Go to Part 1

CHES 21 – SELUNE SASHELAS: A celebration of Selûne, goddess of the moon and navigation, and Deep Sashelas of the Seldarine, elven god of the sea. It is supposedly based on a mangled legend dating back to the time when the elven city of Aelinthaldaar stood where Waterdeep does today and telling of a time when the elves of the sea said farewell to their brethren upon the land and moved into the deep ocean. The elves largely declare this to be a bunch of hogwash, but nevertheless the “historical event” is commemorated by the Twin Parades: A huge line of ships (varying greatly in size) proceeds from the harbor, loops up the coast, and returns. Simultaneously, a land-based parade proceeds from the Docks and through the streets of Waterdeep.

As described in Part 4 of the remix, I’m setting Dragon Heist during the back-to-back festivals of Fleetswake and Waukeentide. This prolonged festival season more or less kicks off with Selûne Sashelas, a holiday most notable in Waterdeep for the Twin Parades. (Although there’s also the Fey Day celebration of the Spring Equinox on Ches 19^th.)

I used the parade to more or less signal the end of Chapter 2: On the 22^nd, the fireball explodes and the Nimblewright Investigation beings. As noted in the remix of that investigation, the Temple of Gond’s nimblewright can be seen performing during the Twin Parades. Furthermore, rather than simply having some NPC say, “Hey! I remember seeing an automaton like that at the parade yesterday!” it can be much more effective if the PCs actually attend the parade themselves.

One simple way of doing that: Route the parade past Trollskull Manor. The PCs (and their neighbors) can simply watch the parade literally pass them by.

Unfortunately, it’s rather difficult to justify why the parade route would go past Trollskull Manor. So it may make more sense to bring the PCs to the parade rather than vice versa.

THE FACTION MISSION

The solution is to simply set a faction mission to take place during the parade. For this I selected the 2^nd level Bregan D’Aerthe mission (Dragon Heist, p. 34): The PCs need to steal a perfumed handkerchief from Maester Roderick Bartlethorpe in the audience at the parade and deliver it to a tiefling girl who lives in a crate at the corner of Net Street and Dock Street.

My players weren’t members of Bregan D’Aerthe, but the mission was easily reassigned to the Harpers: In this context, rather than being a test of loyalty, the mission became simply an opaque inexplicability. Whatever higher purpose is being served by this odd mission is completely obscured by the compartmentalization and secrecy of the Harpers.

The mission itself is not particularly laborsome: The PCs’ contact can even tell them roughly where on the parade route it is expected that Maester Roderick will be standing. All they need to do is zero in and pick his pocket.

PARADE ROUTE

The parade starts at the docks and then goes:

• Up Spices Street.
• Turns left on The Way of the Dragon.
• Heads north to the High Road.
• Turns left on Bazaar Street.
• Enters the Market and circles in a grand promenade before coming to rest.

I placed Maester Roderick on Bazaar Street in the “shadow of the Great Drunkard.” It’s a location that gives the PCs a variety of options: The market. A wide street. Tall, tightly packed buildings on the south side of the street. Mostly single-storey structures on the north side (lining the Market). The courtyard surrounding the Great Drunkard. The Great Drunkard itself. This gives the PCs a lot of options coming up with a plan for their op: How is the surveillance going to work? How will they make their approach? How will they escape after the handkerchief has been taken?

(If you’re thinking: Hey! That makes it sound like a heist in miniature! You’re correct. For a new group that hasn’t played together before, beats like this also let them get a feel for how they’re going to collaborate, plan, and take action before the big, complicated heists with the extremely high stakes start happening.)

This location also requires the PCs to journey back down towards the wharfs in order to deliver the handkerchief. As they do so (or shortly thereafter), they’ll be able to see the ships of the other half of the Twin Parades circle back into the docks, providing a nice button on the mini-scenario.

SEEN AT THE PARADE

Okay, this is the meat of the scenario: The displays and pageantry of the parade openly serves as the backdrop for the faction mission, but also lays two important pieces of pipe (cleverly disguised amidst other moments of beauty or wonder without additional significance).

The March of the City Watch: Marching eight abreast and fifteen ranks deep in their green-and-gold uniforms, the parade is led by an impressive phalanx of the City Watch.

Sea Maidens Faire: Marshalled by the swashbuckling Captain Zardoz Zord, who leads from the back of a rainbow-feathered diatryma, the Sea Maidens Faire:

• Leads with a procession of exotic animals — a caged owlbear, a unicorn stamping its feet proudly, a woman with three legs leading leucrotta doing tricks.
• Jugglers and stilt-walkers. The latter lean out far over the crowd, handing out advertising bills for a carnival on the “Pier of Wonders” in the Dock Ward.
• They roll up a cannon, which shoots a dwarf forwards to be caught by two of the stiltwalkers holding a net.

A Pageant Wagon: Performing The Pirate Lovers. This popular musical tells of a human woman who is, improbably, the daughter of a dwarf-king and, even more improbably, falls in love with a dark elf. Various ballads are sung from the “deck” of the ship which the pageant wagon opens to reveal.

The Mechanical Beholder: It hovers over the crowd and glares about menacingly.

A Joint Presentation of Temple Gond and the House of Wonders: Members of the Academy at the House of Wonders have summoned huge ribbons of water and are moving them down the street. Within the ribbons of water swim giant, clockwork fish of bronze. The fish appear to be controlled by a mechanical man made of both burnished copper and wood; its clockwork mechanisms visible constantly whirring and pistoning under its rune-etched skin-plating as it “commands” the fish to perform tricks – flipping from one stream to another. Eventually the mechanical man leaps up, perches atop the snout of one of the fish, and is launched high into the air, where he does a double-flip before splashing back down through one of the water ribbons.

Prancing Pegasi: An aerial dance troop composed of avariels (winged elves) and pegasus riders.

If the PCs have moved away from the parade (having seized the handkerchief and wanting to leave the scene), they might see the Prancing Pegasi twirling above the roofs of the buildings behind them as they make their way south to make the rendezvous.

When I ran this mini-scenario in my campaign, the PCs ended up leaving before the nimblewright’s display actually reached them. C’est la vie. They enjoyed the parade nevertheless, and smacked themselves in the head later when they learned what they’d missed by ducking out early.

(click for PDF)

The Ultimate Democratic Republic of Al Amarja welcomes you. During your stay with us please remember that Liberty is Job One, Disarmament Means Peace, It’s Polite to Speak English, and, of course, Paranormal Activity is Perfectly Legal.

Thank you for your consent.

The Edge is the weirdest city in the world. Get into trouble. Question your place in the crazed multiverse. Take a draught of madness. Peer through the gap in the mismatched angles where reality ends. Fight a baboon. Take a leap…

… over the Edge.

Over the Edge is Jonathan Tweet’s original game of enigma and conspiracy. It’s a cornucopia of fringe science, conspiracy, and hyper-reality that — in balancing on a precipice somewhere between madness and tomorrow — creates an undeniably unique frisson at the gaming table. The brand new 3rd Edition has been completely reimagined for a new generation of roleplayers: Every conspiracy has been twisted to a new angle. Every GMC

The game system, too, has been rebooted. The original game was a cutting edge system in 1992, and Tweet has reinvented that system from the bottom up to take advantage of his nearly 30 years of personal expertise in game design. The new system features fast, dramatic character creation that’s laser-focused on creating dynamic, active characters. Particularly notable in their elegance are each PC’s Trouble and Question, which relentlessly drive the story forward.

A simple 2d6 resolution mechanic uses a lightning-fast comparison of level and difficulty to generate rerolls, creating mechanical interest at the table without bogging down the action. (Which is further encouraged by the game’s focus on narrative resolution over action resolution.) The potential blandness of such simplified mechanics is counteracted by injecting shocking, unexpected outcomes through good twists, bad twists, and “twist ties”.

If you’re not familiar with these system cheat sheets, you should know that the goal is to summarize all the rules of the game – from basic resolution to the spot rules for actions, combat, firearms, injury, and the like. It’s a great way to get a grip on a new system, introducing new players to the game, and providing a long-term resource for both GM and players. (For more information on the methods I use for prepping these sheets, click here.)

WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED

These cheat sheets are not designed to be a quick start packet: They’re designed to be a comprehensive reference for someone who has read the rulebook and will probably prove woefully inadequate if you try to learn the game from them. (On the other hand, they can definitely assist experienced players who are teaching the game to new players.)

The cheat sheets also don’t include what I refer to as “character option chunks” (for reasons discussed here). In other words, you won’t find the rules for character creation here.

HOW I USE THEM

I generally keep a copy of my system cheat sheets behind my GM screen for quick reference and I also place a half dozen copies in the center of the table for the players to grab as needed. The information included is meant to be as comprehensive as possible; although rulebooks are also available, my goal is to minimize the amount of time people spend referencing the rulebook: Finding something in 6 pages of cheat sheet is a much faster process than paging through a 400 page rulebook. And, once you’ve found it, processing the streamlined information on the cheat sheet will (hopefully) also be quicker.

In the case of Over the Edge, the rules are a high-efficiency, ultra-streamlined experience. As such, the division of the cheat sheet is very straightforward: One page contains the core mechanics. The other contains the comprehensive guidelines for defining power levels. That’s all it takes.

MAKING A GM SCREEN

These cheat sheets can also be used in conjunction with a modular, landscape-oriented GM screen (like the ones you can buy here or here).

For more complicated cheat sheets I use reverse-duplex printing in order to create sheets that I can tape together and “flip up” to reveal additional information behind them. Since the Over the Edge cheat sheet is only two pages long, that’s obviously not necessary. If you have a four-panel screen like myself, you might consider sliding Axel Ortiz‘ beautiful map of the Edge into one of the slots. You might also consider adapting the Al Amarjan Names Handout (which can be found here).

Go to Part 1

In Part 5B: Finding Floon, I focused on restructuring the investigation into Floon’s disappearance starting with Volo hiring the PCs to find his missing friend. But that actually picks up the thread just after the Dragon Heist campaign begins. The action actually kicks off with a short sequence in which the PCs witness some Xanatharian NPCs pick a fight with a Zhentarim and then, three rounds into that altercation, a troll erupts out of the portal in the Yawning Portal with a nest of stirges clinging to its back.

It’s a good moment. Nothing wrong with that scene.

But when, thanks to the ingenuity of the wider Dragon Heist DM community, I was able to find a minor restructuring and enhancement of the sequence that, when I launched my own run of the campaign, worked really, really, really well. So I’m offering it as an addendum to the Dragon Heist remix.

STEP ONE – FIRST STEPS: During character creation, let your players know that they’re aiming to create characters who are already working together as a group. (They may have just come together for the first time, but they have, in fact, decided to work together.) You might even tell them that the first moment of the campaign will be as they step through the doors of the Yawning Portal looking to meet with their contact: They need to figure out how to weave their backgrounds together to reach that point.

In my campaign this took the form of Pashar, whose mother had been captured by pirates, and Kittisoth, a tiefling pirate who was a part of that crew, but became friends with Pashar while he was in captivity. Pashar had been released to bring back a 30,000 gp ransom for their mother and Kittisoth accompanied him. On their way to Waterdeep, they had run into Theron, a wild elf in the Ardeep Forest, who was touched by their plight and agreed to help them.

(Slight wrinkle here: Pashar been told that the ransom was “600 harvest moons.” Failing to realize that a harvest moon is worth 50 gp, he was under the impression he was seeking a 600 gp ransom… not a 30,000 gp ransom. Those who agreed to help him before the truth came out were somewhat nonplussed.)

Upon reaching Waterdeep, Kittisoth decided that a great way to make money would be to compete in the seeding brackets for Xanathar’s underground fighting tournaments. She sought out Edana, the fourth PC, who set her up with a fight, but she was then badly injured during the fight. Edana was able to make introductions to the fifth and final PC, Kora Marwood, who was both a cleric of Mystra (and could heal the injured would-be fighter) and a Harper agent who had been looking to form a crew of her own. She told them that, if they were looking for fast coin, she had a job they could all attempt together, and they headed for the Yawning Portal.

STEP TWO – FRIENDLY FACES: Show them the “Friendly Faces” handout on p. 221 of Dragon Heist and ask them to choose one of the characters pictured there. That’s the contact they’re coming to meet. You can chat a little bit about how they know them, or just jump into it.

STEP THREE – GANG TROUBLE: Before they have a chance to really start talking with their contact, however, the conflict between Yagra Stonefist and the Xanatharians begins at the table next to theirs. (Unless they picked Yagra Stonefist, in which case the trouble comes straight at them.) This is detailed on p. 21 of Dragon Heist.

Add a black flying serpent tattoo to the back of Yagra’s neck. (Note: She isn’t a Manshoonian Zhentarim; she’s with the Doom Raiders.)

Note: If they’ve selected Bonnie or Threestrings as their contact, then they’re working. Perfect excuse for them to say, “Get a table and I’ll come see you in a minute.”

STEP FOUR – A BRIEF DISCUSSION: The bar brawl resolved, the PCs have a chance to briefly talk with their contact. Turns out they’re just brokering a meeting with someone who needs the PCs’ services, and their contact hasn’t shown up. They buy the PCs a round of drinks while they wait, and that’s when—

STEP FIVE – DIP! DIP! DIP! DIP! DIP!: A chant of, “Dip! Dip Dip!” starts up in one corner of the bar and quickly spreads through the whole crowd. A young man stands up, goes to the bar, and slaps down a gold piece. Durnan nods, slides the coin off the bar, and then gives him a wooden cup and a silver bell.

The young man strips down to his underwear as the dipping song begins:

THE DIPPING SONG
Deep and dark down below,
where only fools and braggarts go,
where monster roam and dangers mortal,
few survive the Yawning Portal,
stand your ground or ring the bell,
and hope you make it up the well!

Then the young man goes over to the portal. At the edge of the portal he quaffs a beer, throws the cup down the portal, and grabs the rope. His friends begin lowering him.

Betting: Instantaneously the betting strats. (“Two silver he stays down for three minutes!” and “A copper he comes up with the cup!” That sort of thing.)

Return: After one minute, people start grumbling unhappily and others cheer; coins are exchanged as bets begin getting resolved. Two minutes pass; maybe there’s a chance for the PCs and their contact to exchange a few more words. (“So that is this all about?” “I’m not sure. But it might have something to do with this Zhent-Xanathar gang war that’s been flaring up.”)

At almost three minutes, the sound of the bell echoes up from the hole. There are groans from those who almost won their 3 minute bets. The rope is pulled up.

Troll: The young man appears over the lip of the portal — one hand holding the rope, the other triumphantly holding the cup above his head. He alights on the side of the portal and begins walking away.

He’s ten feet away from the portal when the troll clambers up from below. The PCs can see that there’s something wrong with the troll’s back; the flesh there seems to writhe. Roll initiative!

1^st Round:

• The troll attacks the dipper.
• Durnan pulls a greatsword from below the bar, vaults over the bar, and charges forward.
• The Zhents who attacked Yagra (if they’re still around) make a break for the door (along with many others).

2^nd Round:

• The flock of 12 stirges on the troll’s back explode into a frenzied flight.
• If the PCs are involved, Durnan shouts, “You focus on the stirges! The troll is mine!”
• Yagra (if she’s still around) joins Durnan in fighting the troll.

Wrapping Up the Fight: As the PCs finish mopping up the stirges, Durnan will ram his shoulder into the troll, causing it to plunge backwards into the Yawning Portal and vanish from sight. Durnan shouts, “A round of drinks on the house! Troll special!” Cheers from those who braved it out erupt!

STEP SIX – VOLO: That’s when Volo comes over. He’s the colleague the PCs’ contact was waiting for. If the PCs interceded with the trolls/stirges, Volo saw the whole thing and he’s very impressed.

If they didn’t, it doesn’t matter. (It might even be funny to have him come in and say something like, “What did I miss?” or “Just another boring day at the Yawning Portal.”) He was already planning to hire them for the job based on their contact’s recommendation, right?

And you can pick up straight from there with Part 5B: Finding Floon.

CREDIT

On reddit, Busboy80 came up with the basic concept of the Dip and RVAthrowaway38 created the Dipping Song. I may have refined the sequencing, but this is a fantastically clever idea and my players loved it. Chants of, “Dip! Dip! Dip! Dip!” have become a running joke.

And thanks to my players: Heather, Peter, Chris, Sarah, and Erik.

Go to Part 1

The entries here modify or replace those found on p. 94-97 of Dragon Heist. They reference the map on p. 95.

THE HALL OF SECRETS

About 15 feet down the sloping hallway, the stone construction changes. To anyone knowledgable about such things, the lower portion of the hall is clearly dwarven construction.

Roughly 50 feet beyond that, the walls of the hall are covered with what appear to be dwarven graffiti — some painted on the walls, others carved. Each records a secret, most of them banal (“my beard quivers for Lorlai of the stonecutters,” “I tasted pixy dust in the third hall,” “I use rotgrub paste to dye my beard”).

This continues for another two hundred feet before the hall ends in Area V1.

DOOR OF THE CEREMONIAL VAULT

AREA V1 – ANTECHAMBER: The antechamber is twenty feet wide and twenty feet high. It seems to resonate with a silent stillness, suggestive of its great age. The far wall is dominated by a massive pair of adamantine doors bearing dwarvish runes taller than a grown man. In the center of the floor there is a bronze bas relief of a stylized sun, six feet across. Words have been carved into the floor in a circle around the bas relief.

• The Doors: The dwarvish runes read, “All that lies within belongs to the Silent Keeper.” The doors cannot be forced open or damaged in any way, and attempts to circumvent them with magic short of a wish spell fail automatically.
• The Sun: The script running around the sun is in Chondathan (the local human tongue) and, upon inspection, clearly a more recent addition to the antechamber. The inscription reads, “Know ye the hidden truth.” It’s repeated three times.
• Opening the Doors: It’s a ceremonial vault and opening the doors requires the performance of a ceremony: A single dragonscale must be laid upon the bas relief of the sun and then struck while lit by sunlight. Once that is done, the doors slide back into the walls and remain open for 15 minutes before sliding shut again. (They can be opened from the inside by simply placing a hand upon them.)
• GM Note: The “Silent Keeper” is a title belonging to Dumathoin. The Chondathan inscription was placed here be the Maroon Brotherhood.

SUNLIGHT? Certain magical effects can bring sunlight here (the sunbeam spell, for example, or Manshoon’s sunglobe). PCs could also set up a series of mirrors; this requires twenty large steel mirrors (20 gp each) and 2d4+2 hours of work get their alignment just right.

DRAGON SCALES? The type of scale doesn’t matter. They’re rare on the market, but can be found in specialty shops for 1d6 x 300 gp. The PCs might also recall running into sources for dragon scales at various points during the campaign (Zelifarn, Jarlaxle’s bedroom, the Cassalanters’ study).

MITHRAL HAMMER? Doesn’t have to be a particularly large one. It can be commissioned from local craftsmen for 150 gp.

LEARNING THE CEREMONY: Clever PCs may be able to guess the necessary ritual from the vision granted by the Stone of Golorr when they asked for the Vault’s location. If they cast an additional legend lore specifically pertaining to the doors, they’ll be told, “Three keys ye seek. Strike scale of wyrm in light of day. As the vault bears witness, so shall it ope to mithral’s strike.” The notes pertaining to the Melairkyn vault held by Kalain (see Part 5C) also reveal the necessary ritual. Alternatively, the PCs may be able to get information from the Cassalanters.

RESEARCHING THE VAULT DOOR: Researching Dumathoin with a DC 15 Intelligence (History) test reveals the existence of the ceremonial vaults and the ceremony the Melairkyn dwarves would perform to open the doors.

RESEARCHING THE MAROON BROTHERHOOD: Researching the Maroon Brotherhood’s symbols or the phrase “Know ye the hidden truth” will provide a general precis of the Brotherhood’s history:

• They were a secret brotherhood, primarily centered in Waterdeep and most likely founded during the 12^th century (although they often obfuscated that date in order to present themselves as a more ancient lineage).
• In the early 14^th century they became caught up in the Shadow Thief Affairs, their members were implicated in an assassination attempt, and the group was broken up by Open Lord Lhestyn.
• Rumors persisted for the better part of a century that the Brotherhood of the Maroon Pin had actually survived the purge and were secretly controlling Waterdeep (or even all of the newly formed Lords’ Alliance), although these claims eventually faded into legend and conspiracy theory.
• Court records from the time period indicate that a large number of the brotherhood’s members were part of the Brandath family.
• The rituals of the brotherhood largely remained secret even after – or perhaps because – their end was so precipitous. It is clear, however, that the brotherhood had accumulated any number of arcane rituals, symbols, and the like. These included the namesake pins of alexandrite, dwarven compasses (often hidden within works of art), a serpent’s forked tongue (representing the telling of secrets), scarab beetles, and the like. They seemed particularly fond of appropriating imagery from ancient or exotic civilizations.
• One example of this, found beneath the picture of a broken arrow, is the enigmatic phrase: “In beam of sun, strike dragon’s scale with mithral true upon the anvil sun.” Mid-14^th century scholars exhausted great amounts of work trying to puzzle out what the imagery of “anvil sun” alluded to, with most concluding it must refer cryptically to a site somewhere within Calimshan, possibly dating back to the lost empire of Coramshan. Debates raged endlessly about exactly which site (or sites) the passage might refer to, until Maroon Brotherood conspiracy scholarship faded away by the end of the 14^th

INSIDE THE VAULT

GENERAL FEATURES: Hidden somewhere within each room of the vault (except V6, V7, and V8) is a cartouche bearing the dwarven runes “HN” (see, also, Area V5).

AREA V2 – ENTRANCE FOYER: The three niches on the far wall (instead of holding fake doors) contain chipped frescoes of:

• Dumathoin placing glowing gems into a range of mountains (which appear to be a primeval representation of the Sword Mountains).
• Dumathoin visting the Illithid god Ilsensine (manifested in its form as a disembodied emerald brain) and bathing with it in the greenish psionic energy of the maze-like Caverns of Thought.
• Dumothoin, Ilsensine (in the form of an Illithid avatar), and Laduguer, the god of the duergar, with hands clasped in a circle of friendship.

AREA V5 – THE SECRETS ROOM OF HARLSNOD DARKSHINE: Dwarven runes upon the wall read, “In these halls which his craft has wrought, the master architect Harlsnod Darkshine lays his secrets.”

• GM Note: Harlsnod Darkshine designed and built the ceremonial vault. The treasure represents his own personal “secret offerings” to Dumathoin; whether the practice of sealing secrets into such offerings is literally true (and those secrets can somehow be extracted or simply whisper into the wind if the treasure is removed from the vault) is up to you. Harlsnod’s tomb can be found on p. 183 of Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

AREA V6 – HAMMER AND ANVIL:

• Frescoes: The frescoes in this room depict the construction of the Temple of Dumathoin and the Heart of the Mountain (Level 6, Areas 15 and 16 of Undermountain, see p. 86-87 of Dungeon of the Mad Mage). In addition to the hammer inset into the wall, there is a secret compartment behind that hammer (DC 12 Intelligence to find if you’ve removed the hammer, DC 17 otherwise). The compartment contains maps of Level 6 of Undermountain, along with detailed notes showing the calculations used to determine the location of the Heart of the Mountain and the divinatory properties which resulted from “the whisper of the Keeper of Secrets Under the Mountain”.

AREA V8 – DUMATHOIN’S TRUTH: This entry replaces the original room key.

• Set into the floor is an adamantine trap door with a pull ring.
• The walls are covered with frescoes depicting Dumathoin, Ilsensine, and Laduguer working together on some arcane project; not only are they surrounded by papers covered in dwarven runes, but strange, glowing diagrams fill the air around them. Dumathoin has turned from the work and seems to stare into the center of the room.
• Trapdoor: The trapdoor is false and cannot be lifted. Anyone who touches the trapdoor or its pull ring must succeed on a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or be struck by rays of magical fire that spring from the painted Dumathoin’s eyes, dealing 4d10 fire damage. The trap doesn’t trigger if the target has total cover.
• Frescoes: A DC 15 Intelligence test reveals that work depicted in the frescoes seems to focus on dwarven anatomy.

DESIGN NOTE: THE MAIN VAULT

You can run the main vault exactly as written. Personally, I found the back story of Aurinax and the dragonstaff of Aghairon to be a fairly convoluted bit of continuity to introduce at literally the last moments of the scenario. I considered trying to drop some lore into earlier sections of the scenario regarding Aurinax and his relationship with Lord Dagult, but it still ended up feeling like an unneeded complication. So when I run the campaign I’ll simply be dropping a red dragon down there. A straight, uncomplicated dragon fight to end Dragon Heist!

If your players are familiar with the Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms video game, however, they might get a kick out of the familiar face.

THE BROKEN CIRCLE OF GODS

The images found throughout the vault, if revealed to (and believed by) the dwarven public, would be like dropping a fireball into the doctrine of the Morndinsamman (the council of dwarven gods). The events they depict predate the falling out between Laduguer and Ilsensine, and the breaking of the friendship these three gods once shared.

In the official lore, both the strange concord between Dumathoin and Ilsensine as well as the exact details of the falling out between Ilsensine and Laduguer are mysteries. Introducing these images into your campaign will peel back one layer of this mystery, although it may only result in even more questions being asked.

If you (or your players) choose to pursue this, this is my rough canon for this history:

• When the world was much younger than it is today, Dumathoin and Laduguer explored the roots of the world together. There they met Ilsensine. Or, at least, one of his ganglia – the “tentacles of infinite length” that stretch from Ilsensine throughout the many worlds.
• In doing so, they may (or may not) have been responsible for mind flayers coming to Faerûn for the first time.
• In any case, the three of them became friends, joined by a common interest in the secret paths of knowledge, the hyper-mental patterns by which knowledge itself is birthed into the world, and the deep places of the world.
• At a much later point in time, Laduguer approached his two friends with thoughts on how the dwarves Moradin had created could be improved. To perfect these ideas still needed much work, and the three friends fell to work.
• When the Morndinsammar discovered what they were doing, however, they were outraged. Laduguer covered for Dumathoin, but he and his daughter, Duerra, were cast out of the Morndinsammar.
• Laduguer continued his work, straining his relationship with Dumathoin. Things fell apart completely, however, when Laduguer discovered that Ilsensine had appropriated “his” work and actually begun having his illithids experiment on captured populations of dwarves. (This would eventually lead to the creation of the duergar.)
• Laduguer felt betrayed, the gods fell to war, and the acrimony between them became irreparable. During their conflict, Duerra was secretly captured by the illithid and became part of the duergar experiments.

The history which followed, in which the duergar became a slave race only to eventually lead at least one rebellion against their illithid overlords (one of which may or may not have involved Deep Duerra leading an army which captured an illithid city, see Polyhedron #110), is a mixture of legend and truth which I leave to someone else to untangle according to their need.

DESIGN NOTE

GM Tip: Encourage any players creating dwarf PCs to choose Dumathoin as their god. It’ll let the revelations of the Vault land heavily.

AFTER THE VAULT

The total hoard of 500,000 gold coins weighs 10,000 pounds. Transporting it out of the Vault is not a simple task. And, if the PCs are planning to keep it, the question of where to store it is not an insignificant one. (The sum will raise eyebrows and call a lot of attention if they simply try to deposit it at a bank, for example.)

If the PCs are working for the Cassalanters, their noble patrons are able to literally throw a mass of manpower at the problem. They arrange for a dozen carts loaded with empty barrels and several dozen trusted servants to arrive at the Brandath Mausoleum, rapidly load the gold into the barrels, and then cart it back to their estate.

If all else goes quiet in the Grand Game, the remaining response teams are likely to be assigned to watch the PCs. Whatever plan they came up with for moving the gold (whether it involves the Cassalanters or not), don’t be afraid to use whatever response teams are remaining to complicate their scheme. A running battle through the streets of Waterdeep sounds like a lovely way to wrap the campaign up.

On that note, if the PCs do something to alert Laeral Silverhand that they have the money (and she knows or can easily conclude where it came from), she will politely ask them to return it in exchange for a 10% finder’s fee. But she’ll only ask once.

The PCs might strike on the idea that the vault is perfectly safe where it is, and they’ll just make small withdrawals whenever they find themselves in need of funds. They might even use the Stone of Golorr to make it even more secure by wiping out everyone’s memory of the Grand Game and/or the embezzled gold and/or the PCs’ involvement. That sounds incredibly clever, and unless they make some mistake to draw considerable attention to themselves you should probably let them get away with it.

Which is my final note here: The published adventure advises the DM go to extraordinary lengths to strip the treasure away from the PCs. My recommendation is not do that: Enforce logical consequences. Have people ask the PCs for help if they become aware that they have a windfall. But if the PCs get away with the ultimate heist… well, that’s just awesome.

Go to Part 6D: Faction Reports on the Grand Game

“An Exorcist” is not a fully functional Over the Edge concept. “An Exorcist Who Loves Fighting Demons Too Much” is better. Not Stuntman but Weird Stuntman, with a curse of some sort associated with his work in a David Lynch film. Not Vampire but Recovering Vampire, Former Vampire, or Failed Vampire. If anything in the character description comes out of pop culture, it gets some sort of twist or angle.

                                     – Over the Edge, Jonathan Tweet & Chris Lites

This key bit of insight comes from the character creation chapter of the new edition of Over the Edge, and it’s basically brilliant: In one simple, actionable concept it instantly lets players completely unfamiliar with the game nevertheless create a character who is perfectly tuned into what the Edge is and what life there is like. I’ve come to think of it as “One Weird Twist,” and I’ve repeatedly watched as new players take this idea in and the switch flips for them. Before the twist they’re often struggling to figure out what sort of character they want to create and how their character is supposed to work. After the twist, it all clicks into place.

But as I’ve spent more and more time in the milieu of Over the Edge, I’ve come to realize that One Weird Twist isn’t just the key to grokking character creation in the game. It’s the key to unlocking the whole damn thing.

APPLY TO CONSPIRACIES

At the center of Over the Edge is the Island. Al Amarja. This strange and enigmatic locale is a memetic interstice where the world glides slightly to one side, and the great powers and conspiracies of the globe come together to tip the balance one way or the other: Movers, Pharaohs, Exiles, the CIA, the KGB (not the new one, the old one), the Aliens, and the anarchic Cut-Ups.

I’ve spoken to a few GMs who find it difficult to come to grips with this overwhelming torrent of Burroughs’ Naked Lunch smashed up against William Gibson’s bleeding edge esoterica. When you have a setting where everyone from the Illuminati to the Templars to the World Health Organization to the NSA to the Little Grey Men to Little Debbie snack cakes are butting heads, it can be a lot to wrap your head around and figure out what you’re supposed to do with it at all.

Here’s what you do: Take one conspiracy. Any conspiracy. You’re reading this on the internet so you probably know at least a dozen of them.

Now: Add the one weird twist.

Vaccines cause autism? Weak. (And dumb. And dangerous.) Vaccines, of course, are actually tempered to unleash psychic powers in those who are genetically susceptible to them.

Fluoride was added to the water to lower IQs? Of course not. Fluoride does, in fact, strengthen your teeth, forming a membrane that can detect air pressure (i.e., a transmitting “ear” that can eavesdrop on everything you say… or sub-vocalize).

Paul is dead? Well, sort of. It’s true that the Karla Sommers who performed from 1998 to 2001 was onboard the 9/11 flight that crashed into the Pentagon, but that wasn’t the original Karla Sommers. She was a celebrity clone, bred and programmed to continue the career of stars and starlets who grow bored of the limelight. The real Sommers had to come out of retirement to keep the whole thing from coming into the light… at least until another clone could be prepared.

Vaccines cause autism? Still dumb. Vaccines prevent disease, just like it says on the tin. The preservational thimerosal, of course, was a vector for delivering the micro-trackers that allow the government to track your moments.

Shakespeare didn’t write his own plays? Don’t be ridiculous. But Alexander Pope did carefully restructure them in his oft-definitive editions so that they could encrypt messages that can only be decrypted using the Al Amarja Today from July 7^th, 2019 as a one-time pad.

APPLY TO THE MUNDANE

The real trick to capturing the vibe of Over the Edge, however, is to not limit the One Weird Twist to the big, dramatic stuff in the campaign: It also needs to transform the mundane elements. The fact that Al Amarjans wear nooses for neckties is one canon example of this. To this you might add:

• Fast food joints that advertise, “Certified prion-free beef!”
• An ant with eight legs.
• A sign that reads, “This establishment prohibits the use or display of psychic powers.” In black ink, someone has scrawled under the sign, “Magic powers are totally cool!”
• A gravestone that reads “Born May 1^st, 1963. Died December 22^nd, 1919.”
• A tattered paperback left on a park bench. Written by H.J. Potter, it stars the wizard-born Joanne Rowling.
• A cat with a trademark visible at the back of its pupil.

When applying the One Weird Twist, I think it’s important to apply a twist commensurate in scope to the thing being twisted. If you’re dealing with a global conspiracy, yank it hard. If it’s a fast food joint, on the other hand, the twist should be slight. Subtle.

In this way, the twists push the envelope of the possible or shift things just a few degrees off the expected line. There’s a risk, I think, when running Over the Edge of going gonzo. Making the game sing, on the other hand, can be a little like balancing on a knife’s edge: Pushing the envelope. But not pushing too hard.

WHAT NEXT?

The final aspect here is to hook the PCs. How does this weird twist intersect their lives? How does it affect them? If it’s a routine part of life on the Island, how do other Marjans react to it? Is the contrast between their reaction and the PCs’ reaction significant or meaningful?