The Dearthwood

[Christopher R Taylor]

Currently I'm at work on another novel, so my gaming books are on the back burner but I've started work on this new module and have been working over the years on it based on an old game I ran in this setting.  The core concept is that this is a huge forest on a key trade route between two major cities.  Long ago there was a kingdom there, which fell under mysterious and awful circumstances.  From then on the forest has been suspect and over time its gotten worse and worse.

OK pretty pedestrian so far, but what I'm trying to do here is make a large sandbox adventure area for a campaign to run about in quite a while, whether trying to find out what went wrong or just to have a place to adventure.  And there's a problem with the forest: its corrupted by fell forces.  And the first interesting bit I'm working into it is based on an idea from the old Avalon Hill game called "Magic Realm."  In that, the game board was built of hexagonal tiles to make a different layout every time.  And the tiles could be enchanted by casting a spell on one of them, which flipped it to the other side, revealing a slightly different layout and some other effects.

 

So I'm working that into this adventure where you can "flip" map sections you're in to cleanse it from fell influence -- temporarily at least -- which changes things about it, such as encounters, types of creatures and herbs in it, and more.  There's a lot more to it but that's a teaser to what makes this more than just another evil haunted wood scenario.

 

Over time I'll touch into this post and add bits, and when the novel is done and at the editors I can start to write again on it, building the scenario.

 

Stay tuned.

[Spence]

12 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

And the first interesting bit I'm working into it is based on an idea from the old Avalon Hill game called "Magic Realm." 

 

Fun game.  Now I'll have to dig my copy out.

[Old Man]

Ha!  I thought I was the only human who owned (and attempted to play) a copy of Magic Realm, The Game That Took Even Longer To Set Up Than It Did To Actually Play.  Pretty fun once it got going, though the Black Knight is OP.

 

edit: Looks like the going rate for Magic Realm is $150 on ebay.  Hmm...

[Christopher R Taylor]

Supposedly there is an online java version but I bet it takes an hour to set up

[Old Man]

That cuts setup time by at least half IIRC.

[DShomshak]

Well, the idea that there are ways to "flip" the supernatural character of the region piece by piece makes a nice change from the usual "Find the Dark Lord/other source of the corruption and defeat it in a climactic battle." The challenge could be more strategic: You have to cleanse the wood section by section (and what "flips" each section might be different); and while you can use cleansed sections as a base from which to try affecting still-corrupted areas, creatures and forces in those areas can try to flip the cleansed sections back. Keeping cleansed sections clean might require building momentum -- the more of the wood is cleansed, the longer it takes for sections to spontaneously flip back. Perhaps it's easier to flip sections (either way) based on how many cleans or corrupt sections they border, bringing an element of Go into the situation.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

 

The challenge could be more strategic: You have to cleanse the wood section by section (and what "flips" each section might be different); and while you can use cleansed sections as a base from which to try affecting still-corrupted areas, creatures and forces in those areas can try to flip the cleansed sections back. Keeping cleansed sections clean might require building momentum -- the more of the wood is cleansed, the longer it takes for sections to spontaneously flip back.

 

 

Each module I put out, I try to put three things in it that make it interesting or set it apart from being just a dungeon crawl.  The "flip the corruption" is one of those bits for Dearthwood.  Since its a sandbox, characters can approach it how they want, although I hope to be able to include a campaign-style outline in the back for a more structured approach.  That would be part of the concept.  I'm worried its already going to be pretty big and I don't want to publish a huge book for a while again.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Since this one is slipping down the lists, I thought I'd pop in and mention how much I like the title. 'Dearthwood" is cool. I will also plug Selby's Winter Road, which plays with the idea of a protagonist going into a dearthwood and trying to fix it, although perhaps not delivering completely. 

[Doc Democracy]

I dont know if you have played Deadlands but its fear mechanic was quite cool for a campaign.  Your average zombie is not a hugely terrifying foe.  If you meet him in a zone where the fear factor is high, then you will find him a much more fearsome foe, abilities higher, more difficult to put down and he hits harder.  It may also take Guts to just stand and face him.  You reduce the fear factor in an area by defeating the major foe in that zone and then go telling tales about how he was defeated.  As the fear factor reduces you are able to penetrate further into the campaign and defeat enemies that would otherwise be too difficult until you finally meet the ultimate source of all the fear in the zone.  It is a pretty cool way to prevent the players from piling straight in and trying for the big guy right off.  You can talk about the big guy, give details about him and yet the players know, unless they reduce the fear factor, he is out of their league.

 

Seems to me a ready made mechanic for something like The Dearthwood.

[Christopher R Taylor]

That is a neat concept, I have something similar in mind but I might expand on it based on some of those concepts.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I'm contemplating making large map printable sections of the hexes that GMs can print out and use on a table to show progress and where people are (and to be able to flip over to show how things change when the area is cleansed) but I'm not sure they'd be useful.

[Duke Bushido]

Damn the usefulness!  They'd be _fun_!

 

And if they're fun, we'll _find_ a use for them.

 

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

One of the bits in the Dearthwood is minidungeons, small single-level underground areas and ruins to explore with a theme.  Like the bee hive or lairs for bandits and cultists.  I've done up a bunch of them, including some for the GM to just drop in wherever they want one for the PCs to discover.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Dearthwood is on the back burner for now, simmering as I work on the Player's Guide and Jolrhos Codex.  I don't know when I'll get back to it, I might put out a beginner Fantasy Hero adventure first.

[theinfn8]

Bummer. This was a really cool concept I was waiting for... quietly.