One-Shot Review: Ultraviolet Grasslands

A few weeks ago, when I was on vacation with friends, we played a long one-shot. It took about 8 hours and when we finished the story was almost over, but not completely. It all took place in the Ultraviolet Grasslands, which is a pointcrawl and setting by Luka Rejec of WizardThiefFighter. I am backing his Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/wizardthieffighter/overview ) and it was nice to play the setting instead of only reading it. The system we used was made out of Luka’s blogposts put together (at http://wizardthieffighter.blogspot.com/p/wtf-house-rules.html ) and the three characters were a martial arts priest (fighter), a cowboy (thief) and a pictomancer (wizard).

We decided on going for an assassination of a Porcelain Prince in the Potsherd Crater. That would be doable, I thought, in the timeframe we had.

I will now list things with bullet-points:

Things the players liked:

·        The setting of Ultraviolet Grasslands

o   The cat theme of the Violet City

o   The drugs theme throughout

o   The idea of porcelain golem bodies to try and be immortal

·        The barber set the cowboy (Burt) got at the start. He used it to kill a shady NPC adventurer.

·        The inn where they killed the adventurer, hired another and got information out of a third.

Things the players didn’t like:

·         My combat was way too easy. Part because I had planned three combat encounters but we only finished one. Part because I didn’t used my own rule set for creating the encounter.

·         The wizard saw ghosts because of drugs and was clueless what to do. I should have given more information, or phrased it in a better way.

·         That the one-shot took so long. I wasn’t sure how long travelling would take, so I cut down on the last travel encounter and that was breaking immersion.

Things I, as DM, liked:

·         The whole setting of the game and the idea of travelling long, reaching steppes. Also the easy way I could adjust or improvise in it.

·         The pictomancer who could create his own spells by drawing.

·         I enjoyed an encounter with a shaman who gave them drugs to learn from spirits. They didn’t learn anything, but I liked the roleplay.

·         Using rolling tables, which I’m not used too, during the game.

Things I didn’t like:

·         Noting supplies is nice for a campaign, but was a bit much for this one-shot. It made them think, though.

·         That my combat was way too easy. I have to up my game and actually use the encounter rules that I love, especially with timers.

·         The hedge maze that blocked them from entering the mansion of the Prince, was not detailed enough and overcome quite easily. They said it felt the most game-y part of the game and I agree.

In the end I really did like the setting and I can only encourage you to buy it when it comes out. On the Patreon of WizardThiefFighter the writing on Ultraviolet Grassland has finished since yesterday. I hope Luka’s system rules will be published and edited somewhat later too, because there seemed to be interesting ideas in it.

I enjoyed the game. I improvised a lot actually and learned more about DMing and running such games. I’m also working on my voices (got a compliment about that), but I need to seriously get tougher in doing combat.

Here’s Luka’s current blog/site to end this post: https://www.wizardthieffighter.com/

The 9 copper/silver/gold merchants

The 9 Copper Shop/9 Silver Store/9 Gold Hawker is inspired by the 1 Dollar Store, where everything is cheap and around the same price. Most often it’s a merchant with a cart that goes through the streets. Or you meet him on the road eager to empty his cart. He won’t buy anything from you, but he might have some great items.

--

How does it work mechanically?

Roll 1d8, the merchant has this # of items. If you buy 5 or more of his items, he also offers item 9.

For example, if you roll a 2 on the Copper Shop, the merchant only has the toy wagon and ale available. Even if you both buy them he won’t offer you the book. If you roll a 7, he will have everything except the goggles. If you buy all 7, he will also offer you the book with a wink.

--

The 9 Copper Shop has and sells the following items (for 9 Copper):

1. A wooden toy wagon and a wooden toy horse. For if you would like to bribe a kid.

2. Dragon’s Fury. An ale made spicy by including peppers. You get a one liter bottle.

3. The Cowl of Madness. A colorful cowl with small, jingling bells stuck to it.

4. Little Felicia’s Doll.  A warforged doll with toy wrist rockets. If you talk to the doll, the merchant can hear you magically and can reply once per conversation (you don’t know this).

5. The Sword of Many Thunders. If you carry this sword up in the air in a thunderstorm in an open field, lightning may strike twice.

