DM tools

Masks by moonlight…

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Fight night is here and what a day it has been. We lost power here (most of the city actually) from about 4am until 4:30pm, which means that my work day was really out of whack and the amount of time that I can spend on writing up todays Friday-night writeup is.. limited to say the least. But let’s not let that distract me any more and lets get the dice rolling.

As normal Kobold Plus Fight club and Tetra-cube is my weapon choice – I will eventually get around to looking for stat-block generators (using either home-brew or publicly available content so the Wizards don’t bring down their judgement) but maybe this weekend I will write up a bit about the other products they offer.

Ambush at the platform

As the introduction to the village, in first person version (tangent – let me know how that was!), as the party approach the pulley operated platform they are to be ambushed by a bunch of goblins.

As a cop-out I will say that the writeup from yesterday describes them adequately enough but lets talk about mechanics.

According to kobold fight club we can have 1 CR 2 and 5 CR1/4 creatures before this gets a bit too strong for our party of adventurers. Speaking of which, for this I am assuming our group is level 4. Or we could mix it up and just have a horde (12-13) of goblins (keeping to my hard encounter mantra) or if we want something to just break the narrative of travelling through marshland let’s do 8 Goblins – just on the entry-point side of Medium.

Forgotten Gods, Lost Guardians

09FrLG

“I wish Sid was still with us,” Ray said as he stepped into another hole of muck and filth, “he would’ve had us through this bog in moments, not hours”.

“Yeah, pity about what happened to him in the ghoul nest. Hope that bloody tome was worth it” mused Dusk, holding his beard above his head so it wouldn’t drag in the muck.

Mike and Zander beckoned the other, dare I say heavier, party members over to a set of tracks.

“These aren’t orcs.. I have tracked orcs before – these are human, or were human. It seems to drag its right leg. Maybe undead?” Zander explained to the others, noting a set of tracks in the mud heading towards some stone ruins about 300ft from where they are.

At the mention of Undead, Mike stood straight – gripped his swords hilt and strode off.

“Mike! My lady hasn’t mentioned anything dead this way. It’s not goi..” Dusk began, half hopping to get his enchanted boots out of the mud.

“IF there are dead in this bog they will burn.” Mike squeezed through his teeth. His allies sighed, still not used to his righteous vendetta against the dead.

As the party stepped onto the first solid stone of the day they sighed a breath of relief, Zander taking a moment and a wisp of magic to clean the parties garments from the filth of the bog.

Ray closed his eyes and channeled his divine might outwards – searching for those who would stand against his march. “I sense something old and dark, but not dead. Perhaps fiendish in nature” he began, pointing over the edge of a hole in the stone paving – where the tacky-muck footprints led.

“HELP!” a voice called from down the hole. “I think I broke my ankle when I fell. The statues, they wont stop staring!” A woman’s voice seemed to reverberate from the stone chamber.

Without a moment to waste the party moved to the edge of the hole and jumped, Zander reaching out and touching his allies he shot off a blast of air towards the ground – slowing their fall to something manageable.

Landing with a small impact, less than what it would have been if not for Zander, the party quickly sought the owner of a the voice.

A lantern, low on oil by the looks of it, burned not 10ft from where the hole led and a young woman lay there, part of her dress wrapped around her leg.

“One moment lass,” Dusk said, bringing forward his shield which proudly sported the symbol of the Raven queen, “will have you up in a moment” he said as divine magics washed over her broken limb.

Sighing Mike sheathed his sword and walked around the room. “Interesting, these statues. They look like they could leap right off the wall. Dusk you must see this stone work, its similar to some of the carvings we saw in the temple of Malar” Mike said turning around and looking back to the party, his musing taking him 30 or so feet from his allies.

“Mike!” Ray called, rust covered vines seemingly springing from his wrist to wrap around Mike – biting into his flesh and wrenching him towards his allies. Half the distance he had walk covered in a mere moment. The stone where he was standing seemed to explode as a shield sized hammer head pulverised the stone work where Mike was standing.

“Thanks for the help Ray,” Mike said, his hands glowing causing the multiple lacerations to close on his torso, the magical blade of Vex that Ray wielded still an amazing weapon and tool. “Zander, light them up will you” Mike said as he brought out his great sword, the guard of it magically shifting to represent two outstretched wings as Mike pulsed energy through the hilt as lightning crackled through the room. The harsh blue-white light of the magic revealing several large animated statues with various weapons striding towards the party. Lightning seemingly bouncing off their enchanted stone forms.

“Well they aren’t undead, but they will soon join their creator” Mike stated, cracking his neck to the side as he felt the magic in his three other allies surging.

Animated amour, easy enough to balance out with this party. One suit per party member of 4th level should make it a challenging fight, the darkness of the room, the helpless woman they have encountered as well as the magical resistance (whether imagined by the party or tacked onto the stat-block) will make it a fun fight.

Not all green things in trees are leaves

09FrOr

As the party retire from the tavern for the night, having secured accommodation with one of the villagers after helping them out of one of the forgotten jungle temples and saving them from the guardians of the ruins, Mike, the human paladin, adjusts his armour and great sword strung between his shoulder blades; never quite feeling safe without the enchanted blade and battle tested plate.

“Well, I can safely say that was not rabbit,” barked the Dwarf, Dusk, a Cleric of the raven queen and reliable ally, “but it went well with the ale, pity she didn’t have any of those mushrooms that make your tongue go numb though.” the dwarf mused as he ferreted for his pipe, finding it next to his axe that even now thirsted for battle.

“Sir Dusk, I don’t believe that partaking in those contraband substances is fitting of the noble heroes such as us” said Zandar, a man of powerful magics who could literally summon a storm in a teacup. “Besides that was definitely rabbit”.

