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Challenge one word adventure

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Good evening all and welcome to another long overdue speed adventure challenge. Tonight for my Adventure speed challenge one word adventure I have chosen Claw. Tonight the adventure will follow a few key criteria but by the end of it there should be an adventure that should be useable.

The criteria include:

  • Time limit: 30 minutes
  • Word: Claw
  • Minimum word requirement 1000
  • Must have a initial Plot, Secondary hook and conclusion
  • Must have at least one NPC
  • Must have at least one conflict
  • Must have at least a description of a battlefield if no map is produced
  • Images and statblocks can be added after 30 minutes if required
  • Notes on how to run the adventure or the thought behind it
  • Anything done after 30 minutes clearly called out or identified. (red background)
  • Can clean up after the 30 minutes~

Claw – Challenge on word adventure

Time started: 8:00:32

Plot:

At the edge of the emerald sea there lies a string of villagers, towns and cities that all have been encountering members of the “Worshipers of the clawed god”. These zealots are fanatical in their belief that a great beast, a forgotten deity resides within the large underwater sink hole that lies off the coast. Those who have been captured and questioned claim to have been chosen by this deity to spread their word whilst travelling by ship or boat on the sea.

What has brought this to the attention of the local power and authority is that each report has no ties to the other. However, each one of them make the exact same claim to be chosen. They have reached out to see if they can understand what is going on by seeking assistance from adventurers of some renown.

Clawed God – created in nightcafe.

Causation –

The cult, the Worshippers of the clawed god have all been exposed to a Huge crab. However this crab is far from ordinary as it has ingested flesh of a dying aboleth that had fallen prey to hunting ships. When ingesting the flesh of this sunken aberration the crab obtained some of its psionic powers. As the crab was consuming the flesh the aboleth was using the last of its psionics to corrupt the mind of the crab, in an attempt to enslave it. However the aboleth was just too weak.

The result was a highly intelligent crab with mild psionic powers who had received its hate for humans and ships from the dying creature. In fact the creature now seeks to get its servants, the worshippers of the clawed god, to bring all the ships of the emerald coast to its lair, the Emerald Coast sink hole.

Main NPC:

However, it is not the authorities, the Sea Watch who has reached out to the adventurers. Jess ‘Ironsails’ Smith is the financer of the endeavour to route out the cult and understand what is going on. Jess is the inheritor by mirth of the Ironsun trading company. The Ironsun trading company operation was born out of Wavecrest, the largest city on the Emerald coast, and they started small. A few ships and just as few crew would run trade goods from the Emerald coast down to the Thruul jungles.

However Jess, after protecting the vessels from pirates, took it one step forward and began bringing goods, rare spices, herbs and other trade items from the jungles of Thruul back to Wavecrest. This saw the companies profit increase threefold and through her actions the company expanded. It now has a place in each port along the coat and, in its own right, becoming the largest power in the southern jungles.

Jess is a middle-aged woman who was born on the sea, literally born in a boat. In fact so close is her bond to the sea that she forsake her parents forges to quench her fire for good. However she is a stubborn as raw iron and as honed as steel.

Secondary Hook:

After talking about the job with Jess the party go to leave, a man attempts to push past them, dropping a long blade that thuds into the wood below. The blade is serrated and curved with the cross guard curving towards the blade itself to look like a claw. The man looks nervously between the party, Jess and the blade. However, seeing the party notice the blade the man attacks them, pulling a secondary blade in the process. After the brief but vicious fight the man is identified by Jess as one of the deck hands for her ship, the Wave Blade.

Jess asks the party to investigate the ship first in case there are other members there who have fallen for the uprising cult.

Area for Combat:

The hallway is thin and cluttered with tables, portraits and displays of wealth. The Ironsun trading company came from nearly nothing but apparently now has no qualms with displaying their wealth. However despite the art, fine silver and portraits that line the walls everything displayed has a purpose.

Swords, daggers, spy glasses, everything that is here is a tribute to someone in the portrait. In fact the only thing that is on display that doesn’t have a corresponding portrait is a worn anvil next to Jess’s door.

The floor is well maintained and sturdy. However the creak of wood and smell of salt water underneath the boards gives away the buildings location. Built on stilts on the beach and stretching out across the dock the Ironsun’s office is build into the docks. In fact despite the wood being durable it is also prone to damage. The salt and water has weakened sections that could cause it to fall through.

Creatures for combat:

Giant Psionic Crab

Clawed God Cult members & Enslaved crew members

Sharks

Eels

Created in tetra-cube

Resolution:

The party take a single ship to the Sink hole and fight the crab. The weak psionic powers don’t have much affect on the party who are experienced combatants however some of the ships crew may become enslaved. Once the crab is killed the other sea creatures and enslaved crew and cult members are released from the psionic slavery. However, they will suffer for a few days as they regain their sense of self.

Thoughts and notes:

I think its about time for a maritime adventure. The tricky part with this adventure will be balancing actual combat in the water against what we can do on the ship.

I don’t think having a huge sized crab on the ship will be hard. However exploring its movement as it crawls under the keel of the ship to attack from a different side, attempting to both sink the ship and get the combatants into the water will be tricky.

The investigation may take some time however planting a few cult members on the Wave Blade will give the party a good lead. In fact the creature wants to be found, but it wasn’t planning for strong defenders on the boats.

Time finished: 8:30:52

Words: 1140

Thanks for joining me tonight. Tonight was a bit of a fun one and a long overdue test to shape things up. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow as we wrap up last weeks adventure. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Easter eggs in TTRPGs

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Welcome to a weekend post where the theme is set and its something a bit more advance than what I normally talk about. Tonight I want to talk about the subtle art of Easter eggs in TTRPGs. Now, I can hear your thoughts, I’m not talking about randomly sprinkled treasure under bushes, near couches or on pillows – or maybe its someone else’s… never mind. So sit back, grab a coffee and me roll this concept over you and further into adventure.

The art of Easter eggs in TTRPGs

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Little treats

Now I am certain that we have seen many dungeon and game masters do this over campaigns but I need to say it. However, It is very difficult to do. What it is involves the GM/DM adding little bits of lore or a familiar face or symbol throughout the campaign. In fact the very idea behind this is that you set up and build up all these little things for a later big reveal. Whether this reveal is a twist midway through the campaign of the conclusion of the adventure it doesn’t matter. However, I find that the art of getting these just right is very difficult.

Now here lies the difficulty with it. If done correctly, subtle little hints, appearances or non-blatant pieces of information then you give control of the Easter egg to the player, not character. If they are not the type of person to note little things and make connections then this may not have the desired outcome or effect that you were hoping. However if your players that the type that like to play Cluedo and who will recognise the little Easter eggs along the way then this can be an enriching and powerful moment for them.

Laying the eggs

So now that we have explored it a little bit some suggestions and a scenario to try and get it to stick. If the adventure resolves around an order of knights for one of the main deities in the realm. However their new leader is over zealous and has initiated a purge of those who they deem to be going against the natural order. The party may begin to notice little things. Perhaps the bodies of thieves, murderers or monstrous humanoids are all found with wounds from similar weapons. Or, they are laid to rest in a particular way. On their back, arms folded but bound with red cloth and with a copper piece on top of their lips. This may be something that only priests of the religion would know it if they saw it.

If we get to the point where we want to reveal the Easter egg but the party are yet to put it together we can do some little things. Dropping the deities symbol, a book of their prayers or something like that could help hammer it in there. Particularly if the coins have the symbol on them (upon closer inspection) or if the book has a description of the ritual they found the previous victims in.

What ever the option, hint or Easter egg is it requires two things. The GM/DM to know how to implement it and link small things to larger plots. As well as the Players at the table to be able to pick up what we are putting down.

Thoughts

While not something I implement often, most of my players are new, the times I have done this the party have had that Eureka moment that just increases the wow moment. A key takeaway for me is that if they come up with something else, that isn’t farfetched OR is somehow akin to what I wanted them to realise, I normally give it to them anyway. Changing the plot for party enjoyment, changing the flow or even who the bad guy is, as long as it makes sense, can be even more enriching for the players at the table. And heck, I have fun watching them celebrate the their wins even when it wasn’t the one I had planned for them.

Thanks for visiting and having a look at my musings for this Saturday night. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the end of week adventure, our Gibbering heist, and for more tabletop content. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

An Adventure in the palm of your hand

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Welcome to a weekend post where I want to explore the art of improve with a simple concept. An adventure in the palm of your hand. This isn’t much different from the normal process I captured in my weekend adventure formula with Plot, NPC, Hook, Map/Extra and combat but it helps drive some of the unravelling for it. So tonight I will put down the formula and add will see how it works out. So sit back, grab a coffee and let’s roll into the adventure.

