The Final Battle

Hello and welcome to my world building blog!

In my past entries, I've discussed the many elements for the Ruins of Azamar campaign adventure, which we pieced together from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Master's Design Kit by Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc.

This week, we'll discuss the final element of the adventure; the climax.  The Design Kit describes the climax as:

"...that point, near the story's end, where the story is resolved: Great feats of daring are performed, important decisions are made, the heroes win or are defeated, and rulers or the gods reward the victors. In short. it's the Big Finish."

The book has a short list of suggested finishes to the adventure, like Bloody Battle, Chase to Ground, and Prevented Deed.  I reached deep into my random generator and pulled out the Throne-Room Duel.

"This is set up much like the Scattered Duels, except that you don't separate the heroes. It's harder to control whom fights who in this situation... but if it doesn't matter who has the final duel with the Master Villain, this is a classic climax choice."

To gain a little more insight, we'll reference the Scattered Duels.

"In this climax, the heroes have gotten to the end of their quest - they may have broken into, sneaked into, or escaped from imprisonment within the villain's citadel, or have marched into the little town where the villain is holed up - and they become separated.

"You can separate them by having traps and tricks break the party apart, by having them see two or three things they must resolve (such as danger to innocents or the appearance of minion villains) pop up simultaneously; they'll have to run in all directions at the same time or suffer failure.

"Once the party is broken down into bite-sized chunks, you confront each individual or small group with the enemy or enemies he most deserves to face - his personal enemy, the monster which defeated him before, etc. - for a grand series of climactic duels.

"This works best when the Master Villain is one which can be dueled; if he's a demon or god, the heroes may need an artifact to fight him."

The Throne-Room Duel is probably the most obvious choice our generator could have chosen for us, considering we pretty know that our heroes will be heading into the ritual area (throne room) to confront the cult leader.  I image the leader of the Cult of Ithaqua needs a cadre of members to help garner energy to open the portal, which will let the Death-Walker loose on the world.  Instead of our heroes being "broken down into bit-sized chunks," they arrive at the ritual room together to take on this group of energy-charged zealots.  Each hero will get their chance to duel the master villian in the final battle, in hopes of defeating him and thwarting the monster plan.

This entry will conclude my world building of Azamar and it's icy ruins of Ithaqua.  I have many other resources on world building I want to share.  And I hope you stick with me to discover the many worlds of role-playing games.

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

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.

It's Not Always About Combat

Hello and welcome to my world building blog!

Today, we will be exploring the minor villains the PCs will be encountering during our adventure of the Ruins of Azamar.  We'll be taking examples from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Design Kit by Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc.

These minor villains are the lieutenants of the master villain in the adventure.  We've already established our master villain is an Advanced Agent of Ithaqua.  The leader of the cult will be performing a ritual by the time the PCs get to him.  Of course, the minor villains will be the obstacles our heroes will encounter before getting to the cult leader.  And we can put them pretty much anywhere in our adventure.

The book gives a list of minor villains like The Avenger, The Corrupted Hero, and The Moronic Muscleman.  And it also states that "many Master Villains have two Minor Villains..."  So, I programmed my random generator to choose two for me.

The first one:  The Lovable Rogue

"This character is like the Master Villain of the same name, except that he has no minions of his own and serves at someone else's bidding. However, he's very independent, not always working in his employer's best interests; he often makes fun of the Master Villain's pretensions and may suffer that villain's retaliation because of it.

"It's possible to convert the Rogue to the heroes' cause; if they offer him money, action, adventure, a pardon for past crimes, or even if there's an attractive PC of the opposite sex who appeals to him, he may be tempted over to their side. If he isn't, he'll abandon his employer during the climax, escaping to safety.

"Character Level and Abilities: The Rogue is probably a fighter or thief at a level similar to the average player character level."

The lovable rogue is self-explanatory.  An encounter with him/her could be an opportunity for fun role-playing.  Will the PCs be able to persuade this rogue to their side?  Could he help lead the PCs to the cult leader?  How will Sylula Earthdance, the retired halfling archaeologist, feel about this recruitment?  The drama!

Our second minor villain is the Misguided Moralist.

"This fellow has been convinced that only by helping the villain achieve the Master Plan can he improve the world. He tends to be encountered all through the adventure's plot, usually escaping from the heroes and taunting them for their wrong thinking. Fortunately, he's no more effective as a villain than he is as a thinker.

"It's very hard to convert him to the heroes' cause; he's too wrapped up in his own cause. It can be done, however, if the heroes can demonstrate that the Master Villain has, say, lied to him.

"Character Level and Abilities: This character is usually a fighter or cleric a few levels less experienced than the average player-character."

To me, the misguided moralist has his wires crossed and thinks that what the cult leader is doing is the right thing to do.  He/she thinks that bringing about Ithaqua, the Death-Walker, could be the great reset the world needs.  This minor villain might show up early in the adventure as a harbinger, spreading the "word" of a great destruction, but not spilling the beans just yet.  I like the idea of him being a cleric of Ithaqua, preaching whatever he can to the masses.  A downright religious zealot.

Now that we have out Theme, Goal, Story Hook, Settings, Ally, Master Villain, and Minor Villains established for the Ruins of Azamar, the adventure still needs a plot.

Next week, The Plot!

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

Leader of the Cult

Credit: Bozhko Dimitrov

Hello and welcome to my world building blog!

Today, in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Design Kit by Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc., we'll be discussing Master Villain.

Any decent adventure should have a master villain, and to flesh out the master villain before you sit down with your players is a big help when incorporating their characters' backstories.  When someone says, Master Villain, I automatically think one of the villains from James Bond.  Nowadays, at the time of this writing, one of the most notable master villains is Thanos from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  These people have always tried to bring about plans that would bring harm to the known world.  However,  as written by Christopher Vogler, "Every villain is a hero of his or her own story."  We could probably apply this to Thanos, considering he tried to "save" the universe by blinking half of the population into oblivion.

Continuing on our campaign adventure, Ruins of Azamar, that won't be the case.  In this high fantasy adventure, the villain is going to be down-right evil.  The book lists a few villains you could use, like The Conquerer, The God of Chance, or The Ravager.  In this case, our generator chose the Advance Agent:

"This villain is the vanguard of some sort of invasion; often, he is trying to open up a portal to a dimension full of trapped demons and evil gods. He is best used for horror or espionage adventures.

"Character level and Abilities:  Experience level significantly higher than player-characters' average; often a magic-user or cleric."

Although chosen randomly, I love when certain things fall into place, and this is one of those moments.  The Advance Agent is a perfect villain for our adventure.  We've already established that he or she would be performing a ritual to open a portal and bring forth Ithaqua.  But... what if the portal brings forth other creatures?  Kind of like a byproduct of opening the portal.  Unbeknownst to the cult leader, this would indeed bring about the end of the world.

Although, we would like to see it happen, let chaos reign free, this adventure is designed to have the heroes thwart this monstrous plan; after all, they are heroes.  But that doesn't mean we couldn't have the heroes fail and then have to clean up the mess.

There could be a lot more details we could discuss about the Master Villain, but for this article, I wanted to keep it somewhat vague.  Let your imagination run wild!

Next week, we'll discuss the minor villains, because what's a master villain with his minions?

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

The Retired Archaeologist

Credit: Peter Nijenhuis

Hello and welcome to my world building blog!

Today, referencing the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Design Kit by Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc., we'll be discussing allies and neutrals.  In Book III: Adventure Cookbook, Johnson and Allston mention:

"One of the most entertaining parts of dungeon-mastering is the opportunity to portray some interesting NPC - in effect, to chew up the scenery with some entertaining character, both to spice up the game and to challenge the players to play their own characters more vigorously.  Here are several such ALLIES and NEUTRALS which can be part of your adventure."

And they go on to list a handful of NPCs one could use for such a challenge.  My random generator chose the Crusty Old Professional.  The book describes this person as follows:

"The heroes need an expert in a certain field - this time a craft or art, such as blacksmithing, engineering, horse-training, or whatever.

"The only or best professional they can find is an aged expert.  He's crusty, cranky, and sharp-tongued; he constantly complains about the food, the weather, his companions, the decline in skill of his co-workers since he was a young man, the road conditions, his working conditions, the rotten pay he's receiving, and so on.  You can have him actually possess a heart of gold or be just as nasty as he sounds.

"Character level and Abilities:  Experience level just below characters' party average."

I like the idea of an old, retired archaeologist that had explored the Ruins of Azamar long before the Cult of Ithaqua moved in.  He would be long lived, a little too long lived, in his most venerable years; very forgetful, and on the verge of senility.

