State of The Tavern - Alexa, The Lost Voice and the Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer

Alexa ranks internet traffic from 1 to 15 million or so. Lower is better. Since Jully 11th of this year, The Tavern has been on fire, moving from approximately 570k to approx 197k in that time. Lower is better. This is, by far, the best trafficked The Tavern has ever been, and I thank you, the reader, for this. I'm simply stunned. For some comparison numbers:

The new traffic ranking has opened up some opportunities, particularly with regular press publishers, and we couldn't have done it without you.

As an aside, my voice has been all manners of fucked up since the drive home from ShireCon Saturday night. Can't blame the con, obviously, something was brewing in my throat before it, but all the DMing and talking brought it forward. Recording the Tavern Chat Podcast has been a hoot ;)

The Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer played out better than I ever hoped. Now, as asked about at the table at the con, work will commence and making it something for distribution to the OSR community. Should be fun!

Alright, about to drown my throat in hard liquor to sooth it. Yeah, that's the ticket! ;P

Tenkar's Terrible Theurgy - Wrath - for Swords & Wizardry

artwork copyright Daniel F. Walthall, used with permission

Wrath
Hit Dice: 2+2
Armor Class: 2 [17] / 6 [13] *see below
Attacks: Attacks 3 - (2) Claw (1d3) / (1) Bite 1d6
Saving Throw: 14
Special: If both claws hit, bite automatically hits / bite heals Wrath for the same amount as bite damage
Move: 15
Alignment: Chaotic
Challenge Level/XP: 4/120

Wraths are semi-corporal creatures. Not quite dead and not quite living, they are cursed to exist in a world between. Always in pain, always suffering, they attack the living on sight with no quarter given. They have a cunning intelligence but do not appear to be able to communicate. They are usually found alone, occasionally in pairs.

Extremely fast, Wraths appear to float over the ground. While not truly flying, they can cross calm waters (ponds, small lakes and the like) with ease.

The bite of a Wrath drains life essence from the victim. This will heal the Wrath for the same amount as the damage the bite inflicted. Additionally, the damage taken by the victim can only be effectively healed by rest. Magical healing does a mere 1 point of healing per spell or item used. Do not roll.

The life essence of the Wrath, such as it is, is held within a small gemstone hidden within its ribcage. These gemstones are each worth 30 to 180 coins of the realm. 1 in 6 such gemstones are permanently imbued with stolen life essence. These stones heal the bearer 1 hit point per day on top of other factors, such as rest and magical healing.

* use the lower (harder to hit) AC for non-magicsal weapons. use the higher (easier to hit) AC with magical weapons


OGL

Map - Work in Progress - Level One of The Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer

Yeah, I know I keep swapping out the maps, but when you can do your own it's just a tad better. I'm doing my own now thanks to DungeonFog, an online mapping app.

Its a work in progress, as the rooms arent yet numbered (I'll save it as a second map for that - so, players and GM maps for VTT use)

Stairs down are in the upper left, behind a secret door.

The Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer - We Have the Skull!

Art by Henriette Boldt - used with permission

I like this skull by Henriette Boldt in their stock art Skull Collection. 

Skull? Check!

Horns? Check!

Demonic? Check!

Controls the dreams of the local townsfolk? ..........

I think we have our Bone Dreamer!

I love it when a plan starts to come together ;)

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The Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer - We Have The Pitch!

I've been bouncing around some ideas for The Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer. I hope to have something playable within a week or so, then playtest it via the Tenkar's Tavern One-Shot Roleplaying Group on Facebook and later run it at Shire Con in September and Gamehole Con in November.

Here's the pitch:

Town folk in Talin have been having dreams of a white skull. It demands they sacrifice their first born on the night of the full moon one week hence, or their ancestors will rise from the earth and raze the town and kill all within. The town folk have raised 153 Gold Pieces and a suit of Plate Mail (human sized, of course) to hire an adventuring party to enter the nearby ruins rumored to house a demonic entity - the skull known only as the Bone Dreamer - and destroy it. Will you heed the call?

Alright, back to work...

Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer - Part the Second

None other than Matt Jackson offered me access to his map collection for this project. It is HUGE!

I like the above myself for the Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer. A bit more manageable in size for a single session than my prior pick.

I've got ideas bouncing around my head with this map.

Does the Bone Dreamer dream its own dreams or those of the bones it consumes? What do the dreams mean? What effect(s) can the dreams have on the party? What effect(s) are the dreams having on the local population?

You can find Matt's Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/msjackson/posts

Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer - Part the First

So, Thom Wilson reminded me earlier that I need to submit my adventure for ShireCon II / 2019 coming up in September. As many of you know, I've recently been juggling multiple balls (as an aside, the flooring for Casa de Tenkar comes in the morning and installation commences on Friday - Huzzah!) and this is one that had escaped my grasp - until now.

If you plan on playing in my session at ShireCon this September, you may not want to follow up too closely with the later posts in this series, as it may give away some secrets to the adventure. Then again, if you've played in any of my sessions at the various gaming conventions, you probably know I'm big on improv. Players beware ;)

In any case, I broke out the Tome of Adventure Design by Matt Finch for some adventure inspiration and I ended up with Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer for the adventure title. I love it. It speaks to me. I see demons and undead and a new, unique creature for the BBG. As I will be using Swords & Wizardry Light, it will need to be written so as to challenge a first level party while still being beatable. Not a small challenge but one I look forward to.

At the moment, I'm looking at using the following Dyson map for the adventure, but that may change if I am inspired to create my own. We'll see. It might be too large for a single session.

More importantly, I need to decide what the Bone Dreamer actually is. A new creature, perhaps.

As always, the creative process will play out on the blog side and if all goes well, the finished product may make its way up to DriveThruRPG.

Time for more brainstorming...

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