11/5/23 – “The Mayor of Mayville” is off and running on Kickstarter! We’re about a week in and sitting at 10% funded.
While funding is a bit slower from our target, we’re still sprinting to get everything handled on our side outside of the art. We’re into the fine-grain details of one of the maps and all of the interactions the party would face. All-in we should still be ready to release at the end of December. Let us know if you’d be interested in playtesting!
We’re also about to hit 10,000 followers on Instagram and might have something special planned there, so if you’re not following us over there yet, be sure to get in now!
DnD Creator Spotlight
DM Resource: Speaking of Kickstarters, Dungeonaid Games just released their latest, called Darkfrost, “a grim yuletide 5e sourcebook.” If you’re looking to run some darker winter-time games, this looks to be a helpful supplement for you and your party!
Artist: Bone Dust has a style we love. “This is Jeff and his Dork (Dog+Shark)” and it’s a super fun mashup. Having a Dork as a familiar could be a lot of fun, especially depending on which parts of the stat blocks you take. Bone Dust Reborn has the latest updates of art, and is a great source of inspiration.
Have other creators we should feature? Let us know
Free NPCs and Inspiration
- Clawdette – The Crab Queen – she speaks broken Common and wears a tiny crown fashioned from coral upon her carapace. Her beady eyes have a sort of beauty to them and any who gaze into them have a high likelihood of being charmed. Her red pincers can pinch a man in half if given the opportunity.
- Is Devil’s Tower, Wyoming really a massive tree stump? – This question was posed on Reddit and got me thinking about what a world with massive ancient trees might mean. Did each god have their own tree and slowly they were all cut down by some ancient evil? Do the evils still lurk? Are there ancient seeds that the party must collect to restore order in a dying world? So many ways you could go with this. It would have been ~7.3miles tall for what its worth.
This Week’s Encounters
- Legends of the Not-So-Hidden Temple – A giant stone head is dying to know what he’s been protecting in his temple for all these centuries. Explore the ruins, navigating themed rooms and defeating foes, to claim the hidden treasure. Party levels 4-7.
- My Dearest Clawdette… – Tale as old as time, a local crabber is in hot water after falling madly in love with Clawdette, a Giant Crab. Party Levels 1-3.
- It’s a Fire Sale! – Two rival shops, Azer’s Blazers and Newt’s Suits, are trying to corner the market on fire-resistant clothing. However, they need to increase demand for their products…which might be easy once the town learns of the fiery dangers that lurk in the dormant volcano. For players leveled 8-11.
If you have a moment, we’d appreciate it if you could take a quick survey for feedback about what else you’d like to see in these weekly newsletters.
Other DnD Encounter Ideas That Didn’t Make It
This week we did something a bit difference and focused on the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest. The contest, “challenged participants to write an atrocious opening sentence to the worst novel never written. Our whimsical literary competition honors Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel Paul Clifford begins with “It was a dark and stormy night.”
We grabbed some fun ones and then built out some bones. Take these and make them your own!
Line: For the third time this week, Lassie dragged Timmy from the well, and while she performed CPR wondered when the Martins would have the good sense to connect to the public water supply instead of living in their libertarian fantasy-world of self-reliance.
- Bullwug is frustrated because he’s trying to get into the well
- Dog keeps rescuing him and pulling him out/preventing him
- Dog is just being a good boy…distract the dog
- Bullywug, while in the well, summons something awful…the entire time, the dog wasn’t protecting the bullywug, the dog was trying to protect the neighboring town.
Line: Draxyl’s breathing quickened—finally, in his hands he held the Sacred Jewel of Grondor, the key to the legendary Chamber of Secrets, the icon that so many had died for, and the perfect gift to win the heart of his beloved; the question now was how to fit all those things into his pockets without the shopkeeper noticing.
- Party goes to recover an artifact that can save the town
- It’s gone…it its place is a flier for a shopkeeper
- Party needs to somehow buy the items, rob the shopkeeper, or otherwise figure out a way to get the sacred artifact
Line: Buford The Bold was the last descendant of the proud Bold family and was particularly proud of how he chose to keep “The,” his father’s middle name.
- A barbarian who is extremely proud of his name and lineage, only to find out he was adopted
- He is a storm Giant and only recently learned that his size was not normal to his family
- He ran off and the family of gnomes are beside themselves about what to do
Line: “While she had no regrets about throwing the lever to douse her husband’s mistress in molten gold, Blanche did feel a pang of conscience for the innocent bystanders whose proximity had caused them to suffer gilt by association.”
- Store name “Gilt by association” – jewelry and trinkets
- Innocent until proven gilty
- Going on a gilt trip for the store owner, the golden carapace of a
- Someone covered in gold called “the gilty verdict”
Line: Truly, twas Gimoneus the wise, grand sorcerer of Elantorfan, keeper of the ancient rune of Turgochit, came nearest to slaying the mighty dragon of Ralmorgantorg; for he was old and sinewy, and the wretched beast near choked to death on his femur.
- A local wizard claims he was eaten by a dragon, but no one believes him
- Warning the town of their impending doom
- Party must either set up town defenses, go check for the dragon themselves, or do nothing