An Adventure in the palm of your hand

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The idea behind this is the five things to get the core of your adventure completed in a few moments, something that I pride myself on. The process is quite simple but it does involve some creativity and on the spot thinking so it can take some practice. For this we look at our hand and count down the key components to understand the concept of our adventure. Crossing off fingers as we count down can be a tactile way to keep track and can help cement it in – so I’ll list out them in order of importance.

Thumb – What

Start it off with the most important thing. Think of an item, creature, opponent, location or something that is the core of our adventure. Generally all adventures have a artefact, a wizard, a big baddie or something that drives the party forward to their goal. If we don’t know the what it can be hard but inspiration can come from anywhere.

I use songs, artwork, miniatures or random things my family or friends say. Books, movies and TV shows are also perfect for generating the what of our adventure but I don’t tend to have much time for these so less time exposed to them results in less time to be inspired.

What we have our What we lock that down as our core and use that to drive the other questions.

Index – Why

The Why. This points us (index finger – the pointer) in the direction of the adventure. Taking our what we ask why is it our core. Why would the party want to obtain, learn, prevent or stop or, protect this thing? The why is the second most important item as its driven from what, but it also acts as the catalyst for our adventure.

Why are the party wanting to retrieve the amulet of Frostmoor? Why do they need to stop the wizard Zoltan? and so forth. Why do they want to get involved with the what and why is it a driver for them. This really is driving motivator for the party to get motivated or inspired to get onboard the adventure train.

Middle – Who

Who drives the What and the Why. If the what is a person or creature, who are they. Who is working for or against them and who are they aligned with. A thief lord doesn’t get there over night, who are their backers? Who let them get as powerful as they are now?

Who can be consequential, so its less important. But it can be related to the what and why directly or it could simply be someone who gives you the quest. A farmer could be the who a they give you the quest to investigate the noises from the nearby barn. Or they could be the cause of the noises and not be a simple farmer.

The emphasis isn’t placed on Who, Where or When but they still can add to the story and only require a bit more thought.

Ring – Where

Do you have a map ready? Is there a town the party are in? Do you need a temple, castle, cave, crypt or cemetery that you want this to occur in? The where isn’t important most of the time and it doesn’t drive the adventure but it is fundamental to driving the mood.

The other thing that where can drive is hazards and other map driven obstacles that can help the adventure. Sink holes in a graveyard, boiling magma, spike traps near a goblin encampment, secret doors or passage ways, traps, acid pits and so on. All of these can add another level onto the adventure.

Pinky – When

Now the when isn’t important. It can emphasise a time limit for players or set the mood. The below example can give a limit, a time frame or hint at more to come.

“about three weeks ago, at the full moon I heard a blood curdling howl I did. Right by the city gate. In the morning young Harry was gone but the beast left these claw marks. I tells ya’ that my blood froze when I saw the size of them”.

The when isn’t important – but it can help flesh out the adventure more.

Thanks for visiting and having a look at my musings. I’ll put this to test tomorrow and whip up an adventure using the above and create something that could be used in an impromptu one shot or, to expand upon something monotonous like travel. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the end of week adventure, our Gibbering heist, and for more tabletop content. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Pocket of NPCs – Tactile assistance concept

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Welcome to a end of week wrap-up and tonight I drafted something up which is the Pocket of NPCs. This is a tactile DM/GM assistance concept that looks to fix a problem I have and I believe many DMs, new and old, would also have. So as a concept art I will see if I can get kick this off into something more as its just a template for now (its perhaps a bit dark) so we will see how I can refine it.

Pocket of NPCs – What is it?

Simply put its a Large format card (Tarot card for those who want to compare the size – think deck of many things…) that has a image, name, brief background, roleplay advice bond and flaw for any one NPC. The problem we have as DMs face on a session by session basis is that we can not predict or control what the players will do. Nor should we. But this leads to situations where they end up on a street, building or place where we didn’t plan for them to be and what’s worse, talking to someone we haven’t made up yet.

Enter the Pocket of NPCs. Slyly draw one card, rolling for sleight of hand and deception. Describe the face you see in more depth (redraw if you need a different gender or race) and then note down the how to roleplay this NPC part. The background, bond and flaw will come into it more as the conversation continues but a brief few lines of text can save you on the spot.

The party can then choose to invest more energy into this NPC interaction and you can expand from the introductory part in front.

