RPGaDAY2025 Day 5: Ancient

I was wondering what I was going to do for the Day 5 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge. The prompt is “Ancient.” A quick search gave me the definition of “Belonging to the very distant past or having been in existence for a very long time.” Then it hit me, something ancient that still exists would be worth a lot for its rarity, functionality or long-lost information waiting to be uncovered. This is system agnostic for any fantasy roleplaying game.

Adventure Idea: The Battle Record of Anthelstan:
The adventurers are in (or from) the long-lasting Kingdom of Anthelheim. The Royal Family of Anthelheim lays claim to the throne since their bloodline originated with the ancient warrior-king Anthelstan. This is kept in the royal tome known as The Battle Record of Anthelstan. This rare book is only accessible to the first family and the guild of scribes; however, it is brought out on special occasions where the different guild leaders read passages from the book to the public. It was written by the First Scribe who followed the young king on his adventures and recorded down the events for posterity. The first warrior-king brings about a sense of pride in the people of Anthelheim for his many good deeds in uniting the warring clans and forming the first kingdom.

The party is approached by a middleman/mysterious figure/confidant/??? who wants to hire the party to perform a discreet search. Apparently, a hireling of a known adventure offered to sell to a guild master/prominent figure/member of a crime family/etc. an ancient parchment which matches the first page of The Battle Record of Anthelstan. They were with the adventurer when it was found while searching for the lost battlefield of Draag’s Deep and claimed they just barely escaped from the traps that took their master’s life. The problem is the first page in The Battle Record of Anthelstan is still attached to the book that was seen in the recent Festival of Thrax and Alyton. Is this page a fake? Is it part of another copy of The Battle Record of Anthelstan? The benefactor hiring the party wants to confirm if this second book exists. Who wants the book? Someone wanting to keep an ancient secret? Someone who wants to present another record of a blood line? Who else knows about this page? Is someone else looking for the book?

Pushes adventure seed into the ground and pours some water on it. Take this tidbit and let it grow. But share with me if you run an adventure from this idea. I’d love to hear how it turns out.

Did this idea inspire you? What else could I have done with the topic of “ancient”? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.