Play report nightwell Barony session 2

Jumped back in last night.  The plan was to shoot for Friday evenings, however since we all work in retail this Friday will be hard.

The players left off at the town, getting prepped to leave for the old city ruins south of the village. They quickly made it to the small bridge over the river.   The bridge was wide enough for a wagon to travel over it. It also looked well used.

They noticed a skeletal hand protruding from the waters edge, and went down to investigate. 

A giant crab and its kin were close by, and the players attempted to run up the river bank. One of which slide down into the mud. 

They managed to intimidate the crab enough to investigate the hand. There they found a body weighed down by a sack of lead. In a bag was a potion, and some silver pieces. 

They head out from the bridge and keep going towards the city.  As time goes on the wander towards the city thru tall brush, and a well used trail.  Eventually they come across a wagon.  The players attempt to sneak up, and get hit in the head with a rock.  2 goblins are also investigating the wagon, and have claimed it as their own.  The goblins speak very limited common, mostly one word answers.  Things come to a head very quickly and one of the goblins screams BREE YARK!   

The players decimate the goblins in no time and move towards the wagon.  There they find 3 barrels, 1 with black grog ale in it, and the other 2 with hops.  They also notice that the ground is very trampled and not with goblin footprints, but human.  

In the mud they found a note: 

G. 

The scouts have seen a caravan skirting the edge of the city.  Keep you're eyes peel and intercept. 

B.C. 

The pcs decide to take the wagon back to town and sell off the kegs to the bartender Isaiah. On the way back to town they found a strange grove of trees, that wasn't there the last time they passed this way.  There are 5 large boulders covered in runes.  They realize quickly that they can sleep here and be protected.  Its a weird magical grove.  When they wake up in the morning, they find that their weapons have been silvered as they slept, they weigh less somehow and have magical properties (+1).  Written in the side of a tree is a magical spell, which the halfling wizard quickly copies into his spell book. 

(I know I'm giving them too much treasure....what are you gonna do! it's 5e and they don't get XP for treasure anyways).  

Just before they are about to leave for town, a small rock rolls up to them with the following scrawled on it. 

"ned halp!" 

They look up to see 6 very small goblins.  The goblins plead for help, their princess has been kidnapped by a giant spider! The warriors of the group had been killed (the wagon guys) and they can't save her by themselves. 

The PCs opt to head back to town.   

And that is where we left off. 

Play report nightwell Barony session 1

 That was a lot of fun! I had a bit of anxiety as I haven't run a game in a long while. And I haven't ran 5e in years. Seems like everyone had a wonderful time. We ended up playing for a bit 3 hours, which is just on the cusp for my brain.

The PC's came to the village of long tooth, because their cousins aunts ex brother in law needed some help with his mill. (hopefully you catch that joke!) 

Apparently the 2 halflings were from the town of "anywhere else", which I'm going to incorporate into the setting.  They notice a wanted poster in town, looking for galrick. Inquire with the guard captain. 

After having a nice supper with their cousin at his mill, he told them about his apprentice who is wanted for being part of a local gang. The gang has been causing havoc with the local merchant caravans. The cousin Andre believes that his apprentice may be caught up in something. Possibly not by his choice. 

They wander off to the one and only tavern for lunch the next day. The town is super quiet. They meet up with some farmers who have been having trouble with wolves and goats going missing. 

The bartender claims he is almost out of ale due to missing his shipment of hops. He hopes the PC's can find him some. 

Upon leaving the tavern in search of the captain of the guard, they find a weird scene. 3 villagers are attempting to get the one horse in the town into a stable but it won't budge. It's scared. 

A shadow flies over the players, a giant bat comes into view zooming towards the horse. 

A fight breaks out. During the fight the PC's see the captain of the guard show up. He's overweight and out of breath. He leans against a pole. 

They finally kill the giant bat and meet with Elgin, he talks about the fugitive and how he wants to torture and jail him. They realize quickly that this guy is useless. 

The PC's decide to check out the farm and figure out the wolf issue. Speaking with the farmer they quickly realized that the farmer doesn't know how to count. One day he has 20 goats, next day 5, next day 46.  

After some investigation, they find a trail. It is however a goat trail. Which is odd. 

They find a small goat in a burrow, it slowly changes into a wolf cub. What is weird is that it has the exact same eyes as one of the halflings child hood pets, a goat. As he as always wanted a familiar, this seemed more appropriate than a wolf battle. 

We left off having met with the Donald Sutherland Esq mayor who promised to pay the PC's for the capture of the fugitive. 

First adventure for the nightwell barony

 I just completed the first adventure for the nightwell Barony.  I've been posting about the barony a bit here. I have one last encounter I have to write, but I figure I have enough for a few sessions. Friday night I'll be running it on hangouts and roll dice with friends.

It's been a long time since I ran a game and even longer since I ran 5e. The good news is it's actually quite an easy game to run. I'm just using the basic rules (as I've given away my phb and dmg to my nephew). 

I managed to find a downloadable homebrew dm screen.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/2j5qlg/final_version_of_my_5e_dm_screenplayer_cheat_sheet/

It's a bit busy but works. 

I sent over my initial draft to a friend. He gave me a bunch of suggestions for it, which I incorporated.  This will likely get released in some kind of a format at some point. 

This morning I'm going to spend some time working on a small town map, with some help from YouTube. 

I'll post up a play report sometime this weekend. And maybe a screen grab of the village. 

20 Questions about the Nighwell Barony

I do find the 20 Questions by Jeff Rients invaluable for world building and helping to cement ideas in my head. I haven`t quite decided if this is something to share with the players. Part of me says yes, and part of me says no. I`ve thought about the idea of letting this world grow as it`s played in. Writing these answers out cements somethings that could change. So letting that out into the wild isn`t the best idea right away.

Whatever the case, here is what I`ve got. Thanks Jeff

http://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/04/twenty-quick-questions-for-your.html

What is the deal with my cleric's religion?

There are 5 Demigods who make up the religious pantheon.  None of them are named at this current time.  The actual Gods died long ago during the apocalypse.  The Demigods do from time to time meddle in the affairs of Non Immortals.  There isn’t any real organized religion in the land, most people believe in fate. 

Where can we go to buy standard equipment?

Most towns and villages have small general stores.  Depending on how far they are away from Port Nightwell the prices can be a bit higher on most items. 

Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?

Find a dwarf. 

Who is the mightiest wizard in the land? 

This is a bit of a bone of contention.  There are at least 6 very skilled magic users living throughout the barony.  On rare occasions they duel (usually because one of them wants to try out a new spell).  As is typical, wizards tend to stray away from large centres and live in moldy towers filled with books.  I’d find one of those. 

Who is the greatest warrior in the land? 

Once again, there are many.  The most famous is Commander Grill, the leader of the barons army.  She is famous for her reflexes and her sword “Black Orchid”.  

Who is the richest person in the land? 

Some would think that it is the baron, unfortunately that is not the case.  The black boss as he is known is the richest person in the land.  He runs many criminal organizations.  He has never been seen, and some believe that he is just a figment of the imagination.  

Where can we go to get some magical healing? 

Elves, Gnomes, wayshrines of the Demigods, Cults, Priests of the five.  Most small towns do not have any real magical healers, although sometimes you can get lucky.  

Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?

See above. 

Is there a magic guild my magic user belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?

There is a guild of the ``higher order of magical research, technology and cross stitching`` in Port Nightwell. 

Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?

Generally speaking port nightwell for most of these.  However on occasion you can find these speciality NPCs out in the wild or living in a small town. 

Where can I hire mercenaries?

Real mercenaries?  Port Nightwell.  Alternatively you can bribe a gang of thieves and bridgands, or hire some farmers and give em pitchforks. 

Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?

In the smaller villages like longtooth and stonewall magic isn’t outlawed but looked upon with disbelief and superstition.  As well when a magic user casts a spell in a small town they are inundated with requests to fix warts on toes, broken limbs, tell the future, etc.  It can be rather annoying.  

Walking around port nightwell brandishing any weapon visible is looked upon as bad form, as well wearing armour will usually cause citizens to ridicule the wearer.  “Hey Tinman! Need some oil for yer joints!” 

It is illegal to wear black on the weekend in most parts of the barony.  If caught it is a 5 SP fine.  

Which way to the nearest tavern?

The Wicked Wench in Longtooth 

Drowned Rat in Stonewall 

Balding MInotaur in Port Nightwell

What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?

There's so many.  Gral the berzerker is the first that comes to mind, he's the last of the giants and lives in the Greyridge peaks. 

 

Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?

Not as of yet, but there are always forces considering taking Port Nightwell and the rest of the barony. 

How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?

Yes! There`s an arena in Port NIghtwell.  There's also hamster races in the Halfing village of Stonewall. 

Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?

Assassins guild in Port Nightwell, The Black Bosses thieves guild...err ``collection of well meaning upstanding bakeries and trinket market stalls``.  There is also a group of elves that feel the humans have grown to far, and they have been trying to upset the power struggles within the barony, regardless of how the upstanding elves feel about it.  

What is there to eat around here?

The salted pork is particularly excellent. 

Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?

The lost book of Narlharner, detailing the accounts of the world pre-apocalypse.  The throne of the great beard (A famous dwarven king), The sword of the lifestealer, fabled demonic sword lost during the apocalypse. 

Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure?

Legends say that a black dragon lives within the muck marsh.

So very freeing

 I started working on the first adventure for the "Nightwell Barony" last night.  It is very much an event based adventure (ie a railroad).  I'm writing it for fifth edition, but it will be easily convertible to an old school adventure. Mostly because I'm an old school dude.  I've realized latetly (which I've realized before) that to attempt to sit and write something for mass consumption is a bad idea.  It's like sitting down with a guitar and saying "alright I'm going to write a hit song".  It's not going to happen.  

see this:  http://3toadstools.blogspot.com/2016/12/publish-or-perish-syndrome.html

I've had far too many "bright ideas" over the years, that I've posted about on this blog.  I get going on them, and then get a new idea, and start that.  And the cycle continues.  In some cases this is because of the hit song analogy, or I see a void that could be filled.  That and the fact that I have terrible ADHD.

What I've come to the conclusion is that I'm really in this hobby as a hobby.  Last night I spent about an hour and a half with my old laptop, no distractions and a pile of nerd books covering the couch as I wrote.  It was in a word, glorious.  I've got most of the one shot adventure written (with no maps yet).  I'm hoping to have it completed on Wednesday and run a game in the next week or so.  I'm excited, I'm writing and its a lot of fun.  The words flowed really well! 

Nightwell is my version of fantasy, which is a mashup of all the fantasy I've read (including all of the OSR modules, 2nd edition etc).  It's not tolkien, but there's bits of that in there, same with greyhawk, etc.  It's inspired by the basic rules for 5e, and all of the other basic rules for osr games.  Most specifically the monster section, I threw in some dinosaurs, cuz why not!  Sure there's a lot of the "usual"troupes as far as races are concerned (grumpy dwarves, wise elves, hungry halflings etc)  I mean if it ain't broke? But it's mine and the players to decide on what happens. 

I started working on a players guide to the barony, which will become a living document.  One thing I'm not going to do is write too much.  I'd like the players to help create it.  I've decided for example that there are 5 demigods.  The actual gods have either been destroyed or lost in the void.  I'm not going to name these demigods.  I'll wait for the players to come up with something.  

If you haven't guessed it by reading this, the whole damn post is ADHD! 

Long story short, I felt like I accomplished something last night.  And the reason was that I was doing it for myself and my players.  Not for some fictitious gamer who may or may not run an adventure or world that I create.  And I feel amazing. 

If you would like to read the beginnings of this railroad, it's right here: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hX00-nHfS9IqcOT-Hk-NsafGB3YerBL7dR2TFCOfj9Q/edit?usp=sharing

*It seems that there's been a mass exodus from facebook to Mewe.  And I just decided to take a break from both.  I'll likely jump back on mewe at some point.  That being said I'm here rambling if you miss me.  

I better get my butt in gear and go to work! 

Repost the vanishing tower

 http://vanishingtower.blogspot.com/2020/08/using-1e-adnd-modules-in-your-own-game.html 

I really like the idea of using what you can, throwing out what you don't need. I've been working on a one shot lately using a Goodman games module, possibly adding a few other adventures as it goes. Also the idea of letting your players help world build is great. I started writing up a players guide and then decided against it. I'll let it come out naturally.

An example is that I'd like to have demi God's rather than actual Gods in the setting. Rather come up with silly names I'm just going to say there are 9 demi God's. Let the players fill in the blanks. Especially since this is a one shot, theres no point getting into way to much background info. That said, my gm brain is thinking long term just in case! 

Should be fun! 

Step thru the portal

Figured out how to do a fantasy SciFi game last night. First session starts off with a very mediveal setting and basic adventure. At some point the PC's find a very weird portal in the dungeon. They get transported to a new world.

When the PC's finally wake up, they are on a beach with strange trees. 

Making their way to North they stumble upon a village of aliens. The aliens have rudimentary tools, and appear to be a bit lower intelligence. They use large creatures for work. The creatures are a cross between a moth and a cow. 

The adventure area is a overgrown swamp, there's ruined cities, villages and strange flora and fauna. Along with large cracks in the earth. 

Encounters are just as weird. Animals the PC's have never seen before. 

Maybe there is a way home.... 

In the meantime welcome to the Isle of dread. 

Yup that's right.

With a few tweaks you can create an alien world using the Isle as a backbone. The rakasta can be similar to the Martians in John carter. Descriptions of the dinosaurs can be changed easily. You can throw in giant mushrooms if you like. Whatever works. 

It's funny how as soon as you get rid of something...

 I lent my 5e books to my nephew as he's currently writing a campaign for his buddies. It's based around the last Airbender with custom monk classes. He's been playing for a while now with his friends. I introduced him to swords and wizardry a year or so ago, playing some Isle of dread.

Since I wasn't really running anything, and wasn't really running 5e I figured he could use them for a bit. From what I gather he's currently at home awaiting results from a covid test. Hopefully everything is fine. Good news is he has a pile of reading and creating to do! 

I've really been loosing my d&d steam lately. I think the anecdote is to run a game. A few of the boys at work want to play a bit. So I should probably just rip that band aid off and start working on silly voices eh? 

I've been a big fan of the basic rules for 5e since I read them. Mostly because I like a few less rules and options. As well since that's all I have now, because I divested myself of the other books, that's probably what I'll use. When I've played as a character I've only used them. Despite other players looking at my odd! 

I have 4 of the Goodman games fifth edition adventures, which are cool and open ended setting wise. I'm going to reread them. I'm sure there's a way to put them all together somehow. 

I'll just have to create a few backup NPCs to fill out the ranks. 

Here's the download for the rules. 

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules

Here's the Goodman games stuff. 

https://goodman-games.com/store/product-category/fifth-edition-fantasy/

And I know... I'm an old school guy. Forgive me for this one lol.