Recent content by Vanifae

I always enjoy doing that :)

I find this to be terribly important the player characters really need motivations; even if they are just I want to be rich and powerful. You can use that to entice them into different hooks that promise power or more riches. Hopefully they have a diverse grouping of needs and motivations so...

Really great points in this thread, I too agree that you can plan too much “plot”. I would say that you should probably have a ton of different hooks that can bring the players into your “plot” without actually forcing them down the path. A few ideas: The blood sacrifice, as someone suggested...

Session 5: Waking Nightmares – Part 1 25th of the Serpent, South Border Fortress Mayako was busier than usual; her recent promotion to the position of Provincial Magistrate brought a great deal of responsibility and paperwork. Her father had been helpful in the appointment but it still meant...

Couple of Letters for Session 4 & Session 5 Letter to Mayako from Sukime, delivered by Kohaku: Dear Mayoko-chan, Hey it’s Sukime and I am having a great and scary adventure! I got to see a bunch of the country side and we got attacked by bandits and I met my future husband! Okay first I...

Session 4: Seven Devils – Part 4 22nd of the Serpent, 1172 IC, Unaligned Territories Hana shivered as the rain poured down, Nobutada flanked her and behind her was the ronin and their two ‘prisoners’. She glanced over her shoulder to look at Junko the tea girl that had caused so much trouble...

Session 4: Seven Devils – Part 3 18th of the Serpent, 1172 IC, Southern Sweet Plum Province Three days of travel across rolling plains, with the hot summer sun during the days and a cold indifferent moon in the nights. Hana was not used to all this traveling and exertion it may have helped if...

Thanks we play tomorrow so I am busy trying to pump out the last bits of the last session and then do some prep if you have any questions about the game or setting I don't mind answering them.

Session 4: Seven Devils – Part 2 14th of the Serpent, 1172 IC, Southern Sweet Plum Province Hana sighed as Nobutada hovered about her, his arm was in a sling from his injuries from the battle. The young Seppun samurai followed her about acting as her impromptu yojimbo and protecting his own...

Session 4: Seven Devils – Part 1 6th of the Serpent, 1172 IC, Southern Sweet Plum Province Kohaku relaxed as he walked under the bright summer sun, the road through this part of the Sweet Plum Province was well tended to if somewhat treacherous of late with rumors of bandits and the threat of...

Yeah I am not trying to remove the dungeon just find a different way to experience it that works for me and my mind set. I could even run a "mega" dungeon using those formats and it feel fun for me, suing the flow chart example you posted. Nice maps btw.

Yes I must agree with this, there is a definite bring the cool factor to my design. Endless action or constant cool stuff would basically dilute the impact of action encounters. The “dungeon” is the ultimate in directed and controlled adventure preparation. The goal is clear usually from the...

The articles are exactly what I have been contemplating thank you.

That is basically what I would do as well; allow failures to generate encounters, dead ends, or some other moment that is a setback for the players. Like you said it probably would not work for “exploration” mind sets that want more detail or bust out the graph paper to draw the map. I would...

I can agree with that, I have not run many adventures that I feel are very dungeon-like, I have run site based adventures but they tend to be part of a large narrative and my big issue is that I don’t have much patience for the dungeon narrative. To give a feel for how I run and perceive my...