A Sundered World Sandbox Campaign: Pilot Episode

Cast

• Elfi (level 1 mine kobold cleric)
• Mister Tock (level 1 kytheran chronomancer)

Summary

As novice graduates of the Guild of Infinite Adventure, Elfi and Tock decided to start out their illustrious career with a simple parcel delivery to the village of Kaivahl, because what's the worst that could happen, right? Unfortunately, being dirt poor they couldn't afford passage on an elemental dromond or even mounts, so they'd have to hoof it there themselves.

The road led the pair to a forest, but they didn't get far before they realized they were being followed. As best they could tell it was only one person, but they were new to this adventuring thing and wanted their fist job to succeed without any problems, so they just waited for him to approach and ask where he was going.

He seemed friendly enough, and claimed to be heading to Kaivahl for pleasure, which is the sort of thing you'd expect an assassin or thief to say (and paranoid adventurers to think). So, once they were done speaking Elfi and Tock bid him farewell before leaving the trail for a few minutes. They let him get a small headstart before resuming their journey, doing their best to seem like they weren't keeping their distance and watching him.

The stranger's pace for some reason quickened, and despite their efforts to catch up he soon vanished out of sight around one of the many bends in the trail. While the subsequent ambush was expected, they weren't expecting it to be a trio of massive crows covered in pulsating growths.

Tock's magic both harmed and slowed the crows, allowing him to keep his distance, but Elfi was small and only carried a mace: it would be impossible for her to flee. Worse, when slain the crows exploded, showering her in necrotic blood and viscera: by the time the third crow was slain she was barely standing. Since Elfi's god didn't grant healing miracles (which wouldn't have helped Tock anyway), hopefully their pay would cover the cost of an inn and some healing supplies.

Continuing down the path, they were surprised to discover the stranger's corpse. He'd been torn apart, but they couldn't tell by what. Tracks led away from the corpse, which probably ruled out diseased crows. The trail led off into the forest, but wounded and not wanting to press their luck they continued on to Kaivahl (after looting his corpse, of course): once they'd healed and delivered the message, they could consider tracking down who or what was responsible for the stranger's death.

Who knows, maybe there was a bounty on diseased crows?

Design Notes

The session started out with Adam breezing through some background details about our training with the Guild of Infinite Adventure, and loss of our first mentor to an unseen threat (which I implied to be dark young). The Guild is basically a way for us to easily introduce new characters and swap characters out so we can try new things (got a bunch of classes that need playtesting for the full rules), plus a mixed-level party.

Since we're doing A Sundered World I decided to go with the kytheran chronomancer: quick stats are +1 to Constitution, +1 AC/DR, immune to poison and disease, and don't need to eat, sleep, or breathe. Considering a floating +1 to either Intelligence or Strength. Downside is I can't be healed via potions or divine magic: only repair kits can restore lost Wound Points (and Transmutation talents that affect objects).

Since I hadn't given Adam the rules on making monsters, nor even vague guidelines on encounter building, I was actually dropped during the first turn of combat (and Elfi was guaranteed to die right after). But, hey, game is still in playtesting and Adam was new to it, so after a few tweaks we tried again and this time barely succeeded.

Announcements

If you're curious about FrankenFourth and/or Dungeons & Delvers, you can find public alpha documents here and here respectively.

The Rogue is our latest alternate-addition to the Dungeon World core class roster. If you want something different and/or more flexible than the thief, be sure to check it out!

Just released our second adventure for A Sundered World, The Golden Spiral. If a snail-themed dungeon crawl is your oddly-specific thing, check it out!

By fan demand, we've mashed all of our 10+ Treasure volumes into one big magic item book, making it cheaper and more convenient to buy in print (which you can now do).