Sand Castle is fueled by the fanciful stories of people building sand castles across generations.
The recursion consists of a massive sand castle and its inhabitants on a seemingly endless sandy shore near a vast ocean with huge waves. The inhabitants spend most of the day on frivolous pursuits but grow distressed as evening and high tide near. Almost every night, the castle is destroyed, along with its people, but starts over in the morning. The people have no memory of this cycle, instead referencing a fanciful history that never actually happened.
Recursors willing to wait for high tide will commonly be rewarded with a cypher, but little time to translate away before the world is reclaimed by water.
Every day, the castle is different. The core of its residents remains the same, but additional characters and plot twists randomly appear. Each evening, they have a lavish banquet of giant exotic seafood. The residents may seek help from the PCs or may blame them for the impending doom.
The core residents are as follows:
- The King (typically a widower)
- The Princess
- Ladies-in-waiting
- The Knight
- Many guards
The following are randomly determined characters (chance in 20 in parentheses beside them) and affects on the plot (randomly select if the character appears):
The Wizard (5) – Prophesies that the world is ending in a great flood, king asks outsiders to help them
- (1-10) Believes the outsiders are from another world and shouldn’t be trusted
- (11-15) Believes outsiders are from a distant land and can help them
- (16-19)Believes he can solve the problem, but others will have to do things
- (20) Has a cypher or artifact and offers it for help
The Jester (3)
- (1-15) PCs receive a disadvantage whenever they’re around him
- (16-20) PCs receive an advantage whenever he’s around
- Chance the castle survives another day (roll of 13+days castle had survived to survive another day
- Additional roll 19-20) – two cyphers are generated
The Captain of the Guard (2)
- (1) Secretly a criminal and frames the PCs
- (2-3) Plots with the knight to overthrow the king
- (4-6) Love triangle with the princess, plots against the knight
- (7-8) Loyal to a foreign power and rebels against the king
The Visiting Queen (1)
- (1) Plans to the king (poison or captain of the guard), feast in honor, has a cypher to offer pcs for help or for looking the other way
- (2-3) Courted by king, but drawn to a PC, feast in honor
- (4-6) Courted by king, but secret affair with the knight, feast in honor
- (7+) Courted by the king, feast in honor
The Strange Visitor (1)
- (1) Priest of the drowned god here to destroy the castle unless the God is appeased by human sacrifice
- (2-5) Charlatan posing as a suitor for the princess to get wealth (could cause issues with knight and/or captain of guard)
- (6-10) Thief looking for the ring or a cypher (if one exists)
- (11+) Dignitary negotiating visit of a foreign queen
A list of other complications to consider:
- Rain
- The king is missing
- The princess is sleeping
- The princess is sleeping and the PCs are blamed
- The princess is sleeping and the knight is missing
- The princess is missing and the knight rides out to save her
- The princess is sleeping and the PCs are asked to save her
- The Princess is sleeping and the Drowned God is responsible
Finally, here are some random possible locations for the wedding band/tranlation gate:
Possible ring locations:
- King’s chambers
- Princess’ chambers
- Knight’s chambers
- Wizards tower (whether there is a wizard or not)
- Cellar
- Dining hall
- Grand hall (throne room)
- Another tower
- Guard room
- Armory
- Treasury
- Moat
- Wall
- Prison
- Servants’ quarters