Bonan matenon, miaj bonaj amikoj!
The older I get, the less time I have for writing my own full adventures for my home games. As such, I am increasingly fond of taking existing modules for games and running them in connected series, hopefully with as little required tweaking as possible. I’ve been doing this with Dreams and Machines - despite having only existed for a very short time, we already have five published modules and a multi-adventure Starter Set. At least adventure-wise, it’s kicking off as a very well-supported product line.
Below are my own quick thoughts on ways to link all of the adventures in a more or less “optimal” way. Certainly everyone’s own definitions of “optimal” may vary, so for me at least, again my goal is linking things with as little rewriting as possible.
One easy path would be as follows:
- Start with “Shelter” (from the quickstart) with the party as bored younguns, maybe around New Mossgrove, or even better, have them be from some other smaller community - possibly further up the north road from NM or the NE road from Printempo. See my longer extended notes on the Shadows in the Daylight module in another post for some possible starting location ideas.
- “Shadows in the Daylight” (Adv01): some time later they’ve gone on an important plot errand to Printempo or even New Mossgrove - possibly to analyze something they found in Shelter! - and this adventure happens. Afterward they continue on to New Mossgrove, either on their previous errand or seeking aid for Printempo.
- Starter Set Adventures*: on the way to NM from Printempo, they find evidence of even more of those same thralls heading to New Mossgrove, and this leads to the ruined homestead and then into the stuff in and around New Mossgrove. Run this to its conclusion.
- “Home is Where the Threat is” (Adv02): Party is asked to go check on some local outlying communities after the NM attack in the Starter Set, to see how widespread the damage and threat is.
- “Poisoned Waters” (Adv03): Perhaps this happens in one of the last towns they seek to aid. Or another town further away, on on a different route back - perhaps the north road out of NM.
- “Secrets in Lost Rios” (GMG): Save this one for last as it gets the party back into the idea of maybe leaving New Mossgrove for a while. Go through all that stuff north of town, and maybe insert some clue to take the party even further north - just in time for the release of the next setting book on Emerta, perhaps?
On the topic of the next book, it’s worth noting that the city of Emerta is mentioned on p. 173 of the GMG, in location 17 “Exposed Vacuum Tubes” - this could potentially lead directly! If/when you want to finally move the story there, that’s a great location to begin a connecting adventure of your own design.
*Regarding the Starter Set, I feel it makes a much better experience if initiated after the players are already familiar with the game and the setting. Unfortunately the tutorial in this boxed set actually misrepresents the rules on multiple occasions, and thus doesn’t actually teach the game properly. Additionally, I just don’t feel right about the way it repeatedly puts violence forth as the first few dice rolls any player makes, and the only solution to things. RPG combat can be fun and all, I am no stranger to it, definitely, but I’ve had multiple player groups (some veterans of Conan, even) actively cringe when we played through the first scenes of the tutorial booklet. It just conflicts with the rest of the game’s presentation of hopeful themes.
The Quickstart booklet and its “Shelter” adventure not only teach the correct rules, they do so in a way that puts violence toward the end of the adventure, makes it more personal, more necessary, and IMHO more exciting.