“Rabbit or not, we have a busy day ahead of us. If it wasn’t for saving lady Esmereld we would have found the hideout of these green-skins that are causing a ruckus in this town and persuaded them to leave” Said Ray, a paladin who believed that total conquest was the only way to truly find peace.

“I agree,” Mike declared, stifling a yawn, “Let us go rest, I am sure that we are all short on magical reserve after that battle with the animated guardians of that temple. Let us not dishonor Lady Esmereld with our tardiness to take up her kind and generous offer” he stuttered the last part, a blush covering his cheeks.

Dusk, his head tilted to the side slightly, his lips moving and eyes staring at vacant space slowly raised his hand and pointed across the rope bridges that allowed travel from one side of the town to the other.

“My lady says that the search is over, that the quarry we seek stalk us now with death and menace coating their blades. Pity I didn’t get any of that mushroom. It would have made this fight a bit fairer.” Dusk said shrugging his axe from his shoulder, the head seeming to burn with a menace that would fill a lesser being with dread.

“Your patron seems to have taken a stronger interest in our activities since we freed her from her prison, Dusk. Can she give us more advanced warning in the future. I would have insisted we have a more substantial rest before fighting again” Zandar stated stormily, electricity arcing across his outstretched fingers and a sudden breeze ruffled his hair.

As the Orcs slunk from the trunks of the tree, the light from the crescent moon above making their ivory coloured masks seem to glow amongst the gloom.

For a moment the orcs sized up the party, their movement semi-erratic as they seemed to bounce from foot to foot waiting for some arbitrary sign to be given that announced a fight.

“Well, let’s get this sorted so we can get to bed then.” Mike said, gripping the hilt of his sword, Sky Chariot, as Raynor called upon his Patron and his blade – Vines made of rust spreading from his longsword to bridge the gap between the two parties and commence the bloodshed.

I hope my party won’t mind me using their characters as inspiration for the write up (names changed as it didn’t feel right to use their characters names without forewarning). But let’s break it down. Our encounter balance book says that we can have up to 7 Orcs for this size and level party, but feel free to adjust. Given the location any ranged attacker will have an advantage as the bridges are narrow and you could easily block movement of one or another of the forces by just sitting in the middle of a bridge. So if your party has a lot of ranged capability (like mine….) then throwing another 1-3 Orcs wont matter..

The bog drowned dead

09FrBDD

After the last Orc had fallen and the party had finally been able to make it to Esmereld’s house the party had no trouble almost instantly falling asleep.

Through scattered dreams from Zander, fitful nightmares riddled with undead from Mike and the vision ridden thoughts (as if Dusk could sleep with the raven queen invading his thoughts constantly) Ray was the only one to really get any form of sleep. So when the town guard knocked on their door and Esmereld ran around waking the party they had barely managed to get any sleep. But instantly they could all feel the dead were nearby, and en masse.

Led to a few weight balanced ropes and platforms of wood they were advised that several of the guard were already fighting off a large zombie horde, and rumors’ of a dark wizard hidden in the mists were coming through from the guardsmen that made it back to the town – but they were missing a unit of men and women who went into the mists.

The party each went to one of the strange rope contraptions before leaping down – feet on the wooden beams and the rope zipping them all the way down to the ground, all except Zander who had a thing with flare, who jumped through an opening – the guardsmen gasping and rushing to watch him fall only to see a spark of magic cross his body moments before he hit the ground, summoning a gust of wind to gentle place him on the ground. The party, boots on ground found themselves surrounded by the dead, zombies were in states of breaking apart, their magic spent, and several more were walking at the base of the trees – pulling and clawing at the wood, as if trying to bring the town down from the roots. Given enough time and not opposition they would be successful. Drawing weapons and magic the party strode forward, separating heads from the dead as they defended the trees. Mike, stopping for a moment to let his divine senses stretch outwards found a particularly foul energy as the party defeated the last of the zombies assaulting the trees.

“This way, I think I found the dark magics. I think its some form of lesser necromancer. Remember that Ghoul king we fought. Cake walk compared to this thing.” Mike wheezed, swinging his massive enchanted blade around still gave him a workout.

“Aye, my lady also confirms that’s what is waiting for us, and she wants us to kill it. For once I agree with the raven bitch” Dusk muttered darkly, spitting on the last zombie to feel his axe. He did not have a good relationship with his deity.

“Well, lets get to it then” Ray said, lifting his shield higher and flicking some dark ichor of Vexing thorns, ready to send the rusting blade through some more undead.

“Should I just blast them with magic? If we know where they are we don’t even need to get into the mists” Zander said – already charging up a spell.

“No, there may be injured guardsmen in there. Their safety is just as important as the death of the dead and their master.” Ray said. Mike and Dusk nodding their agreements.

“Fine – well let’s see if I can’t shift this mist then” Zander whispered – his breath now directed to muttering the incantation to a spell to blow the mist away.

A shorter one, got to leave some surprises for the weekend now don’t I.

As for stats the below can do – but if you want a more imposing fight I would consider really pumping up the necromancers abilities. Something like the Goblin-Bosses reaction (where a zombie can take the attack for him as a ‘willing’ living shield would make the fight something to remember.

Well that’s all I have for tonight. Thanks for joining me for fight night and if you are enjoying this current style and write-up do let me know. 

Don’t forget to join me for this weekend’s final write-up. Not sure if it will be in the same story format as that may take me a week and turn into a novella but I will make sure to do something to make it a good read.

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

Miners and Merchants…

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Tuesday is here and it has brought with it inspiration for three NPCs that we have to look at this week. Now there will be many more NPCs here in this mining town but the idea behind this series of weekly blogs is to build a portfolio of NPCs in which we can draw down from to fill in the towns, cities, mines or marshes with life and vibrancy, if it warrants it. Without too much more chatter let’s have a look at the NPCs that were created.

Art for the NPCs this week was created in art breeder. I have started to acquire quite an extensive list of character portraits in there so feel free to have a look at my Artbreeder profile which you can find here: artbreeder.com/thebrazenwolfe.

Henrietta Lummet

09TuHL

Henrietta (preferring Henry in most settings) is a tallish, slim woman of around 32 years of age and for the last 7 years she has been the owner of Henry’s emporium – a general store with a strong focus on supplies for mining and exploring the marshes nearby. Henry is a pseudo savvy business woman with more of a mind for business than for the actual sale of things. As such many of the goods she has in store are poorly organised, displayed and most of it appears to be of over priced, despite being high quality and fit for use for their intended applications.

Henry used to be part of a magic guild in Toluka where she was learning the fundamentals of magic where she was thrown from the grounds for trying to turn a guildmates spellbook into gold. Giving up her ongoing study of magic, more or less, she went in search of her fortune elsewhere, eventually stumbling into the mining town of Newtbranch.

Before studying and practicing magic Henry was the only daughter of a driven business man who never quite became successful and eventually died from a disease that was curable, but outside of the families means.

Ash Tressle

09TuAT

Ash is one of the unluckiest men in Newtbranch. He owned the rights to what was the least prosperous mines within a section of the marsh he sold them to a pair of dwarf brothers who, after a week of toiling in the same mine that he has spend 5 years mining, stuck the richest gold deposit in the area. After pleading to work back in the same mine the two brothers made him buy back a third of the mines share after a year of his pleading. After a few more weeks of dwindling returns the dwarf brothers sold their shares in the mine and left Newtbramch. The brothers must have known something because since Ash rebought his mine for double what he sold it for the gold seemed to dry up.

Ash is now in his early 40s but has the appearance of someone well into his 50s if not older. His wild hair is normally a nest for dirt and grime found in the marsh and when he he isn’t in his mine still looking for the gold that he believes is still in there he can be found squandering his meagre coins at the tavern of Newtbranch.

Sally Pondt

09TuSP

Sally is a woman in hear early 40s. She is the proprietor of Jolly Fandangles, Newtbranches Tavern and she happens to own most of the land around the town. Because of this she happens to be one of the wealthiest people in the town as she also sells rights for prospectors to mine on the land she owns, regardless if it has shown any sign of having rich veins of gold.

Sally came into the town 20 years ago with a full purse of gold and purchased most of the towns land from the prospectors before her. She then brought in a team of miners lead by a few dwarves who found where the riches mines were and she began to sell the rights to dig in the mines where gold or other rich deposits of mineral or metal were found. Within a week she owned the town.

Not much is known about her history but she appears to have backing from wealthy individuals external to the town that enabled her to get such a substantive foothold in the town.

Thanks for joining me today to continue the journey into exploring the process of coming up with an adventure a week. As I have said before the NPCs that we have in our sessions are what bring our players really into the adventure.

One such adventure that I ran for my players had Mary-Sue and her Father, Lamberge, who were survivors from a zombie attack on a temple of Torm in a small village called Renhaven. The NPCs were there to provide a story, a journal was left in the temple to explain what happened there. But the character and feelings that was portrayed in the journal entry led the players to follow the tracks the NPCs (who I had no intention of being found alive) away from the mountain peak temple that I had planed for them. They found Mary-Sue, her father (who was dying from an injury) and Smith, the town smith. The conversation then broke out between the three NPCs which, much to my chagrin, my players loved hearing my put on three different voices to talk to myself.

These three NPCs then distracted the Party long enough that the adventure that I had planned for them had shifted slightly (see Dungeon World – Fronts). Rolling several dice to determine the outcome of a massive battle that I had planned the party to be caught in the middle of between the raiding Gnolls (who worshiped the god Malar) and a necromancer searching for power within a temple (to the Gnolls deity). But the party wanted to ensure that the NPCs were safe and sound.

The key message to take away here is to make sure you put effort into NPCs. Give them at minimum 4 thigs.

  1. Who they were
  2. Who they are now
  3. Who they want to be
    and lastly, and most importantly.
  4. A name that doesn’t always start with the letter B.

That’s it for tonight, don’t forget to come back tomorrow to look for the twists and turns we have in stall for this week and as always don’t forget to roll with advantage!
The Brazen Wolfe

A nest amongst the sands…

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Sunday has come and the adventure has been started. This week we were looking to keep things simple with reduced variations or options in this week’s adventure. So to wrap it all up I will see how in depth I can go.

Hope you liked this adventure and are looking forward to next weeks!

To hunt the cockatrice takes the characters into The Hollow Desert, a place where rain comes but once a year and those who travel, let alone live there, have to be made of stronger stuff. 

The denizens of the desert are hardy, resourceful and cunning, they have to be in order to survive. 

The characters find themselves entering Apituk, part of the Khizdumese Theocracy, after travelling for quite a few weeks to get to the city. Unlike the grasslands around the city the streets are paved with stone and the buildings are crudely made from sandstone and people from all races are flittering around haggling with street vendors trying to get cheaper prices for food, goods and trinkets.

The plot

After an hour the party finds themselves approached by a man dressed in a long black flowing cloak. He Introduces himself just as ‘Y’ greets them praising them for their reputation and singing praises of the party which are almost all true the and requests that they follow him as his patron has a request for them that will pay them handsomely for their involvement in the successful outcome for his patron.

The man ushers the party into a carriage that looks to be extremely well made with plush fabric covered seats and exotic furs to add that little bit more lushness to the experience. The carriage is large enough to seat 8, impeccably clean and feels overall quite expensive. A little basin with little dish of water is placed before the party by the carriage footman. The mysterious man, who calls himself Y, quite confusing really, produces a small palm sized crystal that glows with a purple light and places it in the basin.

A ladies voice, muffled by magic or something mundane, speaks from the crystal and from the tone and language used they party can tell that she owns the carriage and probably much much more.

The owner of the voice offers the party a job, go to a gypsy camp in the Hollow desert and retrieve an artefact called the Shruiabe Coin and bring it back to Y. The party as compensation would receive 1,000 gp each for their discretion and the artefact and a bonus will be provided to them if the artefact is the genuine thing and does what it is rumoured to do so. The party is to wait at the Mulberry and Cake inn within the city for their full compensation upon their return. If the party accept then Y would produce a map that indicates the known reported locations of the gypsy camp and a sum of 350gp to get provisions for the journey as the Hollow desert is not a forgiving place.

Once in The Hollow Desert if the party had hired help (a guide) or purchased/hired camels or other animals/vehicles that could travel across the sands in a desert then that would make the journey easier. For each day that the party travel they would suffer a level of exhaustion unless travelling via animal vehicle, guided by someone knowledgeable or travelling at night (when it’s cold, not hot). 

The people

Kelsei Whisper song

Kelsei Wispersong is a moonelf (tanned now) who travels with the various traders and gypsies in the Hollow Desert. She is just over 5 feet tall, a little chubby but sharp as a tack. Nothing escapes her notice and thats how she has survived so long in the desert with the gypsies that seem to travel with the change in the sands.

Kelsei knows what it takes to survive and if you ask around about her she does just that. Knowing a good thing when she sees it she is quick to make them best of good situations and she always seems to make it out on top. However she has just as quickly to know a bad thing and when to cut her losses (or avoid them altogether) and walk away.

When the party enquire about the Shruiabe Coin Kelsei gets defensive and would enquire as to how they know about the coin, why they want it and who is it for. To prove their worth for the coin Kelsei would request that they retrieve for the gyspie camp 4 cockatrices or the same number of cockatrice eggs as this particular troop of survivors has learnt how to domesticate them and use them for guardians of the camp, as currency and when times get rough, food. She would describe where they are poorly (if they have a guide they should know but wouldn’t be pleased about it) but if she notices the party have a map she would offer to mark it on there – surprised that it’s already marked on the map as the third possible location of the gyspie camp. She would explain that they had to leave when a group of marauders attacked them one night and caused many losses to the people of this camp.

The Encounters

There are three stages to the fights this week. 2 road side encounters,1 at night when they camp and 1 when they go to retrieve the cockactrices or their eggs. Let’s have a look at them

Tricks of the sands.

On the first time of travelling they would see an oasis off in the distance with what looks like a plume of smoke coming from it (if travelling at night time they would see a pinprick of flickering light). If they were to roll investigation (DC14) they would determine it to be an illusion. But not quite a mirage. If they continue on their path towards the one of the three last known encampments of the gypsies they would then be buffeted by sands and would have their wills tested (wisdom saving throw) – if they fail they would find a cave not far off the track which they would try and shelter in from the sand storm. If they pass they realise that there is no sandstorm or no cave and would be confused if anything else were to move to the bottom of a large sand dune and appear to take shelter. 

If the party does try to shelter in the illusionary cave they would suffer a level of exhaustion after an hour as the sun would continue to shine down on them and would dehydrate them. If they pass again they would be ambushed by a Blue dragon wyrmling who would fly over them and throw blasts of lightning at the party trying to scare them off. If they beat the wyrming who would plead for its life, or if it has a chance to escape the party would find out (by the wyrmling informing them, or the party stumbling at the base of cliffs where several adult blue dragons would swoop down to confront them. If the Wyrming lives he would be there and would try and persuade the party to leave (whilst asking the adults to leave them alone) as the party has stumbled upon the nesting grounds of the blue dragons which was the cause of the gypsies abandoning this rather good position to camp long term. 

The party would find shelter not far away (or could ask for shelter from the dragons) and could rest for the night. If they do rest here the dragons would fly and warn them to not go towards the cliffs but to stay in the oasis.

Blue Dragon wyrmling

Stingers come from beneath the sands.

At night if the party eats food or lights a fire they would be attacked by the human sized Sand scorpions of the hollow desert who are either drawn towards their food and the heat from the fire. 2-3 scorpions would attack them and would try and take the party members (furthest from the fire) one by one back into a nearby shallow sand burrow.

In the morning the party head towards the next known campsite and find that it is the correct one and it’s inhabited by the gypsy camp.

Blue Dragon wyrmling

Iron Tooth clan

On the way to the next camp, the following day or that night – depending on players and if they need to recover any exhaustion, the party would be ambushed by a group of these ‘marauders’ which are a mix of Tabaxi and Half-orcs. They declare that they are part of the Iron Tooth clan and that they will let the party go without bloodshed if they can take them to the gypsies of the desert so they can finish the job and kill them and their witch – who slew their last boss when they attacked them last time. 

If the party fights then it would be 1 bandit Captain and 6 bandits.

If the Party lead the bandits to the gypsies then the camp and Kelsei would fight. Kelsie would cast a powerful sleep spell that would put all the bandits to sleep except for the captain who would run away. The camp would be hostile towards the party now, not attack on sight but they would not be welcome back into the camp and Kelsei would be disappointed and request that instead of 4 creatures or 4 eggs she would require both creatures and eggs. If they can retrieve more of either that may sooth things over with the camp.

Bandits

A nest of stone.

After the encounter with the bandits they would make it to the old camp and look for the place Kelsie would have described. Finding it they would find 6 cockatrice in there and 5 eggs. The cockatrice would attack the moment they realise that the party is there. If the fight breaks out amongst the nest roll a d20 for each action taken within the same 5ft area of the nest and on 1-7 the egg is destroyed, once the fight is over if any eggs were trampled then the party is unable to recover them. The party then can bring back any cockatrice that is knocked out and bring them to the Gypsies. If any party member is petrified then they will return to flesh 24 hours after being turned to stone (but the parties may not already know this – only if they have encountered a cockatrice before or recall them with a DC14 nature check will they be aware of the petrification conditions. If the party are petrified they would wake to find the cockatrices have moved their nest and only a successful DC12 survival check would reveal where they are now. Any party member left behind whilst petrified would wake to find they are where they were and would need to decide what to do now.

Cockatrice

Credit to Dan Scott (no active links to his work could be found…)

The outcome

Upon retrieving them for the camp they would have a much more welcome return – even if the bandits were led from the camp – if they bring back the bandit captain (or proof that the captain is deasd) then they would forgive the party as long as they have the required amount of creatures and eggs. 

Kelsei would request the party to be careful with the coin as it has caused bad luck – but isn’t inherently magical – the though that it is is what has given the legend its status and many bad people want to use the coin for their own nefarious purposes.  Kelsei would also explain the history of the coin and her people as an attempt to return without the coin to the city but she offers it over as a way of keeping her end of the deal. 

Upon reaching the city after leaving the desert the party must make a decision on what to do with the coin – If they hand it over then the collector (not a priest) is happy with the coin and will give them their reward. If they do not provide the coin then they miss out on the exchange, are thanked for their efforts and another party would be requested to go go find the coin at a later time.

Thanks for joining this week. I think that’s enough for this adventure so I can say that it’s a wrap.

Don’t forget to come back next week for another round of adventures were we explore the Marsh of masks and what adventures would lie within its murky waters.
Oh, and as always don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Not quite lethal…

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Welcome to the weekend! Traditionally games night take place for me on the weekend but with lockdowns here in Australia lifting decided to get a cheeky Warhammer game in today instead of D&D.

So let’s have a look at something that will be encountered tomorrow with the publication of the adventure for this week.

How and what can we do to deal with not- quite lethal encounters such as the Cockatrice.

Well first of letters look at the little nightmare-chicken.

Cockatrice by Dan Scott

Petrification, turning flesh into stone, is a d&d staple and will invoke fear into the player. But let’s look at why.

Let’s look at petrification first and dnd beyond has a great entry for this status condition.

Now perhaps the fear comes from turning to stone, semi-permanent where they are now a incapacitated, and effectively dead to the world unless restored by powerful magic. Or could it be the loss of control where they can’t do anything to save themselves. This is their character who they have invested dozens or hundreds of hours into is now a glorified garden gnome who is at the mercy of the creature who did this to them who could early break their body apart and the character would just cease.

The Cockatrice is an interesting encounter as everyone would know of it, knows it can petrify but it’s only for 24 hours.

As a DM 24 hours is a long time. As the effect states any non-magical items are also turned to stone. Maybe a party beiny petrified by a nightmare-chicken gives us a chance to add in a twist or additional layer to the plot. Maybe a den of thieves use cockatrice’s as a way to capture and rob adventurers of their more valuable gear and equipment or they move the Steve-come-statue you their lair and wait a day until they revert back to flesh before robbing them.

The time condition on the Cockatrice bite makes it an interesting yet lower risk encounter that could prepare them for harder quests in the future.

Well that’s the ramblings if a ragged DM on a Saturday night. If you comet back tomorrow we will investigate the Cockatrice den and how it ties into the Adventure story.

As always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,

The Brazen Wolfe

The Hollow Desert

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Thursday is here and with it comes a few maps. Utilising Azgaars Fantasy map generator again with exploring what we can do with adding a few options on the layers and even importing symbols and labels to customise what was generated. You can also alter some of the boundaries that were spawned for lakes, rivers and oceans.

As with the rest of this week I am trying to keep it rather simple. So I have a overworld map for the continent we have available to us to reference for the players that talks about empires in play – the current main focus is for Biome so we can see where the hot desert is (The Hollow Desert) but you can adjust it to suit your needs. Without talking too much about the tool of the week let’s get into it.

Continent Map

08ThMa1

Continent map – The Hollow Desert is positioned to the south of the Continent and touches the coast and the lake within the Khizdumese Theocracy.

The Hollow Desert

08ThMa2

The three marked or last known camps where Kelsei may be at any one point. The idea behind these three camps is that the party needs to visit all three camps before they find the right one. This has an opportunity for a day of travel across the desert and encounters as they are travelling from place to place. I would have One encounter during travel and one at night the day after when the party are getting ready to rest for the night.

Encounter map – dried river bed

08ThMa3

One of the reason that the gypsies would have left this camp would have been that the water had dried up. The other is what attacks them at night. The inspiration for this map (will link credits to artist below as always!) is a bunch of desert dwelling creatures that attack in the middle of the night – drawn to the food and supplies that the party brings.

Credits to image go to g0dxmode which you can find some of their content here on redit

That’s all we have for tonight. If you do like the maps that have been used have a look at Azgaars Fantasy Map Generator. If you like the maps found online have a look at the artists and do support them if you can, a lot of these maps are free use but the artists skills in producing these can not be contested.

Come back tomorrow night to have a look at the creatures that live within the sands. Bonus points to the people who know the movie scene where I get one of the encounters from.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to have a look at what we have for the close of the week and as always don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Weekend bonus

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

The weekend is here and that should mean lots of free time for all. That being said I have a warhammer game to get onto (and a writeup to try and jot down before I forget the points / key moments in the game) and a few things I want to post on today.

First this I will talk about a bit is a tool I have used on and off over the last few years to generate ideas – not really for its content but for its potential.

The second thing I want to try and get out tonight (shortly) is the promised map from Wednesday (will update Wednesdays post as well) as there was some odd technical issues when uploading that one.. strange..

