The Shifty Lad & the Curse of the Servant's Coin

I was delighted this week to see the surprise release of "The Shifty Lad and the Curse of the Servant's Coin." This is an all-new adventure for Talisman Adventures written by Robert Turk and developed by the game's designer Ian Lemke. The publisher Pegasus Spiele have kindly sent me a copy of the pdf (thanks Pegasus!)

I was lucky to get a chance to play* the scenario during the playtest process, and found it highly enjoyable. There are some familiar locations and characters from the board game... I don't want to print any spoilers, but the adventure description indicates that things kick off at The Tavern at Innsview, so that much ought to be enough to intrigue most Talismaniacs. 

The adventure is aimed at heroes of 2nd - 4th level, which is the highest level range in the so-far-published scenarios, and should definitely come in handy as a second-or-later scenario to play in a campaign. It's the adventure most strongly connected to the board (and the possibilities of the board), and at the least might inspire GMs to think of other ways of taking inspiration from the board. 

As has been the hallmark of published material for the game, everything is clearly set out for GMs, with good pointers that will be of particular value to anyone relatively new to RPGs. 

Another hallmark is the foundation in fairy tale - in this case directly referencing The Shifty Lad in the title, and certainly having the feel of a fairy tale in other elements of the adventure - which whether the invention of the author or from some other source are very welcome.

Download now available at Drivethrurpg for $7.99.

*To date this is actually the only time I have experienced the game as a player, as against some twenty-odd sessions as a GM. I would be very happy to improve on this record!

Fresher Meat at the Dread Dungeon of Ghurl'akk Wer

 

In 2021 I had a great time running one-shot introductory sessions of Talisman Adventures at online (and twice at in-person!) conventions. The sessions were fun to play, and it was great seeing people's reactions (overwhelmingly positive) to the system. I'm hoping to run more sessions this year - hopefully with a few more chances to play in-person too.

What was particularly valuable for me personally was getting to re-run and fine-tune my scenario The Dread Wyrm Egg Hunt. For 2022, I want to run something new, and at the moment I am inclined to make a Dungeon - particularly with the release of the Tales of the Dungeon sourcebook due out later this year.

As previously discussed, I am intrigued at the idea of using the Talisman Adventures system to run a Mapless Dungeon, so that is my starting point for scenario construction this time around.

The Dungeon is vast, consisting of endless caverns, tunnels, chambers and shafts. Players will travel in it by using the Exploration mechanism. They'll be able to make decisions that affect their chances of success in the Exploration Tests, but that also can affect the type of outcome that will result from Successes and Failures. Such decisions will include speed of travel, use of lighting, whether prowling or marching brazenly, whether heading deeper or trying to stay level, whether following caverns and side tunnels or sticking to well-travelled chambers, etc etc.

In terms of writing the adventure, I'll prepare encounters/situations/locations for the different outcomes. A mix of traps, hazards, puzzles and monsters. I have a vague idea that there'll be regions inhabited by hobgoblins, others by cultists, undead, etc - and that these might have some factional rivalries, opportunities for players to interact/exploit without necessarily requiring combat. The general sense will be something like Moria, though with regions that are much more active, in addition to echoing empty abandoned halls.

To start out, with the idea that the adventure is to be a 2-4 hour one-shot, I'm just going to prepare encounters to match the outcomes of two sets of Guide and Watcher Tests (ie, eight encounters, matching Failure, Success, Great Success and Extraordinary Success) - plus a beginning, middle and end Story encounter. 

My experience with the Egg Hunt leads me to lean in the direction of starting out with a bunch of loosely prepared ideas, and seeing what works best in play, so I will probably recycle some situations and characters from my Tunnels & Trolls solo Fresh Meat at the Dungeon of Ghurl'akk Wer (free pdf in TrollsZine #10 at DrivethruRPG!), if only to give myself a quick start. In that adventure, the protagonist is a goblin recruited as fodder to protect a Lich Lord's dungeon against hordes of invading heroes. Nothing so original intended this time: players will be looking for loot, and quite probably to rescue Betsy the Cow. I am thinking of making it for 3rd-4th level heroes, as there's clearly a gap for adventures beyond starting-out, and Talisman is a system where heroes should level up pretty quickly.

I might make mini maps of the immediate locale of each encounter, and possibly the option for these to be fitted together into a fixed map for players who prefer to play it that way - though my expectation is that I'll only develop in that direction after trying it as currently envisioned. 

I will let you know how I get on!