Since they live a long time, and my setting is high fantasy, I would be tempted to use an elf.  But elves are sharp-minded, and sometimes arrogant, so full of themselves.  Somehow, an elf would not make a good fit for a crusty professional.

Dwarves are crusty enough, especially when they get up in age.  But, the gruff old dwarf is a bit cliché.

I was thinking a gnome could fit the bill.  They can live up to 500 years, and some of them could get rather brusque.

But what would be fun is an elderly halfling.  They can live up to 200 years, and even that is pushing it.

The party's ally:  A female halfling by the name of Sylula Earthdance.  She was Azamar's renown explorer and recoverer of ancient artifacts.  Now retired, she lives in a village destroyed by the aberrant, cultish monsters.  When the heroes find her, she is living in ignorant bliss as if nothing has happened.  She has a lot of stories of the past, especially stories of her time within the Ruins.  Sylula knows all the nooks and crannies of the derelict structures, which should seem promising to the heroes.

When the heroes encounter her, Sylula would try to convince them she would be the best asset they could have, like a living map.  Reliving her glory days, she wants to return to the Ruins, and she could lead them within, find all the traps, and skirt the baddies.  At least, that's what she would tell them.  Obviously, we, as the adventure designers, know that Sylula Earthdance is whacked out of her mind.

If the party decides to let her join their journey, that's when the complaints kick in.  And then, when they arrive at the Ruins, she gets turned around and confused.  But she's not completely useless.  After all, she is a professional, and all that archaeological knowledge is at the forefront of her memory.  She could be used to notice differences in rock formations, subtle disturbances in the dirt, or maybe she has some latent, magical power that makes her a fantasy metal detector.  This NPC could go a long way.

But that's my take on the Crusty Old Professional.  In the book, they describe many other allies you could use for your adventure.

Next week, we'll discuss the one behind all the chaos in the kingdom of Azamar, the one based out of the Ruins of Azamar; the Master Villain.

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

Inside the Ruins

Credit: Streamline Studios

Hello and welcome to my world building blog!

Today, we'll be referring to the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Design Kit by Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc.  Book III: Adventure Cookbook has a formula for picking your settings.  We already know our major setting is going to be the Ruins of Azamar; I mean, it's in the name.  But the book gives us options that will make this adventure interesting.

The first part of the formula is the General setting:

"The adventure's General Setting is the broad area where most of the adventure takes place."

The Adventure Cookbook has a list of settings ranging from Alternate Plane and Exotic Distant Land, to Here's Home Town and Under the Sea.

Referring to my random generator, the General setting for the Ruins is "Torturous Terrain".

"The adventure takes place in some sort of unsettled, uncivilized, dangerous terrain; in action stories, the desert and the jungle work best; choose one of those two or decide on a setting that is similarly dangerous and exotic.

"In this setting, the heroes have to contend with their villainous foes, yes, but they also have to deal with the inhabitants of the region, the monsters of the region, and the effort of just staying alive in a dangerous or unfamiliar climate."

Even though we already know our setting is the Ruins of Azamar, the above description gives us a general idea and a little more insight into what the Ruins are going to be like.  It gives me the vision of crumbly, craggy ruins, of walls ready to collapse at any moment, and unsteady floors that could fall into the level far below.  There could be death traps set by the Cult of Ithaqua against adventurers.  Conjured, monstrous creatures at every turn.  And Cult guards patrolling the halls of the Ruins.

The general idea here is make your players work for it.  It's not going to be an easy journey to the cult leader, who is preparing the ritual to summon the Death-Walker!

The next part of the setting formula is the Specific setting.  According to the book, "...you can choose specific locales for scenes in your adventure.  You can choose as many of these as you want; usually two is best."

I programmed my generator to choose two, and we got Temple/Church and Demi-human Community.

"Temple/Church.  This can be either the church of some lofty and good deity, or the dark and grisly temple of some horrid deity (doubtless filled with evil soldiers and monsters), or even the temple that the madman villain has dedicated to himself for when he becomes a god."

This one is a gimme, and fits too well with our General setting.  Within the Ruins lies a temple occupied by the Cult, and could be the finale scene where the adventurers find the Cult leader performing the ritual.  They'll have to act fast!

"Demi-human Community.  In wilderness areas, this will be a large community of demi-humans - elves, dwarves, halflings, whatever - or intelligent nonhumans such as orcs.  If your action is taking place in a city, this could be a hidden community (such as a secret underground dwarf community) or a section of the city inhabited mostly by demi-humans."

