Aubrie Starks
Narrative Designer
Level Designer
"Silverback Siege" Project Overview
System: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (2014)
One-shot Title: "Silverback Siege"
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"Silverback Siege" is a one-shot adventure in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, meant for 4 player characters at 7th level. Based around the idea of discovering an abandoned town outside a Dwarven city, the party investigates and discovers a Gnoll raid has driven the residents into the Dwarven city in the Silverback mountain. From there, the players decide how to proceed: they could help the dwarves fight off the invasion, side with the Gnolls, or simply use the attack for their own profit.
Design Goals
Player Agency
Cinematic Combat
Narrative Tension
Many of the combat, puzzle, and narrative elements are designed with player agency in mind. If the party chooses to help the dwarves, to side with the gnolls, or simply to perform a heist and run, the one-shot accounts for several likely outcomes.
The final combat encounter is designed to be tense and cinematic, with several deadly environmental hazards that the enemies will attempt to use against each other and the players.
The opening segment and the combat help create narrative tension for the one-shot since establishing stakes for characters that may never be played again in a place never before seen is difficult.
Player Agency
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The primary path for the players is to move through the dwarven city and assist the city defenders - the puzzles and combat encounters are designed with this in mind.
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However, if the players instead want to side with the Gnolls or try to broker a peace between the warring factions, there are instructions for what that would require.
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The players may also find a bank vault that is largely undefended. If they'd rather loot the vault and run, the one-shot accounts for that as well.
Cinematic Combat
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There are three main combat areas in the one-shot: the entrance hall of the city, the bank, and the forge.
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The entrance hall is a wide open area with pillars, vendor stalls, and staircases with a balcony for cover and verticality. Both the players and the Gnolls can make use of the environment to gain tactical advantages.
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The bank is a smaller area with more pillars and teller benches dividing the space. The bank is probably the best place for stealth attempts by the players.
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The forge is the intended finale set piece. With multiple open furnaces and walkways overlooking both sides of the room for verticality, there are plenty of environmental hazards facing both the players and the NPCs, and the NPCs will try to use them.
Narrative Tension
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One of the goals of the one-shot was a sense of narrative tension that ratchets up over play time, which can be difficult with characters that have no backstory or potential future beyond the session.
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The opening section establishes the stakes: a ghost town, echoing the story of the lost colony at Roanoke, leading through the nearby paths to show a horrific attack. The players explore, seeking answers, and lead themselves into a crisis.
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The narrative tension culminates in a dynamic combat set piece with enemies waiting to use deadly environmental hazards against them. However, the players also have clear opportunities to turn those hazards against their attackers.
Post Mortem
What Went Well?
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Players reacted well to the opening section and the final combat encounter. They became invested in the story throughout the session.
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The players enjoyed the puzzle sections, working together and creatively solving situations.
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Players quickly took advantage of the environmental hazards, using them to great effect.
What Went Wrong?
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The first play session went over the 3.5 hour target time, taking nearly 5 hours to complete.
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The first play session slowed down the most at the puzzle sections, trying to figure out how to navigate the issue at hand.
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The only unmissable puzzle took the longest, given it required the players to direct each other in how to proceed.
What I Learned / How I Fixed It?
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I streamlined the descriptions of the opening town section and the puzzle descriptions, getting the second and third groups done in 3.5 hours.
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I set up the first puzzle such that the party saw how it worked as soon as they entered, both the mechanics and the hazards.
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I added letters and numbers to the rows and columns of the maps of the second puzzle (like a chess board), allowing the party to quickly communicate instructions.