matthewdcorley
Explorer
Harper's Tale is an epic story of sacrifice, perseverance, and redemption. The heroes will investigate, battle, and learn the true origins of the threat to their home. The adventure is based on an outline my daughter, Harper, and I wrote after coming home from the hospital after her first round of chemotherapy treatment for leukemia. All net proceeds from the crowdfunding campaign will be donated to benefit Friends of Kids with Cancer to help others like Harper who are battling cancer.
What is Harper's Tale?
Harper’s Tale is a forest-based adventure path of 10 connected adventures culminating in the party, now 10th level, confronting the source of the plague within their home land. The adventure is intended for players as young as 10, but I promise players of all ages will find plenty to keep them engaged with the story.
The adventure path starts in the Village of Grove as the heroes come to a seemingly deserted village. Through exploration and investigation, they learn that a mysterious illness has taken over the town, leaving only two young women, Rose and Grace, to care for the populace.
Their investigations take them under the town, and, in learning the source of the illness, they find themselves drawn into a much bigger plot by a mysterious force they know little about. What is clear is that the forest they call home is in danger, and the entity behind the illness of Grove has only just begun its foul machinations as evidenced by a sudden outbreak of madness in a neighboring town.
A second outbreak is staved off by the heroes—surely they are best described as such after saving not one but two villages—and they find themselves traveling to see the arch-druid of the forest, Deng. The journey is arduous, but the clever adventurers comport themselves well, and learn much in their audience with the ancient druid, including the ingredients for fashioning a cure for the otherworldly contagion and, more importantly, the appropriate rites for harvesting the key components.
Harvesting the cure is a greater challenge than the adventurers anticipated as they must deal with a cold war between the hidden powers of the forest in addition to gathering the ingredients in the dark recesses of the primordial wood.
The adventure culminates in a confrontation with the creature whose machinations have been behind the debilitating disease wracking the forest. The heroes have learned much of their enemy, but have they learned all there is to know? How will they react when confronted with the source of so much pain and sorrow? Can it be defeated? Redeemed? Or will it win the day? There’s only one way to find out.
Meet the Team.
Harper’s Tale is much more than a story about hope and adventure. It’s more than an opportunity to help kids just be kids. It’s also about inclusivity and hearing the voices of those who aren’t heard often enough. To bring those perspectives we have a team of old pros – Brian Suskind and Ben McFarland have literally dozens of titles, multiple ENnie awards, and have worked with publishers such as Kobold Press, Rite Publishing, Paizo, Wizards of the Coast, Atlas Games, and Storm Bunny Studios; there’s also MT Black, a guild adept with more titles than I can list whose work appears in official Wizards of the Coast products.
Joining these seasoned writers are some new(ish) faces. Myself (author/lead developer for Kobold Press, Petersen Games, Infinity Black, Chaosium, and owner of Saturday Morning Scenarios), Donathin Frye (Encounter Roleplay, Saturday Morning Scenarios, Petersen Games, Mage Hand Press, and Modiphius), and Jeff Stevens (DMsGuild bestseller & creator of Savage Encounters series).
But most exciting of all are the folks that are going to carry us all forward for years to come. Ashley Warren (the amazing Uncaged Anthologies and DnD Beyond among other things), Kienna Shaw (Salty Sweet Games), and Bill Barnett (Infinite Black), and Hannah Rose (Wizards of the Coast, DMsGuild, and Kobold Press). Rounding out our team are Gwendy Bee and Anna Landin whose amazing art is on display on this page, and our editors (Jess, and Craig Judd) and Layout (Craig again).
Please visit and share our story:
Harper's Tale
Thank you
-Matt, Harper, and the team
