My plan for this adventure got vetoed, but since I was 90% done with the design, I have decided to post it, just in case anybody would enjoy reading it, or wonder what I write down before running a game.
Feel free to discuss, ether here or in the General channel.
Legends Never Die
4H
lfg
http://www.fasagames.com/forum/viewtopi ... =55&t=2054
rumor
http://www.fasagames.com/forum/viewtopi ... =58&t=2048
and prior AAR
http://fasagames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1835
Prior:
Lados Chance a local Throalic Musician has heard stories of a pre scourge Retreat that was made by a Legendary Troubadour named Rikka the Reveller. This retreat was made to be a place of celebration of the Troubadour discipline. Great parties were held there and when Rikka died her close friends turned the amphitheater into a memorial crypt that housed her remains in a sarcophagus.
Lados is looking for a group of adventurers to find and investigate the Retreat and retrieve a book of songs written by Rikka that was entombed inside her sarcophagus. These songs have never been heard by the people of Barsaive and would be a great contribution to the Throalic Institute of Arts and might even reveal some lost history from before the scourge.
Further Information:
The party was hired by Lados Chance to go to the foot hills around 44.11 (2 days SSE of Throal, not far from Granite Keep) and investigate the ruins of the revellers retreat. found the place, lost the life of Ursal and found the book of Rikka the reveller but did not find the body of her in the coffin.
Rikka the Reveler (Troll female).
Cave, Door that asks Riddles, Bats (death), Ursal and two ghouls.
Current:
Ever since Rikka the Reveler's journal was recovered Lados Chance has been consumed with questions: where is the real tomb? was the body stolen? was the body turned into a cadaverman? Lados Chance has to know.
He's spent the last 9 months feverishly researching for any clue he could find and believes he has a lead, now all he needs is some foolhardy, ahem, courageous adventurers to follow it up. Anyone who'd help in on this would earn his undying gratitude.
Theme: Band Names.
Warning to players: There is a puzzle attached to this mission, and mission will be scored as a failure unless you can answer it.
This whole mission is a puzzle game. Every time I describe something that translates to a Band Name, be the first to type the name into discord chat. Player who gets the most will get to specify one physical item (ie: healing potions, or physician kit refills) that are available as additional adventure rewards. For example: if I mention "the kings wife", then "Queen" (which is both a kings wife, and a band name) scores one point for the first person who types "Queen" into current game notes.
Unless the team as a whole gets a certain percentage, mission is scored as a failure.
Note: Series of quick encounters. Goal is to introduce as much as possible, and let them get as many followup details as possible, not to take time killing things.
Lados Chance asks for a meeting. Plays some songs from the notebook of the great Rikka the Reveler. Ends with Emotion Song: Curiosity.
Help me if you can, I'm feeling down And I do appreciate you being 'round Help me get my feet back on the ground Won't you please, please help me?
Asks for help discovering what happened to her body.
Interest: records show that she was buried in her crypt, and her thread items distributed according to her will, but most TI were not delivered for 10 years after her supposed death. Shipped from the city of Kratis.
Theory, she gave up her fame and money, and lived out her days as a modest Questor of Astendar, traveling from city to city, never staying too long in one place. Might have died 10 years later in Kratis. Go to Kratis, check it out, find the shrine of Astendar, see if records exist, check the Crypts where questors were sometimes buried.
Send to Questor of Upendal, Jafar, son of Jeffer who is testing a unique airship design, made of metal. Talk to two dwarves, brother and sister who are making the wooden parts of the ship. Katharina, and Rickard. Woodworkers.
Talk to Jafer, son of Jeffer, who offers them a ride on test flight of Airship. If they accept, it crashes 1/3 of way to Kratis. End up walking anyway.
Menaced by Eagles.
Encounter - Combat #1, walking on grasslands, 2 Turfcutter beetles (cr5) 2 Monkee's (cr 2) and a Deaf Leopard (cr3).
Arrive at Kratis. Stone Dome and 4 large towers raising high above it. The uppermost peak of each tower has symbol engraved upon it. Snowflake, Sprouting seed, Sun, and Sheave of grain. Stone dome has partially collapsed, climb up to hole and let self down with rope. Trouble with twists and tangles in the rope not letting it lay straight.
While climbing, some stones will roll down. If climb a tower, will see old cannon are overgrown with flowers.
Explore city.
In a blacksmith shop marked with the sign of a black ox being led to a female smith, almost step on a pale snake, which will make one bite attack and slither down a hole. Find a particularly nice black axe.
Ghouls
Door, puzzle
3/4 foot spikes, trap.
Find Crypt and body.
AAR:
Player Rewards:
: 3000 lp, 563 sp, 5 TIPs.
Journal Bonus: 150 lp, 141 sp.
Downtime:
Alternate awards: Access to Troubadour OR Troubadour training. Skill training in any Artistic skills (but not Artisan). Discount Musical instruments, Artist tools and supplies.
One other reward. Whomever can first type the most Band Names that appeared or were referenced in this adventure gets to specify one equipment item available at half price, representing something found in the city.
There is another strange new aspect to this hard mission. Mission is scored as a failure unless as a team can name at least 1/2 the bands. If you can't you can't be a troubadour.
Further Information: The PCs were asked to track down what really happened to Rikka the Reveler.
They talk to
The Carpenters who built the gondola part of
Jefferson's Airplane, which is a
Lead Zeppelin. They were menaced by
The Eagles, and were so busy looking up they stepped right on the
Beetles (turfcutter) hole. They also fought
Monkeys and a
Def Lepard.
Arriving in Kratis, it had a stone dome partially collapsed with 4 towers raising high above it.
The 4 tops are marked with symbols of
The 4 seasons. while climbing the dome they encountered some
Rolling Stones. They did not climb any of the towers, so did not see the
Guns N’ Roses. Despite trouble with
The Kinks in the rope, they get inside the city.
Shop of
Ladysmith Black Mambazo there was a
Whitesnake
The Grateful Dead
The Doors
Nine Inch Nails
Found the correct crypt and the badly decayed remains of a troll female.
Discussion:
chrisddickeyToday at 4:38 AM
I mean it to be a new, fun, different type of challenge. I don't expect the monkeys to be a serious combat challenge in a 4H. And I expect them to be a very easy quiz answer as well. There are three bands I don't seriously expect anybody to get. but they only need to get 8 of the remaining 13. I think it will be fun.
Or alternatively, I can make it hard by dropping the name game and tripling the number of ghouls. As it is, the Ghouls are mostly there because I need some grateful dead. But I can use the time saved from dropping the quiz to make that a hard combat encounter.
chrisddickeyToday at 5:08 AM
I think the adventure is highly themed towards music. I have not the knowledge, nor ability to write an adventure that will test the characters knowledge of 3000 BC Ukrainian Troubadours and their music. What I have the ability to do is write an adventure using mid 20th century rock and roll bands as a proxy for the characters knowledge of 3000 BC troubadours. I think it is really the best proxy available, though if you have any suggestions for better ones I would love to hear them.
chrisddickeyToday at 5:14 AM
The problem is getting the "Hard" in. The structure of the adventure (which you have not seen) is a bunch of very brief encounters. Brief encounters, pretty much can't be hard, because hard takes time. Which is why I said they have to score at least a D- on the Puzzle to succeed. Because there is really no other way to fail the mission. So everything has to be re-written to revolve around 2 or 3 time-consuming hard encounters.(edited)
Which is why I warned the players that they need to have their thinking caps on for this mission.