Format of the Pocket of NPC cards

The first thing you will see is a colour image of the person you are describing. Then the name, background and more info is provided. The idea is short, sharp notes a brief history to bring up if the situation warrants and what they would be suited for.

NPC Card – front

The back is just a snappy logo, neat right!?

NPC Card – Back

Where to next?

Pending if this would be seen as useful this can be expanded to have additional information on the card itself. Accents (if people want to have a go at that), nervous ticks, trinkets they have, notable characteristics or mannerisms and so on.

The next step of this is using the random NPCs to help facilitate one-shots. However, they would need to probably have a class, Villain, bystander, antagonist, quest giver or something like this. This may be something that’s identifiable oh the back of the card for quick reference and to save re-draws or hunting through the deck for a specific NPC. (But there is nothing wrong with that!)

This also opens up other tactile assistance concepts like cards for plot hooks, secondary hooks, location, item/macguffins etc. which means we could randomly generate a oneshot from cards alone. This is something I may look into.

Closing thoughts

Now… The ease of repetition for this is simple. Artbreeder and nightcafe.studio produce creator owned images that you can download, in decent resolution. In fact after doing this for years I have a library worth of portraits for. The best thing is that to create a new NPC it doesn’t take much time either, and it can be quite fun. However, it’s is still a lot of work to make sure that there is versatility. And the above mentioned software/UIs don’t handle non-human races that well. I have tried (the aarakocra still haunt me).

A bit of a fun one tonight. If you are looking at some one-shots check out the growing library I have of Zines – or have a look through the archives.

This week we will be looking at another Oneshot adventure so don’t forget to come back each day this approaching week. I hope you enjoy what I have in store for you this week. And finally, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Dawning of a new campaign

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Hello and welcome to some pretty big news if I say so myself, the dawning of a new campaign. That’s right I have a new campaign to write, a new big baddie or event to orchestrate and a world to construct. To be honest it’s happening rather fast and I think it will be one of those campaigns that will teach me a lot more about my own craft.

I have also stumbled into D&D 5th ed wiki which has more of the content for new players. Whilst I have most of the books I need, and access to legitimate copies for the rest of it this will be invaluable for my party, especially the remote ones.

The Dawning of a new campaign

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In initial discussions with the players it sounds like the campaign will be hybrid traditional narrative and one-shot driven. A series of one shots like The Trouble with Birds and The Prince of Pine Ridge that interconnect with the overall story line. This means that for the players involved in the adventure that they could miss out on one adventure or the next as long as they have a central adventuring hub.

Since the One shots I create are easy enough to balance for a variety in experience as well as number of players this further helps the goal. But, I still need an overarching plot.

This will require more thought and I may potentially have one or more party members coming to read here I will have to keep them brief.

The Paths

The options I have before me are endless but wrapping high fantasy, flexibility and making it enjoyable for a variety of D&D experience is hard. But the below are basics for sparking that creative flame that will fuel my Campaign creating process.

  1. There is dissent in the lands as rumours of the kings knights pillaging and harming the people of the kingdom have reached the king. But there may be more at play here.
  2. Giant swaths of forest, hills, and even mountains have been carved out in perfectly straight, even and flat lines across the land. The direction and origin all differ to the discovery of a new one but one thing is clear. There are many such lines and they all appeared seemingly overnight.
  3. A vision haunts the party, a cloaked lady bathed in light lies behind shadowy chains and is pleading for help. Images flash of landmarks, some known some yet to be discovered. But each party member feels strongly connected to the woman in their vision and the urge to free her is all consuming.
  4. Rumours of strange creatures have been appearing from everywhere. Beings with multiple heads, distorted limbs (or no limbs) and all of them being highly aggressive have started to sprout up. These may have been brushed off as rumours and tales to fearmonger if such a creature wasn’t encountered by the party seemingly by accident.

Thoughts

Each of the above have something hidden, something obvious and something completely foreign to new and experienced players. They also lend themselves well to my style of campaign building, a hook, sub hook and mid-adventure-plot twist that all help in driving the player engagement.

The next step is picking one, or two (as we know by now there are multiple roads and pathways that lead to the end goal) and fleshing it out. I will also weave the overarching plot and story in with the party’s background and their story will help throw them further into the story.

A name, a map, key places and key NPCs will come later but for now the story and plot will get me started and I am looking forward to it. There is also the potential for me to create more unique creatures and cultures. I am a big fan of creating cultures from scratch.

I hope that you will come back tomorrow. If time permits I will create a Soulbound Zine including the first part and second part of the adventure so far. So wish me luck, I will need all re-rolls and advantages I can muster to get that done. to bring another Zine, and if time permits two. So don’t forget to come back for that and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Free Talk – February

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Hello and welcome back to another night here at Brazen Wolfe Tabletop. Tonight I wanted to have a Free Talk – February edition where I look at something that I think we need to address in the Dungeon Master world. Tonight’s topic is perhaps getting a bit real, a bit idealist if you will but it involves a topic that was brought up by some other excellent DMs I had a discussion with tonight. Setting expectations.

Free Talk – February

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Setting expectations is crucial to a successful TTRPG group. For a new player this could be a simple as introducing yourself as the new DM and asking people to ‘bear with’ or have some patience as you may not know all the rules off by heart. This is pretty much a given one where you give yourself some buffer by providing an expectation to the kind of DM that you are or what you aspire to be.

But this is another expectation to set. What do you expect yourself to be? We all have a journey in the world of TTRPGs and they all start with a fundamental interest in the game system. Whether its, like me, a family spawned hobby or if its someone you idolise we normally have someone we look up to for advice when it comes to RPGs. For some of us we set our sights high and we look to the figureheads of RPGs.

But this is as much of a topic for new System Masters as it is experienced ones. We can’t be Matt Mercer. We cant be Mark Hulmes. If we aspire to be the exact DM/GM as some of these giants then we will always fail. We may be as great, we may be better in some aspects but what they bring to the table is different and uniquely theirs.

The limit

Understand what our limit is. One experienced awesome DM from tonight’s table doesn’t do voicing for NPCs. This is perfectly fine. Other DMs may love dark-grit fantasy and think that perhaps the current edition of D&D is a bit too PG for them. This is also perfectly fine. What I bring to my table is different to the other DMs I spoke to tonight, new and old. This means my style of Dungeon Mastering is different but I am still here to facilitate a great game which is not only entertaining but enriching for both the players and myself.

How we play our game, how we run our table has to have limits. We can’t be everyone and everything and the Dungeon master and players having that discussion around expectations of each other, the campaign and the general flow of things can make it better. However tonight’s Free Talk – February edition does have a message.

Aspire

As I do in my professional career. Find what you enjoy. Find something that you truly thing produces wonderment in yourself and others and aspire to do that. Whether its the phenomenal Narrative and storytelling of Mark, or the voices and energy of Matt. Or the ability to keep your players on track (like a few DMs from tonight) find something you aspire to do and set it as a goal. We can’t establish growth without a benchmark.

Thanks for joining me tonight after I have spoken about D&D for more than a few hours today with other fine DMs. If tonight’s encounter (where I failed my initiative check and rocked up late) has a closing message it would be, quite simply this.

Inspire yourself to be the best you. There is only one Dungeon mater you need to aspire to be like and they greet you in the mirror. There will be new DM’s out there, potentially your current players who admire what you bring to the table. You become their aspiration, what you bring to the table becomes their benchmark. So be proud of what you bring. This isn’t an easy gig, its quite challenging at times even for the most veteran of us. So for being willing to give this a shot, to continue to bring your best to the table I want to say thank you for inspiring others to pick up the mantle.

Tomorrow I hope to bring another Zine, and if time permits two. So don’t forget to come back for that and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Brazen Adventure Archives

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Tonight I decided that I wanted to look at a way of putting the most useful content in once place. So I created a new page in the blog called The Brazen Adventure Archives.

This will aim to have my Released Zines and, hopefully, all my maps one day where aspiring or experienced game masters can turn to if they are in need of an easy night. Recently I had the pleasure of sitting down with a fellow experienced DM who, like me, has been through a few additions. In the discussion of the hobby, our tactics, our dreams and homes for the TTRPG system we both love it validated what I do here.

It’s a hard job, this adventure business. You lose some good adventurers along the way and gods knows I have lost a few myself. But as the facilitators of the great world of Roleplaying Games we have the biggest job. Sure they may fight dragons, rescue princesses from marriage pacts with demons and face off against the endless hordes of goblins. But we spend ours, countless days over the year massaging their ideas, their actions and the actions of others into a world. This takes time and energy and that’s where I think I can come into it.

I am not the best Dungeon Master, I am not sure if anyone should hold that title either. But what I am is experienced. I can pull a one shot adventure out of my hat in 30 minutes. I can create magical items, creatures or settings with the right prompt be it image, word or song. Why not give what I can back to the hobby that has truly helped to shape my life over the years I have been doing this.

For the Dungeon and Game Master

So that’s what this new page is about – giving fellow game or dungeon masters the night off. If your party steal a ship and sale in the opposite direction, don’t worry. I have something for you – try Ophidian island, or if they find a tranquil pool and have been complaining how easy it is – have them try Kappa’s on for size and tweak Misguided resting place.

This is a place written for the creators of world and facilitators of epic stories. Not just a creative outlet for myself but I hope a tool or quick-win for that new or tired DM.

So while I look forward to populating the Brazen Adventure Archive with more adventures, maps, creatures and content I will also start to get more involved in the local gaming community. Give the local DMs the night off and let them roll some dice and experience something truly new. While I do this I hope you continue to read this here and I hope that if something truly inspires or helps you – you’ll let me know. Feedback is key in all parts of life whether its on the tabletop or off of it. Well what ever you do, I hope you do it with advantage because we can all use a choice to take the higher roll,

The Brazen Wolfe

Update to Brung Ironsoul

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Just a very small Update to Brung Ironsoul today to announce that Brungs Character sheet has been uploaded now.

Using the free-form character rules and trying to capture the character and personality of him from my head I used a mixture of resources. The Core Soulbound rules, Champions of orders and Steal and Steel books.

This enabled me to customise the character and create the Arkanaut Admiral archetype that is represents what I think the Warhammer Age of Sigmar model would be able to do.

To recreate the Character I think the below steps would be necessary.

To create this though I whipped up a template for the KO archetype. Font for the typed in content (equipment) was Arial size 16, seemed to blend well enough with the template – see below for the template!

Archetype-TemplateDownload

More content to come tonight as it’s a Monday so you can expect more than just the update to Brung Ironsoul.

Don’t forget to check out other TTRPGs out there (such as cubicle 7 – Age of Sigmar Soulbound) and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Warhammer map – The hilly clearing

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As I was creating the Cherpa Hill map today I also created a larger Warhammer sized map to be used in tabletop games.

Created in Inkarnate and then scaled to be 60″ x 44″ this gives a few options for the battleplan being symmetrical with the hills being about an even distance away from the centre. The other great thing about this map is that it could easily be used for RPGs as well if a large open space is what the adventure called for. So I will leave the image below.

Created in Inkarnate

Happy wargaming and don’t forget to roll more dice,
The Brazen Wolfe

Soulbound Zones

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Welcome to the first post of 2023 and I wanted to start off with some Soulbound content, exploring the concept of Zones. The concept of a Zone is in its simplest terms the different phases of range for movement, sight and ranged combat. So for tonight I created a desert style map with a little oasis in it to try and get down pat two things. 1, the zones in a typical map and 2, me creating them in Inkarnate.

Soulbound Zones

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Desert Map

The slope downhill towards the oasis is a welcome sight for sore eyes, however the step gaps in the craggy hills makes it difficult to move down to the refreshing water below. However as the Soulbound approach their destination the bestial cry of war sounds from down below and the screech of large birds fills the air. It looks like the party will have to fight for their right to fill their canteens today.

Desert with zones

Zones in Soulbound are generally areas that are broken up by natural formations in the land (as per this example), barricades, bar tables, walls, buildings and so on. This makes it quite easy with a transparent tool on Inkarnate to map out your zones to highlight where movement is possible quickly or when it takes longer.

This also can help stress the lay of the land a bit more. Perhaps its not distance as such and maybe to shoot from 3 zones away (blue to red) it is harder to be more accurate due to trees or weather. Maybe the steep descent and unstable footing makes it hard to move down to engage the Beastmen who have made this oasis’s their camp. What ever the reason the concept of zones helps control the flow and pace of the battle – two important things for us Game Masters.

As we move into the new year and a new set of challenges and adventures I wanted to start off with something simply just fun before we get back into the weekly adventures. Helping myself re-look at some of the basics of a RPG system that I will start to get more involved with this year is just the icing on this cake. If you are interested in trying a TTRPG this year I can recommend D&D (yes there is some changes going on this year), Openlegends RPG and, of course, Soulbound. Each one uses a different system for their mechanics and each is refreshing and rewarding to get involved with.

So come back to check in on this coming weeks content and lets roll into this year with a solid foundation. And with the start of a new year why don’t you look at rolling a luck check and don’t forget to roll it with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe