… and thanks for looking
My love of Dungeons and Dragons goes back before I even knew it existed – which might sound crazy but bear with me for a minute. I grew up being read fairy stories by my mum at night, on Saturdays my dad and I would hang out and fight battles with my toy soldiers or recreate, with figures and Plasticine monsters, mythical adventures like Jason and the Argonauts or Ulysses. The rest of the time I’d be reading – science fiction, pulp adventure, fantasy – you name it, I read it.
The fantastical, the mythical and the unreal were realities to me long before DnD brought it together, bound up in a pale blue rulebook…it just gave me some rules to game within and I fell in love with it the moment I played it.
And that’s what I want to share with you, my love of Dungeons and Dragons and all things fantastical.
What’s the Story Line?
Like all the best stories it is really simple…the party get transported into a challenge tomb; to escape from it they must locate three key stones, work out how to use them and then make a moral decision before they leave which will have lasting effects in future adventures.
The really good stuff comes in the detail…the stones are all located through different challenges which blend roleplaying, puzzles and fighting. The party may or may not have been transported by choice, they may or may not locate the key stones, and they will have to make some hard choices about who and when they fight. Further, the big decision they make at the end of the adventure will give you, the Godly Dungeon Master, the power to implement some very interesting and possibly far reaching consequences…
I want your players to truly engage with the story as they progress through the Three Trials of Abrina. I want them to laugh, shout and curse as the story unfolds. I want Abrina to be real for them (and you) – her sarcastic backhanded comments irking them but also defining her.
Update 27/3/20: As a creative exercise a person did a tarot reading of Abrina’s character – you can read the fascinating outcome here: Article on The Grinning Frog website – safe to click!
I want Rutus to taunt and goad the player’s characters so they remember finally confronting him and taking him down hard…assuming they can! And to ensure the banter can flow the first time they encounter him they can’t attack him…no matter the provocation!
This isn’t a long adventure. It was originally designed as a one-shot but grew beyond that artificial restriction – after all a one-shot assumes we all play at the same speed and for the same time. My weekly game is usually two hours long…I doubt you can finish the Three Trials in two hours. Four – six hours? Maybe…depends how fast you play; how sharp your players are and how quickly they overcome the challenges. Play test groups have come in between six and eight hours.
Because this isn’t a hack fest. This isn’t about killing everything in sight. This is about the challenges. How do they find the key stones they need to open the portal and escape from the location they find themselves trapped in. The keys are hidden in locations that require a little thought to work out. Clues are earned by taking certain actions – winning a game of cards in-game might provide a clue, being kind to a mysterious young girl might help and listening carefully to the bartender is always a good idea.
(To counter the murder hobo’s if the party kill everyone they meet, there are penalties …for example if the Sunflower Girl is killed, Abrina will exact her revenge. And given Abrina can come back from the dead she doesn’t have a problem fighting to the death!)
Of course, drama can be built out of conflict so you might be wondering – is there enough combat? I think so; you have a barfight, zombies, carrion eaters, carnivorous plants, skeletons, piranhas and of course Abrina a unique kind of vampire and Rutus a minotaur with a chip on his shoulder against the world. I also include specific advice on how to make encounters harder or easier. Combat takes time so if you need a longer adventure feel free to add in a fight or two. During the third stage, set in a maze, there is plenty of scope to add more combat and I provide advice on doing that whilst maintaining the theme of the adventure.
The players don’t have to fight Abrina but they will have plenty of provocation and she does probably deserve a good kicking…except there’s a backstory and a reason for her wickedness…whether it’s enough to justify her behaviour or not I leave to you – and the players!
Anyone else? Well there is Amos the Wizard. You get stats, you get an encounter but whether you get a fight or not…that’s in the hands of the players…
What else do you get? Well, how about:
Looks complicated right? Well, it’s the final stage puzzle so I didn’t want to make it easy for the players! The good news is that if your party gets it all wrong, they can still progress past this point…it’s just going to hurt – a lot! The better they do at solving it the less pain they suffer. The last thing I wanted to design was a puzzle that stopped the adventure. And they same goes with the early stage puzzles. The players can fail to solve them and still progress. In all honesty I would be surprised if a party made it through without solving at least one of them but then again this is DnD and all things are possible!
· Each encounter is fully described with readout text provided (ignore it if you prefer) and all the characters that can be met are described with backstories and motivations. You, the Dungeon Master, will know exactly who and what you are dealing with when you run your party through this adventure.
And speaking of that – let’s consider when and how it fits into your ongoing campaign…
· Fits into any campaign – yes genuinely, any campaign. In brief, the characters get transported into a sealed location where the story unfolds. Think of it as a pocket dimension if you want. So, it can occur at any point in any ongoing campaign. This is, like the rest of the adventure, all detailed clearly for you as DM.
Well, frankly, it’s your choice but as you’re asking I’m going to say:
Amos Level
£1 – To show support for this creative endeavour – thank you, honestly, I appreciate it. I will email each of you and thank you personally. And whilst no official reward I will likely send you a small token of my appreciation…
Rutus Level
£6 – Pdf of the Three Trials of Abrina adventure, plus a printer friendly version. If you want the adventure and nothing else then this is the level to back.
Abrina Level
£10 –Pdf of the Three Trials of Abrina adventure, plus a printer friendly version and a pdf of Notes of a Predator (see below). This is for those of you who want even more background than already exists in the adventure. It also provides fully described new traps that you can use in future adventures. All written in the entertaining style of an egotistical and sociopathic minotaur…
Cabal Level
£20 – Pdf of the Three Trials of Abrina adventure, plus a printer friendly version and a pdf of Notes of a Predator as well as a collection of our best-selling DM tips publications, magic items and creatures. This provides you with a ton of new material to add into any campaign you might be running or planning to run.
The DM Tips and Adventure Bundle includes the following individual, fully illustrated pdfs:
Notes of a Predator – Hang on, what’s this?
I’m glad you asked…
Rutus isn’t just a bully and sociopath, he’s also inventive. What you have in Notes of a Predator are a collection of journal entries which include:
The notes can be added to the adventure as an item that is found by the characters during their final confrontation with Rutus. Designed as a series of handouts (the traps ones can be kept separate) you could have one or two found in other locations (having fallen from his pocket or just left casually around).
Just imagine if Leonardo Da Vinci was a sociopathic minotaur…these are the types of notes and illustrations you will get here…
Some shots of sample pages:
The other traps are:
They all have a similar format – sketched out diagram annotated with thoughts from Rutus, often giving different options on the traps.
The journal will come as a single pdf file AND each page will come as an individual jpg. This way you can browse the whole thing at your leisure and share specific pages with the players when you want to.
(Also see below)
Due to the popularity of Rutus and his wicked ideas we are offering a new add-on pledge – Journal of a Predator …rather than simply having a few notes from Rutus we are going to be offering a self-contained pdf format journal of notes and traps. There will be 20 traps fully detailed and illustrated in the document including:
This is a separate document to the existing Notes of a Predator so it is a way to get 20 new traps in addition to the six that come with Notes. Additionally, in the document Rutus will wax lyrical on various topics but mostly on how to maim and hurt adventurers (it’s his favourite thing). Saying that, there might also be revealed another softer side to him…maybe…
To obtain this new add-on you just click the button to “manage” your pledge on the project page and increase the amount by £8 without changing the reward tier.
To allow proper time to create, edit and refine the traps Journal of a Predator will be released in May.
We didn’t launch with stretch goals but as we are being so well supported by all of you we wanted to give you a little extra. All of the stretch goals will be free to the relevant backers once the goals are reached.
£1000 Four pre-generated player characters so you can dive straight into the adventure if you so wish – free to all backers
£1200 New journal entries and two extra traps – free for everyone backing at the Abrina Level and above
£1600 New encounter in the Field of Poppies (yes there is a field of poppies in the adventure…that was a secret until now) – free for all backers
£2000 New level to the maze at the end section of the adventure (yes we also kept that a secret!) – free for all backers
The Three Trials of Abrina has genuinely been a labour of love. Nothing would make me happier than for you to purchase this and for you and your group to have a wonderful time playing through it.
That’s my goal – are you game for it?
Frankly, there are practically none at all. The adventure is written, has been full play tested, edited and generally poured over for hours upon hours. The art is all created, and the adventure designed. There is probably a typo in there somewhere but darn it, I hope not – and also, as fulfilment will be through Drivethrurpg you will always have access to the most recent version. As soon as that typo is spotted and fixed, I will upload a new version! In my day job I’m a Director of a creative marketing studio. I take pride in my work there and on making sure my clients are happy. The thing I’m proudest of in my career is that I’ve got clients that have been using my services for decades. I want to replicate that long-term relationship through my fantasy writings with my readers. I have plans for more in this series, further challenge tombs that will beguile, bemuse and entertain you and your players. I promise to make each one the best I can, and honestly, I don’t just want you to back this Kickstarter – I want you to be excited about backing the next one! That’s only going to happen if this adventure is good. I’ve done all in my power to make it so. The only thing that does need done is writing Notes of a Predator. I’ve got a ton of sketched notes but I need to put pen to paper and write those up properly. Some of them are traps that I have used in prior homebrew adventures so it’s just about tidying them up with full descriptions. I fully expect to have them all completed by the end of the Kickstarter.