I am part of a group which has always relied on one person to be the story teller, however it has been offered to me to try running an adventure, since we are stuck at a cliffhanger which needs all the players to be there. The idea is that I while the magi are away (Marching some Guernicus dick and his new Covenant), the grogs have an all grog adventure.
While I could just design a dungeon crawl, this is not DnD, and I want to run something a bit investigative.
In our troupe, most of the magi are going out on each adventure, so really don't know what a grog centered adventure might be like. I have gone through many books and read the adventure seeds, but I just cannot seem to find good ideas...
I have a vague idea of one of the companions having gone missing and grogs setting out to find him, but with the focus more on simulation than narrative, I am wary of creating some kind of bottle neck which would rest on a skill check that the players might just fail...
Having never designed an adventure in ArM, I am at a bit of a loss and I would appreciate hints.
One of the first Ars Magica adventures I ran was an adventure of grogs, who discovered a plot against their charges, apprentices ready to be made magi in a foreign city.
Would the Guernicus plot to plant evidence against the magi marching him in their own covenant by using mundanes or even covenant staff? What if the grogs find hints, follow them and unravel such a plot?
In our case, the Guernicus had a marched called on hin at the last local Tribunal, and the PCs are off in Finland battling him and his goons.
I am thinking more along the lines of something a bit more light hearted "The Finnish Companion has disappeared we must find him", and it turned out he just got drunk and seduced by a faerie in the woods.
I specifically want to run something disconnected from the usual overarching plot of the game, so some kind of minor fetch quest seems fine.
Of course the avenues are more limited in our case because the magi are practically at war with the Livonian knights, the Bishop of Riga put the Covenant under anathema. So the social interactions are limited to fellow Osellians (vikings) or the German settlers who are very much our enemies.
What I am more uncertain of is how to plan an adventure for ArM, especially an investigation focussed one.
I'd say that idea works.
And that you've done 90% of the hard work by now.
A really good idea I think. And if someone can tie it back into the main plot later, well, that's a bonus.
At a glance, you mainly need
a faerie (strictly speak you don't need stats for her, but those might come in handy).
Some kinda obstacles, these could be anything, including
Bad Weather (Storm, rain or snow, depending on season, even in Finland)
Terrain (snow covering tracks, a path leading across a barely frozen lake, even just mud could work)
Lesser fae, helping out our seductress
Some sort of clues to make sure the players actually have a chance of solving the quest. In my experience, this is the hard one. You may want a superabundance of clues. And even then, prepare to have to wing it with a few more. Players never find the same things obvious as you do, in my experience.
Finally: Don't worry about fudging things. I'm not so much thinking about dice rolls, more about the actual challenges. If the lesser fae turn out to be waaaaay too difficult a challenge, have them giggle and run away. If the blizzard is ruining things, winds will die down.
Relax and focus on the experience.
As said, you already have the basic plot. Other games centered less in magi/supernatural characters would have good ideas for an all grog adventure. Pendragon, for example, would be a good place to look for grog adventures. Sub rosa has a few of those as well iirc.
Regarding "the adventure fails for a roll", do not allow it. Fail forward, and put at least 3 ways to obtain a vital piece of information if it is really important. Some games even recommend that the basic plot elements are given to the players without rolls, and they get extra stuff if they get the successful rolls, but the basic element is already there for them.
Recommended, the 3 clue rule from The Alexandrian. I recommend the blog in general, but this specifically for your investigation case. The examples can even be your adventure with minor modifications.
Other possible things the grogs could deal with:
A lot of covenants work to make vis sources grog-harvestable instead of requiring magi every year. A problem could arise with a Vis source, that needs immediate resolution (and NO magi are around! oh no! Time to borrow the wand of fireballs they left in the lab!)
A missing covenfolk or companion could also cause problems. A young daughter of a grog disappearing could definitely require investigation immediately.
An investigation involving local courts and politics might have non-combat grogs involved.
but it does sound like you have a few basic plot ideas already.
Oh! I forgot! I have 2 adventures for ars mĂ gica saber on my blog that might be useful. They are not mine, but I have them there for reference since I found they were great for a single session play. One is about dealing with a giant and his heart's love. The other is about a curse that you can break with some thinking. Both are better with grogs than with mages.
They say it takes one hour to play, buy they tend to me o e session. One hour is extremely optimistic.
There is a third adventure in the blog (blood on his hands) but it is less suitable for grogs onlyn since it does not pass the 3 clue rule from the previous posts.
I have played all 3 adventure at least once and they work well. Going home is none of my "going to" easy prep adventure when I have to improvise something, since it works the same regardless of the rules system you ar le using. It can be complemented with an early or late combat against ruffians if your party wants some action. It could also be tied to your investigation for the list companion: have the companion wake up with the ring in his possession.
Considering that 1) what I consider simple most people view as hopelessly complex and 2) I don't design things to be easy I suspect that for me it needs to be the 9 clue rule..
If the grogs haven't been designed yet, give one of the grogs magic sensitivity to they can detect auras, or second sight so they can see ghosts and spirits.
For the heron island, you could use it as a horror scenario - the birds ferociously and scarily attacking mundane intruders. Alternatively, as herons are well known for emptying their bowels and flying off when scared, you could have a comedy scene of grogs getting covered in heron excrement when they scare the birds.
The healing spring is a great thing for grogs to investigate - they can speak to locals and hear about its powers, and as they aren't gifted people can willingly show them the well and talk about how it makes a modest difference to disease sufferers.
If the local lord speaks to them, maybe he will tell tales of how they defeated the Estonians' cunning use of magic to sneak up on Lindanise (descriptions of the battle make it sound like the Estonians managed to cunningly move troops into position so they could attack from multiple directions. The historical answer is either the Danish troops were caught being lazy, or the Estonians used stealth and detailed local knowledge to move troops around unseen. In Mythic Europe, you can use as much illusion and invisibility as you like)
