1. Introduction
2. Random Report
3. My Favourite New Idea(s)
4. October Featured Idea
5. Random Site of the Month
6. Until Next Time...
Well this is the first issue of the Random RPG newsletter. I'm hoping that it will become a valuable resource for all of you GMs and DMs out there. As always, suggestions on how to improve all aspects of RandomRPG.com and this newsletter are more than welcome, so feel free to email me anytime with your input.
Also, I am looking for users that are willing to take the ideas that they have submitted and expanding them to include much more detail. These detailed ideas will be featured in future issues of this newsletter. Credit will be given which includes your name and the URL of your web site if you have one. If you are interested, send me an email!
Announcement: Forum Down
The RandomRPG forum is currently down due to maintenance. I am not sure if I will be putting it back up as it wasn't used all that much. If you want to see it come back, just email me so I can get an idea of how many users would find it useful.
So here it is - Issue #1. Enjoy!
Here is the statistical report of RandomRPG for the month of September 2004:
Number of registered users: 90
Number of ideas in database: 427
Ideas added this month: 21
--Random Weapon Idea--
Submitted by: Daminc (50) - http://www.search-engine-glossary.co.uk
Date Submitted: September 15, 2004
Title: Martyr
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Sword
Damage Type: Normal + special
Requirements: None
Special Abilities: As well the normal damage the weapon inflicts the wielder can choose to sacrifice his/her own
health to increase the damage caused.
Weapon History:
During the climax of the Battle of Arantur. The army of Secula the Second were threatened with defeat against the
Empora Talmas's forces. Fate brought Secula and Talmas together but Secula had been badly wounded. In a cry of rage
Secula called to the god of battles to aid him in obtaining a worthy death. The god listened and enchanted the warriors
blade. With his last strength Secula struck Talmas in his leg just as the Empora's axe started its descent. The magic
of the sword ignited. Drawing strength from Secula magical flames consumed Talmas's leg. As Secula died, so did
Talmas.
Notes:
For every one hit point sacrificed increase the damage by 3 points (variable to the GM's wishes). If the player sacrifices his/her life the sword will "slay" the opponent no matter what the size or hit points left. (Player would be dead though)
This month's featured idea is one written by Dwayne Trawick. He agreed to take his idea "Not your Average Bandits" and expand on it. So here it is!
Not Your Average Bandits
An expansion on the Random RPG Encounter
submitted in May of 2004
By: Dwayne Trawick (30)
"Not Your Average Bandits" is an interesting little adventure that takes us to the borders of cliché. Roadside bandits are a staple of many genres of role playing games as well as fiction, and this will allow you to cut away the baggage of a usual encounter and make it something slightly newer and fresher.
SETTING/GENRE CRITERIA
I game mastered this encounter in a fairly typical low-fantasy campaign, but this encounter really has no specific genre. As with many other encounters and plots, turn the swords into rifles and you have an old west encounter. Turn the forest into an Egyptian desert and you have a 1920s cliffhanger. Turn horses and wagons into spaceships and you have a space adventure encounter. Genre, at least for this encounter, really doesn't matter.
What does matter is that you are able to fit the below principals of the encounter:
1. The PCs are traveling down some kind of trade route
2. They are with a merchant caravan or some kind of worthy target for bandits, and
3. The setting can incorporate hiding places, trouble spots and a "fog of war" effect.
The original setting was a wide frontier of great rocky hills, choking copses of trees and a setting fog to make things even more interesting. Obviously you'll want to alter things for your own campaign flavor and genre.
GROUP/EXPERIENCE CRITERIA
"Not Your Average Bandits" works best for an average group of players. The experience level of the PCs depends mainly on the lethality of your game system. In GURPS, I used relatively advanced characters. In D&D, this could form a starting encounter for a group of Level 1 characters.
SETUP
Setup for this encounter requires you to ask two important questions first:
1. Why are these bandits so special? Now, to us, this might seem like a fairly normal encounter. Ambushes are so common to us, and a group would certainly wish to find the ambushers and exploit the weaknesses provided by a normal ambush. But to set up and orchestrate a double-ambush like the one in this encounter requires tactics, a very good knowledge of the terrain, and well-disciplined men. Of course, if a bandit sets up shop in a certain place, they'd definitely begin to learn the lay of the land to know any good escape routes and dead ends to manipulate, but strong strategy and disciplined groups are assets most bandits do not have. So what's so special about them? Are they actually a special forces group of some kind? Is their leader a wise ex-commander? Do they possess some kind of special (possibly magical) communication that allows them to act in one accord?
2. What is the target? If these bandits, normal or not, are going to go to such trouble, it must be for something good. They wouldn't waste this time on a traveling peddler with a couple of guards. Is the caravan bringing supplies to an enemy state? Is it shipping a priceless artifact? Is it a cover to protect an important diplomat? The answer to this question also depends upon the first. If the bandits are a special ops force, they might be waylaying convoys taking supplies to the enemy.
The next thing you need to do is set up the opposition. Create the statistics and equipment for the enemy. Map out their attack formations, escape routes, and camps. Determine a few "plan B's" in case something goes wrong and, most important to the players, decide what treasure they have with them that can be looted.
The final piece of setup, if its not done already, is to create the target. This encounter assumes that the PCs are already part of the caravan, either as guards or "civilians" like merchants, taggers-on, etc. You already have their info, but the rest of the caravan or convoy must be created, if it wasn't done already. Determine the stats of any NPC guards or fellow fighters. Find out the speed of their vehicles, and the appropriate driving, teamster, piloting or other control skills for their drivers. Determine what the specific target(s) is/are. Another good idea is to get a basic battle plan ready for the good guys. For example, these guys are well disciplined and will create a defensive line on one side of the wagons; this one is a coward and rides off into the wilderness to his doom; this driver panics and kicks up the speed to escape the ambush, etc.
ACTION
The next step is to play the ambush. The first part would include a scout finding the bogus ambushers and returning to report. Then the leaders determine a plan to sweep around the ambushers flanks to catch them by surprise. So then the PCs head off to do their work. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose! They're being shot at from behind, they try to break off and in the fog of battle, they hear the shouts and cries of their companions in the distance. They might have a few encounters with well-prepared bandits, and may get a chance to help out some of their colleagues. This is most likely to last a session or two of play. To increase the time, here's a little tip I used when I ran the encounter. Perhaps one of the wagons (trucks, spaceships) was badly damaged and needs to stop for repairs. The PCs must find a defensible place to hole up (in the middle of enemy territory!!) while the damage is being repaired. This could be a whole adventure in itself, depending upon the circumstances.
My group had a lot of fun with this encounter and I hope that yours does too! If you have any need for more advice on this encounter, or if you'd like to drop me some more ideas on this or other encounters, please email me at: chickenreborn@hotmail.com.
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Many thanks to Dwayne for his time and effort in preparing this idea. If you would like to expand on one of your own ideas (or perhaps develop a new one) for this newsletter, email me!
After searching through the RPG resource sites that I know of, I have decided to name The Dungeon Generator at http://www.aarg.net/~minam/dungeon.cgi to be it. I have used this generator several times to make quick dungeons (lairs, prisons, etc.) on the fly. If that site doesn't work, it is mirrored at http://www.rpghost.com/dungeon_gen.shtml as well.
Do you have a site that you think deserves to be RandomRPG's Site of the Month? Email me at matthew@randomrpg.com with the URL and I'll take a look!
I hope that you have found the information herein to be somewhat useful. In future issues I hope to release articles related to RandomRPG that will help you to find new ideas for your campaigns. If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, always feel free to email me and I will respond as soon as possible.
Until next time, I wish you all good gaming!