OpenLegendRPG

Into The Swamp

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Another week has come and this time it brings our party travelling over land, due to some unfortunate happenings with the ship which will be revealed in due course, and into the swamp. The Swamps of Tulkore are aptly named the Carrion swamps due to the unpleasant smell that wafts from the waters. Its more than just rotting vegetable matter in these dank places of the jungle as the undead seem to show up in great numbers at times. But… I will stop myself there before I get too far into the lore of this place, so let’s sit back grab a coffee and roll into this weeks adventure!

Into the Swamp

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The Tulkore Jungle – Created in Nightcafe

The smell of the swamp was pungent enough that when the wind blew from the east the smell travelled along the road that the Party was travelling along. Carmine and Jon had agreed to get the party to the port town of Ferklend. Ferklend found itself on the edge of a dense jungle that gave way very quickly to a large swamp. The volume of vegetation ensured that the waters were murky and unclean to drink from.

But that wasn’t the issue with Ferklend. The undead also frequently rose from the swamp and the people of Ferklend and the other denizens of the swamp also found their way to the gates and doors of the frontier town. Candice and Jon had agreed to take the party as far as the port town where Jon could also retrieve some materials to repair his ship. But once their business was concluded, about a week or so later, they would return with or without the party.

They had offered the party free travel as long as they acted as a guard for their single wagon. This wasn’t a hard job or something that was particularly far-fetched as they had already proven their worth to both Jon and Carmine on the road to Nigrun.

But by the time they were approaching Ferklend it was something that they had already had to put to test as dark skinned goblins had attacked them once during their trek to the jungle. But despite this the two merchants also shared tales of the lands of Ferklend. The swamp was rumoured to once have been a jungle paradise before some calamity swallowed it up by the putrid water. A city and temple like no other gone in a blinding flash of green light or so the ancient stories went. 

Whatever the cause, the heat was nearly as bad as the cold from a week ago and the smell was only growing stronger.

A change in temperature and a change in what we can expect for this weeks adventure. The hardest part is yet to come as getting to the port town of Ferklend is the easy part. After that the party have to listen to rumours and discover if ancient folklore is true or not. Perhaps they may also find the source of the towns problems in doing so.

Regardless don’t forget to come back each day this week for more content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Den of the Lost

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Tonight and I have created a zine for this weeks adventure. Den of the Lost. 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, Den of the Lost. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

Den of the Lost

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After their confrontation with the Remorhaz on the thin and fragile ledges of the Platara Ridge the party were relieved to make it to the top. 

The sun reflected the whites and blues of the frigid landscape and in the distance a large glacier lay between the peaks of some of the tallest places in the continent. But if creatures like the one they battled call this place home what other ordeals wait for them on the Platara Ice fields.

PDF adventure – Den of the Lost

den-of-the-lostDownload

Thanks for joining me tonight for another Zine. This one had more content added to the Zine but… not so much that I could reveal in the blog update. So you will just have to trust me on that and grab a copy of the 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

Obtaining Inspiration for Characters

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After spending a bit of time recovering from being unwell I managed to find some down time where I wondered about something critical for new and old players alike. Obtaining inspiration for characters is this weeks thought-filled Saturday post and being a forever DM I was able to look what what I could do if provided the opportunity to be a player. So tonight is a bit about that process, one that I have touched on in the past as well. So sit back, grab a hot drink and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure.

Obtaining Inspiration for Characters

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Now obtaining inspiration for characters isn’t that hard and its very similar to how I obtain inspiration for adventures when I am stuck. The world we interact with these days is so fast and filled with creativity that you don’t have to look too far to find something that could inspire. Movies, anime’s, TV shows, board games, books and comics, art, music, nature… the list goes on and on and for me inspiration for characters comes from three main sources.

1. Anime, Movies and TV shows

Ok you could argue that this is three things but hear me out. I don’t get a lot of time between work, my family and the blog so I generally have to choose one of the above three to indulge in one night a week. Yup. Once a week. So for me inspiration could strike from simply watching an anime and asking the question. “That was cool, how would that work in D&D?”. If you try and pin a class or move set against a anime character you can quickly find that you start identifying similar moves. For example, Sasuke or Kakashi using Chidori could simply be Shocking grasp. Their fast speed, stealth and ability to blink around the battlefield could be fey powers (Arch-fey warlock) but most likely is monk (way of the shadows), and their ability to do a few ninjitsu well, but not all of them while blending in complex fighting techniques and assassination style combat would fill in the other class to be fighter (eldritch knight) and rogue (assassin – I guess).

By identifying move sets from a favourite character you could build a D&D character that functions very much like them. Certain supplements out there already blend some of this together into a neat package by if you’re only using core rules then multiclassing becomes interesting.

2. Music

Now I have done 30 minute adventure challenges before where the adventure was prompted from a song that was randomly selected. Provocative music could give players the right imagery to create a character from nothing. One of my all time favourite songs, Shepherd of Fire, has inspired big bad, significant NPCs, demigods and even PCs for me. Strong emotional images in the song evokes a being cursed to serve a greater purpose or being.

Someone who could hold back an army if needed or be that army. This gives me cleric (as they are strong and backed by a deity) or even warlock (fiend or even undead patrons) who acts as a key piece in the game of chess that their patron or deity plays. More mainstream songs I find difficult to create these trigger points in which characters are born but even pop songs can generate enough of a creative spark to create a character. Bards who are pacifists who charm or enthral people, armies, a whole full tavern to make them forget their woes could sing “Happy” by Pharell Williams.

3. Books

Now a pretty obvious one. Dungeons and Dragons and most other TTRPGs are governed by books. So it only makes sense that inspiration for characters can come from fiction or even non-fictional places. Most Fictional books have a protagonist of the story in which you can gain inspiration from in a heart beat. They normally act a certain way using familiar move sets or patterns which you can identify and relate to D&D or a TTRPG rule system.

The secondary or support characters can provide this inspiration too and I find myself creating more, hypothetical, characters from support characters from novels I read compared to the main protagonist. I think this is because their story goes largely unwritten. There is elements you can take and fill in to create something that feels like its your own. The main character normally has entire story boards based on just them, let alone books, so they don’t feel like they can be played any other way.

Some of the most fun characters I have created were based off a hybrid of the main character and a support character, like Cheerwell maker in the Shadows of the Apt series when blended with other support character to have a tanky front line gnome who uses inventions to describe her battle manoeuvres and spell casting.

Opportunities for obtaining inspiration for characters is everywhere and can come from nearly anything. Movies, Books, music, artwork or nature can inspire a NPC, Villian, antagonist / protagonist or even adventure if you look for the key elements that make up that something and map it to the RPG framework you use. But enough on that for tonight. So don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a Zine, hopefully, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage.
The Brazen Wolfe

Salt and Smoke

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Now with this weeks fight amongst salt and smoke we are taking a step back from map creation and going with good old Theatre of the mind. But let’s see if we can get enough of a description of what the battlefield looks like in order to drive the encounter regardless. So let’s sit down, grab a coffee and read on!

Salt and Smoke

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The seaside town of Nigrun consists of around three dozen small homes, two warehouses, a tavern-come-inn and a general store. Most of the buildings are built out of wooden planks that encase mudbrick walls. There are two main streets that create an intersection that split Nigrun into three sections with a warehouse, store and tavern being the smallest section that is fenced off.

The main street that flows from these central buildings passes houses and smaller buildings as it moves down towards the sea and the three piers that form the docks. The second warehouse is located here and stores non-Nigrun produced goods which they use as trade and barter with other seafaring people. However this leaves the warehouse quite open to all sides and so there is a thirty feet tall watch guard tower here.

Most homes are occupied by a family or people that live together. Most of the people in this town are either farmers who create the grain and straw or fishermen who take out small boats to the bay that they have found themselves in. A few larger houses are positioned along the pebble beach opposite the warehouse.

Currently there are some hastily made barricades that face outwards from the city protecting the warehouse, general store and tavern primarily but a ramshackle group of hastily made walls have been erected. Some parts of the wall lay smouldering where what looks to be a small tower was constructed but otherwise all is quiet in the city like the town before the storm.

The barricades are about eight feet tall with small holes periodically around the base for people to shoot arrows through or to jab with spears out. There are a few places that are open where there is no wall but the gap appears to be about as big as a wagon or cart and one lays nearby ready to be pushed into place to block it once more.

The land outside of the barricade is mostly flat with some hill scattered around but from the vantage of a roof, tower or taller perch you could see for a few thousand feet if there was something large approaching. The waters are clear except for the large merchant boat in the dock and none of the fishing boats are out on the water leaving it a very full dock presently.

That’s about it for now and this weeks town description. The encounter planned this week will be a bit of a surprise, I hope, so make sure to come back for that. Don’t forget this weekend should see more Tabletop content as we push through to the end of the year. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Road to the Well of Souls

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Welcome to another night of adventure building and tonight we find our party on the road to the well of souls. This is the second part of 3* adventures that take place after the discovery of Andrasa’s tower. So to get on with the trip let’s carry and sit back grab a coffee and roll into this weeks adventure!

The Road to the Well of Souls

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The Ship from Platara Coast – Created in Nightcafe
The Sled from Platara ice fields – Created in Nightcafe

Saying goodbye to the snow, ice and cold was the easiest part of their departure from Platara. The last battle that they faced in the Ice Spire still caused their bodies to ache as they bumped along towards the Well of Souls. The information that they had gathered from Lucile and the map was that it was located in a sunken forest, well a swamp really. But like the Ice spire it was apparently a place of interest, and the phantom of Andrasa that they had seen in the aftermath of the battle led them to believe that the wards there were also failing.

But for now they smiled at the fresh air and the distinct lack of chaos or impressing doom that was waiting to drag them down. For now the sounds of other travellers coming along with them to the Port town of Jandarl was refreshing. In the town they would have a choice, travel by sea on a merchant boat that stops at a few port towns along the way or travel by land which is a direct route to their destination. The ship is just as fast as a Sled and wagon due to the stops but gets out of the cold a little bit quicker.

Entering Jandarl they were greeted by friendly faces of Jardi and Hisha, both were trading with some locals near the docks. “So you made it. When we left camp we believed that we would see you again.” Jardi said with a smile. “I had a winter wolf visiting me and let me know you all were safe.”

“We can’t thank you enough for rescuing our people from those creatures in the ice caves. They spoke highly of your bravery and determination to save them.” Hisha added with a bow, “but once you do know where you are heading please let us know. We would like to pay your way to your next destination, wherever that is. It’s the least we can do.” Both Jardi and Hisha smiled warmly at the adventurers before ushering them to a tavern nearby.

Warm ale and food was quickly brought out and it wasn’t long until everyone knew of the conquests and actions of the party as they sat down and enjoyed a moment to rest.

Another decision for the party to make that will help shape their experience of the next leg of the journey. But don’t fret young DM as we do have ways to cater for a moment of sandbox thinking. As the saying goes, all roads lead to Rome, and I have implemented this approach many times. So don’t forget to come back each day this week and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Frozen Ridge

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Tonight and I have created a zine for this weeks adventure. The Frozen Ridge. 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 Frozen Ridge. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

The Frozen Ridge

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After the discoveries made at the tower of Andrasa the party uncovered something more. Three sites marked and labelled by the Arch mage herself in a language unknown to all. The closest being the Ice spire in the lands of Platara, a frigid region to the north.

These places could be a place of great opportunity, danger, or both but the adventurers will only find out once it’s too late.

After returning to Rastabar with the party spent a few days resting and seeing the sights. The markets were filled with local and exotic wares and they had access to almost any magical or mundane item they could wish for, the right amount of gold permitting of course. But the strange and exotic animals also drew them in. Wind cutters, hyenas, a fellgorger and something both chained, caged and contained in a giant wooden crate that occasionally rattled. All these weird and wonderful creatures are all up for sale. 

But despite their shopping and rest it wasn’t long until Lucile asked for them to join her at her warehouse.

“Now I don’t need to say thanks again, the payment should be enough for that, but I do have something else to offer. The land has changed since Andrasa drew her map but we believe we know where she was talking about. If they were placed Andrasa had pointed out or was drawn to they would certainly be placed of great interest. We have updated one of our modern maps with Andrasa’s key points and I want to give it to you. While Andrasa will always be my favourite subject it’s what she did with Rastabar that makes it special to me.”

Lucile Bendercuff – Created in Nightcafe

Although the ship had been paid for by Lucile the captain, Alex, seemed less sure of the job. “I don’t really fly up that part of the Desert. Tribes in the desert have been known to attack merchants given the chance, flying ship or otherwise.” he said as he looked over the helm and railing.

“There is a crate of supplies there, a gift from Lucile. You lot made that young woman’s dreams come true by uncovering stuff about that old mage. She hasn’t been this excited in years.” he said with a nod as the party opened the crate and looked at the rations, climbing gear, warm clothes and tent. Just don’t go do something stupid. These places were marked for a reason and it may not be the right one. The closest is the Spire, a spike of ice. I saw it once I did when I traded with some barbarian tribes of the ice plains. That was before I got the ship though. Magic plays up on the ice.”

PDF adventure – The Frozen Ridge

the-frozen-ridgeDownload

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

Alternative Directions

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With this week leaving the decision on how to move forward up to the players I think its wise to touch on this weeks alternative directions. Now based on the encounter planned for this week it’s going to be a big one. But if they don’t want to fight the Frost Giant and a beefed up Winter Wolf then how do we wrap up this week. That’s where the alternative directions come into play. Something that is triggered from the players decision where the outcome helps drive the story forward in a different way. So sit back, grab a hot drink and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure.

Alternative Directions

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Disappointment and Fury. More fury than disappointment when the creatures watched the idiot mortals talk with the hulking giant. Who were they to think that they could stray from the plan and make peace with the dumb brute instead of kill it. As the rage began to take over the creature calmed itself. Never mind, the plan still had another option. The idiotic mortals still removed the first guardians, the dead wolves out front had kept his agents at bay for centuries and now the pack was diminished.

Steadying a breath it pushed out a command, a series of instructions to the fell beasts that dwelt within the frozen tundra. After a few moments of concentrating the horde answered the broken commands, the confines of the creatures prison hampered its magic. But then the horde answered. A screeching, seething horde of claws, teeth, fists and blades smashed through the ice. Claws from the foul undead creatures scampered over rocks and rushed towards the spires. Foul winged beasts swooped towards the spire at their masters commands and finally, hulking brutes pushed through the ice as they were driven by ancient oaths from their ancestors towards the spire.

If you can’t trust lesser beings to do your dirty work for you then you need to do it yourself. Soon the bindings will be removed and its powers will grow but first, revenge on those who betrayed it was a dish best served frozen.

So a bit of a glimpse what the alternative will be to ensure the story for this multi-part adventure continues… But even with that considered as one of the alternative directions the party has the final say in the end. So don’t forget to come back tomorrow for some more D&D content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage.
The Brazen Wolfe

Inside the Ice Spire

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Tonight’s we get a look Inside the Ice Spire where we have a statue, a giant and a wolf. This week looks a bit cold and menacing but as I mentioned in yesterdays post; Secrets of the Spire, how this plays out is up to the party. So before we reveal anything more let’s sit down, grab a coffee and look at tonight’s map!

Inside the Ice Spire

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The walls of the room are sharp and harsh by they look like they are chipped back at jagged angles. A raised platform of ice, maybe 10 feet above the flat floor holds a statue that is in the stages of cracking and healing from a small trickle of water that drops from the roof above.

A smoother section of the wall lays behind the statue which looks like its purposefully been kept smooth and flat. Two large braziers shed flickering blue light around the room from either side of the statues platform from magical flames. Despite the room itself being well looked after and worn in places the hallway in has several different bones thrown against the wall and partially buried from snow that made its way down the hall.

Inside the Ice Spire – Created in Inkarnate.

The final map for the Platara Ice shelf, ice plains and ridge journey that the party has gone through. This week caps off the journey with a decision from the players on how this adventure goes. Will they confront the giant, the demi-deity of the glacier or will they head its threats and leave this place. Don’t forget to come back the next few days to see the outcome of this and the encounter that we crave. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Ice Spire

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Towering above the The Platara ice fields lies the Ice Spire. This monolith pierces the sky and is considered both sacred and forbidden by the tribespeople that call the glacier and fields of ice home. Not much is known about the Ice Spire only that it holds great significance and great danger. In order to find out about the Ice Spire we best sit back grab a coffee and roll into this weeks adventure!

The Ice Spire

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The Ice Spire – Created in Nightcafe

Leaving the glacier was a relief and the snow storm had died down after leaving the cave but what greeted them chilled them more than the winds could. A monolith of ice rose high above them nearly piercing the sky like a frozen spear. The Ice spire was both terrible and beautiful and as they stared more into its frozen form a pulse like energy could be felt.

The source of curiosity from Andrasa’s map held untold promise of what could lie within its chilled walls. The script on the map around the spire itself didn’t reveal anything about its construction, purpose or history but suggested it held great power and importance. Andrasa had studied it, this was clear and from the information that Lucile had given them on not only this place but the well of souls and deep dark also held such power.

Each place was obviously significant and in the shadow of the Ice Spire the party could not but wonder what lay within its frozen walls. With the howls of winter wolves nearby driving home the point that they were far from both civilisation and safety they began to trudge through the glacial walls and passages towards the Ice spire. However, as they progressed forwards something ancient and predatorial watched them eagerly as they moved across the ice sheets. After so long the promise of warmth was close yet not close enough as the sun rose across the glacier causing the light to refract from the spire of ice.

Thanks for joining me tonight for the last week of the adventure centred in Platara. Need I say that you shouldn’t forget to come back each day as we move forward with this adventure. Tomorrow we may have a visitor drop by and introduce themselves to the Party and after that, well you’ll have to find out. Don’t forget to look for the little adventures in every day life and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Tower of Andrasa

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Tonight and I have created a zine for this weeks adventure. The Tower of Andrasa. 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 Tower of Andrasa. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

The Tower of Andrasa

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Continuing on from the party finding the lost lore of Rastabar they eagerly return to Lucile Bendercliff. But while they think that the loose strings from their encounter on the streets outside of Rastabars Library, a separate interested party was close behind them.

While the airship was readied, the captain readied it for anything he had encountered before. With their trusted navigator already mapping the chart and consulting the map that Lucile was hastily sketching out, the party was nearly ready to go.

But would they get there too late?

The Tower of Andrasa – Created in Nightcafe

PDF adventure – The Tower of Andrasa

the-tower-of-andrasaDownload

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