Petals and Thorns

About the adventure

The Bastard Prince Darius, newly promoted commander of the Order of the Lion, believes that his noble blood - out of wedlock or not - entitles him to the loyalty of the peasants while simultaneously obligating him to defend them, and therefore that he must win the throne and restore order to a frontier descending into chaos at any cost. Harlequin, Lunatic Queen of the Lunatic Court, believes the frontier, abandoned by the crown for fifteen years, owes nothing to the nobles who now come to try and reassert control. The knights from west of the river have always proven greedy and sadistic in the past, why should the Lion be any different? Evoker Magus Caspar of the Order of the Third Eye believes that a sufficiently advanced understanding of the universe can solve all problems, and that the intrusion of politics into arcane research must be resisted in any form, lest suffering be pointlessly prolonged as those with the ability to solve them are bogged down in red tape. Lidia Vlatla of the Vlatla Clan of vampires believes that nobody really believes in anything, they just come up with post-hoc justifications for doing what they were going to do anyway. She cuts out the middleman and admits that she's a people-eating monster who gets away with it because she has supernatural powers. And she's in the market for friends to rule the night alongside her. Shirra, Grandmother of the Wood, leader of the Order of the Wyrd, believes that it is the inherent nature, the ultimate destiny of thinking creatures - humans, elves, dwarves, and so on - to learn to resolve such differences without resorting to violence. Nature did not give the ability to reason by accident. It was meant to be used. Caught in the middle of all five is Ramshorn, besieged on all sides by raiders from the depths, knights turned bandit, an ever-growing and endlessly hungry swarm of spiders, and more. Strategically located near the heart of the Great Forest, any of the five factions would like to control Ramshorn for themselves, but to ally with one is to alienate their rivals. Perhaps a tenuous peace can be maintained, or perhaps it is better to build a coalition of those factions you favor and nevermind the enmity brewing amongst those you do not. What do you believe in?

Additional Details

How to prepare

You will need a character ready to go. You will probably need a mic, but very rarely a player communicates purely through text and it works fine.

What I provide

We're playing digitally, so everything is ephemeral. I'm bringing the game.

Gameplay details

Petals and Thorns is a vicious game of warring factions and political intrigue. Combat is manageable even for beginners, but very unforgiving for those who push their luck too far. Roleplay is frequent and critically important to stitching together a winning coalition - no party of 3-7 adventurers could possibly take and hold Vintaria by themselves. Harm to children is an unusual but possible outcome of the game.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

(none)

How will character creation work

Characters are created at level 3. You can roll 4d6 drop lowest or take the standard 15/14/13/12/10/8 array, but if you roll, you have to do it in game, and you have to keep what you get. Characters should be ready to go by the start of the first session, but players are encouraged to talk to each other about what characters they're making in the Discord chat beforehand. All published WotC material is allowed with the exception of the Celestial Warlock (make a Cleric or a Paladin instead), and all material published in my ongoing Chamomile's Guide to Everything is also supported (https://chamomilehasa.blog/chamomile-has-adventures/).

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.