Let’s make an adventure together. We’re going to take this bit by bit and I hope it will be an interactive process.



We’ll start with the process from the Adventure Design chapter in Torchbearer. I’ll provide my answers, but I’m looking to you to jump in with your own ideas. Nothing is set in stone yet. I’m giving this adventure the working title Robber’s Bridge. We’ll consider final titles later in the process.

Feel free to add your suggestions in this handy form. I’ll choose the best ones (or maybe even do a poll) to build out our adventure

Imagine an adventure location

The first step is to imagine an adventure location. The image above is the Pont Valentré , a six-span fortified stone arch bridge across the Lot River to the west of Cahors, France. The bridge has three square towers (one at each end and one in the middle).



Let’s use this as inspiration. Our adventure location will be a ruined bridge castle. It’s fallen into disrepair and is no longer used for its intended purpose. Perhaps one or more spans have collapsed and no one today has the knowledge and/or the will to repair it? Our location doesn’t have to look exactly like this, though it could. We’re just using the image as a jumping-off point. Let your imagination lead the way.

What was the original purpose of the location?

The bridge was built to fortify the river crossing and enable the collection of tolls. While built with an eye to military purposes, toll collection was the primary purpose. The bridge is just wide enough for two wagons to pass abreast with a little room to spare. The fortified towers ensured that only those who paid the toll could enter the bridge, while the central tower allowed the defenders to close off each side of the bridge independently and rain missile fire down on attackers.

Who inhabited the adventure location originally?

I want to set this adventure in the Middarmark, in which stone fortifications of this sort are very rare. Dwarves could make something like this, of course. The Grælings were once quite close to the dwarves and may have been taught the secrets behind such engineering, though they would have been lost long ago. And we know the legendary Jarl Mærg the Mighty of Lost Mærgdal was enamored of stone fortifications. Or maybe it was a place of ancient, advanced humans like the Ylfarings? Perhaps the elves? Or giants?



My initial inclination is that it was a place of humans from a time when their knowledge was greater, but what do you think? Who made this place? Where was it? What happened to it?

What do the characters want to recover at the adventure location?

What would make the players interested in exploring this forlorn place? My first thought is that a bandit-lord has made the bridge his or her base and is using it to collect and protect treasure and other ill-gotten goods. Perhaps they’ve taken prisoners? Or some other precious object? Maybe a spell book or important relic?



But you tell me what you think is there. Why would the PCs go there?

Why has the adventure location not been plundered already?

If the bandits are using the broken bridge as a base, then whatever ancient treasures that were there have been plundered. But there’s lots of new treasure there due to the bandits’ activities. No one has plundered the plunderers. Yet. Or maybe there’s a secret treasury or vault in the structure that no one has discovered yet? If so, what has kept it hidden?

Who or what inhabits the adventure location now?

My first thought is that human and goblin bandits are using it as their lair these days. Perhaps pirates from the Brotherhood of Plunder, though they tend to confine their activities to Jeilirdal. Maybe a similar group? Something else entirely? I’m imagining this as a low-level adventure, but maybe you want more potent adversaries?



Let’s stop there. Once I’ve gathered your input on the above questions we can start to think about how the new inhabitants have altered the ruin and the types of traps and terrain the PCs might encounter.

