Bone Marshes Twist
We’re about 2 months away from The Bone Marshes kickstarter, and it’s time to start jabbering about my stuff.
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Until I take your money, I’ll type up a few sneak peeks at the Bone Marshes, what they’re all about, and some of the weird stuff in them.
But truthfully, this is the first big adventure I’ve written, and I’m worried that some of this stuff is gonna be dumb…So tell me in the comments if it is so I can fix it!
The Twist
The Bone Marshes are split into several parts, the first of which is a simple mapping adventure. The PCs must map a safe path through a bunch of hexes in the marsh, and give those directions to the person who hired them. The PCS are even given a map of blank hexes to track their route.
They start in the top left, and must find a safe path to the bottom right. The “S” is the Spire that can be seen from anywhere in the Marshes.
The PCs are also told to keep track of the time as they travel. And given a handy little timekeeper:
It takes 4 hours to travel from one hex to another. When the PCs travel they update the timekeepr die, the GM checks for encounters along the way, and then describes the new location.
Simple enough, just be careful with the map and take good notes. Except…
The inner ring of the marsh slowly rotates around the Central Spire once per day. Well…not that slowly. The PCs will notice the rotation immediately, since the interior edge rotates at 6ft per second (a fast walk).
A deep groove has been carved into the earth along the edge of the rotating section. Like a giant split the earth with a sword as far as you can see in both directions.
This is the main challenge of Part I. How can they map a safe and reliable route through a flaming, spinning marsh? Any solution is acceptable as long as Azimech receives detailed instructions that she can pass along to caravans travelling through the area.
If the PCs can fly/teleport, Azimech should stress that the route they come up with must be useful from a “boots on the ground” perspective. “Fly across the marsh” isn’t possible for most caravans and traders.
Good idea? Weird? Too complicated?
In playtesting, it’s worked out pretty well. The players start off keeping good notes and a solid map. Then when they hit the rotating section there is a great scramble to find a way to map the spinning. Is it just this hex spinning? The whole marsh? How fast?
Hopefully the hexes and the timekeeping provide a structure they can use to solve the puzzle. Is this a good puzzle? Too much for your group? Too silly?
Let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for your time and feedback.
