#game planning

[astro-decay]

sketches for a game idea! #16

[posthumanwanderings]

material art, Circadia: Fanbook Special (Alvion / Sony - PS1 - 1999)

[technomancers-game-concept-blog]

Werewolf

Overview:  Werewolves are intended to be the sort of tank of the guild, despite their unusually low health.  However, they do have natural regeneration in their wolf form to compensate.  Regardless of what state they’re in, their damage output remains quite decent.

Weapons:  Shot-revolver, Crossbow, Fists?, Claws (Beast form only) Shot-revolver is just a reskinned shotgun.

Special ability:  Lycanthropy The werewolf changes into a bestial wolf-like form, gaining regenerative abilities and enhanced speed, but losing the ability to utilize ranged weapons.  I’m still trying to figure out if this ability will need any sort of limited use on it, or if the fact that you can no longer use your ranged weaponry should be a pretty good payoff.  I’ll likely implement a sort of cooldown between swaps regardless, just to prevent players from abusing it.

ATK - 6/10  |  7/10 DEF - 5/10  |  8/10 SPD - 5/10  |  8/10 RNG - 4/10  |  1/10 AMO - 5/10  |  1/10

(ATK = Attack, DEF = Defense, SPD = Speed, RNG = Range, AMO = Ammo capacity)

(Stats are used for a general idea of how the class plays.  All stats are subject to change.)

(All abilities are subject to change.  No idea is final.)

[gamesmasternotes]

Two Sessions In

I'm quite pleased.

We're now two decent sessions in to ym Dragonlance 5e campaign and we've covered a good amount of ground. The players are successfully getting into the system, learning the background, etc, and I've been very pleased to see them react just right.

At this stage, having replaced the Innfellows entirely (those characters no longer existing in the timeline, the party have reunited after five years of wandering searching for evidence of the old gods still left in Ansalon. They reunite in Solace to discover not only they they have each found something. Each has a piece to a puzzle which leads them to Xak Tsaroth, fearful of approaching armies they have all heard are coming from the north. Armies of DRAGON-men.

Their first encounter with Draconians they found very interesting, and they were suitably very shocked when they started turning to stone or exploding! The party are now VERY concerned that those Draconians were pretty damn tanky to start with, and theres evidence of armies marching around.

Thankfully they were too amused by Fewmaster Toede, so he survives to annoy another day.

And they've now also managed to get to Xak Tsaroth and are in the middle levels now. So they've neatly chosen the path which sets up the rest of the immediate story. This is veryhandy. I've even managed to squeeze in a side-quest to hunt for the Spellbook of Fistandantilus, which I hope will open some interesting roleplay opportunities later, especially as they move south beyond Pax Tharkas.

In the catacombs of Xak Tsaroth, about half have fallen in love with the Gully Dwarves, and the others have started loathing them (but no Dwarves in my party!).

And they've been correctly bricking themselves after their first encounter with Onyx (Above ground)! Which is perfect.

They're making their way down in search of the Disks, and I've planted the seeds for needing to do something with the Blue Crystal thing (had to change it from a staff), but I'm not sure they know what to do with it. I'll see how that goes!

_______________________________________________________

The players have also been told that they will not be earning Inspiration automatically each session, but will instead gain it if they offer a short write-up of each session on our club’s Discord server.

Here is the first, from the meditations of Shep, the Kagonesti Scout.

It is very good, to be back together. I am so happy to again be with everyone. In the other place before, it was very quiet, very peaceful, but cold without friends. Five years, it is a long time alone. A lot of time to think. A lot of time for things to happen, too many things to say. Some days I think, this time, this day I die maybe. But then I remember that I must do this and come back to them. They asked this of me. I promised them.

And now, everyone is excited, happy to be together again. It is very good we find what we search for, or sign of it perhaps. Gods look like what, anyway? I thought of this when I looked all this time. If I see it, will it look like gods look? Who can say? But if you don't look you can't find. Everywhere I went, I ask people 'where are there no people? I am looking for something lost people cannot find.

It must be where there are no people, or they would find it', and they say 'go south, there is no one there'. So I go south, and I don't know what I find, but after a long time I see something strange, and everyone is very excited to hear it so perhaps I did find something good anyway.

I don't know what is happening next, but we will do it together anyway. We will see.

_______________________________________________________

The second session log, from the diary of Tedorock the human Barbarian:

Scrawled in a ragged leatherbound book in poor handwriting: What a day, after so long being apart from my friends we have already started a new adventure together, I was the first to arrive to the inn it was amazing to see Otik again and Tika got so big, I didn't recognise her but I'm glad they remembered me, I would have been very sad if they didn't.

Seeing Lily again was a shock, at first I didn't recognise her but when she pulled her disguise off it took me by surprise, she is properly grown up now and looked very tough made me feel proud! we got to eat lots of food and soon Robert arrived he hadn't changed at all just as fancy as ever! and soon after Shep, Sasha and Dastan all arrived, they said a Frog-man had bothered them on the way into town, I've never heard of a frog man before! I was so happy to see them all, I'm glad Shep hasn't changed a bit, Sasha has grown up so much too it so nice to see her doing well.

I told everyone about my adventures, and about my dreams that D'Argent told me were from the gods! I wish we could have stayed in the Inn I missed it so much but we got warned that the town Chief was coming for Lilys neckless her proof that there are still gods! So we had to run away, Robert and Dastan stayed behind to draw them off, they are strong warriors but I am very worried about them...

It was fun to be on the road with my friends again but I wish we were all here, I didn't get to see Gelbin or Tilda I hope they are ok too, we slept all together in a cave with delicious water in, but when we woke up there was a strange wizardy type man, he told us about some people that failed I think? he spoke so much and didn't make any sense all I could figure out was that we needed to go to the place in my dreams.

A new crumpled page in the book:

This day was less fun, We found an abandoned settlement, it seems like the people managed to escape, I hope they are ok...

There seems to be armies running around causing terror, Nightshade told us they attacked his home, it makes me so sad to hear about all these people we cant help. I don't remember the fight with scaled men I went to the bad place again and it was over fast.

The Stars are missing! I knew something was wrong with the sky, I woke everyone up cause they are all very smart, and they figured out it was the stars of Paladine and Takhisis gods who had a war in the past! I wonder if they are going to fight again?

A small note scrawled in the bottom of the book:

I can't sleep, that huge monster that tried to eat us has freaked me out I thought the old dwarf fort would be safe.

A hastily written page, the paper a bit damp from the moist underground air:

Its been another strange day, We found the place we needed to go! but it wasn't all good, fighting those lizard men again was scary, but not as scary as that DRAGON! I feel bad about running away but it just scared me so bad... That temple felt nice though it must have been Lilys mum Mishakal, shes a god I think? she made Lily all strange like too happy to be a person. I'm glad shes found what she has been looking for for so long. I can't believe I found some new friends here in the temple, those small guys are so nice that they told us lots of stuff and that they loved my pickles, no-one who likes pickles can be bad. They told us to speak to their boss Fudge-high-burper and that he was underground.

This underground place is a bit dangerous so many holes to fall into but making another friend was nice, I'm glad she likes pickles too Boopa is a good person, That slide she led us too was fun but I am a bit worried about her Tribe being led by ogres, they didnt sound very nice.

A small note written in a corner of the page:

*I'm scared to go fight the Dragon, I know I have to but I really dont want too. *

[spacerockband]

adventures in DMing, part 2

[we-are-guildmaster]

Fantasy Adventure Seeds

Here are ten seeds you can use to start your next adventure. Starter seeds can help when you haven’t had time to plan, or just need a jaunty side quest to get your players some extra experience, gold, or treasure.

Excerpted from Seeds Compilation: Fantasy I-V by Expeditious Retreat Press

1. The conquest of a neighboring kingdom pushes all the monsters and bandits from that land directly into the PCs path as they struggle to complete their mission.

2. The party awakens (this includes the whole party, even if there was a nightly watch as they mysteriously fell asleep) to find the campfire going and an old man sitting next to it. The old man is a powerful arch mage sent to warn the party about a growing evil in the mountains. An evil so old, nothing remains from the time of its creation. However, there is an artifact that might be able to force the evil back into slumber. The old man is familiar to one of the party members. However, they are supposed to be the same age. After proving to the party who he really is, the old man tells them of a cave not far from here where he went into the cave a man, but emerged a frail, shadow of his former self.

3. A ravening dire bear, usually a creature of the deep forest, attacks the hamlet of Japic. A corrupted wound found on its corpse explains the bear’s unusual behavior. Only the dwarves that live in the mountains beyond the forest have such weapons as to cause the wound. The PCs traverse the forest to find the dwarves expanding their territory at a furious pace, clear-cutting the forest below their mountain in order to fuel their expansion. The dwarves have found a particularly rich vein of mithral and are excited about the discovery. But precious ore is not the only thing they have found. Their furious mining has awoken dire creatures in the depths of the mountain; murderous beasts that begin to attack the dwarves. Worse, the stubborn dwarves are unwilling to admit their troubles and under the sway of a vengeful aranea sorcerer, the dwarf council rebuffs the party. However, there is a small resistance, which entreats the PCs to help them. These insurgents are willing to bargain: they will slow their destruction of the forest if the party will rid their hearth of its corruption.

4. A seemingly worthless trinket that the PCs find is actually the key to a massive gate to an infernal plane. Agents of both good and evil forces hunt the party for the key but determining who is what is not a simple affair.

5. A distillery explosion in a magically charged world is even worse than a similar tragedy in the real world. Not only does the highly flammable alcoholic sludge flood nearby buildings, possibly drowning those unlucky enough to be caught in its path, but the flood can have any number of arcane effects. Suppose whisky is only a sideline for a distillery that mass produces potions; how much worse is the accident then?

6. A young adult copper dragon asks the characters to help her track down a pair of behirs that are trying to destroy her eggs and drive her out of her new hillside lair. She must guard her eggs as the beasts have already made one attempt to enter her lair while she hunted. Luckily, the young mother returned in time to stop them, but now she is afraid to go out hunting and leave her eggs alone.

7. A courier arrives in town with a message for one of the PC’s. The letter is an official summons for punishment. It states that the PC has been found guilty of murder in absentia and been sentenced to death by beheading. The town where the summons is from is one where the PC has never been to nor do they recognize the victim’s name. The courier was also obligated to deliver a copy to the local constable.

8. While visiting the local tavern looking for rumors and tips as to where to head for the next great adventure, the party’s activities are interrupted by one of the bartenders who runs out from the kitchen screaming that monsters have invaded the basement. A group of goblin-kin that have been excavating tunnels under the town have accidentally broken through into the storage cellar under the tavern. Several creatures are now spilling out into the tavern’s basement to see what they can loot. The cavern system underneath the town is quite extensive and is home to an entire goblinoid tribe, as well as several of their unusual “pets”. Worship of a specific monster god (possibly of the orc, goblin, or gnoll patheons) by human and demihuman races has recently gained popularity in several major cities of the empire, with other long-popular churches loosing members at an alarming rate. A cleric from one of the party member’s religions requests that the character infiltrate the new church and learn what may be behind its rapid and unusual rise to prominence.

9. A nobleman has issued a reward for the recovery of his father’s sword, lost to bandits who sacked his outlying keep while he was away on a hunting trip. The brigands made off with the weapon as well as several hostages and other loot, retreating into the safety of the Forbidden Forest. Their leader also used a magical effect to erase their trail and none who have sought their hideout has returned.

10. A cold wind from the North has brought icy snow and blizzard-like conditions. Ships are frozen in the harbor. Roads are nearly impassable. And now rumors describe the sight of giants on the march. Could war be coming? The city’s steward has issued a call for adventurers to search out these rumors and confirm the threat. He also charges them with journeying to the western kingdoms to ask for the aid of his allies.

[circuit-wings]

This dragon.....has a weird amount of potential and variety......this is going to be hard.