Dec 26, 2019 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
rpgs
Tags:
5e
dnd
homebrew
lets-write-a_module
This blog post will look at revising our summary page We will take our summary page from the previous post and see if there are any issues we need to tweak at this point. A main idea, however, is that you’ve let a substantial amount of time pass between your initial draft of your summary page and then doing your review.
Vyncis returns from his long campaign and travels and walks into the watering hole, where the PCs are present. A hush falls over the room as the Vyncis sees Colandry kiss the town mayor. The treasonous friend makes some comment about “they’re married now Vyncis” as Colandry faints from having seen her love return alive. Vyncis in his rage draws his sword, yells “your life for mine!”, and dispatches the town mayor and then turns to flee. As he flees, he hears Colandry’s scream in terror as she wakes up to see her prior love has murdered her current love. The PCs are urged to bring him back in for trial.
Later that evening, Vyncis, suffering in sadness and rage, swears a curse upon anyone who aided the breaking of his betrothal and the marriage to the town mayor. As the players enter sight of Vyncis, they see an imp materialize in front of Vyncis and hand him a scroll and a quill. Vyncis signs a deal with the devil Asquirion for powers to carry out his curse. However, in the fine print, the contract notes that the extra powers and reinforcements are a rental only, and that Vyncis has to complete his revenge in ten days, otherwise Vyncis loses his soul. Vyncis signs and his body is wracked as horns grow and he changes into a variant tiefling. His eyes glowing red, Vyncis turns and looks at the players and says in infernal, “I’ve danced with Hell, care to dance with me?” Vyncis and the Imp attack but flee instead of fighting to the death.
Vyncis surveys his reinforcements: 4 Lemurs, 2 Imps, and a Bearded Devil. The next evening they raid the inn (or bust out of the makeshift jail cell in the inn) to go after the innkeeper, who was instrumental in convincing the mayor to woo Colandry when otherwise he wouldn’t have. He has a chance to kill the innkeeper’s wife Sybeatris but spares her saying she is innocent. He also plans an ambush against Ideth, and finds her note collection, and how she hid all of his letters to Colandry. Vyncis takes these letters and Ideth’s head if he’s able, and drops them off outside Colandry’s house, to show her of the betrayal.
Vyncis, thinking his revenge is complete, decides to release his reinforcements, when the Imp who originally proposed the deal, Yantanish, points to the fine print, and says that Vyncis has to kill Colandry to complete his revenge. Vyncis refuses. Yantanish compromises saying we’ll consider the deal done if you will summon our master Asquirion to the material plane and we’ll let you keep your soul. Vyncis complies and through a foul ritual summons Asquirion. Asquirion removes Vyncis powers, and then has the devil henchmen bound and gag him as they drop him off in the town. In tears, he informs the town what happened, and that there’s a scary devil in the woods that needs a reckoning.
Give it a read. A thorough read, with fresher eyes than you’ve had in awhile. You did let this sit in a dark corner for at least a week, preferably longer? You did? Good. I’ve let this sit for over 2 months at this point.1
Right off the bat, I spotted an issue: what if the PCs don’t care about Vyncis killing the town mayor or don’t care about intervening? Let’s add a little loot to the last sentence of the first paragraph.
Vyncis returns from his long campaign and travels and walks into the watering hole, where the PCs are present. A hush falls over the room as the Vyncis sees Colandry kiss the town mayor. The treasonous friend makes some comment about “they’re married now Vyncis” as Colandry faints from having seen her love return alive. Vyncis in his rage draws his sword, yells “your life for mine!”, and dispatches the town mayor and then turns to flee. As he flees, he hears Colandry’s scream in terror as she wakes up to see her prior love has murdered her current love. The PCs are urged to bring him back in for trial for 10GP-per-PC reward.
Another way we could strengthen this is that in his flight, he steals, perhaps, a horse, or wagon of the PCs? Or perhaps Vyncis had grabbed a weapon from a PC to do the killing and if the party doesn’t bring him back, the town law enforcement will find the PCs are accomplices? Maybe the bartender shouts out free drinks for a week if you bring him back in to entice an PC with carousing tendencies. These ideas don’t necessarily need to go into the summary, but are good to know when it comes time to actually draft things like read-aloud text for the GM.
Issues spotted:
The first issue we can resolve using some of the ideas discussed in the first paragraph. The second issue can be fixed when writing the actual module text, by allowing the GM to place Vyncis’s “deal with the imp” at any place coherent to the module.2 The third issue is easy: he surrenders if the PCs are about to capture him, and then makes the deal with the imp while in makeshift prison.
I don’t think the paragraph itself needs to be tweaked much; it’s still a good exercise to see some of these issues for later in the process.
In my next blog post, I’ll look at the other two paragraphs of our summary page.
Don’t judge me. Life, day job, small children, church, holidays, and family, all took higher priorities during that time. It’s ok! Let it stew. You’ll have fresher eyes when you get back to it. ↩︎
In the woods if tracked there. In an abandoned shed, if the PCs have searched there. While in makeshift prison in the town, if the PCs captured him early. ↩︎