Splatbook*

Exploring sites

Most sites are made up of multiple discrete areas or rooms. Some sites are so big that these areas or rooms are divided into zones or smaller sites.

As the PCs explore a site, you'll zoom in on one of these discrete places, establish a scene or situation there, and play it out. When the PCs move on, you transition to the next interesting scene or situation. But how do you decide what and where that is?

If you haven't already done so, establish the PCs' intent. Which way do they go? What are they looking for? What are they trying to escape or avoid? If their intent isn't clear, ask questions until it is.

Once you've established the PCs' intent, consult your prep, the appropriate entries in Book II, and/or your growing sense of this site, its story, and its contents. If the next interesting place is obvious, great. Frame the action there.

During the first adventure, the PCs have stopped to investigate an empty crinwin nest, high up in a great big tree. They've already searched the brush nearby and found a few dead crinwin that seem to have killed each other.

They've learned all they can down here and are talking about moving on. But Caradoc looks up at the empty nest and says "I want to check that out." To do so, he'll need to climb the tree—which my notes say is like a sequoia redwood! That will be a challenge for sure, and thus where I'll frame the next scene.

For larger sites with many areas or rooms, you might rely on a player move to inform where you frame things next. For example, the PCs might…

  • … Defy Danger to find the specific place (the danger being they get lost and/or stumble into a danger);
  • … Seek Insight to explore the site and see what they find;
  • … Know Things about a place they've studied, to know where __ might be;
  • … use a playbook move, like Expert Tracker to follow a foe's trail to wherever it leads; or…
  • … use a custom move specific to this site (like the Seek Out move from The Deeps, Book II).

If no obvious place presents itself, then pick a GM move you want to make. Then pick a place in the site where it would make sense for you to make that move, or create such a place on the fly.

If you need inspiration at any point in this process, refer to your prep. If that doesn't help, pick or roll from a relevant terrain, discovery, or site table in Book II, or use an example site (tweaking it as you see fit).

Once you've decided where to establish the next scene or situation, transition to it. That could be as simple as just framing the action. Something like:

  • "You enter the next room and see…"
  • "You follow the outline of the broken road further into the ruins. It's been like half an hour when…"
  • "You run headlong into the tunnels, who knows how long, and when you stop to catch your breath, you find yourself…"

But if the next interesting room or area is some distance away, you might want to spend a little play-time getting there. Zoom out and handle it like a leg of travel on an expedition:

  • Describe the environment that the PCs pass through
  • Ask the PCs questions (about how they're feeling, what's on their mind, what this makes them think of, etc.)
  • Portray followers and other NPCs
  • Maybe Keep Company

You might make a soft GM move, too. Use up their resources as they march ("Mark off another hour on your lamp oil"). Hint at more than meets the eye ("That's the third time you've seen that mark"). Point to a looming danger ("A bit later, you find these gouges, like from the talons of something really big").

Or, to heck with it. Introduce a danger or present a discovery at some point along the way, and I guess this is where the next scene happens, actually.

The PCs and Andras are at Three Coven Lake, atop the dam and surveying the sprawling ruins. I present a choice of paths: climb the bluff to the north and check out the rooms carved into it, or explore the gentler southern shore. They stay clear of the water and go north.

I haven't had time to fully prep, so, I skim the Three Coven Lake entry. There's lots of terrain and smaller sites I could pick from, but that's not inherently interesting. I decide to introduce a danger, person, or faction. I roll anencounter. I get a 6 ("other entities") and then pick "Stone Lord constructs." I roll a disposition of "curious." I think a lithic servant is spying on the PCs (on behalf of some other entity?). I'm not sure where this encounter will occur, so I look at the bluffs terrain table (Book II) and roll an "overhang" and "walkway/ stairs… carved into the stone."

Okay, cool, but I think it'll take a bit of a hike to get there. They set a marching order, and I start transitioning to the scene. "So, you head up into the bluffs, climbing this crumbling, rock-strewn stairway. It's a slog, and Andras keeps wincing on his leg."

Blodwen checks in with Andras, who plays it off as no big deal. Then I get back to my description. "A bit later, the stairs turn and run up the side of the bluff. There's no railing, just a sheer drop to your left, down to rocks and more water than you've ever seen. What are each of you thinking right now?"

After the players answer, I zoom in to make my move. "After like an hour, the stairs pass through a short tunnel in an outcrop. And Caradoc, something… moves. Up on top of that outcrop, like 30 feet up. It's a… person? No… more like a man-sized puppet made of stone, watching you. What do you do?"

The party stops. Vahid Knows Things (it's a Stone Lord construct, but he's unsure if it's a drone or autonomous or what). They try to communicate but it doesn't respond. Caradoc tries climbing up to it, but it slinks away. They move on, but it follows at a distance.

"This is no good," says Rhianna. "I Read the Land. What's the best spot for an ambush? I want to catch this thing." We decide that they could draw it into a chamber in the bluffs that Rhianna spots up ahead—and that's where we frame the next scene!