Considering the above entry is taken from the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons supplement published in 1988, the word "demi-human" actually stems back from the Basic book, which came out in 1974.  Any playable character that was not human, back then, was considered a demi-human, which included elves, dwarves, and halflings.  Nowadays, with the popularity of 5e, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, and other role-playing systems, I think the word demi-human could be a reference to any non-human playable character.

Since the Ruins of Azamar takes place in a high fantasy setting, the demi-human community settled in the territory of the Cult is probably one that the religious zealots haven't found, yet.  Could it be that the adventurers arrive at this place as the Cult is invading them with their conjured creatures?

Oh!  So many stories to tell and adventures to be had.  Sorry, sometimes I get a little giddy when developing an adventure.

So, when developing your adventure, the book does state that you can pick as many settings as you want your adventurers to find.  I think I'm going to keep it down to just the two Specific settings, and call it a day.

Next week, we'll take a look at Allies and Neutrals for our adventure because, you know, everyone needs allies.

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

Ravaging the Countryside

Credit:  lafemmedart218

Hello and welcome to my world building blog!

Today, I will be referring to the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Design Kit by Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc.

Last entry, I discussed the horror theme of the adventure and deduced that the religious cult within the Ruins of Azamar is one that worships a creature called Ithaqua.  Today, we will be taking a look at the goal and story hook of the adventure.

The book lists example goals, such as Clear Name, Escape, and Explore a New Area.  My random generator chose "Thwart Monstrous Plan."  Here is the description from the book:

"This is a classic fantasy-adventure plot; The characters learn of some horrible plan made by a monstrous enemy, and must thwart it before the kingdom is lost or the world is destroyed. This is an epic goal, and usually requires that the characters go to all sorts of places, rounding up allies and artifacts, before being strong enough to face their enemy."

There are many places one could go to find resources on Ithaqua, but that's not going to be the focus of this entry.  In this entry, we are going to focus on the goal of the adventure.  In this case, the goal for adventurers is to thwart the plans of the cult within the Ruins.  Since they are a cult and worship the creature, they are trying to spawn it by some alien, arcane ritual.  The goal of this adventure is to reach the cult performing the ritual, even face the leader of the cult (a powerful wizard or warlock?), and make certain the creature does not appear, otherwise all is lost.

Built outside of the kingdom of Azamar, there is an established route to the ruins.  And if the adventurers start at the capitol, they would have to travel there.  Many villages and towns lie on this route, and can be good settings for side adventures, "rounding up allies and artifacts" along the way.

Now that we have established a goal, we will need a story hook, something you could use as a plot device to get your characters motivated to go on this adventure.  The book lists hooks such as Dying Delivery, Grim Necessity, and Hero Offended.  My generator chose "Old Friend."

"Another classic story hook is the Old Friend, the childhood friend of our hero, who shows up in one of several ways to drag the hero into the story.  Some of the ways include:

"(1) He Asks for Help.  The Friend shows up to ask the hero for help.  He or his family is being menaced by some side effect of the villain's plan.  (The Old Friend could actually now be a traitor, leading the hero straight to his enemies, if you prefer.)

"(2) He Is Killed.  The Friend dies on the hero's doorstep; the hero is obligated to investigate.  There will be enough clues found on the Friend's body to lead the hero into the plot.  (As an interesting variant, the Old Friend can have become a villain and been killed by an NPC hero, leading to some confusion on the PCs' part.)"

For this story hook to work, you would have to pay close attention to the characters' backstories.  This story hook is a little tricky because the player's starting character has no real attachment to this fantasy world.  For the most part, they won't care if a friend (who in reality, they met) shows up half dead.  Pay attention to which player's character might have friends you could use.

Or even better, use their family.  What if the "Friend" was actually a brother or sister?  Better yet, the hero's father shows up on the hero's doorstep.  He's on the brink of dying, and has word that strange and unusual creatures destroyed their farm.  They also devoured his wife and children (the hero's family!) in front of him before he could escape.  He heard rumors the monstrous creatures came from the Ruins.  That should be enough to get the characters motivated to investigate the cult.

And then, when the heroes get on the road, they encounter destroyed farms, aberrations of all sorts ravaging the countryside, and survivors who might want to help in ridding this Cult of Ithaqua.

I'm getting super excited with the Ruins of Azamar, and I can't wait to explore more of the elements that will go into this adventure.

Next week, we'll explore the settings that will make up our adventure grounds.

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