Shipwreck at Har’s Point
This article is the spin-off (pass me the term) of this article:
Old School Review – AD&D DMGR6 The Complete Book of Villains #4
Many readers asked me to provide more information about linear and matrix adventure.
Most of you were suprised about the content of the article, so I decided to answer by writing this one.
We are going to analyze, without spoiling, an adventure built accordingly to the Matrix method..
The adventure title is Shipwreck at Har’s Point, written by R. Nelson Bailey (on DrivethruRpg).
If you read the article – if you haven’t yet read it – we talk about two elements that we must observe in a matrix adventure.
The first element is the locations.
The second element is the triggers.
So, let’s start the process of reverse engineering.
note: matrix built adventures doesn’t list Chapters, they usually list Locations and sub locations, each coming with a proper description. Chapters imply a chronological orders, while Locations do not.
LOCATIONS
The module describe the following locations, the characters can explore one or more of them in any order, provided they know where to look for.
Not all locations are known to the players, not necessarily.
1.The Hamlet of Har’s Point
Har’s Point will be the “headquarter” of the characters. The center of their activities. However the community is very small and not all goods ara available.
As a general rule the author states that the more expensive the goods are, the hardest is to find them.
The paragraph includes general stats for the average citizen.
Some NPCs like Holston the local cleric and Kilmean the mayor.
General sub-locations (buildings) like homes, the tavern, the emporium and the boatwright, and a table summarize the people you could find inside each building. Quick and easy.
2.The Shipwreck
A long ship crashed against the rocks, not far from Har’s Point. This is supposed to be a hook for the characters that may want to loot the wreck.
Or you can find other reasons to drag the characters to Har’s Point.
Whatever the players decide to do, the shipwreck is not going to stay there forever because it is rapidly sinking (trigger).
We’ll see this trigger later.
3.The Abandoned Hut
This locations is unknown to the characters, at least at the beginning. Let’s say it’s the hideout of a NPC that plays an important role in the adventure. Important, not essential.
4.The Undersea Cave
Another location, unknown to the characters, and always connected to the above mentioned NPC.
5.The Beach
This locations may become important if the characters decide to explore it. Both at day or at night they will discover some clues to figure out what is going in Har’s Point and what is about to occur.
6.Hamlet of Wesmere
The module doesn’t describe this location, however the author included Wesmere just in case the characters decide to extend their investigation. In such a case the Game Master will have to be ready to improvise.
OTHER ELEMENTS
These are not locations, but are elements of the adventure that the Game Master will have to manage in order to properly play the module.
1.The Sahuagin Band
The module describe a band of sahuagins wondering around the Har’s Point. They are looking for something very precious to them.
The citizens and the characters don’t know they are around and, thus, they don’t know what they are looking for.
The sahuagins are unavoidables, it means that sooner or later the characters will have to face them.
2.The misterious NPC
I won’t tell who this guy is, it would be spoiler. However the NPC is the ring that connect many of the events that will be occurring in Har’s Point.
TRIGGERS
Finally, we come to the most interesting part.
The module presents and describe some triggers.
Some of them are time triggers, others are event triggers.
They are five in total.
Event 1 (time trigger)
After 24 hours the characters arrive to Har’s Point a couple of citizens disappear. This first event help the Game Master to alarm the characters so that they understand that something is going wrong. The appetizer!
Event 2 (time trigger)
A fishermen disappear. This event triggers 1/2 days after event 1. Alarm is rising in Har’s Point and now the citizens are afraid of something they don’t know.
Event 3 (event trigger)
An unknown woman, probably a foreigner, arrives at Har’s Point. The module suggests to trigger this event after the characters explore the beach or the shipwreck (don’t forget that both are locations!).
Event 4 (event trigger)
More citizens disappear! The module suggests to roll 1d3, but you can change the number however you wish. This event can occur anytime after event 1 or event 2 have occurred.
Event 5 (event trigger)
This is the main event. Once event 1, 2, 3 and 4 have occurred you can trigger event 5. The sahuagin make their move and hell is upon Har’s Point.
CONCLUSIONS
So, as described in the article about The Complete Book of Villains, we have locations, and we have triggers.
The triggers described affect the overall situation, thus leaving space to the Game Master and the players to manage the situation, and make their choices.
Now, how you organize the information in your notebook/laptop/pdf or whatever it’s up to you.
What you need to understand is that you have to define locations, define triggers and define how the triggers affect the locations and the overall situations.
That’s why, in matrix adventures, is important to keep track of time.
Make custom modifications
You are of course free to modify the triggers and the locations.
You can add triggers, add locations or expand locations, accordingly to your preferences. This will deepen the structure of your adventure.
Doing the same with a linear adventure is much more complicated, it doesn’t work so well. Indeed, the best thing you can do in a linear adventure is adding sidequests.
Fine, as promised, I wrote an article about the topic.
I tried to make it as simple as possible, and I employed and adventure that I presented to a group of players long time ago. Of course I customized some aspects, accordingly to my goals.
On this adventure, I built a mini-campaign and a mini-campaign setting.
This article won’t be the last, so stay tuned!