NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="humble minion" data-source="post: 8378362" data-attributes="member: 5948">[SPOILER="Comments"]I think the first round is always the hardest, to be honest, simply because of word count.  There simply isn't space to lay out much background or describe NPCs/setting etc.  By necessity, the limit pushes round 1 entries to be linear or very high-level and abstract.  I hinted last year that increasing the first round word limit to 1000 might be an rules change to consider, but obviously the judges have scoffed at my feeble weakness in the face of the true mercilessness of [ominous reverberating voice] IRON DM!This was not my first-choice entry, but I just couldn't trim the other to fit in the words available and had to reluctantly discard it.  I used up 550 words in purely from setting the scene and the PCs had only just showed up.  That was never going to work.  Besides, the lizard didn't really fit.  It was a cool idea though....So I went with a relatively linear plot with my final entry.  I suspect I will be thoroughly destroyed on 'bear necessities' - I seriously cannot BELIEVE there is no faction, vehicle, monster, or troop type in Warhammer with a name that references bears, so i had to play silly word games.  Oh well.[/SPOILER][SPOILER="For academic interest, the part-complete one I discarded..."]Ghost MushroomsRotting UtopiaBear NecessitiesArmored LizardRootless TreeBroken AngelWhile the Bear God NappedA D&D AdventureHook: PCs travelling through a desolate wasteland stop at Hope Gulch as it is the only settlement and water on their routeHope Gulch is a communal ranch founded about a decade ago by an obscure sect of an inoffensive faith, who intended it to be an idyllic holy settlement. Several dozen families live there. It sits on the only reliable water for many miles. Hope Gulch (rotting utopia) sits at the foot of a single large mountain.  At the base of the mountain a spring feeds a marshy bog. The townsfolk rely on this water and fertile land to survive.  A massive recently dead mulberry domiates the town (rootless tree), and like all wood, fabric, leather etc in town, it is crusted with mould, fungus, and rot.NPCs:Jeroab: once-charismatic sect leader, did something very bad 10 years ago, now careworn and second-guessing himself. Oonbulp: ghost myconid king, previous inhabitant of the marsh, murdered by JeroabOld Thunder: huge ancient awakened dire bear, hibernating on the mountain. Knows what happened to OonbulpIfrael: angel who led Jeroab's sect here. Sect fanatic.  The driving force behind Oonbulp's murder.Skaggerit: lizardfolk conquest paladin who has enslaved Ifrael (armored lizard).  Simple soul who just loves tormenting angels.When the sect first arrived at Hope Gulch, Jeroab found it inhabited by Oonbulp's myconids, with an old druid living on the mountain. Under the druid's guidance the humans and myconids lived together for a while, but resources were tight. When the druid died matters worsened.  Jeroab and Ifrael decided the settlement must survive, and killed the myconids secretly, claiming to the settlers that the mushroom-people had faded with the druid's magic. Old Thunder, on next awakening, smelt the death-spores of the myconids on Jeroab and attacked the township in a rage. Ifrael only just drove him back. Thunder retired to sleep off his wounds.  Ifrael and Jeroab told the townsfolk the bear-god must be appeased.  Ever since, the townsfolk leave fish and a barrel of strong mulberry hooch outside Old Thunder's cave monthly.  Thunder rouses from hibernation, eats, drinks, and falls into a stupor again before waking enough to think clearly.  Ifrael was cast out by his god for his actions. In his lowest moment, Skaggerit found him, and bound him with an enchanted bridle. Skaggerit now rides Ifrael like a pony, a bloody spiked bit in Ifrael's mouth and raw spur-wounds on his sides.  (broken (to the saddle) angel)Oonbulp and his tribe are now ghosts. They cause the wild growth of fungus etc that taints the food and eats away wood and leather.  Most recently, they killed the mulberry tree with a fungal infection of the roots.  Jeroab is now out of the drink he uses to tranquilise Old Thunder.When the PCs arrive, Jeroab will:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">ask them to make a ritual offering at the Bear-God's cave. This is fish dusted with fungus spores, Jeroab is experimenting with replacing the spirits with soporifics.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">ask rangers (he'll avoid druids) for advice on healing the mulberry tree.  No good, it's dead.  PCs who dig around its roots will find they've been eaten away by fungus</li> </ul>[/SPOILER]</blockquote>

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