Play By Poll: Page 3 - The Ruins of Re' Shar

Hey all,

It was either cross the ford or take the path. They were the options presented and it was a tie. So I had to head to the comments on the blog and sure enough, there was one more vote to take the path behind the water falls.

So here we go.

Play by Poll RPG: The Ruins of Re' Shar Page 2

Page 2 of the Ruins of Re' Shar

You duck back into the treeline to observe the figure standing by the waters edge. You notice that the figure is dressed in a long hooded cloak and has been standing motionless for sometime, if it was not for the breeze created by the water falls causing the robs to stir, you would almost think that the figure is a statue standing with it's arms crossed.

But after sometime, the figure suddenly turns and starts to walk towards the water falls, you catch a slight glimpse of its dark face, but you are unable to tell if it was male or female or even human! But it quickly disappears behind the cascading flow.

It is while you were watching the figure that you notice that in the ford, a motion underneath the waves, as if something is swimming just under the surface. The wake appears to move against the current and back towards the waterfalls. And while watching this unnatural wake move, you also realize that several of the boulders that are in the water are also remnants of old statues or carvings.

You are now left with the decision. Do you take the path which leads behind the waterfalls or do you cross the ford?

Do you:

A) Cross the ford?
B) Take the path?

Skill 10
Stamina: 18
Luck: 9
Provision: 2
Leather Armor.
Long Sword.

Play by Poll RPG: The Ruins of Re' Shar

The cool mist from the falling water has soaked you to your skin. But you find it refreshing after a week long journey it took for you to get to the valley where fabled ruins of Re' Shar rest.

The rumor has it that these ruins contained unimaginable wealth for those who are willing to dive deep into its depths. You, a young adventurer, unafraid of what fate may have in store has decided to accept this great quest and explore darkest secrets of this subterranean complex.

As you descend into the lush valley, you can see the great water falls from the distance. This landmark indicates that the entrance to the ruins of Re' Shar is nearby. You walk for another several minutes and as you round the bend in the path, the forest clears enough to see the great carvings of the Great Horned Death Beetle on the escarpment wall. You have indeed found the location of the entrance to Re' Shar.

You are still some distance away from the entrance, but you can see that there is a lone solitary figure standing near the waters edge, this cloaked figure seems to be standing and watching the pool of water before its feet.

The path diverges nearby, with one path leading the large waterfalls. The other, leads down to the river ford, which will take towards the cloaked figure and the entrance.

Do you:
A: Cross the ford and head towards the figure and the entrance?
B: Stay back off the path, and observe the area?
C: Duck out of sight, and head down the path to the waterfalls?

Skill: 10
Stamina: 18
Luck: 9
Provisions: 2
Leather Armor
Long Sword

Leave your comments or questions below.

Crown of Flames, A Conan 2D20 Adventure. Scene 2 - Escaping over the Tundra

Scene 2 (A) Escaping over the Tundra

Granite Lake is a town located in the northern portion of the Border Kingdoms, known as the Great Salt Marsh, which is a large foul smelling, fly infested, stagnate water filled bog hole. And Granite Lake sits just north of this bog of eternal stench. (Anyone able to guess that reference? 😉)

In the high summer months, the water levels are much lower, the flies are maggoty! And the temperatures are fairly high. In the fall and spring, these temperatures are much more comfortable, but drop off steeply in the evenings, and the flies are not so bad. Problem is, with the Fall rains and the spring melt, travelling over this marsh is full of bog holes and leg breakers. In the winter time, this area is cold, windy and unforgiving. Travelling in this area at this time of year can be one of two things. Really good.. or one hellish slog! But the frozen flat ground offers great access to just about anywhere in the area, but the open flat ground grounds provides little shelter from the harsh cold winds!

In this scenario, I planned it for a early spring. There is still some snow, although a little wet, lots of fresh bogs and muck. But its easy enough to change it to suit what ever time of year you want it to be.

Assuming that the players escaped with Attalus in the group. They are now fleeing from the battle at Granite Lake.

Read this to your Players

The smoke from the burning town behind you can be seen rising over the horizon, the sounds and screams of the dying village can barely be heard now, except if the wind blows the sound in the right direction. But it appears you have managed to avoid any barbarian patrols so far. But the going is tough as almost every 5 steps you are up to your knees in muck. 

GM TIP
To set the mood of tramping over this desolate land, have each player make a D2 Resistance check. Failure will result in 4 fatigue damage (no soak). If you succeed, any momentum used will reduce the fatigue by 1 point for every 2 momentum.

It is after this that the GM can assume they have been moving away from the town for some time. The players may decide to post a watchman, or keep an eye out to see if anyone is following them. The group can nominate a player to make an D2 Observation roll, with people assisting as they see fit. A success will cause the players to spot, what looks like to be a barbarian patrol in the far distance.

The GM can inform the players that they have roughly a 5 hour lead over the patrol if they choose to keep moving.

The party is going to be doggedly followed and tracked.

NPC's
Barbarian Hunters - Use Conan the Barbarian

This scene assumes that the group has just escaped out of the town and are now on the run.
The story has the group being captured after several days, but they can be captured much sooner if they get silly. Ultimately the group can be tracked down and caught by the hoard. Have the players select the lead character (high survival is best) , and ask him to make a D4 Survival Roll, anyone else can assist with their own survival skill. If a person passes this roll, they will managed to get a 6 Day lead on the horde. They can spend momentum on the roll, for 1 momentum = 1 extra day lead. If they fail the roll, they will be caught in 6 days, and for each dice that shows as a failure, subtract 1 day from that total of 6. This will be their head start that they have.

GM TIP:
A dash of railroading: To make this scenario work, the party will be captured. Which seems kinda unfair. I try very hard to allow the players to do as they want in my games, but as a GM to tell a story that is both fun for Player and GM there needs to be a small trip down the railway. To make it fair, although they can not stop being captured per say, they can effect when they are captured and what they do till then. But here is the kicker, during the roleplaying sessions at the camp and interacting with Attalus, they may decide to turn back towards the horde. Bypassing the plot point of being chased all together!

Now that the total number of days have been determined. Its time for the trek. Have a the leader of the group from above, make a D4 Survival Roll, others can help as usual. If they fail the roll, they loose a day's lead and if it reaches 0 they are captured. Also if failed, all players take 2 Fatigue. For every two momentum, you may lower the result on the below table by 1, for each dice that shows as a failure, increase it by 1. A complication, increase it by 2

Regardless if they pass or fail the roll, have them roll 1D20 and have them refer to the chart below (adding any of the modifiers).  This chart will be the progress of the current day, and any encounters they may have during it. Each day will technically be a new scene, so the group may recover from stress as per normal each night, unless otherwise noted.

Any fatigue not caused by sickness can be recovered, Difficulty equal to the number of days they are currently on. (Up to a Max of 5) by use of a survival role.

1. You manage to find a easy path to follow, gain 1 fortune point  (up to your max allowed) and are immune to any roll for fatigue in the next phase only.
2. You find a good place to camp, and may ignore 2CD worth of fatigue effects rolled on the next roll.  
3. You find an abandoned cabin, with meager supplies left as a cache. Find 1+1CD worth of Rations  
4.  You come across a survivor of the horde attack. A successful consul skill (D1) will reveal the horde searching for a stolen relic from a holy site.
5.  You discover a body of a fallen survivor, you find 1 provision, and 2 reloads of arrows and 1 short bow.
6.  You find a ruin of some sort. (Roll an the encounter table)
7.  You spy 2 Barbarian Hunters (Toughened) in the distance, have they seen you? Group Struggle!
8.  You start to feel ill, Each player may make a D2 Resistance roll, Failure is 1CD Fatigue
9.  (SICKNESS) You are both sick, tired and cold from the harsh country, each player takes 2 Fatigue
10.  You come across a old weather worn statue. One it are strange markings. You have seen markings like this before. On the relic
11.  You have an encounter in a large open field. (Roll on the encounter Table
12.  It seems like sickness is spreading in the group. All take 2CD worth of Fatigue
13.  (SICKNESS) Strange boils and welts appear on a PC. Randomly determine who is effected. That person receives 2 Fatigue from sickness 
14.  A sudden and unexpected snow shower strikes the group. All Physical related rolls are raised +1D roll an encounter, 
15. You encounter a group of 5 Hunters, they have ambushed you. They are considered to have completed an exploit action on the group.
16.  (SICKNESS). 3CD per player. You each suffer that much fatigue.
17.  You have an encounter near a rocky outcropping. (Roll an encounter)
18.  While in camp in the middle of the night, long tentacles reach out from the murky bog waters. 
19.  The going is tough and slow, Make a group survival roll at D3. Failure results in 2 Fatigue
20. (SICKNESS) You get totally bogged down in the muck and lose time! Loose a 1 day lead, gain 2 Fatigue, lose 1 fortune and suffer 4 points of Despair. Roll an encounter!

Encouter Table (1D6)

1 - 2 Large Toughened Bears
2 - You stumble across a old battle scene. 2 Mobs of Minion Skeletal warriors, and 2 Toughend rise up from the broken ground
3 - Slavers taking advantage of the displaced refuges from the horde attacks. 2 Slavers and a 4 Mobs of Minion Savages, They see you
4 - You hear the sound of Wolves. You encounter a pack of 3 Minion Wolf Mobs of 5 lead by 1 Alpha Wolf
5 - You are attacked by a Forest Devil.
6 - A broken stone circle sits on a crest of a hill and makes a great camp for you to rest inside. But living in this once holy place, a Malign Plant sits and waits!

When the days finally reach zero, this will result in the party ultimately being captured by the hoard. Which will be covered in our next segment.

A Crown of Flame: A 2D20 Conan Adventure. Scene One

I have decided share one of my Conan 2D20 One Shots with all of you. Feel free to play it through, offer feedback good or bad. I tried to leave many of the details vague, to allow the user more flexibility to jimmy this into their current campaign. Feel free to change the locations to suit your needs. Bare in mind, that when I write my own adventures, the structure below is not even close to how I write it if it was just me. So this is my first attempt to write a structured adventure that is meant for others and not just me.

The thing I like the most about this 2D20 Conan system is the fact that this game is designed to play much like the stories written by Robert E Howard, which is episodic in nature. This allows GMs to get players quickly involved in a story. Each session is run as an individual episode and after several sessions, you can look back and see a series of short stories as if you were reading the Conan short stories that you had written yourself! Its a pretty cool feeling if you ask me.

A Crown of Flame

Somewhere in the northern portion of the Border Kingdoms near the border of Cimmeria in an area known as "The Great Salt Marsh" The player characters will find themselves in a small outpost community called Granite Lake which is under attack from a Cimmerian raiding party.

The starting scene opens as the village is under attack and the players are caught up in the life and death struggle from the raiding Barbarians!

During this time, Attalus,  a relic hunter who has been exploring the various ruins in the area approaches the players and ask them to help him escape from the village and head south towards Nemedia, protecting him and the strange but very important artifact which he found during a recent expedition of some old ruins found deep inside the great marsh. It needs to be studied and he offers a reward upon his return to safety.

After escaping from the village, the party finds themselves hounded and pursued day and night, by the very barbarians that attacked the village. The barbarian warlord that is leading this attack is in search of the very artifact that the Relic Hunter has "stolen"

This warlord is searching not just for the artifacts but for its rumored contents, a strange but powerful Lotus Powder which can give powerful visions to the user.

The problem being, is the artifact itself is made of a strange material, which causes a sickness to all those who touch or who is in close proximity to it over a period of time. And the cure to this malady can be found back at the ruins in which the artifact was found.

Do the players try and bring the item to the borders of Nemedia or do they try and solve the curse they find themselves under, and return to the ruins to find a cure?

 The landscape around this small village although beautiful in nature, is a desolate and brackish wetlands, with many bogs and  lots of open tundra. This small settlement of roughly 300 people makes a living of the lands collecting alchemist herbs and chemicals.  (Lowering the difficulty level for searching for ingredients by 1) Its main source of food is waterfowl and large game. (Caribou, Bear and Moose)

Read this to the players

In what would barely pass as a full fledged tavern in the more populated areas of the world, the old grey bearded individual, who introduced himself to you as Attalus, slams his mug down on the table and grins. "So we have a deal then! We shall leave here in two days and you will escort me to Belverus! Take that time, to gather what ever supplies you can from this damp and wretched town and we shall leave here the morning after next!"  He reaches under the table and draws a plain looking leather pouch "5 gold per person the day we leave, and 10 more each upon arrival" He shakes the pouch and you all can hear the clink of gold inside the bag.  

The players can then spend the rest of the day, shopping for equipment or gear. What every they want. Having all the rarities of equipment moved up by 2 difficulties, to the max of 5. Remember though, that all alchemist supplies are easier to find and are reduced down by 1 difficulty.   After what ever shopping and roleplaying the players do is done. Have them note down where all of their equipment is currently kept. Including any horses, carts or other forms of transportation is. (stables, etc) Thing to remember is if the players decide to carry all their gear on them at all times. Do not forget the encumbrance penalties. 

Read this to the players:

It is early the next morning, you are all awakened to a loud scream from outside of their current lodgings. "To Arms! To Arms! We are under attack!" The sound of trumpets are blaring, and the clashing of steel can be heard clearly from outside of the building. Sounds of impacts can be heard striking the outside of your lodgings. 

Doom Spend: Spend 3 doom, to force a player character to make a D2 dodge as a flaming arrow crashes through the window. Flamming Arrow: 2CD, Incendiary 2 , Persistence 2.  D2 to dodge.

Read this to the players:

The acrid smell of smoke stings your nostrils as you clamor outside carrying what ever belongings you could. The visual site is one full of chaos and death. Heavy fur cloaked beings are pouring through the town gates and into the square. The town militia are all but overwhelmed. Numerous fires are burning uncontrollably!  All around you, people are locked in mortal combat as they fight off the invaders. But your instincts tell you, that due to the swiftness and the ferocity of the attack, Granite Lake is already lost and the defenders just do not know it yet.

Give your players sometime to figure out what they are going to do. Their horses are still in the stables, and belongings could either still be back in the now burning inn or stored with their horses as well.

When the players decide to act. Read this to them.

 "Over here!!" You hear the yell over the din of combat! Looking across the small town square, you can see your current employer slumped up against a side of a small building. He seems to be holding his side with blood dripping through his fingers.

If the players decide to head over to Attalus, have them nominate a leader to lead the group over to him. After the person is nominated have him make a Group D2 Observation Skill Check. I would recommend not telling the players what skill is required till after a leader is picked. (of course, after finding out what skill is required, they can assist as normal) A failure of this roll will have the party come face to face with a group of savage warriors, hell bent on killing them. (The GM may then spend doom as per the normal rules at this point allow the hoard to attack first. Which I recommend)
If the party succeeds, they can spend momentum to reduce the over all total of the barbarians. Two Momentum per Berzerker. (Conan the Barbarian Source Book or Conan Core)

The party will face 4 Toughened Berserkers.

GM TIP

The GM at this point should really use as much doom as he can in the fight to really put the players on their heals. The town is lost and will soon be over run by the horde. Having this fight with the bersekers should install a sense of urgency to leave the town in all haste. There is a high chance that the berserkers will place a few wounds onto the players.

If the group decides not to head over Attalus, or takes to much time trying to make a decision. They will notice that Attalus has disappeared in the chaos, and they have drawn the attention of the attacking barbarians. They will end up facing 2 mobs of  5 Barbarian Minions (Use the default Savages Minions from the Core Book. But arm them with Battle Axes, Medium Shields and Short Spears)

If the players do decide to head to Attalus, (I used the stats for Kallian Publico from Conan The Thief Book, pg 83) But have his current Vigor marked down to 6 and his Resolve 4 to represents the his wounds.  After making their way over cross the street and facing the Berserkers. (Kallian is a Toughened NPC, with Max 12 Vigor, Max 8 Resolve and can take 2 wounds.

Read This
"By the gods! you must get me out of here" Attalus said, holding his side tightly, blood dripping from between his fingers. "If you get me out of here and to my destination ill throw in a purse full of gems!"  (Value of 50GP) He coughs weakly, blood spit out as he used his free arm to wipe his face.  "Quickly, we must hurry before we are discovered!"

It is now that the players have a choice to try and escape.

There could be several locations in the town that they decide to go, if they have their gear spread out. But to get to each location the group will need to make a D3 Group Observation Check (With people assisting if they want) to be able to navigate there way to each location. Or individual players can do a D3 Stealth check. But if you do a stealth check, no one can help you and you can not assist others. Any failure will result in running into 2 mobs of 5 savages (minions) for every complication, rolled. tack on one Berserker with the initiative.  Momentum and can be used to reduce the minions on a 1 for 1 basis, while two momentum will remove a Berserker.

GM TIP: Some suggestions on where the group can go.

Stables: to get their horses and travel gear. Or steal some horses perhaps?
Lodgings: If they needed to run back to their lodgings, if its not burned to the ground (GMs call)

If they lost sight of Attalus, they can go search for him. Same rules as above but is now a D4 Observation check. If they find him, he is currently being dragged off by a mob of 5 savages. Momentum to reduce the number of those savages is a 1 for 1 basis. And Attalus will also now have sustained 1 wound.

They will have time to check out one location before they will be ultimately surrounded and captured. They could split the party and try to get to multiple locations at once.

GM TIP: 

Stress to the players that time is running out. Stress that if they stay to long, they could very well become surrounded and captured. Use doom, to make them loose items, or throw barbarians at them.  

North or South Gates: To sneak out of the gates they will need to make a group stealth roll, as they are being watched by the hoard on the outside. Pick a leader to make the roll, others can assist as the GM see's fit. But if they get spotted, they get spotted by 2 Mobs of 5 Savages who are outside the gates
Jump the wall: Less people watching the walls. This is a D2 acrobatics check per person. Failing here, the person will fall and will suffer 3CD damage with stun.
GM TIP 

Doom or complications can be used to bring up a minion or two on the wall.. 

At any point, the group can surrender. Doing so will result in them being captured by the Horde. If they lost contact with Attalus already. They will end up being tied up with him and become the the barbarians prisoners.

Various Doom Spends/Complications
3 - A mob of 5 savages.
2 - A single berserker.
3 - A random flaming Arrow. (see above)
1 - A fleeing horse, D2 to dodge, 2CD with knockdown.
1 - A character drops an item.

If they escape the town with Attalus, they will begin the next stage of the adventure. If they did not escape with Attalus, they could attempt to rescue him. Maybe? who knows what the players will come up with!?

But all of that will be in scene 2.

Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of. My thoughts on writing adventures for 2D20 Conan.

Hi all,

So I have been playing 2D20 Conan by Modiphius pretty constantly since the books were first announced on the kickstarter. And I need to say, its been a wild ride.

Overall, I am very happy with the books, the rules and the feeling of satisfaction that I get when I write an adventure for my current group of R.E. Howard Conan players. First, let me clarify something with you all. I am not one of these self proclaimed R.E. Howard scholars who knows what he was thinking or, what he meant with his massive amount of  prolific writings. What I am though, is a fan of his ability to write separate, individual adventures, and tie them all together in a way that makes each story a part of a great overall setting and world.

And this is what I think makes story telling for 2D20 Conan different then many other RPGs out there.  The rules system in how it is written is designed to capture that same feeling of these individualized stories but then tied as a whole after. And it is after you have several of these games under your belt can you look back and see the great world you are adventuring in.

2D20 Conan is a great system to play with. But for the fans of light, baby biscuit rules systems, 2D20 is not for them. Its just not.  I am not going to pull any punches here, but if you are one of these people who shows up and plays in a few games expecting it to be just a hack and slash style games you are not going to really see what the hype is about. Then there are those people who moan and groan over the complexity of the rules, and their inability to really enjoy it. Sadly this system is not for them either.  I feel, that to get the most bang for your buck, a player needs to invest some time to learn the basic rules. But this is also its strongest aspect. If you have players who invest a small amount of time in learning the rules in how it relates to their characters then it pays dividends in the enjoyment of 2D20 Conan as a whole.

The stories told by REH of Conan and his adventures are unique in the way that he never (to my knowledge) wrote a novel about Conan, but independent short stories. You start to read a story about Conan, and its takes place in a setting, just moments away from when the action was going to take place. The daily hum drums of walking through the market, looking for things to buy was just not mentioned other then in afterthoughts by the characters of the story.

2D20 Conan is designed to work in a similar way as the stories told by REH. In such that each adventure for a campaign is setup to run in a episodic nature. Even the GMs toolkit is designed with just that in mind. You write the adventure with the intent of capturing the feeling of playing in a story written by REH. What the players are about to experience is a snap shot in time, usually moments away before the action takes place. The setup to the adventure is primarily left to the GM. He sets the stage, and the players act it out.

The design of 2D20, strongly encourages the use of episodic play similar to the story telling of REH. The very nature of the mechanics makes this happen. In games that are strung out (for lack of a better term) sessions end, XP is handed out and then the next session begins usually right where you left of. This is not the case with 2D20 Conan. In Conan, adventures are separated by "Life In Between Adventures" This is also the time the player characters heal. Ill go more into this later. Where your characters get trained, get rumors, get fame and re equipped. What many people do not fully appreciate , this time period could be considered days, weeks and or months long. It is not the next morning. In 2D20 Conan, you can get yourself wounded during an adventure. And you can get yourself healed, but its only a temp fix. Until you character is given the proper time to heal during the between phases, any wounds your receive can potentially come back and bite you, and bite you hard.

Unlike most RPGs where you get wounded, you can not just drink a healing potion and get back into the action. Wounds in Conan are only patched up, until you get a chance heal properly. Essentially, if in a game session, you get your self wounded, you start to face negative modifiers. In the short term, you can get your self patched up again. BUT if you  take a wound again, you open up all previous wounds. The only way to get rid of the chance of these wounds re opening is healing during your down time. This adds to a very gritty nature of life in REH's Hyborea. Essentially, if you go out and get the crap kicked out of you on day one, then its in your best interests to take a few days off and heal up before getting right back into the thick of things.

It is also during this downtime that the player characters still have some adventures, but its not in the forefront at the gaming table.  This provides ample material to develop the characters back story and to give you the feeling that even when not fighting evil sorcerers, the characters are still living a life full of fun and adventure. Not only does this provide a chance for players to develop their characters on a personal level, but it allows GMs to use this information to develop their next adventure and to help capture that feel of a "new episode" for the player's enjoyment.

To help capture the feel of playing in one of REH's adventures. The GM should use the information provided by in between phase as potential story elements in his adventure. For example, in one of my recent sessions, a scrawny character managed to get caught up in a brief but torrent love affair with a noble, only to have it ended when she was spirited away. It was a story that was formed based on the outcome of the in between stages. Just background fluff he wrote to help give his character a sense of invested interest. Now, taking that information, I designed a scenario where a person matching the description of his love interest was about to be executed in the public square. The player suddenly found that his character's background story was front and center in that weeks current episode. Of course, there was a twist in typical REH fashion at the end which I was very proud of, much to the chagrin of my players.

So, when you take bits and pieces of every characters in between adventures you can really develop a episodic feeling in your sessions which mimic very well the spirit of REH and his writings.

This allows a GM to start off the adventure essentially any where he or she wants, and it doesn't have to follow some procession from the last weeks game. You were is the capital of Argos one session, the next you could be up to your knees in stagnate swamp water in the jungles of the back coast the next. But to tie the adventures together, you use the information provided in the In Between stage to get you to that point.

And this is what I mean when I say that 2D20 Conan is different when it comes to other sword and sorcery systems. 2D20 Conan is not just a system to play sword and sorcery, its a system to allow you to "capture" the feel of playing in REH's stories of high adventure.  And it captures this feeling of being played in an episodic nature very well.

I strongly feel, that a group will short change themselves on that feeling, if the GM and the Players do not utilize the "Life in between" portion of the rules. It really is a very important tool to capture that feeling.

In my design phase of writing my adventures for my group I try very hard to capture that feeling of being in an actual story in REH's world.  And I would like to think that I do that, but you will have to ask my players that one.

My closing statement is this..

If you just want to play a sword and sorcery game, then maybe 2D20 Conan is not for you. But if you want to play in a game that captures the feeling of being in a story written in the fashion of REH, then this is indeed for you. Do not design your adventures as long strung out stories, but design each session to be a short individual adventure to be experienced by your player's characters at a specific point.

Use the "life in between" portion to fill in the gaps. When you do this, and run a few games with a steady group, when you look back.. your story is going to consist of snap shots in time that captures the high (or low) points of the characters, with all the gaps filled in, and you make a great story filled with lore, laughs, and most importantly adventure that you can look back on.


Regards

 Jolly

A good source of Inspirational art.

I found this today, and although dark and disturbing.. some really cool ideas came to me for Conan adventures. 

El Oscuro Arte de Zdzisław Beksiński - Imágenes https://t.co/vQcrbVryDW via @Taringa

Great source of art work for Dark Themed #Conan Games!! :)

— The JollyGM (@jclocke75) May 13, 2018

Conan 2D20: Dreams of Darkness..

In tonight's game, I did something I do not think the players were expecting. I went for pure horror and messed with their heads!

Great game, and thanks to the guys who made it so much fun to run! I hope you had as much fun as I did!


Here are some of the pictures from tonight's game. Be sure to follow me on twitter! @jclocke75 to find out more about the characters, as they share their tales of the game!

Catch the live play here.

Conan 2d20: The Eye of Thieves and the Lost City of Necropliysa

Tonight I played just a short one shot adventure scenario with a few of the guys. Two of my standard players couldnt make it so instead of the actual campaign game I am running. I decided to try out the adventure generator from the GM toolkit for Conan 2d20. See how it played out.

I gotta say, it created a pretty decent little scenario and I was pretty impressed.

So technically, there is the base rolls..  Here is a screen shot of it.

So working with this, and a few other rolls that are not above. Cults, locations, etc. Then I filled in the adventure with the details my mind created.

The party agreed to meet a bounty hunter and to track down a person who was suspected of having the the famous eye of thieves. The person was a member of a group of smugglers who were sneaking through the mountainous area of Khoraja; avoiding the steep tariffs imposed on regular merchants.

When they go to meet up with the bounty hunter, they discover that he was missing from where they were to meet. They tracked him to the location of which the smugglers were using as a camp, an old  profane ruined temple. Only to discover the bodies of the smugglers torn to shreds and still no sign of the Bounty Hunter.

At this point, night was in effect and they discovered tracks leading into the ruined temple to a room with no visible exits. A secret chamber no doubt!

Inside the chamber, they discover that a Draugr doing an evil ritual and using the body of the bounty hunter to summon through a portal a child of the outer dark!

The bad news, is the eye of thieves is not there, as the bounty hunter paid for bad info and was sent to his death on a fools errand. Meanwhile the party who happened to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time got to face two very nasty creatures. And of course, fame and fortune! Of course and jewels or items taken from the temple would have caused some pretty bad things to happen when it left the grounds. Causing a curse which would send despair to all in the party every day till the jewels are given away, sold or destroyed!

But that didn't happen (it should have but it didn't). The guys spent to much time searching through the ruins in the dark, only to disturb a mob of Ghouls, lead by a toughen Ghoul who came out from their various crypts and holes in the temple complex to feed on the already slain bodies.

One player got jumped and mauled pretty bad, before the group finally managed to control the situation.  Carnal Stink + Grapple + Bite = Bad News!!

After that I called it, as they would not have survived the main fight with the two baddies! Plus I was tired!

The archetypes involved
A Hyrkanian Horseman
A Nemedian Scoundrel
and a Brythunian Merc Captian.

It was a good test of some obscure rules, also put grapple to the test which just proves that its very very deadly!

We had a few rules discussions, kinda slowed things down a bit.. but I ended up learning a few things. The mod for Fantasy grounds worked much smoother, and the UI was more efficient. So much more with the combat tracker. The hard work in getting all the creatures entered into a decent format that worked with in the confines of the software really paid off.

All the effort into making my own module for fantasy grounds has been very rewarding!!
 

I would like to thank my players. I am happy you guys agreed to play and I hope you all had fun.

+Sean Phelan
+EW X
Last, but not least and certainly no unheard. Mr.  +Frank Falkenberg :)

Thanks guys, I had fun run through of the random adventure.

The Story of Adrift: The FG-Con One Shot Adventure Overview.

I was asked if I would be willing to share my notes on this adventure, but when I looked at the notes I realized that the only person who would be able to decipher it would be me. So, I will just give a brief over view on the adventure. That way, if you wanted to run something similar you can use this idea as a base for your own.

There is some background that needs to be told. When it comes to running one shot adventures for cons, I find it useful to help set the mood and steer people's imaginations in the right direction long before they actually start to play. So I posted the "Teaser" here. This helps set the premise of something bad happening to the crew for some strange reason.

Background: The background, is the crew of this drifting ship was delivering a mysterious cargo. They were offered a lot of coin to ask no questions, and to deliver it ASAP.  During the loading operations of the cargo, there was an accident and a container was damaged. Little did they know, that soon after they departed, the containers systems failed, allowing a trapped entity loose onto the ship. A Sarcophagi(oly?). And after being trapped inside this containment, it went in search of it's revenge. Eventually driving the crew of the cargo ship all against each other till a blood bath ensued. When the bloodbath was over and only one crew member barely surviving, the creature feasted. But was then trapped on board a derelict  and drifting ship, slowly starving as it can only feed of the bodies killed by its victims. And with one person left, it could feed no longer.

The story begins as the players, members of a Salvage Crew discover this cargo ship drifting in the void. Needing to determine if ship is able to be claimed, they had to search the ship and make sure there were no one surviving on board.

They enter a ship filled with signs of chaos, anti grav turned off, main power turned off, parts of ship vented into space. Crew quarters filled with blood, signs of fighting.. a total mess. As they search the ship, they discovered various entry logs, by different crews, all talking about how every one else is out to get them, how one person attack another for no reason. There was more then enough clues for the players to determine that this ship descended into madness.

They then discovered the lone survivor, who managed to suspend himself in a cyro chamber in hopes to be rescued, as he was severely wounded. The idea, at the time was to make players believe that this was the captain of the drifting ship, but if the players discovered the crew roster prior to finding him they will see that his picture does not match, and in fact he is really just a deckhand. All of this to add to the paranoid feeling of the game. The person, who already was driven mad will try again to directly attack and kill the players the first chance he gets. (But in my game at the time, one of the players who kinda lost his own mind, opened fired on him the moment he stepped out of the chamber) killing him. (Not expected to happen!)

This is where the Djinn comes into play. The whole time the players are searching the ship and trying to figure out what happened, the Djinn was already starting to sow the seeds of dissent among the players.  It needs to feed. The one rule I had was the first NPC/Player to die that starving Djinn would appear to feast. Giving a chance for the players to act. Since the NPC hit the floor with a gunshot wound in the first 5 seconds of his arrival, the Djinn appeared. The players, some standing to fight, others fleeing had to then deal with the creature.

In the end, 3 of the players who were already turned against the remaining 2 players; fled back to their own ship left the captain and the first mate alone fighting the creature.

The two remaining crew managed to kill the creature, but were left on the ship in the darkness of space.

Thats where the one shot ended.

Also note: As I used pregen characters, I had the relationships pointed in the direction of not getting along with others. At the beginning of the game, I instructed each player to roleplay these relationships as they saw fit. So, given the background character info, paranoia, and a evil spirit messing things up, it didn't take long for the characters to start to crumble. :)

I think we all had a good time, there was a lot of laughs. So for me, that's what matters. Anyways that's the concept of "Adrift"

Thanks all.

I attached my players to this post, so if they ever wanted to add in their perspectives they can, and are welcomed too.

+Raz Kabooz +Jeannette Jarrar +Frank Falkenberg +James Goodman +Andrew Jones