0:00

Hey friends, it's your pal Mike Shea

0:02

from Sly Flurish here with another episode

0:04

of Sly Flurish's Lazy GM Prep in

0:06

this weekly show I go through steps

0:08

from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

0:10

while preparing for my Sunday role-playing game

0:12

in this case I am running a

0:14

Midgard campaign set in the Dragon Empire

0:16

using the Tales of the Valiant rules

0:18

this show like all of the work

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of Sly Flurish is brought to you

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by the patrons of Sly Flurish patrons

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get access to all kinds of tips

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tricks tricks, tools, source books, scenarios, all

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community over on Discord and they help me

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put on shows like this to the patrons

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of Sly Flurge. Thank you so much for

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your outstanding support. So last week, I

0:43

am going to a gaming convention

0:45

next weekend, and I'm trying to

0:47

reduce the number of vectors that

0:50

I have for getting sick right

0:52

before a gaming convention. So I

0:54

ran last week's game online. I

0:57

am running this week's game online.

0:59

And so I was using Albert

1:02

Radio and some point during the

1:04

show. The characters in this one,

1:06

let's see, let's jump over to

1:09

Obsidian. And let's go to our campaign

1:11

here and take a look at our

1:13

Dragon Empire campaign and go to

1:15

our session notes. I am using obsidian

1:17

for my prep these days. If you want to learn

1:19

more about using obsidian for your game prep, you can

1:22

find a link down in the show notes. So they

1:24

started, let's see, I think it was, the session before

1:26

is where they went to the front door. of the

1:28

pits of unending thirst. They went to the top of

1:30

the pit of unending thirst. They fought a gray thirster,

1:32

which is sort of like a, sort of a zombie

1:34

and sort of a mummy that sucks all the moisture

1:36

out of you. And they got beat up quite bad.

1:39

And they're like, well, we're going to rest your out

1:41

of you. And they got beat up quite bad. And

1:43

they're like, well, we're going to rest again. And they're

1:45

like, well, we're going to the moisture. And they got

1:47

beat up quite bad. And they're quite bad. And they're quite

1:49

bad. And they're quite bad. And they're quite bad. And they're

1:51

quite bad. And they're bad. And they're bad. And they're bad.

1:53

And they're bad. And they're bad. And they're bad. And they're

1:55

bad. And they're bad. And they're bad. And they're bad. And

1:57

they're bad. And they're bad. And they're bad. And they're bad.

1:59

And they pull up. Let's see if

2:01

we can get Albert Rodeo up

2:03

in the lower left. So I'm

2:05

showing off my Albert Rodeo map.

2:07

Took me a little bit because

2:09

apparently, somehow, in dorking around with

2:11

the new Albert Rodeo, I lost

2:13

my version of the map that

2:15

I had actually used at my

2:17

game, but I've got it back

2:19

up and running. So the characters

2:21

came up to the top. This

2:23

is a multi-level dungeon as you

2:25

can see from that little left

2:27

side, which. Which is really kind

2:30

of neat. I like having multi-level

2:32

dungeons with lots of like having

2:34

multi-level dungeons with lots of lots

2:36

of lots of lots of lots

2:38

of lots of lots of lots

2:40

of lots of lots of connections

2:42

with lots of lots of lots

2:44

of lots of lots of connections

2:46

with lots of lots of connections

2:48

with lots of lots of lots

2:50

of connections with lots of lots

2:52

of connections with lots of lots

2:54

of lots of connections with lots

2:56

of connections with lots of, and

2:58

of, and of, and of, and

3:00

of, and of, and of, and

3:02

So in the last game, they

3:04

had made their way down that

3:06

central pit, they opened up these

3:08

crypts, they got attacked by some

3:10

stuff, then they made their way

3:12

to the left, and we actually

3:14

have a new on-call player who

3:16

joined us last week, and he

3:18

was getting attacked by zombies in

3:20

this hallway over here. My big

3:22

mouse cursor shows up if I

3:24

wiggle it enough. So he showed

3:26

up in that upper hallway and

3:28

was getting attacked by zombies and

3:30

it was my friend Joe who

3:32

got ganged up on and in

3:34

the middle of the battle. So

3:36

he's getting beat up and my

3:38

other friend is like. Man, why

3:40

does Mike hate you? I thought

3:42

he was your friend and he

3:44

brings his advice to your game

3:46

and then he beats the crap

3:48

out of your character. And I'm

3:50

like, I'm just an antenna for

3:52

storytelling. I just, I am merely

3:54

the conduit through which fantastic stories

3:56

are told. I do not, I

3:58

do not, I do not, the

4:00

conduit through which fantastic stories are

4:02

told. I do not, I do

4:04

not, to affect, I do not,

4:06

to, which fantastic stories are told.

4:08

I do not to, I do

4:10

not, I mean, I mean, I

4:12

mean, I mean, I mean, I

4:14

mean, I know. right? Like, oh,

4:16

that hurts, like four hours to

4:18

make it? That felt a little

4:20

long, but I guess if you're,

4:22

you know, if you had brand

4:24

new to the system or anything

4:26

like that sitting there working with

4:28

the online documents, it could take

4:30

a while. So I was like,

4:32

well, and then I said, like,

4:34

the specter comes up and whispers

4:36

in your year, four hours, right?

4:38

It was like, you're like, like,

4:40

trying to figure out. room fought

4:42

a gray ooze that was crawling

4:44

out of these pits and what

4:46

they found out is that these

4:48

little pits on the left here

4:50

are sacrificial pits where victims were

4:52

thrown down and so many of

4:54

them were that there was like

4:56

an oily sheen where their bodies

4:58

had battered against the sides and

5:00

created this oily slickness and that

5:02

manifested it to gray oozes so

5:04

there's like gray oozes all up

5:06

and down these this one, the

5:08

lower right one there, this guy

5:10

right here, and cleared out the

5:12

pit and then they tied a

5:14

couple, I said, how far is

5:17

it? And they said, I said,

5:19

it's about 100 feet. So they

5:21

tied a bunch of ropes together

5:23

and they hammered the peatons into

5:25

the ground and some of them

5:27

have, a lot of the characters

5:29

have spider climb, like a lot

5:31

of them have the ability, they

5:33

all have like three of the

5:35

six have climb speeds. So they

5:37

made there, and then one could

5:39

turn into a giant bat into

5:41

a giant bat. and three climb

5:43

speeds of a giant bat went

5:45

down that quarter, which essentially skipped

5:47

this whole level, level two, and

5:49

went right down to the final

5:51

chamber. Now, I think that's cool,

5:53

right? At the time, I was

5:55

like, oh, like I'm on my

5:57

heels, right? I'm back up on

5:59

my heels, because I was expecting

6:01

that they were gonna go to

6:03

other places, they went right down

6:05

to the main boss room. The

6:07

only thing I thought was, well,

6:09

they're going down there to save

6:11

this goblin sage whose, what's, what's,

6:13

what's her name. Sister Athena and

6:15

sister Athena is a practical practitioner

6:17

of a priest of hewn who

6:19

is using the she has one

6:21

half of the puzzle box she

6:23

was connecting it with the other

6:25

half of the puzzle box to

6:27

You know use it to open

6:29

gates and stuff and she was

6:31

coming down here to get the

6:33

other half, but then she got

6:35

attacked by manes the nasty demon

6:37

things and I think it was

6:39

like cultus of the sanguine path

6:41

in proximity of the fiendish nature

6:43

of these of the tomb and

6:45

of the the puzzle box manifested

6:47

into manes these the manes are

6:49

like the lowest ton lowest here

6:51

of devils and so she's getting

6:53

attacked by those guys, the characters

6:55

are like, we're going to simultaneously

6:57

go dork with the sarcophagi and

6:59

save her. And I'm like, oh,

7:01

that's going to start something. So

7:03

the sarcophagi start open up and

7:05

skeletons start coming out. At the

7:07

same time, a mummy comes out

7:09

holding the other half of the

7:11

puzzle cube and the manes are

7:13

attacking the other characters. So they're

7:15

down there in the pit and

7:17

they've got a battle on three

7:19

fronts. And that's where we're starting

7:21

the session today, which is really

7:23

fascinating, which is really fascinating. I

7:25

think it's going to be really

7:27

fun. And my plan, I'm going

7:29

to talk on my show later

7:31

today. First of all, what I

7:33

can do is I can throw

7:35

some tokens down here. We're going

7:37

to switch over to my A5E

7:39

tokens here, and you can search

7:41

for Maine. Was it a Maine?

7:43

I thought they were called Maine's.

7:45

Well, we can, let's see, we

7:47

will hop over. I'm going to

7:49

remember to switch my, I'll switch

7:51

over the prep. And we're going

7:53

to look at the monster vault

7:55

for the monster vault. Oh, that's

7:57

a monster vault too. That's a

7:59

wrong monster vault. We're going to

8:01

talk about that later. And we're

8:04

going to go down to devils.

8:06

And lemurs. They were not manes.

