fiction

Introducing Sagenlund.

/ gregorywallsworth / Leave a comment

I have too many half-complete TTRPG projects. I have even more half-baked ideas I’d like to start. Both likely symptoms of my ADHD. It’s a blessing and a curse for creativity!

Sagenlund (story-land) is how I’m going to consolidate the largest group of ideas I have, into a Shadowdark setting. It will be one of three things I’m hoping to work on this year. The other two are finishing my Stars Without Numbers campaign (this one’s close!); and continuing to push on the Polynesian expansion for Worlds Without Number.

I have an idea for an upcoming post about my view on TTRPG rules, which explains why I choose these projects. But this post is going to focus on introducing the concept for my world. It’s an ambitious project; with a few ambitious goals for what a final product for this setting would look like.

The setting is simple. The world has two real gods: The Collector and The Teller. The Collector listens to stories and adds them to his book. Occasionally updating old ones with new versions; slowly altering the present by turning myth into reality. The Teller spreads new stories to ensure nothing spins out of control. Of course, these are not the gods that people worship, those are ones spun into existence by the stories themselves.

While the gods walk through the world, and players may encounter them (even though the characters would not know it), the protagonist and antagonist of the setting are the King and the Bard. The King has constructed his court to collect stories and retell them to cement his power. This has created a world that is safe, only when you follow a strict set of rules. Even venturing out of your home at night can be dangerous.

Conversely, the Bard, weaves tales of hope. In so doing, he changed the world. His stories created heroes, capable of addressing the threats created by the King. His legends led to the discovery of a new continent. One filled with ancient ruins, treasure, adventure, and above all else, hope.

The King and the Bard understand how The Collector and The Teller work. They vie for control over the legends shaping the world. In his domain, the King reigns supreme. His control over the stories told, time and time again, is too strong for The Bard’s influence to overcome it. However, in the new land the two spar back and forth shaping and reshaping the legends forming the continent’s history. The Bard is creates tales of treasures that could break the King’s grip, even back home. While the King sows tales of monstrous guardians and traps around every corner.

Mechanically, there is a hex-crawl on the newly discovered continent, where the heroes to go forth and face all manner of inexplicable horrors as they seek to learn what destroyed the ancient civilization that once inhabited the continent. Because, learning how it happened, may provide a path to breaking the curse at home. Adventures in the homeland focus around saving small, isolated villages from the problems sown by the King’s tales. Unraveling the complex fairy tales and putting them to a definitive end by having stories sung about the heroes’ victories.

While traditional dungeon crawls work well in this setting, there are also fairy tale quests. My ultimate goal is to create a Fairy Tale generator as a GM tool, to make new quests.

Fairy tales often provide a nice template for a quest. Here is an example fairy tale, based on The Hand with the Knife, as recorded by The Brother’s Grimm.

The Elf, The Axe, and The Girl.

Everyone knows to avoid the forest. Danger lurks around every corner, as all manner of creatures will rend you limb from limb. This is when it all started:

There was once a girl who lived just over these hills. She was the youngest in a family of four, and the only girl. The mother adored her sons more than anything in the world and always forced the daughter into chores at their behest.

The girl however, had a magical admirer. A forest elf who watched her work whenever she could. He watched her and learned her path into the forest. Each day, the elf watched her struggle to complete her work; continuing on from dawn till dusk. Then one morning, he reached his hand out from the shadows as he heard her footsteps, handing her a magical axe. With the axe, the work was done in half the time.

Each day after her work was done, she would return it. Each morning, she would bring with her a treat to say thanks; exchanging it for the axe. Eventually, she learned his favorite was anything with the warm smell of cinnamon.

Seeing how quickly she could complete her work, her brothers grew suspicious of her and followed her into the forest. They saw this exchange and made a plot to take the axe.

The brothers tricked their sister, by offering to complete her work and giving her a day of reprieve. They marched into the woods, bringing a treat with them. They sent in just one brother, quietly; to fool the forest elf.

When the hand reached out of the shadows, the brother grabbed the axe and lopped off the hand.

The next day, the girl returned to the woods. When she went to do the exchange, the elf lopped off her hand and stole the treat.

Returning home, maimed and unable to work, she was cast out by her family. She returned to the woods, sobbing, having lost the only friend she had known – and her family – in the same day.

The elf approached, to demand his axe back from the girl and throw her out of the forest. Though, the two quickly realized they had been fooled. The forest elf and the young woman stayed in the forest, and no one has been able to pass through unmaimed since.

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I changed a few things, to make it into something the PCs may want to investigate. We have a location, the dangerous woods; a problem, locals are afraid of or can’t pass through the woods; a potential way to lure out enemies, cinnamon. What’s better, since it’s a fairy tale the elf need not be the actual enemy. It could be anything with sharp claws drawn to the scent of cinnamon. However, it would be interesting to use some creature(s) missing a hand or foot.

I altered the story to fit my setting, you only need to make it clear the threat still exists. The sentence at the beginning, and the girl getting maimed, signal this.

Fairy tales provide pretty nice quest outlines. This was part of my inspiration for the setting. I’ll be slowly tying together a handful of adventures I have written for systems like Shadowdark, Forbidden Lands, and Monster of the Week to become part of Sagenlund.

Happy New Year!

Siren Encounters

/ gregorywallsworth / 2 Comments

I missed writing a summary of the session where the heroes faced the sirens I described here. I tend to over prep, largely because I love world-building. Instead of a narrative description of what happened, I thought I’d share my notes with some commentary. My notes throughout this article are italicized. I left them exactly as they were written, just to see how rough things start out.

This adventure was inspired by an idea i had for the opening scene. My adventure kicked off with the following:

You find yourselves gathered on the beach looking inwards to the island as the Kahuna’s beckon Princess Anahera to the makeshift altar they assembled.  You hear the gentle song of the wind through palm fronds, smell the salty ocean breeze, see the sun setting over the palm trees behind the princess.

The Kahunas, Akamai and Kalahari, move up to the stage as a gentle lulling song begins. It’s sound a perfect match to the melodies of nature. Many of those watching the ceremony rise to sway to the rhythm of the music. Then, the crowd begins to disperse.

The two Kahunas look out on the crowd with shocked expressions, and chaos erupts. Kalahari dives for a drum and begins vigorously pounding a chaotic counter-rhythm. Not a single beat of his rhythm aligned to the captivating song coming from the sea. Combined the music is almost painful to listen too. Many of those previously captivated by the song, now appear confused or in pain.

Simultaneously, Kahuna Akamai tackles the princess, covers her ears, and begins screaming for people to run to the woods. But, alas for some the Kahuna’s actions came too late.

 A crowd of people compelled by the gentle music coming from the sea walk into the ocean. Some are swept away by the current, others run to those walking heedlessly into the waves attempting to pull them back. A few manage to drag their loved ones back to shore against their will, while others are pulled away with those they intended to save. Almost as surreptitiously as the song began, it stops. The sun, now below the horizon. The spirit of the day crushed.

Amidst the chaos, what do you do?

The monologue was longer than I like, but I wanted to set the overall tone of the scene. Plus, I sometimes do these things as writing exercises that also help with character development for the NPCs.

I also had notes for actions the PCs could take during the scene:

During the Scene. What can the players do.

They can role exert or survive (str or dex) to run down and drag people back. As they do, be sure to reward high rolls describing people they’ve managed to save.

If they immediately take a small craft out, they can roll Survive/Notice Wisdom to try to figure out where the sound came from. A high roll will lead to a quick combat encounter with 1 or 2 sirens depending on the group size.

If I recall, the heroes ran inland. My next section of notes was a summary. I decided I wanted to add some more friction to the slow burn romance between Anahera and Tepiti. So, I tied in a miss from an earlier session where no one had done anything about the Tahitians allying with the Sirens.

“I am sure it is no mystery why we have called you hear today. ”Prince Tepiti takes a moment to look each of you in the eyes, then turns towards Anahera and bows his head in shame.“ My Princess, I have failed you here. But, I’ve found our bravest adventurers to help us once again secure our island. We,” The prince gestures broadly to the princess and the two Kahuna’s present, ”Do not know exactly what happened, and are hoping you all can help us figure out what’s occurred and prevent it from happening again.”

What can they learn before setting out.

  • The Kahuna’s will each share info of what could be learned on their respective islands.
    • Kalahari. Tahitians have had many past run-ins with Sirens, they may perhaps know where the Sirens were from.
    • Tepiti will note that some discussion of Sirens was made in the war councils before Parau-tia was killed.
    • Akamai. Will be immediately suspicious of the Patongans who attempted to kill Anahera.
    • Anahera. Will mention her brother and suggest that he of anyone would know how a voice could be amplified so effectively.
    • Others on the island?
      • A fisherman from Tahitia will share a technique to create an ear plug from tree resin.

This list is a lot more representative of my usual prep. My Polynesian adventures are story heavy, so I write a lot of narrative scripts. I don’t usually read these aloud when they are this long. But, writing them out helps me think about how the characters react in different situations.

The rest of my adventure outline was a series of bullet points. Outlining potential courses of action.

For this adventure, I used time pressure to build some tension. I placed three leads on the island, far more than they could follow. I designed them so easy it would be easy to follow-up on one, hard for two, and impossible for three (I put them in a bit of a triangle on the map). The players opted to tackle the two closest objectives.

One other thing worth noting in the adventure outline, is the redundancy. My notes say, “They have three potential ways to find the location of the sirens.” This is an intentional and important part of adventure design. It’s really easy for players to miss hints that may otherwise seem obvious. You’ll find lot’s of advice out there on this, and it’s part of why people say to use red herrings sparingly. While playing, I’ll roll with creative ideas the players come up with, even if it wasn’t the intended solution.

Adventure Outline

The adventure has three key components.

  1. Finding out how the Sirens have amplified their voice (a massive conch shell)
  2. Finding the location of the Sirens
  3. Figuring out how to deal with the sirens

Additionally, the PCs are given a variety of choices along the way. These choices provide advantages for various ways to deal with the Sirens.

  1. They have three potential ways to find the location of the sirens:
    1. Sailing to Tahitia to follow up on rumors they hear from former Tahitians who have fallen prey to Sirens in the past. This is a common fear from Tahitians. The Kahuna from Tahitia will hint at this in the intro.
    1. Sailing to Anahera’s former enemies the Patongans, assuming they’ve somehow allied with the Sirens. (An ironic error of judgement by Anahera and Tepiti, but even Tepiti is unaware of the level of corruption Kahuna Parua-tia had bestowed upon his father).
    1. Searching for the SIrens themselves, with the help of Hina or Tahwhiri. Provide some advantage to PCs who quickly move to chasing down the Sirens in the opening scene.
  2.  How they deal with the Siren threat.
    1. Force. Destroying the conch shell and killing many sirens.
    1. Subterfuge. Stealing the conch shell and using it to protect the island from their song.
    1. Negotiation. Striking a deal with the sirens, and helping them once again learn a new song from the gods.

A key issue in this adventure is timing. The timeline for the following events is such that the PCs should be able to sail three times (visit two of the three islands and return) before the situation escalates untenably. One of the Kahuna’s will send a message on the winds to the PCs after the second attack warning of an escalating situation. This may incentivize the PCS to use speed while traveling, but risk some encounters at sea.

Tahitia.

Asking around the island, you’ll hear rumors of fisherman who’ve heard singing at dawn and dusk while fishing. While this isn’t totally unheard of, it’s grown stronger recently and Tama Waiariki’s canoe was recently found empty in the reefs.

Additionally, some rumors that Parau Tia had Haikili attempt to recruit the Sirens for their war efforts. If confronted, Haikili will at first lie. A connect or convince check could persuade him to give information. Increase difficulty by 1 if intimidation is used. Playing on his guilt for participating in this should help the PCS

  • The PCs can encounter the Sirens by stalking the common fishing areas at Dawn/Dusk
  • From here they could kill, capture, or attempt to track the Sirens to a cave
  • The PCs can learn the Sirens were paid with a shell from the Island of Little Giants

Pakonga

If any of the islanders are from Moanatu (Anahera’s home island), the chance of escalating to conflict is higher. What happens on this island depends a lot on how the PCs approach. If things go badly, the Pakongans will try to assault the new island in a future adventure.

  • Entering the island.
    • Disquise. The PCs may attempt to disguise themselves as performers or traders to gain audience. Make this a relatively easy check.
    • Subterfuge. May allow PCs to sneak on.
    • Diplomacy. This will be the hardest approach, particularly if the PCs say they hail from Moanatu. Some sort of offering of strength would help this.
  • Chief Aoraki (Oh-raki):
    • If the PCS are brought to him while captured. Perhaps we shall make sport of you, if you win we shall let you leave.
    • If the PCs persuade their way to an audience.
      • We are a proud tribe and need no monstrous allies to fight our battles.
      • Will share the legend of the Sirens. They are not to be trusted.
        • There is an area of caves between X/Y that you may search if you seek them out.
      • Kahuna may share that this seems on par for what Parau-Tia would have done, perhaps the Tahitians had planned to use them. He was desperate and had come to us once asking for an allegiance.

Moanatu

The key thing that could be learned and/or acquired here is the advice of Prince Teva. He will hypothesize that a massive shell could be used to amplify the voices of the Sirens making them especially dangerous.

  • He will help the PCs to devise protective ear coverings allowing them to re-roll all failed saves against Siren Songs once.
  • He will help devise a tool likely effective at destroying the shell.

In one-shots, I always hand-out one time use magic items.  In this adventure, these proved to be super pivotal. By far the most memorable scene was when the PCs finally found the Sirens. One of the PCs used a potion of disguise to change into a Siren. Then then convinced the Sirens he had befriended the people to eat them later.

In the final battle, the rest of the items got used. The PCs ended smashing the conch shell, and returned to the island after ending the Siren threat.

Song of the Sirens

/ gregorywallsworth / 1 Comment

Recently my focus has been on revisions for two upcoming publications, Mysteries in Elanysia and Echoes of the Void. For the first one, I have some commissioned art now and I AM EXCITED! This has put work on my Polynesian game Journey of the Wayfinder on the back-burner.

For my next one-shot, Song of the Sirens, I went deep on original lore for the main enemy. The lore came from trying to answer a simple question, “If the PCs wanted to strike a bargain with the Sirens what would they need to provide?” The answer came quickly, a new song from the gods. This led me to ask, why?

That why became a myth. It’s inspiration is as much Greek tragedy as it is Polynesian. After all I’ve been reading Greek myths since I was a kid. Hopefully I’ve managed to capture a bit of the spirit of Polynesian Myths as well. The legend follows below:

              There was once a beautiful Arioi named Moatangi, whose performances were a mesmerizing array of dancing on water and singing. She’d climb the mast of her canoe, belt songs swinging from the ropes, dive into the sea, and swim back continuing her song until she emerged from the water to finish her ballad as she walked ashore. Over time these acts grew in grandeur. Sometimes she involved dozens of vessels in the act. Lower ranked Arioi would swim in unison, and a chorus of singers, dancers, and musicians accompanied her.

              Her performances eventually attracted the attention of Tavahanu, voice of the wind. At first, he listened silently. The stillness of the wind while he listened provided a quiet backdrop which emphasized the grandeur of her performance. Then, Tavahanu began to carry Moatangi’s songs farther, emboldening the fortes and muting the pianos. Over time, she replaced some of her accompaniment with the sounds of nature. Learning, if only subconsciously, how to leverage the songs of nature. As she sang, the wind would carry the melody of birds, the song of palm fronds swaying in the winds, or the violent echoes of the wind wailing through hollow passages.

              One night as she slept under the stars on the beach, she awoke to a whistling sound leading inland. Thinking she heard the echo of her name on the wind, she followed the sound. Eventually, she found its source to be a cave and heard the most beautiful array of nature’s melodies ever.

The cave was the perfect instrument for the wind. A thousand hollowed out caverns of different shapes and sizes allowing the wind to create a symphony of noises, replicating any sound imaginable. Tavahanu filled the cave with music and Moatangi began to sing a melody to the tune. Her song was a love ballad, like the world had never heard. Starting with the eternal embrace of Rangi and Papa, telling of the one-sided love of Hina and Tuna, the near tragedy of Hinemoa and Tūtānekai, and continuing with all the love stories of the gods.

              Throughout the night islanders were stirred awake by the music. They were mesmerized by the sounds and found themselves compelled to move towards the music. Enraptured by the music everyone who came stayed the entire night. Moatangi never looked outside the cave. She was overcome by the feelings she attempted to express through the ballad she sang. Having finally found the melody within her soul.

              As the sun began to rise the Arioi’s voice broke. Her music stopped, and finally she whispered. “What are you to make such beautiful songs, I have seen nothing all night as I accompanied you? My voice but a back-up singer to the melody of love itself.”

              The wind replied, “Moatangi, you are mistaken. The tune comes from your heart, I but listen and play it so you can sing. I am Tavahanu, voice of the wind. Stay here with me for nowhere else can I come close to echoing the beauty of your voice. No where else can I make all sounds that can be heard by man. Long I have tried to lead you here.”

               She paused for a long moment, puzzled by the statement. For nothing has freedom like the wind. Blowing over land and sea, touching both the heavens and the earth. Finally, she replied, “Anywhere can the wind move, why can you not make these sounds elsewhere?”

              Tavahanu explained that although he can move anywhere the wind can, the wind has no voice of its own. The wind plays nature like the Arioi play their instruments. Tavahanu replied, “The whole world is my instrument, but nowhere else can I play such a symphony in one place.”

              As the two conversed, the magic of the music faded. The compulsion over those watching faded, and the crowd began to murmur and ask questions. Only then did Moatangi notice the audience. For her also the compulsion began to fade, and her own wits began to return. Realizing how long she sang, wondering how long people had listened, she considered what singing with Tavahanu could achieve. She glanced down at her painted leg, a symbol of her reaching the pinnacle of status among the Arioi. Realizing singing with a god, could make the black leg seem pale in comparison.

              She considered the winds response and finally responded herself. “Could you not use me?”        

              In this part, the legends vary. Some say the wind filled her lungs. Others say she would wear ostentatious outfits of shells so the wind could make a symphony of sounds. Most say the wind made love to her, using her to make the sounds. Regardless of the truth, the pair traveled together from island to island putting on legendary performances. Captivating all who listened, even playing for and captivating the gods. The stories also agree that eventually, she carried a child.

              Unfortunately, while Tavahanu could father a child. He could not be a child’s father. For a while, the performances stopped as the Arioi cared for the newborn. But the wind kept blowing. Sometimes visiting, but being carried away for longer and longer periods of time.

However, Moatangi had learned many of the wind’s secrets while they had sung together. One day when Moatangi needed help, she sung a song into the wind like that day at the cave. She used its tune to compel someone’s attention, and continued to refine it until she compelled them to help her.

               Moatangi continued to master this skill, compelling others to do her bidding. It started with small favors. Preparing food, launching her boat, caring for her child while she swam. But overtime she would push the limits. She began to compel people to follow her, to rule their minds completely. Sometimes the wind returned, but most times it simply passed through.

              Still during this time her fame and renown had grown so much that gods commonly frequented her performances. But she longed for Tavahanu. She began to test her compulsion on the gods themselves. Small things at first, hoping to compel the wind to stay. With the wind, while she could keep its attention, it would never stop blowing for long. Even though Tavahanu loved her he simply couldn’t stay.

              One day, she was performing on an island far in the west. At the source of Mātāhiti Apatoa (the east wind). She realized if she could capture this wind, she could keep Tavahanu with her. She put on her most brilliant performance yet, and captivated Tahwhiri’s children. Eventually,  Tahwhiri god of storms and winds, realized his children were missing. Asking the other gods he learned of Moatangi. He requested the help of Tangoroa, knowing he needed to send Moatangi into the depths that he and his offspring could not reach.

              Together, Tahwhiri and Tangaora approached the island in a hurricane of destruction. Tahwhiri appeared before Moatangi and said, “Never shall you set shore upon the lands of man again, forever shall you be bound to sea. Where Tavahanu cannot go.”

              Then Moatangi flopped over, splashing into the water. She attempted to stand but found her legs had merged, and her bottom half looked like a fish. Confused and frightened she flopped about in the water. Her appearance had become deformed and hidous. After that, whenever she found a new audience, they ran from her in fear. The only way she could keep an audience, was to compel them.  

So, whenever she sees men, she sings her song and drags them into the sea with her. All the while craving the attention of Tavahanu, who could not come with her. She swam from island to island, looking for caves, hoping to find Tavahanu once again.

              With Moatangi beneath the sea, Tavahanu howls across the sea singing a sad song of mourning searching for her. To this day, he still does. Moatangi’s children can often be found, singing their compelling songs and luring men to the depths with them. Usually near caves, where they find a strange appeal to the howling of the wind through the caverns.

              This is how Sirens came to be, and why they sing their songs to lure men to their deaths. Creating a captive audience in remembrance of audiences they never knew.