Three adventures in the pipeline

I've been a bit less active in posting lately because I've got a lot on my plate right now. I'm really sorry about that! I've made some progress on some activities that, as you can imagine, weren't the top priority. For the record, the priority now is the setting. I've been able to squeeze in some writing time here and there to complete and revise three adventures I wrote during the past winter for the VI·VIII·X campaign I'm running with great difficulty (personal problems also greatly affect this aspect!).

The adventures are set in the world of VI·VIII·X that I am completing and need to publish. I want to make sure that these adventures are accessible to everyone, even if they don't know anything about the setting. That's why I've included an appendix that gives context and explanations of some of the most important aspects that the PCs encounter in the course of the adventure.

I designed the adventures to be played as standalone modules, but they're also great for integrating into a larger campaign. In fact, I actually played all three adventures in a row in the campaign I was running. The problem was that most of the information in the adventures hadn't been written down, but I had them in my head. In trying to write them as a finished product to be played by everyone, several friends on the net kindly pointed me out that what I had written was very lacking. Each adventure had 5 or 6 pages (and the rest was just in my head). After going over it again, I made sure to double the pages so that they're complete with every useful detail you could possibly need for an adventure module (and I'm not sure I wrote 100%!).

The stories are pretty straightforward, I just wanted to make sure the players could keep their goals in focus and the dynamics of the PCs were easy to understand. I've got three modules for you in the pipeline!

• The beginning of the story: the adventure has as its 'backdrop' C.A. Smith's immortal short story 'The End of the Story,' and the PCs act within this magnificent work by bending events and influencing the fortunes of the story's protagonist. What I find interesting is precisely the fact that the protagonist is an NPC around whom the characters are called upon to act (note that this does not mean that the PCs are secondary actors!).

• A bullies' threat: the PCs are called upon to investigate violent incidents that affect the exit of one of the tunnels in the setting. The game world is full of tunnels, some of which have been used for centuries as a safe way of communication because they are under the protection of a powerful corporation, the Underground Passageway Corporation. It is precisely the UPC that asks the PCs to intervene to ensure the safety of one of the exits that has been harassed by a group of thugs in recent times.

• A forlorn venue: the UPC asks the characters to check out an area of a tunnel that has had some recent problems. Unfortunately, this has led to the death of a child who was traveling in the tunnel. The problems in the tunnel are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, they are just a side effect of a bigger problem which has led to an entire hamlet being deserted. The hamlet is not actually deserted, in fact, there is one family who has stayed behind despite rumors of ghosts seeking revenge or evil spirits eager of victims. However, the reality is quite different and it is up to the characters to find out what is going on.

I'm currently putting the finishing touches on the last text of the three adventures. Then, it's off to the races for a thorough proofreading phase! Writing an adventure is quite a different exercise than writing core rules or a game supplement. I've been in touch with some friends in the net to get their thoughts on how to make these products more accessible to the public. I'm really keen to keep the 'systemless' writing style of the adventure (keeping the typical details of the VI·VIII·X system in special appendices), and I'd love to write the texts in a way that's easy to translate into Italian, so I can do a publication in my own language as well. Finally, I really hope that the style and plot will appeal to readers because I wanted to offer readers simple situations that would allow them to appreciate other aspects of the game other than the "wow" effects of the plot. ...for those who love complex and intricate adventures, there's plenty of time! I'm just writing the next one that way!