Dragon Storm Card Based RPG

Presented by Art by Susan Van Camp

Lost in The Mountains
by Glen Cooley

Dragon Storm Main Page

“Lost in the Mountains” by Glen Cooley

An adventure using only two stacks of cards for one to three beginning characters.

Making a "Story String"

We give you a lot of help running an encounter for Dragon Storm. There are land cards for making the map, and for framing the scenes. There are many scene cards, each with several story ideas that could be played one at a time, or changed and recombined to form new stories. Lastly, there are the cast cards that can be augmented with features and abilities.

The gamemaster can always find ways to vary these elements so that players will never know what is coming next. But all role-playing games require an element that I call a "Story String". Basically, this is a reason for the characters to be here in the first place. Players will create their own motivation as they go along, but at the start they may need a little nudge from the game master to get started. I like to think of it in terms of loose threads; Do you pull number one, two, or three? I present a small plot and dangle a series of choices. When the players "pull" one of those threads, I can build the story in that direction. This is all the preparation that is needed in improvisational role-playing. The players will decide on the direction of the plot line from that point. This will be more fun for everyone. The players don't have to feel pushed into the jaws of the game master's preplanned trap, and the game master doesn't have to spend hours writing up the preplanned trap, and instead, can feed ideas into a mutual story-telling game. Here follows an example of a"Story String" and the cards to build it.

The characters.

Have the player(s) pick the type of character they want to play and build them up using the starting points. The game rules allow each character to have 100 gold pieces to buy equipment. If the player(s) has done this already, let them chose the equipment they want. Let them have five rations of water in the water skins, and any gold they have left from the 100 they would have to buy equipment. Food is the problem! Don't let the character(s) have any food. If you are using experienced characters, devise a way for the character's food to disappear, or be contaminated by the tox.

This makes the first "string". The feeling of hunger is an easy concept for role-players to understand. How they react to this thread will be up to them, but be graphic in your presentation. Maybe the character(s) can't sleep because of hunger pangs. They should at least suffer the hunger damage from section 14.3.1.

The card stacks; the numbers in parentheses refers to the card point cost for the challenge number.

Stack number one: Stormland Mountains(2), Refugees scene(3), Foul Weather scene(2), Tylon Raptor(16), from one to three depending on how many characters, Human Farmer(6). The farmer has been taken as a hostage by the Raptor(s) and is being forced to return to Raptor land to be a slave.

Stack number two: Stormland Mountains(2), Elethay Village scene(3), Warpspawn Marauders scene(1), Mad Spawn(13), one to three creatures. The Elethay Village is the "goal" of the plot, offering a safe haven to shape-shifting characters, and the prospect of a warm meal. The Warpspawn are lurking around in the mountains nearby hoping for a juicy snack. The village is not easy to find, so make the characters search for it.

The "Story String": This is what the game master tells the players at the beginning of the game to start the adventure. I present this in narrative style to set the mood.

"The village that you grew up in has always regarded shape-shifters as "monsters". It was also well known that a necromancer who lived nearby would pay many gold pieces for shifters so he could drain them of the magic inside them. As a side benefit, this process would kill the shifters, ridding the world of another of these awful beasts. When that terrible day came and you turned into one of those very beasts, you were well aware that running away was the only thing you could do to survive."

"You have been traveling for many days down an ancient road leading off into the mountains. Stories of a safe village located somewhere in these mountains has led you this far. You were hoping that this old road would take you there, but for the last few hours of daylight yesterday, the road got more and more difficult to find. Finally, you have lost the trail completely. You have run out of food, and are getting very hungry. What do you do?" The safe village is the other part of the "string".

Now it is up to the players to decide the direction of the adventure. They could attempt to scout for a trail. Maybe finding some food would be good. Is there any sign of a village around here? The character(s) can connect the hunger "thread" and the safe village "thread" in many ways. While the characters are trying something they can encounter the Raptor(s). What do they do? Do they try to hide and watch, or spring at the Raptor(s) and attempt to free the farmer? Maybe the Raptor(s) surprises the characters and tries to add them to the slave lists. If they free the farmer he might lead them back to his home and offer food as a reward. Perhaps he knows where the Elethay village is. Go with the flow! Let them tie the "strings".

The Foul Weather can be held in reserve if the characters avoid the Raptor(s), or if the characters get lost in the mountains on a bad scouting roll. Because of hunger, the foul weather can potentially be more serious. Deal with the second stack in the same way as the first. Let the player(s) find the way through the story. Do the characters get ambushed by the Warpspawn? Maybe the characters fly away and see the village from the air. The farmer from the first stack might be helping to find the Elethay Village. The strings don't have to be tied the way you as game master think they should. The player(s) might decide to track down those nasty Raptors to try and find more captured farmers. (Oops! Better have another stack set aside.) It is so much more fun when you let it happen instead of preplanning everything.

This site is copyright to Susan Van Camp 2007. Art on this site is copyright to Susan Van Camp.

Please do not download or use the art from this site in anyway without the express approval of Susan Van Camp.

e-mail questions to Susan at svancamp@mac.com

For Questions about Dragon Storm, or the web page, e-mail Mark at markharmon@mac.com

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