An Adventure in Restenford: A Lesser Known Lendore Isles Scenario

For fans of Len Lakofka's Secret of Bone Hill and the sequels Assassins Knot and Deep Dwarven Delve, there is another adventure set in the town of Restenford.

In Dungeon Magazine issue #71 is Priestly Secrets written by W. Jason Peck. The story involves the characters in a recovery mission for the church that definitely does not go as one might expect. Everything takes place in Restenford keeping the incidents contained and not involving overland travel other than movement in town.

No spoilers will be shared here since I hope readers will have a chance to play or DM the fun.

An object of importance has been "misplaced" resulting in a threatening infestation and worse. In the course of recovering the item and resolving the root issues, the party will not only encounter opposition in combat, but also challenges of a physical/terrain nature to overcome. 

I ran this for my old campaign group during the transition from second to third edition. The adventure is written for second edition, but can easily be converted to any other edition. The game went great and while the party made it through intact they did have some difficulties that almost resulted in losing a party member to a natural hazard.

While the characters will not get rich from the treasure available, there is the possibility that looting of the available treasure could give the DM the chance for a tie-in later in the campaign.

My original copy of issue #71 was, along with thousands of dollars worth of mostly gaming gear, "lost" during my last move. This is still a sore point. I just paid for a copy of the magazine from an Ebay vendor, it wasn't cheap, but at least I have it back in my collection.

Priestly Secrets will not make it into my Ptolus campaign as-is, but the premise is solid and the core elements easily fit into the setting. By placing the adventure in the Temple District or in North Market near the Necropolis, you can also have some of it take a detour through the sewers and it will still make sense. If it does make the cut, it will end up involving a priestly order that handles burial preparations and funerals, and I'll have to determine how to draw in the PCs since there won't be a Baroness requesting a cleanup.

You may discover a less expensive source for the issue than I did, and I highly recommend getting your hands on it if you are a DM.

Drive-thru RPG Misprint - Problem Solved!

(see an earlier post about the misprint)

Thank you Drive-thru RPG for quickly fixing an error and getting me the product I ordered in the correct format. Your customer service was courteous and trouble-free.

Now L1 The Secret of Bone Hill is back in my collection where it belongs.

 

Lost Baronies Campaign Map and Adventures

Back when the Lost Baronies campaign was under way, I had the bright idea that I could provide a rough starter map of the island, and let the players fill it in as we played. That idea was inspired by the West Marches campaign another DM successfully executed.

I wanted to give the map a different look than hex paper or graph paper so I bought a roll of that inexpensive brown wrapping paper commonly used for shipping packages. Then I drew in a few landmarks and obvious features, leaving everything else blank. Part of the plan was to have various players drawing the map creating a mix of styles.

The players liked what I had drawn, but the campaign didn't last long enough for the mapping idea to blossom. Below are some pictures of what exists, drawn by me:

 The island boundary is very lightly drawn on the map to make it easy to shift the outline should players need to do so when adding to the map. The only places it needed to stay put were at Restenford, and Loreltarma, the major port towns.

 Restenford and Farmin are the locations for the old TSR published adventures L1 The Secret of Bone Hill, and L2 The Assassins Knot, by Len Lakofka. My players successfully avoided all but one of the published dungeons and wilderness encounters while in these areas.

 Kroten and the surrounding towns are all from another in the L series of published adventures. The party had gotten into Grest and were about to get themselves caught up in a puzzle dungeon that could become a death trap if they gave up too soon. Fortunately the players that were active at the time were resourceful and methodical so the danger would be somewhat mitigated.

 The Kenall Keep on this section of the map is none other than The Keep on the Borderlands, aka the Caves of Chaos. Wolford is the town over by that weird looking mountain on the map, which as it happens, is Skull Mountain (published by Faster Monkey Games).

 I threw a bunch of mountains along part of the northern edge of the island just because.

Loreltarma (the correct name for the city, which is misspelled Lo Reltarma on the Greyhawk maps).

The published adventure material that was available for the player characters to interact with is quite large. It included the following list and more: The Secret of Bone Hill, The Assassins Knot, Priestly Secrets, Devilspawn, The Keep on the Borderlands, Skull Mountain, Stone Hell, Dwellers of the Forbidden City, The Wandering Trees, and assorted smaller vignettes. Since most of it with certain obvious exceptions, has not been played by the current group, I can still use all or parts in whatever I run next.

Lost Baronies of Lendore Isle - Session #1

The characters found themselves standing on the docks of Restenford with only a small amount of their personal property and a writ from the Ten Islands Trading Syndicate worth 100 gold if presented to the right persons. The rest of their equipment was on board the Harlot's Due, missing at sea since the storm separated the 4 ship convoy.

After some discussion and asking for information from some of the local fishermen, they decided to visit the abbey of Phaulkon, god of the seas and good weather, where Pedro a priest and devotee of the deity would try to exchange the writ for gold.

Meanwhile Fred Stone, Tok, and Seamus made their way to a dockside bar named Falco's Tavern to gather information about local places to buy new equipment and to find lodging for the night.

Out on the dock, two hapless laborers were being harrangued by a smiling dwarf as they struggled with unloading goods from a boat. Pausing, he introduced himself as Gap and suggested they go inside and talk to his brother Falco who would be behind the bar. He also quietly told Fred that Falco would serve him a special free drink, being a fellow dwarf.

Meira, Rowena, Elanna, and Samson decided their time would best be spent exploring the town.

At the abbey Pedro met with Almon the Curate who explained that Qualton the Abbot was away on church business.

After the writ was exchanged they passed some time discussing Pedro's mission and local matters affecting the church. Almon explained that the Baron did not look favorably on the church after a prolonged series of events during which he felt the priesthood failed to aid the town in a sufficient manner. He also warned Pedro to beware bandits that have been troubling travelers to and from Restenford.

At Falco's, Seamus watched with amusement and Tok engaged in some wagering with some of the patrons as Fred tried to chug beer from a large stone flagon the size of his head, and ended up drenched in a potent beer reserved for dwarven customers. Falco, sufficiently amused, quietly offered Fred "room and board for a mere 4 silver", while his "usual price to non-dwarves is 11 silver and still the cheapest in town", although he has few rooms available. Fred also inquired with Falco if he knew anything about an ancient dwarven stronghold named Crackhelm*. This seemed to amuse Falco, but gained no useful information.

Meeting back up, the party went on a shopping spree to get some gear. Left with very little money, they decided it might not be a bad idea to try to find the bandits, defeat them, and gain some loot with which to support themselves.

Off they went looking for the bridge the Curate had indicated as the main ambush site where the bandits seemed to operate. This proved to be their lucky day and their plan to walk into the ambush and win went better than expected with all 7 Orc bandits dead and not a single injury among the party.

A well placed sleep spell, combined with good rolls for the party and bad rolls for the bandits made this a very quick and lopsided fight.

The party came away with no coins, however there were 4 gems, a scroll with two second level arcane spells, and plenty of equipment to either keep or sell.

The session ended with the party tossing the looted Orcs into the river, bundling up the weapons, armor, and other items, and heading back toward town.

* Crackhelm is something I am developing for possible publication.

Playing even when only two players show up.

Lost Baronies Session #5 is over and done with, and the time to begin preparing for #6 is approaching.

Due to some very odd scheduling issues this summer, there have only been two players (the same two each time) at the game for sessions 3, 4, and 5. The schedule is going to get wackier yet, though it should settle down when fall arrives.

With a party of 10 characters run by 6 (was 7, see an earlier post) players, many people would be inclined to play something else or cancel the session. In the past I would have done the same.

The differences for this campaign are that it is not heavily plot driven, being a sandbox style game, some of the players travel an hour or more to play, and I don't want to lose momentum and have the game die off as some past games have done.

When this happened for session #3 I was caught off guard, not having heard from anyone that they couldn't make it. Since then I have made a point of clarifying with everyone what their schedules are like for the foreseeable future.

The game is scheduled, and has been since before the start, to run regularly on the first and third Saturday of each month. Players can easily mark their calendars for it. Despite this, it has become routine now to send a reminder sometime during the latter part of the week before the day of play.

According to the players, unless things change, there should be 3 to 5 players for the next session since a new player is expected to join. We shall see.

Lost Baronies of Lendore Isle - House Rules

All games seem to start with and gain or lose house rules as they progress. These are the current house rules for the campaign, some sent at the start, others having been added during the first few sessions so far. More are sure to be added.


All characters begin play with maximum hit points for their class die and constitution bonus.

Thieves:
Thieves use a d6 to determine hit points instead of a d4.

Thieving skills - thieves may add 5% to the percentages on the chart if they have a dexterity of 16 or higher.

Clerics:
Clerics can use the weapon of their deity.

Turning undead can be tried once per encounter plus an additional number of times per day equal to wisdom bonus.

Clerics can either pray for spells in advance, or leave slots open and use a full turn to pray for them later (a turn is 10 minutes). If enough slots exist they can pray for some ahead of time and leave other slots open.

Death:
Characters reduced to zero hit points exactly are considered unconscious or incapacitated and can live if treated, bandaged, or healed. Characters reduced below zero can make a save vs death once combat ends to see if they are stable and can live. Characters in both cases that survive are treated as being at 1 hit point, modified by any healing performed.

Sheild using classes (some may recognise this as inspired by "Shields Shall Be Splintered", to be properly lauded in a future blog post):
Special Rule - when you take damage you can opt to say your shield absorbed the force of the blow or aided in your save against a damaging spell that allows an appropriate saving throw. The shield is considered damaged beyond repair. In the case of the saving throw it doesn't prevent all damage, instead acting as a successful save for half damage. Magical shields lose a plus of value instead of shattering outright. Eventually even a magical shield can be ruined. This rule does not help in the case of massive damage.

Magic Users:
No double dipping. To ensure more variety of spells in play, magic users may not memorize the same spell twice in their allotment. This should also inspire creation or purchase of scrolls, potions, or other magic items. (That's right, no loading up on multiples of sleep, fireball, etc.)

Identifying magic items (not potions). (this rule was created on the go during play and will be discussed in detail in a future blog post).
This is done by the use of a lengthy and dangerous ritual that all arcane casters know how to perform. The ritual takes 8 hours and leaves the caster so physically and mentally drained that immediately afterward another 8 hours of uninterrupted rest is required. If the required rest is not completed, a save vs paralysis is required with failure indicating collapse of the caster into a coma for 6d4 hours.
At the time of the ritual the caster must succeed on a save vs spells to know what the item can do. Failure gains no knowledge. A roll of natural 1 on the saving throw results in the caster immediately falling into a coma as above. The caster may only try to identify one item at a time.

Lost Baronies of Lendore Isle - Background before play

Been a busy week-plus since starting the blog so without further delay here's a rundown of the background before start of the first session on May 7th.

This is what was emailed to all of the players:

Lost Baronies of Lendore Isle
Character creation guidelines:
At the start of the campaign you will roll up two characters. Roll 3d6 in order for your stats.
If the average of the scores equals 11 or better keep the character. If the average is below 11, trash it and start again.

Once you determine the class appropriate for the stats as rolled you may reduce two stats by one point each to increase one prine requisite stat by one point. This is a one-time stat adjustment.

Money:
At the beginning of the campaign all characters begin with gold equal to twice their Charisma.

Wizards and Elves begin play with a spell book. Clerics begin with a holy symbol.

In addition, for the original group of characters there is a writ for funds in the name of the Ten Islands Trading Syndicate equal to 100 gold that the party will have available, upon arrival upon Lendore Isle, that can be cashed in with anyone willing to accept it. (This only applies to the starting group of characters. All others joining after May 7th 2011 follow the guidelines above thise one.)

The reason for such poverty is simple - need motivates. Also, for the original group . . .

When you set out on your journey to Lendore Isle to explore, survey, and take census of the island's remaining baronies, there were 4 ships in your convoy. The plan was to sail southeast of the island to hopefully avoid pirates reported operating to the north, and to make your way around to the city of Loreltarma on the northeast peninsula.

A freak storm split the convoy sending ships in all directions. The ship you were booked on has arrived off shore from a fishing town on the southeast peninsula of the island. The captain of the Sodden Wench has put all passengers off at Restenford because "with a breach the size of a sow's rump just above the waterline and another storm coming, I have no wish to sink, nor swim". The ship your supplies were booked on, Harlot's Due, is nowhere known at the present time.

Ten Islands Trading Syndicate is a "consortium of mercantile and other interests". You have been hired to explore the island reporting on what you find, especially regarding what baronies, cities, and towns you find, and to seek wealth, artifacts, and determine where new nobility might be able to lay claim. This is a strict confidence, not to be bandied about. Some on the island, and off, might take umbrage.

Word is that those who do well may be given choice appointments and even become enobled.

Note: individual characters may be given additional motivations at start of play.

Four players were able to make it to the May 7th starting session. Their 8 starting characters covered the races and classes completely. They were:

Samson a cleric, Tok a halfling, Seamus a thief, Pedro a cleric, Rowena a magic user, Elanna an elf, Fred Stone a dwarf, Meira a fighter.

Next post will go over house rules.