Even as the second adventure of The Gift mini arc is in completion with an entire 3rd adventure yet to be written, its come upon us we need to create a couple demo modules that will be run at Origins, GENCON and Paizocon - I might be running one at GENCON this year.
As demo games, while we are trying to market The Gift mini-arc itself, we need to create extra adventures that are not part of that storyline. It's been decided these will be non-gaijin, Kaidanese locals - with pregenerated characters including Samurai or Yojimbo and other varying classes that will be used in the setting.
One demo module for sure will combine the traditional horror theme being snowbound - we're calling The Frozen Wind. The party is caught in a mountain ice storm and is forced to seek shelter discovering a mountain monastary just in the nick of time. Though they will be fed and given beds to sleep in and a roaring fire, they will awaken cold in their chambers hearing a scream in the distance. Frozen dead monks will rise as zombies to play some "Zombie Apocalypse" in the mountain holdfast with an impassable storm outside. A Yama-Uba, a demon similar to an Annis Hag with shapechanging powers to appear as a beautiful woman, and her entourage of soldiers (Ice Oni demons) are the culprits in the monk's demise, and will be the final encounter for a 4 hour long demo game.
We're still searching for the best idea for a second module. Right now we're looking at a quartet of seductress yurei ghosts, formerly geisha in life who will entertain the party and attempt to separate them, seduce and drain the lives of each one. Also the geisha's original murderer and their first victim a yurei ghost of a powerful onmyoji wizard resides in the House of Pink Peonies. Because this adventure is located in the Floating World (redlight district) it would be called The Floating World.
So while we trek through another adventure, write a race book for henge, work on books for new classes, we're also writing a couple demo modules for a complete project.
We will be making these demo games as if a full professional job, so these mods will come with cover art, interior art and maps penned by me.
The project seems to keep growing...!
GP
Damn, nice.
I like both adventure ideas
Instead of the Floating World, we've decided to do... The Tolling of Tears. The great bronze bell of the Zao Temple of Kinogasa is said to be haunted with the spirit of a monk who could not love a maiden from the town due to his status as monk and so he threw himself in the melting pot as the bell was being cast. Now spirits or goblins have been haunting the bell tower, so it has not been wrung for the major festivals this year - which is a bad omen. The New Year celebration is coming and the bell must be rung to hope for benificent year ahead. The abbot of the monastary has requested heroes to cleanse the bell of its evil taint...
There is a haunting, but there's also a political agenda and a vengeful onmyoji wizard may be the culprit here in his machinations against the abbot of Kinogasa Temple.