Started a funnel for my work buddies but was unprepared!

[mossman81]

Basically over the past couple of days me and three other friends I work with started chatting about playing a game over our lunch break. Ive run DCC a couple of times with my family over the holidays and really felt it was a great fit for our limited time over lunch. Fast character creation and the modules arent too long. Could be played over a week of 1 hour breaks. Sounds good on paper. Well when it came to actually playing I forgot that I left my modules at my sister in laws house so I was hosed. All was not lost I still have my Fire Wizard copy of the rule book and a couple of the level 2 modules.(Fates Fell Hand and the Emerald Enchanter) Im a old hand at running games so I figured I would just look online for a free adventure and get them to level 2.

I started to feel bad because one of the players never played a tabletop RPG before and my other buddy has only played a couple of times and I didnt have anything ready. The night before our first session I found a promising module called Castle of the Mad Archmage. It was basically a mega dungeon that I thought would make for some good funneling fun. The only problem was I didnt really flesh anything out. I started them in a generic village and picked out a couple of key items to find in the pre-made dungeon as objectives and sent them into the meat grinder. The only hook I had was the village they were all in had ongoing problems of missing people and family heirlooms that everyone suspected ended up in this castle. After this I pretty much tossed em in the underground castle. I didnt want them to spend anytime in the village appropriately named Hopeless because I didnt have anything prepared in it. I know I probably should have spent a couple of days working on it but I thought why not just use some DungeonMaster magic and roll with the punches.

The first session went well enough. There was only one casualty when a scythe trap killed a curious players 0 level character. It was a devious Orc trap that had a chain that said pull me in Orcish and hilarity ensued. The first cog in my ill laid plans was the dungeon itself had too many different paths right at the entrance.When the veteran player of the group decided his four man party was best equipped to go off on there own the other noobie players followed in suit. He has played enough games that I think he figured the group was holding him back. He took his 2 brother Halflings(a beggar and a money lender), gambler and guard off on there own way. He then split the two humans away from the halflings and got gas trapped for there efforts. Lucky for him it wasnt poison just sleep. So by the end of my first session the three players split there three groups and had no interaction with each other.

The second session seen much more blood shed when the newest player of the group got his party into a scrap with a group of 8 kobolds. I thought back and forth if I should tone down the dungeon due to the fact that the party split up. I then went with my gut instinct of well there going to learn the was DCC plays the hard way. In the first brutal encounter of the game 4 kobolds were slain while 2 of the players PCs went down. I felt a little bad because his favorite of the the group a elf glass blower was killed after he made an amazing 1 shot critical kill on a Kobold. It was the first attack the player had made in a RPG game and it was a critical kill! I think he is a lifer now... After two of his pcs went down in one turn he ran back to the start in a great chase seen. The player who lost a pc to a trap the previous day was playing much more cautious in this session but also encountered another group of Kobolds. The was this adventure was laid out was alot of the encounters have a random amount of monsters and my dice have not been kind. It had been max monsters and max damage so far. The veteran player lost two pcs on the second day as well. One of his humans to a needle trap and one of his halflings to a ghoul encounter. It was 2 halflings vs the ghoul and one of he brothers was gutted. It would have been both if the other brother wasnt a hearty 4 hp beggar!

After two days of adventuring 5 0 levels have bit it and the funnel is working fine. I think the players are heading back to regroup with each other but lessons have been learned for sure. Anyway my question is how would you handle this next? Do I let them continue on in the mega dungeon after they reach level one or two? What reasons do they have other than old fashioned dungeon crawling. If I wanted to move onto one of the modules I have what are some good hooks to get them out of the dungeon? Is there anyway to really get them invested in dungeon. I really didnt even use the Mad Archmage as a hook. Im fine by letting them continue as far as they want to go into it but any advice would be helpful. There current objectives are to return some lost items and find a lost elf girl. I figure when they get back to town I will have some story for them to get into but i have never run just a mega dungeon so im kinda intrigued with it as of now.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness but I got some free time over the weekend and wanted to flesh some ideas out. Ive been lazy as a DM over the past couple of years using ready made modules so this kinda took me off guard. Yours thoughts are much appreciated

[Skyscraper]

Hello mossman!

Thanks for sharing the experience, this was fun to read. Death of level 0's is always entertaining

I do not know the modules Fates Fell Hand, the Emerald Enchanter nor Castle of the Mad Archmage so I can't really propose a plot twist. But I understand that you're bouncing around the idea of pulling the PCs out of the dungeon Castle of the Mad Archmage and pushing them into the first of the other two. Is that correct?

If I understand your question properly, I don't think I'd do that myself. If the players like the game they're playing now, they probably feel invested by the story, even if it's only a dungeon crawl. Taking them out of it because you feel the megadungeon is too big or because you had originally planned for another adventure, is probably not a good reason for a player and would not be satisfying. They want that adventure they're in to end in a fun way.

I'd roll with your present adventure, but customize it to my needs. For exampl,e it's not too late to introduce a story element to your dungeon crawl that could link to the first of the other two modules. Perhaps a map; or an item of worth that is identified as a rich family's possession (perhaps the PCs hope to get a reward? Maybe they'll just be taken for thieves... ); or a dead body, again identifiable by some specific sign (a tunic of a notorious house, or bracelet that is a family heirloom).

If you find the mega-dungeon too big, crop it down. The players will never know. I do that all the time. Take your pencil, and paint the map of the dungeon. Block off the corridors and rooms that you want to take out, and end the dungeon at a predetermined finite smaller periphery. Locate the important dungeon characters (e.g. the Mad Archmage) and the items (e.g. that link to the other adventure) in new areas you think are appropriate.

In one adventure where I was DM, the PCs had been particularly careless in remaining stealthy during a dungeon crawl. The big bad evil guy (BBEG) decided to surprise them in their sleep. They had holed up in a locked room for some rest. He had his minions blow up a hole in one wall (some of his moronic minions died while handling the charges) and the battle with the BBEG ensued in an otherwise generic area of the dungeon that was partly tranformed due to the explosion. Case in point: you can precipitate the final scene at your convenience. For example, if your players play another 1-2 sessions of the funnel in this dungeon, you can provoke an encounter with the BBEG and be done with it. Once they're satisfied that they've killed the Mad Archmage, gotten some treasure, they'll get out of that dungeon ready for a new adventure, hinted at with the item or other clue that you left in there for them. They can level up to level 1 and use that clue as a bridge towards your next module.

[mossman81]

Thanks for the response! We played another session and the newest player of the group lost his remaining two PCs. The first was to a pair of translucent goblins. He killed one but didnt fair so well with the other. After this he threw caution to the wind and really got into it. With one lone survivor he killed the other goblin and went deeper into the dungeon. When he stumbled upon a coffin with a skeleton I thought he had the upper hand when he pulled out some holy water and tried to smash it over the skeleton but a roll of 2 saw otherwise. He was quickly killed by the skeletons short swords. To my surprise he quickly rolled up some new characters before we even finished the session on his own. This groups stats were much better considering he didnt have a number higher than 12 in his original group! The rest the of the party has faired well enough clearing most of the dungeon out. Im really leaving it up to the party and seeing where they want to go with the adventure for now the stair well going down to lower levels are magically blocked and they havent found any of there quest items. There is not a first level boss but I think im going to whip one up just to build some excitement to end this portion of the castle. I also like your idea of placing a map or other items in the dungeon that are hooks to get them out of there. If nothing else I think im going to just roll the emerald enchanter into the 2nd level of the dungeon because it seems to have a similar feel with rescuing missing townsfolk anyway. Regardless this little exercise has really sharpened up my Judge skills. Im really rusty but I dont want to have a terrible game experience and I think with a little work I can make the game better. Thanks for any and all suggestions.

[UUperMission]

I'm on my third week of prep for Fate's Fell Hand, and while it may not be as complicated as it seems at first blush, it is definitely one you don't want to be unprepared for. Also it may not be very conducive to one hour play sessions as combat isn't necessarily all that frequent [unless you have berserker brain players that 'kill what moves']. That being said, having run a few solitaire playtests of the first two levels, there are certainly many fun times to be had, and the preamble was merely a caution, not a deterrent.

Here's a possible compromise: Use the warrior hook supplied in the mod book [if you have any] or use the thief hook for your halfling instead [admittedly you could use either of those for anyone in your party, I think this way adds a little flavour]. If your players are hooked on the mega-dungeon let them play it to completion. If they start to flag, or you start to get bored with it, then put a crack in one of the walls that turns out to be the cave entrance at the start of FFH.

Here's a random hook I just thought of. Combine the Elf/Wizard hook and the Thief hook and use them on the elf girl to be rescued. When the players meet her she is terrified because of the dreams she's been having while prisoner, and after the last dream she woke up with a strange note in her hand. Have her impress upon the party that this was no mere dream but a vision of import, having been taught the ways of her Elven Mystic parents.

I hope this helps.

[finarvyn]

Here's another thing to consider -- you don't go into many details your previous RPG experience, but it's possible that you may be going back to the basics without realizing it.

You made an astute observation about modules that have a big plot maybe not being sutible for your current timeslot. If there are too many plot details, it may be frustrating for players to remember those details for days at a time in order to complete a module.

Adventures don't need to have a big plot. That's a byproduct of a more modern module-driven campaign concept. When I first started playing OD&D back in the 1970's we would just draw out megadungeons and explore and loot and kill monsters. That was our "plotline" and it worked for us for a long time. Even now when I run games for a friend and his sons I often surf the web and find a cool dungeon map, then stock it with random stuff and we play. This style of play works great for frequent but short sessions.

Just some thoughts from an old guy.