The Huntsman’s Isle

An adventure conversion for The Dee Sanction

This outline provides basic thoughts, tweaks, and creature

conversions designed to support running the Shadow of
the Demon Lord adventure of the same name.

You will require a copy of both The Dee Sanction core rules
and The Huntsman’s Isle adventure to make best use of
this material. Moreover, a GM can use these notes on
rough-and-ready conversion as a guide to their own
tinkering with adventures written for other game systems.

Illustration: Jeremy K | CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Shadow of the Demon Lord is ©2015 Schwalb
https://www.deviantart.com/badluckart Entertainment, LLC. All rights reserved.

The GM might also take the approach of the Agents being in the
Adventure Background area—on the mainland—and preparing to head home from a
The original plotline doesn’t need many changes. The concept coaching house, when Mister Garland appears and offers them
of pirates rising into the nobility through the generations makes a round of drinks. He explains about the reports from merchants
perfect sense. Many key personalities seeking to improve their and sailors at ports along the coast that have spiked concern about
station in Elizabeth’s court were privateers by “trade”. the safety of shipping—but Dee believes this is more than pirates.

An interesting focus—given the stone circle, the Redcaps, and

the history of piracy and death upon the island—would be to tie Swimming and Drowning
the island’s Unravelling to the Wild Hunt. The centuries of Unless specifically called out in an Agents background (Take a
bloodshed and “sacrifice” is opening the way for the Huntsman, Chance if born somewhere coastal) or their occupation, no
which led to the Baron’s fascination with the chase and his character will have learned to swim.
ghostly fate. Without intervention, the Hunt will soon ride out.
If knocked into open water, an Agent can splash and gasp for a
Moment without detrimental effect, but for each following
Adventure Site Moment the Player must roll a Physicall Challenge.
Various locations around the English coast could substitute for On a Success,their thrashing keeps them afloat. They’re unable to
the Stocesa Island. In the south-west, both the Isles of Scilly doing anything else beyond gasping, wailing and grabbing for
and Lundy Island—at the mouth of the Bristol Channel—make anything thrown in their direction to save them.
sense; they’re rich with pre-existing folklore around piracy or
piratical acts foist upon their residents. On a Falter, the character starts Drowning. This applies a Step
Down to the next Physical Challenge check. Standard rules apply,
Dunswich or Hull provide suitable alternatives on the east coast. turning three Drowning Consequences into a Hit. Once a Hit has
Islets near these key ports could be home to the Stocesa Castle. been suffered this way, then the Agent starts sinking. At this point,
Breaking with reality, a bit, a small fortification might have been rescue requires that another Agent—who can swim—jump in and
setup on an islet beyond Spurn Point, at the mouth of the drag them back to the surface.
Humber Estuary—a sort of rogue lighthouse.

Another approach would be to take the encounter into the

European Pursuit of Angels era. Placing the island close to a port
Bandits not Beastmen
in the Baltic Sea could work well. Rather than Beastmen—per the adventure as written—bandits
have taken to using the island as their base of operations. The
Upright Man—Edward or Sindony Prophet—who leads them
Getting Involved possesses both a keen mind and a hex that creates a moon-like
An influential landowner at Court provides an easy in for the light that lingers and fades. The bandits have used it, with
Agents to get involved with an investigation. Equally, the GM varying success, to fool passing ships to dash upon the rocks
might consider a straightforward courtly concern—via William close to the island. They take the loot for themselves and leave
Cecil and directed into Walsingham—about troubled shipping the bewildered sailors to the mercy of the Baron and his hounds
in the area with overtones of supernatural influence. or the sanguinary Red Caps.
 � [5,6] Glancing Snap: 1 Hits
Converting Monsters of the Isle � [7,8] Fearsome Bite: 1 Hits, Bleeding; if attacked by two
Hounds, an Agent can either fight on at �1 Phy Ch. or tear free
SotDL has a level of potency that doesn’t easily translate to The Dee for +1 Hit.
Sanction at higher power levels. On average, a sword does roughly
Pack Fighter: potency is �1 where the Hounds attack a single
5 Health damage. However, big creatures can have Health 100+;
target as a pair. The pair get an attack each; but, tearing free
a simple commoner or professional opponent has just Health 11. from a Fearsome Bite still only inflicts a single +1 Hit (for a total
On this basis, a common opponent will have a manageable 2 Hits for of 3 Hits damage).
TDS. However, a Vampire would be a game-ending 24 Hits!
Baron Tobias Stocesa – 5 Hits (�1, † , 1d8)
Given that, the GM should exercise caution when converting any Once a lord—ascendent upon the piratical prosperity of his
Difficulty 100 opponents from SotDL—consider Tradecraft bloodline—Stocesa now haunts the ruined castle, sacked not long
instead of Hits. after his passing, following a hunting accident. The wanton
violence of Stocesa’s rise and fall has Unravelled the bounds of
For example, a Vampire converted to TDS would have most, if not the island, setting gleeful and ravenous fae upon the unsuspecting.
all, of the Tradecraft markers as requirements to orchestrate defeat
and a more manageable number of Hits to kill once weakened. When Stocesa manifests, he appears in hunting regalia, with
feathered soft cap over long and untended hair, puffed breeches
A GM can use the following converted monsters to run the with knee-high leather boots, and a fine jerkin studded with
adventure and compare against the originals as a guide to rough golden buttons. He carries a whip, curled upon his belt, and a
conversions. Don’t sweat the small stuff! wickedly sharp sword, slick with the blood of his past prey.
� [1,2] Snap of the Whip: 1 Hit
Grave Thralls – 4 Hits (�1, 1d10) � [3,4] Slice of the Tail: 1 Hit, Bleeding
Tattered and worm-riddled corpses; tormented by tasks left � [5,6] Sweeping Strike: 2 Hits
incomplete in the span of their wretched and foreshortened lives. � [7,8] Impaling Thrust: 2 Hits, Bleeding
� [1,2] Battering: 0 Hits, Fatigued Afeard o’ the Hounds: whenever the presence of action of the
� [3,4] Clumsy Feint: 0 Hits, Bleeding Baron results in an imbalance of humours, it always incites
� [5,6] Sweep: 1 Hit the Black Bile. Roll 1D8 (or draw):
� [7,8] Thrust: 1 Hit; Take a Chance, Falter: wound is Bleeding ��1,2 Sullen; ���3–6 Afeard; ��7,8 Sickly
Insensate: immune to cold, poison, disease, charm, drowning Any imbalance of humours generated by the Baron persists for
and similar mortal weaknesses. a Moment + 1 for each previous imbalance caused by the Baron
(whether generated by Fear of the Hunter or Mind of Prey).
Redcaps – 2 Hits (1d10, A)
Fear of the Hunter: the Baron can spend an Action to force any
Malicious goblin born of the blood shed from executions. They living targets within 5 yards to hear the cacophonous baying of
have the appearance of wizened old men with protruding teeth, slavering hounds closing in upon them; check Sup Ch., Falter:
hideous talons, and caps dripping with the blood of their victims. check Unravelling�1. After use, the Baron cannot trigger the
� [1,2] Weave: 0 Hits, Make Distance Fear again for a Minute (6 Moments).
� [3,4] Weep: 0 Hits, Spattered with blood from a razor cut Mind of Prey: once per Moment, the Baron can target a single
� [5,6] Fetid Swipe: 0 Hit, Bleeding; Phy Ch., if Falter then individual, seeking to tip them over the edge. Check Sup Ch. at
Diseased at the end of battle �1.
� [7,8] Severed Vein: 1 Hit, Bleeding
Mercurial: roll 1d6/2 (1-3 — or just draw from one of three
Pikestaff and Cap: the goblin carries a polearm with a befouled, separate cards with those values). Stocesa has that many Actions
razor-sharp head. If an Agent can remove the gory cap from its per Moment to do with as he please. He could attack three times,
head and wash it clean, this banishes the monster instantly. move three, or use other powers—mixing and matching as the
However, unless the cap is then burnt and the scripture spoken over GM chooses.
it, banishment is only temporary (see below).
Ghost: naturally invisible, except to other ghosts, animals and
Weakness: uttering the last line of scripture spoken in holy site children. Stocesa can expend an Action to become visible or
closest to the place of the Redcaps summoning (A) is the only return to his naturally invisible, ghostly state.
way to permanently banish them, else they spawn again from
the gore-steeped turf at the next New Moon. Spirit (†): immune to common physical contact and unable to
interact physically itself; vulnerable to magical or blessed objects
that might cause harm—Armour 1d8 in this instance.
Castle Hounds – 2 Hits (1d10)
Insensate: immune to cold, poison, disease, fire, charm, sleep,
Faithful guardians of the Baron, both in life and in death. fatigue, sensory deprivation, drowning and similar mortal
� [1,2] Glowering: 0 Hits, Make Distance weaknesseses.
� [3,4] Howling: 0 Hits, Take a Chance, Falter: the Hound’s cry
attracts attention of any creature on the island. The GM can
freely chose the reaction and response time of those hearing the
call.

Shadow of the Demon Lord is ©2015 Schwalb Entertainment, LLC. All rights reserved.
The conversion guide is just that—a guide to converting SotDL material to The Dee Sanction—and released, without charge,
with the Dark Blessing and permission of Robert J. Schwalb.