For our first Tales of Lothmar module, Burials of Teganshire, we used a new printing tier. The printed book is 8.5” x 11”, and the printer uses a digital offset laser press on premium 70# paper. This was taken with my crappy cell-phone camera:
That’s just the technical, physical side. We use a graphics designer and layout artist to layout the book. Guthrie is also a fellow RPG player, so he knows what is what. He has expert stat blocks, and the Tales of Lothmar layout he designed pops the text on the PDF, but especially in the premium printing. Our physical Tales of Lothmar books are some of the best in the industry.
So, if you’ve been on the fence about PDF vs. Print, go both: you won’t be disappointed.
For those of you outside of the US, international shipping has gone cra-cra. We don’t have a non-US print agreement in place (yet), but we do upload our print files to DriveThru RPG, and they have worldwide distribution for Print on Demand. Our distributor also has a relationship with Amazon, so our books show up there, too. So, for our international fans, hang-tight. One day we will offer better international shipping options, but until then, a digital pledge still goes a long way.
I’m a big fan of magical items. At their core, they are more worthy and defining than (optional) feats and class powers. You can find magic items, kill for them, steal them, create them, trade them, and sell them.
Magical items can even be cursed, intelligent, malignant, or helpful.
For D&D (the Pathfinder variant, not so much), a DM can design a campaign that does not allow magical feats but has magical items that empower the PC with the feat’s power. If the player wants his character to have that power, they go on an adventure to obtain it. Especially in a sandbox campaign, these player-directed plot points add just that right roleplaying flair.
There can never be enough magic items in a DMs story-telling arsenal as long as the DM is not twinking out the players in some “I wish I were a player” wish fulfillment. Here are three that you can add to Fire on Claymore Woods or any other module.
True North
This +1 dagger is of dwarven manufacture (stamped with a small dwarven rune from its maker) but made for either an elf maiden or a human noblewoman. It is elegant and feminine in design and very sharp.
True North has an odd property for such a beautiful weapon. If spun on a flat surface, its blade will always point north when the dagger stops moving.
The Golden Pocket Stopwatch
The Golden Pocket Stopwatch is a fantastic bit of engineering and practicality. It has two hinged openings:
On one side is a watch that tells time in hours, minutes, and seconds. The adjustable dials on the sides of the watch can manipulate and change the hours and minutes.
If the other side is open, it reveals a stopwatch. Pressing one of the small dials will reset it, while another will start and stop it. It has an hour, minute, and second hands.
The magic imbued in the watch does two things. It makes it impervious to the elements (the watch even works underwater) and serves as the tiny power source. It needs no winding.
On the interior of one of the watch’s doors is a handsome, mustached man’s face engraving. The other door has an odd phrase in draconic: “Everything lost in time except my memories.”
The Weirding Mirror
The Weirding Mirror has a bad reputation, but not of its own making. It’s a pocket silver mirror and has the passive benefit of raising a PC’s Charisma attribute by 1.
If someone looks into the mirror, it activates and goes well beyond showing the wielder a reflection of themselves. It takes a week of carrying around the mirror to attune and activate its properties.
After a week, the reflection moves and speaks to the wielder (in the owner’s voice) of its own volition. It is a sophisticated psychic construct of sorts, able to hold an intelligent conversation, remember details of what someone told it, and an understanding of the current world.
The talking reflection has one goal: to dispense relationship advice. It will listen to the PC and offer advice, usually practical. It has a keen understanding of human nature and will try its very best to have the PC meet their relationship goals, gently guiding a PC into a long-term relationship.
And that’s all the mirror does. However, things frequently go wrong with the use of the mirror:
The reflection for other people is only a reflection. The independent speaking and movement happen in the wielder’s mind. Observers of someone using the mirror usually think the owner is talking to themselves. Thinking to the mirror doesn’t work; to communicate with it, the owner needs to speak aloud.
The mirror design facilitates human relationships in a feudal society. Outside of that context, it is unhelpful and will admit as much. All it can do is offer pithy advice (get a haircut, clean your robes, etc.).
The mirror will get angry if the PC uses the advice to “love and leave” a paramour. If the PC does this on several occasions, it causes the construct to malfunction. It will turn into a sociopath, and the only way to get back to normal is to give the mirror to someone else, which resets its magic. However, if the PC keeps following the sociopathic advice, their alignment will shift to Chaotic Evil.
While the mirror does improve the owner’s Charisma, it dispenses advice and nothing more. However, over the years, people have accused it of manipulating the object of the owner’s affections. Many people react negatively to being magically charmed, even if they technically were not. The mirror warns the owner of this but unfortunately hasn’t figured out that telling the owner to hide its properties makes it more suspicious, not less.
If broken, the mirror will not function, but a spell caster can quickly repair it with a simple cantrip or other low-level magic. The magical properties are associated with the mirror’s silver frame. An owner can replace the mirror glass at any time.
This is a story about Taco, the Fighter. Taco was the very first D&D PC I played. I was introduced to D&D in Jr. High this way:
“Yo, Anthony. Want to play D&D?”
“What’s D&D?”
“Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a game. You can play an elf, a dwarf, a halfling, or a human.”
“Oh, like Lord of the Rings!”
“Something like that.”
Off to the library we go, and we get a lecture from Karen, the Librarian, about the noise of dice on the table (solved by rolling dice on a large map book). The DM helps me make a character and says I should play a fighter. He briefly explains rolling dice and says that I can do anything I want, and he’s the Dungeon Master, which means he referees all the actions.
Something clicks in my brain. “You mean I can act out how my character does things? I don’t have to follow some rules? We can just do stuff?”
“Exactly.”
So, at this point, I’m only moderately confused, and the adventure starts. I’m watching the other two players do things, and it becomes clear what role-playing is. The other two are cautious and want to know what everything looks like and what they hear, and smell and the weather and and and THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVER. I still don’t see how we go from my character sheet to doing things, but in my mind, I picture exactly how everything looks.
Eventually, we find the Orc bandits, and the DM plays them as amused thugs. They challenge us on the trail. Give us your coin, and we will let you go. The other two are getting ready to attack.
“Hey, we can do what we want, right? Let’s talk to them and see if they’ll join our own gang. We could even offer to pay for them.”
“Yeah, right,” says one player.
“They are orcs,” says the other player.
“I go talk to the orcs,” I say.
“Sure,” says the DM. “You going to do it from there or walk up to them?”
Me: “I walk up to them!”
DM: “OK, you’re at the two orcs.”
Me: “Hey, uh, orcs. Do you…”
DM: “You have the coin, slug-skin?”
Me: “No, let’s…”
DM: “You hear rustling behind the trees next to the orcs. Roll initiative.”
Other Player: “Oh, man, a 1.”
DM to Me: “Longbow arrows come out of the woods at you!”
DM: Rolls dice.
DM: You get hit twice. You take 14 points of damage. You die with an arrow to your throat!”
At this point, I am sad because the other two are battling the orcs, and I died and didn’t, and then further sad as the other two (badly wounded) PCs get to loot the orcs and split it only two ways.
But I quickly rolled another fighter, called him Potato, and off we went. Potato lasted three encounters, but when he died, he had a will, and all of his stuff went to his brother Yogi. And I knew at that point D&D was the coolest game in the world.
How about you? How did you find out about D&D, and what was your first PC?
Choices and Consequences: which way will the PCs go, who will they support, and how far will they go to achieve victory?
Choices
In Fire on Claymore Woods, we present the PC with many choices, including making no choice at all. For example, do they help the villagers protect the village core and its chapel with the mysterious obelisk, or do they help the surrounding farmers protect their farms?
But that choice is only available if the PCs solicit a knight in defense of the village. The knight is concerned with his farms and tells the PCs the villagers can rebuild it. But the Burgermeister counters that the farms rely on the village, and without it, everything from obtaining supplies to surviving the winter will be difficult and potentially catastrophic.
PCs might not even know the farms need protection! The local knight is the only NPC with the strategic training and forethought to realize their enemy will try to draw them away from the village by setting fire to structures far enough to draw them away from the chapel.
If the PCs don’t talk to him, they might never know.
Where do they go now?
That’s a sample of the decisions the PCs must make. Once they defend the village (or not), they need to find the druids to talk to them or exact revenge. But the Claymore Woods are wild and dangerous, filled with threats, supernatural shenanigans, and wonders. There is no map of the woods, the PCs are on their own, and they will need to explore.
The direction they choose sets the stage, but the deeper they go into the woods, the more dangerous it gets. They’ll need to do more than make a few tracking rolls. They’ll have to start thinking like their adversaries. They’ll need to decide how sneaky to be, or if a good-old-fashioned “kill everything that moves” play is in order.
Consequences
We hope that gives you as a Game Master a sample of the adventure flavor in Fire on Claymore Woods. Like most Griffon Lore Game products, there are no easy answers, and those answers are usually not right or wrong. Indecisiveness is the best way to “lose” our modules, and the players always have the ultimate choice:
Bound accuracy is the D&D 5E concept in which the escalator ramp of bonuses caps out, thereby simplifying game attributes like armor class, attack bonuses, skill checks, what have you. It’s cool, I like it, and Pathfinder 1E doesn’t have it, and I don’t care. So, why bring it up?
Bound accuracy dramatically simplifies things for the player and DM. Still, it muddies the waters when it comes to designing 5E encounters because it places a significant burden on the DM for making things hard and challenging. Pathfinder 1E, with well-established escalation calculations, it does not suffer, for the most part, from this design burden.
But we can steal other concepts from 5E. We just need to be a mite bit careful because of that very lack of bound accuracy.
Recap: the Pathfinder 1E Action Economy Dominates Everything
Three conical sources explained the Pathfinder 1E action economy, available some time ago:
4. The game is built with the assumption that the PCs will win an encounter, and it isn’t until CR +4 that the encounter is a fair fight between the PCs and their opponents. We can prove this because placing a party against a Linear Guild party is always a CR +4 encounter.
5. The most effective way to design challenging encounters is to overwhelm the action economy in the antagonist’s favor. When the enemies have more actions than the PCs or the PCs’ actions are restricted, encounters are challenging.
Just like in 5E, the “Deadly” encounter CR (CR+4) is where the killing monsters portion of Pathfinder becomes fun.
Tweak the Pathfinder Action Economy for Your Villains with these 5E Mechanics
In Pathfinder, talking an Encounter from CR+4 to CR+5 can result in mass casualties at your game table due to the absence of bound accuracy (as noted above). But as the three articles by Alexander explain, challenging your PCs really starts with putting the antagonist ahead of the action economy curve. Using 5E Legendary, Lair, and Villain actions are a great way of maintaining the CR+4 encounter math and ramping up the difficulty.
As long as we avoid the pitfall of raising the CR with extra attacks.
Pitfall First
In Pathfinder, a CR+4 encounter probably has enough attacks to seriously damage a party. Adding additional attacks on initiative 20 (Lair actions), and after a PC (Legendary actions) can elevate the encounter beyond the CR+4 rule-of-thumb, more so than 5E. Depending on party class makeup, however, your PCs may be able to absorb that.
Add Legendary Actions to the Primary Monster
Either solo or with some buddies, Legendary Actions ramp-up the BBEG Action Economy:
At the end of another creature’s turn, a creature can use a legendary action. A creature with legendary actions has separate actions it can choose from. Each one costs a different amount of “actions.” Only one legendary action can be used at a time, and the creature cannot use legendary actions while incapacitated. The creature regains its legendary actions at the start of its next turn.
Legendary Actions Example
Here are some Legendary action examples that aren’t concerned with dealing a ton of damage. Every round, the BBEG gets 3 Legendary Actions:
Performs a swift action (Cost: 1)
Casts a cantrip (Cost: 1)
Move rated movement speed without provoking an attack of opportunity (Cost: 1)
Remove all detrimental conditions such as grappled, stunned, prone, etc. (Cost: 2)
All enemies within 15ft. are automatically pushed 15ft away from the Legendary creature (Cost: 3)
Target an enemy with a ranged attack without provoking an attack of opportunity (Cost: 1)
Webs fall from the ceiling in a 30ft. diameter area (Cost: 2)
Lair Actions occur on initiative count 20, (losing all ties). The monster can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row.
Lair Actions Example
Let’s use the lich from the 5E System Reference Document:
The lich rolls a d8 and regains a spell slot of that level or lower. If it has no spent spell slots of that level or lower, nothing happens.
The lich targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. A crackling cord of negative energy tethers the lich to the target. Whenever the lich takes damage, the target must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the lich takes half the damage (rounded down), and the target takes the remaining damage. This tether lasts until initiative count 20 on the next round or until the lich, or the target is no longer in the lich’s lair.
The lich calls forth the spirits of creatures that died in its lair. These apparitions materialize and attack one creature that the lich can see within 60 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, taking 52 (15d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a success. The apparitions then disappear.
We can modify that for Pathfinder 1E:
The lich rolls a d8 and regains a spent spell that level or lower. If it has no spent spell of that level or lower, nothing happens.
The lich targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. A crackling cord of negative energy tethers the lich to the target. Whenever the lich takes damage, the target must make a DC 20 Fortitude saving throw. On a failed save, the lich takes half the damage (rounded down), and the target takes the remaining damage. This tether lasts until initiative count 20 on the next round or until the lich, or the target is no longer in the lich’s lair.
The lich calls forth the spirits of creatures that died in its lair. These apparitions materialize and attack one creature that the lich can see within 60 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 20 Fortitude saving throw, taking 30 points of negative energy damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a success. The apparitions then disappear.
What’s a villain action, you might ask? Watch this video, and it explains all. I’ve seen Matt use it and I’ve also used it, and it rules. Literally!
Ahem, sorry. Rule of thumb: pretend the monster is only going to last three rounds. Design accordingly. While this video is 5E specific, the majority of it applies to any D20 D&D derivative, such as 3.5 and Pathfinder 1E.
Action Conclusion
In Pathfinder 1E, there are tons of monsters, tons of villains, tons of adventure modules, tons of just about anything a GM could ever want or need.
The mechanics of the action economy does not change with all of those resources. CR+4 is your gold standard, and consider Legendary, Lair, and Villain actions an easy way to add not just flair, but adds actions to keep ahead of the PCs’ action curve.
Here at Griffon Lore Games, we love us some random encounters. Set up ahead of time, the dice adds that element of “game world interjection” that can (and often is) better than a planned encounter or static location. In this post, you’ll find two helpful tables of random road encounter goodness.
DMs can use the random encounter ability to interject lore into their campaign without the Terrible Lore Infodump™. A handy framework would look like this:
Geographical regions have their own table segmented out by locations. For example, Overland in the Viscounty of Kandra,On the Imperial Road,The Road Between Terganshire and Tegan’s Bridge,
Random encounter tables should have a day and night version
Random encounter tables should have a normal version and a hard version
Triggering the Random Encounter
Use one of the unsung dice heroes from RPG land, the d12. Roll a d12 when:
The players are moving overland, or in a large city, from point A to point B
Players arrive at point B
Every four hours
Players do something that generates attention
Resist the temptation to fudge the roll. The entire worth of the random encounter is the D&D game’s ability to mix things up in exciting and unexpected ways.
An 11 triggers an encounter. A 12 triggers an encounter from a table modified for difficulty. Roll 2d10 to select the encounter.
Many of your random encounter tables should have simple entires. When the area is short on monsters (in a civilized land), a more robust table provides flair.
Random Encounter: On a Semi-Patrolled Road
The Empire paved the Old Imperial Road in the Viscounty of Kandra—and now the horse-lords maintain it least their commerce traffic drops, and they lose tax income. However, in the land of the horse-lords, merchants are responsible for their own safety. While men-at-arms formally patrol the road, they are there to deal with issues after-the-fact, not to intercept trouble for weak and lazy travelers.
Once an encounter triggers, replace it with a new one for the next session, with “nothing happens,” until you replace it.
The below tables, while set in the Kingdom of Lothmar, are mostly generic with lore that a DM can easily change to suit their setting. And note these are encounters on a road, not camping in the woods at night! Unless the PCs are camping right next to the road itself.
Semi-Patrolled Road: 1d12 with an 11 Result
2d10
Day
Night
2
A passing merchant from the opposite direction with a horse and two mules, flanked by a gnome guard riding a war dog
A camp-fire can be seen from a popular campsite, off the road, and on a bluff.
Camped there are a well-armed merchant and a competent guard—a gnome with a massive war dog. They’ll share a meal with friendly folk, but not their site
3
A letter courier, riding a swift horse, overtaking the party. He does not stop, but does wave.
A letter courier, riding a swift horse, from the opposite direction. He stops and trades road conditions and regional gossip before moving on
4
A cloud of mosquitos hovering over the road
A cloud of annoying mosquitos attracted to any light source
5
Four men and a watchful guard making a road repair
The road here was obviously recently repaired
6
Circling vultures off the road. Upon investigation, a grizzly bear is munching on the corpse of a deer
A grizzly bear wanders into camp but will leave if shooed away.
7
An odd and unexpected change in the weather
No change
8
An extensive merchant wagon train traveling in the same direction, complete with six guards
Off the road, a wagon train with six guards camps for the night
9
A patrol of six lancers and their sergeant. They ask if the PCs have seen any trouble on the road. If the PCs look like they are the trouble, they attempt to arrest the PCs and take them back to their lord for questioning
A patrol of six lancers and their sergeant. They ask if the PCs have seen any trouble on the road. If the PCs look like they are the trouble, they attempt to arrest the PCs and take them back to their lord for questioning.
If the PCs are friendly or indifferent, the patrol offers to camp with them, and share the elk they shot earlier
10
A local lord with his twenty men-at-arms, armored and armed to the teeth and all on horseback. If the PCs are wanted criminals, they give chase
Several men, looking hungry and grim, armed with inferior quality weapons, ask the PCs if they can spare any food. The men are from a city, wanting to go somewhere else due to reduced employment opportunities. They have been contemplating banditry, but are not that desperate—yet
11
A merchant with a broken wagon, berating a lone guard trying to fix it
A dead merchant and a broken wagon, filled with supplies for the general store in the next village. The merchant died of sword wounds
12
A trio of foxes chasing a hare run across the road
A trio of domesticated foxes are on the side of the road, waiting for some food scraps
13
An old elf walking down the road. If questioned, the elf claims he is going to die soon, and always wondered where this road went. He asks PCs not to spoil it
A dead elf leaning against a tree by the road, a smile on his face. He died of old age
14
Over 200 King’s Soldiers marching down the road from the opposite direction. A scout on horseback asks the PCs if there is anything unusual from the direction they came from
Camped alongside the road is a small army of professional soldiers wearing the King’s livery. They do not approach the PCs. If approached, they state they are on King’s business, and the PCs need to move along
15
An apple tree in the middle of the road, out of place, and undoubtedly odd. When the PCs investigate the tree, it disappears, and faint giggling can be heard
off in the distance
A group of pixies with a well-lit fruit stand. Payment must be made in silver only.
The fruit is fresh, even if out of season. If questioned on where they got the fruit, the pixies say, “the archmage gave us a few boxes in return for some dust.”
16
A ranger on a mighty warhorse with a rather large sword, a dual-bolt crossbow, and a hunting falcon, coming from the opposite direction, with a younger man. The ranger looks grim and capable, and the young man needs better shoes.
If questioned, the ranger indicates he and his nephew are going to visit a friend in a nearby city to talk about some religious matters
A beautiful woman and a young man, from the opposite direction, walking a rather large warhorse. They ask the PCs if they’ve seen their pet dire wolf.
If questioned, the woman indicates she and her nephew are going to visit a friend in a nearby city to talk about some religious matters
17
Six bandits chased by 20 men-at-arms. If the soldiers catch them, they hang them on the nearest tree
No change
18
Traveling in the same direction, a farmer, his son, and his comely daughter with a wagon of vegetables and fruit bound for the next town.
If questioned the farmer is friendly, and claims crops were so good this year he has more than he can sell locally
Two dead farmers and an overturned wagon of fruit and vegetables. If the PCs search, they find a torn dress
19
An old, ugly woman traveling in the same direction. If the PCs stop and question her, she claims to be an “old witch with tired feet and needing to save her spells.” She requests a ride if the PCs have horses or a wagon, as far up the road as the next town.
As a reward, the Old Witch gives either the prettiest woman a philter of love, with a wink, or the most handsome man a bag of 100 gold pieces, coin of the realm from one hundred years ago.
If attacked, she teleports away with a rude gesture
No change
20
A pack of dire wolves decides the PCs look like lunch
A fog rolls in and deposits an encounter:
(Party Average Level) +4 Challenge Rating undead
Time to roll for initiative
Semi-Patrolled Road: 1d12 with a 12 Result
2d10
Day
Night
2
A group of merchants and their guards in a heated argument about business practices, ready to come to blows
Off in the distance, PCs can easily hear an argument about business practices. If they investigate they find a group of merchants and their guards, ready to come to blows
3
A letter courier, riding a swift horse, overtaking the party. He is wounded and asks for healing, warning that behind him are a “group of nasty stirges”
A letter courier, riding a swift horse, overtaking the party. He is wounded and asks for healing, warning that behind him are a “group of nasty stirges.”
Said stirges show up and attack
4
A cloud of mosquitos hovering over the road
A cloud of annoying mosquitos attracted to any light source. If they come into contact with a PC, they turn into a giant mosquito swarm and attack
5
Four men and a watchful guard making a road repair. They flag the PCs down and ask for help, which will take the rest of the day.
The guard is really a local knight. He won’t bother the PCs if they refuse, but he sure will remember their faces
The road here was obviously recently repaired, and five tired men, one of them a guard, are resting near the repair.
If the PCs offer them beer or wine, the “guard” tells the PCs to stop by his manor home for a dinner served by his wife and with their “three marriage age” offspring.
The knight has significant funds
6
Circling vultures off the road. Upon investigation, a dire grizzly bear is munching on the corpse of a deer
A dire grizzly bear wanders into camp and will eat all the PCs food. If attacked, he becomes enraged and attacks first every round
7
An odd and unexpected change in the weather for the worse:
Spring: Downpour
Summer: Summer storm with lightning
Fall: Hail and sleet
Winter: Blizzard
The same except with 90+ MPH winds doing 1d4 damage per round to any unsheltered PC, animal companion, or mount.
The effect lasts for 1d4 hours
8
An extensive merchant wagon train traveling in the same direction, complete with six guards.
One of the wagons is on fire. In 1d4 rounds, it blows up, doing fireball damage to anything nearby
An extensive merchant wagon train camped on the side of the road, complete with six guards.
One of the wagons is on fire. In 1d4 rounds, it blows up, doing fireball damage to anything nearby
9
A patrol of twelve lancers and their sergeant. They ask if the PCs have seen any trouble on the road. If the PCs look like they are the trouble, they attempt to arrest the PCs and take them back to their lord for questioning
A patrol of twelve lancers and their sergeant. They ask if the PCs have seen any trouble on the road. If the PCs look like they are the trouble, they attempt to arrest the PCs and take them back to their lord for questioning.
The patrol warns friendly PCs that traveling at night without a light source is an arrestable offense. Any PCs guilty of this are simply given a warning.
If the PCs are friendly or indifferent, the patrol offers to camp with them, and share the elk they shot earlier
10
A local lord with his twenty men-at-arms, armored and armed to the teeth and all on horseback. If the PCs are wanted criminals, they give chase.
Accompanying the party is a squad of rangers, one with tracking hounds, and a mid-level druid
Six paladins and their men-at-arms stop the PCs. They seem cautious and wary, and claim they are “looking for an aberration.”
They ask each PC to take a test—a pinprick on the finger to see if their blood is red, and they will also do the same in return.
f the PCs ask about the Paladin’s quarry, their leader says, “You don’t want to know.” If the PCs persist, the paladins will claim they are chasing some type of “uber slaad.”
If the PCs insist on helping the paladins, sometime in the night, the party is attacked by 2d4 Death Slaad.
If the PCs refuse the blood test the paladins and their men-at-arms attack—they try to subdue the PCs until one of their own dies in combat, and then, as they say, it’s on.
During a lethal battle, the 2d4 Death Slaads show up and attack both groups.
11
A merchant with a broken wagon, berating a lone guard trying to fix it. The guard suddenly stands up and attacks the merchant
A dead merchant and a broken wagon, filled with supplies for the general store in the next village. The merchant was staked naked over a fire-ant hill
12
A trio of foxes chasing a pixie with a broken wing across the road
A trio of domesticated giant foxes with halfling riders stop the PCs and ask them if they have seen “an old elf walking down the road.”
Thus far, the PCs have not
13
An old elf walking down the road. If questioned, the elf claims he is going to die soon, and always wondered where this road went. He asks PCs not to spoil it.
If the PCs spoil it, he says “ah, man,” and dies of old age right there
A dead elf leaning against a tree by the road, a smile on his face. He died of old age.
If the PCs deal with the body in the local elf tradition, a courier delivers a package from an anonymous shipper, addressed to the PC that first suggested to take care of the body. Inside is a suit of elven chainmail +2
14
Over 200 King’s Soldiers marching down the road from the opposite direction. A scout on horseback asks the PCs if there is anything unusual from the direction they came from
Camped alongside the way is a small army of professional soldiers wearing the King’s livery, secured by a lot of guards.
They ask the PCs pointed questions about the region, seeing if the PCs are local or not. If the PCs refuse to answer, the guards tell them to bugger off down the road or be set upon.
If the PCs do not bugger off, the entire camp will attack them. ¼ are awake right now
15
An apple tree in the middle of the road, out of place, and undoubtedly odd. When the PCs investigate the tree, it falls over, making a mess in the middle of the road
An apple tree in the middle of the road, out of place, and undoubtedly odd. When the PCs investigate the tree, it turns into a confused treant.
If the PCs attack the confused treant, 2d4 other treants animate from a nearby copse of trees and attack.
If the PCs help the treant, it gives them all apples that when eaten, cures any diseases or poisons
16
A ranger on a mighty warhorse with a rather large sword and a hunting falcon, coming from the opposite direction, with a younger man. The ranger looks grim and capable, and the young man needs better shoes.
If questioned, the ranger indicates he and his nephew are going to visit a friend in a nearby city to talk about some religious matters.
Insightful PCs will realize this party is composed of ghosts, acting out something that happened to them hundreds of years ago. If confronted as such, they fade away
A beautiful woman and a young man, from the opposite direction, walking a rather large warhorse. They ask the PCs if they’ve seen their pet dire wolf.
If questioned, the woman indicates she and her nephew are going to visit a friend in a nearby city to talk about some religious matters.
Insightful PCs will realize this party is composed of ghosts, acting out something that happened to them hundreds of years ago. If confronted as such, they both fade away, and a pack of dire wolves follow the party for a few miles, sadly howling if approached—before they too, disappear
17
Six bandits chased by 20 men-at-arms. If the soldiers catch them, they hang them on the nearest tree.
One of the bandits is armed with a wand of fireballs
Six bandits chased by 20 men-at-arms. If the soldiers catch them, they hang them on the nearest tree.
One of the bandits is armed with a wand of fireballs, and one of the men-at-arms is a high-level ranger
18
Traveling in the same direction a farmer, his son, and his comely daughter in a wagon of vegetables and fruit, bound for the next town.
If questioned the farmer is friendly, and claims crops were so good this year he has more than he can sell locally.
Insightful PCs will note that the daughter seems distressed. The farmer says pay that no mind, she is always skittish around strangers.
The young woman suffers from a brain injury and doesn’t like to travel. Everything the farmer and his son says is true. What also is true is that the farmer can’t find a husband for the girl, so he is going to sell her to a brothel
Two dead farmers and an overturned wagon of fruit and vegetables. If the PCs search, they find a torn dress.
PCs will have a hard time tracking what happened, as the farmers were set upon by a vampire. He plans to make the young woman he took his vampiric paramour
but wants to cure her first.
If the PCs manage to confront the vampire, he first offers the PCs a bribe to leave him be. Failing that, he will offer to cure the young lady and give her back to the PCs if the PCs in turn pledge to not tell the local authorities of his existence.
And failing that, he’ll tell the PCs what he found out—the farmer and his son were going to sell her to a brothel (true), and that the vampire knew he shouldn’t have killed the farmer and his son, but the injustice of it all “just turned my crank, if you know what I mean.”
And if that doesn’t go anywhere, he simply teleports away, leaving the farmer’s daughter behind
19
An old, ugly woman traveling in the same direction. If the PCs stop and question her, she claims to be an “old witch with tired feet and needing to save her spells.”
She requests a ride if the PCs have horses or wagons, as far up the road as the next town. She will also tell curious PCs that “You don’t want to know what my business is, so I’m not gonna tell you.”
As a reward for a ride, the Old Witch gives either the prettiest woman a philter of love, with a wink, or the most handsome man a bag of 100 gold pieces, coin of the realm from one hundred years ago. If attacked, she reveals her form as the Goddess of Love. She curses the party and departs in a clap of thunder.
Curse:
PCs that were married find themselves still married, but their spouses hate them. Unmarried PCs with lovers have them turn bitter at a perceived, terrible insult and will hire an assassin to have the PC killed.
One (and only one) PC without a paramour eventually finds out they are married to three argumentative, but attractive young women. Once a month, each will demand the PC divorce the other two, becoming more belligerent with each refusal. The PC is unable to convince any of the wives that he or she has chosen a favorite.
If the PC survives this for a year, the wives stop collectively trying to browbeat the PC, tell the PC that next time be nice to old ladies, and reveal themselves as witch-priestesses. The PC then has the option of ridding himself of the trio or staying married
No change
20
A giant green dragon flies over the PCs and sits on a road, and demands the PCs cook her bacon. If the PCs don’t have bacon, she will tell them there are plenty of wild boars in the nearby woods.
Refusal of bacon results in one angry dragon
A giant green dragon flies over the PCs and sits on a road, and demands the PCs camp and share their dinner with her after polymorphing into a beautiful human maiden. She just wants a good meal, but will respond to flirting with “Seriously? Just stop. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
The dragon knows a surprising amount of local gossip, along with regional history.
If the PCs refuse or attack the dragon, she disappears, leaving behind a 60ft x 60ft death cloud
We passed the 100% funding mark last night–thanks a ton for those who backed!
Let’s keep this train of awesomeness going! Head on over to Indiegogo and back if you haven’t already. The Indiegogo price is a significant discount off our retail offers, and funds collected now help us by paying for the production costs of the next project.
Friends, the printed book will be spectacular in quality. It’s thick, premium paper with a color interior coming off a digital offset press with one of the best covers in the industry. Back today, if you haven’t already, and if you already have, our heartfelt thanks!
This is the start of a product line of first-class adventures for 5E and Pathfinder 1E. How exciting!
Best Regards,
Anthony, Christophe, Anna, and Etta
Crossbow Man appreciates your patronage
Gruesome deaths, arcane wards, ancient rituals, and an old bridge: a 5E & Pathfinder 1E adventure.
Gruesome deaths, arcane wards, ancient rituals, and an old bridge: a 5E & Pathfinder 1E adventure.
Head on over to Indiegogo and back Burials of Teganshire!
Burials of Teganshire is a module for level 1-3 characters that can be used in any campaign setting (commercial or homebrew). It is the first module of the Circle of the Blood Moon adventure path that will take characters to level 10, through a long campaign filled with complex encounters and ancient mysteries.
A few things that are important to us in the design of this adventure:
Adventure Campaign Setting Agnostic
We wanted to propose a module that can be inserted in any campaign world. The Kingdom of Lothmaris our own setting, and in the appendix of the module, we provide guidance on how to play this adventure in this setting. However, we designed it so that if you want to play the module in your own setting, you totally can.
How do we achieve that?
First off the action of the module is local, it spans an area of about 15 miles wide, that you can easily plug into your preferred setting. Also, we made sure to strip any lore or NPC behavior that would not be applicable to most settings, offering the possibility to play it as it is, or DMs to add their custom lore-specific content to their liking.
Heroic Story Centric
We want players to feel like heroes. Our modules are tough and complex because players do not like to feel their progression is undeserved. Nothing beats a party of players cheering at each other after a tough battle.
We also believe that actions should have consequences and our modules include many different possible endings based on how the players behaved. Compelling stories are supported by motivated and plausible NPCs. We have designed this module so that every NPC’s motivations and perspectives are described, giving DMs the tools to bring the environment to life.
What You Get with Burials of Teganshire
Burials of Teganshirecomes with:
Complete monster statblocks as part of an original bestiary
DM guidance on how to play the main encounters
Detailed motivations and perspectives for all NPCs
Immersive detailed maps, also available in digital format for VTT or prints
The Golden Pocket Stopwatch is a fantastic bit of engineering and practicality. It has two hinged openings:
