#meatcastles

[big-low-t]

Grilled cheese buns top and bottom. Double beef, extra extra cheese... hold on... I need a moment... getting emotional... mmmmmm

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #0: Cloud Empress

My first Play-By-Blog (of Luke Gearing's The Isle) just recently wrapped up, and now, we are getting the next one going with Cloud Empress: Land of Cicadas! If you missed our run through The Isle, you can find all of the entries here.

Recently, I ran a poll to see what folks were interested in for this second Play-By-Blog and the voting was an exact tie between Cloud Empress and Mausritter, but since I'm the one doing all the writing, I was the tiebreaker and chose Cloud Empress and its hexcrawl, Land of Cicadas, as a new twist on the Play-By-Blog format and because the game has a set of solo rules in which you create and play as an entire party, not just a single character.

If you aren't familiar with Cloud Empress, here's a quick description straight from the game's product page:

Cloud Empress is an expansive, Nausicaa-inspired fantasy campaign setting for the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG. Cloud Empress places you in a world ruled by the patterns of giant magical cicadas. Cloud Empress creates a new Earth, thousands of years in the future inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind, Frank Herbert’s Dune, and Hiromu Arakawa’s Full Metal Alchemist.

The full rulebook for the game is FREE over at DriveThruRPG.

Land of the Cicadas takes this world and opens it up across a large hexmap, allowing us to explore the Lowland Wastes (Cloud Empress's take on a farflung future American Midwest) during the summer of the Century Brood and 29th Expedition (an ongoing military incursion from the Cloudling cities).

If you missed the last Play-By-Blog, here's an idea of how it works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM/GM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the party's next course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up in the next entry.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

With all that said, let's get into Party Creation, vote on our first decisions, and get this whole thing started! Thanks for coming along for the ride.

We'll be generating 3 characters for our starting party. For the sake of our first poll and the number of base Jobs available in Cloud Empress, I'll take the top 3 most popular results and roll up a character for each (unless the All Random option wins the entire poll, in which case all characters will then be randomly rolled). So if Sellsword gets 8 votes, Lordling gets 4, Magician gets 3, and Courier gets 2, I'll roll up a Sellsword, a Lordling, and a Magician.

For variety's sake, we won't double up on Jobs (unless All Random is chosen, in which case it would be possible to get doubles of a Job within the party).

In Cloud Empress, there are 4 different Jobs available to characters:

Sellswords can handle themselves in a fight, but long to find a home. The long lost fighters and gritty mercs of the Wastes.

Lordlings are groomed to lead and strike fear into those around them. Strange and privileged, they stand out among the Wastes.

Magicians sacrifice their bodies to cast dangerous spells. Esoteric but powerful. There are no old Magicians.

Couriers are scrappy travelers who’ve witnessed the best and worst of the world. The salt of the chalk-covered Earth.

After we have our characters, we'll get our starting location and our initial job - the focus of our travels across the Land of Cicadas - from the Solo Procedure tables. Then, we'll be off!

[lustingfood]

(via meatcastles)

[theresattrpgforthat]

Any low improv TTRPG's? as in low on the GM part, i would like to try some and see how it compares as I'm part of the improv scary crew

THEME: Low Improv Games.

Happy holidays folks! I'm going to try and get the last recommendation posts of the year out quickly, so you might get some more rec posts in the next two weeks!

As for this one friend, I tried to mix things up across game and genre, so I hope you find something you like!

Tunnels in White, by MeatCastle GameWare.

Old money siphoning new money from every corner of your city. An aging mansion, quiet and worn. An old corporation shifting its gaze from development to development, always hungry, always growing.

A warehouse bearing the name Singleton Solutions, small and unassuming in one of a hundred industrial parks like any other, takes in truckload after truckload but never sends anything out. It’s the same for the people. Sometimes, they arrive in towncars, other times in shuttle vans. None come out. Ever.

What you know is something strange is going on inside that warehouse and you are determined to discover what it is. What you cannot know is where and how far the mystery may take you.

Tunnels in White is an adventure for Liminal Horror, a modern-day horror OSR game about normal people being subjected to terrible things. A good number of adventures and mysteries written for these games come with locations, maps, factions, enemies and consequences for you to use as needed whenever your players enter a new location or attempt something dangerous.

I’m really interested in the use of these adventures for various OSR games, as the adventures seem to be what have most of the meat, rather than the rules. If you really want these games to sing, you’ll want your players to create characters that fit the kind of adventure that you’re presenting to the table - in this case, perhaps your characters all have loved ones who have gone missing recently. Once your players have character buy-in, they won’t need much prompting to delve deeper into the mystery, and the fact that Tunnels in White doesn’t have one single “correct” solution to the main problem means that your players’ actions will mean all the more.

I think I see this module as a stepping stone towards improv in that it gives you options to choose from, rather than a singular railroad to follow. What you’ll get out of this is a location that feels logically consistent and real to the players, while the story that happens will feel organic, and heavily dependant on what the group decides to do.

You can find more modules for Liminal Horror in the Tales from the Void Liminal Horror Jam.

The Doom of Macbeth, by leozingiannoni.

Famine. Execution. Oppression. Supernatural longevity that no one seems to quite understand or question. As King Macbeth’s reign approaches its 100th year, your knights receive a revelation in a dream.

It does not have to be like that. 

As an answer to prayers and cries, the god Lugh reveals to you the alternative realities that could be, if Macbeth is not allowed to move on with his coup. You wake up to 100 years in the past, before you were born. What will you do to stop this horrible future?

The Doom of Macbeth is a deep-dive into one of the most iconic plays of all time, where you fight  your way to avoid a future that seems inevitable. Using the Doomsday Clock mechanic found in Arc:Doom by momatoes, you simulate the feeling of the play creeping upon your characters, and must fight against it— or towards it. 

Using a narrative that is familiar to the GM and the players might be another way to enter a game without having to worry too much about improv. Even though this setting is only the size of a brochure, you and your crew can lean on your knowledge of the Scottish play to make things happen the way you want them to. In this version of the game, Macbeth succeeds in becoming a mad king, but you know that this can change, if you tweak the story.

One more thing: I think you might need Arc, by Momatoes, in order to play this game.

Kiss Me If You Can, by sdunnewold.

River is a notorious international art thief and cat burglar. Jules is a well-respected special agent in charge of art crimes. Jules is determined to find and bring River to justice. But maybe along the way… they'll kiss?

Kiss Me If You Can is a simple print and play two player cat and mouse romance game that you can play in under an hour. It features two unique decks of prompt cards, one for each character. Each turn you play a prompt card, answer its questions, maybe talk about a famous artist or painting, and get a little closer to justice and/or love.

Another two-player experience, Kiss Me If You Can feels very similar to games that are Descended from the Queen, in that the bulk of the game revolves around drawing cards and answering the prompts provided. You’ll come up with locations, personal motives, and reasons for your characters to end up getting closer to each-other, but the cards provide a lot of direction, so I don’t think I’d necessarily classify it as improv. If you want a cute romantic story about a will-they-won’t-they scenario, you might like Kiss Me If You Can.

Exalted Order of the Mystic Moose, by Jacob Marks.

The Mauvewoods. You can’t hope to see the crown of a mauvewood tree from the ground. It took a day just to climb to the top of the oldest trees. Look past the undergrowth and ghosts can be spotted on the old lumber paths. Every ghost you see used to live in a mauvewood tree. Knock on a healthy tree, and you just might hear a hollow wooden knock in answer.

This zine details a forest, a town, and a dungeon, all intended for use with the tabletop roleplaying game: Cairn. Explore a forest full of lumberjacks, maple syrup, and strange ghosts. Delve into an old mansion sinking into a marsh. Confront the Exalted Order Of The Mystic Moose.

Cairn has a few editions now: the link I’ve added to this entry is for the 2nd edition Warden’s Guide, and you can check out Yochai Gal’s creator page for both the Player’s Guide and the First Edition. This adventure has oodles of locations, three main factions, and a 20 room dungeon for your players to explore. Cairn feels like a very traditional fantasy game at its roots, but the Exalted Order of the Mystic Moose feels like like a unique take, with some flavour that feels very Boreal Forest to me.

Like many OSR adventures, this isn’t a linear adventure - instead is a series of connected locations and a broad description of things that are happening when the player group shows up. The setting has a natural conflict that is happening separately from the players’ choices or decisions, which will make the setting feel more real and important to your play.

If you want to explore more adventures for Cairn, you can check out the A Town, A Forest, A Dungeon Jam!

Totally Killer, by bloodygorgeous.

When you were kids, all the girls—and, certainly, some of the boys—wanted a Chrissy, the only fashion doll to give Barbie a run for her money. Chrissy was designed to be the woman every girl dreamed of becoming: stylish, smart, independent, and, most importantly, a total smokeshow. For a while, shelves exploded with Out of This World Astronaut Chrissies. Protect and Serve Policewoman Chrissies. ’80s prom queen Totally Killer Chrissies. Chrissy could do anything, all while her boyfriend Ben waited at home. Chrissy could have it all. Decades later, as Chrissy fever descends again on Deep Lake, a murderer stalks the night. The police have their theories, but only the Latchkeys suspect the truth: that this killer has long legs, an unstoppable smile, and a passion for fashion. Chrissy has come to life, and she’s come to slay.

Public Access is horror-mystery found-footage style game that relies on pre-written mysteries to give the table an organic approach to role-play. While typically PbtA games are considered very high in improv, I think the mystery format of these kinds of games takes a lot of weight off of the GM’s shoulders. Typically these mysteries provide a very strong starting point, introducing the table to the mystery and some key characters to look to for hints and clues. The GM is also provided with a series of clues to drop into the game where relevant - perhaps a headless doll is found where one of the victims went missing, or a mysterious silhouette lurking in the distance.

These kinds of games also typically come with some kind of track to help monitor both the progress of the latch-keys as well ask heighten the stakes to encourage the story to keep moving. In other games, I know that this track is called the mystery clock. I’m not entirely sure what Public Access uses, but the core rulebook looks to have quite a bit hidden within its pages, so I’m confident that it contains everything you need to run your first game.

You can find more mysteries for Public Access in the Degoya County Public Access Jam.

Auctōrātus, by M. Allen Hall.

You know why you are here. You are not a criminal. You are not a slave. You are an auctōrātus, a volunteer, and you will be paid well for your performance. Make sure your mech is ready. Select your components. Charge your batteries. Be prepared for the fight of your life.

Auctōrātus is a 1- or 2-gladiator game of mechs vs. monsters. The 3 files include the one-page (2-sided) rules sheet, the character sheet, and the map of the arena.

Battle monsters over six rounds to win the tournament. From the lowly Scale Wolf to the monstrous Crescent Wyvern, you will need to carefully choose your mech's components if you want to survive. 

Featuring a diceless, zero-luck mechanism,  Auctōrātus is an experiment in tabletop combat. Since this is a one or two-player game that focuses primarily on strategy, you might find a lot of satisfaction in simply immersing yourself in strategy. You can play the game solo and manage everything yourself, or play as two players who take turns playing the monsters in each person’s respective arenas.

A Good Plan Never Fails, by Deric Bindel.

A GOOD PLAN NEVER FALLS is a one-shot, gm-less roleplaying game for 2-5 players focused on infiltrating a TOWER and making off with THE GOODS held within. The group builds up with a tumbling block game, with each move taking everyone closer to collapse or success!

Over the course of play, everyone will create a member of the Crew from a set of Archetypes and receive a special Secret Agenda, dictating how they get their BONUS. You'll be bulding up the TOWER, dictating each obstacle and how you overcome them. When the TOWER inevitably COLLAPSES, it's time to shift from the HEIST to the GETAWAY!

A really strong feature of pulp-action genre games is that they’re typically heavily inspired by movies, like heists or cons. This means that the game has a pretty familiar structure, such as the infiltration or the getaway. You can rely on the hallmarks of these genres when playing these kinds of games to fill in the blanks, and it’s easy to figure out what happens next because the game builds each phase onto the last. In the case of this game, that means that the first part of the game, building the tower, leads into the second part, when the tower collapses.

Kill Him Faster, by Korvidae Games.

On May 8th, 2068, scientist Elisabet Rosenzweig answered the most pressing question in science fiction – “what’s the first thing you would do if you could travel through time?” - by killing Hitler. It took her precisely 5 years, 137 days, eight hours, and 12 seconds.

Fifteen years later killing Hitler is the hottest sport on the planet. The record stands at two weeks.

Competitive games are another great structure for play groups that want to build on something without needing a lot of heavy improv. In Kill Him Faster, the game is divided into three phases: pregame, game, and post-game, each composed of press conferences, the competitive portion, and interviews. There’s various additional phases for a longer game, including Trade Day (where athletes swap teams) and off-season vignettes, which allow you to slow down and focus on individual characters.

If you want a taste of the game before you buy, you can get the rules preview here.

Other Notes

A Complicated Profession by Always Checkers Publishing has a lot of guiding questions and a very structured order of play, and follows reformed bounty hunters running a cruise ship.

Tournament Arc, by Biscuit Fund Games, focuses on sports competitions, which may provide a structure that is easy to follow, as well as a more collaborative experience.

If you like what I do and you'd like to send me a token of your appreciation, I have a Ko-Fi page!

[mintandrabbits]

ha get tricked!

Oop! A goblin trick? I'll show you a goblin trick!

I don't know if you have ever gamed with @christiansorrell of Meatcastle Gameware, but I think you two might have similar game tastes. I think it would be so so so fun to sit at a table with the two of you some day, (maybe induct me into the OSR scene? 👉👈)

[thelostbaystudio]

New project, can you help sharing it?

Hey folks it’s a big day today. After weeks of work the Wicked Wanderers Winter Bundle is live.

It kind of started a looong time ago. When I was a kid, I grew up in a super boring place, a small secluded village in a French island, and before discovering RPGs, the thing that gave me the most joy was a thing called Pochettes Suprises: Surprise Bags. Small paper bags containing a dozen random cheap plastic and cardboard toys: a plane, a soldier, a doll, a dino. They cost just a buck and we all loved them because they were modular: we could invent stories and games for weeks with just a single Pochette.

This sparked the idea behind this bundle I’m releasing today: bring together a pack of cool and beautiful zines and gaming accessories to make a cool grown up TTRPG enthusiast version of the Pochettes. The bundle has a strong vibe and a super modular structure, with 2 full zines, NPCs, adventure hooks, dice drop map, solo oracles and even a solo prisoncrawl game and more. It contains 15 items made by mostly emergent designers: I'm trying to support new voices with the store. You might know several of them: Philipp Teich, Foresight Studio, Christian Sorrell/Meatcastle, Philip Jensen, Nyhur, Alfred Valley. There are some super interesting and diverse takes on Mörk Borg, even a few mini adventures with a Mythos vibe.

Right now social media is in a bit of a turmoil, so if you feel like it could you help us give some visibility to it?

Here's a link, you'll find more info on the bundle here https://www.thelostbaystudio.com/products/wicked-wanderers-winter-bundle

BTW This a pochette surprise, the original childhood thing that sparked the idea for this bundle

[szlachtas]

Come here then!!

@szlachtas god you're really out there living the dream

I want a castle :-(

[thecarteradministration]

hardcorekilljoy replied to your photo “#MeatCastles”

What boyband is this?

Meat Sweat.

[vaultinthevoid]

The Mole on PIRAD ONE - Meatcastle Gameware

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #0: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Let's try something out. I am going to do weekly play-by-post style posts here on Tumblr where you, my dear readers, get to act as my players via polls. I'll roll dice and act as a referee as needed, but the core choices will be up to you! Think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure blog but with a bit more TTRPG backend on my part. Let's see how it goes! If you are interested in this, please vote in the poll below!

I'll be running Luke Gearing's The Isle which is wonderfully written, mysterious, strange, and honestly quite grotesque so be ready for a wild ride!

The Isle is tiny, a mere 40 acres of forbidding rock and low grasses. Seen from the sea, the monastery buildings stand adjacent to the peak of the isle, lit by a fire atop a tower. The monks never let the fire go out.

Cliffs rise above the bitter sea, mauled by waves and weather. Fallen stones jut like Frisian horses, big enough to skewer whales. The abbot knows this, because he has seen it.

First, character creation! We'll be sticking to some version of Jared Sinclair's The Vanilla Game (a streamlined old DnD-like core this adventure was written for). The biggest decision is as follows:

After this poll expires, I'll roll up a character randomly for you all to collectively inhabit as we venture deep into the dirty depths of The Isle, starting next week!

EDIT: Play-By-Blog #1 can be found HERE!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #0.5: Cloud Empress

asdfasf

So, here are the results:

Our starting party will be a Courier, a Magician, and a Lordling! Screw Sellswords! No one here likes them apparently (literally not a single person, not even me, voted for them)!

I rolled all three characters randomly across the board, as is Play-By-Blog tradition. That said, let's take a look at our crew!

THE COURIER: "Senior" Stone (they/he)

(I'll be typing this up in a little character keeper for upcoming entries, but for now, here's my handwritten sheet! Sorry for my bad handwriting! I have little patience for legibility.)

Stone is a rough-n-tumble courier in their final year of being a teen. They just recovered from a broken arm for a few weeks in Tack Town, and are eager to get back on the road. With a new, still-unnamed crew at their side, they are confident about this next job, if for no other reason than they'll be more targets than just a lone courier this time. Stone is the party's provision carrier, being a Courier and all. They currently have 3 days worth of Provisions for the entire party (the max they can carry).

THE MAGICIAN: Boto "The Penitent" (she/her)

Boto is a full-grown Magician and practiced arcane healer, looking for something new and exciting among the, frankly, boring fields of the Breadbasket. She just finally learned more about an unknown spell after a few weeks in a backwater village, convincing the townsfolk of her trustworthiness. She's dying for some adventure, and this job looks like it could be just the thing.

THE LORDLING: Iselbraid "The Judge" (he/him)

Iselbraid is a Lordling of some renown but few achievements. After romancing (and angering) several members of the Royal Court, he's taken to the surface for a bit, looking to earn himself a valorous tale or two before returning in the fall. Hopefully they'll be some new members of the court that catch his eye by then. He's still convincing himself that this whole bit of adventure is the right decision, but he doesn't know how long he can get by off of smooth-talking alone.

OUR STARTING GOAL: Hunt a fleshthresher in the Breadbasket. The components fetch a decent exchange in trade, plus there's a local farmerling group offering to aid you considerably if you are able to make the fields around the fleshthresher save for them to harvest.

Fleshthreshers are ancient and deadly automatons, responsible for protecting the automated farm fields of the World Before. We'll need to explore the region or possibly chat with some locals and see if we can get a tip about any known Fleshthreshers in the area. Scout crews frequently gather in Tack Town and head out in search of food, working to gather undetected by the field automatons, so its reasonable to assume some may have a worthwhile lead, if we can find them.

OUR STARTING LOCATION: Tack Town (B18), the largest city in the lowland wastes centered at the heart of the Breadbasket.

"There isn’t an adult Farmerling who has not spent a season in Tack Town and only badly misplanned Farmerling children are born outside its crumbling plastisteel walls. The Lowland’s last city is filled with a jumble of hard shell tents, ancient dwellings, and tack-shaped rolling campers resistant to the unearthing Imago."

"Many make their way to the cafeteria, waiting to taste today’s sweet-meat soup; milky bone broth infused with cardamom and honey. Farmerlings high on mushroom tonic gulp down bowls of the stuff, stumbling past a parading Lordling and nir guards. The Lordling finds few eyes meet nir gaze and the Farmerlings that do bite their thumbs in anger."

"In the market, travelers buy handfuls of seeds with their winter savings, preparing to make their way back to ancient farmlands. There is no singular day of departure, just a growing feeling that it is time to move on. Folks trickle out, four or five at a time, and only the old and unwell stay behind preparing Tack Town for its next winter."

It is here our adventure begins, but first, we have a choice.

(As always, sound off in the comments in you've got another approach or a specific thing you'd like to see the characters do/investigate. Thanks for joining me for character creation! Next entry will dive into the adventure narration proper and we'll see how these characters explore the world, what events trigger, and more. I'm happy to have y'all along for the ride! - Christian)

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #16: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our maps: The Isle, The Dungeon (so far)

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle and the so far uncovered portions below the surface. On the Dungeon map, you are currently in Floor 2, in the hall to the east of Room 19.]

Now, back to the adventure!

Unsure of the dangers that lie ahead, you once again sit and concentrate, being the Wizard Eye ritual. Over the next hour [6 Encounter Rolls (1 per 10 mins): only 1 triggered an event], you safely conjure the invisible arcane orb.

Midway through the ritual, you hear the crack of brittle bone against stone, new sounds from the burnt smelling room to the south. You send the Eye down the hall.

In the chamber [Room 17], you see 6 Bonded Dead, animated skeleton warriors like those that accompanied Fionn in his chamber only these wear old, rotten furs. Fionn mentioned his brother's penchant for furs and the ornamentation of their forefathers. These are mindless dead, in service of Dainéal. They march to the northern end of the room before turning and marching out the chamber's western door and into the room housing the strange sphere creature you spotted earlier in your scouting [Room 16].

Beside the now-gone Bonded Dead, you see "a burnt figure, huddled by the eastern doorway. Now barely recognizable as human." An open doorway leads east down a short hall and into another chamber.

Here [Room 18], "thick soot blackens the walls and floor." Beneath the soot, there is a slight glimmer, like a layer of flint, on the flooring. Taking several minutes to closely examine the room, you discover several details: "the ceiling has many fine holes bored into it" (nearly impossible to see from standing height) and "the floor is made of four pressure plates." To the east, there is "a door marked with images of coiling serpents falling into a pit."

You let the Wizard Eye fizzle and creep down into the room with the burnt body [Room 17]. You hear the Bonded Dead, Dainéal's patrol, marching further away, to the south [out of Room 16]. There are going away, but you do not know if or when they may be back.

The burnt body has nothing of use. Everything is burnt and charred save the few bits of armor, all missing their straps: gauntlets, a chest piece, and large plate mail boots, all battered and covered in soot.

You look into the room with the pressure plates, clearly trapped, and ponder how to proceed. There's no way to avoid all of the pressure plates by entering the room (although you do not know how much weight may be necessary to trigger them). You could Teleport again, but there's much more risk in teleporting into the next chamber without firsthand knowledge or sight of it and casting as a ritual takes time you may not have with the Bonded Dead about and casting it quickly has it's own risks of miscasting.

You have many options, none of them perfect.

[EDIT: For the options below, @wrapping-rags suggested throwing the armor pieces from the corpse into the room and onto the pressure plates (instead of having to cast Sticks to Snakes and that's a great idea so if you like that option, please vote for "Cast Sticks to Snakes" and we'll do that instead!]

[If you've got another crafty solution to evading the trap, reblog or drop a comment! I'm always up for considering creative new ways for players to outsmart the dungeon! - Christian]

PBB #17 is up now!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #1: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my large-scale play-by-post of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (although this will likely be adjusted somewhat to fit the Play-By-Blog format). This is the first proper entry, but you can check out PBB #0 to get a feel for the ideas behind this play-by-blog concept and at character creation. For now, let's lay some groundwork.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Last week, LOADS of you (over 150 people) voted for our character's class and Magic-User won in a landslide. Using that, I randomly rolled a character (using this Vanilla Game character generator). Let's get to know them a bit before we dive in.

The Player Character: Medon Girdou - Magic Cutpurse

Medon Girdou, a cutpurse turned unlikely wizard, is in a bad way. You don't stage a solo raid on a place like the isle if things are going well. Somewhere back out in the world, there are forces calling for Medon - calling on their debts, calling for their death, or calling them home (when they'd rather be anywhere else). Now, the chance of riches, enough to possibly settle the score, has brought them here to the isle.

[Because Medon is braving The Isle alone, they are coming in at Level 3 to help turn the odds very slightly in their favor. This isn't their first raid.]

[We'll let any background and whatnot build out during play. Feel free to propose your own ideas about what kind of person Medon is and what may have come before but remember, Medon's true character will come out during play and be determined by the actions they take!]

With their katana in one hand, spellbook in the other, and a pocket full of cheese and lead figurines, they step onto...

THE ISLE

"The isle is tiny, a mere 40 acres of forbidding rock and low grasses. Seen from the sea, the monastery buildings stand adjacent to the peak of the isle, lit by a fire atop a tower. The monks never let the fire go out.

"Cliffs rise above the bitter sea, mauled by waves and weather. Fallen stones jut like Frisian horses, big enough to skewer whales. The abbot knows this, because he has seen it."

You've convinced Cioran, a local fisherman, to grant you passage to the island, claiming to be a pilgrim in search of your god. Once a month, he delivers supplies to the monks on the isle out of some sense of obligation you can't quite place. You watched him sit and listen to the sea in the dark of night for hours aboard the boat.

Cioran drops you at a small cove on the island's eastern side [C], wanting to see you on your way before sailing around the island to the main jetty. He's not sure how the monks would take to an unexpected visitor on his boat, even if you are a pilgrim. He'll check this cove again in a month, if you are looking to return to the mainland. His ship slides away quietly around the northern cliffs.

You are alone.

A bloated corpse, fought over by a dozen or so gulls, is bobbing facedown in the water of a small, rocky alcove.

A stone-carved staircase leads up out of the cove, coated in wet, slimy moss fed by the ever-humid conditions. [Saving Throw to not fall down the stairs and take damage: Success!] Taking your time, you manage to safely climb to the top and look out across the rest of the isle.

[You can see out to 3, 4, 5, and 6. 2 and 1 are partially obscured.]

To the north [3], you see a squat formation of man-made stone some 30 or more feet high, scars and bird shit marring the surface.

To the northwest [4], you see a collapsed building of some sort, a loose pile of rubble.

To the southwest [5], you see a scenic view of the western sea atop of an hill topped with an outcropping of rocks.

To the south [6], you see the Monastery, the reason you came to this place. The supposed home to a number of riches, meant to bring glory to a god but that do little more than languish here in obscurity when they could change everything for you, if only you can get to them.

Beyond these places, you can make out a partial view of a sizeable collection of graves to the far north [1] and the upper branches of a large tree to the northwest [2], past the collapsed building.

The choice now, of course, is...

You can now read PBB #2 HERE.

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #18: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our maps: The Isle, The Dungeon (so far)

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle and the so far uncovered portions below the surface. On the Dungeon map, you are currently in Floor 2, in Room 12.]

Now, back to the adventure!

You pull your katana from your side and slash down at the eel closest to your feet. [Attack Roll (d20): 5 - Between your AV of 11 and the Eel's AC of 2 - Hit!, Damage Roll (d6): 1!] You connect, but only just slashing lightly across the side of its head as you quickly step back away from the water.

The eel attempts to wriggle forward and reach you with its teeth-filled jaws. [Due to the difficulty of the eel to attack and fight outside of water, you will get a +5 to AC. Attack Roll (d20): 10 - Between its AV of 11 and your AC of 5 - Hit!, Damage roll (d6): 2!] The creature wriggles forward, as if it has been a long, long time since it has had anything at all to each and will do anything to keep you from escaping, and bites into your calf. Blood trickles down over your boots and into the nearby water.

The two remaining eels, tasting blood, attempt to reach out and attack you in the same manner as the first. [Attack Rolls (d20 - both eels): 4 and 20 - the first is under your AC and the second is over the eel's AV - Miss!] They snap out at you but are unable to carry themselves far enough out of the water.

You bring the katana down once more on the first eel. [Attack Roll (d20): 6 - Between your AV of 11 and the Eel's AC of 2 - Hit!, Damage Roll (d6): 4!] In a single swift motion, you sever the eel's head entirely from its body. [50 XP gained!]

Despite the death of the eel, the others press on, driven solely by their hunger. [Morale Roll (brave): 9, 4 - Under their ST of 6 - They keep fighting!]

They ignore the body of the first eel, crawling over it, and lash out towards you. [Attack Rolls (d20 - both eels): 6 and 1 - the first is over your AC and below the eel's AV and the second is under your AC - Hit and Miss! Damage Roll (d6): 6!] The second eel digs its teeth deeply into your thigh and pulls down, slashing at your flesh as it goes. [You are now at 0 Grit (your first line of defense which can be quickly recovered during rest) and just 5 Flesh (your lasting hit points).]

You took the first eel out easily enough. You and your katana can certainly do the job, but as the pain shoots up your body from your leg, you can't help but feel like you are closer to death than you may think. They are close enough on you now that you know turning to run would ensure they would bite at you, at least one time each, but a single strong bite from them could bring you down... [Mechanically, each eel would get a Free Attack if you do anything but attack back during your round (this means casting a spell, running, etc.). Still, it may be worth the chance, but then again both eels are also bested by you with a single, strong attack each.]

[This is tough choice! Either way could go quite bad or quite good. I'll leave the decision in your hands! See you next week! - Christian]

PBB #19 is up now!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #7: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our map: The Isle

[You can use the link's above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle. On the map, you are currently at B.]

Now, back to the adventure!

The dead monk's medallion hangs heavy around your neck as you pick yourself off and leave this place. If there was silver to be found in those ruins to the north and peace may be difficult to procure with the monks (based on this last interaction anyway), you figure it best to explore what else of interest my lie outside the monastery's walls.

To the north, there was a large graveyard, butting up against the sea. You head there. Grave robbing has never been your preferred style of theft, but you aren't above it. If these monks are godly men than it will do them no harm either way. Their souls are safe in their lord's heavenly domain, after all.

It takes an hour or so to reach the graves [1 on the map]. You pass over the collapsed building once more and, keeping your eyes peeled, don't see any other monks out and about. To the south, the flame still burns atop the monastery's tower.

"Low pilings of rock--the traditional drystone cairns of the mainland. There are seven, currently. The graves are neither named nor marked." The seventh shows some sign of being more recently dug than the others, albeit still a considerable time--many months at least.

The sea crashes against the cliff face over the edge and far below. The graves cast almost no shadows in the high, midday sun. To the west, you can see an ancient auld tree, warped by the wind [2, on the map] but with little else nearby. To the west, the 30 some foot high formation of stone stands in stark contrast with the oceanic horizon beyond [3, on the map]. It looks climbable, if you are careful. The birds certainly seem to perch their regularly.

[A short little transition entry this week. Lots of options still, and we haven't even hit the monastery itself (where the vast majority of the adventure lies)! If I find the time, I may do a midweek update as well to help us make a bit more progress. Thanks, as always, for reading and voting! - Christian]

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #4: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our map: The Isle

[You can use the link's above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle. On the map, you are currently at 4.]

Now, back to the adventure!

The monk is the first person you've seen on the actual isle, other than that corpse back in the mossy cove. Best to follow him from afar, you think. They may only be monks, but Cioran made it pretty clear that can be wary of outsiders, especially uninvited ones. You lay down amongst the rubble you searched through earlier in the day and watch the monk on his stroll.

He heads north, generally in your direction and away from the monastery for some time, before turning west and heading down a well worn path heading towards the sea. At a point, he falls out of your view as the path descends. It's time to approach and quietly tail him, if you can.

You cautiously step down the raised rocky region and into the area of the lower path, steps carefully as you go [Dexterity Check: 8 - Success!]. You keep a good distance and the short cliffs at either side are full of pockets to hide yourself away in. The monk continues on his path.

Closer now, you are able to see the man is younger, younger that you expected any of the monks to be on a forgotten monastery like this. He's carrying a long, fairly fine fishing pole, using it as a walking stick as he travels towards the cove [B] along the western coast. He's singing a shanty to himself:

"Oh, poor old man your horse will die And we say so, and we know so Oh, poor old man your horse will die Oh, poor old man "We'll hoist him up to the main yardarm We'll hoist him up to the main yardarm "Say, I old man your horse will die Say, I old man your horse will die "We'll drop him down to the depths of the sea We'll drop him down to the bottom of the sea "We'll sing him down with a long, long roll Where the sharks'll have his body and the devil have have his soul!"

A surprising song to hear from a godly man such as this.

You continue to trail him for a time until he enters the built-out and well-kept cove. He walks past a stockpile of stones and down a set of carves stairs towards the water below.

"This shallow cove shows extensive signs of recent improvement—some stone removed and a wooden jetty installed. The stairs are worn, but notably clean."

The monks moves some crates near the end of the jetty, creating a makeshift chair and table. From out of his pocket, he pulls a small leather pouch filled with dirt.... no wait, there are worms among the dirt. He settles in for a long afternoon of fishing, humming a song.

There's little of note in the cove, other than its well-maintained state. You imagine this is where Ciaron pulled the boat in after dropping you off early this morning. Supplies for the monastery come to the island here, but they do not stay here.

[The next entry will be in 1 full week since I've done a few now in a shorter time frame than that, just to get things moving. Thanks for following along and taking part in the adventure so far! - Christian]

PBB #5 is up now HERE!