Dicey Stories

Extended family helps Heppa with her corruption and Tric with taking on the mantle of his noble heritage.

As usual, many NPCs in this arc are derived from units in the Battle for Wesnoth video game. Ash is an Avenger, and with Ruthiel, we get our first Shyde, the ultimate unit in the Druid line in the mainline game. User-made content campaigns have a ton more units, though. Soliana is thus a Star, a non-mainline step above Shyde.

Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

In which the dangers of siege worms are made completely clear.

Our music is from Purple Planet Music. Visit them at purple-planet.com.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

Heppa seeks guidance from Soliana, an elf steeped in knowledge of fae magic.

Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

On the way back to Data Haven, the group comes across some ominous remains.

Our music is from Purple Planet Music. Visit them at purple-planet.com.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

Tric and Heppa present the needs of the Grey Woods woses to the most prestigious elvish council of all, the Ka’lian.

This whole episode with the Ka’lian is very much indebted to A War of Life and Death by Mystical_Warlord. In that non-mainline campaign for the Battle for Wesnoth video game, Scenario 13 sees the primary character, Lord Ardonath, asking the Ka’lian for aid. I took NPC names—and to some extent, personalities—from that conversation. Aolis, Theodmer, Gaelira, Soliana—they’re all from that scenario. Neia, who we met earlier this arc, is too.

One other thing I’ll add about our meeting with the Ka’lian… If you are familiar with the “BOOST” series in the Genesys Foundry at DriveThruRPG, you might recognize it. I used this encounter as the basis for my submission to BOOST #7, Modular Encounters, where I gave tips for running a similar encounter and adapting it to different settings. BOOST stands for Book of Online Sourced Triumphs, by the way. They’re a variety of community-built resources for Genesys, and they’re free to download from DriveThruRPG.

https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/390112/boost-7-modular-encounters

This arc contains spoilers for the Battle for Wesnoth campaign Liberty. There are also references to Eastern Invasion and to Crin of Crenlyn, a User-Made Content campaign.

Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

Reunited, Cleve and Mariah patch each other up and share information on their new contacts.

Our music is from Purple Planet Music. Visit them at purple-planet.com.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

Tric and Heppa enjoy a dance party with the young elves of Wesmere and then cookies with their grandparents.

The special items gifted to Tric and Heppa were created with input from the players on what type of item they were interested in. Tric’s player wanted something stealth-related, and since the shadow ring turned out to be too creepy, I created the cowl. Its description is based on the artwork for the Elvish Avenger unit in the Battle for Wesnoth video game. I asked Heppa’s player what type of magic she wanted made easier for her character, and based on what she said, I designed the thorny bramble wand.

Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

Mariah and Cleve find different ways out of the dome.

It was a spur of the moment decision to have Fritz be the same character as Morris. The tailor was intended as a single-scene NPC, but Mariah took a liking to him. This was the perfect place to bring him back and showcase a consensual encounter. But who knows what fate has in store for these binary-star–crossed lovers?

Our music is from Purple Planet Music. Visit them at purple-planet.com.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

Tric and Heppa get acquainted with an unexpected new relative.

In this episode, we meet Ash, an NPC who holds a special place in my heart for a number of reasons I’ll get into more some time in the future. But for now, I’ll share that Ash sneaking around Carcyn on the way to the Grey Woods without being spotted by humans is akin to Hide and Seek, Scenario 5 of the mainline campaign Liberty. Ash is an Avenger, which is a unit from the Battle for Wesnoth video game, one step above a Ranger.

Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

An unexpected additional rescue opportunity presents itself.

The University of Chiron in our tabletop game is a mix of University of Planet and Lord’s Believers from the Alpha Centauri video game. This melding of science and religion was itself inspired by the Supremacy affinity in Beyond Earth. Supremacy is highly technological but uses religious names for most in-game units. Time will tell how this new faction interacts with Data Haven and the Stepdaughters of Chiron.

Our music is from Purple Planet Music. Visit them at purple-planet.com.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!