Blogwalk Fantasy #1 : The Curse of the Vault

For as long as you can remember, children have played on Vault Hill. This ancient mound topped with a simple stone edifice stands close by your village and is covered in myriad wild flowers in Summer and perfect sledging snow in Winter – a veritable natural children’s playground all year round. Until now.

Recently, children who play on Vault Hill come back changed. There is a feral look in their eyes and a nastiness in their nature that was absent before. The most well-behaved boy or girl has now takes whatever they want, and they roam the village in packs. A handful of children wouldn’t be a problem. But all of them….!

As the most capable explorer in the village you have been asked to explore Vault Hill and identify the source of this curse. It is many years since the stone lid of the Vault has been raised, but perhaps now is the time to open it once again and venture inside.

Good luck, brave adventurer!

After a brisk walk up the Hill you arrive at the Vault itself – a stone sarcophagus surrounded by a low stone wall with steps leading up. Though it has not been opened in your lifetime you know from local lore that this is no simple coffin but a gateway inside the Hill. Who built this edifice, and why, is lost to the mists of time.

Do you:

Search the area?

Try to open the sarcophagus?

Welcome to the first Blogwalk Fantasy adventure where you write the story! This is a Choose Your Own Adventure spanning multiple blogs and authors and is something of an experiment just to see how this takes shape.

For Writers

If you want to join in, post that you will claim one of the links above and it will be flagged as taken on a first come, first served basis. When you have posted your entry, leave a comment and I will link it to your site. Your post should contain two or more hooks at the bottom which can then be claimed be other writers, and so it goes on.

If you don’t get the hook you want, don’t be discouraged – follow the links through to the other sites and claim one further down the path. There’s always room for more contributors!

Your entries can be as short or in-depth as you wish. A single sentence which furthers the story and opens up more options is just as cool as a full combat encounter complete with tactical map, monsters stats and treasure. There’s no limit to system of choice either – if you want to post a Tunnels & Trolls encounter which follows on from a 4e D&D combat or a portal to a Traveller Class A Starport, that’s great!  This is a great opportunity to showcase your favourite system. Alternatively, keep things system neutral and leave the details up to the reader. It’s entirely up to you.

Don’t forget to link back to this post so your readers can join the story from the beginning. Your post will quite likely include the possibility of the adventurer back-tracking their steps so don’t forget to link back to the previous post as well.

For Players

If you want to play through the adventure, simply make your choices and follow the links (where they exist – if not, why not join in with writing the tale?). Where there is a combat encounter, trap or puzzle the writer will provide stats in the system of their choice. Play through the encounter as normal, convert to your favourite system (please comment your conversion!) or simply continue through.

Your hero is local to the area and has a reputation as an explorer. Beyond that, his attributes and personality is up to you. He could be a Fighter full of wonderlust, an inquisitive Halfling Rogue, a studious Wizard prone to wandering off or something else entirely. If you wish to generate him (or her) in your favourite system I recommend starting at 1st level or equivalent with equipment suitable for an adventurer at the very start of their career. Post your adventurer in a blogpost of your own and link to it in the comments if you want to share.

Lead on brave hero, and see if you can solve The Curse of the Vault!