They Met at a Tavern 20: Ignoring the NFC Championship Game

Besides running Shadowdark, I'll get further onto BXBlackrazor's pariah list by ducking out of various Seahawks viewing opportunities to run another one-shot. 

Because The Ridgecrest doesn't sport a TV. 

Anyway. Off we go:

• Chris: Thorn, Dwarf Wizard
• Seana: Katwaen, Dwarf Sea Wolf
• Michael: Rango, Dwarf Knight of St. Ydris
• Patrick: Nix, Kobold Thief
• Daniel: Maven, Elf Witch

Three dwarves, two miscellaneous others. Dwarf-themed misadventure, it is.

I've always wanted to see how Dwarves With Worms runs at the table. PCs bumped to 3rd level, plus some random magical items, just in case.

Rango's "cousin" Ugraen had headed out with some followers to reconsecrate or expand some old temple. Trouble is, he'd gotten excommunicated from the local temple for some questionable practices and beliefs. Anyway, better go check up on him.

The party found the complex, showing signs of recent excavation and expansion. Upon entering, the dwarves were disappointed to see shoddy excavation and stonework. I mean, humans could do this...

Listening at a door, they heard nothing. Deciding to explore in the opposite direction, they spiked the door and headed deeper into the complex.  

Well, that noise called up something:

arrrrr.....

A trio of vacant-eyed dwarves accosted them. The party sussed that they weren't quite undead, as something seemed to writhe under their flesh. 

Many poor rolls occurred. Finally, the wizard was able to web them up for easy disposal. Upon slaying them, large worms burst from their bodies, and swarmed the party, intent upon infecting them. Much worm stomping and stabbing, and possibly one Knight of St. Ydris screaming like a little girl. The wizard quaffed their sole potion of healing. 

Fortunately, around the corner, the explorers found a stash of ale, which went a long way to cure shaken nerves.

Onward!

Bollixing Up the "Shrine of the Mother" by Tim Shorts

So Tim posted up this excellent little scenario on his Patreon. It includes a small hexcrawl, a novice deathcult, and halflings. Always good. I ganked the map of the "Shrine of Dedragoria" for a quick bar writeup:

work in progress

The map is a good space, essentially a five-room dungeon. A place to hide the McGuffin, a side passage, something causing some structural damage. I can work with this.

Stuck with the shrine idea, because it fits. And shrines need a relic. Preferably hidden away. So our heroes get assigned a simple snatch-and-grab by my campaign's favorite thieves' guild boss, Solange Fiorentino. 

Nothing to it.

Without further ado: The Shrine of Dhena

(Note: I realized that Tim used a map from a previously-posted set of small adventure/encounter area maps. Which are also part of my languishing Project Transcribe(tm). Curses.) 

Added for no reason whatsoever.

Update: Tim also uses this map for his "Unbalance the Scales" adventure. Here's his walkthrough of the adventure.

They Met at a Tavern 16: Into the Caluromys Chambers

Who showed up and had to try to hear me over baseball playoffs?

• Jema: Half-orc Desert Rider
• Brandon: Halfling Wizard
• Gurleen:  Elf Fighter
• Seana: Elf Thief

Using something I've had knocking around for five years or so... Looking at the printout I have in my adventures folder, I can tell I've at least prepped it for play (notes on hp, treasures, etc.) but I couldn't find a writeup or other play notes so... I guess this is a first playthrough?

Started the four miscreants at the entrance. Made a call that the wizard had some knowledge of the place and its prior worshipers. 

They immediately came upon the first serpent-folk guard and his watch-lizard. The pair were put down with a brief fight. Finding the first Possimium statue, the fighter prudently added a few coins to its alms bowl, preventing its trap function. 

The quartet worked their way through the corridors, backtracking if they though it was wise to check another passageway or route deeper into the complex. Finding a sarcophagus with its attendant bust of the interred hero, they respectfully left it alone. Finding the second Possimium statue, a few more coins were left, for good measure.

They Met at a Tavern 13: "Harlow's an Odd Duck..."

Time to return to playing with random strangers. Or a least one random stranger, since my Meetup attendance has been quite spotty lately. Fine, we run for who shows:

• Dane: Cogarn, Human Thief
• Seana: Halibarn, Human Fighter

In the flavor of Shadowdark.

Fallback onto an old reliable, "Requiem for Atticus Stumps."

It's good for a small party, with its small encounter areas and typically singular foes. The pair started off as the usual two broke adventurers. "Random Headgear" gifted them both with long flowing locks (odds of 1:25,600? I'm not sure - didn't take enough stats). Maybe they are siblings.

Anyway, they were solicited by Kellen and Lois, and accepted the job. Kellen told them to seek out Harlow the halfling, but be aware that he was an "odd duck." Fair enough. But let's buy a honey cake from the local baker to sweeten the pot.

Away they went, finding the halfling sweating away in his rocky garden. He snatched up the cake as quick as a viper, and returned with his spear and weird lantern.

Off they went, Harlow keeping up a running commentary. "Oo, those berries are almost ripe. That's where I found the dead deer with the weird growths. Oops, look out for that bear trap, almost forgot about it..." 

But he prevents random encounters, so there's that.

"The Remains Of A Most Unfortunate Party" - More Shorts Inspiration

Well, If I'm going to steal his maps, I might as well use the title he gives 'em.

Here's a good little space. Some finished rooms hidden within a cavern that open to a second, deeper cavern. And a good title, "The Remains of a Most Unfortunate Party." Well, knowing Tim, they were probably "unfortunate" in a rather grim and gristly way, so I figured I should try to honor that, at least. 

We explore the place for its novelty or its resources, perhaps.

And yes, as the PCs are poking around in here when they come across the remains of another party that clearly got in over their heads. From a tough foe that doesn't take any real damage from some of the normal go-to methods. This is perhaps a chance for some of the less martial or poorly-equipped members of the party to shine. We'll see.

Enjoy your visit, and don't trip over "The Remains of a Most Unfortunate Party." Enjoy the shiny foe.

Tim's Patron is here. Free membership tier available plus upgrades that include receiving print versions of adventures and NPC cards.

 

Paying a Visit to the Temple of the Black Oracle: Revisiting a Tim Shorts Map

Tim recently shared out his "Temple of the Black Oracle" via his Patreon (Well, a year ago recently...) and I decided to put my own spin on the map, because that's what I do now and then.

It looked like a good space, and I stuck with the name, as it gave inspiration for who or what the oracle could be...

So after some scribbling in the margins, I cobbled it together as a one-page adventure. Good for generic Old-school play with a few low-level PCs. Bring your earplugs.

Download Me Here

And watch out for the toad.

Source

Just got my games approved for Dragonflight 45, a couple each of Shadowdark and OSE. So looking forward to rolling with folks both new and known.

Ok, now to try to get some sleep with the freedom exploding in the neighborhood while cuddling an unhappy greyhound.

Bad Water at Bishara Shrine: Another Shorts Adventure

Tim scribbled up a dungeon map using the random dungeon generator found in the Shadowdark rulebook. 

Yep, it's random. It almost makes sense, though. So I took it upon myself to make it make sense. Imposing order upon chaos, or something like that. Anyway, the diversion of the stream (which I am assuming to be subterranean) caught my eye and had to be the focal point and "cause" for the adventure. After all, water has been both the foundation and downfall of plenty of cities and civilizations. So if the water goes bad, it is a crisis, indeed. Especially when another crisis looms on the horizon...

Download: Bad Water at Bishira Shrine (estimated for 3-5th level party) (Updated 3/25 based on play, and minor edits)

While looking for imagery for this piece, I found this cute little guy:

source

The caption reads: "Alleborith: a demon from The Testament of Solomon. While most demons have many powers to inflict horrid ills upon humans, Alleborith has only one: he can cause people to choke on fish bones. No angel is assigned to banish him, perhaps because of how minor & specific his power is." 

Use caution around that salmon dinner....

A Shorts Visit to the Hamlet of Riddenfield

Welcome to Riddenfield

Tim did it again - tossed a small settlement out into the ether for us to find. And made a comment about the bears scratching their butts on trees. I'm sure there is something more interesting than that in any woods near a Tim settlement.

something interesting

Have another quick writeup of the locals and their personal demon....

They Met at a Tavern 6: Into the Macceum Sewers

Last-minute Meetup game on Veteran's Day, since the Shadowdark campaign took the week off. I had two players sign up, but only one showed - Brian, a Repeat Offender. The Shorter Half was also present. Run for whoever shows. 

We were set up for a Shadowdark session, and with two players, I had Brian pick two PCs from the pile. 

• Brian: Gashyakh, half-orc priest, and Ham Biddulph, halfling thief
• Seana: Muckdakk, half-orc fighter

All were boosted to 2nd level.

The three were introduced as recent arrivals in an unnamed City. As non-citizens, there were few legitimate job opportunities. But the Sewer Patrol was always hiring...

Some time ago, I cobbled together the Macceum Sewer II, a rewrite of a Tim Shorts creation. I'd never run it, although I'd gotten a message or two from people who had with some success. 

Anyway...

The three "heroes" hiked up their waders and took their Sewer-Patrol issued shovels and slime-scrapers (pay docked if they would lose a tool) and headed into a section of the City's sewer to inspect and perhaps clear out a bit of vermin.

The Potato Barons, A Shorts Interlude

Damnit Tim. 

First of all, you tempt poor Bloggah in the Guild of Arcane Lore, then you post up this perfectly cromulent little map, complete with the descriptive sentence: "Two potato farmers, brothers Burke and McHale, have several acres of potatoes. They have titled themselves the Potato Barons."

Fine, a brief bit of freewriting to occupy my evening and expand upon my flippant comments on your Reddit posts...

***

Two potato farmers, brothers Burke and McHale, have several acres of potatoes. They've dubbed themselves the Potato Barons. A decade ago, they homesteaded the acreage under a land charter from the local baron, Ser Erasmus Cludge. The land has been generous to the two farmers, and they easily raise a surplus of tubers to support themselves beyond the baron's annual tithes. Their groaning carts of potatoes are a welcome sight at the local markets in the summer and autumn, particularly as winter begins to set in and folks stock up their root cellars.

Their homes are set up along the trade road on the north shore of the local stream, Bruderware Creek. The stream provides irrigation water (and the occasional giant frog). Burke, a lifelong bachelor, has a compact house. Out front are his storehouse/tool shed and private distillery, in which he concocts a reasonably good vodka for sale, gifts, and bribes for the local tax collector. McHale's home is a larger two-story structure, which also incorporates a stable for the brothers' draft animals. McHale, his wife Lizzy, and their son Arejay sleep in a mezzanine over the stable. Both homes are surrounded by low walls of mortared river stone.

Several years ago, an ankheg was causing problems for the farmers. A group of wandering heroes were able to defeat the beast. In reward for assisting them, Burke and McHale, gave the adventurers a cart full of potatoes. Surprisingly, the party was very happy with the reward. 

In defense against any other ankheg incursions, as well as roaming ruffians/adventuring parties, Burke and McHale have contracted with local conjurer-artificer Skandeleous Krank to create guardians to fend off threats. Krank, always a proponent of “Conjure Locally,” produced for them a pair of potato-golems to watch over their fields... 

Hey, you work with what you got...

Say Hi to Burke and McHale here

(Complete with monster stats and a bit of surprise artwork)

The Sanctuary of Oies, or, Dwarves Behaving Badly...

Greetings, heroes!

Tim graciously posted up a spare map some time back, and like so many maps, it languishes in my notebook with many of its kin. But occasionally, the muse strikes, in some way, shape, or form. In the case of Tim's maps, it seems that, at least for the last few maps I've stocked, there are either dwarves in trouble, or causing trouble. So dwarves it is.

The project lived unto the working title of "dwarves behaving badly" until I could give it a proper title. Here, we have a temple to a dwarven earth god, abandoned after a ritual gone awry. But... Someone wants to unseal the doom that came to the temple. That happens. The PCs must stop said ritual, or potentially be in a World of Hurt (tm). The adventure is set up with a timer, so successfully stopping the unsealing of the second level will halt the escape. But, if the thing escapes and is defeated, there may well be reward in the deeper level of the temple.

I had a bit of fun with the boss monster. It was a name that came to me as I was brainstorming, and I made a critter to fit the name. I hope it's disturbing enough. 

The second level map was provided by Jackson, and fits the theme of the scenario well enough, as well as helps illustrate the introduction and worship of a new deity. 

The cover art images were discovered among the works of Jacques Collet, and illustrate our namesake dwarves behaving badly...

PWYW Here

Campaign Journal: Back To Neuforde, and Slight Detours

 The night's party:

• Frederick
• Rondel
• Slick
• Fulvus
• Jax

And away we go! The party passed through a couple of towns, spending the night in Alaric, a town of about 250 people. The party laid up in the inn (The Brass Lord) with no issues, however, they found that one of their pack horses had been poisoned in the morning, requiring a replacement. Odd.

They continued south. While taking a break for lunch, hench Roderick wandered off to relieve himself and discovered a barrow by falling into it. Thankfully, Tim Shorts had put that barrow there. After rescuing and healing poor Roderick, the party squeezed into the cramped barrow to explore. Rondel determined that nothing alive was down there to harm them. They puzzled at the pair of clay crow statues in the corridors, one of which had a tapping/scratching noise. For the moment, they avoided them, and Fulvus squeezed by one to enter a tomb. He found himself whisked away to face this thing:

...who clearly wanted payment of some kind. Fulvus offered it some gold coin, which it rejected. About that time, Slick was invisibly whisked in, as well. In spite of his magic ring, the thing seemed to sense him, and was doubly disappointed that he didn't have the correct toll. So of course they fought. Thankfully, both of our 'heroes' were able to do the thing in, without any harm, finding themselves back in the original chamber. At least they found some jars with some odd coins, a bracelet, and a roll of parchment with fortification descriptions dating back to the prior wars in the area. 

They Met At a Tavern: Deathbringer One-Shot

It's been a while since I ran a Meetup one-shot at the brewery. After all, my original series of one-shots morphed into a campaign, and I ceased the pickup games. But, I've been itching to both run games for strangers, as well as play a few other games on my shelves. So I posted up for a Deathbringer one-shot, and picked a few possible brief adventures from the files.

I ended up with four players: Elijah, Roy, Mark, and Alex. Elijah, Roy, and Mark had gamed together before. None had played the system before, although Elijah was a follower of Professor Dungeonmaster. I distributed the rules and character sheets, and did a quick run-through of chargen and the five player options. There was some negotiation on what characters everyone wanted to play, and we ended up with:

• Artemis, Scoundrel
• Vandal, Grimscribe
• Blog, Deathbringer
• "Johnathan," Plague Doctor

I had a few options to run, and picked "Requiem for Atticus Stumps," by Tim Shorts. Tim's dark and grotty Komor Forest fits with the esthetic of Deathbringer, and "Requiem" has flexibility to explore multiple small locations depending on playable time.

The gist is that the adventurers are asked by a pair of elderly locals to collect a "death coin" from a local barrow to inter with their old friend to help his soul's journey onward. And since the party consisted of two out-of-work ratcatchers, a ne'er-do-well with gambling debts, and a former militia medic with a bad healing track record, of course they said yes. Especially with the offer of being able to share in the funeral buffet.

Oh fun. I'm dropping them into barrows without a Witchfinder. Let's see how this goes...

Four Visits to a Tim Shorts Map

Tim Shorts posted up this map on the Reddits a while back, and I duly forgot about it with my other projects and distractions. Here we have a 5-6 room space, with pools and a few other features. A place ripe for description...

Original Post

I scribbled up one scenario over a lunch hour, but decided to fill out three more, as I haven't done a "4 Scenarios" writing project for a bit. So without further ado, we have four brief encounters, with four different denizens: humanoid, undead, monstrous, and dragon. 

Four Visits to Six Rooms

And we had a fairly entertaining session at the brewery last night, so putting together my notes for a writeup in the next couple of days. An ode to the OP charm spell of the good old days...

A Shorts Adventure - Dwarves in a Bit of a Pickle

Dammit, I've had this map in my file for a year. Let's get it filled and out into the world. I've got to get back to being creative, and besides, folks might want to read something besides how Goober the wardog saved the party in this week's installment of my home game...

Something about Tim's maps inspire me to get a bit more on the creepy side of things. I dunno - probably because I've seen enough of his Komor Forest pieces via Patreon or heard about friends' misadventures in Tim's home setting. But something's not quite right in this space, and we need to find out what it is...

"Dwarves should not dig too deep, nor should they toy with magics and summonings, for they are not adept at such arts. So when heretic priest Ugraen Amberborn attempted to call an old dwarven spirit known as the “Black Eye of the Deep,” there was a flaw in their chant, and they called upon the wrong god... And things got out of hand..."

I'm not saying there are worms, but there might be worms.

just an excuse to repost this

Not much else to ruminate on, so take a look at what the dwarves called up.

1/27/23: Minor edits to adventure: setup advice, treasure adjustment, wandering monster tables

Cavern of the Chartreuse Apparition - A Shorts Short

Tim Shorts threw this intimate map up on the Reddits several days ago, and I added it to my file of stolen maps. 

We have a small cave with two areas of note - a well and a finished chamber. Tim said in his post that he'd burned through his green colored pencil to color the space, so I chose to pay homage to the brave pencil in its selfless sacrifice. 

With only a couple of locations of note, this place is likely an abandoned space, but somewhere that Our Heroes(tm) might seek out for some sort of boon or resource. Since the place seems to be pretty much cleared out, I chose a ghost as a resident, and perhaps one with some knowledge. Added a guardian critter and small puzzle. And created a few tables for a GM to either randomize or pick from to create some seed for exploration. Because random tables are good.

Welcome to the:

Cavern of the Chartreuse Apparition

Ok, back to digging out from the snow out here on The Plains, where I'm spending a bit of post-holiday time with family, Happy New Year, and be well.

Poor Baldo Woldarm: A found Tim Shorts map

 Happy Sunday!

Tim Shorts dropped a small map on the Reddits, and I picked it up.  I've known Tim since the G+ days, and always appreciated his hand drawn and colored maps. 

Tim shared this unnamed piece: 

... and I wanted to write up a brief encounter to fit the space. So our poor dwarf, Baldo Woldarm, happened upon something unexpected during his excavations of a family shrine. Discover what Baldo found, here. 

Coincidentally, I also recently saw an article on the venomous marine bloodworm, with its odd copper and protein teeth. And I can't turn down monsterizing a worm...  But I'm sure that's nothing to be concerned about.

Tim also has a Patreon, where he creates encounters, colorful NPCs, and malevolent beings based partly on his home Komor Forest campaign. 

Anyway, enjoy, and I'm off to the gym and then to prep for tonight's game.

Possum Junction, or Tim drew too much.

Sometimes you get an unexpected gift around Christmastime. Tim prefers to create smaller spaces (five-room dungeons and the like) for his mini-adventures. But apparently he got carried away with this piece, working on technique and experimenting with textures and the like. So sure, I ganked it. 

This is a most excellent space, with looping corridors and multiple pathways, as well as a fine smattering of interesting features to tell a story. Hazards are built in, and there are enough room details to fix a number of points of interest and potential encounters.

A few elements stood out: a pool, a few statues, an apparent chapel space, a lot of collapsed corridors, and started filling in the blanks from my end. Helped by a few die rolls, of course. 

Like many subterranean spaces (and historical ones), I figured there had been multiple tenants. And each had left their mark. For reasons unknown or partly explained, selected features from prior occupants were left in place. Some out of respect, some due to their inherent hazard. And of course, there are the new squatters here, making a mess of things, perhaps.

And since Tim recently mentioned some content and a contribution to Expanded Petty Gods, I had to pull the tome off my shelf and add a couple of names out of that mighty group project of the G+ days... just for fun.

Statted with OSE, a bit of 1e, and some homebrew...

So let's see who's up to mischief in The Caluromys Chambers.

I did abandon Idea #1: Dwarven Frat House. But there is always time to return to that...

Edit: Updated scenario with specific stats for the water spirit (figured that since I'd written a build-your-own-monster formula, I might as well use it), and made minor language and format edits.

What's Going on Down on the Priggin's Farm?

Heh, not sure what to say about this one, other than Tim Shorts left a pair of maps on Reddit for just anyone to do with what they will.

Like the last installment here, the maps are a paired surface/underground complex. And the residents? Well, they've seen better days, I suppose.

Spoiler on the underground creature-feature: I read somewhere in the blogosphere not long ago about re-skinning level draining undead, particularly for them-there old-school games, as level loss, especially with slower PC advancement, may be seen as an undue penalty (and a couple of level-drained PCs can quickly lead to a party death spiral). Alternatively, these undead attack ability scores, with death occurring with the score hits 0. While I don't specify if the loss is permanent, a few options may be offered:

1) Yup, permanent. Dammit.

2) Ability score recovers at some slow to modest rate, perhaps 1d2/month.

3) Divine intervention: I'd suggest remove curse as a curative to such unholy drains on a PC.

Anyway, take a visit to the old Priggin farmstead, and have some fun with it. The residents can definitely be played as eccentrics of their kind, and perhaps things will take an interesting turn...

Kübler's Shop - Stealing Shorts' Scribblings

Happy 2020, ya heathens...

So, Tim Shorts recently posted up a WIP map and narrative of his drawing process. The unnamed map is intended for a future adventure, or perhaps to torture his hapless players with... Anyway, it's a promising 10-room space for a bit of exploration and derring-do. Tim purposefully left out significant interior features for flexibility and interpretation. And no exterior doors, it seems, so we are dropping in from above, perhaps...

But you know, Tim, you shouldn't just leave these things lying about... you never know who's going to find them...

***

Gilgian Kübler has been tinkering around in his workshop and taking deliveries at odd hours. I'm sure that there is nothing untoward about that...

Better go check, just in case. What's going on in Kübler's Shop?  Good for a few low-level mooks, statted generically.

Support Tim's Patreon if you want to find some cool hand-drawn mini-adventures and eccentric NPCs in your mailbox. And of course, check out his blog and Anchor podcast for his thoughts and most enlightening audio unboxings...