The Mystery of Maerlon's Tower: Tools for Running a Hybrid Adventure

I ran The Mystery of Maerlon's Tower as a hybrid game. My home group used to run hybrid pre-pandemic using only Zoom, a webcam, and a normal tabletop with terrain and minis so I had some experience. But for this session, I wanted to try out some new tools. Two players and I were in a room around a table together and three players joined virtually. 

Vorpal Board

First, I started a trial for VorpalBoard, a service designed for streaming and hybrid play of board games and RPGs. It has a Zoom-like streaming service that can use an iOS device (via the VorpalBoard app) as an additional camera for terrain. It has basic functionality allowing players to zoom in when needed, and the quality of the video was good. After some quick testing before play, I was able to get it set up on game night with no issues beyond mic feedback issues from one (in-person) player. I think that was more of a local setup issue, and it feels like someone always has some kind of mic or audio issue every time we play online. Regardless, VorpalBoard was easy to use and accomplished what I was looking for. I went ahead and purchased an annual subscription for $60 (you can pay $10/month) as well. I hope to play more hybrid games this year, and the functionality you get is worth the $60 from my perspective.  But if you are cost-conscious, you could probably get a similar experience with a webcam and a little bit more setup. 

I used my iPad to stream as I did not want to dedicate my phone to the stream while we were playing. I mounted the iPad on this tripod. It worked fine to view the terrain and minis. I used a Jabra speakerphone to handle everyone communicating. I had used them in the past for work calls, but this was a big upgrade compared to prior hybrid experiences of just using external mics and speakers from another player's laptop. If you are going to play hybrid regularly, I think a Jabra is a great investment to make. 

Terrain and Minis

I sat down a basic Pathfinder flip-mat to be my base layer of terrain. I bought one at Winter Fantasy last year because I needed a generic grid, and it's also been a great purchase. I used to use the Neoprene mats, but this one is just so much more portable. I'd definitely recommend it as the best base battle mat. 

The centerpiece was the Dwarven Forge Watchtower Set. It is a nice set because towers come up a lot in DnD! If I have a critique of it for RPG play it's that the interior is pretty small, but it still worked well for multilevel combat. I purchased the Watchtower unpainted, and if you paint much at all, I would recommend that version over the painted one as it's quick and easy to paint. I think it took me less than four total hours to match the painted scheme, and I felt like that was worth saving $85 and I enjoyed the painting. To be clear, this isn't always the case with DF -  the lava pieces in particular are a pain to paint and worth buying painted in my opinion. 

I also added the dungeon bridge from Dwarven Forge as a fun piece to give the party a place for cover from the animated ballista as they approach. It's also an easy paint, though I believe I originally got mine painted.  I put a texture mat from DF beneath to serve as a river. 

The rest of the minis mostly came from my DDM collection - I'll just list them out with links to their minisgallery.com pages:

• Arcane Ballista - animated ballista
• Flaming Sphere - living burning hands
• Animated Statue - stone cursed
• Iron Cobra - clockwork iron cobra
• Mockingbeast - mimic (this one comes from Reaper Mini)

And that's it! Hopefully, someone else can find all the prep I did for this session helpful for their own game!

Building The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower with ChatGPT

Adventure Seeding

In my last post in this series, I said I wanted to do a hybrid game using a cool set piece from my terrain collection. That was the seed for the adventure. It didn't take long for me to decide I wanted to use Dwarven Forge's Watchtower because it was a cool piece I had never used before (and it gave me motivation to get it painted). 

Since I knew I wanted to use the Watchtower, I used that as a building block. I decided to make it a wizard tower in the Field Ward, and that led to involving the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors since it was a wizard's tower. That also meant I could use Barnabus Blastwind as the quest giver and have it feel like a big faction quest. I decided I would use the Arcane Ballista atop the tower as the threat to passersby that required prompt action from the adventurers. Then I went through and picked out some monsters (preferably constructs) to populate the tower. I summarized all that in this outline:

• Call to Action
  • Barnabis Blastwind tells the party the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors have an emergency: a wizard tower in the Field Ward is attacking passersby.
  • He wants the party to enter the tower and disable the arcane ballista on top, find out what happened to the wizard that lived there.
  • He has already notified the wizard’s next of kin, who is studying with the Harpells in Longsaddle, so won’t be here for a few days.
  • If the party can deal with the threat, he will give them 500 gp.
• Approaching the Tower
  • The animated Ballista atop the tower fires at the party as they approach. It is encased in a prismatic sphere it can fire out of but hard for party to fire into. The party has to evade fire and get to the front door, which is locked. DC 14 sleight of hand with thieves' tools to unlock.
  • Anywhere within 50 feet of the tower is a wild magic zone. Anytime someone casts a spell a wild magic surge occurs.
• Inside the tower
  • On level 1, a Living burning hands attacks the party.
  • On level 2, 3 Stone Cursed attack the party.
  • On level 3, the party finds the dead body of the wizard with a Clockwork Iron Cobra looming over it. There is also a bed and a bookshelf n the room, and a chest that turns out to be a mimic.
  • On the top of the tower is the Animated Ballista and an orb on a pedestal. Taking the Study action to make a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana) will turn off the pedestal, which ends the prismatic sphere, wild magic zone, and disables any remaining enemies except the mimic.
• Rewards
  • Barnabis Blastwind gives the party 500 gp and they gain 3 renown with the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors.
  • Eventually, the son shows up, and if the characters looted nothing from the tower, he gives them each a potion of healing, a wizard spell scroll of up to third level with the supplies to scribe it, and a +1 weapon.

Getting Help from ChatGPT

Next, I have a custom GPT on chatgpt.com I have created called Volo. GPTs let you set additional specific context (via uploaded PDFs) for the LLM to use and prioritize when giving answers. I've found this works very well with Dungeons and Dragons as it focuses the LLM and leads to fewer hallucinations and more relevant responses overall. This LLM has access to all of the published Waterdeep source books plus a few supplements I purchased on DM's Guild. 

So I took the outline above and fed it into my GPT with this prompt: "Can you take this adventure outline and add details to it? Things like what are on the levels of the wizards tower, who the wizard and his son are, some details about the magic weapon, etc?" Below is the unedited initial result provided by ChatGPT. I'll provide an assessment of how what it did well and what it did poorly beyond the adventure. For reference, here is a link to my prior post with my finalized version of the adventure. 

The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower, ChatGPT version

Adventure Title: The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower

Call to Action

Barnabus Blastwind of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors approaches the party with an urgent request. The Watchful Order has lost contact with Maeralon Silvercord, a reclusive yet respected wizard living in the Field Ward. His tower has activated defenses and launched attacks on passerby, and no one has been able to approach safely. Barnabus offers the party 500 gp to investigate, disable the defensive magic, and determine what happened to Maeralon.

Background: Maeralon Silvercord was a known enchanter and artificer, especially interested in defensive magics. His last known project involved binding an otherworldly sentience to a magical item. His son Arastin Silvercord is a budding wizard studying with the Harpells in Longsaddle and won’t arrive in Waterdeep for several days.

Approaching the Tower

• The Arcane Ballista: This enchanted ballista at the top of the tower fires bolts that contain explosive magical energy. Encased in a Prismatic Sphere, it can shoot bolts out but is difficult to damage in return.
• Wild Magic Zone: A 50-foot radius around the tower is suffused with unstable magic. Spellcasting here triggers Wild Magic effects, with a variety of outcomes inspired by the Magical Chaos Table from FRE3​. Effects could range from harmless illusions to unexpected surges of elemental energy. This chaos may hint that Maeralon’s last project has broken free from control.
• Entry Challenge: The tower’s door is reinforced with an arcane lock, requiring a DC 14 sleight-of-hand check to unlock. Failure by 5 or more results in a small shock, dealing 1d4 lightning damage.

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Inside the Tower

The tower has four floors, each serving a unique purpose in Maeralon’s studies.

Level 1: Entrance and Reception

Upon entering, the party is greeted by a Living Burning Hands spell—a defensive conjuration designed to dissuade intruders. The room appears to be a study, scattered with papers and books on enchantments and defensive magics.

• Clues: Among the papers are notes about "binding sentient power" and a half-finished rune sketch that suggests a project to animate or empower an object with a fragment of consciousness.

Level 2: Library and Workshop

This level contains shelves of books on magical theory, elemental magic, and lore from various realms. At the center of the room, three Stone Cursed statues stand, which will animate and attack when the party arrives. These statues were crafted from Maeralon's own failed attempts to animate his tower’s defenses.

• Workshop Details: The workshop has an alchemist’s lab and a magic circle etched into the floor, surrounded by candle stubs and scorched runes. Here, Maeralon had been testing containment spells, hinting that he might have bound an entity to one of his creations.

Level 3: Maeralon’s Quarters

The party finds Maeralon’s body on the floor, his face frozen in shock. A Clockwork Iron Cobra, his guardian construct, stands menacingly nearby, and a Mimic disguised as a chest lurks in the corner.

• Character Insight: Maeralon was experimenting with soul fragments, attempting to infuse one into a weapon. Among his belongings are letters from Arastin, suggesting his son was concerned about his father’s deepening obsession with “infinite defense.”

• Clues and Lore: On his desk is a half-finished manuscript on binding spirits. His final notes reveal he was trying to enchant a weapon with sentient awareness, referencing an artifact called The Watcher’s Edge.

Level 4: Roof and Control Room

The top of the tower houses the Animated Ballista and an orb on a pedestal. The orb functions as the control core, projecting a Prismatic Sphere around the ballista and maintaining the wild magic zone around the tower. If the party makes a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana) check and succeeds, they can disable the control orb, deactivating the sphere, the wild magic, and neutralizing remaining constructs (except for the mimic).

• Orb's Background: It contains a piece of Maeralon's own will, stored as a last defense mechanism.

---

Key NPCs

• Maeralon Silvercord: A once-reclusive wizard known for his defensive enchantments, Maeralon was driven by the idea of a perfect defense. His experiment with sentience, meant to infuse his creations with awareness, ultimately led to his demise when his magic went awry.

• Arastin Silvercord: Maeralon’s son, a young wizard studying under the Harpells in Longsaddle. Unlike his father, Arastin is more practical, with an interest in protective wards. If the party treats his father’s possessions with respect, Arastin rewards them generously.

---

Rewards

• Barnabus’s Payment: The 500 gp reward and 3 renown with the Watchful Order.

• Arastin’s Gratitude: If the party leaves the tower’s items untouched, Arastin provides each member with a Potion of Healing, a Wizard’s Spell Scroll of up to third level, and a +1 Weapon with a unique enchantment.

• The Watcher’s Edge (Optional Magic Weapon): This sentient weapon was Maeralon’s final project. The Watcher’s Edge is a longsword (or other weapon of choice) that grants +1 to attack and damage rolls. As a sentient weapon, it provides its wielder with advantage on Perception checks and has a limited form of communication, capable of sending warnings to its bearer about nearby dangers. However, it also has an overly cautious personality, sometimes alerting the wielder to harmless things.

So How Is It?

The Good

• I was able to run a fun session using the adventure it generated. This is huge for any DM trying to quickly cook something up on short notice. Thirty minutes of prep to put together the main inspirations, and then ChatGPT can do the leg work of filling out the details. 
• Annnnnnnd I am struggling for a second bullet. But that first one, in my opinion, is huge for everyday DMs just trying to make it through the next session. 
• Speaking of, there are lots of avenues to help the AI do better. Giving it the full text log of the campaign recaps and a WotC style guide alone would probably be a big help (and I think I will do so next time I use ChatGPT to prep). 

The Bad

• The most glaring issue is the power it gives the magic item - advantage on all Wisdom (perception) checks. If a new DM just blindly followed the output it could mildly break their game if there is a high perception character - the party will spot every ambush, secret door, etc. Never (or rarely) failing takes a lot of the joy out of the game in my opinion. I changed that to advantage on one initiative check per Long Rest. That's useful and generates an interesting player choice (is this the encounter to use it?).
• Some of the turns of phrase are just awkward. "Perfect Defense" is a good example. It's not believable that a real person would talk like that. That said, it leads down a path of a relatable stereotype (a person growing more paranoid as they age) that's useful and relatable if maybe a bit cringe. 
• ChatGPT has no clue about the WotC style guide. I will try to give it the style guide ahead of time next time to see if it does better - I think it will. 
• While it is a great tool to flesh out an adventure, if your goal is publishing, I'd call it a minor improvement. It came up with some proper names for me and spurred some ideas about how to flesh out the adventure, but I would guess I rewrote 70% of the adventure to make it something I would publish on my niche blog. I'd say it saved me 1-2 hours of work. Not that much in the grand scheme of things for publishing something, but quite a bit if you are prepping a weekly game and it will never go beyond your home group. 

The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower, A Waterdeep: Dragon Heist Faction Quest

I am running Waterdeep: Dragon Heist for my regular Sunday group. This group is all online and dispersed around the country. However, I organized an in-person Dungeons and Dragons weekend in early November, and a couple folks from the online-only campaign were able to attend in person. So I wanted to run a hybrid game for them...and use my miniatures and terrain!

I'm planning three blog posts about this:

1. The adventure I wrote (with the help of ChatGPT).
2. A blog about running the adventure hybrid, and the tools, technologies, and toys I used to do it. 
3. How to use ChatGPT to create adventures quickly, and what generative AI does well and does poorly when it comes to adventure design.

First, here is the adventure, The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower.

The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower

Call to Action

Barnabus Blastwind of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors approaches the party with an urgent request. The Watchful Order has lost contact with Maeralon Silvercord, a reclusive yet respected wizard living in the Field Ward. His tower has activated unmanned defenses and launched attacks on passersby. No one has been able to approach the tower safely. The Watchful Order has attempted to set up a quarantine around the tower but fears it is too loose and innocents may unknowingly walk to their deaths if the tower isn’t shut down swiftly. Barnabus offers the party 500 gp to investigate, disable the defensive magic, and determine what happened to Maeralon.

Barnabus can provide the following background about Maeralon Silvercord: 

• He is known as an enchanter and artificer, especially interested in defensive magics. 
• Much of his work in recent years involved imbuing items with low-grade sentience that will never cross purposes with the item's wielder. 
• Maeralon has always been considered a good person, but Barnabis notes he has become increasingly paranoid about external threats as he ages. 
• His son Arastin Silvercord is a budding wizard studying with the Harpells in Longsaddle. He has been sent a message via sending stone but won’t arrive in Waterdeep for several days.

Alternatively, you could have several different factions give this quest:

• The Lord’s Alliance or Gray Hands would view it as a threat to the peace in Warterdeep.
• The Order of the Gauntlet might have contracted Maeralon to create a defensive item for them.
• The Emerald Enclave is active in the Field Ward and could be working with the Watch to secure the tower.

Approaching the Tower

• The Animated Ballista: The animated ballista at the top of the tower fires bolts that contain explosive magical energy. The entire top of the tower is encased in a prismatic sphere that the ballista can fire through. It can shoot bolts out to its range of 120 ft but is difficult to damage in return due to the sphere. The ballista always has a readied action when the characters first approach. Characters can identify the prismatic sphere with a DC 15 Intelligence (arcana) check.

• Wild Magic Zone: A 50-foot radius around the tower is suffused with unstable magic. Casting a spell of level 1 or higher potentially triggers a Wild Magic effect. Roll a d20 each time a spell of first level or higher is cast within the zone (including inside the tower).

  
  
  

• Tower Door: The tower’s door is reinforced with an arcane lock. It cannot be picked, but a knock spell will open it. Alternatively, the characters can look for a password hidden under a rock nearby with a DC 14 Intelligence (investigation) check. The password is “sentry”. Lastly, they could chop the door down (50 hp, damage threshold 5), but that will attract the living burning hands in area 1 who will be able to attack the characters through the holes in the door with no penalty while receiving three-quarters cover (+5 to AC) while the door has greater than 25 hit points, and half cover while it has less than 25 hit points (+2 to AC).

• Running the Encounter: Have characters roll initiative once they enter within range of the tower (120 feet). The first character who moves into range triggers a readied attack from the ballista. At that point, the characters need to get within 10 feet of the tower to get out of the ballista’s range. The small river is 60 feet wide, and 6 feet deep and serves as difficult terrain to cross. Characters can avoid the ballista’s fire by hiding under the bridge. If there is no target available to the ballista, it readies an attack.

Inside the Tower

T1: Entrance and Reception

• Summary: Upon entering, the party is greeted by a Living Burning Hands spell—a defensive conjuration designed to dissuade intruders. The room appears to be a study, scattered with papers and books on enchantments and defensive magics. A small reading desk and chair sit in the middle of the room. The living burning hands has scorched many of the papers and books.
• Threats: A Living Burning Hands.
• Secrets: Among the papers are notes about "binding limited sentience" and a half-finished rune sketch that suggests a project to animate or empower an object with a fragment of consciousness. A DC 17 Intelligence (investigation) check turns up a small, burned piece of paper with the letters “ord: Aras” with both the front and back of the note burned away. This is a clue that Maeralon’s son’s name, Arastin, is a password that will let the characters get past the stone cursed in T2.

T2: Library and Workshop

• Summary: This level contains shelves of books on magical theory, elemental magic, and lore from various realms. At the center of the room, two Stone Cursed stand still. The constructs will animate and attack anyone who moves within 5 feet of a statue who does not first say the password, “Arastin”. These statues were crafted by Maeralon as a tower defense mechanism. The workshop has an alchemist’s lab and a magic circle etched into the floor, surrounded by candle stubs and scorched runes. Here, Maeralon had been testing containment spells, hinting that he might have bound an entity to one of his creations.
• Threats: Two Stone Cursed. Add another stone cured if the APL (average party level) is 4 or above.

T3: Maeralon’s Quarters

• The party finds Maeralon’s body on the floor, his face frozen in shock. A Clockwork Iron Cobra, his guardian construct, hides under his body, and a Mimic disguised as a chest lurks in the corner.
• Threats: The Clockwork Iron Cobra is a new creation of Maeralon’s that went rogue when he activated it and attacked him. Its poison bite killed the wizard. The Iron Cobra hides under Maeralon’s body (stealth +7) and attacks the first creature to move adjacent to the body. The mimic is a pet Maeralon keeps as further protection. He feeds it regularly to keep it content. It will attack the first creature to move adjacent with its pseudopod until they are grappled, then use its bite, attacking with advantage since the target is grappled. Both creatures fight to the death.
• Secrets: Maeralon was experimenting with soul fragments, attempting to infuse one into a weapon. Among his belongings are letters from Arastin, suggesting his son was concerned about his father’s deepening obsession with protecting himself. On his desk is a half-finished manuscript on binding spirits. His final notes reveal he was trying to enchant a weapon with limited sentient awareness, referencing an item called The Watcher’s Edge.
• Rewards: The mimic conceals a small locked chest built into the floor. It can be opened with a DC 14 Dexterity check using Thieve’s tools. Inside is an ornate, edged weapon (Watcher’s Edge), 3 spell scrolls of the DM’s choice, and five 100 gp gold trade bars. There is also a note from Maeralon to Arastin in the box indicating he wished his son to have these things should something befall Maearlon.

T4: Roof and Power Orb

• Summary: The top of the tower houses the Animated Ballista and an orb on a pedestal. The orb functions as the control core, projecting a prismatic sphere around the ballista and maintaining the wild magic zone around the tower.
• Threats: The animated ballista will execute a readied attack when someone exits onto the roof.
• Secrets: A character adjacent to the orb can make a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana) check to disable the control orb. This will deactivate the sphere, the wild magic, and neutralize any remaining constructs (except for the mimic). Failing the check causes the orb to fire a magic missile (1d4+1 force) at each creature on top of the tower, excluding the ballista. Failing the check by 5 or more leads to each creature being targeted by 3 magic missiles each (3d4+3 force damage). The check can be repeated until it is successful.

Wrap-Up

• Barnabus’s Payment: Barnabus gives the party the 500 gp reward and any member of the Watchful Order gains 3 renown.

• Arastin’s Gratitude: If the party leaves the tower’s items untouched, Arastin provides the party with a Potion of Healing, a Wizard’s Spell Scroll of up to third level, and a +1 Weapon with a unique enchantment:

  The Watcher’s Edge

  Weapon (any edged melee), uncommon (requires attunement)

  This sentient weapon was Maeralon’s final project. The Watcher’s Edge is a longsword (or other edged weapon of the DM’s choice) that grants +1 to attack and damage rolls. As a sentient weapon, it provides its wielder advantage on initiative rolls once per long rest and has a limited form of telepathy, capable of sending warnings to its bearer about nearby dangers. However, it also has an overly cautious personality, sometimes alerting the wielder to harmless things.