Overwhelmed

 Hello and welcome to my world building blog!

Now that we have most of our components in place for our Ruins of Azamar adventure, it's time to discuss the plot of the adventure.  As we have been, we'll be using the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Design Kit by Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc.

The book states:  "The PLOT of your adventure is the pattern in which the story elements fall and the order in which the story events occur."  It lists plots like the A-B-C Quest, The Event, and the Geographic Progressions.  However, our random generator chose for us The Series of Villains plot.

"This is a very dramatic plot, and very well-suited to oriental campaigns. In it, the heroes have undertaken a quest, usually the finding and defeat of the Master Villain. They may have to travel to his citadel, or head off in another direction to find some artifact capable of defeating him, or run away from pursuing villains until they can figure out what's going on.

"All along their route, they are set upon by villains - each villain has a name and distinct personality, and each encounter is life-or-death for the heroes and villains; the villain never escapes to safety if the tide turns against him, he fights unto death.

"The adventure becomes a war of attrition; the villains gradually wear down the heroes, perhaps killing some of them, as the heroes go about their quest. By the time the heroes reach their enemy, there is no doubt that one side or the other will utterly perish.

"This is a type of plot not suited to happy-go-lucky campaigns or villains."

Holy crap!  Our heroes have a ton of villains they will encounter.  Considering our past entries, we already know two minor villains--the Loveable Rogue and the Misguided Moralist--work for the major villains, the Ithaqua Cult Leader.  They wil be obstacles in our heroes way.  However, the description above tells us there is a lot more they will encounter throughout this adventure.  Remember, we've already established the monstrous aberrations creating chaos on the countryside.  We could definitely bring them into the mix.  Maybe one of our side quests will introduce even more obstacles for the heroes.  I think the goal of this plot to wear the heroes down as they get further from home.  They deplete their resources, and by the time they reach the cult leader, they may have already depleted their energy, and could even be exhausted.

The possibilities are endless.

This entry is going to be short and simple, but we still have to discuss the final element our our adventure: the story's end and its resolution.

Next week, The Climax!

I hope you enjoyed the read, and until next time, thanks for reading.