Welcome to Worlds by Wally

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Hey, I’m Greg, AKA Wally, an aspiring indie TTRPG publisher. 

At home, I’m a father and husband. In my day job I’m an economist and data scientist. To many friends, and hopefully some of you, I’m a Dungeon Master and aspiring storyteller. This blog is primarily documenting my journey in building Journey of the Wayfinder. It includes a campaign diary of the game, along with discussions about my approach to DMing and adventure design. You can also find links to my published adventures, and a calendar of public events I’m running.

This hobby is my favorite past-time. My first foray into TTRPGs was trying to expand Hero Quest into a full TTRPG at about 12 years old. Before I finished the game, I discovered Dungeons and Dragons. That first taste of home-brewing game rules and a world had me hooked on world building for life. 

While I have run games in many systems my forte is high fantasy, with fantasy heavy sci-fi (e.g., Star Wars) a close second. My favorite game systems are Sine Nomine’s Without Number Series, Shadowdark, and Pathfinder 2e. Journey of the Wayfinder, will be an expansion to Worlds Without Number.

Click here for my titles on DriveThruRPG!

Event Calendar

Click on the events below to join in a game! I’ll be hosting at local game nights and conventions regularly.

Free Shadowdark Adventure: Descent to Thargrond

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Shadowdark is quickly becoming my favorite TTRPG. Its simplicity makes homebrewing easy without breaking balance. It also addresses by biggest issue with 5e, it actually rewards treasure hunting, since PCs must earn gold to advance.

Whenever I learn a new system (the curse of being a forever GM), I build an adventure for it. This is one of two I’ve created for Shadowdark. This one is inspired by classic OSR dungeons where rival factions vie for dominance in the dark. For good measure, I added an ancient dwarven city, long fallen, now ruled by a necromancer. The necromancer manipulates the factions into destroying one another so he can swell his undead ranks.

The main inspirations for this dungeon are Caves of Chaos—the 5e remake of Keep on the Borderlands—and Barrowmaze. Running Caves of Chaos in the past led to some truly memorable player–monster alliances. Olly the Orc and Harry the Hobgoblin will live in infamy in my group (I needed names on the fly,I was expecting a fight, not a parlay!). The players even taught them the value of trade over conquest.

From Barrowmaze, I borrowed the idea of the mongrelmen and created a race of mutant humanoids adapted to survive the dangers of the dark.

Without further ado, here’s the back-cover summary and player pitch I use when running this dungeon in one-shots. Download the full adventure below.

Adventure Summary

Descend into a living dungeon, where every alliance is fragile and every victory feeds the darkness.

When monsters erupt from the depths beneath the village of Umberstead, desperate defenders pursue them into the caverns below. The tunnels once led to the dwarven city of Thargrond, but now form a labyrinth of warring factions and restless dead. In the heart of Thargrond, a necromancer known as the Pale Warden desecrates the city’s ruins, feeding on the chaos he’s sown and growing stronger with every fallen soul.

Player Pitch

Umberstead is under siege.
Strange mutant creatures have fled from the depths—what horrors drove them to the surface? Fight beside the villagers, then descend into a cavernous underworld where rival factions clash for survival, unaware they stand between you and something far worse.

Feedback or other comments: reach out at worldsbywally@gmail.com, or find me on Threads.

Hope y’all enjoy it!

Descent to Thargrond PlaytestDownload

Echoes of the Void- SWN Adventure Part 1

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Below, I’m sharing the Adventure Synopsis from my next adventure. The first installment of a Space Opera adventure, made for Stars Without Number.*

It needs art, editing, and some layout refinement but it is absolutely ready for playtesting!

Plus, I’m uploading it for free here. I want to get some feedback and see how people feel about my content. So, here’s the Adventure Synopsis and the play testable file!

If you happen to give it a try, send me a note at worldsbywally@gmail.com

Act 0 Investigating Corbinae. The adventure starts with the group approaching Debra Walford, wife of the missing Dr. Ohno. Debra provides leads the party can investigate on Corbin and warns of a series of literal dead-ends. Careful investigators can learn valuable information on Corbin but face the risk of detection by a powerful unknown adversary. The act concludes when the PCs board the shuttle to Galavar VII, paid for by Dr. Walford.

 Act 1 Escaping Galavar. Act I begins with the PCs taking a small inter-system shuttle to Canaan station which orbits Galavar VII. While in transit, the PCs will encounter Ort Manray, a hacker hired by CoreTech. Conversing with him makes it clear he’s taken on a shady opportunity.

Once the shuttle lands on Canaan station, the PCs can either head directly to the shuttle bay in Dr Wallford’s message or spend time investigating the station. Investigation can yield important information about the hangar bay and/or people who have passed through Canaan station. Lingering on the station too long will garner the attention of local authorities.

Shortly after taking off from the space station, the PCs will be accused of stealing the ship and pursued by local authorities. Once pursued in space, they will find the ship’s computer has a single, fresh yet unfamiliar, rutter available. The rutter presents an immediate, but unknown, chance for escape. If the PCs choose not to use the rutter, local authorities will send out a more dangerous second wave of pursuers. Act I concludes when the PCs conduct the Spike drill.

    Act II Discovering Hrefna. Act II begins as the PCs drop out of the Spike drill in an uncharted system called Hrefna. The ship’s map has some data on this location, marking the singular planet in the system as hostile and adding a small friendly blip on the edge of the system. While the PCs could go towards either landmark, you should encourage them to head towards the green blip.

The blip is a LifeTech research station, registered to CoreTech. While abandoned and malfunctioning, it has some automated weapon systems live. If you’re playing this as a one-shot Dr. Ohno has cryogenically frozen himself in the ship’s morgue. If you plan on continuing the adventure, Dr. Ohno would be found in a more secure Lifetech facility and one of his compatriots is cryogenically frozen instead.

Before finding Dr. Ohno, the PCs will face a aggressive malfunctioning droids, a torched psychic Dr. Ohno created to sabotage the research station, and gain information on what happened on the station.

Download the whole PDF here!

*This page uses affiliate links for DriveThruRPG.

Prep for Confidence, not Content.

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There is a lot of advice out there on preparation. I feel like it centers on telling people not to overprep. While this is helpful advice it misses the point. If someone is looking for advice on how to DM, being told to make a loose outline and not over focus on prepping isn’t super helpful!

However, the advice isn’t wrong. I just think it’s missing a key caveat, you prep to make yourself confident not to just create content. The content ultimately becomes an outline that is sometimes followed and sometimes not. Once you feel comfortable with the situation, you can run it and react to anything the players throw at you. I’ve ran the same adventures for numerous groups and it’s amazing how different the experiences can be. Seeing how different groups create different stories has become one of my favorite parts of running games.

So, how do you prep for confidence?

For me, it’s lists and questions. Lists provide a loose outline to remind me of the key things I want to include in the story. The questions help because they give me practice thinking about what might happen. There really is no replacement for just trying. Preparation is less about making what you’ll use in the session, than it is about helping you understand the world you’re running, or the rules you want to use.

Of course, you also hope to use the content you prepare! Most of the time when something is skipped, it can be adapted and placed somewhere else though. So very little prep is ever wasted.

It’s also worth remembering that your players will likely give you plenty to react to. Depending on the group, I’ve had entire sessions consumed by the riffing of the players’ reactions.

So, focus on understanding the obstacles you’ve built. Why they are there, and how the NPCs will react.

So, what should I prep?

Ultimately, TTRPGs are a combination of tactical challenges and group story telling. I tend to do detailed prep for the tactical challenges, and loose prep for the storytelling. The main exception being for epic lore reveals.

Tactical challenges (encounters, traps, puzzles) are easy to shift around and “re-skin” as needed. This makes the more detailed and time-consuming prep for them unlikely to be wasted. This includes things like preparing combat (check out The Monsters Know What They’re Doing), or making stats for encounters. You can always use that stuff later. While I try to make smart decisions to avoid tactical situations have a meaningful impact, that doesn’t mean I can’t use that preparation at a later time. Or, provide the PCs an advantage for their creativity.

The storytelling, overtime, becomes easy to jointly improvise with your players. For this, I occasionally prep a detailed monologue, but even then, I don’t usually read it. Preparing it lets me know what the NPC is thinking and what I need to convey. Most of my story prep, involves making a list of things that are happening. Then adding in a few potential forks to prepare for the unexpected.

Mostly, focus on prepping enough content to get things started. Give the players something to react to, and often that is sufficient. Of course, until you’ve done this you won’t fully realize you’ve prepped enough to be confident.

Ok great, so how much prep do I really need to do???

I wish there was a super simple answer to this. But, I’ll share a checklist you can go through. I have also included a sample bullet-point outline, for my latest session Split Paths. I also recently did this in depth blog post on a one-shot I ran.

If you have answers to the following questions, you’ll probably have a great session.

  • Do I know where the players are starting, and where I hope they’ll go?
  • Have I identified the biggest decisions the players need to make? What are the obvious options?
  • What are the “meaningful” choices I’m providing, that may materially alter the story?
  • Have I asked myself what I’ll do if they go off course, or get stuck? (It’s ok if they do, but be ready for it!)
    • Sometimes I have a few random side-quest style items prepared for that, just in case.
  • Have I looked at the stats and key abilities of the main tactical encounters (e.g., Monsters or Traps)? Do I know how to run their abilities?
  • Have I reviewed any obscure rules that are likely to come up? (e.g., How does jumping work if I’m including a chasm they need to cross.)
  • For NPCs. You can look up articles about writing and ask questions they suggest. Here are a few important ones to consider.
    • Why are they included?
    • What are their goals?
    • What are they willing to give to achieve their goals? What are their limits?
    • Are there any important relationships between the NPCs to consider?

Here’s an example bullet point adventure outline. You can see, many of the bullet points are answers to questions. My main goal was to wrap up the Anahera-Tepiti romance arc and kick off the real Journey to Hawaiki. The meaningful choices really determine if Anahera gets kidnapped, and when/where the PCs could intercept her kidnappers.

It has forks, redundancy, and meaningful player choices. But those are topics for another day.

  1. Anahera calls in the PCs and asks for them to help her contact her ancestors. Two options are provided.
    1. A newcomer to the island tells the heroes to steal a Drum from the Ponaturi.
    2. Anahera asks the PCs to sail to the underworld, to show her ancestors how to reach this new island.
  2. Explore the island and decide on the path.
    1. Encounter Tepiti. Tepiti will be trying to regain Anahera’s trust. Secure the island, perhaps want a way to foresee the future.
      1. How could this happen?
        1. Need to find a legend of a god willing to help with this.
        2. Find a way to appease the god. But, this will require striking a dangerous deal. This, would lead Anahera to exile Tepiti if she found out. Make it clear it’s desperation.
          1. Do they help, tell Anahera?
          2. Do they help Tepiti? Will helping Tepiti also help Anahera?
  3. Option 1: Head to the Ponaturi.
    1. Sail there.
    2. Steal a drum.
      1. Emphasize what’s known about Ponaturi. Option to sneak up at night, or hide during the day.
      2. Potentially make the Goblins seem like harmless pranksters?
    3. Return.
    4. Give drum. In the evening, a party will be thrown. Hone-hine’s allies will kidnap the princess as spirits assault the village.
  4. Option 2:
    1. Sail to underworld entrance.
    2. Sneak in.
    3. Maze of survival. (Use table of potential encounters). Skill challenge again.
      • Roll Survive in form of a skill challenge. 4 times. DC 8. Describe what happens pass or fail to give all the rolls a feel of consequence and progress.
      • Find an ancestor.
      • Return.
      • Anahera kidnapping attempt must be far more brazen than with the distraction of the drums.
  5. Option 3:
    • Sail to Isle of prophecy.
    • Peer into the mirror of reflection.
    • Return to island.
    • Deal with Anahera kidnapping as in Option 2.
  6. What if Hone-hine’s plot is discovered before leaving the island?
    1. (5) will occur slightly more quickly.
    2. Shift to (3), but under a pretense that something else is a-miss.
  7. If Anahera is kidnapped.
    1. Track her down across island.
    2. Evidence of Pakongans.
    3. Sail either to Pakonga or Ngaru.
    4. Race at sea, then up the mountain.
  8. If Anahera is not kidnapped
    1. Players are encouraged to ensure Pakongans do not escape
  9. Counsel with surviving leader(s)
    1. What can we do to secure our fragile position here? First Sirens, then the Pakongans attempt revenge?
      1. Kahuna: Perhaps we need to gain the blessing of a god.
      2. Other Kahuna: Or the protection of our ancestors.
      3. Tepiti: Was this perhaps not our final stop? I still feel the call to voyage.
      4. Anahera: I had thought it bad luck perhaps we shared the island.
      5. Tepiti: Marry me, then what is mine becomes yours. We both brought with us dangerous paths, and together we have overcome them. Let us unite our people.

The rest of my prep was putting together stats and encounter tables. But that’s more because this adventure is built to playtest Journey of the Wayfinder.

For many of these bullet points, I reviewed game rules. For example, the “Race at sea,” I reviewed how chases work. This provides a clean outline and gives me an understanding of the motivations for the two key NPCs. Anahera is focused on securing the island and becoming a queen.

Tepiti is entranced with Anahera, but it’s fading, and he feels the call of the seas again. These two simple motivations will help me figure out how the NPCs react to most things. But they also outline the next chapter of the adventure. Tepiti will need heroes to help him on his next journey.

How did this work out?

I don’t think I’ve ever prepped something and remembered everything. This is true even with my outlines in front of me, I get to into telling the story. The players decided to head to the reflecting pool first, and then proceed to the underworld. Using the outline, I was able to easily improvise unique prophecies based on what the players sacrificed and shared.

I also changed the ending a little. Because the players had Tepiti with them when they rescued Anahera, the two were able to smooth out their mistrust. But ultimately, I realized Tepiti’s motivation was to head out to sea. So, he immediately recruited the PCs to help. I did give a throwback to their romance though, with Tepiti suggesting maybe he didn’t lose the bet. Since, this was clearly not the island he was supposed to reach.

Running games is great for building confidence generally.

It reminds me of a silly poster I had in my room as a kid, “All you need to learn about life I learned from Star Wars.” But really, I think it would have been better if it said from DMing Dungeons and Dragons.

Image from Ebay.

I was always socially anxious, but overtime running games helped me learn to improvise and trust my gut. This helped with confidence in all aspects of life. I think you’ll find it gets easier overtime, and that you require less and less preparation to feel confident. It’s also super rewarding to see how much many players appreciate the effort.

So, prep loosely or whatever. But really, prep enough to make yourself *feel* ready, whatever that amount is.

Split Paths

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Our heroes Kani-the Shapeshifted, Sneej-the Koa Mano, Kali – the Kahuna of Hina, Lolati – the Ariori, and Jura – the Wayfinder listened to a brief discussion between Princess Anahera and Prince Tepiti. Mostly about mundane plans for the island. As most interactions between the two have been recently, it led quickly to bickering. Each of the leaders outlining clearly different priorities. Tepiti pushed for building more ships and repairing the massive Pahus they reached the island on. While Anahera focused on immediate needs for the comfort of the island.

Shortly after the crowd was dismissed, one of Anahera’s basket sharers came to find the heroes. She mentioned that Anahera had requested their presence. The group followed her back to Anahera’s hut.

Inside the hut the group found Anahera, Kahuna Akamai, and Anahera’s basket sharers. Anahera sighed, thanked the group for coming, and then began. “I have a quest for you. I know what I am asking is dangerous, but I have the sense things on the island are not right. You all know what happened recently with the Sirens, and I fear something may happen again. My coronation was interrupted, and it feels like it was a direct message from the gods.”

She paused for a moment and took a deep breath to calm herself again. “I know that incident was caused by an innocent past mistake of Tepiti’s, but I can’t help but feel the timing was a message. The gods had to show me the path to get here, and perhaps our ancestors can’t find their way here. I was hoping to send someone to the underworld, to show them the way back.”

The group was shocked by this request but focused on questions first. They asked if it was possible to return and how to get there. During this discussion, Lari, a newcomer to Anahera’s circle and the island, attempted to interrupt. The whole time Anahera spoke, she had been aggressively agreeable to her opinion.

“Ahem, I may know another way. That wouldn’t require traveling to the underworld.” She paused and was given permission by Anahera to continue. “The Ponaturi, have drums which the spirits can hear. My people had a ritual using a Ponaturi drum. Perhaps, if you could fetch one of their drums we could call your ancestors in a ritual. I could show you how if you could instead get a drum.”

The heroes then asked her if it was safe. She said it was closer, and that if they timed it so they stole from the Ponaturi just before dawn, the Ponaturi would have to return to the sea. However, once they learned the Ponaturi’s instruments were made from the bones of dead people, this path started to seem less appealing.

The heroes continued to debate whether to head to the underworld and asked for advice if they went. Kahuna Akamai warned them to avert their gaze if they see spirits before they reach the underworld.

As they left Anahera’s hut, Jura noticed someone darting away from it into the forest, heading towards Tepiti’s hut. The group followed. Once they arrived at Tepiti’s hit, they found the Prince, Kahuna Kalahari, and Tepiti’s basket sharers all inside. The group shared of Anahera’s quest, and Tepiti and Kalahari responded.

Tepiti shared Anahera’s concern that something was wrong. He too suggested that something else might happen, and mused that this may not the final destination of his journey. Then, he proposed an alternative quest. “I fear we need to see our path forward, perhaps you can visit the isle of the reflecting pool. It is a dangerous place, and seeing the truth requires a great sacrifice.”

At this point, Kahuna Kalahari chimes in. “Ah, Tepiti. So close, but how many times have I taught you the legends. It’s not a sacrifice of life, but one of meaning. A like gift for a like gift. And beware the Mo’O. Stone lizards that grow, until the grow too large and heavy to move, and become rock formations forever resting where they last lay down.”

Discussion continued back and forth on what to do. The group first tried to assess whether they could go to all three places, but ruled that out. Before leaving the hut, they again asked for advice about the underworld. Leaning towards that as their ultimate destination. Kahuna Kalahari told them to follow the light, up, and out of the caves and warned them about pools in the caves.

Then the heroes sought out Pavu, a village elder.  Pavu, was a renowned adventurer in his younger days. As they approached, he offered a cordial greeting in his raspy old voice. The group shared their quest with Pavu. Then he quickly quipped, “Perhaps you seek out Maui himself, or the isle of little giants too!”

Discussing the options with the heroes, he did also offer some practical advice. Recounting Maui’s tale of stealing fire from below, he warned of taking bone tools offered to them. He mentions the Pokongans are known to have many legends of the Ponaturi, and described the Mo’O.

The group then got assistance from villagers to load their vessel with supplies and decided to set sail. Settling on a path that would take them first to the reflecting pool, then the underworld.

Jura’s excellent navigation skills provided a smooth journey to the island. Four days of smooth seas, the smell of salt in the air, and the gentle rocking of waves. Then, a small rocky shape in the distance began to grow larger. As its details sharpened, the island appeared like it may have once been a single Mo’O. While time must have dulled the sharpness of the features, it’s head, body, and legs were all quite distinct.

As the group approached, Jura carefully navigated through a small coral reef and brought the vessel to shore. Once on shore, Kani and a few others attempted to chart a path, to the pool. However, no path was apparent.

Sneej then saw a good vantage point from what looked like the head of the truly massive Mo’O. Sneej carefully crept to the top to get a better view. At the top, he heard the thunderous sound of stone hitting stone nearby. He was able to make out a reasonable path to the pool, but the Mo;O was in the way.

Returning to the group Sneej explained the path to Kani, who then set off leading the party through meandering rocky ravines. After walking for a short while, again the group heard the thundering sound of the Mo’O’s footsteps.

Kani attempted to sneak up and investigate but accidentally kicked some stones as he was about to round the corner. Peering his head around, he saw a massive Mo’O. He darted back towards the group as quickly as possible.

Hearing the thing thundering towards them, the group started to scatter. Kani and Jura attempted to hide, Lolati climbed to the top of a nearby rock, Sneej thundered forward cutting himself to activate his shark form. Kali, summoned forth a deadly illusion, to attempt to draw the beast away. Then, the Mo’O charged.

As the Mo’O charged forth Sneej and it briefly tussled. Sneej attempted to bite it but found his attack ineffective. Lolati threw a massive stone down from above. Instead of hitting the Mo’O, it crashed into Sneej.

 Then, the Mo’O spotted the illusion and charged, trampling Sneej into the stone and leaving him unconscious. Seeing an opportunity, some of the group charged past the Mo’O. Then Kani transformed into a massive bird. Flying low and dropping stones hoping to continue to distract the beast as the party headed towards the reflecting pool. Kali, quickly healed Sneej, and helped him stumble his way through the rocky landscape to the reflecting pool.

Exhausted and out of breath, the group made it to the relative safety of a small almost perfectly reflective pond. The grotto containing it was filled with lush greenery, the only they observed on the whole island. Then, Jura stepped forward and peered in.

At first, he saw only his own reflection. A moment later the slimy head of an eel, about the size of a human popped up. “What is it you seek?”

Jura explained what they sought. The guardian replied, “And what can you offer me?” Jura responded, sharing the secrets he’d learned through wayfinding. As he did, the head dipped below water. What he described appeared on the surface of the pond. The patterns of the stars used to find islands, the shape of the swells as you near land, images of islands visited in the past all reflected in the water as if his thoughts were an image before the pond.

After he finished, the pond’s reflective surface returned for a moment, and the eel’s slippery voice could be heard saying, “Now I shall show potential paths forward.” The reflective pond showed two scenes side by side.

One scene showed Anahera being dragged deep into the forest by her new friend Lari, along with a few men. The other vision showed a relatively safe passage through caves leading to the underworld. Neither vision conveyed any sense of time. The eel simply said, “These are both possible truths.”

Seeing how the pool worked, Sneej walked up to it. The eel emerged, “And what do you have to offer.” Sneej tossed in his Lei’O’Mano and shield. The eel lit up for a moment, “These tastes of who you are, I shall show you who you can become.”

The eel once again dipped below the surface, and the pool began to change. It showed a voyage. Tepiti leading a small group of outrigger canoes to an unknown destination, and Sneej swimming beside them. It showed Sneej as a shark tearing apart a massive Squid attempting to sink one of the vessels, and then the vision slowly faded away.

Fearing the unknown of the timing of the vision of Anahera’s kidnapping, the heroes rushed back to the vessel and headed back to their island. The first few days of their journey passed uneventfully. As the sun rose on the final day the heroes found themselves surrounded by  a thick impenetrable fog. Knowing they were close to home, and trusting his instincts, Jura bravely navigated through the fog bank. Trusting to all his senses except vision.

Once back on the island, the heroes sought out Kahuna Kalahari to attend to Sneej’s lingering wounds, from the Mo’O. Then they headed to Anahera’s hut. They found some of her basket sharers, and Kahuna Akamai, but everyone said she and Lira had been missing all day.

Thinking back on the vision, the group quickly identified the Anahera was taken. Worried she may have already been taken, Kani transformed into a bird and took to the skies. Luckily, Anahera was screaming and relatively easy to find. He returned to the group and told them what he heard.

The party ran back to their vessel on more. Grabbing Tepiti along the way. As fast as they could, they set sail hoping to reach the islands opposite shore faster via sea. With the combination of Jura and Tepeti navigation skills the group circumnavigated the island in near record time.

As they searched the far shoreline, they found evidence of a beached canoe. Anchoring just off shore the group quickly found the canoe, and attempted to prepare an ambush. While Kani attempted to set an Ambush, Jura began to sabotage the boat and set a trap. Hiding holes on the bottom of the hull and rigging a tree to fall when the enemy made it to camp.

Just as the sun began to set, the group of Pakongans appeared with a scrapped and bruised Anahera in tow. As they entered the campsite the ambush was triggered. The tree smashed the first Pakongans head open as it fell. This sent Sneej into a bloodrush, and he immediately charged. Transforming into a half-shark as he ran. Fighting without sword or shield, his first bite landed and killed another Pakongan. All the while, our group of heroes was being inspired by the Loloti’s Ariori battle hymn.

In moments half the Pakongan party was killed. Kani ran up to join the fray. At this point, Lari attempted to cast a spell, but she was dominated by Kali’s willpower suppressing the spell before it could manifest. Then, Kani swung at the Pakongan leader, just nicking him. The small nick was enough for the effects of the poison he had prepared to set in. Moments later, the lead was torn apart by Sneej, and Lari ran off into dusk. The whole time Anahera cheered the heroes on, saying, “I told you you’d pay for this!”

After the dust settled, Tepiti walked up to Anahera. He said, “I think this island is yours. I do not think it’s where I’m meant to be. But, maybe, if I reach my destination then I’ll still win our first bet. If I return from where I’m called, perhaps you’ll give me that date?” Then he turned to the heroes, “Will any of you join me, I don’t know where I’m headed. But I know the ocean calls.”

Scabard Product Review.

/ gregorywallsworth / 1 Comment

Scabard RPG Campaign Manager

Rating:

19, Near Crit!

Pros

  • Simple to use wiki format.
  • Easy to share with players, and keep secrets hidden.
  • Proper Noun Detector automatically links pages. Aiding world development.
  • Rich set of connections to define and track relationships.
  • Affordable plans ranging from free to $19.95/month.
  • Very responsive developer seeks community feedback and quickly addresses issues.

Cons

  • Many key features are pay-walled, and most new features are in the most expensive plan.
  • Proper Noun Detector could use auto-complete (does have an ex-post AKA/alias option for linking).
  • Could use a non-GM comment capability to allow players to comment on pages too. Although, there are some features to allow players to add to the campaign.

I’ve wanted to start product reviews for a while, and I have a few more in mind. I’m going to start with some of my favorite resources for DMing. I’d love to see these products supported so they continue. This page does not contain any affiliate links.

Why Scabard?

Scabard helps me with my biggest problem as a DM, keeping details and campaign notes well organized.

This is especially true for long-running campaigns, and often the problem is exacerbated by intermittent breaks. Over the years I’ve tried numerous strategies for this. I have a closet full of binders with notes from past campaigns, countless OneNote and Word documents, custom software like RealmWorks (now deprecated), and multiple tools to store hand-written notes (RocketBook and a Kindle Scribe).

A small fraction of my notebooks, along with my RocketBook and Kindle Scribe

While I will never move away from using other tools for ideation and informal notes, Scabard is my go to campaign manager. Check out the campaign I’ve been playing for the last year, Bishou. More about it later.

Glancing through pages, you can see I have added many types of resources. Maps, images, notes, and more. I even create blank placeholder pages as well, often minor NPCs like this one. Sometimes, the blank pages contain secrets I haven’t yet shared with my players, other times they are reminders for me to write more later. After each gaming session, I publish a summary that I review those before sessions.

There are two features that make me keep returning to this tool time and time again. First, the simple wiki-style layout that can be shared directly with the players. Second, the Proper Noun Detector with Auto-Linking.

These two features provide the core functionality that I use most frequently. There isn’t a lot to say about the wiki-style layout.

Overall, the platform provides a simple page-layout and categories you can assign each page to. This places the pages within groups and provides some simple linking capabilities across the pages. These links appear on the right-hand side of the page. They can also be hidden by the Campaign Owner if you need to keep them a secret.

You can also click a simple check-box on any page to hide the entire page from the players.

What’s so cool about Noun Detection?

I firmly buy into the type of world building where you spin outwards from a starting point. The proper noun detector is a dangerous rabbit hole for me. It helps you quickly create pages for every proper noun it detects and automatically links to those you already have. It tries to identify similarly named pages and provides an option to use them as an alias. Aliases function as a list of names that will also link to that page.

My one critique is that I wish it was easier to reduce the list of nouns it detects and help with spelling errors. This may be an issue for me because I use google translate to create hard to remember names.

What would make this tool better?

Overtime, I have had to upgrade my subscription just to keep all my older campaigns. I don’t mind because I love supporting the tools development but the next tier is $19.95/month (or 25% off if purchased annually), and that is pricey.

I’d love a way for players to comment on pages. In my current campaign, my players often link or quote things in our discord server. It would be great if they could do this directly on the blog without being added as a GM.

Finally, I’d love an auto-complete option for the proper noun detector. Although, if I had it I would complain it’s always trying to change words like it does on my phone! That complaint is certainly nitpicky.

What haven’t I tried?

I subscribe to their legend tier, because I have years of campaigns saved on the tool and keep adding more. But, this means I haven’t tried many of the enhanced AI features. I’ll eventually write a post on my opinions of AI, so I’ll leave that for another discussion. Still, there are a lot of features in the Mythic tier that seem like they could be super useful. I find the tool more than sufficient at the lower tiers.

Power Players. This might solve my player comment problem. But it gives slightly more control to players than I’m looking for, and I find it difficult to get players to take actions outside of the game.

Siren Encounters

/ gregorywallsworth / 2 Comments

I missed writing a summary of the session where the heroes faced the sirens I described here. I tend to over prep, largely because I love world-building. Instead of a narrative description of what happened, I thought I’d share my notes with some commentary. My notes throughout this article are italicized. I left them exactly as they were written, just to see how rough things start out.

This adventure was inspired by an idea i had for the opening scene. My adventure kicked off with the following:

You find yourselves gathered on the beach looking inwards to the island as the Kahuna’s beckon Princess Anahera to the makeshift altar they assembled.  You hear the gentle song of the wind through palm fronds, smell the salty ocean breeze, see the sun setting over the palm trees behind the princess.

The Kahunas, Akamai and Kalahari, move up to the stage as a gentle lulling song begins. It’s sound a perfect match to the melodies of nature. Many of those watching the ceremony rise to sway to the rhythm of the music. Then, the crowd begins to disperse.

The two Kahunas look out on the crowd with shocked expressions, and chaos erupts. Kalahari dives for a drum and begins vigorously pounding a chaotic counter-rhythm. Not a single beat of his rhythm aligned to the captivating song coming from the sea. Combined the music is almost painful to listen too. Many of those previously captivated by the song, now appear confused or in pain.

Simultaneously, Kahuna Akamai tackles the princess, covers her ears, and begins screaming for people to run to the woods. But, alas for some the Kahuna’s actions came too late.

 A crowd of people compelled by the gentle music coming from the sea walk into the ocean. Some are swept away by the current, others run to those walking heedlessly into the waves attempting to pull them back. A few manage to drag their loved ones back to shore against their will, while others are pulled away with those they intended to save. Almost as surreptitiously as the song began, it stops. The sun, now below the horizon. The spirit of the day crushed.

Amidst the chaos, what do you do?

The monologue was longer than I like, but I wanted to set the overall tone of the scene. Plus, I sometimes do these things as writing exercises that also help with character development for the NPCs.

I also had notes for actions the PCs could take during the scene:

During the Scene. What can the players do.

They can role exert or survive (str or dex) to run down and drag people back. As they do, be sure to reward high rolls describing people they’ve managed to save.

If they immediately take a small craft out, they can roll Survive/Notice Wisdom to try to figure out where the sound came from. A high roll will lead to a quick combat encounter with 1 or 2 sirens depending on the group size.

If I recall, the heroes ran inland. My next section of notes was a summary. I decided I wanted to add some more friction to the slow burn romance between Anahera and Tepiti. So, I tied in a miss from an earlier session where no one had done anything about the Tahitians allying with the Sirens.

“I am sure it is no mystery why we have called you hear today. ”Prince Tepiti takes a moment to look each of you in the eyes, then turns towards Anahera and bows his head in shame.“ My Princess, I have failed you here. But, I’ve found our bravest adventurers to help us once again secure our island. We,” The prince gestures broadly to the princess and the two Kahuna’s present, ”Do not know exactly what happened, and are hoping you all can help us figure out what’s occurred and prevent it from happening again.”

What can they learn before setting out.

  • The Kahuna’s will each share info of what could be learned on their respective islands.
    • Kalahari. Tahitians have had many past run-ins with Sirens, they may perhaps know where the Sirens were from.
    • Tepiti will note that some discussion of Sirens was made in the war councils before Parau-tia was killed.
    • Akamai. Will be immediately suspicious of the Patongans who attempted to kill Anahera.
    • Anahera. Will mention her brother and suggest that he of anyone would know how a voice could be amplified so effectively.
    • Others on the island?
      • A fisherman from Tahitia will share a technique to create an ear plug from tree resin.

This list is a lot more representative of my usual prep. My Polynesian adventures are story heavy, so I write a lot of narrative scripts. I don’t usually read these aloud when they are this long. But, writing them out helps me think about how the characters react in different situations.

The rest of my adventure outline was a series of bullet points. Outlining potential courses of action.

For this adventure, I used time pressure to build some tension. I placed three leads on the island, far more than they could follow. I designed them so easy it would be easy to follow-up on one, hard for two, and impossible for three (I put them in a bit of a triangle on the map). The players opted to tackle the two closest objectives.

One other thing worth noting in the adventure outline, is the redundancy. My notes say, “They have three potential ways to find the location of the sirens.” This is an intentional and important part of adventure design. It’s really easy for players to miss hints that may otherwise seem obvious. You’ll find lot’s of advice out there on this, and it’s part of why people say to use red herrings sparingly. While playing, I’ll roll with creative ideas the players come up with, even if it wasn’t the intended solution.

Adventure Outline

The adventure has three key components.

  1. Finding out how the Sirens have amplified their voice (a massive conch shell)
  2. Finding the location of the Sirens
  3. Figuring out how to deal with the sirens

Additionally, the PCs are given a variety of choices along the way. These choices provide advantages for various ways to deal with the Sirens.

  1. They have three potential ways to find the location of the sirens:
    1. Sailing to Tahitia to follow up on rumors they hear from former Tahitians who have fallen prey to Sirens in the past. This is a common fear from Tahitians. The Kahuna from Tahitia will hint at this in the intro.
    1. Sailing to Anahera’s former enemies the Patongans, assuming they’ve somehow allied with the Sirens. (An ironic error of judgement by Anahera and Tepiti, but even Tepiti is unaware of the level of corruption Kahuna Parua-tia had bestowed upon his father).
    1. Searching for the SIrens themselves, with the help of Hina or Tahwhiri. Provide some advantage to PCs who quickly move to chasing down the Sirens in the opening scene.
  2.  How they deal with the Siren threat.
    1. Force. Destroying the conch shell and killing many sirens.
    1. Subterfuge. Stealing the conch shell and using it to protect the island from their song.
    1. Negotiation. Striking a deal with the sirens, and helping them once again learn a new song from the gods.

A key issue in this adventure is timing. The timeline for the following events is such that the PCs should be able to sail three times (visit two of the three islands and return) before the situation escalates untenably. One of the Kahuna’s will send a message on the winds to the PCs after the second attack warning of an escalating situation. This may incentivize the PCS to use speed while traveling, but risk some encounters at sea.

Tahitia.

Asking around the island, you’ll hear rumors of fisherman who’ve heard singing at dawn and dusk while fishing. While this isn’t totally unheard of, it’s grown stronger recently and Tama Waiariki’s canoe was recently found empty in the reefs.

Additionally, some rumors that Parau Tia had Haikili attempt to recruit the Sirens for their war efforts. If confronted, Haikili will at first lie. A connect or convince check could persuade him to give information. Increase difficulty by 1 if intimidation is used. Playing on his guilt for participating in this should help the PCS

  • The PCs can encounter the Sirens by stalking the common fishing areas at Dawn/Dusk
  • From here they could kill, capture, or attempt to track the Sirens to a cave
  • The PCs can learn the Sirens were paid with a shell from the Island of Little Giants

Pakonga

If any of the islanders are from Moanatu (Anahera’s home island), the chance of escalating to conflict is higher. What happens on this island depends a lot on how the PCs approach. If things go badly, the Pakongans will try to assault the new island in a future adventure.

  • Entering the island.
    • Disquise. The PCs may attempt to disguise themselves as performers or traders to gain audience. Make this a relatively easy check.
    • Subterfuge. May allow PCs to sneak on.
    • Diplomacy. This will be the hardest approach, particularly if the PCs say they hail from Moanatu. Some sort of offering of strength would help this.
  • Chief Aoraki (Oh-raki):
    • If the PCS are brought to him while captured. Perhaps we shall make sport of you, if you win we shall let you leave.
    • If the PCs persuade their way to an audience.
      • We are a proud tribe and need no monstrous allies to fight our battles.
      • Will share the legend of the Sirens. They are not to be trusted.
        • There is an area of caves between X/Y that you may search if you seek them out.
      • Kahuna may share that this seems on par for what Parau-Tia would have done, perhaps the Tahitians had planned to use them. He was desperate and had come to us once asking for an allegiance.

Moanatu

The key thing that could be learned and/or acquired here is the advice of Prince Teva. He will hypothesize that a massive shell could be used to amplify the voices of the Sirens making them especially dangerous.

  • He will help the PCs to devise protective ear coverings allowing them to re-roll all failed saves against Siren Songs once.
  • He will help devise a tool likely effective at destroying the shell.

In one-shots, I always hand-out one time use magic items.  In this adventure, these proved to be super pivotal. By far the most memorable scene was when the PCs finally found the Sirens. One of the PCs used a potion of disguise to change into a Siren. Then then convinced the Sirens he had befriended the people to eat them later.

In the final battle, the rest of the items got used. The PCs ended smashing the conch shell, and returned to the island after ending the Siren threat.

Song of the Sirens

/ gregorywallsworth / 1 Comment

Recently my focus has been on revisions for two upcoming publications, Mysteries in Elanysia and Echoes of the Void. For the first one, I have some commissioned art now and I AM EXCITED! This has put work on my Polynesian game Journey of the Wayfinder on the back-burner.

For my next one-shot, Song of the Sirens, I went deep on original lore for the main enemy. The lore came from trying to answer a simple question, “If the PCs wanted to strike a bargain with the Sirens what would they need to provide?” The answer came quickly, a new song from the gods. This led me to ask, why?

That why became a myth. It’s inspiration is as much Greek tragedy as it is Polynesian. After all I’ve been reading Greek myths since I was a kid. Hopefully I’ve managed to capture a bit of the spirit of Polynesian Myths as well. The legend follows below:

              There was once a beautiful Arioi named Moatangi, whose performances were a mesmerizing array of dancing on water and singing. She’d climb the mast of her canoe, belt songs swinging from the ropes, dive into the sea, and swim back continuing her song until she emerged from the water to finish her ballad as she walked ashore. Over time these acts grew in grandeur. Sometimes she involved dozens of vessels in the act. Lower ranked Arioi would swim in unison, and a chorus of singers, dancers, and musicians accompanied her.

              Her performances eventually attracted the attention of Tavahanu, voice of the wind. At first, he listened silently. The stillness of the wind while he listened provided a quiet backdrop which emphasized the grandeur of her performance. Then, Tavahanu began to carry Moatangi’s songs farther, emboldening the fortes and muting the pianos. Over time, she replaced some of her accompaniment with the sounds of nature. Learning, if only subconsciously, how to leverage the songs of nature. As she sang, the wind would carry the melody of birds, the song of palm fronds swaying in the winds, or the violent echoes of the wind wailing through hollow passages.

              One night as she slept under the stars on the beach, she awoke to a whistling sound leading inland. Thinking she heard the echo of her name on the wind, she followed the sound. Eventually, she found its source to be a cave and heard the most beautiful array of nature’s melodies ever.

The cave was the perfect instrument for the wind. A thousand hollowed out caverns of different shapes and sizes allowing the wind to create a symphony of noises, replicating any sound imaginable. Tavahanu filled the cave with music and Moatangi began to sing a melody to the tune. Her song was a love ballad, like the world had never heard. Starting with the eternal embrace of Rangi and Papa, telling of the one-sided love of Hina and Tuna, the near tragedy of Hinemoa and Tūtānekai, and continuing with all the love stories of the gods.

              Throughout the night islanders were stirred awake by the music. They were mesmerized by the sounds and found themselves compelled to move towards the music. Enraptured by the music everyone who came stayed the entire night. Moatangi never looked outside the cave. She was overcome by the feelings she attempted to express through the ballad she sang. Having finally found the melody within her soul.

              As the sun began to rise the Arioi’s voice broke. Her music stopped, and finally she whispered. “What are you to make such beautiful songs, I have seen nothing all night as I accompanied you? My voice but a back-up singer to the melody of love itself.”

              The wind replied, “Moatangi, you are mistaken. The tune comes from your heart, I but listen and play it so you can sing. I am Tavahanu, voice of the wind. Stay here with me for nowhere else can I come close to echoing the beauty of your voice. No where else can I make all sounds that can be heard by man. Long I have tried to lead you here.”

               She paused for a long moment, puzzled by the statement. For nothing has freedom like the wind. Blowing over land and sea, touching both the heavens and the earth. Finally, she replied, “Anywhere can the wind move, why can you not make these sounds elsewhere?”

              Tavahanu explained that although he can move anywhere the wind can, the wind has no voice of its own. The wind plays nature like the Arioi play their instruments. Tavahanu replied, “The whole world is my instrument, but nowhere else can I play such a symphony in one place.”

              As the two conversed, the magic of the music faded. The compulsion over those watching faded, and the crowd began to murmur and ask questions. Only then did Moatangi notice the audience. For her also the compulsion began to fade, and her own wits began to return. Realizing how long she sang, wondering how long people had listened, she considered what singing with Tavahanu could achieve. She glanced down at her painted leg, a symbol of her reaching the pinnacle of status among the Arioi. Realizing singing with a god, could make the black leg seem pale in comparison.

              She considered the winds response and finally responded herself. “Could you not use me?”        

              In this part, the legends vary. Some say the wind filled her lungs. Others say she would wear ostentatious outfits of shells so the wind could make a symphony of sounds. Most say the wind made love to her, using her to make the sounds. Regardless of the truth, the pair traveled together from island to island putting on legendary performances. Captivating all who listened, even playing for and captivating the gods. The stories also agree that eventually, she carried a child.

              Unfortunately, while Tavahanu could father a child. He could not be a child’s father. For a while, the performances stopped as the Arioi cared for the newborn. But the wind kept blowing. Sometimes visiting, but being carried away for longer and longer periods of time.

However, Moatangi had learned many of the wind’s secrets while they had sung together. One day when Moatangi needed help, she sung a song into the wind like that day at the cave. She used its tune to compel someone’s attention, and continued to refine it until she compelled them to help her.

               Moatangi continued to master this skill, compelling others to do her bidding. It started with small favors. Preparing food, launching her boat, caring for her child while she swam. But overtime she would push the limits. She began to compel people to follow her, to rule their minds completely. Sometimes the wind returned, but most times it simply passed through.

              Still during this time her fame and renown had grown so much that gods commonly frequented her performances. But she longed for Tavahanu. She began to test her compulsion on the gods themselves. Small things at first, hoping to compel the wind to stay. With the wind, while she could keep its attention, it would never stop blowing for long. Even though Tavahanu loved her he simply couldn’t stay.

              One day, she was performing on an island far in the west. At the source of Mātāhiti Apatoa (the east wind). She realized if she could capture this wind, she could keep Tavahanu with her. She put on her most brilliant performance yet, and captivated Tahwhiri’s children. Eventually,  Tahwhiri god of storms and winds, realized his children were missing. Asking the other gods he learned of Moatangi. He requested the help of Tangoroa, knowing he needed to send Moatangi into the depths that he and his offspring could not reach.

              Together, Tahwhiri and Tangaora approached the island in a hurricane of destruction. Tahwhiri appeared before Moatangi and said, “Never shall you set shore upon the lands of man again, forever shall you be bound to sea. Where Tavahanu cannot go.”

              Then Moatangi flopped over, splashing into the water. She attempted to stand but found her legs had merged, and her bottom half looked like a fish. Confused and frightened she flopped about in the water. Her appearance had become deformed and hidous. After that, whenever she found a new audience, they ran from her in fear. The only way she could keep an audience, was to compel them.  

So, whenever she sees men, she sings her song and drags them into the sea with her. All the while craving the attention of Tavahanu, who could not come with her. She swam from island to island, looking for caves, hoping to find Tavahanu once again.

              With Moatangi beneath the sea, Tavahanu howls across the sea singing a sad song of mourning searching for her. To this day, he still does. Moatangi’s children can often be found, singing their compelling songs and luring men to the depths with them. Usually near caves, where they find a strange appeal to the howling of the wind through the caverns.

              This is how Sirens came to be, and why they sing their songs to lure men to their deaths. Creating a captive audience in remembrance of audiences they never knew.

Gen Con 2025!!!

/ gregorywallsworth / Leave a comment

I submitted my events for Gen Con 2025 today. My goal is to have all five of these adventures published or at least ready for publication by then. Two are part of the Journey to Hawaiki series. Those will include appendices with new rules.

I’ll update this post with links and description changes as the sessions are approved.

Dead Rising! – Pathfinder 2e.

Time: Friday August 1st 9AM.

In the small village of Vasuda, people have gone missing, and undead sightings are causing panic! Find the source of the undead, conquer the dungeon, and save Vasuda!

This short adventure has two parts. The first part of the adventure will be focused on role-playing as you investigate the recent disappearances and undead sightings to find out where they came from. If all goes well, the party should embark on a short dungeon crawl filled with traps, puzzles, and of course, undead.

In the small village of Vasuda, people have gone missing, and undead sightings are causing panic! Find the source of the undead, conquer the dungeon, and save Vasuda! Enjoy a little roleplay before embarking on an undead dungeon crawl!

Isles of Intrigue – Worlds Without Number

Friday August 1st, 2PM.

There’s a delicate power balance, three islands, alliance breaking, political marriages, and island adventures. You’ll face mythological dangers on the high seas. Save the island and prevent a war!

This is political intrigue set in Ancient Polynesia. The adventure provides a balance of roleplay and combat opportunities, with it up to the players when to apply which techniques. Each player will begin at 1st level. In addition to the core WWN rules, the game introduces new mechanics for wayfinding (sailing between islands) and divine intervention in addition to the core rules. The rules will feel familiar if you played any classic RPGs.

War or Peace in the Ancient Pacific -Worlds Without Number

Saturday August 2nd, 9 AM

Embark on a stealthy scouting mission and use subterfuge, sabotage, or direct force to save your island. Your chief urges caution while his advisor warns of dangers that need to be ended.

You’ll play a group of 1st level heroes. You’re in Ancient Polynesia and your island’s chief expects a nearby island to make an aggressive strike soon. He’s recruited the island’s bravest adventurers to scout out the enemy territory. In addition to the core WWN rules, we introduce new mechanics for wayfinding (sailing between islands) and divine intervention. Overall, the rule set will feel familiar if you played any classic RPGs.

The adventure provides a balance of roleplay and combat opportunities, with it up to the players when to apply which techniques.

Echoes of the Void – Stars Without Number

Saturday August 2nd, 2PM

Save a neuroscientist of galactic fame! Investigations so far led to a series of dead ends, until his wife received a cryptic message to send a crew. Can you save Dr. Ohno, or will you disappear too?

You’ll play a group of 1st level heroes. The adventure will begin as you meet his wife, Debra Walford. She describes a series of dead ends and disappearances associated with people who have investigated her husband’s disappearance. She received a message saying to send a crew and purchased passage for your group to investigate. The adventure provides opportunities for combat and roleplaying.

Mystery in Elanysia! – Pathfinder 2e

Sunday August 3rd, 9AM

Imps in the World’s safest city! Two wizards are under investigation for a series of robberies involving Imps and have hired you to help clear their name.

This adventure focuses on solving the mystery, starting with a chance to talk to witnesses of the three recent crimes. The first half will be heavily skewed towards roleplay, with the second part involving a short dungeon crawl.

Session 3: Visions in Smoke and Ash

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The adventure begins with Kahuna Akamai sharing a vision he had with Princess Anahera. The vision was of a lush new island, with limitless coconuts, obscured by smoke and ash. Akamai suggested Anahera may be destined to find this island, if she can lift the veil of smoke covering its path.

Akamai said, “I’ve had this dream many times. Each time different voyagers are converging on the island, and each time a different outcome. Sometimes the voyagers destroy each other on the journey, other times they reach the island together, and sometimes they fight once they arrive. I have no doubt we must rush to find this place; Motu Oa I will call it. I also expect the journey to be filled with great dangers.”

Akamai paused for a moment. As he continued, he said, “We’ve had visions like these before. You must travel to Ngauru and consult with the volcano god Ruamoku. He will need a sacrifice, if he accepts it he may lift the veil hiding the path to this island.”

Princess Anahera turned to the adventurers. The young Kahuna’s Abby of Tane and Jeff of Hina, the Wayfinder Connor, Jules the Shapeshifted, Anani the Ariori, and Blake, a mighty warrior. They quickly agreed to escort her to Ngauru.

Connor then steped aside to quietly ask Kahuna Akamai, if perhaps, they are required to sacrifice the Princess. Although no one else heard what was said, everyone instantly saw the color drain from the Kahuna’s face and the look of shock as he vigorously emphasized that was not the case.

The PCs debated what they might sacrifice. Not coming to a conclusion, they asked if anyone had gone on this journey before. Princess Anahera suggested they speak with a village elder, Kai-Alu.

The PCs walked across the village to Kai-Alu. An old man in 70s, a famous adventurer in his youth. He looked up as the PCs enter his hut. The PCs gave him the space and reverence a man of his mana and stature deserve. He asked, “what brings such a young spry group and the princess to my humble home.”

The PCs describe the adventure they had been tasked with. Then Kai-Alu told of his adventure. “I can still remember the putrid stink of sulfur today. The whole way up the mountain was obscured with smoke and ash. We made it to the top and sacrificed a truly beautiful feather headdress.” He pauses for a moment. “But alas, I don’t think it was enough. One voyager died on our return journey. And the chief whom we sought a blessing for had a terrible, short, and violent reign over Moanatu.”

The PCs asked why the sacrifice didn’t work. Kai-Alu responded, “I don’t think the sacrifice meant anything to the chief. Ruamoku saw through it as trivial and meaningless wealth cast into his pit. He let us leave, but I think he cursed the chief.” Kai-Alu warned of other dangers on the island. Great Pele-Hele’s (Lava Monsters), and wandering paths obscured in smoke and ash where adventurers can lose their way.

The PCs bid Kai-Alu goodbye and went to prepare to take the Princess’ new vessel to Ngauru. The mid-size outrigger canoue was recently blessed by Hina, Goddess of Fertility, Death, and the Moon. Jules, knowing  about poisons gathered some last minute herbs in case anyone was struck ill from inhaling the sulfur. The others gathered food supplies and makeshift tapa cloth face masks. Ready to move on, the group set out for Ngauru.

Connor, and his trainee Bob, were well renowned for their navigation skills. He made the journey in record time with smooth sailing the whole way. As the group beached their outrigger, they recalled the warning about the Pakangans. That Princess Anahera was probably not the only one to have received this message from the gods. The heroes then found an alcove to hide their boat in and a good vantage point to scan the sea for approaching vessels. A tiny dot appeared on the horizon.

Knowing the warmongering nature of the Pakangans, the heroes found the perfect location to set an Ambush. They set a fire to draw the other vessel in, laid a trap of sharp obsidian in front of it, and hid themselves among rocks on the coast.

The Pakangan vessel beached itself, and then its riders cautiously disembarked. As this happened, Blake stepped out behind the fire and threatened the group of Pakangans. One brave Pakangan charged forward, tripped on the trap, and impaled himself on a series of daggers. His life slowly drained down the rocky shores and into the see.

More cautiously the rest of the crew inched forward and clustered near the boat. Abby called upon the power of Tane to lull the Pakangans to sleep with a gentle breeze carrying the soft sound of birds chirping. In moments, the Pakangan leader stood alone on the shore of Ngauru facing the brave group of Maonatan adventurers.

A brief attempt to parlay was made with the leader who resisted the song on the wind. However, this lone Pakangan moved towards his sleeping comrades clearly intent on waking them. Then all hell broke loose.

The PCs emerged and threw spears at this lone warrior. One spear pierced his skin, the other putting a small cut in his shoulder. He yanked the first spear out and threw it to the ground as if it means nothing to have been impaled. The Pakangan leader was encircled by the heroes. He deftly maneuvered through the Moanutan warriors and walked over his crew yelling at them to wake up.

The rest of the PCs charged the disoriented group of drowsy seamen. In moments, several fell dead. Heads smashed in with clubs, guts spilled across the ground. The morale breaks on the remaining Pakangans and attempted to flee. Combat stops almost as suddenly as it started. With the two survivors, the leader and Steve, fleeing to the relative safety of their vessel.

Then, the two remaining Pakangans surrendered. After tieing them up, the heroes debated what to do with their prisoners. Let them return to Pakanga, execute them, or sacrifice them to Ruamoko. Ultimately, they decided to sacrifice them. In a desperate plee to find a way out, the Pakangan leader attempted to lead the heroes astray. Lying he told them they need to sacrifice a Pele-Hele heart to Ruamoko. While not true, it would be a fine sacrifice.

The PCs then commandeered the Pakangan vessel’s tiki to Ku, god of war, and prepared to drag the prisoners to the top of the mountain. Deciding to see if they can get more information out of Steve, the group bargained with steve, for his life. Persuaded by Connor’s utterly incomprehensible confidence, coupled with a total lack of decorum, Steve and Connor bonded instantly. Steve told the group that they were the sacrifice they planned, and that they need no Lava monster heart.

The entire group, except Bob who stayed behind to watch the two vessels, headed up the Volcano. They found a clear path and eventually come to a juncture. Glancing in the smoke they saw images representative of Hina and Tane. Realizing they must choose a path, they deliberated whether they follow the albatross (Tane) or the stars (Hina).

Jules attempted to scout ahead and saw that the entire Volcano was covered in an obscuring layer of smoke. Impenetrable from above, he realized for he was lost. He landed, and used one of the pair of echoing conch shells to talk to the group, and find his way back. During this time, Anani, performed a dance for Hina and Tane each symbol lighting up in turn. Eventually, deciding Hina has blessed their journey so far, the heroes followed the stars.

At the next path the heroes faced three more choices, each a constellation. Sirius, Ekoru (a tail), and Tautoru. Unsure what these symbols were meant to convey they again deliberated on the path forward. Turning to Steve, they asked if he knew anything. Steve suggested it had something to do with the first sound (letter) of each constellation. Still uncertain, Jeff prayed to Hinna for guidance, she lit the way highlighting Tautoru. This pattern repeated, as they spelled out TOP and found their way to the volcanoes summit.

As they reached the top, they looked down into the pit of the volcano. Lava began to bubble up, and Ruamoku took form. A gigantic humanoid shape, made of pure lava slowly emerged from the pit. His form remained constant, but within lava circled continuously, quickly hardening wherever the current stoped.

The PCS offered the enemy leader to Ruamoku. Without a word he rose up to his full height of almost fifteen feet and swiped him into the pit. The leader attempted to dodge but was no match for the speed and ferocity of this god. He screamed as he fell, until moments later, his form was engulfed in lava.

With a simple wave of his massive hands, Ruamoku cleared a path for the heroes down the mountain. He spoke in a voice with the sound of thunder, “The way is clear.”

Once the heroes reach their outrigger, Princess Anahera described the new Mele Hoku to Connor. She then asked if the group would accompany her to this new land, Motu Oa. Deliberating on what to do with the extra boat and passenger they decided to take both vessels and test Bob’s abilities as a Wayfinder.

The group feared the sea, with no god to guide their vessel. But, while the group ascended the mountain Bob carved a beautiful Obsidian moon to represent Hina. Finding a strange piece with two colors, he captured her ever shifting duality with almost perfect precision. However, insulted by the sacrifice of his totem and his worshippers, Ku himself took notice of the group of heroes.

They set sail, again Connor’s impeccable wayfinding skills helping them navigate the waters with ease. A few days into their Journey they saw a massive Pahu ahead. Jules changed into a massive albatross, and scouted ahead to the Pahu.

It was clear the Pahu was built for war, with symbols of Ku along its massive canoes. However, the passengers looked peaceful. It was a group of families, potentially looking for a new island. Jules also spotted two small outriggers scouting ahead and behind the massive Pahu. As the heroes deliberated what to do, one of the outrigger canoes spotted them. It then changed course to intercept the heroes between their current location and the Pahu.

Anani, examining the sales, recognized that this flotilla all flew patterns associated with the island of Tahiti. Once the vessel approached, the heroes and foreigners exchanged pleasantries. Then Anani persuades the Tahitians to grant them an audience with their leader Prince Tapiti.

Prince Tapiti and Princess Anahera exchanged pleasantries and shared that they both sought a bountiful new island. They seemed to hit it off, with Prince Tapiti perhaps a bit more enamored than Princess Anahera. Potentially because of his two recently called off engagements, which sent him sailing into the unknown to seek new lands.

Discussing that they both seek to claim the island, Princess Anahera proposed a race. They agreed to terms. A single vessel each, six occupants, and quite imbalanced prizes. Prince Tapiti wins a date, but must put the very island they sail to on the line.

Shortly thereafter the two outrigger canoes chosen for the race take off, leaving behind the rest of the flotilla. The first day of the race, the heroes pull ahead, but never made it out of sight of Tapiti’s outrigger. The next day, Tapiti (with a little assistance from Ku granting Tapiti’s crew strength for paddling), closed the gap. On the final day, the two vessels remained neck and neck until Hina blessed the heroes with a favorable gust of wind. Blowing them ahead with the island in sight.

Seeing he may lose Tapiti, launched himself from the boat and swims ahead to almost make landfall first. He emerged, soaked and exhausted, and looked to Anahera and said, “Surely that’s worth a date.”

She replied, “I believe you mean, that’s worth a date, My Queen.” After a brief pause, “Perhaps, you can earn one another time.”

The two walked off to discuss, and returned agreeing Anahera is queen, and Tapiti may rule as second in command. With both their people welcome to settle on this island. Tapiti, is clearly infatuated with Anahera, while Anahera’s intentions remain somewhat less clear.

The heroes slowly part ways. Jeff, Abby and Anani staying on the island, the others returning to Moanatu to tell Anahera’s cohort they may follow her to a new land.