I. The Adventure Party
Here is my very first party, consisting of three PCs:
PC #1
CUT, human male fighter (Argosan, hunter, sassy), age 20.
STR 17 DEX 15 CON 15 INT 11 PER 14 WIL 12 CHA 11 INIT 13
Skills & Abilities: leadership, athletics, stealth, detection, wilderness lore, traps & locks, adaptable, ranged, protector, expert guard, deadly strike
PC #2
BULFIN, half-skorn male barbarian (organlegger, withdrawn), age 21.
STR 13 DEX 12 CON 17 INT 9 PER 12 WIL 11 CHA 8 INIT 10
Skills & Abilities: leadership, athletics, acrobatics, wilderness lore, watercraft, ferocious rage, wild born, apothecary
PC #3
SULANI, human female artificer (Argosan, street acrobat, sly), age 26.
STR 13 DEX 15 CON 11 INT 16 PER 10 WIL 10 CHA 12 INIT 15
Skills & Abilities: acrobatics, apothecary, general lore, deception, stealth, divine lore, alchemy & machanica
Party bonds:
"Saved people from fire" (Sulani & Cut)
One day Sulani's workshop bursted into flame during a dangerous experiment. The fire quickly spread to the houses and shops nearby in the small town. Cut, a sword for hire, went by and helped Sulani save the residents there. Now without her workshop and being hard pressed to compensate the locals, Sulani decided to escape the town and joined Cut to look for new means of livelihood, not excluding adventures.
"Sailing" (Cut & Bulfin)
Travelling around Lake Argosa looking for jobs, Cut came across the lone, quiet half-skorn Bulfin at a roadstead. Cut was impressed by Bulfin's knowledge of watercraft and healing skills and thus invited the barbarian to join him to look for adventures.
II. The Starting Location (using the outpost generator in The Midlands, p.112):
My campaign began in Westguard, a recently established outpost around 40 miles (6 hexes) upstream of Throbbing Rill (the major river to the south of the Low Plains).
Outpost: Westguard
Size: 300 people
Age: 6 years
Primary objective: A temporary "neutral ground" of trading opportunity with otherwise hostile thuel. [iv]
Overseer: "Greedy" Grindle (ranger, very scruffy [1] [4])
Patron: A wealthy private researcher [5]
Guards: 60 (20%)
Buildings: meeting hall, general store, barracks, blacksmith, rations store, hunters & growers market , domiciles, buildings & employees for trading
Additional goods/services: weaver, texiles [6], apothecary, herbalist [19], bard [20]
Gear availability: generally one rarity category higher than normal (M, p. 42)
III. Three Initial Adventure Hooks
Note: I come up with three starting adventure hooks. Instead of generating the notice board ad type of rumours, I want the hooks to be more engaging and contain certain temporal elements (recent, on the spot, latent).
Hook #1: Recent (a complication in the outpost, from M, p. 114):
[16] The overseer mercifully agreed to house remnants of a local thuel clan, the Stone Jaws, after they were recently massacred by hostiles (other thuel, skorn, etc). The survivors, mostly women and children, are living in a tent encampment in one corner. The whole outpost is distrustful, on edge, and uncertain as to what will happen next.
Thoughts: The Stone Jaws clan used to be a major trading partner with the outpost. After the massacre, the refugees had no choice but fleed downstream to Westguard as the last resort. Greedy Grindle was willing to host them temporarily, but demanded a (steep) price in return.
Questions: Who were behind the massacre, and why? Do we want to help out the Stone Jaws? Are there any (important) hostages? Can we strike a deal with Greedy Grindle to subsidize our expedition?
Hook #2: On the spot (upon the party's arrival, generated by the "City, Town, Village" random encounter table in ToA, p. 141)
[48] Execution A magistrate (= the overseer "Greedy Grindle" in our case) is presiding over an execution in the square. Three middle aged criminals are to be hanged. A small crowd has gathered. 3d6 guards are in attendance, along with the burly, hooded executioner. Consult the Bones to determine if there is a rescue attempt by related ne’er do wells.
Questions: Who are these criminals? What have they done? Are they trying to break free, or are there accomplices somewhere in the shadow? How about that hooded executioner? If the criminals manage to escape, shall we ask the overseer to commission us to pursue the runaways?
Hook #3: Latent (created by the Dungeon Generator in ToA, p. 218)
The dungeon is rumoured to be a lost buried city dominated by an Eye Terror (HD11-12!!).
Using a d12 scatter diagram, the dungeon is said to be located 6 hexes (~36 miles) away and 4 o'clock to the outpost (see the annotated map below).
The party heard the bard singing out loud a poem when walking to the central square:
Beneath the prairie, a city sleeps,
In tombs where ancient silence keeps.
Buried deep, its secret lies,
Guarded by an unseen eye.
Eye terror waits in shadowed halls,
Its gaze a curse that never falls.
Watching ruins cracked and old,
Where tales of death and gold are told.
Treasures gleam in chambers dark,
Jewels that spark a siren's spark.
But none who dare disturb the rest,
Escape the terrors deadly quest.
(Further details such as the size [possibly quite large], the objective, and the reward, are to be determined upon embarking on the quest.)
Questions: How much is what the bard sings about true? Is the bard singing this simply to inspire foolhardy heroes, or is it possible that Greedy Grindle (the overseer) pays him to do so (to recruit treasure hunters)? What does the location of the dungeon (a buried city sitting right at the mouth of the forest) tell us?
Continue on to Episode 2!
