The Red Road - Level 2 Draw Steel 3-Shot Adventure

Creating your character

Before the session begins, you should have a Level 2 hero ready to go. You’re free to either create your own using the Draw Steel rules, or use one of the pregenerated characters (PDFs for which I can provide). If you create your own character, you may take a Complication as long as you run it by me first, as some include features that don’t make sense for a few-shot like this. At the start of this adventure, your character will have 0 Victories and their maximum amount of recoveries. In addition, award your character 250 project points, which you can use to craft various treasures before the events of this adventure. This is on top of any project points you gain from your career. For project sources and prerequisites, you have access to any of the 1st-Echelon Treasures. If you are not familiar with any of the rules mentioned above or have questions, I am happy to help with any part of the process (time permitting). Lastly, feel free to use any of the following story hooks, or create your own, to better tie your character to the events of this adventure: -Golden Ticket: You, and perhaps the rest of the party, have been to Ashton previously. During your time in the village, you were promised a letter of appointment from the village’s leader in exchange for completing a task related to your previous adventure. This letter would place you and your friends in the good graces of a local baron and open up more opportunities for work and rewards. You return now to collect this letter from the village leader. -Lost and Losing More: Your party came across a lost child during your previous adventures. This child is originally from Ashton and became lost due to circumstances unrelated to the gnoll attack on the village. The child is able to hold their own while traveling and avoid getting into trouble, but doesn’t have enough training to fight. This quest assumes the child is a teenage boy by the name of Lovan, though the child can be one of your own design. (the child will not come to harm in the course of this adventure) -Save Haven: You and your allies have been traveling for some time and are aware of the fact that you’re approaching Ashton. The village is a well-known stop for travelers and you’ve been anticipating spending time in the village as a break from the harsh winter days. -A Sight for Sore Eyes: You have an old friend that resides in Ashton. You come to Ashton now to visit this friend and catch up. Unfortunately, they have already met a grim fate by the time the heroes reach Ashton. -Following the Trail: You know that a band of marauders has been destroying towns, headed east toward Ashton. You hoped to arrive in time to warn the town, and perhaps fight in their defense.

Preparing for the session

You will first need an account for Discord, which will be used for communication and voice call during sessions. It will also have channels with information you can look over but these are in no way required material. The second thing you'll need is an account on Owlbear Rodeo as this is the VTT we'll be using. When you sign up for this game, you will receive a message/email from StartPlaying with the Discord link and a link to a Google Form I’d like you to fill out.

What Zee brings to the table

I can provide PDFs for pregenerated character, as mentioned under Character Creation. I can also create a token for your character if you find an image that captures what you imagine your hero looks like. Just send me the image and I’ll make the token As far as my style of running the game, I typically try to provide a fairly immersive experience with in-character voices and detailed descriptions, while still keeping things light above table. I do ascribe to the rule of cool, though with Draw Steel still being a fairly new system and the different levels of experience players may have, I will be sticking to the rules as much as possible. Draw Steel is intended to be fairly tactical, but my goal here is not to overwhelm anyone, much less kill your character. I’ll also be playing ambient music and audio tracks to help immerse you into the world of the game.

Homebrew rules

None

How Zee creates a safe table

When you sign up, you will immediately receive a message/email with a link to a Google Form, which will be a checklist of Lines and Veils on topics that might pop up in this one-shot. There will also be space for you to list any of your own boundaries in case there are topics you don't want to see that I have not listed. There will be an Open Door policy during sessions, meaning any player can step away, disconnect from the call, etc. and rejoin at any time without judgement. If you need to do so for your own safety and well-being, please do so. I will not tolerate any player harassing another should they choose to use this policy. Finally, at the end of each session, we will do a quick wrap up where players are free to talk about the session and offer feedback for me. I’m open to any constructive criticism, and I hope to hear if there’s anything you really liked so I know what to focus on in future games.