Found some really hi-res Greyhawk maps today. Number 5 covers the Azure Sea area and, consequently, Sasserine.

http://ghmaps.net/greyhawk-maps/flaness-map-download/

Also found some one-page Spelljammer rules.

http://blogofholding.com/wp-co...2015/06/laststep.png

I should have all my spells back, right?

Yes sir.

Who or what is Ogden? (Or does Stan not know?)

Ogden was the proprietor/barkeep in Oubliette.

Okay, I just went back an reread that part of the old thread. Good times.

But I'm still not sure what Brogan means. As far as I know there was no connection between Ogden and Brogan. Is this the first that Stan is hearing about it?

I know that I just had him walk out of the scene, but maybe you should ask him. I mean, on the surface, there isn't an obvious connection. And looking back at my writing, I don't think the clue I dropped was very good.

Or you can read this spoiler:

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
In message #91 in the Bullywug Gambit thread, there is another voice in the cabin.

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Yup, I got that. It was a fine clue as far as clues go, maybe just a bit too subtle.

Brogan's little dropped line is believable as a realistic conversation. As far as narrative dialogue conventions go, I was expecting a little less credit to my intelligence. :)

Yesterday got away from me. Thanks for your patience!

Oh my God, an entire day without posting on RPoL, what is wrong with you you sick sick man?

Just a quick reminder, the Lotus Dragons thieves guild was owned by Rowyn Kellani (whom the party defeated in the guild hall below Dead Dog Alley in Sasserine). Upon further investigation of the guild hall, the party was unable to locate Vanthus, but uncovered a plot of his to rob another band of pirates operating out of Kraken's Cove (see message #629 in thread There is No Honor).
Although Vanthus is in a serious relationship with Rowyn, he is also involved with another young woman named Brissa, who supposedly has ties to the Crimson Fleet (another, larger criminal organization). He and Brissa left Sasserine under the guise of joining the pirates in Kraken's Cove, but really seeking to rob them in order to further line the Lotus Dragons coffers.

Extra credit opportunity:  I am working on putting together a d20 Modern campaign set in a XCrawl League-esque setting (dungeon crawling as an extreme sport in a dystopian future). The actual dungeon crawling itself will be the backdrop, an afterthought element of the game. The real meat is what happens between the crawls.
I need ideas about what the real meat is. That is to say, what is really going on.
The crawls are lethal, so the league killing players isn't a good hook. I also feel like ratings isn't really something I can press as the sport dominates the media.

What nefarious things can the Big Bad be up to?

I'll think about it. Is it like Arnold Schwarzenegger's Running Man?

Yeah, Running Man plus Rollerball.

So one idea I've had is that the extreme dungeons are not actually controlled by the league, but are in fact something else. Maybe an alien spaceship, or a Skaven warren, or demons welling up, or whatever.

In the public's eye, the league makes the dungeon and controls every aspect of it.

In reality, the dungeon comes from some outside force and this dungeon is malevolent towards our species. The league and the government keep this a secret, and use contestants as pawns to reconnoitre the dungeon and defeat the dungeon's true masters.

Contestants and the public think league crawls are an extreme sport, when in fact they are our species' struggle for survival , broadcast on TV. Another reason they are broadcast is so that the public at large knows how to defeat different parts of the dungeon, in case the menace ever ceases to be contained.

Every good little boy who watches the league crawls knows how to defeat a psychic fungus (or whatever threat), so if the fungus ever spreads beyond the dungeon the government has already prepared its citizens.

The league would be immoral and very dirty, but would at least be practical and serious about keeping the real menace at bay.

As far as adventures to discover what's really going on, it could involve off-air investigation in the world at large, or the dungeon crawlers could discover a new part of the dungeon that makes it clear something is amiss, or maybe the containment starts to break down and the PCs have to restore the magic/psychic/force barriers keeping it contained.

And Aboleths are probably involved.

I had also been thinking about aliens or demons too, but am hesitant as they seem to be the go-to bad guys these days. My initial ideas were: aliens are controlling the government and the Earth and XCrawl is a reality TV show other aliens watch; or the government is run by a shadow cabal of demon worshipers who ate seeking to summon/appease a powerful demon with the bloodsport.
But don't these plots seem kind of played out? Pre-chewed, tasteless?
What if it is more character driven? Smaller stories that involve the characters expressly?

Man, I don't know... I feel lost.

I don't want you to think that I am shooting down your ideas. I like them and I value your opinion. Otherwise I wouldn't have asked you.
After sleeping on it, I feel that your mentioning aliens/demons is a good thing, as I was thinking along similar lines. To me, it's confirmation I'm on the right track.

No worries.

I think a backdrop of gonzo, dystopian futuresports makes it kind of hard to tell a character-driven story. That's not to say you can't tell that kind of story in a dystopia. I actually think it's the gameshow part that makes it hard to do a character-driven story.

Imagine if your game was about an ordinary gameshow. What kind of stories could you tell and what kinds couldn't you? The contestants would probably rotate regularly, many might lose early on, and it would be hard to focus on their personal dramas when everyone was more interested in their performance on the gameshow.

Now, if your game were about the hosts of the show and what they got up to after work, that might be interesting. Your PCs could be Evil Pat Sajack and Chaotic Neutral Alex Trebek^TM

Also, it's not your job to be original, it's your job to make sure your PCs have fun.

Have you ever seen, or are you familiar with, Speed Racer? I'm referring to the original run, from the 60s.

A long time ago.

It's how I imagine the format to be. Even though Speed was a racecar driver, and raced in many races (sometimes even in multiple races in a single episode), the show was never really about the races. It was about Speed's relationships, with Trixie, Spridle, and his father. It was about the mysterious Racer X, and the plots of the various bad guys involved in the races. Further, it was about Spridle's antics with Chim-Chim, Trixie's drama with her family, whether or not Racer X was Speed's lost brother, and about Speed's father never being able to create anything better than the Mach 5. There were robberies, fights, kidnappings, switcheroos, even an erupting volcano! It was more spy thriller than NASCAR.

And that's what I want to invoke. I want a hot shot extreme dungeon crawler with something to prove. I want tinker to help him/her. I want a hacker stealing digital lot and casting matrix spells. I want to create the space for the players to tell THEIR stories.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:47, Thu 03 Mar 2016.

You want the story to be heavily character-driven and even character-dependent. Therefore, don't try to figure out "what's really going on" in the sense of plot. If characters' stories, connections, and motivations will be driving the story, then you need to know the characters' stories, connections, and motivations before you even think about prepping story elements. Get input from the players about who the PCs are and what makes them tick. Only then will you have the materials you need to solve the problem you're trying to solve.

Read this recent blog post:

http://www.ruleofthedice.com/2...-old-is-exactly.html

and see if you can play "secret lab" with your players.