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I’ve been trying to think of a setting for a nautical campaign. A vast expanse of tropical islands and waterways with the obligatory shady towns that sit on the water and temples of worship deep in both the jungle and the water. Any thoughts?

Yeknow what, fuck it, I wasn’t planning on writing a full pirate campaign anytime soon but everything’s better with pirates so lets do this!

Campaign: Scoundrels of the Sundered Isles

The Priests debate as to how our hearts may be weighted against its bearer’s sins.. but we Sailors no Better: ‘tis not sin our hearts are weighed against, ‘tis coin, as only coin could get a man to sail out to the edge o’ the bleedin world and gettim to stay ‘ere long enough to get to sinnin in the firstplace. 

-Overheard at The Last Hurrah Tavern

Setup:  The Tropical waters of the Tourmaline Sea have been a flurry of activity over the past century and a half, as natives and settlers from three different continents work together to reclaim land once lost after a half-millennia of supernatural darkness rendered a large chunk of the mainland uninhabitable. Most people deserted the Sundered Isles ( their name derived from a mistranslation that they were “Sun-Dead”) fearing the raiders and plagues that issued from that calamity, and they stayed away even after the sun returned, letting the gentle creeping of green reclaim the once barren rocks. 

Ever hungry for expansion, civilization makes its first tentative steps into these dangerous lands, with ports popping up all along the coast and archipelagos, the first wave of resettlement of a land once thought consigned to oblivion. 

All is not peaceful however, as powers both foreign and continental strive to establish dominance in this new frontier, with settlers, traders, and foolhearty sailors caught in the clash between. Discover the Mysteries long buried in darkness and sunken beneath the crashing waves, as you and your party strive to make your way in the Sundered Isles

Campaign Start

Captives of the Villainous XROC Merchant company and on their way to do hard labor in one of a number of debt-colonies, the party is miraculously saved when a tremendous wave crashes against the ship where they are imprisoned, shattering it upon the coastline and giving them the chance to escape together through the island.   There they find themselves Port Calmayne, a prosperous trade hub where the party can get their sea-legs under them while determining the best course of action and evading the Company. 

Early Game: 

A Priestess of the sea god has work for the party, neverminded that she’s a “retired” pirate, and the job involves helping a group of smugglers exterminate some monsters they accidently imported from the continent 

Investigate the haunted manor of an old Commodore, recover a treasuremap, and perhaps acquire some funds by looting through his hold treasures. Don’t get shot by a ghost while you’re at it. 

Earn the Respect of the local sailorfolk by diving for treasure into shark infested waters. Hidden among the bones of a great dragon are tokens that prove the party’s skill and sea-blessed luck, earning them passage on any ship going anywhere in the Sundered Isles

Mid Game: 

Make your way to Greenveil Lagoon, hidden home of all true pirates and the Bretherin Court. Help reunite an old salty-dog pay respects to his long departed crew, or start treasurehunting for the world’s most skilled but unlukiest mapmaker. 

Hunt ruins for a fabulous relic, then defend it in a ship-duel from a mystic privateer intent on taking it back.  When a job goes bad, it goes bad, and it’ll take all the party’s skill as sailors to evade this tenacious ( and seemingly omniscient) foe. 

Sign on With the Monster Hunting Crew of the Leviathan’s Bane, travel to the most dangerous corners of the archipelago, fight creatures that break ships between their coils, learn how to cook seamonster

Explore an ancient, eternal lighthouse, used as a lair by an eccentric pyromancer. Help a wayward celestial find their misplaced chariot of fire and learn clues as to the darkness that overtook the mainland so long ago. 

Late Game

The Merchant company that enslaved the players wants control over trade in the Sundered Isles, and is willing to unleash a madwoman in order to get it. This renegade pirate is obsessed with becoming the terror of the high seas, going so far as to overthrow the brethren court that keeps order among the Isles’ freebooters, and even unleash a vampire on the populace in hopes of becoming one herself. 

Venture into the lush jungles and overgrown ruins of the continent, and meet the fallen demigod who caused the devastation in the first place. Now little more than an eccentric old lizardfolk, this seemingly benign evil has many stories to tell, and more than a little wickedness still in him. 

The Wave that set the party free was only the herald to a true upset, as over moths an entire new archipelago of islands emerges from the seafloor after millennia in the depths.  Dotted with ruins and artifacts of a long dead civilization, these new isles draw fortunehunters into a clash with the merfolk exiled by the sudden rising of their home, all the while an ancient power wakes, looking to assert itself over the world once again. 

As always, I’m tremendously grateful for all my followers, but if you’d like to support my creative efforts, consider checking out the links below:

If you liked one of my adventure ideas and would like to leave a one time tip: https://ko-fi.com/villainforhire.

If you’d like to support Daily Adventure Prompts and future creative activity, consider becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/Villain4hire

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Guide to Story Researching

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Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress

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Start With Broad Subjects

When you begin a story that is heavy with technical detail that must be checked for accuracy, the most efficient way of going about it is approaching the first draft with a general sense of the topic. Then, as you write more and more, keep note of details you don’t have or facts you need to find. When you reach the second and third drafts, turn that general idea into specific detail. You’ll know what you need to know at that point, and you won’t waste valuable time doing unnecessary research instead of revising.

Keep Track of Your Resources

Hoard. Your. Sources. Not only so you can cite them to any editors or beta-readers whose knowledge may conflict with what you’ve researched, but so you can refer back to them if you decide to elaborate on the part of the story that required that information in the first place. Always keep a list of links in a document with the specific information you’ve gleaned from it, listed in a way where you can easily navigate and revisit sources and information.

Keep reading

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Sorry, I know I am a day late but honestly I did not even realize what day it was until I woke up this morning. It’s been a very hectic time for me lately, But I am coping. Hope y’all are doing okay as well in these crazy times.

If you’re looking for a little extra motivation this October, I hope this helps!

Text Version:

OCTOBER 2020 PROMPT SET

1.     Alone

2.     Shadows

3.     ‘Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to play with your food?’

4.     With a final breath

5.     Fog

6.     Ancient

7.     Stories

8.     “A Mask tells us more than a face”- Oscar Wilde

9.     Candle

10.  Forest

11.  ‘Haven’t you ever watched horror movies? This is how people die.’

12.  All eyes on you

13.  Invitation

14.  “Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them” -George Eliot

15.  Shatter

16.  Offerings

17.  To cost an arm and a leg

18.  Curiosity

19.  “Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it.”- W. Somerset Maugham

20.  ‘Well, this is not how I thought I would die, but I can work with it.’

21.  Delirious

22.  Bad Blood

23.  Whispers

24.  Maze

25.  Sleep

26.  “To him who is in fear everything rustles.”- Sophocles

27.  Shaking

28.  ‘I don’t think we’re supposed to be here’

29.  All in your head

30.  Caught

Cross my heart and hope to die                            

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

(Also, check my blog if you want to!)

It’s almost October, which means it’s almost Halloween! How about some ghastly prompts to get your creative juices pumping? These Hauntober prompts are perfect to get you in the spookiest state of mind. Whether you’re drawing, writing imagines or snippets, or dressing up with some closet costuming like the aesthetic goblin you are, these Hauntober challenges just may stimulate your ghoulish creativity. 

You have two weeks to plan and prepare, but if you prefer to 🦇 ~wing it~ 🦇, no worries. We’ll be dropping the weekly themes each Monday here on @fandom starting on September 28th. And the best part, you freaks? We’re going to share some of the best frightfully amazing work from you clowns throughout the entire month. Don’t forget to use the #Hauntober tag on your creepy creations. Happy haunting, Tumblr!

If you're interested in a mashup of the above, check out

SCAVENGERS REIGN

ha?

every single person who reblogs this

every

single

person

will get “doot doot” in their ask box

the thing all sherlock holmes adaptations get wrong is making the guy an irredeemable asshole who treats everyone like shit . not only is it not reflective of the original stories they miss that “nice, smart, well mannered dude who snorts coke when he needs to think” is possibly the funniest character ever devised 

Theme Week #15: Rogue 🗡

I was really looking forward to rogue week, not only because they’re a popular class, but because they happen to be a great excuse to show off my “how to run a heist” system. Enjoy feeling like a criminal genius as your party faces down these challenges while you slip around and head straight to the prize. 

Criminal Machination: A steam/dieselpunk adventure arc where the party tales on the role of a heist crew, carrying out the orders of a mysterious voice broadcasting between radio-waves. These random crimes build to a head as the party delves into a hidden military research site, and the true secrets of their patron are revealed. Also they get an airship, ain’t that cool?

Puzzles and Lockpicking: d&d needs more minigames, simple to implement but with more mechanical engagement than just a flat d20 roll. Here’s my attempt to do something for lockpicking… and possibly some other complicated things like code-breaking, arcane research, or exorcisms. 

The Beloved of Imyya: I wanted to flip the classic snake cult/assassin’s guild on it’s head by making them champions of a colonized people. What I ended up with was a very interesting political faction that players could join if they proved they had the right ethos, in order to learn some alchemical secrets/cool snake based martial arts. 

The Lost Treasures of Alfreth’s Isle: Posing as monster hunters dealing with a giant spider problem gives the party access to a fortified island in a flooded mountain valley that was once used by an ancient king as a vault for all his treasures. Since the destruction of that particular royal line, the island was ruled over by a monastic order of scribes, who guarded the king’s riches despite not quiiiite knowing where all of it might be located. With only a few days of shore time and a silk-thin excuse allowing them to operate on land, the crew will need to move fast if they want to heist the isle’s forgotten vaults. 

Thieves we Be: A full campaign adventure compilation where the party starts off as a group of scoundrels fleeing a job that’s gone very, very, VERY bad. With their last leader possibly bleeding out in the carriage ride over and a disused country tavern as their safehouse, the party will need to pull off a daring series of heists to get themselves back on top.  With sidequests varying from exploring a coast full of hurricane demolished temples to haggling with goblin moonshiners to taking tea with an introverted and grandmotherly lich, this arc is sure to keep your party entertained and engaged for ages while they chase that next big prize.