In Over Their Heads Game Starters

There's nothing worse than playing a game that starts off with kid gloves. The book cover may have demons or dragons on it, but you'll never see them because you give up after 3 sessions of killing goblins.

I say bollocks to that. Here instead are some adventure starters that throw the PCs in way over their heads, and give them seeds that can grow into long running background adventure arcs. Each seed requires PCs to have special knowledge, either the dying words of a VIP NPC, a treasure map, or perhaps ancient prophecy. Each also has the possibility of the PCs dying if they try a head on confrontation with a superior foe.

1) The Lich Queen crashes elven spring festival, decimating the revellers and taking over the elven community. The PCs have to fight their way out a side entrance past her skeletal minions, and make their way to the mound where she slept to find a way of defeating her.


2) A flight of dragons is burning all villages out of the hex, driving people from their homes. A dwarf king has a Helm of Dragon control, and can only be stopped by a strike force ready to sneak into the mountain kingdom he has carved out.


3) Sahaguin invade the coastal cities, sending waves of refugees inland. All adventurers are sent to push the water-breathers back into the depths, but only the PCs know they must first travel to the deep desert to find the lost holy city of Sahaguin and the relic that can force the invaders back underwater.

4) A demon stalks the streets of the city, mutilating citizens and desecrating holy sites. He's too powerful to tackle head on, but the PCs know that by tracking down the cult that summoned him, they can destroy the magic that keeps him in this realm.

Feel free to add your own!

Swords of the Serpentine Playtest

So I signed up to playtest Swords of the Serpentine from Pelgrane Press. I've got 5 players and we pull the trigger on February 25th!

It is a delicious, old school feeling story game that mashes Lankhmar, Conan, and the Discworld all into one glorious local gonzo setting.

Here is the sizzler blurb I wrote for my players:

Welcome to Eversink.

Except no one here ever calls it that. Eversink is the name written on maps and musty tomes. It's the name pronounced at ceremonies and in foreign courts.

You're likely to get your throat slit calling it that, here.

The newly-arrived call it Everstink, as their nose is assailed by the stench of mud, blood, and offal floating in the Serpentine RIver that runs through the city.

To sellswords & soldiers it is Bettershank, as in 'Better to shank first.' It is a policy that'll keep you alive in the backstreets of the southside, or the noble houses of the north.

The scouts, spies & sneakthieves have named it Shadowslink, the place where they feel safe to steal whatever secrets can bring them the most fortune.

The believers of Denare call it The Shining City. Everyone else jokes that is true if you count the oily skin on the lower half of the river.

Power hungry sorcerers call it the Whorl, for they see the maw of energy that swirls over the mundane streets as the turgid river flows between and under them.

The guard just call it 'here,' most likely used in the phrase 'What's going on here, then?' They have no time worrying about words when they are busting heads to keep the city from falling apart, or else keep food on their table.

The nobles and artisans avoid naming the place together, instead referring only to the district they are going to or coming from. They speak of the Estates where they live, the Works where goods are made and sold, the Farms on the outskirts that feed the city, and the Markets where everything has a price. Everything below that is Southside, where nobles only go when they want something ignoble done.

Now how's about a few coins in thanks for saving you a lot of trouble, gov?