Working on a Front today for my game tonight. It’s been weeks since we’ve played, sadly, since everyone has been busy.
Elsewhere you can find my Front titled “The Scouring of the Spirit Wood.” Today I’m ironing out the companion Front “Trespasses in the Deep,” about the Kobold defenders protecting their army’s secret escape tunnels — and disturbing Orc burial grounds in the process.
It’s dungeon crawl-y, and I’m injecting a bit of real character into it by making one of the dangers a group of mundane NPC grave-keepers who want the Kobolds out, but don’t want their ancestors disturbed by the PCs either.
It’s occurring to me, as I work, that the kobolds in the barrows are a threat but they aren’t a Danger. That is: they won’t get worse if the PCs don’t intervene — they’re going to leave as soon as they know their army succeeded or failed. They’re an incidental threat; a bit of conversation to throw in if someone fails a roll.
That could change, and probably will, but for now they’re just color.
Just a cool observation, and a solid example of how sometimes monsters and such aren’t Dangers, but just present when Dangers are happening.