Category Archives: GM Advice & Adventure Ideas

It’s officially summer! Everyone’s been working hard all year – it’s time to head out to the beach, enjoy some sunshine, and take a break from your worries and your work.

It’s no different for Heroes in Reclaim the Wild – just like us, they could use a break from deadly dungeons, mind-bending puzzles, and hordes of evil foes. But if your Heroes aren’t getting up to their usual adventures… just what are they going to do on the beach?

Today, we’re presenting something a little different – small adventure ideas that are much more low-stakes, chill, and mundane, perfect for a ‘beach episode’ of your campaign. So grab a cold drink, find an umbrella to sit under, and read on!

While Treasure Chests don’t usually have traps installed on them in Zelda games, you might want to include them for a more old-school, Dungeons & Dragons-type flavor. A Chest might also be trapped if it’s in a place like a Yiga hideout or a bandit camp, where there might truly be no honor among thieves.

Hunting down Treasure Chests is a staple past-time of Zelda games old and new! However, the main rulebook for Reclaim the Wild doesn’t provide any guidance on how a GM should use Treasure Chests, or what should be inside them.

This article hopes to help you out with that! Below, you’ll find thoughts on Big Chests vs. Small Chests, traps on chests, and a helpful table for randomly determining a Treasure Chest’s loot.

The Zelda franchise has more than its fair share of memorable, catchy songs, each with its own potent magic. Of these, the Song of Storms might be the most well-remembered, inspiring people to create remixes, covers, and even their own lyrics for the Magical Song.

While the Song of Storms is rolled into the Wind’s Requiem in Reclaim the Wild, that doesn’t mean you can’t base a few adventures around it. Players will be sure to follow up any quest hook that’s flavored with this favorite song, in the hopes of learning it for themselves.

• The desert town of Sunken Dune relies on the skilled dancer Palanhi, playing the Song of Storms, for their survival. The town receives no natural rainfall, and the nearest oasis is three days’ travel away. When desert thieves kidnap Palanhi away, the town is beside itself with panic. When the Heroes valiantly rush in to try and rescue her, however, they learn a startling truth – Palanhi asked to be kidnapped. The Heroes can either return her to her gilded cage, learn the song (and perhaps teach it to someone else in town), or, perhaps, find some more permanent solution to the town’s water problem.
• A strange clock-maker is visiting Zora’s Domain, and selling music boxes for cheap. Everyone loves their tinkling tunes, and they echo off of the grotto walls beautifully. However, the music boxes hide a secret: they’re actually a clever kind of time bomb. In less than a day, the music boxes will all change their tune to the Song of Storms, and begin playing simultaneously. This will surely flood the Zora’s homeland, and cause a cascading torrent to wash away everything downstream, the question remains – why?
• The town of Ilghaz has an annual festival for the Song of Storms. At the opening ceremony, the town’s choir gathers at an ancient monument, and sings the Song of Storms together, symbolically washing away the town’s sins. This year, however, the rains are red, and full of toads – an ill omen, to be sure. Is it truly a potent of bad things to come? A sign of some strange effect in the local lake? Or perhaps, as the town’s Mayor insists, some kind of magical prank?

Over the past year-and-some-change of developing Reclaim the Wild, I’ve run a number of one-shots and short campaigns. And while treasure, the fate of the world, or a hearty ‘thanks’ can be enough motivation to get Heroes moving, those might not be very rewarding when you know the game won’t last a long time – and you can get all of those playing other tabletop RPGs, anyway. But there’s one prize that feels incredibly unique to Zelda games, and really makes players sit up and pay attention: giving them a Fairy Friend.

Fairy Friends aren’t just a useful Feat, granting you a small bonus on To-Hit rolls. They also provide the GM a voice in interplayer conversations, and a conduit for players to ask in-character questions about the world they see without sounding strange. Further, the Fairy Friend’s potential to change into one of half a dozen colors, each with their own benefits, gives players a unique way to express their character, by choosing the color that’s right for them.

So one of the first pieces of advice I’d give to prospective Reclaim the Wild GMs, is to think of a way for their players to earn a Fairy Friend. Here are some options, from past games I’ve run:

• To prevent her from interfering with the evil warlock Karnyx’s plans, the Great Fairy Neirin has been sundered, her essence split into lesser Stray Fairies. Those Stray Fairies were then hidden throughout the land, entrusted to some of Karnyx’s most powerful minions. To revive Neirin and gain a powerful ally against Karnyx, the Heroes will need to find these Stray Fairies – and as they do, the individual Stray Fairies, each representing an aspect of Neirin’s spirit, can serve as a Hero’s Fairy Friend.
• Three hundred years ago, a group of Heroes set out to prevent Calamity Ganon’s resurrection – and failed. They left behind few traces of their journey, but a few souls still remember them: their Fairy Friends. Still heartbroken over the failed quest, these unfortunate Fairies could yet prove a boon to the Heroes of today: if they can be convinced to join the Heroes, they can provide invaluable information about the long-forgotten travels and travails of those forgotten Heroes of yore.
• Not all Fairies are above the fray of mortal machinations. When the Heroes visit the secluded kingdom of Ikana, they soon find themselves in the presence of the Great Fairy Shayal, who freely gifts them Fairy Friends to help them on their quests. However, Shayal has more in mind than simply helping itinerant adventurers: these Fairy Friends are her spies, her eyes and ears. Riding under a Hero’s cap, they can freely travel between nations, observe the actions of mortals, and report anything of interest back to Shayal. They may even influence the Heroes to Shayal’s own ends, turning them into her unwitting agents with only a few suggestions from their trusted voices.