Exploring the Hidden Cavern

Common character themes:

Sword and Sorcery

Main characters are Humans. Monsters are mysterious. Magic is fear, evil, and generally at great cost.

TTRPG Fantasy

Tolkien worlds, with Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and all the fantasy trappings. Dragons are real and some people can cast magic spells.

Renaissance

Adventures abound, but people are usually human, and magic is limited. Monsters are generally animals or the occasional witch.

Cavern surprises:

Pit/Dart/Boulder trap
Magical spring.

Cavern Occupants:

A small group of Goblins/Kobolds
Animated Skeletons
Living Ooze

Cavern Treasures:

A chest of gold.
A magical Sword
Ancient Art/Stories
Automata machine.

Found items:

A friendly bat
A forgotten map
A key type object

In character:

You will be playing in a character. The characters will describe the events that happened to make the story.

The focus is to have fun. Sometimes craziness ensues and you may break character (especially laughing). While you should minimize the break, it’s more important to ignore the obvious out of character laughing that can happen.

Yes/And

You should strive to take whatever narrative is presented by the host and other characters and add to it to build the story. Those unexpected curveballs are what makes the exercise fun.

No/But

Lines and Veils are in full effect. If the narrative turns to an area that you can’t just ignore or play through, say something.

If a player says something about “I’d rather not go into detail”, assume that we need to “fade to black”. It still happens, but we should not describe more detail on the action.

If a play says, “I’d rather not talk about that”, or “Let’s talk about something else”. Assume it’s a line and find a different direction to go.

Hard stop:

If anyone says, “Break Break Break”, this is our safe word. Stop and the person who broke tells us if we need to strike a topic from the story or what we need to do to move forward. Can also be used for real life intrusions.

Opening:

Welcome to the Survivor's Tavern podcast where we interview a different group of travelers to tell us stories of their latest adventures.
This episode is titled “Exploring the Hidden Cavern”
Our guests tonight returned from exploring a hidden cave. They found more than they expected. This is their story.

Introductions

Let’s go around and tell me who you are and something about yourself.

The Trigger

Before we get into the story, let’s go back to how you found this hidden cavern.

How

Was your group directed to the area the cave was, or did you blindly stumble upon the entrance.

Directed:

Did you have a map? How did you get that?
What were the rumors of the cave?
How far did you have to travel to get there?

Stumbled:

Why were you in the area?
How did you find the entrance?
What was the reason you decided to go into the cavern?

Stakes

Going in.

How difficult was it to get into the cavern proper?
Did you manage your way carefully deeper into the cave, or was there an accident that pushed you to go deeper?

Secrets to behold

Once into the cave, what was it that made you realize this was no normal cavern?
What was the interesting thing you came across while exploring the darkness?
How were you able to see? Or were you stumbling mostly blind?
What did you find that made you realize that there may be riches ahead?

Turning Point

There was a particularly risky point in the exploration. What or who did you run across? (Traps, Creatures, or items?)

Challenge

Traps

Tell me about the traps you ran across?
Who was injured and what did you need to do to continue on?
How did you get past the trap(s)?

Creatures:

What creatures did you run into?
Did they attack on sight? How did you deal with them?
Tell me about the (meeting | battle)?
How did your time with them end?
What did this cost you?

Items

What were the items you found?
How did they help you? | What did they mean to you?
What was the unexpected thing that happened while examining them?

Discovery

Moving forward

What secret did you uncover to move you in the direction of finding the treasure?
What obstacles did you overcome?

Resolution

Where there any surprises to the treasure room?
What was the most interesting thing recovered by each of you?
Was there anything left behind and why or why not?

Exit

How did you get back out of the cave?

Aftermath

The return

Did the treasure bring you fame or fortune?
What reactions did you get when you returned with your treasure?

Fallout

Was there any notable disagreements after finding the treasure? Was that ever resolved?
If it were to happen again, would you bother exploring an unknown cavern again?

Closing:

This has been the Survivor’s Tavern podcast coming to you from the backroom at the Survivor's Tavern and end at the Crossroads to everywhere. 'Til next time, may all your adventures be worth the trouble.