Borough Bound
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Gruuk Jit'Jit 03 - In League
🕑 Added 2022-07-23 17:05:20 +0000 UTCThere are parts of the lodge you ought not go
Hey all, and wecome back to Gruuk Jit'Jit! Today's release is all about the first faction we'll be exploring in depth: Lyman's League, and their homebase in The Flying Pig Lodge. This release is a bit bonkers. It's the largest single building we've ever released (this is still only about 1/2 of it!), easily the largest interior map we've released, and one of the coolest borough guides yet. Let's dig in!
NOTE: We've been working with a brand new format for our borough guides for Gruuk Jit'Jit. We really want your feedback on it! Do you like the new style? Is it readable? Do you prefer the smaller page size? Any and all feedback is welcome! Drop it in the comments here or in the Discord!
Borough Guide
This guide introduces you to Lyman's League, the criminal enterprise that operates out of the massive tavern complex. If your party feels like allying with the eccentric illicit operators in town, they're going to want to know all about the enigmatic leader Lyman Prattershare, the intricacies of his "family," and the bloody battles in his Dueling Pit. We've got badass new NPCs, a slew of opponents for you to face in the ring, and mechanics to help you keep track of faction favor.
This borough guide features a gorgeous illustration of the the lodge's hallways by artist Mina Velicastelo.
Maps
When we ran our most recent poll about city requests, "City-Sized Tavern" came in 5th out of 25, so we decided to make a tavern that is NOT QUITE CITY-SIZED, but still really god damn big. This whole map is all The Flying PIg Lodge. In the center, there's Lyman's Dueling Pit, and waaay in the distance beneath the lodge, you can just barely see some corners of Lyman's secret docks.
We've also got a massive interior for Chief Courier patrons and above. Please note that this interior map is so big that it actually bleeds into map 2. We've got plenty of rooms, the entrance to the dueling pit, and the spot where you can drop off your gizmos and gadgets as you enter the tavern.
As always, we've got some stunning variants for this map, including a landed version of the city, a snowy variant, and that gorgeous sunset.
Music
There's a dueling pit in this map. Guess what kind of track we made? You'd be crazy to say anything other than "arena combat music." For "Guts Match," Will evoked all of those crunchy Witcher-esque battle vibes, even reaching for his violin (which he doesn't know how to play!) to give you some authentically janky fighting sounds. Patrons at the Chief Courier tier and above can also use the decidedly chiller—though still intense—pre-battle variant to get amped up for the fight.
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Get this week's files below!
Delivery Kid
Gruuk Jit'Jit 03 - In League - Delivery Kid Rewards
General Messenger
Gruuk Jit'Jit 03 - In League - General Messenger Rewards
Chief Courier
Gruuk Jit'Jit 03 - In League - Chief Courier Rewards
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This week's map variations:
Comments
Borough Bound
Hey! Oh dang, we actually made one after the fact but never ended up swapping out the zips. If you email us at contact@boroughbound.com, I'll just send you the sea files directly.
Jake Gustaf
Hello! Is there a reason this map doesn't have a sea variant?
Borough Bound
So glad you're a fan! Yeah, we're really happy with the balance of Gruuk Jit'Jit so far. With the map and weird plot, it feels ripe for all sorts of adventures, whether those are full of goofy antics or complex politicking. As for player handouts, it's definitely something we want to do more of. If you browse the illustrations from past cities, you'll see that there *are* a few "handout-esque" pieces, illustrations or maps that the players might have access to, even if they don't have the FULL city map yet. We will certainly be releasing at least one additional map that your players might enjoy for Gruuk Jit'Jit. But yeah, in an ideal world, we'd have a whole separate doc that you could hand to players without giving away crucial plot points or quest ideas or whatever. That just requires a whole separate round of editing and probably some new art... certainly something we'll want to prioritize as this project grows!
Von Recklinghausen
Hi! First I wanted to say that I absolutely *love* this city -- just the right mix of madcap crazy, unstable social/political/physical environment, and open blanks to fill in to make for an awesome setting. I'm already plotting opportunities for an arc involving a range of characters from different aspects of the story with slightly divergent motivations -- made easier by all the awesome story hooks :-). Second, a question: as you fill out the guide, what would you think about including a couple pieces of art that could serve as visual player handouts at the right moments? This is always a stumbling block for me with settings, as I love player handouts but am not particularly artistic -- so I wonder about baking a few into the borough guides. For example, what about a hand drawn map of the city that would impart to a player who lives there enough info to simulate their starting knowledge, but include enough uncertainty to still allow for fun discovery? If some players were from Gruuk JitJit and others were visitors, I'm imagining giving this to the players of the native characters as a cool artifact && to create some knowledge asymmetry between the characters+players, which I've found often leads to cool story moments...
