GLoGtober day 7: Adventure

 Avenshur :)

THE BLOODY RAMPARTS OF THE DWARVISH UR-CITY

The greatest fortress the Dwarves know is under attack from the forces of darkness. Goblins and ratmen and cold-handed Draugr horrors swell up from the Magma Forges below to take the city for themselves. The PCs are generals and legends, trying to cup their hands around the last spark of the great Dwarvish empire before it flickers out for good.

With some creativity, a little bit of planning, some rolls, and a good chunk of improv, these tables can be used to set up a dynamic and interesting city-under-siege. Hope you enjoy and get some use out of it.

SIEGING PARTIES AND ENCOUNTERS

1 Orcs

1 Berserker Band: 8 whirling, maddened barbarians accompanies by a hierophant

2 Greyskin Horde: A mass legion of bloodthirsty orcs marches in grim file

3 Bat-riding spellslingers

4 Plague-bearing mass of pus legionnaires

2 Goblins

1 Goblin-hucking siege engine

2 Shit-hurling archers

3 Suicidal moltov-and-gunpowder shock troops

4 Goblin sword-”dancers” high on all the drugz

5 Boar-rider cavalry

6 Stinking parade: masses upon masses of ill-armed, inexperienced goblins

3 Rat-men

1 Great Bell toted by an ecclesiastic pack, roll for another encounter when rung

2 Lightning Trebuchet with engineer guard

3 A small brigade of ratman siege engineers and ninjas, espionage saboteurs

4 Dagger-weilding ratman Cave Rangers, rappelling down from secret tunnels

4 Draugr

1 Hammer Brigade, a mass of tortured psychic machines

2 Pack of Mind Melders floating in a psychic bubble

3 A sickly mass of disembodied limbs controlled by a Hand of Grymn

4 Three-fold squadron of reanimated miners

5 The frost-clad Draugr King and her imperial retinue

6 A great psychic entity held with the Tether of Grymn’s Hound

WHAT ARE THEY SEEKING?

1 The Infinity Gem

1 The largest, most brilliant, most valuable diamond in the cosmos

2 A fractal manifold of space trapped in carbon

3 A gem that can captivate and hypnotize anyone that looks into it

4 The egg of the last crystal dragon

2 Crucible of Stars

1 Capable of melting any magic item

2 Destined to forge the greatest weapon in the cosmos

3 Heated with the heart of a red dragon from Inferno

4 The metal currently melted in it is pure Shatterstar

2 Axe of the Stone Emperor

1 A relic symbol of the Dwarvish Pope

2 A powerful, godkilling artifact

3 The weapon fated to kill the Orc Queen

4 Only possession of Turzem the Mad, Blood-Drinking Dwarf-Despot (We Spit On His Foul Grave Forever)

4 The hold itself

1 Strategic location for further conquest

2 The space is built into the shape of a massive sigil

3 Massive, valuable gem mines

4 Permanent portal to another plane

LAYOUT OF THE UR-CITY (Optional: roll twice and combine, or roll once for each sector of the city)

1 Massive, open vault, where large-scale surprise is impossible

2 Catwalks and catacombs riddle the space

3 The vault is built primarily vertically, making 3d fighting necessary

4 Incredibly low ceilings, making ranged attack difficult

WHAT ASSETS DO THE PCs HAVE?

1 The ghosts of long-dead dwarvish veterans join the faltering standing guard

2 Rivers of lava deep below powering scores of forges

3 The dwarves have trained winged goats for generations

4 The mining exploits mean a shit ton of disposable explosives

5 The PCs have large quantities of a unique alchemical substance

1 Non-newtonian fluid

2 Powerful ferrofluid

3 Acid and cleaning chemicals

4 Plant hyper-fertilizer (makes plant matter expand to titanic size in seconds)

6 There’s a secret passage from one side of the city to the other

7 Magical protections guard the palace, protected by a sigil in the temple

8 There’s a bottomless pit in a far-off district

Roll a few times before or during the session, sprinkle in NPCs, maps and twists to taste, run an epic siege with rules of your choice! Happy GLoGtober, and happy gaming.