Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Sandbox Preparation: Adventure Material, All In A Day's Ride...

Good Morning, All:

This post should wrap up the initial work on Adventure Material for my example on Minimal Sandbox Preparation using the Egyptian Great Plains setting. In essence, what I'm doing here is applying the templates I've discussed previously to the individual entries within two hexes (one day's travel) around the Home Base, Ashaba.

Important Locations within a Day's Travel of Ashaba
0304 Carrion Fields: Scavengers feast on bloated, charred bovalo bodies lying in numerous circular burned patches the size of fireballs. Each beast's horn has been cut from its facial frill.

0406 Caverns of Lakoma: A system of caverns four levels deep, these had been expanded into an underground village by the Lakoma tribe until they fell to a great magical curse and the caverns were abandoned. For more information, see the Caverns of Lakoma notes.

0503 Wendigo Lair: Collapsed adobe building smells of death and decay. 4 wendigos. Aggressively attack. Four adventurers' packs, potion of healing, 5 medium gems, 30 silver.

0505 Ashaba (Small City, Pop. 8000): Dictatorship; Reaction To Outsiders: Indifferent; Resources: Slaves; Important NPCs: Nekhba, Nomarch of Ashaba (beautiful human female aristocrat), Renotep, High Priest of Meritesh (elderly human male priest of Meritus), Gahemun, Master Slaver (obese human male rogue). Lying along the Guidid Iteru (Badari for “new big river”), the small city of Ashaba is an oasis of civilization on the frontier of the Badari settlements in the New World.

0605 Wolfrider War Party: Wooded copse, abandoned campsite invite use. 10 warriors, led by Running Bovalo (scarred human male warrior). Ambush travellers, particularly merchants. Seventy pounds of trade goods worth 750 silver, and 150 silver in coin.

0606 Animal Pit Traps: Three large spiked pit traps, twenty feet deep, placed along game trails. If undiscovered, could cause falling damage, plus possible spear damage.

0705 Temple of the Sun (Temple, Pop. 40): Theocracy; Reaction To Outsiders: Friendly; Resources: Divine spellcasting; Important NPCs: Shaket, High Priestess of Vanuroth (fanatical human female priest of Vanuros), Mukantimana, Oracle of the Sun (sphinx). The oracle Mukantimana dwells in this remote shrine to the Sun Lord, offering prophetic insight to those who answer her riddles.

The only other obvious piece of work that needs to be done here would be to create the first level of caverns of Lakoma, the dungeon located at 0505. The other levels can wait until the players decide to investigate and explore that area, or can be developed as you have time after the game has begun. However, for simply preparing the setting to begin sandbox play, we should be almost ready to go.

Our next step, of course, is the Regional Map. By this point in time, it may practically draw itself!

With Regards,
Flynn

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