Delving Wolf

After creating a realm , a faction and a forest for my future Silksong-inspired duet campaign (I talked about how the idea came to be  here ) I've started creating a dungeon (The Abandoned Manor) that will be part of said forest using the procedure  included in Cairn 2e's Warden's Guide. You can find part 1 here  and part 2 here . We expanded the first 4 rooms of the dungeon last time, so let's continue from there. 5.  LORE .  Room type : 11, Kitchen /  Clue : 6, Leavings 6.  LORE .  Room type : 4, Cistern /  Clue : 18, Temperature 7.  LORE .  Room type : 14, Shrine /  Clue : 5, Footprints 8.  TRAP .  Trap : 1, Ages /  Trigger : 4, Disturbing  5. This room used to be the manor's dining room, where the cult partook in rituals to try to connect with the deceased by having one of them consuming a large quantity of the mushrooms found in forest area 2. Some remains of mushrooms are still present only on o...

After creating a realm , a faction and a forest for my future Silksong-inspired duet campaign (I talked about how the idea came to be  here ) I've started creating a dungeon (The Abandoned Manor) that will be part of said forest using the procedure  included in Cairn 2e's Warden's Guide. You can find part 1 here . Let's continue! After rolling for the general characteristics of the dungeon and the factions inhabiting it, it's now time to roll for the actual dungeon rooms. 1. SPECIAL .  Special:  12, Pool / Feature : 9, Grows 2.  MONSTER .  Group : 18, Shape shifter /  Activity : 4, Fighting 3.  TRAP .  Trap : 10, Drops /  Trigger : 8, Interacting 4.  TRAP .  Trap : 14, Hypnotizes /  Trigger : 15, Speaking 5.  LORE .  Room type : 11, Kitchen /  Clue : 6, Leavings 6.  LORE .  Room type : 4, Cistern /  Clue : 18, Temperature 7.  LORE .  Room type : 14, Shrine /  Clue : 5, Footpri...

After creating a realm , a faction and a forest for my future Silksong-inspired duet campaign (I talked about how the idea came to be  here ) it is now time to create a dungeon that will be part of said forest.To do this I will once again use the procedure  included in Cairn 2e's Warden's Guide. Let's begin! We already know our dungeon will be an Abandoned Manor part of the Shrouded Shelter forest, and that somewhere in it is the place where "The Veil between worlds is thin", where the Mirror can be activated (with all its consequences). First of all, let's make a few rolls to learn more about this place! 1. Let's first roll for the  HISTORY  of the Manor: - Original Use , d20: 12, Impenetrable vault - Built by , d20: 2, A fanatical cult This lines up with my original idea: This cult (whoever they are) built the Manor to secure the Veil; the Wizard we talked about during the forest creation might be the leader of the cult, or maybe its main researcher (a...

It's time to return to the forest I created using Cairn 2e's Warden's Guide generator a few weeks ago  and continue to expand it, weaving the various results together to make it interesting to play in. Let's continue where we left off. In area 9 ( the hut with legs which is also a thieves' camp ) there's a bandit hideout on top of a platform elevated from the ground by four wooden poles and they always have a lookout, so a direct approach has very little chances of success. Attentive characters, though, will notice that a few of the trees around the hut protrude their branches very close to it, giving them another option. The bandit leader,  Neria  (she/her), is usually in the hut, together with 3/4 more bandits. Let's flesh her out a bit using  Cairn 2e's NPC tables , where I already got her name: - Name , d20: 17, Neria - Quirk , d20: 2, Bald - Background , d20: 14, Mystic - Goal , d20: 18, Survival - Virtue , d20: 5, Disciplined - Vice , d20: 2...

