I will be running a game for two buddies in the very near future, one of which hasn't touched a tabletop RPG in over a decade. I want him to have a balls-to-the-wall fun experience during this reintroduction to the hobby, and so I wanted to solicit some colorful and gritty ideas from my fellow forum lurkers to help paint a vivid picture he won't forget.
One of the guys loves Game of Thrones (so do I) and I think adding in some of that GoT vibe would go a long way in conveying a gritty, memorable gaming experience. This of course is just one avenue to explore; the setting will be a typical classic fantasy setting replete with dragons, gnolls, goblins and such, but I think I want to put more of a focus on the political situation that the common folk find themselves embroiled in, meaning that the campaign's villains would more often be of the Lord/Lady variety as opposed to a red dragon.
What gritty encounter ideas do you folks have that could help me set this scene?
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I'll start off with a couple that I've come up with.
1) The skyward black columns of smoke you've (the party) been following have turned out to be the remains of a small farming village. A dozen hovels have been reduced to scorched shells. Embers fly carelessly into the air from the still-burning haystacks at the field's end. A sudden groan catches your attention - it's a peasant farmer, sitting limply against a chopping stump, dying from the deep stomach wound inflicted by some bygone raiders.
The man strains to raise his gaze, looking up without an ounce of fight left in him, ready to take whatever fate comes with these newcomers.
2) This roadside inn didn't look like much from the outside, and it turned out it was even less on the inside. It's dank, cloistered, and utterly lacking in the charms one longs for on the open road. Despite the details, it was better than the droning pitter patter of rain on your helmet that managed to soak you to the bone for the last few days' travel.
You are the only customers aside from the half-dozen soldiers of <insert local Lord's/Lady's name here>. The innkeeper nor his daughter have even acknowledged your presence as they seem more than occupied by the six uncouth men. One of them speaks up as the proprietor hustles to and fro in an attempt to keep food on their table and their drinks topped off.
"Oi, I'll have another ale and summore bread, and make it snappy or else I might turn to other appetites..." says a particularly ugly soldier in his muddy leathers, grasping the innkeeper's daughter by her waist. She is obviously terrified but reluctantly sits on his lap in fear of upsetting the men who have already given her father a blackened eye.
A shorter grunt with a tougher glint in his eye chimed in to the conversation,
"Bring me a fresh mug too. Now tell us again about how you ain't got any money? Mainly because, I don't believe ya. There's always some silver stored away for a rainy day - and look outside; its rainin!"
The soldier turns to you, sizing you up to make sure it was an unfair fight,
"You. How much money you got?"
Humble bump
Ooh I love these threads!
No time now but I'll be back
Ooh I love these threads!
No time now but I'll be back
I do too. I've read a lot of neat threads like this on this site but this one is not getting much love. Oh well!
If you like a side dish of morally gray with your grit:
The party stumbles on a bandit attack on a caravan in progress. Catch is its a slave caravan, happens to be legal in these parts.
Shady tax collectors shaking down a shady merchant/ inn keeper.
Gotta give 'em time.
5) The party finds out that the town guard they work for is riddled with crime, the reason the town has been crumbling underneath itself all this time. Outgunned and outnumbered the party must find the ways and means to turn this once beautiful city around.
/Gotham