We began our 0-level play last week with four deaths. The Woodcutter became a “snackrifice” to a pair of hungry wolves, allowing the others to get away. Then, as they neared their destination of Grimhaven, a small flock of stingbats approached from the nearby marshes and were able to feast on the Astrologer, the Blacksmith, and the Butcher. The Beggar ran as they others were swamped by the stingbats and I wasn’t wearing my stingbat shirt! Yes, shameless marketing for the Arcane Library.
This week, the Beggar’s player was unable to attend so three other players played two characters each. We had a Glovemaker and Weaver (Rachel), Sage and Wainwright (RJ), Squire and Candlemaker (Jen) all make their way closer to Grimhaven as the Beggar ran off into the approaching night.
With the extra week to do a little preparation, I started to flesh out the Borderlands…largely borrowing from various published sources. Frandor’s Keep by Kenzer & Co is serving as the basis for our Grimhaven and, of course, a Borderlands source. Instead of the original, I’m using the Goodman Games “reincarnated” version, Into the Borderlands. No particular reason for picking this version over the original outside of I have it and I wanted to read it anyways. Lastly, I took the day off of work and spent most of the morning prepping an adventure for this session based on Sersa Victory’s Tomb of the Dusk Queen. I modified a number of bits to fit our game and to make it a little less harsh on 0-level characters. Some inspiration and background information for the adventure was provided by Clarshh’s Sepulchre by Willie Walsh in Dungeon Magazine #53…only a handful of issues before my pre-4e Dungeon collection is complete! There may be potential spoilers for any of these products below the break…especially Tomb of the Dusk Queen.
We pick up with the characters running for Grimhaven, leaving the stingbats and their fallen companions behind. As always, my GM comments are in italics.
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