Hi, I had an idea for an interesting and fun adventure I would like to share with some fellow RP’ers. Have a read and let me know if the idea interests you :) Happy to clarify and answer any and all questions you may have.
Thanks for your interest.
Pitch / Setting: The Barons son is kidnapped!
A century ago the Goblin King Cursed the line of Baron Willfrieg VonStross. As is the habit of the fey, the Goblin King offered the Barons great, great sire any favour, if he could adopt and raise the Baron’s heir as his own son in the Goblin City.
Willfreig’s ancestor was no fool and saw the offer for a trap. This infuriated the Goblin King, so he cursed the VonStross line. From that day forth if any member of the family accepted any offer of the Goblin Kings favour it would be granted, and the price would be the current heir.
One night heavy with drink Willfreig lost his wits and in anger at his younger son, jested that he would rather The Goblin king be his farther. The next morning the heir was gone!
You have answered the Barons call and volunteered to brave the Labyrinth that surrounds the Goblin city, fight your way to the Goblin Kings Castle, and rescue the Barons heir.
[Yep, this adventure uses the Movie Labyrinth for inspiration. One of my favourite movies, it reeks of that wonderful Old School chaos and fun.]
Premise: This will be an experiment, a successful one I hope, combining the D&D 5E rules with the Mythic GM Emulator. The idea is to share an adventure with 3 to 5 other players in a Play by Post environment, in a sandbox dungeon, that is randomly generated with group story telling.
Play Style: Play by Post.
System: D&D 5E, combined with Mythic GM Engine.
Player Count: Min 4, Max 6.
Style of play: Old School Renaissance. Even mix of RP, Hack and Slash, in a big randomly generated sandbox-mega-dungeon.
Allowed Content: Core books only. 5E PHB, 5E DMG, 5E MM. Home brew may included in setting and Monster creation.
Character Creation: For that old school feel there are some restrictions on the types of characters available for play. Only Clerics, Fighters, Rogues, and Wizards are allowed. Standard as per the 5E PHB. No multi-classing. Feats option is allowed. Only Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, and Human races are allowed. All characters start at 1 level.
Backstory: Only a paragraph of two are required, but if you want to give us a good read go ahead! Backstories may be mined for adventure content.
Experience: All characters start at 1 level. Xp gain with instant level up when threshold is reached.
Wealth: As per 5E PHB standard character creation. i.e. Just the equipment from your characters class description, and your background. We will not be using the starting wealth option.
Ability Scores: Standard array placed as desired by player. [15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8]
Hitpoints/Health: Max 1 level, average or rolled there after, players choice. [with record of roll ofc ;)]
Alignment: Characters must be of lawful good, neutral good, and chaotic good alignments. You are volunteer heroes after all!
Other Notes:
Mythic Gm Engine Notes: My idea is to have this adventure as randomly generated as possible. The core mechanics of game play will be 5E D&D, but for the most part the dungeon master will be simulated with the Mythic rules. I will be a player / party member, and will administer the Mythic Engine side of the game.
Each player may ask a question of the ‘DM’ on their turn, myself included. I will then consult the Mythic GM for an answer. I will then present the results to the party and we can interpret them together. In cases of a ‘tie of opinion’ we will randomly choose an interpretation and move on.
In combat I will default to the DM role for the monsters and NPC’s as well as play my own character.
If this adventure idea gets traction then I will post up some more information on how The Mythic GM works, and how to ask questions for more effective and fun adventures.
Posting Frequency: I anticipate I will be able to manage 4 to 5 posts a week, so a similar availability would be nice for other players. If you are busy and need to skip a post or two that’s fine ofc, RL first and all that :) If you are going to be away for an extended time, please let the rest of us know.
OOC: Please preface all out of character comments with ‘OOC:’
Encumbrance: Semi important. As long as we don’t get ridiculous with weight carried.
Death: In the tradition of Old School, and rogue like dungeons death will matter. There will be no Mulligans or take backs. If you die you die. However if you die due to a mistake in rules application or interpretation then we can roll the adventure back a bit, if only a few posts have occurred before the mistake is picked up.
New Player Friendly: YES! Don’t let being new to the hobby put you off :) One caveat though, you have to make an effort to learn the rules and understand how you want to play your character. Please show an interest in your character, be proactive, and engage with the story and your fellow party members.
Character Names: Please keep them reasonably serious and relevant to the setting and tone of the adventure.
Player Behaviour: My hope for this adventure is that it will be a friendly, fun and inclusive environment. Please keep real world politics and prejudices out of the game, this includes OOC: posting. Very much a don’t be a D*^k rule is in place. I just want to have an interesting and fun adventure with some new friends :)
The Silvereyes have a long history of supplying the aristocracy with the finest jewelry, trinkets, and accessories. This position has kept the family on the outer crust of society for generations. Once a Silvereyes child reaches maturity, they are sent off to search for unique trinkets, materials, crafting components, and other interesting or valuable artifacts to continue the Silvereyes legacy. Tyrv has reached this age, and to continue with customs he was sent with a pack full of adventuring equipment and was told to only return once he had enough materials to continue the family business.
Tyrv is ambitious, easily excitable, cowardly, and afraid to get dirty. He spends too much time on his wardrobe, trying to keep up on all the latest trends. He stands at 3'3" tall and weighs 35 pounds. He has dusty brown colored hair that swoops to one side and sideburns that extend down his face. He wears a purple suede outfit and a white cap with peacock feathers stuck in the side.
This sounds very interesting. I've never done post by post before, but I've played small group D&D since 1997 starting with 2nd ed. all the way up through 5th ed. Life is busier now than my college days, but 4-5 posts/ week shouldn't be problematic. Let me know if there are slots still available.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Tome of Annihilation: Greggor - Level 1 Human (Variant) Fighter
He is a hardened Dwarf fighter from the mountains. Well known by his village and other dwarves for his strength and amazing skill in battle.
Argoth grew tired of challenging others in his village and carrying out tarrisome tasks. He wants to go on adventures and fight real monstrosities!
He is gruff but not mean. Tends to get along with others very well as he sees it's best to be friends with those you'll see a lot of. His background will be soldier and alignment would be neutral neutral. - lol never mind, I guess he's neutral good XD
“I’d always hoped it was the curse was not real, but now he has my son.”
The Baron’s haunted words echoed in your minds.
After thanking you all, and supplying you with mounts and provisions, the Baron watched you leave with a stoic gaze as you passed through the gates of the keep.
***
The ride was long but not arduous, no hardships or troubles barred your way. It was as if the curse of The Goblin King drew you inexorably on, the denizens of the land both foul and fair dared not bar your way.
***
Some time before noon three days travel later you all crest a large ridge in the low country heath. There before you sprawls the huge labyrinth surrounding the Goblin City that guards the Castle of the Goblin King. No wise person, sage, or crone knows which had come first, they had always just been there in the memory of all the races mundane and fey.
Over the long aeons it stood growing slowly, a chaotic mass that swallowed hills and dales. Whole armies had marched against the city and its labyrinthine defences and had just simply vanished. In all the time is had stood, no record existed of successful attack via stealth, ingenuity, or force.
The long approach to the Labyrinth walls gives you all plenty of time to meditate upon your plans and their success or failure.
***
As you trek the final mile to the wall of the great maze, the light woods begin to thin out. A long empty killing field dotted with crudely hacked stumps, stones, dust, the odd arrow, and pile of bones is before you. Your horses whinny nervously and paw the ground near the forests edge unwilling to go further.
You look up and down the ancient cracked stone masonry, no gate or portal can be seen. The battlements seem unmanned, and the killing field silent and uninviting. Now and then the winds carry a wide variety of odours from behind the walls and your surrounds.
The acrid stench of smoke from the industrious goblins in their city is prevalent, cut with decay, and a foul damp stink of swamp. At the foot of the Labyrinth wall low shrubs grow, and thick sickly looking vines climbing up behind them.
What do you do?
OOC:
How this works.
Each character can act as normal for a D&D game in encounter format or Roleplay. NPC’s will behave as you would expect in a normal game and will be controlled by Me [D3B4G] your friendly DM/GM.
The main difference will be that all of the sights, scenes, events, and encounters will be unscripted / prepared and dependent upon our interaction with the Mythic GM Emulator. The Mythic system replaces the creative and decision making powers of the DM for this adventure. So we may be in for some, usually happy and cool, surprises.
As well as all the actions, challenges, and roleplaying that would normally happen every round, scene, etc, each player gets to pose a question to the Mythic GM if they want to. This question must be one that has Yes or No answer. The questions should drive the story forward and make it more interesting and fun. We should not really have to ever ask very many questions. The story, the environment and previous events should, usually, show a logical way forward.
Where Mythic really shines is the eventual randomness it throws in, taking the adventure and twisting it in unexpected ways, we still need to apply logic to the results, and when you do the story always becomes more interesting.
Asking Questions.
Questions like, “Does a magic sword suddenly appear on the ground in front of me?” are not helpful or effective questions to ask.
Questions like, “Do I see a trap on this chest?” or “Are the gates barred?”, “Is the courtyard empty?” are more useful as they have a logical place in the story and will help make the world we all inhabit clearer.
There are lots of useful tips and examples out there and a quick google search is very enlightening.
Finally, thank you all for chucking in and having a go at this with me. I think it will be quite fun, and hopefully a successful experiment.
Have fun!
ps Anyone know how the spoilers work round here ? Thanks DaNoLyfeKing!
As the party nears the forests' edge, Kasandra spies the fortifications again for the first time since entering the forest. On the ridge they're scale was indeterminable, up close the walls were dominating. She had raided goblin strongholds many times, both on behalf of her tribe as a Maori warrior and on behalf of the foreigners who subsumed them as a conscript in their armies. Never had she seen anything like this. The size was overwhelming, she now believed the rumors of army's breaking and vanishing against it. Now, here she was one of a hand full of volunteers who had the audacity to seek to invade this place on their own.....she smiled.
Victory here would be the stuff of legends! Children would be raised to emulate the qualities of the warriors who conquered this place. Kasandra was the last of the Maori and she would ensure the name was remembered for generations to come.
First, though, we must find a way inside, she thought to herself, reigning in her excitement. She got off her horse and scanned the area for a hidden path. The occupants had to come and go somehow.
Not completely sure how this works. Do I make an ability check to try to learn or discover something or just ask the GM? Here's both for now:
Survival: 8
Question: Is there a hidden path nearby leading towards the labyrinth?
The usually cheerful elf that has been telling jokes and histories most of the way to their goal is now silent. He looks forward as if with his bare gaze he could trespass the walls of the imposing labirynth and reach the goblin town and its castle.
"We should leave the horses a mile ago, in that clear we found. There they will have food and water and will be free to run if a beast came to hunt them." he says still looking at the walls.
"It seems that nobody's home" he adds almost whispering as if the stone could hear him.
Great! Let me try a question. Is there any goblin at the battlements?
When Grigor arrives with the others, he looks around on his horse. The land, the smells...everything here seems to rot. "Not exactly the place of my dreams" he says more to himself than to the group.
"The elf is right. We should leave the horses here somewhere. It would only slow us down." Grigor gets off his horse, "Dont worry, I'll pick you up again when we are done" he whispers to his horse and lovingly purses him over his mane.
Like Kasandra already asked: Do we see an entrance or a path thet leads in the labyrinth?
Braddik pulls up along his companions and gazes at the labyrinthine wall surrounding the Goblin King's domain. "So....do we walk up an see if anyone's home?" He gestures at the occasional broken arrow or pile of bones that litter the killing field before them. "I mean, historically, armies assaulting the place didn't manage to get very far and we're basically here to negotiate a ransom release right?"
Taking a notebook from his pouch, Braddik begins scribbling as much of the maze as he can see over the wall from this vantage point.
Perception or Painter's Kit Proficiency: 4
For the Mystic GM:
Do the pathways of the physical maze hold pretty stable, or do they seem to shift as Braddik attempts to render them in his notebook?
EDIT: Either way it seems Braddik is shitty at maze drawing.
Sitting astride the horse Corvus stares ahead at the imposing complex with his companions. It took a while just to take in the sheer size of it up this close. His soldiers instincts were screaming trap. Walls always had sentries and the piles of bones and scattered arrows on the ground before them were good evidence.
There was also something 'odd' about the whole place, something itched away at the back of his mind. "This whole place stinks of Fey and death."One hand gripped the haft of his mace at his side, the other rose to claps the gauntlet amulet hanging for the chain around his neck.
"If no one objects I'll move up and see if they are in the mood for visitors?"
Each of the volunteers stared at the huge structure.
Kasandra looked on with a hint of a smile on her dusky face and eagerly began to search for tracks that may hint on a way into the ancient site. Finding many tracks, far too many to discern any clear path forward she paced back and forth in some frustration.
Grigor Joined her, hoping his wizards mind may see a way.
The elf Xorin still sitting astride his horse, absent mindedly stroking his ring sent his senses forward, searching for clues of a different kind. Seeing nothing to note in the forms of glyphs and wards, he none-the-less sensed great magics. The whole place reeked of it. So much ambient magic may make it hard to fine tune a wizards perception.
Ayrlin’s mirth now suppressed by the dangers that lay ahead spared a moment for the horses. He began to collect them with the help of Grigor and they lead them to a safer distance where they could find water and forage for food.
Braddik adds his thoughts to the groups pondering and takes out a book and a charcoal stick. He stares at the Labyrinth for a few moments and begins sketching. Then looking up his eyes widen and then squint. Staring harder he shakes his head. The walls and paths of the great maze seem to be stable when directly looked at, but take your eyes off them for a moment and they have changed. All whilst seemingly keeping the appearance of ancient decrepitude.
The attempt at sketching the thing had quite confused him.
Corvus came forward to stand with his companions voiced his suspicions about the place and then mustering his faith volunteered to venture out, if no one objected.
The scene before the group did nothing make them doubt their senses. It was becoming more apparent how whole armies might go missing.
Without warning there is a huge booming in the distance and all of your eyes are drawn to the remote goblin city. Smoke begins to rise from near the keep and a huge winged creature rises into the air above the castle and circles the high towers of the keep.
Q’s for Mythic GM:- [This is a full disclosure of what was asked and rolled. In the future I may omit details that would ruin immersion. If you would like to see the full working let me know, otherwise I will censure most of the 'DM Brain' stuff.]
Kasandra F1: Question: Is there a hidden path nearby leading towards the labyrinth?
Odds: 50/50 [The Labyrinth is huge and there are many ways in.]– [47] Yes, Proff Roll 8.
Ayrlin R1: Is there any goblin at the battlements?
Odds: Unlikely [The Goblin King knows the Labyrinth is its own defence.] - [69] No, Proff Roll 15 the walls appear unmanned.
Grigor W1: Do we see an entrance or a path that leads in the labyrinth?
Odds 50/50. Investigate or perception roll needed.
Xorin W1: Are there any visible magical wards on the exterior of the maze?
Odds: Very Likely [The Labyrinth is rumoured to be a huge magical construct or aberration] – [30] Yes Proff Roll 11 – Magic radiates from almost every where, its hard to distinguish any source, though no sure signs of magical traps are seen.
Braddik F1: Do the pathways of the physical maze hold pretty stable, or do they seem to shift as Braddik attempts to render them in his notebook?
Odds A Sure Thing: [The Labyrinth is fickle and chaotic, ever changing ans this is why it is such a good defence.] - [44] Trigger double rolled Random Event Check [8] No Random Event. Proff Roll 4. The labyrinth seems to shift and is hard to focus on with your eyes. Every time you look at it it seems different.
Corvus C1: Is what we are seeing illusion or glamour?
Odds: Somewhat Likely – [43] Yes Perception roll 9, Wisdom roll 12.
Returning from her search with a school, Kasandra replies to the cleric, "I will go with you; this area is too marred with old tracks to discern a clear path. The Clawfury's were the vanguard of the Maori, my place is at the front." With that she hefts her shield carried in her left arm and taps the Maori tribal symbol, a stylized elk, painted on the front with her free hand. She then draws her short sword from its scabbard fitted to the back of her shield and nods to Corvus indicating she is ready. She then hears the loud explosion and sees the smoke rising in the distance.
"It seems the fun as started without us." She says with a slight grin.
As Kasandra and Corvus make ready to march out towards the wall Ayrlin strides between them hastily concerned about the developments in the far off Goblin City.
He takes perhaps two dozen paces and feels himself sinking.
Time for a dexterity save and a wisdom save Ayrlin. Good luck!
Grigor comes with the Elf back after bringing the Horses away.
Than he hears the Explosion and sees the Flying creature "What is going on? We should hurry, and we should not stand so free where this creature could discover us from the air".
OOC: Can Grigor see the flyinig creature well? Does he maybe know what it is?
The dangers here seem pretty real. Grigor raises his staff and concentrates. Small arcane sparks evoke from the staff and and buzz around him. They attach themselves to hisclothing. A slight shimmer now seems to emanate from his clothes.(Mage Armor on himself) "That should give a little more protection."
Hi, I had an idea for an interesting and fun adventure I would like to share with some fellow RP’ers. Have a read and let me know if the idea interests you :) Happy to clarify and answer any and all questions you may have.
Thanks for your interest.
Pitch / Setting: The Barons son is kidnapped!
A century ago the Goblin King Cursed the line of Baron Willfrieg VonStross. As is the habit of the fey, the Goblin King offered the Barons great, great sire any favour, if he could adopt and raise the Baron’s heir as his own son in the Goblin City.
Willfreig’s ancestor was no fool and saw the offer for a trap. This infuriated the Goblin King, so he cursed the VonStross line. From that day forth if any member of the family accepted any offer of the Goblin Kings favour it would be granted, and the price would be the current heir.
One night heavy with drink Willfreig lost his wits and in anger at his younger son, jested that he would rather The Goblin king be his farther. The next morning the heir was gone!
You have answered the Barons call and volunteered to brave the Labyrinth that surrounds the Goblin city, fight your way to the Goblin Kings Castle, and rescue the Barons heir.
[Yep, this adventure uses the Movie Labyrinth for inspiration. One of my favourite movies, it reeks of that wonderful Old School chaos and fun.]
Premise: This will be an experiment, a successful one I hope, combining the D&D 5E rules with the Mythic GM Emulator. The idea is to share an adventure with 3 to 5 other players in a Play by Post environment, in a sandbox dungeon, that is randomly generated with group story telling.
Play Style: Play by Post.
System: D&D 5E, combined with Mythic GM Engine.
Player Count: Min 4, Max 6.
Style of play: Old School Renaissance. Even mix of RP, Hack and Slash, in a big randomly generated sandbox-mega-dungeon.
Allowed Content: Core books only. 5E PHB, 5E DMG, 5E MM. Home brew may included in setting and Monster creation.
Character Creation: For that old school feel there are some restrictions on the types of characters available for play. Only Clerics, Fighters, Rogues, and Wizards are allowed. Standard as per the 5E PHB. No multi-classing. Feats option is allowed. Only Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, and Human races are allowed. All characters start at 1 level.
Backstory: Only a paragraph of two are required, but if you want to give us a good read go ahead! Backstories may be mined for adventure content.
Experience: All characters start at 1 level. Xp gain with instant level up when threshold is reached.
Wealth: As per 5E PHB standard character creation. i.e. Just the equipment from your characters class description, and your background. We will not be using the starting wealth option.
Ability Scores: Standard array placed as desired by player. [15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8]
Hitpoints/Health: Max 1 level, average or rolled there after, players choice. [with record of roll ofc ;)]
Alignment: Characters must be of lawful good, neutral good, and chaotic good alignments. You are volunteer heroes after all!
Other Notes:
Mythic Gm Engine Notes: My idea is to have this adventure as randomly generated as possible. The core mechanics of game play will be 5E D&D, but for the most part the dungeon master will be simulated with the Mythic rules. I will be a player / party member, and will administer the Mythic Engine side of the game.
Each player may ask a question of the ‘DM’ on their turn, myself included. I will then consult the Mythic GM for an answer. I will then present the results to the party and we can interpret them together. In cases of a ‘tie of opinion’ we will randomly choose an interpretation and move on.
In combat I will default to the DM role for the monsters and NPC’s as well as play my own character.
If this adventure idea gets traction then I will post up some more information on how The Mythic GM works, and how to ask questions for more effective and fun adventures.
Posting Frequency: I anticipate I will be able to manage 4 to 5 posts a week, so a similar availability would be nice for other players. If you are busy and need to skip a post or two that’s fine ofc, RL first and all that :) If you are going to be away for an extended time, please let the rest of us know.
OOC: Please preface all out of character comments with ‘OOC:’
Encumbrance: Semi important. As long as we don’t get ridiculous with weight carried.
Death: In the tradition of Old School, and rogue like dungeons death will matter. There will be no Mulligans or take backs. If you die you die. However if you die due to a mistake in rules application or interpretation then we can roll the adventure back a bit, if only a few posts have occurred before the mistake is picked up.
New Player Friendly: YES! Don’t let being new to the hobby put you off :) One caveat though, you have to make an effort to learn the rules and understand how you want to play your character. Please show an interest in your character, be proactive, and engage with the story and your fellow party members.
Character Names: Please keep them reasonably serious and relevant to the setting and tone of the adventure.
Player Behaviour: My hope for this adventure is that it will be a friendly, fun and inclusive environment. Please keep real world politics and prejudices out of the game, this includes OOC: posting. Very much a don’t be a D*^k rule is in place. I just want to have an interesting and fun adventure with some new friends :)
Please contact me my PM if you are interested.
I would love to try this experiment out.
I can post once a day usually.
I have Tyrv Silvereyes, Halfling Rogue.
The Silvereyes have a long history of supplying the aristocracy with the finest jewelry, trinkets, and accessories. This position has kept the family on the outer crust of society for generations. Once a Silvereyes child reaches maturity, they are sent off to search for unique trinkets, materials, crafting components, and other interesting or valuable artifacts to continue the Silvereyes legacy. Tyrv has reached this age, and to continue with customs he was sent with a pack full of adventuring equipment and was told to only return once he had enough materials to continue the family business.
Tyrv is ambitious, easily excitable, cowardly, and afraid to get dirty. He spends too much time on his wardrobe, trying to keep up on all the latest trends. He stands at 3'3" tall and weighs 35 pounds. He has dusty brown colored hair that swoops to one side and sideburns that extend down his face. He wears a purple suede outfit and a white cap with peacock feathers stuck in the side.
||PbP: Tarvyn's World... DM||
This sounds very interesting. I've never done post by post before, but I've played small group D&D since 1997 starting with 2nd ed. all the way up through 5th ed. Life is busier now than my college days, but 4-5 posts/ week shouldn't be problematic. Let me know if there are slots still available.
Tome of Annihilation: Greggor - Level 1 Human (Variant) Fighter
The Good, The Bad, and The Greedy: Dungeon Master
Argoth Dragonslayer at your service.
He is a hardened Dwarf fighter from the mountains. Well known by his village and other dwarves for his strength and amazing skill in battle.
Argoth grew tired of challenging others in his village and carrying out tarrisome tasks. He wants to go on adventures and fight real monstrosities!
He is gruff but not mean. Tends to get along with others very well as he sees it's best to be friends with those you'll see a lot of. His background will be soldier and alignment would be neutral neutral. - lol never mind, I guess he's neutral good XD
I am interested for sure. I'll PM you a concept.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Recruiting has closed. Actual play begins within the next 24 hours. Thank you for all of the interest in this idea :)
OOC: Off we go!
The Labyrinth of the Goblin King
“I’d always hoped it was the curse was not real, but now he has my son.”
The Baron’s haunted words echoed in your minds.
After thanking you all, and supplying you with mounts and provisions, the Baron watched you leave with a stoic gaze as you passed through the gates of the keep.
***
The ride was long but not arduous, no hardships or troubles barred your way. It was as if the curse of The Goblin King drew you inexorably on, the denizens of the land both foul and fair dared not bar your way.
***
Some time before noon three days travel later you all crest a large ridge in the low country heath. There before you sprawls the huge labyrinth surrounding the Goblin City that guards the Castle of the Goblin King. No wise person, sage, or crone knows which had come first, they had always just been there in the memory of all the races mundane and fey.
Over the long aeons it stood growing slowly, a chaotic mass that swallowed hills and dales. Whole armies had marched against the city and its labyrinthine defences and had just simply vanished. In all the time is had stood, no record existed of successful attack via stealth, ingenuity, or force.
The long approach to the Labyrinth walls gives you all plenty of time to meditate upon your plans and their success or failure.
***
As you trek the final mile to the wall of the great maze, the light woods begin to thin out. A long empty killing field dotted with crudely hacked stumps, stones, dust, the odd arrow, and pile of bones is before you. Your horses whinny nervously and paw the ground near the forests edge unwilling to go further.
You look up and down the ancient cracked stone masonry, no gate or portal can be seen. The battlements seem unmanned, and the killing field silent and uninviting. Now and then the winds carry a wide variety of odours from behind the walls and your surrounds.
The acrid stench of smoke from the industrious goblins in their city is prevalent, cut with decay, and a foul damp stink of swamp. At the foot of the Labyrinth wall low shrubs grow, and thick sickly looking vines climbing up behind them.
What do you do?
OOC:
How this works.
Each character can act as normal for a D&D game in encounter format or Roleplay. NPC’s will behave as you would expect in a normal game and will be controlled by Me [D3B4G] your friendly DM/GM.
The main difference will be that all of the sights, scenes, events, and encounters will be unscripted / prepared and dependent upon our interaction with the Mythic GM Emulator. The Mythic system replaces the creative and decision making powers of the DM for this adventure. So we may be in for some, usually happy and cool, surprises.
As well as all the actions, challenges, and roleplaying that would normally happen every round, scene, etc, each player gets to pose a question to the Mythic GM if they want to. This question must be one that has Yes or No answer. The questions should drive the story forward and make it more interesting and fun. We should not really have to ever ask very many questions. The story, the environment and previous events should, usually, show a logical way forward.
Where Mythic really shines is the eventual randomness it throws in, taking the adventure and twisting it in unexpected ways, we still need to apply logic to the results, and when you do the story always becomes more interesting.
Asking Questions.
Questions like, “Does a magic sword suddenly appear on the ground in front of me?” are not helpful or effective questions to ask.
Questions like, “Do I see a trap on this chest?” or “Are the gates barred?”, “Is the courtyard empty?” are more useful as they have a logical place in the story and will help make the world we all inhabit clearer.
There are lots of useful tips and examples out there and a quick google search is very enlightening.
Finally, thank you all for chucking in and having a go at this with me. I think it will be quite fun, and hopefully a successful experiment.
Have fun!
ps Anyone know how the spoilers work round here ?Thanks DaNoLyfeKing!As the party nears the forests' edge, Kasandra spies the fortifications again for the first time since entering the forest. On the ridge they're scale was indeterminable, up close the walls were dominating. She had raided goblin strongholds many times, both on behalf of her tribe as a Maori warrior and on behalf of the foreigners who subsumed them as a conscript in their armies. Never had she seen anything like this. The size was overwhelming, she now believed the rumors of army's breaking and vanishing against it. Now, here she was one of a hand full of volunteers who had the audacity to seek to invade this place on their own.....she smiled.
Victory here would be the stuff of legends! Children would be raised to emulate the qualities of the warriors who conquered this place. Kasandra was the last of the Maori and she would ensure the name was remembered for generations to come.
First, though, we must find a way inside, she thought to herself, reigning in her excitement. She got off her horse and scanned the area for a hidden path. The occupants had to come and go somehow.
Not completely sure how this works. Do I make an ability check to try to learn or discover something or just ask the GM? Here's both for now:
Survival: 8
Question: Is there a hidden path nearby leading towards the labyrinth?
The usually cheerful elf that has been telling jokes and histories most of the way to their goal is now silent. He looks forward as if with his bare gaze he could trespass the walls of the imposing labirynth and reach the goblin town and its castle.
"We should leave the horses a mile ago, in that clear we found. There they will have food and water and will be free to run if a beast came to hunt them." he says still looking at the walls.
"It seems that nobody's home" he adds almost whispering as if the stone could hear him.
Great! Let me try a question. Is there any goblin at the battlements?
In case is necessary: Perception: 15
PbP Character: A few ;)
When Grigor arrives with the others, he looks around on his horse. The land, the smells...everything here seems to rot. "Not exactly the place of my dreams" he says more to himself than to the group.
"The elf is right. We should leave the horses here somewhere. It would only slow us down." Grigor gets off his horse, "Dont worry, I'll pick you up again when we are done" he whispers to his horse and lovingly purses him over his mane.
Like Kasandra already asked: Do we see an entrance or a path thet leads in the labyrinth?
Perception: 7
--- Regular ---
LmOP, OotA and CoS as DM ---- SKT: Diero Merivaldi (Variant Human Arcane Trickster - lvl6) ---- ToA: Erevan (Drow Half-Elf Hexblade - lvl2)
--- PbP ---
Into the Mists - CoS: Euron Dread (Glasya Tiefling Hunter - lvl1) --- The Labyrinth of the Goblin King: Grigor Marsk (Human War Wizard - lvl3)
Xorin leans forward on the saddle and lets out a quiet whistle "That's big". The young elf absently fiddles with the ring on his right middle finger.
He surveys the exterior for any sign of magical wards or glyphs that may indicate a trap or warning system of some kind.
Perception: 11
"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow"
"No power in the 'verse can stop me"
OOC: Couldn't use the spoiler tool from my phone.. the question would be: Are there any visible magical wards on the exterior of the maze?
"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow"
"No power in the 'verse can stop me"
Braddik pulls up along his companions and gazes at the labyrinthine wall surrounding the Goblin King's domain. "So....do we walk up an see if anyone's home?" He gestures at the occasional broken arrow or pile of bones that litter the killing field before them. "I mean, historically, armies assaulting the place didn't manage to get very far and we're basically here to negotiate a ransom release right?"
Taking a notebook from his pouch, Braddik begins scribbling as much of the maze as he can see over the wall from this vantage point.
Perception or Painter's Kit Proficiency: 4
For the Mystic GM:
Do the pathways of the physical maze hold pretty stable, or do they seem to shift as Braddik attempts to render them in his notebook?
EDIT: Either way it seems Braddik is shitty at maze drawing.
Sitting astride the horse Corvus stares ahead at the imposing complex with his companions. It took a while just to take in the sheer size of it up this close. His soldiers instincts were screaming trap. Walls always had sentries and the piles of bones and scattered arrows on the ground before them were good evidence.
There was also something 'odd' about the whole place, something itched away at the back of his mind. "This whole place stinks of Fey and death." One hand gripped the haft of his mace at his side, the other rose to claps the gauntlet amulet hanging for the chain around his neck.
"If no one objects I'll move up and see if they are in the mood for visitors?"
Perception 9
Wisdom 12
For Mythic GM: Is what we see an illusion?
Each of the volunteers stared at the huge structure.
Kasandra looked on with a hint of a smile on her dusky face and eagerly began to search for tracks that may hint on a way into the ancient site. Finding many tracks, far too many to discern any clear path forward she paced back and forth in some frustration.
Grigor Joined her, hoping his wizards mind may see a way.
The elf Xorin still sitting astride his horse, absent mindedly stroking his ring sent his senses forward, searching for clues of a different kind. Seeing nothing to note in the forms of glyphs and wards, he none-the-less sensed great magics. The whole place reeked of it. So much ambient magic may make it hard to fine tune a wizards perception.
Ayrlin’s mirth now suppressed by the dangers that lay ahead spared a moment for the horses. He began to collect them with the help of Grigor and they lead them to a safer distance where they could find water and forage for food.
Braddik adds his thoughts to the groups pondering and takes out a book and a charcoal stick. He stares at the Labyrinth for a few moments and begins sketching. Then looking up his eyes widen and then squint. Staring harder he shakes his head. The walls and paths of the great maze seem to be stable when directly looked at, but take your eyes off them for a moment and they have changed. All whilst seemingly keeping the appearance of ancient decrepitude.
