RPG Samples

Set #1 – Ability Description

Ability: Heartseeker

Gains: +1 Dexterity, +1 WT, +13 HP

Effect: When you attack with a concealable weapon, the damage cannot be soaked by armor.

Under 20 Words: *

You strike swiftly from the shadows, piercing past iron and arm to the place your enemies fear most.

Under 50 Words: *

You are the blade in the darkness. With calm precision, you seek the perfect opportunity to make your move. Every armor’s weakness, every hidden flaw, your blade finds its fold. The only sound will be your enemies final gasping breath as you make your strike.

Set #2 – Monster Description

Monster that fits the following descriptors: 1. Multiple metal tentacles that can grab player characters at a long range. 2. Large, about the size of a house. 3. Can grind the targets apart once grabbed. 4. Specifically not squid- or octopus-like. This description is from a third-person perspective.

Of every monstrous beast and mechanical burden that stalk across the endless wastes outside Delphi, none is more deadly than the Westjack. Thought to be a horrifying device from the old war, the Westjack is a writhing mass of metal, propelling itself forward on towering metal tentacles quicker than a horse at full sprint. In the center of the tentacles is a twenty-foot core, made up of four bladed drills endlessly grinding together, able to crush boulders in mere seconds.

Set #3 – Town Design

250 word description of a town set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland trying to survive. Introduces characters from the town, an enticing adventure concept, and details three locations within the town so the reader can easily imagine what it looks and feels like.

On the outer edges of the Lonely Plains, dusty and abandoned to rust and rot, squats the scrapyard town of Barrow’s Folly. Huddled in a valley bowl from the ever-howling winds, sits nothing more than a few dozen heaps of old steel in the general forms of houses beside a single ramshackle tavern, the Sorry Whistle. The owner of the Whistle, Arren Sims, is said to be the one bright light, and the only kind smile for a wayward traveler, in an endless stretch of sand. Full of lean, suspicious folk living on hard times in the hardest of places, Barrow’s Folly has seen nothing but trouble since the War for Eden. Still they persist, cutting life from next to nothing, drawn to the wonder of the Adder’s Eye.

Nestled at the very bottom of the valley, half-sunk in the wasted earth, rests a colossal metal sphere: the eye of an ancient mechanical giant, its origins long covered by the dusts of time. Formed of endless gleaming metals and with a pupil of solid diamond bigger than a Westjack, miners jockey to uncover its secrets and its treasure horde. For while it’s surface is more valuable than anyone’s wildest imagination, it is only a fraction of the wealth that is rumored to lay beneath.

Chasind Ryze, the woman who first discovered Adder’s Eye, lives there still, her mind wasted, mad with desire to find the truth.

And in the darkness . . . the Eye moves.

Set #4 – Dialogue

Small dialogue sample of three adventurers, a half-elf ranger, a human rogue, and a dwarf fighter, that have been traveling together for some time. They come upon a . . . rather interesting conundrum involving friendly fire.

Ardan: “I never miss a single shot.”
Stay: “What, by the bloody moons, are you talking about? You miss shots all the time.“
Lydia: “She’s right. I’ve seen ya miss twice since this mornin’.”
Ardan: “No you didn’t. Missed nothing. I always hit exactly what I mean to.”
Stay: “Just yesterday, your shot was so wide of that watchman it hit a barrel of Yindill wine.”
Ardan: “… I was thirsty.”
Stay: “Sure you were. Meanwhile, you left the rest of us to take out half the city guard while you got piss drunk in the middle of a fight.”
Lydia: “And that archery contest you entered? Strictly for braggin’ rights might I add. Instead of the target, ya shot me.“
Stay: “Ha! Let’s see you explain your way out of that one.”
Ardan: ” . . . I meant to shoot you.”
Lydia: “Why?”
Ardan: “Don’t you remember what you did after I shot you?”
Stay: “Screamed bloody f—”
Ardan: “—and after that?”
Lydia: “I ripped the damn thing out and I . . . I stuck it in the bullseye before anyone else noticed . . . “
Ardan: “Exactly.“
Stay: “Dammit . . . he’s right.”
Ardan: “Two could do what one could not, I never miss a single shot.“

Set #5 – Race Culture Description

Description of Rageborn hierarchy. Rageborn are a race towering over all others, commonly 8-9 feet in height, incredibly passionate and enduring, with unquenchable fury forever struggling to break free from within every beating heart.

Rageborn clan hierarchy is an interesting thing indeed. Though the elders tend to be in charge, leadership is based solely on merit and skill, nothing else. All in the clan would not have it any other way. A clan leader does not wish to stay as such unless they are certain they are best suited. Someone fresh out of adolescence, in the twilight years of their life, or anyone in between, is welcomed to challenge their clan leader at any time for the right to be head. The leader welcomes this test with earnest relish. Both members will throw themselves into the carefully controlled duel with everything that they are, not out of a need to win, but out of the deepest desire to make sure the greatest is made clear. If bested, the former leader will step down with nothing but contentment in their hearts, knowing that their opponent truly is their better. It is the deepest value of every Rageborn to follow the strongest and best among them regardless of age, gender, or experience. This way, their society can always progress and reach new heights of potential.

The only prerequisite is that the Rageborn complete the Quelling—the Rageborn rite of adulthood. This shows that they have mastered control over their own inner fury and thus are capable of leading.

Cheating, hoodwinking, or any form of trickery to gain power is virtually unheard of in Rageborn society. Those cases of discovered foul play, such as the woeful tale of Nernen Weatherworn or the Trials of Ice and Sky, are dealt with swiftly and mercilessly. To a Rageborn, to covet power at any cost is a sign of the greatest weakness of all:

Pride.