S8 prep · GM only

Source: RS scenes[4].offscript[1].then ("End on the cliffhanger. Level 5 at the start of S8."), RS lootBudget, docs/s7-prep/NEXT.md section D. Also: Tampo's DDB sheet may still say Rogue 3 (RS party[2].note). Open question for Sean: do the players level before the session or in its first ten minutes? Does the long rest assumed for S7 (NEXT.md D) still stand for S8's start?

Source: RS scenes[4].beats[4], scenes[4].ends. If a PC wore Grieve's face, the flipped version applies (RS scenes[4].offscript[0]). Open question: where does S8 open, and did anyone wear the face?

Source: RS cast.grieve has stat: null, loot: [], magic: [], and RS scenes[4].beats[3] says "Grieve does not fight". If S8 puts him in a fight or on a loot table, the block has to be built from the bestiary, not from memory. Open question for Sean: does Grieve fight in S8, and what does he carry (including his own face if it is still in the jar)?

Source: RS scenes[5].beats[3], scenes[5].enc.obj[1].d, scenes[5].rewards[0]: three doses, DC 12 Con upkeep hourly, wearer hums, Urzasaf sees through it. About the "air-tank depletion rule" (Sean wanted only the depletion mechanic, not timing): I found no air-tank text anywhere in the docs. The only depleting resource is the jar's three doses, and the "hourly" in the current text is a timing rule, so it may be what Sean wanted dropped. Open question for Sean: confirm the depletion mechanic is the jar doses, and give the wording of the rule without the hourly timing (for example, one dose spent per use, none left means the peeling starts).

Not found in any S7 doc or runsheet (searched RS, NEXT.md, HANDOFF, S7-PLAN.md, S7-CAST.md, S7-READALOUD.txt, s7-update.sql for pre-hide/prehide). The only "hide" text in RS is the goblin Hide action and a hide-leather map scrap. The app code has hidden-foe handling (tests test-combat-k.js and tests/ui-combat-k-hidden.mjs), but that is app behaviour, not a story thread. Open question for Sean: what is the pre-hide offer, and who made it to whom?

Not in any S7 prep doc. fightpublic is the app's published-fight row (phone-link.js line 45, play-actions.js line 822), so this is a data/app item, not a runsheet one. The only S6 state note in the docs is that S6 was flipped to 'done' and S7 to 'run' (docs/s7-prep/NEXT.md, "Already done"). I did not touch the DB (no DB access tonight). To confirm on the Mac: whether a stale S6 row is still in fightpublic and whether it needs clearing before S8 runs.

Source: RS party[*].note and scene spotlights.

Ann: Remembrance (+1 longsword) from Andren's widow (RS scenes[1].rewards[0], party[0].note). The runsheet describes it only as "+1 longsword"; its once-per-long-rest reaction appears only in the superseded S7-PLAN.md. Open question: does S8 want that reaction on her sheet?

Medmoy: the Dwarf's splint mail, AC 17 (see defect (a) below), refit at the tower forge on a short rest (RS scenes[2].spotlight[0]). Knows what the green is (RS party[1].note).

Tampo: the stolen merchant's "hot item" (RS party[2].note, scenes[1].spotlight[1], scenes[3].spotlight[0]). Planned to be traded to the goblins in Room 2, after which it "resurfaces later in goblin hands".

Prestayl: fresh dig tracks, one set of light elf-weight steps (RS scenes[1].spotlight[3], scenes[2].spotlight[1]).

All four: the S3 ornate cylinders worn as necklaces, which fit the sockets on the Room 3 plaque (RS scenes[1].leads[1], scenes[4].enc.obj[0]). Open question: who still wears theirs? The Dwarf's own cylinder is described as missing (RS scenes[2].beats[5]).

Source: RS scenes[4].leads[1], notTonight[0]. Grieve's notes say he needs the four PCs alive to carry the cylinders to the plaque (RS scenes[4].leads[0]). Open question: are the notes in party hands?

Source: RS scenes[5], cast.real_lt. Whether Room Zero was ever found is unknown. Open question: if found, where is he now, awake or not, and who holds the jar (3 doses)? If not found, does Grieve keep him as the mask source?

Source: RS clocks[0] (6 segments, read at "dusk tomorrow", then the Lieutenant is untouchable), RS handouts[1], cast.odile. Open question: was it read? The "tomorrow" is S8's problem if nobody delayed it.

Source: RS cast.corlis, scenes[1].spotlight[1]. Planned outcomes: bought off (his fee is 25), scared off, or told "the goblins have it". Open question: which, if any.

Source: RS scenes[3], cast.skritch. Parley or fight; planned: passage for the goblins and a way out of the warren. Starving goblins left in the warren are a threat to Hommlet if Grieve lets them out (RS cast.grieve.wants). Open question: what deal, if any, was struck.

Source: RS cast.frye, scenes[2]. Talked down, surrendered or killed? He pays "double if it's open by tomorrow night" and carries the Lieutenant's pay chit.

Source: RS scenes[1].beats[7], cast.gob_prisoner. Afraid of going back to the warren; flinches at humming. Only relevant if the optional beat was used.

knows Grieve's voice and has one word for Medmoy "when he wakes" (RS cast.urzasaf.loot[3]). Open question: did he speak it?

RS lootBudget: Frye's +1 scimitar and Remembrance (two uncommon items), 2 Potions of Healing and 40 gp from the works, the Dwarf's splint mail, Grieve's notes. Confirm what each PC actually holds.

(RS notTonight): the dwarven hold, the elf-tower lance (still armed), Konneran payoffs, Hummock/Baxtor/Darrow, the Mournhold ledger of the 83. All untouched by plan; S8+ candidates only if Sean chooses.

docs/s7-prep/NEXT.md "Also": s07goblinworks and the Odile and Skritch portraits were stand-ins. Minnie's portrait is the old Hilde file (defect (c)).

Thesis: in a long campaign, players will pull out a prop from many sessions ago and ask something new

about it. You need a way to find the notes on where it came from.

Method: lightly pencil a scenario code on each prop (his codes look like BW03B, CS06), or keep a master

handout index that says which adventure each prop came from. Which method doesn't matter. What matters

is being able to trace a prop back to its source.

Hommlet: give the S7 haul codes now, while it's fresh: the face jar (empty), Grieve's face, the salve,

the face cream (demonic script), the red-light mask, the cloak, the rod, the "warm" buckler, the broken

brass compass, the tiny holy symbol. Key them to S7 / the cabin / Grieve. The jar and the cream will come

back when the magus investigates.

Thesis (blurb): what transforms a campaign isn't just how common magic is, but how common each TYPE of

magic is. Decide which kinds can be bought, sold or identified in town.

Wish Lists: players telling you what they want is fine. There are 3 ways to deliver it:

(1) players take initiative (commission it, go find it); (2) seed it into prep they're already doing;

(3) seed a rumour of it into the world.

Hommlet: decide what Hommlet can identify (probably nothing), what Mornhold can, and who. The incoming

magus can do it, at a price or with strings attached, so identification becomes a scene rather than a

spell. The rod looks dwarven and connects to the dwarf and the mining rights. The chalice is a seeded

goal, with a fee already offered.

Thesis: the 2024 bastion system has strong bones. PCs get it automatically at level 5, and it assumes

the economy breaks even. But it is designed to sit in a bubble: nothing goes in, nothing comes out.

• Events trigger only when no orders are given, and they resolve themselves.
• Attacks are auto-won (lose 6d6 defenders).
• Hirelings and defenders have no stat blocks. The bastion economy is separate from PC gold.
• You can't level up from bastion play, and you can't improve a bastion without levelling.
• Facility rewards don't motivate. A 5-PC group gets 10 facilities at level 5, but there are only 9

level-5 options, so they just take one of each.

Fixes he names: new or upgraded facilities as adventure rewards, opening up level-gated facilities,

stat blocks for hirelings and defenders, and events that make a mess the PCs have to deal with.

Hommlet: the party JUST hit level 5, with 5 PCs, which is his worst case exactly. If you use bastions,

pop the bubble from the start:

• Treat the new tower or homestead as one shared bastion, built from the old watchtower stone.
• Give the staff and defenders townsfolk names and stat blocks.
• Make the dig and the dwarf's mining rights the source of the bastion's upgrades.
• Let events go wrong (goblins, the wise one, the excavation crew).

Use the map candidates in personal/games/High-Fantasy/research/bastion-floorplans/maps/.