TTRPG

The Dawning of a new campaign

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Hello and welcome to some pretty big news if I say so myself, the dawning of a new campaign. That’s right I have a new campaign to write, a new big baddie or event to orchestrate and a world to construct. To be honest it’s happening rather fast and I think it will be one of those campaigns that will teach me a lot more about my own craft.

I have also stumbled into D&D 5th ed wiki which has more of the content for new players. Whilst I have most of the books I need, and access to legitimate copies for the rest of it this will be invaluable for my party, especially the remote ones.

The Dawning of a new campaign

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In initial discussions with the players it sounds like the campaign will be hybrid traditional narrative and one-shot driven. A series of one shots like The Trouble with Birds and The Prince of Pine Ridge that interconnect with the overall story line. This means that for the players involved in the adventure that they could miss out on one adventure or the next as long as they have a central adventuring hub.

Since the One shots I create are easy enough to balance for a variety in experience as well as number of players this further helps the goal. But, I still need an overarching plot.

This will require more thought and I may potentially have one or more party members coming to read here I will have to keep them brief.

The Paths

The options I have before me are endless but wrapping high fantasy, flexibility and making it enjoyable for a variety of D&D experience is hard. But the below are basics for sparking that creative flame that will fuel my Campaign creating process.

  1. There is dissent in the lands as rumours of the kings knights pillaging and harming the people of the kingdom have reached the king. But there may be more at play here.
  2. Giant swaths of forest, hills, and even mountains have been carved out in perfectly straight, even and flat lines across the land. The direction and origin all differ to the discovery of a new one but one thing is clear. There are many such lines and they all appeared seemingly overnight.
  3. A vision haunts the party, a cloaked lady bathed in light lies behind shadowy chains and is pleading for help. Images flash of landmarks, some known some yet to be discovered. But each party member feels strongly connected to the woman in their vision and the urge to free her is all consuming.
  4. Rumours of strange creatures have been appearing from everywhere. Beings with multiple heads, distorted limbs (or no limbs) and all of them being highly aggressive have started to sprout up. These may have been brushed off as rumours and tales to fearmonger if such a creature wasn’t encountered by the party seemingly by accident.

Thoughts

Each of the above have something hidden, something obvious and something completely foreign to new and experienced players. They also lend themselves well to my style of campaign building, a hook, sub hook and mid-adventure-plot twist that all help in driving the player engagement.

The next step is picking one, or two (as we know by now there are multiple roads and pathways that lead to the end goal) and fleshing it out. I will also weave the overarching plot and story in with the party’s background and their story will help throw them further into the story.

A name, a map, key places and key NPCs will come later but for now the story and plot will get me started and I am looking forward to it. There is also the potential for me to create more unique creatures and cultures. I am a big fan of creating cultures from scratch.

I hope that you will come back tomorrow. If time permits I will create a Soulbound Zine including the first part and second part of the adventure so far. So wish me luck, I will need all re-rolls and advantages I can muster to get that done. to bring another Zine, and if time permits two. So don’t forget to come back for that and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Vulcha’s Prey

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Tonight we look at how the party become the Vulcha’s prey this week as they assault the artillery-sized crossbows. This one is a tactical encounter with the method to success completely up to Binding and how they want to approach it.

The Vulcha’s Prey

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The idea here is simple. Stalk up to the killbows, or don’t, Kill the warriors manning them and their helpers then battle the shaman as it lands. How the party do this is completely up to them.

Encounter – The Orruks

For this encounter we will have two Beast-Skewer Killbow wielding Boltboys, two each (four total) hobgrot helpers per bow and as a second encounter a few moments after the 1st, one Corpse-rippa Vulcha and one Swampcalla Shaman.

Beast-Skewer Killbow (Boltboy – Warrior)

Body: 3

Mind: 2

Soul: 1

Melee: Average

Accuracy: Average

Defence: Average

Armour: 1

Toughness: 6

Speed: Normal

Initiative: 4

Natural Awareness: 2

Skills: Awareness (+1d6), Ballistic Skill (+1d6, +1), Reflexes (+1d6), Stealth (+2d6)

Traits

Pick ‘Em Off: If the unit forgoes their move action they can increase their accuracy one step and they deal +1 damage to their ranged attacks.

Attack

Beast-Skewer Killbow: Ranged (Average), 3d6+1F, 3+S Damage, Extreme Range, Penetrating, Piercing, Reload, Two-handed.

Jaggedy Blade: Melee (Average), 3d6, 1+S Damage, Slashing

Helper Grot (Minion)

Body: 1

Mind: 1

Soul: 1

Melee: Poor

Accuracy: Average

Defence: Poor

Armour: 0

Toughness: 1

Speed: Normal

Initiative: 2

Natural Awareness: 1

Skills: Awareness (+1d6), Ballistic Skill (+1d6), Stealth (+1d6), Weapon skill (+2d6)

Traits

‘Andy Helpa (Grabba Grot): Always uses the Called Shots action during combat targeting enemy’s head, arms or legs. (page 142 core)

Attack

Stabba: Melee (Poor), 2d6, 1+S Damage, Piercing

Corpse-Rippa Vulcha (Champion)

Body: 5

Mind: 2

Soul: 1

Melee: Great

Accuracy: Average

Defence: Great

Armour: 0

Toughness: 16

Speed: Normal, Fly (normal)

Initiative: 5

Natural Awareness: 2

Skills: Athletics (+1d6), Awareness (+1d6), Intimidation (+2d6, +1), Might (+1d6), Reflexes (+2d6), Weapon Skill (+2d6)

Traits

Commanding View: The Corpse-rippa Vulcher and Rider reduce the difficulty of Awarenessand Survival tests by 1 for themseolves.

Night Unkillable: Double Toughness Calculation.

Venom-encrusted: Wounds caused by the Vulcha are increased by one severity.

Attack

Beak and Flesh-tearing Talons : Melee (Great), 7d6, 1+S Damage. Rend, Slashing

Poison Stinger: Melee (Great), 7d6, 1+S Damage. Piercing. If a creature suffers damage from this attack they must make a DN4:2 Body (fortitude) Test or be poisoned until the ned of their next turn.

Swampcalla Shaman (Champion)

Body: 2

Mind: 4

Soul: 2

Melee: Poor

Accuracy: Average

Defence: Average

Armour: 1

Toughness: 8

Speed: Normal

Initiative: 8

Natural Awareness: 3

Skills: Arcana (+1d6), Awareness (+2d6), Channelling (+2d6,+1), Crafting (+1d6), Guile (+2d6), Stealth (+2d6), Reflexes (+2d6)

Traits

Vile Cauldron Brew: Can brew and distribute up to 3 of the below to their allies:

  • Disgusting Elixir: regain 2d6 Toughness
  • Deadly Venom: Piercing or Slashing weapons deal +1 Damage. Targets gain the poisoned status until end of their next turn.
  • Corrosive Sludge: Can Target 1 Zone within medium range, creatures in zone suffer 3 damage.

Spell casting: It knows the below spells and can unbind as per the unbind talent.

  • Arcane Bolt
  • Mystic Shield
  • Skarefog Horrors
  • Summon Boggy Mists

Attack

Bogbark Staff: Melee (Poor), 2d6, 1+S Damage. Two-handed.

Spells

Skarefog Horrors: DN5:3; 1 Creature within Long range. The Target becomes Frightened until start of Shamans next turn. Additional Success increase duration by 1 round OR 1 additional Creature.

Summon Boggy Mists: DN 5:3; Choose a Zone within Long range. The Zone becomes difficult terrain and heavily obscured for the Shaman’s Enemies until the start of its next turn. Each additional success +1 round.

Thanks for joining me tonight to look at the Vulcha’s prey. This weekend I will try and produce another Zine of either combine two episodes of Soulbound campaign or the one that I missed a few weeks back. I have some re-work to do on the one I have on the back burner to get it to the quality I want to publish so I may need to put a bit of effort into that one. Make sure you set aside some time for your Tabletop adventures this week and come back soon,
The Brazen Wolfe

Killbow Ridge

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Tonight versatility is key and we have two such maps of killbow ridge which enables the map to be used in Soulbound, D&D or another TTRPG. The Kruelboyz love to bring the mists and environment to play and this week we have that in spades. Mist, check, height advantage, check, cover, check, ambush, maybe check… Regardless of what sinister planning I have in store for this adventure let’s grab a coffee, sit back and roll on into another night at the tabletop.

Killbow Ridge

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Killbow Ridge – Gridless – created in Inkarnate

Created for zones or the GM that doesn’t like grid on their maps the one shows the low hanging mist across the ridge. The bottom floor is a far ways down and to fall would mean certain death, unless you can fly. the ladders are rickety and work, the trees and large rocks provide some cover but its a hard adventure for the melee inclined. That is until we bring the good fight to them.

Killbow Ridge – Created in Inkarnate

Some GMs like grids. This makes measuring distance a lot easier and this one is fairly big. essentially 200ft wide by 150ft tall this is a large area that provides people with more options than just “run and cut”. There is more emphasis on movement, careful planning and cunning rather than just slash and smash.

Thoughts

The perfect battlefield for large ballista’s, some orruks and hobgrots as well as the finale of this part of the story – the Boss and Vulcha. The rickety bridges give the opportunity for dexterity based checks to avoid falling through and down. The mist and trees provide a chance to sneak up or the rocky pillars provide an opportunity to climb. There is a lot that can be done with this area wither its in Soulbound or another TTRPG.

Soulbound Zones may be harder to see here but we have one or two zones before we get to the pillars. The area around the road and the area past the ladders and under/around the pillars. Then each pillar can be another zone as moving along the pillars would be treacherous. Special rules about shooting up to the pillars can be established with each pillar being about .5 zone higher than the previous. So the first pillar (from the right) would be 1.5 zones from the ground, the second 3 and the last 4.5 (Rounding up to 2, 3 and 5).

I hope you like tonight’s map. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed toying with the layers to give the illusion of height on a 2d image. Tomorrow night I will cover the creatures in more detail so I hope that I can do them justice. So as I prepare for the end of my day, I hope to grant yourself rerolls on your saving throws this weekend. The weeks are long and hard and we can all need a bit of time to relax. So I hope you spend some time on your tabletop this weekend and, perhaps, give one of my adventures a go,
The Brazen Wolfe

Boglet’s Barter

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Tonight we see the middle of the week adventure update includes our party dealing with Boglet’s Barter. A cunning and tricky merchant to pin down Boglet will only dish out the best information when properly bartered for. In fact he has a request for the information that may just suit our Binding’s own agenda. But let’s not spoil that early and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure update!

Boglet’s Barter

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As Boglet saw a promise of his safety flashing before his eyes he decided to give a bit more information to help seal the deal. “Did you notice the strange mists that cling to the rock and the trees in the hills? Hmm? Did the twang of a taught bowstring echo across the valley and give you chills? hmm? The Waargh has many such instruments of destruction, many killbows trained on the sky.” he muttered quickly, his eyes sparkling with the recognition of the truth in his words.

“For the right price I can give you the location of these great bows. Surely heroes like yourself would make use of such information.” he said nodding in almost a sage like manner.

“What about the price of your life Hobgrot?” Brung barked as his hand moved to his hip.

“Now now Duardin. If I die the knowledge does. Fair trade is the motto of Boglet. Answer me a question truthfully and I’ll answer one in return. Information is valuable yes?” he mused as he stared nervously at the duardin.

“Ask your question then Hobgrot.” Kathe commanded as she stood a few feet from the creature.

“What are you doing out here in the hills?” he asked after a moment of contemplation. When the binding responded he nodded with satisfaction. “The killbows are being moved to point towards the humans and their allies. By dawn tomorrow there will be more bolts in corpses than the living. They aim to fire from that ridge,” he stopped and pointed to a high ridge in the hills behind them. Half a days march at most. “They will be guarded though…” he mused tapping a knowing finger on his chin.

Guarded?

“Guarded by what?” Gwen asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“Now that information is a different price.” Boglet grinned. “Four phials of Aqua Ghyranis”.

After a moment of hesitation, bartering and some disagreements the price was paid. “The boss and his Vulcha guard the bows. Only he knows exactly what the plan is and he commands all. He is a dangerous boss but there will be moments where he isn’t with the bows, when he talks to the shamans or the Orruk megaboss. So I would avoid him at all costs.” he mentioned. After a moment he asked as he was investigating the phials. “What do you plan to do?”

“Destroy the bows, kill the boss,” Kathe said definitively, “it will tip the scales in our favour and potentially save the dawners.”

Boglet considered the answer for a moment. “Killing the boss is worth more than four phials..” he said as he passed the Aqua Ghyranis back. “Kill him dead and we are even” he muttered as the binding took their Aqua back.

Thoughts

To kill a Killaboss on Corpse-rippa Vulcha is no small feat. These things are tough. But perhaps if the party were to come up with a cunning plan its possible. The aim of this week is to intercept the deadly artillery and remove the head of the snake of the army. It will take a great feat of strength, some luck and a whole lot of mettle to best this foe. If planned right the killbows wont have a chance to shoot!

With tomorrow almost here I am looking at the Soulbound zones again. Checking to see if I can create a robust enough map to served the thematic scene I have in store as well as creating something that is both versatile and reusable. So as always, I hope to grant you the rerolls on your casting and I hope that you return to this adventure again soon,
The Brazen Wolfe

Boglet the wandering merchant

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Tonight we expand upon our Soulbound adventure this week with the Binding meeting a new face, Boglet the wandering merchant. Boglet is a hobgrot who decided that life in the war clans was not all it was cracked up to be. So away from the bullying orruks he has struck out on his own for wealth and his own brand of glory. But to uncover his full story we will have to read on. So sit back, grab a coffee and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure!

Boglet the wandering merchant

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Boglet – Created in Nightcave.studio

Sneaky hobgrot!

The party continue in their march towards the gathering storm clouds up ahead, taking a few moments to rest every hour or so in order to maintain their rapid pace. However despite this no tell-tale bolts of lightning strike which would herald the deliverance of Stormcast Eternals to the battlefield. Instead the plume of dust rises from a singular point to meet the thunderhead above. It was on one such break that the party encountered something, or someone more precisely, quite odd.

“Psst. Hey. You. Over here” a voice said in a low tone from a large stump not far away. “yeah you.” the voice said again as they looked towards the stump. Approaching slowly, cautiously with weapons drawn they hovered above the stump.

“hello?” Gwen managed to get out as she stood behind her more forward companions.

“Greetings and salutations!” a cheerful and lisp-filled voice called out as a pale yellow bodied creature jumped out of the hollow and onto the edge of the log. “Welcome to Boglets Shop!”. It was a hobgrot – the party were familiar with them from the encounter yesterday. The hobgrot looked around at the party, read their expressions of either hatred, shock or disgust and dove back into the stump with a shriek.

Well that was its plan. Kathe reached forward with god infused strength and grabbed the hobgrots ankle. “Nooo. Let Boglet go! I ain’t doing nothin’ wrong. I don’t know anything to do with the Beast-skewer Killbow or the leader on Corpse-Rippa Vulcha.” he babbled as he tried to snatch at falling trinkets that came from the folds of his robe.

“What are you doing here?” Ymran said as he lowered his cold gaze to the hobgrot. His talents for getting information already coming into play.

Not all Hobgrots

“This is Boglet’s shop. I said this. I sell things. You give me something shiny I get you something useful. You have something shiny to sell I have some Aqua in vials.” he spluttered as the Idoneths gaze washed over him.

“Let him down Kathe, he tells the truth” the Idoneth said as he sat down on a nearby log. “What can you tell me about This killbow and Vulcha?”

The hobgrot’s eyes sparkled as he was lowered to the stump, clambering to be upright again. “Oh, I know nothing much. Something shiny or valuable may jog my memory though…” he said, the glint of mischief and greed present in his eyes.

Thoughts

I am quite happy with the decision to include a hobgrot as a merchant in this weeks adventure. The books themselves talk about them being cunning and greedy merchants when encountered, or they are bullied into being in the war clans march. So when I need a way to give information, provide the inevitable mcguffin then what better than a greedy, sneaky merchant of goods and information.

I want to thank you once again for joining me on this Soulbound adventure. I am quite passionate about efficiencies in my work and home life and being able to merge my love for RPGs and Warhammer is just, joy. So if you would like to start a Soulbound group then I am happy to provide some more GM content in the future focused on Soulbound.

Tomorrow I expand this adventure further with the information that Boglet can be persuaded or paid to let go of. So don’t forget to come back for that and the future nights as we evolve this adventure. So as always, I hope to grant you the rerolls you need to succeed and hope that you return to adventure and excitement,
The Brazen Wolfe

Return to the Crusade

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Tonight we have a special edition of the month where I continue to create our Soulbound campaign and tonight we see the binding attempt to return to the crusade. Now a refresher, the Dawnbringer crusade is what the cities of order and the free people in conjunction with the Stormcast eternals hope will see new cities created. With the forces of order pushing back against the forces of chaos the people of the realms have a chance to reclaim what once was theirs. But enough wasting time, let’s sit down, grab a coffee and roll into another night at the tabletop.

Return to the Crusade

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As the sun rose the binding looked across the landscape around them. The warclan would send additional scouts to investigate their missing members, and they didn’t like the idea of staying here another night. Not with those spectres, the Nighthaunt, haunting this area. With Brung’s ship no longer viable they had to find another way back and unless one of them had a hidden talent for summoning beasts to ferry them across the land they would have to travel under what little cover there was amongst the rocky outcrops and sparse trees.

Despite the distance they made good distance towards the direction of the crusade. They hoped that The Keeper made it back to the crusade with the Amberbone despite being attacked on his flight from the research outpost. But more than that they hoped that the Orruks were distracted with the gathering of the crusade in the distance. Well distracted enough that they wouldn’t notice a party of four travelling by foot.

Gathering clouds

Despite the distance the party could tell where the Crusade was, and it was on the move. A large plume of dust and smoke was drifting from towards the centre, off to the right. But there was something more that increased the pace of those on foot. A large thunderous cloud was gathering above the dust and smoke – Sigmar was preparing to send down his Stormcast Eternals to defend the Crusade, or launch an attack. If they wanted to fight off against the Orruks they may need the help of the binding. With a renewed urgency to their pace they doubled their march with Kathe darting ahead on her wings to scout the area ahead of them.

Brung longed for his craft, but with the damage done to it the day and night before it had to be left behind. Besides with the Orruk sharpshooters and, if what they had seen take down the griffon, artillery build to take out large beasts were near by they were potentially better off on foot. Despite this being only the second time they had been tested the binding was somehow holding together. They seemed to be doing well and working together as a team, the presence of each other constantly within themselves probably had something to do with this. The worries of the Keeper and Lord Brighthammer were for naught.

Thoughts

I am super excited to continue on with more Soulbound. With the promise of local interest in the system springing up I will be looking more into this RPG in the coming weeks. Now this current adventure see’s the party moving back across the land, on foot with danger all around as they traverse through potential enemy territory. I have a plan for this however and an opportunity to explore another destruction race before the adventure is out.

However there are plenty of opportunities for additional encounters. I hope to weave some chaos and potentially more undead into this encounter this week but we will have to wait for that. With the Orruks creating havoc and the party on an extreme flank I will orchestrate a moment where the party can aid in the success of a large battle. This is something that typically you may not find and I think it will be rewarding for the party. But I will need to see how I can maneuverer the party to such a state so that’s for a future me to worry about.

Thanks for exploring Soulbound

Thanks for joining me tonight for an expansion to Januaries Soulbound adventure. If Soulbound isn’t your cup of tea don’t fear for I will be bringing more D&D content back in the near future. In fact, I would tweak this adventure for D&D by changing the content from a Dawnbringer crusade to a large migration of refugees. I would have the party as mercenaries defending the procession from bandits and marauders. A neat and familiar scene for some of us.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow where I expand this Soulbound adventure some more as we return to the crusade. So before I go I want to wish you the rerolls you need to succeed and hope that you return to continue with adventure with me,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Giant of Taloncrest

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Tonight and I have created another zine out of this weeks adventure, The Giant of Taloncrest. 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 Giant of Taloncrest. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

The Giant of Taloncrest

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Taloncrest Mountains – Created in nightcafe.studio.

After a long time on the road the party are relieved to not be travelling for another week. The City of Wurbek lays south west of the Taloncrest mountains, home to some of the oldest monuments this side of the great divide. However no human, elf or dwarf has ever seen their ancestors’ craftsmanship as they are fiercely guarded by the warrior-tribe of Aarakocra that guard the peaks from all threats. 

This uneasy peace with Taloncrest and the southern villages only exists as, embarrassingly, there is no finer warrior in the southlands as the Aarakocra. With them guarding the mountains and their passes the cities and towns live in peace.

However, the Aarakocra seem to be laxing in their watch as some of the towns south of the mountain range have come under attack of goblinkin and a rumours of a monstrous shadow amongst them, bellowing our war cries and stoking the fires of war spread through the cities population. 

The City of Wurbek

The City of Wurbek – Created in Nightcafe.studio.

A mercantile capital of the southlands, heavily fortified and defended, it is seen as a neutral citadel and beacon for humanity. However the acceptance of all races is only skin deep and there broils a hate of uncommon races here. Elves, Dwarves and even Halflings are barely tolerated let alone Gnomes, half-breeds and even more miscellaneous races may find it hard to come across good, honest and fair trade in the city known as Wurbek.

Taloncrest Cavern

Taloncrest Cavern – Created in Nightcafe.studio.

The Taloncrest mountains shares its name with Aarakocra city that’s been built into its rocky formation. A large series of wide caves and extremely well lit caverns house the Avian race who call these mountains home. Each entrance serves as a way deeper into the city and is guarded by ferocious beasts and warriors. 

A large deposit of crystal lies at the centre of each cavern, hoisted into the ceiling and fixed there so that when the sun hits the mountain a complex series of mirrors of fine polished metals reflects the light into the many crystal lit caverns. The crystal itself isn’t rare but its size and craftsmanship is something of wonder.

PDF adventure – The Giant of Taloncrest

The-Giant-of-TaloncrestDownload

I think that will have to be it for tonight. But I hope that the next time you can get a party together to run this adventure that you enjoy it. However if you do use it I hope you can let me know how it goes!

As with every weekend, next week I will be bringing another adventure to the table and this week we are back to Soulbound! I hope you don’t miss a thing so come back daily. This is so you can experience the creation of this adventure as it evolves and shapes out. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Free Talk – February

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Hello and welcome back to another night here at Brazen Wolfe Tabletop. Tonight I wanted to have a Free Talk – February edition where I look at something that I think we need to address in the Dungeon Master world. Tonight’s topic is perhaps getting a bit real, a bit idealist if you will but it involves a topic that was brought up by some other excellent DMs I had a discussion with tonight. Setting expectations.

Free Talk – February

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Setting expectations is crucial to a successful TTRPG group. For a new player this could be a simple as introducing yourself as the new DM and asking people to ‘bear with’ or have some patience as you may not know all the rules off by heart. This is pretty much a given one where you give yourself some buffer by providing an expectation to the kind of DM that you are or what you aspire to be.

But this is another expectation to set. What do you expect yourself to be? We all have a journey in the world of TTRPGs and they all start with a fundamental interest in the game system. Whether its, like me, a family spawned hobby or if its someone you idolise we normally have someone we look up to for advice when it comes to RPGs. For some of us we set our sights high and we look to the figureheads of RPGs.

But this is as much of a topic for new System Masters as it is experienced ones. We can’t be Matt Mercer. We cant be Mark Hulmes. If we aspire to be the exact DM/GM as some of these giants then we will always fail. We may be as great, we may be better in some aspects but what they bring to the table is different and uniquely theirs.

The limit

Understand what our limit is. One experienced awesome DM from tonight’s table doesn’t do voicing for NPCs. This is perfectly fine. Other DMs may love dark-grit fantasy and think that perhaps the current edition of D&D is a bit too PG for them. This is also perfectly fine. What I bring to my table is different to the other DMs I spoke to tonight, new and old. This means my style of Dungeon Mastering is different but I am still here to facilitate a great game which is not only entertaining but enriching for both the players and myself.

How we play our game, how we run our table has to have limits. We can’t be everyone and everything and the Dungeon master and players having that discussion around expectations of each other, the campaign and the general flow of things can make it better. However tonight’s Free Talk – February edition does have a message.

Aspire

As I do in my professional career. Find what you enjoy. Find something that you truly thing produces wonderment in yourself and others and aspire to do that. Whether its the phenomenal Narrative and storytelling of Mark, or the voices and energy of Matt. Or the ability to keep your players on track (like a few DMs from tonight) find something you aspire to do and set it as a goal. We can’t establish growth without a benchmark.

Thanks for joining me tonight after I have spoken about D&D for more than a few hours today with other fine DMs. If tonight’s encounter (where I failed my initiative check and rocked up late) has a closing message it would be, quite simply this.

Inspire yourself to be the best you. There is only one Dungeon mater you need to aspire to be like and they greet you in the mirror. There will be new DM’s out there, potentially your current players who admire what you bring to the table. You become their aspiration, what you bring to the table becomes their benchmark. So be proud of what you bring. This isn’t an easy gig, its quite challenging at times even for the most veteran of us. So for being willing to give this a shot, to continue to bring your best to the table I want to say thank you for inspiring others to pick up the mantle.

Tomorrow I hope to bring another Zine, and if time permits two. So don’t forget to come back for that and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Grut’s Warriors

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Friday night is and the bellows of rage and excitement echo through the halls from the Grut’s Warriors as they prepare for battle. Excited for another raid on the avian-folk, the Aarakocra they are not prepared for the ambush that comes their way, or maybe they are. So sit back, grab a coffee and enjoy tonight’s addition to the adventure of this week!

Grut’s Warriors

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Now the backbone of Grut’s Warriors are the bugbear. Hulking medium sized humanoids they are ferocious and don’t underhanded tactics despite their strength. A volley of javelins will whistle through the air before the sickening thud of them plunging into allies marks the charge of the bugbear. Despite being larger cousins of the Goblin and Orc this particular breed of Bugbear share some resemblance of giants.

Created in tetra-cube.
Created in tetra-cube.

Grut – The Giant King

No matter what Grut’s warriors say he is paranoid. Being mislead and tricked by his own kind he has vowed to let no-one trick him again. this has lead his mind to become fractured with an ultra paranoid inner voice driving his decisions and siding against good, solid Giant logic. Perhaps this was the Hags doing, perhaps not.

A big meaty foot and a large club greet any who encounter Grut. Ferocious and fearless in battle he isn’t afraid the lead the charge and his bolstered armour and constitution provided by the mutated hide he carries is a badge of honour more than a curse to him now.

Created in tetra-cube.

Thoughts

The encounter will be tough. 1-2 orcs per player OR 1 bugbear for the initial raiding of the camp. A mix of Orc and bugbear is probably ideal. When there is only one or two remaining they will call for aid from their king who will stomp forward. Balanced at a level 4 party this adventure is increasing the tempo once more – so I am calling some of the bigger shots with ferocious minions wearing the party down, and their resources, and even worse, the leader Grut himself.

Thanks for joining me tonight as we get a glimpse of Grut and Grut’s warriors. As we progress through the year its hard to process we are seven weeks into the year already. Time flies when you’re rolling dice it seems.

Tomorrow I hope to provide something more akin to a discussion topic based on the most common question I encounter in the DMs forum I am attending. So don’t forget to come back for that and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Lands of Taloncrest

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Welcome to another map night where tonight I have the first of two maps for this week, the lands of Taloncrest. First we have a regional map which looks at the hilly and mountainous land around Taloncrest. The second image is of the Giant Kings camp where he resides with his forces, or some of them if the party plan the attack right. So sit back, grab a coffee and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure around Taloncrest!.

The Lands of Taloncrest

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The city to the bottom left of the map is where our adventure begins as we encounter the young prince Aarakocra and continue onwards. To the north of that we have a lake and a mountainous ridge, known as Taloncrest as within the cave systems and a sacred site to the Aarakocra’s lies Taloncrest itself. To the southeast of this, across a lake lies the hills where the king sits. This set of ruins amongst the hills speaks of a ill-fated human settlement that tried to conquer the area. After the land literally ate their settlement alive they headed further south out of the hills and colonised from there. Trading with the Aarakocra’s where it suited the avian folk.

Taloncrest and surrounds – Created in Inkarnate

The Giant Kings Camp

Hills, rocks and ruins await those who live or enter these hills. Fabric tents, not more than a scrap of cloth on posts provide some shade for the giant and his kin. The ruins from a long lost age him that there was once something more here, but that’s lost to time.

The hills provide an interesting challenge of height, being lower provides shadows for blending in and sneaking, but having a height advantage gives those with dark vision, like the giant and his followers, an advantage as well. This wont be easy unless there is a surprise install those investigating the lands of Taloncrest.

The Giant Kings Camp – created in Inkarnate.

Thanks for joining me tonight but don’t forget to come back the last few days. Tonight was another fun map creating night and tomorrow we look at wrapping it up with some creature stat blocks. Don’t forget that these maps can be used with other game systems so use and enjoy them as you will! With the weekend approaching fast I hope you don’t forget to set aside some time for your hobbies and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe