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It was the guard in the kitchen with the turnip…

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FIGHT NIGHT! well, it’s Friday at least.

A bit of a different fight night today as we look at two concepts that, admittedly, I don’t employ enough. Non-combat or social encounters. These don’t only test our players abilities to handle social situations but also our own ability to handle non-stat block driven games and, hopefully, guide our players in refining who their character is outside of armour and away from their +2 sword of smiting.

The assumption

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As the party enter the inn, the owner rushes forward.

‘Thanks for coming so quickly. I don’t know what I would so without you.. I.. I.. I didn’t know if anyone would come for that sum of gold but praise be that you came. I need help that only your team can provide’

The party state in disbolief as the inkeep, in some form of shock surely, produces a bag of coins. There has to be atleast 500gp in the bag!

The first of the ‘encounters’ to explore is a simple one. The assumption that the Party are something that they are not. We have two real posibilities here I want to explore (despite it being a rather open situation) and we will focus on two sides of the same coin.

I’m here to help… Well not really

This is where we have an NPC assume that the party are here to progress the antagonists agenda.

Whether they party are treated poorly by the innkeep and/or the staff at the tavern – or contrastingly, treated well by the Rival tavern owner or the city guard (who are trying to get rid of the goblin run tavern for example). For this we have two approaches. The party is approached and confronted outright, or (my favourite approach) the party start to have things go differently for them.

  • The local Merchant increases their prices,
  • The town guard approach them at the market and start to offer to show them more favourable treatment
  • The Bartender serves them the worst quality drinks and food instead of what was paid for.
  • etc.

The second is more direct.

  • The party has the town guard/rival invite them to dinner who expresses their gratitude for coming to the town so quickly. They also express their point of view on the party, how the goblins, or magical Tavern is a blight that is corrupting the good townsfolk and that they are glad that the party is here to put a stop to it.

Regarding how the party navigate, with words or dice, they may find themselves in a situation where neither side trusts them. The bartender see’s them having dinner with the rival owner. Or the Goblin sees the guard treating the party more favourably. This small encounter and how the party navigate their way through the complexities in social situations can lead to some interesting moments that force the players to really think about the type of character they are role playing.

Clues…

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The party don’t remember much, but the wizard who has a knack for writing things down finds out that the entire sleeve of his robe has his, admittedly very expensive, spellbook ink scrawled in magical runes and text down the inside of it.

‘Not what it seems’ , ‘Potent charm’, ‘Floaty float face’

Unsure of what it means, their memories being what it is it appears as though part of the plan had worked. They knew that the goblins were charming people in their tavern but none of the party could work out what.. Floaty float face could even begin to mean. There was only one thing for it. The party had to go drinking again.

Puzzles

Not all encounters require a sword, in this case the quill was indeed mightier.

For this one we are looking at solving something, a murder mystery where people are mysteriously dying when going to the Deaths Door Inn or where people are losing all memories when going out for a night drinking. Well that one isn’t so uncommon…

Setting up a string of clues and a trigger for people to find, or just giving the players the freedom to creatively work something out may be the key to a successful social encounter. Maybe the occurances at the Goblin and Lute only affect memory and the money that is on the person, not their books, clothes, ink wells etc. Perhaps they could try and write down what they encounter and then role play their sober self trying to understand what the magically drunkened version of them was trying to tell them.

Or perhaps, the party has to work out where the inn they were staying in transported them, a handful of other patrons and the entire staff to a magically unstable location and they have to work out why it happened, where they are and ultimately what or who caused it.

Having creative solutions to magical or difficult situations can, once again, drive the players to consider a different depth of their characters in which they hadn’t explored before.

The two social encounters are challenging. That is to say that as a DM we are easily able to drop in the statblock of an animated scarecrow (see Wandering inn), or town guard and goblins (see goblin and lute) and have the party fight their way out of something – but in this case that is the easy way out. By giving the players something where the sharp end of a pointy stick isn’t the solution they may find character growth and explore a depth of what their character can do and the different ways of solving problems that is still fun and rewarding.

This concept isn’t new. Murder mystery games or problem solving games as just as popular as ever. Cluedo, ultimate werewolf or even Among Us all feature no stat blocks, no real enemy to fight head on – but a series of puzzles or clues in which they have to solve in order to succeed.

Thanks everyone for joining me for a, honestly, odd shift in gears. I tend to default to combat encounters as I find that my party after a long day of work (and dealing with social encounters where it’s.. probably the wrong move to punch your way out of a retail store checkout or meeting with executives) they just want to send their AXE OF WRATH through the face of some ghoul or cultist that was trying to break the seals that keep their deity bound to another plane.

But, we don’t just organise these games for our players do we. As DMs we either love to suffer (haha.. a joke.. right?) or we really love to help tell a story and watch our groups of friends, coworkers and families have a fun time and enjoy each others company. But I find that I have also grown as a person over these last.. carry the 3.. 24 years (almost?) of DMing games and I have the party and what I am willing to try in these adventures to thank for it. Changing my style of DMing, or adopting small changes that aim to incrementally improve the way that I play and that my players experience this game world that I create for them and with them has shown me that I am capable of growth and improvement.

Maybe everyone just needs to push themselves out of their comfort zone to gain meaningful experience so we can level up gaming and ourselves.

On that note, don’t forget that this is just one option for an adventure, you are the puppet master, you create the world and lay out the scene for the players to experience and enjoy. If you and your players don’t like something mix it up! But don’t be afraid to level up your gaming and don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Swill and Thrills…

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Wednesday already? After last night I wasn’t sure how much writing I would be up to doing tonight, but we made it! Looking at the taverns still, I would believe that any of these could be used for a session 0, level 1 or even a level 7 party. Taverns are versatile and everywhere so this weeks adventure, and its twists as we will shortly find out, will be able to be used in any campaign and with some tweaking any setting as well!

Tonight is all original Brazen Wolfe Tabletop content – but no images this time (sorry!). If you want a refresher after the essay from last night I suggest you have check out the ”01-Monday – Plot’ and ’02 – Tuesday – Who/What” category (link in the main landing page) so you can check out the other posts for this week as well as prior weeks. But lets get on with tonight’s content!

One foot at Death’s Door

Contact poison.

A highly effective and rare contact poison has been placed on the red darts in the tavern. Only by extensive searching can the poison be located and it takes a week for the poison to take effect. A rival tavern, run by a previous party meme of Percy before they became famous, had laced the darts as a way to run the tavern’s reputation. The antidote is hard to find and expensive but the rival innkeeper, Toren, has a vial that he keeps.

Toren has many friends, one of them, Hugh, basically resides at the Death’s Door and once the poison has been detected then a ransom note for the antidote will arrive on the bar one morning. The poison makes people appear as if dead within d4+3 days and they stay that way until given the antidote.

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If the party picks up the darts or play them one night then there is a 50% chance they picked up the red darts (>51 on %dice) and they come into the effect of the poison.

If the poison isn’t discovered the party will wake to find their party member cold and stiff to touch.

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The poison is magical in nature and for each person that falls victim to it looks to reopen the Death’s door portal. Toren found a way to dig up the necromancer’s bones and bring him to unlife. They work together to ruin the good name of Percy and finish what the necromancer started

I thought of the contact poison adventure hook last week but didn’t really have a way to use it while sticking with the theme or random and easy. So this week we have two motives for poisoning the patrons at Deaths Door. Both would make for a good adventure and it could be resolved by something we haven’t explored yet. Social skills instead of violence. I know, crazy stuff.

I don’t think we’re in the forgotten realms any more…

The wandering Inn.

The inn has transported itself to a pocket dimension not too unlike the feywilds. Mysterious magical.constructs will approach the inn and scream “closing time!” At the occupant’s. Any one who leaves the inn and gets lost in the magical mists will find themselves stumbling into the vacant lot where the Inn used to be. (Roll a d% every hour exploring. Roll above 10% first roll to stay in the pocket dimension. Then second hour 30% until it hits 70% then the mist becomes aggressive and will hunt them down. The mist doesn’t go anywhere within 40 feet of the Inm and the constructs don’t go inside but will get within 5ft of any door or window and continue to screech.

If a fight occurs and the construct downs a creature is teleported out of the dimension and back into the vacant lot.
This continues for 6 nights.

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The original owner of the Inn has found a way to escape the pocket dimension he banished himself to. Now insane he wants his Inn back and managed to corrupt the magic of the Inn to do so. But he can’t cause harm to anything living in this dimension or his control on the Inn will break. On the 6th night he appears before the inn and the remaining patrons and party members and offers a deal. Give him the inn and he will send them back with riches. Merl refuses outright and asks the party for help

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The inn is controlled by a crystal from the feywilds. The inn has slowly become sentient and created this dimension for it to remain in and grow to understand who and what it is. On the 6th night a particularly large construct would appear and parley with the humanoids.

Either the original mad owner or sentient Inn both have social, puzzle and combat elements involved. The idea with these twists is to tell why its happening. To have a “Ahhhhh. Of course” moment that is 1, believeable and 2, rewarding to the players.

Goblins wanted, pay is competitive.

The Goblins Boss

While it’s true that the Gobin and Lute tavern causes people to get exceeding drunk, become coinless and lose their memory of the night, the goblins run a tight shop and no one is ever injured or had anything of real value taken. Unless you are a member of the guard or under their employ.

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The goblins are employed to a sprite from the feywilds who feeds off happiness, not in a sick way. The happier the patrons the more magical power the fey has and the better the inn becomes. The fey creature, when not feeding, visits the people of the town and heals illness, increases growth in crops and ensures prosperity of the patrons of the tavern (firstly) and those around them.

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The Goblins are mind slaves to a underdark creature who controls all goblins like puppets. He removes memories of the patrons to create mindless constructs in a cellar under the tavern which it plans to unleash upon the town when the time is right.

I have had a lot of fun roleplaying traditional minion monsters. Kobolds (my favourites), goblins, imps and quasits all can bring something comical and nom threatening to an adventure. Which is why it is even more hilarious when they turn on the party and the noble paladin, pious cleric and angry, angry barbarian all get knocked unconcious by a group of cr 1/8 filler creatures.

The idea here is a comic relief. Serious Adventure/session after serious session can be draining. Having an adventure that is just there for Stein’s and giggles is a great way to give an enjoyable night but takes the pressure of, 1, the party to fight something life threatening and 2, you the DM. Sure the players may want to cut a goblin in half with the serving dish their potato’s came on. But add in a bad guy controlling them, or a do-gooder guard capitan who hates goblins and doesn’t care if they are making the town and it’s people truely happy, and your party has a punching bag to take their d20s out and hit.

I had a bit of fun tonight writing up the twists for these adventures and I hope you had at least as much fun reading it. I started typing (on my mobile as I do every second night – short story for another time) with only the contact poison and old owner wanting it’s Inn back twists in mind. As I started writing it out it just developed and went into what it is and I’m pretty happy with what came out of it

Not all adventures need to be about fighting or combat. Social encounters are likely harder to beat ( I mean.. Charisma is a dump stat.. right…?) And violent may make things worse or not solve it at all.

Don’t forget that if you like what you read feel free to use it. If you do drop us a comment on how the game session/short story/thing.. went!

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

A tale of three taverns

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Tuesday brings NPC day.. but today is one with a twist. Since this week is focusing on three taverns we are looking at fleshing them out and treating them like NPCs.

Today I wanted to really push the idea of Inns and Taverns being more than a spot to throw a party together into a quest. So I used The Copper Sanctum’s ‘not another tavern generator‘ to create some menus and look at some other aspects to add into a tavern or inn. I particularly like the names of the beers (being a craft beer drinker myself) and hope my players get a kick out of these later on.

I also experiment with Artbreeders Building maker (yup.. Artbreeder again) to create some images of taverns for this Tuesdays NPC write up.

Inns and Taverns

Deaths Door Inn

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The Bartender – Sam Bristlechin

An adult male halfling who is remotely attractive in a friendzone kind of way. Unlike other halflings that frequent the inn, he is brash and humorless but despite that he never gets an order wrong. His skin is warm, and he has messy black hair that he keeps short and neat. Physically, he is average.

The patrons

On a typical night, patrons can be described as calm. Normally there are between around ten and fifteen other people in the tavern. Some of them would be found singing a drinking song at the bar which brings Sam’s disposition to a dark state remarkably fast. Sitting at a secluded booth, there is an imposing looking figure. The figure will silently boast that they know of a griffon who is currently away from its nest, but they don’t know why or for how long it will be gone.

The Accommodations

The rooms for rent are small to the cramped side but notably clean. There are normally three rooms available for rent. The cost for a night’s stay is 7 sp, 5 cp.

Beverages

Wines

Wand and Staff Gewürztraminer
A locally produced white wine with flavors that are lean and rough.

Bottle price: 2 gp, 5 sp
Glass price: 8 sp, 6 cp

Lawless Eye Riesling
A famous vintage of white wine with a bouquet that is sweet and mellow.

Bottle price: 11 gp, 2 sp
Glass price: 3 gp, 7 sp

Blushing Bard Chardonnay
An imported white wine with a taste that is oaky and lean.

Bottle price: 4 gp, 5 sp
Glass price: 1 gp, 5 sp

Unlucky Tooth Merlot
A finely made red wine with a bouquet that is full and oaky.

Bottle price: 7 gp, 3 sp
Glass price: 2 gp, 4 sp

One bottle of this wine is contaminated with a strong poison that could blind anyone who drinks from it. There was a mix-up during the bottling process.

Lagers & Ales

Jumping Rapier Ale
6.73% ABV
An imported golden honey ale. Described as a mild honey ale with a creamy finish.

Gallon price: 5 sp, 3 cp
Pint price: 1 sp

Polished Pixie Fruit Ale
6.45% ABV
An imported reddish fruit ale. Described as a full-bodied fruit ale with a strong flavor of hops and a pleasant finish.

Gallon price: 5 sp, 8 cp
Pint price: 1 sp, 1 cp

Abyssal Elephant Pilsner
6.73% ABV
An imported amber pilsner. Described as a refreshing pilsner with an aftertaste of citrus and a pleasant finish.

Gallon price: 6 sp, 3 cp
Pint price: 1 sp, 2 cp

Demonic Triangle Fruit Ale
5.45% ABV
A microbrewed reddish fruit ale. Described as a spicy fruit ale with a strong flavor of hops and a bitter finish.

Gallon price: 4 sp, 4 cp
Pint price: 8 cp

Wolf and Dryad Porter
7.45% ABV
An imported dark amber porter. Described as a complex porter with a bitter finish.

Gallon price: 5 sp, 5 cp
Pint price: 1 sp, 1 cp

Liquors

House Gin
A house-made gin.
Bottle price: 1 gp, 8 sp
Shot price: 3 sp

House Whiskey
A house-made wheat whiskey.
Bottle price: 1 gp, 8 sp
Shot price: 3 sp

Happy Ram Gin
An imported gin.
Bottle price: 3 gp, 3 sp
Shot price: 5 sp, 5 cp

Fuchsia Tackle Brandy
An imported cherry brandy.
Bottle price: 3 gp, 4 sp
Shot price: 5 sp, 7 cp

Food Menu

Starters

Adventurers Board
2 sp, 3 cp
A plate of sharp cheese, a hunk of bread and some boiled meat (likely oxen) with some pickled carrots.

Deep-Fried Potato Wedges
3 sp, 8 cp
Potato wedges fried in lard. Served with a spicy red sauce.

Jam-Packed Baby Artichokes
4 sp, 4 cp
A platter of baby artichokes jam-packed with a medley of onion and cream cheese.

Entrees

Ham Stew
3 sp, 6 cp
A rich stew with cubes of ham, cubed potatoes, and onions.

Romaine Salad
3 sp, 5 cp
Leaves of romaine tossed with celery and onions.

Roasted Rabbit and Romaine Salad
3 sp, 5 cp
Leaves of romaine tossed with herbs. Topped with roasted rabbit.

Mains

Herb-crusted Rabbit
6 sp, 8 cp
Herb-crusted rabbit in white sauce served with noodles with a side of beets.

Braised Fish
6 sp, 9 cp
Braised slices of fish with a ginger marinade alongside rice and a helping of mushrooms.

Grilled Lamb
6 sp, 8 cp
Grilled lamb in white sauce served over noodles with a side of artichoke.

Blackened Chicken
6 sp, 7 cp
Blackened chicken in white sauce on a bed of quinoa with a serving of red beans and green peppers.

Herb-crusted Venison
7 sp, 1 cp
Herb-crusted bits of venison in white sauce alongside mashed potatoes with a serving of artichoke and carrots.

The Wandering Inn

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The Bartender – Mer Tingleton

The bartender and ‘owner’ at The wandering Inn is a weathered male halfling who is average looking. He is often uncommonly positive in disposition. His skin is lightly freckled, and he has dark hair, kept in a short but untamed style. Physically, he is terribly unfit.

The patrons

On a typical night, the patrons can be described as considerably friendly. On this occasion, there are a few other people currently in the tavern. A couple of them are playing a game of ante. Sitting at a secluded table, there is a nervous looking figure. They are in search of able-bodied adventurers to assist in the recovery of a kidnapped pet.

The Accommodations

The rooms for rent are small and impressively dingy. There is currently four rooms available for rent. The cost for a night’s stay is 5 sp, 1 cp. If the party spends the night in the tavern, shrieks of laughter can be heard over the low hum of magic that permeates the vicinity throughout the night

Beverages

Wines

Tiny Spellbook Pinot Noir
A poorly made red wine with a taste that is powerful and dry.

Bottle price: 1 gp, 5 sp
Glass price: 5 sp, 2 cp

Goat and Unicorn Riesling
A locally produced white wine with a taste that is full and flat.

Bottle price: 4 gp, 1 sp
Glass price: 1 gp, 3 sp

Lagers & Ales

Pious Worm Hard Cider
5.73% ABV
An imported light amber cider. Described as a fruity cider with a pleasant finish .

Gallon price: 8 sp, 8 cp
Pint price: 1 sp, 7 cp

House Ale
4.41% ABV
A house-brewed light brown ale. Described as a sweet ale with a pleasant finish.

Gallon price: 6 sp, 3 cp
Pint price: 1 sp, 2 cp

Liquors

Copper Cart Brandy
An imported elderberry brandy.
Bottle price: 4 gp, 5 sp
Shot price: 7 sp, 6 cp

Stuffy flute Gin
A localled produced Gin.
Bottle price: 2 gp, 9 sp
Shot price: 4 sp, 9cp

Food Menu

Starters

Deep fried onion rings
3 cp
Onion rings fried in lard, served with a honey creamy sauce.

Deep-Fried Potato Wedges
4 cp
Potato wedges fried in butter. Served with a fruity sauce.

Crammed Red Pepper
5 cp
A platter of red peppers crammed with a blend of garlic, cheese and potato.

Entrees

Ham Soup
3 cp
A savoury soup with chunks of ham, onions and cubed potatoes.

Lettuce Salad
3 cp
Leaves of mixed lettuce tossed with beets and chilli.

Mains

Roasted Frogs
8 cp
Roasted frogs served on a bed of mashed potato with a spicy red sauce.

Grilled Frog
9 cp
Grilled slices of frog with aside of potatos fried in lard and three large sized mushrooms.

Blackened Frog
6 cp
Blackened chicken in white sauce.

It’s not actually frog but the innkeep has a bad sense of humor..

The Goblin and Lute Tavern

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The Bartenders

No less than seven goblins run around the tavern serving drinks and food to the patrons. No one ever seems to remember their names. The bartenders can be seen taking money from the patrons, but no one would remember thats surely.

The patrons

On a typical night, the patrons can be described as almost friendly. On this occasion, there are a few other people currently in the tavern. A couple of them are arguing with the bartenders.

The Accommodations

There are no rooms for rent.

Beverages (no prices)

Wines

Thirsty Cleric Pinot Noir

A poorly made red wine that is described as cloying asnd smokey

House Riesling
A house-made white wine with a taste tht is rough and earthy.

Wicket Grape Pinot Noir
A finely made red wine that is described as fruity and smooth.

Lagers & Ales

Rose and Manticore Fruit ale
6.36% ABV
An imported light brown fruit ale. Described as a sweet fruit ale with a rich finish.

House Stout
8.73% ABV
An house-brewed dark brown stout. Described as a meaty with a creamy aftertaste.

House pale Ale
4.41% ABV
A house-brewed light golden ale. Described as a a lightly sour ale with a fruity finish.

Dancing Hobgoblin Ale
5.86% ABV
A locally brewed reddish red ale. Described as a nutty red ale with a rich finish.

Knotted Fungus Fruit Ale
4.45% ABV
A microbrewed light amber fruit ale. Described as a nutty fruit ale with a rich finish.

Liquors

Three Silvers Brandy
An imported raspberry brandy.

Strangled Lute Brandy
A localled produced brandy.

Spotless Crown Gin
A locally produced peach Gin.

House Whiskey
A house-made wheat whiskey.

Food Menu (no Prices)

Starters

Deep fried stuff

Onions, potatos, bits of meat and who knows what else is fried and served with house-ale.

Entrees

Potato Soup

A savoury potato based soup onions and cubed bacon.

Mains

Chunk of meat

Blackened meat served with potato and more house-ale.

Thanks for joining me today. I would love to say I had a lot of fun in writing up today’s content but it was a lot of writing today (even with the awesome content produced (randomly) at The Coppers Sanctum (not another tavern generator)) and it say me writing much later than what I would normally be doing so. But, I do sincerly hope that out there, there is a bar/pub that serves (some of) this food and almost all the beers listed!

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow where we look further at the twists and turns we can have with this weeks adventures and dont hesistate to comment and let us know if you would visit one of the inns or taverns above! If you have a If you do comment, dont 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

The trouble with taverns…

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Monday already and that means another selection of adventure plots is here. With this year going stupidly fast I barely noticed we are into our 6th week of writing these out so I am going to mix up a couple days this week (but still keep roughly the same format) so put a bigger twist on the challenge as a whole.

Credits and images tool blurb thing

Image from http://www.publicdomainpictures.net which can be found here Lnk to image

Taverns and Inns

Every DM would know of the session 0 hook “you meet in a tavern”. Players find NPCs to create bonds with, earn (or swindle) money, meet buyers of goods or simply get a good night rest on a bed instead of the forest floor. This week all paths lead to taverns and thats where our plot hooks start.

Deaths Door

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Deaths door is a cosy tavern famed for its garden salad, its inclusive policy and its well mannered proprietor Percy the humble.

Deaths door tavern got it’s name from an adventuring party who stopped a necromancer from opening a portal to a layer of hell and summoning forth a dark lord of undeath.

However, lately tavern patrons have been found dead with their limbs twisted in horrific ways. Six dead bodies have been found and the only link between them all is that they all visited Deaths Door at various times over the last week

Percy Merrywinkle has requested that someone step in to find the cause of these deaths as he believes there must be another cause to the patrons deaths.

Mer’s wandering Inn

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Mer’s wandering Inn is a thing of magical delight. Every few nights the Inn disappears from where it is and appears in a different city all together leaving the land it was located at empty with a sign displaying the number of days until it will relocate there.

By every second dawn the Inn has magically relocates to a predetermined place and has since it was created by Bryn, a dwarf wizard of some power who lived a mug of ale in a different location every few nights.

However as the party stay over on a non-transportation night the inn shakes, trembles and then on with a loudly sound like ripping paper or parchment all is still and quiet.

The inn has relocated, for the first time in a few hundred years, to a new place. Great discoloured clouds of magic and strange exotic animals and plants surround the Inn, it’s owner, the party and a few other patrons.

The Goblin and Lute

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The Goblin and Lute is a roudy establishment what people go to get utterly blind drunk.

The entire bar staff are all goblins and there is one rule. Drink, Pay and leave. Most of the patrons are regulars and the Inn is relatively famous for it’s business model. You drink what and goes much you want but you leave with only the clothes in your back. The last part is not shared much as the patrons like to see the bewildered looks on newcomers faces as they wake up from a big night of drinking with their purses as empty as their memories front the night before.

The city guard have tried to get their men inside for years but they always end up drunk, almost naked and confused in front of the houses of Lords and ladies.

The strangest thing is that as soon as the paying patrons who Harbour no ill will leave the tavern they are immediately sober and are extremely happy with their experience at the Goblin and Lute.

Thanks for joining me today to look at something that I, to be honest, generally overlook. I have a go to tavern that I use in most dnd sessions where the players find familiar comfort food, a familiar half-orc innkeeper and a relaxed attitude to a dnd session.

For me The Frisky Mare tavern is where most of my adventures start in some shape of form. It’s slightly rough looking Innkeeper, Tess the half-orc, looks after the party and keeps and eye on the ruffians. In the morning flat bread with grilled mushrooms and tomatoes and/or Glory rolls (double egg and double bacon with cheese rolls) is served for the hungry party and Tess offers advice and info into some leads for work or information.

The Frisky Mare is fundamentally my tavern. It’s my comfort zone and I am going to shake it up this week to give me, and you, some new taverns and Inns that could kick off your next adventure.

And thanks to my new followers. Welcome and thanks for clicking that button to read what I put out daily. I enjoy exploring this process I have done subconsciously for over a decade (maybe 2…) and recording it to be viewed and maybe used by many more.

I really look forward to each day I do this. I also look forward to the day that someone reaches out to tell me they used something I created here in their own adventure. I think that would feel like rolling two nat 20s. Don’t forget to have fun, rekindle that spark and as always don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Town of Sebluff

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Sunday here at last, this week even the town is randomly generated (with some notable landmarks) and then held together with gum and hope that my challenge to create something from randomly generated something’s works.

There are quite a few randomly generated things and I am not quite sure how big of a post this will be at the end of the writing session – but lets see how we go. The random traps, city ‘map’ etc. were generated in Donjon – go give them a look if you are interested!

The sleepy town of Sebluff

Map generated by DonJon Random Town generator. All rights and credit are provided to them.

The costal town of Sebluff is known for it’s farms and good natured townsfolk. Predominately humans and halflings Sebluff is governed by a council of 4 elders, the 4 oldest members of the town, who call themselves the Golden Few. Each of the councilmen and women dress ornately in purple cloaks that have a golden chain around their necks that holds a quarter of a disk of quarts decorated with wheat stalks made from gold.

The population of around 500 busy themselves with fishing, farming and most importantly trading with any who bring something to trade.

There are a smattering of houses in Sebluff, most of them contain families of a few generations and as the town is a peace loving trading and farming community they have long since torn down their walls as the nearby cities and walled settlements regularly patrol the roads to ensure that their rich trading hub (Sebluff) can continue to operate without a military.

When the day of farming and fishing is over the residence of the city turn to the local entertainment to spend their hard earned silver on. A Large theatre, The Bale and Flail, famous of it’s satire and halfling run acting company is a regular venue for people to relax and enjoy the food and plays that are dished out within its walls.

The Fat Goblin, a humble gnome run tavern is situated not far from the theatre and provides visitors a room to stay and have a quite (as much as gnomely possible) meal away from the bustle of the cities other delights.

The last notable building of some fame is the Temple of Lathander where the head Priest, Phames, runs a morning mass to greet the new day as the light from the morning lord reaches the Shrine of Hily Byne, the founder of the town and first cleric of Lathander (or so the stories go).

The plot

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Over the past few months the peaceful town has seen an influx of people from the outskirts claiming that their farm has been plagued by flying wyverns that seem to breathe blight in which no matter of crop or animal can flourish. The good people of Sebluff have taken these people into their community and provided work and accommodation for the refugees.

The arrival of those who seek shelter has also seen the rise in power of a mercenary guild who has begun to hunt these beasts and keep them away from the farms of the townsfolk, for a modest fee of course.

Not long after the mercenaries entered the City the head priests sacred amulet, the holy symbol of Lathander gifted down from Hily Byne, is missing and a people in the city are becoming discontent.

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The wyvern hunting mercenaries are pretending to be farmers from near by farms and they are extorting the town for protection money for something that isn’t there.. yet.

Brother Phames has a reason for completing his morning ritual using his particular amulet. It’s an ancient ritual said to keep dragons and their kin at bay from the local lands – he has merely hidden the amulet from the public eye whilst he waits for the prophecy to come true and a beast to come forth and test the mettle of the Hunters.

The people of the hills

Sarah Lune

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Sarah has come forward with a concern – she believes that the wyvern hunters are not who they say they are. She hasn’t said this publically and has talked to the brother Phames about her concerns. She is more than likely to approach the party if she believes that they are able to help as the brotherhood of Lathander seem to have their own problems.

(see It takes a village to raise a child for background info)

Ned Talksmuch

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Ned, the son of the gnome Tavern owners Mildred and Golwinkle, talks to much… He has heard rumours that the priest has been lying to the public and is hiding something. He believes that the holy symbol wasn’t taken or stolen but it’s relinquished by brother Phames due to his misconduct.

Ned is quite overt about his dislike about the clergy but is quick to back down and make apologies if questioned.

(See It takes a village to raise a child for background info)

The Encounters

As the party arrive at the town they can see that there are several well armed mecenaries taking money and goods from a few of the merchants tents. One of them, a farmer selling corn, refuses to pay and a heated argument breaks out. Seeing the party the mercenary threatens with the removal of the wyvern hunters protection if they refuse payment tomorrow and disapears. The farmer, Sarah Lune, explains to the party member what is going on – that the wyvern hunters keep taking more and more money to keep the beasts away but she has doubts if they are even there. She seems worried as her two elderly parents approach and break down in tears, fearful that their farm will fall to the flying monsters that plague the town – reportedly.

Sarah offers the protection money to the Party members if they could stay a few days and nights at her farm to look out for the farm in case of wyvern attack – or worse.

If the party does then see encounter 1, else see encounter 2

Encounter 1

As night falls on the second night the party notice a vision of a flying creature approaching them from a small forest to the north. As it gets closer it breathes out a torrent of fire that sets the corn crops alight – But something seems off in how the fire catches the stalks as small spot fires appear sporadically rather than in a line. When the party investigates (or if they investigate the Wyvern DC12) they recognise it as an illusion and can see several features running alone the ground setting fire to the crops.

4 men and women are running along the ground with a cloaked figure chanting not far behind them away from the crops with its back turned to the party – seemingly convinced that it’s illusion will keep it safe. Once they realise the party are aware of them they will try and silence the party (kill them or knock them out…). If the party members are still alive at the end of round 2 then they will spend round 3 retreating.

If the party member capture or kill any of them before they try and escape then they will recognise one of them from the wyvern hunting mercenaries. if the mercenaries Knock them out then the party wake up in their hideout in the forest. Or if they escape but the party track them then they will find their hideout in the forest to the north under a poorly hidden staircase amongst some carved stones in the trees.

The Ruins (Den of the Cabal)

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Floor 1.

As the party enter the well lit and clean ruins they can tell someone has put a fair bit of work in making this place hospitable. Flags showing a dedication to Talmora line the walls and there is not a spec of dust or dirt on the grounds. As the party walk forward they have no idea that the mercenaries are well versed in laying traps.

  • 1 – Rune of Paralyzation: DC 15 to find, DC 10 to disable; affects all targets within 10 ft., DC 10 Con save or become paralyzed for 1d4 minutes. There is a 10ft circular stone plate in the middle of this room. Anyone who steps on it will feel a jolt of lightning course through their bodies rendering them helpless.
  • 2 – Chain Flail: DC 10 to find, DC 15 to disable; initiative +4, 1 attack per round, +6 to hit against all targets within 5 ft., 2d10 bludgeoning damage. There is a panel just before the trap that can disable the trap. The room that this hallway leads to has several chests lined up and looks to hold the tribute and payment the townsfolk has been giving the mercenaries.
  • 3 – Falling Block (from side of wall): DC 10 to find, DC 10 to disable; affects all targets within a 10 ft long 5 ft wide rectangle, DC 14 Dex save (or strength save to stop the block) or take 2d10 damage. Either side of the walkway before you enter this hallway there are two reinforced banners that have a flat wide top. By using the tops of these the players can jam the block from closing the corridor. A DC15 Athletics check will stop the block from sealing the passage way (until forced back into its position in the wall and the trap reset). There is a pressure plate under the block that is recessed enough that the party can notice it easily enough. This can cause the block to remain hidden in the wall.

Floor 2

As the party descend the stairs they find themselves in a small hallway that has two rooms off it. There are no signs of life within these rooms just a writing desk in the room to the right and a statue to the room straight forward.

  • 1 – The writing desk has a Strange looking glass built into the wood. When sitting in the chair and looking through the glass they can see that the wall opposite them (1) is an illusion and they can see straight through to the hall on the other side. If they do this without setting off any alarms or traps in the floor above they would see a few mercenaries moving to and from the pillar down the hall and an open door half way down the passage.

    The statue in the room to the north (with a secret door) is a grotesque fish-person with a clawed three pronged trident. DC12 to notice that one of the tridents claws match an indent in the wall – which will cause the wall to swing inwards and surprise any mecenary on the other side of the wall.
  • 2 – This door is seriously locked. A really heavy locked door if the party members have alerted the mercenaries to their presence. DC20 strength check to break it down. AC20 to damage it with 20 hp. This iron banded door won’t give for many people at all. The Cultist Fanatic would have a key to this door however.
  • 3 – Concealed Pit: DC 10 to find, DC 10 to disable; affects all targets entering a 10 ft. square area, DC 14 save or take 2d10 damage. The whole room is a pit trap. The lever to disable to pit trap is next to the secret door/passage to the south wall in the room and not reachable unless you skirt around a narrow (6inch lip) ledge to activate the lever. On the walls is several books and several small chests on shelves as well as wall mounted weapon and armor racks.

As for creatures. If the mercenaries were followed here (and all of them escaped or the party was captured) there should be 8 bandits, 1 cultist fantatic and 1 bandit leader in here. The bandit leader and half remaining bandits should be in the 1st floor in the large room near the chain trap and the fanatic and half bandits should be down past the locked door in the odd shaped room planning another raid.

Encounter 2

The ‘Wyvern’

On the 4th night the blight drake will appear and will be seen along the coastline near the town. IF they wyvern hunters are still alive they will flee with the loot (extorted tithes) and won’t be seen again. The party members will be requested to defend the city.

When (DM decide where) the party encounter the drake use the stat block below. The drake is likely to fight by flying over the party and breathing out acid before landing and taking to them with tooth and claw. It’s forearms also function as it’s wings.

The priest will reveal that he did not lose the holy symbol but wanted to prove the mercenaries as fake or try and lay the blame on the stolen artefact on the mercenaries. He did not anticipate the beast being as strong as it was or even real.

The outcome

The party can persue the wyvern hunters as they would set up camp in the forest hideout. The priest would offer a reward if they can retrieve the ill-gotten money and goods.

Thanks for joining for another weekend writeup, I hope you enjoyed what was thought up this week. I had a lot of fun taking the random elements and drawing inspiration from them to create an adventure that I don’t think I’ve run in the past.

As always don’t forget to have fun running your games and don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Traps…

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Now I tend to not use traps in my dungeons or my adventures and the reason is simple.

They either slow down the game with players checking every room or corridor for one or more traps or, the players start to suspect me of trying to kill them by including traps.

I will explain why I love traps but also why I fail to use them often in a simple write-up of a ‘random’ encounter I had with my current party.

The human Paladin, Tiefling Ranger and ‘Treefolk’ (homebrew race) Blood Hunter were escorting a caravan carrying an unholy relic from Eruva Osto; the great walled city, to Cthlaxiis where an order of knights would destroy the artefact and aid in preventing the second coming of a undead deity.

As the caravan and it’s escort made its way under the shadowed canopy of oak and pine trees they approached a fallen tree about 60 feet away. Next to this tree a familiar form of a mushroom loving Kobold they met the other day could be seen picking up some mushrooms. The Blood Hunter approached the Kobold, narrowing avoiding fine silken thread that had been placed at several places along the road. As the Treefolk questioned the Kobold a caravan guard stepped forward and was shot with poisoned darts, he began to hallucinate as several kobolds let off yipping battle cries and rushed towards the larger humanoids with the element of surprise in their favour. A few rounds of combat saw all the PCs unconcious and robbed, the strings of silk and threat of traps hampering their fighting prowess. As a npc guard ran forward to stabilise the fallen party members he accidentally set off a log trap that turned him to jelly when it pulverised him against a tree laden with hidden spikes.

From that adventure onwards they remembered Barry the guard and have a fear of kobolds. But more importantly it demonstrated how the puny kobold or semi-intelligent monster could work with traps and boost themselves from mere fodder and a way to wet the blades of your party, but to become something which the players remember forever.

I liked this encounter. The traps where very low difficulty and threat level which suited the three level 2 pcs but it challenged them to think out side of the hack and slash box.

What I didn’t like was the snowball affect that lands me with two or three players rolling perception and investigation checks every new room they walk into. Even when it’s very clear that there isn’t anything here they still love to check for traps. This paranoia means that for me utilising traps is a moot point, which I and drive with. But what it does do is slow down the game a bit.

When you have 80% of the party being working parents and your game time limited to Saturday night from 8pm til 11:45pm (we don’t play past 12am due to an effect we call the happening.. stuff gets weird after midnight) any delay in game time can really impact the enjoyment that the party get out of the session.

But with this week’s adventure having a dungeon full of traps I think it’s time to address that tool in the DMs toolbelt and see what this adventure can bring.

Start safe, play hard and don’t forget to roll with advantage,

The Brazen Wolfe

What’s hidden under our feet…

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Thursday already and with it comes maps. Today following the theme of the week we have a look at random generated dungeons, crypts or cellars. Both of these maps were generated using web browser applications and have pros and cons to them.

Without talking too much more let’s have a look at what we are working with today.

The temple of the forgotten

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Perhaps high up in the mountains, or maybe underneath an new building lies a maze of old masonry and mystery. The Temple of the forgotten was generated in donjon and tailored (traps, complexity, etc.) with 4 level 3 party members in mind. However the layout and theme could also be used quite easily as any dungeon or crypt and the ability to download it as a friendly self contained HTML file OR as a PDF is a big win.

Generated in https://donjon.bin.sh/5e/dungeon/

Files for download

temple-of-the-forgotten-PDF fullDownload
temple-of-the-forgotten-player-packDownload

Den of the Cabal

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A hidden trap door, or secret passage way can hide a lot of things. Whether the crafted corridors and rooms are host to dark and vile acts or they are used by the innocent to seek shelter from the dangers above ground, hidden structures like this provide adventure and exploration for a dungeon master and their players.

Created in DunGen this doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles but does produce visually simple yet appealing maps for those wanting to add something a bit more to their game sessions.

Den of the Cabal – Top level. Created in https://dungen.app/dungen/
Den of the Cabal – Lower level. Created in https://dungen.app/dungen/

Files for download

dungen_seed(24953281)_top-level-1Download
dungen_Seed(86896314)_lower-levels-1Download

Both the Dungen app and Donjon are useful tools for those who want a quick nofuss map for their adveture. There are other generators out there and some of which can provide you with encounters as well as a plot hook for the adventure ahead however if I had to pick a favourite used today I can’t look past DonJon. I have used them for reference materials for a number of years and looking at their dungeon creator it’s really a wonderful tool that could save hours of drawing and calculating.

Or use either of these generators and add things in yourself. Treat the as a shell to hold your creative yolk inside until it’s ready to hatch. What ever the tool a map, on the table, or hidden behind the fog of war on the virtual tabletop can really bring a spark of joy and enjoyment to your players.

Don’t forget the weekend is approaching and with it comes, for most of us, the best times to sit down infront of a screen or a table and to play tabletop games. Have fun out there and as always..

Don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Variety is the spice of life.

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Hello Monday. This week we mix it up a bit. There is fluidity in open ended adventures and since we have been doing this for five weeks now I think it’s time to have a look at extending the randomness and going through a few thing that cross my mind when looking at adventures

This week we are looking at 4 randomly generated adventures that I don’t quite remember using when I was playing this game system when I was… 22 so a number of years ago now. The real challenge of this week for me will be to implement an approach I ahve been refining for a number of years now looking at how to improve my improvisation skills as a dungeon or game master.

Created in Gimp from a personal photo.

Let’s have a look at the four randonly generated adventure hooks today.

Flying Menace

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A flight of wyverns have been taking a village’s sheep and cattle. The farmers have called for aid in getting rid of the beasts. The village has requested aid but no one has responded to the request of a farming village as the pay does not seem to be worth the risk.

For the love of the gods

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The holy symbol of a high priest has gone missing and without it the prayers to his deity are going unanswered.

Condemned until proven innocent

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An innocent man has been sentenced to death, his public pleas for help (as he is kept in a suspended cage in the village square) are a constant as he pleads innocence.

Practically Barbaric

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A tribe of trading nomads have gone into a frenzy while within the city walls. Their destruction and strength is sufficient enough to overpower the city guard.

A shorter post today as I wanted to keep the theme of the adventure short. This week is really focusing on improvisation and having a lot of prep work done on the adventure or NPCs (to some extent) can be detrimental to having a fluid feeling improvised game night.

The main reason for this week is the game of OpenLegendRPG I had on the weekend. Where I went in wanting to flex my creative prowess with little more than a “wandering Plot” more on that later. Using the description of the level 1 characters, a area (based off a city map from current times) and the driving theme we had a 4.5 hour adventure with ups and downs, discoveries and betrayals that ended with the table enjoying the adventure and wanting to discuss the session for the following 30 minutes.

OpenLegendRPG encourages (needs) strong improvisation skills due to its “your attempt failed however..” approach with action checks, attacks, spells and decisions that require a dice roll. The ideas is to not have a party stuck being a door if the rest of the story is on the other side of the door but they lost the key. I have also applied a similar approach to Dungeons & Dragons multiple times in my current 3 year campaign – each time it only further encourages my players to explore and do what they want to do, rather than what I have planned for.

And thanks to my new subscribers – I hope you are able to make use of what I post here whether it is for TTRPG, writing a series of short stories or spinning a goodnight story for your children instead of reading the same book for the seventh time that week.

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

Weeks wrapup

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This week was a busy one. A final push for work before going on a short break during my daughter’s school holidays and a break from normal work to focus and jumpstart a few projects I’m working on.

This week we used art breeder a lot. From npc images to inspiration for encounters artbreeder was there.

We also used a lot or Kobold fight club, tetra-cube and hero muster to generate the encounters for the party and used the most common form of inspiration for me, sensations, imagery, and emotions felt during my childhood.

This weeks encounter is based on something that both my younger brother and I swear happened.

We both grew up, predominantly on a small farm about 20 minutes from city on about 16 acres (approx 6.5 hectares). The house was at the front/ top of a hill where I remember planting around 3000 trees with my family early when we moved there. As time went on we became more bold to venture amongst the budding forest and especially at night.

Towards the back of the property there was two paddocks of creek flats, where the creek that ran through the farm would overflow and so only tall bushes of grass and trees along the creek bank. One such night when my brother and I were in our teens we were out the back paddock amongst the creek flats. I distinctly remember looking at the tangled maze of branches that framed the waters edge with unease that night, and to be perfectly honest every night since. We were just discussing how to best cross the creek, I believe it was late spring or early autumn as the night was warm but the ground was damp and loamy. As a cloud move across the bright moon a mind shaking sound resonates from our neighbours paddock (who shared the same hauntingly still tree line and creek). A howl. Cliche I know, but hear me out.

As I wondered if I was hearing things my brother asked me ‘Did you bear that howl…?’ a genuine nervousness in his voice. It wasn’t just my hyper active imagination playing tricks on me, like when you see shadows moving through the backyard or a room (more on that another time) but it felt real and I wasn’t alone in hearing it.

Well we didn’t cross the creek at night next to that foreboding treeline and as we jumped three fences to put as much between us and the source of the howl we always worked in pairs to make sure that one person always watched the treeline.

Walking up past the trees, that forest we were so proud of planting, ever few steps felt like s minute had passed, that feeling of dread and unease didn’t leave us until we bad passed through another 5 gates and was in our backyard again.T

The feeling of that night, not the source of the sound, is what I wanted to capture this week. Dread, foreboding, unease to the point of nausea and then most importantly, Relief. Knowing it was over.

Well, this week was really fun. The exploration of old memories and feelings and applying a framework or story around what could happen or be the cause of something is what made this week a bit.. more.

As always, a big thanks to everyone who read the material this week, it gives me no small amount of joy to see people visiting to see what I have written this week. Feel free to comment if like or didn’t like something as that’s the only way to hone a craft, practice and criticism.

As always, don’t forget to roll with advantage

The Brazen Wolfe

Hunt or be hunted

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

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

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

Things that stalk and hunt

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

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

Dungeons & Dragons Statblock from tetra-cube

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

Open Legends statblock created at heromuster

Closing notes

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

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

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

Dungeons & Dragons Statblock from tetra-cube

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

Open Legends statblock created at heromuster

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

That’s it for Friday ‘Fight-night’.

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

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

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