Death on the Glacier
Originally written for the #AdventureJam, Sleeping Above A Stolen Crown is an adventure module for Lancer RPG set in Sparr, a snowbound planet with a bloody history.
Frozen deep within the ice, an ancient remnant of that history awakens; an injustice which demands to be avenged. Alongside the brutal Sparri winter, and the strange beasts which roam her glaciers, the players will need to contend with this new threat, and come to terms with Sparr's violent past.
The complete module will be coming to Kickstarter in November 2021. If you enjoyed this adventure, please follow the Kickstarter now to ensure you don't miss out!
Please do not pay for this adventure unless you really want to support me! Please grab a free copy below! Support me by following and sharing the Kickstarter for the full adventure module instead!
Compatible With COMP/CON
Alongside the adventure, I have provided Comp/Con files for every NPC/encounter in the adventure, so GMS who run the game using Comp/Con have an even easier time prepping!
How Do I Get The Full Adventure?
Written by Laurie O'Connel and illustrated by HODAG RPG, the first adventure, in this module, Death On The Glacier is available for free, now. (OK, so the actual price on itch.io is $5, but there are literally 10,000 free copies available to claim. The reason the game has a price is because it later gives me access to itch.io's email system, so that I can contact you about the second and third chapters when they are available. ) The complete module will be coming to Kickstarter in November, and will be available elsewhere afterwards. If you're really desperate to get your hands on the next part of the module, you can contact me at oconnelgames@gmail.com.
Stolen Crown takes players from LL0-LL2 and is designed to ease new GMs into running Lancer by designing simple yet engaging encounters, alongside providing more experienced Lancer GMs with a compelling adventure for any experience level.
The adventure is split into three parts:
Death on the Glacier
Characters doing a job for Sparr's Wilderness Rescue Squadron are asked to investigate a missing rescue team. As well as contending with the enemies and beasts of Sparr's wilds, whatever it was that ambushed the rescue team may well see them as prey as well.
The Frozen Bastion
Pursuing a lead, characters must investigate an ancient fallback station dating back to the invasion of Sparr by the colonising Second Committee.
The Queen Below The Ice
Play to find out!
Commitment to Accessibility
In order to improve accessibility, plain text files have been provided in both markdown and html. These are hopefully compatible with all screen readers - but the html file should also be very easy to print for GMs running the game without easy access to a laptop.
Legal
Sleeping Above a Stolen Crown is not an official Lancer product; it is a third party work, and is not affiliated with Massif Press. Stolen Crown is published via the Lancer Third Party License. Lancer is copyright Massif Press.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $2.50 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Exclusive content
Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Free Copies
Claimable free copies for anyone who wants them.
Please don't let price be a barrier to downloading this adventure - it is a preview of a longer module. Only pay if you really want to support me! I cannot make it completely free because if I do so, itch won't allow me to use their mailing list service to let you know when you can get the rest of the adventure.
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
The compcon file is missing it's manifest file
Super cool! I'm excited to try running this. Quick question though: how many players is this targeted for? I can't find that info anywhere. Thanks!
hi, i want to ask, is the full module released yet? i am very interested in purchasing the full module, i saw it on kickstarter, can i still backed it up and get the full module?
and one more question, how do you use the json .zip data?, i cant install it directly to comp//con
I found in Twitter that the later pledge is still open https://gamefound.com/projects/laurie-oconnel/stolen-crown--an-adventure-for-lan...
Going off of a quick skim, this module looks like a quick and clean way to introduce Sparr and Lancer in general! The writing feels lean and professional; no words feel wasted. Adapting a modular hex crawl approach with random encounters gives the players agency over the fights they pick while also providing replay value. While some of the font choices are hard to read in the PDF, the presence of Markdown and HTML formats keeps the adventure accessible. On top of everything, the PDF layout just POPS- it's fun to read!
I did have one question: One of the random encounter sitreps is named "Deescalate"; is this a codified sitrep or simply a turn of phrase? If it's a codified sitrep, where can I find the rules for it?
Hey, so glad you like the adventure, do you mind letting me know which fonts you find hard to read? It'll be useful for me when laying out the next 2 chapters.
De-escalate as a sitrep isn't codified in the book, but it's there to indicate the most desirable outcome is to calm down the situation so that nobody gets permanently hurt. I thought it would be fairly clear from context in the table (encounter tables have v limited space) but do you think it needs clarification somewhere? I will be publishing an updated version in a couple weeks to fix whatever typos people have caught.
Hello! The hardest font to read was the font used under Clans of Sparr. I think that it works fine for titles & headings, but it was a little hard on the eyes to read it as a paragraph. Some of its capital letters are difficult to parse, which made some of the fictional names harder to parse since I didn't have a clear expectation of spelling (e.g. "Beware" and "Clans" were fine, but "Yuga", "Hrolf", and "Hrankfel" gave me a double-take). The other fonts used felt much clearer to read.
I figured that "Deescalate" was a context-sensitive description of the encounter, but I think it was the "Sitrep" in front that threw me for a loop. In terms of alternatives, if the intent is a narrative-focused scene, maybe use "Narrative" instead of "Sitrep"? Or, if it's intended to be a straight-up fight, maybe just call it "Sitrep: Standard" and briefly indicate that they can be calmed down/incapacitated in the description? Space being at a premium would make the latter option less desirable, though. At the end of the day, I think it's clear enough if you decide to leave it as is.
I think there is an issue with the fact that sitreps in the Core book are extremely specific: they suggest cover placement, enemy force size, deployment zones, reinforcements zones, and most importantly, codify a win condition. More experienced GMs shouldn't have much trouble coming up with a win condition for De-escalate and making a map that's suitable, but if you want this to ease new GMs in as well as new players you should take that burden off of them.