It's time to return to the forest I created using Cairn 2e's Warden's Guide generator a few weeks ago  and continue to expand it, weaving the various results together to make it interesting to play in. Let's continue where we left off.   In area 2 ( the toxic spores area with watchful dead ), deep within a field of rotten mushrooms is hidden a Mirror, a magical artifact that allows communication with deceased people...at a cost: whoever uses it becomes the new guardian of the Mirror (a wight). Stepping on the mushrooms requires a successful save (STR in Cairn, CON in D&D and the like) to prevent being poisoned for 24 hours; submerging oneself in running water cures the poison [A river should be added in some other part of the forest, to offer a way to get rid of the poison]. The wight will attack anyone that touches the Mirror which, to be used, has to be in a place where "the Veil between worlds is thin" (area 3). The Elves know all this (it's an El...

It's time to return to the forest I created using Cairn 2e's Warden's Guide generator 3 weeks ago  and continue to expand it, weaving the various results together to make it interesting to play in. Let's continue where we left off. Area 4 (the hidden village popular with smugglers)  is the den of a weretiger, Scratch, who is the "leader" of a group of smugglers. He's the only one permanently living there, but Scratch's Den  is known amongst smugglers even from far away for being a neutral site for exchanges, where things will go well (because no one in their right mind would try to cheat while in the Den, or they'd immediately pay with their life). Only criminals know about the Den. The bandits are not welcome here (they're too loud and "rude" for Scratch). He doesn't know about the Elves. Hidden in area 5  (the rotting farmhouse with the bound creature) , always guarded by 3 bandits, is a  Pegasus , chained to the floor and with ...

It's been a while, but this week I'm returning to Cairn 2e's Warden's Guide, specifically to its  forest generator , to create a a forest to use in the Silksong-inspired 5e Duet campaign I'm preparing for my wife (I'll actually start it, eventually! But for now I'm alternating various different games already). 1. We start by rolling for the  FOREST DESCRIPTION , 2d20: 4,  Dying  and 19,  Sunlit ; 2. Next we need to establish the  SPIRIT OF THE FOREST , 2d20 again: -  Virtue : 5, Cultivating ; -  Vice : 16,  Prideful; 3. Now we need to find out the  FOREST AGENDA , rolling, you guessed it, 2d20: - Goal : 2,  Awakening ; -  Obstacle : 19,  Vulnerability ; 4. The next step is to roll a few d6s on a sheet of paper to generate the  POINTS OF INTEREST (POIs)  of the forest, numbering them and assigning a type to each of them based on the number rolled (each type then has 2 d20 tables to characterize them). Let's see wh...

A few weeks ago I wrote a post detailing how I generated a Treasure Map for the Pirate Borg Duet campaign I run for my wife. Three weeks ago I continued that by describing how I created the island that map leads to and the pirate captain that's shipwrecked on it. Now it's time to bring the special coin that'll be the main thing to find in the treasure (which will then lead to more adventures) to life. To do that, I'll use the Coin generator included in Down Among the Dead , the newest Pirate Borg book to come to life.     1. First of all, we roll for the  MATERIAL , 2d6: 7,  Silver  (worth 1s); 2. We then roll for the  ORIGIN  of this coin, 2d6: 3, Deep One ; 3. Next we find out the  CONDITION  of the coin, d6: 6,  Mint ; 4. Now we roll for its  VALUE , d6: 4,  Normal ; 5. This is where we roll for the  TWIST , d20, but in this case I've already picked 4,  Treasure Map , for our purpose; this prompts another roll to...

A few weeks ago I wrote a post detailing how I generated a Treasure Map for the Pirate Borg Duet campaign I run for my wife; this week I continue that by reporting how I generated the island that map leads to and the captain of the other crew that is already there, with the help of the Uncharted Islands and Pirate generators in the Pirate Borg rulebook.  1.  For the  ISLAND , we rolled: -  Size , d6: 1, Tiny ; -  Terrain , 2d6: 6, Mostly flat ; -  Vegetation , 2d6: 7, Fertile grasslands; -  Prominent natural feature , 2d6: 4,  Numerous sea stacks ; -  Notable animal inhabitants , 2d6: 8,  Pigs and boars (large) ; -  Inhabitants , 2d6: 10,  Farming settlers ; -  Best place in the island to hide treasure? , 2d6: 10,  A sink hole ; -  Anything here worth a fortune? , 2d6: 5,  Buried treasure...somewhere  [Well, duh! But appropriate]; -  Natural Hazards , 2d6: 6,  Coral reefs ; -  Current co...

In my Duet Pirate Borg game my wife's character recently found a treasure map, so I headed to the Pirate Borg rulebook, specifically to the Treasure Map generator, to work on it. 1. Let's start with the TYPE OF MAP  (d4): 3, Scavenger Hunt . Ok, so it'll be a multi-part hunt; I like it; 2. Next we roll for the MATERIAL  the map is made of (d12): 8, Whittled into a bone or skull . This sounds very cool, but the PC already has the map, so it's better to keep it for the second piece of this scavenger hunt; for the starting map I'll go with 1, Parchment; 3. Now we need to establish the GEOGRAPHY  of where our treasure is hidden (d8): 8, Inland . A land adventure, nice; 4. I'm not sure I'll actually use this part, but it was in the process, so I rolled it for fun: THE INVISIBLE INK IS REVEALED  (d10): 5, If soaked in alcohol . Good to know; 5. It's time to roll for the COMPLICATION  that will spice things up (d8): 8, There is so much treas...

This week I'm going to create a faction for my future Silksong-inspired Duet campaign, which was the subject of this post  and for which I created a Realm in last week's post . Just like I did for the Realm, I'm going to use Cairn 2e's Warden's Guide procedure  to do so. Let's begin!   1. First of all, let's roll 2d20 to establish the  FACTION TYPES : -  Type : 15, Revolutionaries; -  Agent : 10, Laborer. We have a working class faction already, and the two results work well together. Nice! 2. Next we roll 2d20 again for the  FACTION TRAITS : -  Trait 1 : 12, Keen; -  Trait 2 : 5, Corrupt. Ok, so they're very passionate about their cause, but corruption poisons their ranks. A story as old as time. 3. Now we roll for the  FACTION ADVANTAGES . First we roll 1d20 to establish the number of Advantages this faction has between 1 and 4: 1, so it has 1 Advantage; now let's roll 1d20 again to discover which one it is: 16, Resources. Since ...

This week I'm going to create a Realm for my future Silksong-inspired Duet campaign, which was the subject of last week's post . To do so, I'm going to use Cairn 2e's Warden's Guide procedure , which seems very promising. Let's dive right in! First off, we are going to roll for the  PEOPLE  who live in this region, for which we have 2 tables,  Culture  and  Resources ; we roll 2d20 for each: -  Culture : Character : 3, Curious; Ambition : 10, Knowledge; -  Resources :  Abundance : 18, Water;  Scarcity : 2, Fuel. So the inhabitants of this region are interested in gathering knowledge, and the fuel could be wood...but I want forests in there; maybe it's a crime to recklessly cut trees, and gathering wood is strictly regulated, because the forests are sacred, or something. Next we go to the  MAPMAKING  phase: first we roll 1d6 to decide the number of landmarks present in the region: 3. I might add more later, but for now let's see wha...

Lately my wife has been obsessed, like millions around the world, with Hollow Knight: Silksong. It's a beautiful game, and I look forward to playing it when I eventually finish Hollow Knight first (if I find the time for it!). A couple of weeks ago she found on Instagram  this 5e subclass  inspired by that game, and that immediately sparked an idea in my mind: a Duet campaign where she would get to play a character with that subclass, to merge two of her favorite hobbies...and mine too, which doesn't hurt. The game system will need to be 5e, obviously, and my idea is to not even try to follow the plot of the game of anything like that, it would take too much tweaking; instead, I'm going to create a world which her character would be able to explore freely, and make its own story. It's still a work in progress, but by brainstorming with her so far I've come up with a Monastery, the home of the "Weavers", who are the ones who managed to perfect the art of tu...

