Hi! Was looking at Pirate Borg adventures my group of PB fans might not have read and came across 1ShotAdventures’ The Siren’s Citadel. A bit on the goofier side, but a very strong adventure all the same.
https://1shotadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/The-Sirens-Citadel-5E.pdf
Was wondering if anyone’s played it, and if they think it could translate to Pirate Borg.
Hi! I recently wrote a three-act fan-campaign for the 2026 Mini-Campaign Jam.
It's a game that finally answers what the promised apocalypse looks like in Delta Green, what comes after, and how the Agents respond to it. If you're interested in existential horror, an investigation that spans the North American continent, and tying up the last loose thread from the Raid that started it all, check it out!
You can find the fan-campaign here!
And the main jam here!
Hi!
I was rereading Curse of Strahd and got interested in the part where they discuss Strahd's three goals, in particular around Strahd choosing an heir. As written, he ultimately finds any usurpers lacking.
I was thinking about an alternative to this - what if he's genuine?
Drawing on the great fantasy series Beyonders by Brandon Mull, in that story the heroes (coincidentally outsiders thrust into a magical world) must assemble the pieces of a magic word that can kill the evil overlord wizard. The twist is that >!the magic word doesn't even kill him, and was left intentionally scattered by the wizard to test who would make the best servants - who were the most dedicated, the strongest, the most cunning.!<
I was thinking there was potential there for something similar with Strahd. Why does he leave three magical relics with the power to kill him just lying around his quite small domain? What if they are an intentional treasure hunt, a test to see who is worthy to beat his guards and ultimately take his place.
I like the idea of the heroes storming the castle and Strahd saying "You've proved yourselves, the first in ages! You are strong enough to replace me and shoulder this curse."
The players, probably, say no, and then that leads to a big fight where they either kill him or flee. Then it goes into the hunting Vampyr ending, where they search for the true way to break the cycle. And if one of them does say yes, then it's the same but they take the place of Strahd.
I'm not sure this would mesh well with Strahd's other goals of killing Van Richten and especially wooing Irena, but I thought it might be an interesting take to the "gather these objects three" part of the campaign.
Anyway, I'm also curious if people have done other interpretations of his desire for an heir! Has any PC actually replaced Strahd?
I'm running some players through a scenario I wrote for the 9th Annual Night at the Opera contest. Here's a write-up of the first part!
---
The Briefing
It is March 25th, 2024. Agents SHALIMAR (FBI agent), SELLERS (mob doctor), and SUNDAY (astrophysicist) are making their way through TSA at Miami International Airport. They’ve just completed an operation in the Florida Everglades, determining that a strange cryptid was in fact a mere albino crocodile tangled in fishing gear. The Agents are about to board their flights home when their handler catches up and shuffles them to a new plane with a new mission.
The case officer then assigns the mission, Operation ZENOLITH FLAGSTAFF:
March 25th, 2024
The Agents fly into San Juan around midday, exhausted and thrown from one tropical locale to another. SELLERS immediately makes a beeline for liquor and cigars (spending way more than necessary on future “bribes”) while the other two discover from a tourist that La Parguera is well known for being near Highway 303, also known as “La Ruta Extraterrestre” for its history of alien lights. The team decides to retrieve the powder sample first before visiting BioDefense, and sets out for the town with a rental van and jeep.
Arriving in the coastal seaside town around the afternoon, a K-9 unit, Mia, greets the Agents at the police station. The two detectives, Zulma and Miguel, take a shine to SELLERS from his gifts while SHALIMAR fakes needing the restroom to snoop around the offices. She notes that Miguel is living well above his means, in addition to several missing pet posters on a community cork board.
When SHALIMAR returns, the detectives lead the trio down to the morgue, where they take in a terrible sight: Lauren Hall’s body, resting on a tarp in the center of the room, has been recreated as the search party found her. She’s been peeled open from various incisions; the individual tendons, muscles, bones, and nerves are all splayed like branching tessellations or untangled string. Her internal organs, including her brain, have been removed and arranged in a circle around the body in plastic bags.
When the medical examiner, Bella, says hello a little too cheerfully, SHALIMAR and SELLERS both recoil in horror, SELLERS taking time to steady himself while SHALIMAR rushes back to the bathroom to throw up. SUNDAY, an astrophysicist and astrologist now left alone, smiles and nods his way through Bella’s explanation of the forensic results. He notes a smell like brimstone or sulfur, evoking his memories of alchemical studies.
When SHALIMAR and SELLERS regain their composure, the three take to studying the body in earnest. They find the wounds to have been made by a large but sharp object, and her hands and feet were pierced by another object. In the pierced holes they find flakes of painted carbon fiber. They also find the so-called unnatural powder, a fine silver crystal like sand or sugar. They even catch a fingerprint in the powder.
When Bella excuses herself to finish the day and prepare samples of the powder for the “forensics team,” the three Agents stay behind. SELLERS and SHALIMAR wipe down the body and its parts of any traces of the powder while SUNDAY cross-references the strange smell the substance gives off and the reported chemicals from the initial test. He finds it contains elements and chemicals commonly associated with alleged alchemical formulas, including the “universal solvent” alkahest.
The Agents decide to claim jurisdiction over Lauren’s body tomorrow to move to BioDefense for further study and settle in for the night. SELLERS talks up the detectives and joins them for a night at the bar, learning Zulma is openly corrupt about planting drugs and taking bribes, while Miguel hides his disdain behind jokes. SHALIMAR uses bugs disguised as cigarettes to listen in from her hotel room, though she doesn’t learn anything else and falls asleep in front of the TV. SUNDAY, usually suffering from a sleep disorder, calls it an early night and finally manages to fall asleep.
March 26th, 2024
SUNDAY wakes up on the beach, up to his ankles in the waves. His pants, shoes, and socks are soaked. The moon is starting to set. In his hand is a bloody GPS dog collar. He begins searching the beach for any sign of a dog when his stomach suddenly hurts. Involuntarily, he begins to retch, coughing up bits of bone, flakes of metal, and finally vomits a piece of a dog’s ear.
Stunned, SUNDAY throws the collar in the ocean and retreats back to the hotel. As early as he can he wakes up SHALIMAR and SELLERS and tells them what happened. While digging in his pocket for his phone, SUNDAY also discovers the burner their handler gave was taken apart and haphazardly put back together. They find the silver powder on the pieces.
The team decides to go straight for BioDefense. SUNDAY takes a shower and finds more of the silver powder coming off his skin, and experiments with tossing a razor into the water to see if it does anything, to no effect. While SHALIMAR checks out and loads up their stuff, SELLERS notices their jeep rental has been curiously defaced; the windshield wipers removed, a few bolts holding the tires on disappeared, and the metal letters for the brand filed off. When SUNDAY sees the letters are gone, he puts two and two together that he ate those last night. SHALIMAR pulls silver prints from the jeep that match SUNDAY (but not those on Lauren’s body), while SUNDAY searches the bushes and finds a toolbox with items he suspects he used to deface the car—and who knows what else.
The trio bags Lauren’s body and powder samples and drives in their van back to San Juan. They perform middling reconnaissance around BioDefense, most damningly hacking into their Teams channels and discovering the scientists are trying to justify buying more expensive Himalayan tea for the break room.
Entering through the front, they come across a bizarre collection of the Program’s best and brightest. Xenobiologist Dr. Hannah Kim, working on retrofitting a military surveillance drone with a device to detect “the Grays.” Exo-marine ecologist Dr. Evan Wolff, dissecting a frog to study various strains of “aquatic humanoid genomes.” And chemist and archivist Dr. Oscar Martinez, well past his prime.
Dr. Oscar studies the silver powder samples while SHALIMAR, who used drone surveillance in the early days, talks with Dr. Hannah about her belief in the Grays and their history of cattle mutilations and experimentation. SELLERS talks with Dr. Evan about the so-called aquatic humanoids. When Dr. Oscar is uncertain if the unnatural powder compound is in their notes, SUNDAY volunteers to help with searching the archives.
To keep an eye on things back in La Parguera, SHALIMAR decides to drive the van back to the tourist town. As the sun sets, and the sky darkens with clouds, she catches sight of the Tethered Aerostat Radar System’s silhouette in the moonlight. Then she finds a knotted rope in the middle of the road, dangling up from the clouds.
SHALIMAR stops her car. After a moment she gets out to investigate, hand on her gun. She approaches carefully. When she tugs on the rope, the rope tugs back. They end up in a tug of war, until SHALIMAR pulls with all her strength and “wins.” The rope falls to the ground, connected to nothing.
SHALIMAR is staring at the rope when something clatters from the sky, breaking in two. A dog treat. A piece of paper flutters down next. Hesitantly, she picks it up. The paper reads:
“GOOD. DOG.”