Sarah Darkmagic's blog

Yesterday on Twitter I mentioned that I was trying to think up a good adventure idea for a downloadable delve. Rob Donoghue suggested using a lumber mill as a backdrop. Loving a good challenge, I decided to give it a shot. Here is my rough draft of such an adventure. I created it in less than 24 hours so there are still some rough edges. I still have to create maps, but basically, it's just a series of interconnected rooms, probably about 10 by 10 squares and a conveyor belt moving through the middle of them. Movement between the rooms can be through the conveyor belt or through doors.

Hook:

The PCs are returning to town when they come upon two huddled figures limping along the road. When they get closer, the group notices they are two teenagers, badly beaten. The youngsters tell their tale of woe. They and the some other village children were collecting firewood in the town wood when they came upon a group of gnomes cutting down trees. The gnomes noticed them before they could escape and beat the two teenagers and left them for dead. They took the rest of the children, probably for ransom or sale to slavers.

The teenagers give clear instructions to the location of the crime and, from there, the PCs are able to follow the trail without problem. It leads to a lumber mill. The PCs' experience tells them it might be easier to enter through the back, rather than try a frontal assault.

Encounter 1: Up the Conveyor

Encounter Level 1 (500 XP)

1 Bucking Saws
3 Gnome Debarkers

Setup
The first step of the manufacturing process is to remove the bark from the tree trunks and cut them into manageable sizes (bucking). This room is set up to do that, with gnomes specially trained to debark the trees and machinery hung from the ceiling to do the cuts.

When the PCs enter the room
They surprise the gnomes while they were taking a break. The gnome closest to the control panel will try to turn it on.

Tactics
The gnomes will try to engage anyone who gets near the panel.

Features of the Area:
Illumination: Brightly lit
Conveyor Belt: Creatures on the conveyor belt get 1 extra movement in the direction the belt is moving. If moving against the belt, treat it as difficult terrain. It takes an Athletics/Acrobatics check (DC 5) to get on or off the conveyor.

Encounter 2: Blades of Doom

Encounter Level 2 (625 XP)

Setup
Gnome "Saw Master"
12 Flying Buzz Saws

Rather than the normal machinery one would expect in a lumber mill, the hard work of crafting lumber from chunks of tree is done by a gnome and his mind controlled saws. He leers at the party and figures his saws will be just as good at cutting them up.

Tactics
The Saw Master will mark 2 of the PCs to start and have his blades annoy those members of the party. From there, he will attempt to provide them with combat advantage where ever possible, using his blinding pain power as soon as possible.

Features of the Area:
Illumination: Bright light.

Encounter 3: Meet the Foreman

Encounter Level 3 (800 XP)

Setup
Lumberyard Foreman
2 Gnome Finishers
1 Guard Dog
2 Lumber Piles

The missing children are in this room, being hassled by the gnome foreman and his dogs. As soon as they see the party enter, the finishers climb on top of the lumber pile. The foreman is not above bargaining with the PCs but he is very confident in his abilities (with good reason) so his initial offers will be quite high.

The lumber pile traps easily can be used against the PCs or against the finishers. The finishers like their perches, however, so will wait before using them. The guard dog is very loyal to the foreman but not the finishers.

Features of the Area:
Illumination: Brightly lit.

During the recent discussion over pregens, some people asked if I would create some to share. While I'm not sure my characters would appeal to everyone, I decided to try my hand at creating a couple. Here are my first two. One thing to note, sources such as the Player's Strategy Guide suggest setting ability scores in a more optimized manner, but I like to use the standard array. Overall, I tend to be much more in favor of story than crunch, but if there is a glaring weakness, feel free to point it out. I spend much more time DMing than playing, so my character creation skills aren't always as strong as they should be.

I created these two characters to fit into the adventure, The Slaying Stone, by Logan Bonner. They fill two of the backgrounds Logan provided in the adventure.

Meredith Greenhall

Race: Human
Class: Fighter (Battlerager)
Age: 18
Background: Citizen of Kiris Dahn
Ability Scores: Str 18, Con 14, Dex 12, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 10
Fighter Talent: Battlerager Vigor
Combat Superiority
Skills: Dungeoneering, Athletics, Intimidate, Streetwise
Languages: Common, Goblin
Feats: Against All Odds, Toughness
At Will: Brash Strike, Crushing Surge, Threatening Rush
Encounter: Passing Attack
Daily: Comeback Strike
Rituals: Gentle Repose, Brew Potion
Equipment: Adventurer's Kit, Chainmail, Mace, Hand Crossbow, Heavy Shield

At one time, Meredith's family was amongst the proudest of Kiris Dahn. A long line of fighters, most of the town's guard had her family's blood in their veins. But the family's fortunes mirrored those of the town, and when they were forced to flee 8 years ago, the they lost what little wealth they had left. Recently, old family letters were found that describe a favored hiding place of her great-great-great-grandfather and her family believes some long forgotten treasures may be stashed there. She's been looking for a reason to get back at the goblins that forced her family to flee, and if she can search the house, all the better.

Raised on tales of her family's honor in combat, she has more trust in her mace than her words. She will often throw herself in the middle of the fray, her confidence buoyed the more she is surrounded. She was raised to continue in the family tradition and is well versed in basic combat and guard duties. However, she feels the need to prove her worth as well as that of her families, and will get herself in trouble with her brashness.

Lillian Moonbow

Race: Half-Elf
Class: Cleric (Devoted) (Sehanine)
Age: 22
Background: Redeemer of the Desecrated
Ability Scores: Str 12, Con 13, Dex 13, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 16
Channel Divinity: Healer's Lore
Skills: Diplomacy, Heal, History, Religion
Languages: Common, Elven, Giant
Feats: Ritual Caster, Holy Dilettante
At Will: Lance of Faith, Sonnlinor's Hammer
Encounter: Divine Glow, Divine Fortune, Healer's Mercy, Psionic Shield
Daily: Shield of the Gods
Rituals: Gentle Repose, Brew Potion
Equipment: Adventurer's Kit, Ritual Book, Chainmail, Quarterstaff, Holy Symbol

For her entire life, Lillian's dreams have been a blessing and a curse. Given the gift of prognostication through her dreams, many of her classmates and neighbors grew jealous of her power especially when she refused to clearly align herself with good. When her father won the annual hunting contest for the fifth year in a row, they refused to award him the prize, claiming she must have told him the location of the prize-winning buck. She ran away from the judge's stand, and curled up in an alley, her eyes full of tears of shame and anger.

In that alley is where the two members of the Dream Seekers found her. They told her that her ability was a gift from Sehanine and invited her to join their order. Sensing that the situation in town was impossible, her parents gave her their blessings and she entered into training as a cleric. Her final test, before she is accepted fully into the order, is to reconsecrate a shrine of Sehanine. She heard that there is one in Kiris Dahn. In the end, she cares not who owns the shrine, only that it is purified. She cares greatly for her companions, but the greater questions of good versus evil mean little to her. Rather, she seeks the balance of all things and accepts that brings great joy as well as great loss.
Heav

As someone who blogs about RPGs, especially from a new person's perspective, I constantly feel like I'm navigating a minefield without a map. Like any industry, it's filled with its own language, customs and tribes. If you have any opinion at all, you're likely to upset someone.

So what does this have to do with volume 3 of the Kobold Guide to Game Design? Like the other volumes in the series, this one helps to demystify certain dark elements of the game design world, the parts that create the wall between the producer and the consumer. For this reason alone, the series is an important read for anyone who wishes to participate in the discussion of game design.

A few sections of this volume really stand out for me though. In particular, I loved the section on Collaboration and Design. Wolfgang Baur takes on the tricky issue of ego in game design. Ego is necessary to design worlds and games. Without it, we couldn't create and put forth our ideas; we couldn't be gods in our lands. The tricky bit is acknowledging that and knowing how and when to turn it off. For collaboration, learning that skill is a necessity.

Another great section is the Gamers' Social Contract on p. 67. The whole chapter, Myths and Realities of Game Balance, is quite good, but every player and GM should read that section. No amount of rules or guidelines can create a balanced game the way a trusting group can. It's a position I've been advocating since I started playing, but I could never put it as well as Monte Cook.

As with the previous volumes, I learned a lot about the industry by reading this work and they have made me a better DM. I highly suggest it to everyone out there with even an inkling of desire to participate in the industry, whether actively designing or joining the conversation.

This is going to be the first post in a blog carnival. The rules are simple:

1. Your post must be on topic.

2. The first person in the list of bloggers who are participating who replies to each post will be responsible for writing the next piece. (Don’t reply if you are not ready to write it with in the next 24 hours.)

3. You must add a link to all of the previous authors carnival posts at the end of your post.

4. No name calling.

As a DM, I don't like the restriction that creatures above the level of the PCs can't exist or be known to players and PCs alike. It stretches the imagination and story beyond reasonable breaking points. What happens as they level, do the appropriate monsters just spring into existence when necessary, with no history or connection with the current location? How do players and their PCs set goals, experience the bitterness of defeat and the joys of a hard-fought and unassured victory?

On the other hand, I know that as soon as many players hear about a big bad guy, they want to go after him. To quote Jim Darkmagic, "Can I roll to kill Irontooth?" Some players are going to be drawn to the creature, regardless of the likelihood of success, and are going to be frustrated if they can't defeat it.

So what does this mean for our worlds? The answer is that we have to change our definitions victory and defeat. For many of us, the iconic victory is one of defeat in battle, the blood of our enemy upon our sword, the triumphant final blow that tells the world that we are the winners. After all, that is the heroic way, right?

While the decisive victory can be exciting, if it comes too easily, the satisfaction is short-lived. Besides, some players enjoy a good bit of intrigue as much as a hard-fought battle. Perhaps the beloved nephew of the big bad guy just joined the lower ranks and the PCs hear about his location and can kidnap him. Maybe the PCs learn of a nearby brigand weapons cache and steal the goods and lay waste to the plans of a surprise attack. Through these story lines, the PCs can win smaller victories against their enemy and make him weaker as they get stronger.

So, fill your world with monsters of all levels, don't hide them from the players, but be sure they have plenty of level-appropriate victory conditions. Acknowledge that they will transfix on whatever you tell them, so be clear when something might be above their heads and give them the tools that will lead to success down the road. Not only will your stories seem richer, the satisfaction of the win will be longer lasting.

Posts related to this Blog Carnival.
never fear! sandbox vs. safety rails.
Phelanar’s Den
The Daily Encounter
Dkarr
Adam Dray

As a DM, I use the Monster Builder quite a bit, for everything from searching for the perfect beasties to put into my encounter to changing a monster's level. In the past, I've been frustrated by the lack of information and guidance on how to use the tool. Heck, it took me awhile to figure out how to add the powers from one monster to another. I figured I couldn't be the only person frustrated and some of my recent conversations confirmed my suspicions. So I decided to fill that void and my unofficial Monster Builder Manual is the result.

I'll admit, it could use some more work. However, I also wanted to get the information out sooner rather than later. So feel free to give it a read and let me know what you think. I'd also like thank some of the people who helped provide support, review and editing assistance during the project.

• Samuel Dillon
• Jeff Greiner
• Randall Walker
• Mike Shea
• Marcel Beaudoin
• Mark Knapik

My hope is to keep this updated whenever changes are made to the Monster Builder and to add more guidance about the art of monster creation. Maybe, if this gets good enough, we can convince Wizards of the Coast to host this, or something like it, in a more centralized location where everyone can easily find it.