[AA2] A Matter of Justice

[dymondy2k]

OK fellas here is my entry into Tenkar's 'Grand Original Map' contest..
Its called a 'A Matter of Justice'.
Feedback welcome..

This adventure can be found in AA2 on the Downloads page.

[jackel]

Hey I like this. I do agree that it could (should) be fleshed out into a full scale module. I like it that your not fighting monsters, but an alliance of people.

[Metroknight]

I like it. I'm already thinking on how to incoporate it into the dragonclaw campaign I have just started.

[Hywaywolf]

Good job. I like a module that has interactivity between rooms. If a battle is being fought in one room, it is silly to think people in the next room wouldn't hear and come in to investigate. I also like the flavor given to the halfling in the dining room. The only big thing I would change is that if the bridge gate is attacked one of the defenders should run to warn the ringleaders. Or at the least have a bell they ring to give an alarm.


It would be very cool to turn this into a larger module with much more depth than the alluded to investigation at the end of the text. The party members could be coming to the area after reading about the Kings ruling and an advertisement from Old Bradford inviting perspective landowners to come to the area to make themselves a home in the newly granted land. (and become Taxpayers) The town is allowing 1 month for people to come in and get a feel for the lay of the land and then there. After the month there will be a lottery to parcel out the land. To go along with the lottery there will be a week long celebration complete with big party, farmers market, bazaar, etc. On the final day of the celebration the lottery will be held.

That will give PCs plenty of time to interact with the townspeople and the surrounding wildland. There could be violent interaction between lottery hopefuls and militia from Granite who are trying to keep all these new people off the little bit of land that the King left them. There could also be included the previous attempts the Bradford 5 have tried to start a war with Granite. Could be rumor tables. Secret maps sold in dark alleys showing known areas of rich mine sites that are held by orcs and goblins. Members of the Bradford 5 sending lottery hopefuls into these trouble areas trying to scare people away.

[dymondy2k]

Thanx for the feedback! I actually had the same thought about the bridge a few nights ago.. But I was thinking they would run to the barracks instead to get reinforcements.

As for the other.. there is only one real reason I didn't do that.. I can't write town encounters to save my life! But there could be alot of adventure leading up to this module that's for sure!

[dymondy2k]

Release 1.1 has been posted.

Mostly just fixed a large amount of spelling and grammatical errors. Blazeguard did an awesome proofing job! I may hire him in the future

[dymondy2k]

Guys.. I need your opinion.. I felt like the backstory for this was a bit too convoluted to fit within the framework of the module. Hywaywolf's post got me thinking a bit more and I liked the idea of a town infused with newcomers and a group of xenophobic townspeople who will stop at nothing to get them to leave..

So here is the updated background story..

What’s Really Going On
Old Bradford has always been a sleepy little town where very little happened. That was until recently when gold was discovered in the hills above the town. Now people are flooding in from all over the kingdom, trying to stake their claim. Many in town have welcomed the newcomers and the economic windfall they bring with them but others see things differently. A small group of townspeople have covertly taken it upon themselves to do everything they can to drive the miners, their families and the new businesses out of their town.
At first their machinations were just aimed at making life miserable for the miners; sabotaging mines, planting false evidence for arrests and the occasional back alley beating. The constable, Ben Stocks, has had his suspicions that there was a single organized group behind these crimes but didn't have the resources to investigate. But lately their actions have escalated. First there were reports of miners gone missing and now the bombing at the Founder's Day celebration.
But even now Constable Stocks has kept his suspicions to himself, not knowing who else he can trust with the investigation. Working outside his own office, he gathered clues and made his first real break when he followed a suspect to an old mine just outside of town. But he can't raid the compound without risking tipping them off. This is where the characters come in.

I think I can keep most of the module as is but here is my proposed changes..

Room 9: I want to move the soldiers I previously had in Room 12 here instead. They will engage the party while the Bradford 5 makes their escape. They will also make use of the Alchemist Fire to pin the party to the hallway.

Room 10: A corner of the room sits above the hallway passing underneath it, the hallway in turn leads to broken bridge with the impromptu crossing. I want to make a getaway hole here for the Bradford Five (love this term hyway) so they can drop down and make their escape when they flee from room 9.

Room 12: Not sure yet.. Would love some ideas that would involve helping the Bradford Five escape..

[Hywaywolf]

what happened to the animosity between granite and Bradford and the king's ruling that Bradford get 2/3rds of the disputed land? ha, I just imagined making this even more of a muddle, have another group that has been conspiring to frame Granite and making payoff's to the Kings counselors to get the ruling they want. This group wants more people to come in to make the town bigger as opposed to the Bradford 5 who wants everything to go back to the way it was.

I like the escape pit into the lower tunnel. I was thinking about that when I read over it but didn't want to shake things up to much. You could make it so that if the party made a lot of noise attacking the Bridge gate the Bradford 5 would send the resting guards into battle and slip themselves out before being identified. If the party got by the gate gaurds with subterfuge then the Bradford 5 would be caught unawares and most likely be identified before they escape.

Room 12 still needs some guards to guard the escape bridge. Perhaps these are some folks from granite who have joined the Bradford 5 because they were upset with their town fathers for colluding with the Kings counselors to get the best deal for themselves and leaving the regular granite folk hung out to dry. They want to restart the war and think the Bradford 5 is their best chance. They hate the Bradford 5 though, so if they think they have the upper hand when the Bradford 5 make their escape they will attack them.

[dymondy2k]

HYway.. I felt that bringing the other town into it just added more complexity to the module then it supported. I think the story as-is would have been an amazing module with additional maps thrown in but with just one map there was too much 'hand waving'. But your additional ideas about the land grab and all these new people rushing into town just clicked with a way to shorten up the backstory and get the party right into the adventure.

What would you think of making the Room 12 guys non-human.. That room is off on its own so it would be a good place to put some cheap labor.

[Hywaywolf]

oh, I understand. I am just working at cross purposes lol. You are trying to make the module tight and concise and I am trying to bust it open