kilroyart

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Things are going swimmingly in my campaign, as the party chartered a special boat to get around. Below are crew NPC's that have been well worth the time to make tokens for. On the left is Captain Ista and on the right the navigator Ilbe. Not pictured is first mate Ueyak, I reused an older token to represent them.

The ship itself is highly magical. Shaped from the roots of a tree, whose gnarled trunk can grow massive leaves that act as the sails. I have it set up with below deck, above deck, and the upper decks. The whole vessel is a living tree so making stats for it was a challenge, a hybrid of ship and monster block features.

No river and sea adventure is complete without a croc attack.

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A couple more tokens from my critter campaign.

This is Xo, an npc the party had encountered quite a while back. He was a fugitive from the southern nations escaping from what would have been blood sacrifice. He cut off his own hand when apprehended and disappeared. He returned as the fates would have it, joining the party in their quest. He now has a spooky spirit hand with necrotic and lightning effects. He prefers to keep it covered up.

The leader of the southern nations, the crowned God-King. A fairly young mouse who possesses incredible magic. She has thus far ruled with decisive justice and benevolence and is due to encounter the party fairly soon.

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Some battle maps from various encounters. Knowing my players, I always try to keep a twist or interesting interaction on the map ready but the possibility of it helping or hurting them being fully dependent on their choices.

A bandit camp at the base of a cliff and waterfall. Kept a beast in the cage to change the dynamic of the fight based on how the players approached. A semi-blocked side path also allowed for a sneak approach. However the watch tower had to be dealt with first.

An abandoned farmstead where I had an ambush readied. The circumstances and aggression of the ambushers based on the interaction of the party and the farmer's long dead corpse found in the house.

A winding path through woods where giant spiders made their nests. The webs were hidden beneath the leaf litter at first then pulled tight to spring the snare. Once taught, I revealed a web overlay (not pictured) which noted where web (difficult terrain) was.

A corrupt guardsmen barracks. first and second floors side by side. Multiple points of attack and entry including a watch tower. What I planned to be a simple shake down became a fantastically planned (by the players) heist with disguises, decoys, knocked out guards, and window breaking. A wonderful example of "yes, and" gameplay. Not a single drop of blood spilled and the nearby town got the help they needed.

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I've never been the kind of GM that used a lot of traps and puzzles. In a concerted effort I tried to pack in as many as possible in service to guarding another piece of the campaign McGuffin. Each trial was simple, some were thought experiments, some relied on overthinking. and others were be careful or get hit. Saves were reasonable for a party of 5th level characters, damage was minor, but with no opportunities to rest, it was meant to push them to their limits.

The dungeon included but was not limited to acidic water, flamethrowers, rapidly moving walls, garden scavenger hunt, massive spinning blades, illusory pillars, animated armor, grasping vines, electro-traps, magical darkness, sandtrap, mirror puzzles, trap one character while the rest have to save them, ceilings floors and walls smashing together, long jumps, hypnotizing orb (do not ponder), attacking shadows, hostile reflections, massive ice wall that turns into a tidal wave, light the sconces, iron mist + giant magnet, secret passages with doors that were walls, and a Takeshi's Castle style fakes doors and giant squashing roller.

I sprinkled in neat loot and treasures all over, things on the corpses of would be raiders and adventurers. They had an absolute blast methodically finding every little secret. After that they were calling out perception checks and investigating everything for several sessions regardless of the importance.

I'll have to do another sometime soon.

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Setting out for another piece of their McGuffin puzzle, my party passed through a town with a growing problem. I prepared a good old fashioned mystery to solve. A curse was spreading and withering the people of the town to husks. It was immutably fatal. The party's first encounter in the town lead to one of their number contracting the curse while also seeing the threat it posed, and cemented their need to resolve the mystery. As it was a curse, the magic they had at their disposal was useless in lifting it.

I set up an array of townsfolk to question, recruit, and/or suspect. Of course I included a town kook. They had a whole town to explore, history and interpersonal relationships to understand. All of which worked into the mystery in a meaningful way that progressed the story.

Being closely implicated in the mystery, and seeing how fast and deadly the curse of withering was, they spent two whole 5 hour sessions navigating the scenario, before uncovering the twist and facing off against the evil perpetrator. It was an incredible success that my players tore to shreds with joy.

I also learned that all mystery novels or games are so structured that the free agency of the player or reader is limited. With dnd my players had next to no limitations, and I had to shift or entirely change my plans on the fly while keeping the narrative tight. Perhaps my greatest dnd challenge to date, and this all happened several months ago.

I am aware of the Curse of Strahd module, but I honestly wanted to try something myself, being the stubborn homebrew addict I am. Plus it needed to be a session or two long, not a whole campaign which doesn't leave enough room for a slow burn villain.

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Some more NPC tokens for my Wuxia campaign of friends and foes, some foes turned friends.

My party had broken from prison a while ago, and still wanted. When they stepped back through dangerous territory, they were ambushed by a party of state-sanctioned enforcers. It was a well matched fight where no-one fell, but an understanding was met as a good clash of heroes should. Despite their leader's orders, a couple of the enforcers did not accept this shift very willingly, with plot developments to come.

My party also picked up a religious leader of a local monk sect thanks to plot McGuffin being relevant to his ideals. He now aids the party in all things spiritual and historical, but spends most of his time at the party's base.

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As a yearly tradition at this point. I put on a special Halloween DnD one-shot. This year in particular there were enough people interested from outside my normal group that I had enough for two full parties. Friends of friends or co-workers that were interested in seeing what all the talk was about. I couldn't possibly have 10 people at my table, not including myself. So I split them in to two separate days, for the Saturday and Sunday before Halloween.

Now I take great care in crafting a theme for the one-shot. I think about it way ahead of time. This year I got my inspiration through an nothing in particular conversation with my girlfriend who mentioned the phrase "mimic house". It was a spark in my mind immediately and had to play it cool and not explode with enthusiasm, as she would be one of the future players. Since mid-August I plotted and schemed and researched and homebrewed.

By early September my premise was set and a whole Mimic theme was set forth. Now I knew the jig would be up if everything they encountered was a mimic in different forms. Instead I scrounged for monsters which appear mundane until they decide to strike. Vine blights, animated armors, and of course a standard mimic chest made their way in.

The mystery was set up to look like a haunting. Some noble's manor was experiencing supernatural threats. Any and all poltergeist type manifestations still work, especially if everything is mimicry. The progression was structured by finding the correct keys for the correct doors or locks. Any attempts at picking were futile, as the lock simple moved the pins out of the way making it impossible. I banked on my player's better judgement to not try battering down doors, which paid off. Find the key, unlock the door to find the next key.

At the end they found the hidden sub-basement. The house's heart dangled. Tendons would lash out and attack the players. After a bit of damage on the heart, the entire house would reveal itself to be a gargantuan mimic and run off.

The boss fight took place in the woods as the mimic house thrashed about. The wooden siding and shingles were invulnerable, but the fleshy underside was exposed. The heart itself was vulnerable to slashing and piercing damage, balancing the fight for the lv 6 party. The only way to fight it was to get underneath the house. That is also where the mimic could whip with its tendrils or thrust jagged wooden planks.

It was a great time, across two very different parties. It was also very interesting seeing how different groups approached the same problems; I have never run the same campaign twice. Everyone enjoyed the classic mimic chest, carefully hidden in the attic, and all were blown away by the surprise and scale of the mimic house.

P.S. Credit to the movie Monster House for its unconscious influence. I didn't realize the resemblance or remember the movie until early October when I mentioned the concept to a friend (who was not a player) and they brought it up. Love that movie.

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Part 2/2

A spectral monster of magic and lightning woke from a long slumber and emerged from the device lashing out at the PC's. The device began to swell with energy as the creature discharged its own. They held as best they could but the monster's fury was overwhelming. The device reached a peak resonance and pulsed with massive power. The shockwave instantly banished the creature and knocked the entire party unconscious.

Four days later they awoke in makeshift beds to the sights and sounds of friends. The ruins were alive with coursing energy, the walls themselves glowing with splintering light. The NPC friends updated on recent happenings and the party regrouped.

They explored the lower level unlocked by activating the ruins, finding a sparring arena, arcane workshop, shrine, and lower cooling pit for the device up above. Behind a locked door in the shrine, they discovered another piece of a relic they are assembling.

Renovation efforts began as they deemed the site their base and focus of research. They received another vision showing them the approximate location of the next relic piece. Upon exiting the caverns, they rescued a young Chevrotain (mouse deer) from several wild boars. Our Cavalier Fighter finally found his mount.

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Part 1/2

My "Verminoid" party reached their destination, and found a hidden passage that lead through a foreboding cave system. Inhabited by voracious giant ants and enormous fungal growths; they crept past as best they could. Observing their behavior, my PC's found the ant colony to be infected by a fungus, and quickly finding a race of mushroom creatures living beside and controlling the ants.

They managed to sneak through until they reached a small settlement which blocked their progression. They were spotted, and a battle broke out. At the end of the settlement was a particularly large fungal growth that pulsed with toxic spores. In the end they were able to incinerate the fungus. As the colony collapsed, so too did the caverns, forcing them to push deeper into the dark.

Stumbling in the dark, they found an elevator of stone and magic. Riding it down they explored a vast ruined temple which more mushroom creatures seemed to be looking for something. They avoided most potential conflict and discovered the wonders of the ruins.

Many features peaked interest, the forge and workshop, the library, but most of all the panel. A massive ceramic clad structure and golden interface of bizarre function. They checked and pondered, but ultimately went for the most reasonable combination; one hand in the print, another to push the lever up.

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A selection of my favorite maps from my Wuxia Verminoid campaign from along the long trip west the PCs completed. Fleeing as fugitives, they regrouped with allies and fought off pursuers.

They took refuge in a derelict barn one night, which happened to be in a feline's hunting grounds. The dark played tricks on them as they spent a night in terror.

They stumbled upon a graverobber's camp, then proceeded to take a peak in some ruins. They got their first clue to the grand mystery of the campaign, learning there is more to their world than what is on the surface.

They also made a point to stop and help when they saw others in need. The last map is a side-scroller as the town was built in to a rock face. Worked out really well and was a nice change of perspective, where elevation played a crucial part. One player even swam across the river and took shots at the monsters from the safety of the foreground.

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The Wuxia campaign continues. After escaping prison, the PCs head west, towards an ambiguous destination only known from the dreams of a seer. They meet some helpful and eccentric NPCs along the way, joining them in their cause.

A Mole Paladin, Pangolin Wizard, and Ferret Warlock.

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Whilst incarcerated, my players picked up their fifth party member, one of our core group members that had been out for two months for various reasons. Another PC in my Wuxia setting.

Sha'ya Tong - Bihu (gecko) Cavalier Fighter. The youngest of the player characters, she has a chip on her shoulder and much to prove. Hailing from the steppes to the north, she set out from her clan at the age of maturity. Idolizes the ancient heroes and wishes to walk in their footsteps.

Though many of the ancestors may keep an interested eye on Tong, one which served as the bulwark of a nation has come down to guide mold Tong in being the shield of the innocent.

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Once I had properly introduced the setting and some of the very first plot hooks to the new campaign, I quickly threw my players in prison. The perfect way for them to all get to know each other.

The high security penitentiary was built into a mountain which adjoined the city they were in. Of course thrown in without trial and under false pretenses, a 3 session mini-arc unfolded as they met tons npc's, studied the guard routines, and learned about the corruption inherent in the prison. They planned furiously, learning that a way out may be found deeper in the mountain. Something dark was happening there, and one of the PCs got thrown in solitary.

They made allies and at least played nice with enemies, hatched a prison riot scheme as cover for their escape, and were out!

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PC from my currently running Wuxia Verminoid campaign

Hun - Retten (rat) Arcane Trickster Rogue

Haggard and foul. Hun bears the burden of his former life. As an underworld hitman, he used to delight in extracting great suffering from hit targets. When he denied a job which implicated his own brother, the guild punished him by mangling his arm and removing two fingers, which he now carefully conceals. He was then placed in a thankless demeaning job as a paper pushing clerk in the back of a trades office. Riddled with guilt and resentment, he begrudgingly pushes on in life, wondering when the end will finally come.

Only once he hit his lowest, did his ancestral guide come to provide hope. The vibrant eccentric, nearly everything that Hun is not, now urges him towards redemption. Only through acts of contrition and dutiful loyalty in a righteous cause can Hun hope to pull himself from the depths of misery.

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PC from my currently running Wuxia Verminoid campaign

Eldegai - Martes (pine marten) Circle of the Stars Druid

Born to a band of nomadic healers. He grew up with the stars shining overhead, but also twinkling in his eyes. Naïve to the world outside the mountains and steppes where he was born, he set out to learn and follow his destiny the very day he reached maturity. Idealistic and a strong believer in fate, he believes the stars align to show his path.

His ancestral guide was an exceptional if fearsome leader in ages past. A lord who commanded great warriors, and was not unknown to commit morally grey acts, or ones of outright villainy. Eldegai, a healer and idealist, now travels a ruthless road.

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PC from my currently running Wuxia Verminoid campaign

Tuva - Igel (hedgehog) Kensei Monk

Known to keep a closed mouth and a closed fist. Rare to converse, but when speaking always uses well measures words. His nomadic family was devastated by a great feline attack, the event leaving well earned scars. He now travels to learn and strengthen himself so such an event can never happen again.

Is guided by an ancestral spirit who was a great stoic warrior who presided over and enforced justice. Tuva now follows this path, to protect the meek, and fight for virtue.

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PC from my currently running Wuxia Verminoid campaign

Dong Kerow - Jujo (tegu) Mastermind Rogue

The ousted heir of a cosmetics empire. As big in personality as round in the belly. Has a lot to prove to himself and his family. Has a high opinion of himself. Often heard uttering the expression; "just looking to earn an honest living". Always in search of friends and business partners.

Is trying to balance two competing ancestral guides. One urges him towards the overall good and be honorable in his dealings, the other would use and extort any and all that could be useful in furthering selfish goals. Both desire higher prestige and influence in the world.