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 Return Trip (and Updated Tourist's Guide) to Griswall

When I shared my map interpretation with u/therealregalis, I noticed that they had also uploaded a few building layouts for select locations in Griswall, so I ganked them for possible incorporation into a revised edition of the town description. More on that below.

First of all, a couple of quick shout-outs and thanks.

First, Rosie and Adam discussed her contribution to Jackalope 2022, as well as my contribution to her prompt for creating six festivals for a community. The podcast episode is here: Gelatinous Cube. I'm glad that they appreciated the entries, especially one of the "bonus" festivals that they could envision dropping into their game. Their podcast focuses on creating encounters and scenarios.

Also, u/therealregalis mentioned that they used a faction tool I'd incorporated into my 2017 One Page Dungeon contest entry, and that is appreciated, as well. 

I don't know how much of my scribbling here sees the light of day, so it's always a pleasant surprise when something pops up in the wild.

Anyway, back to Griswall. I pulled up the layouts for the three locations: Manor-house, Inn, and Trader's Shop. I ended up not dropping them into the revision itself, as the floor plans and some interior features didn't quite work for me. However, I did update some elements of the general descriptions of the three locations to align a bit more with the layouts, but the general descriptions are similar to my original concepts.

But what I did do was flesh the area out a bit. u/therealregalis mentioned that they created the map in the style of the old blue-line module maps such as Village of Hommlet, and since I take after format of the occupant and locations from the old modules, it fits.

Things added. Although we don't have an area map, I treated this as an implied mini-hex, with possibilities of encounters in town or within a few selected radii. A few of the NPCs have some additional details. Then there is a rumors table, because of course there is. Some entries are trivial, some more substantial. Several point back to the NPCs, locations, and described setting, but plenty may be hearsay. And a random encounter table, because who doesn't like those. Might as well codify if/when a skeleton wanders through town while the PCs are having an ale at the inn. 

After I gave the writing a day to ruminate, I decided that I needed to flesh out (or skeleton out...) a fallen NPC mentioned in the town description and subsequently in the rumors. I just couldn't leave him (and his sword) as a loose end or vague arm-waving. And I added a chance that he will appear as an event or encounter.

And prettied it all up a bit with some public art, either from Wikimedia Commons or the Metropoitan Museum of Art, a couple of my standard go-tos for setting color pieces.

The Battle of Towton, Richard Caton Woodville

Ok, enough rambling. Time for a second visit to the Hamlet of Griswell.

Passing through the Hamlet of Griswall

Hidely-ho, internet neighbors!

I finally took the time to transcribe a bunch of scribbles into legible text on the laptop, so filling in some blanks on the map, so to speak. Had some time, as I've been taking a burnout break away from work, and waiting the start a new gig next month, hopefully in a different, possibly better, work environment.

Back to maps.

Creative souls are posting up on reddit, and user u/therealregalis provided this map:

with the following note:

Decided to make a map deliberately in the style of TSR modules like N1 and T1. Quick outline of the map key:

1. Manor-house.

2. Church.

3. Mill (duh).

4. Inn, tavern, or the like.

5. Livery stable.

6. Traders' establishment.

7. Leatherworker.

8. Potter.

9. Weaver.

10. Tailor.

11. Smith.

12 thru 17: Farm houses.

There are wells near 15, 17, and 1.

Ok, good. I typically use the Hommlet text format for my town descriptors, and I'll stick with therealregalis' building/occupant distribution for this writeup.

So a raison d'etre for this little burg. A crossroads should be an obvious point to establish a town, preferably a successful one at that. But Griswall, at least in this snapshot, is pretty small (I've populated it with around 60 folks). 

Serendipitously, I've been listening to some history bits (among other things) while taking the dogs on long walks, and picked through a couple of programs on the English War of the Roses. One of the bloodiest battles was the Battle of Towton, involving 50,000 troops of the Lancastrian and Yorkist sides, and taking place in marshy land on a snowy spring day. At the end of the day, up to 9,000 lay dead, most as the Lancastrians fled a rout. Many troops attempted to flee across rivers and were either drowned or shot down until the channels were choked with bodies. Bodies were buried where thy lay, or in unmarked mass graves.

Ok, on that pleasant note, Griswall is built on a site of a similar battle that took place some time in the past. Like Towton, bodies were buried or consumed by the land, and even the notable dead became anonymous. Unlike Towton (probably), occasionally a few of them will arise to walk around. So who would settle a haunted place as this and think it a good opportunity? Retired adventurers, of course. Several of the town's notables are old comrades-in-arms, and fending off the occasional restless dead is a small price for some good real estate, and no longer involves poking around in some dank dungeon somewhere.  

So anyway, feel free to pay a visit to the Hamlet of Griswall, have some buckwheat biscuits at the inn, and perhaps cajole a joke out of Degrir Oakenvier.