Two weeks ago we announced the release of Captured by Adventure, the first digital adventure module in the official setting of SyncRPG, The Mirror Realms of the Tempest. We’ve been streaming a playtest of the adventure on Twitch weekly on Thursdays and archiving the recordings (warning: spoilers!) on our YouTube channel, and we’re ready to begin running public sessions of the adventure.

Due to the ongoing nature of an adventure module that spans three levels, this time around we’re looking to run games for self-organized, already formed groups ready to commit to a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. If you and two to four of your friends want to try SyncRPG and play the first module, please reach out to us on Google+, our forums thread, or directly at team@syncrpg.com!

On the GM side of things, as part of our goal of creating a setting that is both ours and yours, we have added places for user-created content directly into the digital adventure module. Marked with a green outline and lowercase “s” in the module maps for Tempest adventures, social nodes contain optional NPCs, maps, or encounters that GMs can create and run in their games, and then share online for other GMs to use. The user creations show up directly alongside the adventure module content, and are usable with a single drag-drop.

In Captured by Adventure, four social nodes are spread throughout the module where creative GMs can participate in our shared world by adding NPCs from a text statblock or from HeroLab. Each node has “creator instructions” to help you design an encounter that is a good fit for the area, both thematically and in terms of game balance.

Spoiler Warning: The remainder of this post contains spoilers and links to module content. If you want to keep the adventure a surprise for yourself, steer clear!

The adventure opens in Buridaak, the village of the Red Tusk orcs. The PCs must escape the village, and while doing so run into several groups of orcs patrolling the camp. GMs are encouraged to add their own unique orc NPCs to these patrols to customize the adventure for their players, and help vary the encounters and loot in the early adventure. Add a single orc NPC with a recommended CR of 1, tag it with “buridaakpatrol”, and it will be presented in the node for everyone to use!

A large portion of the adventure takes place in the Dankwood jungle, as the PCs frantically flee from the Red Tusk orcs. We’ve recently released a number of jungle encounter maps from Gabriel Pickard, and they’re ready for you to drop in whatever beast or other Dankwood-dweller you like: Just tag your monsters or NPCs “dankwood” and they’ll show up in Ds! Personalize the escape through the jungle for your group, help add more depth to the Dankwood, and plant seeds for other GMs to harvest later in their own games!

By simply tagging an NPC or quest you’ve created with “Gotian,” other users will be able to find them when they’re looking to flesh out the city themselves. The clever halfling innkeeper or surly militia captain that you use in your own game can be associated with the town forever, and truly become part of the town. As more people participate, the population of of the town grows and creates real, usable VTT assets—assets everyone can enjoy!

In the final scene of the adventure, the Red Tusk orcs descend upon the town of Gotian in a storm of violence and fire. Every able-bodied man and woman in the town participates in the battle, and the PCs are tasked with dealing with the various waves of attackers that break through the front lines and attempt to wreak havoc on the young, weak, and scared. Several encounters are presented in F. The Battle of Gotian, and they can be supplemented or replaced with interesting orcs or monsters of your own! If your players have forged relationships with the NPCs of Gotian, consider creating a special strike force to engage with them!

Join us and try playing with the tools. This social RPG experiment is just the beginning and it only grows better the more people we have to play with. Check it out!

Discuss 'Open Games and New Social Content For Captured by Adventure!' on the SyncRPG forums