06/21/2022

We’re back! I have been working on a new one-shot adventure and here is the next phase of the crafting. I have made another foam riser piece that will look like stonework to hold some True Tiles. I have printed out a stagecoach and attached it with some horses to an MDF base with some rock flocking on it. I also printed out 10 miniatures that will represent the premade characters that will be available for the player to choose from. I have one miniature for each of the ten classes in the Player’s Handbook and there is at least one of each race represented in the group.

From left to right: Male Half-Orc Barbarian, Female Half-Elf Bard, Female Human Cleric, Female Wood Elf Druid, Male Dwarf Fighter, Male Halfling Monk, Male Human Paladin, Male High Elf Ranger, Female Tiefling Rogue, Male Dragonborn Sorcerer, Male Drow Elf Warlock, and Female Gnome Wizard. I will finish painting them up then I will sit and use HeroLab to work out the character sheets. That way, all of the character’s abilities, spells, etc will be printed out to make it easy to run.

I wouldn’t run a group this big through the adventure, but I would allow the players to choose a character that they would like to play. I would keep the table to 4 or 5 players, but the character choices will make sure that there are some characters in the party that have access to healing spells (bard, cleric, druid, and paladin [lay on hands]). I am thinking of making the characters 1st level but might jump it up to 2nd level just to give them a few more hit points if the players were younger. I was also thinking of giving the party 2 healing potions (if 1st level) just to heal out with the healing.

For the adventure, I am working on crafting a version of the adventure that Professor Dungeonmaster made in Episode #4 on his YouTube channel. Link here.

Here is the opening scene where the PCs find a wagon being attacked by bandits. There are bandits on the cliffs to the sides that will fire arrows at the party members. A bandit is at the stagecoach but he will flee at the start of combat. Any bandits killed here will not lower the number of bandits at the hideout. I still need to paint the merchant, the guards, and the road. The bandits have some color, but it would be nice to get them a little more detailed.

The PCs will meet Marcus Munchberger, a wealthy merchant that was traveling to the town of Honeywood with his daughter. She was going to be married to the son of a local noble. Munchberger has an arrow in his shoulder and his two guards lie on the ground. Have a party member that examines the bodies roll a d4. On a 1, the guard is dead. Otherwise, they are just badly hurt. Munchberger will explain to the PCs that the bandits kidnapped his daughter Rowena and his servant, Philip. The bandits also took his daughter’s dowery. Munchberger will ask the PCs to bring his daughter back unharmed and the dowery if possible. If they can, he will give the PCs 50% of the dowery as a reward. Munchberger will also tell the PCs that the sheriff of Honeywood will pay 5GP per bandit they bring back to the village, dead or alive. Munchberger will manage to Honeywood with the guards, he just needs the PCs to save his daughter before it is too late.

Have the party follow the trail of the bandits back to the hideout. If one of the players is the ranger, allow the ranger to easily track the bandits back through the forest. Otherwise, make the players roll Perception checks. The highest roll will find the clues along the way back. Some of the clues will be Rowena’s handkerchief, black arrows from the bandits, muddy footprints, etc. If one of the players is the Rogue, that player will know that the black arrows belong to the gang of bandits that work for Black Angus. Otherwise, make the players roll a History check to see if they know the gang leader.

Here is my take on the bandit hideout. It is a little smaller than the hideout in PDM’s video because I am trying to keep it all on the UDT which is only 15″ in diameter. I got rid of the extra room in the prisoner and just moved them into the initial room with the bandit guards.

As night is falling, the party will reach the hideout. The party can hear the bandits inside having a good time, celebrating their victory. The two bandits in the grass are the patrol that will show up later in the encounter. (They are not standing in the yard waiting).

The entrance is guarded by three bandits that are drinking and eating some of the food that was for the wedding. On the bed behind them is Philip. He is bruised but alive. The door is locked. The bridge over to the rest of the tower is 10 ft off the ground. Philip was blindfolded during the trip to the hideout. The bandits plan on returning him to Honeywood to ask for the ransom for Rowena.

Across the bridge is the main area. There are five bandits in this room, preparing a meal from the stolen food. There are crates of food as well as barrels of wine in the room. One bandit is cooking mutton in the fireplace. When combat occurs, roll a d4 and place it next to the UDT. This is the timer die. At the end of each round, decrease it by one. When it reaches 0, the two bandits on patrol return to the hideout and will attack the PCs from behind.

During the second round of combat, have Black Angus appear from the room on top of the stairs, fire his crossbow at a PC, then exit back into the room and closes the door.

His room is the resting spot for Black Angus. He will engage the players as soon as they enter the room. Rowena will run to hide behind the PCs. In the following round, she will attack the weakest-looking PC with a dagger she is hiding in her gown. She isn’t really a prisoner!

Rowena met Black Angus in Honeywood over a year ago and the two fell in love. Rowena doesn’t want to marry the noble’s son and this is her plan to get away from her father. She is planning on sending Philip back for a ransom but never returning to Honeywood.

If it looks like Black Angus is going to die, he will jump out of a window and try to flee into the forest. Rowena will surrender if threatened. If returned to her father, Munchberger will claim that she was brainwashed or charmed by Black Angus and wasn’t in control of herself. Black Angus or Rowena could become reoccurring villains, maybe in sequels to this one-shot…

As you can see, there are still a lot of pieces that need to be painted. All of the pieces for this adventure were either 3D printed or crafted by me. While I am not the greatest crafter or painter, I am proud of all of the work that I have put into this project so far. I am hoping to give this project completed by the end of the summer. Wish me luck!

Keep on gaming!