REVIEW: Tomb of Annihilation

This is going to be a fairly detailed review of Wizards of the Coast's Tomb of Annihilation adventure (for 5^th Edition of D&D), and the first in a mini-series of reviews of Tomb of Annihilation-related products. I'm writing these up partly for the sake of my own process as I prepare a campaign set in Chult, using ToA products (though with some hacking to make it tick). Partly they hopefully help other DMs planning to run it. This will include the official Tortle Package supplement, as well as some well-produced material from the DMs' Guild, which has obviously had a lot of thought put into it. So basically, anyone playing in my Meeple Games Chult campaign, look away now.

Here's the takeaway: Tomb of Annihilation is pretty good. In fact, at points, it verges on VERY good, and there's not many other Wizards' DnD adventures I'd say that about. Its flaws are real, however, and they are mostly the same issues that plague all Wizards adventures. Let's go chapter-by-chapter – it's tempting to do a Pros/Cons list, but there's a lot of content here to consider.

Introduction

There's a bit of general intro guff here, but there's a lot of theoretically usable material: an adventure summary which sums up the presumed course of play, and gives a useful summary of NPCs with relevant information to that end. Now, I won't necessarily use this, as I don't presume my characters will follow the “storyline” (roughly, famous Lich is growing a baby Death God to maturity, and sucking in souls from the surrounding plane to feed it), but it's useful. Also useful is a mechanical summary at the outset of how the Soulmonger – the device Acererak the Lich is using to suck in souls – affects play. I don't actually love how pervasive the Soulmonger's “Death Curse” is, for various reasons, but again, it's no bad thing to put this all up front. There's stuff on character advancement, and starting at higher levels. There's then a hook to get characters involved in the main plot.

It's dreadful, and not just because it decides there's a main plot the characters must care about (which puts a lot of expectation on players who are investing in the game for months or years). The hook is ridiculous. An archmage who is being affected by the Death Curse – she's been resurrected before, and so is losing health due to the Soulmonger's effect – hires the 1^st level PC chumps to investigate the source of the problem, in distant Chult (in the Forgotten Realms, 5^th Edition's default setting). The book does answer the question why she isn't sending more powerful or competent people – she already has and they disappeared. So you are now the counsel of despair, it seems, dear players. It becomes clear over the course of the book that, “in the story”, other high-level resurrected people haven't bothered sending anyone to investigate. So the hopes of the world rest on the Chump Brigade. Which may sound dramatic to you, but I think it's mind-numbingly stupid.

There's then an overview of Chult; the majority of this is a description of the races of Chult, which include the way local subspecies of Goblins and Dwarves work. There's also a sidebar on local religion, which mentions the absentee local deity Ubtao, but doesn't mention his key role (now neglected) in keeping world-ending danger Dendar the Night Serpent in prison. This is all fine, if generic and written at some length. But at least some of the space in this subsection – and in the Introduction as a whole – could have been given over to an organized overview of the factions in the setting. There's a sidebar on Acererak, but little else. However, there's plenty of potential factional play, and some of it even gets explored elsewhere; factional play is good because it gives players choices, and choices which have a significant effect on the setting (rather than the standard adventure assumptions of the setting having significant effects on the characters' actions).

Chapter 1 – Port Nyanzaru

So this starts out with the statement that Chultans now rule themselves in the main Chultan settlement, having chased out colonial forces nine years ago. Chult is fantasy Africa, and so you can understand the concern; the historical neglect of actual Chultans in Forgotten Realms material has made the authors wary. But this seems like an obvious missed opportunity for real intrigue and choices – the idea of a Governor from Amn co-existing uneasily with local Merchant-Princes who themselves are split between oligarchic and monarchist ideologies, all of that with other colonial powers in the mix, and weirder forces out in the jungles...your players might actually have to make moral decisions! But that's immediately flattened out, and the possibilities are only ever touched upon.

There's some stuff on arrival which is over-descriptive but fine, and then 10 side-quests which you can get the players involved in. At the end of the chapter there's also a d100 table of, uh, 19 rumours, and an additional 10 random encounters for Port Nyanzaru in Appendix B. Not amazingly layed out or usable at the table. But there's some nice ideas in all this, and it definitely aims to make the campaign rich and interesting. Several of the side quests give you opportunities to introduce some of the “international factions” of the Forgotten Realms – the Harpers (secretive freedom fighters), the Zhentarim (international crime syndicate), the Lords Alliance (the United Nations of “okay” city-states). The problem is these factions are terrible. There is somewhere in the book a suggestion that different members of the Lords' Alliance might clash over colonial objectives if put to it, but that's not explored. Otherwise, generic shadowy Neutral-leaning freedom fighters, generic shadowy Evil-leaning criminals, and generic Lawful-leaning political guys are about as drab as it gets. I don't want to help any of them. (Also, these terrible factions come up in every official 5^th Edition adventure. We're supposed to think they really matter, because they're everywhere. They don't matter. At all.)

The main map and key for the city of Port Nyanzaru comes next and is okay. There's some genuinely fun things – execution by dinosaur funnel, some vaguely interesting local NPCs, undead occasionally attacking the suburbs – though it's not terribly exciting, and the entries are long without always giving much value. This is followed by some fairly decent stuff – descriptions of the seven Merchant-Princes, each of whom has some kind of subplot/quirk available for use in play. There's then a sample Merchant Prince's Villa map and key, including particular motifs to customize each of the individual Princes. This is literally, and openly, generic; in this case I don't mind, as it's giving you maps and ideas for stuff players might actually do (you know, like raid a Prince's villa!). There's some nice stuff in here like a Fire Elemental trapped in service as a sauna-heater.

Next we get an actual summary of “Factions and their Representatives”, but though it mentions actual local players, it spends valuable words on redundant factions and doesn't really talk about any interplay between them. It also doesn't mention what local politics there actually might be, mostly focussing on the “international factions” who turn up in other books. As mentioned, terrible. Then there's a very brief section on weird miscellaneous things you can do like bet on dinosaur racing. Then a section on local guides who can take you into the jungle...and this is actually excellent. Sometimes verbose but great. There's a weretiger who will guide the PCs for free if they do a sidequest for her, and guides described as “disguised couatl”, “incompetent fortune hunters”, “barmy dwarf dragon slayer”, “Chultan druid and vegepygmy”, and “Yuan-ti spy”. The dwarf will deceive the PCs into thinking he can guide them anywhere but will actually just take them to kill the red dragon who ate his arm. This is great stuff. It should be noted some of these guides – and some of the factions – aren't actually in Port Nyanzaru, and though it makes sense to put together the info on all of the guides, it's not entirely satisfying organization.

Chapter 2 – The Land of Chult

So this chapter details the hexcrawl element of the adventure. Did I mention there was a hexcrawl? There's even a gorgeous map. The problem is, broadly speaking, that it's a bad hexcrawl. Some of the locations are great; I'll get to that in a second. But this chapter sums up a lot of the problems with this adventure, and with all published 5^th Edition Wizards' adventures I've read.

ONE. Adventure Style. This adventure has a hexcrawl as a major part of it, with the theme of exploration pushed forward (with a players' version of the hexmap they can fill in by hand!!), even down to awesome guide NPCs being detailed. The second paragraph of this chapter says locations are intentionally not located/sorted by level or difficulty, because players need to judge when to fight, negotiate, or flee (and we've already read about how to replace characters who die, whose souls are lost to the Soulmonger). There are loads of locations detailed – something like 47 in about 50 pages, including several mini-dungeons.

That's all quite admirable, and exciting for some of us who like that kind of adventure. But the actual material doesn't in any way help it be a good version of that adventure. Player choice and consequences aren't really valued: in the second paragraph of this chapter it discusses how to get your players out of trouble if stuff gets too hard for the PCs.

The hex map is massive, with 10-mile hexes, which only map on to “normal pace” when travelling, not slow or fast – which makes it a little unwieldy. It also means there are absolutely enormous distances being covered, using an “okay” random encounter table (which I'll address under Appendices). This isn't very attractive, and doesn't make the exploring seem very exciting. Furthermore, there are virtually no locations in the southern and eastern sections of the map; that's all just empty space, unless you put work into populating it. That might sound like a good creative exercise, but if I'm buying a 240+ page adventure with a hexmap, I would love for it to be usable and worthwhile from the off. If half the map is essentially empty, that's a waste of paper and potentially of player time.

The location gazetteer is affected by this. It has LOADS of great stuff, and I don't want to detract too much from that, but let's take some examples from Fort Beluarian, Baldur's Gate local base. The Fort is fun; it has some interesting stuff going on, including a Lawful Evil commander who you can choose to get along with or undermine. It also takes 4 pages to detail a fairly generic fort. Let's rewrite two paragraphs. From the introduction to the location:

“Liara is puzzled by reports coming from her patrols to the south. They've crossed the trails of large creatures in the jungle that don't match anything known to live in Chult. The characters are planning to explore the region between the east coast and the River Tiryki, or they've already been there and seen anything unusual, she'd be grateful for any light they can shed on the mystery. (Her patrols are seeing signs of the frost giants searching for Artus Cimber.)”

How about:

“Liara has had reports of tracks of large humanoids unknown to her patrols (Frost Giant patrols from the Hvalspyd). She may hire characters to explore the region, or pay for information from those who have already done so.”

That's two and a half lines saved for something else. Now, one of the keyed locations:

“2. ORE GATE

Despite its name, this secondary gate on the south wall of the fort has nothing to do with ore. It's a sally port the fort's defenders can use to launch counterattacks against enemies assailing the main gate. It stays solidly closed and barred most of the time.”

This can be trimmed down dramatically:

“2. ORE GATE: Sally port. Closed and barred.”

This sort of fairly basic editing carried out throughout the chapter would free up acres of space for the purpose of detailing/creating other locations. I'm fine with the book expecting DMs to do some work in detailing locations in such a big setting, but that doesn't justify the incredible waste of space on show.

There's also the wider issue that the locations detailed are often chosen and written with an eye to advancing the “main plot”. Though the adventure sets itself up as an open world hexcrawl with an eye to player choice and consequences, the book itself makes clear that the only worthwhile

That said, some of the mini-dungeons are pretty good, as I said. Hrakhamar is an old dwarven mine inhabited by firenewts which has some good looping and some fun mechanical interactions. Kir Sabal, home to the hidden heir to the throne of Omu and a bunch of quite nice aarakocra, is detailed as a dungeon in case you want to rob it, which is exactly what some players will do. The Wyrmheart Mine has some good verticality, you can negotiate with the dragon there, and her loyal kobolds actually raise young, which makes them slightly less easy to genocide away with impunity. Then there's a random goblin village which can be launched via catapult if it needs to escape, and the locals farm ants. Barring some layout issues, this is all very usable, even if it needs some highlighting.

Chapter 3 – Dwellers of the Forbidden City

This relatively short chapter (the shortest full chapter in the book) is named after and inspired by the classic module I1, a 1^st Edition module by David “Zeb” Cook. It's materially very different, but the DNA is there – the concept of an exotic ruined city ripe for exploration, with factions aplenty. However, this idea isn't taken too far. There is factional play – Yuan-Ti, Kobolds, Grungs, Thayan Wizards, some Tabaxi hunters – but it's fairly lightly covered and the locations detailed lean heavily in favour of those that directly advance the “main plot”.

Let's talk about that. 11 of the 20 locations are directly connected to accessing the Tomb of Annihilation; one is the Yuan-Ti base, one is the Tomb of Annihilation itself (both detailed in different chapters). The other nine are the Shrines of the Nine Trickster Gods of Omu, who the people of Omu turned to after their god Ubtao left them. These are all mini-dungeons focussed on puzzles, which allow access to the nine puzzle cubes needed to access the titular Tomb of Annihilation.

The Trickster Gods are interesting – and are an interesting element in play in the Tomb itself – and the shrines are pretty good. They each have riddles at their gates which give clues to how to solve the puzzles within. The puzzles are mostly “solvable”, which is nice; observant players should work them out, and not be forced into hint-begging. Most of the shrines require combat, which is a shame; though they encourage careful play and player skill as to the puzzles, blunt force enforced combat works against that style of play.

So great, you're collecting the puzzle cubes for the Tomb of Annihilation (there are a few ways of working out they're needed). Collecting them gets the PCs into direct conflict with the Yuan-Ti, who are reluctantly allied to Acererak. Those are both fun. But once you have eight of the cubes...the Yuan-Ti automatically steal the ninth, and leave an obvious trail so you have to go and clear their dungeon. I object to this – not so much because the Yuan-Ti might react in such a way, but because it “trapdoors” the players into a dungeon they may have sought to avoid. It's a version of the Quantum Ogre - “you WILL clear this dungeon, peon players!”. The PCs have to have a chance to outthink the Yuan-Ti and get all the cubes straight up. I'll have to think about how to change this.

Some of the other keyed locations are interesting. There's an overturned wagon with a nature spirit who could become friendly with the PCs, whilst underneath the wagon there's a Rosetta Stone-style tablet that lets the players translate ancient inscriptions in the city. You can rescue a grung from being thrown into some lava, and that lets you negotiate with the grung tribe which guards one of the Shrines. There's an amphitheatre full of dinosaurs including a massive T-Rex, which is kinda fun.

Omu isn't as much of an obvious lost opportunity as the general Chult chapter; it suffers from the same word-bloat and layout chaos, and is overfocussed for my tastes on getting PCs into the two big dungeons in the book, but it offers a bunch of gameable content.

Chapter 4 – Fane of the Night Serpent

So let's set aside the complaint that PCs are forced to go here, no matter how smart they are. This is a good dungeon, full of Yuan-Ti seeking to unleash a terrible and ancient evil (but not the death god in the Tomb of Annihilation). Why is it good?

ORDER OF BATTLE. There's a detailed roster of the Fane's inhabitants, including their reactions to the alert being raised if the PCs are on the loose inside. There's also a list of potential reinforcements who can arrive to fight the PCs or to restock the Fane. This makes the dungeon a living place, and is exceptionally helpful to the DM actually running it – there's no endless searching to find out who's where, but a single reference point.

LOOPING. There are at least two ways into every major area on the map. Players get to decide how they storm the keep – they can sneak around, they can find alternate routes, and so forth. This is both interesting in play and also is a way of emphasizing player agency.

NPC INTERPLAY. So the second-in-command of the Fane, the Naga priestess Fenthaza, will potentially ally with the PCs against her leader. There's a bunch of detailed prisoner NPCs who can be freed; some might reasonably join the PCs in an uprising, others need the PCs to look after them. There's also a bigger group of slave labourers who have been drugged into submission but could be roused. This means even in a dangerous dungeon there's a chance for social interaction, and different ways to solve the problems facing the PCs.

The environment itself has some nice weird things – dark oracle pools, blood altars, a hydra living in a lake – but I wouldn't say it's an inherently exciting setting. Its real merit is the dynamic behaviour of its inhabitants, and the physical design of it qua its dungeonic nature. It could, fairly easily, be dropped into another game; take away the alliance with Acererak, work out an alternate key treasure to the puzzle cube(s), and you've pretty much filed off the serial number.

One issue, though, is the effect of the Death Curse on the Yuan-Ti boss, Ras Nsi. Ras Nsi has previously been resurrected, and so is losing HP to the Death Curse. He starts the overall campaign with 107HP left out of his base 127; he is losing 1HP a day. Given PCs can travel one hex a day at a normal pace, and don't know where Omu is at the beginning of the adventure (and are far too low-level to deal with the Tomb), it will be some time before they arrive here. Of course, they may not fight Ras Nsi anyway, depending on the exact way things pan out in the Fane; but it's perfectly realistic that he could have 20HP or something when they arrive. It's not particularly improbable that he'll be dead by the time they arrive in Omu – which possibility doesn't seem to be accounted for, so far as I can see. Of course, the lamentable layout work might have obscured it. This is fixable, but requires either a serious look at the nature of the Death Curse, or simply making Ras Nsi immune to it (via not having been resurrected). That requires creating a slightly different source of tension between him and his second-in-command. All of that's fine – but it's work forced on the DM by content, rather than absence, in the book.

Chapter 5 – Tomb of the Nine Gods

Though the Tomb of the Nine Gods – that is, Acererak's Tomb of Annihilation – takes up a quarter of the book, it won't require that much space to review. That's because the flaws have been rehearsed above; layout makes it hard to use, the text is verbose, there's occasionally presumption of character intent (though much less).

Positives are often quicker to list. This is a good dungeon. It's about the largest one Wizards have ever designed, so far as I can think. I suppose some 3e/3.5e ones were pretty big, but certainly in 4^th I can't think of anything on this scale, and even in 5^th there's not much to compare it to. Technically Castle Ravenloft has 88 rooms to the Tomb's 81; but Strahd's lair takes up 56 pages compared to 66 for Acererak's. That's about the only competitor, as the largest dungeon in Princes of the Apocalypse takes up 36 pages, and none of the other adventures so far have a similar setpiece.

Size isn't everything, but in terms of offering a megadungeon experience with some longevity, this does it. Some of how it does it isn't just silly in the sense of comical (that's on theme for the book), but silly ludistically. What I mean is this: the environment is so various and so deadly that it essentially requires multiple runs and a roguelike mentality. That's not inappropriate or bad play, far from it, but it does inevitably lead to a different attitude to running the Tomb itself. In a similar vein, there are significant magic restrictions in the Tomb; though “coherent” (Acererak has put wards down or whatever), this is a less fun way of doing things. Rather than encouraging players to work out puzzles in creative ways – the purpose of the rule – it instead arbitrarily stymies them. A clear blanket rule over the types of magic warded against, rather than a bitty itemised list, would have been better. Even itemising effects by dungeon area (“this spell doesn't work against this”) would have been slightly better. (If nothing else, it's more of a pain for a DM to remember the 22 spells which have their rules changed than to know a general rule or just read the specific area.)

So it's a roguelike megadungeon. The fact it encourages learning is a key feature; you get to learn about traps from the evidence left by a failed expedition, by various riddles at each level, by the design itself indicating possible solutions; careful recon is also rewarded, with many hidden viewing ports and the like to use to analyse a room before you enter. This is a feature I think is generally well done. There are usually some common themes on each of the six levels, though not in the sense that each level is strictly “themed”; rather, one level is the lair of a Beholder, one is dominated by a puzzle where the rooms themselves are cogs in a gear puzzle, etc. Eventually, having collected 9 keys from the 9 tombs of the Trickster Gods (whose shrines you've already loote in Omu), you get down to the lair of the nascent death god Acererak is nourishing. If you defeat it and destroy the Soulmonger feeding it, you get to fight Acererak. That's the punchline of the campaign. There are a lot of ways down – multiple exits on each level, including ones skipping levels – there are countless puzzles, most of them good, and there are some interesting NPCs. NPC interaction isn't that heavy here compared to the Fane, but there is an Aboleth you can befriend (!), there's a Dao who can grant you wishes if you open his bottle, and so forth. It's a shame there's not more possible interplay suggested with the caretaker of the Tomb, Withers, or his Tomb Dwarves (dwarf zombie craftsmen!).

There's a lot of fun stuff here. Examples: a nycaloth librarian inspired by Gary Gygax; creepy dolls made by night hags which have trapped children's souls who can become your last best allies in the dungeon; the aforementioned rooms-as-cogs gear puzzle; the Trickster Gods sharing your body when you touch their corpses in their respective tombs; a bunch of prisoners and monsters stuck in Life-Trapping Mirrors, upon whose release some will aid you and some attack you; the five “key rooms” whose puzzles you have to solve to open the keyholes to the death god's lair, each of which has a solution partially dependent upon the specific shape of the keyhole it opens (Triangle, Square, Octagon, etc); and any other number of clever or fun things.

