Bone Marshes (Knave).pdf

(3242 KB) Pobierz
An adventure module filled with mapping and navigational challenges. Chart a safe path through a
flaming marsh and then map the flooded tunnels beneath the muck.
WRITING
EDITOR
David Schirduan
Alex Drummond
ARTWORK
LAYOUT
Keith Mageau
Joe Banner
WITH THANKS
COVER PHOTO
Shifaaz shamoon on Unsplash
Maps made with Hex Kit
Tiles by Cecil Howe
Knave
rules by Ben Milton
FONTS
Alegreya Sans, Alegreya
Hot Springs Island
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
(Water Temple)
Folly Beach, Charleston
Vault of the Iron Overlord
Telecanter’s table:
recedingrules.blogspot.
com/2010/03/spell-like-effect-spur.html
INSPIRATIONS
Alexa De Lima, Andrew Armstrong,
Anton L.C., Ashley Beacham, Ben Dutter,
Cameron Ledbetter, Caley Ziegler,
Clinton Medbery, Dan, Dylan Bomeisler,
Ian Greulich, Josh Moore, Katherine
Vaughan, Kelsey Roberson, Lori and Scott
Gildersleeve, Lucas Smith, Mike Hope,
Mike Beasley, Nick, Rachel Slagathor,
Ronak Raithatha, Shannon, Wilhelmina
Motley, Will Swan
PLAYTESTERS
All Bone Marshes pages may be printed for personal use. Any other use of printed or digital pages or
artwork is prohibited without express written consent from David Schirduan.
All text is protected under Creative Commons License 4.0.
CHARACTER SHEETS AND HANDOUTS:
https://technicalgrimoire.com/bone-marshes
CONTENTS
THE JOY OF GETTING LOST ............................................................................................. 4
KNAVE
.............................................................................................................................. 6
How To Play
Knave
...................................................................................................6
Character creation
..................................................................................................
8
Background ...........................................................................................................9
WELCOME TO THE MARSHES ........................................................................................13
Timeline
...............................................................................................................13
PART I: CHARTING THE MARSHES
.................................................................................14
PART II: RETRIEVE THE VOLTCELL
................................................................................18
PART III: HEART OF THE MARSHES
.............................................................................. 20
BESTIARY ...................................................................................................................... 22
Marsh Creatures
...................................................................................................
22
Muckers ..............................................................................................................
23
Silfer Automatons .................................................................................................
24
REGIONS & HEXES ........................................................................................................ 26
Travel and Timekeeping ..........................................................................................
26
Forest
.................................................................................................................
28
Wetlands
.............................................................................................................
30
Brambles
.............................................................................................................
32
Pluffs ..................................................................................................................
34
Meadows
.............................................................................................................
36
Central Spire
........................................................................................................
38
Sunken Keep ........................................................................................................40
Mud Pit
...............................................................................................................
41
Cavern
................................................................................................................
43
Lava Maze............................................................................................................
44
Vault
...................................................................................................................
45
THE JOY OF GETTING LOST
During one of my first games, my GM suddenly announced: “Ranger,
make a WIS save… Failed huh? Your group is lost in these catacombs.”
Everyone else groaned to themselves, but I immediately asked, “How
did we get lost? Who was keeping track of the map? Did the tunnels
change?”
The GM shrugged it off; turns out the adventure required us to be
lost so a new character could show up and move the plot forward. The
experience really bummed me out. After the game, I asked to see the
map, and it was awesome! Twists, turns, secret doors, etc. We didn’t
see any of that.
I love beautiful dungeon maps, but most are actually pretty hard to
map when you’re the player. Do you start your map in the middle of
the page? Pick a corner? When you run out of space in a certain area,
do you start over?
The
Bone Marshes
is my attempt at an adventure filled with mapping
and exploration challenges. Great care and effort have been taken to
ease the burden of the GM and provide players with tools and hints to
map complex spaces.
The first part of the adventure is a hex-crawl with a twist. The second
part is a point-crawl exploring the flooding caverns deep beneath
the marsh.
I hope you and your group enjoy it.
… Even when they’re lost.
… Especially when they’re lost!
Like all creative efforts,
Bone Marshes
is built on the back of a dozen
other things. I’ve listed the most prominent ones here. These range
from vague inspirations to shameless theft. If you like
Bone Marshes,
chances are you’ll enjoy many of the things on this list.
TOUCHSTONES
GAMES:
Knave
by Ben Milton.
Bone Marshes
includes
Knave
as its primary
system. I will gush about it more over the next few pages.
Hot Springs Island
by Jacob Hurst. My first hex-crawl adventure,
and still the best one I’ve played. Brilliant setting, clean layout,
evocative writing… it’s just incredible.
Tower of the Stargazer
by James Edward Raggi IV. A perfect
example of a low-combat adventure. The wizard’s tower is
STUFFED with strange devices, gizmos, books, puzzles, and
strange architecture. I tried to evoke that same engagement
without combat in many of some
Bone Marshes
locations.
MUSIC:
Coffin Island
by DangerMuffin. A local band from my
hometown, their music perfectly encapsulates the lazy salty
wonder of the beach marshes I grew up in. This song, in
particular, is all about loss; a common theme in
Bone Marshes.
Eastward
by Hudson. A beautiful album about someone’s
journey to rescue a loved one. I really enjoy how each stage of the
journey is represented by different music; the difficult parts are
harsh and loud, and the quiet ones are soft and mellow.
This adventure is written for players who enjoy drawing maps and
exploring the unknown. I’ve playtested
Bone Marshes
with 4 different
groups spanning over 14 sessions in total. Only once did I have a group
get frustrated about the mapping.
“UGH! Where are we? How do we get out of this place? Let’s just pick
random directions and get more frustrated.”
Mapping isn’t for everyone. Make sure you get buy-in from your
group before you start playing. And if they do get frustrated, drop the
mapping stuff. The next path they go down leads to their destination.
Drop obvious hints, re-draw the map so they don’t have to worry
about it.
Just because you and I like maps doesn’t mean your players will. Make
this book work for your group. Keep what you like, ignore what you
don’t, and make this adventure your own.
PLAYER BUY-IN
MOVIES:
Princess Bride
by Rob Reiner. Not just for the Fire Swamp
scenes, but the tone of the movie overall is light-hearted while
allowing for drama, loss, and darkness. I hope to strike that same
balance here.
The Two Towers
by Peter Jackson. The Dead Marshes part of
the books always bored me to tears, but the movies really made
the dread and misery of that section come to life. There is this
one camera pan that zooms out and shows the viewer just how
meandering, large, and aimless the Dead Marshes are. I always
thought about that camera pan while writing
Bone Marshes.
4
BONE MARSHES
5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin