The Unfamiliars
A fairy tail adventure for up to 5 young heroes.
Introduction
The Unfamiliars is an adventure meant to be run for younger players. As a parent I often want to share my love of games, and ttrpg's in particular, with my kid who is more than willing to jump into another fun game with dad, but so many of the games I enjoy have complex rules or many things to keep track of at once. Even more of them have adventures which include a great deal of violence and/or mature themes which are not only less than ideal parent-child funtime topics, but aren't overly interesting for us.
So I started workshopping an idea in my head. I looked at the kind of stories we'd enjoyed together, from books we've read to shows and movies we've loved. The adventure is there, and even some deeper and more complex themes, but before they get heavy (for the ones that do) they start with some hijinks and a clear inciting incident opening the door for a heroic choice. So that's what I've got here.
For our table, I'll be using a simplified version of Green Ronin's AGE System, SAGE, which I'm tailoring to this particular adventure, but I've written it out here in a more system agnostic format.
I've not had the time to playtest this with my kid yet, but I figure Adventure April is the perfect way to put this first version out into the world. If you give it a try at you table, please let me know how it goes!
Background
The accademie is famed across the realm as the school for mages. There some of the greatest magic-wielders in the world today teach young people how to grow their mystic potential into a radiant blaze. Children found to posess a magical aptitude come from far and wide to study the great art and once every seven years a glorious graduation is held where students are granted to title of mage and go out into the world the wield their magic in pursuit of great adventure.
This is one such year, but on this particular morning something terribly odd has ocurred.
You are a familiar, a magical creature bound to a student at the accademie. It is your role to help guide and protect them in their studies. Every day when you awaken you can feel the precense of your partner student, except this morning. Today you awaken alone and quickly find that all students and instructors have vanished from the accademie grounds.
As you encounter your fellow familiars, in various states of distress about their missing partners, what will you do?
On Creating Characters...
In this adventure the players take on the role of familiars, magical creatures partnered with young magic students. Players should be encouraged to imagine what sort of familiar they would want, whether it be a talking cat or a tiny fairy, a floating crystal that speaks to your mind or a ball of shapeshifing goo. Whatever they choose, we'll want to create a simple version of that creature as their character.
Many games have complex and varied rules for character species and abilities, but for the purpose of this we really want to streamline down to the essentials. Whatever the form the familiar takes, it should have access to the same base statistics with a slight advantage in one ability. I also encourage you to give them at least one magical capability beyond basic knowledge of magic. This doesn't need to be a complex spellcasting ability, just a feature that makes each feel unique tied to what the player described. Beyond this, the player should choose a few skills or capabilities that make them unique.
This will require a bit of work on the GM's part, particularly if your players are some very imaginative kids, but this bit of preparation early on will pay off in the long run. (If all goes well, I'll provide some sample features based on what happens in my home game!)
The players should also be encouraged to describe their partner students as well. Some may want these partners to be just like themselves in real life, but others may have something very different in mind. The important thing about these partners are to create bonds that the players care about. Who is your student partner? Why did you choose each other? What kinds of things do you do together? How do you feel about them being missing? These kinds of questions start the role playing before character creation is even over.
NPC Encounters
Other Familiars — The first NPC's the players will encounter are other familiars. This is a great opportunity to reinforce the creativity the players showed in imagining their own famliars. Take descriptive cues from them. The other familiars have varied reactions to the disappearance of their partners and the instructors. Most are distraught, though some show stoicism, anger, confusion, and even a few that seem excited to be completely on their own. If you're looking for inspriation on how to roleplay these NPC's, I recommend taking inspiration from shows like Pokémon or Miraculous Ladybug & Cat Noir, specifically instances where the pokémon are separated from their trainers or the kwamis from their holders.
Enchanted Cauldron — An enchanted cauldron lives in the alchemistry lab where it provides feedback and safety guidance to students. Unfortunately it cannot move on its own so its knowledge of happenings outside the lab is virtually nonexistent. If informed about the disappearances it will express incredulity, but if persuaded of the facts will willingly provide aid in the form of magic potions.
Gate Guardians — These artificial constructs stand watch over the main gate located on the campus side of the bridge. Not overly bright, they will spend the majority of interactions bickering with each other, particularly regarding whether familiars are allowed to cross the bridge unescorted. With successful communication they can share, however unintentionally, that nobody has come or left through the gate all night.
Well Wisher — Located in a basement of the old highhall, beneath the lowest level of instructor offices and behind two locked doors, is a magical sentient well. It will do everything in its power to tempt the players into making wishes and generally plays the role of malevolent trickster.
Nahual — A seemingly wicked shapeshifter with whom the first headmaster of the accademie bargained to ensure it would not just be a school, but have an attraction to the most skilled and powerful mages in the world, securing for himself both privilege and legacy. As part of this bargain the headmaster would offer a single student as tribute to the Nahual, a secret tradition that has continued every graduation year until now. This year the current headmaster's son was to be the offering, but he attempted to trick the Nahual with a poor student from a distant land living in the accademie. This deception is the reason the Nahual instead has taken everyone on the grounds, though their intended next step is unclear.
Adventuring
The first portion of the adventure will really focus on seeing how the players want to tackle this situation. I find that most players of any age need a bit of guidance (or sometimes a kick in the rear) to get moving at the start of a campaign. To that end, I've got a few options for how to proceed. Start with showing them the campus map and see if there's anywhere in particular they want to explore. If yes, focus there, but if not you can leverage some of the other familiars to attract their attention one way or another.
The players have an opportunity early on when there are no real obstacles to their actions to explore the campus and try to make use of some of their abiltities. Whatever abilities they've selected during character creation, consider what around the campus would give them an opportunity to try something, roll some dice, and begin to get a feel for play.
The real adventure begins when they choose to explore one of a few key locations: the headmaster's office, the groundskeeper's shed, the library backroom, or the dormitories of the prospective graduates. Each of these locations provides a clue to the existence of the Nahual and the bargain.
Headmaster's Office
The office is one of the only locations where there is signs of a struggle across the campus. Books, papers, and assorted items are thrown about the room, scorched or damaged by what appears to be some haphazardly cast magic. If any of the players have abilities related to combat or elemental magic they recognize the kinds of magic that was used here. Near the window at the back of the room they'll find half of the headmaster's broken staff. Thoroughly searching the room (or a particularly good roll) can reveal the headmaster's private journal which has been heavily scorched and is sticking out from beneath one side of his desk. In the journal he writes vaguely about his desire to protect his son who deserves better than what fate has selected for him. It also includes some passages that describe most of the students in a negative light ranging from vaguely dismissive to downright hateful, particularly students from far other nations.
Groundskeeper's Shed
In the shed the players can find a small, terrified familiar hiding. It's already attacked other familiars who tried to enter and will attack the players in the same way if they attempt to enter. While not particularly powerful, the frightened familiar has telekinetic abilities and a shed absolutely full of sharp, heavy, and dangerous things to throw or pull down. This is a chance to see how the players handle hostile encounters.
If the players manage to subdue or calm the frightened familiar, it will share that it witnessed a terrible creature drag away its partner into the river. It describes it in a menacing yet vague way suggesting it didn't actually get a clear look at the creature, but the players at least know one student went into the river.
This could lead them to the gate guardians NPC encounter, but they could also attempt to sneak by or in some way bypass the magical wall that surrounds the campus.
Library Backroom
While exploring and/or researching in the library, the players will notice that the back rooms, normally only accessible with a librarian's passkey pendant, is wide open with one door damaged so it will not close properly.
Exploring here offers a wealth of options. Players with abilities tied to research or books could find documents suggesting the identity of the Nahual and the nature of its bargain. Others might find magical texts which give them access to a few additional abilities if they take the book with them (and a chance of you to widen their available toolkit to fill any gaps left by character creation). Lastly, deep in the bottom of the basement room there is a crumbling wall leading into a dark, damp tunnel. This leads outside the campus, but is currently filled with RoUS's. This provides both another means to leave the campus and an optional combat encounter.
Graduate Dorms
The dormitories are where the players start their adventure, so one reasonable place to explore early on is there. The players would know that the students who are being considered for graduation are granted special rooms on the first floor which are larger and include personal spaces for practice and study. It is in one of these rooms that the headmaster's son resided, and from which he was taken. This room is not damaged in the same way the headmaster's office is, but wet muddy tracks lead to and from the open window and in this room the players can find the other half of the headmaster's broken staff as well as a torn letter to the parents of one of the students, informing them of the child's disappearance. The players would know this student had been safely in class the afternoon of the day before, meaning this letter claiming that the whole school had been searching for him for weeks makes no sense.
The Red Herring - Well Wisher
Well wisher is hidden away quite thoroughly, but if the players become intrigued by the locked door there's always the possibility they find their way down there. If they do, the well wisher will say anything it can to convince them to make a wish. Once they do, the well wisher will monkey's paw the hell out of it, opening up the door for numerous complications, but it is also fully capable of providing useful information if the players are clever and patient. I've included this as an optional encounter, but in my opinion it does more to set up an alternate story if your players aren't showing much interest in the Nahual plot. The well wisher is easily another explanation of where everyone has disappeared to, and figuring out a way to undo it without causing all sorts of new problems with wishes is a totally good game to play, if your players are so inclined. If they are pursuing the Nahual path with interest though, I suggest simply skipping past this potential encounter.
Onwards
From here the adventure should follow the path the players decide to travel. Feel free to throw in some challenges or encounters along the way. Clues they find will point toward a river grotto where the players find the students encased in what look like enormous fish eggs and the teachers stuck to the walls with some kind of slime.
This is purposely open-ended as I want to see how the players choose to act once they've found this place. Will they leap into combat against the Nahual? Will they attempt to sneak the captives out? Will they seek to release the teachers? Will they talk with the Nahual? And what does the Nahual actually plan to do with their captives? This is the time to improv a bit. That said, if you want something a bit more prescriptive...
The Nahual has been secretly taking the students offered to it over the years and using their magic to empower themself, leaving the students as little more than magical shadows in the grotto. It has now grown massive and powerful, though their shapeshifting still allows them to appear at sizes as small as a mouse. It is a gluttonous, violent beast that has been made far more dangerous by the headmaster and the other accademie board instructors who knew of the bargain. Instead of considering these consequences, or the morality of sacrificing students to the beast, they have used the prestige of the school to enrich themselves and expand their own reputations in the magical world. At this point the Nahual was already planning to turn on the headmaster and his accomplices, but the headmaster's deception offered insult atop the already inviting situation. If released, some instructors will attempt to fight the Nahual, but the board (who are supposedly the greatest mages in the world) will try to save themselves. If the players get the Nahual talking it is more than happy to reveal the truth of everything, believing their victory is assured with nothing but a handful of familiar to oppose it.
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