PTFOOO: GM Prep for Gordin's Delve!

Answering some questions. Envisioning our dramatis personae. Setting up the session.

PTFO:Stonetop is still on hiatus until January 16th, but last week I started to take some GM notes about our upcoming destination, and I thought it’d be a fun way to knock the rust off to write up my prep and share it with you folks as we’re heading into 2023. This episode will be mainly about the craft of gamemastering — how to dig into your established story to help shape your worldbuilding — so if that sort of thing doesn’t interest you, this one can be safely skipped.

Stonetop has some great GM tools for planning a trip to its various locales, so I thought it’d be interesting to look at how I used them to set up our adventure. Last episode’s poll put the question of our next destination to the readers — I spoiled it in the title, of course, but let’s look at the specific results:

A pretty narrow margin for Gordin’s Delve! For those that voted otherwise, never fear — the party will have some time to do some homefront tasks before setting off, and we’ll visit Marshedge for our unfinished business before the story ends. But for now, we turn west towards Gordin’s Delve, a rough-and-tumble boomtown of miners and treasure hunters nestled among the ruins of the Makers.

Building our Gordin’s Delve

Bringing an RPG campaign to a new setting is always an exciting and sometimes overwhelming prospect. For me, the temptation is to overdevelop things — to spend a ton of time thinking about the recent and not-so-recent history of the location and the many NPCs and factions that populate it. That’s all well and good, but the key to preparing the right material is to develop the location around the action that is likely to happen in the course of our story and around the characters and their relationships there.

One of the reasons why I like Stonetop’s worldbuilding so much is that it lays an excellent foundation and then gives you room to develop your elements of the setting. For each location in the game world, Stonetop’s world almanac very helpfully includes questions designed to tie the characters to the setting and give the GM lots of great material to develop dramatic situations that link back to the PCs’ backstories, as well as a chance to create your material atop worldbuilding foundations the creator has laid out as part of the game.

For this installment, we’ll go through six of the questions the creator provided for Gordin’s Delve and answer them. Our answers will help us recall what we’ve already established about Gordin’s Delve and yield a handful of NPCs that we can use to populate the first few sessions and sketch out the allies and opposition to our heroes’ mission. Before we dive into the guided prep, let’s quickly re-establish a few basic facts we already know about the Delve:

1. Gordin’s Delve is a rough-and-tumble mining boomtown, a four-day journey west of Stonetop. There is no formal government; It is instead ruled by five bosses who each oversee critical trades within the town.

2. Padrig spent a few years in Gordin’s Delve as a mercenary — guarding caravans, taking part in Hillfolk feuds, and eventually getting embroiled in the internal politics of the bosses before being driven out of town at daggerpoint.

3. Our objective in Gordin’s Delve is to acquire information about the location of a hidden tomb — the barrow of the ancient sorcerer king Yezkial the Thrice-Betrayer. In that tomb is hidden a vital artifact — Stormcatcher’s Crown — which will allow Vahid to unlock the power of the arcanum hidden beneath Stonetop. That information is kept by Elder Kirs, the father of our party’s Hillfolk friends Katrin and Kirs (the younger, now deceased), who guides tomb robbers into the barrows to pay for what Katrin intimated was a serious pharmakeia habit.

Those are the basics — let’s get into the details with the questions Stonetop asks us. In answering them, we’ll review what we’ve already established and envision some new details as well.

Six Questions about the Delve

Question 1: When was the last round of violence between the Delvers and the Hillfolk? What did it cost you, personally?

We’ve previously established that the Delvers and the Hillfolk were in an open feud around the time Padrig and the Claws were chased out of town, and Brennan’s bandits first made their bones by fighting in that feud. This was first established in Padrig’s Session Zero but then in more detail in Session 3.2. In that episode, Padrig was confronted by a malign spirit, the nosgolau, which made him face the ghosts of his dead comrades. After the spirit was driven away, Pad, shaken by the experience, was quite forthcoming about his bloodstained past:

The Claws was our band. Or, is our band. Started as caravan guards outside of Gordin’s Delve, then the merchants hired us to deal with the Hillfolk. Then the Hillfolk hired us to help them rob the caravans, and then we started to rob them on our own … We partnered up with one of the crew bosses, Jahalim of the Keys, but once he caught wind of Brennan’s plan, he sold us out to the other bosses — the only time they work together is to cut someone out of the trade. When we walked into their ambush, the Claws were 40 strong. Now, half that at best.

We also established that Juba, our friendly Hillfolk meistr, ended the latest round of feuding. Kirs (the younger) told Anwen back in Session 8.1:

He died two winters ago while we were still feuding with the Delvers. Juba buried the adze with them after we gave Rogr to the sky. It would be good to have him here now, with the Stormcrows and this hdour to contend with,” he says, his voice trailing into silence.

As for what it cost — this is the site of Padrig’s greatest defeat. He lost several of his crew there, and he still blames himself for not being able to bring them out safely.

Question 2: Which of you have been here before?

As we established in the previous question, Padrig has been to the Delve. Vahid has not — his journey from Lygos didn’t make it that far before he was sidetracked in Stonetop by the discovery of the Maker ruins there, and Anwen is quite parochial — the first time she ever left Stonetop was with the party in Session 3.

Returning to Gordin’s Delve will be a dicey proposition for Padrig. He’ll need to keep a low profile and avoid attracting the notice of people who might remember him. This is a tricky balance to strike as a GM — we don’t want to make it impossible for Padrig to contribute to the next story arc, but we also want to stay true to his backstory and use it to create some dramatic danger. So, we’ll envision that he’s not necessarily in ‘kill-on-sight’ territory — the Claws left years ago, and the Bosses have likely moved on to new enemies — but if he attracts someone’s negative attention, his past will make it that much worse.

Question 3: Who here should you never, ever cross?

Since we’re trying to make our prep relevant to our PCs, the easy answer here is Jahalim of the Keys. He’s the only Delve boss we’ve named dropped, and he’s an important figure in Pad’s backstory. But so far, he’s only been a name — we need to flesh him out a bit.

Stonetop’s almanac gives us very little detail about the Bosses, so we can fill in the blanks in a way that works for our story. All we know is their names and what area of the town economy they control:

• Mutra the Teeth (mines, timber)

• Odo Thriceborn (mines, housing)

• Honest Draigh (trade with Marshedge, food)

• Jahalim of the Keys (Foundry)

• Smiling Ffransis (water, booze)

Jahalim runs the Foundry and was instrumental in defeating Brennan, who was emerging as a significant threat to the town. For our story, we’ll envision that this success has placed him atop the current pecking order for the Delve — he has the most and the best enforcers, and he is not to be trifled with.

What else is essential to establish about Jahalim? Well, his name tells us that he’s Lygosi, or from points south — so he and Vahid might be able to connect over tales of home. We also know that his epithet, “of the Keys,” implies that he is a gatekeeper of some sort. It seems likely that one of those keys unlocks the Foundry (or something vital within it), but I also like the idea that he has something to do with the local justice system (such that it is). One idea I came up with was that he has a Judge of Aratis locked up in the Foundry, and despite being imprisoned by Jahalim, the priest still performs as the town’s arbitrator. I don’t know if we’ll need an NPC like that, but I was really vibing with the idea of a priest of the law, imprisoned in a lawless place.

“They say Gordin’s Delve is a place without law, but lo — when I pull on his chain, the law appears before me!” Source: Midjourney

Finally, going into Session 10, if we’re going to use an encounter with Jahalim and his faction as a threat, an opportunity, or an obstacle, we’ll need to understand his core motivations. I’ve been using the Ironsworn Theme Oracles to decide this, but this time I’m also going to use a bit of Stonetop rules-tech. For Jahalim and for the other NPCs we’ll envision for prep, we’ll craft the theme result into an Instinct, like Padrig’s Caution and Anwen’s Defiance (for a refresher on their instincts, see each PC’s Session Zero).

Rolling on the Theme Oracle gave me Leader for Jahalim — we’ll interpret that as an instinct To amass power, to lead the Delve. Gordin’s Delve has no ruler — yet. Jahalim intends to rise to the top.

We don’t need to define the other five Delve bosses, but I thought it’d be worth it to touch on two more. Honest Draigh is connected to Marshedge, and therefore he could be connected to one of our significant threats: Brennan.

We don’t need to establish yet whether he’s in league with Brennan or staunchly opposed — we can let circumstances dictate that for us if and when an opportunity arises. For his instinct, the Theme oracle gave us Possession, and we’ll interpret that straightforwardly, with an instinct To covet valuable, rare, or precious things. Draigh is in it for the money — material comforts, freedom from want, and the ability to buy what he pleases.

The second Boss of interest is Smiling Ffransis. ‘Ffransis’ is a Stonefolk name¹, so we can envision that this boss is originally from Stonetop and left some time ago before rising to near the top of the pile in the Delve. Being a gang boss in the Delve isn’t a profession that kindly folks excel in, so Ffransis is likely a rough customer and may have left Stonetop on bad terms. Let’s envision that Ffransis is a little older than Padrig and was a local strongman and troublemaker. He became embroiled in a blood feud that ended with his side in defeat and him exiled from the village. This was perhaps one of the ways in which Owain established himself as the village’s protector before eventually falling into shame and exile himself. We may or may not tangle with Ffransis, but it’s good to know he’s out there -- he probably still hates Owain, so if the party can make it known they caused his downfall, it might turn him up sweet.

For his instinct, the Theme oracle gave us War. We’ll envision that Ffransis isn’t thrilled with the current pecking order and wants to move up in the world — but he also loves a good scrap. We’ll envision his instinct as To push things towards violent confrontation, to topple the established order.

Question 4: Who’s the merchant who trades the most with Stonetop?

We haven’t explored this in-game, so we must invent a fresh NPC here. I envisioned a merchant named Kanter, who brings Stonetop whiskey and grain to the Delve in exchange for iron tools and reforged bronze. Kanter is of uncertain origin — perhaps the Manmarches, perhaps Marshedge. For our merchant ‘friend,’ the theme Oracle gave was Opportunity — Kanter is a small-timer and, like Ffransis, is looking for an opportunity to move up. His instinct is To look for a chance to get rich quick.

Stonetop is not an important trading partner (most trade goes through Marshedge and bypasses our village to head directly to Gordin’s Delve), so Kanter is a small-time peddler. In Gordin’s Delve, merchants and tradesfolk are protected by Keeps (for a cut of their earnings), and the Keeps align themselves with one or more Bosses. Kanter is aligned with Raul the Limper, a seasoned blacksmith who is, in turn, associated with our old friend Jahalim of the Keys. For Raul’s theme, I rolled Safety. We’ll imagine him as a Keep who protects his tradespeople fiercely — not because he loves them, but because they must keep working. His instinct is To keep the anvils ringing.

Question 5: Who left Stonetop to come up here? What’s the last you’ve heard of them?

Other than Smiling Ffransis, who we talked about in the ‘who not to cross’ section, there’s one other character we’ve established as having gone to the Delve — Rheisart, a childhood friend of Anwen’s. In Session 5.6, during Anwen’s initiation, we introduced him as he stood alongside her at the ceremony:

On her right is Rheisart, the blacksmith’s younger apprentice. He and Anwen have often daydreamed together about exploring the world beyond Stonetop — now, he plans to leave for Gordin’s Delve when he is recognized by the village to better master his trade.

Now that we’re coming to the Delve, we can bring this detail back. We’ll envision that Rheisart has moved to the Delve and is apprenticing in Raul the Limper’s smithy. Rheisart can serve as a friendly local contact to get our heroes started, but he’s also a vulnerability: If the party makes local trouble, he might get caught up in it.

For Rheisart’s theme, I rolled Home — a somewhat on-the-nose result. Gordin’s Delve is probably a pretty overwhelming experience for a young man from Stonetop, so we’ll envision Rheisart as someone torn between homesickness and his ambitions to be a great blacksmith for the village, and record his instinct as To return home… but perhaps not yet. The PCs might play a role in helping Rheisart return home, or to decide to stay.

Question 6: What are they said to eat up here, besides goats and imported grain?

This question is just a bit of fun, imaginative world-building to provide some window-dressing for the setting. For my version of Gordin’s Delve, I envisioned rock crickets, which are large arthropods that look like a mixture of a locust and a lobster. During their spawning season, they crawl into the mine caves, up from the underground lakes and rivers, and miners can trap them en masse. They’re steamed or roasted over an open flame (alive in both cases — their meat goes bad quickly), and their tough shells are broken with blacksmith’s hammers.

This worldbuilding is a bit of historical homage — many of the 19th-century mining boomtowns in the western United States were fed on canned lobster, so it seemed appropriate for our fantasy miners to be feasting on something similar.

Setting up the Session

Stonetop and PbtA roleplaying games encourage GMs to avoid prepping specific stories and lean more into situations. Now that we have some NPCs tied to our heroes, we can start to rough out the situation they’re entering as they head toward Gordin’s Delve, which can give us an excellent base to build on as the story unfolds. Based on the above, here’s what I’m thinking:

• The party is heading to Gordin’s Delve looking for Elder Kirs, hoping to persuade him to lead them to a lost barrow in search of Stormcatcher’s Crown.

• Gordin’s Delve is currently experiencing some unrest due to rising tensions between the locals and the Hillfolk nomads, who have begun to return to the grasslands now that it is Spring. Behind these rising tensions is our villain, Cirl the hdour, but that will likely remain in the background.

• The rising tensions will complicate the search for Elder Kirs in Gordin’s Delve — after all, Kirs is a nomad, and his outcast status will not save him from a rising tide of anti-Hillfolk sentiment among the Delvers.

• Meanwhile, Jahalim is using these tensions to consolidate his hold on the Delve. Smiling Ffransis, along with at least one other Delve Boss, is moving to check his power and looking for capable fighters. Pad’s history as a member of a bandit crew could go a long way here.

Along with those broad strokes, I’ve got a few questions about each of the PCs that we’ll look to answer during play:

• Will Padrig be recognized, and if he is, what will the fallout be for the party and Stonetop?

• How will Anwen respond to the violent, rough-and-tumble nature of Gordin’s Delve?

• How will Vahid balance diplomacy, knowledge, and spooky Seeker vibes to guide the party through the politics of the Delve?

With that, we’ve got some NPCs we can use, a high-level situation to guide scene-setting, and some open questions we can try to answer dramatically. If you’ve got any questions you’re curious to see answered through play, jump down into the comments and let me know!

There are some loose ends to tie up in Stonetop and a few Homefront moves to trigger, and then we’ll set off for the Delve and begin building on this prep. If rolls go smoothly, the party might get into the Delve, find Kirs, persuade him to help them, and leave without much worry — but for each Weak Hit or Miss result, we’ll use all the above prep points to introduce the appropriate complications, and, of course, play to find out what happens!

PTFO:Stonetop returns on 1/16/2023!

I hope you had an outstanding holiday, if a holiday it was. I took two weeks off, spent it with video games and family, and it was quite lovely, but I’m ready to get back to work, and I am hyped indeed to return to our adventures and journey to the Delve!

1. This is something the creator of the game very helpfully pointed out on the official Stonetop Discord (which you can get access to, along with the playtest rules I’m using now, by preordering).