Heroes of the Borderlands, Part 11

11. This module’s dramatic climax battle happens when the Shrine of Evil Chaos is conquered and thus unable to be used to offer blood and souls sacrifices to an evil immortal.  In this location, there is a tiny crack in the fabric of reality that connects the Material Plane to the Lower Planes.  That crack is an ideal location for the Chaos sacrificial altar to give blood and souls to an evil immortal.

If these Chaos sacrificial altars could be located anywhere; then why not build one under the Keep?  Documenting the main reason why the Chaos sacrificial altars are located here - could give Lawful people an edge on finding and then destroying other Chaos sacrificial altars.

Closing that crack will be a great benefit to Lawful people who live or travel within that river valley.  The long-term impacts on Chaos, if Lawful people destroy many Chaos sacrificial altars, are up to each individual DM to decide.

First, this destruction of a Chaos Shrine will attract the attention of both Chaos and Lawful immortals.  Second, this will lead the player character to seek out and then destroy more Chaos Shrines.  Will this one event start a war where Chaos and Law attack each other’s shrines and temples?

My idea for a graphic novel based on an online role-playing game

Background:  I would love to design and then play within full sensory dive virtual reality worlds similar to the fictional for now, Matrix movies.  Imagine playing in the Dungeons and Dragons world of Dragonlance / world of Krynn where the simulation allows you to visit the Inn of the Last Home, where you drink fine ale and eat spiced potatoes.

The one problem that I have with stories such as Only Sense Online or Sword Art Online is that each game company has only one game.  Real game companies publish several types of games.  Thus, my novel would describe a family friendly world similar to Friendship is Magic and a world for mature audiences similar to Game of Thrones, published by the same company.  All these gamers signed contracts that describe what experiences they are promised to have, as well as penalties for the game company for breaking their contracts.  These games last for one year at a time; due to the expense of hooking up a human brain to the VR world.

You ask me, where is the conflict?  An angry employee wishing to damage the VR game company sends gamers of the family friendly world to the mature world; while sending the mature world players to the family friendly world.  These two separated groups of gamers are able to send text and video messages to each other, while they deal with VR worlds that they are unprepared to live in.

I acknowledge that my idea is a slight difference to already successful stories.  But, my story would be fun to read about.

Image text:  Imagine a story about one, online virtual reality game company that makes two completely different worlds.  One world is a family friendly world, filled with cute PC - NPC characters, slice of life adventures, following the comedy genre.

The other world is a mature world, where injury and death is commonplace.  It is designed for the players to live in an amoral, dystopian, and violent world of the speculative fiction genre.  It is up to the players to decide if they want to reform this amoral society, or to indulge in this world’s ingrained antisocial behavior.

Heroes of the Borderlands, Part 10

10.  Create a table of special events for the Keep and another for the Caves of Chaos.  Special events include funerals, local secular and religious holidays, the arrival of resupply wagons, the arrival of traveling merchants, and weddings.  Two NPCs, an NPC and PC, or 2 PCs can get married.  Such an event would be a great role-playing event.  For example, the Castellan could marry a NPC or a PC creating a big role-playing event for the Keep.

For inspiration for holidays, review the “National Day Calendar” web site:

https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/

Note:  The Keep chapel is a “Union Station” of worship, where all Lawful gods are worshiped without favoritism.

Note:  A Giant Ant Queen decides to create an ant colony under the Keep; while another Giant Ant Queen decides to create her ant colony under the Caves of Chaos.  The more these ants eat NPCs, the more numerous the ants become.  The more numerous the ants become, the more they eat the NPCs.  Imagine the leaders of the Keep and the leaders of the Caves of Chaos cooperating to destroy the ant colonies that threaten the population of this river valley.

Spring Cleaning Checklist

This checklist is a useful to do and done list for cleaning my home or your home.

Spring cleaning presentation

Join Lilly and Madysen at the North Pointe Resource Center for a presentation about spring cleaning.  We will be going over tips and tricks, and the importance of spring cleaning.  There will be snacks and refreshments during this presentation.

My Snack N Waffles is made with Chicken Sausage and Cheese

I know this because it is written on the wrapper.

This is the waffle that seems small for an adult appetite.

Heroes of the Borderlands, Part 9

9. If you are a DM, please remind your player characters that there are a set number of days or weeks to finish an individual task.  Failure to meet that deadline results in dire and/or deadly problems for the inhabitants of the Keep as well as the travelers on the road and river.  The overarching goal of the module is to take down the Shrine of Evil Chaos, before it becomes a serious threat to the safety of the inhabitants of the Keep.

Keeping the Keep in Lawful control will cost much less in lives and resources, than attempting to retake the Keep from the control of Chaos soldiers.  If Chaos takes over the Keep, the entire river valley would be at risk of being taken over by Chaos.  Imagine the river valley being similar to the Columbia River starting from the headwaters in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, to the Pacific Ocean.

For a DM, starting characters should be assigned “Low stakes” assignments.  Low Stakes refers to a situation, activity, or assessment where the potential consequences or risks of failure or poor performance are relatively minor or insignificant.  As characters rise in rank, skills, and income raise their assignment stakes.