Interview: Jordy William's Silam Issue 3
The Galleries of Varsu
Silam is back with issue 3 and it got a great adventure for folks! Jordy took a bit of time to chat with me and share all about it. I've been impressed with Silam 1 and 2, and am looking forward to this one even more! Anywho, go back it now or read a bit more and see if it makes you a touch more interested.
The adventure is usually my favorite part of a zine like this so tell us about The Gallery of Varsu! The sound of "a museum lost to time" sounds really intriguing!
Adventures are typically my favorite part too! With Silam, my design goal is for every adventure to be an interesting site-based experience, which is to say that there isn’t a strong expectation of plot, but instead plenty of interesting things for players to poke (and get poked by). In the first issue the players are given knowledge of these lost places throughout their nation and the real thrust of the campaign is their exploration and searching for these lost treasures while navigating the world above.
So the Galleries of Varsu finds them uncovering a magical museum that has both an art and history wing–and both have had plenty of time to get weird! The art exhibits are at war and the history exhibits have gained sentience and both sides are protecting magical artifacts that players are going to salivate to get their hands on, which I’ve found in playtesting is a recipe for a good time!
What's your have a favorite monster or moment from playtesting?
Playtesting the Galleries was one of the more exciting adventures yet–players have continually surprised me with their solutions to the problems they face when entering this place and I think fun surprises on both sides of the judges’ screen is basically the best thing we can hope for. The art wing of the adventure features several different riffs on ‘what if a museum was trying to kill you?’ and (if PCs go the ‘typical’ route) it opens with a trap that turns into a fight that turns into a different trap and it’s been so much fun to see how different people handle it!
My favorite monster might be the ten feet tall painting of a citadel that pulls free from its frame and tries to crush the PCs for invading its territory. Tiny painted archers firing tiny paint arrows at them always gets a good reaction from players.
There's a lot of material about the overland of this region of Silam. What makes it a unique place to explore?
Silam is a conflicted place–it’s a nation in the middle of a civil war with four different races of people with very different approaches to life all living together because the surrounding environs are quite hostile. So the overland travel guide is largely about providing and illustrating for judges how they can make use of that for interesting conflicts as their players bop around–every locale gets a description and plot hooks, many of which encourage the PCs to travel to another locale. It’s a fairly tamed area, not a lot of random monster encounters, but it’s very easy to run afoul of an angry group of soldiers or a group of clerics with conflicting views or a demi-human who resents your party. It’s a bit more Warhammer Fantasy than Keep on the Borderlands in that sense.
You're also introducing a thieves guild called The Gripped Dagger. I'm guessing that they may play into the adventure in some way? How do they play into the world of Silam?
Another of my design goals with Silam is that I’m continually asking, “What class has had the least amount of attention so far?” and then building up that deficit. The first issue introduced three original races so I’ve put a lot of effort into the adventures to include details about them for players to learn more. Issue 2 included 5 new deities with special attributes like expanded spell tables and boons for clerics AND it had a new wizard spell AND it had new weapons for fighters.
So The Gripped Dagger is my providing something for judges to use when they have thieves in the party who want to really feel like a thief. It’s a criminal organization with a hierarchy the PCs could climb, bosses they answer to, jobs they can undertake, and gold to be earned. It’s really a big world-building piece that’s tailored towards those between-dungeon-delving shenanigans players tend to love and I think a lot of judges end up making up on the fly.
Thanks for sharing! Anything else that you'd like people to know about?
I hope folks will check out the Kickstarter, I’m really proud of how issue 3 has come together and I think it’s the best expansion of the setting yet! And if you dig Silam, sharing out the campaign on your socials is a huge way to help it keep happening–there’s plenty of adventure left! Finally, thanks to you, Stefan–one of the best things about DCC is the community and you’re a prime example of that!
What’s your favorite “thieves guild/criminal organization” focused TTRPG content?
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