But without too much chit chat let’s have a look at Azgaar’s map builder!

Azgaars Map builder

Quite a robust, intuitive and smart tool that allows you to create a few views, with different focus points, of a contintal or world map.

The options to generate, manipulate and really make the map generate something that you can call your own is massive. I will cover just the very tip of the iceberg and explain why I use this of ideas rather than as a map generator.

Having an idea of the potential politcal nature of the world around city states can lead to adventures in their own right. Maybe the people of Warland and the Grand Duchy of Sudhurstia have formed an alliance to overthrow their old aggressors the Kingdom of Baringdonia. The king of Baringonia has issues invitations to his daughters ball too all lords, ladies, and royalty to come and celebrate her coming of age – but the two allies have plotted her assassination – just as the party arrive and are confused for royalty due to their unmistakable likeness to the late King and Queen of Dundia.

Or maybe the Grand Dutchy of Sudhurstia have an issue with bandits and have requeted aid from the party to investigate the forest in the north to locate the bandits hideout.

This tool does so much more than just what I have mentioned above but its a great addition to our DMs Toolkit. Find it and have a look here (Azgaar Fantasy Map Generator)

Starfall

The promised map created in Inkarnate for your viewing pleasure. A ruined house with a large ‘boulder’ is seen on the other side of the wall with large areas of grass stripped down just above the ground. On the other side of a wall lies a well worn road with aone of the many houses situated on it with a small side-road going to it. There is not much in this house but a few beds, presumably for a larger family and a table with four chairs.

You can find a copy to clone from Inkarnate here under my week 7 folder.

Well there we have it – I will focus on Azgaar’s map generator in a future post but for me this is where I sign out and go to run a bunch of skaven across the battlefield at my man-thing opponent.

Come back tomorrow for this weeks write up and as always don’t forget to roll with advantage!
The Brazen Wolfe

Fright night…

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Ok a bit of a spookier series of encounters today for our Fight night!

Friday has come and nearly gone and short of some issues around posting yeterday it seems like everything is back on track! So lets have a look at a couple original statblocks (and some not so original ones) and fill out our adventure to come!

As always Kobold Fight club and Tetra-cube are my tools of choise for these stat blocks and encounter balancing.

Shrine of sorrow

07FrSB

As the party approach the altar in the middle of the stone pillars they know they are being watched – but not just from where yet. The elven maidens sneer at them from the four pillars around them as they approach the dais and without much of a sound spectral forms of maidens drift upwards from the stone pillars, three spectres clad in simple robes and one, opposite them dressed in an ornate, although spectral, dress that would have been ordaned with jewels if a living creature was wearing it. Before the party can react a soul rending shriek bursts forth from the leader sending their senses into shock. Watching helplessly as the ghostly maidens drift down towards them the party try and scream out as each of the ghosts draw a spectral ritual knife that they know will hurt just as much as if it was real.

The shrine banshee and shadows (shrine hand maidens) would come from the statues when the party approach the shrine, where the priestess lays unconcious or paralyzed.

1 shrine banshee and 3 shrine hand maidens would be a deadly encounter for a party of 4 level 4s. To make it challenging but not deadly for 4 level 3s. Reduce the dc to 11 and replace the ‘totally not shadows’ shrine hand maidens with the same number of skeletons.

Mildover, the town of webs

07FrMi

As the party separate the last set of legs from the giant wolf spiders that have seem to overrun the town of Mildover one of the party member hear a distant clicking-vibrating noise which sends a shiver down their spine. Looking for the source of the noise they see a shadow of something on a web, most likely a trick of the light. More clicking continues as the party mend wounds and retrieve arrows and this time the search is not in vain and they notice a monstrously large monstrosity is clinging to the side of the wall just as a arrow made from web pierces their shoulder blade knocking them to the ground taking their breath away.

The webspinner abomination is an ambusher. It will wait until the wolf spiders have fought its prey, and died for it before launching attacks at the party when they are tired and not expecting its bow. In my mind the Webspinner abomination is like a Drider and an ettercaps torso replace it’s drow half. Two additional secondary smaller arms pull web from outs mouth to form arrows and manipulate it to entrap its prey.

For encounter size have a few encounters of 2-3 wolf spiders before immediately chaining a the last encounter in with the webspinner abomination. This should keep it balanced as it does have legendary actions, but should keep it difficult without being over powering (considering I had a paladin almost 1 shot this thing with smite..)

Thats no Rock..

07FrRo

Several large boulders lay within the field, all of them seem to be the cause of the damage to the crops. But there is no evidence to how they came to rest where they are now, or how they ended up in the field in the first place. As the party move about them, the moonlight casting shadows across the ground from the vastness of these boulders a globdule of slime drips down onto one of the party members shoulder – looking up two large bulbous eyes sprout forth on stalks from a large meaty nech that seems to be coming from outside of the shell. The snail looks down upon it’s meal as more slime (drool) drips down on the party.

I would play with the snails always in hiding until they sense something living near by. I would have them be more alert at night time (and villages would report terrifying noises that cause them to lock the doors at night) but that is because i am a fan of night time encounters.

Regardless if our party of 4 is level 3 or level 4 we would look to have no more than 2 of these snails per encounter – but a few of them could be scattered amongst the field or the forest..

Well thats it for today – thanks for joining and I hope you enjoyed the new creatures brought into the light and can find a use for them in your next adventure.

Stay tuned for this weekend where I pick one of the adventures to flesh out and post online!

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

Map, map whos got the map…

thebrazenwolfe1 Comment

Well it looks like my upload of this failed yesterday. So today you are getting two uploads!

