The Fey Are Coming

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

GameMastery Module W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale has arrived in our warehouse and is about to ship to subscribers (although if you sign up now, you can still get the module and a free PDF). Although I've chatted about fey before, now is as good time to look at the fey in this module with some detail. If you plan on playing this module be forewarned—spoilers lurk below.

Here are some facts about the Roseblood Sprites, presented as a Knowledge (nature) skill check.

DC	Information
13	Roseblood Sprites are evil fey that live in an area known as Bloodsworn Vale. They are a menace to travelers and workmen alike, and even to adventurers if encountered in a large group (known as a bushel).
18	These fey have the ability to transform into ordinary rose bushes, and have a penchant for using the beautifully thorny plants in their armor and weapons.
23	Roseblood Sprites have a number of magical abilities involving trickery, and can pass through wooded areas with ease.
28	Roseblood Sprites who congregate in large groups are often led by a king who is far more powerful than his kin, with the ability to awaken rosebushes and turn them into sprites.

Beyond this basic information, the fey living in Bloodsworn Vale have another nasty habit. As of late, their victims have been found mutilated, missing one or both of their ears. Rumors hold that this is some sort of trophy gathering by the malicious sprites, but some say that something far more sinister is afoot.

Well, that's all for Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale. If you've not checked out this module, stop by your local game store, visit our booth at GenCon, or take a look through some of the other posts on this blog. Next week, we'll start "delving" into D2: Seven Swords of Sin.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Welcome to Fort Thorn

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

With GameMastery Module W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale just about to ship out to subscribers, it's time to introduce your PCs to their new home: Fort Thorn. This small community is the only bastion of civilization in the Vale and, as such, makes for the most likely home base for explorers. The following are descriptions of a few key places:

A3. Keep

Aside from the shrine, Fort Thorn's keep is the only other stone building in town. This massive two-story structure is home to Sir Gyrad Tolgrith (NG male human fighter 4/ranger 2) and all of his men. The first floor of the structure contains the meeting hall, armory, mess hall, kitchen, and storage rooms. The second floor contains a smaller, private meeting hall, the barracks, the planning room, and Sir Tolgrith's private quarters.

Fort Thorn's current staff includes 40 soldiers (LG male human warrior 2), 4 scouts (NG male human ranger 2), 2 sergeants (LG male human fighter 4), and Sir Tolgrith.

A6. The Boar's Bones

Shortly after settling the fort, the soldiers faced their first crisis when the food caravan was late and their supplies ran low. Sir Tolgrith sent out his scouts to forage and hunt, but after three days they had not found much. On the fourth day they scored big, dragging the carcass of an enormous dire boar back into camp at the same time the supply caravan finally arrived. During the evening's festivities, the boar was picked clean and the fort's cook, Orrend, kept the bones.

A month later, Orrend (CG male halfling expert 3) opened up the Boar's Bones, a small inn and tavern, to serve the off-duty soldiers, workers, and visitors who happened to stop by. The bones were carefully reconstructed with wire and wood, and the now-intact dire boar skeleton sits in the middle of the tavern with a pouch hanging from its tusks. Orrend insists that any tips given to the boar are sent to its grieving kin.

The food at the Boar's Bones is of good quality (4 sp per meal), combining local ingredients with caravan supplies. Orrend has yet to perfect his rose petal ale, so whenever he has a new batch ready, all tankards of it are half price (2 cp). Rooms at the Boar's Bones are simple, with only a single cot, washbasin, and cupboard apiece, but clean and free of vermin (1 gp per night).

A8. Shrine to Erastil

Every morning, the lone bell of this stone shrine tolls twice to start the prayer service. The shrine is dedicated to Erastil (LG god of hunting, trade, farming, and family), also known as "Old Deadeye." The shrine's lone cleric, Father Apar (LG male human cleric 5), tends to the spiritual needs of the community, including healing and other minor spellcasting. Father Apar offers these services for free to the soldiers, but all others must pay the usual price. Father Apar also has a number of divine potions and scrolls for sale, but none worth more than 300 gp.

Father Apar's morning sermons are usually quite calm affairs, with the elderly cleric reading from holy scriptures and addressing current concerns. Sir Tolgrith makes sure to attend twice per week, but never on a regular schedule. After the morning prayers, Father Apar walks around town, talking to the locals about their problems or tending to the sick. Once per week, after the day's labor is over, Father Apar invites all to an archery challenge in front of the fort. To the winner he gifts a potion of his own creation (usually cure light wounds).

There are, of course, many more places to visit in Fort Thorn, but I'll leave those secrets for you to discover.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Gold, Land, and Title!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Those are the rewards promised to those who conquer the Bloodsworn Vale. In just a few weeks, you might be able to claim those prizes.

Since we are getting pretty close to the release of this module, we realized we have yet to show off a map of this large, untamed wilderness. To avoid spoilers, the map is untagged (and might just make for a good player handout, if you're thinking of downloading it). That said, there are a couple of points of interest on the map that bear some explanation.

Fort Thorn: As the only settlement on the map, Fort Thorn (the small dot near the center) is of vital importance to the region. Although its commander, Sir Tolgrith, hopes one day to make it self-sufficient, it currently depends upon a steady stream of caravans for provisions and other basic supplies.

The fort is a walled community surrounded by a 20-foot-tall palisade of tree trunks, upended and carved to points. Beyond this security there is nothing but wilderness. Tall trees and endless thickets of wild rose bushes cover much of the surrounding terrain. There are no farms or outlying buildings affiliated with the fort—any who dwell outside its walls are hermits, monsters, or worse.

The Path: This trail is being cut through the vale to establish a vital trade route with Varisia's neighbors. It is currently under construction and time is running out to meet the king's deadline.

The Petal and Coldrun Rivers: These two slow-moving rivers provide fresh water to those in the region, although the Petal (which runs past Fort Thorn) has a nasty tendency to foul every few weeks, causing sickness in those who drink from it at those times.

Mist Lake: The calm waters of this lake are perpetually shrouded in mist that moves overland to cover the nearby swamps. The residents of Fort Thorn avoid this area, as they say it is haunted.

There is, of course, much more to explore in the vast reaches of the vale, but to learn about it you just might have to journey there yourself.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Conquering the Vale

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

There are a lot of things I like about dragons. They're iconic, they fly, they have breath weapons, they're deadly in melee, and they're incredibly intelligent (for the most part). Unfortunately, this usually puts them in the role of "boss monster" or lone combatant. Fighting against a host of dragons either feels a bit out of place or is reserved for very high-level characters. True dragons are also kind of a pain to generate, unlike other monsters.

For GameMastery Module W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale, I really wanted to include a dragon-like monster that was easy to use and could be used in a group, without having to resort to the oft-overused half-dragon template. Enter the flame drake. This offshoot of dragonkind is a degenerate cousin of true dragons that breeds true. Like true dragons, these drakes have breath weapons, can fly, and are dangerous in melee. Unlike true dragons, however, flame drakes are less cunning, prove far less resilient, and do not age like true dragons, making them easier to use both alone and as part of a group (in their case, a rampage of 3–12).

Flame drakes in particular (and there will be other drake types) can unleash a ball of flame that works like a fireball every few rounds. They also have a rather nasty bite that deals a bit of fire damage with each chomp. Finally, flame drakes can call on their draconic heritage a few times per day to take an extra move action. All in all, they're a nasty critter that falls solidly in the CR 5 range. Dangerous? You bet, but nothing that a group of PCs set on taming the deadly wilderness of the Bloodsworn Vale can't handle. Their master, on the other hand, is another story entirely.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

I Hate Fey

Friday, May 4, 2007

I've never been the biggest fan of fey. Every time I use one in a game, there tends to be a quiet undertone of giggles and cheap jokes. Today, for example, when discussing this very blog post, we came upon the idea of chatting about the fey that play a part in W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale. Within seconds, Wesley Schneider called out that I like "pretty, pretty princesses." Suffice to say... you can see why I don't like fey.

That said, when we plotted out Conquest the idea of using fey as one of the villains just made sense, and I set out to make fey something players might fear instead of mock. There is a dark side to nature, a savage side that these fey, known as roseblood sprites, fully embrace. You won't catch them frolicking through the forest or tending to a grove of flowers. These fey are more likely to paralyze you with poisoned rose thorns, murder you, and cut off your ears for their demented king. The illo sketch above is just one of the sketches from this module, showing the moment that our hero stumbles upon their grim feast (that hunk of meat might just resemble a human thigh). That ought to keep players from giggling.

And now I toss the question back to you—are fey pint-sized hippies, unhinged nature spirits, or something else entirely? Post on our messageboards and let us know what you think.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

...And the Dragon Comes in the Niiiiiight!

Friday, April 27, 2007

Just wanted to drop by and give you all a sneak preview of some brand new cover art we got in just in time for the weekend. They say a picture's worth a thousand words, but I'd wager that this one's worth about 22,000... which, incidentally, is how long Jason Bulmahn's W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale module will be when it's all finished. In this 32-page adventure, heroes will be pitted against twisted, evil fey as they fight to reclaim Bloodsworn Vale and reestablish overland trade routes between Varisia and the world beyond. But as this beautifully executed painting from WETA and Savage Tide alumnus Warren Mahy shows us, evil fey are just the beginning of the adventurer's problems....

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder