Jul 5, 2025 8:45 am
Every home needs its heroes...
Your small village seems like a haven to you and your friends, but it is not safe.
Dangerous faeries lurk in the forest just outside of town, wicked men and ferocious monsters are a constant threat, and sometimes dark forces find their way into your neighbors’ hearts. You and your companions are young and untested, but ready to protect what matters.
So, having been on the site for a few months now, and with several of the games I've been playing in recently wrapping up, I've been getting the urge to try my hand at GM'ing again. I thought I'd start by running a short, simple adventure using a system near and dear to my heart: Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures.
This will be my first time GM'ing on this site, or any pbp site really. So, fair warning, expect a moderate amount of jank as I work out how to actually run a game here.
First of all, what is BtW?
Beyond the Wall is an OSR-style game. It takes a lot of its rules from early editions of D&D, but updated here and there with some modern sensibilities. It's fairly low-power, low-magic and rules-light. The focus is more on allowing for player improvisation and the DM making on-the-fly rulings, rather than meticulous combat optimization or digging through the rulebook for that one rule that you're sure is in there, somewhere.
Thematically, it draws inspiration from works like those of Ursula K LeGuin and Lloyd Alexander. Players take on the role of a group of childhood friends, the callow youths of a small village. Not quite heroes yet, but full of potential and ready to defend their home when trouble arises.
Character & Village Creation
One of the neat things about BtW is how it handles character creation. Each player picks a 'character handbook' (essentially a predefined character concept, like The Would-Be Knight, The Witch's Prentice or The Goblin's Child. There are a lot of them to pick from), which gives the player their class (warrior, rogue or mage, or in some cases a combination of two classes) and their starting stats. Each playbook then comes with an assortment of 7 tables to roll on. These both modify the character's stats and starts to define their backstory.
So, for example, The Untested Thief might roll that their father is a local merchant (giving them +2 Cha, +1 to Int and Dex, and the Skill of Haggling), that they befriended the village's fishermen as they grew up (+2 Dex and +1 Wis), and that, after a theft gone wrong, they and another PC ended up taking the beating of a lifetime (+2 Con, Skill in Survival, and the other PC gains +1 to Con as well). In this way, each character starts the game with several connections to various people in the village, as well as a shared history with the other PC's.
As the players roll up their characters, the village also takes shape. Each player gets the chance to add a couple of locations and notable NPC's to the village during character creation, if they so choose. In addition, simply picking certain playbooks can alter the village. If a player selects The Nobleman's Wild Daughter, well, then that means there's a noble family living in close proximity to the village, including an estate of some kind. Elves, dwarves and halflings are generally considered strange, rarely seen creatures, but if a player picks something like The Elven Highborn or the Dwarven Rune Caster, well, then in this village they're clearly a little less rare.
Scenario Packs
Scenario Packs are BtW's version of adventure modules. Like the character playbooks, they consist of a central concept and a whole bunch of tables to roll on, from which the GM is then supposed to cohere together the actual adventure. Again, I think it's neat. It means the same Scenario Pack can end up looking wildly different each time it's played.
So, given that this is an interest check thread, I figure I might as well also throw in a poll to see which of a handful of Scenario Packs people might be more or less interested in. If there seems to be enough interest to get a game started, I'll pick one of the more popular Scenario Packs and get a proper recruitment thread started.
The Angered Fae
Someone or something has greatly angered the faerie court in the forest near the village. Now the fae are sowing discord among your friends and family, and village life has been turned on its head. You and your friends must find a way to appease or coerce the fae in order to sort out the mess.
The Hidden Cult
Your little village has become home to something unnatural and tainted. Strange events have led you to suspect the presence of dark magics, and you no longer know whom to trust. It is left to you and your friends to determine the nature of the corruption and free your neighbors from the sway of the forces of Chaos.
The Goblin Infestation
Dark creatures from legend have been sighted in your village, and their wicked handiwork is everywhere. While many in town do not believe that the danger is great, you and your friends have witnessed the works of these monsters firsthand. But why are they attacking your village? Why are they seen again in the lands of men?
The Delivery Quest
Sometimes the greatest adventure for a group of young heroes is simply getting there and back again. A sudden turn of events in the village sends the characters out into the distant world to deliver or retrieve something of great importance. The road is dangerous, and many trials and threats await them. Will the characters reach their destination in time? How will they be changed along the way?
The Witch’s Mistake
Many years ago, perhaps even generations, the witch made a terrible mistake involving a supernatural terror. Now that mistake has come back to haunt the village, and it is a powerful foe. Whether because of fear, uncertainty, or a magical geas, the witch is not able to act, and it is up to the characters to get to the bottom of just what happened and how to save the village from this returned evil.
Your small village seems like a haven to you and your friends, but it is not safe.
Dangerous faeries lurk in the forest just outside of town, wicked men and ferocious monsters are a constant threat, and sometimes dark forces find their way into your neighbors’ hearts. You and your companions are young and untested, but ready to protect what matters.
So, having been on the site for a few months now, and with several of the games I've been playing in recently wrapping up, I've been getting the urge to try my hand at GM'ing again. I thought I'd start by running a short, simple adventure using a system near and dear to my heart: Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures.
This will be my first time GM'ing on this site, or any pbp site really. So, fair warning, expect a moderate amount of jank as I work out how to actually run a game here.
First of all, what is BtW?
Beyond the Wall is an OSR-style game. It takes a lot of its rules from early editions of D&D, but updated here and there with some modern sensibilities. It's fairly low-power, low-magic and rules-light. The focus is more on allowing for player improvisation and the DM making on-the-fly rulings, rather than meticulous combat optimization or digging through the rulebook for that one rule that you're sure is in there, somewhere.
Thematically, it draws inspiration from works like those of Ursula K LeGuin and Lloyd Alexander. Players take on the role of a group of childhood friends, the callow youths of a small village. Not quite heroes yet, but full of potential and ready to defend their home when trouble arises.
Character & Village Creation
One of the neat things about BtW is how it handles character creation. Each player picks a 'character handbook' (essentially a predefined character concept, like The Would-Be Knight, The Witch's Prentice or The Goblin's Child. There are a lot of them to pick from), which gives the player their class (warrior, rogue or mage, or in some cases a combination of two classes) and their starting stats. Each playbook then comes with an assortment of 7 tables to roll on. These both modify the character's stats and starts to define their backstory.
So, for example, The Untested Thief might roll that their father is a local merchant (giving them +2 Cha, +1 to Int and Dex, and the Skill of Haggling), that they befriended the village's fishermen as they grew up (+2 Dex and +1 Wis), and that, after a theft gone wrong, they and another PC ended up taking the beating of a lifetime (+2 Con, Skill in Survival, and the other PC gains +1 to Con as well). In this way, each character starts the game with several connections to various people in the village, as well as a shared history with the other PC's.
As the players roll up their characters, the village also takes shape. Each player gets the chance to add a couple of locations and notable NPC's to the village during character creation, if they so choose. In addition, simply picking certain playbooks can alter the village. If a player selects The Nobleman's Wild Daughter, well, then that means there's a noble family living in close proximity to the village, including an estate of some kind. Elves, dwarves and halflings are generally considered strange, rarely seen creatures, but if a player picks something like The Elven Highborn or the Dwarven Rune Caster, well, then in this village they're clearly a little less rare.
Scenario Packs
Scenario Packs are BtW's version of adventure modules. Like the character playbooks, they consist of a central concept and a whole bunch of tables to roll on, from which the GM is then supposed to cohere together the actual adventure. Again, I think it's neat. It means the same Scenario Pack can end up looking wildly different each time it's played.
So, given that this is an interest check thread, I figure I might as well also throw in a poll to see which of a handful of Scenario Packs people might be more or less interested in. If there seems to be enough interest to get a game started, I'll pick one of the more popular Scenario Packs and get a proper recruitment thread started.
[ +- ] Scenario Packs
The Angered Fae
Someone or something has greatly angered the faerie court in the forest near the village. Now the fae are sowing discord among your friends and family, and village life has been turned on its head. You and your friends must find a way to appease or coerce the fae in order to sort out the mess.
The Hidden Cult
Your little village has become home to something unnatural and tainted. Strange events have led you to suspect the presence of dark magics, and you no longer know whom to trust. It is left to you and your friends to determine the nature of the corruption and free your neighbors from the sway of the forces of Chaos.
The Goblin Infestation
Dark creatures from legend have been sighted in your village, and their wicked handiwork is everywhere. While many in town do not believe that the danger is great, you and your friends have witnessed the works of these monsters firsthand. But why are they attacking your village? Why are they seen again in the lands of men?
The Delivery Quest
Sometimes the greatest adventure for a group of young heroes is simply getting there and back again. A sudden turn of events in the village sends the characters out into the distant world to deliver or retrieve something of great importance. The road is dangerous, and many trials and threats await them. Will the characters reach their destination in time? How will they be changed along the way?
The Witch’s Mistake
Many years ago, perhaps even generations, the witch made a terrible mistake involving a supernatural terror. Now that mistake has come back to haunt the village, and it is a powerful foe. Whether because of fear, uncertainty, or a magical geas, the witch is not able to act, and it is up to the characters to get to the bottom of just what happened and how to save the village from this returned evil.
