Since I didn’t have time to explain and set up Dungeon World, I invented a tiny dice-pool system and ran that instead! Can I write down the rules in 200 words? Not in time for the official 200 Word RPG Challenge, but that’s fine.
———– BEGIN 200 WORD RPG ———–
Aimee RPG
CHARACTER CREATION
Write name, class, species, three personality traits, three physical traits, three items. Everything except name is a Tag that helps you accomplish tasks. Double-edged or multi-purpose Tags are more fun.
HOW TO PLAY
GM describes situations. Narrate your character’s actions. Play to your Tags. When the GM asks, make a check.
CHECK
Add one coin for each of your Tags that helps with that task. Add one coin for each useful Tag on environment or NPCs. Other players may assist with their Tags, but add only one coin each. Does this Tag apply? Present your case. GM decides. Flip all coins and count Heads.
HOW TO GM
Present challenges relevant to players’ Tags.
Add one or two Tags to important NPCs and locations.
Ask for checks when players try risky things.
Heads >= Challenge, success! Extra Heads improve results.
Heads = Challenge-1, offer success at a cost.
CHALLENGE
I could do that
impressive for normal folks
appropriately heroic
hard even for heroes
Songs will be sung!
———– END 200 WORD RPG ———–
My word processor counts 175 words. We had a lot of fun, but the players deserve most of the credit for that. At least that indicates that the system was not getting in our way. Sometimes adding up Tags took longer than I liked.
Pablo human paladin
imposing, powerful, double-jointed
compassionate, fearless, quick study
crested helmet, shield, book of legends
Bonnie American gangster
wiry, iron stomach, tall
disarming, cruel, calm
trenchcoat, Tommy gun, jug of moonshine
Pablo cyborg smuggler
metal bones, sinks in water, high stamina
raconteur, puts folks at ease, determined
hidden compartment, silenced pistol, quick-change clothes
Xithben Icthyoid combat pilot
four arms, water breathing, deaf
social anxiety, good spatial awareness, thrill-seeker
environment suit, trans-atmospheric interceptor, magnetic boots
When we last left our heroes, they had to fight a statue that just wouldn’t stay still like a good statue should. Now, on the last day of the fair, they try to attend and enjoy it like normal people.
Lucia the Paladin and Gleador the Druid (who is concealing his shape-shifting powers) wander the marketplace at the fair. They see Lisa, one of the deputies injured in last night’s battle against the metal statue. They are surprised that she’s back on the job, or even on her feet. She was healed at the temple. Lucia’s not the only spellcaster in town. She does pull her armor and tabard aside to reveal a gnarly scar. Lisa hopes for an uneventful day and bottling ceremony to end the fair. Oh yeah, Hobert bottles his stolen wine at the end of the fair every year.
Lucia and Gleador head to town hall to check in with Pepe, the sheriff. They go to the evidence room and check on the statue. Since it grabs metal, they no longer have padlocks and chains on it. The cell is bound shut with coils of stout rope. Each limb of the statue is bound with ropes to heavy pallets of bricks. Pepe takes at least a minute unwinding the rope that keeps the cell shut. Lucia warns Pepe about the switch that turns the statue on and off. He gets close to look at the switch and notices some writing stamped on the arm. It’s Dwarven. Lucia recognizes the runes, but doesn’t read the language. There are some numbers and a word in all caps, which is probably a proper name. our heroes want to find out more about the strange coins. Pepe pushes them out of the room, retrieves a coin from his secure storage, and gives them one coin. He writes a receipt for it. He trusts them because they’ve fought for the town several town, but he also files the proper paperwork.
Our heroes wonder where to go next. Who can translate the Dwarven runes? Who would know about the strange coin? Samantha might know some things. They also need to clear Ferdinand’s name. They head to the Brace of Pigs. There’s a commotion outside. Workers are going around the side with big saws, axes, and so on. Hobert is directing them and holding a steak over a black eye. He complains that the Black Beast has injured him and destroyed his inn. They look go around the side of the inn and see the wooden boards on the second floor bent out, turning into branches, and forming a tunnel that goes into the ground. “Is that Samantha’s room?” They go inside and upstairs. It was Samantha’s room. The back wall curves out and forms a funnel. The bed has been pushed to the back wall, and the covers are sucked partially down the funnel.Some workmen are in the room, preparing to chop up the unnatural wood structures.
Lucia and Gleador figure that this is Samantha’s escape plan, and tracking them down means going down the tunnel themselves. They ask the workers not to chop up the tunnel before they can head down. The workers in the room call down to the workers on the ground outside. Lucia lights and torch and slides down. It’s mostly dark in the tunnel, but spaces between branches cause lines and cracks of birght light to flash past Lucia as she slides down, past the workers on the ground, until the branches taper off and she’s in a dirt tunnel several feet underground. Gleador slides down and joins her. They instruct the workers on the ground not to chop up the tunnel until they return. They walk along underground for a while until the tunnel curves up and they emerge in the grain fields outside of town. The Brace of Pigs is still visible far behind them. There are tracks leading from the tunnel to the east, so they follow them. Another set of tracks crosses the first set, and they follow that to another set. After a few minutes, they realize that there are many sets of tracks looping around each other, intentionally confusing pursuers. Another trick from Samantha, no doubt. The tunnel headed in the general direction of the swamp where Ferdinand and Samantha live, so Lucia and Gleador head there.
A regional map showing the towns of Fairmeadow, Sugar’s Crossing, and Templeton.
Clearly, Samantha is using magic to avoid pursuit, and the swamp is her home turf, so Lucia and Gleador don’t just barge in, lest they trigger some awful trap. They pause at the border of the swamp and call out, identifying themselves and asking politely for an audience. The call startles a small flock of birds, who fly around in a swarm, except for one bird that breaks away from the flock and flies in a straight line deeper into the swamp. They wait for a few minutes, then call out again. They wait again, and when they are wondering if they should call out again or just go home, Samantha arrives. There’s a moss-covered log nearby, and the moss is tossed aside like a blanket. Samantha is lying there where the log should be. When she stands up, she reveals a hole in the ground, leading who knows where.
Lucia: “She’s terrifying!”
Gleador: “Samantha,what do you want right now?”
A very thoughtful question. Samantha wants revenge on Hobert, but she needs to keep herself and Ferdinand safe. Her potion and alchemy business might suffer if she’s defamed in town, but her customers are already the type to sneak out of town and visit a witch in the swamp, so they aren’t the type to scare easily. She’ll probably be fine. Samantha has ramped up security in the swamp. Anyone who comes in and tries to steal herbs will spring a nasty magical trap. Lucia mentions that Hobert could turn Samantha’s escape tunnel into an attraction and charge extra. Samantha wonders, “Is there anything capitalism can’t ruin?” Gleador says he has a way to clear Ferdinand’s name and get comeuppance for Hobert. Samantha’s interested. Gleador asks if she can make a drink that’s better than Hobert’s wine. She can make a potion called Polypurpose Panacea, which cures hangovers, gives the drinker a nice buzz, etc. but it’s very expensive to produce. That won’t work.
Samantha recalls Gleador transforming when the two fought several days ago. “Are you the Black Beast? This is partially your fault!” Gleador counters, “You’re not the only one with secrets! What about Dandelion’s sudden voice problems?” Samantha heard about that. Sounds like a Frogmouth potion, which wears off with no lasting effects after a week. She maintains plausible deniability, never confirming or denying that she was involved. Gleador says that they’ll work on clearing Ferdinand’s name, and that Samantha and Ferdinand should stay close to town and rush in when the time is right. Samantha scoops up a foot-long millipede from the swamp, talks to it a little, then offers it to Lucia. Saying a password to this bug will alert Samantha. Lucia accepts, and the millipede crawls up her arm and hides under her cloak.
Lucia and Gleador walk back to town. The swamp is several hours’ walk away from Fairmeadow. When they get back to the Brace of Pigs, they see the workers did not wait for them and are demolishing the escape tunnel. They go inside to talk to Hobert, and drop several threats on him.
You better clear Samantha’s and Ferdinand’s names!
We know your famous tradition is based on being a thief & a liar.
If you try to steal more herbs for next year’s wine, you won’t make it back..
You have one year to straighten out or your tradition is toast.
You could have made the escape tunnel an attraction and gotten more money.
Hobert whimpers as the two armed adventurers get in his face and threaten him. He promises to be good and will they please leave? Before they go, they quiz him about the strange coin. Nearby city-states issue their own coins, but they coordinate to make their currencies inter-operable. Gold coins should be round, but this one is rectangular, and it’s too big.
Lucia and Gleador leave the inn. Gleador wants to find and mark a falcon, so he can see through its eyes and watch the fair. There aren’t many falcons around, so he settles for a crow instead of waiting. He bribes it with a gold piece, because crows like shiny things. Lucia and Gleador enjoy the fair until the end of the day. They plan to leave town after the festival, so they buy some supplies for the road ahead. Gleador checks in with the crow and sees a crowd gathering at the Brace of Pigs for the wine bottling ceremony. He and Lucia go there in the flesh. Hobert is giving a speech about the wine and the fair and how it’s great, but he transitions into complaining about threats to the tradition and the town. He’s stirring up the crowd into a mob!
GM: “The double doors in front are your best bet for creating a chokepoint. Most of the furniture here is no good as cover, but the balcony looks defensible.”
Artist: “I look around the room.”
GM: “It’s a good example of late Demarckian style. The tile on the floor is a bit worn, but still pretty. The spiral carving on the chairs contribute to the overall sense of timeless continuity you get from the tapestries of natural landscapes. The second table from the right does not match the rest.”
Community Organizer: “I look around the room”
GM: “If you turn the chairs to face east instead of south, and take down the center tapestry, the afternoon sun from the windows will dramatically light a lectern placed just there. You could fit 120 people in here if they’re all seated, but if you want people to mingle comfortably afterward, better limit it to 80.”
Psychic: “I look around the room.”
GM: “The soldier is still followed by the two souls he took as y’all made your way in here. Nargonthall, ancient fish-prince of Vollshwire, struggles before you, grasped by myriad hands of greed and doubt that stretch invisibly from the cursed chairs scattered around the large room. He extends a warning, cartilaginous finger towards something with a hostile glow under the second table from the right.”
Different people look for different things, even when they all look at the same things. Reflect that in your RPGs by giving specialists specialized insight into common things.
When we last left our heroes, they defeated a statue that came alive during the auction and started smashing up the place.
At sunset, Lucia the Paladin and Gleador the Druid go to town hall. The sheriff, Pepe, has deputized able-bodied individuals to patrol the town this evening, to defend against the Black Beast, which attacked a woman last night and (confusingly) fought a living statue earlier today. The Black Beast is actually Gleador, who can transform into various animals, but he’s keeping that a secret. The deputies will patrol major roads and the perimeter in pairs, with a whistle to alert the others in case of trouble. Lucia and Gleador choose the southern road.
Since Pepe also enforced a curfew, the streets are mostly empty already. Lucia and Gleador walk up and down the southern road for a while before spotting someone. His name is Willie, and he was kicked out of Macker’s Tavern when it closed because of the curfew. He’s drunk, and he’s sure his buddies have gone to the Brace of Pigs to continue drinking without him. Lucia and Gleador agree to escort him there.
When they arrive they find Hobert, owner of the Brace of Pigs, talking to two deputies. He claims that Ferdinand (from Session 1) is the Black Beast, since he can transform into a black bull. The bar is closed, so Willie has to go home. Gleador tries to convince the two deputies to take him home, but they won’t leave their posts, so he goes off alone. Lucia and Gleador do convince the deputies to let them go in and check on Ferdinand. They know Ferdinand, so it won’t be as scary as some strangers barging in and accusing him of being the Black Beast. Keeping the situation calm is in everyone’s best interests.
Hobert points our heroes to Samantha and Ferdinand’s room. (Remember, Hobert was pressured into acting nice and giving them a room lest they reveal him as a thief back in Session 1) They knock on the door and Samantha hurries them in. Lucia and Gleador explain the accusation against Ferdinand. Samantha is suspicious, eyes darting about looking for answers and a way out. Being accepted at all in town is very new, and apparently fleeting. She’s ready to flee back to the swamp right now. Ferdinand is a bit slow. “I guess I’m kind of a beast, sometimes.” Gleador encourages Ferdinand to join the watch to prove his trust-worthiness. Samantha doesn’t like that idea. Lucia convinces her not to bolt immediately, to wait overnight and let them talk to Pepe and figure something out. Samantha agrees, but will make preparations in case things go badly.
Lucia and Gleador plan to stay by the Brace of Pigs until their shift is over at midnight. They convince the other two deputies to trade places and go to the southern road. Eventually, they hear a whistle from the north, near town hall. Probably the end of shift. But it’s only 11:15PM! There’s trouble!
The town hall of Fairmeadow.
They run to town hall and are the first of the patrolling deputies on the scene. The statue is moving again! It’s walking out of town hall with three deputies hanging off of it. One is sitting on its shoulders, futilely bashing it around the head. Two others have a rope around it but are being dragged along by its tremendous strength. Lucia yells, “Turn it off!” but the deputies don’t know about the switch. Gleador vaults up the stairs and past the melee to get some metal equipment from the armory to distract the statue. (The armory does contain metal breastplates, maces, and swords, but the three deputies are wearing that equipment right now, and the statue is not attempting to collect it.) Other deputies are rushing in along the main roads, but they are a ways off.
Lucia runs to assist the two deputies struggling with the rope and manages to tangle the statue enough to get to the switch. It’s on the right setting, not the center setting like before. She turns it left, to the center setting. The statue stops walking south, grabs the deputy on its shoulders, and tries to jam her and her metal armor into the hopper on its back. She doesn’t fit! Her shoulders are bashed repeatedly on the edges of the hopper. Gleador returns from the armory, leaving a trail of armor and weapons back to the holding cell. Lucia tries to turn the switch again, but the statue drops the deputy and grabs her. Gleador takes a breastplate in one hand and a shield in the other and crashes them together like cymbals on the statue’s head. The statue releases Lucia and grabs for Gleador’s metal goodies. Lucia scoops up the equipment Gleador dropped behind him and throws it past the statue, down the stairs. The statue snatches a mace out of the air and deposits it in its hopper. It turns and starts collecting the other metal objects. One of the other deputies has tied one end of the rope to the railing on the stairs. Lucia grabs the other end of the rope and pulls it taut as the statue passes, tripping it. It falls onto the third deputy! Ignoring the injured deputy’s cries, Lucia goes straight for the switch, turning the statue off. Gleador tries to pry the heavy statue off the deputy, but can’t get the right leverage with his shillelagh. Lucia throws her shoulder into the statue and rolls it off the poor deputy, but she’s over-exerted herself.
The other deputies and Pepe arrive soon after. Pepe and three other deputies take the two wounded deputies to a healer. They carry them on stretchers: a sheet of canvas stretched between two long wooden poles. Pepe, a Halfling, holds the poles over his shoulders, while the human deputy on the other end has his arms down by his sides.
Lucia and Gleador clean up, replacing the equipment in the armory and dragging the statue back into the cell. The metal cell door was bashed open, but the pieces weren’t collected. Gleador has a cool idea for how to chain up the statue, but he can’t make it work. They empty the statue’s hopper and find a number of strange gold coins in addition to the metal objects they saw the statue grab.\
Strange gold coins
Pepe returns. They show him the 14 large rectangular coins. He doesn’t recognize them, but has a secure place to keep them: more secure than the evidence room, right next to the cell, which is not that secure, based on tonight’s events! He’s upset. The Fairmeadow Fair is so important to the town, and it’s his job to keep everyone safe and the town running smoothly. But there have been all these attacks. The townsfolk are scared. Now his deputies are injured. He wasn’t able to keep them safe. Lucia and Gleador decide this is not a good time to mention Ferdinand, so they leave Pepe and go home to the Glazers’ house.
They both have enough experience to reach level 4! Lucia boosts her healing ability and Gleador is able to mark an animal and see through its eyes. Lucia tries to heal Gleador from his injuries earlier in the day but only transfers the injuries to herself. Before they go to sleep, Gleador suggests letting Ferdinand drive the Black Beast away in a public staged fight. Lucia thinks it’s too risky.
GM notes: I didn’t make it clear that the third position on the statue’s switch made the statue do something other than collect metal. it was hard to tell what the statue was trying to do, since people were all over it trying to prevent it from doing things the whole time our heroes could see it. I almost forgot about the coins in all the excitement. We were about to end the session, and I had to go back and say, “Actually, when you were cleaning up at town hall, you definitely noticed these very obvious and important things!”
In another group’s game (It’s Critical Role. You should totally watch it.), the party was assigned to kill a monster in the sewers. It was a giant spider, and its lair contained many cocooned victims. The party saved the living victim, searched the dead victims for valuable items, then left with the spider’s carcass. Their contract was to kill the creature, so their job was done.
But another group in another game could do something else with the same situation. Each of those cocooned victims was a person with a story and a family, and the party could provide endings for those stories and closure for those families.
Immediately a host of challenges emerge. Will the party carry the bodies away, or invite people into the sewers to collect them? Who is going to let a group of mercenaries store a dozen bodies for an indeterminate period? Is it somehow illegal to possess dead bodies? How can a body be identified without state-issued ID or a mobile phone? Why were these people in the sewer instead on the street above like sensible folk? Will Speak With Dead trivialize this whole affair? How will someone react when a group of heavily-armed strangers shows up with the corpse of a loved one? Will the party attend the funeral?
Some of the victims may be connected to the underworld, using the sewers to move without attracting the law’s attention. The party may find itself with unexpected entanglements, valuable connections, or new targets, depending on their opinion of organized crime.
Maybe the spider was able to snatch some people because they were forced to live in the sewers by circumstances. The party could find the surviving members of that subterranean community and either improve their makeshift homes, or fight to bring them back above ground. Living in the sewer seems pretty bad, but maybe they like it down here.
An identifying possession (an engraved pocket watch, or a military jacket with unit insignia) was stolen, pawned, or gambled away, and the corpse found with it is not the original owner. How will the friends and family of the living owner react to convincing evidence of his death?
If a victim is a wanderer (like most player characters are) the next-of-kin may live far away. Will the party send a message by courier and hope for a response, or make the journey with their grim cargo?
Laying victims to rest encourages a thoughtful, respectful examination of NPCs who are usually easy to disregard. As part of the investigation, the party will learn a lot about the setting and meet many characters, and probably generate more goals and quests.
Do I think the players of Critical Role should have taken this approach instead of what they did? No, their actions made sense for their characters and the campaign they are in. This idea doesn’t fit Critical Role. It doesn’t even fit Dungeons and Dragons, since relationships and investigation are so important, and D&D doesn’t have much to say about those things. But I’m sure there exist a GM, a party, and a game system for which this would be amazing!
Most people know what “experience” means in the context of games, but defining a commonly-used term forces me to think about it concretely and precisely when I usually take it for granted, so I’m going to do it!
What is experience?
Lots of games have characters that grow over the course of the game, becoming more powerful and learning new abilities. This ability to grow is usually represented by a currency called “experience.” I’m going to abbreviate “experience” as EXP, to indicate that it is a term with special meaning distinct from the usual meaning of the word. EXP is gained by performing certain activities. In some games, EXP is spent to purchase upgrades. In others, reaching certain milestones of total EXP unlocks upgrades.
Why is EXP important?
Gaining EXP is a strong incentive. Players tend to perform activities that reward EXP over activities that don’t. By changing which activities award EXP, and how much, game designers can influence their players’ behavior to suit the designers’ goals.
Common ways to gain EXP
Most of these examples are from video game shooters with “RPG elements”, RPG video games, and table top video games.
Individual EXP for killing enemies: In games where most situations are combat challenges, this method is obvious. The goal is to kill enemies, so reward the player who kills an enemy. This works well for single player games, but in multiplayer games, giving all the EXP to the player who lands the killing blow does not account for teamwork. If player A deals 90 damage to an enemy and Player B deals only the last 10 damage that kills it, player B will get the EXP and player A will feel cheated.
Individual EXP for assists: This is the obvious fix to the previous method. Everyone who participates in killing an enemy gets some EXP. There are various ways to do this.
Full EXP for the killing blow and half EXP for anyone else who damaged the enemy.
Award EXP proportional to damage done.
Using a helpful ability on a player engaged with an enemy awards assist EXP when that enemy is killed.
Award assist EXP for using non-damaging abilities on an enemy, like knocking it down, pushing it out of position, and so on.
Making an attempt at fairness reveals how difficult it is to precisely define fairness.
EXP for completing objectives: This is mainly used in video game that have other things to do besides killing enemies. Usually, most of the systems are about killing enemies, with some longer-term objectives on top, like “Control an area”, “Escort an object”, or “Capture a flag”. Accomplishing these objectives is another source of EXP, alongside killing enemies. Some objectives (e.g. hold an area) award EXP equally to everyone involved. Others (e.g. capture the flag) award EXP to the player who accomplishes it, and maybe also to players who assisted that player.
Group EXP for overcoming obstacles: This is common is video games and tabletop games where players form teams or parties. Any accomplishment by the party awards equal EXP to all party members. Framing the achievement that grants EXP as “overcoming an obstacle” instead of “defeating an enemy” expands the types of situations that grant EXP: solving a mystery, navigating a hazardous area, convincing an NPC. It also handles solving a problem in multiple ways. Players can get past a checkpoint by sneaking, fast-talking, or fighting, and get the same reward. If combat is dangerous or expensive, players are encouraged to try non-violent solutions.
Group milestone leveling: This is used in tabletop games that emphasize story, Instead gaining EXP for every obstacle along the way, every player gaining a large amount of EXP for reaching a significant narrative milestone, like defeating a boss, or wrapping up a story arc. This lets the GM choose how powerful the party will be at any point in the story, and less accounting is required of both players and GM.
EXP per skill: This is a paradigm shift that rewards players for their actions instead of for the effects those actions have. Instead of one pool of EXP, characters have multiple pools, linked to skills or groups of skills. For example, a character may have a “shooting” skill, and could gain “shooting EXP” for attempting to shoot, or for shooting and succeeding, or for succeeding on difficult shots. “Shooting EXP” can only be used to improve shooting-related parts of the character. This method keeps track of a lot more than other methods, so it’s usually limited to video games, where the computer can do all the math.
Ideas for gaining EXP
In team games, it’s good for players to work together and help each other. How do we know when a player has been helpful to another? Humans intuitively use a lot of context to decide what certain actions mean, and that’s hard for computers to emulate. A computer would like to say “Healing a teammate is good”, but healing a tank that’s at 3/4 health while a squishy teammate dies is a mistake. Most simple rules for what is helpful and what is not can be gamed: players who are motivated to gain the most EXP can find actions that make no sense diagetically, like standing in a fire to let a teammate get unlimited EXP for healing.
One way to answer “does this action help?” is to ask “If this action did not happen, would things be worse?” That’s easier for turn-based games or games with fewer verbs. Predicting the future gets more expensive the more complicated each situation gets, and how far ahead one has to look. Here’s a simple example. In Pathfinder, a Bard gives the Fighter +3 to attack, and the Fighter’s next attack beats the enemies AC by 1. Without the Bard’s Inspiration, the Fighter would have missed, so the Bard definitely helps! Grant EXP! But what if the Monk trips that same enemy, knocking it prone and reducing its AC by 4. Does the Fighter hit because of the Bard or because of the Monk? Even in this turn-based example with chunky numbers, it’s hard to assign causes to results.
Another concern in team games is fairness. EXP is a positive feedback loop. Characters that perform better get more EXP and more power, and then perform even better. Small differences in effectiveness are magnified over time, and it’s hard to have a team of characters with vastly different amounts of power. Limiting that difference in power can keep players from feeling frustrated. One solution is to award EXP to the group, not to individuals, but that may lead to the “free rider problem.” Another solution is a limit to the difference in EXP between party members. A very effective character would stop earning EXP until other characters caught up. The powers granted by EXP could also reduce this problem by weakening the positive feedback loop. If characters grow mostly horizontally (more utility options, diversification) instead of vertically (bugger numbers), that characters that are far behind can still contribute (in a few areas) just as well as a character that is far ahead.
My first draft of the bodypaint generator was a bit hacky, so I went back and cleaned it up a bit.
I created “drawers” (things that draw, not parts of a dresser) that would draw different things: stars, letters, squares, etc. I could add more than one “drawer” to a placer and fill the canvas with, say, half circles and half heart emojis. But because I mis-used Javascript’s inheritance, I couldn’t create multiple copies of the same “drawer.” So half hearts and half smiley faces wouldn’t work, nor would half red stars with few points & half green stars with many points. As the image below proves, I’ve removed that constraint. Now I can instantiate as many “drawers” as I like, of any type, and give them all different parameters.
The placing feature was mixed in with the top-level generator object. I split it out to its own class, so I could make sub-classes and switch out or combine placers on one canvas just like I could use any combination of “drawers” with one placer. To demonstrate the new placer’s extensibility, I implemented a grid placer in addition to the random placer I made earlier.
Finally I made some quality-of-life improvements to make testing easier for myself.
A “regenerate” button so I can re-run the generator without re-loading the page.
A “save to PNG” button so I don’t have to Print-Screen, paste into an image editor, and crop each time I want to add an image to my blog. (If you look carefully at previous entries about this program, the images are off by a few pixels.)
When we last left our heroes, Lucia had just rid herself of a self-inflicted flea infestation with some flammable anti-flea oil. She’s not on fire or covered in fleas, but she is covered in oil. She goes to the bath-house while Gleador goes back to the Glazers’ house to rest and level up. The bath-house is attached to Macker’s Tavern, the other inn in town. The bath-house is decorated in green & blue tile. Lucia washes up, then lingers for a relaxing bubble bath and massage.
Gleador goes back to his room and meditates, connecting with nature and its wisdom. He has a vision of the pony that rode away on the cart. It’s talking! It says, “Gleador. Gleador! Time to wake up.” It’s actually Lucia, who has returned from the bath-house and is rousing him.
They head back to the fair. Along the way they overhear someone say that Dandelion went on-stage to perform and croaked! They’re not sure if that means he died, or if he made frog noises. As they approach the market they hear a disturbance at the auction!
The auction stage at the Fairmeadow Fair
A metal statue, which was lined up on the platform along the other rare and valuable items, has come alive and is wrecking the place! It’s grabbing some of the auction items and throwing others aside. Our heroes see Pepe’s pole moving through the crowd towards the commotion, but there’s no time to wait for him! The statue throws a large wooden carving into the crowd! Gleador turns into a gorilla and catches the statue, placing it gently down next to shocked onlookers. They were too busy looking at the statue to notice him transform, right? Lucia commands the statue to stop, but it ignores her. She can intimidate people with her Paladin authority, but this is no person.
When Pepe arrives, he sees a gorilla, which is both a beast and black. Surely it must be the Black Beast! Will he engage it, or the living statue? Gleador rushes to grab the statue & show Pepe that he’s a friendly gorilla. He pulls it down and notices that the robot has only collected metal objects in its backpack. Lucia rushes up to tie the statue down, but it throws her through a table of valuable items. The statue gets back up and Pepe rushes Gleador. Gleador leaps up onto the platform, getting between Lucia and the statue and putting the statue between himself and Pepe. Undeterred, Pepe pole-vaults up onto the platform to threaten Gleador. Lucia convinces Pepe to focus on the statue.
The hidden switch on the living statue.
Gleador notices a three-position switch on the statue’s back and tries to turn it, but the statue spins 180 at the waist, grabs hum, and throws him into Pepe, toppling and injuring both of them. Lucia lunges with her sword, but it scrapes harmlessly off the solid metal statue. The statue tries to pull the sword from her grip and collect it like the other metal objects. Lucia also notices the switch. Gleador rushes the statue again, but it throws him into Lucia. She loses her grip on her sword as they both stumble back. That tug-of-war gave Gleador an idea. He takes Lucia’s shield and entices the statue into grabbing it. With its arms occupied wrestling for the shield, Lucia has an opportunity to turn the statue’s switch. Left or right? Left! The statue freezes and topples to the ground.
With the statue incapacitated, Pepe the sherriff turns his attention on the Black Beast. Gleador flees out of town into the surrounding fields. Although his halfling legs can’t run as fast as his quarry, Pepe can easily follow the trail of a gorilla crashing through fields of grain. Gleador runs until he has enough of a lead to break line of sight, then switches to a rabbit and makes a right-angle turn, aiming to come back into town from a different angle. He dashes across one of the main roads into town and a passing hunter looses an arrow after him. Gleador is a lot tougher than a normal rabbit and just keeps going, much to the hunter’s surprise.
While Gleador and Pepe are gone, deputies arrive and attempt to tie up the statue. All its joints are locked, so they can’t bring its wrists together to bind it in the usual way. They do their best and drag it towards town hall, which is also the headquarters of the town watch. People at the auction are upset by the destruction of most of the valuables, but Lucia ignores them and exhorts the deputies to place the statue in a cell, not in the evidence room. Maybe it will come to life again. Better to treat it like a person.
Gleador re-emerges as an Elf and reunites with Lucia. They go to the bard stage to check on Dandelion and find that when he started his performance, the tried to sing but could only croak like a frog. He’s not dead, but he’s humiliated and unable to perform. The back up bard is and Elf named Bill Shook. He uses Elven metaphors and references that don’t translate into Common well, so Gleador thinks he’s hilarious, but Lucia and most of the spectators are unimpressed.
There’s plenty of talk about the living statue that ruined the auction, and the gorilla that suddenly appeared and seemed to fight it. Was it a person who turned into a gorilla? To protect Gleador’s secret, Lucia starts a rumor about a an invisible, benevolent gorilla, who appears when people are in danger. Her fantastic story gains her more listeners than poor Bill Shook.
Our heroes are out late at night, helping Daniel, an enthusiastic villager, search for a strange beast that appeared during a fight between Lucia, our Paladin, and a ruffian named Opal. Daniel doesn’t know that the beast is right beside him, because Gleador, our Druid, is keeping his shape-shifting a secret. It’s complicated. Read the previous session for all the details.
Daniel is wearing a robe and slippers, with a poker in one hand and a torch in the other. He peers down alleyways, prods piles of trash with his poker, and tells the sleepy villagers that he awakens that there’s a strange beast on the loose! After about 15 minutes, Lucia and Gleador convince him that the beast is long gone, so they leave him and return to the Glazers’ house, where they are staying for the duration of the festival. Once they are alone in their room, Lucia holds Gleador’s injured hand aloft, says a prayer, and the pain of his dagger wound is replaced by a feeling of peace. They rest for the night.
Lucia has enough experience to level up, and she becomes a Cleric of the goddess of the Sapphire Islands. She can now cast low-level Cleric spells.
The Glazers prepare a lovely holiday breakfast. All the dishes, glasses, and mugs are beautiful multi-colored glass, because the Glazers are glass-blowers. They tell their guests about the day’s activities: the market is open, with goods from all over the region; there’s a stage for bards & other performers; in the afternoon, there’s an auction for especially valuable items. Our heroes accompany the Glazers to the market, where the Glazers have a stand to sell their glassware. Our heroes act like they are going to wander the market for a bit. They buy some fair food: fried dough & corn on the cob with mayo. Lucia starts to feed her share to the stray dogs, but bystanders scold her.
A map of the town of Fairmeadow, including the bathhouse and the Poirot home.
Our heroes duck out to find the pickpocket’s house. (Last night, they had some dogs follow the pickpocket’s scent, and got directions to it.) They recognize the house by the token over the door, even though the dogs described it in shades of grey and our heroes can see color. It’s a nice, upper class house: no shop attached, a yard with stalls for horses in the back. Rich people live here. The streets are bustling with fair-goers so they are able to circle the house a few times without drawing attention. Gleador wants to infiltrate the house and turns into a tropical hornet when he thinks no-one is looking. A kid notices and tugs on his mom’s sleeve.
Child: “Mommy, mommy! That man just disappeared!”
The mom looks where the child is pointing and only sees Lucia.
Mom: “That’s not a man. She just wearing armor.”
The mom thinks this might be a teachable moment, so she comes over so the kid can ask about Lucia’s armor. Lucia would like to be left alone, so in addition to explaining the parts of her armor, she talks about dangerous quests and violent battles. The mother looks uncomfortable. Maybe the child shouldn’t be hearing this.
Gleador flies into the open kitchen window. A servant comes in through the door to the dining room carrying three plates full of food. He grumbles that the guests left suddenly and no one told him until he had already made extra breakfast. Gleador wants to get into the dining room, but the door is shut. A young man in expensive clothing pops his head in the door to complain about something trivial: his pancake ripped or something. Gleador buzzes past him to get into the dining room. The young man squeals and flails ineffectually as Gleador passes. Gleador sees a table set for five. There’s an old woman at the head of the table, the young man yelling for help and looking something to swat him, and the three absent guests. Gleador leaves the dining room by another way and finds a way out of the house. The young man gets braver once the scary insect is gone and starts bragging to his mother about how he drove the awful creature away.
Gleador flies back to Lucia, who is still telling scary stories to the curious child. Gleador flies behind the mother & child to transform back unnoticed, but they turn to leave just as he does so! Lucia claims that Gleador can turn invisible. The mother hurries her child away from these strange, dangerous adventurers.
Our heroes watch her go and see a pole with a little flag on it coming through the crowd towards them. As it approaches, they see the halfing that is carrying the pole. He uses the flag so people know that he’s there. He’s the Sheriff of this town, named Pepe. He heard that Lucia drove off the strange beast last night. Because of the attack, Pepe’s instituted a curfew tonight, and he’s collecting able-bodied deputies to search for the creature. Pepe’s working hard to ensure the safety of everyone at the fair! Since Lucia has fought the beast already, and her friend can apparently turn invisible, he asks them both to meet him at town hall at sundown and join the deputies. They agree.
Lucia wants more information about the house. For all she knows, this rich old lady is the ringleader of a band of thieves! She waits for the servant to leave the house, looking for a chance to talk with him. About an hour later, he leaves through the back door with a basket under his arm, heading for the market. Lucia follows and tries to bump into him. She underestimates her strength and sends the servant stumbling and knocks his basket to the ground. He recovers and notices his coin purse is gone! Oh, it fell under the basket. Everything is fine. Gleador approaches, complains about Lucia’s clumsiness, and offers to share some pipe-leaf with the servant. He happily agrees.
His name is William and he serves Lady Poirot and her son Master Thierry. Three guests (matching the descriptions of the pickpocket and the two ruffians) came in yesterday on a metal cart pulled by a pony. They kept to themselves. He brought in their things and served them some food, then they went out. When he got up today and made breakfast, the guests had already left, and no one told him. Very frustrating! Our heroes commiserate with William and send him on his way.
Our heroes wonder how to gather more information. They could have the stray dogs follow the scent on Opal’s cloak, or investigate the strange cart. They return to the Poirot house. There’s a shed divided into three stalls in the back yard. There’s a horse in one stall. The guests’ pony and the cart were probably stored in the other stalls. Lucia promises to cure the dogs’ fleas if they sniff out Opal’s scent. The scent leads to the stalls, but the horse won’t let the dogs approach. Gleador goes to speak to the horse and asks about the pony. The horse says that the pony and three humanoids got into the cart and the cart left. The pony was inside the cart, not pulling it! Weirdest thing! Some of the humanoids may have been dwarves or juvenile humans. The horse has trouble telling the difference. Gleador thanks the horse for its help and gives it the corn on the cob with mayo they bought earlier. Cart tracks indicate that the self-propelled cart left town going south.
Lucia lays hands on the dogs to cure their fleas as promised, but transfers the fleas to herself instead! How embarrassing and annoying. How can she get rid of them? The bath house won’t admit someone with fleas, and the river is miles away. Samantha the witch knows potions and remedies. Maybe she can help. They return to The Brace of Pigs where they last saw her. Lucia has to wait outside while Gleador goes in to inquire. Samantha’s probably in the market, but so is everyone else. They don’t find her, but they do find a shop selling anti-flea oil. The shop-keeper wants 3 bundles of Gleador’s pipe-leaf for the flea oil, but Gleador talks him down to two bundles, and they share some now.
They go into the shop-keepers tent. Lucia removes her armor and covers herself in the flea oil. The shop-keeper gives Gleador the pipe and tries to light it for him. The flint sends sparks toward Lucia, who is covered in flammable oil! She dodges, but drops the vial of oil, which catches fire . . . on the grass . . . inside the cloth tent . . . in the middle of the crowded market! Lucia backs away from the flames and tosses a canteen to Gleador. Gleador tries to remember if it’s OK to pour water on an oil fire. It seems good to him, but he’s wrong! He pours the water on the water and it splatters out further, setting one side of the tent on fire and sending flames towards a cabinet full of other potions! Lucia tosses Gleador a container of milk. Maybe that will work. Gleador realizes that milk is mostly water and will have the same effect, so he doesn’t pour it out. The shop-keeper drags his cabinet out of the tent and flees, yelling about the fire. Now that they are alone, Gleador is free to transform into an earth elemental and smother the fire, but he fails and belly-flops onto the fire as a normal, flammable Elf! He already stopped and dropped, so he rolls to put the fire out. He’s not on fire anymore, and neither is the grass. The tent still burning. Lucia throws over a rug, which Gleador uses to smother most of the fire. The remaining fire on the tent is just burning fabric, not oil, so Gleador douses it with the milk. The market is saved! Our heroes breathe a sigh of relief before the bucket brigade arrives and soaks them & everything in the tent!
Lucia goes to the bath house to wash off the flea oil. It did work. She’s cured of fleas. Gleador goes back to the Glazers’ house to rest and level up.
My players enjoyed the first session so much they asked me to come back and continue the adventure. Since Fairmeadow Fair is usually a one-shot, we didn’t talk about character backgrounds, and I didn’t build the world much past the town and the surrounding fields. We spent the first part of the session brainstorming about those things.
Gleador is from the Sapphire Islands and was exiled for showing Lucia a secret ritual. This means that the Sapphire Islands have an organization of Druids that have secret rituals and can exile people. The Sapphire Islands are in the south and are more tropical than the plains and forests surrounding Fairmeadow. Lucia & Gleador are heading north through this region to reach the Great Forest, home of the Elves, where Gleador hopes he can somehow redeem himself. The central plains are a loose group of city-states with nominal allegiance to a central government that isn’t relevant to most people daily lives. Each city-state sends a representative to high council, which elects a leader. The current leader of the council is a queen. We will fill in the details of Gleador’s exile, the ritual, and what he must do to be restored at a later time, as they become relevant.
Lucia attended a Paladin Academy, so there must be a number of Paladins out there, enough to sustain a school. Gleador owes Lucia some sort of debt.
Gleador: Why would I owe you a debt?
Lucia: Because I’m so cool.
When we last left our heroes, they just returned to The Brace Of Pigs tavern with the special festival wine, and everyone in the crowded tavern is celebrating. Every room in The Brace of Pigs was reserved long before the festival, but a couple is willing find other accommodations and let Gleador and Lucia have their room as a gift for saving the day. Fairmeadow has a tradition of hospitality, where people open their homes to travelers, especially during the fair when the two inns can’t contain all the visitors. Guests are given a sturdy token, big enough to fit in own hand, with a unique shape, pattern, or image on it. This token matches a placard set over the door of the house, so they can recognize the place they are staying. Bill Glazer offers his token to our heroes. He’s a glassblower & lives with his parents, Fred & Eliza. Their token is beautiful multi-colored glass in a metal frame. Our heroes choose to stay with the Glazers and let the other couple keep their room.
The tavern is bustling, because it’s the supper rush the night before the festival begins. Gleador looks around to see what’s happening. Ferdinand is excited to be accepted instead of an outcast. He’s had a few drinks and is arm-wrestling all comers. He’s pretty strong in elf form, so he’s winning for now, but he’s not so good at self-control and may “hulk out” if he faces stiff competition. There’s a table in the back where a bard (a regional celebrity) is holding forth, telling stories to the delight of his entourage and fans. Bards are entertaining and also bring stories from far-off places. There’s also a kid wandering from table to table, apparently not with anyone. As he passes our heroes’ table, Gleador notices that his coin purse is missing!
Gleador alerts Lucia to the theft. Lucia keeps her purse inside her armor, so she’s fine. She grabs for the kid but only gets his cloak, which drops to the floor with a heavy jingle of many coin purses. Gleador leaps over the table, tackles the kid, and knocks the barstool out from under a large man at the bar. Lucia takes the cloak to Hobert the barkeep and asks him to return the purses, since he knows everyone. Gleador is trying to keep a hold of the kid and calm the drunk man he knocked over, but it’s not going well. Lucia comes over and tries to take the kid from Gleador. As they scramble and claw at each other, the kid’s hand lands on the hilt of Lucia’s sword! She can secure the kid or her sword, not both. She has a plan, so she secures her sword and lets the kid escape. He runs out the door past Gleador, who has managed to knock the drunk man over a second time. Gleador plays the bar-fight trump card and yells, “A round for everyone, barkeep!” The drunk man is won over by Gleador’s generosity.
People come up to order drinks are are surprised to receive their coin purses as well! Lucia retrieves thief’s cloak from Hobert and gives it to Gleador so he can tell the local dogs to track the thief by scent. The two dogs (Ralphie and Jollifer) agree, but demand Lucia’s drink. She get a drink just like everyone else, but her vow of temperance means she’s not allowed to drink it. She complies, but doesn’t like the reminder of the fun she’s not allowed to have.
A lackey from the Bard’s table gets a whole tray of drinks for the Bard and his entourage. The Bard orders a fancy, expensive drink, and when it arrives, he salutes Gleador with it (like Leo in Great Gatsby). Gleador comes over and introduces himself. The Bard’s name is Dandelion, and he brags about himself. Gleador motions for Lucia to come over and use her Charisma on him. Lucia’s not sure what he’s implying. Paladins from Lucia’s academy are not barrred from romance, but she herself is single. Instead of flirting she is a charming conversationalist and impresses Dandelion with her wide travels. Of course he turns the conversation back to himself and his travels.
Samantha (the witch whose herbs were stolen to make Hobert’s wine) sees Lucia chatting with Dandelion and pulls her aside. Samantha warns her to avoid Dandelion, as one of Samantha’s recent customers had some nasty things to say about him. (Samantha sells potions, herbs, and components useful for magic and alchemy, so Hobert’s theft was especially unnecessary.) Lucia wants more details, but Samantha hesitates, because her customers trust her to keep their secrets. She draws a magical seal on her palm, thumb & index finger. If Lucia will shake her hand and accept a spell of secrecy, she will tell her what she knows. Lucia doesn’t know the consequences for breaking this unfamiliar spell, so she declines, saying she’ll respect Samantha’s professional courtesy.
Bill Glazer has definitely had enough, so Gleador and Lucia leave the Brace of Pigs to walk home with him. It’s nighttime now. The dogs return with a report on the thief’s trail. Gleador steps away so he can talk to the dogs without letting Bill know his secret. The dogs give directions to the house the thief entered, and describe the black, grey, and light grey symbol over the door. Gleador asks them to stake out the house overnight, but the dogs decline. Too much work. Not enough food.
A map of the town of Fairmeadow, showing our heroes’ home for the weekend, and the site of the confrontation.
Lucia and Bill continue to walk along, but two hooded figures emerge from the shadows ahead and block their path. “You’ve cost us a lot of money! We want it back!” says the shorter figure. Lucia says she doesn’t have the money, and that Bill is not involved. The ruffians have a specific grudge against our heroes and aren’t ruthless leave-no-witnesses mercenaries, so they give Bill a shove and tell him to get lost. Lucia draws her sword and shouts “Let me pass” in her most commanding Paladin voice. One ruffian is shaken by her command and freezes, but the other (a Dwarven woman) leaps at Lucia with a club. She tries to knock Lucia’s sword aside and tackle her, but Lucia stands firm and the sword blade jams into the gnarled club, locking the weapons together. Lucia tries to disarm the ruffian but ends up flinging both their weapons away. Gleador hears the commotion and turns into a panther. The second ruffian, already shaken, hears a rumbling growl and sees green retinas flash in the darkness. She yells, “I’m sorry, Opal!” and flees. Opal, the Dwarven woman engaged with Lucia, attempts to throw her cloak over Lucia’s face to get an opening for escape. Lucia catches the whirling cape and moves with it. The combatants switch places and the cloak flutters to the ground beside them. Lucia is now between Opal and her fleeing comrade, but Opal is closer to the weapons on the ground. As the two wonder how to react to this new situation, Gleador pounces from the shadows, knocking Opal flat!
It’s surprisingly difficult to knock a Dwarf over, but panthers are very strong. Gleador is on top of her, big paws on her chest, claws extended just enough to touch her leather tunic. Opal has never seen a panther before, so she does not recognize the invitation to surrender. She panics, screams, and draws the dagger at her belt. Gleador moves one paw back to swat the dagger out of her hand before it finds his belly. The dagger goes flying, but both of their arms are now bleeding. The commotion has rousee people in the surrounding houses. Candles are lit and heads pop out of upper windows. Lucia retrieves her sword and points it at Gleador, “Back! Back, foul beast!” she says. Gleador understands her implication and vanishes into the shadows. The general populace doesn’t need to know that the Paladin is friends with monsters. Two neighbors come out of their homes. Lucia “helps” Opal up and keeps a tight grip on her arm. One neighbor wants to pursue the beast with his improvised weapon. Another is ready to care for any injuries. Lucia tells the neighbors that she should take Opal home and make sure she’s alright. Opal does not want to be alone in Lucia’s power, but can’t openly resist lest it be revealed that she attacked Lucia. Gleador returns as an Elf, yelling about a strange beast that ran past him. His arm is still bleeding where Opal’s dagger caught him, so he keeps that arm under his cloak. Everyone is talking over each other about what to do and our heroes end up on the wrong side of the consensus. The armed neighbor is hustling Lucia and Gleador off to chase the dangerous beast, while the kindly neighbor is taking Opal inside to tend bandage her claw wound. Insisting would be suspicious, but our heroes are clever and subtle. Gleador says, “Get your cloak, Lucia, and let’s go” Lucia picks up Opal’s cloak, so they now have her scent. They follow the armed neighbor on his futile search for the strange beast.
We ran out of time and had to stop there. As a GM, I am very proud of my players for creating and managing such complex social situations. The last scene, with everyone hiding their intentions and relationships and choosing words that meant different things to different people, was so tense and so fun! I’d be proud of that if I wrote it in a story, and they improvised it. I am eager to see what they come up with in our next session.
