yuzalef Cauldron.’ he said, punctuating his statement with a long pause. ‘Fear the lights you see on the mountain side as the possessed cauldron of Yuzalef calls souls to stir its contents. The purple lights attract the curious and those who are after a quick fortune as there is many a witch, sage and sorcerer who would pay handsomely for that nasty artefact.’ he said as he spat out the knuckle bone.

‘They say that the cauldrons flames are actually burning souls and that it uses the energy from those cursed by its broth to create more of its cursed liquid. But there are some who say that the cauldron’s broth heals all illnesses. Cures blindness, regrows limbs and restores the mind.’ he had a wistful look on his eyes now.

‘No one knows the truth of the Yuzalef Cauldron. But one thing to be certain is that all those that have sought it out have not be heard of again.’


The first full week of adventure of the year and we are already into the second week. Thanks to all of my return readers who follow along my long, seemingly endless tales of adventure and for the newcomers in this year I welcome you to my tabletop. Don’t forget that this marks the beginning of the week of adventure where I will expand the characters, twists and turns, places and adversaries over the coming few days with… something a bit different the end the week.

Don’t forget at the end of each week this year I aim to get an adventure out for you to download and use at your tabletop. So make sure you don’t forget to follow along this little project of love of mine and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Dusk Amulet

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Now for the first Zine of the year I present, in single page zine format, The Dusk Amulet. I still believe that these provide DMs a lot more freedom to tinker with it how they want and open up the adventures to be more free formed and flowing than the larger booklet zines.

There is references to the blog nights which are D&D centric (regarding Friday night’s Stat-blocks) but this adventure can be used system agnostic more so than my regular Zines. As always Kobold fight club can be used to quickly balance an encounter for Dungeons and Dragons and Tetra-cube provides the stat-blocks for many of my D&D creatures.

So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, The Dusk Amulet, and that all your rolls are made with advantage.

The Dusk Amulet

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Brightwood Streets – Created in WordPress?!

As the adventurers enter the picturesque village of Brightwood, they’re greeted by the sight of quaint cottages with blooming gardens, children playing in the streets, and the distant sound of laughter and music from the bustling market square. Despite its cheerful appearance, there’s an undercurrent of tension in the air. Villagers glance nervously at strangers, whispering among themselves.

The adventurers are quickly approached by Mayor Taylor, a portly man with a furrowed brow and worry etched into his features. He explains the situation “A villager has gone missing, but several others have reported strange things happening in their house. Thank the gods that the Fantastical Carnival and Farren has stuck around since his disappearance as they are keeping morale high” he mentioned in a hushed tone. 

“I’d wager there’s a ghost or a werewolf in the far off woods that has started to stalk the village.”

The party cast their gaze over the village of Brightwood, the bright market where farmers sell their home grown and made wares, the central hall where the Mayor resides most of the time, three buildings in a row, a general store, blacksmith and an Inn, the Merry Bright Inn, are surrounded by the homes of the villagers. A small, quaint and peaceful village.

The adventurers’ investigation leads them to the carnival, a vibrant but eerie spectacle just outside the village. Colorful tents line the area, with carnival workers going about their tasks. The sounds of music and laughter fill the air, but a closer inspection reveals a sinister undertone with the joy not reaching the eyes of the folk who run the carnival. The visitors seem to detect the undertone but light up when Farrens voice carries across the crowd.

While exploring, the adventurers witness a group of villagers leaving the Hall of Mirrors with a disturbed look on their face. The party also encounter Farren the Fantastical, who puts on a charming façade but none of the mirth or joy reaches his eyes, there is a darker hunger there as he eyes the party up and down.

The Big top is the main tent where Farren performs his shows of illusion. The adventurers can attend a performance and observe Farren’s behavior, noting that the only unusual thing is the source of light from the top of the tent as it refracts across those below. Here they meet the other performers, Farrens henchmen, the fire breather, the knife juggler and the strongman.

The Workers are all nice enough but many of them don’t seem excited to be here and indicate that it’s a debt they need to pay off, that there is a binding contract that they need to pay before leaving from here. 

The Hall of mirrors is a surreal and confusing place where there is more than just distorted reflections. As they stare at themselves a young girl appears on the reflection begging them to save her big brother, slapping against the glass. Before they can get any details from the image someone talks loudly near them as they enter the hall of mirrors, startling them from their focus but when they look back there is nothing in the mirror apart from their own disturbed reflections.

Armed with the knowledge of the Hall of Mirrors the party go back later when it’s closed and see a young woman entering the Big Top as the flap closes the party swears they hear thumping coming from the hall of Mirrors. The adventurers make their way to the heart of the carnival and enter the Hall of Mirrors, where reality twists and turns around them. Reflections challenge their perceptions as there is a heavier magic here than when they visited during the day. Again they see the girl and she pleads with them to save her brother, who just entered the Big Top.

Inside the Hall of Mirrors, they find the Eclipse Amulet, only to be ambushed by Farren’s loyal henchmen: a Firebreather, a Strongman, and a Knife-thrower. The adventurers must fight their way through this final line of defence to reach Farren, who waits for them with a sinister grin.

PDF adventure – The Dusk Amulet

The Dusk AmuletDownload

Thanks for joining me today for another adventure. Please feel free to leave comments if you like what you see when you grab a copy of the PDF.

Next time you get a party together consider running this adventure and I hope that you enjoy it.
I hope you don’t miss a thing so come back daily in the coming week and year. This is so you can experience the creation of the next adventure as it evolves and shapes out. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Wraikat

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Tonight I wanted to show off two things but mainly The Wraikat – a creature for Wilderfeast and its using a template I made to house the information, some of it at least, which is used in the game itself.

So for anyone thinking of running the games the guides on how to create monsters are good enough and there is enough freedom to run the game how you want it to be run. So give it a shot!

The Wraikat

The Wraikat is the first, second technically, creature created for Wilderfeast.

The Wraikat – created in Nightcafe.

It’s from the Stockkeeper line as it likes to hoard food around its nest but could also be classed in Roundsman as it can change the colour of its scaly hide at will.

Now this creature doesn’t really fill a niche but it competes for territory with a few creatures in Mountains and Woodlands of the Sen Coast. But to combat this predator rich environment it focuses on hoarding food rather than taking on fights it can’t win.

Acting like a hybrid between a predatory cat and chameleon it prefers to lie in wait for its target, stun it either its vocal mimicry ability or by shooting its resin like substance from its mouth that hardens in air. You can imagine when shot at velocity at a Wilder or creature that this can be quite the concussive force if the Wraikat has enough time to aim for a particularly sensitive spot.

Thanks for joining me tonight and exploring a bit more about Wilderfeast! Don’t forget to come back tomorrow night to wrap up this free-form week before we kick off with adventures next week. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with Advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Game Introduction to Wilderfeast

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Good Friday to you all, I have something to share with you tonight as I procrastinate getting a heads start on the 2025 adventure series tonight I wanted to do a game introduction to Wilderfeast. Now I wish this was a paid promotion but alas, it is not. This is just me getting a bit hyped up over a game that I’ve spent a few hours (ok more than a few) reading and also run a few of my old and new players through an introductory adventure.

Game Introduction to Wilderfeast

Wilderfeast is a TTRPG like I haven’t really experienced before, a simplified attribute and skill system, the dice mechanics are similar to games I’ve played like Soul bound with a d6 determining success on the venture or outcome but with a twist. If you focus up on your human side and training you roll a d8 that determines both damage and degree of success, or… you can go wild and give into the beast lurking at the surface and roll a d20 instead, with a cost and worse consequence if you fail.

That’s way to high level for this game but there is a fair bit to unpack. The game revolves around finding ingredients and cooking food. Yup, that’s right, finding ingredients and cooking food. Did I mention that the key ingredient in your most significant meals is… Monsters…

A fun hybrid between monster hunter and Dungeon Meshi, Delicious in Dungeon. You are the rangers, caretakers and balance bringers of the world who have a sacred calling to fight against the curse-like-virus called “Frenzy” where normally placid, or still angry monsters, get angrier, meaner and hungrier. You have to stop them and to ensure that their tainted bodies don’t spread the virus you ritualistically cook the meal and eat it to consume the tainted meat.

The catch. Each meal turns you more monstrous. If you eat an piscine monster you may grow fins and find yourself swimming faster, you eat a flying monster like a bat, bird or dragon you may mutate wings and be able to fly to get your dinner. A new meaning to fast food.

By enhancing yourself with monster traits, styles (attributes) and skills you get stronger, strong enough to take on the real villains of this story. Giants. I didn’t mention there were Giants yet did I? Well there is and they are blessed with near immortality, near unbeatable strength but cursed with the Hunger. They need to eat (sound a bit attack on titan now doesn’t it?).

The System

Each Hunter uses a specific hunting tool to take down monsters… but they are a bit different as each weapon is a large cooking instrument. We have Spits (spears cross harpoons, like a skewer really), Pans (Pan…s… yeah its a 1:1 match there), Cleavers (great sword like knives), Mits (ok ok ok, these are like boxing gloves mixed with punch-daggers and brass knuckles. These can hit HARD), Twine (for tying up roasts, ATAT walker legs, etc.) and a Torch (like a flame thrower that roasts your meat, heats up the other tools like a cleaver so it can slice monsters like a hot knife… through butter….)

Each tool has its own anime-esque techniques that feel like monster hunter combo moves but play more like a Bankai or some other finishing move. They also determine your starting Styles, your attributes, from Mighty, Precise, Swift or Tricky.

Mighty is pretty easy. Swing hard with everything you have and cleave through rocks, trees, shells, meat, bone, what ever you need to. Generally favoured for Mits, Pans or Cleavers.

Precise is for targeting a specific part and delicately removing that poisonous sack from the four metre puffer fish or for following a precise map to get through the area safely. Generally found for Cleavers, Spits or Torches.

Swift is focusing on speed, striking with a lashing whip from your tool, moving quickly through a clearing to avoid the predators or swiftly climbing a tree for the best fruit. This is favoured of Mits, Spits and Twine.

Tricky is being stealthy, being deceptive or particularly technical. It can range from stealthily (or trickly) snatching eggs from a nesting bird, deceiving a predator into following a false trail or scent or feinting in combat. this is favoured from Pans, Torches and Twine.

You can have between 0 and 5 in a Style which determine how many dice you roll to try and succeed on a test. Success is measured on rolling a 5 or 6 on the d6. So the more dice you roll (law of averages say that a score of 3, the starting highest score for your character, should have 1 success per attempt). To boost this chance you have skills which range from Strikes and Shots used in combat to Calls to mimic a predator of a creature that’s hunting you to get them to flee, Grab to snatch a set of keys from a poachers belt or Traversal and Search which is used on the trail – to move through the hostile and dangerous lands and to search for ingredients to use in your cooking respectively.

The finishing part is TRAITS – that’s what you inherited from your monstrous meals. Now there’s two or three pages of traits in the book but they range from passives that half damage against a certain style like Natural Armour and Natural reflexes , to granting an alternative form of movement (climbing, swimming, flying, digging and even Floating…) but also more specific combat ones like Venom, Burning body, Fire breath or Electric Shock. All of these when added together, and the fact you mutate either your Style, Skills or a level in a Trait make for a really diverse, complex and yet straight forward system.

The game revolves around Signs – basically Monster Hunter quests on a board – where if you ignore them for too long things get worse for the human and monster communities as you fail to do your job as a Wilder. These may be reports from scouts, a migration of monsters from their native feeding or hunting grounds as they are pushed out or the destruction of a village that you were helping to rebuild.

The last thing I want to touch on as it will appeal to a great many of us is that the other aspect of this is caring for monsters, not just hunting them to extinction for their traits. Rehabilitating monsters and forming bonds with them, their pack (or community) or even gaining a life-long pet and companion is another core part of the game I am excited to experience in the coming weeks(s).

That’s all for tonight. I am working on shortened, more succinct information as the core rule book is 322 pages long, and I am also creating some templates for myself for when I inevitably create monsters, areas or things for myself in the future. Having already created a monster using the book as a guide its hard to resist not getting all your favourite traits but its best to focus on a single aspect or nature and build around that.

Don’t forget to come back this weekend for more content and, as always, don’t forget to roll with Advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe