Fantasy

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

The Golden hourglass Heist

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Tonight and I have created a second zine for this week and its a heist! So enjoy the adventure, The Golden hourglass Heist. This adventure can be used system agnostic as we explore other RPGs out there other than D&D. So please adjust to what ever creatures you are using in your adventure! However as always Kobold fight club can be used to quickly balance an encounter for Dungeons and Dragons and Tetra-cube currently provides the stat-blocks for creatures in this adventure.

So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, The Golden hourglass Heist. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

The Golden hourglass Heist

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The Golden Hourglass

The Golden Hourglass – Created in Nightcafe.studio.

The party have found themselves in need of information, or an item that will help their ultimate quest. However, where to find such things are normally the hardest questions to answer. Luckily there is an answer in the city known as Emago. 

Within Emago lies a shady part of town that even the Emerald Watch turns a blind eye to. A place where even the shadows owe a single man money or a favour. Westley Parn is known by some as the keeper and others as the taker. He provides any service, any piece of information and can source nearly any artefact for someone who needs his services. However there is a price for such things and with Westley they are not cheap.

Westley Parn has requested that the bring him the Golden Hourglass. IT is a work of art from a dwarven glass blower, an elven carpenter and a gnome enchanter of some renown. Its the size of a tankard and its true purpose is unknown, but it’s said that who ever owns the hourglass fall to madness and paranoia before, eventual and preventable death. As such the hourglass is locked in a padded chest, guarded by several guards and never stays in the same place more than one night if they can help it.

A meeting – Westley Parn

A meeting with Westley Parn – created in Nightcafe.studio

The Heists competitors and Patrons

Bryce Brenthan
Kryn Brenthan
Westley Parn

PDF adventure – The Golden hourglass Heist

The-Golden-Hourglass-HeistDownload

Thanks for joining me tonight for another Zine. Next time you get a party together consider running this adventure and I hope that you enjoy it.

I hope you don’t miss a thing so come back daily in the coming week. This is so you can experience the creation of the next adventure as it evolves and shapes out. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Patron and the Poachers

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Another Tuesday has come around and that means I am welcoming you to another set of NPCs, including the Patron and the Poachers. We are introduced by the business lady, come noblewoman who is hiring the party to do the good deed at the Gibbering woods as well as her adversary. The Leader of the Crimson Collar, Tarbin is no pushover and his men are some of the meanest poachers around. But before I get too deep into the details of tonight we best roll on with the adventure!

The Patron and the Poachers

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Now Sasha, her motivations and overall personality are fit for the adventure. However if Tarbin isn’t to your liking any NPC can do there as long as they can fit the bill. There is always a twist with my adventures and this week is no different. In fact I have a few other NPC portrait throwbacks for potential allies and adversaries. The aim of all NPCs I produce is that they can fit into other campaigns and other adventures. To produce reusable content is part of my goal for this blog after all.

Sasha Flerr

Sasha Flerr – Created in Artbreeder.

Now the patron of the party this week is a cunning businesswoman who has worked her way up from nearly nothing. Sasha is a driven businesswoman who is passionate about protecting the people of her city as well as the environment. She has worked for many years to get to where she is today and she is expected to be made a noblewoman in the coming weeks. That is if she gets the support of the crown and council.

Despite her drive to cement her legacy she has also formed a bond with the druids and shepherds of the Gibbering woods. Once living nearby to them she understands the danger and wonder that the woods can produce. She grew up with several experiences working with the patrons and the poachers. All of who had worked the woods for personal gain. Yet, despite some of her wealth being generated from it, she wants its protected.

Tarbin Longshot Amarog

Tarbin Longshot Amarog – Created in Artbreeder.

Now Tarbin has been a hunter for most of his life and most of that was in the Gibbering woods. Hunting and trapping animals isn’t the only thing he has aimed his longbow at and he is known to also pick up bounty hunting as well. Although not an evil person he dislikes what the law is doing to his business and that of his men’s livelihood. So when someone approached him offering him a job that would pay him twice as much as what he could earn in a year he couldn’t refuse.

Henchmen and acquaintances

Thanks for joining me tonight as we looked at the patrons and the poachers for this weeks heist adventure. I hope that you will continue to join me for the rest of the week as I expand the adventure further. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Egg Extraction

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Welcome to the week leading up to, well for me, the viewing of the new D&D movie and in spirit of this I have declared it heist week! This week we are looking at a tricky one, the Egg Extraction, another heist that I will produce this week for the weekend. So in order for me to get to the rendezvous on time we better roll into tonight’s adventure!

The Egg Extraction

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Bandit Camp near the Gibbering woods – created in nightcafe.studio

The Setting – Poachers Hideout inside the Gibbering Woods

The party have been approached due to their ability to deliver. To put it frankly by the client, there are no others who come close to their renown and skill. However this may be a tactic to get the party to do something highly dangerous with the wrong crowd of people. Their Patron, a business woman who is trying to outlaw poaching in a nearby forest has gotten word that a local poaching and smuggling ring has a new batch of merchandise for sale. She doesn’t know what it is exactly but knows that there are eggs, large eggs that appear to have been stolen from the Gibbering woods.

The Target – The Egg Extraction

As with all things that are dangerous the eggs are rumoured to be heavily guarded, extremely valuable. Their patron believes that its eggs for a wild beast who calls the woods home and based on the rumoured size of them. Likely very dangerous. The job is to retrieve the eggs and bring take them to the woods. She has organised some druids of the forest to take carriage of them to ensure that they are taken home before the parent, or parents decide to seek revenge.

The Path – Scouts hand drawn Map

The party are provided a map and sketched floorplan of the hideout. They also have some information on the movement of guards, the buildings and where key locations are located. But the poachers began to suspect something and the scout wasn’t able to look inside the main tent. There is something unnerving about it but it should be a walk in the park for experienced liberators of unjustly taken goods.

The People – The Crimson Collar

The Crimson Collar are a famous group who have caused trouble for decades. They are also one of the groups that are responsible for the local king and council in outlawing poachers in the Gibbering Woods. They are a mixture of hunters, adventurers and outlaws who have called this group home. In the eyes of the patron, they should be brought to justice in the eyes of the law. But if some happen to fall while investigating their activities and retrieving the eggs so be it.

The Consequences and Twists

The Gibbering woods used to be a dark place filled with roaming bandits and outcasts. The sounds from the forest at night used to send people mad and those who lived within or near it reported a manic gibbering sound from the trees. However it was later found out to be some sort of owl that made these sounds.

After the woods were protected by the crown and the businesses in the local city it became a more pleasant place to be around. However, there is still extreme danger within its dark trunks and green canopy. Caution is advised as with the Egg Extraction for a potentially dangerous parent anything can happen. The Party should be prepared for anything.

Thoughts

I am excited to keep this format going and with the release of the D&D movie this week I am more so. I am slightly disappointed that I didn’t get the other heist out before this. But time restrictions and a busy weekend means that this week we get a staggered double-event for heists!

I get to use one of my favourite creatures for this weeks adventure. One of the lil’ cute critters that really cemented my adoration for the game and one that I wanted my fighter to tame to have as an ally all those years ago. I find the heist format plays nicely with the normal adventure format I do.

The format

A plot, a collection of the normal information I would consider for Mondays.

The people involved, a quest giver or patron. A rival group or target to have something retrieved from. Or even someone who needs to be heisted from a difficult situation.

A twist or set of consequences for the heist. Captured simply for the the Monday night snapshot but expanded upon more on Wednesday.

A map, or maps, that I generally provide on Thursday. This one I find harder to do in heist format as you need specific maps and locations. Multiple entry and exit points, multiple paths and normally secret entries or exits that the party hasn’t considered yet. This makes Thursday nights a bit harder to juggle.

And Friday.. Traps, creatures, encounters. If things go wrong fisticuffs can be the next best solution. In fact, An all out brawl can be a great distraction as well.

Thanks for visiting and getting introduced with this weeks heist adventure. As this is heist week I hope that by Saturday I will have two adventures ready for the weekend for some local events. But don’t forget to come back each day to watch the heist grow and get some insight into why I have certain parts. This is a new format for me and I think I will bring it back every so often. So don’t forge to visit tomorrow and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Mad King’s Queen

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Tonight and I have created another zine for this weeks adventure, The Mad King’s Queen. This adventure can be used system agnostic as we explore other RPGs out there other than D&D. So please adjust to what ever creatures you are using in your adventure! However as always Kobold fight club can be used to quickly balance an encounter for Dungeons and Dragons and Tetra-cube currently provides the stat-blocks for creatures in this adventure.

So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, The Mad King’s Queen. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

The Mad King’s Queen

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The Mad King’s Queen- Created in Nightcafe.studio.

The people of Rueven were ruled by a vicious tyrant and his elven queen for decades. When a young ambitious knight and his men assaulted the castle and finished this reign of terror the kingdom rejoiced. Within a week the knight was declared the new king of the city and he promised to always do the right thing by the people of the kingdom. 

However not all were pleased. After the last and most brutal attempt on his life his demeanour changed and the stoic knight began to claim that he had a queen, one that had never been seen and one where there was no ceremony.  The people thought his moment of madness would pass as he recovered from the assassination attempt but as the years passed it did not. Yet despite his madness he held true his oath and was still a just and gracious king who put the needs of his people first. 

Every year he celebrates Celestes, his Queen’s, birthday with a feast that the kingdom is invited to partake in, funded by the king’s treasury. But There is a rumour that the king’s madness has grown and that the assassination attempt years ago has left him unfit to rule. A growing discontent has formed in pockets of the kingdom and there has been a more vicious rumour. That the king isn’t mad and that there is a hidden power behind the throne, a darkness that not even the once just knight can wrestle from.

PDF adventure – The Mad King’s Queen

The-Mad-Kings-QueenDownload

Thanks for joining me tonight for another Zine. Next time you get a party together consider running this adventure and I hope that you enjoy it.

I hope you don’t miss a thing so come back daily in the coming week. This is so you can experience the creation of the next adventure as it evolves and shapes out. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Golden Hourglass

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Welcome to a surprise night where tonight we are looking at an offer, an exchange of goods, wealth or inspiration for the Golden Hourglass. To make a very exciting week for us D&D, and RPG aficionados I am going to have a shot at making a heist this week. That’s right, its heist week coming up and I wanted to double down on it before the sands of in the hourglass run out! Well in order for us to make it on time, let’s roll into tonight’s adventure!.

The Golden Hourglass

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The Setting – City Emago

Westley Parn is the biggest merchant, and black market dealer in the city. What ever you want to have, learn or have done he can sell it to you. So prominent is his influence and growing power that the city guard leave him alone, as they too are one of his customers.

However, sometimes the price he asks for is odd. A secret, a single ring, a name or a trinket. Something that almost no one would miss. But they all are part of his plan and a master of planning he is.

The Target – The Golden Hourglass

Westley Parn has requested that the bring him the Golden Hourglass. IT is a work of art from a dwarven glass blower, an elven carpenter and a gnome enchanter of some renown. Its the size of a tankard and its true purpose is unknown, but it’s said that who ever owns the hourglass fall to madness and paranoia before, eventual and preventable death. As such the hourglass is locked in a padded chest, guarded by several guards and never stays in the same place more than one night if they can help it.

The Path – Unknown…. for now

The Hourglass is on its way out of the city. Taking an unknown path but the people who are hired as guards for the escort of the artefact are the well known Brenthan Brothers. The city has somewhat wide streets and a sewer system that runs under the city itself.

The People – The Brenthan Brothers

The Brenthan Brothers are in fact, brothers. Mrs Brenthan had seven boys and two girls. While the girls followed in their parents footsteps to run a shop the brothers joined the military one after another. Eventually they left the military to start a mercenary group which grew past just the brothers. Their influence spread and soon they had many cities they worked out of.

Bryce, Kryn and their sellswords are the two who were approached to escort the golden hourglass out of the city.

Kryn is extremely professional and thorough and leaps to attention at the slightest sense of danger. Kryn is the second oldest Brenthen boy and as such constantly lives in the shadow of his older brother. Because of this he strives to be seen as better, and he is even if the others don’t see it. Yet.

Bryce on the other hand relaxed and calm to the point of being seen as lazy. He is the youngest and at times prefers to use his fame as a Archer and swordsman to win the hearts and affection of the public.

The Consequences and Twists

Rumour of the priceless artefact leaving the safety of the manor it resided in has spread wide. There are more parties than Westley Parn and the mercenaries with a vested interest in the golden hourglass. But will they be able to beat the parties to the punch line or will the artefact fall through their fingers like grains of sand.

Thoughts

Oh boy. The second surprise for this weekend. A double event! I hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew but we will have to see.

The heist format is a bit harder to plan for. Many blogs and other experienced DMs ask for a general “What, where, who, when and why” format which describes the scene and what can happen. But not to the same degree as what we create normally. This Means the success and enjoyment of the adventure is purely in their hands.

So in order for us to facilitate this adventure we need to look at three parts, traditionally two but hear me out.

The Planning and Execution of the plan. But if we want to double down there is two halves to the planning.

Scouting and mapping. Understanding the location, drawing a map, watching movements and the like. To know how to pull off a heist is to know the pattern of what you want to steal.

The preparations. Buying goods and equipment, the bribing of guards, innkeepers, peasants and merchants, infiltration of a party lost. What ever you need to do to pull it off.

The execution. The doing, game time. Following the plan as a team or group of individuals, it happens, to achieve the plan. This can be daunting to a DM as its nearly full improv. But if you can pull it off, its worth it.

Thanks for visiting and taking a sneak peak at the heist adventure. Tomorrow I hope to see you visit again for two adventures being published! Wish me luck! So don’t forge to visit tomorrow and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Guests of the Queen

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Welcome to another night where we look at the potential NPCs of the week and this week we are meeting some guests of the queen. Well to be more exact we have a maid, the King, his guard captain and our devious assassin-come-thief. Now without getting too deep into the plot tonight and giving it away, let’s roll on with the adventure!

Guests of the Queen

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Now the queen had a cunning plan in coming up with the masked ball. This enabled the king, is guard and one of the maids to pose as each other. Park would pretend to be the King, a maid, Este, would be the queen and the king would pretend to be the guard. The kicker, the party are unaware of the ploy being undertaken as to ensure that its believable.

Maid – Este

Maid Este – Created in Artbreeder.

Este has worked in the castle for some years now and attends the king and the empty bedroom where the queen is meant to reside. Despite looking young Este had elf blood in her ancestry and has seen more winters than many in the castle. Despite her station, the King and Park have grown to trust her and her ability to sense the intentions of people.

King Joseph Daroan

King Joseph Daroan – created in Artbreeder

No one would dispute the kindness that King Daroan has shown the people of the kingdom. Elected king after he defeated the previous king, a tyrant, he fought for the people and is known as a capable warrior. However with the battle for his crown over many attempts at his life had been made and one such one a few years ago left him not quite the same. Since then he started to celebrate his wife’s birthday, and refer to her being present in all things. Despite this the people are fiercly loyal to the king.

Guard Captain Park

Guard Captain Park – created in Artbreeder

Present when Joseph Daroan defeated the tyrant and principally responsible for the prevention of the majority of the attempts on his life Captain park is the kings oldest friend and ally. Despite the apparent decline in his mental health and sanity Park remains loyal to his friend but has faced his anger a few times when he questions his wife’s existence.

Lark Grundfello

Lark Grundfello – created in Artbreeder

Little is known about Lark, however he is one of those attempting the both murder the king and queen as well as steal their greatest treasure during the queens birthday feast. Lark however would tell you that the King is not what he seems and that he is a freedom fighter coming to rid the kingdom from a ruler that is corrupt and twisted by the foul powers that once tried to kill him.

Thank you for joining me tonight and looking at the NPCs I have created for this week. With half the adventure tied to the mystery behind the queen and the assailants I needed to try and keep tonight’s content brief. However, you wont have to wait long as tomorrow night we will investigate the plot further.

I hope that you will join me for the next few nights here as I expand the adventure further. In fact I still plan to have a bit of a surprise this weekend so make sure to come back for that as well. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Kings Hidden Queen

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Welcome to another week at my tabletop where this week we are looking at an adventure that features the kings hidden queen. Normally with a quest giver you have someone, something or somewhere to meet, retrieve or be. This week we have someone giving us a quest for someone who doesn’t exist, well sort of. Now here’s the kicker. The quest giver is a king, a queen-less king, but for years he has organising a great party, a feast for everyone in his kingdom to come and celebrate his queens birthday, yet his subjects believe he is mad as they have never seen this queen. However this year he has sent out a separate invite – one to heroes to protect his queen as he believes that there are those among his subjects who wish his queen ill.

Well all relationships are complex but a mad king with an non-existent queen takes the birthday cake. Well, kind of, not really. Intrigued? Well let’s grab a cup of coffee, sit back and roll into tonight’s adventure!

The Kings Hidden Queen

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King of Rueven before subjects – Created in nightcafe.studio

The king stood in front of his subjects as they gathered in the square beneath him, his worn but strong hands gripping the railing to the balcony he stood at. “My beloved subjects of Rueven,” he stopped as the cheering erupted from his subjects. Gesturing for them to stop he continued, “as you know every year I throw a feast for the kingdom to celebrate the birthday of my queen, our queen. This year is no exception! Come, be merry for under the full moon we will feast, be merry and celebrate queen Celeste!” His voice bellowed forth across the people down beneath him. Another chorus of cheering and rejoicing erupted from the crowd.

“My queen has a request, this party will be a masked festival. There will be games, contests of strength, agility, wit and talent. Everyone will be masked and no one will be treated any different – everyone is equal for this day. You will be invited to dine at the same table as I and the queen and we shall enjoy the feast as one people, one kingdom.” he stopped as the murmuring began in the crowd. An awkward moment passed before somewhere, someone in the crowd began to clap. Soon the single sound of applause grew to a thunderous racket and his people were celebrating the idea of the festivities this year.

The Queens Request

As he stepped back from the applause he walked, alone, past his guards and attendants “Park, a moment.” he requested as his guard captain walked nearby.

“Yes sire, what can I do for you?” he asked, looking around for the queen out of habit, the one no one had seen.

“I believe that we may have some trouble with this event. The queen’s life has been targeted and we intend to catch them in the act. I need you to seek out adventurers. A group that can blend in with the crowd and act as castle staff to apprehend the would-be assassins. We can only trust you in this.” he said as he gripped the shorter man on the shoulder.

“Yes but sire,” he hesitated, apprehensive if his words would bring out his king’s rare but famous anger. “Will the queen be present this time? She hasn’t been present, ” he picked his words carefully “for some time now.”

The king smiled, “she is always present. Don’t play games now Park, you know how my queen likes them. You may end up playing her games and not having time for yourself if you keep it up. Now we have a party to prepare and you have adventurers to find.”

“Yes my king.” Park said, his face hiding his sadness at the state of his king’s sanity.

The king walked through the other housekeepers and guards, sighing as he rolled his huge, broad and muscular shoulders. “Are you sure of this, my queen?” he asked under his breath. “If you believe someone is after you, are you sure you want to make it easier for them to sneak amongst us?”

“Yes, I am. I do love these games.” his queen’s voice came in response, like a gust of wind in his ear.

Thoughts

Games. This week is about games that we play and none out-play the queen of Rueven. Just because someone is never seen or never heard doesn’t mean that they aren’t present. This week is about uncovering who the assassins are, if there are some, and working out what they are really after. After all, if the whole kingdom believe the king to be mad and queen-less then why would someone want to risk killing something that isn’t real.

This is just the beginning of a week. I may also have another surprise this week to come later this week so keep an eye out for perhaps a double-event weekend. So don’t forget to come back each day this week for the King of Rueven’s party and for this weekend. I hope you enjoy what’s in store for this week 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

Cult of the Forgotten

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Tonight and I have created another zine for this weeks adventure, the Cult of the Forgotten. This adventure can be used system agnostic as we explore other RPGs out there other than D&D. So please adjust to what ever creatures you are using in your adventure! However as always Kobold fight club can be used to quickly balance an encounter for Dungeons and Dragons and Tetra-cube currently provides the stat-blocks for creatures in this adventure.

So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, the Cult of the Forgotten. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

Cult of the Forgotten

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Shirkwall- Created in Nightcafe.studio.

The warm sun and coastal breezes from the bay refreshed the party as they gazed at the city. The city of Shirkwall was a conundrum. Known as a city of progress and for its great universities and colleges it was contrasted by the ties to the old. Ancient ruins decorated the edges of the city and people of many religions swarmed around the multiple temples. While amongst the religious crowd and the peddlers that celebrated the city’s rich history lay people preaching discovery of truth and facts.

Science and the study of the world was cementing its influence in the city of progress. However while these studious folks preached their ideals another power was growing. New religious groups had begun to pop up and none more prolific than the Cult of the Lizard. Although peaceful they were seen as a fanatical religion that proclaimed the end of days was fast approaching.

The city of Shirkwall is a mystery that awaits the discovery of an age.

Shirkwall Market

Shirkwall Market- created in nightcafe.studio.

The city of Shirkwall has just about everything that one could imagine. Colleges of lore and study, markets filled with exotic and common wares and items. Many temples dedicated to deities and gods to not discriminate against those with faith as well as many houses for both commoners and upper class families.

However as the city expanded more of its history, the ruins of a lost civilization got gobbled up and more of the relics, statues and items found amongst the ruins ended up on market street. With the city expanding from a compact core, centralised by an immense obelisk, the different parts and cultures of the city mesh and mix amongst themselves to create a sort of organised chaos. Overwhelming to those not used to civilization or even the city itself. 

Taverns of Shirkwall

The greasy hog – from my Tavern collection created in nightcafe.studio

A collection of tavern images…

The Risen Behemoth

The Risen Behemoth; Allosaurus Skeleton – created in Nightcafe.studio

PDF adventure – Cult of the Forgotten

Cult-of-the-forgottenDownload

Thanks for joining me tonight for another Zine. Next time you get a party together consider running this adventure and I hope that you enjoy it.

I hope you don’t miss a thing so come back daily in the coming week. This is so you can experience the creation of the next adventure as it evolves and shapes out. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe