In 2005-06, I got a job working at a Commodities Broker/Insurance Agent’s home office as an Admin Assistant
I hadn’t worked for a few years because of some health issues, and I just needed to get out and make some money
I worked there 6 months
In that office he had a large/clunky PC computer which his young son would come in once in a while, and play a game called ‘World of Warcraft’
I hadn’t really played video games since the 70-80’s (Atari 2600 etc., Arcades etc.)
A lot of games were one person shooters, which did not interest me at all
Anyway
This game looked kinda cool, he’d go into a world and adventure etc.
I was a huge Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast in the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s, I really loved running them/world building/character creating, so this ‘World of Warcraft’ game (Also being fantasy Elfs etc.) made…
I Redrew my Map for ‘The In Time Casino’, which I created for my ‘Great Game’ Poker-ish Tournament that I ran last year, and my current ‘Tournament Of Riches’ Tournament, that I’ve been running the last week.
Feel free to use the Map with my ‘The Great Game’ RPG Supplement I launched today on DriveThruRPG, or for anything else you may want it for.
The 10 Poker-ish Tables are numbered
The ‘X”s on the Map are where Guards are posted, to protect the Neutralness (Good Guy/Bad Guy competitors) of the Facility
The angular areas on the left and the right front of the map, with stairs leading to them, represent where fans can watch the tournament from
Right to the left, and right when you go through the two sets of double doors, are Bars for fans to get drinks (Competitors are served drinks during competition, but may go to bars between Rounds of Play)
The two Circles with Stars in the middle, are Statues
On the left and right, you must go down the great two step stairs to get to the Table area
The rectangles with rectangles in the middle of them on the left and right, are Stages for bands or Bards to perform live music for the competitors during play
The circle with a circle in the middle of it when you first walk in is a fountain
The square with a square in the middle of it in the center of the facility is the main stage, where things will be announced about the competition those that are running it
In the middle beyond the fountain, where there are two doors (One on the left, one on the right) allowing entrance into an area with 8 seats, are for those that which to me anonymous watchers may sit and watch through a one sides mirror
In the upper left and right corners, there are stairs to two identical areas, where Nobles & or People of importance may watch the tournament
At the top of the map, there are 4 doorways in what are glass walls, which lead to outside balconies
Between the two balconies are 8 tables, where very expensive seating/eating occurs during the competition
Though my Campaigns have always been Homebrew, I’ve always been curious about ‘Waterdeep’.
And last year, I decided to start merging Faerûn, and more specifically Waterdeep, into my world.
Thus, I have ‘two’ Material Planes within my world.
My Campaign has become largely Political, and Party has done much to bring peace in 3 of my 6 continents.
They are, however, not really ‘treasure hunters’.
And thus, I also use Waterdeep as a place where they can purchase certain Magic Items.
Basically, Waterdeep has largely become a place where my Party can get away from the troubles of their own Material Plane, shop, eat out at expensive restaurants, stay at nice hotels (Inns).
Following that line of thinking, came the creation of ‘The Great Game’.
A Poker-ish Tournament held at a lavish Casino, and managed/ran by The Masked Lords of Waterdeep.
It ended up being a great break from some of the regular day to day RPG activities, and an awesome opportunity for Roleplaying.
Including the fact that within the walls of this Casino, is a ‘neutral’ zone, meaning ‘good guys’, and ‘bad guys’ alike are welcome.
The facility is protected from the use of Magic, and all weapons are left at the door, allowing for this to happen.
Six months later (In game), I felt it was time to have another Tournament, and thus I created ‘The Tournament Of Riches’, which we’ve been playing during the last week.
It was during this last week that I decided that I’d like to share the Poker-ish Tournament with the RPG Community (This Supplement will work with any RPG System or setting).
And thus yesterday I sat down and typed up basically how it works, spruced up its’ presentation a bit, and Submitted it to @drivethrurpg.
The older man said nothing further, just held out his hand, indicating he knew about the book and wanted it back.
Vilven looked down at his outstretched arm, then up at his hard expression, then back at his arm. With a resigned sigh, Vilven held it out in his direction. With a quickness that she didn’t expect, he grabbed it and threw it carelessly onto his desk as he walked past her. He made his way to his chair on the other side of the desk, having to avoid piles of books and papers on the floor. The black cat loyally followed him to curl at his feet.
“I just wanted to read it.” Vilven said, with just a twinge of attitude. She realized she was the culprit, but his disposition was automatically irritating to her.
As he sat back down, already reading a piece of paper on the desk, he waved his hand toward her. “Fine, read it, then get out”,
Mildly offended, but not going to decline his offer, she turned, went to the book, turned it to face her, then opened it with her free hand, the other one still holding the tea he gave her. The book was in an Elvish language, but luckily she was familiar with Elvish enough to follow what it said. And after the first page, she realized regrettably, it wouldn’t be helpful to her even in the slightest. It described some sort of complicated technique to memorize spells better that only Elves would have time to decipher.
With disappointment, she closed the book deliberately, placed the tea onto the cover, and with a final glance at the old man, turned to leave.
“Seems an awful lot of trouble you went through to read a paragraph.”. The man said without looking up when she reached the door.
Vilven stopped to look back over her shoulder, then she slowly turned to face him, “Are you going to tell anyone about me?” she asked.
He looked up at her with a curious expression, then stood. “Do you know where you are, girl?”
Vilven took a step inside, trying to gauge the situation and how much she should disclose to this strange, old man. Looking sharply into his eyes she responded with the truth, “All I know about where I am is that this is King Beaumont’s castle. I was hoping to find out more, but that plan didn’t work out as planned. Obviously.”
With deep wisdom, he took a few steps toward her. “You’re not from here, are you? Not even from this plane. You’re a genasi”
She didn’t respond.
With a nod of concession, he continued to speak “You are correct, you are in King Beaumont’s castle.” He began to walk slowly around the room then, idly brushing dust off various items and objects, glancing every so often at her like a teacher to a student. “It’s in the forest region.” He continued as he crossed his arms behind his back. “The forest region of Varamore, in the Material Plane”.
Vilven stared blankly at him, but her mind was quickly trying to connect this new information with what she had already learned from Wiendle.
“I heard there was an attack here…” Vilven inquired after a pause.
He raised an eyebrow at her in response, “Did you.” he said in a dry, facetious tone. “What is your name?” he added, ending the subject.
Resigned that he wasn’t going to say anything more about it, she introduced herself, “I’m Vilven Ledsong. I am a genasi, a water genasi. I’m from the Water Plane.”
“You can call me Zed.” He said, then made his way back to his desk, and his chair. “I’ll leave it at that.” He spoke, almost to himself, as he sat back down. He picked up and began reading the piece of paper he had been reading before. “You better leave. Before someone else finds you. God knows you probably woke up the entire place” He said without looking up.
Vilven gave a small nod, a slight smile coming to her face “Thank you, Zed.” she said slowly and meaningfully. Then she turned, to walk through the open doorway.
“And Vilven,” Zed called out to her, she looked back. “Shut the door.”
***
“Varamore…” Vilven murmured to herself when she was back in the lake, laying on the bottom among the sand and rocks, the darkness of the night finally making her eyes fall with drowsiness. She had never heard of Varamore before, and couldn’t remember if she had ever heard of this particular plane of existence before either. But regardless of how much more she wished she knew, she was content that she had come to learn even this much on her first day. She felt that she was quite comfortable in her new life, though she wasn’t sure where it was leading. She was happy to have met Wiendle and Zed. She was content that she was sent here for a reason, she could be content in looking for information and solving the mystery. She could even willingly accept that in some capacity she belonged to Areiden now, and was no longer fully free. But what was difficult, what truly tore her inside, was she still grieved the loss of her home. She had lost her whole existence and was being asked a great deal to accept all these changes. She wasn’t angry in this knowledge, just deeply sad. A foreign world, strangers, unknown abilities…In truth, even she was beginning to be different, act different, and she ached for her old self and her simple life. “Varamore” Vilven said again, with a sob, and began to cry until she fell asleep in her heartache.
Vilven swam fluidly in the large lake, circling the magnificent castle in the center. Her introduction to Wiendle was still fresh in her mind, and though she was unsure if she was going to end up to be an ally in this situation, she knew she wanted to be. Wiendle appeared to be desperate for another life, consumed by innocence and pushed by longing. But Vilven was wiser than to leave the mysteries in Wiendle’s request to escape the castle, and her royal father, as mystery. She knew that there was much more to the story than she knew or was being told.
As a stranger in a new land, perhaps it was the wrong approach to creep into a household of possibly otherwise peaceful and friendly people, but Vilven figured the opposite could be much worse. And though she had very little experience in doing anything like this, the twinge of curiosity and the knowledge she was sent here for a reason pushed her to explore further. She waited for the sky to turn black before she decided to try to sneak into the castle again. As the sun set slowly, Vilven jerked in surprise as her eyes adjusted to the dark easily. It took her only seconds before she realized it was another gift from Areiden.
She was beginning to get used to the feeling of the magic swelling inside her, even after less than a day she loved the almost instantaneous way it responded to her needs, quicker than a thought, as natural as a heartbeat. But she also knew it would take discipline to master. Controlling the magic would be like controlling a reflex of the body, and there were times when she knew she wouldn’t want to do what her most immediate instincts told her to do. It would be learning to think a whole knew way. There had to be space between thought and magic, between emotion and magic. But for now she was just thankful she had magic that allowed her to see in the darkness at all. She decided she would always try to be thankful for it.
She swam to the bottom of the lake to walk on the sand, now colored an unnatural grey, whether from the dull light of the moon or her dark vision Vilven couldn’t tell. Her mind was set on trying to break into Wiendle’s chambers again, it seemed the easiest way to enter and at least she could try to lie if Wiendle caught her. But looking up, preparing to swim toward Wiendle’s window, she spotted a surface that seemed oddly smooth compared to the rest of the rocks that made up the island of land that held the castle. She cautiously swam closer to see a kind of door. It looked to be steel, round, with a large knob in the center. In Vilven’s mind, the knob looked like a wheel from a ship, though it was made of metal and not wood.
Without thought, Vilven went to the wheel and, with both hands around one of the spokes, began to pull it. It put a strain on her, and though it took her a few minutes, the initial fastening released and the wheel-knob began to turn easily. She silently cursed herself for being so impulsive, but it was drowned out by her excitement.
When the knob had reached it’s final turn, Vilven pulled the hefty door aside on it’s hinges to expose a long round tunnel. The tunnel was already filled with water, but the water from the lake still rushed in slightly, mixing with the considerably warmer water in the tunnel. After a short moment, Vilven swam into the mysterious channel, careful to be silent and to not touch the walls.
When the tunnel stopped suddenly, Vilven would have rammed into the wall had she not been able to stop herself and thrust herself back. She looked forward at the stone wall, inches from her face, looked behind her to see the distant circle shape of the entrance that lead to the lake. Then she looked up to notice that the tunnel extended upward, with a sigh of relief, she began to swim, noticing the ladder welded to the side. She was able to deduct that this, hopefully, was most likely an entrance into the castle. Probably something like an escape route in case of emergencies. After what seemed like far too long, Vilven’s face finally broke the surface of the water. Looking around she noticed about ten feet of space between where the water stopped to the top of the tunnel, where there stood an outline of another round door. This one, however, had no knob-wheel.
Determined, Vilven swam to the ladder on the wall to take hold of the first rung. She pulled herself up to take the next one, her feet following her hands, until she was fully emerged from the water, climbing the wall. She smiled silently to herself thinking that it was somehow ironic she was entering the castle similar to how she had the first time. Using a small magical ability she learned as a child, she connected to the water clinging to her white dress, her indigo hair, her silver skin, to flow off her body until she became fully dry. The one magical thing she could do before she ever met Areiden. It felt good to need something that came purely from herself.
When she reached the door above her, she took pause, as she wasn’t sure how to open it. On closer inspection, there wasn’t even hinges on this one, only a small space for ones hand on the side. She put her hand into the space, and pushed upward with force, as it looked heavy. It popped open easily, and the lid to the tunnel flew forward to ram into a nearby wall, making a loud clang. With shock, her black eyes glancing around frantically, Vilven pushed herself into the castle, and half crawling to the lid, quickly dragged it back to cover the hole of the tunnel. Then she bolted. She flew down the hall, unsheathing her sickle, to look for a place to hide. She put her ear to the nearest door, listening to see if she could hear anything or anyone in the room.
When she heard the sound of snoring she let out an audible breath. Her heart steadied a bit, as she hoped the rest of the castle, like this person, hadn’t been awakened by her. But then, in the corner of her eye, she saw a slight movement, and her heart started pounding again. As quickly as she could, she pushed herself up against the wall next to the door, peering down the hall to where she saw the movement.
Out of the door, in the opposite corner, an older man of about sixty stalked into the hall. His beard was long, as was his hair, which glittered a mix of silver and black in the low light of the candle he held. His robes were unkempt, but were a pleasant gray and blue color. He seemed very preoccupied with something, Vilven thought, as his eyes were furrowed intensely, staring at the floor. He was grumbling to himself something inaudible as he began to walk, nearly stomp, down the hall, toward her direction. She held her breath and dared not move as she watched him come closer and pass, hoping that the low light and his intent on the floor would keep him from seeing her. When he rounded the corner her whole body released.
Vilven shook her head in disbelief from her luck. She realized she was in dangerous territory and should have been much more careful. But the old man hadn’t seen her, and hopefully she could keep it so no one would.
She looked forward to where he had entered into the hall and saw that he had left the door open. It was well lit inside the room, the candlelight dancing into the dark hall. With a quick look back in the direction he left, Vilven remembered why she had gone through all this trouble in the first place: to learn more about the castle, the land and the people inside it. In an instant decision, connecting deeply to her resolve, she rushed quietly to the open door, hoping she could learn something about her purpose here.
When she peered in, she nearly yelled as two big, yellow eyes stared back at her.
The beautiful, black cat meowed at her as he moved toward her. She had heard of cats, had even seen one once living on one of the ships that had crashed in the Water Plane.
Resisting the urge to pet him, Vilven whispered “Not now, Kitty” as she entered the room, past the cat. The room was a mess of papers and books, random items were scattered everywhere, and she had never seen so much ink in her life. Glancing all over not sure where to start, as well as trying to be fast, Vilven grabbed the closest book to her. She held it under her arm, praying it had the answers she needed.
Then a throat cleared behind her.
With an intake of breath, Vilven slowly turned to see the older man from before standing there, his face obviously annoyed, nearly furious. He looked menacing in the candlelight outlining his figure, but he held two cups of tea in his hands, one she knew was for her.
The cat meowed almost proudly up at him.
“Was it the cat?” Vilven asked the man, nearly appalled.
“Yes, it was the cat” He said shoving the tea into her hand.
“But then again, you don’t really know how to sneak around quietly do you?”
Doragon Kishu (Dragon Rider & Paladin) 