6. A ‘Treasure Map’. Bound with a beautiful ribbon, this map leads to the heavily-guarded storage of a merchant within the city.

7. A Wooden Golem Figure. A crude, 3 feet tall golem figure of dead marsh wood.

8. Goggles of a Weird, Unknown Magic Origin. Protects eyes from attacks and accidents, indestructible. The Arcana check to figure them out is a DC18 and takes a week. If failed, try again next week.

9. A Book of Demonic Gibberish. Just unintelligible handwriting thrown on a page. Somewhere in between is the spell: Bone to stone. It might be illegal to carry this, or even cursed. It takes a week to find the spell with Arcana DC 20, roll after week has passed.

Bone to Stone:

^2nd level transmutation spell

Turn 4 bones into stone by touching the bone itself or the flesh around it. For every spell slot level higher you also turn 4 more bones into stone.

--

The 9 Silver Store has and sells the following items (for 9 Silver):

1. A Set of Stainless Steel Sporks. Enjoy your dinner carefree, because these sporks never rust.

2. A Depleted Wand of Cure Wounds. Looks fancy, but does nothing anymore.

3. A Wooden Dagger. It is Unsheatable with a poisoned needle between hilt and blade. Take off the blade to use it.

4. A Hooded Lantern. Rusted, creaks when opened.

5. A Patterned Quiver. The pattern is of diamond shapes that go all around the cloth that is attached to the quiver.

6. “The Man and the Goat”. A historical novel about a farmer that travels across the mountains.

7. An Unknown and Uncommon Holy Symbol. It is engraved with the words: “Time is the Shepherd”.

8.  A Comfortable Tent. It can hold two persons for a good night sleep in the wilderness.

9. A Potion of Cure Wounds that Went Over Date.  If you roll a 1 or 8 on the healing, gain +5 speed for 2 minutes instead of curing your wounds.

The merchant has 3 in stock.

--

The 9 Gold Hawker has and sells the following items (for 9 Gold):

1. A Set of Alchemical Vials. They are empty, but come with a cork.

2. A Pristine and Exclusive Set of Playing Cards.  No bends in the corners.

3. A Detailed Map of a Far-Away Town. You might never get there, but at least you know what the lay-out is.

4. A Wizard’s Glasses. They are not magical, but they used to belong to an Archmage.

5. A Metal Star. Hold it up in the air at night to have it predict a horoscope for you.

6. An Ivory Statue of a Woman. It holds an empty secret compartment the merchant doesn’t know about.

7. A Cart with a Broken Wheel. Mending will repair the damage.

8. An Invitation to a Fancy Party. Enough networking opportunities on this party, the date is one month from now.

9. The Testament of “Jorven Melin” from “Seranon”. You don’t know him at all, but he leaves a cabin with belongings to the owner of this testament.

--

How would I use these merchants?

These merchants don’t have a permanent space for their shop. They sell out of the carts they are pushing through the streets and across the road. If your players would be in a town or city, your merchant could be yelling that he is selling goods for a cheap price. Kids flock to see what the merchant has to offer. If your players encounter him on the road to a small village however, he could be pushing his cart through the mud towards the houses. He will briefly stop there, before continuing to the next place.

Welcome to Trasler's Wealth, a blog about TTRPG's.

Hey adventurer,

Welcome to Caelin’s blog about Dungeons and Dragons, also known as “Trasler’s Wealth”.

The name Trasler’s Wealth has its origin as a small island I made up for a campaign (they never traveled there), where a small group of Adventurers, led by the famous Treslar, killed a dragon and built a town using the money of the hoard.

The name stuck with me. In my second idea it was an independent colony on the Dream Island of Arawynn. There was a salt on the island that made you adjust your dreams and even make reality out of your dreams if you were talented as dream walker. The colony flourished, but I never finished the setting.

Now Trasler’s Wealth” is the name of this blog. A library of what the adventurer Treslar encountered on his travels. I hope you will enjoy the entries.

The goal of this blog is to go beyond my usual creativity and challenge myself to come up with new thoughts about D&D. This will mostly be roll tables, but I’ll add some other things on there too. I’m planning on one big entry every 31^st of a month.

Next to that I hope to find some contacts in the D&D community through reactions. 

-          Caelin.