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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BookTenTiger" data-source="post: 8846652" data-attributes="member: 6685541">Structure for the WildernessThe purpose of the Wilderness is to provide a little excitement and flavor as the characters travel back and forth from the Town to the Dungeon. I decided to focus my structure on a brief history of the area, and then on some social, exploration, and combat challenges I might pepper in as "random" encounters. Finally, I want there to be interesting rewards to find!The WildernessTo reach the dungeon, or when exploring around the town, the characters will have to pass through the wilderness. This wilderness used to be inhabited by an ancient peoples (language) who shared an ideal (ideal), and their ruins can be found throughout the land.There are various threats and opportunities in the wilderness.Social Challenges:The characters might face the following social challenges:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A situation in which (skill / language / class feature) would be useful.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A situation in which (skill / language / class feature) would be useful.</li> </ul>The characters might face the following exploration challenges:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A situation in which (skill / tool / class feature) would be useful.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A situation in which (skill / tool / class feature) would be useful.</li> </ul>The characters might face the following combat challenges:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A situation in which (skill / language / class feature) would be useful.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A situation in which (skill / language / class feature) would be useful.</li> </ul>If the characters are successful in overcoming a challenge, they may find the following rewards:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A reward that helps a character’s bond (bond).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A reward that helps a character’s class feature (class feature).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A reward that helps a tool (tool).</li> </ul>Finally, there are some side quests involving the wilderness.Someone in the main hub wishes the characters to find an NPC (Goliath and class / background / user of a tool A) who succumbed to a flaw (flaw B).Someone in a second location wishes the characters to find an item or resource related to (tool A) that might be recovered using (skill / class feature B).Rolling, Rolling, RollingOnce again, I rolled randomly to determine which characters' aspects would be used to fill in the gaps. I got some very interesting results!One of the most important set of rolls was right in the beginning. It created a history and theme for the wilderness:The WildernessTo reach the dungeon, or when exploring around the town, the characters will have to pass through the wilderness. This wilderness used to be inhabited by an ancient peoples (language Croto) who shared an ideal (ideal Danara), and their ruins can be found throughout the land....Croto's only language other than Common is Giant. Danara's ideal is Respect for All People. Looking at the different giants, I decided that it would make sense for Stone Giants to have built a temple inside the mountains. Maybe the dungeon will be inside one of these abandoned ancient temples???When it came time to flesh out the encounters, I used the rolls as inspiration. The idea is that the skill, tool, language, or feature rolled could be used to solve the problem, but doesn't have to be. That way, there's still an opportunity for player innovation.The Wilderness, FinalizedGreenmount is surrounded by the Giant’s Chain, a range of tall, imposing mountains rising from thick forests of pine and oak. Long ago, the mountain caves were home to a sect of stone giant (Croto) priests, who built a vast cathedral in the dark depths. But those caves and tunnels have crumbled over the years, and now beautifully carved arches and entryways stand above the ruins. Those who can decipher the giants’ runes know that the stone giants here worshiped Mononok, a god of the mountains, who taught the ideal of respect for all peoples (Danara). It is said many of the towns and cities around the mountains are built on stone foundations provided by these ancient giants.There are various threats and opportunities in the wilderness.The characters might face the following social challenges:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A traveling scholar is attempting to decipher the carvings on an ancient pillar. A successful History check (Arkmenos) connects the carvings to a legend of a treasure hidden within nearby ruins. Will the scholar want to share in this discovery or keep the treasure for themselves?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A group of goliath athletes (Bug) are training for a competition of strength and sport in a goliath village further north in the Giant’s Chain mountains. Their champion will want to prove his might against the characters in competitions of rock throwing, wrestling, and other feats of strength!</li> </ul>The characters might face the following exploration challenges:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The characters come upon a thieves’ hideout, a series of tents and lean-to’s hidden in the shade of the tall forest trees. The thieves all belong to a gang called the Fangs and have a tattoo of a saber-tooth tiger’s fangs on their faces. Will the characters choose to sneak by, fight the thieves, or infiltrate (Bug) to steal their treasure?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The characters come upon a wide, deep chasm at the bottom of which is a dangerous, fast-flowing river. On either side of the chasm stand stone columns covered in giants’ runes. If a character uses a Spell Focus (Arkmenos) to concentrate on a column, a stone bridge magically grows from the walls of the chasm. Unfortunately, the magic is old and unpredictable, and it also animate the river below into a number of steam mephits! If the caster’s concentration is broken, there is a 10% chance the column- and bridge- will crumble.</li> </ul>The characters might face the following combat challenges:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The characters encounter a number of statues of petrified dragonborn, humans, and goliaths. On the oldest statues, a strange lichen grows over the weather-worn features. A character can use Medicine (Croto) to identify that this lichen, when ingested, grants characters advantage on saving throws versus petrification. Unfortunately, these statues are the result of a basilisk which nests nearby!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The characters encounter a family with a wagon full of herbal medicines (and some healing potions) being robbed by a band of thieves. The characters may be able to Persuade (Danara) the thieves from hurting the family, or might try to gain initiative and solve the problem through magic and steel!</li> </ul>If the characters are successful in overcoming a challenge, they may find the following rewards:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">As a reward, the characters gain access to a trove of ancient scrolls written in the giant language. When translated, they provide knowledge thought lost to modern civilization (Arkmenos), along with a few handy spell scrolls!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">As a reward, the characters gain an Oathbow, an ancient longbow (Bug) that was gifted to the Stone Giants by some lost civilization of elves.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">As a reward, the characters gain a Dragonchess Set (Danara) carved entirely from rare gems. The set itself is worth 2,000 gold pieces. However, those proficient with the set can use it it impress nobility or those who idolize wealth, and can gain advantage on Charisma checks made against anyone who plays the game with them.</li> </ul>Finally, there are some side quests involving the wilderness:A seller of trinkets in the Mystics’ Market asks the characters to try to find one of his employees, a young goliath (Croto). She had won a treasure map in a wrestling match, and foolishly set off into the mountains in search of wealth (Bug). Unfortunately, the map led right to the nest of a basilisk. The goliath is half-turned to stone, her natural endurance keeping the curse from fully consuming her. She is hiding out with stone legs and a stone arm, hoping someone will come rescue her!One of the Hands of Fire wishes to increase his magical capabilities using the runes of the ancient Stone Giants. He will offer to pay the characters to find and bring back a stone with the rune for “pain.” The knight means to carve the stone into an orb (Arkmenos), though which he will unlock more powerful evocation magics. Unfortunately, the rune can only be found on the half-crumbled statue of a fomorian, whose topaz eye causes the frightened condition (Bug) on any who approach!ReflectionsOkay, this was even more fun! I really enjoyed the process of coming up with challenges I know the characters have tools to solve. The rewards are great too, and can be placed in any of those challenges. I can imagine dropping in these challenges to freshen things up, or to drive up the tension, after a long day's fights in the dungeon.I can't wait to see what happens when I start rolling up my dungeon!</blockquote>

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