Thursday here and probably something that touches the most time consuming part of the role, map creation. Now if you are like me and can describe a room or setting so that people know exactly what lays before them then maps may not be used all the time. But there is nothing like pulling back a curtain, turning on that second webcam or removing the fog of war from a map with your players tokens or miniatures ready to go. The look of awe and excitement is something I still can’t get enough of and what drives me to draw, create and craft terrain and maps for my adventures. As reusable and modular a possible – I’m not a masochist.

So for this week I will have two maps from online phenomenal artists that are just about right for what I envision for the primary encounter, the rest of the journey is up to you the DM/GM and I will update tomorrow with a third map I will create and upload tomorrow (pc isn’t happy with me today…)

The mining village, Mildover

07ThMa1

Image credit to be Miska from Miakasmaps, Please check them out!

Between to mountains the town of Mildover lies in ruins. Recent rain storms have left the only way into the mountainous town flooded with the bridge collapsing long ago. The town lies quiet in ruins, vacant except for the webs. Spiders of all shapes and sizes can be found crawling throughout this valley and the rains only have seemed to being them out more, their long pale threads of silk blanketing the trees on the approach to the town.

A shrine to the dark

07ThMa2

Credit goes to artist Fantasikdod, can be found at on Tumblr here fantasikdod

Deep in the banshee woods lies an ancient elven shrine and at its centre an altar to the gods. Although not as travelled as it used to be the shrine and the surrounding woods are bursting with life during the day, but at night nothing that breathes dare to prance or prowl amongst the moonlight as a different god is worshipped in the dark.

Between pillars elven maidens can be seen to be carved into the stonework and at day they seem peaceful and even jovial. At night one might swear that the pillars sneer and watch those who cross their gaze, a predatory aura of dread washing those who seek solace from the horrors that stalk the woods

Map3

07ThMa3

So to do this map justice I will need my computer and a few hours. I ran this a hybrid of tabletop and theatre of the mind but the setting is such.

Before the party is a well travelled road through the woods. A sign up at the crest of the slight incline reads “Welcome to Starfall; Population 42”. Greeting the party as they reach the top of the incline is a break from the forest they have travelled through for the past two days and the beginning of open fields. Ahead is a small collection of homes and buildings that give Starfall a rustic homely vibe. The open fields continue as far as the eye can see to the right of the dirt road and past the houses a d straight ahead the tall buildings and smoke of a larger town or city can be seen. To the right of the road lays a hastily constructed barrier, rocks and beams of lumber primarily which seems to separate the fields and houses from what used to be fields and a house. Large patches of corn and wheat crops lay decimated so that no stalk of plant can be visible above the ground. Large stones lay at the end or amongst these barren patches and one even is nestled in what remains of a farmhouse. Past this ruined field (300 feet) a living barricade of ancient trees rise from the ground to stand defiantly against civilisation.

Thats it for today, sadly I seemed to have a fe computer issues and this failed to post yesterday, apologies everyone!

Using and creating maps add a certain element to our adventures and can really add something extra for our players. So don’t forget to have a look out there for maps to use, support the artist’s you use maps from or have a go at making your own maps!

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

The choices we make…

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Wednesday is here and with it brings something that I find hard to boil down into a yes or no response. What motivates characters (and their players) to do the weird things we want them to do. Why would they go into the dank hole filled with spiders, or wolves, or bears oh my! Why do they rescue the person who sold them bad healing potions not a week ago. Motivation and how we can use that to hook characters into sticking to the adventure at hand is something that takes a while to master – and I don’t truly think one can ever master it.

Let’s look at three motivations that we can use to bring our players into the session and keep their mind locked away until the final crossbow bolt pierces the witches heart.

Ask the Player

The title kind of gives it away. For the three options below to actually work we need one thing, communication between the Dungeon/Game Master and their players. The whole game is built around communication so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I bring it up eventually but here we go.

Ask your players at character creation to really think why and how they tie into this world. Ask them to weave a single NPC into their back story (not a novel, we all know how that goes…) and to tell you about themselves and their one NPC. A mother, boyfriend, old boss, someone they owe money or a favour to. Someone who you may want to weave into the game so that they become more connected to it

07WeCo

Connection; This is where the player has a connection that you can use. Whether it’s an old flame or a new flame at that, a debt owed or perhaps the want of a favour from someone there should be something that each player has in mind for what motivates their characters when it comes to the NPCs or potentially other PCs.

Make sure your players are ok with you putting the man who they owe a great debt to at the centre of your plot. Remember this is tying their character into the adventure at a personal level – you want to make sure that they are ok with how it twists and alters their characters’ story.

07WeGr

Greed; Now, I know what you are thinking. ‘BW – my player’s character is not greedy, they are a holy night who wants nothing of the mortal realm – their only motivation is to fulfill their oath and bring virtue to the land’. We have all had that player before, or presently, but what I want to touch on with Greed is looking at what motivates our characters, pure or otherwise, and how that can drive them to something.

Let’s look at the above example, The paladin who only wants vengeance for what happened to their innocent family and swore an oath to have it fulfilled. That desire, that conviction could in fact be an act of greed. I won’t get deep into it as it will take an entire night of writing but lets look at D&Ds alignment system. There is not just Good and Evil but there are degrees of it. A lot of greys between the black and white. Convictions, oaths, greed, desires can all be tilted slightly one way or another and the only thing that makes one good and not evil is the perception of the one wielding the sword.

Ok, best lay off the coffee.. Greed – use something the player wants and put it where they can see it. That artefact that they have been searching for – maybe the merchant has a map to where it is, but she wants a favour for it and she is cashing in now. Maybe the priestess is in good favour with the head of the church and the PC wants a blessing, or curse removed – Saving the girl may be the best outcome for your player.

To quote a dear friend of mine in his first ever DM session where I was his player. Greed is good.

07WeOs

Want; And now the very last one is rather simple. Your Party has agreed to just want to have a D&D session and they will say yes to just about anything. The past.. 20 something months have been rough, lets broach that topic for but a moment. I know that my usual band of 7 players has now become four and that they are almost always excited and ready for a game.

But that doesn’t guarantee that they will be ready to rumble come the urchin running towards them screaming for help as some nightmarish creature skitters up a wall and lunches at the boy. Talk to your party, I have set aside a rule of at least 24 hours before game time I ask the party what they are up for, regardless of planning a one shot or campaign. If it’s been a long week and they want to roll some dice I will tweak what I had planned to have some form of an encounter in, whether it’s a fight, infiltration or escape from certain death, I give them something that they want to do.

To be real – this used to be disheartening. I would spend maybe 4 hours (much like I am now) coming up with a plot, some NPCS, a map (where most of the time was spent – I have a potato for a computer…) and some stat blocks or DCs for the encounters or checks I wanted to give them, and when the group wanted something different I would feel a bit disheartened and disappointed that they didn’t want to explore the lost temple on the mountain – they would rather avoid being eaten by zombie gnolls. But now I honestly don’t mind. I think the turning point was experimenting with my current group, where no map, encounter or planning is wasted as I always find a way to use it for the players enjoyment.

This is it for the week – Not exactly twist heavy where we see the revelation of a hidden agenda, a personality shift, plot migration or something completely different but a twist in the preparationand planning that we put into these adventures.

Many DMs would agree with me, and players on that note (hence why there are always more players than DMs) that being a dungeon master is a lot of hard work and to be truly proficient in it takes dedication to one’s craft. This may be one or two weeks of non-stop Dungeoneering or it may be something that you build up to over the course of, say – I dunno. 24 years

Don’t forget to have fun, don’t forget to experiment and twist up how you navigate the twisted world roots of this game we play and lastly don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

You meet along the roads most traveled…

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Tuesday has come and will shortly go, but as the end of the day draws near it gives the opportunity be to look at some NPCs that our party may meet while traveling on the road, round the campfire or in a tavern.

Today let’s look at some versatile NPCs that could become common features in your future sessions.

Traveling Companions

Sister Bella Moonladen

07TuSBM

A young half-elven woman of perhaps 20. She would be considered pretty by most who could see her long brown hair and green-hazel eyes. Most of the time she wears robes that mark her a priestess of Chauntea.

She is quick to offer aid and is free giving of the blessings her deity provides her to heal and bless those in need.

Until recently she was at a temple to Chauntea, but the death of her mother has brought her home and she is currently travelling with her Father, Brok, who she has not spoken to in over a decade.

Despite her fall out with her Father she still looks for the good and light in all creatures, much like her mother did, and as such she is slow to cast judgement and has gotten into trouble before where her trust in good was misplaced.

Brok Mason

07TuBM

Brok is a rugged, but handsome, half-elven male of around 50. He has a fine layer of stubble, large amounts of muscle and short cut black hair that is yet to see that caress of grey that human males of his age tend to show

Brok is slow trusting of people. Putting his faith in hard work, animals (like his dog and horse) and gold.

Once a well respected silk merchant in Lillydale he suddenly sold his shop and took to a darker business path, the movement and smuggling of people in who need to leave without a trace. This change in business venture caused his humans wife and his daughter to leave him.

What his wife and daughter didn’t know is the sale of his shop and pursuit of new employment was a deal made to prevent bankruptcy and his family becoming homeless.

Quick to judge and see the flaws in most people, Brok doesn’t make friends with many people, let alone clients as gold is worth more to him than the bonds formed between people.

Eloras Nightwalker

07TuEN

Eloras is a drow who spends most of his time traveling the darker paths of the world. He is tall even for an elf with dark purple hued skin and silver hair that is normally tired in a top knot.

Rarely seen, and when he is it’s only when he wants you to, Eloras is an stalker of beasts and people. Rarely hostile but not afraid to apply leverage when requesting a print of one’s meal, supplies or goods.

Eloras like most male drow was born into a family which s brutally ruled by the female family members. After his house feel into poor favour with the high priestess of Lloth how family moved closer to the surface and this led to his family being the target of a red dragons bad mood. He now hunts beasts on the surface to earn favour with his people so he can return to the dark.

Sincerity

07TuSS

Sincerity, or Sin in other circles, is a female Tiefling of around 30 or so. She is just shy of 5’2″ (157cms) with a curvey figure and long raven black hair that is occasionally tired back in a pony tail whens she starts to conduct serious business.

Sincerity is a merchant by trade and a damn good one at that. Able to source just about anything given enough time, she has quickly given herself a name in the towns and cities she prowls. Not only that but she has an almost supernatural ability to broker trade between people’s and before they knew they even wanted something she had already sourced it and delivered it to them for a ‘competitive fee’.

Not much of her past is known except she was the only adopted (?) Daughter of a sage who taught get linguistics and business very early on in her youth.

Some rumours have said that she is the product of a one night fling between her sage father and something summoned by him to grant him knowledge. Others say that her father was lonely and merely happened to help an old friend when they couldn’t look after Sincerity.

What ever the reason many people who cried metaphorical, or not, swords with Sincerity end up in a worse state than they were in before.

Thanks for joining me today to look at some NPCs. By not having then tied down, or giving them flexibility to run into players anywhere along their journey, with a valid feeling reason, makes them ideal for oneshots.

Come back again tomorrow for twists where we try to anticipate what our players could throw at us to bring their party onto the journey hook, line and sinker. Don’t forget that if you see a particular NPC you just have to use let us know how it went. NPCs are what we make of them and they all to the world something that our players will remember for as long time.

If you do comment, don’t forget to mention where you are from, what RPG systems you play with and what brought you here.. Oh and don’t forget to roll with Advantage!
The Brazen Wolfe