King of the Autumn's Harvest

[Dustinian]

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king_of_the_autumns_harvest.pdf

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king_of_the_autumns_harvest.odt

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One on One:
It's a one-on-one (one player, one GM) adventure.

Lots of "Safe" Rolling:
It's meant to introduce a player to the RPG hobby. It has a lot of low-stakes dice-rolling, with some real combat toward the end. The low-stakes dice rolling happens at a festival, with many festival games (that basically boil down to 10 ability rolls per "game").

[-1warrior]

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

[LibraryLass]

Ring toss seems a little too like a ranged attack to be the Dexterity game. By way of using the same illustration... what about something like a ring-juggling game, or a sort of primitive carousel complete with the old-fashioned brass ring grab?

[Dustinian]

Ring toss seems a little too like a ranged attack to be the Dexterity game. By way of using the same illustration... what about something like a ring-juggling game, or a sort of primitive carousel complete with the old-fashioned brass ring grab?

I'm not familiar with brass ring grab? I have no problem doing additional illustrations if there's something else that better exemplifies DEX. I considered "Jacks," but I'm trying really hard to identify things that can't be done "at the table," because my intent is that the one-on-one adventure really emphasized rolling to get any "new" players who are trying out the system comfortable with the dice.

I wish I could figure out a way to build a few "games" around saving throws.

To clarify: There are already quite a few "games" in this module. I don't believe every PC will (or should) play EVERY game. But asking about each game is a great way for a new player to discover: "Oh, I've got a +2 at that? Yeah, let me try that!" And "discover" what their character is good at.

Also, I made a few updates and posted. I'll keep updating... I'll make a longer post when I have a "complete" draft.

[Dustinian]

I've updated the hyperlink in the first post, and I've expanded the adventure further. Not quite done yet, but much further along! I'm really hoping to complete this adventure by Christmas and move onto the next one.

[Dustinian]

I updated the documents in the first post. I made more extensive edits here. I expanded the "Archery" and "Melee" competitions to give folks an idea of what each "contest" section will look like once it's built out. I also updated the Kobald stat blocks to align with the BFRPG standard.

[Babarock]

image host

Well, the weekends over and we had so much fun playing the Kings Harvest that it filled 3 sessions (believe it or not). The kids loved the minigames. I wrote by day and played by night until the whole thing was hammered out. I've taken the approved format from other modules and fixed the layout of the whole thing to conform to BF standards.

I've added some new art, a proper ending and changed the reward system of the minigames to provide experience rather than money. An improvement, I think, that is true to your original intent of providing a 'low risk' introductory adventure for beginning players so they can get seasoned without risking their necks so much.

Here is a full and specific list of all the changes made:

King of Autumn Harvest - rev2.0 - Change Log
1. Revised format to reflect Solomariah/BF standards
2. Changes in the About section that the adventure can be played by a starting party.
3. Minor rewrites in the Background section
4. Added 'Welcome to Autumnpeak' illustration (page2)
5. Added to flavor text on page 2
6. Replaced tournament rewards to favor experience and added multiplier mechanic
7. Named and detailed all festival events and added 'Wheel of Fate'
8. Minor changes to 'Outside Strong House' section
9. Added box text to 'Inside Strong House' section
10. Enhanced kobold information and detailed individual kobold hit points
11. Added parchment clue, description and aftermath of battle
12. Added 'Game Master Wrap Up' section (page 5)
13. Added printable, full sized map and minis on page 6
14. Added printable 'carnival event cards' on page 7

Heres the PDf file:
http://www.filedropper.com/kingofautumnharvestr2
Heres the ODT file:
http://www.filedropper.com/kingofautumnharvestr2_1

[Dustinian]

Note: I moved your reply to this thread since your reply is relevant to "The King of the Autumn's Harvest."

Thanks again, Babarock for your work on this adventure. Again, I'm blown away by everything you did. I really like it all. Let me respond to you piece-by-piece below....

...we had so much fun playing the Kings Harvest that it filled 3 sessions (believe it or not).

Wow, yeah, I never would have thought that. But that's why I love short adventures vs. longer "dungeon crawls."

The kids loved the minigames.

Awesome! Did they have a lot of exposure to D20 games? If not, did it help them learn what each of the stats and bonuses on their character sheet do?

I wrote by day and played by night until the whole thing was hammered out. I've taken the approved format from other modules and fixed the layout of the whole thing to conform to BF standards.

Thank you for the layout work!

I've added some new art,

I love the "Welcome to Autumnpeak" piece. It fits perfect. I didn't state it outright, but I was trying to keep the art purely black and white (i.e. no grayscale), so thanks for sticking to that. I noticed a bit of grayscale in the "Wheel of Fate" and with the "Parchment." Would it be easy to wipe out the grayscale and make them purely "duotone"? I don't know why I feel strongly about that aesthetic for the Autumnpeak adventures, but, perhaps weirdly, I do.

a proper ending

Love the ending! Love that you incorporated the drawing of the Lingering Keep![/quote]

and changed the reward system of the minigames to provide experience rather than money. An improvement, I think, that is true to your original intent of providing a 'low risk' introductory adventure for beginning players so they can get seasoned without risking their necks so much.

I really like a LOT that you did here: I like the experience points; I like the 5 rolls rather than 10 (10 could get a bit monotonous!). I may add some text back, though. I had put out a new version of "The King of the Autumn's Harvest" at the end of last week that had some page number references (something I brought back to this adventure from "The Lingering Keep"). I really like how the page number references make this adventure a tutorial session for a new GM as well. Look for a new version from me soon with some additional text!

King of Autumn Harvest - rev2.0 - Change Log
1. Revised format to reflect Solomariah/BF standards
2. Changes in the About section that the adventure can be played by a starting party.
3. Minor rewrites in the Background section
4. Added 'Welcome to Autumnpeak' illustration (page2)
5. Added to flavor text on page 2
6. Replaced tournament rewards to favor experience and added multiplier mechanic
7. Named and detailed all festival events and added 'Wheel of Fate'
8. Minor changes to 'Outside Strong House' section
9. Added box text to 'Inside Strong House' section
10. Enhanced kobold information and detailed individual kobold hit points
11. Added parchment clue, description and aftermath of battle
12. Added 'Game Master Wrap Up' section (page 5)
13. Added printable, full sized map and minis on page 6
14. Added printable 'carnival event cards' on page 7

Some specific thoughts from me:

• I love the names you gave each event. When I get some time, I'm going to re-draw the "pot of beans" as a "basket of corn."
• I notice you changed the title from "The King of the Autumn's Harvest" to "King of Autumn Harvest." Any thoughts on that?
• You added a bunch more kobalds! Were those encounters lethal to your young players? I will add some text about modifying the number of kobalds for different numbers of adventurers. I'd still like "one-on-one" (one player, one GM) to be an option for this adventure.
• Love the carnival event cards!
• I notice you host your files on third-party websites rather than attaching them directly to your posts. Curious about why?

Babarock, again, thank you for your work. You took a very rough start and made a very finished project. This is exactly why I like contributing here. Thanks, man. I've been delighted all day that you actually ran the adventure and had great feedback!

[Babarock]

Cool, Dustinian!

I did change the title, didn't I? That's kinda major. It must have been a passing thought as I was tightening up superfluous wording. I didn't mean to arm wrestle your creation. I might of got carried away. Its your baby, after all. I guess I never appreciated titles that have more than 3 or 4 words in them. "The Lingering Keep". Has a nice ring to it, huh?

I've just finished proofing my final print out and have made some final changes. There were still some little issues here and there. I bet your doing the same, so it'd be nice to compare final notes before official release. To answer some of your thoughts:

- No. The kids don't have much d20 cred. We have played Hero Kids for some time now and I really want to graduate the family to the 'next level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPe_uFf4CP4
- Yes. The minigames DID, in fact, help them get a better grip on the purpose of the various attributes and the check system in general (I have an ability check system of my own devising supplement to the optional rule, but still). I also liked that the 'Circle of Doom' taught them basic melee and the 'Marksman' event taught ranged attacking.

I don't know why I feel strongly about that aesthetic for the Autumnpeak adventures, but, perhaps weirdly, I do.

- I also love the grognardian black and white, cross-hatched, pen and ink style and noticed your purist art before deciding to emulate it for the purpose of continuity. I didn't willingly add grey scale, but may have inadvertently caused it while I was tweaking details digitally (I use Krita). The wheel of fate is actually black and white, but the detail shrunk down so much that it ran together. I have fixed these issues in my final release of the document here:

KingOfAutumnHarvest_r2_1.odt

(3.63 MiB) Downloaded 303 times

KingOfAutumnHarvest_r2_1.pdf

(2.46 MiB) Downloaded 323 times

Question: There are 2 'out structures' featured on the town map that look like towers or observatories. What are those? Maybe they should be named in the paragraph on notable local sites.

I really like a LOT that you did here: I like the experience points; I like the 5 rolls rather than 10 (10 could get a bit monotonous!)

- I hope that my version of the event instructions was written clearly. You still get 10 attempts at success, but 5 in a row are required for the 'grand prize'. The kids played probably 15 events and one of them won the +1 short bow once, so it isn't easy. The 'multiplier' mechanic emulates a popular and recognizable feature in video games where consecutive 'hits' builds your score up faster. It also was really effective at building excitement as each successful role increased the tension and risk involved. I realize this was a major rewrite. Please note that I'm just having fun and it was never my intention to disrespect your fine work.

You added a bunch more kobalds! Were those encounters lethal to your young players?

- Kobolds are such pushovers. The tunnel battle was definitely the highlight of the weekend! I might not have been clear, but the intention was for 1d4 of them plus 1 more for each player present, so there may be as few as 2 or 3 of them lying in wait and they are likely to be surprised when the PC's come around the bend. I understand, one good stab and its over, but they have a morale of 6! My crew took out the storehouse kobold with one subduing kick to the head and tied him up for interrogation. They took out 4 of them in the tunnels, legit, without so much as a scratch! The last 2 fled down the tunnel in terror. Without a LITTLE risk, I felt it just wouldn't be an 'adventure'.

Love the carnival event cards!

- Everybody loves cutouts! I try never to complete a module without them. Especially when its for kids or for first time players. That includes maps and minis as well. There's nothing like saying, "Its all in here. Everything you need."

I notice you host your files on third-party websites rather than attaching them directly to your posts. Curious about why?

I'm glad you asked. It didn't occur to me until you did that there was an option to upload directly to the forum. To be truthful, I have posted more to this forum in the last couple of months than I've posted in all other forums combined in all my life. So, I just figured it out as evidenced by the 2 included files above and this:

Welcome to Autumnpeak.jpeg (120.12 KiB) Viewed 6070 times

NOW I'm posting like a pro!

[Dustinian]

I did change the title, didn't I? That's kinda major. It must have been a passing thought as I was tightening up superfluous wording. I didn't mean to arm wrestle your creation. I might of got carried away. Its your baby, after all. I guess I never appreciated titles that have more than 3 or 4 words in them. "The Lingering Keep". Has a nice ring to it, huh?

Don't mistake my question for irritation! My degree is in Professional Writing (basically Technical Writing) so I have no ego when it comes to edits to my documents. I just wanted to understand. I agree the title is a bit long. But I wanted the title to be short for the position that Hurley Sumes occupies, which is, in it's full regalia: "The King of the Autumn's Harvest Festival." For a shorter title, how about: "King of Autumn's Harvest"?

I've just finished proofing my final print out and have made some final changes. There were still some little issues here and there. I bet your doing the same, so it'd be nice to compare final notes before official release.

Ugh, I've not had time. I hope to make time this weekend, but I always hope that. My wife and I both have a bit of a commute and a 3.5-year-old that we spend every moment we can with between the commute and her bedtime. You go ahead and make your edits. I will get mine done eventually. Frankly, though, collaborating with me means it may be a few months yet before this is finalized. I love this site, and I love contributing, but I have to carve out the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPe_uFf4CP4

I love the video! Nice job on that! I've actually played "Hero Kids" with my niece! I think she prefers FAE, though.

Yes. The minigames DID, in fact, help them get a better grip on the purpose of the various attributes and the check system in general (I have an ability check system of my own devising supplement to the optional rule, but still).

Awesome! That was the goal. Part of what I'm considering adding is a bit of explanatory text to each game to make that clear for new GMs and players. See the version I posted in this thread late last week.

I also liked that the 'Circle of Doom' taught them basic melee and the 'Marksman' event taught ranged attacking.

Also the goal! Awesome. I may take 'Circle of Doom' back to a "spar with this guy" mock combat place where you're actually rolling initiative each round and attacking each other. I really want it to be a fairly "genuine" melee combat (but one in which they get all their hit points back at the end since both participants were in "practice" mode). But I want to keep the name 'Circle of Doom' and the flavor text you added.

I also love the grognardian black and white, cross-hatched, pen and ink style and noticed your purist art before deciding to emulate it for the purpose of continuity. I didn't willingly add grey scale, but may have inadvertently caused it while I was tweaking details digitally (I use Krita). The wheel of fate is actually black and white, but the detail shrunk down so much that it ran together. I have fixed these issues in my final release of the document

Awesome, thank you. I find that these print beautifully as long as they are of high enough resolution.

Question: There are 2 'out structures' featured on the town map that look like towers or observatories. What are those? Maybe they should be named in the paragraph on notable local sites.

Those are lighthouses for any ships that may arrive durng the night. The ships know to aim for between the two lighthouses. Those dotted lines are paths work by the keepers. There's also a cave under the southern lighthouse. I had fun thinking of all sorts of adventure hooks as I drew the map. I will try to sit down and label a copy of the map in detail in the next few days.

I hope that my version of the event instructions was written clearly. You still get 10 attempts at success, but 5 in a row are required for the 'grand prize'. The kids played probably 15 events and one of them won the +1 short bow once, so it isn't easy. The 'multiplier' mechanic emulates a popular and recognizable feature in video games where consecutive 'hits' builds your score up faster. It also was really effective at building excitement as each successful role increased the tension and risk involved. I realize this was a major rewrite. Please note that I'm just having fun and it was never my intention to disrespect your fine work.

You spent your time working on something I started, which is the highest respect. I didn't see any disrespect in any of what you did. Hmm, I wasn't totally clear on that, I'll look at it again more closely.

Kobolds are such pushovers. The tunnel battle was definitely the highlight of the weekend! I might not have been clear, but the intention was for 1d4 of them plus 1 more for each player present, so there may be as few as 2 or 3 of them lying in wait and they are likely to be surprised when the PC's come around the bend. I understand, one good stab and its over, but they have a morale of 6! My crew took out the storehouse kobold with one subduing kick to the head and tied him up for interrogation. They took out 4 of them in the tunnels, legit, without so much as a scratch! The last 2 fled down the tunnel in terror. Without a LITTLE risk, I felt it just wouldn't be an 'adventure'.

Agree about the risk! And I hadn't though of the morale thing. When I GM, enemies who are willing to fight typically fight fiercely and to the death. This is becuase (as I think I may have posted in the Lingering Keep thread) my players are tactical/mechanical thinkers. They pick encounters apart. When I GM for other groups, I have to seriously tone it down. But that's my bad on not knowing the morale rules very well. I'll give that a look.

I'm glad you asked. It didn't occur to me until you did that there was an option to upload directly to the forum. To be truthful, I have posted more to this forum in the last couple of months than I've posted in all other forums combined in all my life. So, I just figured it out as evidenced by the 2 included files above and this:

Awesome! I'm glad you figured it out! The only other hint I'd leave you with is: Imgur. Imgur is fanstastic for posting images and then linking to them from elsewhere. They allow you to link DIRECTLY to the image (no advertising whatsoever), and they give you a lot of control (captions, order, etc.) if you decide to post a "gallery" of images. And it's all free. An Imgur account is a great investment of the 2 minutes it takes to set up!