The Plaguelands - One Shot Adventure

After a daring heist, your fugitive party fled the city-state of Vice into the desert. So far the plan has gone flawlessly, but this particular evening the Plaguelands are more brutal and punishing than ever. One night is all that stands between you and freedom, but it's going to be one hell of a night.

Event Date: Thursday, 9/30
Event Time: 6:00PM - 9:00PM

This one-shot was played at the The Adventurer's Academy.

The desert city-state of Vice is a gilded cesspool of scum and villainy. The dregs of society live in squalor just beneath a veneer of wealth of privilege. As the adventure starts, you and your crew have ripped off a powerful and murderous mob bosses’ gladiator gambling den in a daring heist. Now you’ve made off into the wilderness with a cartload of valuables. Can you survive the Plaguelands to enjoy your ill-gotten gains?

How much do you trust the other members of your crew? Would you leave them alone with the loot? What if you had the opportunity to take off with the fortune and keep it all for yourself? This adventure will feature non-stop action, backstabbing, standoffs, horror, and a giant sandworm. Can you run fast enough to escape certain death, or do you just need to run faster than the other members of your crew?

• Plaguelands - One Shot Game 2021.09.30

This one-shot adventure will feature characters between third and fourth level. To create a grim dark crew of proper villains, player characters may start the game at fourth level only if they choose to take at least one level of Fighter, Rogue or Warlock. Players who don't want to play those classes, or don't want to multi-class may start at third level.

Please create your character using a combination of the Player's Handbook, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Stats should use the point-buy system or the standard array.

Characters may start with any basic equipment from the Player’s Handbook they can physically carry that individually costs no more than two-hundred (200) gold pieces.

Take a quick look at the Design Assumptions for the world of Kyor, particularly if your character is a half-orc or you want a character with a lifespan longer than that of a regular mortal human.

Please consider using the heritages, religions, and languages of Kyor in character development.

We will be using a few house rules as well, including a modified flanking mechanic and changes to counterspell.

Just like any group of rogues headed for a heist, everyone recruited for the job should have some sort of a specialty. Here are some examples. As you make your character, think about what it is that your PC brings to the table to completely rip off this mob-boss dirtbag.

• The Adept - Scholars, tinkerers, occultists
• The Bonesaw - Holy warriors, medics, and lore keepers
• The Fixer - If you need something, chances are they have it
• The Leech - Alchemists and evokers
• The Rook - Con artists, spies, and socialites
• The Shadow - Scouts, infiltrators, and thieves
• The Spider - Planners and wildcards at the center of a web of knowledge
• The Thug - Killers, brawlers, and roustabouts
• The Wall - Warriors, soldiers, and bodyguards

A group of murderous drifters each needs their own motivation to keep pushing for bigger paydays. As you create your character, consider what sort of indulgence drives your character to join the heist.

• Faith: You’re dedicated to an unseen power, forgotten god, ancestor, etc.
• Gambling: You crave games of chance, betting on sporting events, etc.
• Luxury: Expensive or ostentatious displays of opulence.
• Obligation: You’re devoted to a family, a cause, an organization, a charity, etc.
• Pleasure: Gratification from lovers, food, drink, drugs, art, theater, etc.
• Stupor: You seek oblivion in the abuse of drugs, drinking to excess, getting beaten to a pulp in the fighting pits, etc.
• Weird: You experiment with strange essences, consort with rogue spirits, observe bizarre rituals or taboos, etc.

Adventurers who chose the Criminal background may choose to have a working relationship with one of these criminal contacts pulled from the area of the city-state of Vice.

• Black Fletcher - Bounty Hunter
• Gilly Twinhammer - Thug Life
• Gronk Hornhead - Master of the Veiled Cave
• Jewell Whisperbane - Information Dealer
• The Respect - Collects and Calls Favors
• Urtsel the Fence - Cash for Goods
• Vagabond - Mercurial Arms Dealer

Here is a list the choices players made for their PCs:

Please contact me so we can hit the ground running. I want to know about your characters before we play! Write me on the Adventurer's Academy Discord as rew #4943, or email me here.