During our discussions on the Round Table, from time to time nice scenario seeds are presented - little ideas that could be fleshed out to make a good adventure at some point. Let's collate them here as a resource for the hard-pressed GM!

Format:

Description of the idea from the original post
Author of the idea
Link to the post where it was presented so that its origin can be further explored.

Here's an idea that evolved from the discussion around sword throwing:


Description:




However, postulating some quests here, I could see it coming up. A fortune told, a prophecy, etc could lead a knight where he must throw his sword to complete it. Putting it in a verse or such where the knight must interpret it might be the solution to the problem.


Excellent usage!
I think it is ALWAYS BEST when something like this is put into a scenario to be used.
to extend the idea--your PC actually witnesses it in action, but it fails and the casting knight dies, but not before telling his sad story and desperate need for someone to learn to throw the sword and finish the quest, because if not, then...
Author: original idea by Hzark10 expanded by Greg Stafford
Original post: http://www.gspendragon.com/roundtable/index.php?topic=1289.msg10721#msg10721

Found this thread through some other searchings... I'll bite!

I ran a scenario once a few years ahead of Uther's death in Phase 1, akin to the Adventure of Sword Lake. The PKs were seconded by Merlin to aid him in a task, a risky sojourn in to Saxon lands to retrieve... something.

It was innocuous enough, some Hunting rolls to stay hidden and travel through forested areas, eventually leading to a fight with some Saxons who were guarding a quarry.

The PKs were kept away from the rockface and work site that evening by Merlin, and heard all kinds of clinks and clanks and groans going on, till the morning saw a large, heavy package wrapped and bundled to a harnass able to be pulled by a draft horse.

Of course someone had a peek and saw simply a big chunk of a strange speckled black rock. Journey back through to Logres uneventful, some more Hunting to stay hidden, a run in with a peasant, etc.

No one thought anything of it till years later when Uther + Nobles were poisoned and then the yearly events revealed the Sword in the Stone in London, to which the PKs travelled to have a gander... hmmmm that rock looks familiar...

When they realised they had been party with Merlin to arranging this, and also that he was likely aware of Uther's upcoming death - or was he behind it all?! - and planning accordingly, they kept their mouths shut about any involvement.

Love it, Vedrenne. Do you still have your notes for those of us too lazy to reinvent this wheel, or it the outline all that remains?


Thanks,


T.

I'll bite. This is an *old* scenario set-up seed I've never personally run. I wrote it back in 1996-7 when running a KAP3 campaign. A friend of mine who GMs Pendragon did a one-off at a convention last year and used it as a framing seed for further adventure.

So without further ado.

The Pennath of Puddle-Jump

This scenario is intended as a light-hearted and humorous faerie encounter. With minor modifications the encounter can become much darker and dangerous. It is also easily expandable to have a greater effect upon the characters and campaign.

Location: Any enchanted forest in Logres where faerie magic is prevalent.

Characters: The knights, the Court of King Frog

Introduction
The knights are resting while traveling through the forest. They have found a pleasant camp site near a pond lined with cattails and rushes. They may be in need of rest and healing as the result of a recent combat, lost, or otherwise in need of aid. One or more knights will be resting or on guard near the pond.

A Strange Encounter
A knight standing or lying near the pond will have his attention drawn to a large frog sitting near him. (Awareness: the frog made a strange croaking noise.) It will come to the knight’s attention that by the frog is a golden thimble-sized cup containing a purple colored liquid. When it is obvious that the knight has noticed the cup the frog will more short croaks and ribbets and will shift slightly in a somewhat agitated state.

At this point the knight will hopefully do one of three things:
1. Pick up the cup and drink the liquid
2. Call his companions over this see this odd sight.
3. Both of the above.

If the knight calls his companions over first, the frog will appear to scan the size of the building crowd, turn, and then hop into the pond. He will soon return, accompanied by more frogs carrying enough similar cups to serve the rest of the knights. The additional frogs will then depart back into the pond.

Drinking the Potion
Upon drinking the potion (which has a wine-like odor and is very sweet tasting) there will be no apparent effect at first. Then, suddenly, the croaks and ribbets of the frog will become intelligible speech. Any speech made by someone under the effect of the potion will sound odd (croaking and ribbeting) to someone who has not drunk the potion, but will still be intelligible.

The Message
Once one or more person can understand the frog he will speak clearly,
“<croak> (ribbet) <croa..ut> (tim..bet) that thee <cro>cided to trust a fellow knight good sir. I am Sir Longhop (dips his head). I bear a message from the King of Puddle-Jump, who demenses ye camp upon. He offers you the hospitality and company of his fortress and court <croak>. Your companions are welcome as long as they are willing to imbibe the potion that allows us to converse. I will wait here until you are your company are ready with your reply <ribbet>.”

At this point the group may decide what to do. If the knight drank the potion first (option 1 above), then Sir Longhop will arrange for additional potion to be supplied to the other knights who wish to partake. Any knight who drinks the potion gets to check his Reckless and Faerie Lore.

The knights may equip themselves as they see fit. Horses are not allowed to come (and will not drink the potion.) Squires are optional.

Knights who refuse to comply with the frog’s requirement will be left in camp and out of the adventure.

Knights who wish to attempt to keep one of the small gold cups may do so. Depending upon later events they may come out with an interesting object to back up their story. In any case they also get a Selfish and maybe a Deceitful check for their troubles.

The frogs will then be led by Sir Longhop into a large patch of rushes and cattails where they will soon be out of sight of the camp. Hopefully the knights will not mind getting a little mud and water on their boots.

The Land of Puddle-Jump
After a short trip through the rushes Sir Longhop the group will come to an open space upon the edge of the pond totally surrounded by reeds, rushes, and shaded by a willow. The area is very well hidden from the forest and shore. The trip starts slowly at first due to the fact that Sir Longhop covers ground slower than the knights. As they travel Sir Longhop asks the knights to describe their recent adventures and histories. (Allow characters to boast and orate freely here.) Sir Longhop puts off questions with an answer of, “That is a matter for the King to decide” or “You will understand when we reach the court”. The travel rate seems to increase while this is going on. (Awareness Check: Success – The travel rate is increasing since Sir Longhop has increased in size for some reason. Critical – Sir Longhop is the same size, the knights and their equipment are getting smaller.)

Just offshore are a set of very large lilypads. Upon the pads sit a very large frog (over 1’) wearing a crown and holding a sceptre. Odder still is that the frogs here are very humanoid in appearance. Guard frogs stand upon their backlegs, are wearing surcoats, and carrying polearms. Sir Longhop is now standing two-legged as well.

Also at this point the knights should realize that they and the frogs are about on the same scale.

Thus ends the introduction.

====

King Frog's Court

The knights will be presented to King Frog. After welcoming them and arranging for their comfort the King will interview them and ask of news of the outside world, etc. The rest of the Royal Court will be introduced; Queen Frog, Princess Frog, knights of renown, and so on. The King may explain that he has heard of Arthur and his knights, but not none of his emissaries to said court have ever returned. A feast will be served before things more on.

Items to potentially play with:

Frog Equipment - metals and materials used, wyrm (snake) scales for armor or shields
Animals used - snails, riding (and jousting) using turtles
What foods and drink are served at the feast?


King Frog Has a Problem

Now the King may ask a boon of the knights. Will they help with an issue plaguing his lands?

==

The GM who ran this adventure used this to set up running "The Adventure of the Poisoned Lake" at this point. Said lake drained through the pond area and thus was poisoning the frogs as well.

Some other options I had listed:

Flying monster eating his subjects (a heron) - use wyvern stats
At war with the nearby Kingdom of Toads - use Saxon stats
Invited to take part in a tourney
Needs an item fetched a distance away from the pond or any water. Equip knights with riding turtles to help them get there.


Rewards and such once the knights finish the quest/adventure and some resolution is reached. Perhaps even the hand of Princess Frog in marriage was offered?

Conclusion
The knights return to the campsite with Sir Longhop. As they travel out of the rushes the rate of travel will slow. The knights should realize that this is them returning to normal size. When they reach the campsite there is nothing there (or a large search party is there.) The knights have been gone over three weeks without anyone to find them. If they abandoned equipment and horses here without one or more squires then the campsite is ruined and the horses are gone (hopefully found and at a nearby manor.)

=====

The sequel:
Later, a man-sized Sir Longhop is discovered in the forest. A odd batch of the frog potion has made him large and understandable to humans. He has been sent as an emissary to King Arthur. Will the knights aid him? (Now here is an interesting NPC or maybe even a PC.)

Do you still have your notes for those of us too lazy to reinvent this wheel, or it the outline all that remains?

Alas, a mass clean-out of roleplaying junk recently resulted in my old Pendragon materials being lost, caught up in the trash, so only the idea remains.

I intend to write this up again should the adventure fit in with the current campaign in the future :)

- love the Frog scenario Oaktree!

I ran a scenario once a few years ahead of Uther's death in Phase 1, akin to the Adventure of Sword Lake. The PKs were seconded by Merlin to aid him in a task, a risky sojourn in to Saxon lands to retrieve... something.

MUCH SNIPPAGE

When they realised they had been party with Merlin to arranging this, and also that he was likely aware of Uther's upcoming death - or was he behind it all?! - and planning accordingly, they kept their mouths shut about any involvement.


My PCs just finished with their "Traitor Trial", so now having just read this I think I will have Merlin show up and again say that they are needed to aid Logres.

Should be *veeery interesting* to see how they react. (wicked grin)

Thanks for a fantastic idea!

Nice

Please keep this on hand for yourself
We are going to sponsor a scenario-writing tournament soon and I hope this w8ill be among the submissions
Keep tuned for more infor!!

-Greg

Seems to have been ages since anybody posted an idea - hopefully we can get the ball rolling once more :)


Just a sketchy outline of an idea – as much as anything I would like some feedback as to how the scenario looks to those of you who do this regularly and some hints and tips as to improving technique etc (although I realise that different groups will have different styles ... YPMV style ).

It is a ‘Fae’ based scenario (I needed something where I could screw with the time flow a little – only half of the group could make that particular session and the “next day” they were all due to go meet Earl Robert formally for the first time which I didn’t want to do without the full group).

I have not really given any stats for the various fights as yet – this can vary in requirements from group to group but have given some guidelines as to the difficulty of the fight.

Scenario starts when the PKs are on their way back from/to some previous event (preferably when they are not 100% familiar with their root)....

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The Village In the Rain

The weather gets steadily worse, the clouds close in and slowly at first large heavy raindrops start to fall making for a very miserable journey, alas only further misery is heaped upon the PKs as the rain gets much heavier and a storm explodes almost directly overhead. Eventually it becomes evident that the party are lost! (Even those who are familiar with the local area are lost .... a part of the forest they haven’t seen)

[At some stage during this lead up process you may want to give the party a Hunting roll – a good enough success indicates that something isn’t quite right .... as if “something has changed whilst remaining exactly the same” marking their transition into the Fae realm.]

As the night starts to draw in the PKs hear Wolves howling – a suitable Awareness or Hunting roll will give the PKs an idea of where the howls are coming from and from the howls sound like the wolves have cornered some prey and are calling for more of the pack to join them in the kill.

If the PKs investigate they ride forward for about quarter of a mile until they eventually crest a ridge and see below them a bowl-shaped clearing, standing with his back to part of the ridge wall is a man desperately trying to keep the wolves at bay with a large scythe .

[If a brief moment is taken to look and assess properly then a successful awareness roll will show that whilst there are a few wolves arranged in front of the man they are in fact a distraction keeping his attention away from the wolf/wolves who are using the top of the ridge to creep up on the man ready to leap down on him.]

[If the party charge in give without really assessing the situation give them a Reckless check and they will become the target for the leaping wolf or wolves]

If the party do not do anything to help or warn the man then sure enough the wolf/wolves creeping up on him will succeed and tear him apart [A Cruelty check should be in order here]. If the party do shout a warning or attack then he will be able to duck back out of the way provided that the PKs get involved shortly after else it will only delay the inevitable.

The PKs must then deal with the wolves - this shouldn’t be too tricky a fight, at the moment the wolves are comfortable that they out-number their prey but once the PKs get in there and kill a few then the rest will take flight. The clearing does give the PKs a nice chance for a lance charge if they so desire. Once the fight starts the peasant will duck back and take cover – the wolves will sensibly enough turn to face this new threat.

[It shouldn’t be too challenging a fight but make it a fun warm up for the group]

Should the PKs prevail then the peasant will be grateful to them and will lead to guide them a mile or two to his village where they may sleep safe, dry and warm for the night.

The village seems pretty unremarkable and the PKs will be guided to the home of the village Elder who gives them thanks for their help and the life of this man – if any of the PKs are injured and have untreated wounds then one of the villagers will be summoned to treat them.

[Stat the first aider’s skill as appropriate for the group and their needs as you see fit but should any of the PKs spend time observing the treatment then a successful First Aid skill will allow them to realise that the techniques being used are somewhat old-fashioned]

Once fed and treated the PKs will be offered a bed for the night in the Elder’s home and a peaceful night will ensue ... right up to the screams which awake the party in the early hours of the morning.

[Awareness rolls to give a general indication of where the screams came from]

An investigation will reveal that one of the homes has been attacked, the door split asunder and the occupant (an elderly man) has disappeared. The house shows signs of a struggle albeit a brief one. Traces of blood show that it was probably fatal.

If the PKs try and follow then they will get a little way out of the village and back into the forest and then it will be impossible to track the creature in this weather at this time of night.

Next morning the villagers will all gather and mourn for the latest victim of the tragedy to befall them – they will persuade the Elder to ask the PKs for help.

He will explain that over the last few months the village has been attacked on dark and stormy nights. Initially it was only livestock but then people who were outside and a little frail (old, infirm etc) who disappeared. Searches were made but nothing found. Then one night (when everybody made a point of staying indoors after dark on such nights) a house was attacked and the sole occupant dragged off. This has happened a few times now when it is dark and stormy, one of the more out-laying houses has been attacked (usually with sole occupants – once there were two in the house, the man was dragged off and the woman who saw the horror has been suffering from madness every since the attack). The villagers are at a loss as to what to do. They do not have the men nor equipment to mount a guard and are not able to protect all of the homes.

The villagers now see the PKs as being sent by god (or providence etc whatever works best for your group) and will beg them to help especially as now it looks like the storm will be in for a few days – meaning that the attacks will happen again tonight.

[Give the PKs a check on their mercy for being willing to risk their lives for the villagers]


Looking around and tracking outside and around and about during the light of the next day will reveal the tracks of some large and heavy creature between the forest and the village – it will show the creature mooching around looking for a suitable place to attack – then back to the forest after the attack. Even in the daylight it is very difficult to track the unharmed creature back to its lair. [A critical Hunting roll is required so it is possible].

When selecting a house to attack the Critter will look for a light or signs of life, it will also try to avoid places with more than one person in (to make life easier as much as anything).

[Make an awareness roll – if any of the occupants have a fresh wound then add +5 to the roll]

Once it has selected a suitable house it will not waste time but will smash in the door and try to grab whoever is there, kill it and run away with it. If it meets any real resistance (eg the PKs) then the Critter will immediately try to escape.

[Note: Due to the natural reach of its arms the Critter will stand in the doorway and try to grab their victim rather than actually enter the house - these houses really are not much more than one room shacks.]

The PKs will have to think a bit about their options each with a varying degree of success, basically the creature attacking the village always comes in from the south-east side and targets houses on that side.

Some of the ideas which may work would be to plant bait (if that bait is a villager then give the PKs a Cruel check – if it is a PK volunteer then you may want to consider a Valourous check) or to make sure all of the villagers at risk are safe somewhere for the night whilst the PKs occupy houses as bait (note the points above on how the Critter will select a house to attack) etc – I am sure you and your players will be coming up with a number of other options – basically see how the group handle it, if they come up with something which sounds like it should work then go with it).

If the PKs successfully intercept the Critter then as mentioned above it will immediately try and escape, if unable to do so then it will fight most ferociously until it is able (basically if one of the knights is blocking their way then the Critter will do their best to kill that specific knight and the run away).

If the PKs do manage to kill it then Hurrah!! The village is saved from a terror – glory all round

If the PKs wound it but do not manage to kill it before it escapes then the next day (if they check) there are much clearer tracks which they can follow much more easily (the blood of the Critter is quite distinct).

The Critter lives in a small cave in the side of a hill a few miles into the forest, it will smell the party if they get within a foot or two of the entrance and will come charging and screaming out of the cave to attack. Its attacks will be much more ferocious than before (for reasons which may become clear to the group later). This time it will not seek to escape but will fight to the death to defend the cave. If any PK visibly produces fire or a flame then they will be the primary target – of more than one PK has fire then it will attack the nearest.

[A Valourous role is required to stand and face the creature – failure indicates the PK flees]

Should the PKs win the day and investigate the cave they will find at the back a small nest with 5 small ‘babies’ in – they are clearly too young to be able to take care of themselves and without their mother or somebody else to provide nourishment they will surely die a slow death. These creatures have been fed on human flesh and are basically inherently evil so slaying them is not necessarily a Cruel check but depending upon the nature of how it is done. Perhaps a Cruelty check would be given for leaving them alive (as that way they will mostly have a long lingering death. Maybe one of them will survive by killing and eating the others .....in which case maybe it will return one day to seek vengeance upon those who slew its mother).

[A successful Hunting will reveal that there are no other Critters who have been in the cave for some considerable time]

Various debris should be scattered around the cave which can be used for a plot tie-in at some point (in mine they party found an old and partly rusted shield which a strange device on it which will become more relevant later in the campaign).

When they return to the village they will be hailed as heros (a song will even be made up about them) but once the PKs leave the village and travel more than a few miles away they will pass back into the mortal realm never able to find the village again (unless of course the GM wants them to at some point ).


Critter Stats:

For SIZ, STR etc stat according to the group you have however include the following:

Awareness: 15 (+5 for smelling people with fresh wounds)
Reach: The Critter’s arms are so long that they grant reach and as such can attack whilst outside of normally melee range.
Attacks: 2 Claws or 1 bite
Regenerate: Regenerates all bar the last point of damage from a wound two rounds after it was inflicted
except where the wound is cauterised by fire or flame.
Defend the Nest: (and you can scale this one as you see fit – the idea here is to really give the PKs a challenge). For each 25% of total damage taken then increase the Damage by 1 or 2 dice and the attack skill by one or two points.




Any thoughts or feedback gratefully received :)


Cheers!

Saggy

Love the Pennath of Puddle Jump! I'm going to use that one in the Savage Forrest

Please keep this on hand for yourself
We are going to sponsor a scenario-writing tournament soon and I hope this w8ill be among the submissions
Keep tuned for more infor!!

Hey Greg Did the scenario-writing tournament ever take place? I was interested but then became homeless and had to deal with that situation first now I have a place and new lap top and wifi and would like to submit a scenario next time you have one of these scenario-writing tournaments! 8)

No, I guess it did not get off the ground.
I will consider this some more.




Please keep this on hand for yourself
We are going to sponsor a scenario-writing tournament soon and I hope this w8ill be among the submissions
Keep tuned for more infor!!

Hey Greg Did the scenario-writing tournament ever take place? I was interested but then became homeless and had to deal with that situation first now I have a place and new lap top and wifi and would like to submit a scenario next time you have one of these scenario-writing tournaments! 8)