Appendix: Scenarios

Click on the image to see character back-story examples.

A glance at this site will suggest all manner of adventures that can happen in The Lands. Adversity is a part of adventure and players will be attracted by the challenge of monsters and mazes. However they may also find aspects of the cultures depicted challenging too. Fantasy is a bit like history - they do things differently there. As such role-playing can be as big a part of these adventures as gaming in a more tactical sense. And arguably the ultimate purpose of such games is for the players to imagine themselves as very different characters from who they are in reality.

Adventurers can explore an imaginative world freely but many players enjoy discovering and reshaping potential storylines. What follows then are some adventure concepts that I can narrate and referee.

And further on is some advice for players on such matters as forming a distinctive party and managing its interactions.

The Fox And The Hare

The characters are consuming some perpetual stew at the Welcome Inn. They notice someone putting a poster on a wall enticing adventurers with the promise of travel and generous reward in return for finding the lost Royal Brethic Dagger. The missive has been issued by one Ackerley the Sage. The party are curious. That night they listen to the Legend of the Royal Dagger as told by Lura Flana the renowned bard.

The adventurers resolve to take on the task. They go to meet with Ackerley at his Roburg townhouse. The elderly scholar thinks he knows the location of the lost artifact because of his interpretation of an old verse:

The fox chases the hare
The hare seeks the setting sun
The setting sun shows the way
To trinket best unsung

Ackerley mixes all sorts of lore together to present a case for how to find the tomb in which this ancient treasure hides. The party set off for the village of Muddy Gully in the Brethic Hills. They are in a festive mood but - as the verse says - some things were never supposed to be celebrated.

Discussion of how to run this 'module' is presented here.

Gruntball Murder

The characters have come to Kelda for the annual Gruntball Championship. Travelers from Rovnara to Ivana and beyond are gathering to both play in the competition and cheer on sporting champions. The adventurers enjoy a show by the puppeteer Rafe Greymist and then go to watch the game. At the start of the last round of the final game something happens that is new even in the history of the dangerous sport. The most controversial player - Zivko Vaderkov - falls dead a moment after catching the ball - his heart simply stopped beating. The final is postponed to allow for mourning.

Ilona Vaderkov - the widow of Zivko - is convinced he fell to foul play. Zivko came from Ivana and was deemed by many to be the most likely winner of the next Contest of Rule once the current Duke of Ivana dies. Ilona also thinks the city guard of Kelda are incompetent. She was in the stalls with the party and approaches them that evening to request help in discovering the truth. She offers generous remuneration and eternal gratitude from the Vaderkov Clan.

That same night the umpire who threw the ball to Zivko is killed in his room. This murder happens at the very same inn that Ilona and the party are staying at. Do the adventurers wish to investigate a murder? If so do they think it was politically motivated or was it just a case of overzealous sports fanaticism? And which of the two is more deadly?

Coffee Piracy

The characters go to the Hill Street Coffee Shop to see what all the fuss is about. This particular cafe has become the talk of Nartellfar because of a sensational new coffee variant served there - mocha! Is it the ambrosia that everyone says it is? On arriving they find the shop is the site of a riot. The proprietor - Master Milo - had been running low on the desired brew and now it is all gone. The party help quell the crowd and, once the dust has settled and the city guard have taken away the hot bloods, Master Milo asks the characters to stay behind to meet with an associate of his.

Nadia is commander of a merchant vessel from Farport that was supposed to bring in more mocha. However on the way she was raided by a ship flying the banner of the Crossed Blades Pirates who took all the cargo for themselves. It was only because Nadia had once been friends with the Crossed Blades Admiral Tempest that her ship and crew were spared. Now that the popularity of mocha has been proven, Milo wants more to both serve at his own shop and on-sell to other shop-keepers, and is prepared to pay plenty for its return. For her part Nadia is furious at the Crossed Blades and has been fomenting resistance among other merchant mariners, who have agreed to gather a small privateer navy to assault the Pirate Isles.

To do this properly Milo and Nadia need information, and the party are offered a generous reward, and free passage to the Pirate Isles, if they will visit and assess the defenses of the pirate capital of Whistling Cove. Locating the coffee warehouse would also be useful. Do the adventurers dare get involved in the dangers of piracy and economics? The alternative may be never getting a chance to try that ambrosia for themselves!

Forming A Party

Sometimes an adventuring party can seem a motley crew and some background as to why the characters are working together is useful. Existing relationships are an interesting and rewarding explanation in terms of characterization and story. A party of four may be connected by four relationships such that each character has an existing connection with (say) two of the others and only needs to become more familiar with one of the others. Circumstance and ambition will do the rest in bringing the party together. Here are a few kinds of relationship to put into character background...

* Traveling Companions - Two adventurers were part of a small caravan of merchants and travelers who had banded together for safety in the wilderness between nations. That caravan was attacked by bandits and it was only by working together that the two characters survived. They went separate ways but on meeting in the present are drawn to one another to regale others with the tale.

* Cousins - Two adventurers are related. They played together in childhood but then were separated because of some petty argument that divided the extended family. They have differences but also recognize that blood is thicker than water and find it comforting to have someone familiar with them now that they have met in foreign parts.

* Workmates - Two adventurers have worked for the same employer at a more sedentary time of life. It was dull but they would enliven the passing hours with talk of past or hoped for adventures. They will likely have an overlaping skill set and an understanding of the locale in which they laboured.

* Past Lovers - Two adventurers had met in the past and shared a bed. That was some time ago and different temperaments or desires drove them apart. But there is still an attraction and a degree of fondness there. Despite misgivings they find that they want to work together even if it is to make sure that the other is safe. They may however be evasive about how exactly they know each other.

Note (for the last and other cases) that intimacy can be alluded to before and after but it is prudent to use cinematic devices like 'pan to fireplace' for the act itself.

Many other such relationships can be developed as part of a character back story and can be a lot of fun to devise.

Gift Giving

Generally characters will start with an economical set of personal possessions and a modest standing in the world. However they can be carefully bestowed something to set them apart from others. A few such gifts to start an adventuring life may be as follows...

* A loyal and clever pet.

* Magical arms or armour of at best +1 game mechanic bonus.

* A limited use magical item such as a potion or scroll.

* A personal connection with someone of importance in The Lands.

Alternately such markers of fortune and more can be won during the course of adventures.

Party Tensions By Calling

Adventurers of different callings tend to relate in particular ways. However what follows is merely suggestions for role-playing party interactions.

* The way warriors and mages interact is akin to the tension seen between 'jocks and nerds' in American teen movies. However only fools overlook the way that swords and spells complement one another.

* One of the starkest contrasts in a party can be between a cleric and a rogue if they embody moral and amoral ways of living respectively. However morality is a murky matter and even these characters can find common ground.

* If warriors are forthright then rogues have a penchant for dissembling. One will say things as they are while the other will employ wit and wordplay. This can result in tensions but sometimes the rivalry will be a playful one.

* What is the distinction between natural and supernatural forces? How are both arcane and sacred spells produced? Does magic depend on precisely interrogating nature or willingly submitting to it? This cosmological debate simmers between mages and clerics. A hostile mage and cleric could call one another 'demon-worshipper' and 'charlatan' respectively. However others can find the philosophical discussion stimulating.

* Both warriors and clerics are natural leaders in a fantastic medieval society. They represent secular and religious authority. They can work together in holding sway over a band of adventurers. Or they can clash over who is in charge.

* A silent respect can form between mages and rogues as they recognize the skill in one another. But they also desire similar things – secret paths to power and fortune – and can clash over who deserves what kind of reward for services rendered.

All of these proposed interactions can be subverted from the outset or evolved over time. Individuality is far more important than any of the groups to which characters may belong.

Some Words Regarding Expression

English spoken by players stands in for any languages in The Lands spoken by characters. However translation is approximate and what a player says may be somewhat different from what a character hears. Formal word construction there tends to be more literal - for instance what we call a 'dragonfly' they describe as a 'cross-winged flitter'. Informal expression however tends to be more poetic - our common insult of 'shit-head' is rendered there as 'dung-hearted'. And there are simply more words filling gaps in communication that we just have to work around. None of this will hamper in-game communication but it can be fun to toy with some expressions as part of play-acting.

Static Scenarios

I am also thinking of writing some static scenarios (aka short fiction) set in The Lands from time-to-time. Here is one and here is another.