The attempt at sketching the thing had quite confused him.
Corvus came forward to stand with his companions voiced his suspicions about the place and then mustering his faith volunteered to venture out, if no one objected.
The scene before the group did nothing make them doubt their senses. It was becoming more apparent how whole armies might go missing.
Without warning there is a huge booming in the distance and all of your eyes are drawn to the remote goblin city. Smoke begins to rise from near the keep and a huge winged creature rises into the air above the castle and circles the high towers of the keep.
Q’s for Mythic GM:- [This is a full disclosure of what was asked and rolled. In the future I may omit details that would ruin immersion. If you would like to see the full working let me know, otherwise I will censure most of the 'DM Brain' stuff.]
Scene 1: The killing Fields Chaos Rank: 5
Modification: 3 Scene Modified
Scene Modification: 04 – Remote Event, Action 23 – Judge, Subject 70-Extravagance.
Kasandra F1: Question: Is there a hidden path nearby leading towards the labyrinth?
Odds: 50/50 [The Labyrinth is huge and there are many ways in.]– [47] Yes, Proff Roll 8.
Ayrlin R1: Is there any goblin at the battlements?
Odds: Unlikely [The Goblin King knows the Labyrinth is its own defence.] - [69] No, Proff Roll 15 the walls appear unmanned.
Grigor W1: Do we see an entrance or a path that leads in the labyrinth?
Odds 50/50. Investigate or perception roll needed.
Xorin W1: Are there any visible magical wards on the exterior of the maze?
Odds: Very Likely [The Labyrinth is rumoured to be a huge magical construct or aberration] – [30] Yes Proff Roll 11 – Magic radiates from almost every where, its hard to distinguish any source, though no sure signs of magical traps are seen.
Braddik F1: Do the pathways of the physical maze hold pretty stable, or do they seem to shift as Braddik attempts to render them in his notebook?
Odds A Sure Thing: [The Labyrinth is fickle and chaotic, ever changing ans this is why it is such a good defence.] - [44] Trigger double rolled Random Event Check [8] No Random Event. Proff Roll 4. The labyrinth seems to shift and is hard to focus on with your eyes. Every time you look at it it seems different.
Corvus C1: Is what we are seeing illusion or glamour?
Odds: Somewhat Likely – [43] Yes Perception roll 9, Wisdom roll 12.
Returning from her search with a school, Kasandra replies to the cleric, "I will go with you; this area is too marred with old tracks to discern a clear path. The Clawfury's were the vanguard of the Maori, my place is at the front." With that she hefts her shield carried in her left arm and taps the Maori tribal symbol, a stylized elk, painted on the front with her free hand. She then draws her short sword from its scabbard fitted to the back of her shield and nods to Corvus indicating she is ready. She then hears the loud explosion and sees the smoke rising in the distance.
"It seems the fun as started without us." She says with a slight grin.
OOC: Forgot to put this in the first post.
Character Portrait (Artist: Wesley Burt)
The elf returns from leaving the horses just in time to see the winged creature flying near the goblin town.
“That couldn’t be good. We should hurry. Have we tried to... knock? “
He walks over the wall and knock it as if it were a door.
“Hello? Excuse me. Could you let us in please? “
He turns to the other party members and shrugs his shoulders
”Worth a try..” he says with a smile.
(OOC: Still looking for a good protrait)
PbP Character: A few ;)
As Kasandra and Corvus make ready to march out towards the wall Ayrlin strides between them hastily concerned about the developments in the far off Goblin City.
He takes perhaps two dozen paces and feels himself sinking.
Time for a dexterity save and a wisdom save Ayrlin. Good luck!
(DEX ST: 18
WIS ST:13 )
PbP Character: A few ;)
Grigor comes with the Elf back after bringing the Horses away.
Than he hears the Explosion and sees the Flying creature "What is going on? We should hurry, and we should not stand so free where this creature could discover us from the air".
OOC: Can Grigor see the flyinig creature well? Does he maybe know what it is?
The dangers here seem pretty real. Grigor raises his staff and concentrates. Small arcane sparks evoke from the staff and and buzz around him. They attach themselves to hisclothing. A slight shimmer now seems to emanate from his clothes.(Mage Armor on himself) "That should give a little more protection."
--- Regular ---
LmOP, OotA and CoS as DM ---- SKT: Diero Merivaldi (Variant Human Arcane Trickster - lvl6) ---- ToA: Erevan (Drow Half-Elf Hexblade - lvl2)
--- PbP ---
Into the Mists - CoS: Euron Dread (Glasya Tiefling Hunter - lvl1) --- The Labyrinth of the Goblin King: Grigor Marsk (Human War Wizard - lvl3)