The Secret of Ammersfurt is a free role playing supplement for the Dark Dungeon 2nd Ed game. Every week for thirty-five weeks, you'll get new bits for the Ammersfurt adventure setting, like monsters, NPC's, locations, skills, character templates, role play tips, and so on. And also every week, you'll get an adventure seed, which you can turn into a weekly adventure.
Adventure Seed 26: The Wolf at Soestdycke
Lady Louisa invites the heroes for a visit and a feast at her castle Soestdycke. But when the heroes have arrived and the first pleasantries are exchanged, she explains that she also needs the advice of the heroes. A wolf has been haunting the premises, and it eludes being caught. It has not only killed deer, but also a servant over the last month. A vagabond who wandered onto the premisses has also been bitten badly.
The Secret of Ammersfurt is a free role playing supplement for the Dark Dungeon 2nd Ed game. Every week for thirty-five weeks, you'll get new bits for the Ammersfurt adventure setting, like monsters, NPC's, locations, skills, character templates, role play tips, and so on. And also every week, you'll get an adventure seed, which you can turn into a weekly adventure.
Adventure Seed 25: Joust at the Stoutenburgh
The time for the yearly feasts at the Stoutenburgh has arrived. This year there will be a magnificent joust and other sporting fights between knights. Nobility from all over Utrecht, but also from Gelre and Amstelredamme has been invited. At least one of the heroes belongs to the Stoutenburgh family, or is otherwise related. All heroes are invited to take part in the festivities.
Yesterday I watched one of those lesser known, lower budget movies that are gems. The Man from Earth. Although the acting was a bit stilted, especially in the first couple of scenes, I was quite impressed. It's a story that keeps humming in the back of your head.
The premise is, that a professor decides to move on and invites his befriended scholars for a farewell party. And then he reveals something about his past. That he is a man who is... 14,000 years old. A very interesting, suspensefuland yet philosophical long conversation follows as the scholars try to find out if what the professor says is true.
There's no big special effects, no agonising chases with stunts, there's hardly more than one room as a location. It's more of a play than a movie. And yet, it works.
So it made me think, could you do such a conversation-like story as a role playing session too? I think that's possible indeed. All you really need is a non player character who is mysterious enough with his past, and cooperating, but also antagonising enough presenting the heroes with a puzzle of his past. Actually, I remember doing this during a campaign where the heroes tried to pry out the truth from a supervillain with memory loss. And all the time the question also was, when would he also remember what he once held against the heroes? It worked pretty well.
I think you could do the same by inviting the heroes and confronting them with someone like the professor - as long as there are enough hooks, they might also want to know if he's really 14,000 years old. An educated cave man.
The Man from Earth was made poshumously after a script by Jerome Bixby, known for his work on Star Trek. He was the writer of the famous Mirror Mirror episode in the old series. So, it is kind of fitting that Star Trek actors and a Star Trek director took up the story and filmed it. I found it inspiring on many levels. Anyone else who already watched it?
Impressed by Evan's monsters from In Places Deep, and noticing that my vacation brought down my average number of posts, I thought I'd do a conversion of his Goblin Spider for Dark Dungeon 2nd Ed. Cheers, and watch out for friendly old ladies!
Werespider Woman
"Grandmother Spider brought us here on this world and she watches over us still. We should be thankful. But there are also sisters, wicked sisters she left behind, and some of their spawn also reached our reality. Now they lurk on the borders, in forests deep, on the edge of civilisation. Wolf spiders the size of a small horse, who can change their appearance and shape to that of a sweet old hag. Venomous, deadly, always hungry, in a lair full of rotting corpses. You should watch for them, for they can hide themselves blending in the shadows, or speak with a honey voice and lure you to sleep. They are evil. I repeat, they are evil."
from Travels in the Dark Lands
DD2: spider form: dexterity 3, venomous bite 8 (class 2), chitinous armour 2+1 (3),
when bitten roll 9+ on CON to avoid a Critical wound in the chest caused by the venom
DD2: human form: charm 3, sleep magick 4, invisibility 4
The Secret of Ammersfurt is a free role playing supplement for the Dark Dungeon 2nd Ed game. Every week for thirty-five weeks, you'll get new bits for the Ammersfurt adventure setting, like monsters, NPC's, locations, skills, character templates, role play tips, and so on. And also every week, you'll get an adventure seed, which you can turn into a weekly adventure.
Adventure Seed 24: The Fishermans Catch
When fishermen from Spackenburgh pull in their nets with a prticularly heavy catch they are in for a surprise. In their nets there is the body of a woman. They may have a problem here. Who is this woman? The fishermen send a request to at least one of the heroes they befriended to help solve the matter. The fishermen would not want to be condemned for a murder they didn't commit, for example. Naturally all heroes will join to help.
The Secret of Ammersfurt is a free role playing supplement for the Dark Dungeon 2nd Ed game. Every week for thirty-five weeks, you'll get new bits for the Ammersfurt adventure setting, like monsters, NPC's, locations, skills, character templates, role play tips, and so on. And also every week, you'll get an adventure seed, which you can turn into a weekly adventure.
Adventure Seed 23: The Spring Feast
Thaw has finally arrived. The first real flowers bloom. The first new vegetables grow. And the battle with Gelre has passed. But Ammersfurt is hurt. Buildings have burnt down, many have lost friends and relatives. There is work ahead.
- What's a zine?
- It's a fanzine.
- Fantazine?
- A fantasy fan magazine. And role players have quite a few of them. Like blogs. Wow, do they have a lot of blogs! You know, sometimes I think I'll start reading them all and then...
- It won't work Jake. It won't work. You'll have turned into a dummylich before you reached the end of them. Besides, you need to master a few games first.
- Oh yeah, right. Mind if I use a Zine for some inspiration?
- Please do Jake.
For old school zines have a look at the excellent aggregated list at Rended Press by English Professor Matthew Schmeer. Or profit from some currently, temporarily free Zines. Here's Fight On! Issue #2, with some nice pieces on wilderness adventures, one of them by James Grognardia Maliszewski, and a new player character class - the pinguin.
- Sorry, no pinguins for me. I'll shoot them on sight.
- I'll send Animal Planet after you if you do.
- Good. I'll shoot them too.
- This is going nowhere.
And another Zine, Oubliette, is on DriveThru. They also give away some issues for free at the moment because of happy demand. And others cost only a few dollars. So, have another read while you're in the sun. Or rain.
