Chainmail & Sword

leaving the swamp, the quest continues.

Time 6am 
Date 13th March
Weather - Overcast, Strong wind and a little warmer than normal for the time of year.

(unused intervention points from last session 1)

To recap part 4, my PC's and Tilly met with Karloak the old hermit in a hut in the middle of the swamp.  They were attacked by soldiers, probably sent by the Merchant from Jundarr whom Tilly stole the document which describes the location of a lost treasure.  The soldiers were fairly easily seen off but Tilly suffered 8 hits from the great warrior she rashly engaged in combat.  Everyone was given a drink by Karloak, including Sana who was ill due to swallowing rancid swamp water, this drink knocked them all out and they slept soundly through the night, each recovering 1 HP.

It is now the following morning, Karloak has disappeared but he has left his sword on the cart which will certainly be useful for the adventures.  Sana is now well and able to travel again, the group are making ready to leave the hut.

ALRIK - I can cast a healing touch spell once per day, so, before we leave here, I will cast it on Tilly to restore some of her lost HP.  I roll d8 and get 7, so she recovers 7 HP.

GM - Sana and Tilly are both now nearly fully recovered, the rest of you are back to full HP, the bites from the insect swarm are now healed.  Tilly picks up Karloak's sword, she is as puzzled by his sudden disappearance as she was by his sudden appearance.  Keen to get on the move in case more soldiers turn up, she thanks Alrik for his healing spell use and leads the horse and cart along the road.

I ask the oracle if anything else untoward happens on their journey through the swamp, roll d20 =10, d6 =6, so a straight no and +1 intervention point (making 2 intervention points now).

GM - Tilly is keen to push on, she is concerned about Karloaks disappearance, telling the group that his cottage is about 9 miles east of the swamp, if they keep up a good pace they should be there by midday. 

SANA - I am a little worried about our lack of food, I suggest we look out for a village or town and purchase some provisions.

MARIANNE - we are low on silvers as well, maybe if we find an inn for the night I can raise a little cash by playing and singing, I agree we should look for a village or town.

DORANUS - a comfy bed and a glass of ale would be most welcome after a long day, does Tilly know of any such place.

I ask the oracle if Tilly knows of a village, town or even just an inn where they can spend the night, roll on d20=6, roll on d6=4, so 'No(in order to)'.

GM - Tilly says that she doesn't and makes it clear that in order to avoid a repercussion of the surprise attack in the swamp, it would be best for now to keep off the beaten track, 5 strangers with a horse and cart would be sure to draw attention.  She is certain that when they arrive at Karloaks cottage he will be there and give them provisions.

After just over an hour, the party finally leave the swamp land which gives way to rolling grassland, Tilly continues to follow the road east for a couple of miles.

GM -  You reach a junction in the road, at that point, almost as if out of nowhere a group of fellow travellers on horseback spot you.  Tilly is keen to avoid the travellers.

I ask the oracle if its possible to avoid being seen by the travellers, roll d20 =2, d6 = 4, so a 'No(and).

GM - unfortunately for Tilly, the travellers see the party and hail you, a charisma check is made to see if they react in a friendly manor to the party.

MARIANNE - I will approach the travelling group, my charisma is 15 and with my Friendly Face trait bonus of +2, I need to roll 17 or less, roll d20 = 11, they are friendly towards us.

SANA - we need to ask them why they hailed us down, do they need our assistance.

I ask the oracle if they need help from the party, roll d20 = 3, d6=6, so that a 'No' and +1 intervention, that's the third intervention point, so I roll d6 on MUNE intervention table, roll on d6 = 1  meaning we get 'New Entity' 

GM - one of the travellers, a young man, colourfully dressed and wearing a broad brimmed hat festooned with feathers jumps off his horse and, with a smile and a low bow, introduces himself to Marianne as Gedyel Moodlum, warden of Karmble Hold.

Once again, I turn to UNE to work out who Gedyel Moodlum is and hopefully get an idea of why he hailed down our adventures.  I find out he is a skilled warden, for his motivation rolls I get 
1 - Hinder Religion
2 - Obtain Legends
3 - Execute Zeal

To get a better idea of what Gedyel Moodlum wants from the party, I roll on the Mythic event tables and get 'Waste, Rumour'.

GM - Gedyel tells the party that he has heard a rumour that there is a ship sailing on land as if it was water, wasting everything in its path, the source of this rumour comes from some of the outlying villages and he and his men are investigating, he asks if the party have heard or seen anything.

DORANUS - we will say we are sorry, we have neither seen nor heard anything about a ship that sails on land.

SANA - does Tilly recognise Gedyel.
Roll on oracle, d20 = 7, d6 = 6, so a straight 'No' and +1 intervention point.

GM - Tilly has not seen Gedyel before.

ALRIK - we will tell Gedyel that we are on our way to see a hermit called Karloak, does he know him?
Roll on oracle, d20 = 3, d6 =2, so 'No(Surprisingly)'. I also get two random verbs to see if it gives me an idea what the surprisingly part could be and get 'hesitate' and 'watch'.

GM - Gedyel seems surprised by the question, he  hesitates before answering and watching his expression, you notice he is a little unsure of how to answer, he tells you that he knows of no hermits around here and cannot be of any help to you.  As he mounts his horse, he wishes you a good journey and ask that if you hear anything of the ship to let him know, with that he and his men move off southward.

DORANUS - I have a strong feeling he was not telling us the truth, a ship that sails through land?

ALRIK - and he seem a little unsure how to answer when we asked about Karloak.

GM - Tilly is eager to get moving, there is still a 3 to 4 hour walk to get to Karloak's cottage, the wind is still strong and the sky is getting ever darker, its looking more likely that a storm is brewing.

I ask the oracle if there are any further encounters on the route to Karloaks cottage, roll d20= 7, d6=2, so a 'No(if)', I decide to simply ignore the (if).
I ask the oracle if after 4 hours walking they are at Karloaks cottage, roll d20 = 9, d6 = 6. so no and a further intervention point (now 2 intervention points.
I then roll a d6 to see how much longer (in 10minute segments),it takes to get to where Tilly knows the cottage to be, roll d6 = 6, so a further 1 hour walking.
I ask the oracle if we have now reached the cottage, roll d20 = 2, d6=3, so 'No(and).
I decide the (and) must mean some sort of encounter takes place, so I roll on the Grasslands Encounter table in Beyond the Wall Further Afield, roll d6 = 3.

GM - you have been walking for over five hours, it is past midday and you have not eaten since yesterday, Tilly is sure the hermits cottage is around here somewhere.  Without warning the heavens open and a violent storm erupts.  I make a Con check against Tillys con of 9 as she is has the lowest con of you all, roll on d20 =11, a fail, you lose the rest of the day seeking shelter, a wisdom check against Doranus as he has the highest wisdom, roll d20 = 15, another fail, the horse bolts in the storm and although you get the beast to stop, it will take you the whole of the next day to repair the harness.

MARIANNE - where do we find shelter, do we find the hermits cottage.

I ask the oracle if they find shelter at Karloak's cottage, roll d20= 17, d6=6, so yes and a further intervention point meaning we roll for an intervention. Rolling on intervention table d6 = 6, so wild intervention.  I generate 2 random verbs and get sooth and undress

GM - you eventually find the old hermits cottage, the storm is still raging and you are all soaking wet and hungry, the door to the cottage is open and you walk in to find a table of food laid out, a fire burning and 5 large bath tubs each full of warm soothing water, For Tilly, modesty goes out of the window, she takes some food to a tub by the fire, undresses and climbs into the warm bath tub.

DORANUS, MARIANNE & SANA - We all follow Tillys actions, eat, undress get into a nice warm bath

ALRIK - okay, me to, I will hang my clothing over the side of the tub to dry. is Karloak here.

roll on oracle d20=12, d6 =4, so 'Yes(While)'

GM - yes, while you are all eating and soaking in the baths, Karloak enters from outside, even though it is pouring with rain, he seems completely dry, he says he was expecting you sooner and that he has made sure the horse and cart are out of the rain as well.  You can repair the harness in the morning once the storm has passed.  He gives each of you a dry robe.

when everyone is bathed Karloak points to some stairs, he tells the group that there are 5 cots on the next floor and they should all take their belongings there and choose a bed for the night.  When they come back down the bath tubs are gone and so is Karloak, the table of food has been replenished and 5 chairs are now placed around the fire, their clothes drying nearby.  Tilly rushes to the door and opens it, looking for the old hermit but the wind and rain drive her back in.  The group have no option but to sit the storm out and see what tomorrow brings. 

Date 14th March
Weather - Overcast, Strong wind and temperature colder but normal for the time of year

GM - in the morning the storm has passed, it takes you all day to repair the harness and you will be forced to spend a further night in the old hermits cottage, but you are all now fully rested and Sana and Tilly are now at full HP.  The day goes by uneventfully, there is no sign of the old hermit and so on the morning of the 15th, with two days food in your bags, you prepare to move on from the cottage.

and that is where we will end part 5, in part 6 the journey continues.

(I think Gedyel Moodlum will make interesting NPC going forward, at this point in the adventure I am not going to do much more with him but he certainly merits a bit of work put into his persona, I am not sure if he will be a constant help or threat to the  PC's but I will work that out in time).

At the old hut in the swamp

Time 1:40pm 
Date 12th March

Weather - Clear, very light wind and a little warmer than normal for the time of year.

In part three we left out group of adventures having entered a swamp, there they found their way blocked by a fallen tree, whist moving it a swarm of insects attacked them, in trying to evade the swarm, Sana the barbarian girl ended up in the swamp and swallowed a lot of bad water and needed to be rescued.  Although her life is not threatened she is far to ill to continue the journey.  The group came across an old hut where they hoped they could stay, eat and wait until Sana was able to continue.  Tilly the Rouge discovered  the hut was occupied, the party must now decided what to do next.

I ask the oracle if Tilly was spotted by the 'strange man' as tilly described him.  Roll d20 = 8, d6 = 6, so a straight 'No' and +1 intervention point.  

Tilly has passed through the swamp before, or seemed to have done as she knew how to find the road through the swamp, I ask the oracle if Tilly new the man inside the hut.  Roll on d20 = 20, d6 = 6, so a straight 'Yes' and another +1 intervention point (now 2 intervention points).

I ask the oracle if this is the old hermit Tilly knows and whose house Tilly was hoping to reach before nightfall.  Roll d20 = 13, d6 = 1, a straight 'Yes'.

GM - Tilly looks puzzled, she says she knows the strange man in the hut, his name is Karloak, an old hermit she knows but he should not be here, his house is a further 8 miles from the swamp, she was hoping they could all lodge there for the evening.

MARIANNE - Sana is too weak to travel on, if this is a friend of yours Tilly, ask him if we can rest here until Sana is well again.

DORANUS - we could all use some rest, that swarm of foul insects bit me in places I never want to bitten in again.

ALRIK - and I am hungry and thirsty, there is good food in the cart, I suggest we knock on the door, we can offer to share some food with your friend I would hope that would be appreciated by him and he would more willing to help us.

SANA - groans and is ill again.

GM - Tilly, seeing she has little choice, agrees to ask, she tells the PC's to wait by the cart, she will go alone and talk to the hermit.

I used UNE (the Universal NPC Emulator) to generate some details about the hermit, he is old and generally well disposed towards Tilly.

GM - before Tilly gets to the door of the hut, it opens and an elderly man, unkempt with a long scruffy beard and tattered clothing steps into view.  The two greet each other warmly and you see Tilly pointing towards you, and whilst you cannot make out what they are saying, you notice that she starts beckoning you to come towards the hut.

DORANUS - I will go first, I will ready Elements Command, if the situation turns bad I will call on an element near me to attack the hermit.

ALRIK - I will follow, I will keep my hand close to my blade but will not look threatening, hopefully there will be no reason to draw my blade.

MARIANNE - I will bring up the horse with Sana.

GM - as you approach the house, you hear Tilly say to the old hermit 'Karloak my old friend, these are my fellow travellers, the girl Sana is not well, she needs to rest".  Karloak welcomes you and says he has been expecting you.  He tells you to bring Sana in to the hut.  Once inside you notice there is a makeshift bed and a rickety table with stools around it, a small fire in the corner has a pot of something boiling on it.

ALRICK - Doranus and I will help Sana into the hut, we will put her down on the bed, hopefully she will sleep.

GM - Karloak offers you all a seat at the table, there are 5 stools, one for each of you except Sana, as well as one for Karloak himself.  Karloak asks what has happened to Sana.

MARIANNE - I shall tell Karloak about the fallen tree, the insect swarm and Sana falling into the swamp.

GM - Karloak takes a cup of whatever is brewing on the small fire and makes Sana drink it, he tells her that it will make her sleep and she will be fine in the morning.  He then comes and sits at the table with the rest of you.

DORANUS - I will ask Karloak what he meant when he said he he was expecting us.

I roll on oracle to see if he answers the question, roll on d 20 =7, roll on d 6 =6, so a straight 'No' and +1 intervention point, (3 intervention points, so roll on intervention table).
Roll d6 on itervention table = 6, so its wild, something totally unexpected happens., I roll for a random noun and a random verb (I use randomlists.com) and get 'SPOT' & 'COUNT'.

GM - before Karloak is able to answer you hear Tilly's  horse whinny loudly, Tilly makes a wisdom check, she rolls 10, a success.  She spots out of the window strangers moving quickly towards the hut, she counts 6 men.  She slowly gets to her feet and loads her two hand crossbows.  Karlock, from out of nowhere is suddenly in possession of a very ornate sword.

ALRIK - I will draw my eldrich blade.

DORANUS - are there any more entrances or exits other than the window and the door we came in.
roll on oracle d20=7, d6 = 2, so 'No(if)'.

GM - there are no other ways in or out, if anyone wants to get in it has to be through the door you came in or climb through the window.

DORANUS - good, I think, I will draw my shortsword.

MARIANNE - I draw my dagger, I move over to Sana, if anyone comes near her I will attack them.

ALRIK - are the shutters open at the window.

roll on oracle d20=20, d6=2, so 'Yes (on the contrary).

GM - there are no shutters on the window and now someone is trying to climb through it and a second armed man is behind him, at the same time someone or thing is trying to break the door down.  Tilly and Marianne are nearest to the door, Alrik is nearest to the window.

Attackers 
Great Warrior (no 1) Hit Dice 4d10, hits 22 AC17, Attack +6 to hit, 1D8+3 Damage - at door
Soldier (no2,3,4) Hit Dice 1d6, hits 4, AC14, Attack +0 to hit, 1d6  Damage - all at door
Soldier (no5,6) Hit Dice 1d6, hits 4, AC14, Attack +0 to hit, 1d6  Damage - all at door

 MARIANNE - the door is bolted then?

roll on oracle to see if door is bolted d20 =16, d6 =1 a straight 'Yes'.

ALRIK - can I strike at the first intruder coming through the window.

GM - yes, you have a greater initiative and can strike the first intruder.

ALRIK - I roll 20 on d20 to hit, so an automatic hit, roll on d8 for damage = 2.

GM - Soldier no5 is through the window, he is hit but not down, Soldier no 6 starts to climb through the window now.

MARIANNE - I ask about the door, is it broken through yet?
roll on oracle d20=4, d6=4, so 'No(so long as), 

GM - the lock on the door is sturdy, so is the door, so long as the lock olds the door will remain shut.  Nothing else happens this melee round, so round 2.   Karloak is near to soldier 6 and strikes first but rolling a 1 fumbles his strike, Alrik next

ALRIK - I roll 13 with my BAB +2 thats 15 against AC14 so I hit, just, rolling d8 for damage = 3.

GM - soldier 5 grunts his last and is out of the fight, soldier 6 strikes back at Karloak, rolling 4, so no way near hitting the hermit.  I roll to see if the door and lock are holding up (roll on oracke d20 = 10, d6 =6, so a straight 'No' and +1 intervention point) The door smashes open and a great warrior comes rushing in.  Tilly manages to loose two of her crossbow bolts at the brute, she hits with one, not the other and the attacker takes 4 hits.  The other 3 soldiers make their way in.

Round 3, Tilly rushes forward dagger drawn and attacks the great warrior, she fails to he but strikes Tilly causing 8 points of damage.
Karloak is next, attacking soldier number 6, this time he makes no mistakes, rolling 19 to hit and does 3+2 points of damage, soldier no 6 is out of the fight.

MARIANNE - I wait with my dagger, ready to protect Sana.

ALRIK - I will jump on the table and wait to see what happen (must make a roll against dex, roll on d 20 = 11, just 1 less than his dex of 12, so he makes his jump.

DORANUS - I cast my command element spell, I get a water spirit with +2 attack and 1d6 hits, I command it to attack a soldier

GM - it does your bidding and attacks soldier 2, it hits and causes 6 points of damage, soldier 2 is down and out.

Round 4 of combat. 

GM - Till has highest initiative, she strikes at the great warrior but her dagger bounces off his armour, he in turn fails to hit Tilly this time.

MARIANNE - the tide seems to turn in our favour, I rush the nearest soldier, but just get a 3 on d20 to hit, failure (she attacked soldier 4).

GM - Karloak is next, he cast a magic missile spell directed at soldier 3,  two bolts of magical energy strike the unfortunate soldier and the man goes down.

ALRIK - I will launch myself of the table and strike at the attacker fighting Tilly, if I can hit him I will.

GM - make a roll against dex, (Alrik rolls 5, he succeeds his dex roll), okay, you land next to them, now roll to hit but with a -2 chance.

ALRIK - I roll d20 = 20, no problem, roll d8 for damage, only a 1.

DORANUS - I command the water element to attack the soldier fighting Marianne, I roll d20 and get 15 with +2 to hit its god, roll 1d6 damage = 3

the game now seems up for the attackers, soldier 4 panics and runs out of the door, the great warrior seeing he has no hope then does likewise but not before telling Tilly he will be back for her soon.

Everyone is exhausted, they eat what food they have and the old hermit gives them all a draught from his cooking pot, they all talk for a while, then sleep takes over.  The next morning they awake early, Sana is fit to travel, Tilly has taken a few to many hits but she is keen to press on.  There is no sign of the old hermit though, they search outside for him, it seems he has gone but not before hooking up the horse and cart, laying on the straw is his sword.

We will leave the next part of the adventure until next time.

Breakfast at the Tanners Wife Tavern

 The Jade Dragon is a beautiful galley ship, long and slender with its two banks of oars three masts of colourful sails and a figurehead of a great jade dragon.  Its captain has sailed the seas of the sunken lands for a decade now, trading and profiteering, things have been good, really good, his crew and himself have become wealthy, not stinking rich, just wealthy, that was until recently. 

 Recently, over the last 9 months, trade has been bad, the ship has come close to sinking and the crew have suffered illness like never before, even worse, the captain has lost money on nearly every sailing.  The Captain has done nothing different to what he has previously done, always a winning formula, what has changed is his crew.

Things have only gone wrong since the last 4 new crew members were taken on.  He has given them the benefit but now his crew are threatening to leave if they stay, the final straw came when the Eldritch one, Alrak, tried to blame the captain for the ships ills, telling him he should have given offerings to the Elemental gods and then striking the captain with a oar.  If it had not been for that Barbarian Sana or whatever her name is, pleading his case, the strange one would have been thrown over board, as it is as soon as we dock in Jundarr, those two and their two friends Doranus and that awful lute player Marianne, will be shown the door and the bad luck the Jade Dragon and crew have suffered will be over.

Dockside at Jundarr.

Leaving Jundarr through the main city gates and a quiet journey north.

Outlining the game setup, characters and other useful info.

 I am going to run a solo adventure using Flatland Games Through Sunken Lands RPG.  Its much the same as Beyond the Wall just more Fritz Leiber or Michael Moorcock than Ursula le Guin.

The main aim of this post is to set the scene, flesh out PC's and any important NPC's and give myself some idea of the aim of the game as far as my PC's are concerned, I want the characters to have a clear reason for setting out on this adventure and not just be passengers in a game with no direction, I want the oracle to create plenty of twists and turns along the way but there should be a clear goal for the PC's to aim for right from the outset.

I will be using Zathrum 2.2/MUNE modified gm emulator this time as well as dipping into Zathrum 2.2, UNE will be useful for quick NPC's, online random word generator for hints and some of my own rules as well.

There are 4 player characters,

Sana, a Level 2 Barbarian,
Base Attack Bonus 2, Initiative 4
Strength 13, Dexterity 13, Constitution 15, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 9, Charisma 12.
Armour Class 11, Hit Points 19, Fortune Points 3
Skills - Stealth, Intimidation
Trait - Panthers Grace
Knack - Resilience
Weapons - Spear, dagger.

Sana was captured by Pirate Slavers and sold to a wealthy merchant.  8 lunar months ago, she escaped captivity and took with her some fine silks stolen from the merchant.   She hopes to never meat the merchant again but if she ever comes across the Pirates Slavers she has pledged to kill them all.
Sana found employment onboard the ship the Jade Dragon, things had seemed to be going well.

Doranus Zall, a level 2 mage, ex temple keeper.
Base Attack Bonus 1, Initiative 2
Strength 9, Dexterity 10, Constitution 11, Intelligence 18, Wisdom 13, Charisma 11.
Armour Class 10, Hit Points 11, Fortune Points 3
Skills - Athletics, Religious Law
Class Attributes, Sense Magic, spellcasting
Cantrips - Second Sight, Blessing
Spells - Command Elements (water)
Rituals - Endure the Elements, Aura of Power, Witch's Watchman
Trait - Child of the sea
Weapons - Dagger, Short sword.

Doranus was doing well as a priest at a temple devoted to the elemental ruler of water until his assistant priest accused him of stealing from the temple, Doranus pleaded his innocence but was not believed and thrown out of his temple and his home.  That was 7 lunar months ago, since then he has been working on the ship the jade dragon, he thought things seemed to be going well.

Marianne, a level 2 bard (rouge).
Base Attack Bonus 1, Initiative 5
Strength 12, Dexterity 14, Constitution 10, Intelligence 11, Wisdom 10, Charisma 15.
Armour Class 11, Hit Points 16, Fortune Points 5
Skills - Athletics, Playing the Lute, Pickpocket, Intimidation, Stealth
Class Attributes, Fortune Favour, Highly Skilled
Trait - Friendly Face
Weapons, light crossbow, dagger
She has an wonderous lute of strange origin.

Marianne was a pupil to one of the greatest bards in the land, until he was found murdered and Marianne was found guilty of the foul deed.  Somehow she managed to escape just before being put to death herself, escaping with her prized lute and a few odds and ends.  That was 6 lunar months ago, she found herself in the service of the captain of the jade dragon galley, things had seemed to be going well.

Alrak, a level 2 Eldritch Warrior-Mage
Base Attack Bonus 2, Initiative 3
Strength 9, Dexterity 12, Constitution 13, Intelligence 15,Wisdom 11, Charisma 13.
Armour Class 16, Hit Points 13, Fortune Points 3
Skills - Command, Investigation
Class Attributes, Sense Magic, spellcasting, weapon specialization
Cantrips - Magic Light
Spells - Healing Touch
Rituals - Bind Familia, Arcane Experiments, Waves Friends
Trait - Fighting Finesse
Weapons - Longbow, Eldritch Blade

Alrak is the descendant of a claimant to the old imperial throne, living a good life in a wealthy privileged home, until his cousin, Jarkloom, accused him of breaking up his marriage, he protested his innocence but he was forced to leave in disgrace.
With nowhere else to go he joined the galley ship the Jade Dragon, that was 5 lunar months ago and things have not been going well, they got a whole lot worse when he tried to punish the captain for not making offerings to the sea gods.

At this point I am going to roll up one very important NPC, Tilly, a rogue from Jundarr and member of the Thieves Guild.

Tilly, a level 3 Rogue.
Base Attack Bonus 1,  Initiative 6
Strength 11, Dexterity 14, Constitution 9 Intelligence 13, Wisdom 12, Charisma 13.
Armour Class 12, Hit Points 18, Fortune Points 5
Skills - Trapping, Deceit, Alertness, Gossip, Stealth
Class Attributes, Fortune Favour, Highly Skilled
Trait - Gifted Climber
Weapons, 2 hand crossbow, dagger
A local Aristocrat owes Tilly a big favour.

Tilly has come into possession of a document which details the location of an ancient treasure hoard, she thinks she has worked out its exact location, she will need the PCs help to get it. What, at first, the PC's won't be aware of (but Tilly will), is that the wealthy merchant Tilly stole the document from wants it back and will send agents out to reclaim the stolen property by whatever means.  The further away from Jundarr Tilly is the harder it will be for the agents to find her.

At the start of each day I will ask the oracle if there is an attempt by one of the merchants agents on the party, each days travel away from Jundarr will result in a -2 to the die roll, so after 5 days travel there will be only a slim chance of an agent appearing (this must be travel away from Jundarr, if the party stop at the first location for 5 days they will still only be 1 days travel away from Jundarr so only a -2 to the oracle roll).  If an agent attacks I will roll one up using UNE.

Distance, Time and Weather.

I want to keep track of time and also how far the group need to travel each day in order to reach their destination.  It will take the group at best 5 days to get to where Tilly thinks the treasure should be, each day has an end point, someplace where the group can stay and rest, that could be a village, a wayside inn, an old ruin, Tilly will have mapped it out, anything that slows them down will produce a further issue for them, and it may well be they need to rest overnight in the wilderness, something they may not be equipped for.

In addition, each point at which they rest in the evening may well throw up a further mini adventure for the party, this could slow them down by days and that could result in the merchant's agents finding them.  

Beyond the Wall Further Afield has a lunar calendar included, and to keep it simple, each day will be split into 24 hours.  I want to see what the weather does, its not pleasant out in the open in the pouring rain, your chainmail may get rusty to say the least so a simple way of deciding the weather needs to be found.

Daily Movement Rates.

A quick round up.

 I finally did it, I picked up a PDF copy of  Beyond the Wall, Further Afield from Flatland Games, downloaded from DrivethroughRPG.com and I am delighted with it, really expanding and adding to the game with rules for creating shared sandbox campaigns, integrating new characters into existing groups, rules for creating magical items and the bit that really interested me, threat packs for dynamic villains and dangers effecting the village and beyond.

Beyond the Wall, Further Afield cover art.

My idea had been to use Beyond the Wall (BthW) with the Bay of Sprits setting by Roan Studios, (my first solo BthW adventure was with a group of young characters hailing from Winterton, a village in the Bay of Spirits), whilst at the same time creating a campaign setting from scratch for D&D 5e, however, the more I looked into the Bay of Spirits setting and the more I read BthW Further Afield, the more I began to lean towards swapping things around, 5e or perhaps a OSR DnD clone for Bay of Spirits and BthW RPG using my own setting.

There are several reason for this dramatic, (well, dramatic for me), change of direction.  First, in hinterland, a guide to the wilderness it says that the Bay of Spirits is a land of druids, that they excelled in this setting 'above all other classes', so they will play a big part in the campaign.  BthW doesn't really do Druids, sure its not impossible to create a Druid type for BthW but other systems offer druids as a class or at least a sub class.

Secondly, I sat down the other night to create some 5e characters for my own campaign world and discovered that I was just creating the same characters as I had done for my BthW games, I had rolled up a Cleric which was my BthW devout acolyte, a Fighter same as Hugo my would be knight, a ranger like my young woodsman, a bard to mirror my local performer, and an Elven Sorceress which was effectively my Fae Foundling in my BthW game.  To stop myself from just running the same characters with different names in a different setting, if I swapped things around I would come at character creation from a different perspective and make a more interesting character selection, focus more on druids for DnD, and a little more diverse selection for BthW.

And that brings me to threats,  There is no reason why I could not use threats in a Bay of Spirits campaign but it would have meant either altering the ability scores of my five existing characters which I felt uncomfortable doing, or creating some new characters anyway.   On top of that, I felt I could integrate the threat packs I wanted to use in a brand new, built up from the bottom campaign easier than in a ready made campaign like Bay of Spirits. I would also be able to run my BthW game in the way it is designed to be played, creating the setting as the characters are created.

(Note: the section in Further Afield dealing with threats states that if you introduce threats into an existing campaign you simply ignore the roll which would change the characters ability scores).

Before I start to create new characters and the campaign world, I need to decided which Threats I will use in the campaign.  There are 4 threats in the Further Afield book and further threat packs in some of the supplements, I chose three, 
    a:  the Risen Dead threat from Across the Vail supplement booklet.
    b:  the Grey Prince from Further Afield.
    c:  the Imperial City from Further Afield.

Choosing three threat packs is not recommended but if the campaign starts in autumn or winter then the Imperial City threat will be dormant for the first 3 to 6 months and I have this idea of the Imperial City in the south coming into conflict with the rulers of the lands to the north, the characters home village being on the border it will see plenty of unwanted visits from outriders and soldiers of both sides.

With the threat packs chosen I can now begin to think about my characters and which playbooks I will be using.  I am going to make 6 characters, I may not use them all at first but, as happened in my first BthW game, it possible that the solo system I use may force me to introduce a new character to the game, and if I have them pre-rolled with a connection to each other it should be easier to fit them in to the adventure.  

The playbooks I plan to use are
    - The nobleman's wild daughter (this means there will be a castle somewhere near the village).
    - The elven ranger (there are elves, dwarves and other fae in our setting)
    - The knightless squire (second character from the castle and a good fighter for the group)
    - The self taught mage (every party needs a magic user) 
    - The adventurous tradesman (because he starts with a cart and a mule)  
    - The local performer (because I like bards)

In my next post I will set about creating the characters

Update - 15/09/21 - The PDF for Flatland Games 'Through Sunken Lands RPG was discounted on drivethroughRPG and I could not resist,  it comes with details of Jundarr the Impossible city and brief notes on the rest of the sunken lands, so my plans have now changed a little, and for now I am going to play a few swords and sorcery style games using the rules and setting contained in that RPG along with Further Afield.  I may then look again at what to do with the Bay of Spirits.  Yes I am fickle.

First, I as the oracle if everything is as it should be, Roll on d20 = 14, roll on d6 = 1, so that is a 'Yes'.
I ask the Oracle if Baroness Pompadour knows who the abductor is.  Roll on d 20 = 20, roll on d 6 = 1, a straight 'Yes'
I decide to randomly roll to see who the Baroness thinks has abducted the Baron, a roll on d8 = 4 and that turns out to be the Touchy Shopkeeper who I have already decided to be the tavern owner.
I ask the Oracle if the Baroness knows why the Tavern owner would wish to murder the Baron, roll on d 20 = 11, d6 = 4, so a 'Yes (apparently)"
I generate two random verbs to give ne some clue as to why and get 'thaw' and 'admit'.  
I ask the Oracle if the Baron owns the Tavern, roll d20= 1, roll d6 =6, so a 'No' and +1 intervention point (now +2 intervention).
I ask the Oracle if the bar tavern owner owes the Baron money, roll d20 = 3, roll d6 =1 so a straight 'No'.
I ask the Oracle if Baroness Pompadour has received any ransom demands, roll d20 = '9', roll d6 = '3' so we get a 'No (While)'
I roll on the Emotion table in Zanthum and roll on d20 = 4, thats 'fear'.
I try and make sense of all these die roll.

I ask the Oracle if Baroness Pompadour will tell us who the man was, roll on d20 = 10, roll on d6 =1, so a flat No.
I ask the Oracle if the Baroness admits she was there and rolld20 =1, d6=5 so a 'No (on the contrary)

I ask the oracle if the two ruffians are able or willing to say more, roll d20 = 13, d 6 =4, so a 'Yes(but)
I ask the oracle if the two ruffians know who it was asked them to guard the chateau roll d 20 = 19, d 6 = 3 so a 'Yes (and)'
I ask the oracle if it was the tavern owner, roll d20=11, d6 = 4, so a 'Yes (apparently).

I am not sure how to handle chases but I decided a dexterity roll will work, if they roll under their dexterity then they have a chance of catching the woman, if she rolls under her dex (which is 10), she has a chance to get away.
The tavern owner dex 10 rolls 8 on d 20, so 2 under.
Guilaume dex 11, rolls 13 on d20, to slow to catch her
Rosalie dex 17 rolls 15 on d20, 2 under so she keeps up with the woman but not able to catch her yet.
Elaine dex 14, rolls 5 and Artos dex 15 rolls 4, both well under their rating, the both catch and hold the tavern owner.

I ask the oracle if there is anyone else in the tavern, roll d20 = 15, d6 = 1 so a straight 'Yes'
I ask the oracle if it is locals in the bar, roll d20 = 6, d6 =2, so 'No(in order to)'
I as if the Baron is in the tavern, roll d20=10, d6= 2, so 'No (apparently)
I ask if its the woman's son, roll d20=1, No and as this is the third roll I ignore anything in the brackets.
I roll d8 on my list of NPC's to see who is in the tavern and get a 5, that the ;Sinful Hitman'.