Friday Fantasy: Friends in Need

Friends in Need is a scenario for Shadow of the Weird Wizard, the roleplaying game set on the world of Erth in the Borderlands between the remnants of once great empires and the realm of the Weird Wizard greatly changed by his magics. The unexplained disappearance of the Weird Wizard allowed all manner of creatures and strangeness to flood into the empires and kingdoms causing strife and civil war, as refugees fled into the borderlands and adventurers ventured into the Weird Wizard’s lands into explore its strangeness, hopefully stop any dangerous threats, and perhaps return with treasures both magical and mundane. Player Characters progress from Level One to Level Ten, their progress divided between three Paths—Novice, Expert, and Master, gaining greater ability, skill, and specialisation. A Novice Path begins at Level One, an Expert path at Level Three, and a Master Path at Level Seven. Adventures for Shadow of the Weird Wizard are tailored to these three Paths. Friends in Need is designed for Novice Heroes and can be run as a beginning scenario for Shadow of the Weird Wizard. It confronts the players and their Heroes with one of the big changes in Shadow of the Weird Wizard in comparison with traditional fantasy roleplaying games.

Friends in Need takes a classic set-up—or a cliché, depending upon your point of view—from high fantasy roleplaying and gives it just of enough of a twist to make that set-up interesting. That set-up is the meeting of the heroes of in a tavern, or the stopping off on a journey in a tavern and spending the night, and either being hired to go on an adventure or following up on some rumours and so going on an adventure. The tavern in the adventure is more than that, a walled compound called the Traveller’s Rest, which was once a stop on a coaching route through the Borderlands. The current owners have worked hard to retore it to a going concern and it also has a forge and a general store as well as somewhere to eat, drink, and stay, overall, offering a major source of employment in the area. Here the Player Characters have a chance to stop and rest on their journey and interact with the staff and patrons, perhaps while away the evening playing cards and dice, and along the way picking up a rumour or two. Amongst the latter is the fact that several people from the area and some travellers have gone missing, a lion in the nearby Green Hills have been preying on goat herds, and there is word that a new disease is spreading through the borderlands. Then, of course, the Player Characters are offered a proper job.

A scholar resident at the Traveller’s Rest recruits the Player Characters to escort him on an expedition in the Green Hills where he has discovered an old tomb. He believes that there is treasure to be found in the tomb, but also clues as to what happened to the peoples once indigenous to this part of the borderlands. However, the twist comes the following morning, when the Player Characters discover that the scholar has already left without them, and worse, has done so in the company of another band of adventurers which was the bar the previous evening. Essentially, what has happened is that this other band of adventurers has undercut the Player Characters!

This is an entertaining twist, but as much as the Player Characters’ newly-encountered adventuring rivals undercut them, the twist has the potential to undercut the scenario. Whether this happens depends on what the players and their characters decide to do next. They could simply do nothing or leave, and events will play out without the Player Characters’ involvement in which case they do not what discover what is actually going on and the region surrounding the Traveller’s Rest suffers the consequences. Effectively, this negates second half of the scenario. Alternatively, the Player Characters can follow the path of the scholar and his hired guards, and this is the plot thread that the scenario presents, but the Player Characters could also explore one of the other rumours that were floating about the tavern the previous evening. The events of these sidequests can be brought back connect to the main plot, but the Sage will need to develop these a little more to flesh them out.

Eventually, and ideally, the Player Characters will reach the tomb site which the scholar wanted them to guard whilst he excavated. Here the Player Characters discover another twist to the classic set-up—or a cliché, depending upon your point of view—from high fantasy roleplaying and what is actually in the tomb. The latter plays out in more traditional fashion.

Friends in Need is a slightly more complex scenario than, One Bad Apple, the previous one for Player Characters on the Novice Path. It will need more input from the Sage to keep the players and their characters on the main plot and thus into the second half of the scenario. That said, this is not too difficult, but it is in addition to the preparation required to ready stats for both the NPCs and the monsters for the scenario.

Physically, Friends in Need is cleanly and tidily laid out. It is well written, but there are no maps. The Sage may want to provide them, but they are not necessary to run or play the adventure.

Friends in Need is strong on interaction and roleplaying with the Player Characters given time to interact with the other patrons at the Traveller’s Rest, learn about the area, and perhaps gamble away some of their monies. The various NPCs are nicely detailed and there is even an example dice game which the players could play too. The scenario is short, but Friends in Need will probably take two sessions to play through if its plot is followed as written. If it is, the players and their characters will find that Friends in Need delivers a couple of nice little twists to its clichéd set-up as a good mix of interaction, combat, and exploration.