Last Of The Location Plot Hooks. Support Or Commission Me Here!

Daisuke Samejima, “Flatball 2019 No.03“

Introducing Woodsman's Wrath, a sweet mini-quest that'll slide into your game nicely :)

Ideas for the barbarian!

design comm for a “gilded thorn” mage

Greetings!

The infiltration has been a success so far. The crafty heroes have managed to get inside the cult without them noticing their intentions.

After an initiation that almost went horribly wrong, several gruesome missions and a lot of false prayers to Baphomet, they have finally gained the right to visit their dark church.

Besides taking the cult down, they hope to gain access to the Labyrinthine Teleporter: a magic device of immense power capable of taking them to Baphomet’s Labyrinth and many other planes.

But tonight is Offering Night, and a sacrifice is on the schedule too. Can they stop all the evil plans before they are discovered?

You can see a preview of this map’s Patreon content by clicking here.

If you liked the map I’d be extremely thankful if you considered supporting me on my Patreon, rewards include higher resolution files, gridless versions, alternate versions, line versions, PSDs and more. Thank you!

Random Faction Builder

How many pies do they have their proverbial fingers in? (1d10)

1-4. They are tightly focused on their singular area of influence. Roll once on the following table. 5-6. Roll twice on the following table. The first result is the field they openly deal in, or what those who know them mostly know them for. The second result is the field they are secretly trying to infiltrate or influence. 7. They serve as a mediary between two spheres, or between certain groups within two spheres. Roll twice on the following table. 8. Roll three times on the following table. The first two results are the fields they openly deal in, or what those who know them mostly know them for. The third result is the field they are secretly trying to infiltrate or influence. 9. They’re jugglers, jacks of all trades. Roll three times on the following table for areas they regularly deal in, plus one time for a field they have their sights on breaking into. 10. They’re everywhere. Roll once on the following table for the one circle they can’t show their faces in anymore.

1d6 Circles of Influence:

1. Government/Politics/Law Enforcement 2. Religion/Faith/Cults 3. Crime/Black Market/Underworld 4. Guilds/Trades/Organized Labor 5. Business/Merchants/Corporations 6. Knowledge/Information/Research

Now, roll 4d6 and assign one die to each of the following attributes, then look at the total on the last table:

Group Size

1. Just a few people devoted to a cause. 2. Enough people that it’s hard to get them all in a meeting together, but not enough people to really split into multiple sub-groups. 3. Enough people to crew a large vessel 4. A pretty big group, church congregation sized. 5. Enough people to populate a neighborhood. 6. If this entire group mobilized it would be a full-scale army.

Financial Power

1. Broke. It’d be a dream just to break even. 2. Surviving. They can get what they need, but can’t afford to expand or to have a large unforeseen expense. 3. Middling. Can use money to further their agenda but must be selective about doing so. 4. Comfortable. This group can afford to make investments. 5. Well-off. Their investments are paying off. 6. Rolling in it. They can solve most problems by throwing money at them.

Age of Faction

1. Brand new. This faction hasn’t existed long enough to have done anything of note. 2. Recent. This faction is probably still made up mostly of founding members, but has had time to make a name for itself. 3. Established. People remember this faction being founded. It may have some original members, but if it does they are old. 4. Pretty Old. This group was established before the oldest currently living generation was born, but in the lifetime of their parents or grandparents. 5. Old. This group was founded hundreds of years ago and has played a roll in many historical events. 6. Ancient. This group may predate the current civilization, and is seen all throughout history books.

Expertise

1. Bumbling. This group is incompetent and lacks basic knowledge. 2. Shoddy. They know just enough to get themselves into trouble. 3. Mediocre. There are no experts in this group but they have meaningful skills. 4. Competent. This group employs some actual experts but still has real gaps in their abilities. 5. Highly skilled. They may not be the absolute best in the business but this group can use skill to address most challenges. 6. Only the Best. This group has a reputation for their expertise.

Total - Overall Faction Influence

4-8  Nobodies. Who even are these losers? 9-12  Small fish in a big pond. This faction has an impact on certain individuals or niches, but are still unimportant enough that none of the big players pay them any mind 13-16  Up and Coming. Enough influence that they need to be careful not to upset the highest tier factions lest they get squashed. 17-20  The big leagues. This faction has a great deal of power but is not infallible. 21-24  Powerhouses. If there is only one faction at this level, they are functionally in charge of the society. If there are multiple factions at this level, their conflicts and machinations can have devastating fallout for ordinary people.

Making Choices Matter

When a player makes a choice in the game, they want that to matter.

That sounds extremely simple. No shit, right?

But that's actually something that I think a lot of GMs overlook, or don't realize.

When your player makes a choice during character creation, picking an offball skill or a weird feat or a strange subclass, they are literally communicating to the GM: "I'm interested in this."

I've made this opinion before, but in my opinion the true core tenet of GMing a game is to cater to your players. After all, you're putting on a little show for them. They're your friends, and you deserve to have fun as well, of course; but they are making decisions and they would love it if those decisions mattered.

This came up because there's a new playtest for the Dragon Game and in it, Paladins are no longer immune to disease or able to cure it with their Lay On Hands feature. I saw a post that said, "[That feature] made using diseases trivial in a game with a paladin."

I argue: The entire point of taking the feature is so that you can use diseases and let the Paladin player feel cool.

I would actually include disease in a game that otherwise did not include it, if we had a Paladin in the party. I would go out of my way to do that.

Because it's really cool if you say, "Okay, everyone who failed the save now has a disease," and the Paladin player pipes up and goes, "Wait a minute! I'm immune to disease! Fuck yeah!" The player feels super cool now. And if they're high enough level, the Paladin can use Lay on Hands to make their friends cured of the disease. That's something that literally no other character in the game would be capable of!

But this other person...they're just gonna never include disease in the game if they have a Paladin in the party, because they don't want to see the players succeed, I guess. Which, to me, is fundamentally the wrong approach to having a fun time with your friends.

I design these challenges to be overcome. I know as soon as I put a huge fucked up monster in front of them and say, "Haha, this thing has 3 attacks and legendary actions, you guys are fucked," the whole point is for them to destroy it. The entire reason I have this monster here is for them to kill it and win.

If your player makes a choice and you never cater to it, they have wasted that choice. This player wanted to be immune to disease! They thought it would be super cool if the enemy spewed out some horrifying shit that grows boils on your skin or whatever and they get to just go, "Nope, I don't even have to make a save, I'm literally immune to it. Die, monster! You don't belong in this world!" But because they have a bad GM who doesn't cater to their players, and in fact plays against them, they never get to have that cool moment. It never happens for them. They wasted their choice.

And I think the worst thing a GM can do is waste a player choice. They could have picked something else, but they didn't, and now they get nothing, and that sucks.

Now, the dragon game is FULL of choices. You aren't obligated to include disease for every game you have a Paladin in. That's ludicrous. A class, especially in 5e, is a huge package of multiple features and ideas, and it's basically impossible to cater to and include every single one throughout the campaign. Some of it you'll just fucking forget exists. Hopefully, you are a good GM, and communicate to your players when they make a character. Hey, Divine Health isn't even a feature you have to pick, you just get it. So maybe your Paladin player couldn't give a shit less about it. No harm, no foul. But to outright say, "I'm never using disease in a game with a Paladin," is pretty absurd to me.

d&d monster inspo: