Jambo's GM Journal

We’ve reached the end of Session 2 in our Tales of the Valiant campaign, and the Old Margreve is already proving itself to be as dangerous as it is mysterious. I’ve lifted and shifted the Margreve from its original Midgard setting into my own homebrew world — the forest’s folklore and dangers remain, but the wider world, factions, and history are all my own.

While I’ve followed the published Hollow Man and Wrath of the Bramble King adventures fairly faithfully, I’ve also been threading in my own plots:

• A Goblin faction, secretly working for a Hag who seeks ancient artefacts to destroy a Piney village that broke a promise to her.
• The Weft of Shadows, reimagined as a demigod‑like cult leader with a growing, fanatical following.
• A band of slaver dwarfs holed up in the Black Mountains.
• And, in Session 2, the party found a goblin‑scrawled map of the region — they’ve no idea yet how it fits in, but it will.

I’m also slowly tying the campaign’s events into the players’ backstories, so the forest’s secrets will feel personal when they finally come to light.

The Party

• Noroud — an old skool Human Fighter
• Purr — Tabaxi Warlock (we’ve homebrewed Tabaxi into Tales of the Valiant)
• Melian — Dryad Ranger
• Brooke — Wolfkin Druid
• Nettle — Piney Bard
• Pidi — Syderean Paladin

During session 0 we were looking for a common reason for the party to come together. Purr our Warlock had quite a developed backstory so we’ve jumped on that, Purr has hired the gang to complete some tasks for the Zobeck City Council to seal a trade deal with his empire in far off lands. (The player with my support has created an entire asian themed Cat island, which I’ll explore another day) So brought together by Purr’s promise of coin and adventure — and each with private reasons for heading into the Old Margreve — the group began their journey in the village of Levoca.

Session 0 — Arrival in Levoca

• The village had been plagued by animal attacks, the latest involving a maddened bull and the death of Olay Yurt.
• Karla, priestess of Yarilla, told the party about the incident.
• Noroud spoke to Olay’s son, Drash; Brooke used Speak with Animals to learn the bull had been driven to rage by a strange, haunting song.
• The group met Whiskey and Tappers, Erina (hedgehog folk) who trap and gather herbs. Whiskey mentioned finding a dead goblin in the forest.
• That evening, wolves attacked the village. Melian, Noroud, and Brooke held the melee line while Purr and Nettle cast from range. Four wolves fell, two fled.
• Purr negotiated better lodging than the barn — Whiskey offered them a place to stay.

We played a short scene, and fitted in combat encounter as well as building out the characters, discussing back stories and going through some lines and veils. It was a really good session and we’d pre planned to meet up one week later to build some momentum. For the combat here I went Theatre of the Mind something that never really worked when I was playing online but there were no issues here. Big win for me and something to think about.

Session 1 — The Singing Tree

• The night’s rest was interrupted when Brooke spotted a Hollow Man carrying a villager’s head, accompanied by a scarecrow. Fire magic destroyed both.
• Melian recalled Hollow Men serve more powerful forest entities.
• At a town meeting, the party convinced villagers to lock away their scarecrows. Purr and Pidi staged a divine “sign” from Yarilla (this 100% is coming back to haunt them!) — flickering lights and the tolling bell — to seal the deal.
• Whiskey led them to where he’d found the dead goblin, but the body was gone, swallowed by the forest. He revealed his own village had been destroyed the same way.
• Tracking the Hollow Man’s trail, the party fought four Giant Weasels before finding a sinister tree crowned with a goblin’s head.
• The tree demanded their heads for its collection and summoned four Giant Snakes.
• The party discovered the tree resisted normal weapons but burned under magical fire. Brooke was knocked out but healed by Nettle; Pidi duelled a snake; Noroud hacked at what he could reach.
• With resources low, Brooke’s final burst of flame felled the tree. Its remains turned pale, a weeping face in the trunk.
• Loot was recovered, and back in Levoca the bull was calm again.
• The group set out for Camberdale to collect herbs which were needed to heal a young girl who had been hurt by bees, prior to the party resolving the Singing Tree.
• Milestone: Party reached Level 2.

A really fun session, we had all 6 players and combat didn’t drag. We kept things moving, spent a little too much time looking for a monster stat block for a familiar change shape ability – but we’ll sort that going forwards. For the combats I used a mixture of gridded whiteboard supplied by the venue, and the pièce de résistance, the venue has a TV screen embedded in the table, and it comes with some cool pre loaded animated maps as well as other stuff that I can add. So we used this for the final fight with the Singing Tree.

Session 2 — The Bramble King

• Camberdale was sealed by thorny vines, its villagers trapped. Bramble Badgers patrolled the area.
• Nettle learned from one badger that the Bramble King had lost his crown and suspected the villagers.
• Brought before the Bramble King, they learned one of his creations, Spike, had been killed in an old tower.
• En route, an elvish figure named Daeserana appeared, warning that the Weft of Shadows was behind the theft and plotting to create a shadow dimension. She needed a clipping of the crown but, as a Fey, could not take it herself.
• At the tower, Noroud was cut by a halberd‑wielding statue (and claimed the weapon). Pidi spotted a great tree guarding a crown — which proved to be a fake.
• Further exploration led to battles with Shadows, a Grey Ooze, a Child of the Briar, and Steam Mephits.
• A shadow escaped with a shadow‑version of the crown. Melian’s trap caught two Briar Children off‑guard, and Purr’s Bane spell proved deadly.
• The real crown was recovered and returned to the Bramble King; Daeserana received her clipping. The villagers were freed, and the herbs secured.
• Among the loot: a goblin‑scrawled map of the area — its meaning still unknown to the party.
• Back in Levoca, two summons awaited: High Priestess Wintersella of Yarilla, or Sir Barack of Brunstane. The party chose Sir Barack.
• Milestone: Party reached Level 3.

This adventure came with a map of the ruins which I made in Inkarnate and then loaded to the TV screen, this was a really fun way to explore the ruins and have some cool combat encounters using the fog of war. We were missing our Druid for this session but I just faded them out and they’ll be back for session 3.

Reflections as GM

Two sessions in, Tales of the Valiant is working for me. It’s so close to D&D 5e that it’s familiar enough for my players to dive in, but with Luck Points, Doom Points, and the Margreve as a setting it feels fresh and new to me. The published adventures have given me a strong starting spine, but the homebrew factions, hidden agendas, and player‑tied hooks are what will make this campaign feel unique!

What’s Next

Next time, the party will meet Sir Barack and see where his summons leads — to the Black Hills probably. It’s time for a homebrewed adventure

I’ll be back with:

• More session recaps as the story unfolds.
• Session prep notes for other GMs.
• My thoughts on Daggerheart, which I’m running as a one‑shot this Friday.

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