OCTOBER MODULES

As I was working Ogre Gate Inn this week it occurred to me that I usually write my modules in or around October. Living around the corner from Salem, where October is a month-long celebration, I tend to get very inspired. I also find the dry weather and change in temperature good for mental clarity, which just helps me write better. Here is a break down of each of my October modules (both published and unpublished):

The Secret of Actium
This is my unpublished Servants of Gaius adventure. It is actually one of my favorites but we were just never able to fit in into the pipeline. The first half of the module is set in Rome, with the second half in Alexandria. It begins when the players discover a beheaded body and leads them into a mystery that goes back to the last Roman Civil War. 

The Patriot Incident
Written in October, the Patriot Incident takes place on Halloween. I tried to make full use of the holiday in the investigation though the adventure itself is more procedural/thriller and not horror. This one won a Gaming Genius Award for best adventure scenario in 2011. Of all our modules The Patriot Incident is one I'd like to revise and refurbish for re-release at some point. 

You can check out the Patriot Incident HERE in PDF or HERE in Print. 

The Landlord's Daughter
The Landlord's Daughter wasn't for one of our Network games, it was a Colonial Gothic Adventure by me and Bill Butler. I really enjoy this adventure, it was just released again in print not too long ago. The title was inspired by a few lies from the Highwayman song by Phil Ochs, which used Alfred Noyes' poem The Highwayman for lyrics. The adventure itself was inspired by local history in Swampscott and Lynn. I found local annals helpful when designing this one. The Landlord's Daughter is where we started to develop the investigative structure that would appear in most of our future modules. 

You can find The Landlord's Daughter HERE. 

Beneath the Banshee Tree

When we made Sertorius we didn't have room to include a sample adventure. We decided to release a free PDF module to complement to core book. This freed us up to make a module that was more robust than a small adventure included in the rulebook. I wrote this one with design help from Bill Butler and Dan Orcutt (Dan also served as the main editor on this project). So it was largely a team effort because we hashed out many of the major details and concepts before I wrote anything down. There was considerable thought put into Beneath the Banshee Tree and I think it shows. We wanted an adventure that showcased the magical nature of the setting and drew that into the mystery itself. The result is a perfect one-shot Halloween adventure, whether as a one-shot or part of an ongoing campaign. 

You can find the Free PDF of Beneath the Banshee Tree HERE. The Print version is available HERE. 

The Ogre Gate Inn
I wasn't thinking October or Halloween when I started on this one but it occurred to me this morning that I was working on a module in October right on schedule. Now that I've reviewed at it and have run it a couple of times, I can definitely see the month's influence. There is a bit of a horror thread running through it, something I played up in the last session I ran of it. Ogre Gate Inn is still in development and will probably be released early or mid 2016.