I've had a recent spike in viewers thanks to Dyson over at A character for every game linking to my Dyson's Delve adventure logs. As a result, I'd thought I'd give a quick rundown on the campaigns chronicled here.
Active Campaigns:
Southern Reaches
This is a sandbox fantasy game based on the West Marches campaign style. I am the DM for this game and it has run 29 sessions at mostly one game a week, played on Friday evenings. We are using the Pathfinder RPG, but I'm applying a lot of old school ideas to the campaign. I've been very happy with the results.
Dyson's Delve
This is a basic dungeon crawl using Dyson's Delve. This is a training game for a brand new DM and most of the players started playing tabletop RPGs in this campaign or the previous one, Verden (see below). I like the game and the dungeon, but I'm still trying to feel out my character, Harkaitz of the Red Soul. This game runs Wednesday evenings.
Defunct games:
The Found World
This was a short-lived D&D 4E campaign I originally started this blog to document. I was the DM and one of the dominant characters was a female bugbear warrior. That and an off hand comment by Zak Sabbath on his blog, Playing D&D with Porn Stars, led to the naming of this blog. The game ended when I could not get enough regular players to run a 4E game. I could get players for the Pathfinder RPG and switched to that, starting the Southern Reaches campaign, listed above.
Verden
This was a slightly different sandbox game set a thousand years after the cataclysmic ending of the Necromancer Wars. The players were a group locked outside the city of Verden for three months amongst the ruins and war-debris left behind by the Necromancer Wars. The campaign ended abruptly when the DM got a better job in a different state. This was a fun game where I was a player. I miss it.
That's about it for now. I'm also mulling over a Traveller game. It doesn't have a name yet and I'm not even certain who I'd run it for, but I like the idea of it and will occasionally "talk out loud" about it here as I develop it.
Showing posts with label Found_World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Found_World. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Introducing the World - Part 2 - Theory
Here is the theory and thoughts behind locations mentioned in last week's Introducing the World – Part 2.
Barony of the Mead
The name for this fiefdom was taken verbatim from a random generator as too good to pass up. Putting some thought into the name, I decided that, clearly, this is where most of the alcohol for Goldland Crossing would come from, which tells me what it needs to contain and look like. It must have at least one source of clean, pure water, bees (either local or imported from the Old World), and room to grow the necessary grains, herbs, and spices. With that kind of fertile soil, it would also likely grow vegetables and grains that can be consumed for food in quantity, making it the bread basket for the colony. Which, by the way, would provide not inconsequential political power for the Brewer's Guild.
Originally, I just noted that the Barony of the mead was adjacent to Goldland Crossing. My co-DM, when we were discussing the dwarven Fief of the Badger (which will appear later on this blog) suggested that the dwarves had diverted a river to get at some gold. I liked the idea. Looking at the rough map and where the Low Mountains were, I could see where a river SHOULD run, down to the Province of the Seven Unholy Ships (a haunted bay which, again, will be discussed later). Now if I assumed that river was diverted, it would now run east of the woods (haven't named these yet) instead of through them and dump into Otter's Bay. I was going to call it the New River, but quickly realized that was lame and the locals would attribute it to the dwarves and it became the Flathead River. The point where it flows over the cliff into Otter's Bay became Flathead Falls. Having a river right next to Goldland Crossing dictated exactly where the Barony of the Mead would go.
Now the Flathead River will be fairly muddy and full of silt. This will make it good for farming, but not distilling, so some additional streams were called for. I added those to the map and some hills for them to naturally flow out of. These became the Small Hills (because there are larger ones to southeast and southwest, across the plains).
As my co-DM pointed out, there was adventure opportunity here. Suddenly either the Flathead goes dry or the streams from the Small Hills go cloudy. Baron Mead needs adventurers to find the problem and fix it. Quickly. Did the Flathead get diverted again? Is there a problem at the dwarven dam and the river is no longer diverted? What under the Small Hills could be affecting the clarity of the streams?
Smoky Hands Barony
I played around with the name of this fiefdom, rearranging the word order and shortening it. I liked the image "smoky hands" invokes. It brought to mind the ancient profession of charcoal makers, whose hands would be smudged and smell of smoke.
Now in order for them to help the colony early on, they had to have a nearby source of timber to convert to charcoal. I had placed a forest to the southwest of Goldland Crossing, but had scripted it to be the Barony of the 50 Lances, which had only recently been claimed from humanoids. Clearly that wouldn't work. There is another, significant, forest east of Goldland Crossing, but it was going to be at least two days travel from the city, making it too far away. What to do?
Looking at the wind patterns the map implied (forests backed by hills and mountains to the south), I decided to add a small forest north of the Small Hills, along the coast, stretching from Otter's Bay to the river delta two day's travel east. Clearly the Small Hills cause some rainfall, so ecologically this worked. Plus, it put the Smoky Hands Barony close to Goldland Crossing, making it defensible early on. Done and done.
There should be the possibility of some politics later on between this barony and 50 Lances, which could sweep up the PCs once they get closer to Paragon Level. Maybe some monster hunting before then. It has adventure opportunities.
Royal Archer Country
This came out of the generator as "Tiny Royal Archer Country", which is very descriptive and invokes a small fief with a direct tie to a king. I dropped the "tiny" and decided this fiefdom was a retirement grant from the king to a loyal vassal. It needed to be relatively close as it would not have a large population of defenders in case of humanoid attack and needed a good view (because archers want clear lines of fire). As I had just created the Small Hills, I decided to place this fief along the southwestern edge, with a view across the plains south and southwest, making it an early warning point of invasion for Goldland Crossing.
Empty God Fief
How could I not use "Empty God's Fief"? I had a vision of an enormous statue that was hollow and now served as a place of safety with an interior wooden superstructure cobbled together by the inhabitants. I dropped the apostrophe as I'm not certain what kind of deity would be known as the Empty God and wasn't certain I wanted to. I originally placed this fief farther west on the map, actually drawing the partially buried, barrel-chested statue on the map, but once I placed the Candlestick Marches and Five Castles (which is hostile), I realized I needed to move the Empty God east, behind the defensive line that is the Candlestick Marches.
This should be an odd place for the PCs to stay on their way elsewhere. I might throw in something like a mysterious killer hiding in the dark wooden superstructure of the interior. A creepy and claustrophobic single-session adventure.
The Candlestick Marches
Ever seen a windmill park? Super tall towers with ginormous propellers turning at a speed that looks unnatural for something that large? Now melt off the generator part where the blades attach like they massively overheated and exploded or melted to slag. That's what the Candlestick Marches looks like, spread across a 60-mile, north-to-south stretch of plains from Otter's Bay to 50 Lances Wood (I may have just named those woods, right here). Were they windmills? Was it an electric fence to keep out giants? Was it a magical E.L.F. generator/array for communicating with one or more of the moons OR THINGS BEYOND SPACE AND TIME? Who knows – definitely none of the characters running around now.
This is an atmospheric location, reinforcing the campaign feeling that once great things were done here, but something went terribly wrong.
Five Castles
Originally "County of the Five Castles", I shortened it down to Five Castles as "county" implies more organization than exists. Goldland Crossing was now not the only set of castle ruins in the general area. I'm thinking that there will be bugbears, gnolls, and orcs here, fighting amongst themselves for control of the castles, but I haven't settled on anything yet. One of the castles might be on the bay and have skum (read: deep ones) secretly running it.
Normally the humanoids would more or less ignore Goldland Crossing (except for slaving runs or a need for politically safe raiding) and continue their own version of the cold war, but with 50 Lances Wood being cleared out, those refugees had to go somewhere, right? Now I see the refugees disrupting the balance in Five Castles in two different ways. First, they are going to be a new power bloc, possibly allying with one of the existing blocs and tipping the precarious balance that has existed here. Second, they are direct evidence that the colony at Goldland Crossing is expanding and this may convince the humanoids to set aside their differences and deal with these interlopers once and for all.
Barony of the Mead
The name for this fiefdom was taken verbatim from a random generator as too good to pass up. Putting some thought into the name, I decided that, clearly, this is where most of the alcohol for Goldland Crossing would come from, which tells me what it needs to contain and look like. It must have at least one source of clean, pure water, bees (either local or imported from the Old World), and room to grow the necessary grains, herbs, and spices. With that kind of fertile soil, it would also likely grow vegetables and grains that can be consumed for food in quantity, making it the bread basket for the colony. Which, by the way, would provide not inconsequential political power for the Brewer's Guild.
Originally, I just noted that the Barony of the mead was adjacent to Goldland Crossing. My co-DM, when we were discussing the dwarven Fief of the Badger (which will appear later on this blog) suggested that the dwarves had diverted a river to get at some gold. I liked the idea. Looking at the rough map and where the Low Mountains were, I could see where a river SHOULD run, down to the Province of the Seven Unholy Ships (a haunted bay which, again, will be discussed later). Now if I assumed that river was diverted, it would now run east of the woods (haven't named these yet) instead of through them and dump into Otter's Bay. I was going to call it the New River, but quickly realized that was lame and the locals would attribute it to the dwarves and it became the Flathead River. The point where it flows over the cliff into Otter's Bay became Flathead Falls. Having a river right next to Goldland Crossing dictated exactly where the Barony of the Mead would go.
Now the Flathead River will be fairly muddy and full of silt. This will make it good for farming, but not distilling, so some additional streams were called for. I added those to the map and some hills for them to naturally flow out of. These became the Small Hills (because there are larger ones to southeast and southwest, across the plains).
As my co-DM pointed out, there was adventure opportunity here. Suddenly either the Flathead goes dry or the streams from the Small Hills go cloudy. Baron Mead needs adventurers to find the problem and fix it. Quickly. Did the Flathead get diverted again? Is there a problem at the dwarven dam and the river is no longer diverted? What under the Small Hills could be affecting the clarity of the streams?
Smoky Hands Barony
I played around with the name of this fiefdom, rearranging the word order and shortening it. I liked the image "smoky hands" invokes. It brought to mind the ancient profession of charcoal makers, whose hands would be smudged and smell of smoke.
Now in order for them to help the colony early on, they had to have a nearby source of timber to convert to charcoal. I had placed a forest to the southwest of Goldland Crossing, but had scripted it to be the Barony of the 50 Lances, which had only recently been claimed from humanoids. Clearly that wouldn't work. There is another, significant, forest east of Goldland Crossing, but it was going to be at least two days travel from the city, making it too far away. What to do?
Looking at the wind patterns the map implied (forests backed by hills and mountains to the south), I decided to add a small forest north of the Small Hills, along the coast, stretching from Otter's Bay to the river delta two day's travel east. Clearly the Small Hills cause some rainfall, so ecologically this worked. Plus, it put the Smoky Hands Barony close to Goldland Crossing, making it defensible early on. Done and done.
There should be the possibility of some politics later on between this barony and 50 Lances, which could sweep up the PCs once they get closer to Paragon Level. Maybe some monster hunting before then. It has adventure opportunities.
Royal Archer Country
This came out of the generator as "Tiny Royal Archer Country", which is very descriptive and invokes a small fief with a direct tie to a king. I dropped the "tiny" and decided this fiefdom was a retirement grant from the king to a loyal vassal. It needed to be relatively close as it would not have a large population of defenders in case of humanoid attack and needed a good view (because archers want clear lines of fire). As I had just created the Small Hills, I decided to place this fief along the southwestern edge, with a view across the plains south and southwest, making it an early warning point of invasion for Goldland Crossing.
Empty God Fief
How could I not use "Empty God's Fief"? I had a vision of an enormous statue that was hollow and now served as a place of safety with an interior wooden superstructure cobbled together by the inhabitants. I dropped the apostrophe as I'm not certain what kind of deity would be known as the Empty God and wasn't certain I wanted to. I originally placed this fief farther west on the map, actually drawing the partially buried, barrel-chested statue on the map, but once I placed the Candlestick Marches and Five Castles (which is hostile), I realized I needed to move the Empty God east, behind the defensive line that is the Candlestick Marches.
This should be an odd place for the PCs to stay on their way elsewhere. I might throw in something like a mysterious killer hiding in the dark wooden superstructure of the interior. A creepy and claustrophobic single-session adventure.
The Candlestick Marches
Ever seen a windmill park? Super tall towers with ginormous propellers turning at a speed that looks unnatural for something that large? Now melt off the generator part where the blades attach like they massively overheated and exploded or melted to slag. That's what the Candlestick Marches looks like, spread across a 60-mile, north-to-south stretch of plains from Otter's Bay to 50 Lances Wood (I may have just named those woods, right here). Were they windmills? Was it an electric fence to keep out giants? Was it a magical E.L.F. generator/array for communicating with one or more of the moons OR THINGS BEYOND SPACE AND TIME? Who knows – definitely none of the characters running around now.
This is an atmospheric location, reinforcing the campaign feeling that once great things were done here, but something went terribly wrong.
Five Castles
Originally "County of the Five Castles", I shortened it down to Five Castles as "county" implies more organization than exists. Goldland Crossing was now not the only set of castle ruins in the general area. I'm thinking that there will be bugbears, gnolls, and orcs here, fighting amongst themselves for control of the castles, but I haven't settled on anything yet. One of the castles might be on the bay and have skum (read: deep ones) secretly running it.
Normally the humanoids would more or less ignore Goldland Crossing (except for slaving runs or a need for politically safe raiding) and continue their own version of the cold war, but with 50 Lances Wood being cleared out, those refugees had to go somewhere, right? Now I see the refugees disrupting the balance in Five Castles in two different ways. First, they are going to be a new power bloc, possibly allying with one of the existing blocs and tipping the precarious balance that has existed here. Second, they are direct evidence that the colony at Goldland Crossing is expanding and this may convince the humanoids to set aside their differences and deal with these interlopers once and for all.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Introducing the World - Part 2
These are things I and my co-DM have developed for Bugbears for Breakfast and done some detail work on. More will follow.
Barony of the Mead
Across the Flathead River from Goldland Crossing, nestled up to the western edge of the Small Hills, is the Barony of the Mead. This fiefdom was granted to the Brewers' Guild, with the Guild Leader also being the Baron Mead. The barony consists of very fertile soil with several clear streams running through it, making it ideal for raising the crops necessary for brewing and distilling various forms of alcohol. In addition to grains, hops, and several other crops vital to the guild, the barony also raises food crops, making it the primary source for wheat and other vegetables for Goldland Crossing.
The coat of arms for this barony features a steel beer stein flanked by sheaves of grain on a green background.
Smoky Hands Barony
North of the Small Hills, along the coast of the Southern sea, lies a small forest, some 30 miles in length, which comprises the Smoky Hands Barony. This fiefdom was granted to a charcoal burner whose talents were critical in the establishment of Goldland Crossing. This barony still supplies the majority of cooking charcoal for Goldland Crossing, although the Barony of the 50 Lances is starting to cut into this business.
The coat of arms for this barony features two black hands on a field of white with a black, crenulated border.
Royal Archer Country
In the southwest edge of the Small Hills is the small fiefdom of Royal Archer Country. This fiefdom was granted to Harald Arrowstorm, once a military commander in the Old World, as a retirement benefit. Harald has established a small fortified manor house at the top of a hill and is in the process of building a wall around it. Harald has granted smaller portions of land to old comrade at arms from his time in the military, providing a core of disciplined fighting men to defend the fiefdom.
The coat of arms for this fiefdom is a silver cloud raining three arrows, on a field of blue.
Empty God Fief
Approximately 20 miles south of Goldland Crossing is the Empty God Fief. This fiefdom consists of an immense, partially buried, hollow statue and the lands immediately around it. The statue is buried to its waist, with its hands submerged in the dirt. The features are very weathered, making it all but impossible to identify anything but the race of the statue (human, probably). The original claimants accidentally discovered the statue was hollow when fighing some raiding humanoids and a mis-placed lightning bolt breeched the exterior. After winning the fight, they explored the interior and determined that there was plenty of space inside to build structures. They built wooden support structures inside the statue to provide living and storage space and applied for a fiefdom. Needing a strong defense point south of the city at that time, the Gate Guild recommended the fiefdom be granted and it was.
The coat of arms for this fiefdom is a white, half-buried human figure on a field of green.
The Candlestick Marches
Stretching south from the southwestern corner of Otter's Bay to the edge of the Muddy Woods, lie a series of tall, metallic structures. What ever purpose they once server is lost, along with the burned and melted tops of the towers. About half of the 30 structures are inhabited at this time, spread evenly along the length of the march. Those living in the towers are required to maintain a signal fire and heliograph to warn Goldland Crossing of any humanoid forces marching east from Five Castles.
The towers themselves are made of an unknown metal and are very resilient to damage and corrosion. The interior of each is able to hold 15 to 20 individuals. The populace includes farmers, retired military people, and an unusual number of spellcasters of various stripes. The current Warden of the Marches is Slean Lodinson, a retired military commander from the Old World.
Five Castles
Five Castles is an area over 40 miles west of Goldland Crossing, containing five ancient castles that are controlled (more or less) by various humanoid tribes. These tribes fight amongst themselves for sole control of the various castles and periodically send raids to Goldland Crossing for slaves and loot. The Gate Guild is concerned that if any one faction finally gains complete control over Five Castles, they will march east and attack Goldland Crossing in force.
Barony of the Mead
Across the Flathead River from Goldland Crossing, nestled up to the western edge of the Small Hills, is the Barony of the Mead. This fiefdom was granted to the Brewers' Guild, with the Guild Leader also being the Baron Mead. The barony consists of very fertile soil with several clear streams running through it, making it ideal for raising the crops necessary for brewing and distilling various forms of alcohol. In addition to grains, hops, and several other crops vital to the guild, the barony also raises food crops, making it the primary source for wheat and other vegetables for Goldland Crossing.
The coat of arms for this barony features a steel beer stein flanked by sheaves of grain on a green background.
Smoky Hands Barony
North of the Small Hills, along the coast of the Southern sea, lies a small forest, some 30 miles in length, which comprises the Smoky Hands Barony. This fiefdom was granted to a charcoal burner whose talents were critical in the establishment of Goldland Crossing. This barony still supplies the majority of cooking charcoal for Goldland Crossing, although the Barony of the 50 Lances is starting to cut into this business.
The coat of arms for this barony features two black hands on a field of white with a black, crenulated border.
Royal Archer Country
In the southwest edge of the Small Hills is the small fiefdom of Royal Archer Country. This fiefdom was granted to Harald Arrowstorm, once a military commander in the Old World, as a retirement benefit. Harald has established a small fortified manor house at the top of a hill and is in the process of building a wall around it. Harald has granted smaller portions of land to old comrade at arms from his time in the military, providing a core of disciplined fighting men to defend the fiefdom.
The coat of arms for this fiefdom is a silver cloud raining three arrows, on a field of blue.
Empty God Fief
Approximately 20 miles south of Goldland Crossing is the Empty God Fief. This fiefdom consists of an immense, partially buried, hollow statue and the lands immediately around it. The statue is buried to its waist, with its hands submerged in the dirt. The features are very weathered, making it all but impossible to identify anything but the race of the statue (human, probably). The original claimants accidentally discovered the statue was hollow when fighing some raiding humanoids and a mis-placed lightning bolt breeched the exterior. After winning the fight, they explored the interior and determined that there was plenty of space inside to build structures. They built wooden support structures inside the statue to provide living and storage space and applied for a fiefdom. Needing a strong defense point south of the city at that time, the Gate Guild recommended the fiefdom be granted and it was.
The coat of arms for this fiefdom is a white, half-buried human figure on a field of green.
The Candlestick Marches
Stretching south from the southwestern corner of Otter's Bay to the edge of the Muddy Woods, lie a series of tall, metallic structures. What ever purpose they once server is lost, along with the burned and melted tops of the towers. About half of the 30 structures are inhabited at this time, spread evenly along the length of the march. Those living in the towers are required to maintain a signal fire and heliograph to warn Goldland Crossing of any humanoid forces marching east from Five Castles.
The towers themselves are made of an unknown metal and are very resilient to damage and corrosion. The interior of each is able to hold 15 to 20 individuals. The populace includes farmers, retired military people, and an unusual number of spellcasters of various stripes. The current Warden of the Marches is Slean Lodinson, a retired military commander from the Old World.
Five Castles
Five Castles is an area over 40 miles west of Goldland Crossing, containing five ancient castles that are controlled (more or less) by various humanoid tribes. These tribes fight amongst themselves for sole control of the various castles and periodically send raids to Goldland Crossing for slaves and loot. The Gate Guild is concerned that if any one faction finally gains complete control over Five Castles, they will march east and attack Goldland Crossing in force.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Adventure Log – Session 1 – Setting Up Shop
Apologies for this being late - wedding anniversary and Easter on the same weekend really killed my writing time. Should not be an issue after this.
Dramatis Personae
Tor, Chosen of Kord – Male Halfling warlord
Mahest Dahl – Female Half-elven warlock (star pact)
Hanea – Female Bugbear warden
Cinder – Female Tiefling rogue
Having recently arrived in Goldland Crossing via the Moon Gate, the adventuring group known simply as "Here Be Bugbears" checked in at the Gate Guild offices. The adventurers were told to look around the Upper Docks area for an unclaimed building to claim as their own. Scouting around off the main thoroughfares, the group found a four-story building that seemed to meet their needs: there was a basement (per Hanea's request), the remaining tower provided a view of the stars (per Mahest's request), and there were rooms which did not leak (per everyone else's requests).
(DM's description of the building: "There is a set of stairs leading up to the first floor and a single tower (out of two) still standing. There appears to be a basement. From the outside, the first floor appears to be solid, the second floor looks like it is lightly damaged, the third floor is missing walls and floors, while the fourth floor is more suggested rather than actually present.")
Scouting out the interior of the building, the group immediately split up (yeah, rookie move). Mahest went up the stairs in the remaining tower to see if any of the interior floors were still good. She found all the wood-work ruined or burned, but the stone-work appeared to be solid. Cinder started investigating the rooms on the first floor while Hanea went down into the basement. Tor hung around in the main entry hall "just in case".
In one of the semi-isolated rooms on the first floor, Cinder found the remains of an old fight in the form of a multitude of dead bodies. As she started poking around, the bodies reanimated as two zombies and six decrepit skeletons. At exactly the same time, Hanea discovered a rat's nest in the basement and was attacked by a rat swarm, two dire rats, and three giant rats. Both Cinder and Hanea cried out what they had discovered and for help. Tor moved to help Cinder with what appeared to be the more immediate threat of undead. Mahest, oblivious to all of this, continued to check the upper floors of the tower.
On the first floor, Tor and Cinder ineffectively fought the zombies and skeletons, with Tor quickly getting bloodied. They decided to fall back, closing and holding doors to delay the undead advance. In the basement, Hanea was nearly overwhelmed by the rats and fled back up the stairs. Mahest, meanwhile, finally noticed her companions were making quite a racket and wondered what was going on. She wandered back down the stairs, just in time to see Hanea run across the ground floor landing, pursued by giant rats.
With the group (mostly) re-assembled, they concentrated on fighting the rats in the doorway to the tower (where all the stairs were). Cinder slid a dagger through the door handles to delay the zombies and skeletons and flung shuriken at the rats swarming over Hanea. Tor and Hanea fought and killed the rats in melee while Mahest (from up in the tower) rained eldritch blasts upon the rats. After some tense fighting, all the rats were eventually killed. Note: Cinder killed rats in the swarm every time she threw a shuriken, never hitting Hanea. Also, Tor was infected by one of the dire rats.
As the last rat died, the zombies finally started breaking through the doors Cinder was holding closed. The group of adventurers pushed aside the dead rats and retreated into the stair tower, pulling shut the very stout doors behind them. While the zombies pounded on the doors, the group took a short rest to catch their breath and prepare to fight the undead. When ready, the adventurers re-opened the doors and proceeded to slowly destroy the undead.
With the interior of the manor finally theirs, the adventurers burned the rat's nest in the basement and hauled the remains of the rats and the undead out of the manor. This seemed to draw the attention of a gang of goblins. The goblins started trying to shake down the adventurers, who were having nothing of it. In almost less time than it takes to tell, the adventurers attacked and killed almost all of the goblin shake-down gang – one was captured for questioning and one managed to run away and escape.
Wanting to face the goblin gang head on, the adventurers started questioning their captive and then scouting around the neighborhood, looking for the goblins' lair. Mahest and Tor were able to get the goblin captive to talk and Cinder was able to sort out the truths from the half-lies. Sadly, fortune went against the adventurers after that.
End of Session
DM's Commentary:
The party triggered two Level 1 encounters simultaneously by splitting up to search the manor. This started out looking bad as their dice were against them, but quick thinking on the PCs part to delay the undead by closing and blocking the doors let the PCs face one threat at a time.
The Level 2 encounter with the goblin shake-down gang took longer to get started than I thought it would. I think the players were hoping to intimidate the goblins into leaving, not knowing how powerful the goblin gang is in this neighborhood.
The skill challenge (tracking down the goblin lair) should have gone in favor of the PCs, but some bad rolls led to a failure. This means that instead of finding and ambushing the goblins, the PCs will be taking a more difficult route. I'm thinking a sewer crawl is in order as I'd rather not have the goblins ambush the PCs with overwhelming numbers. I might have a different gang notice the PCs and offer to help, for a price. We'll see.
Dramatis Personae
Tor, Chosen of Kord – Male Halfling warlord
Mahest Dahl – Female Half-elven warlock (star pact)
Hanea – Female Bugbear warden
Cinder – Female Tiefling rogue
Having recently arrived in Goldland Crossing via the Moon Gate, the adventuring group known simply as "Here Be Bugbears" checked in at the Gate Guild offices. The adventurers were told to look around the Upper Docks area for an unclaimed building to claim as their own. Scouting around off the main thoroughfares, the group found a four-story building that seemed to meet their needs: there was a basement (per Hanea's request), the remaining tower provided a view of the stars (per Mahest's request), and there were rooms which did not leak (per everyone else's requests).
(DM's description of the building: "There is a set of stairs leading up to the first floor and a single tower (out of two) still standing. There appears to be a basement. From the outside, the first floor appears to be solid, the second floor looks like it is lightly damaged, the third floor is missing walls and floors, while the fourth floor is more suggested rather than actually present.")
Scouting out the interior of the building, the group immediately split up (yeah, rookie move). Mahest went up the stairs in the remaining tower to see if any of the interior floors were still good. She found all the wood-work ruined or burned, but the stone-work appeared to be solid. Cinder started investigating the rooms on the first floor while Hanea went down into the basement. Tor hung around in the main entry hall "just in case".
In one of the semi-isolated rooms on the first floor, Cinder found the remains of an old fight in the form of a multitude of dead bodies. As she started poking around, the bodies reanimated as two zombies and six decrepit skeletons. At exactly the same time, Hanea discovered a rat's nest in the basement and was attacked by a rat swarm, two dire rats, and three giant rats. Both Cinder and Hanea cried out what they had discovered and for help. Tor moved to help Cinder with what appeared to be the more immediate threat of undead. Mahest, oblivious to all of this, continued to check the upper floors of the tower.
On the first floor, Tor and Cinder ineffectively fought the zombies and skeletons, with Tor quickly getting bloodied. They decided to fall back, closing and holding doors to delay the undead advance. In the basement, Hanea was nearly overwhelmed by the rats and fled back up the stairs. Mahest, meanwhile, finally noticed her companions were making quite a racket and wondered what was going on. She wandered back down the stairs, just in time to see Hanea run across the ground floor landing, pursued by giant rats.
With the group (mostly) re-assembled, they concentrated on fighting the rats in the doorway to the tower (where all the stairs were). Cinder slid a dagger through the door handles to delay the zombies and skeletons and flung shuriken at the rats swarming over Hanea. Tor and Hanea fought and killed the rats in melee while Mahest (from up in the tower) rained eldritch blasts upon the rats. After some tense fighting, all the rats were eventually killed. Note: Cinder killed rats in the swarm every time she threw a shuriken, never hitting Hanea. Also, Tor was infected by one of the dire rats.
As the last rat died, the zombies finally started breaking through the doors Cinder was holding closed. The group of adventurers pushed aside the dead rats and retreated into the stair tower, pulling shut the very stout doors behind them. While the zombies pounded on the doors, the group took a short rest to catch their breath and prepare to fight the undead. When ready, the adventurers re-opened the doors and proceeded to slowly destroy the undead.
With the interior of the manor finally theirs, the adventurers burned the rat's nest in the basement and hauled the remains of the rats and the undead out of the manor. This seemed to draw the attention of a gang of goblins. The goblins started trying to shake down the adventurers, who were having nothing of it. In almost less time than it takes to tell, the adventurers attacked and killed almost all of the goblin shake-down gang – one was captured for questioning and one managed to run away and escape.
Wanting to face the goblin gang head on, the adventurers started questioning their captive and then scouting around the neighborhood, looking for the goblins' lair. Mahest and Tor were able to get the goblin captive to talk and Cinder was able to sort out the truths from the half-lies. Sadly, fortune went against the adventurers after that.
End of Session
DM's Commentary:
The party triggered two Level 1 encounters simultaneously by splitting up to search the manor. This started out looking bad as their dice were against them, but quick thinking on the PCs part to delay the undead by closing and blocking the doors let the PCs face one threat at a time.
The Level 2 encounter with the goblin shake-down gang took longer to get started than I thought it would. I think the players were hoping to intimidate the goblins into leaving, not knowing how powerful the goblin gang is in this neighborhood.
The skill challenge (tracking down the goblin lair) should have gone in favor of the PCs, but some bad rolls led to a failure. This means that instead of finding and ambushing the goblins, the PCs will be taking a more difficult route. I'm thinking a sewer crawl is in order as I'd rather not have the goblins ambush the PCs with overwhelming numbers. I might have a different gang notice the PCs and offer to help, for a price. We'll see.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Introducing the World - Part I Redux
Here are things I and my co-DM have developed for Bugbears for Breakfast and done some detail work on. More will follow.
Chartered Adventuring Companies
To speed up the exploration of the Found World and reduce the cost of doing so, most governments in the Old World now issue Adventuring Charters. The cost up front is negligible and mostly involves establishing that the members of the charter company have the financial means to purchase transportation through a Moon Gate. The charters allow adventurers to explore the Found World, gather up what riches they can, and then pay a Charter Fee to return to the Old World with their wealth. The Charter Fee is very steep and is one of the revenue generators for the issuing governments. Some governments allow chartered companies to make incremental payments until the entire amount is paid, but increase the total fee by 20 to 50% if this option is taken.
The advantage of issuing Adventuring Charters is manyfold: adventurers explore the territory being colonized, adventurers clear out dangerous monsters, adventurers provide income (in the form of the Charter Fees), adventurers return as wealthy (and taxable) citizens, and adventurers are not hanging around the Old World looking for trouble.
Goldland Crossing
Goldland Crossing is built in the ruins of a walled city on the coast of the Southern Sea. It surrounds one of the better known Moon Gates. The ruins could once have sheltered thirty to forty thousand people, but is now home to approximately 5000 people. The two inner districts (the Gate District and the Market District) are mostly rebuilt and well patrolled by the city guard. The Lower Docks have been isolated from the rest of the city by the New Wall and are also heavily patrolled. The upper Docks and the three outer districts have only received spotty attention and only the routes from the main gates to the inner districts are patrolled with any regularity.
Everyone living in the city is required to spend one day in ten serving in the city guard, providing a pool of nearly 400 guardsmen on any particular day. Most citizens see this as a necessity for keeping the city safe and willingly spend the time. Anyone missing an assigned day is rescheduled and assigned a penalty day, which must also be served. A side effect of this is a willingness of the citizenry to assist guardsmen who call for assistance (as next time it could be them needing the help). In addition to patrolling the city, guardsmen also are assigned to work details, which is how the New Wall was constructed.
With a high number of chartered adventuring companies based in the city but usually out in the wilderlands, theft of property from homes is dealt with harshly in the city. Those caught and convicted are publicly executed (and remember, the use of magic to prove guilt is regularly used).
Otter's Barony
Adjacent to Goldland Crossing is Otter's Bay, a bay that is unique in several ways: the bay is uniformly 30 ft deep, there is a conspicuously vertical cliff surrounding three-quarters of it, and the ruins of an ancient city sits at the bottom of the bay, with taller buildings poking up above the waters. It is clear to most that once the city was above the waterline and was sunk by supernatural means. Evidence of this is easy to find – there are the remains of roadways that lead to the edge of the cliffs and stop, only to resume at the base of the cliff, 30 ft under water, continuing into the sunken ruins.
The bay comprises Otter's Barony, a fief granted to a human named Otter. Otter was once an apprentice shipwright and built the first ship able to sail back to the Old World, bringing the riches of the Found World to the Old World's attention. In return for this service, Otter was granted the bay as a hereditary fiefdom and the right to collect docking fees in the bay named in his honor. The current baron, Otter III, maintains these rights, plus runs a business harvesting oysters and owns several fishing vessels that work the Southern Sea, providing fish for Goldland Crossing.
The population of Otter's Barony lives in the portions of the sunken city that are still above the water's surface. The walls are made of stone and those buildings still standing are very sturdy. If the building had stone floors, they are still in use, but many buildings have had internal structures of wood added. Most buildings have at least limited oyster and clam beds in their lower structures, which provide food and a limited crop the tenants can sell in Goldland Crossing on market days.
Occasionally an aquatic monster will find its way into the bay and endanger the oyster divers and other residents. The baron will place a poster in the Goldland Crossing market and hire adventurers to deal with the monster for either a fee or the right to set up in one of the unused towers in the bay.
Chartered Adventuring Companies
To speed up the exploration of the Found World and reduce the cost of doing so, most governments in the Old World now issue Adventuring Charters. The cost up front is negligible and mostly involves establishing that the members of the charter company have the financial means to purchase transportation through a Moon Gate. The charters allow adventurers to explore the Found World, gather up what riches they can, and then pay a Charter Fee to return to the Old World with their wealth. The Charter Fee is very steep and is one of the revenue generators for the issuing governments. Some governments allow chartered companies to make incremental payments until the entire amount is paid, but increase the total fee by 20 to 50% if this option is taken.
The advantage of issuing Adventuring Charters is manyfold: adventurers explore the territory being colonized, adventurers clear out dangerous monsters, adventurers provide income (in the form of the Charter Fees), adventurers return as wealthy (and taxable) citizens, and adventurers are not hanging around the Old World looking for trouble.
Goldland Crossing
Goldland Crossing is built in the ruins of a walled city on the coast of the Southern Sea. It surrounds one of the better known Moon Gates. The ruins could once have sheltered thirty to forty thousand people, but is now home to approximately 5000 people. The two inner districts (the Gate District and the Market District) are mostly rebuilt and well patrolled by the city guard. The Lower Docks have been isolated from the rest of the city by the New Wall and are also heavily patrolled. The upper Docks and the three outer districts have only received spotty attention and only the routes from the main gates to the inner districts are patrolled with any regularity.
Everyone living in the city is required to spend one day in ten serving in the city guard, providing a pool of nearly 400 guardsmen on any particular day. Most citizens see this as a necessity for keeping the city safe and willingly spend the time. Anyone missing an assigned day is rescheduled and assigned a penalty day, which must also be served. A side effect of this is a willingness of the citizenry to assist guardsmen who call for assistance (as next time it could be them needing the help). In addition to patrolling the city, guardsmen also are assigned to work details, which is how the New Wall was constructed.
With a high number of chartered adventuring companies based in the city but usually out in the wilderlands, theft of property from homes is dealt with harshly in the city. Those caught and convicted are publicly executed (and remember, the use of magic to prove guilt is regularly used).
Otter's Barony
Adjacent to Goldland Crossing is Otter's Bay, a bay that is unique in several ways: the bay is uniformly 30 ft deep, there is a conspicuously vertical cliff surrounding three-quarters of it, and the ruins of an ancient city sits at the bottom of the bay, with taller buildings poking up above the waters. It is clear to most that once the city was above the waterline and was sunk by supernatural means. Evidence of this is easy to find – there are the remains of roadways that lead to the edge of the cliffs and stop, only to resume at the base of the cliff, 30 ft under water, continuing into the sunken ruins.
The bay comprises Otter's Barony, a fief granted to a human named Otter. Otter was once an apprentice shipwright and built the first ship able to sail back to the Old World, bringing the riches of the Found World to the Old World's attention. In return for this service, Otter was granted the bay as a hereditary fiefdom and the right to collect docking fees in the bay named in his honor. The current baron, Otter III, maintains these rights, plus runs a business harvesting oysters and owns several fishing vessels that work the Southern Sea, providing fish for Goldland Crossing.
The population of Otter's Barony lives in the portions of the sunken city that are still above the water's surface. The walls are made of stone and those buildings still standing are very sturdy. If the building had stone floors, they are still in use, but many buildings have had internal structures of wood added. Most buildings have at least limited oyster and clam beds in their lower structures, which provide food and a limited crop the tenants can sell in Goldland Crossing on market days.
Occasionally an aquatic monster will find its way into the bay and endanger the oyster divers and other residents. The baron will place a poster in the Goldland Crossing market and hire adventurers to deal with the monster for either a fee or the right to set up in one of the unused towers in the bay.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Creation Process
I've decided to get a bit more structured on my postings here (and, you know, keep track of what I've posted), so if any of this is repeats, my apologies.
Once I decided to run a 4E game, I needed a campaign setting. There were several things I wanted in the setting:
This pretty much said "home brew campaign world" all over it. We could have tried Greyhawk or maybe the implied world in 4E, but the implied world was sort of boring and Greyhawk wasn't something our PCs were terribly interested in (plus, tons of pre-existing storylines and possible player knowledge). I had done some initial design work on the MMTRPG (massively multiplayer tabletop role-playing game) with some of the forum users at Fear the Boot (most of which is now sadly lost due to the forums reset two years ago), but we never reached critical mass and it fizzled out. I decided to re-tread that as the background for the campaign.
Basic Details:
With that framework, I wanted to start creating the Found World, where the campaign would actually happen. I really don't care about the Old World as PCs going there retire and become NPCs. So I wanted the names of places already in the Found World. I use several random generator sites online (Seventh Sanctum and Serendipity) and put together a list of 20 fantasy-sounding fiefdoms and used their names as kernels to create around.
The main campaign city became Goldland Crossing, as it sounds like what you'd call a place where people show up from the Old World to find gold. The others gave me ideas and based on the short descriptions, I started placing them on a vague map, just to get their relative positions. (I'll be posting the short descriptions in later blog postings.) Yes, I'm a bit vague here, but I'll post more on this as time goes by.
Next I met with my co-DM and we started hammering at it to get it into shape. We moved some stuff around, placed some new stuff, and worked out what the culture and society would be like in order to function something like believably (not realistic, just believable). We now know why the campaign city exists and why it works the way we want it to. We also went over the conceptual map I created for Goldland Crossing using Zak S's Urbancrawl method and added stuff to that (mostly some interior walls to divide up and define the city better).
So that's where we are world building-wise. I have a framework for the local adventuring area, the reasons why adventurers are here, why there are places to adventure, and a jumping off point for the campaign. The rest we're going to build as we need it.
The First Adventure
The first adventure is going to be the PCs claiming a building in Goldland Crossing, clearing it out, and learning how the city works a bit (which covers a multitude of sins that I'm planning on inflicting on the PCs). Once they get a level or two under their belts, they should be ready for adventures out of the city. Plus, we'll all be more familiar with the system by then so I can start getting creative. Heh.
Once I decided to run a 4E game, I needed a campaign setting. There were several things I wanted in the setting:
- Lots of interesting places for the PCs to adventure in.
- Enough "room" for both my co-DM and myself to operate without stepping on each other.
- The ability to add things as necessary, instead of needing to build everything up front.
- The ability to place both home built and purchased material (like RPGA stuff after modifying it).
- The ability to incorporate anything half-way reasonable the PCs might want to play.
This pretty much said "home brew campaign world" all over it. We could have tried Greyhawk or maybe the implied world in 4E, but the implied world was sort of boring and Greyhawk wasn't something our PCs were terribly interested in (plus, tons of pre-existing storylines and possible player knowledge). I had done some initial design work on the MMTRPG (massively multiplayer tabletop role-playing game) with some of the forum users at Fear the Boot (most of which is now sadly lost due to the forums reset two years ago), but we never reached critical mass and it fizzled out. I decided to re-tread that as the background for the campaign.
Basic Details:
- There's the Old World, which is mostly Standard Fantasy European Places.
- The Old World comprises the Northern Hemisphere.
- There's the Found World, which comprises the Southern Hemisphere and bears the ruins of an ancient, glorious civilization that was clearly struck down.
- The two hemispheres have been separated by a world-ringing storm that cannot be passed through north-to-south (but can south-to-north).
- The Found World was devastated long, long, LONG ago for reasons no one remembers, not even the elves. In fact, the Old World long ago forgot about the Found World.
- Moon Gates recently re-opened. They connect two points, one Old World to one Found World, for a short period of time.
- Different Moon Gates open at different times, based on the positions of the moons (which means there is more than one moon).
- Some Moon Gates are open for seconds, some for minutes, some a few hours. The longer they are open, the longer the time between openings. Open for hours equals opens once every two to three years. Open for seconds equals opens every week or so.
- On the Old World side, the gates open in remote locations. On the Found World side, they tend to open in the middle of ruins.
- Old world governments are stuffing colonies through the gates because lots of gold and magic can be found easily there. So the culture the PCs will operate in will be "Gold Rush boomtown on the frontier".
With that framework, I wanted to start creating the Found World, where the campaign would actually happen. I really don't care about the Old World as PCs going there retire and become NPCs. So I wanted the names of places already in the Found World. I use several random generator sites online (Seventh Sanctum and Serendipity) and put together a list of 20 fantasy-sounding fiefdoms and used their names as kernels to create around.
The main campaign city became Goldland Crossing, as it sounds like what you'd call a place where people show up from the Old World to find gold. The others gave me ideas and based on the short descriptions, I started placing them on a vague map, just to get their relative positions. (I'll be posting the short descriptions in later blog postings.) Yes, I'm a bit vague here, but I'll post more on this as time goes by.
Next I met with my co-DM and we started hammering at it to get it into shape. We moved some stuff around, placed some new stuff, and worked out what the culture and society would be like in order to function something like believably (not realistic, just believable). We now know why the campaign city exists and why it works the way we want it to. We also went over the conceptual map I created for Goldland Crossing using Zak S's Urbancrawl method and added stuff to that (mostly some interior walls to divide up and define the city better).
So that's where we are world building-wise. I have a framework for the local adventuring area, the reasons why adventurers are here, why there are places to adventure, and a jumping off point for the campaign. The rest we're going to build as we need it.
The First Adventure
The first adventure is going to be the PCs claiming a building in Goldland Crossing, clearing it out, and learning how the city works a bit (which covers a multitude of sins that I'm planning on inflicting on the PCs). Once they get a level or two under their belts, they should be ready for adventures out of the city. Plus, we'll all be more familiar with the system by then so I can start getting creative. Heh.
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