8:08

They were lemurs. Look at that

8:10

juicy fella. And it's the idea

8:12

that down here in the pits,

8:14

the cultists of the sanguine path,

8:16

this blood cultists, are already doing

8:18

like fiendish stuff. And when they

8:20

died, they became lemers. Very different

8:22

art for this lemur, but we'll

8:24

use it. I think it's okay,

8:26

you know, I kind of like

8:28

the other one better, but I'll

8:30

live with it. So we have

8:32

a bunch of these guys. And

8:34

I think I said five. Whoops,

8:36

I got too many. So we

8:38

got five of these guys over

8:40

here. And then I've got a

8:42

mummy. Oh, I like that, that

8:44

mummy token is great. So a

8:46

mummy over here. And I think

8:48

we have skeletons. Yeah. We have

8:50

skeletons that are coming out of

8:52

the sarcophagi guy. Right, that's the

8:54

sarcophagi are kind of blowing up

8:56

and skeleton. are coming out. I

8:58

can always add more skeletons if

9:00

I want to, and then I

9:02

have the characters are going to

9:04

be around here. We have six

9:06

characters today. So that should be

9:08

plenty. In fact, I'm going to

9:10

throw more skeletons at them, right?

9:12

Because it would make sense that

9:14

there's more skeletons. Four, we'll do

9:16

four. I think six is probably

9:18

too many. Our lazy benchmark today,

9:20

they are third level. So six

9:22

times three is 18. 18 divided

9:24

by four is about four. So

9:26

I can throw four CRs at

9:28

them, but the mummy I think

9:30

is like a CR3. Let's take

9:32

a look at the mummy. The

9:34

mummy is a CR3, vulnerable to

9:36

fire, 80 hit points. It does

9:38

a dreadful glare. Glares are one

9:40

creature that can see, the target

9:42

of 60 and DC 13, wisdom

9:44

save or be frightened. Target fails

9:46

by five or more is also

9:48

paralyzed. Ooh. Two rotting fists, the

9:50

rotting fist do 14 damage each.

9:52

That's a lot of damage for

9:54

third level characters, I think. They're

9:56

gonna get hit hard. So that

9:58

could be scary. Now, maybe they

10:00

can, you know, they won't get

10:02

hit on every attack, but boy,

10:04

that's 28. damage at CR3. Remember

10:06

I talked about like CR1s and

10:08

2s and 3s are a little

10:10

hard. I may reduce this a

10:12

little bit. What I might do

10:14

is that they hit one, they

10:16

attack a second time if they

10:18

miss the first time, but if

10:20

they hit the first time, then

10:22

they don't make a second attack.

10:24

It's a way to, it's like

10:26

a cheetie way to keep the

10:28

threat of the monster up so

10:30

it's very likely to do 14

10:32

damage. It's almost like they have

10:34

advantage on an attack, but it's

10:36

a little scarier and you're essentially

10:38

saying like it doesn't make a

10:40

second attack if it hits with

10:42

the first. It's a way to

10:44

reduce the overall damage. For this

10:46

one I don't think it's that

10:48

bad. 80 hit points is a

10:51

lot, but when it has fire

10:53

vulnerability, that actually reduces it quite

10:55

a bit. So I think that

10:57

that will be that will be

10:59

I'm talking on my show later

11:01

about where we fudge and that

11:03

That's an area where I would

11:05

probably fudge. And I'm fudging the

11:07

monster. I'm fudging the monster because

11:09

I'm just afraid it's gonna knock

11:11

people out too much. And I

11:13

can always change my mind. I

11:15

can always say, no, it does

11:17

make two attacks, right? Or it

11:19

does hit a second time. But

11:21

I don't, I think like those,

11:23

the players are gonna be dropping

11:25

like flies if this thing starts

11:27

hitting them on top of the

11:29

fact that they're fighting nine other

11:31

dudes. So. Great big great big

11:33

fight anyway, so they're down there

11:35

and one of the fun bits

11:37

here And we should actually let's

11:39

see so we'll switch back over

11:41

to obsidian and We will go

11:43

to our notes and we're going

11:45

to create a new set of

11:47

notes for today creating a new

11:49

note from template And we're gonna

11:51

use our dragon empire template and

11:53

I think we've got all six

11:55

of our characters today and we

11:57

will say the battle of unending

11:59

the puzzle box So that's our

12:01

strong start. Very, very easy strong

12:03

start. In fact, the strong start

12:05

is probably going to take an

12:07

hour and a half. So half

12:09

the game will be this battle,

12:11

but that's okay. So battle for

12:13

the puzzle box is one of

12:15

our scenes. Then combining the puzzle

12:17

box. I have an idea for

12:19

this. And my idea is that

12:21

when you combine the puzzle box,

12:23

the puzzle box isn't really a

12:25

box. It's a rod. and it's

12:27

two segments of a rod and

12:29

when you connect them together you've

12:31

created a a rod of the

12:33

packed keeper which I think is

12:35

a I'm gonna drop into the

12:37

players guide real quick let's see

12:39

this is my players guide right

12:41

the players guide has magic items

12:43

in it I'm pretty sure and

12:45

let's see magic items and let's

12:47

look for rod there is no

12:49

rod of the packed keeper that's

12:51

The route of the packkeeper is

12:53

like a, you know, a staple.

12:55

And it's not in tales of

12:57

the valiant. Crazy. So we could

12:59

have it be, we could just

13:01

custom make an item. And the

13:03

item could be, that's bizarre, that

13:05

there is no, yeah, TOV warlocks

13:07

don't get a route of the

13:09

pack keeper. I'm kind of surprised.

13:11

Because the default item, I think

13:13

it's a standard, I think it's

13:15

in the SRD. There's no reason

13:17

they couldn't have had it. So

13:19

I think that the, so we

13:21

will just make it like a

13:23

cylinder, right? It's like this weird

13:25

cylinder thing. and it's got this

13:27

like flowing maybe it's got like

13:29

barbed chains that kind of form

13:31

around it so it hurts and

13:33

it then the attunement as it

13:35

binds to you and it kind

13:38

of like pierces into your skin

13:40

I think that'd be kind of

13:42

cool maybe it requires like a

13:44

blood sacrifice you lose you permanently

13:46

lose a hit point while attuned

13:48

to this thing probably not a

13:50

lot of hit points you don't

13:52

want to take a lot of

13:54

hit points but one hit points

13:56

not bad and as your blood

13:58

flows into this thing hey right

14:00

right right right out in hell

14:02

razor And while you are attuned

14:04

to it, it is, it gives

14:06

you a plus one on spell

14:08

attacks and it gives you your

14:10

DC inquiry, it gives you plus

14:12

one to your DC's for spells,

14:14

we could make it like a

14:16

rod of the pack keeper where

14:18

you can replenish one spell slot

14:20

as a short rest. That, I

14:22

don't think that, that's, it makes

14:24

it more powerful than like a.

14:26

then what not a moonstone that

14:28

other item that like that restores

14:30

a spell slot up to three

14:32

I guess you don't want it

14:34

to go all the way up

14:36

right that maybe there's a limit

14:38

well what you know but I

14:40

mean how bad would it be

14:42

I guess like it would be

14:44

really powerful because you have two

14:46

ninth level spells but if you

14:48

have to use a short rest

14:50

to recover it I think that

14:52

that that I think that works

14:54

the idea of like I don't

14:56

know does that does that does

14:58

that does that item work? that

15:00

it lets you restore a spell

15:02

slot at as a short, one

15:04

of your spell slots as a

15:06

short rest. Yeah, I think that

15:08

that's fine, right? I think that

15:10

that works. And even though it'll

15:12

scale all the way up, so

15:14

it essentially gives you like whatever

15:16

your best spell is, you get

15:18

to restore that best spell wants.

15:20

But it's a powerful item. It's

15:22

almost like an artifact level item.

15:24

So the puzzle box of Catel.

15:26

So we have a magic item,

15:28

the puzzle box of Kattel. plus

15:30

one, two, and I think it

15:32

can it can scale up. So

15:34

like when they hit tier two,

15:36

when they commit certain things that

15:38

will increase, it'll go to plus

15:40

two, plus three, but it'll eat

15:42

more hit points at that level

15:44

as well. Plus one, the spell

15:46

attacks in DCs, restore one spell

15:48

slot as a short rest. And

15:50

it can summon Matt, it can

15:52

summon Patel, great cost, Patel being

15:54

a chain devil. And I get

15:56

to control Patel. They don't, they

15:58

don't, they don't gain it as

16:00

a, as an NBC that they

16:02

can, you don't get to do

16:04

the chain devil stuff, I get

16:06

to do the chain devil stuff.

16:08

Now there was a name for

16:10

these guys, I think there was

16:12

a secret that we had, the

16:14

high potentiate of, high potentate of

16:16

dragon slayers. That was a great

16:18

secret that we're gonna, we might

16:20

move others over as well. So

16:23

the thing is, like, they could

16:25

be in a world a hurt

16:27

here, but I think if a

16:29

character can, like, bring them together,

16:31

then Cottel will be happy. Cottel

16:33

is a chain devil of the

16:35

demon lord Mont. And they hate

16:37

the dragons as much as our

16:39

characters do. So the idea is

16:41

like, they will bind themselves to

16:43

a devil that can help them

16:45

fight the dragon empire. Could be

16:47

a pretty cool, could be a

16:49

pretty cool stick. So I think

16:51

we're going to go with that.

16:53

You know, strong start is there.

16:55

And the character Tolstoy can hear

16:57

the calling. Let's see. We're doing

16:59

a little characters thing. So Amavan.

17:01

Amavan is our rogue who knows

17:03

the sly nature of the unseen.

17:05

The unseen is, I think I

17:07

already did this secret, but I

17:09

think it's handy, which is one

17:11

of the, not Perez, let's see,

17:13

the three, the three morza. Parsis

17:15

Denzia so I want to put

17:17

in a secret here we I

17:19

need a new villain. I've got

17:21

an idea for a villain, which

17:23

is going to be a noble

17:25

of the noble who stole cows,

17:27

cows vineyard. And we're going to

17:29

want to make, in fact, why

17:31

don't we, why don't we, why

17:33

don't we, why don't we, why

17:35

don't we do this right now?

17:37

Let's get the sly, random name

17:39

generator, random generator, who is a,

17:41

and let's see if we go

17:43

to our Dragon Empire notes, I

17:45

think I have the ranks, right,

17:47

right? Did I have, I think

17:49

I have, I think I have

17:51

a, I have a ranks thing.

17:53

So this would be a tamarly,

17:55

is it a tamarly, a governor?

17:57

And it's a governor who took

17:59

it over. So, notable MPC is

18:01

Fames, Wormwatcher, Maundy governor of, and

18:03

I think it's gonna be of

18:05

the, it's not of Addisha, Addisha

18:07

doesn't really care about fancy wines,

18:09

but I think that Iblin, the

18:11

illustrious, the illustrious does. I mean,

18:13

is all about vanity and stuff

18:15

like that. I don't know how

18:17

it's about vineyard. I'm terrible. I

18:19

think I had it, right? Oh,

18:21

Vineyard. Yay, I can spell. So

18:23

Fame's Worm Watcher. We're going to

18:25

throw that on our NBC list

18:27

so that I have a new

18:29

villain that we're introducing. And so,

18:31

Gowensia knows. And I think Fame's

18:33

Worm Watcher has a toady named

18:35

who. Tyke. Tyke would be one.

18:37

Beer is, what, Rat Watcher? No,

18:39

Silverbound. And Beer is Silverbound is

18:41

what? Probably a Dragonborn and the

18:43

rank would be probably a noble,

18:45

a Tamarley of Ibalin. So now

18:47

we've got like two ranks of

18:49

NPCs that are connected to two

18:51

of the characters. We were talking

18:53

about this last game, which is

18:55

why I think it's time to

18:57

define them. And what we're defining

18:59

is like... two villains, kind of

19:01

lower ranking villains, that that are

19:03

directly related to the characters. Bums

19:05

and bearers for taking her farm,

19:07

are vineyard. Excellent. All right, so

19:10

I got some little secrets there

19:12

that are character background focus secrets

19:14

that aren't really related directly to

19:16

what's going on in the game

19:18

today, but they could remember this

19:20

and now we can put two

19:22

new targets out there for the

19:24

characters to go after. So Amavan

19:26

knows the slight nature of parsus

19:28

the unseen. Gaudensia has a connection

19:30

to the famous worm watcher and

19:32

his totee, bearers silverbound, who are

19:34

ranking members of Ibolin. Matayo. So

19:36

Matayo is the, it's the mechanist.

19:38

Oh, it recognizes the puzzle box

19:40

as a multi-purpose artifact, able to

19:42

open, able to activate red portals,

19:44

and bind creatures from the other

19:46

side. That's useful. Rowan is our

19:48

Dwarfin Blacksmith Fellow. So I was

19:50

reading about this the other, knows

19:52

about the great expense of the

19:54

Northern Wars with the seven cities.

19:56

So in the North, let's drop

19:58

over to our Midgard map. So

20:00

here's our Dragon Empire, and the

20:02

characters are here in Kukatarma. Their

20:04

home base. is right at this

20:06

peninsula area to the north, which

20:08

is where the 440 fingers are.

20:10

And the three, this is zooming

20:12

in this is a pain in

20:14

the ass. It's super super sensitive.

20:16

And if I touch my mouse

20:18

the wrong way, it hoses things

20:20

up. So Mazar, Batek, and Gizmuri

20:22

are the three regions that they

20:24

are dealing with. And I think,

20:26

see, so let's look at the

20:28

Morza. So Addisha is of the

20:30

Gizmeri, of the desert, of the

20:32

desert out there, so that makes

20:34

sense. Parsis is the ruler of

20:36

Batat. And I think Ashadar is

20:38

in Batek. Oh, so maybe it's,

20:40

yeah, so the money train that

20:42

they've been doing is actually for,

20:44

not for Ibalin. And Ibalin is

20:46

the, is the ruler of Mazar.

20:48

So this could be interesting, going

20:50

with all this. I had a

20:52

reason, I had a reason for

20:54

looking all this up, and now

20:56

I can't remember. Oh, the war

20:58

of the seven cities. So a

21:00

secret is that I believe in,

21:02

is heavily... engaged in the current

21:04

holding of, and its two locations,

21:06

of Kipuron, Kipuron, which is the

21:08

island of Minotars, and there's another

21:10

location here, and Rameel taken from

21:12

the seven cities, and knows about

21:14

the great expense of the wars

21:16

with the seven cities, is a

21:18

secret. So, so that... That kind

21:20

of matters. So the interesting thing

21:22

is the money train that they're

21:24

setting up is with with Parsis

21:26

So Parsis is the morza establishing

21:28

the illicit artifact train to Nuri

21:30

and Natal That opens up a

21:32

lot of stuff and Parsis is

21:34

the most tricky of the morza.

21:36

I think there could be a

21:38

lot of fun. They might even

21:40

ally with Parsis for all I

21:42

know So those are secrets for

21:44

that that really don't affect things

21:46

immediately. But I mean they're helping

21:48

me out because they're helping me

21:50

fill in character secrets that the

21:52

characters might learn. So now we

21:54

need others. Okay, let's get back

21:57

to like, you know, where we

21:59

actually are, which is in this

22:01

big pit. So I think we

22:03

have the secret that the puzzle

22:05

of Catel can open a red

22:07

portal. through the ruins of, and

22:09

we can go back to our

22:11

map here, I was trying to

22:13

think, so I was trying to

22:15

think where would help them to

22:17

have a red portal. So Kukutarma

22:19

is here, and it could be

22:21

Nurdarin, which is right. near where

22:23

they are, then they just have

22:25

like a mountain pass journey. I

22:27

didn't want it to be like

22:29

too close to where they are.

22:31

The other one could be Siaz,

22:33

but Siaz, maybe it opens to

22:35

both. The ruins of Nurdarin or

22:37

Siaz. So now we need a

22:39

couple secrets about Nurdarin and Sirerass.

22:41

So we'll go back to our

22:43

Mid-Guard world book here and we're

22:45

gonna do a search for Nurdrin?

22:47

That didn't work. Ruins Ruins of

22:49

Nurean. A Nurean human city that

22:51

resisted the arrival of the dragons

22:53

in the first Russia, the Maradi

22:55

expansion, charred stones, and a few

22:57

pillars are all that remain. We

22:59

will just grab that. I don't

23:01

know who the Nureans are. Nurean

23:03

dwarfs. A fragile piece between the...

23:05

Oh, Nureans are Nurean Nettal. They

23:07

were pretty far away. When they

23:09

got... they got beat up. But

23:11

that... could be valuable. And then

23:13

the other one was Siaz. A

23:15

great experiment by Cobalt alchemists named

23:17

Mc Tree the Mad when horribly

23:19

wrong in Siaz releasing vampireic mists

23:21

and flesh-riding vapors that turned the

23:23

town from a thriving metropolis to

23:25

a tomb almost overnight. Scattered bands

23:27

of Noles use its empty buildings,

23:29

but the Dragon Ormondley considered a

23:31

place best left fallow. That's cool.

23:33

We'll grab that too. So maybe

23:35

it opens up to two different

23:37

places. They now have portals that

23:39

can kind of open them up

23:41

to... Two different spots. I think

23:43

that's pretty good. Three, four, five,

23:45

six, seven, eight. So two more

23:47

secrets would help us here. I

23:49

think we probably need something. So

23:51

the other location was the, let's

23:53

see, I probably gotta go back

23:55

a couple places here. Was it

23:57

a ziggurat of Thoth Hermes? I

23:59

think I, let's see, I wrote

24:01

on my locations. Yes, it was

24:03

the ziggurat of Thoth Hermes. Okay.

24:05

So let's do a secret about

24:07

Thoth Hermes. So we can learn

24:09

about that. There we go. There's

24:11

a secret about thoth Hermes. That's

24:13

probably pretty good. I think we

24:15

got plenty of secrets now. I

24:17

don't think I need to worry

24:19

about too much. Fantastic locations, we

24:21

have the pit of unending thirst,

24:23

and we have the ziggurat of

24:25

Thoth Hermes. Do we want another,

24:27

we probably want a location along

24:29

the way, something that they, if

24:31

that once they're done with this,

24:33

once they're making their way to

24:35

the ziggurat of Thoth Hermes, we'd

24:37

like another one. So we're gonna

24:39

pull up, again, we'll go to

24:41

our random tables here, and we

24:44

will go to, we will build

24:46

a monument of power. We'll make

24:48

it. Midgard, we can actually do

24:50

Southlands, so we'll do Southlands. Cyclopean,

24:52

holy cenotaph of screams, creatures of

24:54

disadvantage, oh this one didn't add,

24:56

I like that though, cenotaphs are

24:58

fun, but of whom, we can

25:00

actually, let's see, let's see, let's

25:02

see, I have a faction list,

25:04

and we will, I need some

25:06

dice, oh you know what, we'll

25:08

use, look at this, we'll use

25:10

my slyflorish.com.com.com, slash, slash, slash, slash,

25:12

slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash,

25:14

slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash,

25:16

slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash,

25:18

slash, slash, So is it, let's

25:20

see, we have one, two, three,

25:22

four, five, six, seven. So we're

25:24

gonna do a D7. So it

25:26

is a faction, and we roll

25:28

a D4, which is one, the

25:30

bloodmages. So we could have bloodmages

25:32

at the Cenotaph. It's a blood

25:34

mage corrupted, but I'd also like

25:36

to say it's of something else.

25:38

And I think we're gonna pick

25:40

the Southlands, and that is a

25:42

D20. And that is of Bastet.

25:44

So a cenotaph of Bastet that

25:46

has been corrupted by the sanguine,

25:48

the sanguine path. Aclopian holy cenotaph

25:50

of Bastet that screams corrupted by,

25:52

what if it's cats muling cats?

25:54

That would be pretty awesome. Corrupted

25:56

by the sanguine path that screams.

25:58

That's cool. And then, who's wandering

26:00

about? I think I had a

26:02

wandering table in one of my

26:04

previous session notes. So this was,

26:06

these were creatures that were running

26:08

around this tomb, but I'm the

26:10

ones that are wandering around the

26:12

overall place. They've been in this

26:14

place for a long time. We

26:16

could have, I kind of like

26:18

the Selkett sting battling the sanguine

26:20

path. So, we haven't really introduced

26:22

Selkett's sting yet. So I think

26:24

we're gonna have Selkett's sting. Be

26:26

at this location when they when

26:28

they wander by So that'll be

26:30

a location on the way to

26:32

the ziggurat of Thoth Hermes. I

26:34

don't think I need to figure

26:36

out the ziggurat too much in

26:38

this session Because they still have

26:40

a lot between sessions I could

26:42

do a little bit of work

26:44

there. So this is the ziggurat

26:46

of Thoth Hermes Well that didn't

26:48

work and what kind of creatures

26:50

so the red door of hewn

26:52

is down below I'm probably going

26:54

to change this up a little

26:56

bit. Oh, so they go up

26:58

the staircase all the way to

27:00

the top and then make their

27:02

way back down again. And what

27:04

kind of... So there would be

27:06

like guardian armors. If we think

27:08

about what kind of encounters we

27:10

could put there. We could do

27:12

a quick list. Let's go back

27:14

to our notes here. And we'll

27:16

see encounters at the zigrot. It's

27:18

going to totally hose up my

27:20

ability to make this one page

27:22

of notes. So let's see. Animated

27:24

armors. Guardian skeletons would be another.

27:26

Thoth Hermes is the god of

27:28

knowledge and learning the wise creative

27:31

language. We could have lost explorers,

27:33

learned specters. That's a good one.

27:35

Let's see, any other, any other

27:37

kind of encounters we need. You

27:39

don't need to have a huge

27:41

random encounter table, frankly. But six

27:43

would be bad. I don't want

27:45

to just fill it up with

27:47

undead again. We could drop from

27:49

Monster Vault2 for fun. I was

27:51

just looking at the Monster Vault

27:53

2 preview and we could use...

27:55

as a beast that's wandering through.

27:57

Look at that guy. What is

27:59

that? That thing's nasty. Fenlercher. Mage

28:01

Knight is a CR5. That's kind

28:03

of cool. The Mud Skipper. I

28:05

thought we'd use a mud, except

28:07

I think this is like, you

28:09

have giant. We'll just go with

28:11

giant centipedes. Everyone loves giant centipedes.

28:13

Animated armors, guardian skeletons, lost explorers,

28:15

learned inspectors, centipedes. We could have

28:17

like living spells. Do you remember

28:19

like the living spells that I

28:21

think, were they in Eberron? I

28:23

think we had living spells in

28:25

Eberon, but we could have like,

28:27

you know, animated scrolls that cast

28:29

spells. Animated spell scrolls could be

28:31

fun. I think that sounds like

28:33

a good time. Treasure, I think

28:35

we're gonna put more treasure in

28:37

here beyond just the puzzle box.

28:39

So we would go to our

28:41

random thing here and we're gonna

28:43

pick a one to four treasure

28:45

and go bang. And of health

28:47

is that sounds really lame. Dust

28:49

of dryness makes sense. I think

28:51

we'll have some dust of dryness.

28:53

So I'll grab this stuff. Everyone

28:55

loves potions of greater healing. So

28:57

I'll have a couple of those.

28:59

And are we ready for a

29:01

javelin of lightning? That sounds like

29:03

a lot. Plus one frozen abyssal

29:05

rapier. That sounds kind of cool.

29:07

Somebody will like that. Our rogue

29:09

will love that. So what does

29:11

it do? What's a cold, what's

29:13

a good cold based spell? Let's

29:15

go back to... So allow, yeah,

29:17

it was a cold abyssal race,

29:19

rapier that lets its wielder cast

29:21

Ray of Frost. Let's go back

29:23

to our players guide here. Spell

29:25

lists. Ray of Frost is a

29:27

cantrip. Range spell attack. I think

29:29

the range spell attack will be

29:31

plus five, right. Plus five would

29:33

be... the assumption that they would

29:35

basically be a tier one character

29:37

right plus five would be like

29:39

you know the assumption would be

29:41

we could let him do it

29:43

at plus six just so it's

29:45

a little bit media to last

29:47

a little bit longer yeah it

29:49

could we could have it that

29:51

like you wield the rapier and

29:53

it does the ray of frost

29:55

using the same attack of the

29:57

rapier. That's pretty good. What's this

29:59

thing called? It's got to have

30:01

a name. We need a cool

30:03

name. Cool name and then we're

30:05

probably done. Ice spike, icicle, how

30:07

about just icicle? Yeah, called icicle,

30:09

and requires attument, of course. Let's,

30:11

it's attuned, cast ray of frost.

30:13

It's not bad. Is Frostbite better

30:15

than icicle? It's pretty good. Frostbite's

30:18

pretty good. Cool. Frostbite's pretty good.

30:20

Thank you, B.K. Thompson for Frostbite.

30:22

Is Frostbite also a cantrip? I

30:24

don't think so. So that's cool.

30:26

I think we're good there. All

30:28

right, so I got plenty of

30:30

treasure. So I got my encounters,

30:32

you know, I'm going to cheat.

30:34

I'm going to put this in

30:36

a big long list so that

30:38

it doesn't, when it prints, when

30:40

it prints, look at that way

30:42

it prints, look at that way

30:44

it'll be one line, it'll be

30:46

one line. And that way I

30:48

could save some space when I

30:50

print all this out. So what

30:52

else I need? I feel pretty

30:54

good. How do I feel? I'll

30:56

tell you. You're a trick, right?

30:58

We got tricks of the day.

31:00

One of the tricks of the

31:02

day is to stop. when you

31:04

feel like you've got what you

31:06

need. And to ask yourself, do

31:08

I feel good about this next

31:10

session? Do I feel like I've

31:12

got, as much as you typically

31:14

do, we all have doubts. We

31:16

all have the lizard brain telling

31:18

us, oh my God, we have

31:20

to be creative in front of

31:22

our friends and they're all gonna

31:24

laugh at you, right? They're all

31:26

saying what Kerry White's mother said

31:28

to her, they're all gonna laugh

31:30

at you. And hopefully they're laughing

31:32

with you. Do I feel like

31:34

I have enough material to run

31:36

this next session? I certainly have

31:38

a good solid strong start. I

31:40

think the game can kind of

31:42

wander from there. I've got a

31:44

good encounter wandering around the city.

31:46

I've got plenty of secrets for

31:48

them to discover. I'm actually cheating

31:50

on secrets because I also tie

31:52

secrets to the characters. So now

31:54

I have six extra secrets. So

31:56

now I have plenty of more

31:58

to throw their way. Are there

32:00

plenty of decisions for them to

32:02

make? I think so. And the

32:04

real path of the game is

32:06

they combine the puzzle box, probably

32:08

go back to the hewn enclave

32:10

for arrest, then travel to the

32:12

ziggurat of thoth Hermes. And that's

32:14

pretty much the next couple of

32:16

sessions. Right, so I don't need

32:18

big piles of scenes. I kind

32:20

of know where things are headed

32:22

after that. So I feel pretty

32:24

good about it. I think I've

32:26

got everything I need. I'm going

32:28

to print this. Even though I'm

32:30

running an online game, it's still

32:32

nice to print. Well, export now.

32:34

Let's see if it should fit

32:36

nicely on a sheet. It does.

32:38

Look at that. I could even

32:40

boost it a bit. It's fine.

32:42

Oh, we'll boost it attached. So

32:44

it's a little bit easier to

32:46

a little bit easier to read.

32:48

is you can kind of get

32:50

everything to fit on a page

32:52

depending on how big the text

32:54

is. Oh, look at that. I

32:56

got it exactly on a page.

32:58

So I'm going to print and

33:00

I'm going to print just page

33:03

one. It overlaps just a touch

33:05

and that gives me plenty for my

33:07

game. So I think we're all set. Friends,

33:09

I'm going to thank all of you for

33:11

hanging out with me today while we prepared

33:13

for my Dragon Empire game. If you enjoy

33:15

this show and you want to see more

33:17

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33:55

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33:57

great day. Have a great day. out

33:59

there and their playing RPG.