This week's post is directly inspired by  this post  from Prismatic Wasteland, one of the best TTRPG blogs I know. Go give it a read, it's worth it. In short, that post wonders why D&D (and most TTRPGs derived from it) have a "Common tongue" that everyone seems to know - even though in 1974's OD&D non-human NPCs only had a 20% chance of knowing Common, but let's not nitpick - and most non-human species have their own language, shared between all members, no matter how far in the world (or multiverse, in some cases) they are spread, when that was not usually the case in the real world's Middle Age, which D&D is obviously inspired by. It then gives 3 possible solutions for this discrepancy: Ignoring it altogether, to avoid adding complications to the game, but they don't like this solution and neither do I;  Gamifying it, making it so that PCs don't start with a list of known languages, but every time they encounter a new one an...

It's a common thing in OSR games (and also mentioned in multiple TSR rulebooks, if I'm not mistaken) to have churches in major towns always having a cleric/priest with the Raise Dead spell, ready to bring back to life adventurers that passed away while "working", for a price obviously. It helps to lower the lethality of old-school games and is also a chance to give story hooks, because if the party doesn't have the money to immediately get the resurrection, the church might ask them to complete a service for them in exchange (immediately or in the future, as in "When we'll need you, we'll call you"). But why not expand on this? The inspiration for this post comes from a comment on a Reddit post I ran into a while ago. Sadly I didn't save the post, but the idea is that in a world where all of that is true, why would the priests themselves not take more advantage of it? Think about it: the clerics are supposed to send part of their loot to thei...

This week's post is, in a couple ways, a follow-up of one I made a few weeks ago . First of all, a bit of backstory: the idea for this post first sprang during my honeymoon cruise, a little more than a week ago. We were in Barcellona, doing a guided tour to the Sagrada Familia, and the guide's English was...let's say less than perfect, but because it was a mixed Italian/English group I could still follow. At one point we get to one of the entrances and, in front of it, there are two turtles supporting columns: The guide says that the turtle in the direction of the coast is a water turtle, while the one in the direction of the mountains is a tortoise, or as the guide put it, an earth turtle; her accent, though, made it sound like she was saying "Air Turtle". Instant ispiration. My mind, as it often does, started thinking about what an Air Turtle would look like, where it would live, and other possible details, and as I was voicing some of these ideas to my wife she...

This week's post will be about one of my favorite videogames, Xenoblade Chronicles, which I played years ago on the Nintendo new3DS (it's originally on the Wii, then also ported to the Switch). Initially, this was supposed to be exclusively about this game's method of giving XP for exploring (something that shares with other games, for example MMORPG à la Guild Wars 2), but while thinking about it I found a few more connections to TTRPGs in general - and OSR in particular. You see, that game features a big, massive world; I'm tempted to call it open world, but it is separated into a few areas (although they are so big this can almost be considered nitpicking), and one thing that incentivizes you to explore that world is that you are rewarded for doing so with XP. Sure, you also get XP for combat and for completing quests (more on that later), but the fact that you get something every time you go out of your way to explore little corners of the world you find landmarks a...

 Lately I've gotten back to an old project of mine, which I started about 10/15 years ago (and stopped working on a few years later), which is writing a fantasy novel. Now that I've restarted it I've been trying a new system to organize my notes, especially about worldbuilding: instead of filling a bunch of notebooks of random ideas in the order they come out of my head (I've always been a fan of a more analogue approach to writing, it helps me focus better) I've been trying a method I found online, used by many authors, one of which is Ryan Holiday, who explains it in this video : before starting to write even the first chapter, take a bunch of index cards and write down your ideas, putting a header or topic in the top right, so you can store them and, when the time comes to actually start writing, you can just pick up the notes you prepared and use those. Why do I bring this up in my TTRPG blog? Because this system could very easily be used for many TTRPG-related ...