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Adventure a Week Interview with Jonathan Nelson and Todd Gamble

Posted in D&D 3.5e DM Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , , , , on August 15, 2012 by boccobsblog

If you haven’t visited Adventureaweek.com it is a site where new D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder quests are published. As the name implies each week subscribers will get access to original material for their game. Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing the site’s creators, Jonathan Nelson and Todd Gamble.

What is Adventure a Week?

Adventureaweek.com provides a new 3.5 and Pathfinder compatible adventure every single week!

All adventures fully support both systems, so die-hard 3.5 and Pathfinder fanatics alike can sit back and relax!  If a GM is looking to try out our stuff before they commit to a subscription, they can buy our adventures on Paizo.com, RPGnow.com, DriveThruRPG.com, and in our own Adventureaweek online store.

Subscribers get access to a TON of great creative content including high-resolution maps by three-time ENnie Award winning Cartographer Todd Gamble.  Our adventures are available in both PDF format and our famous patented web format, which makes running games so easy all you need is a tablet and some dice!


So far you’ve released series A, B, and C, is there a unifying theme to each series?

“A-Series” = Adventureaweek Campaign Setting adventures
We have set it up so you can opt in or out of the setting with a single click.

“B-Series” = By Guest Authors
Guest authors include finalists from the Paizo RPG Superstar competition, Michael McCarthy (Dreamscarred Press), Mark Edwards (numerous publishers), Jonathan McAnulty (Kobold Quarterly, Rite Publishing), JP Quinn (partner with Dave Arneson on Blackmoor campaign setting and adventures), the list goes on and on and grows with each passing week!

“C-Series” = Classic style adventures
These adventures are created in the vein of AD&D 1st edition Gary Gygax adventures, but with rules and statistics compatible with 3.5 and Pathfinder RPGs.

In regards to the letters matching up with the series: we didn’t really mean for it to happen that way, but hey… it works!


Are the stat blocks in your adventures 3.5 or Pathfinder format?

We actually have taken on the massive challenge of supplying statistics for both game systems within every adventure module.  Yes, it’s a huge undertaking but everything gets easier in time.  We are getting things down to a science and are proud to offer our adventures to both audiences in the same adventure module.


Are your adventures available in print format or solely as PDFs?

Our adventures are available in two formats, but two different from those you mention.  First off we have our patented “web format” which contains “click to open/close” JavaScript boxes containing statistical information so it doesn’t clutter up space as a GM runs through the adventure.  Don’t need an encounter?  Simply continue on your way through the adventure.  Need stats for PF but not 3.5?  Well, don’t open the 3.5 combat boxes!  Just click the Pathfinder boxes.  It’s all very user-friendly and actually designed that way over time through a large play test and from a lot of intensive use in my own game sessions.  It works flawlessly on a tablet and thus decreases the amount of supplies you need to bring to a game.  Really, all you need is a tablet and dice.  Or use your own dice app and all you need is a tablet or laptop.

You can also buy the PDFs individually, or as a subscriber you may download them free of charge.  Granted, monthly subscribers only get 2 downloads per month whereas annual subscribers get unlimited downloads.  This is to prevent misuse and piracy on the site, which is the main problem that other subscription sites experienced.  I actually am a STRONG advocate of sharing stuff that you love with friends, but purchasing that same product if you find that you use it often.  For example, I received a free copy of Wolfgang’s Kobold Guide to Game Design.  Read it, LOVED IT, and purchased all three in print version even though a newer compiled version was coming out.  AaW paid for three ads in Kobold Quarterly and were offered a free print and PDF version; too late, already bought both of them separately with one being purchased from my local game store.  Seriously guys: Support what you love or watch it go the way of the buffalo.


What subscriptions plans do you offer?

If you would like weekly adventures and a campaign setting you can slap down $10 and go for the monthly subscription.  Heck, if you don’t like the site you can always cancel after a month.  At least you had the chance to see what killer stuff we have hidden behind our impenetrable gates!

If you would like access to a lot more (and we mean a LOT MORE), you can save money and get a ton of good stuff by paying $99 a year to become an Annual Subscriber.  As an Annual Subscriber to Adventureaweek.com you obtain access to the following: Every adventure on the site, Free PDF download option for all adventures, Adventurer’s Journal (side quests & maps), Treasure Trove (new magical items), Audio Soundboard (sound effects for your game), Printables (high resolution images for download/printing), Dungeon Tiles (professional dungeon tiles for combat), Monsters (new and original monsters complete with full color illustrations), AaW Campaign Setting – Maps, History, Culture, Races, Classes, Domains, Sorcerer Bloodlines, Spells, Archetypes, Prestige Classes, Locations, NPCs, Magical Items, All AaW content available for HERO LAB.

What is your favorite adventure available on the site and why?

That is a hard question to answer because I honestly have quite a few which vie for the top position.  How about I name off my top three and then give you some info on one that is special to me?

I would say the three contenders for MY favorite adventure are A4: Forest for the Trees (nature vs. civilization), A5: Winterflower (festival with a dance), and A9: Rogue Wizard (inspired by an episode of STAR TREK: The Next Generation).

My most personal adventure is A5: Winterflower, which features Gwendolyn, the most beautiful maiden in the village.  Most of the young men in the village of Rybalka wish to take Gwendolyn to the Winterflower Festival dance.  Some of the men in the village wish to hire the PCs to retrieve rare treasures to win her hand.  There is a lot more to this adventure (which received 5 stars by ENDZEITGEIST), but the reason it’s special to me is that my daughter’s name is Gwendolyn and the adventure was written before she was born.  She is 9 months old now and makes me smile no matter how bad of a day I’m having!


The artwork and cartography look amazing, who is responsible?

Tim Tyler is a phenomenal character artist and has provided the unique and original artwork for most of the characters and monsters appearing in our adventures and campaign setting.  He has been working in the comic book industry for much of his life, but this is his first time doing RPGs.  This transition came easy to him though as he played AD&D 1st edition in his younger days and has always been a fan of the art that used to appear in those old school TSR modules.  Those were the good old days right?  I still love that art too, and Tim’s been bringing back some of that old style with a fresh perspective that only someone in the field of comics and graphic novels would have.  We are stoked to have Tim as an integral part of Adventureaweek!

Todd Gamble is the genius behind the incredible cartography and a TON of the artwork, especially the locations.  Todd has this knack for really immersing you in an environment.  I think it comes from his life experiences visiting different locations and exploring strange places.  He’s told me before that he used to wander around in old abandoned mines just to get the feel for them and map them out.  That’s SO dangerous!  There are hidden sinkholes that go down hundreds of feet.  You see this puddle of water, step in it and *WHOOOSH* you’re deep in some mineshaft underwater!  Crazy!  Todd is a three-time ENnie Award winner, has won numerous ORIGINS awards, and has worked at Wizards of the Coast, Green Ronin, and a dozen other great RPG companies.  He is heralded as one of the world’s best cartographers and designers of model scenery used in gaming and model railroading.  He’s also a damn good friend!


Your site says you accept adventure submissions; do you have any tips for writing hoping to submit their work?

I’ve actually been asked this question more times than I can count.  We get a lot of submissions, some of them great and some not so great.  Many times the “not so great” submissions just need a little work.  In this case, we ask the author to send their creative work to a few friends for feedback and perform a thorough spelling and grammar check.  Sometimes we accept their proposal after they perform a few revisions based on feedback provided by both their friends and us.  There are other times that the adventures proposed just don’t work for our site or are not up to the standards required by a discerning Game Master.  We only want to publish the absolute best adventures, and while “best” is definitely relative, we do have certain standards in regards to quality of story, formatting, and delivery.

For anyone looking to submit material I would recommend reading the following prior to submitting a proposal:

Visit the forum on Adventureaweek.com and introduce themselves as well as read the various posts by other authors.

Download the ACT (Adventure Composition Tutorial) would also get them ahead of the game.

Finally, prospective adventure authors may read more on our guidelines and incentives, as well as submit their adventure proposal here.

Will the AaW team be at Gen Con this year? (If so, booth number?) 

Yes, Todd and Jonathan will be at GEN CON but will not be at a booth. Instead we will be random encounters throughout the convention.  Depending on the date and time there is a 5% cumulative chance of encountering us at GEN CON.  We will be disguised as NERD TREK journalists (my other company) and handing out loads of freebies and coupon codes for Adventureaweek.com.  Some of this stuff is part of a ONE-TIME PRINT and autographed as well, so if you see us make sure and ask us for some of the goods!

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL AT GEN CON 2012!  LONG LIVE GARY GYGAX!

Happy Gaming!

-Jonathan and Todd

Adventureaweek.com

Well, I would like to give a big thank you to the gents at Adventure a Week. They have an amazing site and a quality product so be sure to check it out.

-Andy

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The DM’s Oh Sh!t Sheet

Posted in D&D 3.5e DM Content, Pathfinder, Uncategorized with tags , , , on August 13, 2012 by boccobsblog

As any DM knows, you can’t plan for every contingency. Many times your players will take you in a direction you did not expect. Every DM will find him/herself in need of a quick name or some treasure for an unexpected encounter. Well that’s where the Oh Sh!t Sheet comes in.

This one-page DM aid contains:

  • 52 male names
  • 52 female names
  • 5 encounters
  • 5 traps
  • 40 pre-rolled treasures CR 1-20

So if you need a name for the innkeeper or blacksmith you didn’t plan for, or when you need a quick treasure roll but don’t want to lose momentuem on your session by stopping to roll treasure, you can use the Oh Sh!t Sheet.

Oh Sh!t Sheet

Be sure to check out our download page for more pre-rolled treasure, name sheets, and and quest ideas.

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Simple Human NPC’s for D&D 3.5e or Pathfinder

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5e DM Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, Uncategorized with tags , on July 12, 2012 by boccobsblog

Lately I have been making more “cheat sheets” for my 3.5 games. I hate being unprepared, but always seem to fail to plan for something. This double-sided handout contains the stats for several human npc’s. Need a quick town guard or a thug? I took these from WotC’s Races of Destiny and tweaked/shortened them slightly.

NPC1

Currently I am working on the DM’s,  “Oh Sh!t Sheet”. I should be finished tonight or tomorrow.

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The Alchemist’s Tree

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5e DM Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , on July 11, 2011 by boccobsblog

The Alchemist’s Tree is a non-combat encounter site that can be easily dropped into any D&D or Pathfinder campaign.

Background

Nebkin Bronzebeaker was a gnome wizard that specialized in potions and alchemy. He traveled all over the countryside selling medicine and potions to adventurers and townsfolk alike. Many is the person with a tale of how their child or spouse was near death’s door only to be healed by a tincture from Nebkin who asked for nothing in return.

During a trip through a particularly savage valley, Nebkin was set upon by a ravenous wyvern intent on eating his ponies. The wizard fought hard to defend the horses that made his traveling business possible and served as his only friends, but try as he did, Nebkin was slain. As it ripped the ponies from their harnesses, the wyvern tipped the wagon on its side cracking open the roof. Hundreds of potions, tinctures, and tonics shattered and spilled out onto the ground. The stream of arcane fluid ran down a short embankment and soaked into the ground where a small sapling grew. The tree absorbed the magical properties of Nebkin’s potions and now sprouts magical fruit that produce random effects.

Description

Much of the brightly colored wagon still remains, but lays broken and shattered on the ground, and the claws of weather and age have begun picking at the paint. The ground is covered with the glass remains of hundreds of bottles. Ten feet from the wreckage, a young apple tree grows (or any fruit appropriate for your setting). Even the most cursory glance (DC 5 Spot check) reveals that the apples growing on the tree are very strange. Each of the apples is a different color, and some bear dots, stripes, or intricate patterns never found on ordinary fruit.

  • A DC 15 Knowledge Arcana check will reveal that tree has absorbed the contents of the shattered glass bottles that litter the ground and hold magical properties.
  • A DC 15 Search check of the wreckage will uncover the skeletal body of a gnome in bright robes. Nearby the body is a spellbook, unreadable and ruined by exposure. (Note: should the PC’s bury Nebkin or perform any religious acts over his remains, he will appear as an apparition and lead them silently to his cache of treasure.) The cache holds 1,013 gp in assorted coinage, and 737 gp in gems (EL 7, feel free to increase or decrease).
  • A DC 25 Search check will reveal the gnome’s cache of treasure hidden in a compartment in the floor of the wagon.

 

Effects

The Alchemist’s Tree has 3d4 apples on at when found. If a player casts detect magic the fruit and the tree will glow. The spell school of each fruit can be determined with an appropriate Spellcraft check, but the actual spell contained is unidentifiable until eaten.

Once picked the magic fruit will last for one week before rotting and losing its magical properties, otherwise treat the fruit like any other potion (A DC 20 Knowledge Arcana check reveals that the magical energies locked in the apples cause the fruit to decay at a much faster rate).

Any attempt to dig up or move the tree will kill it.

Roll 1d20 and ignore repeats (keep results secret)

Caster Level 5th

01       Cure Light Wounds

02       Jump

03       Mage Armor

04       Barkskin +2

05       Bear’s Endurance

06       Bull’s Strength

07       Fox’s Cunning

08       Eagle’s Splendor

09       Cat’s Grace

10       Invisibility

11       Owl’s Wisdom

12       Levitate

13       Spider Climb

14       Fly

15       Remove Curse

16       Cure Moderate Wounds

17       Water Breathing

18       Tongues

19       Gaseous Form

20       Displacement

The Alchemist’s Tree PDF

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The Army of the Goblin Queen

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5e DM Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , on July 1, 2011 by boccobsblog

The following is an NPC villain that you can use in your D&D 3.5 game (or Pathfinder with minimal changes). The Goblin Queen is a suitable reoccurring enemy for a party of four adventurers level 7-9 (She is CR 10).

Background

Many years ago a wizard named Grinlov summoned a powerful succubus and bent the demon to his will. For many years Grinlov used the demon to slay his rivals and steal their secrets but as he neared the end of his life he attempted to become a lich and died in the process.

After Grinlov’s death his captive, Uthara, was able to escape his tower as the spells and wards that kept her imprisoned began to break down.

Uthara is unlike most succubae, rather than play the part of the spy; she is a hardened warrior having fought countless battles in the eternal bloodwar. Uthara revels in combat, teleporting into and out of the thickest parts of an encounter. Covered in the blood and gore of her enemies she has single-handedly swayed the tide of battle.

In the years since she escaped Grinlov’s tower, Uthara searched the countryside for victims worthy of her wrath and stumbled upon a tribe of goblins. She teleported into the center of the tribe as they ate their evening meal, and before the goblins realized what was happening, the succubus beheaded the goblin chief. Seeing their mightiest warrior slay in an instant, they tribe threw themselves on the knees and began to worship Uthara as their goddess and queen.

The groveling and worship of the goblins pleased the succubus and she returned their servitude with strong leadership. She began to train the goblin warriors in the arts of combat. Through the use of her polymorph ability, Uthara began to breed with the strongest female goblins in the tribe creating an army of fiendish goblins.

Soon Uthara’s tribe was ready to be tested in combat. The Goblin Queen led her forces against another goblin tribe that laired nearby; the result was a complete slaughter. Any goblin tribe that did not fall to their knees and swear fealty to the Goblin Queen was destroyed.  Uthara’s tribe grew in power and number until all other goblinoids in the area either served the Goblin Queen or lay rotting on the battlefield.

Now the Goblin Queen has set her sights on the human lands to the south…

Possible hooks:

  • The players find Grinlov’s tower and among the ruins find a journal that details his servant, a powerful succubus warrior.
  • A mass exodus of goblinoid tribes have been raiding nearby villages as they are driven out of the north by a ruthless tribe of goblins led by a powerful goddess.
  • A sage hires the PC’s to investigate rumors of a new breed of horned goblins spotted in the forest to the north.
  • Bloodied and battered survivors stumble into town screaming about a goblin invasion led by a beautiful and terrible woman with bat wings.
  • The mayor of a besieged town sends word to the PC’s begging them to assassinate the leader of the occupying goblin army surrounding his town in order to swing the tide of the battle.

Fighting the Goblin Queen

After fighting their way through hoards of goblin warriors, fiendish goblins and the half-demon goblin “princes”, the PC’s will confront Uthara. The Goblin Queen is a formidable opponent. With her DR, SR, and high AC, Uthara is a cocky combatant and fights without fear; this is not to say she fights without strategy. She will make liberal use of her Charm Monster ability on the most weak-minded members of the party (usually those in armor). Once she has charmed the melee combatants she will use her teleport ability to enter a square adjacent to a spell-caster and then grapple them and employ her energy drain.

The Goblin Queen is a highly mobile foe and should be role-played as such. Make use of her ability to fly and teleport. She is able to maneuver out of flanking with ease and should always have the advantage on the battle mat.

Uthara’s one drawback is that she doesn’t deal a lot of damage so make full use of her power attack feat. Also, if you want to up her damage positional, lose the shield and longsword and give her a two-handed sword.

While Uthara fights with wild abandon, she will not fight to the death and her teleportation, and ethereal jaunt powers should allow her to escape from most instances. The Goblin Queen will bide her time and pick the most inopportune moment to enact revenge on the PC’s.

Uthara’s full stats: Goblin Queen PDF

 

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101 D&D Quest Ideas

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5 e Content, D&D 3.5e DM Content, D&D 4e Content, D&D 5e, D&D Fifth Edition, D&D Next, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2011 by boccobsblog
  1. News spreads that a dragon was slain while away from his cave, a search for its unguarded hoard is underway
  2. A thief has stolen a powerful item from a lich and then joins the party for protection
  3. A wizard/collector wants a live troll to study
  4. Rat catchers are going missing under the city and a plague is spreading in their absence
  5. A local caster has summoned a creature that they cannot contain and it is destroying the area
  6. A charismatic charlatan claims (and has proof) to be the cousin/brother/son of one of the PCs
  7. A wandering merchant trades a pc for their magic item for a fake he claims is more powerful
  8. Shipments from a nearby mine have stopped when the PCs investigate they find the miners crazed and covered with red welts apparently from exposure to a new element they uncovered
  9. A white dragon is driving monsters from the north into the southern lands
  10. A planar rift has formed and outsiders are seeping through
  11. A powerful noble/wizard is hosting a masquerade ball where the guests are polymorphed into monster as their costume, but an actual monster attends to kill the noble/wizard
  12. A sorcerer has died of old age, strange things are creeping out of his tower as his spells, and dweomers break down
  13. A map has been found that leads to parts of an artifact that once reassembled, will summon a fiendish kraken
  14. The dead are rising as zombies one hour after their death
  15. Slavers are capturing peasants and merchants on the highway and selling them to mindflayers
  16. A shop/traveling merchant sells pets/familiars that are actually polymorphed people
  17. The PC’s are sent to find a hermit that lives on the “moving island”, a zircon/dragon turtle
  18. A traveling circus/faire comes to town and completely vanishes in the morning with several children
  19. An Ur priest cult is killing all the divine casters in the area
  20. Water drawn from a certain well is animating into water elementals/mephits
  21. An evil druid has taken up residence in the sewers and is waging a guerilla war on civilization
  22. Anyone who reads a cursed book, brought into town by an adventuring party, dies after reading it
  23. A killer is leaving rare flowers in the mouths of his victims
  24. A member of a planar cartographical society offers the PCs membership into the elite group if they can complete a scavenger hunt that leads them across several planes in one day
  25. A mysterious helmed/hooded/masked figure has forged an impressive army by bringing tribes of kobolds, goblins, orcs, and hobgoblins under one banner. The leader is actually a cleric disheartened by the lack of faith and respect of his flock and means to increase belief and prayer for his deity by leading an army of wolves against his flockHave you see D&D vs Rick & Morty?
  26. The owner of a failing inn claims to have the entrance to a mysterious dungeon in his cellar hoping that the ruse will draw business from adventurers
  27. A pack of displacer beasts/displacer beast lord is preying on farm animals and farmers alike
  28. Two rival gangs are actually devils and demons fighting a Blood War battle on the city streets
  29. The daughter/apprentice of a caster that polymorphed himself into a golden cup and placed himself in the hoard of a green dragon in an attempt to learn more about dragons, but it has been weeks and he has not come home contacts the PCs
  30. Reports that a gold dragon is ravaging the countryside turn out to be true. The dragon, sick with a rare disease, has gone mad and must be stopped
  31. Grave robbers working for a necromancer are running out of graves and start looking for easy prey
  32. A “red” dragon demanding tributes from a village is actually an especially greedy copper dragon
  33. A killer is released from prison and the father of one of his victims stages a similar murder in the hopes of framing him
  34. A traveling “holy man” is selling relics that disappear in the morning
  35. The new judge is in fact a devil hoping to harvest souls for not guilty verdicts
  36. A logging camped is being haunted by the ghost of a treant/forest haunt and his dryad followers
  37. A band of fey has been stealing wine from a rural tavern
  38. A good and helpful aranea has been captured and tried for murder while the true culprit is a drider that resides close by
  39. A college that teaches science over magic opens and arcane casters start going missing
  40. Drug-related deaths lead the PCs to an evil alchemist
  41. The PCs are hired to retrieve a meteor, but find it is being worshipped by a tribe of goblins/orcs/lizardmen etc.
  42. Several women in the area are pregnant under strange circumstances, an incubus is to blame
  43. An artifact is needed to avert a major catastrophe; its last known owner was Levistus the arch devil trapped within a glacier
  44. The PCs must find a rare herb only known to grow within Gith monasteries
  45. The PCs visit a strange village where all the people are simulacrums, an ancient wizards mark is seen everywhere
  46. The PCs are sent to a distant land to find an NPC that it turns out has been dead for 20 years
  47. The PCs must help a conflicted Erinyes to the Cradle of Creation (phb2) to be reborn into a non-evil body
  48. A map leading to the legendary Shield of Praetor has been found, it states that the shield is in the cave of a dracolich. The map was sent by the dracolich’s minions in the hopes of freeing their master who is sealed magically into his cave
  49. A local orphanage is actually run by a demonic cultist that sacrifices the weak children and raises the strong ones to be followers
  50. A powerful artifact that will allow teleportation through the layers of the abyss/hells has been uncovered and a race to claim it has begun. The PCs must beat the groups of devils and demons that see the artifact as a powerful tool to end the Blood War

    Grab a copy of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

  51. An overmatched Marut seeks assistance with a powerful lich/vampire/mummy
  52. Rumors of “The most powerful sword” lead the PCs to an evil, intelligent, dancing sword that can animate other weapons to fight for it
  53. The PCs are sent to a battlefield to retrieve a family heirloom from a missing soldier where a necromancer and his corpse collector golem are raising the fallen as undead
  54. A cult of Tiamat have discovered a spell that ages living creatures and they are trying to use it on dragon eggs to raise powerful allies
  55. The PCs are sent to deal with a raiding ogre that turns out to be a gnome illusionist
  56. The PCs are looking for an arrow used to slay a dragon a hundred years earlier, but when they pull the arrow from the dragon’s skeleton, it animates and attacks
  57. The PCs need the help/information of a treant that will only add them if they agree to be shrunk down to clear out an infestation of insects that invaded his roots
  58. The PCs are invited to a Three Dragon Ante tourney, either as guards, VIPs, or to play
  59. A lawful good lich (Monsters of Faerun) seeks the PCs to protect him from a zealous paladin on a quest to rid the world of undead
  60. Thieves have plundered a tomb and until his golden burial mask is returned, a ghost/ghast/specter will continue to kill innocent people
  61. A group of fire giants has taken up residence in an inactive volcano, their activity threatens to awaken the volcano and cause widespread devastation
  62. A grandmotherly, if slightly senile, NPC asks the players to rid her attic of rats. The rats are in fact a group of thieves trying to open a magical doorway left by the wizard that previously owned the home
  63. A monster seen roaming close to town is actually a cursed person and not evil
  64. The PCs find a genie in a bottle, but the genie agrees to help/grant wishes/serve only after the players travel to the City of Brass and save someone the genie cares about
  65. The PCs find a wounded angel that is being hunted by powerful outsiders
  66. A newly discovered dungeon is actually a complex trap to harvest souls/magic/life energy
  67. The PCs must break an innocent man from a complex magical prison
  68. Murders attributed to a small girl are being done by her doll, a slaymate (libris motris)
  69. An ancient beholder has gone mad and his destroying the Underdark, driving monsters to the surface
  70. A gnome settlement has been overrun by Drow displacing hundreds of citizens
  71. A mad wizard has been selling potions that have poisonous/odd effects
  72. Mind flayers are draining people of their quintessence in hopes of using the substance to return to the far realm from which aberrations came
  73. A spelljammer has crashed in a remote forest/jungle and the inhabitants seek materials to repair their helm
  74. A foreign diplomat seeks the party’s monk to protect him on a mission to a country/city where magic and weapons are not allowed
  75. The tarrasque is wreaking havoc on the countryside and the party (lvl 10ish) must slow it down until the champions (20th) can arrive, but the tarrasque is actually a simulacrum (cr 10) sent by an outsider/caster/etc. and not the real thing
  76. Cultist seek a tablet that depicts a ritual that will summon a Fist of Spite (BoVD)
  77. The party must save an NPC from the stomach demiplane of Dalmosh (MM5)
  78. The guild master of the cooper’s guild wants to discredit the owner of a local winery with whom he has had an argument by poisoning his barrels
  79. A local sage/astronomer is convinced that a massive meteor is going to strike the kingdom/city/town
  80. The normally-inert gargoyles atop the temple/castle/mansion have animated and started attacking people who approach the building
  81. A group of bulettes is keeping anyone from entering or leaving the city/town/inn
  82. A doppelganger/changeling serial killer claims the identity of their most recent victim for one week before killing again
  83. A gnome settlement has been overrun by fiendish duergar led by a demon
  84. PCs seek out a powerful dwarven, smith who traded his soul to Asmodeus for unearthly crafting abilities. Before the smith will help the PCs, they must reclaim his soul from the arch devil
  85. The players find/are sent to a city that reflects the entire multiverse scaled down with a neutral inn in the center run by a power caster
  86. The PCs search for a legendary library that when found, has no books only the corpses of long-dead sages and librarian clerics that use speak with dead to obtain the knowledge
  87. The PCs need a party member/NPC raised from the dead but the only cleric powerful enough to do so has recently been turned by a vampire he was hunting
  88. The PCs find/buy/are given a strange bag of holding that has a small pocket dimension inside it where a frightened caster hides. He/she created the bag to hide in and saw that it ended up in the PCs hands to keep it safe
  89. The PCs seek an answer/information from a forgotten bard. When they find him, he is a ghost and he will only help them if they give him peace by finishing his final poem/song/movement
  90. A chaotic good horselord (CAd) has led all the horses in the region/city/town away into the hills to freedom
  91. The huntsman of a local lord/mayor has kidnapped the NPC’s daughter, and only a highly trained tracker can follow the trail and find the girl
  92. An aged and grizzled warrior is going town to town offering his magic sword/shield/armor to any fighter that can best him in honorable combat
  93. After returning from a diplomatic journey, the noble/diplomat/prince/queen is acting strangely. The PCs are asked to look into it only to find that the NPC is a doppelganger/changeling/simulacrum/charmed/possessed
  94. A pair of ethereal filchers are stealing all the curative magic in the area/city/town
  95. The answer/riddle/name/code that the PCs require is etched onto the helm of a massive golem that paces a deadly dungeon
  96. Monthly full moon attacks are blamed on a good lycan, and are actually being carried out by a pack of Moon Rats (MM2)
  97. Summoned Thoqqua threaten to compromise the structural integrity of the city/town/inn/dungeon/ as they melt tunnels through the ground below
  98. Centaur knights (phb2) are running any humanoid from their forest
  99. The PCs are sought by the patrons of a desert land where a despotic temple of cleric charges impossibly high rates for fresh water to people not of their faith
  100. A temple has hired a large number of bards for a festival where music is to be played from sun up until sundown, the only problem is that no one recalls the obscure holiday because it is a ruse to mask the sound of tomb robbers breaking into sealed vaults below the church
  101. A xenophobic elvish lord has begun to arrest non-elves after his daughter eloped with a human

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101 D&D Quest Ideas

Want more? Here is another 101 quests 


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D&D 5E Core Rulebook Gift Set
Dungeon Mayhem – D&D Card Game
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

 

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Dungeon Master’s Keep by Gale Force Nine

Posted in D&D 3.5e DM Content, D&D 4e Content, Product Review with tags , , on April 11, 2011 by boccobsblog

pic via Gale Force Nine website

Known for creating great gaming products and incredible terrain, Gale Force Nine has invented the ultimate DM screen which can be pre-ordered from their website for 150.00 USD (which includes shipping). Here’s what the guys at GF9 have to say about their product:

Dungeon Master’s Keep is cast from durable resin and comes pre-painted and ready to use right out of the box. The gatehouse is secured by two stout doors with pair familiar-looking door knockers, and above the doorway hangs the D&D 4th Edition Dragon Logo. Behind the screen are shelves to store miniatures, game cards and other record keeping notes. Two handy trays are built into the walls to hold your GF9 Dungeon Master’s Tokens. The towers of the gatehouse also serve as dice towers, with one tower facing out to your players and one securely behind the screen for private rolls.

While a little on the pricer side, this screen will look amazing on any game table.

pic via GF9’s website

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Monte Cook’s Dungeon a Day

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5e DM Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, Product Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , on April 8, 2011 by boccobsblog

New 3.5e / Pathfinder Game Content

Whenever a new edition of a game system comes out you will have some holdouts that refuse to move on (myself being one of them). Perhaps they like the rules for the previous edition, maybe they’ve just invested too much time and money, or maybe they are just nostalgic. Whatever the reasons for not moving on, these players soon find themselves without new content which can be a serious bummer.

Well for those of you that still play 3.5e there are still options available to you. One such option is Dungeonaday.com. This site is written by gaming legend, Monte Cook. Cook was instrumental in the creation of third edition and co-authored the player’s handbook (among other titles).

As the name implies, Dungeon a Day adds new content daily to include new monsters, spells, items, feats, artifacts, etc. The site also offers quests, player handouts, and maps penned by Ed Bourelle.

It should be noted that Dungeon a Day comes complete with a Pathfinder version as well. And even if you’ve left d20, 4e DMs as well as GM’s of any fantasy system will find useful ideas and maps on the site.

The site does require a subscription, but the rates are very reasonable given the amount of content you get. ($9 for a month, $24 for four months, or 81 for an entire year) If you consider what you spend on game books and quests, it is not a bad deal.

Check it out.

Dungeon a Day Website

Example Map

Dungeon Excerpt

UPDATE: It would seem that this website no longer exists.

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Memorable Magic Weapons

Posted in D&D 3.5e DM Content with tags , , , , , , , , on March 21, 2011 by boccobsblog

Player: What’s in the chest?

DM: You find a +1 staff.

Player *yawns* ok, next room…

In this week’s article we will detail, step by step, how to create memorable magic weapons that players will want to keep throughout the campaign.

For this article I owe a debt to Charles Rodgers, whose Dragon Magazine #180 article, “Not Another Magic Sword”, from 1992 has always stuck with me.

Select weapon

This may seem like a no brainer, but often DM’s will dream up some epic weapon to place in their campaign and never give pause to what weapons their players actually use. It is anticlimactic when your fighter triumphs after a series of grueling quests to find the sword of legend to be a longsword when he’s spent all his feats to specialize in the greatsword.

Select material

What is the weapon made of? Is there a material that fits the weapon’s theme or history better than regular wood or steel? The idea is to create a weapon so unique and interesting that your player will wield it throughout the campaign.

Possible Materials:

  • Baatorian Green Steel (A&EG p13)
  • Gehennan Morghuth-Iron (A&EG p14)
  • Starmetal (CArc p141)
  • Pandemonic Silver (CWar p136)
  • Thinaun(CWar p136)
  • Dwarvencraft Quality (RoS p159)
  • Blue Ice (Frost p80)
  • Aurorum (BoED p38)
  • Frystalline (BoED p38)
  • Serren (BoED p38)
  • Solarian True-Steel (BoED p38)
  • Adamantine (DMG p283)
  • Darkwood (DMG p283)
  • Iron, Cold (DMG p284)
  • Silver, Alchemical (DMG p284)
  • Mithril (DMG p284)

Powers

One thing I have learned as a DM, what I think is cool, isn’t always what the players think is cool. When you custom-make a weapon, have the player in mind. Ask yourself what would fit with the player’s concept. For example: if the weapon has the bane property, is it for a creature that the ranger has as a favored enemy?

Note: if you’ve exhausted the powers in your DMG be sure to check out the magic Item Compendium or DMG2 for new options.

Flavor

What can you add to the weapon to make it unique while not drastically changing its cost or power level? Flavor is anything that adds to the coolness factor of a weapon without any serious in-game benefits. These elements are what will make the weapon memorable. Examples:

  • screams when it delivers a death-blow or critical hit
  • smells of brimstone or another distinct scent
  • vibrates or hums when polished
  • whispers something in a forgotten tongue when unsheathed
  • moves during the night, nothing drastic, but the weapon is in a different place than the pc placed it before going to sleep (though still close to the PC).

Note: see signature traits in DMGII p229 for more ideas.

Description

What does the sword look like? Can you find a picture that matches your idea of the weapon? If you have any artistic ability, draw the weapon on a piece of sketchbook paper.  This is where the Rodgers article really shined; he detailed each piece of the sword making sure to talk about the rare materials used. He drew a mental picture of the blade, hand-guard, handle, pommel, etc.

History

Adding a history to a weapon will deepen its role-play value while not increasing it power level. In addition, if you make the weapon a bit of mystery, it will provide further quest possibilities, and allow character with bardic, or traditional knowledge skills to flex some RP muscle and use a skill often times overlooked.

Name

This one could be up to the PC, but if you have a player that shies away from role-play, you may want to name the weapon for them. Possibilities:

  • Carved into a wooden weapon
  • Runes on the blade
  • A sage, cleric, or arcanist recognizes the weapon and knows its name (think Elrond in The Hobbit when he recognizes the Foe Hammer and the Goblin Cleaver)
  • Perhaps the weapon whispers its name the first time the PC picks it up.
  • Maybe the former wielder tells the PC prior to death. This provides an interesting role-playing angle if the PC gets the weapon after slaying an enemy (as they normally do). Perhaps the dying orc king takes the barbarian pc’s hand and wraps it around the hilt of his magic great ax and whispers the name in orcish or broken common as a gesture that the player is worthy of wielding it. While this idea really only works for honorable villains, it is still a cool option.

Increasing Power Over Time

I feel that it adds something significant to a PC’s experience if they keep the same weapon over time. Of course, this idea won’t apply to all players, and you as the DM will be able to judge that for yourself, but as a whole, having a weapon that grows in power with the pc helps to enrich the storytelling process.  Not to mention, you’ve put all this work into creating an awesome item, you don’t want your player to sell it off when he reaches the next level. This idea is common among fantasy literature, heroes don’t trade in their signature weapon, so why should your players?

Possible routes for increasing power:

  • Legacy Weapon (Weapons of Legacy)
  • Legendary Weapon (Unearthed Arcana p162)
  • Item Familiar (Unearthed Arcana p170 )
  • Bonded Item (DMGII p231 )
  • Ancestral Relic (Book of Exalted Deeds p39)
  • Forgo treasure on an adventure and have the player’s deity or a potent caster empower the weapon

Player: What’s in the chest?

DM:  You find an ornately fashioned, darkwood staff roughly five feet long. The shaft has images of orcs fleeing a flaming village. The head of the staff is carved in the likeness of a ruby-eyed red dragon that snarls and breathes a gout of illusory flame as you remove it from the chest. Draconic runes just below the dragon carving spell out what you assume to be a name.

Player: Nice!

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D&D Props

Posted in D&D 3.5e DM Content, D&D 4e Content, D&D 5e, D&D Fifth Edition, D&D Next, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 7, 2011 by boccobsblog

D&D Prop

Warner Bros. Props Department

Here is a list of possible props for use with your D&D, Savage Worlds, Pathfinder, World of Darkness or any fantasy setting.

Beggar’s cup – put a few coins in to make noise, extend the cup to a player (form them to place a coin in), and tilt it so they can see a message folded up inside

Scrolls – Spells printed on parchment and sealed with wax and a seal or a ribbon

Sand timer/ hour-glass – I have always wanted to place a massive hourglass on the timer and announce that the players have one hour to exit the dungeon

Coins – Chocolate coins, foreign coins, or if you really want to shine: Campaign Coins

Lock Picks – Maybe the players didn’t know the NPC was a rogue in disguise until they search his room

Jewelry – I found awesome junk rings and brooches at the Good Will store for next to nothing (unless you count the weird looks from the lady at the counter or the hours of mocking from my wife)

Rocks or Geodes – Tumbled rocks can be purchased at a craft store for cheap. Maybe the work as keys or a spell focus

Compass – Maybe it points to treasure, or the last owner’s killer

Weapons – Every geek has a sword or a mace from the flea market or the Ren faire. Just don’t get all hopped up on Mountain Dew and start swinging it at folks

Sealed Letters – Card shops and specialty store carry fancy envelopes and stationary fit to write an invite to Castle Ravenloft on. Maybe find someone who can knows calligraphy to write the letter for you

Leather pouches – place several small coins, picks, props, notes, red herrings, in there and let the players figure it all out

Game board – I think we’ve all used a chess puzzle at one point or another

Cards – Skip a combat encounter and play a few hands of Three Dragon Ante with your players in their favorite tavern and give them xp for role-playing. Maybe use poker chips or campaign coins

Tarot cards – Read your players fortune and drop hints about upcoming adventures or let the cards write the next adventure for you

Runes – Take flat rocks and paint strange symbols on them. Make custom runes from clay, Sculpey, or Fimo. Place a codex in the dungeon to decode them

Keys – Buy some old skeleton at a junk shop or antique store. Use a fine tip Sharpie or a knife point to make cryptic markings on them

Books – Take an old book from the used bookstore or antique shop and hollow it out, or underline certain words that make a different message

Spell book, journal, – Take a blank book and fill it with dark symbols, runes, sketches, bits of information, lies, misdirection, distress, burn, waterlog the text to make it look ancient. Check out sites on Mythos Tomes to get ideas and inspiration

Puzzle Lock – One year at Gen Con, I went through a True Dungeon Session and we had to pick a lock, rather than rolling dice, the DM had an actual puzzle lock that we had to figure out. There are several degrees of locks available on the web, some are quite challenging

Old bottles – add water, a drop of food color, a cork and you got a potion.

Wooden Puzzle– I found some wooden puzzles at Mejiers for five dollars. My players kept finding small wooden pieces, and finally a strangely shaped lock. (note: you may want to build in a secondary path or make the locked room not essential to the adventure so things don’t grind to a halt if the players can’t figure out the puzzle.)

Puzzle Box– Hide maps, secrets, deeds, etc. in a false bottom

Wand/ Staff – Take a stick from your yard, sand off the bark with coarse grit sandpaper, then smooth with a fine grit. Add a “crystal” to the tip by gluing on a piece of rock salt or quartz. If you really want to get detailed, you could add runes with a knife or a wood burning tool

Figurine – A small glass or wooden animal could serve as a figurine of wondrous power.

Globe – Find an old globe at a yard sale, junk shop or Craigslist and repaint it with your game world map.

Gems – Take plastic or glass ‘gems’ from a craft store like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby and use them as gems, or Ioun stones

Hit those junk, antique, and resale shops, as well as the Ren faire and find a prop for your game. If you’re willing to sculpt a story around the object, anything can serve as a great prop.

 

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