Woo Hoo the penultimate post.

In hindsight this next paragraph should have possibly been placed into a couple of the previous posts for this #RPGaDAY2020 thing. But it’s ok late now, and I’m not retro editing the posts. I’d have to reread my own words. Who’d want to do that?

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

When we get back to our campaign once this who pandemic thing allows the adventurers will be exploring an abandoned dwarven mine that once was home to small number of dwarves belonging to the Ironstar clan.

I’m going to be using the Dwarven Excavation map from the D&D Essentials Kit. Naturally the map will need a tweak or two. For instance the party will not be meeting the two dwarf prospectors. So how do I warn the party of the threats inside?

In the Ruined Settlement part I plan to have fragments of an ancient diary lying around for the party to discover. Naturally these will be written in dwarven. So depending on who discovers the fragments will determine what version I hand over. A non-dwarven reading character will get a sheet that is just dwarven runes. Whilst a dwarven reading character will get an english version to read.

The fragments will talk of a rift opening up in the Hall of Greed. From this rift oozes spewed. So the party will still encounter ochre jelly. But I’m going to throw in a gelatinous cube, maybe even a black pudding.

I got the idea for the rift from the following post from the Role Playing Tips website.

Rifts are a kind of portal in my mind.

I do like the idea of using portals within a campaign. They allow adventurers to travel to other planes. Or in this case provide a story element, and even problem for the party to solve.

In a MtG inspired campaign whether using the Ravnica or Theros source books, or the Planes Shift pdfs a portal is how your party will planes walker between realms.

In a regular D&D campaign they are how you get to Avernus or one of the many planes that exist in the D&D universe.

In the Hall of Greed the party will encounter the rift which they will need to close before they can make use of the Brazier of Green Flame to enchant their weapons. I’m borrowing this brazier from the Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign that comes with the D&D Starter Kit. If you want specifics it can be found in the Forge of Spells in the Wave Echo Cave map.

The brazier for me explains the “secret” of how the Ironstar Clan were able to imbue their weapons and other items with magical properties.

I think this plan of mine is a good example of how to take an existing encounter, and make it your own by mashing several ideas together to create something semi original.