The Ravensvale Coven

For anyone curious about the process I use when designing stuff...

Sitting here this morning, drinking coffee and surfing twitter. One of the many humans I follow on Twitter, a certain Madame Hyvemynd posted a little something of her life in Japan.

"Japan: Where gangs of old people wander through the neighborhood on winter nights, banging two blocks of wood together, as a way to remind residents to be careful with their oil/gas heaters and not burn their houses down."

Normally I not nearly focused enough in the mornings to give serious thought to anything. (Welcome to the life of a coffee zombie) However that one sentence sparked an interesting thought. Not having anything resembling mental discipline this early, I answered her with...

"There is background for a ttrpg town there..."

Almost immediately, my non-caffeinated lump of mildew laden gray matter spit out this...

"I'm thinking the old witch in town, on the eve of the full moon. Wanders the streets clacking two pieces of wood together, as a reminder to residents to lock their doors and shutters. Because a Night Hag wanders to town on the night of the full moon."

It didn't take long for that idea to romping off on it's own, opening up ancient story ideas I have filed away in the kludge of unrealized hooks and adventures that occupies the library dwarf living in my cranium. So know I ask you to picture and short, harried looking individual. Scurrying around a room, piled high with old books, small scraps of paper, and general untidiness. This is the great library of ideas and snippets that is my brain. In bursts an anemic looking clown that begins riffling thru all the stacks of paper, and starts stuffing random pieces of paper in it's mouth. The dwarf looks startled at first, then calmly picks up a trash can and catchers mitt, sedately waiting for the inevitable avalanche of the recently created wild idea that just wandered in...

The Ravensvale Coven

At the foot of Bushka mountain, in the region of Kharkusch, lies the small village of Ravensvale. If the PCs stop for resupply and rest, they might notice a few strange things about the town. First, there are no male children in the village. Yes, there are few older men, but none of them is under the age of 15. Second, all the children in the village wear masks depicting goblin faces. They never take them off. The PCs can ask anyone in town why all the children wear masks, and the locals will only point towards a small hut at the edge of town.

Approaching the small hut, the PCs will notice a wisp of smoke rising from the chimney and the pleasant scent of heavily spiced rabbit stew wafting from the disheveled dwelling. Should the PCs knock, a short, very plump old woman that calls herself Corrina will invite them in for tea. Corrina is actually the Faerie Queen Titania in disguise. During the course of their visit, Corrina will tell them of the Crazy Old Hag Dorothy Doorknobs, that lives on the mountain. The Old hag commands an army of goblins. The Hag has the Goblins watching all the villages in the area, looking for unattended children. If the children are spotted by the goblins, Dorothy will visit that child's house and spirit them away in the night. All the parents in the village hide their children from the goblins by giving them masks of Goblin faces to wear until they reach puberty.


So far, that's all the fluff I've come up with.  What is actually going on is...

Dorothy Doorknobs is Baba Yaga. She lives in a cave, high up on the mountain. Baba Yaga has imprisoned the Erlking (The Goblin King) and is using his power to turn children into Goblins for her army. Before she managed to imprison him however, he managed to curse Baba Yaga. She can longer go out of her cave as Baba Yaga, she must forever appear as Dorothy Doorknobs, a crazy old crone that will do nothing but scream obscenities and throw doorknobs at anyone caught on the mountain. This adventrure is just starting to coalesce in my head space. I know there will be a variety of Hags to battle, maybe a Wytchfire, and lots of Fae to deal with. The PCs will be asked by Corrina to free the Erlking and free the village of the murderous Goblins.

Here's to hoping it inspires some ideas of your own. So until next time...

Happy Gaming!