Experiment: Mists of Madness, converted for 0-level

[Ogrepuppy]

As it says on the tin, I'm going to plumb the depths of insanity and try--TRY--to convert Harley's Mists of Madness adventure to accomodate 0-level PCs. I intend for this to be an open discussion and would enjoy input from board members (as well as Goodman staff, if desired), so please feel free to add comments, suggestions, criticisms, rude gestures and occasional flatulence.

On that note, please be aware that spoilers may fly fast and furious, so if you don't want to know details, you may want to avoid this thread!

A few challenges/obstacles come to mind immediately: a) the difference between a 4th edition D&D 1st level character and a 0-level DCCRPG character is significant, b) the selection of monsters to choose from is...slim, to say the least, and c) we have no rules as of this writing for traps, which feature heavily in Mists. Also, Mike Hensley's brief review exposes a few weaknesses in the adventure.

Is this a foolish endeavor? Likely, yes. Am I going to try anyway? HELL YEAH!

I'll tackle the easiest challenge first: monsters! I'll follow the advice regarding "Weaker Parties" and chop out some of the numbers of creatures that appear, so that those 1, 2 and 3 Hit Point 0-level adventurers have a snowball's chance in hell of surviving.

We'll need crocodiles, giant frogs, humans and demi-humans, a half-ogre, shades, an ochre jelly, rat swarms, shambling horrors (basically undulating, massed swarms of insects in the shape of a man), skeletons, and an archlich(!). The crocs & frogs are covered by "Giant Reptiles" in the Monster chapter of the Beta rules. The human and humanoid NPCs are covered by using the rules to create PCs. Skeletons and jellies have been given stats. We can tone down the ogre in the Beta so that it's more of a half-ogre. If the archlich is awakened at the end of the adventure, forget the "funnel"--it'll be a casket for all those poor 0-level schmucks!

Well, that's actually a decent start for monsters. I'll stew on it a bit more and see if I can finish them later today.

There's tons more I'd like to address, but it's time I slept. If you have ideas (or if Harley/Joseph felt like throwing us a bone regarding trap rules!) please don't hesitate to add comments.

[kataskicana]

Just to help out... from the Free RPG module traps felt very much like a great combo of AD&D and 3e. I don't want to spoil anything, but they can have any normal effect you can imagine with a save of one kind or another to prevent/reduce damage, or work like some kind of an attack... (making something up while asleep!): like an axe rigged to drop down from above might get an Atk roll +8 for d10 damage.

A pit trap or something might require a luck roll not to fall into ( or a reflex save) if no one was trying to detect it or avoid it.

[GnomeBoy]

*adjusts TV tuner to this channel... waits for signal to resume*

[Ogrepuppy]

waits for signal to resume

Since I work Friday to Monday, afternoon into evening, every weekend, my signal usually doesn't broadcast until after midnight...or later. FYI.

Also, trying to do some "homework" regarding how DCCRPG monsters' and PCs' stats compare to OD&D/3.x D&D stats.

If you experience radio silence from me on occasion, I'm still here....just working on offline topics.

[Ogrepuppy]

The first thing I'd like to establish is power levels. How strong (or weak) can I make the monsters and have 0-level PCs handle them? This will help determine what kind of, and how many, monsters I can use in Mists. We don't want to avoid near-TPKs (after all, that's the point of the "funnel" system), but likewise we don't want a 'commoners drowning in their own entrails' bloodbath in the first 3 minutes of the adventure.

...Or do we? BWHAHAHAHAHA!

Time to do some homework. :: reads, comes back ::

Alright, so after comparing the DCCRPG monsters' stats to previous editions' stats (including 3.5), it appears Joseph is hewing close to the AD&D (1st edition) Monster Manual's formula.

After re-acquainting myself with "reverse AC" (starting at AC 10 and lowering the number as the armor improves) and Hit Dice, I was quickly able to make reasonable 'guess-timates' for either game's monster stats. There's a little bit of wonkery there, but I should be able to use rough stats from the AD&D MM to stat out anything in Mists that isn't covered by the DCC Monster chapter. (I mention this partially in case any of you want to create adventures of your own or convert old DCC adventures like I'm doing--you now have a very rough, general idea of what existing Monster Manual will work for DCCRPG, if you need critters.)

I may be competent at pattern recognition (which is all I did between the monster manuals and the DCC monsters) but I really have no clue how to compare power levels between 1st edition AD&D characters and DCCRPG 0-level commoners. Will the 0-levels be TPKed by these monsters, or 'appropriately challenged'? Once the 0-levels get about half-way through Mists it might be wise to let them level to 1st. Or not. I guess that's part of the test portion of playtest...

Maybe it'd be better to have the entire adventure be the proving grounds for the 0-levels, and only graduate to 1st level after completing Mists. (It bears mentioning that this adventure has been criticized as being too hard, and that's on 4th edition 1st level characters that have double-digit Hit Points.)

Any observations you might have regarding monster power levels vs. PCs, and/or opinions about whether the PCs should gain a level during the course of the adventure, are welcome.

From this point forward, I'll simply go page-by-page through the adventure, and we'll analyse what needs to be changed from 4th edition rules to DCCRPG.

[Ogrepuppy]

The first four pages of Mists should be usable as-is. I think the only thing I'm going to change in my game is in the rumor table (under Legends and Lore, pg. 4). Malikai is mentioned twice, and the two rumors are very similar (#9 and #12). However, when we get to area S-10 "The Greedy Maw" there is mention of the Blade of Skoulos, "bane of archmages, slayer of liches and doom of dweomercasters". This is, to my current knowledge, the only place the Blade is mentioned in the entire adventure! It would be fitting to remove Rumor #12 (or remove #9; your mileage my vary) and replace it with lore regarding the Blade, the rumor's verbiage essentially cribbed right from the description of the Blade on page 16.

Page 5 is when we start getting to some slightly bigger decisions. This is where the controversial Curse of Skoulos and its mechanics are first described.

In his review/critique, Mike Hensley noted (link in my first post) that making a saving throw vs. the Curse every hour is excessive; after 24 hours, it's possible the heroes have had most of--or even all--the Curses visited upon them if their saving throw dice are rolling poorly! (And it's suggested in the adventure that heroes suffering from 10+ Curse effects become NPCs. No fun, especially for 0-level PCs!)

We're going to want to lower the number of times the saving throws need to be made, but still produce a challenge for the players. Plus, the Curse effects are quite flavorful (OK, morbid) and interesting in play, so we want to use them--just not as often.

My instinct is to have the saving throw vs. Curse occur every time Skoulos' name is said aloud (by PCs, cultists, Malikai during his 'awakening ritual' near the climax of the adventure) or read (there are a few instances of his name appearing within script in the Black Spire). This gives the subtle reinforcement that his name alone contains so much dread power that it's mere utterance can bring curses upon his victims! (Alternately, this could also devolve into a Young Frankenstein Frou Blucher/lightning & thunderclap farce.)

(I'm sure others of you will suggest better alternatives regarding how to handle the frequency of "Curse checks" so please feel free to post your ideas!)

There's also a chart of 12 Malevolent Effects, how the Curse of Skoulos impacts the characters. Many of these effects are either non-rules specific or are so mildly couched in 4th edition D&D terms that it's obvious how to use them in DCCRPG. Malevolent Effect #10 and 12 are, in my opinion, the only two remotely in need of re-wording...and let's face it, the list of 12 can be shortened to a list of 10. (If anyone wants to bother to re-write curse 10 and 12 and post it here, knock yourself out! Personally, I'm fine with discarding them--they wouldn't be difficult to rewrite, I just want to Keep It Simple, Skoulos.)

Remember, the curses are actually useful from a story perspective, as heroes effected by the curses are subconsciously drawn to Skoulos' phylactery...and they're quite evocative and creepy in a narrative sense.

Especially webbed fingers. Webbed fingers are gross.

Tomorrow, I'll review the first encounter locations and we'll see if we can write some DCCRPG monster stats! w00t!

[meinvt]

Just ran the first half of this module as a level 0 session for four players. I'm going to make this both a playtest report and notes on how I did the conversion, as the playtest report is more complete with SPOILERS about the module.

Bottom line, everyone had a great time, and is eager to go back to it. Our session lasted for about four hours of play time, including character generation. We had a thirty minute break for food (and because one player came late, see below). They didn't complete the challenge, but those there for the whole time would make level one. More on that below as well.

Conversion Notes, Page 5:
Didn't end up mattering, but changed the curse to be a will save at sunrise, sunset and when the name of Skoulos is spoken aloud in the character's presence. DC of the save equal to 10+number of effects on character already. Reduced list of effects by deleting 10 and 12 and also reduced effect 8 to 1 hit point and 9 to a +3/-3 on saves.

Background Gave each player 4 characters (3 players to start) and one rumor from the table. For each character also had the player roll. On a 1-3 they were on the quest because a family member is cursed, on a 4-5 it is a noble act and on a 6 they were cursed themselves. Through complete coincidence the several cursed characters were the first to die, so the curse hasn't taken effect so far.

Beginning/Swamp Crocodiles When they got to the log in the jungle I had the players choose order to cross. As they didn't indicate any other precautions I rolled a d6 to see which character back from the front was the first attacked. I set it up as 3 crocs: init -1, AC 15; hp 12, 8, 20, Bite +4 for 1d6 damage and grabbed, If grabbed a bit is +4 for 2d4+2 damage or 2 damage on miss. Worth 35 exp for each defeated.

The first attack from the croc hit easily doing 6 points to a 1 hp character. We were off with a bang. I ruled that the croc leaped over the log, taking the character with it and descended into the water. Then I ran initiative and the players all did horribly. The two remaining crocs attacked in initiative order and a second hit this time doing just enough to kill the character. I ruled it hadn't snagged her away. The players had an ineffective round of attacks, not doing much to maneuver (for example offering any of their five pieces of livestock as a sacrifice...) A second character was submerged by a croc. This left the 8 hp opponent to the players and after two successful blows it was down to 1 hp. I made a morale check when it went below 1/2 hp and it failed, descending away and leaving the characters alone, but already down three party members. This could easily have been a TPK if the crocs hadn't left after their first feed, but I think worked well.

Finding the keepWhen confronted by the split in paths with no other clues one of the players decided his halfling gypsy would try using the tarot cards, recovered from a dead fortune teller's body, for guidance. I let him try, and he got a 20. With this I told him that one was was the new path and one way the old path to the keep. They elect the "old path" which was the one through the original gate. Upon finding the gatehouse a halfling scouted just far enough to find look in the opening and then they decided to search along the wall. After considering climbing it, they eventually returned to the gate.

Hopping DoomI converted to 3 Giant Frogs as such: Init +1; AC 14; hp 14, 6, 15; two actions d20 and d14; Bite +4 for 1d6 or 1d6+2 if grabbed; Tongue +3 to grab and pull target up to 15' away; Leap to disengage without counterattack; Exp 35. Again the halfling poked into the gate, this time going a bit further and looking at the ceiling "for a way up". He found himself staring directly into the face of a giant frog looking down at him. I gave them both a round ahead of the rest of the group and the toad won initiative, hitting with the tongue to lift the halfling up, but missing with the follow-up bite attack. With his action the halfling struggled free and dropped back to the ground below, unharmed but prone.

The party scrambled to ready themselves, but unwilling to venture under the murder holes themselves, aid being proffered as "grab the other end of my 10' pole!" The halfling was lucky as the next turn his attacker fumbled on another tongue attempt, grabbing a nearby rock instead. He then declined the pole and instead just stood and ran. On their initiative the other frogs came out and after the party. The eight characters mobbed the beasts, striking at them willy-nilly. A few lucky blows hit and soon one of the beasts was down, but not before another character had been eaten. The remaining two frogs then failed morale and fled with two particularly bloodthirsty peasants chasing one down and successfully felling it before it reached the water in order to rescue the remains of their fallen comrade.

Up we goThe group then decided to venture up through the murder holes themselves to look around. Here I modified the map a bit to have doors between the various rooms and the walls outside, as well as to the sunken tower and the round towers on the far side. The group never searched the frog's lair, but did poke around in these rooms. As soon as they were outside they saw the evil ritual in the courtyard, but decided 8 cultists, a half ogre and a witch were too much for the eight of them. Instead they pressed on to the sunken tower.

By adding a door on this level, I let the players encounter Sagatha at the same elevation he starts at, with the crocodiles in the water below. I simply eliminated the ward mother and reused stats from my earlier encounter for the crocs. Sagatha I made a human. Lvl4, Init +3; AC 17; HP: 24; Attck +5 1d8+1 spear or +6 1d6 crossbow; 125 exp initiated combat by firing a crossbow bolt into a character who luckily survived by taking only 1 damage. Most of the group ran, but he moved before the final few characters and charged out with his longspear, somehow again failing to kill his target. At this point the few remaining characters decided to mob him and try to push him into the water below (they had seen the crocodiles start to splash around). One landed a good hit on the push, but I rolled a save for him higher than the attack, so no effect.

The rest of the group charged back at him, this time trying to push and/or grab his longspear from him. I put a limit of six combatants able to get to him at a time, but then made an exception for the halfling being underfoot. One of the charging characters got a 20 on her hit roll. I let her do the crit result damage with her fist. He missed his save, so it also pushed him back to the very edge. On the next round they kept at the pushing and grapple strategy and by sheer numbers one of them managed to knock him off (again with a crit result that did a few extra hp of damage). The crocs I ruled left him alone, and the noise of the ceremony outside protected the group from facing reinforcements.

Embarrassed and angry Sagatha climbed the structure and attempted to engage the characters. As the players were all ready for this several got attacks as he got up to their level, and they were lucky to again not be hit by his blows. A few more good strikes and they did the 24 hp needed to kill him! At the same time they had recovered his crossbow, but were disappointed to find his chainmail too damaged to wear immediately!

Sleeping LateAnother player was able to join the group late, and while the others ordered pizza I introduced him to the game and he also rolled four characters. We determined that they had been intended to be part of the original posse, but having drunk too much the night before overslept. Fortunately, the prior group of twelve had left a pretty clear trail through the swamp and they hustled to catch up. The two groups spotted each other as the four new characters approached the walls. Introductions were made by all.

Despite knowing about the elf maidens plight earlier, the group continued very deliberately to explore. They were disappointed, but not upset when my descriptions turned to them seeing her heart held aloft, and then eventually to the drums slowing and the ritual ending. Due to the time spent in their scouting activities I decided that the cultists would begin to leave the compound and Ursula and Hiatha climb to the cave. Of course, at just this time the players decide to set an ambush for the cultists and some of them run out on the wall where they are spotted.

Crazy combat What followed was a very old school combat sequence. I'd done the following with stats:
Cultists (8), AC 10, hp 4,5,6,1,3,2,4,3) Att +1 for 1d10 dmg, 5 exp each
Hiatha Half Ogre (3 HD), AC 14, hp 24, Att +5 for 1d8+4 dmg or shield charge +5 for 1d6+2 and save vs. Fort or pushed 10' and knocked prone; 75 exp
Ursula Cleric (3 HD), AC 15, hp 11, Att +5 for 1d8, Curse of Skuolos - Cast as paralysis, also all success results add all targets within 15' make save vs. will or gain curse, Black Orb - Cast as magic missile; 50 exp

The cultists had highest initiative and broke into two bands based on where they saw characters. Being closer to the wall, the three characters with ranged weapons immediately started shooting at them. One was quickly felled and another injured from one of the groups. The other group was headed straight towards the gatehouse. Ursula cast a Black Orb of necromantic energy that withered away the scout halfling hero standing on the walls with his sling. Meanwhile, I handled morale separately for the two groups of cultists and the one that had lost a member broke and ran. The other group was savagely attacked by a majority of the characters as they attempted to assault the gatehouse. One more character died, but all four remaining cultists were killed.

Meanwhile Hiatha and Ursula had headed across the courtyard to where I'd decided a stair to the upper wall would be located. The characters chased after them, some atop the walls, and others lowering themselves to courtyard level to chase them up the stairs from behind. Ursula turned to face her pursuers and attempt to curse them, but her spell roll was relatively low and they all made their saving throws. Hiatha beat down the last door between himself and the characters and promptly leveled the most likely future hero (she had been doing really well and was all 14-16 in physical stats) with his morningstar.

At this point players started to use Luck. A sling stone shot was just lucky enough to hit Ursula, although she persisted for another round, touching a character with paralysis which he again saved against. The next round she fell and the party had the Half-Ogre surrounded on the stone tower. Meanwhile one of the characters had lit a bottle of oil and attempted to throw it at the ogre, instead hitting his ally. Despite having only two hit points she survived. His damage roll on the first round was 1 and she made her save on the subsequent round.

The battle with the ogre was fast and furious. With another mighty blow he did 11 points of damage to a 1 hp character, knocking his head clean off. An attack by one character was enhanced with three luck to hit and then five more luck for damage. Luck was used to secure a hit on at least one more attack, possibly two more against the brute. But then the group had done the damage and he fell. The peasants rested a moment, recovered the valuables from Ursula and Hiatha and recovering the body of the elven maiden from the altar.

Wrap up
Having clearly killed the evil witch (despite also clearly hearing her last words about "my master") the peasants decided that they had suffered enough losses and head back to town. [This was mostly because of the time and need to end the session].

I awarded exp based on the Basic D&D rules, based on HD of the opponent with bonus for special abilities and based on treasure value but not magic items. The result was that the five original characters are level one qualified now (with a net of +12 exp). The three remaining heros of the four that joined late have advanced to -40. It appears that about 60% of the experience points is in the recovered items value, particularly the two suits of chainmail.

Other Observations
Animals: In theory the characters brought a mule, cow, goat, hen, goose and herding dog with them. One time we had the dog do something. I remembered to make them tie up the mule outside when they went climbing up to explore. Otherwise, they just all became forgotten. I'd really like some good rules and recommendations on how to handle things when loose animals are around (i.e. they always act on initiative count 1 and do the following: xxx)

Experience: Hard to know if the system I used was right, although the outcome seemed appropriate. A big factor is how to count looted equipment in this.

Equipment: Likewise, for now all the equipment found is very valuable to the level 0 characters. Soon though it will just be "money". I'd like a standard rule about this. Especially lacking anything like a strict encumbrance rule. It is particularly important if there is any tie between experience and treasure gained (which I'd love to see).

Dice: Not having the unusual sided dice was a bit of a pain (particularly not having a d24 for equipment). I do wonder if this will be a barrier to entry.

Starting Equipment: I'd like to see a bit more variety expansion of this table past the initial 24 items.

[Harley Stroh]

Awesome thread. Now that we have an Actual Play forum, I'm going to slot it over there.

//H

[Ogrepuppy]

Meinvt, great post. THANK YOU!

Your post offers something mine can't: an actual play. I don't have players, currently, to test the rules out with (my normal D&D group is run by a DM who doesn't like to give up "the throne" to others, and since he's a pretty good DM the players aren't complaining).

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought of rolling Curse Effect saving throws based on Skoulos' name.

I think the only thing I would have changed for my game (if I had one, and YMMV here) is that I wouldn't allow the characters to level up yet. I'd wait until more of them were killed off.

Since your post proved that 1) it's possible to use Mists to run a DCCRPG game, and 2) that it's pretty easy to use Basic D&D creature stats/XP until we have a "legit" monster chapter, I don't really see the need to continue on with my own write-up.

I encourage you, Meinvt, to post the next session's actual play to let us know how your group did! And thanks again.

[meinvt]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought of rolling Curse Effect saving throws based on Skoulos' name.

I totally cribbed that. The only thing I would have changed is cursing more characters than 1 in 6 off the bat. Through random luck the three cursed characters were the first three to die, so the curses never made a difference. Hmm..except maybe in a cosmic sense.

But, they haven't overcome the evil. I have a few tricks up my sleeve... We may get session #2 in as early as Thursday.

[Ogrepuppy]

I can say with confidence that I'm not the only one looking forward to reading about it!

[kataskicana]

I would think some animals would be left behind depending on the location of the adventure. Unless a player thinks they might find use for a duck they might just sell it to someone else in the village for a few copper or something.

A dog is handy as are pack animals, but I'm not so sure most livestock have a use unless they are 'iron rations' that carry themselves!

[meinvt]

A Week Passes

I'm going to have either six or seven players for my session tomorrow evening! I've gone a bit stricter with character requirements. They will be able to bring either: A Level 1 and Level 0 if they have it, else they will bring three level 0 characters on the adventure. I think that means we'll have between 15 and 18 characters venturing out a week later when they realize the curse has not yet lifted.

In the meantime I asked players who could advance their characters to do so, and those who lost characters to send a sentence on who they were and how they died. I got a bit more from one player, so here it is:

Chegi, the halfling gypsy, was a fool to search out the "moan" of those awful caves in the swamp. Still, the townsfolk who came back said he was brave and was willing to crawl about in places where others would not go. He almost got swallowed by a giant frog, but his fate was ultimately tied to the horrid witchcraft of some foul sorceress. He was last seen high on a wall, tossing stones from his sling when unnatural darkness took him.

Poor Thundu the farmer! He was a good man who could work longer and harder than those with thicker arms. When we played draughts at festival he'd usually take the pot, but he always took the sting out of your loss with a big honest smile and a joke to forget your coins. He used up all that luck in those games because from what is told he hardly stepped into the swamp before something with a big mouth bit him and drug him down into that black oily filth.

I've only seen two characters leveled so far, but will report on that. Going to level 1 Warrior with a former alchemist was completely straight forward. Record a few stats, roll the d12 (Yes! An 11!) for hit points, and away we go. Antonia is ready to finish the job.

Advancing the other character (which we actually did first) provided more feedback. The character was a Level 0 Halfling Gypsy with a 16 Int, a 7 Luck and neutral agility. Based on my read of the rules as written I gave the option of any of the four normal classes plus Halfling. Wizard was the selected class. I hand over the character sheet. (Maybe relevant to know this is my wife).

OHHH, I can get a familiar?
Only if you get the right spell.
I'm going to get that spell.
Well, you have to roll for your spells.
Hmph. I'm going to get it.
She started out with the left column on the sheet and so rolled hit points first. With a 15 stamina the character still had only 2 hp at Level 0. After rolling another 1 he will have 4 hp at Level 1. Then we get as far as rolling spells.

As I read the rules written, you get bonus spells for Intelligence, but there is no way to "forget" a spell to learn better ones later. I said that she got to roll 6 spells and then had to choose at least four of them, but could elect not to study every one to keep extra slots open for future learning.

First roll: 10 - Find Familiar
I told you I'd get it.
Ok.
Second roll: 15 - Patron Bond (I tell her to add a line for Invoke Patron as well)
Third roll: 10 - Uh, roll again.
What was that?
Find Familiar, roll again.
I TOLD you I'd get Find Familiar.
Yes, you did, roll again.
Fourth roll: 10
See!?
Yes, I get the point, roll again.

She ended up keeping Detect Magic, Comprehend Languages and Ward Portal as well. She elected not to keep Runic Alphabet. Despite a -1 luck she had mostly irrelevant Mercurial Magic rolls. Except that she rolled a 20 (modified to 19) for Find Familiar. So it gives her a power surge too. Not much use in a spell that takes a week and 10 spellburn to cast though. Otherwise she has a couple spells that create slimy puddles and black fungus nearby when cast, but nothing harmful.

(Just remembered that prior to all the spell stuff we did language rolls. Nothing extraordinary there, although she likes that she can speak Wolf). Damiano will stay home for the next adventure as he wants to spend a couple weeks casting Find Familiar and Patron Bond rituals.

[Ogrepuppy]

Based on my read of the rules as written I gave the option of any of the four normal classes plus Halfling.

Not to take a dump on the fun, but I'm pretty sure the only class you can take (if you get a 0-level demihuman) is a demihuman class, thus--if I understood things, and please correct me if I'm wrong--she could only take the Halfling class.

:: edit, after quickly scanning the rules ::

Ah, the rule is that you can't choose a demihuman class when you transition from level 0 to level 1 (if you weren't a demihuman before, you can't become one). This is explored more here, especially the last few posts.

:: edit, after seeing you were one of the posters in that thread ::

D'OOOOOH.

[meinvt]

Yeah, I'll admit that I sort of did this to point out that if this isn't the way the rules are intended to be played a very clear change is required. Also, my wife was a lot more interested in the Wizard and I wanted to see how the class works.

[meinvt]

Will also be posted on the RPGGeek Session Reports forum http://www.rpggeek.com/thread/667645/fu ... -madness-3.

A new group gathered for the next adventure in our series. That meant we had one player from the prior session missing, and three new players. I decided a week had passed and the characters, now realizing that the curse was not indeed lifted, were returning to try to finish the job. They didn't.

The three returning players had level 1 characters and I allowed them to bring along a level 0 sidekick. The three new players each rolled up a funnel of three level 0 characters. So, in total, a motley crew of 15, a dog, hen, mule and cart set out into the swamp. They were:

Dorah the Level 1 Warrior and her companion Norah the Wainwright.
Antonia the Level 1 Warrior and her companion Odina the elf.
Thad the soldier, Carry Granite the dwarven miner and Romper the jester.
Dumb Anton, Deaf Anatoli and Blind Burbala, farming brothers and their friend the halfling gypsy.
Mango Lassi the alchemist, Zippy the cobbler and Skinner the trapper.
and Sunjo the Level 1 Cleric of Ildavir with his companion Dodin the dwarven miner.

Crocodiles Redux
In the first adventure two crocodiles had swum off with meals and one had been driven off. I decided that the two who feasted on characters before would surely be here and waiting again.

Arriving at the log bridges the familiar member of the parties proclaimed "Here is where we lost the first of our companions" The response was much milling and uncertainty. Finally, Dumb Anton took his hen, scurried up to the end of the log and placed the bird upon it, backing quickly away. They all waited and watched.

I took this as my first opportunity to ask for a luck check. The result was an 8. I decided this was enough to say that there was an ominous ripple in the water, but nothing happened (if the result had been 10 or more I would have had a croc show itself and on 15 or more one would have eaten the hen and left).

Dumb Anton and Deaf Anatoli concocted a plan where Anton would snatch the chicken and dash across the log while Anatoli would chase after and skewer any crocodile that showed itself. They set the plan in motion, but Anton was slowed grabbing the struggling bird and didn't get clear of the far end of the bridge. The crocodiles did show themselves and the whole group lunged into action. Unfortunately, Anatoli's skill with the pitchfork was not great enough to stop the large crocodile which bit off a large chunk of Anton's leg - the first casualty of the day. Others attempted to dash past Anatoli who was fierce in battle on the log bridge, dropping into the water but always, luckily on the side away from the crocodile. Thad spent his time using his spear to help pull people back out of the water while Antonia lured a second crocodile up onto land where the group overwhelmed it. The crocodile in the water was driven off. The group had survived with one casualty.

Norah and Thad quickly went after the fallen crocodile's gullet with hand-axe and spear tip. Thad was the lucky one, pulling out a jeweled gold armband worth more than any of them had made in their lifetimes. Sunjo offered blessings and healing of Ildavir and Mango Lassi availed himself, proclaiming the greatness of the goddess of nature and healing his wounds. Meanwhile Deaf Anatoli did as best he could to tend to his brother's remains and named the hen Anton after his memory.

Into the Keep
I decided the tame crocodiles in the tower were now gone, as were the frogs. The cultists however had returned and eight were hidden behind drapes and skins on the scaffolding, ready to repel intruders.

The group left behind mule and wagon and proceeded across the log bridges through the swamp. Upon reaching the keep they scouted carefully ahead, watching murder holes above at the gate and then dividing into two groups to cross the courtyard, spooked by the eerie silence. All was calm until they reached the base of the scaffold. Then one of them decided to walk over to it and shake it as hard as he possibly could to see if it was stable. This prompted a cry of surprise from one of the cultists hidden and balanced above and the battle was engaged.

The scaffold was on three levels so some characters started climbing immediately while others stepped back with ranged weapons. The cultists were each carrying a pair of javelins which they used as short spears in melee. Fortunately for the group they got initiative on the cultists.

The battle was fairly quick with a few highlights. Antonia and Dorah both proved deadly with their warrior skills and Dorah tapped her higher hit points, taking strikes from the opponents. Dodin used his mining knowledge to carefully identify a weak point on the scaffold, however friendly characters outnumbered cultists on the scaffold before he struck it. Deaf Anatoli put his prize radish to good use, hurling it at a cultist who was struck in the forehead and fell to his death with a quite surprised look on his face. Sunjo proved deadly accurate with the sling, picking off the cultist leader who flared all their curses by invoking the name of SKOULOS. Romper on the other hand, quickly discovered that the cultists were carrying silver and spent the entire battle looting falling bodies, while Thad held shield high protecting his companion and unaware of his activities. Mango Lassi was the only one to fall in battle, pierced through by a cultist in melee.

You come to Ildavir! Ildavir does not come to you.
As the battle completed, Dorah led the way to climb the scaffold toward the blue mist boiling down from above. Sunjo stood upon the ground below and called out that any who needed healing could come and worship Ildavir. Dorah called down that she was already halfway up the scaffold and for him to come up. He responded that she needed to come to Ildavir, and not the other way around. After some arguing the rest of the group decided to ignore them and climbed up as well. Dorah went on, unhealed.

Exploring the Cave.
At the top of the scaffold the group entered the cave and Dorah carefully prodded the censer with 10' pole. They then lit a torch and lantern and spread out trying various strategies from putting a bag, and then a radish in the censer, to mining the wall, to digging through the rubble. I had all roll for success on their actions as some were more promising than others. The rolls suggested some success and some good ideas that were less than fruitful. The backpack was found in short order and Sunjo nominated to open the scroll within. He did so, and upon finding a written note, read it aloud to the group.

The group noticed that the shadows in the cave seemed unusual and perhaps more numerous than they expected, but with the multiple lights it was hard to pin down. While the rubble on one wall of the cave was cleared Dorah decided to pour the contents of the half consumed wineskin on the blue flames and smoldering radish in the censer. I called for another luck roll and she rolled poorly. The wine in the skin was quite alcholic and burst up on a flash of flames. Slightly more scarred, she stepped back, but at least the censer was now out.

Sunjo now offered once again that he could heal any who would come to Ildavir. Dorah relented and went over to obtain his blessing. Sunjo intoned a brief prayer, but to no avail. "You are not devoting yourself well enough!" he ordered "You must prostrate yourself before Ildavir!" Desperate for the healing Dorah agreed to lie prostrate in prayer to Ildavir and was indeed healed, although as Sunjo pointed out "If you were not so anal, it would have been better." (Dorah is Lawful, while Ildavir and Sunjo are Neutral).

Looking around cautiously, the group now descended the stairs beyond the cleared stones.

It's a Trap!
Dorah walked in front, prodding the ground with her ten foot pole, but the trap was obvious. A ten foot pit filled with spikes, gore and rotted rags. After a bit of time spent fishing out rags and bones with a spear the group decided that it was best to just get across. Carry had the notion of grabbing a plank from the scaffold in front of the cave and several ran back to do so. Soon there was a plank laid across the pit and the decision had to be made of who to send down. Finally "Blind" Burbala was chosen as scout and she walked across. As she started to step onto the floor beyond it dropped away, but she was able to keep her balance and stay on the small ledge between the two pits as the stone lid snapped back shut.

The group went back for another plank and laid it across the next section of floor, then after much careful scouting determined that there were no more pits to be found further down the corridor. However, they were stymied that the corridor suddenly ended around the distant corner.

The group decided to explore the trap and using the pole and several rocks managed to force the door half open and jamb it in that position. Then, as the only halfling in the group Burbala was tied to a rope and the group slowly lowered her down the shaft. She was to shout the code word in the event of trouble, in which case they would all keep hold of the 50' rope and run down the corridor, yanking her quickly up again. The code word was "HELP!!!"

Burbala lowered to the end of the rope, with torch in hand, about 35' down the shaft (due to length tied about her, and held up above. As she got to the end she saw a thick goo or slime coating the tubelike shaft's walls. Peering at it a moment, she saw that it was moving towards her. It seemed to avoid the torch when she swung it, but was still getting closer. The code word was called and up she went.

At this point the line between discretion and bravery started to get blurred. Some individuals decided to test once again for hidden portals at the end of the corridor, others immediately headed back up the steps, still others decided to try lowering someone into the spiked pit trap in search of treasure. A couple thought that closing the opened trap was appropriate and proceed to try knocking out the rocks they had recently set. It was a few moments later that the group realized the slime was climbing towards them.

Everyone scrambled to get to the other side of the first pit trap while Anatoli swung a torch at the slime and someone else tried to knock out the last few rocks. While I'd allowed everyone to safely walk across the planks, I ruled an agility check to dash across them (setting a DC of 5).

Poor Thad
Poor Thad, who has been helping Romper search for secret doors, tripped going over the first plank and fell past the slime. The ooze attempted to strike him but missed doing damage. He skipped off it's surface, taking some stamina damage and was last seen and heard screaming as he hurtled into the dark. His remaining adventure will have to wait for another report.

(I had set the stats of the jelly as the same as a Primordial Ooze from DCC, which worked well, particularly the 'always loses initiative' bit).

The Shadows of Death: Losses Come from the Route
Meanwhile, the group discovered that even with the portal shut, the ooze could slowly creep through, and it was forming a psuedopod to swing at the nearest character. They all quickly ran up the stairs and headed towards the exit of the cave, frantically discussing that perhaps there is a back door somewhere. Surely there must be another way in!

It was at this point that they were attacked by the shades, one for each member of the group. I gave each shade very simples stats: Att. +0, d6 dmg, AC 10, HP 2+Sta Bonus of character they reflected. The party all beat the shades on initiative and a very interesting thing happened. Some of them stood and fought, and four of them quickly scrambled down the scaffold. Sunjo made one attempt to turn the creatures, which failed, and then he and his henchmen ran as well. I made climbing down an agility check DC 5 with it taking two rounds to get to the bottom. Remarkably only Sunjo missed, and I let him make a reflex check to land half-way down. Still the fall knocked him out. I let Dodin administer first aid and gave him a luck save (misreading the bleed out rules a bit in my haste), which he made.

The characters that stayed and fought were quickly overwhelmed with shades 2 to 1. But, seeing that they were now in the rear ranks of any flight, and some overwhelmed with a sense of duty and honor, they stayed and fought. Zippy, the cobbler was laid low by Skinner, the craven trapper's shade. Deaf Anatoli was ended by a radish headed shade. Odina the elf fought bravely, but finally succumbed to her own shadow. Carry, the mighty dwarven miner, with incredible stats and five hit points took three hits from the foul beasts before he was felled. Soon it was down to the two level 1 warriors, Dorah and Antonia along with Norah the wainwright and Senju and Dodin slinging up into the cave mouth from the scaffold below. At this point the shades had been cut in half, but six still remained.

Norah fell next, and then Dorah, with three shades remaining. Attempting to save her companion (I'd missed the one hour later rule on bleeding out), Antonia used a Mighty Deed attempt to lever Dorah off the edge and down to Senju, while also striking her opponent. The result on the Mighty Deed die was 2, but I let her burn a luck point to succeed. I made Dorah roll additional falling damage only to see if she had broken bones, but no sixes came up. Again, having not read bleeding out carefully I gave her an immediate luck save, which she made, without requiring any explicit healing beyond first aid. Antonia was now facing three shades with her chainmail, spear, shield and 4 hp left, the 11 extra she got at first level clearly paying off now.

Senju wanted to help out by slinging into the melee. I ruled that on a miss if the 50% chance to hit someone else was rolled then there was a 1/3 chance of hitting each of the other three combatants in the melee rather than automatically hitting his ally. Of course, he did miss, and he did hit Antonia. Down to two hit points. Dodin was more reliable, striking a shade, and leaving only two left. With bated breath the group watched the last two shades attack. If Antonia fell in the cave mouth it wasn't clear who would rescue her, if anyone... But, they both missed.

Antonia steeled her nerves and attempted a combination attack as a mighty deed to attempt to spread her damage to the two remaining shades. A success, with an 18+3+2 on her attack and 8+3+2 damage. She felled the last two shades.

Epilogue
Eager to get away from this slaughter, the group quickly collected the valuables from their fallen companions and fled back to town. This journey had been perhaps more informative, but less rewarding than the last expedition. And the curse remains...

Rules/Playtest Notes
In no particular order:

* We rolled randomly for what spells the cleric was granted by his goddess. I'm not sure if that is the intent, but it seems to work fine.
* Harly sets DCs too high. I generally cut them about in half, and that works well.
* A DC of 5 for a typical task (like running across a 12" plank) in stressful situations worked beautifully. In a large group most will succeed, but one or two are likely to fail...
* Upping the DC to 10 for harder tasks like this was all it took. I haven't used a DC higher than 10 yet and everything has felt balanced and appropriate.
* We completely forgot about the -5 penalty for certain ability checks in chainmail, but that penalty seems a bit too steep to me, particularly for Warriors, and when using low DCs. If you have a 5 DC then it means that wearing chainmail doubles your chance of failure at everyday tasks. If not changed officially, I'll probably house rule this in some form (maybe cut in half, maybe allow strength modifier to offset it, maybe both).
* I completely ignored the -4 penalty for missile weapons into a melee and made it 50% chance you hit a different combatant in that melee, rolled randomly for all combatants. I think this is fine and gave characters something to do. With another -4 the odds of hitting your friend would actually exceed that of hitting your opponent in many situations, which I think is too penalizing.
* I allowed luck on a Mighty Deeds of Arms roll. I'm not sure whether I should have. The problem is that this roll does three things at once, increasing hit chance, damage and Deeds all at once (although it isn't totally clear whether the Deeds are intended to be instead of the damage bonus). At the same time, this seems like exactly the sort of thing that should be "luckable".
* I misplayed the Bleeding Out rules. I like them as written, except I don't think I'll do the permanent ability damage for being saved within a few rounds by magical healing (lay-on hands, herbs or potion).
* I've already decided I'll ignore non-proficient weapon penalties in play. For characters with class levels I'll just not let them take an attack bonus in a non-proficient weapon. But I like improvisation and penalties discourage it.
* Calling on Divine Aid needs risk/reward clarity. Is it something that a cleric may do once in a session, once in level, once in a lifetime? As written, and given the bonuses outlined it feels like a once in a session power, but it is hard to see how you'd ever likely get a meaningful success with it as you'll probably already be at net -3 or worse on spell checks. At the same time, there doesn't seem to be any particularly bad penalty for attempting it if you've reached the point of giving up on your spells working.
* Experience as I've been rewarding it is pretty low for this adventure, primarily because they found so little treasure, and the most valuable single piece they did find was lost along with Thad. I'm definitely implementing a "full adventure at level 0 with a funnel gets you to level 1" rule. I'm not extending that benefit to henchmen who came along with a higher level character though.
* I need to reward luck at the end of every session.
* The party could have benefited from buying a bit more equipment before setting out.
* I still forgot the Bongo the dog in most combats/situations. At least this time the other piece of livestock was well accounted for. I may need to make this an XP award thing that the player actively engages and reminds the group of what any animals are doing.
* Completely independently, and without knowledge of the prior, I again had a Halfling Gypsy attempt to use a hex doll to curse an opponent this session. I've been letting these attempts have a modest game impact (like opponent gets a -1 on next roll) on high rolls (I suppose to contradict my prior statements, this I have set closer to DC 18).
* In light of my hopes for the session, I may have added too many early obstacles to allow the characters to get in an complete the adventure. OTOH, it is still a great story.
* I've gotten lots of good feedback on how the adventure went. Our schedules were busy this week, but I think the group will maintain.

[meinvt]

* I also disregarded the -4 modifier to initiative for two handed weapons. I honestly don't quite understand why, and don't want to bother keeping track of who has what readied to that level of detail. We did initiative as one roll per player and all their characters act together.

[bholmes4]

Antonia steeled her nerves and attempted a combination attack as a mighty deed to attempt to spread her damage to the two remaining shades. A success, with an 18+3+2 on her attack and 8+3+2 damage. She felled the last two shades.

I think you did this wrong. The MDoA roll doesn't count for the damage if it is used for an MDoA (at least that is how the book example reads, and it makes sense, otherwise why not always try combo attacks?). It should have just done 8+2.

* Harly sets DCs too high. I generally cut them about in half, and that works well.

Is there somewhere we can see his recommended DCs?

* I've already decided I'll ignore non-proficient weapon penalties in play. For characters with class levels I'll just not let them take an attack bonus in a non-proficient weapon. But I like improvisation and penalties discourage it.

I like this. Not sure it stops a wizard from abusing it (why not for the first few levels) but you can deal with that if it becomes an issue. Another case of simpler is better.

[meinvt]

Antonia steeled her nerves and attempted a combination attack as a mighty deed to attempt to spread her damage to the two remaining shades. A success, with an 18+3+2 on her attack and 8+3+2 damage. She felled the last two shades.

I think you did this wrong. The MDoA roll doesn't count for the damage if it is used for an MDoA (at least that is how the book example reads, and it makes sense, otherwise why not always try combo attacks?). It should have just done 8+2.

I'm aware of that discussion, and I personally think the example is wrong and the text implies that you can't do extra damage beyond that you would normally cause when you invoke a Mighty Deed. I haven't found my players use them every turn, although one is coming close and I at least appreciate that it lends a bit more description to the combat. I certainly see the point of your concern and will adjust my playtest if Joseph clarifies that is his intent.

* Harly sets DCs too high. I generally cut them about in half, and that works well.

Is there somewhere we can see his recommended DCs?

I said that somewhat in jest, but they are in the module, which only costs a couple bucks. He puts stuff in a level 1 (4E) module like "The lock is easily picked. DC 20." Now an optimized level 1 4E thief would have a 50/50 at this lock, but even in 4E I'd likely lower and "easily picked" lock to about DC 15 and for DCC I'm down around 10-12.

* I've already decided I'll ignore non-proficient weapon penalties in play. For characters with class levels I'll just not let them take an attack bonus in a non-proficient weapon. But I like improvisation and penalties discourage it.

I like this. Not sure it stops a wizard from abusing it (why not for the first few levels) but you can deal with that if it becomes an issue. Another case of simpler is better.

Except how abusive can it really be by a wizard? He's already proficient in a bow and longsword which is a 1d8 damage weapon. So, the only reason he wouldn't be using them is money and access. And grabbing a d10 damage weapon means that 20% of the time he hits (with that great +0 modifier) he'll do a point or two more damage than he could have otherwise. I don't see a game balance problem.

[bholmes4]

I said that somewhat in jest, but they are in the module, which only costs a couple bucks. He puts stuff in a level 1 (4E) module like "The lock is easily picked. DC 20." Now an optimized level 1 4E thief would have a 50/50 at this lock, but even in 4E I'd likely lower and "easily picked" lock to about DC 15 and for DCC I'm down around 10-12.

Of course. I forgot that Mists of Madness was his module. Makes sense.

Except how abusive can it really be by a wizard? He's already proficient in a bow and longsword which is a 1d8 damage weapon. So, the only reason he wouldn't be using them is money and access. And grabbing a d10 damage weapon means that 20% of the time he hits (with that great +0 modifier) he'll do a point or two more damage than he could have otherwise. I don't see a game balance problem.

Honestly I don't mind it either, which is why I said I would use it as well. I thought it was really cool in my one playtest when the Elf (wizard essentially) pulled out his Two-Handed Sword and entered the room to fight like a warrior. Ballsy with his poor AC and 5 hp I believe at the time (so their is definitely a balancing mechanism in play already: AC/HP). He could have died with a single hit but they needed him at that moment.

I just want to playtest it is all I decide their won't be stipulations (the general rule I am using though). I don't think I would like them using a Polearm from the second rank for instance but I could just houserule that it acts like a staff (d4 damage) in their hands in that situation. 2-handed swords in a wizard hands I can see, polearms... not so much.