Adventure a Day

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Hunt or be hunted

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Fightnight! yup, it’s Friday already and I am hoping what we have in store for today is exciting.

Today we are going to look at both a few random encounters and a boss fight where the players will need to take care of what decisions they made during and leading upto combat.

All the below encounters and monsters/things that have been chosen assume out little party are level 2 and that we still have 4 of them.

Things that stalk and hunt

04FrWo

Worgs, large evil wolves are generally found with their golbinoid counter parts. Known to be almost as cunning as they are vicious.

As for encounter balancing we should consider having 3 Worgs which gives us a hard encounter.

Dungeons & Dragons Statblock from tetra-cube

As for balancing for Open legends we can have 4 wargs in the encounter and still have the encounter reasonably balanced.

Open Legends statblock created at heromuster

Closing notes

The Wyrdwoods are home to many beasts, but none such as this.

04FrWyrd

Two options here, something from a dark dream I had once upon a time and a monster that evokes fear in many new and relatively seasoned players.

We should consider having only 1 such monster when balancing our encounter this time

Dungeons & Dragons Statblock from tetra-cube

As for balancing for Open legends we can still have only 1 of these creatures as we have scaled it upto a boss encounter. To read more about that have a look here.

Open Legends statblock created at heromuster

Both the Wyrd beast and Basalisk should act the same to give a truly frightening encounter. Attack the players and disengage when they can retreating to their cave when they suffer enough damage. Both should be ambush predators and utilising their petrifying gaze, or fear and creature summoning to the most.

That’s it for Friday ‘Fight-night’.

Thanks for tuning in or today’s post. I had a bit of fun looking at how the stat blocks between D&D and OpenLegendsRPG using both Kobold-fight club, heromuster, dnd SRD and some inspiration from a few sources over the past week.

For those looking into OpenLegendsRPG it’s a jump from the systems we are used to and for DMs (GMs) that jump is quite large.

Don’t forget if you like something you see feel free to leave a comment and as usual don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The wooded path and the cracked earth…

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Today we are doing something a bit different. Much like most DMs I started to run games early on with having notes on what is in the room, keep, crypt, etc. and describing it. So today is a bit of an ode to those times where we have a rough idea of what is there, what we want in there and how we want it to play out

Today’s artwork was created in artbreeder, apparently they don’t just provide character portraits but have a, somewhat limited, selection of scenery or landscape art that you can tinker around with.

Wyrdwood Forest

04ThMa1

The light flitters through the thick canopy creating a dark mottling on the uneven forest ground. Moss, fungi and lychen cover the fallen branches and trees that create natural dense walls in the forest. A sudden burst of movement startles the party as something darted through a bush making some trees shake as it passed by with haste. The poor lighting, uneven slippery ground and natural walls of greenery make stalking prey feel more like being stalked.

It will be night time soon, the group should find a place to rest for the night where they can easily defend. Little do they know that the wyrdwood is home to not just game and the beast they stalk. Fouler and dark things have picked up their scent and they best be quick in finding a safe place to rest their weary bodies.

The players should feel uneasy when descibing this part of the forest, no straight line of sight, bushes and trunks of trees make it nearly impossible to see more than 30 feet in any direction unless they have made it to a clearing. But, clearings normally attract predators who know prey can be found in such places.

I would use the forest map at night, a dark place, low visibility, something perhaps stalking the party (or being stalked) can lead to some tough but exciting encounters where it’s not about how hard you can swing a sword, or just casting fireball – parties have to be smart and resourceful to survive a night in these woods.

The cave

04ThMa2

The party after surving the night make their way to a platue where they have tracked the beast to several rocky outcrops that burst from the ground like the earths claws digging it’s way out from its eternal prison. The creature having left a trail of things it has feasted on appears to be in a cave at the base of one of these stony spires, the found stench of decay evident that this cave was home to something once before before it’s new resident evicted them.

The cave system is wider than most, about 10ft across and moving deeper than abotu 50ft the party find themselves cut off from the outside light. There is a presence here, cunning and calculating which the party are aware of. A bead of moisture hits the flickering torch that the party carry causing it to hiss too loudly for the enclosed space. As the party continue down the rough hewn walls of this cave fresher body parts of animals and what appears to be men and women can be found hung from spikes on the roof – the creature having a taste for softer meat once it has greened for some time it seems. A burst of wind from somewhere causes the torch to threaten to go out, and it’s then that the party hear the clack clack of talons approaching from the next bend.

Caves are hard to do without maps, I generally follow a formular for mine. A winding trail in, a larger cavern that could fit a few people comfortably and then a few branches from that room that go into smaller ‘rooms’ where the party would find grissly discoveries or perhaps the last will and testiment of an adventurer who knew they time amongst the sun and clouds was coming to an end.

Not having a map to refer to can cause the party members to become very aware of the surroundings. Instead of moving to a position on the map they now have to look for such a position by asking the DM. The DM needs to think on their feat, say yes or no and remember what they have said. Having a rough drawn map of what they plan to describe can help – or even a few dot points for each “room” or place you want the party to go to can make things easier, but improvisation breeds immersion – and it’s a muscle on the DMs character sheet where they get better with using it the more you use it.

I won’t keep people any longer today, I just wanted to say thank to those who use these thoughts or things I create here – if you like something you see, or don’t drop a comment and let me know about it.

Don’t forget that tabletop games are meant to be fun, if you are not having fun doing it then switch it up. Dont bring out the dwarven forge tiles (I wish!) or the grided dry erase board, describe what the paty see, explain it and work that creative muscle. Don’t forget to look for your spark this week and don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Something Wyrd comes this way

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Wednesday, perhaps the deciding day to whether your week is overall great or overall a write off, can set the mood and tone and mood of your week. It’s no mistake that it’s the day for twists and changes in plots here at Brazen Wolfe Tabletop.

I want to try something a bit different for this week’s twists, so let’s drive in as it will takes me a while to write. A reminder to all my readers out there, these come from the (sometimes dark) recesses off my mind and, for the most part, excluding inspirations that I note down, everything is a Brazen Wolfe Original.

Knights honor is more like guidelines

The flickering candlelight did nothing to dampen the focus of Fred. Her flashing orange eyes like pools of liquid Silver reflecting the dancing flame that she stared into.

A noise, perhaps from her scrying, perhaps not, barely registered past her focus as she stared at the image’s that she conjured up into the flame. 

Men and women in silvered armour danced within the flames, their banners and shields spotted as if passing under thick but miniature clouds that blotted the sun. A screeching, keening cry of predator, familiar but unrecognisable, pierced through her mind as she struggled to focus on the candle and the images it procured at her behest. A thudding now joined the sounds of the hunt, flashes of silver turning red, browns and greens liquifying before her eyes as the keening screech caused her eyes to water. 

The constant thumping now turned into the rythmic thumping and crunching of wood as more silver turned red and browns pooled on a mottled carpet.

‘Fred!,’ a familiar voice called as a strong but caring hand gripped her shoulder, ‘come quick, you need to see this’ Percy commanded as he wrapped a cloak around her shoulders.

‘I know… It’s escaped,’ Fred said with a sigh, the candle fluttering out as her conjuration ended. Wiping the trickling blood from her nose Fred stood up from the padded chair and noted the splintered remains of her door.

‘Three nights from now, the silvered will fall onto the mottled carpet, It’s hunt complete. The Wyrd dwells amongst a patchwork roof without defined walls’. 

‘So it’s in the Wyrdwood huh,’ Sir Percival mumbled as he ran his hand through his beard in thought, ‘I guess we better find a way to bring it back or put it down’ he mused before walking through the ruined door.

‘Next time it wouldn’t hurt to knock Percy’ , Winnifred remarked as she bundled the cloak over her shoulder and followed the man she served.

‘I did’ was all Percy said as he turned down the hall and headed off towards the arena.

04WeSc

Winnifred is the creator of the creature, as such she has an understanding of it’s motives and  nature. She created it to be a challenge, to learn and be something more than a puppet, however with no strings attached it began to wonder why it had to obey directions from it’s creator.

04WePlt

Sir Percival brought the beast in for a single purpose, the removal of certain knights from a rival court. What wasn’t planned was the captured beast escaping and beginning to hunt his citizens.

Chad

04WeCh

Chad, knowing about the hunt beforehand after seducing the right ladies at the court, worked his way into the holding pen and sabotaged the holding mechanisms to the pen to make sure the beast could escape.

Once notified of the beasts escape Chad volunteered to go after it himself so that he would be considered as the next knight to Sir Percival.

These variations on the beast can drastically change the course of the adventure and with little tweaks it increases the variety of encounters you can have in this adventure.

I wanted to keep the twists closely related to the plot of this adventure, stemming back to the original inspiration of this week there is very little shades between black and white.

The aim of these twists is to show that by keeping a single plot in focus you can spin up several alternative adventures. Having this flexibility or being able to improvise when something goes a bit off the trail can make the adventure feel natural and increase the immersion the players have for your session.

As always, if you like something in particular please let me know, and don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Those who dwell in the Wyrdwood

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Tuesday again. Today we are looking at a few people who live near Winterbourne Keep or the city that sprung up around it. Each NPC (Non-player character for those new to the game genre) here brings something to this week’s quest and can bring a lot of fun, intrigue or drama to the story that we craft for the players.

Today I go back to using Artbreeder for character portraits as I love the creative nature of it where you can tweak the little things on faces to get a whole new NPC portrait.

Winterbourne City

Sir Percival Winterbourne

04TuPeWi

Roguishly handsome, Sir Percival Winterbourne has medium length brown hair that appears to glow with red tints when the Autumn sun hits it. His grey-blue eyes are full of warmth and he carries himself with a welcoming stature.

Percival speaks with a warrior’s intellect, that is to say that everything he says is calculated, weighed and deliberated regardless if he is attending his court or walking amongst the people of his city. Aware of the prying eyes and ears in his vicinity at all times, Percival is a master strategist which is understandable considering his past.

Percival gained his knighthood and Lordship by infiltrating a rival kingdom’s gatehouse and overpowering the guards with a handful of knights. This, however, went against the orders of his commander but spared the lives of hundreds of warriors on both sides of the battle. The king, finding his judgment sound and unquestionable granted him titles and land where his now growing mass of followers now reside as his knights’ bastion.

Cordelia ‘Cordy’ Carpenter

04TuCoCa

Cordy is an attractive but boyish young squire who works under one of the knights in Sir Percival’s court. Her long walnut hair reaches past her shoulder blades but she ties it high and close to her scalp as to be judged on her skill with a blade and bow instead of her gender.

Cordy is potentially the most loyal and dedicated squire’s that can be found in the court and her bravery has been tested a few times before in performing her duties as a squire.

She longs to strike out on her own and prove herself a knight by her own merit instead of being judged based on her gender and looks alone. As such she goes to a great deal to hide her immediate womanly appearance but will not deny her truth if questioned.

Winnifred Winterleaf

04TuWiWi

Normally seen standing a few feet to the left of Sir Percival at all times Fred appears to be a young lady of fair appearance. Her bright orange hair is rarely seen without an old leather hat that contains the wild nest-like hair underneath. Her eyes and ears give away her elven heritage but she is normally quiet and calculating, a harmonious pairing with the knight she serves.

Prone to talking in riddles Fred is channeled chaos. Unpredictable yet powerful, she acts as Sir Percival’s court wizard.

Chad Taylor

04TuChTa

Strong cheekbones and broad shoulders are the first thing that people notice about chad. Hailing from a distant land Chad is charismatic and well liked by the court.

Chad is driven, almost to a fault. First to volunteer for the dangerous mission or the errand that people expect him to fail, Chad lives to prove people wrong.

Thanks for joining me today where we looked at a few NPCs to flesh out any adventure. With a few small adjustments any military like setting these NPCs could form the basis of an adventure.

Have a good night and week and oh and don’t forget to roll with Advantage!
The Brazen Wolfe

The Tournament

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The inspiration for this week’s Adventure comes from my youth and where I grew up.

I grew up on a farm where the lights from the cities couldn’t reach. The inspiration comes from two places on the farm. The flats had a creek cutting through it which was surrounded by a dense mass of elm trees. During the daytime it was a place of wonder and adventure, at night the light from the moon and the stars could barely cut through the dense canopy and the only sounds was the creek trickling or of things in the darkness.

The second was up the hill towards the house. A forest of nearly 3000 trees.
At night great patches of moonlight created a patchwork of greys amongst the trees. In the spring and summer the thistles would grow so large that they turned living walls of green, which also created little nooks for things to hide in and stalk prey…

So this week’s plots will revolve around a lord, his wizard and a hunt amongst the trees disguised as a tournament to choose the lord’s next guard.

Picture by Brian Ralphs, found here

The knight, Sir Percival Winterbourne, is a tall and impressive figure who had one of the largest allocations of land in this kingdom. His royal guard are revered across the land and a great many songs are sung about them in the taverns of the surrounding towns and cities. Each year Sir Percival sets up a contest of champions to select one amongst the candidates who would be deemed worthy to become one of his Guard. This year it’s different from the normal jousting and martial arts, it’s a hunt for a great beast in the woods and the party that brings back the beast, alive or dead, are the ones who would claim the prize.

A beast scorned

04MoSt1 / 04MoLe1 / 04MoEs1 / 04MoFe1

The king spared no expense this year, he has brought in an exotic beast from a far away land and has let it loose in the nearby Wyrdwood forest.

Or so that’s what he wants everyone to know, to be truthful the beast was meant to be the final test for an individual in the area. A final test of bravery and skill that would bring fame and glory, and not to mention riches to his people from the crowds that attend his yearly tournaments, however something went wrong and the beast escaped its captivity and the knight believes that it is somewhere in the forest.

The Party has three options here for this quest this week.

  1. They are participating as a group to earn favour of the Knight (04MoSt1).
  2. They have been hired to help a young aspiring squire achieve knighthood, he is passionate, savvy but needs a team to participate (04MoEs1).
  3. The knight hires the party to find the beast and report back on its location, or if possible capture it alive so he can still have his tournament (4MoLe1).
  4. The party arrives a day after the competition has begun. The Knight has one of his courtiers trail the party (poorly) before appearing before the group and asks them for discrete assistance. None of the participants have returned and Lord Percival believes them in danger. He requests the party to bring back the survivors or the bodies of those lost so that they can have a proper burial. (04MoFe1)

Thanks for joining me for the beginning of another week, this time I am following the traditional zine format where you have a single adventure focused on in the book which just gets expanded from there. So this week we are exploring the family farm I grew up on, well sort of, and in particular the feelings, emotions and sensations I had on that green hill at night.

Without taking up too much time I just wanted to reflect that this is the fourth week I have been writing and I wanted to personally thank those who read and interact with these musings from my mind. A big shout out to the people who are following me as I can’t tell you how humble I feel that people want to subscribe to read what I type here – thank you.

As always don’t forget to trigger that spark of imagination that drives adventure and don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

What lies beneath Sparrows Rest Keep

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Sunday already, a bit of a delay in getting this out this weekend as the day after a D&D session normally finds me quite tired and brain numb. But I am pretty excited to present what we have today and hope that it finds everyone ready to roll some dice.

Sparrows Rest

The party find themselves approaching the quiet town of Sparrows Rest in the afternoon after hearing that their mayor was offering a tidy sum of gold for adventurers to come to the town and solve a problem with discretion.

Upon reaching the town they are greated warmly by everyone as if they were old friends, making their way to the Dusty Spade, the local Inn, they soon find out that it’s just how the people are in this town, friendly and welcoming to a fault.

The Innkeep advises them that the Mayor was called out to a farm near the keep around midday and that he will seek out the party when he returns from assisting the farmer. The party settle down in the inn for a meal, hungry and not wanting to have rations after eating them over a few days travel and they begin to see the townsfolk trickling in to avoid the afternoon sun.

A loud, prudish boy on the verge of manhood struts into the Inn, several villagers cheer his name, Tim, as he saunters yup to the bar, pushing a few gold pieces over to the Innskeep, Rose Longhammer, as he buys a round of drinks for all present.

He begins to tell a tale of how he lost his grandfathers sword in the belly of a cowardly monster the size of a horse up at the keep at dusk the night before. Several villagers console him but braise his bravery at fighting something that large. His ego seems to swell and another tale almost begins before he notices the party watching him. He approaches the parties table, ordering more ale for them as he does, and sits down without asking. Announcing that he is Tim Carpen, pausing as if expecting applause he continues when none issues forth from those at the table.

He has lost his sword and he wishes the Party to return it to him. He is about to start retelling the tale of his heroics when the Inn door bursts inwards and in steps a weathered but rather unremarkable man. He takes a hat off and wipes sweat from his brow before nodding to Rose and making his way over to the group.

“I would speak to you at my residence if you would be so kind to join me.” he whispers to the party as he waves off Rose returning to the table with several tankards of ale, purchased by the now displaced Tim.

The plot

The Mayor has a problem, crops keep disappearing and every morning something else is missing from the farms in Sparrows Rest. It started a few moons back but it’s become more apparent and they have a holy day approaching that the mayor is concerned will be ruined if the village loses any more of the potential harvest.

The farms crops keep disappearing, sheared off at the ground as if a great scythe had swept in and reeped the crop. It started with a few bags worth of wheat, but last night an entire field disappeared and before that another farmer lost a herd of goats.

The farms closest to the ruins of the old keep appear to be hit first and hardest and even a villager or two has gone missing but no other adventurers who have come to aid the town have been successful. The mayor asks the party to find whats happening to the crops, the livestock and the villagers before its too late. They are to start at dawn and they can have two chests of gold (1500gp) if they can save the village.

The people

Rose Longhammer

When the party return to the inn Rose would put them up free of charge as instructed by the Mayor. After a meal, a few ales and the other patrons disperse Rose tells the party how her she runs the inn by herself now, he daughter used to help her a few months back but thats no more.

If the party investigate it turns out Rose’s daughter and Rose’ brother were the first to disappear, vanished overnight with no sign of struggle at their house. The door was found open and the remains of their wolf-hound was found a day later near the ruins, little more than bones and a few scraps of fur left. She requests that if they do find any information about her brother or her daughter, Susanna, that they bring it back so that she can have closure.

Tim Carpen

Potentially displeased by the Mayor taking the attention from the newcomers ignores the Party and publically states that they must be adventurers of very little renoun to be so poorly equipped to assist the village. His parents are perhaps the most influencial family in the town as Lady Carpen’s (Tims mother) ancestors once defended the lands from what is referred to as “the culling” as massive battle that saw thousands of lives lost, and their bloods, bone and flesh has now enriched the soil.

Tim, secretly, is a coward. Having been at the ruins looking for Susanna, his boyhood crush, had seen something in the ruins and fled, losing his blade as he ran.

Mayor James Goodfellow

A great man with a large heart, he only wants what is best for the town and its people.

The Encounters

The Inn

As the party sleep that night they are woken to a scratching at the wall and something dark on the streets. A few torches and lamps are lit but they are slowly being put out, lamp by lamp.

IF they investigate the party wound find Rose returning from the direciton of the Keep towards the Inn. As she sees the party a furred hand would clamp down over her mouth and drag her between houses.

The culprit is a four ratling skulkers, small by human standards but cruel and fast.

The ruins

Files

overkeep-map-with-notes-and-poiDownload
underkeep-map-with-notes-and-poiDownload

Dusk, if the party approach the ruins at night they would find their way uptowards the keep before they are ambushed (see over-keep map) at point of interest (POI) 3. If more than 50% of the attacking forces are salin then they retreat back to the trap door and disappear down it – revealing the entrance to the lair (point 2). Each time the Party return to the keep without finding the trap door change the ambush site and the composition.

Click here for >>>Encounters<<<

Nightly attacks will happen on the city if they Party dont uncover the source of the Ratlings at the keep. Dusk or during the night.

The underkeep (see map) should have encounters of a few warriors or skulkers at POI 9, 4.

The Encounter of the black rat will be in POI 8.

In POI 7 there should be the brooder encounter but also Rose Longhammers daughter is in the pit, bound with manacles and tending to the rats.

The outcome

The party once defeating the ratlings can return to the village with Rose’s daughter. Decide if the party find Tim’s sword as well.

Once the party return the mayor will give them their small chests of gold (1500gp) and will decalre that the party will always have a place in Sparrows Rest. If the party return to sparrows rest in the future there will be a furnished house that is dedicated to them and a few acres of land that is tilled for them.

Thanks for joining for this weekend’s write up, hope the adventure brings your players some enjoyment.

As always don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Weekend update

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Well the weekend is here and hopefully my scheduled dnd game goes ahead tonight as I have my party surrounded by a horde of ghouls after the party slew their Elder Ghast ‘king’.

So today’s post is really two fold. A snapshot of whats been put together this week as well as a small discussion for Dungeon Masters out there.

Snap shot

Yes, I finally managed to get my stationary order in. May explain the change of colours for the weeks items.

I find this process of mapping out a few scenarios and spending time fleshing out my musings is very beneficial. At the end of the week I attach the materials I didn’t use to the back of the A4 sheet and put it into storage.

For D&D I normally conjure up to he adventure mentally an hour before the dnd session. After so long, and having quite a few players who took pride in detailing my carefully laid out adventures I had to get very good at improvisation and thinking on my feet. So I developed what I call my Rome approach, which I am sure many many other DMs and GMs already do, which has served me well these past few years. I hope to write it up later so I can share this approach with as many DMs as I can.

The second thing I want to talk about today is something I’ve had to experience three times (too many) in my current campaign.

A player throwing in the towel and leaving the group.

It sucks, let’s be blunt here.

The first was due to different expectations around long running campaigns and the desire to change character’s every few sessions. Not a bad thing for the series of one shots I was running but when it starts to impact the games flow and the experience for the other players you’ve got to draw a line in the sand and say no to the third reroll (without a party member death that is).

The second was weirdest. They just stopped showing up and never responded to messages. It was weird because they were almost the most passionate player who loved ever session and had a ball every game.

The last one was understandable and recent (last week). Simply put, COVID and dealing with added responsibilities meant something had to give and sadly dnd was it. Having young kids also made it hard.

Dealing with party members leaving isn’t new, but the same familiar feelings do return. Self doubt is the big one.

Despite knowing that their leaving wasn’t due to my story, the relationships built during the game or what I brought to the table it still impacted my motivation and made me doubt the campaign that I’d be working on for over 3 years.

Motivation is hard to fix, especially when it’s felt across across the entire party and it’s been the death of many a adventuring party. The only way forward is to try and rekindle that spark, and get your party excited for it too and thats part of the reason I have started this adventure a week personal challenge. To motivate myself and get that Spark going again but share the process with others.

Thats enough rambling I think, I’ve got a ghoul keep to prepare.

Have a good weekend and don’t forget to roll with advantage,

The Brazen Wolfe

Ahhh.. Rats..

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Happy fightnight all! With Friday comes something I have been excited to reveal – some stat blocks created in Tetra-cube.com with assistance from Kobold fight club to make sure I didn’t have things too difficult for the players. We are here to challenge them, not kill them.

As with the adventure below – if you want to be able to describe these monstrosities I would recommend looking at the inspiration for this week’s adventure, Warhammer and in particular my favourite faction, the Skaven. Everyone’s favourite, insane, egotistical and fundamentally broken race of ratmen.

For this week lets assume that we have a party of 4 level 2 PCs. Since are are into our 3rd week surely they have had a level by now 😉

Proud parents and their Brood

03FrRS1 + 03FrRLB1

A combo that many dread. A ratling brooder is never alone, you generally encounter 2 or 3 of them and they generally have a swarm of rats that they have raised since infancy. And trained to kill on the smell of their favourite fermented food.

The Ratling Brooders will always try and open with a salvo of their fermented Goo, at which point the Rat swarms burst forth from the baskets their keepers carry on their backs or sides and race towards whatever is covered in their favourite treat, eating it and the still living thing underneath.

Ravenous Rat Swarm
Ratling Brooder

To reach our ideal “Challenge rating” we want to have 4 Ratling brooders and 2 Ravenous Rat Swarms. this is a medium encounter (but lets not forget that rats are never alone). The encounter idea here is that the good would come out and then the rat swarm would use it’s movement to run at the target hit by the goo and immediately begin to eat it.

Ratling Warrior Caste

03FrRLSk + 03FrRLWa + 03FrRLSl

During the initial encounter with the Ratling humanoids there should be a few ratling Skulkers leading the pack, investigating and positioning themselves to ambush the party. The Ratling slaves then rush in, prodded and provoked into fits of madness that see them rush headfirst into the enemies whilst the slightly better equipped ratling warriors move in behind the slaves to hopefully see their enemies easy pickings once worn out from the initial waves.

Ratling Skulker 03FrRLSk
Ratling Warrior 03FrRLWa
Ratling Slave 03FrRlSl

When looking at balancing out the above, you want the waves of Ratlings to feel very overwhelming. It’s a horrific sight really for any player. A bunch of dark dwelling small-human sized rats rushing at the party with sharp rusty weapons and even sharper teeth.

We want this to feel tough so let’s go with 2 Ratling skulkers that aim to attack from the flanks once the party are engaged in melee (targeting the ones at the back of course), 4 Ratling warriors and 6 Ratling slaves that will run as fast as they can to get to the party, followed closely behind by the warriors.

Leader Caste

03FrRLBW

The Black furred ratlings, or those blessed with the ability to chitter the very weave from their crooked and bent teeth are the highest of the caste, these rats are generally heavily guarded by several guards (Ratling Warriors) and possess no small amount of magical abilities.

Ratling Black fur

The final fight, probably somewhere deep underground in one of the chambers that are there, the Ratling Black Fur should be a hard encounter. For this purpose we have it guarded by 2 ratling warriors and 6 ratling slaves (who act as its body guard, and will throw themselves at the enemy one by one to give their magical master time to weave it’s evil spells.

Thanks for joining me for another day – hope these few stat block and encounter size directions hope to jump start that creative spark we all have so that you can have a great adventure this weekend.

Don’t forget that with any Dnd 5e stat block or monster, with a fresh new name, a brand new description these ratling (Rat men / Skaven) could be slugmen or roach-men. With some very simple tweaking and a bit of creative flair it’s very easy to create your own content in DnD.

Please have a good weekend and join me for the full adventure hook this weekend!

And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage!
The Brazen Wolfe

What lies above and below

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Thursday has come, and gone for me by time I am getting around to typing this up. This week we look at the map of the keep which was sketched on paper then hand crafted on Inkscape.

Inkscape is a useful tool for creating a bunch of artwork and it’s free. Check it out.

Sparrows Rest Keep

Just a single map this week.

Had a bit of fun messing around in Inkscape. It’s free software for creating images. By some simple tweaks you can get it in isometric grid mode which is what I played around this week with. It’s by no means the best but with practice and some dedicated time the outcome could be a staple in your GM toolbelt.

The idea here is that the trap door (right of the map) is hard to find. It should be revealed when the encounter happens and the party find the thugs or humanoids coming out from hiding.

A worn ladder lead down to a small 5ft room where stairs descend into the darkness beyond. With a door to the left that leads to a small room that may have been an office.

The rooms below ground (with exception to the secret room and passages) all look like they would have had storage for food or the like. Now its pretty barren.. or not.. a decision to make when using the map.

The secret room is the one that leads to the stairs that go down to the altar room. This shouldn’t be hard to spot as the keeps been in ruins for years and the creatures that inhabit it now likely could have found it.

The altar is 5ft x 5ft and appeared to have a deity on it at one point. Its ruined remains litter the room.

The very right (south) rooms look to be cells, and something has burrowed into the very back one which leads into the warrens to the east (bottom left) of the map

The warren passage ways are big enough for people to crawl through single file. Should create some tense situations but nothing too frightening.

Files for download 🙂

large-isometric-view-of-the-keep-1Download
focused-isometric-view-of-the-keep-onlyDownload
focused-isometric-view-of-the-under-keep-onlyDownload

I’ll see if I can upload a better copy of the image since the grid also didn’t upload. Otherwise It’ll be there for this weekend’s adventure so look for it then.

Update: – added the Isometric grid version, and some files to download if you choose to use them for your own adventure!

As with every post, use what you want, comment below your thoughts on whats there and let me know how it’s going. Staying connected in times like these is important.

What else is important is catching up with friends and family, so don’t forget to check in with them and see how they are going.

Don’t forget to check out the other posts for this week, or the last and as always don’t forget to roll with advantage!
The Brazen Wolfe

Sparrows Rest Keep

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Wednesday already. Today we are looking at expanding out plot, refining the core mission or quest to create that secondary hook or twist that leave the players wanting to stay up later or move your fortnightly session a week early just so they find out what’s behind the hidden door.

So without taking too much time.. a disclaimer.. I know what I want to happen and this week.. I’m also probably going to start on the map tonight too as I’m anticipating something a bit bigger for this weeks adventure. I am also working towards somthing that I hope to implement next month – so stay tuned for that announcement.

Not all that glitters is gold…

The aim of the setting this week is to get the party to the ruins. The party have come at a perilous time where darkness is coming under the chitter of a hundred paws. So this isn’t really a twist more a path that the adventure moves down one or the other.

The keep itself is mostly ruins. The outer walls that used to hold a courtyard have been ransacked for their well carved stone. There is little patches of grass that surround the ruined walls and archways, almost as if the grass itself was cut out.

The only sounds are the occasional gust of wind or the rattle of a stone falling from a long forgotten rampart.. The attempt to investigate such noises leaves the curious puzzled and as such the ruins are believed to be haunted.

03WeMa1

The keep is currently home to a group of thugs, they have sent some of their members to Sparrows Rest to scare the townsfolk into leaving so their presence is not known.

The thugs are currently excavating a long lost passageway looking for the treasures that may lie beneath Sparrows Rest Keep.

Main plot. The cause of a lot of issues for the Adventure

Hostile group discovered and main antagonists

03WeMa2

Investigating the keep at day finds it empty and devoid of life, even the grass and animals know better to dwell near the keep

At night the ruins are filled with Chittering humanoids with their red bulbous eyes almost glowing in the Torchlight.

They are almost endless in numbers and seem to burst forth from a hidden trap door among the stones.

If not thugs it’s these. Party either encounter them at night in the city or at the ruins.

Main antagonists

The party will either way venture into the tunnels beneath the ruined keep.

The weddings off

Kat Baker…

03WeKB1

Kat Baker is and still is heavily devoted to Percy, she found out that he had been sneaking upto the keep to practice dark magic with some dark master at night and challenged him about it, threatening to break off the engagement if he didn’t cease learning dark magic. Which he agreed to.

The next day he was dead, Kat went off to find Percys dark master for revenge.

To progress the story and not have Kat as the culprit. Have this during the day after the body was found (the party were approached during the following day and asked to investigate)

Party catch the investigate during the day and find Kat’s horse mostly devoured and Kat holed up a busted tower severely wounded. She mentions the thugs/humanoids that came from the ground.

03WeKB2

Kat Baker is and still is heavily devoted to Percy, she found out that he had been sneaking upto the keep to practice dark magic with some dark master at night and challenged him about it, threatening to break off the engagement if he didn’t cease learning dark magic. Which he agreed to.

The next day he was dead, Kat went off to find Percys dark master for revenge.

To progress the story and not have Kat as the culprit. Have the players enter the town at late afternoon and have them beseached to go after Kat now. This will land the Party there at night.

If the party get there at night they see a lone figure climbing stairs up the tower with a torch and sword drawn. Humanoid figures (thugs or otherwise) chase her up the steps.

A good blade is one in a million.

Timothy Carpens blade – he is revealed to be a coward.

03WeTC1

Tim Carpen fled and dropped hissword on the ground, his blade lays where it landed. It was said to be an enchanted sword given to his family to protect them against evil as a sign of appreciation from the king at that time.

This blade however is not that, it is a fake and anyone with a keen eye for smithing could reveal that (or a dwarf as there is well etched dwarven runes in the blade but they reveal that Tim was a fraud and coward.

If Tim approaches the party requesting aide to find his families sword then this is a possible choice

If hte party returns during the day then the Mayor may greet them (roll % and <50) he asks to see the blade and then reveals that it is very poorly made. A dwarf could also reveal this information.

If Tim’s mother finds out then it should be revealed that Tim lost the real blade in the ruins weeks ago when he went in search of treasure – he found a hidden trap door and something spooked him so he dropped it in the door. This time he didn’t even make it to the door when he was approached and he threw the sword and ran.

03WeTC2

The sword is indeed fine, and its burried in the chest of a man/humanoid thing with black fur.

The blade shines like bright daylight when revealed at night and during the day it gives of a soft humm that sets anything with an evil disposition upon edge.

Not needed but could drive the story forwards more

Party can retreave hte blade but the presence of the body should alert them to whats under the keep.

If no options are desired, but the quest is obtained then the blade is found on the grass, it is a fine blade but no trace of beast can be found. The party then either encounter thugs or the humanoids depending on 03WEMA1 or 03WEMA2.

People of Sparrows Rest

Twists for either Rose Longhammer or James Goodfellow.

03WeRLH1

Rose Longhammer is actually the mother of a daughter that went missing at the keep a few weeks back. Each day she goes looking for her daughter and finds nothing.

Rose would ask to employ the party to try and find what happened to her daughter. She says that she has had no luck thus far but she is rather poor at tracking or looking around ruins.

New quest for the party

03WeJG1

James is actually in league with the Thugs/humanoids. He has grown impatient at the villagers lack of respect and wishes to bring doom to the village so he can save it and earn enough glory to be given lands and a title at one of the three kingdoms he has been currying favour with.

The thugs leader or the “surprise NPC” reveal that James is the person they are working with.

The party has the choice to extort the mayor, reveal him or do nothing. But they know what the Mayor has done now

Well the plot thickens, and much like a good stew there is meat and hidden flavours to be found. With these additional twists or even additional quests there is more information to work and develope our adventure. There is a strong warhammer feel/vibe I am working on for this weeks adventure as I am quite passionate about many tabletop hobbies and warhammer is another one that I am yet to touch upon.. yet.

Don’t forget, if you like one of the twists above feel free to use it in your own adventure and as always don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe