TTRPG

What in the Zel…

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Wednesday already – being at home sick (thankfully not COVID though, rolled a good con save there) and not working means that I have a lot of extra brain power these past few days so I am experimenting with new formats and templates for the different content I produce.

Today is Twist day – that isn’t to say that you need to have a twist in an adventure, just that they can add a little something to the session. Let’s have a look at what can go wrong in and around Zel.

Jeremiha Roost

Jeremiha (02TuSt2) is wanted for aggressive robbery and murder. He has been requested to be brought in dead or alive by the Zel City Watch (02MoSt2)… But what if all isn’t what it seems.

02WeJR1

Jeremiha is targeting shipments of supplies going outside the city of Zel. It turns out he is only stealing from the merchants who are sending out the limited supplies out of the city instead of helping the poor and starving.

The reported murder is where the father and son got into a heated arguement about handing the goods over – the son wanted to sell the goods to make more money for themselves but the father was happy to hand over the goods peacefully to Jeremiha. When the Father agreed the son pulled out a weapon and tried to kill the father, doing so just as Jeremihas blade separated the arm from the son. Applying a healing salve to the sons wound Jeremiha left after depositing a sum of money to the son so that he could ensure

If the party witness Jeremiha during a robbery/heist, and he is captured then this twist should be considered

Up to the players – Can hand him in or let him go and knowingly fail the quest. Hand him in and the goods will continue to be stolen and given back to the people

02WeJR2

Jeremiha is as bad as they come. He almost prefers people to put up a fight so he can inflict harm upon them – seemingly only feeling joy when he is on the hunt for new people to assault and rob.

However, he is not alone. The reason he has gone undetected for so long is because several of the watchmen and women are under his employ.

If Jeremiha is found several men/women of the watch appear at the same time and look to surround him and “back up” the players. But then they ambush the players.

Or

If the players request help from the guard then they turn on the players just after finding Jeremiha with the intent on killing them.

Players now have to try and fight off Jeremiha as well as the corrupt officials. Then they have to report this back to the head officer, Sam (02TuSt1)

Bonus twist(s)

Sam could have known that there was corruption in the watch and used this to get rid or reveal the traitors.

OR

Jeremiha was the corrupt previous captain of the watch and held a lot of power over her officers. Getting rid of him and some of those officers will solidify her position

Or you could just have him as a lone operator without a twist. The idea behind him is relatively flexible – not all bad guys need to have corrupted the system or have a deeper more ‘robin hood’ background story but these twists can enrich them further.

What lies behind the sheets

The idea for this twist is simple. What you are escorting is not all all what it seems. The caravan carrying refugees (02MoEs1) or the escort of goods from warehouse 1 to market (02MoEs2)

02WeEs1

The caravan that the refugees are in, led by one of the refugees who is a sort of nominated leader of the group, has gone through a long journey to the neighbouring settlement. Along the way however they changed course off the pre-plotted route to go down dangerous roads and it caused the party a few days of fighting.

The last few nights the party have also woken up to ambushes on the caravan which has caused the party a few restless nights of sleep.

The party arrive exhausted but safe at the settlement…

There is no particular trigger for this – either it happens or it doesn’t. I would think that this is the default adventure for this plot.

See 02WeEs3 or 02WeEs4

02WeEs2

What Brumblethatch didn’t tell the party is that the goods they are to escort are living specimens of a semi-hostile race.

The buyer is someone who plans to experiment on them so that they can better understand how they work and how to kill them.

Since they are hostile, relatively unknown creatures, despite it being a short distance the party members have to subdue the creatures as they try to escape their crate. For each creature not subdued (but slain) reduce the payout by 20%.

If you want to have the quest have more of a shock or moral delimma then introduce this twist.

Reduced income if the party kills any of the creatures. The party members have to decide if they want to hand over the things to be experimented on.

02WeEs3

Upon seeing the settlement walls a strange silence comes from the caravans holding the refugees. Approaching the walls of the settlement the guard of the settlement comes to greet the caravan and the escort.

Once within range of the Caravans the refugees burst out armoured and armed with a range of weapons. The refugees quickly overpower the guards at the settlement before rushing towards the gate separating the walls.

The party, exhausted, watches on as the first guards fall down injured, dead or dying as the self proclaimed leader apologises for their deceit and throws a bag or valuable goods towards the party member. Mentioning that this settlement invaded the settlement that they used to belong to and either killed or captured (into slavery) the people that didnt manage to escape.

Option for changing the storyline between the refugees quest..

The party has to decide whether to help the guards and fight the people they have travelled with for the past few days in their exhausted state.

Protecting the settlement may buy them an ally in the future and give more options of future missions and quests.

O2WeEs4

Some of the locals don’t like that the Party has brought more mouths to feed to the settlement and organise an ambush/attack on the party as they are resting that night.

Some of the refugees are killed in the attack.

If the refugees don’t attack the settlement then consider this the other side of the coin.

The refugees leave the settlement after the attackers are dealt with to take their chances in the wild instead of dealing with the settlement’s people who attacked them outright.

There are quite a few here, but really its 2 with different outcomes for the first. Either of these should be considered heavily if either of the parent plots are selected.

It’s a trap!

Suitable for any quest. It’s a trap is simple. Either the patron or a competing faction want what you have and have set you up. OR they are testing you see if you are truly worthy to be in their employ

02WeTrap1

As the party members are on the verge of completing their quest they are ambushed or stopped.

If you want to add danger, a sense of shock or to expand from a basic plot into something a bit more.

The party has to fight their way out to complete their quest/mission. Giving them more rewards (loot from the bodies of the fallen) or a bonus from their patron. Or if their patron is betraying them then it’s time for renegotiations of the contract to take place.

02WeTest1

Stealing the thingy, transporting the goods (that are actually not valuable or for sale at all) or apprehending the city watchmen disguised as a murderous thug are all ways that the patron is testing to see if they are suitable for a bigger task.

If you have ideas for a series of bigger quests revolving around a NPC or group then this could be a good way to start it off. A test that is disguised as a real mission/quest could lay the groundwork for future bigger or more dangerous work

Future work opens up and the party are trusted by the patron group further

Probably a good twist to open up a series of quests or “kick down the door” to bigger revelation or reward.

Hopefully the new layout helps in breaking up the twists we have at our disposal. Apart from the first two that focus around a specific NPC the other twists could be woven into any mission that it could be relevant to.

Twist it up

As with our Monday post, if you want to see a specific twist used in this week’s adventure lets see it below in a comment.

Don’t worry if it’s person specific or story specific as with all twists it shouldn’t be too hard to blend them together to throw in a curve ball. Like the idea of Jeremiha but want an escort quest – no worries, Jeremiha likes stealing stuff.

Like the idea of an escort gone wrong but want to be looking for something magical, Maybe the one goods that are on that convoy to be sold is particularly potent in magic.

So if you see one that you like, add in the tagline into a comment and we will add it to this week’s adventure – else, I will let the dice decide the twist for this week.

Twists, although fun, shouldn’t be over done. Some weeks it may be better to have no twists occur for the players and just let the plot and the players decisions speak for themselves. Not having a twist may keep the party on their toes more often than not.

Remember that the enjoyment of everyone in the session, Game Master, Player or even your observers is what is most important. If the rules or the structure of the adventure is getting in the way, scrap it or change it- move forward with what makes the party have the most enjoyment.

That’s it for today, and as always don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Oh to Zel with you…

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Today we are looking at the people of Zel – perhaps friends, employers or marks in the city for the party to meet.

Today’s tool is Artbreeder – a seemingly infinite source of character portraits if you have the patience in splicing images (automatically mind you) to get something that looks just right for the vision you have for that Non-player character.

Zel and it’s community.

James Sutherman

02TuStLe1

James is the relatively successful owner of James’s emporium – a place where you can find just about everything that you could need.

He is relatively quick to temper; his son Tim, seems to weather the brunt of it but he is also known to be generous and kind and is frequently seen giving hand-outs to those in need.

Tim Sutherman

0TuStLe2

Tim is a well liked member of the community. Much like his father, James Sutherman, he is well known for being kind and is first on the scene to helping out those in his community.

He has a keen knack for business, and those in the community know it’s him who keeps James’s Emporium running.

Madeline Yoke

02TuEs1

Madi runs the local Refuge shelter giving people food, a place to stay; albeit temporarily, and organising them safe transportation if required out of Zel city.

She is known to be compassionate but ruthless, often never seen without a weapon on her. She is quick to judge but equally as quick to offer aid to those in need.

Jeremiha Roost

02TuSt2

Jeremiha Roost has a bad track record. Known to show up at the right moment at the right time to intercept the good people of Zel.

Known to use violence to get what he wants, generally the cargo of those who he finds, he is as ruthless as he is cunning. Having out-foxed the local authorities he continues on his crime spree – his last heist of cargo left a merchant dead and his son missing an arm.

Kaitlyn ‘Lyn’

02TuFe1

Lyn is the assistant, and well, really the face for the mysterious ‘X’.

Not much is known about Lyn’s past only that she has made a name for herself in Zel and that ‘X’ favours her above the rest of her assistants.

Brumblethatch Ispich

02TuEs2

Brumblethatch Ispich, who insists on not having a nickname, is an eccentric provider of goods across Zel City.

He is known to be the first to source and sell the next big thing on the scene.

Whether it’s lizard-skin pants or new weaponry; that may or may not be safe, Brumblethatch is there selling it until it starts to really kick off. By that time he has moved onto the next big thing. Whether that is advisable or not he changes his produce seemingly at a whim

Samantha Higayle

02TuSt1

Samantha ‘Sam’ Higayle is known to be a strong woman. That is to say that she has risen through the Zel city watch to be the captain of the watch through not only her force of personality, knack for thwarting incursions and attacks on the city but also for her strength of arm.

During her first mission, the escort that she was a part of came under attack and the caravan was flipped onto its side during the attack. As the attackers assailed her allies she singlehandedly flipped the caravan back onto it’s wheels. Then to buy her fellow watchmen time to escape she charged the front lines and separated the leaders head from its shoulders.

Jasmina Koy

02TuJAS

‘Jas’ is quick on her feet, good at talking and seems to know everyone, well almost everyone.

Relatively new to the city of Zel, she seeks out new people to the city and offers them information in exchange for money…

The right amount of money will buy just about anything in Zel and Jas seems to know where to go for just about everything.

Theo Rosenhut

02TuTHEO

Theo seems to always get into trouble. Known for his extraordinary bad luck. Some believe he was touched by infernal magic when he was younger and that bad luck is drawn towards him.

Theo doesn’t seem to mind, he believes that anyone can overcome their luck if they just try hard enough. This mindset has seen Theo, and the residents of Zel city get into trouble more often than not.

Felicity Carsmile

02TuFELI

Feli is the ‘owner’ of the local Inn. Usually strapped for money she generally exchanges rooms for the night for a favour (that will generally pay off in her favour in the long run).

Usually in debt, she seems to always be one or two months behind in payment which she pushes through with a smile and grit.

Thanks for joining me today to look at some of the NPCs that I created this week – I honesty got a bit carried away in using Artbreeder – it is too easy to try and find just the right blend of a character before a “child” of that character inspires ideas of a new NPC.

You may have noticed that this week I also included “02TuXX” tagged NPCs – this is really to emphasise that they are not tied to any one plot, map or encounter but can be used to just add life to the village, town or city. Anywhere really as I tried to keep most of them as generic as possible (except for a few of the plot/quest/mission driven ones.

Come back tomorrow for Twists, what will we think up for this week’s adventure that may cause the players a shocking moment of revelation, or push the story forward in a new or previously unseen way.

Stay safe, be kind to your players and…

Don’t forget to roll with Advantage
The Brazen Wolfe

Never a dull moment in Zel

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Monday already. Time seems to be flying by. I guess that can’t be helped when the State (most of country) is in lockdown due to the pandemic. But enough on that.

This week I want to move across to one of the other TTRPGS that I love to play in as well as run. OpenLegend. Open legends is a free RPG system that has limitless customisation opportunities for those who want to play in its system. Creating a character, admittedly, does take some time but thats what happens if you customise you characters to this level of detail. I will explore this at the end of the week and maybe do a special serioes of posts for this week

Job-board

Thieves

02MoStLe1

The mission is simple: find out what’s stealing from my shop and I will reward you. You want more information come seek me out at James’s Emporium

James

Caravan Guard

02MoEs1

Guard detachment wanted, transporting refugees to Jellfort. Seek out Madeline at Saint Joane’s Refuge for more information and to see if you are suitable for this mission.

Madi

Magic

02MoFe1

I have heard rumours of a source of magic that has surfaced at a nearby settlement. I need it.

Please locate and speak to my assistant Kaitlyn to get more information and to prove your suitability for the task ahead.

X

Courier

02MoEs2

Seeking an enthusiastic party to transport livestock from my warehouse to a buyer across the city.

Brumblethatch Ispich

Bounty

02MoSt1

Jeremiha Roost is wanted on the charges of murder, bring him back dead or alive to the local authorities to collet your reward.

Zel city Watch

Whats next…?

Let’s experiment this week onwards… If you like a particular quest above the others that are listed above leave a comment referring to the 02MoXxXx# (example 02MoEs2).

The quest with the most comments will be the one selected for this weeks adventure – if there is a tie.. I will let the dice decide the winnner.

Tried a different approach with this week’s Monday plot writeup.

The aim for this week is to have setting-neutral content that will work in any TTRPG that you play as well as modern, futuristic or Fantays settings.

I will have a larger writeup (or several) on OpenlegendRpg during the week as it truly is a RPG that I wish I played more of and I believe it deserves to get more attention.

Watch out in the coming days for the follow on pieces from today’s content, and as always.

Dont forget to roll with Advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Light of Mant Forest

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End of Week adventure

Happy weekend all, will keep today’s writeup brief as I have already done a lot of the pre-work.

The process – I covered this yesterday in my writeup that can be found here

The Plot

01MoLe

The party have found their way to the town of Mantford after an uneventful journey through the Granitepeak mountains to the north of the town, a sponsored caravan for their current patron.

Upon arriving in the small city the party head towards the local in <name> to wait for their patron to arrive. After a few days of waiting the party were approached by the caravan driver, who had been requested to wait around, that their patron had failed to hold up their end of the bargain and had not showed up. This left the party in debt to the caravan driver for a tidy sum of 40 gold pieces.

After paying the caravan driver what they could afford (if the party has less than 40gp combined then take what is fair.. They can try and deceive/slight of hand money if they want to) as the driver had some pretty large and intimidating henchmen, the party were left in the town of Mantford, now 40gp down.

The party decided to investigate the town around them and to look for work as their previous patron had apparently organised work for them in this town.

Upon walking around and making some enquiries they were soon pointed to a building at the end of the square.

Decorative boxes that once had flowers have been taken over by weeds, the windows of the shop appear to have a thick black paint painted on the inside of the expensive glass. A weathered sign reveals the words “Dryns Parlor”.

Inside the building the party are greeted by lamplight keeping the darkness at bay, a dwarf woman can be seen sitting at a wooden table studying a book. Approaching the woman the party notice that blackened windows have a glowing script almost floating across it, arcane sigils float across the inky paint, almost ilnlegible in parts.


Arcana roll: DC 13 to reveal that the script appears to be looking at healing magic – it’s a list of ingredients, almost all of it foreign but the “Milk” is written in dwarvish over and over again.

If anyone can read dwarven they can also note the word “Milk” written repeatedly, circled several times as well amongst the arcane script.

People

01TuLe

Bardryn “Dryn” Silverstone

Dryn

The Alchemist known as Bardryn, or Dryn to most, is a cheerful yet eccentric alchemist from Silvestone Clan. 

Her long double braids are rarely without soot or burn marks in them. She never goes a week without changing the colour of her hair through one of her alchemical concoctions 

Dryn recently became more erratic since a parcel arrived from her father which contained her uncle’s large leather bound tome of alchemical research. 

Her once good name and profitable business, that seemed to revolve around her potions that could change the colour of ones hair, has fallen into ill repute as she started to put more time and effort into researching her uncle’s book rather than focusing on her business.

Once the party talks to Dryn and she realises that they are the adventurers that the “patrol” organised to help her she excitedly reveals that she has uncovered in her uncle’s book a creature in the nearby woods whose milk could cause a man to live forever. Leaving the shop the party are stopped by passers by who reveal that they (three nobel born women) used to be customers of Dryn and her potions that changed their hair color – They claim that, although brilliant, she is acting erratic and that a lot of the villagers, Definitely not them.. (although an insight check of DC10 would prove that it is them…) have been overheard saying she’s gone mad.

Twists

01WeBe

During the night, if the party don’t set off straight away, the party are approached by a local halfling merchant, Gil Tenpenny, who offers to buy them drinks if they can tell him some tales – he comes across as a merchant who dreams of greater things.

People

01TuFeSt

Gilbert Tenpenny

Gil explains to the party, after they have started drinking, that he is a businessman who is short on luck – he goes through a few of his most recent unfortunate events including how his business burnt down recently. He asks with (Faked) awe what brings the party to Mantford and seems genuinely interested in them

After Gil fills them with alcohol and food he bids them good night, appearing drunk he stumbles out the door to a chorus of laughter at the halflings expense.

Later that night, once the party returns to their large shared room there is only one room and its quite large…

The party wake up in the middle of the night to find the door to the inn open slightly, swinging lightly in a breeze they didn’t realise was blowing. They could have sworn that they closed and locked it last night but their new patron, the man who offered them a job, had insisted on buying them ale and wine and lots of it so they could be mistaken.
The flash of moonlight on steel sends the party scurrying out of bed as they watch the window fly open and the shadow of a humanoid jumps out.
A metallic clang resonates through the enclosed room as the party hurriedly produces some light. 
On the ground in front of the window is a golden crown and a hastily scrawled note on strange parchment.

“By my thinking you stole the princesses crown, and I reckon the guard will be beating down the door any moment to drag you before the king to be hanged.”, At this moment the party can hear shouting from down stairs as a mailed gauntlet bangs demandingly on the inns door, “Meet my associate by the northern gate before dawn and do as he says or else I will make sure the king’s men find you.. oh and I wouldn’t leave the crown lying around to prove your guilt…” At that the parchment bursts into flames and not a trace is left behind.
The party, in this scenario, are blackmailed/betrayed into completing their quest for another agent. The associate at the gate tells them to instead complete the quest for another party, or for example instead of protecting something, they deliberately let their guard down, and so the game changes for the players.
What they do, and for whom they complete the job for is up to them but don’t forget about consequences.

Encounter

01FrEsFeLe

This Encounter is an escape encounter – they can either face the guardsmen and have their gear confiscated before appearing to the king to plead their case or they can try and escape. This becomes a series of stealth rolls and decisions (DM to judge) in order for them to get to the gates.
The gates are not that far from where the party is staying, however there are guardsmen patrolling the streets, at least 2 encounters unless the alarm is raised (the party are seen skulking about, fail a stealth check or blow their cover.. DMs choice) then double the number you have. The party should be encouraged to do whatever they want to escape (violence will have its consequences though) and the aim is to let them escape to meet the accomplice at the gates.

If they do escape then they meet with the accomplice.. Who is an illusion made of shadow. any attacks will pass through the illusion and the creator of the illusion (Gil Tenpenny) would up the ante by offering them an ultimatum. “Steal the king’s mace for me or I will make you pay”

He will also send his henchmen to attack the party in the forest (See next encounter – 01FrST)

Places

The first notable place is Mantford (see the ‘Mantford map’ here) – This is a good way to get your bearings. The next places are really places of note for encounters.

Road to Mant

Bandits! (01FrEsFeLe)

In this encounter I would suggest having a read of the setup and plots here.

Surprise encounter

01WkSup

For this encounter let’s look at a new statblock.

As the party venture into the forest, after fighting off the ambush from the bandits, they soon encounter a series of rocks in the middle of the path that glistens with a coating of slime.

A successful investigation check of D12 will reveal that the rocks are slugs – they will then rear up and attack the nearest party member.

The party (4 level 1s assumed) will then have to fight 2 of these slugs. If the Party attempts to move around the rocks the slugs attack and will get a surprise round on the party.

Yooligo River

01FrEsFeSTLe

See maps. If the party goes near the river at night – play the Yooligo worm (01FrEsFeSTLe) encounter out. If the Party are wandering around during the day they may encounter Ilya the witch (roll a % dice (2d10 and have one be the 10s column and one be the 1s column. 10+10 = 100, 10 + 1 = 1)) – if 80+ then they meet the witch Ilya.

When they discover the source of the worm milk (01WePt), if they have a vial they can try and take some of the milk-imbued-water back (and this will trigger the worm fight – they can also bring the worms corpses back if they want but they will attract another 2 black slugs on their way out.

Conclusion

The party upon successful return with their findings, sample or not, will have 20 gp provided to them, 3 potions that will change their hair colour to one of choice, and they will also receive a map from Dryns uncles book that speak of a stone in the nearby mines that reportedly will cure lycanthrope with but a touch.

End of Week 1

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“Weekend” – what a week, in reflection there could be a couple sessions of adventures created out of the content created this week. If you want to you can take all the plot hooks (quests) and adjust them slightly. Looking at the map I created there is a little village south(?) of the town of Manford which could be the house of the person making the potions that Gil wants you to retrieve. Or make it another merchant – there should be flexibility in any adventure as to give players creative freedom to explore their creative side and bring life into their characters.

Just some end of week musings.

Todays a “day off”, well apart from coming up with an adventure from the content worked on this week, it’s still something that I don’t really have something planned to upload today.

So today I will be looking through the things I used, all of which I’m not affiliated with… yet.. (a man can dream though hey?), and I will provide links where possible to what was used so you can experiment as you please.

I also want to talk about the process in future weeks for the weekend creation process and how the readers of this blog can get involved.

Tools used

Before we have a look at them in order I want to give a list of the tools I used.

Monday, plot inspiration.

Not really tools but it’s a “process” that has served me well for a number of years.

This week the concepts for the plots came from an photo I took of a ‘local’ rainforest – about 2 hours drive from where I live. It’s beautiful, wet, abundant in wildlife and houses some amazing animals – one of which (well two – but that’s a surprise for the adventure) is the inspiration for the Yooligo Worm. I find that real world places, things seen, experiences, err… experienced and heard can help solidify what the adventure is about and bring it from “high fantasy” into “plausible” adventures.

The forest and healing spring were inspired from the forest as well – a natural waterfall with steep embankments that house glowworms (Yooligo worms) was what triggered this week’s inspiration.

Other inspirations for campaigns or adventures comes from music, books, tabletop games (for example warhammer – age of sigmar) or aspects of cinema

Tuesdsay, NPCs

Who

Leading from the plot the NPCs were easy to think of.

  • Who would live in the woods?
  • Who would want to go to the woods?
    • Why would they want to go to the woods?
    • What stops them from going themselves?

Once that was established it was easy enough to go through imagining the reasons of the NPCs approaching the party.

In Xanathar’s guide to everything (DnD product) there is a handy NPC name list… My players will confirm that coming up with names on the fly is.. not my strength.. so having a list is great.

Images.

Hero forge. Yup, creating a 3d miniature and then taking a screenshot when happy with the pose , weapon etc is easy enough. They offer a premium service for what I have done, but I’m not super bad with the next tool I used.

Gimp. Using Gimp was pretty easy. I will have a future walkthrough on the process but through multiple layers to get the desired background effect, and desired effect onto the created NPC portrait is great. The other thing that hero forge could do for us is give a top down view to make tokens.. perhaps I will consider this for a future project.

Wednesday – Twists

Twists didn’t really use any tools this time around. D&D Beyond was used for the stat blocks and thinking of how to implement them for a D&D adventure but otherwise I thought of what could be exciting character revelations or changes that could enrich the experience for the players. For that is why I do what I do. To give the players a fun and memorable experience.

Thursday – Maps

Map night, maps I used 1 program and hand drew some concepts on post-its (I will show my board later.. ) but primarily I used just one tool

Inkarnate – I find this was great. Easy to use and intuitive. I only had access to the free version (will experiment with other map making tools in the future to find one that I really love) but this one was good. You can also sign in and store your maps (and link them) so that you can download them later, or someone else can

Friday – Fightnight

Fight night I used a few tools or information sources.

Imagery

Gimp – plain, simple and free! Gimp. Tracing images found under creative commons (creative commons) and then blending colour using a few tools and the pipet tool made this a… long but enjoyable? process. I probably used 4 images, the paintbrush, airbrush, pipet and clone/heal tool in gimp as well as a few renders.

Info

Kobold fight club – I use this tool quite a lot to balance out encounters and calculate adjusted XP if I use XP in that campaign.

D&D Beyond – If you have access to the digital content, like I do, there is a lot on here for which is (dare I say it..?) essential to running games.

Weekend – bringing it together

I normally do all of this in my mind – but for the sake of blogging and creating a content rich week here is my attempt at sorting out my brain.

A “quick” fix for my ancient white board (the rulers are magnetised and I don’t trust anything but post-it notes for the moment on the white board.. as I spent an hour cleaning the last group of separating tape from it.

From the above you can I have tried to colour coordinate my whiteboard and days so I can visualise what the process is in my head. Generally I do this.. on the fly / automatically but it’s been a great process in actually sitting down and forcing myself to map it out piece by piece.

I take the best bits from the week and move them over to the weekend tile, leftover red 120gsm paper from a previous craft project, and tada! my adventure.. right there and easy to see.

Let’s address the elephant in the room.. the colour palette.

I live in Australia and simply couldn’t go buy the post-it’s I wanted to use for this process as we are in lockdown due to COVID outbreaks and our post service is in such high load at the moment they have actually announced massive delays on shipments. So for now these are the colour post-its I have and I wanted to match the info blocks (without the color offending peoples eyes and causing mass blindness) to have traceability from whiteboard to blog posts.

Moving ahead

Process in the future.

What I want to have from blogging multiple options, maps, encounters, twists etc. is I want to move towards the community actually getting involved and voting/nominating what their favourite bits are during the week and for me to either use those favourite bits in creating the end result for the adventure.

I think to get this to work the adventure created from the content produced during the week there would be 1 week delay between the individual posts and the end product. This week, being the first week, will be an exception as we are just getting started here.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘special’ weekend post. Hopefully the above helps you to create your own adventures in the future, or help write that next short story / novel / whatever your creative outlet is.

Oh, and don’t forget to roll with advantage!
The Brazen Wolfe

Out of the mud appeared…

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Welcome to Fight night! I mean Friday.. After a day of non-stop rain and thunderstorms I think it’s only fitting that I put in some encounters, including a home-brew creature, that the party could encounter.

Before we kick off into the below, let’s make some assumptions. This isn’t an overly difficult adventure, I anticipate party members of level 1 or 2 (max) and around 4 of them. So the encounters will be balanced for around that.

Battle planned along Yoolingo Forest, if the party is present at night then this encounter should be triggered.

01FrEsStFeLE

Considering the amount of rain outside I don’t see it as being too far fetched to create something (with my mediocre skills with GIMP) that we could use for an encounter. The idea is that these things fight in swarms, they burrow under the ground until they don’t… at which point one will appear (stealthily as possible for a glowing worm) and try to hypnotise the first creature they find. Then all worms will attack that creature after they surround it.

To balance these guys out lets go with 5 works for 4 level 1 characters – they live on (in) the river bank itself* and the ground on this edge is slippery and treacherous. Count the ground as difficult terrain to move through and if people try and run / move at normal speed they must make a dex save of DC13 or fall prone at which point the worms will surround them and try and have a free feed.

*see maps from yesterday

The second encounter to be considered is an encounter with the king. This is a social Encounter (but they can fight him if they want to.. but I would look for the stat block for a knight and assume that the villagers would assist their king in the fight.

01FrEs

The king would recognise the party adventurers and invite them to walk with him back to the keep. He would explain the concern he has for his daughter, which is genuine, and that he has uncovered some lore that appears to suggest that there is a healing spring in the forest of Mant. He would try and convince them with a small sum of gold (50gp each) as he believes that the kingdom’s wealth be best spent in supporting and providing for its people. A successful persuasion roll (dc 12) would double the gold. If they do accept the quest he would also offer them a favour in return, one that doesn’t impede the safety of his city and its people and it must be within his power to do so.

If the Party accepts a quest (not the stop quest – for good reason) from one of the 4 ‘actors’ (see plots) and then they decide to stay a night in the inn – Play the betrayal/Blackmail twist (here).

01FrEsFeLe

This Encounter is a escape encounter – they can either face the guardsmen and have their gear confiscated before appearing to the king to plead their case or they can try and escape. This becomes a series of stealth rolls and decisions (DM to jnudge) in order for them to get to the gates.
The gates are not that far from where the party is staying, however there are guardsmen patrolling the streets, at least 2 encounters unless the alarm is raised (the party are seen skulking about, fail a stealth check or blow their cover.. DMs choice) then double the number you have. The party should be encouraged to do whatever they want to escape (violence will have its consequences though) and the aim is to let them escape to meet the accomplice at the gates.

If they do escape then they meet with the accomplice.. Who is an illusion made of shadow. any attacks will pass through the illusion and the creator of the illusion (Gil Tenpenny) would up the ante by offering them an ultimatum. “Steal the king’s mace for me or I will make you pay”

He will also send his henchmen to attack the party in the forest (See next encounter – 01FrST)

Bandits in the forest

01FrSt (see 01FrEsFeLe)

Gil Tenpenny has sent his men to go and capture the creature in the forest (see plot) or to interfere with the party’s goal. This can occur at the river map or the witches hut (your choice) but an ambush along a road may be better, this may not require a map but I’d recommend the below for each option.

River

The bandits would either be at the campsite (or if the party is at the campsite they would ambush at dusk/dawn).

2 bandits would be armed with short bows

2 bandits armed with short swords

1 bandit will be armed with a spear and a net

The 3 melee bandits would focus on attacking the front party members, using a net to entangle the party member who poses the most threat whilst the ranged bandits would try and hit anyone who displays magic, or, is also ranged.

Hut

The bandits would wait until the party had entered the hut before blocking the door and throwing torches against the hut, catching it on fire. The party needs to make a DC12 strength check to push down the door or they can jump out the windows which requires an acrobatic check to not fall prone and injure themselves for 1d4 damage.

The bandits will attack the first person out of the hut, 4 will be melee armed with torches and a club and one will be armed with a heavy crossbow taking shots at whoever is engaged with its allies.

Road

The bandits would wait for the party member to appear before one of them would fall onto the road covered in blood (animal blood).

When/if the party comes to investigate she will fake her injuries and point the party off road to nearby trees asking them to go save her son. Once over by the trees the bandits will spring their trap.

2 rope traps are on the ground,

Dc12 investigation roll to spot. That creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be hoisted into the air, leaving it hanging upside down 3 feet above the ground or the floor. The creature is restrained.

The Rope has 2 hp and can be cut with a slashing weapon (AC10). Or a DC17 strength check will break it. Once the party members are trapped they will intimidate the party to try and get them to surrender by putting their weapons down. They do not intend to let them go peacefully (Insight check dc10). When they attack, 3 have short swords and 2 have short bows.

For the River or hut encounter see here (Welcome to Mantford)

Thanks for joining me for fight-night – I had a lot of fun looking at these encounters and coming up with some ideas. Join me again during the weekend (Saturday or Sunday… not sure yet) to have a look at the full adventure.

If you do like something from today’s post please feel free to leave a comment

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

Welcome to Mantford

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Creative Commons credit: Medieval Fantasy City by David Revoy

Thursday – Map day. A overview of the land around the town of Mantford as well as a few maps that could be used for encounters (if you use maps for encounters). These are merely suggestions that align (mostly) to the plot, key twist locations (maybe) that have been explored already and to tie in with encounters.

The town of Mantford

The town of Manford is really a small settlement situated a short ride from the forest of the same namesake, Mant. The people of the town are a close knit but energetic bunch of farmers and merchants of varying trade where the merchants drive the main prosperity of the town, much to some of the farmers’ chagrin

(Suggested) description of the city.

The town of Mantford is a welcome sight for those who have travelled along the roads near and through the forest of Mant. It’s high walls, friendly citizens and generous king are well known almost as much as the goods it sells at the market that dominates the space within the walls. The walls are well repaired but speak of terrible battles that were once fought, patches of earth appear to have become rancid and regular visitors note that these barren fields have never seen growth in the many years that they have visited. The king walks through the town itself and sees to the needs of his people personally, as such he is much loved and rarely walks with guard – but none would dare face off against Drake Gravebane, slayer of the black dragon.

– Places travelled near and far – A guide to travelling; The travelling bard
The Lands around Mantford – self created in Inkarnate

Yooligo river in Mant forest

Note: Yooligo river – The idea with this image is that it can be used during a few of the plots, or twists, that we have thought of already.

Suggested description.

The last of the day’s light drifts lazily through the canopy of trees creating shifting shadows that dance across the grass and bushes around you. Whilst far enough from the rivers edge to not be bombarded by the offensive smell, the infrequent breeze still sends wafts of the aroma through the camp. The beasts of this forest are all very different from what you have encountered before, mostly their size appears to be between one and three times that of what you have encountered elsewhere. There truly is something magical about this forest that you can’t quite put your finger on. Nightfall will be here soon and a faint glow resonates from the waters edge across the clearing where you are camping. Strange, the forest is truly a peaceful and remarkable place but in scouting the area you found several humanoid skeletons by the waters edge. Never the matter – I will ponder this more after I check for the source of the light by the river.

– The last excerpt found in the journal of Reginald Hufflepants, ‘adventurer extraordinaire’.
Map of a camp on the banks on the edge of the river Yooligo – self created in Inkarnate.

‘Witches’ hut

A hut in the woods…. What else were you expecting?

Suggested Description

The uneven path, if you can even call it that, leads further into the woods. Gods I hope that I find this blasted house that drunk was rambling about so I can get out of this forest. Ah there it is nestled amongst the trees.. Wait, did that one move, it’s so hard to tell with that cursed glow from the waters edge. Bah you’re being daft Jet, just get in, steal the magic potions, or herbs, or whatever that drunk said, and get out. Selling them to the people of Mantford will make you a rich man. Ah, there’s the hut, I knew stealing the map from that cursed merchant would pay off – he practically let me have it with how he kept it hanging out of his pocket! What an idiot.  It’s relatively well looked after, that’s a surprise, the steps aren’t rotted, there is smoke coming from the chimney, best scope it out before going inside. Ah, this window is filthy though. Yup that does the trick, a quick bit of elbow grease and I can see again. Crap, there is someone in.. oh never mind.. Trick of the hearth light.. Oh look – on the table. Potions and herbs and glowing.. Rocks? What ever it is I’m Rich!
Wait.. I swear I heard something that time.. Was that bush alway… No, No I’m sorry. I won’t come back! Dont hurt me!

– Last thoughts of Jet, the retriever of things.. for the right price.
A map of the witches hut in the Mant forest near the Yooligo river – self created in Inkarnate

Thanks for exploring some maps with me tonight.

Maps are not essential, I almost prefer to not use them and rely on descriptions to give the players a view of the surroundings. Maps however can increase the players, and our own – the DMs, immersion into the session and gives us a great excuse to use miniatures!

The only map that wasn’t included, which is sometimes the only map you need, is a roughly drawn road with trees/rocks/grass or sometimes nothing by the sides of it. Encounters, social or combative, happen randomly at times and its useful to have a map for just that situation.

These are just suggestions – feel free to create clones of the maps through inkarnate and modify them to suite your adventure – I found using incarnate a great tool for just getting the scene, or words, into a picture that you can give to your players.

Oh, and don’t forget to roll with advantage!
The Brazen Wolfe

A fork in the trail…

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Wednesday night – that means its time to look at twists, turns and surprises for the party.

01WeBe

The party wake up after their rest to find the door to the inn open slightly, swinging lightly in a breeze they didn’t realise was blowing. They could have sworn that they closed and locked it last night but their new patron, the man who offered them a job, had insisted on buying them ale and wine and lots of it so they could be mistaken.
The flash of moonlight on steel sends the party scurrying out of bed as they watch the window fly open and the shadow of a humanoid jumps out.
A metallic clang resonates through the enclosed room as the party hurriedly produces some light. 
On the ground in front of the window is a golden crown and a hastily scrawled note on strange parchment.

“By my thinking you stole the princesses crown, and I reckon the guard will be beating down the door any moment to drag you before the king to be hanged.”, At this moment the party can hear shouting from down stairs as a mailed gauntlet bangs demandingly on the inns door, “Meet my associate by the northern gate before dawn and do as he says or else I will make sure the king’s men find you.. oh and I wouldn’t leave the crown lying around to prove your guilt…” At that the parchment bursts into flames and not a trace is left behind.
The party, in this scenario, are blackmailed/betrayed into completing their quest for another agent. The associate at the gate tells them to instead complete the quest for another party, or for example instead of protecting something, they deliberately let their guard down, and so the game changes for the players. What they do, and for whom they complete the job for is up to them but don’t forget about consequences.

01WeDi

The party are on the verge of completing their quest whereupon nearing that final hurdle or last stretch something changes drastically.
The party has braved the dangers of Mant forest for a few days now with no sign of the healing spring. The map that the king gave to them indicates that they should be at it by now, or does that symbol mean danger. The longer they look at the map the more confused they become. Suddenly the party member taking lead through the forest indicates that they see something. Rushing ahead the princess leaves the safety of the pack and run, literally, into a tall slender hooded figure dressed in black silk and carrying a gnarled spiked staff.

“I was beginning to wonder when your father would send you to me, are the headaches getting worse Lirabeth?” 

The tall woman asks the princess, seemingly ignoring the group that has traveled with the princess these past days.
Nearly towering above the tallest of party members the woman appears to stand talker as she begins gesturing with her hands in shaky motions and making clicks and humming noises before the tall woman turns away from the group.

“Follow me, and stay on the path. The creatures of the first don’t trust man unless in my company. Come now” she commands as she stalks off through the forest. The party starts to become acutely aware of at least three very tall and broad creatures watching them from just off the path, drool dripping from their fanged maws”

01WePt

As the party approaches the banks of the Yooligo river a tangy, meaty aroma wafts steadily from the water’s surface. The river itself appears to have cut itself into the land as steep muddy embankments flank either side of its swift waters. 
As the last of the day’s light dims, the party begins to notice a shift in the muddy walls. Glowing worm like creatures emerge from the banks of the river, their long bodies, roughly the width of a man’s arm, twitch in the cooling night air and long strands of a milky substance drip from their skin.
As the milky goo hits the river’s surface the river itself seems to glow. With every heartbeat from the players the forest comes alive with noise and luminescent light. 

“Fascinating creatures are they not?” the witch asks from a nearby tree, watching the party as much as she watches the worms, “amazing predators too. Creatures are drawn to the waters in which their rich milk flows into and the creatures who drink find themselves healthy and strong. In return the worms pick one that drinks from the water and devour it – letting the offerings juices flow into the mud and water. Hence the smell.” The witch turns from the party and watches as a large deer begins to sip from the waters edge. A large glowing worm raises its head from the mud and sways in a dance-like motion in front of the deers eyes. The deer ceases to drink from the enriched waters as more worms rise up from the river banks and start to plunge their mouths into the deer, the dancing worm quickly follows suit biting the deer upon its head with the audible crunch of bone and flesh resonating from the worms and their meal. 

“The waters should be safe now that the worms are feeding, but they are known to take more than one when the mood takes them” the witch gives a final piece of advice before she walks onwards, talking to other animals that have appeared from the forest to come and drink deep from the magical waters. 
The party, in awe or horror (it’s too early to tell for now), decide they have seen enough and head off back to their camp in a nearby clearing.

Thanks for joining me today to look at a few possible twists for this week. One of them could be used across all plots, and 2 of them are quite specific to plots that we investigated on Monday.

Join me tomorrow to look at maps and, hopefully, I will have some maps to upload as potential areas of encounters, places of note, or a general lay of the land to get your and your players bearings.

Hopefully one of the above ‘twists’ can spice up your game and if you do use one please let me know how it goes.

…Oh and one more thing, don’t forget to roll with advantage!
The Brazen Wolfe

Those who dwell among the brambles

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First Tuesday. Alright lets kick off. Lets explore some of the people, or things, that the party could meet in this weeks adventure.

A note for you, the readers, I felt bad having a blurb about one of these NPCs without including an image for them. I spent more time than I dare to admit in trying to locate images that could do justice to what I had in mind for these NPCs I was working on. So I created a few, hastidly, as “place holders” until I can work my way around public doman, Creative commons, etc. I will hopefully have something a bit more. Err.. More-some in the future.

A image of Gilbert Tenpenny - Halfling con-man

Gilbert Tenpenny

01TuFeSt

Gilbert Tenpenny is a charming fellow when the sun is on his back and the world is on his side. However when he feels that the world is against him he quickly turns sour and bitter like biting into an apple only to discover it was a lemon all along.

Gilbert is a short man, not coming up to most people’s elbows, but people don’t notice his stature as much as they notice his quickness of tongue or the silver tooth he has on his upper jaw.
Nothing appears remarkable about the jolly man. He goes by Gil to his friends, but no one seems to call him that, and he runs a small shop that sells home remedies, mystical objects and good luck charms that promise to prevent misfortune to those who own them.

If something does go wrong, Gil would insist that the magical properties of the item have dwindled by keeping them in good lucky for so long and that they should have come back sooner to purchase another such item, or four just to be safe.

Gils biggest notability lies however in his extraordinary bad luck and he is quick to play the victim card.

Rumours speak of a dark deal gone wrong in the favour of the merchant and that his time is up. But, Gil denies any such accusations profusely and with fervor.

Princess Lisa

01TuEs

The first thing that strikes you about Lisa is her obvious elven heritage, which she tries to hide with her long auburn hair.

Although her elven heritage makes her appear younger than what she is, her presence is one of confidence and majesty which speak of a not too far out of childhood who is accustomed to her role of the heir to the throne.

The curse, regardless of how well she hides it, has diminished her zest for life which is becoming more obvious to any who know her, or who are particularly good at noticing these types of things.

Despite her affliction she still maintains her compassionate nature and goodwill to all living creatures which has endeared her to the townsfolk and people under her fathers employ.

An Image of the witch Ilya

The “Witch”

01TuFeEsStLe

Rumoured to be the spawn of a hag and a bewitched alchemist of some renown, she lives in a floating hut in the woods. Or so the rumours have it.

Ilya, is actually an elven druid of some power, able to communicate with the beasts of the Mant Forest.

She appears to be a young maiden, however, her looks deceive most and her knowledge of magic puts most wizards to shame.

She dresses in a dark cloth that seems to be spun from some unfathomable silk. Twigs, bark and cakes of dried mud complete her silken garment, and a gnarled spiked staff completes the ensemble.

She has been seen walking the woods at night, a lantern of rope and peat glows with a green flame as she tends the forest and it’s creatures.

An Image of King Gravebane

King Gravebane

01TuEs

King Gravebane, rumoured to be a powerful paladin in his youth which saw him earn the title of king.

His handsome face, short dark hair and light salt-and-pepper beard is paired with a cold smile that only conveys warmth and feeling when talking to or about his daughter.

He is a tower of a man, standing at over 7 feet tall and how he carries himself that gives credit to the stories of his past. Usually found dressed in a suit of plate mail that never tarnishes with a large mace resting against his throne in his audience chamber within arms reach should the need arise.

The townsfolk never have a bad thing to say about him and praise him openly in public. His reputation of being so well liked sees him wall unguarded through the towns and townsfolk of his kingdom.

Rumour among the guard is that he slew the Black Dragon Al’gladyzux in the Mant forest, its terrible acid breath caused his armor to fuse to his flesh and that only through the magic of his queen did he recover enought to be granted his kingship.

An Image of Dryn Silverstone

Bardryn Silverstone

01TuLe

The Alchemist known as Bardryn, or Dryn to most, is a cheerful yet eccentric alchemist from Silvestone Clan. 

Her long double braids are rarely without soot or burn marks in them. She never goes a week without changing the colour of her hair through one of her alchemical concoctions 

Dryn recently became more erratic since a parcel arrived from her father which contained her uncle’s large leather bound tome of alchemical research. 

Her once good name and profitable business, that seemed to revolve around her potions that could change the colour of ones hair, has fallen into ill repute as she started to put more time and effort into researching her uncle’s book rather than focusing on her business.

Thanks for spending some of your Tuesday night with me. Tomorrow night we will investigate the Twists that could befall the party on their quest.

Thats me for now, and don’t forget to roll with advantage!
The Brazen Wolfe

Dare to trespass into the woods..

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First Monday, no pressure… Ok we have a fairly easy one today as I was listening to a playlist and scrolling through some old photos today’s topic of stories almost wrote themselves. So sit back, have a drink and enjoy.

01MoEs (will explain this another time)

The local kingdoms king has sent out a call for aid, his daughter, the crown princess Lisa, has fallen ill to (supposedly) a witch’s curse and only the rumoured healing waters of Buttebing spring within the dark Mant forest can cure the curse. The king asks the party of adventures to escort the princess to the healing spring and bring her back safely. The king offers a favour that the party will name upon return of his daugther if they are able to return with his daughter cured from the curse.

01MoSt

The local village populace have approached the party as they took respite in the local Tavern, the Frisky Steer. The village folk alert the party to a merchant, whose’ business was reportedly failing, who was going to enter the nearby forest for he has found the source of a great healing tonic that thrived on the muddy embankments upon the Yooligo river systems. A nearly blind woman comes forward from the back of the crowd and warns the party that a powerful witch guards this magical ingredient and has threatened to curse the entire village if they touch what grows on the banks of the river.

01MoFe

As the party leave the inn you have rested at for the past two nights waiting for a benefactor to meet them, he never did come, they see a man in the tattered clothes of a merchant standing in front of a building that is more charcoal than wood. The man sobs into his upturned palms and apologies to someone called Sylvia. As the party approaches the man tells you of his story, how the business was the means to earn enough money for his mother and father to live in comfort for their remaining days. Now it lies in ruins, a burnt shell much like his hopes for his parents’ futures. He requests the party to go seek the healer who promised to make him healing potions which they failed to deliver on their end of the bargain. If possible, the party bringing back the healing potions could save his business and family.

01MoLe

The local alchemist has excitedly approached the party claiming that she has uncovered an ancient scroll that speaks of a creature in the woods whose milk could cause a man to live forever. The alchemist, although apparently brilliant, is acting erratic and a lot of the villagers overhearing her say she’s gone mad. She insists that if the party could go find the creature that it’s existence alone is enough to grant her the recognition she deserves and that the discovery would lead to peace within the land.