Thursday "Things-To-Do" - The Ostermark Mining Corporation & The Lonely Man

Greetings all,

As I stated earlier this week, to make up for missing last weeks TTD, I am posting a double run this week. Enjoy :)

The Ostermark Mining Corporation
"I overheard someone saying that the Ostermark Mining Corporation found something strange on their latest dig, up Kislev-way. Not sure what it is - some 'green rock' or something. My bet; it's valuable. There's no way I'm going to be left behind. Do you want to sign up too, get your hands on some of the Crowns that will be running round this place once we're done? What's there to lose?

Oh, on an unrelated matter, have you heard about the mutant attacks near Praag? They're coming out the mountains, they say. Hope we don't see any of them lot when we're digging!"

What is this "green rock"? I bet we all know what it might be... Given the presence of Mutants in the area? Perhaps we wont be going on that dig.

The Lonely Man
"I saw him again, last night, out on Konigsplatz. He kept following me, always behind me. When I'd glance over my shoulder, he'd be walking towards me, but when I turned to look properly, he was gone. I tried waiting once, so I could confront him... He never caught up with me. He must have been walking for 20 minutes, and he never caught up with me.

I don't think I'll be going out at night any more."

Who is the Lonely Man? What is the Lonely Man? Perhaps you'll see him coming out of the fog, yet never quite reaching you. Perhaps, one day, he will finally catch up...

Keep rolling those dice, and I hope to speak to you again soon!

Article Spotlight: The Monstrous Vignette in 8 Quick Steps

(Let me just first say sorry for not posting last weeks "Things-To-Do". Assignments got on top of me, but I will be posting 2 submissions for it this week to make up for the delay.)

Once again, I have found a pocket of awesome on the waves of the maelstromic-Internet. This time, it is something I have never even considered, but after reading about it, can't stop wanting to try!

Have you ever wanted to shovel some insight about your Party's enemies onto the players without it feeling like an info dump or a meta-game? Well, Leonine Roar has an article titled "The Monstrous Vignette in 8 Quick Steps" that will be perfect for you!

Basically, in literature, a vignette is a scene portrayed not form the main character's view in which information that the main character is not aware of is transferred to the audience. Therefore, in an RPG, it would constitute the players taking the roles of NPCs, or perhaps even villains, and playing from their perspective for a scene/encounter or two...

This idea is sheer brilliance in my opinion. Imagine this: the PCs set down to sleep in a tavern at the end of a massive adventure. They believe they are safe, and have just averted certain doom for the city/town they are in. However, whilst their asleep, their dreams tell them something different...

You hand the players new, simplified character sheets with a short bio on them and you explain that they are transported into the minds of their enemies. They have a goal: kill or destroy something the PCs have recently encountered and had near fond memories of. Once they accomplish this grisly task, have them catch a glimpse of the BBEG, and then fade back into their real selves.

Obviously, this could be handled badly; the PCs could meta-game and refuse to carry out the mission, or they could use this knowledge gained to meta-game after the fact. To avoid this, state clearly that their performance as the enemy will directly relate to XP gained during that session. Therefore, the stuff they do as the enemy will gain them XP for their main characters.

Please read the article I have linked to, and try it out for yourself! I sure know I am planning one or two of these in my up-coming campaign :)

Keep rolling those dice, and I hope to speak to you again soon!

Article Spotlight: The Adventure Funnel

I spend a lot of my time looking through the vast stores the Internet has to offer searching for GM gold. Often times I find naught but crappy pages telling me to subscribe to DnD Insider so that I can read their new online Dungeon and/or Dragon magazines which have fled so far from useful that it makes me laugh...

And yet, sometimes I do find my gold. Today is one such day.

Have you, as a GM, ever had no freaking clue as to what your players were going to do during the next session... Which is later that night? Then, by damn, have I the article for you.

The blog "I Waste the Buddha With My Crossbow" posted this article, titled "The Adventure Funnel", all the way back in 2006, but I am just seeing it now. Basically, it send you through a formula for devising really quick quest lines. You still need creativity and imagination, but with this simple tool, you will find that cardboard-box-loving old friend in no time.

The method of simple enough:

1. Think of a Goal. What should the players be trying to do? Something like "Kill the local witch" or "Find the hidden treasure" works perfectly.
2. Next, think of the Obstacles. What is preventing the players from doing this something? Just jot down anything that comes to mind that may (or may not) make sense. "Bandits", "wolves", "a flood", "a broken down bridge", "an annoying bird". I find in this section that a random adjective + a noun works well, as it will get your imagination fired.
3. Finally, explain why you wrote down in the last step with Details. Which bandits? Why are there so many wolves here? What caused the flood? Who broke the bridge? What the hell is up with this drastically annoying bird? Etc. Don't over do it, just get enough down that you don't have to stare blankly at your players when they ask you questions about their new feathered friend.

And that is basically it. Easy as hell, and damn effective.

Keep rolling those dice, and I hope to speak to you again soon!

Announcing: Thursday "Things-To-Do" - Father Graem's New Soup

Greetings all,

In light of my new campaign coming up which will be situated in the Chaos choked city of Praag in Kislev, I have decided to start doing weekly adventure hooks that fit along a slightly unnerving bent. All of them will be intended for 'strange' quests/adventures, or merely as strange things that you can throw into your games to liven up an encounter.

Here goes the first one:

Father Graem's New Soup

"Have you tried Father Graem's new soup recipe? It is absolutely to-die-for. They say he picked it up when he was traveling in the west, but from where exactly, no one knows. It has some 'secret ingredient' in it that makes it amazing. But that's beside the point. You simply must try it. I've been looking for Charmaine to tell her about it, but I can't seem to find her. Oh well, lets go have a bowl now!"

What is Father Graem's secret ingredient that makes his soup to-die-for? Where is Charmaine? For that matter, she's not the only one who has gone missing. But they must try the soup! Perhaps they are closer to it than anyone has realised...

Anyway, enjoy, keep rolling those dice, and I hope to speak to you again soon!

Announcing WFRP Blogging A-to-Z!

Greetings all,

It has been such a long time, and for that, I can only apologise. I know I spend almost as much time apologising on this blog than I do anything else, but, there is nothing I can do about that in hindsight. However, I am going to strive to do something this year which will pick up my game: I will be doing a round of Blogging A-to-Z!

I will be doing this along side Timothy Stone (Another Cafinated Day) and JohnPaul Temple (Our Thousand Thrones Blog). Check out their blogs now and during April for some EPIC WFRP updates!

Cheers