Monster Tracker Funded!
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Apr 05, 2022 at 12:57:50 PM

We’ve funded another stretch goal, and that’s because of all of you. Thanks so much.

So what is the Monster Tracker? There are a lot of encounters in the Splinters of Faith campaign, so we wanted an easy way to track monsters the characters defeat (and to keep a list of those who get away to fight another day). We came up with the Monster Tracker, which you can use to check off the monsters as they are defeated. This will also help calculate XP between adventures so you can easily add up all the numbers.

Think of this as something similar to one of those scorecards at a mini-golf course, with the monsters listed, other useful details, and a box to check when or if they are defeated. This PDF should make XP bookkeeping easier in your game.

Up Next: Acid Swamp of the Demon Prince

Up next is our $50,000 stretch goal, which will add another all-new adventure to the book. This high-level bonus adventure will be available to all backers who get a PDF or physical copy of the book. We’ve only discussed details about this one, but I think it will be an interesting coda to the Splinters of Faith adventures. It’s called Acid Swamp of the Demon Prince.

Here’s what to expect:

• A village located in the middle of an acidic swamp.
• A lost temple in a massive cluster of crystals (think of something like the Cave of the Crystals in Chihuahua, Mexico).
• A cast-off demon prince, and his even more fearsome mother.
• This final adventure is not required to finish the Splinters of Faith campaign, but it will have an interesting connection to the main adventure. You could also use this as a separate adventure for any high-level characters.
• The postcards included with physical copies of the Splinters of Faith book may play a part in this final adventure. (Yep, we’re still fine-tuning the last-minute details based on the stretch goals we meet, but it’s looking more likely that this one will come to pass.) I’ll talk more about the idea for using the postcards once we get closer to the stretch goal that adds the adventure.

Jeff Harkness

Co-author of Splinters of Faith

A Haunted House Mystery
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Apr 05, 2022 at 12:57:40 PM

     A young girl wearing a faded blue dress, her hair tied up in pigtails, sits cross-legged on the tiled floor. She rolls a red ball back and forth in front of her, laughing joyfully as she catches the plaything in one hand and sends it back in the other direction. A contented, yellow-striped cat curls up beside her, its head buried in its massive paws. The little girl raises her head and smiles. “Have you come to play?” She clasps her hands before her, girlish glee brightening her features.

     The ball on the ground — now untouched — continues rolling back and forth all on its own.

     The little girl’s eyes go dark. “You’re just like all the others. No fun at all.” The cat uncurls as the girl’s anger rises. It stands and hisses menacingly, a dark fury in its glittering feline eyes. “No fun at all,” the girl repeats — before she and the cat fade away into nothingness. The ball rolls away on its own, heading down the shadowy hallway. Laughter follows it — not childlike now, but a demented sound filled with the promise of violent death.

     Welcome to the manor house. Everyone is so glad you stopped by.

     The above is from the introduction to the all-new adventure added to this volume of Splinters of Faith. It is a mid-level adventure called Soul of Glass that deviates slightly from the other temple-based adventures found in the book. The final half of the book involves some high-level adventures, so we wanted the characters to have a potential home base to return to after each encounter. They just need to clear it out first. But that’s easier said than done.

     The Du Vaine manor was the home of a researcher who spent his life delving into the past of the scepter of faiths, the very same relic the characters are now recreating as they span Libynos to restore the weapon to its full potential. But Lord Arnsworth Du Vaine’s life ended in tragedy after his adopted daughter was kidnapped. He immediately dropped his quest for the relic and focused on getting his daughter back.

     But that never happened. Lavina was lost, and Lord Arnsworth died a broken man in a manor suddenly as still as a tomb. Over the intervening years, the manor fell into disrepair. But it is not uninhabited. Ghostly spirits of all sorts now call the manor home, and many don’t welcome visitors.

     How do these ghosts manifest in the adventure? Some are very in your face, tracking the characters as they search the manor. Others are simply spotted standing quietly in different rooms in the manor. These spirits have a variety of abilities we divided into categories we call Features and Cinematic Abilities:

     * Features are dangerous powers the ghosts can use against the characters. For example, these might allow the ghost to scratch its targets (or possibly carve messages into their flesh). Or sometimes, simply seeing the spirit causes the victim to hemorrhage blood from their eyes.

     * Cinematic abilities are more benign. Blood might run down the manor’s walls in the spirit’s presence, or breezes or odors might occur randomly when the ghost is present.

     But beyond these specific ghostly abilities, the very rooms of the manor are imbued with energy that manifests a different scene or effect each time the characters enter the area. Below is the banquet hall from the adventure to show you what I mean. In this room, you would roll a d10 when the characters enter to see what occurs. If they leave and come back later, you’d roll again to see if things change.

Area J-14: Banquet Hall

This informal dining room was used for everyday — but always extravagant — meals. A solid table dominates the room. A soiled white tablecloth covers the dark wood, its edges hanging to the floor and hiding the space beneath the oak table. Twelve heavy chairs are scattered around the room. Landscapes and still-life paintings hang askew on the walls. Like all other rooms in the mansion, decades of neglect have taken their toll.

1d10 Haunting

1–2      Characters find a dinner party in full swing going on in the chamber. Ghostly revelers wearing animal masks sit around the table, laughing and eating noisily. Characters can practically smell the delicious roast pheasant, herbs and potatoes, and other dishes. Three rounds after the characters enter, all conversation among the ghostly diners ceases, and each guest turns to stare at the characters. The ghosts silently watch the characters until they leave the room.

3–4      A dinner bell rings. Two rounds later, blood drips from the ceiling to spatter on characters still in the room. The blood vanishes before it hits the floor and other objects, but stains clothes and skin for 3d4 days.

5–6      Dirty handprints can be found on the bottom edges of the lace tablecloth. If examined, Lavina rushes out from beneath the table, giggling at any fright she causes. Mr. Giggles purrs contentedly and runs out after her.

7–10      Nothing happens.

     If that’s not enough, an appendix includes another 100 random effects to make the experience different every time. Just roll on the table and suddenly, grave dirt and random trinkets begin dropping from the ceiling. Or maybe something knocks on that closet door just as they are about to open it again. Have a haunted house somewhere else in your campaign world? Grab this table and the list of ghostly abilities and drop them into your own tale.

     Same goes for the Soul of Glass adventure itself. With a little reworking, you could remove the Splinters of Faith connections and turn it into a separate, standalone adventure perfect for your game night.

     There you have it, a little more on the new haunted house mystery smack dab in the middle of the Splinters of Faith campaign.

Until next time,

Jeff Harkness

Co-author of Splinters of Faith

Frog God Playlist
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Apr 05, 2022 at 12:57:12 PM

I talked about some of the wandering monster encounters last time, but here’s another idea for breaking up the Splinters of Faith campaign.

Instead of just rolling random encounters on the road as the characters travel, how about dropping in full (or partial) adventures for them that aren’t part of the overall campaign? A little bit of travel time is built into the early adventures because of the distance between the temples, so you can easily grab a one-off adventure to break up the time (or if you just need a different adventure on a night not everyone can show up to the game table). These extra adventures also allow you to boost the characters’ XP to be ready for the next stop in the campaign.

I’m going to use just the first three adventures from Splinters of Faith and insert a couple suggested one-shot adventures. You could use these or any other short adventure you’ve been wanting to try out. I’m using a couple of Frog God Games and Necromancer Games published (or upcoming) adventures, because of course I would. Here are the adventures I’d add in order and why. But again, do whatever works for your campaign, and please share your own playlists:

1. Scents & Sensibilities

2. Splinters of Faith Adventure 1: It Started with a Chicken

3. Scents & Sensibilities(Optional placement)

4. Splinters of Faith Adventure 2: Burning Desires

5. Shepherd's Bane

Scents & Sensibilities

Place before or after Adventure 1 in the Splinters campaign

This adventure from Frog God Games is set on a farm, so it could easily take place before or after the first Splinters of Faith adventure. Simply relocate the farm to the small village of Lessef in the Splinters setting. You could even set up a hook where the characters help with the stank hogs, then find out about the missing chickens. It adds a whole farmyard of fun!

Shepherd’s Bane
Place between adventures 2 and 3 in the Splinters campaign

In this adventure from Necromancer Games, the village of Harroch and the Sterling Moor can easily be placed along the edge of the Sin Mire Swamp. Characters discover Harroch as they travel from Anvil Plunge in the second Splinters of Faith adventure to Bargarsport to start the third part of the campaign. The village sure is a nice place to stop for the night, but why is everyone so intense? Once they deal with the craziness on the moors, the characters can set off again on their Splinters adventure.  

Next time, I might talk about the postcards you get only with the Kickstarter or something else that strikes my fancy.

Jeff Harkness

Co-author of Splinters of Faith

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Stretch Goal No. 5: High-Resolution Temple and Encounter Art PDF
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Apr 05, 2022 at 12:56:57 PM

I'm so proud that this project just keeps rolling right along and unlocking new stretch goals thanks to all of you. So what do we have for you this time? It's another treat for your players, in the form of high-resolution PDFs of various pieces of art and temples found in the main book. These are perfect for calling up on a tablet or printing on paper to present to your players as they encounter these places during the adventure.

And let me say, this new version of Splinters of Faith has gorgeous art created by our highly talented artists. They really outdid themselves with these pieces, and I personally want to thank each and every one of them for putting in the effort to make this book something special.    

What's next? It's our handy Monster Tracker PDF, which allows you to check off which monsters the characters fight and defeat as they march through the Splinters of Faith adventure. These monsters are sorted by chapter for ease of use. We'll talk more about these once we clear that $45,000 stretch goal. 

Jeff H.    

Just Wandering Around
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Apr 05, 2022 at 12:56:48 PM

I wanted to share a snippet from Splinters of Faith’s wandering monster chapter this time. You heard that right: chapter, not table. Numerous tables are included, all separated into different environments, but there are also some very specific encounters for the campaign. These are divided into six categories, and each group has its own ideas and motivations. There’s plenty of distance between the temple adventures to accommodate a couple of these.  (And yep, that image above is from one of the wandering monster encounters.)

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Special Encounters by Level

The following special encounters are designed for specific level ranges to offer a different challenge than just another random monster. These encounters can be used any time between adventures as characters are headed toward the next temple. They build on the fact that the characters are rushing about trying to restore the scepter of faiths and are likely being noticed by a lot of the wrong people as they do. Eventually, these scurrilous hunters come looking for the characters, especially if characters brandish the scepterin every tavern, inn, or store they encounter. Flaunting the weapon gets the characters noticed.

The following special encounters are divided into six general categories:

The Dogs of Orcus: This group of evil worshippers of Orcus can be found throughout the Lost Lands. They serve the Demon Prince of the Undead to the best of their abilities. Initiates are low-ranking members trying to prove themselves, while the upper echelons of the infamous collection of thieves and killers consist of violent, wanted criminals and powerful wizards and evil priests. Most of the Dogs of Orcus the characters encounter received some vision of the characters and the scepter of faiths and now seek to claim it for their master.

Undead Hunters: Akruel’s return is stirring up undead across Libynos. Many of these undead entities are even now making their way into the Seething Jungle to worship the risen death-priest at the Nether Sepulcher (Chapter 14: Remorse of Life). Orcus puts others on a different path, however, one that leads straight to the characters and the scepter of faiths.

Highwaymen:These robbers and thieves usually have nothing to do with the characters’ quest or the scepter of faiths. Instead, they merely witnessed the characters talking too much, flashing too much coin, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Devout: These encounters tend to be with priests or worshippers of various deities. Some seek to claim the scepter of faiths as their own; others simply experienced visions and came out to see the relic. Either way, the characters may have to deal with devout followers of different deities to continue their quest. If the worshippers are really worshippers at all …

The Cultists: Cultists tend to be fanatical followers of a specific deity — or followers of the newly risen Akruel who seek to do his bidding.

The War Party: These encounters are with monstrous beasts (orcs, gnolls, giants, and worse) that may or may not even know about the scepter of faiths. They are usually evil creatures out hunting or plundering.

Roll 1d6 on the following table or choose an encounter from the level-appropriate encounters detailed below:

1d6 Encounter

1 The Dogs of Orcus

2 Undead Hunters

3 Highwaymen

4 The Devout

5 The Cultists

6 The War Party

Special Encounters for Tier 2 characters

The following encounters can be used while the characters are Tier 2.

The Dogs of Orcus

The Dog of Orcus Hammish Stonefinger (CE male dwarf gladiator) and his 2 followers Ozkar and Bralle(CE male human berserker) set an ambush to stop the characters’ quest dead in its tracks. Hammish is a rising star in the Dogs and thinks he’s the equal of anyone he meets. He has a long reddish beard woven with bits of metal but is bald on top. If he takes the scepter of faiths from the characters, he attempts to snap it in half in a show of straining muscles. Unfortunately, the scepter is tougher than the brutal dwarf.

Undead Hunter

Orcus tasks a bleeding horror minotaur with stopping the characters. The beast charges the party, trying to gore a fighter. It then fights anyone nearby but focuses solely on the wielder of the scepter of faithsif the relic is displayed during the battle. The undead monstrosity is not subtle in its tactics; it hacks and slashes at the characters until they — or it — are stopped.

The Highwaymen

Jessye Wood-Son (CN male elf veteran thief) and his band of 6 highway robbers (male or female human thief) stop the characters at a felled tree in the road. They crouch behind it, shortbows at the ready. Jessye demands payment to pass the barricade, a tribute of at least 50 gp per character (and 10 gp for each of their horses if they are riding). Jessye is a wanted outlaw with a bounty of 500 gp on his head, either dead or alive.

The Devout

A group of five male and female clerics of Iseleine sit in a circle. They wear voluminous gowns that billow around them in the slightest breezes. They also wear circlets woven of daisies and moss on their heads. One has a small drum that he taps to a discordant rhythm as the others sway in unison. They claim to have come from the temple to follow the travelers and offer them aid and guidance.

The Cultists

As the characters are traveling through the forest or beneath any rocky, low-lying cliffs, they hear numerous voices shout “I can fly!” before 6 cult fanatics hurl their bodies at the characters below them. The cultists take 1d6 points of damage from the fall, but immediately spring to their feet to attack. The cultists hide in the branches or crouch on the tops of the cliffs to avoid detection. The fanatics are led by Ceisiwyr Awyr(CE male human high priest of Pazuzu), who forces the cultists to drink a mixture of hippogriff blood and juniper leaves to keep them devoted to Pazuzu.

The War Party

 A band of 4 duergar with an earth elemental servant track the characters on their journey. The duergar prefer to attack at night by charging the characters from four different directions while the earth elemental rises out of the ground in the middle of the camp. The duergar recently discovered that the hated dwarves of Anvil Plunge crafted some holy relic. They are intent on destroying the scepter of faiths simply because Anvil Plunge crafted it and not to serve Akruel’s interests.  

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One interesting thing to note in the above encounters

I wrote in a different update about combining or changing the names of real people to get new gaming versions Take the above Highwaymen encounter as another example of this. Anything about that encounter sound familiar? How about if I gave you the real name Jesse Woodson James. Or the shorter and more well-known version: Jesse James. A little adjusting gets you Jessye Wood-Son, definitely a fantasy sounding name (and perfect for an elf bandit). But now you know the truth; your characters were just robbed by the infamous train robber and outlaw!

Jeff Harkness

Co-author of Splinters of Faith