I suspect it'll take a moderate amount of prep to run – partly to bypass the endemic flaws of the book, partly because it's such a big environment. But it'll be worth it – it's full of clever challenges, and the players will earn the big moments as they learn to defeat and control their environment.

Appendices

The appendices take up some stuff, but are mostly stat blocks, magic items, etc. Some of this is fun, some is pedestrian. The handouts for each of the Guides from Chapter 1 are great. The Tri-Frond Flower is a great plant-that-can-kill-you an Chwingas are cute kodama-like nature spirits. The random encounter tables (Chult, Port Nyanzuru, Omu) I've mentioned already. There's some good material here, including a variety of social encounters and some fun interactive ones, such as a chwinga trying to steal something small from the PCs. There's a list of (fascinating) dead explorers, which is excellent if morbid. Even the less interesting encounters tend to have a nice throwaway detail or adjective. However, there are a lot of them – many fairly workaday – and many take more words than necessary.

There's also a good quality double-sided poster hexmap, one side of which has the interior of Chult largely blank, to allow for explorers to fill it out (roguelike!). The cartography is by the excellent Mike Schley. Of course, there are issues with the literal contents of the hexmap – as mentioned above – but it's a fantastic artifact.

Conclusion

Much like the book, I've used too many words to say what I've said; the summary is that this is good, but long. It's worth working through, but it does require work. It isn't entirely convinced of its own approach – it wants to be a challenging, lethal hexcrawl, but prior to the Tomb of the Nine Gods, it openly undermines those objectives, via ways of softening the world and therefore removing consequences, and also via a poorly designed map/world which encourages driving towards the “objective” (decided for your players in advance) as soon as possible. It is, however, full of invention, has a properly realized fantasy environment, and is not too far off where it needs to be. It's also probably a generally good resource for fantasy campaigns set in the jungle or where exploration is a significant factor; this is why, I think, Skerple of Coins and Scrolls has adapted it for his Pirates campaign.

This book oes, I think, affirm Chris Perkins as a legitimately talented creator of adventures, alongside Reavers of Harkenwold and Out of the Abyss. I'll probably put up posts in the future about my own edits to this (though Skerples has beat me to it!), which may be of use to others.

Random Encounters – Purpose and Design (and Thoughts on Player Agency)

I am not an expert DM by any means, but I think random encounters are a very, very valuable part of Dungeons and Dragons. What they are and why they're important isn't always immediately apparent to DMs; I'm going to try to explore those issues here.

I'm going to address four aspects of random encounters: the way they relate to player agency; the way they relate to the verisimilitude; how they help the DM at the table; and what makes a good random encounter.

Player Agency and Consequences

I've seen objections to random encounters along the lines that they get in the way of the plot or main quest or are just time-consuming. Partly there's an issue of the type of game people are playing here. If a DM is running a Final Fantasy style series of set pieces with a “cinematic” plot, then random encounters – much like random encounters in JRPGs – might just be annoying. Players want to get on to the cool stuff, and as – inevitably – random encounters will here be seen as further combat challenges, but without plot significance, everyone will want to skip them.

Even for that sort of game, however, I would suggest that there is another way to run the game that you might enjoy more, even if (especially if!) story is important to you and your group. This style will involve random encounters not just as a necessary evil but as an integral part. But it requires killing your darlings.

A digression here: DMs love writing plots. I certainly do. But in 99% of cases, when we heavily invest in writing a plot, our games will suffer for it. We will require players to do the things we want them to, or at least let them exercise only very limited agency.

On the other hand, letting players “decide” the story benefits everyone in the long run, in my experience. They may need some hints and tips, and of course it happens in your world so you'll have created the possibilities for them, but dropping the idea of having a plot or a main quest can reap great benefits for you. You might of course worry that not having a main quest might lead to the characters being unheroic or doing weird things. You're right, they might – and your players will have had fun deciding to act like that! (Also, how much more impressive is character heroism when it's not required by the story – when it's not necessarily the path of least resistance?)

Dropping your (the DM's) idea of a story/plot/main quest also lends more importance to the things that actually happen. Your players might decide to help the revolution or just utilise the chaos to loot shops. They might fight the dragon or side with the dragon. As these choices weren't inevitable, they will matter more to everyone – knowledge of the road not travelled makes decisions mean more.

(Example One: one of my players in Talon's Height snuck away and released the Prince Most Magnificent in Shimmering Smoke, a Lawful Evil Efreet, after the Prince telepathically contacted them and offered a deal. A JRPG-style game wouldn't have involved that possibility; but in this case, the player got to choose. His choice will have consequences, positive and negative. The same would be true if he'd not let the Prince out.)

Example Two: The same with the Dragon's Tooth, the home of my Lawful Neutral Kobolds who have tension with nearby civilised peoples but can make peace – my main group quickly negotiated with the Kobolds after realising they weren't self-evidently evil, whilst another group I took through it got halfway before even beginning to suspect something strange was up. They had already incinerated the Kobold's eggs!)

How do random encounters fit into this? They help in at least two ways: consequences and emergent gameplay. When your players go out into the wilderness, there are risks to them (and sometimes opportunities). If they stay out in the wilderness for long periods, there are more risks to them before they get to somewhere safe. Taking those risks will cost the players – in hitdice, spell slots, potions, etc. And those consequences will directly relate to their choice to go into the wilderness. If my players travel through the Brightwood, they roll against the relative risk of that table (which is 1/6 per hex travelled on the hexmap) and if an encounter occurs they roll on that table, which is moderately dangerous, has several fey encounters, and has encounters relating to certain factions/NPCs. If they're in Cabbage Country, it's 1/12 chance and they'll roll on that table, which is a little less dangerous but has a bunch of weird, mysterious events, and has encounters relating to different factions/NPCs. This connects to “emergent gameplay” - the idea no-one quite knows what's going to happen til the session gets there, with randomised elements helping to produce a unique story for each party in the same environment. One group encounters Goblin foragers connected to Nimthur in Cabbage Country; another meets Pumpkinhead. Their stories are permanently changed by an event no-one could truly predict – and it was, in the final account, due to their decisions that it happened.

(Hint: Make players roll to see if they get a random encounter, and then make them roll on the table you've got hidden behind your screen. They don't know what result they get, but it gives them a sense of investment/agency. The Bard rolled the check that got everyone captured by interdimensional raiders!)

Verisimilitude

Random encounters can also help a sense of verisimilitude – that is, of the world being “real”, being “alive”. Obviously the game is fiction; but players often enjoy the game the more they don't have to explain away inconsistencies or weirdnesses. Random encounter tables – out of the direct control of the DM – give us a way of seeing the world “move”, of having events occur, of having an interactive ecology.

Of course it makes sense that there's a risk of encountering strange things in the monster forest. The players know it's a 1 in 6 chance, but given how dice work, that could be never or often. (Of course, you could add to this by increasing the chance of an encounter if the characters are moving quickly, making more noise – adding more realism and more choice!) This to me seems better than DMs just writing preset “random encounters” for every three days of travel or whatever – things aren't inevitable, the world bites back, and even the DM gets to be surprised sometimes. Additionally, the random (emergent gameplay) combination of elements – location, character situation, particular encounter – give an opportunity for creativity, as the DM works out how the encounter works or makes sense.

An important corollary of this point is as follows: the encounter table shouldn't be strictly levelled, nor should it be an array of combat encounters. In your bit of mythic fantasyland there may well be no high-level dragons or breaches into the Abyss...well, there might be, actually. Why wouldn't demons make a reality breach here, where the locals are weaker, rather than into the high-level Dwarf King's fortress? Wouldn't it be interesting find out how how your 3^rd level party reacts when they find something SO dangerous? What if they come face-to-face with an Adult Green Dragon seeking a new home after being chased from its old one by giants? If they can't beat it, could they flee from it? What about negotiating with it? A Green Dragon in your debt sounds useful.

Of course it might make sense to only have one or two super-dangerous encounters on your table – partly because verisimilitude would suggest there's not enormous numbers of high-level dangers running around anyway, and partly because though realism helps, it's not the aim of the game. The aim is having fun, and so a mix of things is best.

Similarly, having random encounters essentially be combat encounters is boring. Not because combat isn't fun, or can't be; but because it will make players understand random encounters are part of the grind rather than part of the world. Virtually every random encounter on your table should be able to run in multiple ways. Sure, maybe one is just demons attacking, and that's going to have to be combat, but could the territorial heron-men be negotiated with? Perhaps some of the encounters should be strictly environmental – a strange circle of standing stones with magical properties, or a sudden lightning storm. Variety adds to a sense of realism, and to the potential interest players will have in the encounters themselves.

Ease of Use for the DM

Random encounters – and generally being able to randomly generate content – help a lot when your players go offpiste. What if you don't have things planned for the direction they're travelling? Dip into your encounter tables and find out what's there! These give you both floating encounters and something quick you don't have to have written out beforehand in detail. Of course, in some cases discretion may be required – when they ask to go to a town you haven't written up yet, you may be a little cautious about dropping the aforementioned Abyssal breach into it, at least if you have other intentions for the town. But bandits ambushing them en route, or them finding a cartman with a broken leg in the road, can provide you breathing space to work out what's happening next.

Designing Good Random Encounters

I don't know if I design good random encounters, and can't entirely describe how to design the sort of encounters I like, though certainly it helps if they are vivid and dynamic. But I can probably point to the sort of encounters I like and don't like.

A limited encounter table can be found in the (very worth reading) 1^st Edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. It has tables sorted by terrain, but the actual entries tend just to be the name of the creature encountered (e.g., “Giant Weasel”). There are no environmental encounters in the main encounter tables, with any such event presumed to be determined separately by the DM. The City/Town Encounters have a special Explanation section which gives a little more advice, but still no colour. Now, this might not seem a bad thing; this gives the DM the whole job of working out the encounter, which may seem desirable. But in my experience a few sentences to make an encounter vivid, or even just quick and easy to run at the table, are very helpful.

An example of a slightly better encounter table can be found in Tomb of Annihilation, a pretty good adventure from Wizards of the Coast. It again has a number of tables, spread across different terrain types. The encounters even have a paragraph of description each, and some are quite fun and allow for interesting interactions. For instance:

CYCLOPS:A cyclops is journeying toward its home near Snapping Turtle Bay. It isn't looking for a fight, but any sudden moves or hostility from the characters might trigger one. The cyclops knows the region around Lake Luo and the western end of the Valley of Dread quite well, and it's never seen anything like Omu in those areas. Roll twice on the Treasure Drops table to see what treasure, if any, the cyclops has.

You can fight it, but it's probably easier to make friends with it. It can give you information. So it's a decent little encounter – but perhaps not instantly memorable or exciting.

Compare these two encounters from one neighbourhood of Marlinko, the subject of Fever-Dreaming Marlinko, an excellent book by Chris Kutalik available from Drivethrurpg. One of these encounters is entirely trivial, the other is frankly silly, and both are very briefly written (shorter than the Cyclops entry):

Drunken boors: 2d6 drunken boors. Will descend on party and demand they drink with

them. Will not let them talk without interruption.

Maus. A wild-eyed paranoid dressed in the long-robed, woolen hat finery of a rustic boyar.

Maus rants and raves at the characters about the “Axis of Tindrthurn,” a secret postal and

matchmaking service that he claims is trying to kill him. If the Chaos Level is 6 or greater, he

is correct on all counts.

Both of these, to me, are immediately even more engaging and full of possibility than the Cyclops encounter, even though the Cyclops is surely the more inherently dramatic encounter. There's still plenty left to the DM's judgement and imagination; but these are both vivid and full of possibility, all within a couple of sentences.

Conclusion

Go and write an encounter table for the town your players are exploring. Add a wandering monster table to the gigantic dungeon they're descending. Add some weird stuff, add some chances for them to make friends (or enemies), and then let them be the masters of their fate. Use random encounters to make your world more open to player choice, to make it feel more real, and to save you time when your players go somewhere you hadn't expected. I think you'll reap the benefits very quickly.

Talon's Height: Dungeon - The Shattered Tower

Find below full details of a small dungeon environment in the Brightwood in Talon's Height, which is fairly easily transported into any moderately high-magic game (just have Rupprecht be working for someone else, or for himself). It's a small, linear dungeon, though set up in a way that I think should encourage interesting discovery and decision-making. This is a low-level treasure trove, with a mix of combat and non-combat challenges. I'll post the Dragon's Tooth (home of Targyn's Kobolds) soon, which is still smallish but environmentally and tactically much deeper. I want to edit it first, though, to trim the fat on the text; 4 pages of A4 for an overview and 8 rooms is too long. Anyway, give me whatever feedback you have on this one!

Morale, mentioned below, is basically the B/X version; roll 2d6 for the group when either they hit 1/2 strength (or HP for a single monster). If you roll above their Morale, the group attempts to flee in a reasonable manner. Yes, that means Morale 12 = Unbreakable. I've listed Magic Item and Monster information/references after the Hex entry.

6. Hex 5-5: Shattered Tower:

Description: A bulky, ugly mage's tower partially largely destroyed in the Spellplague. Some would consider the shattered stump an improvement. The area around the tower is surprisingly clear of plant life given it has been over a century since it was inhabited; however, undergrowth is now beginning to encroach.

Inhabitants and Behaviour: Camped in the ruins is Rupprecht the Gold, a scruffy N Conjurer, who has expended 1 x 4th-Level Spell Slot. He is accompanied by, and guarded by night by, 1 x Ice Mephit and 1 x Magmin (Morale 8, Rupprecht). He is friendly, though guarded. He won't give up his find, though he is happy to talk shop with other adventurers. He has been hired by Nimthur to retrieve magic items, and will be paid per item. #See the bottom of this post for an additional piece of information, in lieu of working spoiler tags to hide it from my players.#

He will defend himself if necessary, and will strike preemptively if he judges the situation to be going south (usually casting Mage Armor or Conjure Elemental first). Rupprecht carries 37gp on him, as well as a Ice and Fire Brooch.

Services: Intrepid adventurers, especially arcane-inclined ones, might turn this into a Stronghold.

12a. Dungeon – The Arcane Treasury

Approach: Via the arcane-sealed trapdoor to the basement in the ruined tower.

Overview of Inhabitants and Behaviour: Amongst the various protections for the wizard's hoard are arcane constructs and fumblebugs. The constructs actively seek to bar progress; the fumblebugs do so by their nature.

Locations:

Trapdoor

/\

Entry Room – Chasm of Clumsiness – The Guard Room – Trapped Treasure Room

A. Trapdoor and Entry Room

Environment: A ladder leading down to a 10-foot diameter circular stone-built room. Dark when the Trapdoor is closed, natural light when it is open.

Inhabitants and Behaviour: None.

Exits: The Trapdoor is a Knock Knock Mimic, left here by the wizard to guard his hoard. It closes again after visitors leave the room below. An open stone doorway leads to the Chasm of Clumsiness.

B. The Chasm of Clumsiness

Environment: A 30-foot long, 2.5-foot wide, unwalled stone bridge crosses a practically-bottomless chasm. The room is dark. The flagstones are irregularly eroded in a way inconsistent with heavy footfall. A lone pickaxe is jammed into side of the bridge about halfway across. Any adventurer in the area of effect of a Fumblebug (see Inhabitants and Behaviour) must make DC11 Acrobatics or Athletics check to walk across the bridge upright, with Disadvantage if they run, but the bridge may be crossed at a crawl without a test. A failure in the former case leaves them hanging on by their fingernails, requiring a DC13 Acrobatics or Athletics test to climb back up by themselves (though of course their friends may come up with some clever way of helping them up).

Inhabitants and Behaviour: There are 8 x Fumblebugs (Morale 5) buzzing around. They apparently do not need sustenance, but they find any visitors fascinating, and will investigate them. Any adventurer trying to cross the bridge will have 1d4+1 bugs buzz within range. The bugs leave them if they make it across. The bugs eat ground stone, if they need luring (the flagstones may hint at this).

Exits: Stone portals at either end of the room give access to the Entry Room and the Guard Room.

C. The Guard Room

Environment: A 50x50ft room with a great paired series of pillars progressing from the Chasm room to the Treasure room.

Inhabitants and Behaviour: 2 x Animated Armors and 1 x Flying Sword (Morale 12) seek to prevent progress. The Armors stand in the middle of the room and repeat, in a monotone, orders for interlopers to leave. The Sword lurks round the sides. They will seek to stop thieves getting any further at all costs. The Armors will, ifthere are good targets, smash a trapped pair of pillars (the central pair in the room) – the deadfall causes 1d10 damage to anyone within 20ft, requiring a DC15 Dexterity Saving Throw to halve.

Exits: Open stone doorways lead to the Chasm and the Treasure Room. There is a tripwire across the doorway leading to the Treasure Room (DC13 Investigation), which if tripped triggers a Poison Spray spell. It can only be tripped once.

D. Trapped Treasure Room

Environment: A 15x10ft room with a glass-fronted display case, a small chest, a bookshelf, and tired-but-comfortable furnishings (armchairs, rug, etc). The display case is charmed with Acid Splash (DC14), which activates if someone seeks to open or break the glass. It contains Figgle's Amusing Grease Wand, the Axe of Plant Slaying, a Colourthief's Brush, the Amulet of Hope, and the Book of Epic Boredom. The chest has a Poison Needle Trap. It contains a bolt of valuable silk (worth 10gp), a pouch of Flash Powder, and 2 x Healing Potions. The bookshelf is untrapped and has a variety of historical and scientific books on it, which may be of value to the right buyer and will contain useful information.

Inhabitants and Behaviour: There is apparently a Lion guarding the treasure, but it is an illusion. It roars menacingly at interlopers.

Exits: An open stone portal back to the Guard Room (with a tripwire across it; see under Guard Room).

MAGIC ITEMS:

*Healing Potions - WotC 5e DMG

*Amulet of Hope, Book of Epic Boredom, Colourhief Brush - Arnold K at Goblin Punch, here: http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2015/01/d100-minor-magical-items.html. The Book has a DC of 16.

*The others are by me:

Ice and Fire Brooch (Conjuration)

Magic Item

LOCATION: Rupprecht the Golden

If a spellcaster expends a Level 4 Spell Slot at the beginning of a day, they may charge the brooch. If activated, it summons a Magmin and an Ice Mephit under the owner's command for the next 24 hours.

Axe of Plant Slaying (Transmutation)

Magic Weapon

LOCATION: The Shattered Tower, Brightwood

A large forester's axe (counts as battleaxe), but causes +2d4 additional damage against plants (including Plant monsters).

Figgle's Amusing Grease Wand (Conjuration)

Magic Item

LOCATION: The Shattered Tower, Brightwood

Designed by a really aggravating Forest Gnome, this wand is charged with the Grease spell (maximum 3 charges). The Spell DC is 14. As an additional effect, any who fail their Save lose their next Action (whether this round or next), as they desperately flail and run on the spot as they slip, making exaggerated squeaking noises as they go. The wand does not regenerate charges on its own, but if a spellcaster expends spell slots (of any level), that many charges of Grease are added to the wand, to its maximum.

MONSTERS:

*Conjurer, Ice Mephit, Magmin, Animated Armor, Flying Sword, Lion - WotC 5e products.

*Fumblebugs - Originally by Skerples, found here: https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/11/osr-attack-sheet.html. My 5e entry, very closely based on that, as follows:

Fumblebugs – Unaligned Beast

Tiny, AC14, 3hp, 20ft fly, +4 Dexterity Saves, -2 Wisdom & Intelligence & Charisma Saves

A gold beetle the size of a thumb. Drones like a buzz saw in flight. It looks slow and harmless, and it is... mostly. The fumblebug produces an (as-yet-unexplained) anti-coordination field. It does not display as magical to Detect Magic, however. Whatever it does, it works.

You can't swat the fumblebug. Your swing goes wide. Bite it, and bite your own cheek. Anyone and anything in a 15' radius becomes clumsy, uncoordinated, or out of sync. It's a bit like being drunk. Creatures take a -1 penalty to Dexterity-based checks (you do not have to tell the players this beforehand). The range for critical failure increases by 1 (so on a natural 1 or 2). These effects are cumulative. Any attack rolls made in range of 20 fumblebugs are automatically critical failures. The cumulative Dexterity penalty cannot kill a character, but they should move very, very carefully away from the area.

The fumblebug is immune to most attacks a bug-eating predator could use (melee attacks, stomping on it, etc). It can't be caught either. Its defences didn't evolve to deal with distant or esoteric threats, so arrows, poison gas, and so forth might work. You could probably lure it with food, if you could figure out what it likes to eat.

*Knock Knock Mimic - Originally by CaryBogart, found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/4xwq6f/knock_knock_mimic/. My short version:

Knock Knock Mimic – Neutral Monstrosity

A rare type of Mimic which morphs into a door, trapdoor, etc. It doesn't try to attack anyone. If knocked twice in succession, a mouth replaces the handle and asks “Who's there?”. Its objective is to hear a Knock-Knock joke; if it does, it will laugh, and then swing up and open.



#SPOILER: Rupprecht tells visitors who stop to talk that he met sentient giant beavers near the High Lake whilst travelling here.

Talon's Height: Plot Advance Mechanics and 2 Faction Overviews

Plot Advance Mechanics

The seven factions described below all have their own objectives, assets, and plans. They interact with each other, and with minor groups or factions in the setting, depending on various factors. Some factions might ally or oppose each other depending on circumstances; other might be antithetical to each other in all cases.

A way you could “simulate” this is in the form of what is called here “Plot Advances”. The below tables map this to when characters level up; you might alternatively advance events based on time passed or other plot triggers. It's important to note that these map what key NPCs will do over time, NOT what your players need to do. Player agency requires freedom of decision, and an ability to affect the world (or to be terminally affected by it...). Nimthur, Torrynton, and the rest all have plans, and with no interference from adventurers they will each advance to a conclusion. However, as adventurers are hired by or choose to oppose a faction, their plans will change, be advanced, or be curtailed. Exactly how things change will require your judgement.

Each faction's first three Plot Advances are linked to character level in the below matrix, with two spreading over a level boundary (the Level 3-4 and Level 4-5 Advances). This gives you some space to allow your characters to interact with the events, rather than being stuck a long way away as interesting things happen; however, you may prefer to reinforce the consequences of player decision by allowing that, in which case a tighter timetable (based on days passed, for instance) is better.

The Plot Advance Finale is not directly tied to character level, and can be triggered at your discretion – probably at a point where most of the party are level 5 or just hitting level 6. It will probably be the case that multiple factions will reach their Plot Advance Finales. You must decide in which order they trigger, or whether they occur simultaneously.

There is one more thing that should be noted, both in relation to the general concept of Plot Advances, but also when reading the specific faction overviews that follow. Some factions are more proactive, whilst some are more reactive. Broadly speaking, Torrynton, Nimthur, Dehazar, and the Prince are more proactive, in the sense that they are seeking to upset or alter the current order in some way; Lady Jana and the Labyrinthine Council are more reactive, seeking to maintain the current order; King Targyn is somewhere between the two, seeking to defend what his people already have, but in doing so he is stepping into what other factions already believe to be their own.

Nimthur the Dragon

Objectives

Nimthur perceives himself as the most worthy ruler of the region, and is angered by the refusal of weaker creatures to obey him. He intends to force the whole of Talon's Height into his service – he wants to preserve most of the inhabitants, but is willing to punish those who defy his authority. Foremost of those he perceives as rivals are Lady Jana Trueheart and Targyn the Kobold. If he comes across the plans of the Torrynton Compact or Osswald Dehazar, he will add them to his list of lawbreakers.

Nimthur is haughty, arrogant, and territorial. He will negotiate with those who show respect, and will use his proxies to approach potential mercenary allies. He will honour any agreements he makes, but is swift to punish perceived slights.

Starting Assets

*Quarry Lair – Nimthur has a multi-level lair in the caves around a disused sandstone quarry. Aside from living quarters for his minions, it also includes a Great Forge used by his Duergar allies to make him weapons of war.

*Rakigorn – NE Dragonborn Illusionist, Nimthur's trusted lieutenant. Masquerades as a richly-dressed human called “Robert”, representing “business interests” when hiring unknown adventurers.

*Rupprecht the Golden – N Human Conjurer, a contractor paid to retrieve magic items for Nimthur. Known for keeping his contracts. Hired by Rakigorn with no illusions, so he does know a little about Nimthur.

*Clan of the Feathered Axe – A clan of Lizardmen who guarded Nimthur's egg whilst it hatched, and have travelled with him to Talon's Height to establish his rule. They live above ground outside the quarry.

*Tribe of Blue Lightning – A tribe of Kobolds who have made a pilgrimage over some distance to join him. They guard the quarry itself live in the “level” of the lair beyond the entrance.

*Broken Pot Gang – Nimthur has effective suzerainty over the Broken Pot Gang of Goblins; most of their able-bodied males have travelled south from the Long Moor to serve him, and there are detachments both at the quarry and ranging through the Brightwood and Cabbage Country.

*Kingdom of Karrowzar – Nimthur has an alliance with this Duergar Kingdom, which is opposed to Glimmerdwell. He sells them magic items and has promised to assist against the Deep Janeen in the future, whilst a group of Duergar smiths and Orc slaves work the Great Forge at the bottom of the lair building him weapons of war.

Plot Advances

Characters Reach:       Plot Advance:

Level 2                         Nimthur's lieutenant, Rakigorn, disguises himself as a human called Robert and approaches adventurers to try to recruit them to Nimthur's cause. He will initially claim to represent business interests who require assistance protecting their investments in the region and exploiting new opportunities. He initially seeks to hire adventurers to clear out the Dragon's Tooth, assist another contractor in retrieving the Shattered Tower's hoard, and gathering information about elemental activity. If things turn south, Rakigorn will use Invisibility. He offers 25gp per adventurer per week, plus assistance with building a Stronghold. Rakigorn also approaches some of the brigands (not the White Feathers) in the Brightwood to offer them gifts from Nimthur in return for their future assistance.

Level 3/4                      Nimthur decides to deal with Palisar himself; if the half-elf is still besieged, in a fiery battle Nimthur is badly wounded but kills the Druid. If not, then Palisar escapes to Talon's Height. Either way, Nimthur then raids the cattle-herds of the Lordship, carrying off many cattle to his Lair to feed upon as he rapidly rebuilds his physical strength, claiming the rights of a liege over the region. He sends a letter to Lady Jana to demand her obedience, which is of course refused.

Level 4/5                       In preparation for his final moves, Nimthur leads his Kobolds to take over the Dragon's Tooth, if it is still independent. He sends another force, consisting of Broken Pot Goblins and Brightwood brigands, to thoroughly raid and ravage Puddleton and Cabbage Country (potentially clashing with Dehazar). Success in either of these will prevent reinforcement to Talon's Height from that direction in Nimthur's Plot Advance Finale.

Plot Advance Finale:

Adventurers opposing Nimthur may hear rumours from any relevant allies that Nimthur is about to make his move and secure absolute control. They can either journey to Nimthur's Lair to defeat him there, or await the storm. If no intervention is staged Nimthur, with his united forces, will attack the Lordship's capital (which may be ruled by Lady Jana or Moritz Torrynton, dependent on other events). He intends to teach his new subjects a hard lesson about refusing to obey him via the wholesale destruction of the town's buildings and the public slaughter of its leaders – though he will happily let most civilians escape.

In the aftermath of these events, if Nimthur is victorious, he will first rest, before turning to deal with the Prince Most Magnificent and Glimmerdwell. He will lead a force himself against the Prince whilst Robert (or another suitable lieutenant) leads troops to attack Glimmerdwell via the surface in support for a Karrowzarr thrust from the Underdark.

Interactions with Other Factions

*Nimthur considers the Prince Most Magnificent a direct threat, as the nearest creature similar to his power level. The dragon will ally with those seeking to keep the Prince imprisoned (including the White Silence), and will pay to have the Prince banished if he has already escaped.

*Nimthur wants the Dragon's Tooth sorted out. He is happy for it either to be cleared out entirely or subverted to his service – the Scale Sorcerer at the Dragon's Tooth, Krizz, is seeking to achieve the latter but will fail without assistance.

*Nimthur is unaware of Torrynton and Dehazar and initially unclear about what to do with them. Neither of them is interested in an alliance, and so Nimthur will eventually decide to eliminate them in the course of his attacks on the Lordship.

*Nimthur will eventually, when he feels strong enough, seek to overthrow Lady Jana and replace her, and isn't overly worried about collateral damage (though he wants something to rule afterwards). He will give her a chance to offer homage first, however.

*Nimthur is indifferent to the Labyrinthine Council, though his alliance with the Kingdom of Karrowzar does mean that when he is stronger he will use his strength to assist in unseating them.

King Targyn

Objectives

Targyn is a remarkable Kobold. He sees his people are endlessly downtrodden, whether by dragons or by “civilized races”, and seeks to build his people a home free from the lordship of anyone else. He has accepted the “civilized” concept of colonization, and so has declared lordship over an area he considers lawless. He taxes the Trade Road on the same basis – no-one lives on it, so why shouldn't he collect dues? (This, of course, is perceived as banditry.)

He personally is forthright, physically brave, and fanatically loyal to his people.

Starting Assets

*Dragon's Tooth Kobolds – Targyn rules over a couple dozen adult Kobolds including an inventor and a sorcerer, a blue guard drake, and a pseudodragon. His sorcerer, however, is secretly in league with Nimthur.

*Weaverfolk – The Kobolds of the Dragon's Tooth have a trading relationship with the Weaverfolk at the High Lake.

Plot Advances

Characters Reach:       Plot Advance:

Level 2                         The Kobolds open an iron mine near the Dragon's Tooth. Local foresters report “the little red men” have spread out and a number of minor (nonlethal) skirmishes occur.

Level 3/4                      Krizz attempts a coup against Targyn at Nimthur's command, leading to a running battle through the Brightwood near the Dragon's Tooth; Krizz, his Winged Kobold ally, and three other Kobolds are killed, but as the story filters out that Targyn has successfully defied Nimthur, two Kobolds desert from Nimthur to join him, and the local foresters begin to trade with him if adventurers have brokered some sort of armistice.

Level 4/5                      In lieu of outside intervention, tensions with foresters flare up and Targyn begins to forcibly remove all humans in the central Brightwood – killing them if they resist. Alternatively, if there has been an armistice brokered between Targyn and Lady Jana, Ligzazz is sent to make a treaty with her (before Nimthur's Level 4/5 Plot Advance, if relevant).

Plot Advance Finale:

This depends on a few factors – particularly whether there is an armistice with Lady Jana and whether Nimthur has conquered the Dragon's Tooth in the dragon's Level 4/5 Plot Advance.

If the Dragon's Tooth remains under Targyn's control but there is no armistice, Targyn will wait til the next batch of eggs grows to maturity (in just a few months) and then push militarily against either Nimthur or Lady Jana, depending upon which seems to present the most threat.

If the Dragon's Tooth remains under Targyn control but there is an armistice, Targyn will ally formally with Lady Jana against any obvious opponents, especially Nimthur.

If the Dragon's Tooth is conquered without an armistice in place, the few survivors who do not surrender will be hunted down in the Brightwood.

If the Dragon's Tooth is conquered with an armistice in place, the survivors, led by Ligzazz, will flee to Talon's Height and be permitted to settle by Lady Jana.

Interactions with Other Factions

*Targyn opposes Nimthur wholeheartedly, having rejected demands from Rakigorn to submit to the blue dragon. He will ally with those who want to take Nimthur down, to point of sending his bravest Kobolds with them to fight if requested.

*Targyn is unaware of Torrynton and Dehazar, and will remain largely indifferent to them unless they directly threaten him and his people.

*Targyn is unaware of the Prince Most Magnificent, but will recognize some sort of purpose behind fire elemental activity in the Brightwood. He will naturally oppose this expansionism vigorously.

*Targyn is unaware of the Labyrinthine Council, and would consider them too far away to worry too much about.

*Targyn sees Lady Jana as a potential threat, but does not desire direct conflict (though his actions on the Trade Road and Brightwood might precipitate it). He will fight her tooth and nail to protect what he sees as his people's rights, but will equally consider any reasonable deal or alliance with her.