I’d like to make sure that I grok Fronts and that I’m not making any egregious errors with these.

6 thoughts on “I’d like to make sure that I grok Fronts and that I’m not making any egregious errors with these.”

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2. First: the whole fronts/grim portents/impending dooms thing is all a way to organize your thoughts on what’s happening in the game world and give yourself interesting stuff to say when it’s your turn to describe the situation and make some moves.  If it’s doing that for you, great!  It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks (unless you’re planning on publishing it is a module or somesuch).

   Second:  I like to use my prep as a way to give myself permission to play hard and think dangerous.  My natural inclination is to preserve the game world and protect the things the players care about.  Writing up fronts, dangers, stakes, etc. is a way to get me to put them in crosshairs.

   With that said, here are some observations:

   The grim portents in the campaign fronts feel a little short on detail to me. Who is breaking Aresceth’s seals? How? What signs will herald the breaking of the seals, or announce that they’ve happened?  Make the grim portents things that the PCs can directly observe or interact with, and you’ll find them a lot more useful in play.

   The grim portents in the adventure front are more what I’m thinking, but they don’t seem to actually lead to their impending dooms.  How does the sahuagin escaping into the sewers result in Usurpation?  How does the Voice’s price lead to Impoverishment?  There seem to be a couple steps missing in each case.  Maybe it’s clear in your mind (which is what matters), but it’s not clear to me. 

   I also like to define my Impending Dooms, describing how the doom manifests. It’s like writing them up as a final grim portent.  Something discrete, (potentially) observable, and irrevocable, like “Sahuagin murder the Baron of Marisburg and take his place.”

   I personally try to not to make my stakes questions “will come to pass?” because that’s what the grim portents are there to do.  I like to make them more personal (like your “Will Rasputin accept Tlazhocatl’s Bargain?”), things that I might otherwise lose sight of in the chaos (like “Will find their courage?”) or that I intentionally want to leave undecided (like “Who will side with?”).

   You might also want to work up some custom moves. In particular, what boons is the voice offering?  What’s the price? 

   For what it’s worth, here’s my favorite take on a mind-control move:  When the dark voices in your head urge you do something, if you do it, mark XP.  If you resist the voices, roll +WIS. On a 10+, you shake off their influence. On a 7-9, you stand their considering it or resisting the urges for a few moments or until something snaps you out of it.  On a miss, you come to a few minutes later having done gods-know-what.

3. In response to your first paragraph, it’s certainly serving that purpose – I went from no idea what was going to happen just before the session to a whole framework about an hour after it ended. As an inspirational tool it’s working marvelously, but as an organizational tool I wanted to make sure I was at least aware of some of the pitfalls I might find in my first draft – things like having the Stakes just be restatements of the respective Dooms.

   In the case of the Campaign Front Grim Portents, they are clear in my head. For example, the seals are broken by rituals involving four elemental artifacts – including the current one they’re after. I hinted at that in the bits with Akros in the adventure front. In short, they’re intended as the capstones of a series of adventures. It would probably be helpful to state it outright, though, even if only to help me keep things clear. Something like “The first elemental ritual is completed, breaking its seal”, et cetera.

   With the Adventure Front Grim Portents, I was perhaps looking a bit to far ahead in each case. The sahuagin one was Usurpation because their goal in getting to Reefton is to go all Innsmouth on the place; Likewise with the Voice its goal is to subtly manipulate the party into being its minions, which certainly sounds like Impoverishment. Those are middle or long term goals, though – I’m going to look at them a bit more closely to see if I can define them more by their immediate goals.

   I do have a boon worked out (Rasputin’s a Mage, so I worked out a custom Spell Focus and will give him one Aligned and one Opposed element from it, as if he’d taken the Prodigy advanced move), and the price will be an ill-defined future favor (it’s really hard to do Machiavellian plots even in pre-planned adventures, so leaving it vague for the time being seemed a good idea). I might actually take that move you have there and twist it a little for when the debt comes due. It’s not mind control yet, but that’s a way it could go later on…

   The bits with personal stakes and clearly defining the end result of the Doom are great advice, and I’m going to massage these a little in my spare time. Thanks for the help!

4. Jeremy is wise 🙂

   I’d just add that its really helpful to me to make it personal. NAME all your monsters and NPCs, tag the grim portents with people and feelings (or instincts), try and tie the portents as counters to player’s class/alignment xp triggers.

5. Alright, here’s the revised Fronts for the campaign!

   Four artifacts tied to the gods of fire and water, wind and stone lie across the land, bound in magical seals. Unknown to all but the most ancient and powerful, these seals do not guard the artifacts, but rather use them to power the prison of a mad god. One of those ancient powers, a tainted creature called the Voice of the Deep, aims to usurp the power of these seals to reshape the world. But the Voice needs some unwitting help first…

   THE CHARACTERS

   – Clarke, Priest of Taigor, the God of Seas

   – Rasputin, Elven Mage of shadows and fear

   – Conan the Glorious, the wandering Dwarf Barbarian

   – Jax, the time-displaced Dwarf Artificer

   ADVENTURE FRONT: The Cult of the Deep Death

   CAST

   – Sharad, Sahuagin Baron

   – Arkos, Deep Priest of Taigor

   STAKES

   – Will Rasputin accept the Voice’s bargain?

   – Will the Sahuagin betray Arkos?

   – Will Jax repair the citadel’s machinery?

   DANGER: Warren of the Sahuagin

   Cursed Place – Shadowland

   Instinct: To corrupt or consume the living

   Impending Doom: Pestilence

   Grim Portents

   – The Sahuagin have found a victim

   – The Sahuagin complete their vile experiments

   – The Sahuagin release the transfiguring plague into the water

   The Sahuagin work for Tlazhocatl and grudgingly aid the cultists. Meanwhile, they are also creating a magical, disfiguring disease they wish to unleash upon Reefton and infusions to conceal their piscine nature, to better camouflage themselves in the town.

   DANGER: The Voice of the Deep

   Arcane Enemy – Ancient Curse

   Instinct: To ensnare

   Impending Doom: Impoverishment

   Grim Portents

   – The Voice tempts Rasputin (Checked)

   – The Voice offers Rasputin its boon for future aid

   – The voice whispers to Rasputin the location of the second artifact

   Tlazhocatl’s plans are complex and long-ranging. Here it begins to try to twist the party into its unwitting minions through Rasputin’s lust for power.

   DANGER: The Children of the Deep

   Horde – Cult

   Instinct: To prepare the way

   Impending Doom: Destruction

   Grim Portents

   – Arkos breaks the seal and retrieves the Eye of Taigor

   – Arkos communes with the eye and sees his glorious victory

   – Arkos fills the eye with blood and transforms into the Child of the Deep

   The Cult of the Deep Death reveres Taigor not as a bringer of food and trade, but as the impersonal destructive force behind the ocean, slowly eroding the coast or violently and quickly wiping out towns with tsunamis, floods, and storms.

   DANGER: The Shattered Citadel

   Cursed Place – Place of Power

   Instinct: To be controlled or tamed

   Impending Doom: Destruction

   Grim Portents

   – The ancient machinery fails

   – Tremors spread through the ruins

   – Malfunctioning guardians activate

   – The caves begin to collapse

   This cave system is what remains of an ancient dwarven citadel, invisible on the surface. Waking Jax caused some malfunction in the citadel’s machinery, and if it’s not repaired it could collapse the whole complex!

   CAMPAIGN FRONT

   CAST

   – Tlazhocatl, the Remaker, Ancient Aboleth

   – Aresceth, the Hungry Void, God of Entropy

   STAKES

   – Will Rasputin aid Tlazhocatl?

   – Will Clarke expose the Cult of the Remaker?

   – Will the PCs reforge the world and become gods, or return it to its former state?

   DANGER: The Cult of the Remaker

   Ambitious Organization – Cabal

   Instinct: To absorb those in power, to grow

   Impending Doom: Usurpation

   Grim Portents

   – The Sahuagin establish the Cult of the Remaker in Reefton

   – The Cult of the Remaker becomes the most popular religion in Reefton

   – The Cult of the Remaker murders Merchant-Lord Fitzroland and rules Reefton

   The Cult of the Remaker believes their god will one day take the marred and diseased and reshape them into perfect forms. The Sahuagin behind the cult actually wish to control Reefton and prevent its inhabitants from interfering with Tlazhocatl’s plans.

   DANGER: Aresceth, Breaker of Chains

   Planar Force – Elemental Lord

   Instinct: To tear down creation to its component parts

   Impending Doom: Destruction

   Grim Portents

   – The first seal is broken

   – The second seal is broken

   – The third seal is broken

   – The final seal is broken, and Aresceth slips his bonds

   The seals drawing power from the elemental artifacts keep Aresceth bound. If he is released, the world may very well be dissolved into cold nothingness.

   DANGER: Tlazhocatl, the Voice

   Arcane Enemy – Power-mad Wizard

   Instinct: To seek magical power

   Impending Doom: Tyranny

   Grim Portents

   – Tlazhocatl creates the first new seal, securing its power

   – Tlazhocatl creates the second new seal, securing its power

   – Tlazhocatl creates the third new seal, securing its power

   – Tlazhocatl creates the final new seal, becoming like unto a god

   Tlazhocatl desires to rule reality and twist it into a corrupt reflection of its rightful state. To do this, it needs to break the seals holding back Aresceth. With those seals broken, Tlazhocatl can remake them and fill itself with elemental power.

   – – – – –

   NOTES: Introducing Jax

   Jax will be joining the game after the first session. Luckily, I described that there appeared to be something behind a waterfall and hadn’t decided what it would be yet.

   When Jax is awakened from stasis, ask him these questions:

   – What was different about the Dwarves 1500 years ago?

   – What was wrong with the world before you were sealed away?

   – In the past, what purpose did this now-crumbling citadel and its machinery hold?

   – Why were you put in stasis?

   Then, give him the following bond in place of any others

   – _________ knows the ways of this strange future. I must learn from them.

   NOTES: The Favor of the Deep

   If Rasputin accepts the boon of the Voice, he must select one look from the list below, and an Aligned and Opposed element to add to his Spell Focus.

   Look: Disproportionately Long Limbs, Unsettling Presence, Vestigial Gills

   Aligned: Cloud their mind, draw forth madness, slip between the folds of reality

   Opposed: Defense or protection, reveal the truth

   When the Voice tells Rasputin the location of another artifact, ask these questions:

   – (Rasputin) Which element – air, earth, or fire – is the artifact tied to?

   – (Clarke) What is the benevolent god of that element like?

   – (Jax) What is the artifact’s basic function?

   – (Conan) Where is the artifact rumored to be held?

   When your debt comes due, the Voice urges you to do something. If you do it, mark XP. If you resist the Voice’s command, roll +CHA. On a 10+, you shake off its influence for now. On a 7-9, you stand there considering it or resisting the urges for a few moments or until something snaps you out of it. On a miss, you wake up a few minutes later with a bloody nose and no idea what happened.

   Notes: Treasures of the Deep Death

   Sahuagin Infusion

   Poison, 100 coins, 0 weight

   When you drink the foul, fishy brine, roll +CON. On a 10+, take 3 hold. On a 7-9, take 1, On a miss, you still take 1, but the brew disagrees with you. Violently. Take d8 damage (ignores armor) and you become sick.

   You can spend a hold to use one of the following monster moves:

   – Breathe water like air

   – Frenzy at the sight of blood

   – Escape into the water

   – Rip and tear

   Dwarven Homunculus

   This construct is a hireling with Loyalty +3, Protector +1, and Warrior +1. Its cost is regular repairs.

   The homunculus also has Charge +1. When a character uses the Order Hirelings move on the homunculus and rolls 7-9, if the homunculus has Charge +1 it will reduce it to Charge +0 and treat that roll as a 10+.

   If the Homunculus is within reach of the Artificer and it has Charge +1, the Artificer can reduce it to Charge +0 to set his Charge to 3.

   When a character takes a break to tinker with the homunculus, set its charge to 1.

   The Eye of Taigor

   This large silver vessel is sacred to Taigor, God of Seas. Once a night you can commune with the visions dancing in the waters of the vessel. When you pour clear water into it and gaze at the reflections in the bowl, roll +WIS. On a success, the GM will reveal the details of a grim portent to you – a bleak event that will come to pass without your intervention. On a 10+, they will also tell you something useful about how you can interfere with the grim portent’s dark outcomes. On a miss, the GM will instead tell you two grim portents – and only one will be true!

6. Sounds like a lot of fun. Good luck!

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