TTRPG

Though the Streets and the planes

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Welcome to another Thursday night where we travel though the Streets and the planes. With a magical dice that transports people to another plane there is one place I have always wanted to visit. So sit back, meditate and join me this week as we get hurled through the astral plane!

Though the Streets and the planes

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Where the battles, chases or discoveries happen are controlled by us, the DMs. But no matter how we look at it the theatre of the mind is still the most iconic way of running Dungeons and Dragon adventures. But I find that even with years of experience the inspiration to describe a city, chase or otherwise can be a bit difficult. So I try and include images that can provoke inspiration for describing the scene.

City streets – created in nightcafe.

Astral Plane – the climb

Now a chase through the astral plane, or even hide and seek would be a bit nuts. But what this does give is a way to explore the rules for astral travel, albeit slightly restricted. The threat of infinite falling may create some tense moments but as long as the rules are explain it should be safe… enough.

The astral climb – created in Inkarnate

Thanks for joining me tonight for the map for this weeks game of hide and seek. Tomorrow we will look into some of the threats, again I believe bandits and thugs may be involved as well as… some more exotic encounters. So keep an eye out for that tomorrow. Don’t forget to keep aside some time for your tabletop this weekend and if that includes joining me here I am pleased to welcome you back.

Don’t forget to come back this weekend for the end of week writeup and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

A business proposal

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So for this weeks Wednesday we look to expand on our What and begin the Why. Now for the adventure this week we need to make a business proposal and have the party believe it. Ah yes as some of you may have realised this week is a bit of a tricky one. This week we have the party being hired by one of the NPCs to work against the other. But will the party go through with it or will they realise in time its a set up? Only one way to find out I guess. So you better sit back, grab a coffee and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure!

A business proposal

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Why the party sat down in the Risky Mare again was a strange mystery. It was a familiar tavern with a different feel to the others of the same namesake. The looked at the man opposite them who smiled and stood to shake their hands. “Thanks for responding to my request, unfortunately this city doesn’t have many people of your calibre. Now I wont take up much of your time. Time is money and the longer we wait the further the thief may get away.” The man opposite them rubbed his hands and looked around as if checking for spies.

“About a week ago I was robbed at this very table. A coin purse of some meagre coinage, maybe fifty gold pieces in total was taken. However the thief also made off with a precious trinket of mine.” he paused as a tankard of ale was placed in front of him. “Now the thief must have been using a disguise. They appeared like a boy, not much older than ten winters. However they most certainly were not as they appeared.” he began, pausing to drink the thick ale.

The ploy

“When some of my men approached him the boy used some strange magic and slew one of my men. The body disappearing under a bolt of lightning. Now the guards won’t get involved. They laughed at me when I reported to murder and theft. What will I tell Will’s wife if I don’t find his murderer and work out some way to make amends for this situation.”

The party looked at the large dragonborn who was standing near by. An imposing figure by any meaning of the word. “I see you have noticed Gyx. Gyx is the one who was with Will when the thief murdered him using a cursed artefact. This artefact is the precious trinket of mine. You see I was on the way to deliver it to the harpers, they have a presence in this city, to ensure it was taken care of. But it like my gold was taken.” He continued with the supportive nod from Gyx.

“Are you able to assist me before the thief murders again? He does not know the power of what he wields. I need to get it to the Harpers so they can take care of it.” The man said with a convincing smile of concern. “I should introduce myself proper, I am Raff, Raff Tamale.” Raff said as he waited for their response.

Thoughts

Now we know what’s going on here as the spinners of this story. But I don’t believe that the parties will suspect something outright. However if they do then it will make for a very quick adventure but of a different kind. If the party follow up on a few leads they may unravel some of the story. The presence of the harpers is almost always secret or prone to being rumours. However the guards never being informed by Raff would give the deception away quickly. I hope that with a few key, pivotal moments I will see the party lead in the right direction.

Thanks for joining me tonight for another night of content. I hope you will join me again this week as we continue to expand our adventure onwards. But, again, don’t forget to set aside some time for your own tabletop. So as I welcome you to continue visiting this week I also wish you the best Easter holiday break. Don’t forget to spend time on the table, with family or friends and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Gullible and the Gambler

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So here we are at another Tuesday where we are introduced to the gullible and the gambler in more detail. Tonight we meet Simon and Raff, the two protagonists or antagonists depending on how you see them. But the party will learn something very important this week that those who they work for may not always be trustable. So with that in mind let’s grab a coffee, buckle up and roll into the adventure!

The Gullible and the Gambler

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Who do we have with us tonight? I wanted to focus on the who with tonight’s addition to the adventure and we have two very similar NPCs tonight. One on the beginning of their journey and one, I feel, who has been through it all.

Now this week we will have our party approached by one NPC to help them with the other one. Tomorrow night we will reveal who is who so let’s see how we go setting up tonight’s background information for the NPCs.

Simon Herds

Simon Herds- Created in Artbreeder

Born to an average household Simon had to learn the hard way that life doesn’t always go the way we want it to. By the age of nine he had support his ill mother to get the medicine to cure the sickness that claimed his father during the previous winter. However because of his age and upbringing he didn’t have the required skills, strength or stamina that was required for many of the jobs locally. So he did what he had to do in order to get by.

Small games of chance to win enough coin to buy food and put some aside for the medicine. When his luck came good when he was approached by a local businessman. The man learnt about Simons mother and his upbringing and offered to source the medicine. Simon jumped at the prospect and quickly came under their employ to earn enough to get the medicine. However Simons luck ran out when the business man was murdered in broad daylight, the money taken from the shop and Simon left to hide out in a crate of hazardous, defective merchandise that he was getting ready to turn over to the harpers guild.

The turn

But the funny thing with luck is, you always have it, it doesn’t always go in favour but sometimes it does. This is just the luck of the roll. One of the items that was to be turned over to the harpers was a curiosity. It was meant to be a lucky charm of sorts. An item that fed off someone’s fate, someone’s pool of luck and tipped it in the favour towards balance. In the hand of most people it meant that they packed a hooded cloak on a day it would rain. But for those who were already naturally lucky it brought their rampart luck into check.

So when Simon accidently fumbled when he was climbing out of the crate and rolled the lucky charm, his rampart bad luck caused the artefact, a dice, to cause a magical phenomenon. The thugs that had murdered his boss for a few coin appeared in the door way and his boss greeted them.

Quickly thinking he grabbed the knife he used to pry into boxes and crates and rushed into the front room, throwing the blade the exact moment they lashed out at his boss. Now he was a notorious poor shot. But with the lucky charm the thrown, mostly blunt blade connected with the outstretched hand, forcing the weapon the man was preparing to swing to fly from his hand. The thrown dull blade then lodged itself in the mans neck whilst his own weapon spun out of control and killed his partner. An impossibly lucky throw.

Luck ebbs and flows

But the charm was not done yet. To cement the balance of luck both assailants fell into the street where a guard, who knew these two to be assassins for a gang leader, saw them. Not only did the guard award the merchant with the bounty on the men, but Simon’s boss lived.

Joyous with the outcome of the day Simon ran home, medicine in hand. But, luck has a funny way of balancing out. His mother had passed during the time he was working for the merchant.

Raff Tamale

Raff Tamale – Created in Artbreeder

No amount of money, power or material possessions would satisfy Raff. A self made man he runs several businesses within the city. But the normally calm man has a jealous streak that is beyond famous. To make matters worse is his hunger for more. If there is something that he wants, or something someone else has that he wants he will do all within his power to balance out the hand he has been dealt.

Bribing, buying, blackmailing or worse. Nothing is off the table with Raff and he is famous for being a ruthless business man and for getting what he wants. But, he wasn’t always like this. After a difficult upbringing on the streets he owned a general store and eventually married and settled down. But, his wife wasn’t content with the lifestyle that he was able to provide and had an affair with a rival business man. Raff swore that he wouldn’t let someone else take anything of his again and built an empire to prove it.

Thoughts

Tonight is all about perspective and trust. Who the party believe, who is deemed to be gullible and who is a gambler, who will they end up assisting. I think these are things that we can gleam tonight but I also hold a small twist for tomorrow.

I believe that making both the NPCs in an adventure like this relatable or in some way admirable can make decisions that were clear hard for the party. There shouldn’t be someone who is wrong or someone who is right this week. I have made it as such so the party will need to make a call, and only after meeting them both will they find out who is who. I am looking forward to it!

Thanks for joining me tonight. I am liking how the adventure and palm technique is playing out so far. It aligns to how I normally organise and structure my adventures so its just fleshing it out this week. I hope to see you tomorrow night as we expand upon this weeks adventure.

Tomorrow I will introduce the twist, our NPCs engaging with the PCs. So I look forward to you joining me for that. Don’t forget that the eater break is approaching soon. Treat this as a time to sit down, spend time with friends and family and maybe share your tabletop with them. So don’t forget to pencil in some time for you and your tabletop this holiday period. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

To Roll with Fate

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Welcome to another Monday where I wanted to use my Adventure in hand approach with this weeks adventure where we start to roll with fate. This week is about dice, but not just any dice, dice where the cost of rolling poorly is more than what its worth. Well for anyone who is not exceedingly lucky that is. So in order to, roll on with it, let’s grab a cup of coffee, sit back and get into tonight’s adventure!

To Roll with Fate

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Magical Dice – Created in nightcafe.studio

What… that is the question on the players lips as they watched what was happening in front of their very eyes. As the pile of coins; silvers copper and golds, piled up in front of the youngster in front of them.

“You want another round? I can’t believe my luck at this. My older brothers showed me how to play once or twice but I never thought that it was this fun!” the youngster, a boy of maybe twelve years old, said with glee.

“No more. I’ve got nothing less to give up. You’re a natural at this my boy!” a large man said with a might grin and laugh. “Unless these other players wish to roll dice against you and loose all their coin I daresay you’ve out played us all!” he said with a chorus of laughter from the men near to him.

The boy grinned broadly, a very innocent smile. “Nah, just beginners luck sir.” he said with a smile as he grab fistfuls of coin and shoved them into a bag. “Here, thanks for teaching me sirs!” he said as he passed out a few silver pieces to all the people at the table, enough for a meal. “I better get home before mother worries!” he said with a skip as he hoisted himself down from the chair and bounced out the door.

“Follow him,” the large man said after the door closed behind the boy, “I want my coin.”

Dishonourable

The boy ran down the alley ways, the men who had followed him from the tavern were catching up and he was now frantically running. “Give us the gold boy. No questions just the gold and you can be free!” one of the goons shouted at him, a dragonborn with large rough scales. The boy ran faster.

As he turned a corner in the unfamiliar part of town he ran into a blocked alleyway. A large mountain of barrels had been stacked here to be unpacked and sorted in the morning. As he looked for way around the sounds of the men got closer and he took a risk. climbing over the barrels was risky but, he was lucky after all.

“There you are boy. Now we can do this the hard way or the easy way. Give us the coin and you can go back home to mother. Don’t and you go back to mother but limping. No one cheats the boss and the boss don’t lose at dice. So that means you cheated!” the other, a half-drow snarled at the boy. The boy didn’t respond and so with a snarl the half-drow jumped forward and grabbed the boy by the ankle. The boy shrieked and kicked out once, suddenly, his foot connecting with the eye of the half-drow.

“Ouch! You little dog. Well let’s say that you don’t even make it back to mother now!” the man roared as he wrenched hard on the boys foot. The boy grabbed onto the barrel with all his might but, he started to slip.

To roll with fate

As his grip faltered and the barrels started to tip his lucky dice fell from his jacket and bounced down the barrels. The boy let go of the barrels, determined to not let the dice finish falling. But as he fell, the man looked shocked as the boy fell on him and the dice clacked down the barrels.

Picking himself up he dove for the dice but it bounced off his finger tip as the man under him pulled him closer “Gotcha!” he snarled with a manic grin. But the dice stopped rolling just as the boy grasped it. With a sound like a bell being struck the dice resonated with power and with a sizzling snap the boy, the boy, the half-drow and half the barrels disappeared in a flash of deafening light and a thunderous Roar. When the dragonborn could see again all that remained was floating barrels and a single silver piece.

Thoughts

Oh boy, magic dice, a lucky lad and a missing henchmen. This adventure has all the things that a good “What” could want. The answer to what is simple. A magical artefact that is possessed by a lucky boy who has disappeared with a large sum of coins that a gang leader believes is his. Tomorrow we will look at the who, the part of the story that will drive the involvement for the party and the adventure.

Thanks for joining me tonight for another start to the adventuring week. This week is about the concept that all you need is an adventure in the hand and you can go just about anywhere. Now the Who, Why, Where and When are coming this week as we lead up to Easter. With the holidays coming up I hope you all have something set aside for your tabletop with friends and family. So don’t forget to set aside some time for tabletop as you come back each day this week. I hope you enjoy what’s in store for this week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Eggs of the Gibbering Woods

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Tonight and I have created another zine for this weeks heist adventure, The Eggs of the Gibbering Woods. 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 Eggs of the Gibbering Woods. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

The Eggs of the Gibbering Woods

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The Gibbering Woods – Created in Nightcafe.studio.

The Gibbering Woods lies at the edge of the city of Palis. For years the creatures and people of these lands have been at war for the forest and its bounty. However a recent movement has seen that the people want to see this endless hunt cease. 

The movement for peace and a recognition of the creatures who live in the Gibbering woods being part of what makes the woods what they are. However, this does not sit well for many people who used to profit from the endless cycle of death and conflict.

PDF adventure – The Eggs of the Gibbering Woods

The-Eggs-of-the-Gibbering-WoodsDownload

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. As with last week and The Golden Hourglass Heist these adventures contain both a lot of possibilities and also no structured adventure. The driving factor of these adventures is the possibility that the players have full control over what they create – the entire adventure is theirs for the taking.

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

An Adventure in the palm of your hand

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

An Adventure in the palm of your hand

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

Thumb – What

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

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

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

Index – Why

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

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

Middle – Who

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

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

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

Ring – Where

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

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

Pinky – When

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

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

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

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

Food for the trees

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Welcome to another Friday night filled with humans and creatures, both of which are food for the trees. Some are just evidence that you don’t need to make a new stat block or a homebrew monster from scratch. Change its name and something about it and you have a new creature to encounter. Others are a bit more unique. Without giving anything away let’s roll into tonight’s content – Stat blocks!

Food for the trees

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Poachers

The poacher is a blight on society, where there are laws that govern how creatures can be treated. In reality they are men and women who have trained in the tracking and capturing of creatures using the tools that they have available to them. These men and women prowl the woods, plains and other wild places looking for their targets. Then, acting as a cohesive pack they strike and capture their prey, nearly without fail.

Poachers – created in tetra-cube

Poacher boss – Tarbin ‘Longshot’ Amarog

The leader of the poachers, Tarbin, is as experienced in hunting and capturing beasts and monstrosities as a gladiator is at fighting. As he steps in front of the party his confidence and command exude from him. It’s not hard to see how even the beasts cower before such a man as he is the pack alpha out here.

Tarbin ‘Longshot’ Amarog- Created in Tetra-cube.

Gibbering Tree

As the woods are deep and wide so are the types of flora and fauna. The sound of something moving through the air is the first sense of danger that the party encounter before the muttering begins. A manic, confused gibbering that seems to come from all around them as these large vine like whips strike at them. The gibbering grows in intensity the more the striking vines connect with the party, and a large tree can be seen near by if the vines are followed.

Gibbering Tree – Created in Tetra-cube.

‘Random’ encounters – the food for the trees.

The Basilisk

Basilisk – Created in Tetra-cube.

Owlbear

Owlbear – Created in Tetra-cube.

Dire Wolf

Dire Wolf – Created in Tetra-cube.

Thoughts

Its been an interesting ride and I got to play with some fun creatures this week as I set up the adventure. The poachers were always going to be included in the mix, but, the creatures are just some of the random ones that may be encountered amongst the dark canopy. These creatures, the food for the woods, are both the provider of food and the food itself. Hunting other creatures and eventually dying themselves to be consumed by the carnivorous plants within.

The Gibbering tree is something I wanted to express this week. A creature that attacks from a range and tries to ensnare its prey in its vines. If its attacks are successful then the maddening muttering commences. The namesake of the woods are revealed.

Thanks again for joining me for another Friday Fight-night! In fact tonight was also movie night for me and I got to enjoy the new D&D movie!

So for those who have watched the movie there are some elements that are just perfect for a heist. And some that I just cant resist in my encounters. Not one bit. So thank you for joining but don’t forget to come back this weekend for the finale of the week. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Gibbering Woods Camp

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Welcome to another Thursday night where we look at the maps for the week and tonight we have two variations of the Gibbering Woods Camp! The idea behind this is the party has control over when they go through the camp. This means that I need to have a map prepared for both day time and night time depending on what the players decide. This is one of the harder parts of a heist is being prepared for more than just one outcome. So sit back, grab a coffee and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure… maps!

The Gibbering Woods Camp

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Now whether we have night time or daytime map we have a few things to note. Several cages are inside the camp compound that has 15 foot high walls. There are only a handful of tents but they look to be able to fit quite a few people. So this means that there may be more people elsewhere for a large operation such as this one.

The large central tent makes it hard to see what’s kept inside. The high walls however do have potential breach points, either the front gates, spiked as they are, will enable people to get past them. Or the several wall breaches that could occur via either ladders, ropes or utilising the trees. But be careful where you jump over as there may be a hungry creature in the crate that you land on top of.

Poachers Camp – day

The Gibbering Woods Poachers Camp – Day – created in Inkarnate

Poachers Camp – Night

The Gibbering Woods Poachers Camp – Night – created in Inkarnate

Thanks for joining me tonight for the maps for this weeks heist mission. Tomorrow we will look into the creature stat-blocks that we may be encountering as well as some that we will definitely be. I will leave it up to you to decide which is which. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow and this weekend and make sure to set aside some time for your own tabletop. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Golden hourglass Heist

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

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

The Golden hourglass Heist

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The Golden Hourglass

The Golden Hourglass – Created in Nightcafe.studio.

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

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

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

A meeting – Westley Parn

A meeting with Westley Parn – created in Nightcafe.studio

The Heists competitors and Patrons

Bryce Brenthan
Kryn Brenthan
Westley Parn

PDF adventure – The Golden hourglass Heist

The-Golden-Hourglass-HeistDownload

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

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

Allies and Opponents of the Gibbering Woods

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Wednesday has come around once more and this week we get a further glimpse of more Allies and Opponents of the Gibbering Woods. This week is more than just the humanoids involved there is also a fair risk of beasts being unleashed as nature fights back!. So sit back, grab a coffee and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure!

Allies and Opponents of the Gibbering Woods

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Complications, Twists and Opportunities

The complications that can go wrong in a heist are long and varied. Betrayal, competing parties or the heist object itself can all pose a threat or risk. Things happening on the fly which make the carefully laid out plan need a rapid twist or shift to something new.

  1. It’s just business. One of the supporters and business partners of Sasha is the one who hired the poachers. The party identify him at the camp when they go to investigate and he makes the poachers aware that she was organising the eggs to be liberated.
  2. There are more than just eggs in that tent. Poachers poach things and it goes without saying that they may have either hunting companions or have captured dangerous creatures. If they were to get out inside the poachers compound it would spell disaster for everyone.
  3. Denizens of the woods. The woods are home to a variety of creatures. Basilisks, owlbears, dire wolves, giant snakes and other creatures call its dank undergrowth home. The egg could be from any one of these creatures (maybe not wolves cause.. you know.. biology) and these creatures may also be near the poachers compound. It’s risky business.
  4. The Woods fight back. The trees themselves are what give the gibbering woods its name. These trees house plants that are extremely fast growing and predatory. Many skeletons have been found tangled up in vines with the remnants of clothes, items and pox-marked weapons laying near by. The woods themselves are dangerous.
  5. It’s hatching season… enough should be said on this twist…

Thoughts

Now, some of these may just be something random that happen, others may be definite. But the idea behind heists is to plan for as many different things and to have something for any scenario so that when the party improvise, you can too. You want the party to have a mixture of social and skill checks, roleplay and combat in order to get the full value from a heist. The above is a good sprinkling of a few items that will flesh out the adventure. In fact I believe it will grant us the opportunity to do something more with our adventure this week.

Thanks for visiting and reading tonight. However, tonight we also have something else special happening – so stay tuned for another post! But don’t forget to come back tomorrow as with heists, what I have found, is that the maps take ages. So I look forward to seeing what I can create for the adventure tomorrow. Don’t forget that with this weekend quickly approaching to set aside some time for your own tabletop. And while you’re at it, maybe go back and watch the (albeit cringe worthy) old D&D movies in addition to the new one that’s out. I will never forget Damodar or Snails and they still inspire NPCs until this very day. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe