At the top of a hill in the open countryside,

with views across the distant landscape

through its glass windows, stands a solitary
bright red tower. Living here on his own is
Tobias Thunderwolfe, an eccentric and
The Red
reclusive old vole. He is very intelligent
but easily distracted and absent-minded,
often forgetting to eat or clean, so both
Tobias and The Red Tower are disorganised,
Tower
scruffy, and slightly smelly.
However, whilst Tobias pays little attention
to himself or his home, he pays a lot of
attention to the world outside. He
spends all waking hours, and many when he
should be sleeping, watching from the
various levels of the tower though many
telescopes of his own design, making
detailed if erratic notes of what he can
see and filling a vast library with his
observations.
If something has happened within sight of
the tower, Tobias will know about it. But This is an independent production by Ross Burton and is not affiliated with
Losing Games. It is published under the Mausritter Third Party Licence.
as he is just watching from afar there’s only Mausritter is copyright Losing Games.
so much he can know: his interpretation This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
International License.
of events may be misleading and the Copyright © 2021 Ross Burton <ross@burtonini.com>
hastily scribbled notes are scattered Release 20210321

around the tower using a system that

The cover artwork is based on a photo by Glen Scott under a Creative Commons
nobody else can comprehend. Attribution Non-Commercial license.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/glenscott/162518447/
Tobias Thunderwolfe
2hp, STR 4, DEX 8, WILL 7
Wants to know everything happening, and be left alone
Tobias could be anywhere in the tower and it is hard to
keep his attention, so he is always on the move and likely
to wander off mid-conversation. When players are
exploring the tower looking for Tobias, roll d6 every turn
or in every new room. On a 1, Tobias has been found.
Tobias will remain with the players whilst they have his
attention, roll d6 every turn, if 4–6 then he has been
distracted and will swiftly move away, so another search
has to be done.
When the players find Tobias they can ask him questions
about events up to four hex away, with discretion by
the GM based on landscape. Tobias will answer truthfully
to the extent of his knowledge but may infer details
that are not accurate.
Quirks
Tobias has been a solitary vole for a long time so has
developed some unusual behavioural quirks.
d6 Quirk
1 Has verbal and physical tics
2 Talks in the third person
3 Has discussions with inanimate objects
4 Is paranoid
Has an imaginary assistant, James, who is
5
blamed for everything
6 Has no inner voice, speaks everything out loud
The Red Tower
The Red Tower was once a vast empty shell but is now
filled with uneven platforms, ramshackle rooms, narrow
staircases and passages, frayed rope ladders, broken
bridges, plants growing through the wall, other animal’s
nests, and labyrinthine libraries containing all the
observations Tobias has made.
Here is a map for inspiration, use the Adventure Site
Toolbox to generate your own.
Encounters
As the Red Tower is a maze of rooms, passages, and
staircases that Tobias has neglected and rarely enters,
the tower has plenty of uninvited guests that could be
friendly or hostile to anyone exploring. As such, treat
as an adventure site and roll for Encounters every
three Turns when exploring the tower as usual.
d6 Encounter
Beetle family, taking their children on a tour
1
of the tower
2 Hive of bees, peaceful if left alone
3 Centipede, protective of it’s nest
4 Spider, looking for a dinner
Crow, ¼ chance incubating eggs and will
5
attack when approached
6 Faerie, trying to learn secrets
When generating the inside of the tower, remember to
stock the rooms with treasure. Everything inside the
Red Tower is owned by Tobias, but maybe the players
can buy items from him, or just take them if they have
no qualms about theft.