Running The Wish Thief One Shot

We run Daggerheart’s free adventure The Wish Thief and stress-test its mystery, chase, and combat pacing while riffing on why D&D 5.5 feels like a half-step that adds table friction. We end up with a stolen wish tiara, a countdown-driven investigation, a night festival chase, and a dockside showdown that gets messier than planned. 
• GM and player dynamics and why tables thrive on bold choices 
• D&D 5.5 edition drift and why small changes can create big confusion 
• How internet feedback and focus grouping can flatten creative design 
• Using collaborative worldbuilding prompts to build a city fast 
• Running a gifting ceremony as a structured improv mini-game 
• Investigation countdown pressure and the “quantum culprit” approach 
• Chase mechanics that stay playable and cinematic 
• Keep-away combat objectives and why they beat pure damage races 
• Post-session critique on what we would run differently next time 
Donate to the Osborne collection of childhood literature, like legitimately. Donate to libraries. 
A bunch of our adventures are up on Itch.io, and I am planning to put up more this weekend. 

Transcript

Cold Open And GM Player Rants

Richard 0:00

Hello, and welcome internet, to Richard and Karl play Daggerheart. I'm Richard, who is really not ironically played that much Daggerheart. I've facilitated a lot of Daggerheart.

Karl 0:14

Well, I'm Carl, and I'm definitely one of the players, which would you think would mean that I've played more Daggerheart than Richard, but you know, I've kind of considered the GM to be a player too. Of course, you do.

Richard 0:28

Players love assuming the GM's another player, and they're like, yeah, we're letting the GM have fun by showing up and making wild decisions and having them remap on the fly. Because it's fun for everybody, which is true. Which is true, but oh, I've had I have DM'd for many a group over the years. And the most frustrating are definitely when it's like, oh yeah, we're doing the GM a service by coming and playing games with him, because that's what he wants to do. Good players that does not typically make. Fair enough. Although I do think my best group, and I say this like in Discord things a lot, is the random people at the bus stop group, and I don't mean literally, although. But like I'll be in like a classroom and be like, hey, um, I know you're my professor, but do you want to play Daggerheart on Friday with a couple of us? Those are always like legendary players. When you just grab someone tangently, like one of my good friends' dad joined us for a campaign, and that was like by far and away one of my favorite players. Like, they didn't even try and use dice rolls. Like the concept of metagaming didn't even occur to them. They were just there to tell a story. Right. So yeah, players being like being all strategic and being like, oh, but the dragon scales are this, and this character said this, maybe do this. He's like, I briskly walk up, don my hat, and bow to the creature. It's great. That's fair. Although I do enjoy telling your exploits to my other group being like, hey, you know that so what of a dragon at distance? Yeah, Carl punch it in the face. Can we have more details? You cannot. And like the consent is amongst the group is Carl's the kind of player that if you put the button in front of him, he will push the button. And I'm like, yes. It's almost like we're playing a game, and I want him to occasionally push the button to do the thing I set up. I built the roller coaster. It's nice if someone rides it once in a while. But here we are filling out ballots to get this dragon democratically elected for some reason, and I learned too much about Alderman.

Karl 2:46

Oh. Well, so speaking of uh random people at

D&D 5.5 Friction And Blandness

Karl 2:51

the bus stop. I thought you were about to say Alderman, but please continue. No, um, so I D uh has this you know 5.5, and Wizards of the Coast has officially recognized that their DD 2024 is just 5.5.

Richard 3:08

Sure. I'm gonna try not to be mean to Wizards of the Coast today.

Karl 3:13

But uh conveniently, uh there is essentially zero uh prep work required for any of the uh older the actually five the fifth edition uh supplemental materials to actually be adjusted for 5.5. It's as long as you're using the different rules. Well, I mean, so far I haven't had any issues. Um I guess I haven't like run a huge amount of 5.5, but but I was running a uh a DD campaign. Uh and uh one of the books that I have is The Candle Keat Mysteries.

Richard 3:48

I do love Candle Key Mysteries.

Karl 3:52

It has one of my favorite adventures ever made, the uh uh The Joys of Extra-dimensional Spaces. I just love that adventure, it's so good. Um but uh one of the later adventures in the book, uh there's people who want to steal from Cavate Library, and instead of just stealing the book, there's actually a tower in the library that has rocket boosters, oh like ancient rocket boosters, and they actually just like steal the whole tower or attempt to. Uh the players are supposed to try and support them. There's actually an incredibly mean section where if you get caught under the boosters, it deals just a ton of damage. But but, anyways, uh since since reading this adventure, I've decided that I want to run a campaign to uh with the objective of getting players the space to do a zero gravity dungeon.

Richard 4:47

Yes. And like many Carl objectives, we have gone through several presidents. The joke's funny because we're Canadian.

Karl 4:56

So uh I I was running my my campaign um with uh some co-workers and my brother and my roommate. Uh but then unfortunately uh I got attacked by some vampires and and had to go for surgery to get a curse from the city.

Richard 5:15

It will never be not funny that we looked up if legally we could sell a chunk of you give away a chunk of your spleen as a giveaway. Turns out we cannot.

Karl 5:23

Oh yeah. Oh, and then I mean, uh you know, the spleen was allegedly destroyed after they tested it to make sure there weren't any residual specs from the curses, I guess. I don't know. I mean, you're getting cloned. Oh, definitely.

Richard 5:38

The only rational outcome.

Karl 5:42

But anyways, uh so I was uh off work and and not in shape to run DD for like a month, and in that month, uh my one co-worker's schedule changed, and my roommate has started working like an obscene amount of hours because he has two jobs to I don't know what he spends his money on, but that's not really here or there.

Richard 6:05

I mean I'd make some guesses, but it'd be rude to do on the internet.

Karl 6:10

But uh point of the matter is that uh I uh only have one player who's still actually able to do the campaign, so I need to find new players. Do you? Because I've just been running one for Carl. I suppose I could just run it for a single person.

Richard 6:30

Although I will say what's kind of funny about the joy of extra-dimensional spaces is it's such a puzzle-based adventure. I've ran it using three non-DD systems, fine. Hmm. Yeah, it's just so good. Like, I straight up ran it using, oh, what was it? Uh, Shadow Dark. Which is funny because Shadow Dark's such a deadlier game where I'm like, well, I'll just give some numbers to the like three enemies that hit you. Right. And I used it to test like uh because I had to make a bunch of Daggerheart stat blocks a while back. I ran it a one-player campaign version of it with one of my friends to like play around with the 5e to Daggerheart conversion numbers. And like I said, it's a good one because there's one monster really, and it's a stack of books, and if you can figure out how hard a stack of books hits you, you're good to go.

Karl 7:25

But so uh my fiance and I, uh, well, more so my fiance. I mean, I'm I don't mind, but she joined a Facebook gaming group. Uh ironically, not people game on Facebook. Good, but uh a group of people who I'm gonna pause for a very special announcement.

Richard 7:44

Uh-huh. Meta can go to hell. That is all. You may resume your episode. Like, I don't know if people know about the meta Canada government beef that much, but we're like, hey, you need a pair of juniorists for nurse stories. Like, oh, we just won't share Canada news. And we're like, oh alright, we accept that. And I'm blown away that we lost that war. Like, we just our government lost. We didn't even Canada has a rep for like being kind of easy to push over, and that did not help.

Karl 8:14

Uh yeah, you're not even allowed to post media news stories that be like, yeah, you can't post this. Oh.

Richard 8:19

Like it it personally bugs me because I'm like, I got published in this newspaper. Facebook's like, you can't publish that you got published in this newspaper. I'm like, really? Oh, that's so bad. Like, but I wrote it. It's like, too bad.

Karl 8:33

Well, but one of the rare uh beams of sunshine that come out of meta are uh groups like this gaming group.

Richard 8:41

I firmly agree, if we blanned all social media, people would be forced to do things like this at local libraries and community centers, and the world would be better for it.

Karl 8:50

I might be right, but uh that's just what the world was before this. There is a uh a group of of uh individuals who really enjoy playing board games, uh, and we've been playing games with them. And uh so essentially what's new with me is that I uh have gotten uh a couple people from those board game groups that uh you know I don't really know them, uh, but uh hopefully I'll be restarting my my DD campaign. Switch to Daggerheart!

Richard 9:24

Come on, dude! Or at least lie about it on our Daggerheart stream.

Karl 9:29

See the thing about Daggerheart is that I don't have the old ten Daggerheart books.

Richard 9:37

You do though, because oh man, I so so sound so self-pro. Daggerheart doesn't actually pay me, by the way. So literally, if you have one on Nexus, you click the link and everyone gets the book, but also you could just download the PDF off the website. The SRD's just free. So you could just download the PD- at least try the demo adventure on them and see if they like the game.

Karl 10:05

Well, I mean, maybe eventually, but for now, like I said, I have all these books. Uh and the conversion from 5 to 5.5 is basically non-existent, so I'm gonna use them.

Richard 10:17

Oh, I hate the conversion for 5 to 5.5 being basically non-existent. So here's my issue with that. Most people I've DM'd for don't really know the differences between them either, and now I have to like remember two versions of everything when people ask me how things work. Hmm. And yeah, I find that mildly frustrating to be how can I put it this way? I think I did not need an expansion pass that's charged full price to slightly upgrade my DD. Hmm. Like they kind of lost me over the 5.5 conversion because I'm like, it kinda works, but doesn't. It slightly twists the rules enough that now when I do drop-ins, there'll be inconsistency. But didn't really like pull me in.

Karl 11:09

Oh well, I mean, that's true. I I don't even like I mean, I guess I don't know the differences between three and three point five. Uh but I don't even know that it was worth this half edition thing in general.

Richard 11:25

That's kind of where I'm at, is it's like you almost would have been better off keeping things consistent and just continuing the thing. It felt like a re-release for the sake of a re-release. Like when they were re-branded Overwatch 2 back to just being called Overwatch.

Karl 11:42

Well, I mean, uh one of the difficulties about the modern era is the uh is the internet itself, because like you can get so much instantaneous feedback uh on your next edition on on your next product. Uh but the instantaneous feedback you get is just like so you you end up with the the average changes uh rather than actually new and innovative changes.

Richard 12:15

Yes and go on that one. So one thing I've kind of found in my field where I actually get to read feedback surveys and things the percentage of people who yell on the internet versus a percentage of people who can click 12 buttons on a Google form is a truly vast canyon. Like you would think something like DD 5E's playtest for each class would have thousands of replies. Hundreds of thousands of replies. Maybe even millions. Like these DD views are getting millions of views. In reality, it's like a thousand. Like one in so like the people ranting about it aren't actually filling out the surveys. But I do think for 5.5, it feels more like corporate focus grouping. And uh I have a whole unrelated rant I gave the other day where it's like AI generates the blandest, most average content, which is what managers and focus groups are looking for because it's the least offensive. So we've created like a bland effect v vortex. It's like bland people love AI because it generates bland content. And corporations love bland content because it has low risk and has proven track record, which means you can speculate and invest on it. You know, we had this talk a while back about how, yeah, of course people are gonna reboot movies because they have a ba uh baseline sales estimate rather than make something original where they don't. Because that's like that's what you project to get your budget and your funding, because nothing actually is valued on what it's worth anymore. It's valued on what it should be worth, and then it's valued on what the people who value it say it should be worth.

Karl 13:56

Uh, well, the point I was trying to make is that 5.5 uh like the when they were trying to make sixth edition basically, uh all of the groundbreaking changes that they might have wanted to make kind of got scaled back, uh, and they ended up not really committing to anything except for doubling health and and uh changing a few minor things like exhaustion that a lot of players don't even use.

Richard 14:26

Yeah, that's kind of like why I switched games so hard. I'm like, ooh, like Daggerheart feels more like a sixth edition, where I'm like, okay, I can see a lot of changes, and even if they're not all good or bad, or you get player pushback, I respect things being fresh. Mm-hmm.

Karl 14:44

But like I say, unfortunately, I do actually own a lot of physical content for Dungeons and Dragons, and I actually want to use it, so True.

Richard 14:53

But it's kind of funny because I'm recording this. I'm just like, oh, buddy, our dot audience-based. I literally post these episodes on the Daggerheart Discord to play Daggerheart, and you're like, eh, I'd rather play DD, and I'm like, no, that's the oh, why are you bad, Carl? Why are you bad?

Karl 15:11

No, it's definitely not that I'd rather play DD. I I really enjoy both systems. Um, that's just you know it's just oh man.

Richard 15:19

Could you imagine if like we were doing a podcast on Pizzeria and you went, you know what? I'm just gonna go get tacos because I have the stuff for tacos. Why would we talk about pizza? It's just hilarious. Well, we can definitely tell we're not sponsored. Oh, yeah.

Karl 15:36

Absolutely. Uh the joke is though, like it'd be hilarious though, if uh Wizards of the Coast sponsored our Daggerheart podcast.

Richard 15:44

Actually, I think the funniest scenario imaginable is I'm sponsored by Daggerheart and you're sponsored by Wizards of the Coast. That would be the funniest scenario imaginable. And neither of us stole the other. Oh, that'd be beautiful.

Karl 16:01

But anyways, uh potential DD uh games aside, what's new with you there?

Richard 16:08

Honestly, your unrelated tangent was so like actually relevant and on point. I'm so proud of you. You're like, let's talk about RPGs in the what's new with me and not Casablanca for some reason.

Karl 16:20

Well, I mean, I was thinking about telling an anecdote about bitter gore juice, but that you know.

Richard 16:24

That'll be on our other podcast. Uh our other podcast is I've literally described it as me and Carl talk about random bullshit. And don't take any of it seriously ever. Oh, speaking of people listening to us, don't take us seriously ever. For any reason. Just don't. Please. Please don't take me seriously. I try very hard to not be taken seriously. Ah. Oh yeah, right.

Research Life Libraries And Weird Games

Richard 16:56

I think you asked what was new with me. Maybe you didn't. I did. Oh, I definitely did. I aged. Oh, yeah. I've actually been having like the chillest week. So I'm at the phase of the research project where I have to read all the research, right? And like the pool area in my apartment building just opened up, so it's like four stories up is like this little lounge chair space. The pool itself's not open, but the area is. So this week I've just been like reading books in the sun with a gentle breeze and a drink in my hand. And I mean, to be fair, my stack of books, these aren't like, well, I find them fun, but I do think a lot of people aren't super stoked to read literate programming, twisty little passages, our journal of educational multimedia and hypermedia. You know, actually our audience for this podcast might. Like, these might be legitimately good book of recommendations. Cause I'm working on my research paper on why Inform 7 and parser-based interactive fiction is a good bridge between the literary arts and coding. So I'm reading books like Hum Hamlet on the Hollow Deck and Digital Storytelling, and I'm like, you know, this might actually not not be the audience for it. And I got a uh Limerick published in the Griffin newsletter from the Osborne Library collection. Ooh, a limerick. Not only a limerick, but like there's just a really dumb volume of me holding up a kid's book next to this limerick, and I'm like, you know, this is a surprisingly high quality library publication, and I feel very good about it. Do they give me money? No. Should people give them money? Yes, absolutely. Donate to the Osborne collection of childhood literature, like legitimately. Donate to libraries. I'm fine with that.

Karl 18:50

Is this limerick like a like a current limerick that you like actually wrote specifically for this, or was this just the Yeah, it was a limerick about our visit.

Richard 18:58

Huh. And I'm not gonna read it on stream because people will have to track down this hyper-specific child literary collection in a Toronto library to read my limerick. Alright, alright. Hey, I am fine. Like, shelling projects I can't do seriously. Like, even my own work, I can't like straight face tell people to give me money. But giving your libraries money, easy sale. Yeah, do that. It's great. If you need to find players for your TTRPG, go to the library. Like, legitimately, they hold games and things. Fair enough. But yeah, so I've aged. I've been working on my research paper. I head to my conference at the end of the month. Um I played through the Gunfold series, and I think I mentioned in our last podcast, that in the middle of my 2D platform they made me sing a song to drop the boss's shield, which caught me off guard. Caught me so off guard. People are not as shocked as they should be about this. I really don't think people are comprehending this idea of playing an unrelated video game, it detecting your computer mic is active, and it making you sing karaoke to hurt the boss. It doesn't normally use voice commands. Why is no one baffled by this? Like I'm reading on game facts, it's like, oh yeah, if your microphone's enabled, you sing the song, and I'm like, why is this not the most ridiculous? Why has no one ever talked about this? Like, imagine if we're playing Daggerheart and I just busted out a 2D platformer for the boss battle. Like, that's insane. That's insane person's behavior. That that is pretty insane.

Karl 20:32

You you don't sound nearly exasperated enough. Um Bob the random singing in the in the video game?

Richard 20:39

Yeah. You should gasp you more. Anywho, and then yeah, next weekend I run Daggerheart because our monthly DD group is more like a try or buy monthly group at this point. Yeah. It happens when it happens. And I do enjoy that I like test running things on you and then run them on my other group now that I've practiced. It's such like an amusing concept to run the same adventure multiple times, and like, I don't know, the humanist in me really enjoys seeing different people's reactions to the same situations. Like, running a variety of games, like when I was in the TT RPG Club and was just running a different game system every week in a different game is interesting. But there's a certain joy to running different people through the same scenarios and saying that's not what Carl did after the session.

Karl 21:30

Well, okay, so actually, how divergent have our past become now?

Richard 21:35

So they become divergent to the point where when I was writing up the adventures, which I plan to release more of them today as like a birthday celebration. But also the sequencing's very different, so like it's like, how can I put this? The pasts are reconverging again, but it'll definitely be structured differently. It's like I wrote one of the adventures, for example, to have one route by sea and one route by land, because you went by sea, they went by land. Yeah. But they're kind of reconverging nicely. The main thing is your cameo where you went to Alora super early kinda got removed. Ah. So instead I just kinda like. They're not there yet. But also you technically didn't do anything there yet. So like that adventure will be released. It's like when I release these adventures, I'm releasing them of the route you should have gone, not the route you actually went. Putting little asides like a giant eagle can grab a party member and split the party here. This is an opportunity to bounce back and forth for storytelling.

Karl 22:47

Right. Oh, the giant eagle.

Richard 22:51

Indeed. Alright, so let's get into

Waking In Bankborough With A Tiara

Richard 22:53

this. So for today's session, because it's Daggerhard's birthday and also mine, they put out a free adventure called The Wish Heath. We're gonna run through it, see how it plays, see how far we get in this next chunk of time. And to start with though, because instead of like giving you a prefab character and running it like a one-shot, which would be sensible, here's how we're gonna start in the recap here. As you recall, at the end of the last session, you were, quote, pimp slapped by a dragon off the side of a cliff, unquote. You recall seeing trees whizzing past you. You remember seeing and looking up as the cliff was getting bigger and bigger below you. You remember the cat spirits trying to carry you away. And then your eyes close. And you find yourself in the Imperial City of Bankborough. It rises before you in a blaze of color and sound. Banners ripple from every tower, paper lanterns dripped overhead, trailing colorful garlands. Music spills through the streets and class injuriant waves as performers, merchants, and revelers crowd across every avenue. The entire city is alive with celebration, almost a perfect mirror to when poor Leroy's adventure began. The entire city is alive with celebration to honor Princess Garethag on the anniversary of her birth, one of the seven kings that work under the main emperor of the empire. At its heart stands the royal castle, its spires gleaming above the chaos. Somewhere within its walls, the great hall fills with nobles and dignitaries from across the empire, gathered together to present gifts to the princess. And you are late. So you carry the king and queen a bank borough's birthday gift to their only daughter, a platinum tiara. Its delivery was entrusted to you by the royal advisor. Why? Why are you in this town holding a platinum tiara to be delivered for this birthday? This is three months. What happened to end up here, several miles south of the city of Alora, in the next Imperial City down the coast? How'd you get here? Yeah. Huh. I'll help you out where Able. No, no, no. Not after pimp slapping the dragon. Let's be very curious.

Karl 25:36

I did pimp slapped. I did pimp slap that dragon.

Richard 25:39

Tell you what, you could add a new experience temporarily called Pimp Slap That Dragon. I'll allow it. Okay.

Karl 25:49

Uh but I will say uh that uh this platinum tiara uh is actually uh one of the dragon's treasures. I uh managed managed to pocket this treasure while I was uh fighting this dragon.

Richard 26:10

Fair enough. So to give you a little bit of context, if you recall, the boat you were on was going to stop at the next town down the coast, which was Bankborough. You never asked where it was stopping. And you had left on a little dinghy halfway through it after deciding not to free the spirit. Right. And you can kind of assume that because this was a doctor's ship, they probably spotted one of the on its way back or somewhere, someone spotted you and brought you to this town.

Karl 26:44

Well, and I figure um I I've gained some notoriety as uh the doctor that uh fought off that army. You did fight off that army, that did happen. Um so you know, not only was I recognized uh for that, but then uh because I had the tiara, uh which I'm assuming uh the dragon actually killed the actual messenger and stole the tiara. Uh that's canon now. I like that. Everyone just is everyone just assumes that I was actually interested with the tiara initially. Uh and I've just kind of just been going along with it too, uh, because I don't want to let anyone down.

Richard 27:29

Excellent. The gifting ceremony is about to begin, and you're not there quite in time. Your arrival will be remember uh sorry, if you're not there in time, your arrival will be remembered for all the long reasons. Because much like your life up to this point, through a series of punching and circumstance, you find yourself in a pretty favorable situation. Between you and the castle lies a sea of celebration, packed with streets, surging crowns, dazzling distractions, and obstacles at every turn. If you want to reach the Great Hall before the birthday ceremony begins, you'll have to move fast.

Karl 28:08

So Okay, uh so I I have uh quick two quick meta questions. I mean I don't I don't imagine there's gonna be a whole lot of combat, uh, but I assume my armor has been repaired.

Richard 28:19

So you had a long rest, and in the new Daggerheart book that comes out in a couple days, Hope and Fear, TM, they are adding rules for longer rests because I've realized they have shortless, wrongless, but not super long rest. So we're gonna use try out these super long rest rules. I saw it a live stream yesterday. And you fully recover everything. And I get one d6 fear per player. So I have six fear to work with.

Karl 28:51

And so then uh, where does my hope sit as a result of the super long rest?

Richard 28:56

You can be at. What were you currently at? I was at four at the end of the last session. I'll let you stay there. That seems legit. Okay. That seems fair. Um then. And you did not get a scar, which I'm almost disappointed of, because I do think it looked cool.

Karl 29:19

No, I'd I managed to avoid a scar.

Richard 29:24

I just really wish we had someone did who did animations to our episodes, because just you beating the dragon in the face, it waking up getting so mad and just slapping you, and you just tumbling off a cliff is beautiful. I like that is such a Zelda cutscene to have the dragon boss just knock you off the top of the temple.

Karl 29:45

But I'm but oh yeah, so uh I have to uh move quickly through the town, try to get past um well, assumably pickpockets and and merchants and crowds of people in general.

Richard 29:59

Okay, so let's start. So

Festival Skill Challenge And World Lore

Richard 30:01

metagame-wise, here's where I do a group action roll where you go around and each person does a thing. Here we're gonna streamline it a bit. So roll a d6 for me. A D6. Wait. Um a D6. Okay. What cultural tradition is unique to the people here?

Karl 30:32

What cultural tradition is unique to the people here? Um Well the people here, um They worship a hero uh that uh saved the area from a uh Saves this town specifically from a uh mass of sea serpent.

Richard 31:04

Oh, please tell me it's a giant statue of Philip the Half Work.

Karl 31:11

Uh yeah, they they have the giant statue of of Sir Philip the Half Orc.

Richard 31:17

I need you to know, above board, that when my Daggerheart campaign that I run monthly, I'm also running the session in a couple weeks, gets here, they will see a giant statue of Philip the Half Orc fighting a sea serpent with one foot standing on a kobold.

Karl 31:33

Uh but uh to celebrate this the sea serpent um the the um they uh have lots of like sea serpent fountains that like shoot water in arc slope. I'm assuming it's some sort of magic, but it like there's like a cylinder of water that like weaves around the town.

Richard 31:53

Excellent. So above board, how this works here is after each person answers a question, I cross out the question and then ask you to describe an obstacle and then a different player tries to overcome that obstacle. Since we do not have a different player for that, instead we're gonna use the power of dice. So now that you've described this waterworks, go ahead and roll a d12 for me, please. A D12? That is one beautiful. So as you're dodging these fountains, trying not to look completely destroyed before you arrive, because you're in your finest attire over your armor. Like I'm picturing that time Goku was in a suit, and then under the suit was his martial arts outfit. Yeah, okay. And then as you're going by, the parade just is full. You didn't expect him to have all these Pegasi walking down the street. Like, are the wings even functional? And a hippopotamus bear nearly tramples you. Make a reaction roll, and you tell me what stat you would use. What stat I would use? To not be trampled by a hippo.

Karl 33:08

The bear, the hippo bear isn't looking, but I need to like make myself known and intimidated into falling back in line to it.

Richard 33:16

Alright, go ahead and roll a presence check.

Karl 33:20

I roll for presents. Uh hope and fear don't or is this this is a check or uh reaction. Reaction. Okay, so 27.

Richard 33:32

What? Alright. So you lock eyes with it and it literally like you know how like a dog will sit and then roll over and do shake? Like it knows. It knows who's in charge.

Karl 33:48

I'm I'm really sad that this role was uh not a uh check and was a reaction because I mean it's really good, but the max possible role, that's sad.

Richard 33:57

Alright. So my next question: what unique resource, industry, or magical power sustains Bank Burrow's prosperity?

Karl 34:07

Ooh. Well, I mean, also in keeping with the tradition of this of the sea serpents, um they uh I'm gonna say that these these uh their industry is largely powered uh by uh sea serpent hearts.

Richard 34:30

Excellent, excellent. Okay, roll a d12 for me, please. D12, alright. Roll. A ten. So, as you're heading through the town, and you know the town's waterworks is powered by spirit magic using sea serpent hearts. And they have a very elaborate aqueduct water system. As it turns out that using an elemental creature for an elemental power system works pretty well. And as you're looking at their almost Vallaggio style elaborate fountains, you see a viewing platform that's like full of tourists start to crack and tilt, and a bunch of them look like they're about to come tumbling down. Oh dear. Oh sorry, the tourist platform, like Yeah, like a four-foot-tall viewing platform is becoming unstable. I see. If injured, they could ruin their entire day. This is not a life or death situation, but a bunch of well it looks like just from the look on them, they're dressed fancy, but like, hand me down fancy. Like, okay, they're dressed nicely, but they look like these outfits have been tailored and customized for how can I put this? It would be like if your family were to take you to Disneyland for the first time.

Karl 36:05

Uh are there any guards nearby?

Richard 36:08

Um the platform losing their balance. Oh dear. About to fall with them. Uh-huh.

Karl 36:18

Um, and okay, okay. Uh, I don't have like a net or anything. Pork, you know what? I'm in a hurry. Uh I gotta see if I can run and spot another guard uh to go back and help these people.

Richard 36:41

Alright, what stat are you using for that? Which ironically is probably presence again. But it could be instinct to find the guard. Or I I was gonna go go for instinct to try and find the guard. Yep. Cuz I it's not written into the rules overtly, but I typically, if someone does the same thing twice in one of these skill challenges, I up the DC. Because that seems fair.

Karl 37:05

So yeah, so I'm rolling for instinct to find another guard to see if they can help with this power. Uh that is a 16 with hope.

Richard 37:13

Alright, so you're like, um, do your job. You say to what looks like. You know what? You describe to me what this guard looks like. Also, one thing you've noticed about this city is it's in the Empire, but it's very south into the Witherlands. There is a lot more Fey-esque ancestries running around. Like, there's more There's a particularly large percentage of like green tinted, almost like hobgoblin, bugbear, goblinoids. And lower human population count than typical for the Empire. In fact, the princess herself is a goblin.

Karl 37:59

Um you know how a lot of anime characters will have like the the jagged carnivore kind of teeth?

Richard 38:07

Yep. The bad guy teeth. Well, no, the bad guy teeth are the perfectly rectangular teeth. Ooh.

Karl 38:14

No, these are definitely the jagged teeth that it seems to become more of a trend that they're for heroes than than for villains nowadays, even though they kind of look inherently evil.

Richard 38:25

Okay. Oh, yeah, like Shinra and yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Karl 38:30

Um anyway, uh he's very skinny and uh probably like seven feet tall. Uh and he kind of looks human, except for that he has a huge like piranha jaw with like sharp teeth, and he has this ridiculously oversized, like uh like you know, the the cartoon slab of meat on a s on a bone. Yes. But he's a guard. Uh and so I run up to him and be like, tell him the you know, do that this thing is happening.

Richard 39:03

Oh, he goes, so you see, we're like, uh uh. So he throws the meat up in the air, runs to the stand, claps his hands together, does like jazz hands, vines come out of the ground to fix the platform, and then he catches the meat and takes a bite out of it. Nice. Excellent. Alright. And then one last one for the skill challenge. Okay, another D12? Uh, this one's a D6 first. The D6 first, alright. Uh five. Five. What dangers lurk beneath Bank Burrow's prosperity?

Karl 39:44

What dangers lurk beneath Bank Burrow's prosperity?

Richard 39:46

Oh, I love this idea, by the way, of ask a question as part of the skill challenge to flesh out the lore of the place. Like, this is good design. I'm happy with this. Now roll oh wait, answer first. Then we roll a D12.

Karl 40:03

Well, see, uh it turns out um that there are intelligent sea rats um that try to uh steal the sea serpent hearts and replace them uh with lesser aquatic hearts.

Richard 40:22

Excellent. I love this. For the record I'm picturing rats with mermaid tails. Roll a D12 for me.

Karl 40:35

Uh D12.

Richard 40:38

Roll a three. So as you're going through here's no other way to put this. The music is slaps here. You are seduced by the rhythm. Like you're just kinda like jazz walking along, you just can't help it. It's not like you're compelled or enchanted, it's just really good. In fact, I'm not sure you've ever heard live music. Definitely not like an actual trained band, like them on the serpent colis stage presenting, like you've never seen this. And it's kinda hard to look away. Like, sure, you've seen the occasional bard in a tavern, but there's pyrotechnics, like is the uh is the crowd dancing? Yeah. They're doing what appears to be a combination of a traditional waltz and the gangham style dance.

Karl 41:42

Uh can I uh attempt to emulate their dance? Uh that'll de I think that'll be finesse.

Richard 41:52

Alright, alright. And none of your expert experiences I'm aware of would help here. Except maybe abandonment issues. Roll 16 with fear. I'm up to seven fear. You managed to like dance your way through. Okay. Alright, now make one last okay. So this time make an action roll to overcome the final obstacle. Which appears to action roll? Yes, so you see that appears to be one of those mermaid fish, uh, sorry, mermaid rats, scurrowing by holding someone's sandwich directly in front of you, and someone awkwardly chasing after their sandwich. Okay. And they're directly in your wide-up pathway. Uh well. You absolutely could just do nothing.

Karl 42:50

No, no, I'm definitely gonna like try and get the sandwich back. Would that be agility? I'll say agility is good for that.

Richard 42:58

We're gonna try and get this person's sandwich back. Oh, a 13 with fear. 13 will do it. So, metagame-wise, how it works is they have the series of questions and you continue going through a skill check for each question. With the final player swinging the start bot like back to the starting player, that player makes an action roll of a DC of 13 to overcome the last obstacle, gaining a plus one bonus for each success that happened earlier, and minus one for each failure that happened earlier. So that way it was you got plus three two years, so you managed to get a sixteen, which beat it. But I'm just saying this out loud for people who are using this as a play-along tool.

Gifting Ceremony And Magic Barrier Setup

Richard 43:37

On success, the party arrives just in time. Had you failed, you would have embarrassed yourself, interrupting the distinguished proceedings. So as you enter the glorious cathedral, you see a tall man in a beret and a cape with three more styly dressed goblins carrying gifts. The doorway opens, the doors of the castle swing open just as you arrive. And for a moment, Moment, the noise of the festival falls away behind you, the chewing blocked out. Inside, the Great Hall gleams with incredible opulence. Towering carvels of marble hold up a vaulted ceiling, painted with the scene of Philip chasing away a bunch of feral goblins, and then the goblins coming back in suits. It's quite the tapestry. Crystal chandeliers scatter light across a sea of nobles drops in silks, jewels, and finery from every quarter of the world. At the far end of the hall, King Talruk and Queen Lycera sit upon a raised dais, with Princess Gertie on a tiny throne between them. She's small, bright eyes, and utterly unaware of the spectacle around her. I was just so overwhelmed by the celebrations throughout the city, it's difficult to get here. Yes, yes. Well, it means a lot to the king and queen. The distinguished war veteran such as yourself is here for the proceedings. And he whispers super close to you. And the fact that you have the TR is real good. But you said you'd tell me about why you got switched messengers at the last minute later? Well, like I I believe the the previous messenger was was slain by a dragon. Oh, terrible, terrible stuff. We'll talk later, we'll talk later. And just like hands you a shrimp puff. I'm gonna happily eat the shrimp puff. It's delicious. Oh, roll a D100 on a 100, you have a shrimp allergy. Oh, okay. How do I roll a D100 here? Oh, maybe a D100 won't work. Let's go with roll.

Karl 46:25

Because they have a D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D12.

Richard 46:29

Let's make it a reaction roll just using your two D12s, and if you get double ones, you have a shrimp allergy. Okay, let's reaction roll nine. Alright, you're fine. So in a reaction roll, I've so I've always had a mechanic when someone makes that quip of making a dice roll to see if they have that allergy. But what happens is then I have to roll for one of my villains to also give them an allergy. That's hilarious. So if you have a shrimp allergy, that means so actually I like this a choice to have a dice roll. If you willingly accept having a shrimp allergy, at some point in the campaign you'll be able to choose a target and declare they also have a shrimp allergy.

Karl 47:12

No, no, no, I'll I'll stick with the dice roll. Excellent.

Richard 47:16

So the gifting ceremony takes place in the great hall of the castle. This is a large rectangular space with its many doors at one end, and the Dais with the Thrones on the other. Along either side are spacious galleries separated by a wide central aisle by the marble colonnade and is marked along the surface with runes. So basically there's about five pillars on each side of this like wedding-esque walkway, and that creates a magic barrier that blocks spell effects from passing through. You can cast spells on the insole side of the hall, but spells from the center aisles to the galleries on either side are blocked. Think of it like soundproof glass, or like a Pope Mobile type situation. It doesn't prevent them from casting spells, they just can't hit the other side. This barrier, as you know from your history from asking around, was chosen instead of an anti-magic field because it offers royal protection from magical assassins without getting rid of the magical effects. So the barrier is key to limiting the number of suspects the party has to deal with. So you get the idea that you could when you walk through it, you're fine, but spells can't go through it. Right, right. And I'll actually send you a picture, because I have one.

Karl 48:41

How exciting. Our audience will love when I get that I get a picture. I mean, I painted them a mental picture. You are an artist.

Richard 48:52

You know, I actually handwritten and drew a comic book for my comic book class. Really? Yeah, my our my essay was about anyone can make a comic book essay. It was a terrible choice. I have regrets and it was stick figures, and it took me like a week. It was real rough. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do is draw an eight-page stick figure zine that folded into a nice little booklet. But anywho, mental pictures versus physical pictures aside, did I describe that well? Uh, well enough.

Karl 49:25

Alright, I'll take it. I mean five pillars, five pillars on a side. Walk away straight down the middle towards some sort of raised uh dais where the queen, king, and princess are sitting.

Richard 49:37

Excellent. The Great Hall settles into a hush as Parson Redstring steps from the dais into the wide center aisle of the Great Hall. Honored guests, he intones, his voice carrying effortlessly through the chamber. We gather to celebrate the first year of Princess Garethog, Jewel of Bankborough and beloved heir to the throne. To mark this joyous occasion, friends, allies, and admirers from across the world have sent gifts, tokens of loyalty, wonder, and promise. One by one the gifts are brought forth. All eyes on the procession as the ceremony begins in earnest, and soon it'll be time to present your delivery. So how it'll work here So in the adventure as written, it says cut out and shuffle gift cards and then randomly deal them to each player. Explain that they'll come up with gifts the nobles present, and then have them fill out their cards and hand them back. So it's a whole little mini-game they have in the actual thing of a series of gifts. So we will speedrun this a little bit. But I'm gonna have I'm gonna give you three prompts and you're gonna tell me what these gifts are. Okay. So the first gift is subtly dangerous. What is it? Subtly dangerous.

Karl 50:58

Umttly dangerous. Uh the the first game uh is a uh set of like twice blocks. Uh but the uh the paint is from a foreign country uh and might not meet uh safety standards for the for the Empire.

Richard 51:30

Okay. So with the lead paint magical building blocks, or non-magical, they were given by Baroness O'Leary, who is a still as a statue, watches everything unblinking, with a cool unblinking focus. Okay, okay. Alright, I'm just literally pasting things in the Discord so I don't lose track. And I think I need the word Baroness.

Karl 52:06

Gift is other easy. What is it? Hilarious?

Richard 52:15

Boy, and then the second gift is alive or reactive, what is it?

Karl 52:30

Alive or reactive. Okay. Um I think this one is just a puppy.

Richard 52:47

Just a puppy. Ah. A puppy. Excellent. So this puppy is gifted, much to the parents' deeply concerned chagrin, by Count Vespero, an elegant, poised, and flirtatious man who deflects questions with a humorous charm. Okay, okay. And the third gift is politically motivated. What is it? Politically motivated. Um the third gift is uh The gift gigger giver, if this helps a bit, is Sir Caddius Cumberband, a chipped informal clank carved from marble and steel. Okay.

Karl 53:53

Um the this gift is a uh action figure uh based on uh the uh ruler of the Clanks region.

Richard 54:06

Excellent. Alright. So one of these gifts made Princess Gertie laugh. Which was it? Uh the lead toy blocks. One of these gifts made her cry which one was it?

Karl 54:29

Oh, it was the action figure.

Richard 54:31

Excellent. And with that, normally I'd go through like eight gifts here and like one, two, three, four, several NPCs. Alright. As I work through the cards, describe the country. I did that already. As the final Alright, we'll do one last gift then. This last gift is ridiculously expensive. What is it? Ridiculously expensive. Um, what is it? And to our viewers, I did not read this adventure in advance because I wanted me struggling with it to be part of the experience.

Karl 55:20

Um the last gift is a uh Oh, I mean I was gonna say silk, but I can't I I'd like to think of something more exotic than silk, but of a similar nature. A very exotic fabric, uh, but it's like a uh baby blanket. Uh that's also dyed with the most rare and exotic dyes and other materials.

Richard 55:46

And the gift gigger for that one is Prince Havlick, a very young, impeccably dressed, and incredibly bored gnome, who seems to be dismissive about everyone around him. And I'm gonna say this blanket also has like gold leaf encrusted in it, and what looks like ooh, I know. There's like a red tint to it, and it looks like some of the thread in it was used from crimson lily flowers.

Karl 56:15

Mmm, crimson lily flowers and woven with uh spider mole silk.

Richard 56:20

Excellent. Spider moles doo. As the final gift from the nobles is set aside, a quiet settles over the great hall. Part in Red String bows his head towards the Dais. Your Majesties. King Taluk rises to his colossal full height of three feet, his movement commending silence. Together the king and queen step forward, and even from across the hall you could feel the weight of the moment, the kind that'll be remembered and told for years to come. Lyra opens a small jewelled case. Inside rests the delicate platinum tiara, its fine arches cradling a single gemstone which seems to hold a fragment of the night sky. Light bends within it, shifting and deepening like a star caught at the moment it falls. A murmur passes through the crowd. Talk's voice echoes and booms over the din. The stern was carved from the heart of a fowing star. Lyra Krell continues, her tone soft but unwavering. It will gather power in the years to come, and on the day you take your crown, my daughter, it will grant you a single wish. All eyes turn to Princess Gurdy as Red String carefully lifts the tiara. For a brief, perfect moment, the world seems to hold its breath. The tiara descends. Gailerty reaches up, giggling, and the light blinks out, pluning the hall into its possible darkness. The sound collapses into suffocating silence. The buzz of the hall vanishes. Uh uh. For a single heartbeat that feels like an eternity, there's nothing. Then the light and sound crash back into the world. A gasp rises from the crowd. Red string stands frozen, hands poisoned empty where the tiara should be. The velvet case lies open. The tiara is gone. Oh

The Tiara Vanishes Investigation Countdown

Richard 58:19

dear. The king and queen leap into action, commanding their sentries to seal up the Great Hall. Commoners clam up while nobles protest. The guards move swiftly through the chamber. One of them even sets down his meat on a bone. Checking servants, entertainers, and attendants with practiced efficiency. One by one they're cleared, confused, frightened, but innocent. Parson Redstring watches in silence and speaks. This crime required precise timing and positioning. His gaze shifted to the gatherers nobles. There's a magical barrier surrounding this section of the Great Hall. The source of that magical darkness must be someone at the center of the ceremony. A hush falls over the room. No one says it aloud, but the meaning is clear. The thief is still here, and they're one of the honored guests. Parson Redstring approaches you and whispers to you conspiratorially. One of these nobles has taken the Tiara. You brought the Tiara here in the first place, so you're the only one I don't think did it. And then whispers an even quieter voice. Also you're an Imperial War hero. Please tell me right now that you didn't do it. Eyes bleeding.

Karl 59:31

Please. Uh okay, well um. I guess. I mean I need to I'm not I'm not even gonna bother answering him. I'm just gonna quickly scan the the faces of the people around here and see who if I can spot anyone who looks like they're trying to act innocent.

Richard 59:57

You know what's amazing? The actual next line of read-aloud text was you scan the nobles closest to die, so each one seems suspicious. I do enjoy that you just built that part in on your own. That's great. Uh uh, no, we're gonna start a full investigation mechanic. Ooh, investigation mechanic, alright. So I'm gonna read this one above board for those following along. I activate an investigation counter, starting with uh value equal to one plus the number of players. I'm gonna go ahead and add a couple extra to that. And put that to three. I'm gonna actually put that to four because I've been I've been counting you as three people for the sake of this one shot. Because I think that would have functioned pretty poorly if I only gave one suspect. That's true. Alright. So I've counted so I've started the counter at four. Take it down after each failed action roll. When the countdown triggers, the wish thief makes their move. Using the nobles introduced as the gifting ceremony as your primary suspects. Any one of them can become the culprit if the fiction supports it. I'm this is above four. Normally you wouldn't hear me read this out, but I think you'd piece it together. Any one of them can be the culprit if the fiction supports it, so let the player gravitate towards whoever they find most interesting or suspicious. I'm not gonna read this next part out loud, but I'll bring it back later.

Karl 1:01:22

Okay, okay.

Richard 1:01:26

And then so the gameplay loop. Determine the player's approach, establish this which is ask what they might want to do. For instance, they might want to question noble, scan the room, collect evidence, use magic, ask follow five questions to clarify what you're trying to roll, uh try to learn and the risk of you fail, make an action roll, deliver information, and repeat. Alright, so now that I've kind of explained the mechanics to our audience more so than you, I'll bring it back to normal, DD. What would you like to do? But I would in I think for my home group I will explain that there's a counter for the investigation, because I think that part is worth being above board and can be dramatic.

Karl 1:02:11

Yeah, yeah, the the giant d4 is always well, the giant die in general, but.

Richard 1:02:17

And to give you the people you saw delivered gifts, there was Baroness Araley, Count Vespio, Caldius Cumberband, Prince Helvick, and Parson Redstring. And yourself if you so choose to have stolen this. Um looking real shady.

Karl 1:02:53

The gem is supposedly uh forged from the heart of a f of a shooting of a fallen star.

Richard 1:03:01

Yes, and the idea is that you wear that crown, and then when it's time for you to ascend the club throne, it cra lets you cast a wish spell.

Karl 1:03:10

Right, right, right. Um Well I think the person that I would suspect the most uh who might have some sort of uh tie to this would be the gnome who uh the gnome who gave the expensive blankets.

Richard 1:03:31

Um but I don't really know So what are you gonna do? Standing here glaring them down channel your inner vibes out and tell me what you do Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna log up to the king and be like what's this the fallen star and where where did it come from? Roll a persuasion check 20 you would hope. You see him go, why it's my it's been in my family for generations. Um And then he goes real low and whispers, between you and me? The reason that goblins are a noble family in the empire in the first place is my great great great great great grandpappy wished it so. But we believe it was a gift from the heavens, but there's been so much propaganda over the years we probably stole it from some natural inhabitants of the region. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. He's basically like, hey, so I wished for it, which allows there to be like more equality and empire in this and that, but our ancestors probably stole it. The trash. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Much like every item in the British Museum, it probably belonged to somebody.

Karl 1:05:17

Okay, so that was what the king had to say. Anyway, sorry. Um guy brought a puppy.

Richard 1:05:36

Uh let's see.

Karl 1:05:40

Well none of my skilled creatures would my experiences would help with uh investigating a puppy to see whether or not it's really just a puppy.

Richard 1:05:50

Fair. But this does interestingly enough, this counter that's at four, only takes down on failures. You know what?

Karl 1:06:00

I am going to uh um I'm just gonna pet the dog, pet the puppy, uh, and I want to determine whether or not it's just a normal puppy, or if perhaps it might be uh someone or someone or something in disguise. Roll an instinct roll. Instinctively a leaven with fear.

Richard 1:06:28

So I'll go ahead and take this down one. So as you're petting the puppy, I'm gonna spend a fear to have you mark a stress.

Karl 1:06:36

I don't know as we try not to get stressed out by oh stressed out.

Richard 1:06:42

Stressed out, yes, you are getting stressed out by petting a puppy. That is correct.

Karl 1:06:49

Anyways, uh we go on with the explanation of how the puppy is immaculately groomed, nails are trimmed, smells of lilac and lavender.

Richard 1:07:01

Is like either this is the most maintained, politely groomed puppy in existence, or it's the shapeshifter. You're not sure which with that role. Because it's like this isn't a naturally clean puppy, but that could be because they might have had it cleaned. Right, right, that would make sense. Uh and you look over to uh Red String, and he's like, sees you putting the puppy, and like you're like feeling around, and he's like, looks quizzical at you, like, hmm. He thinks, like, you like have like a little eye contact for like, you're right, a puppy could be a person. This wasn't said out loud, but you're think you're both thinking it. You're on a similar wavelength. But it's also worth noting that every NPC introduced during the gifting ceremony has personal motivations for attending, a hidden secret they don't want resealed, and they might even have a piece of evidence or behavior that points towards their guilt. That's me giving a bit more meta text. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Karl 1:08:07

Um, Count Vespario. Can you describe Count Vespario for me again? Count Vespario.

Richard 1:08:25

Count Vespario is an elegant, poised, and flirtatious man who deflects questions with humorous charm. A diplomat with questionable loyalty who negotiates trade deals on behalf of the crown. And he brought a puppy. He did. Um So you do notice something interesting while putting this puppy. Actually, no, you don't. You didn't notice shit. You failed that role. Continue.

Karl 1:09:02

I didn't I didn't notice anything. I failed that. I failed that role. Um, okay. Yeah, okay, so I didn't notice anything about it.

Richard 1:09:10

Um I'm gonna uh walk up to uh the Camp Vesparium, um, and I'm gonna say, uh, the puppy is remarkably well roomed and and trained. Uh do you have some sort of a training facility for animals in where you come from? Go ahead and are you trying to read the response or are you trying to persuade them into talking?

Karl 1:09:39

I'm gonna say I'm trying to read the response.

Richard 1:09:42

Alright, go ahead and make an instinct roll.

Karl 1:09:48

Uh 12 with hope.

Richard 1:09:51

12 with hope. Hmm. I take down the taunter dramatically. Uh-oh. So as he goes, oh why yes, I have recently how can I put this? Been working on setting up a deal of sorts to get. We have beautifully trained and handled animals here, and we're really working on trying to export some of our domestic critters to various cities across the empire. I also believe that companionship, especially in a room full of people like this, something honest like a puppy, will really help the young princess not quite have so many have someone to talk to who's not ledgering those secrets into a notebook. Oh, oh boy, that's uh That sounds like this puppy's definitely a shapeshifter I ain't saying nothing on a twelve exporting your local critters does does that mean that it'll also be exporting uh spirits for for use in like the ships and and other forms of transport? Of course. By training and correctly caring for and maintaining our spirit brethren around us, the Empire can grow more wholesomely and be more carbon neutral.

Karl 1:11:39

Does he have any evidence on on his person that he has personally trained any of these animals or spirits?

Richard 1:11:45

Roll a knowledge check. A knowledge check, let's see. Mostly just to mix it up from instincts.

Karl 1:11:52

A seven was hope.

Richard 1:11:54

Or if you'd like to manually pat them down, you can use You can roll a I'm alright, alright. Nothing. He is wearing just a very fine uh give me a color. A stupid color, preferably, like a really specific one. Uh really sp well It doesn't have to be stupid, but it does have to be specific. I'm gonna go with Amethyst. He's wearing a lovely amethyst robe. And one of those infinity scarves. Yeah, that's pretty much what you got. Um does this end with you kicking a puppy? No, no, I'm not gonna kick the puppy. See if it turns into a person. Oh, sorry, does this end with you punching a puppy in the face? No.

Karl 1:12:58

Um I'm still pretty suspicious of the of the blanket for some reason. It's a very nice blanket. It's a very nice blanket.

Richard 1:13:09

It's kind of funny, is because it has some of that flour stitched right into it, if you're to like throw it on someone who is suffering a little bit from the petrification sickness, it would like alleviate mild symptoms.

Karl 1:13:23

Oh, I see.

Richard 1:13:26

Like it wouldn't cure it, but like it would triage it nicely.

Karl 1:13:32

Do I see anyone who seems to be afflicted with the serpent sickness? Uh go ahead and roll knowledge or instinct.

Richard 1:13:39

And you could absolutely add experiences to these. This feels like something they would apply to.

Karl 1:13:45

Yeah, my medical training for sure. I'm gonna go for knowledge with medical training. Uh cost two hope to do an experience? One hope. And it gives you plus two. Uh can you apply more than one experience? If they're applicable, yes. For additional hope to I feel like an uh amateur bioterrorist might actually help the fly here too. I hate how that's true.

Richard 1:14:13

I I am compelled to allow this. Alright!

Karl 1:14:19

Whoa, critical success. So regain a hope, clear my stress from petting that puppy.

Richard 1:14:28

Such a good sentence. Alright, so you notice a couple things. So, first you notice that the Baroness, who was the one that gave lead toy blocks, is actually missing an ear. And it was surgically removed. And from like the screen and the way they carterized it, it looks like they were getting serpent sickness and cut off the infection before it could spread. Uh-huh. Okay, okay. Count Vespero, no look of an illness on him at all whatsoever. Prince Halvik. Mm-hmm. He's young. It's would be really hard to tell, but like he does look like he's really he's weirdly underweight for a prince. There could be something medically ill. Huh? He's the gnome? Yeah, he's the gnome prince. Who seems like he's underweight. And then. The clank? It'd be really hard to tell if it had serpent sickness. Nearly impossible. Was that role, though? It does.

Karl 1:15:45

The clank has serpent sickness.

Richard 1:15:48

Yes. But it's been treated by chopping off its arms and legs. This was a person originally. And its soul got transferred into a clank body. Oh, I see, I see you. Which didn't occur to you as an option, actually, quite frankly. You're like, wait, you're like, runes, medical, you're like, holy shit. You just realized if you're rich enough, they can just full-on million dollar man rebuild your body with magical runes and golems and things. Like it wasn't a soul transfer, they like literally just RoboCoped him.

Karl 1:16:29

Uh alright, alright.

Richard 1:16:32

Um And I wasn't with that role. The prince is standing in a different place before and after the blackout. The prince. And the Baroness has some sort of residue of dust on their fingertips. Oh boy. What would you like to do? The counter only goes down on failures, which you've done a lot of.

Karl 1:17:03

I'm going to uh approach the prince. Um how do you how do you subtly ask someone if they're well?

Richard 1:17:26

Also, the prince is like four. What? He's not a very old prince. He like was a kid that walked up. It was hard to tell originally because he is a gnome. But this is a child. This is a child. Well, I certainly hope so, because it says in the lore document that they're a possible future husband for this one-year-old on the throne, so. Although it's a one-year-old goblin. How old do you think a one-year-old goblin would be in comparison to a gnome so we can figure out an appropriate age to not Epstein this prince? I'm gonna say goblins age faster, they feel like they would. So I'm gonna say Prince Helvik is five, and the goblin is one, but they grow up faster, but have the same final lifespans. They just the goblins age faster when they're children. Mm-hmm. That seems reasonable? Okay. A five-year-old feels like they could walk down an altar and hand someone a blanket successfully.

Karl 1:18:27

Uh well, I mean, I'm I'm gonna walk up to the gnome child and be like, oh.

Richard 1:18:34

Are you alright? Are you are you are you feeling scanner? Roll a presence check.

Karl 1:18:44

A 12 with home.

Richard 1:18:47

Do you have any experiences you like to apply? Normally it's before the roll, but I feel bad for you.

Karl 1:18:52

Um well, okay, so Prince Halvik his his parents aren't anywhere near around, are they?

Richard 1:19:01

Um, they seem to not be like so everyone within the magic field is being questioned. The parents are outside it. So they could not have cast magical darkness from outside it.

Karl 1:19:12

No, no, no. I I feel like abandonment issues might apply here.

Richard 1:19:15

Yes, I'll allow it. Okay, so this is Canon, just written on the sheet, forced to attend by his parents. Okay.

Karl 1:19:31

Uh so yeah, 14 with hope.

Richard 1:19:36

So he's an incredibly bored young gnome. And he seems to be hiding something behind his back, and he's scared. But he's more scared that you've gotten close. And it's like he's like a child holding something not supposed to has like shifted and turned away from you.

Karl 1:19:53

Uh, I see.

Richard 1:19:59

Nothing younger. You know what if if you don't tell the truth, it'll it'll only get worse. Well, the thing is, um I stole the present we were supposed to give, and I gave them my bike in and says so I could keep the present. So this kid gave gave us a present, his inhaler, so we could keep the actual present for context. Oh. His inhaler. Because it's a magic blanket that keeps the disease at bay that has him sick, and he gave that away so he could keep the gift for himself. I see, I see. Uh that's so funny. So the written thing, like, to metagame, is it says swap the present he was supposed to give with something else, and it's so funny he randomly was given the super expensive gift. Because I just love the idea that this child gave away his most valuable possession to keep the actual present for himself. That is pretty funny. I gave away my EpiPen at school for his Beyblade, is basically what happened. For the record, behind him is a ornate obsidian box. Well, more like eminence. I see, I see. You could probably take it from the small child if you really wanted to. No, no, no. Uh no, I I understand how you feel, but I you know the blanket that you gave away is is to help you stay well, so so perhaps you should give the proper gift to to the princess. I don't wanna boring and stuffy in here.

Karl 1:22:20

Like cinnamon, oh wait, hmm. He doesn't like the smell of cinnamon?

Richard 1:22:28

Apparently. Do it that what you will. Also, just to explain metagame-wise, if you decisively accuse a suspect before the timer runs out, a thing happens. So mechanically, you have one turn left on the timer. You have to choose who your suspect is definitively, like X is the X is the killer or what have you, to end this scenario. If you can't identify before the encounter triggers, a different thing happens. Um meta question for you. Do you think I should tell my players that they have to definitively pick someone before the counter runs out? Or should I just like keep taking it down and like pressuring them until they figure it out?

Karl 1:23:16

Uh no, I I definitely think that that. I I think that you probably should let them know that they can accuse a suspect. I think I'll do that when it hits one. Like I'll be like, by the way. If you figure it out, you can accuse a suspect. Otherwise, the time will run out and something will happen.

Richard 1:23:41

Yeah, that's kind of what I did to you as I waited until it got to one to be like, oh, by the way, you can end this at any time metagame-wise.

Karl 1:23:47

Yeah, no, see. I'm very suspicious of Count Vaspario. But uh I'm gonna continue with this line of questioning.

Richard 1:23:57

Who's the who uh can you who smells like cinnamon? I'm gonna say to the child. Alright, make another persuasion check. Uh sorry, presence check. And it has to be one higher than the last one because it's the same skill twice in a row, and that's not in the rules. I just do that to people.

Karl 1:24:16

Twenty-two with hope.

Richard 1:24:17

Twenty-two with hope. Oh yeah. That one and points to the baroness. The baroness smells like cinnamon. Mm-hmm.

Karl 1:24:31

Uh uh. The uh from here, can I tell whether or not the residue on her hands is in fact cinnamon?

Richard 1:24:42

I'm gonna say I'll let you a piece that mystery together. Okay, so I'm gonna do it. However, because you rolled well, the residue of the dust is cinnamon, which is used as a magical component for some kinds of spells. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And you're still right on the edge of this investigation coming to a close one way or another.

Karl 1:25:09

Mm-hmm. Uh, do I happen to know uh what kinds of spells Cinnamon is used to cast? That would be a knowledge check. Let's see. Um would amateur bioterrorists account? No. No. Just figure give it a try.

Richard 1:25:31

Uh 15 with fear. 15 with fear. So I'm going to say arbitrarily that cinnamon is used in fire spells. That makes sense. That is why I said it. So this game doesn't technically have spell components, but we're good. We're good. I've allowed it.

Karl 1:26:00

I will remember this cinnamon and it will come back to haunt you somehow.

Richard 1:26:03

Oh yeah, you're gonna like put barrels of cinnamon next to the dragon and use it to cast a giant fireball. Anyways, um.

Karl 1:26:17

Okay. Uh well, you know what? I I think my last thing I'm gonna I'm gonna attempt to investigate uh the uh action figure.

Richard 1:26:29

Okay, go ahead and roll either knowledge or instinct, depending on what you want to figure out.

Karl 1:26:35

Well, can I roll finesse to try and tinker with it? Absolutely. Uh let us roll finesse.

Richard 1:26:46

19 with fear. So, I will use that fear and I'll have you mark a stress as you fiddle with it. Uh-huh. And mark a hit point as you cut the tip of your finger on the little bayonet it's holding. Oh dear. However, it does pop open and you find there's a gem inside it. A gem? Mm-hmm. With your roll, you know that this is an basically what this figurine does is if a spell would be cast at the princess, it redirects the figurine and breaks the figurine to one time negate a spell. Oh. So it's a protective charm. I see. Okay, okay. Which is funny that you cut yourself on a protective charm. I've just been stockpiling Saphier and I felt the need to spend some. I so rarely use the takeaway a hit point use of a fear, but I used it for cut yourself on action figure. I almost always, if I spend a fear to directly do a hit point, it has to be for something stupid. It has to be stepped on a D tet four kind of situations.

Karl 1:28:08

Okay. So the Baroness had powder on her fingers. The prince had moved away because he had given the wrong gift. The client gave a protective churn. Uh I I think I'm just gonna use Captain Vesparia.

Richard 1:28:26

Yes! The noble freezes and smiles. Clever. What are you accusing me of, sir? Uh first it's madam. And and second, I I suspect uh that you have stolen the gem to be able to make a wish to uh enhance your your trade empire and a magical burst of light and sound fills the hall, overwhelming your senses. Make an instant reaction roll. Oh dear. Instinct reaction roll. Uh 18. By the time the days pass, the thief is gone. High above you, a stained glass window has been shattered outward to city beyond. What do you do?

Karl 1:29:16

Um high above me, huh? Like how high above me?

Richard 1:29:23

Uh I have a diagram. It amuses me I specifically have a diagram for this. Which you can also download this adventure off the crit roll shop on Barrington Press. Boop. Also, uh this diagram doesn't actually assume that this guy's always guilty, I want to be clear. There's a dice I rolled for who was guilty. But it looks like the dude I described, right? Like that played out kinda perfectly.

Karl 1:30:01

Uh well, I mean, okay, so like can I like run and jump and try and jump through that state window like he did?

Richard 1:30:08

Uh yes. Give me one second.

Chase Through Night Festival And Disguises

Richard 1:30:12

So, on act four we have moved to a chase. Okay. And you see that, oh, I forgot a detail that their form flickers and smears like paint running in the rain. They dropped a disguise spell and then jumped out the window. I see, I see. And then. Good to hear. In this act, I'm just kind of reading some meta text, we've started up a dim dine uh dynamic counter, which involves critical successes getting you closer, success getting you closer, failure getting you further away. And we're beginning this chase mechanic. So as you pursue the thief, describe how the festival has transformed since before the gifting ceremony. As the sun goes down, how does the celebration change? So Burrowbo chase, which is an event block. There is two counters going a progress counter and a consequence counter. If the PC's identified the thief before the previous scene, tick down progress by two. Ooh, nice. Because you know who you're looking for. And then a consequence counter. So the progress is at six, the consequence is at five. If you've identified the thief, da-da-da-da-da. Alright. So, as you begin to run through the city. Right, right. Based on how this chase plays out, they either you'll catch them or they'll be able to have a chance to set traps for you in various things. Mm-hmm. So normally there'd be like a, it's kind of like the previous guild challenge, we go around players, say what they do to catch them. For this one, we'll try and speed run this. So, as you pursue the seat, what do you do?

Karl 1:32:06

Well, okay, so firstly, I just want to make note uh that the uh water columns that they have around the city, uh they uh shine magical lights in them to use them kind of like fiber optic cables to to uh light the city at night for the for the festival. So it's very bright and colorful. Uh but secondly, uh I think I need to spend a stress to uh swap out how do you action. Well, not mechanically I know what I'm what I need to do.

Richard 1:32:40

But interface-wise, you're still fighting with it.

Karl 1:32:45

Yeah, in any event, I guess I just need to spend two stress because I need to spend one stress uh to um swap out the move. Uh, and I need to spend another stress to move use the move uh because I would like to swap out to my deft maneuvers. Uh, okay. Uh once per rest, I may mark a stress to sprint anywhere within far range without making an agility roll to get there.

Richard 1:33:12

Okay, so I'm gonna count that as an immediate success on this counter. Uh so normally you'd roll for it. So normally it's like the various successes show how much this ticks down. I'm counting this as a success with hope. So you don't have to roll for it, you just succeeded on your first roll as you're getting closer.

Karl 1:33:35

Uh, but he's not within mainly range then.

Richard 1:33:38

Uh, you see them sweeping through the king. I'm gonna spend a fear to use hide-and-place spite sight. So you see them land in the crowd, running through it through the pyrotechnics. You're doing your high-speed approach, you're probably within medium range to them. And then there's a little flash of light, and they've shapeshifted into another form. Make an instinct reaction roll. Instinct reaction roll, Charles.

Karl 1:34:04

Instinctively 13.

Richard 1:34:07

13 is what you needed. You can you look over and you don't catch them based on their shape. You catch them because you see some of those beautiful jewel-colored threads from their scarf. Okay, okay. Um what did she disguise herself as?

Karl 1:34:33

Um, uh you know Mr. Tibnas from the Chronicles Army episode. Yes. Yes. Yes, that's that's their disguise. Excellent. Um what would you like to do? Um, but they're kind of in a crowd of people, right? Yeah. Uh I would like to um exert some uh like I would like to intimidate the crowd into dispersing so that I have a clearer line of sight to try and run and catch this person.

Richard 1:35:11

Alright, roll a presence check for me. Presents 15 with hope. 15's pretty good. So now the catch them counters down to two. Okay, okay. As the root you basically part the Red Sea, as no one wants to get in the way of that war hero who punched 60 men to death. Right, right. They're just like, nope out of the way, and they're just that awkward moment where everyone sidesteps and you're just standing there by yourself. They're just like, wait. Like they miss the cue to move into the crowd. You just see them standing there within far range, kind of spooked.

Karl 1:35:50

Um, I mean, I think I just need to to book it and try and catch them.

Richard 1:35:56

Alright. Um go ahead and roll acrobatics or strength, depending how you want to do this. Sorry, athletic. Um, I'm just rolling I'm going for agility. Ooh, only a nine with oh. So as you run to them, and your failure with fear ticks down their escape counter a lot, you're making good speed. You're catching them, you see them within your grasp, and one of the fountains shoots up, it just hits you directly in the eye. Hmm. And knocks you completely, you tumble onto the ground, you just got hit so hard by this water fountain. As you're disorienting and losing track of them, you s like another bright light comes off them. Go ahead and make a instinct reaction roll. Instinct reaction roll? A twelve. Twelve, if it meets, it beats. You do see her shift herself into what looks surprisingly like the local Tanyoon hero. The one with the mighty statue, the mighty, muscular, mildly racist half orc. Okay.

Karl 1:37:02

Ironically, it says town is run by goblins. Beautiful. It really is. So what are you gonna do?

Richard 1:37:08

Uh are there any pebbles or rocks on the on the ground? Um, not only are there some rocks, but there's also just like festival trash. So like popsicle sticks and things. A syringe.

Karl 1:37:22

Uh I'm not maybe that syringe, you never know when that might be useful. Go ahead and add a used syringe to your inventory.

Richard 1:37:36

No. That's gonna be what kills the big bat of the campaign. I know it now. You're just gonna syringe them with that bioweapon you had with you and just be like, and what'd you do? Oh, I threw a syringe full of anthrax at bin Laden and the campaign ended.

Karl 1:37:54

But no, uh, I I want to see if I can find a rock uh and maybe uh throw it so that I can like hit them in the leg and knock them over.

Richard 1:38:03

Okay, you can tell me which stat you use, because your strength is basically willpower based. So it could be presence if you want, because that's like your main that's how you unarmed attack, but it could just be strength or finesse.

Karl 1:38:17

Well, I mean, I was thinking more so finesse. Uh but I was hoping that I could use my uh vital experience.

Richard 1:38:26

I'll allow it. But I'm gonna spend a fear to have the Tide Festival go or split a PC off from the party. Split. So while you were running and doing this, Chase, that red threads guy was coming along and helping the entire time and you never noticed, but then you've recently lost him. Oh fear. It's just I find it funny when there's a mechanic that shows up that's like for the other players like, oh, right. Friends. Uh I I rolled a 20 with fear. 20 with fear. So Huh. Amusingly, the progress and consequence both hit zero at the exact same time. Well. So as the sun goes down and the rock strikes their calf and they tumble over. Apparently, there's actually a clause for a tie, so I'm gonna read the clauses out loud because this is the meta-game play along. If the consequence countdown triggers first, the third thief would have arrived at the dockyard and set up traps. If you got there first, you would have cut the thief off at the pass and waiting for them when they arrive at the dockyard. If both happened simultaneously, you gain a fear, and the spotlight swings to the players. So I'm back up to four fear. Spotlight is yours, and I'll set the stage a bit. Okay. The start of the encounter was Saiva Darth Feather, Witch Thief. And the number of other things are based on a table. Alright. Considering you don't have any other players with you. Mm-hmm. I think it's going to just be her.

Dockside Fight Keep Away Crown Chaos

Richard 1:40:08

And I'm just giving a second to because like I said, I didn't read this adventure in advance to see how tricky it would be. So, now that the stars are out. Okay, that's cool. Sorry, I'm monologuing a bit. So you find yourself at the docks, which are mostly deserted while the first day festival is in full swing. There is a couple drunk past out people by the side, and you see a short, red-headed, androgynous goblin throwing up on the ground. Okay, okay. But turn is yours. You do see Sabafa Darkfeather, an illusion-wielding master, who is impersonating this noble, standing within far range of you. We are currently in a combat scenario. There may or may not be other people around, you don't spot any. What would you like to do? I do enjoy you stopped her from running by hitting her in the hamstring of a rock.

Karl 1:41:07

Uh so I used my death maneuvers already. Yeah. Once per rest. So I guess I I just need to make an agility roll to close the distance because she said she's far range away, right? Yep. Making that agility roll. Critical success.

Richard 1:41:35

Oh damn. So clear a stress, gate of hope, and be there. And spotlight is still yours. Um well now.

Karl 1:41:49

I think I just need to start punching the crap out of this person, but non-lethal.

Richard 1:41:55

Go ahead and make your attack roll.

Karl 1:41:58

I'm gonna roll for attack.

Richard 1:42:02

Oh, only a ten with fear. Holy. A ten with fear does not do it at all. No, I don't imagine it would. Alright. So, as you go to punch her and just kind of you punch where the face should be, and it goes through like an illusion of that elf. And as you punch it away, you see her in her true form, which seems to have like a tall fairy with like almost like wasp wings coming off her back. Oh dear. And she's gonna use her quick hands ability. Okay. I roll does a 13 hit. It does not. Damn. Alright, turn orders back to you.

Karl 1:42:50

Uh yeah, I mean I'm just gonna try and punch her again. 13 with fear?

Richard 1:43:01

Nope.

Karl 1:43:04

Man, I'm sorry, you must have really shook me.

Richard 1:43:08

You did get slapped off a cliff. I'm gonna say canonically, you have three broken ribs, a cracked femur. And when you sit down, your leg just kind of squeaks a bit. Okay. Alright. So, I'm gonna use their quick hand's ability again as they pull the Sileto knife out of their belt and go for your jugular. 18? Oh dear. 18 does hit. Okay, you take ten physical damage. And here where it gets fun. As they go to slash you with their left hand, their right hand reaches for your pocket. What consumable items do you currently have on you? Um, I have no cheesh. Okay. I have no poison left.

Karl 1:44:08

Uh I assume I don't have any Gorgon root poison left.

Richard 1:44:13

Okay.

Karl 1:44:14

I do have a bunch of shark teeth. Uh premium bedroll. I assume I actually still have this portal seed. Yep. Uh I think I drank yeah, I drank my Sun Tree Saf.

Richard 1:44:29

Alright. So I am going to go ahead and roll a dice here. And you're gonna count the number of items down your item list, and whatever number you get. Do you have less than 10 things? Um, so what I'm gonna do is I'm rolling a D20, and you're gonna count down the list, a loop if you get to the bottom and keep start going again, for what she steals off you. Yeah. 17. Note your vial of actual war crime is in your inventory. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.

Karl 1:45:16

Uh, looks like she steals my used syringe. Your used syringe has been stolen by this enemy. No!

Richard 1:45:26

I need that! Uh also you took some damage, that happened too.

Karl 1:45:31

That did happen. I did take a take a hit point.

Richard 1:45:34

Alright, so turn I'm going to spend a fear, and the Dark Feather assassin just comes out of the shower behind you and tries to shive you in the back. I would have a dear. So that is a 16 to hit? Uh. Oh, they have advantage of a on their attacks while hidden. That is a 17 to hit. Uh 17 does hit. Okay, so you take eleven points of physical damage. Mm-hmm. And because of their out of nowhere ability, you've been hit by Dark Feather Venom. A target who marks an HP from this attack is vulnerable until they heal back in HP. Oh dear. Oh dear. Vulnerable. Mm-hmm. So whenever you take damage, it's an extra d6 damage. I see, I see. Turn is yours. So now there's one stabbing you in the front, stole your syringe, which means it didn't stend the actual viral cultures, which is good.

Karl 1:46:44

Yeah, yeah. Um, no, I'm gonna uh I'm just gonna keep punching out the actual thief. Maybe eventually uh my crack ribs will stop hurting so much.

Richard 1:46:56

So I'm just kind of looking at your inventory, and I don't see your like actual poison in it. So I'm gonna say on a 20 they steal your actual war crime poison.

Karl 1:47:05

Yeah, okay. Um inventory management on Yeah, we'll get that anyway. Uh point of the matter is that I managed to roll another 11 with spear.

Richard 1:47:19

This is the worst you've ever done in a fight. Yes, it is. So this dragon, I like for the narrative, this is great, because like as you go to punch, you realize, oh, it feels like gravel under my skin where I dislocated my shoulder from that dragon attack. I'm gonna spend uh fear to give you a stress because you're fighting so badly. Okay. Alright, I'm gonna go ahead and use my quickhands action again, which might be my favorite attack I've seen in this game so far, because I kind of low-key love an attack that steals items. Right, right. Uh nine? A nine does not hit. Alright, I'm gonna spend one of my many fear to then have the assassin take a shot at you. He's no longer hidden, so he doesn't get us out of nowhere. Do do do do do do 18? 18 does hit. You take four points of physical damage. Oh sorry, I roll another, because you're vulnerable, you take eight points of physical damage. Alright. The person who beats 60 men in a fight is currently losing to do. Turn zero.

Karl 1:48:50

Okay. Well, I'm going to I marked a hit point, so I'm gonna mark a stress uh to um feral.

Richard 1:49:02

Not oh not feral, but describe the transformation to our fine viewers, please.

Karl 1:49:09

Um well so I kind of uh like to think that um because I'm a homunculus, uh that's like uh stone stone protrusions kind of like uh form over my fists, and uh like my face kind of like a stone onimask kind of comes over my face.

Richard 1:49:33

I just kind of look like a like yeah. That is sick, yeah.

Karl 1:49:39

Uh but now I uh should be able to actually punch these dudes because I added d10 to my attack rules. Okay, go ahead and make your attack. Only a 14 with hope, which actually marks the stress.

Richard 1:50:00

Sorry, what?

Karl 1:50:01

How much was it? Uh it does. 14 hits. Alright. Well, they're getting smacked in the face real good then. Roll uh thirty damage. Uh but I'm gonna mark another stress and I'm gonna try and combo off.

Richard 1:50:19

So their threshold is 16, so that's funny, because you need to double that.

Karl 1:50:25

Uh I rolled an 8 on my first combo die.

Richard 1:50:32

Oh, okay, so 42 uh damage. So they mark four hit points, and they're looking. So this fight's been going, they're like dodging, dodging, dodging. You're like, heh, what are you gonna do? And then the brass knuckles on your fist connect direct made out of stone fragments, connect directly to their face. And like you see the distortion, you hear the crack as the nose goes sideways. You hear the jaw, like you hear the orbital bones crack. And much like a scene out of Baki, that punch caused them to twist and to contort in the air and do like they skipped across the ground like a stone.

Karl 1:51:09

Um Okay, wait, wait, just one second, actually. Um, because on a successful attack, I can spend a hope and mark another stress, and I'm gonna throw them within close range, and I will throw them at the assassin.

Richard 1:51:28

So there's actually rules for this, surprisingly. Give me one moment. I have to actually look these up because this doesn't come often. But basically, you can fall sideways in Daggerheart. Okay. So what happens here is them. I'm gonna split the damage between the two of them, but there is rules for collision damage. Okay, okay. So you threw them to very close range, so roll one d10 plus three. Uh oh, apparently, never mind, it's one d20 plus 5. 1d20 plus 5? Yeah. That is 14. 14. So the other guy, the assassin, gets clocked pretty hard here as the assassin takes three uh two points of damage from just being impacted by their boss. As they skip like a stone, bounce up the ground, and then smack. Like, remember that scene Dragon Ball Z A Bridge where Krillin, like, catches Vegeta? It's like, what happened to you, Krillin? Catching Vegeta really broke my body. Alright. So, as the sun has fully gone down, you do see in the hands of Sabina Darkfeather, the Tiara begins to glow of starlight. The person holding the tiara is favored by fortune. While favored, they have advantage on attack rolls and can't become hidden. A combatant can take the tiara with a successionful action roll against the bearer. The bearer drops the tiara if they take severe damage or greater. So the tiara is sitting in the middle of the floor. I was supposed to communicate to this to you at the start of the fight, such as life. So the keep away is an event card that says at the start of the scene the person holding it has advantage on their rolls but can't hide. And an adversary can throw the tiara to an ally within far range. Each time the PC passes within close range, they can make a f uh uh finesse roll to try and intercept it. Uh okay.

Karl 1:53:39

But so the tiara is with on the ground?

Richard 1:53:41

Uh no, I'm spending a fear, so as they go get knocked by you, and the tiara is about to hit the ground, they frisbee throw it, and then an unseen third person grabs it. But I can make a finesse roll to try and intercept it? Correct, as they're throwing towards the Arcanist, the third person in this fight who's been waiting to show up. Finesse 13 with fear. 13 does it. You manage to just catch this Tiara. Nice! Fear, so turn goes over to me. And now that this Arcanist has revealed themselves, I'm gonna spend a fear, bringing me down to two fear, to use Bolt Volley. A bunch of magical sparkle light beams shoot towards you. Make a presence reaction roll.

Karl 1:54:25

Okay, presence reaction roll. Uh do I gain anything for the tiara? Um, do-do-do. The advantage is just on attack rolls? On attack rolls, it cannot become hidden. Okay, so it's just Vanessa.

Richard 1:54:41

And you can just make a roll to take it from people too. Uh 16, you said? Yes.

Karl 1:54:46

Oh, sorry, that was a present reaction, you said, right?

Richard 1:54:49

Yeah. Yeah, so 16. So you take half damage from this barrage, so you take five magic damage. Instead of what would have been.

Karl 1:54:59

Alright. Uh, and then turn orders back to me, or do you have more fish?

Richard 1:55:06

Yeah, turnovers back to me.

Karl 1:55:07

Uh, back to you.

Richard 1:55:09

Turn over's mine, because I said so.

Karl 1:55:17

Alright, well, um I am going to uh skin. Okay, so what happens when I untransfer? When you mark your last dress in local room, you go into a frenzy. Yeah, okay. Um then I I am going to um mark a stress uh to um use my powerhouse ability that lets me uh target two creatures within mainly range with a single attack roll. Alright. Alright, I'm gonna just punch at the assassin and the uh other person because I assume they're jumbled on top of each other.

Richard 1:56:16

Oh yeah. Also, you get an extra d6 to your roll because you're where you're holding the crown. Oh, they are gonna get hit so uh that 28 with hope.

Karl 1:56:29

That'll hit. Uh okay. So when you mark your last stress. Um when I mark my last stress is when I uh drop out a wolf form. Do I go into the frenzy before I make my attack, or do I go into the new frenzy after I make my attack? After. Okay, so I do get to roll for damage on this attack. Yes. And damage is another 30 damage.

Richard 1:57:06

So as you punch them both, I'm you So you didn't want to do lethal damage in this circumstance, right? Not really, no. So you not, but So you back at you trunks Vegeta slap the back of the first one's neck and it just passes out. It's oh cold, no question. The thief itself, you do like a really strong torso punch. But when Sabbath marks her last HP, you see like another illusion around her fade away. She grows taller, the wings on her back unfold into wasp wings, and stingers come out of like the top of her wrists. Okay. And as she turns into this tall fairy with these m increasingly hornet-like features and compound eyes, she has entered Vespid form. And has gotten back up. However, you're about to go into a frenzy.

Karl 1:58:05

Uh, and uh I deal uh a number of D20s equal to my tier, and automatically deal physical damage to all creatures within very close range.

Richard 1:58:16

So you're tier two or three? I think you're three. Tier three. Three It'd be so funny if you do like three damage. Uh let's see.

Karl 1:58:29

And an extra 55 damage.

Richard 1:58:33

So remember that person who was like a small androgynous goblin that was throwing up on the deck? They're dead. Mm-hmm. Ooh, dang it. They're just paste. So Sabina Darkfeather in their true form has a threshold of 16 and 9 HP. Oh, okay. So 16, 32, 48. So I think you broke their tier four times over. So I'm gonna say you deal six damage to her? Okay, okay. So she's still standing. I want you to know. But so I'm thinking this was like a I'm thinking of Pride from Full Metal Alchemist, where like your body's stone forms just shapeshift into like mouths and eyes and fangs and things and just stab out in all directions. And like literally, like shadow skeletons just like stone forms just turn into jaws and snap one of them in half, murder the other one, the third person looks at you and is just dead. This person is holding their side fucked up, and as your eyes come to, your transformation dropped. They're still standing there, and you just see the three dead bodies, and this person locking eyes with you in horror. Uh turnover's still yours.

Karl 2:00:02

Uh well now I guess I could like I'm not in wolf form anymore, but I I just gotta try and punch them. Um yeah.

Richard 2:00:15

Okay, I'm gonna 16 with fear. 16 hits. Go ahead and roll damage. You have to get above a 16 to take her out.

Karl 2:00:26

Uh another wow, I'm rolling really good on damage. That's 30 damage.

Richard 2:00:30

So, I'm gonna use stinging repose as a reaction by spending my second last fear. Make an agility reaction roll. Agility reaction roll 11. 11. They shoot a stinger out of the wrist at you. Uh-huh. And yeah, 11's not very good. You take five points of damage. Okay. And because it's poisoned, you also mark a stress.

Karl 2:01:04

Uh, okay. Well, I'm gonna have to spend an armor slot to reduce the regular damage so I don't die to the stress.

Richard 2:01:12

Amusingly, in reaction roles, you can spend a hope if you think your experiences matter. Being a doctor could matter if you're being poisoned. Just for future rolls, because that would be phasing. I'm gonna spend my last fear. She has Relentless, so I can spotlight her up to two times per turn. Okay, okay. And if I make a successful attack against a PC, I gain a fear. Okay. And I'm going to go ahead and shoot the other second stinger at you.

Karl 2:01:44

Shoot the second stinger. Well, okay. Um I cause an adversary to um to mark three hit points, yes or no?

Richard 2:01:59

Yes. Alright, so she's dead. So she goes to fire her shot and then just collapses to the ground. Knocked unconscious because you weren't feral at the time.

Karl 2:02:14

Okay, so I don't actually need to even bother to try and erase my vision.

Richard 2:02:18

She's out. Out cold. Her two associates, piles of blood on the deck along with one civilian. Oh yeah. And you see it running around the corner, that noble from before looks at you, looks at the blood coverage of your hand, the two pastes. What do you say to Parson Redstring? Who just sees two dead assassins, a dead civilian, and an unconscious Wasp fairy?

Karl 2:02:49

I am just going to. You're wearing the Tiara. No, I'm just gonna hand him the Tiara and then collapse.

Richard 2:02:57

Alright. So

Return The Tiara Rewards And Fallout

Richard 2:03:00

about I don't know, I'll say you take a short rest here just for the sake of convenience, we won't roll that out. As you return to the Great Hall, Tiara in Redquest hands. The gather nobles part before you. They're whispers trailing in your wake. At the far end, King Tulric and Queen Likra rise as you approach. For a moment no one speaks. Then you present the Tiara, and the entire assemblage breathes a collective sigh of relief. Tulric straps forward, taking the Tiara in both hands. His grip tightens just slightly before he exhales. You have done the kingdom a great service. Beside him, Lakara's gaze softens as she looks to you, measured, but undeniably grateful. You have returned more than a gift, she says quietly. You have preserved our future. She kneels, gently placing the tiara upon Princess Gurdy's head. The gemstone catches the light, and just for a moment the colors shift within ever so slightly. Gurdy giggles, reaching up with both hands delighted. The tension in the hall dissolves into relieved laughter and applause. You will always be welcome in Bank Barrow. The court regards you now with respect and perhaps expectation. Tok turns back to you. Name your reward, he says, gold, land, title, or a favor yet to be called. So, discuss amongst yourselves, players, which one of the if you'd like one of the following? A property? A role within the court? Loot, perhaps one of the gifts presented to Gertie earlier, gold and lots of it. The king and queen are truly thankful to the party and grant them their boon before raising a toast to them. Try to end the scene on a high point, such as a laugh line or a callback. If all else fails, describe Gertie doing something cute, like honking a PC's nose or gurgling out her first full sentence. Oh man, what does Lara want? Well how much gold do I even have? Um I think what I want is uh I think I need like a um case of potions. Okay. So technically you only have like five consumable items lots in Daggerheart. Oh, really? Yeah, technically. So I haven't really been enforcing that, but for the sake of like convenience, I'm just gonna double check the rules on consumables here. Which would help if I could spell the word consumable. Consumable. Words are hard, okay? You can hold up to five of each consumable at a time. Oh, five of each consumable. So I'm gonna say you can go ahead and add five health potions to your inventory.

Karl 2:06:17

Five minor health potions or just regular health potions?

Richard 2:06:20

Just regular health potions. Oh. For some reason I thought it was. I'm not sure why, but originally I thought it was just five consumable items total. Although I do feel like enforcing that does reduce the amount of random crab players get. But I'm gonna say you also can get a property. Ooh, nice. So next session we'll have it start with you describing your property you were given with your minor noble title.

Karl 2:06:55

Uh sorry, just just wanted a buttons back in at the last moment. I seem to have put pushed the button on the side of my earbuds.

Richard 2:07:02

Why are you so bad? Welcome back. I'm back. So at the start of next session, you can describe your property with your minor noble title. I kind of like the idea of getting something like chief mailman.

Karl 2:07:19

Chief mailman.

Richard 2:07:21

Uh uh, so I'm just kind of looking at like some of the titles that these other nobles have. So you wouldn't be a count, a baronet, or a duchess, or a duke, but I think you got a lord title or lady title, if you so desire. Or a sir. And that's where we'll wrap up. But we'll do a bit of reflection before I click close on it.

Design Debrief Mystery Structure And Props

Richard 2:07:43

How did you feel about this adventure? Um.

Karl 2:07:52

It was a lot of fun.

Richard 2:07:56

Uh I will say, it's always funny to try and balance fight encounters from one person, though, because it's like. Originally I'm like, oh, just the boss will be fine, but I'm like, actually your damage output is stupid. So like I had you fight one less fight than normal, but this is like a level one event, so I'm like, okay, you can be I could be a little mean here. I think I balanced it well. I'm sure you didn't have a ton left.

Karl 2:08:26

Uh, I would I was burning through stress, and I only had one hit point left.

Richard 2:08:32

I mean, to be fair, you would have been rescued in this circumstance. I had an NPC right around the corner. Although it would have been really funny if you're like, no, I choose Blaze of Glory now. I'm like, here's where you not the versus the dragon, here's where you choose Blaze of Glory. Oh.

Karl 2:08:52

The um the werewolf transformation, it's that's what the card is called, anyways. Yeah. Um that is the drawback of deal uh of potentially dealing that frenzy damage to your allies is For a single-player campaign, the werewolf transformation is basically just upside.

Richard 2:09:16

I mean, yes and no, because I do always make sure you kill a civilian and write it down. That's true. So, like, to be fair, you did murder that guy. Ah, that poor drunken goblin. That poor drunken goblin could have been really important. Like, imagine this transformation had happened with one of the nobles near you. Or like if they had taken the princess hostage and you did that. Yeah, yeah, that's true. But yeah, I really liked how this one was designed. There's a couple prop things I didn't do. So there's little cutouts for the nobles. Okay. And the idea is that there's also little cutouts for the gifts. Where you give each person a pro a card to write what the gift is, and then you give each person a card for the noble, and you kinda like shuffle them. Yeah, okay. I don't know if like that would have really changed much at all.

Karl 2:10:23

Because I was like for the. I feel like it feels like it would have gone basically the same, except for it be a little bit less work for you to describe everything.

Richard 2:10:34

Because I still would have described it anyway, probably. Because the idea is everyone writes down their gift, hands me the stack of cards back, I shuffle that, I shuffle the stack of nobles. What's funny about the murder mystery though, to spoilers, don't listen to this part if you're planning to play in this adventure soon. Is the actual quote for the murder mystery is funny. Let me find it here. This part I did not read aloud to you. Okay. Don't pre-select a thief. Instead, let the culprit be the first suspect the players commit to on a basis of real evidence. Try and do the following. Seed suspicion broadly, reinforce players' theories, quietly align clues to support their conclusion. Don't introduce misleading clues of red herrings, the players will provide plenty of their own. If the player strongly selects someone other than the noble, such as Parson Red String himself, use a blank card to add them to the lineup. So it's basically if you think that their crime solving is good, then the person they picked is correct. Right. So it's like if the player discuss decisively excuses the suspect in reliable evidence, trigger the countdown, and then it was the fairy person in an illusion, no matter what, anyway. Right, right. And then they run away. So my question to you is do you think I'd while playing it, I'd pre-selected somebody to be guilty, and you got it right? Uh

Karl 2:12:01

No I uh I hadn't really considered that.

Richard 2:12:06

I mean um such an interesting approach, because with the deck of cards, it would have been really easy for me just to shuffle and randomly pick one to be guilty, or have me know. Like, I find it interesting. They're like, no no no, instead of pre-selecting the thief so they can make this a puzzle right or wrong, let them be right if their investigation is good.

Karl 2:12:33

Uh I think I prefer that more. I mean, so uh we talked about D D at the beginning of the session. Uh one of the books that I bought is uh The Keys of the Golden Ball, um, which is a a book of heists. And um then, you know, there's always multiple suspicious characters, and um I do think that the narrative freedom that you get for having them choose based on their investigation uh might actually like having run at least one high set of the book is like a little bit railroady almost when it's like you've you've been handed the villain, and then you know they try and discover clues and they find things and it and they make interesting theories, and then you're just not allowed to act on them because that's not what the book says.

Richard 2:13:29

I agree, like they even have a line here that says reinforce their suspicions rather than misleading or misdirecting them. And that got really funny, because you hit a point where all of them seem super guilty, not because I did anything, but you just seem I made you right every time you were suspicious and rolled good. So you made all of them really suspicious? I really thought you were gonna be like, it's the dog, and then we're gonna punch the dog. I really thought you were gonna do that.

Karl 2:13:56

Uh the dog could have actually been a shame. Yeah. It would have been a you got so close, it would have been so good.

Richard 2:14:08

I really thought you were gonna get- I think if I did, I think if I didn't make the quip of does this end with you punching a dog, you might have. Maybe. Oh, that would have been so good. The puppy was such a clever bit, too, because like if it actually was the dog, then that would have been absolute like proof of concept, right? Because if I pre-selected, then it never would have played out that way. And also, I I enjoy the part, like, you got messed up so bad by the dragon it would have been reasonable to have you wake up anywhere. Yeah. I know, I do say though, I did mess up a little bit where the keep away event I should have mentioned earlier that the crown does a thing and you can take it. Because I feel like how this fight's designed from like their point of view, me playing to like guess what was going on in their brain. Is my goal should have been less killing you and more trying to get away with the crown and using like attacks as a distraction. Right. But also, because we only have such a window for time, I'm like, alright, I'll just let this more be a straight-up fight. Mm-hmm. Because like talks about the tiara begins in Sabbath's hands, keep things mobile during the counter by moving the tiara between her and her allies. When she's defeated, she drops her disguise and reveals her true form. I botched that up and revealed it too early. I just straight up botched that. Because it would have been better if you knocked that elf out and then it turned into its true form, but I used it a little early. Right, right. The decks are mostly deserted, but you can have partied out passer-buyers or even a parade spill into the encounter. Hmm. So like there's like a lot of shenanigans I could have done to make the fight more dramatic. Mm-hmm. But given the time constraints, I figured being straightforward to actually fit the hour adventure. Because the adventure fit into two hours with one player, but there was a lot of prompt players to do stuffing that we c uh I shrank to three instead of party size or two. And also, man oh man, with that investigation ballooned with multiple people to talk conspiracy theories. That is definitely true. Because I am absolutely not telling that group that they're they're no, they will assume someone is correct, and it will be rough. You see why running this like this is my birthday present to myself, by the way, is running this invention with adventure with that group. Yeah. It's gonna be rough. I don't know. I thought this was a real I think I like this one as an introduction adventure to Dagger Hurt more weirdly, because it has so much collaborative world building. Like I really liked that the skill challenge at the start was ask them a question, then they make a roll, and then it's like a baton pass thing where they describe an obstacle and then choose somebody who has to overcome that obstacle. So they played.

Karl 2:17:08

Well, and the other thing that's uh the other thing that's nice about this adventure uh is that it has a lot of variety both for players and for the dungeon master. Uh oh yeah. Because like there are very few pre-written adventures that actually have chase mechanics. They're in the in the dungeon master's guide for DD, but almost no one knows how to use them because they're never presented with an explanation of when or how to use them. Uh, where this that gives that variety of the players and it gives that introduction to how to use those mechanics to game masters.

Richard 2:17:43

Although part of why I like testing these adventures on you is like I read things to my players sometimes that aren't in the block text to like like I will metagame even with my other groups that aren't you, and say things like, Yes, you have to choose someone definitively before it hits zero to end the scenario. Where I think of error players can not even an error, but an issue players can run into for this one, is if you don't tell the players that you guys when you majority agree on somebody, the scene ends. Like they kind of need that piece of meta-knowledge. I think so. And it's like definitely looser structured, which is nice. I just enjoyed the bullet points literally called the quantum culprit. And then they talk about the gameplay loop about determine the approach, establish stakes, resolve the attempt, deliver information, repeat. And they describe it as popcorn, where you don't make them go around a table, it's more like when someone raises a hand you point to them kind of thing. Right.

Karl 2:18:51

No, yeah, I I think this was a fairly well crafted structured adventure. Um, especially like you were just reading it on the fly for the most part. Yeah, I didn't pre-read it at all. Even just with a little bit of uh prep work, uh, I feel like this would be a very easy adventure to run through GMs, and it would be a very uh interesting and varied adventure for players.

Richard 2:19:17

Agreed. And then yeah, for the stat blocks are all at the bottom with the like two assassins. Oh, they added a new feat uh cool new feature actually to their Daggerheart website. Yet again, not sponsored, just a fan. So they added So they used to have this card creator where you could like format cards like Daggerheart ones. So they added this adversary maker, and it has a button where you can click a button and it does the math for you to change the tier of a minion. So, like, for example, I pick a giant rat and then have to tier it up to match Carl, I just drop down to tier three and it auto-adjusts the numbers to match. Nice. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so literally, those assassins, I just clicked a box on them to make them a little better. Because they were never well, they're never gonna hit you with a plus one to attack. Literally, they fit like I'd have to roll like an 18 each time.

Karl 2:20:22

Yeah, though the it would be very difficult for them to attack.

Richard 2:20:25

Although I left the boss alone, because it's like this is supposed to be fought with a team. So I left the boss's numbers as is. Oh, that'll piss people off. Yeah, that definitely will. And then, yeah, I don't know. How do you feel about the keep away mechanic that I sort of just didn't?

Karl 2:20:54

Uh well I love uh non-combat.

Richard 2:20:59

Or not necessarily, but uh I love most fight gimmicks in a way.

Karl 2:21:06

Yeah, most encounters are just straight up uh kill the players or kill the kill the enemies move on with your life. Uh and I love it when the uh adventure gives you a sub-objective uh to um change the stakes.

Richard 2:21:26

Yeah, I do think for when I run this next week that I'm gonna make a little more effort for the enemy's goal is to steal the crown, not the goal to kill the players and doing a keep away situation. Because that could have been real mean for you if I had three people standing each one in far range, throwing a crown, and you had to choose which one to run to punch. Like I said, I did it simply partly because I read ahead too far and like they mentioned the tiara, but I didn't like use the event card that comes with it. Although, oh, funniest moment. So the chase has an event card, right, where it explains the countdowns and then has uh action to spend a fear to have them shapeshift. But one of them is to cut off a PC from the party. And it's just funny how irrelevant that was for this. I'm like, I showed off this mechanic that does nothing. But the event's funny because it like lists potential adversaries, and I'm like, I could have had like if I wanted to make this longer, during the chase I could have spent fear to summon in more bandits during the chase to like distract players so while they're fighting the chase, they don't get to progress it. Right. But I think just letting it be a straightforward chase is probably the move.

Karl 2:22:45

I I think so for now. Um like it would really I feel like the party would end up splitting up if if you uh started adding and adding in enemies. Um again, I I really do appreciate it when uh there's non-combat objectives in combat. Um so that also might be interesting, especially for a more veteran party of players. Uh but as an introductory adventure, I would definitely say just keep it keep the chase relatively simple.

Richard 2:23:25

So, with that out of the way, any questions, comments, concerns, closing remarks? I think this video is gonna do relatively well despite you not advertising the game we're playing at the start, because this is a new because it's a how-to-play a thing that just came out. Right. I think by the way, when Daggerheart starts releasing more adventures, instead of me making like play-along adventures, there's a good chance we just play their existing adventures and then critique them.

Karl 2:23:53

Uh well, yeah. I mean, Daggerheart is definitely uh a TC RPG that I feel like I should invest in physical books so that I will have more incentive to run it over DD, because I mean DD is kind of the standard uh, but that doesn't mean that that's the only option out there. Well what's funny is a lot of fun.

Richard 2:24:16

They have they've mentioned during their livestream about putting out more adventures and events. Because I do think this event, for example, you could easily run for your group. But then for like what you run for the next sessions, I would probably have to like write actual adventures for you.

Future Plans Itch.io Drops And Sign Off

Richard 2:24:34

I'm not saying you couldn't, but like I find a lot of my campaigns, especially like back in DD, is I'd start with the book. And I wouldn't really homebrew until after I'd like used up the exist like I'd homebrew around a book rather than do it completely from fresh. Right. Just for ease of efficiency.

Karl 2:24:53

Right, right. I mean it's that's kind of where I'm at with DD, is that it's like I I have the book so I can kind of kind of have a uh skeleton to homebrew around. Um where like Daggerheart just unfortunately all I have is the the online portal, which I guess probably has everything I would need. But not quite as as easy to use at this time for me personally.

Richard 2:25:19

Yeah, and they have a few adventures, but like most of them are like intro-type stuff. Although I love that they have uh the physical props, like how do we play this in person? There's literally like cutouts for the little standees for the NPCs and the nobles, and like we just have barrels and boxes to put up for the fight. Just random boxes. I don't even think it describes them. It's just like here, have some terrain to make it interesting. Hmm. Which means at some point between now and my next session, I have to go to the school library and print this off and cut it out. I have to slash get to. And with that, thank you everybody for listen tuning in and listening. Happy birthday, Daggerheart, and I guess Richard. I have to. And a bunch of our adventures. Oh, I was gonna say a bunch of our adventures are up on Itch.io, and I am planning to put up more this weekend.

Karl 2:26:21

Uh well, I was just gonna bug you about the fact that when you uh when you age, you're entering the like Yeah, well, and when you're zero years old, you're actually entering the first year of your life. How is that helpful? That's not helpful at all. I was just gonna bug you about aging.

Richard 2:26:41

I mean, to be fair, I've aged well because I was born an old man, and now I'm just catching up. Alright. Happy gaming, happy something or other. We probably should come up with a tagline. Bye. Bye. Honestly, I think this one uh it doesn't sell well on my own production levels, then I think the prefab adventure is one of the better constructed sessions in a while. I'm like, oh no, I have work to do. I need to be better.

Karl 2:27:13

Um well, I mean the the last session, being a session on on the fly, was like quite enjoyable.

Richard 2:27:23

Um I do love the cat spirits. It that was just that was your fault, and it works so well. The po the boats, it's just so They did it in one of the Final Fantasies where it's like the engine of the ship is just a chocobo and a running wheel, and I'm like, that caught me off guard so good that I've stolen that forever.