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Dalin · 06-22-2018, 02:59 PM

On Tuesday, I ran a DFRPG one-shot as a followup to "You All Meet at an Inn" (Pyramid #3/98), and I thought I'd share an overview here in case anyone else is looking for a quick jaunt to insert into their campaign. We played this with three players (plus me, the GM) and five 250-point characters in a little over three hours. My group is not-at-all combat-optimized (scout, bard, thief, cleric, swashbuckler), so I wanted to include a role-playing challenge. Upgrading the combat encounters and adding a trap or two would make this tougher for a more optimal or experienced group. My pre-session notes amounted to a few scribbles on a page, so I don’t present this as anything especially clever or creative. But, I have been wishing for more DFRPG content to mine for ideas, so I thought I’d try to provide some. Feel free to improve, pillage, or re-skin as needed.

Setup

The setup happened off-screen for us because it was just backstory for why they were at the inn for the previous adventure, but here's the gist: The party should come across new information about the location of the tomb of a renowned barbarian chieftain of yore. Hroth Yaggeltor was a vicious warrior, brutally laying waste to his enemies with his axe. He is rumored to be buried with “pots of gold” in the mountains. Add other rumors as necessary to interest your group. Tomb has never been verifiably located. The clues for my group included a terrain feature, "the Titan's Fist," that the scout recognized because he knows this part of the mountains well and the fact that the crypt lies at the source of a stream with a subtly unusual taste. There is no particular significance to the taste other than to provide a unique identifying feature; it comes from dissolved minerals around the spring. (I had it have a "coppery" taste, though now that I think about the copper pipes in my house, I'm not sure copper has a taste.)

There and Back Again

The scout made a Navigation roll to see how efficiently he could get them to the general vicinity. Then Observation to recognize the Titan's Fist (a ridge with knuckles). Then some Per rolls to find the right stream and follow it to its source. Any failures added time and more wandering monster checks.

Tainted Stream

As they followed the stream up into a narrow gorge, the elf scout realized that the water did not just have a metallic taste, it was also tainted in some disturbing way. They noticed as they got closer to the source that plant life was dying nearby and some of it was off-color or otherwise warped. The water is, in fact, poisonous, though it doesn’t pose a direct threat to the party unless they start guzzling it (I left it undefined, but based on other plot points, I would have it lead to death or the mutation of the character into some sort of amphibious monstrosity).

Encounter Area 1: Tainted Frogs

Further upstream there is a depression where the stream widens out into a marshy area. There is a large hole in the bank with a muddy area around it. The threat is not primarily in the hole. Hidden in the mud across from it and along the muddy bank are a number of giant frogs (from Pyramid 3/108, or modify the giant constrictor snake from Monsters, p. 31); quick Contest of Per vs. Stealth to notice them. Roll vs. Naturalist (or appropriate Survival, perhaps) to recognize that these are unnatural giant frogs, more grotesque and warped than the standard variety. In my session, the frogs had no treasure, but you could add some leftover goods from a hapless mountaineer if desired (requiring a crawl to the back of the stinky, muddy burrow, of course).

The Pool

The stream emerges from a pool beneath a rock face with no easy routes past it. Investigation reveals that there is an underwater tunnel leading into the cliff, barely big enough for the PCs to squeeze through. It winds underwater for about six yards before emerging into a dark cave. Water Move is Basic Move/5, minimum 1, and characters can hold their breath for HT seconds when swimming or engaging in strenuous activity (Swimming and Holding Your Breath, Exploits, p. 21). A successful Swimming roll means that a character makes it unscathed. A failed roll leads to panicked flailing as the character gets snagged on a rock, burning margin of failure seconds recovering. Repeat until they succeed at Swimming. If this pushes them past HT seconds in the water, they begin suffocating, losing 1 FP per additional second (Suffocation, Exploits, p. 70). Since most of my group did not have Swimming and were unlucky with the dice, they ended up burning a fair amount of FP making it through.

[Continued in the next two posts.]

06-22-2018, 02:59 PM	#1
Dalin Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Saint Paul, MN	One-shot adventure: The Tomb of Hroth Yaggeltor On Tuesday, I ran a DFRPG one-shot as a followup to "You All Meet at an Inn" (Pyramid #3/98), and I thought I'd share an overview here in case anyone else is looking for a quick jaunt to insert into their campaign. We played this with three players (plus me, the GM) and five 250-point characters in a little over three hours. My group is not-at-all combat-optimized (scout, bard, thief, cleric, swashbuckler), so I wanted to include a role-playing challenge. Upgrading the combat encounters and adding a trap or two would make this tougher for a more optimal or experienced group. My pre-session notes amounted to a few scribbles on a page, so I don’t present this as anything especially clever or creative. But, I have been wishing for more DFRPG content to mine for ideas, so I thought I’d try to provide some. Feel free to improve, pillage, or re-skin as needed. Setup The setup happened off-screen for us because it was just backstory for why they were at the inn for the previous adventure, but here's the gist: The party should come across new information about the location of the tomb of a renowned barbarian chieftain of yore. Hroth Yaggeltor was a vicious warrior, brutally laying waste to his enemies with his axe. He is rumored to be buried with “pots of gold” in the mountains. Add other rumors as necessary to interest your group. Tomb has never been verifiably located. The clues for my group included a terrain feature, "the Titan's Fist," that the scout recognized because he knows this part of the mountains well and the fact that the crypt lies at the source of a stream with a subtly unusual taste. There is no particular significance to the taste other than to provide a unique identifying feature; it comes from dissolved minerals around the spring. (I had it have a "coppery" taste, though now that I think about the copper pipes in my house, I'm not sure copper has a taste.) There and Back Again The scout made a Navigation roll to see how efficiently he could get them to the general vicinity. Then Observation to recognize the Titan's Fist (a ridge with knuckles). Then some Per rolls to find the right stream and follow it to its source. Any failures added time and more wandering monster checks. Tainted Stream As they followed the stream up into a narrow gorge, the elf scout realized that the water did not just have a metallic taste, it was also tainted in some disturbing way. They noticed as they got closer to the source that plant life was dying nearby and some of it was off-color or otherwise warped. The water is, in fact, poisonous, though it doesn’t pose a direct threat to the party unless they start guzzling it (I left it undefined, but based on other plot points, I would have it lead to death or the mutation of the character into some sort of amphibious monstrosity). Encounter Area 1: Tainted Frogs Further upstream there is a depression where the stream widens out into a marshy area. There is a large hole in the bank with a muddy area around it. The threat is not primarily in the hole. Hidden in the mud across from it and along the muddy bank are a number of giant frogs (from Pyramid 3/108, or modify the giant constrictor snake from Monsters, p. 31); quick Contest of Per vs. Stealth to notice them. Roll vs. Naturalist (or appropriate Survival, perhaps) to recognize that these are unnatural giant frogs, more grotesque and warped than the standard variety. In my session, the frogs had no treasure, but you could add some leftover goods from a hapless mountaineer if desired (requiring a crawl to the back of the stinky, muddy burrow, of course). The Pool The stream emerges from a pool beneath a rock face with no easy routes past it. Investigation reveals that there is an underwater tunnel leading into the cliff, barely big enough for the PCs to squeeze through. It winds underwater for about six yards before emerging into a dark cave. Water Move is Basic Move/5, minimum 1, and characters can hold their breath for HT seconds when swimming or engaging in strenuous activity (Swimming and Holding Your Breath, Exploits, p. 21). A successful Swimming roll means that a character makes it unscathed. A failed roll leads to panicked flailing as the character gets snagged on a rock, burning margin of failure seconds recovering. Repeat until they succeed at Swimming. If this pushes them past HT seconds in the water, they begin suffocating, losing 1 FP per additional second (Suffocation, Exploits, p. 70). Since most of my group did not have Swimming and were unlucky with the dice, they ended up burning a fair amount of FP making it through. [Continued in the next two posts.]