As promised, here’s an example of an adventure structured as a story circuit from Ion Heart. We actually tried to record this for Unconventional GMs, but technical issues meant we couldn’t get it to work – so here I am recycling it here.
Nimble’s an excellent D&D-adjacent system with no roll-to-hit and some great GMing advice in it – the monsters and opponents here have been reskinned and/or designed using the advice in the core book, and as I often do I’ve just sketched out some possible encounters rather than tying them to a specific location or scene. Other than that, this is presented as a pretty raw example of Actual Prep, that gave a solid 2 hours of low-level D&D fun – enjoy!
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Cult of the Worm-Thing
A Nimble One-Shot (2nd level characters)
Something has woken in the crypts below the old church; an ancient, bloated carrion crawler, left dormant but brought back to life by a group of adventurers. The great WORM, devoured the wizardly leader of the adventurers and his magical items in short order, but not before his followers believed he had transformed into the beast. Now, his cult raid the nearby towns and villagers for sacrifices, hoping to keep the worm growing and sated so it doesn’t eat them.
The adventurers (should match your own party)
Elias the Talented – human wizard, erstwhile leader – deceased, eaten by WORM
Torran the Holy – dwarf cleric, not held captive in the chapel, believes Elias has been eaten
Jerel the Barbarian – a cat-folk barbarian who believes Elias is now the worm-thing
Starsign – elf sneak-thief, running the cult like a racket
Start – the Village of Greendale
Greendale should be a pleasant, welcoming village – on the edge of the Green Hills, they see plenty of traffic from adventurers. But since you arrived, people look funnily at you – folks cross themselves at your passing, and mutter under their breath. The more salubrious inn, the Black Horse, claimed to be full – but you’re sure those rooms are empty – and you’ve been forced to sleep in the Gold Dragon’s stables. But, you’re only here for a while – a foray into the Green Hills beckons, once this rain dies down.
A shout goes up in the peace of the night in the village – THEY’RE HERE! As a group of masked cultists are trying to abduct more sacrifices from the outlying farm
CHECK – can you get there in time? Stakes – how many are already gone
FIGHT – the cultists
Then, it becomes clear that they have been taking people from all over. The town is mistrustful of adventurers, though, as Elias and his party were well known in the area – but they will grudgingly agree to let them rescue the captives.
Combat Encounters
Cultists & Worms (Easy)
4 Worm-Things, Minions, 1d4
1 Cult Leader, Lvl 1, HP 20 (med armour), 2 x 1d8+1 damage (sharp knives), Save DC 10
5 Cultists, Lvl ½, HP 15 (no armour), 1d8+1 damage (knife), Save DC 10
Cultist Patrol (Easy)
1 Cult Chanter, Lvl 1, HP 16 (med armour), Chanting (allies who hear the chanting roll an additional dice when they attack)
6 Cultists, Lvl ½, HP 15 (no armour), 1d8+1 damage (knife), Save DC 10
Worm-Pair (Medium)
2 Worm-things, Lvl 3, HP 41, 2d8+6 damage (bite), Save DC 11
The WORM (Lvl 2 solo)
HP 60 (Medium)
Actions – after each Heroes turn, choose 1
- Shuffle & tentacle – Move 5, attack for 1d10. On damage, Prone
- Big bite – attack for 3d10
Bloodied – At 30 HP, WORM’s damage increases to 1d10+2
Last Stand – At 0 HP, 15 more damage and it dies. Until then, can move and big bite each turn.
The Chapel Grounds
The smell of rain and mud, piles of soil where worms have buried. The occasional grave stands open, suffused by worms, the gravestone listed.
The Chapel
Smells musty and faintly acidic. Chanting is audible everywhere, smoke from braziers is foul-smelling. A trail of worm-goo leads down to the Catacombs
The Catacombs
Strong acidic smell, bright phosphorescent fungus glows on the walls. Oddly warm. Chanting is muffled and occasionally replaced with screams
1d6 Scenes
- Creep into the (patrolled and guarded) chapel complex.
CHECK: Skill challenge. Stakes – potential combat with cultists, discovery
- Explore the worm-tunnels. Jerel the Barbarian is trying to grow samples from the worm’s eggs. Some are near to hatching! Can you convince her this is a foolish mission?
- Deal with a rival posse, charged by the town to hunt the cultists – they HATE adventurers, but are terribly out of their depth. Let by Minshel, a braggart
- Explore the egg-room, where chrysalises of worm-thing eggs hang from the walls and ceiling, glowing softly. Any loud noise will startle them – but could a concoction seal them and prevent hatching?
- Find Torran, a terrified dwarf cleric, who cannot believe what has happened to his friends and is sure that Elias was just eaten, he didn’t merge with the worm-thing
- Fight the mind-melting worm-gasses that suffuse the caves beneath the chapel – that are responsible for the adventurers forming a cult.
If Time…
Montage through the worm-tunnels
Finale
Fight the worm-thing (a legendary monster) in the crypts of the chapel, which it has collapsed and grown into a giant worm with grasping tentacles
