Goodman Games

Is it too early to give a play-report?

Should I use a spoiler tag for the [spoiler]alfjdljaljdflajdlfadljfj[/spoiler]

Anyway -- started it on Friday night and the party got a little more than halfway through. Really like the spirit and flow of the module. NPC's are interesting (and rarely helpful -- which, as a DM, is always great to play), situation is seemingly insurmountable, and the dungeon (nearly through...one way or the other) is elegant. I must say, the original "feature" monster (two encounters) was friggin' awesome.

Thanks to Harley and thanks to Joseph for publishing it.

Never too early for a play report! We'd love to hear how it is going, and constructive criticism is always welcome.

And should some players choose to cheat by reading up, I bet you all are good enough judges to make them pay the price ...

//H

I haven't had a chance to do much more than skim the whole thing (although I read the entire first two pages) but thus far I have to agree with Ragboy. Then again, I'm an unabashed Harley fanboy--I think everything that comes out of his word processor is pure RPG gold.

Thanks not just for publishing it, but giving it away as a pre-order freebie!

I took my players through it as a playtester. And everyone loved it! Harley did a great job creating a very dark and mysterious atmosphere for the village. When we played it, it had an old "Hammer Horror" style feel to it. Great premise, interesting NPCs and, of course, a fabulous "cursed monster". It's been one of my favorites so far without a doubt.

finally got the chance to finish reading through it last night (yeah...it ain't long, but it just hadn't reached the top of the priority list yet). I'm thinking of taking the kids through it this weekend if we have a chance...

Hound of the Baskervilles.....the game is afoot!

What happens after the adventure is missing completely. How does the Jarl or villagers react? etc,etc.

Well then:

I started the party of four out with four zeros -- I didn't have anything handy to run for them and I was pressed for time, so I had them in a village similar to the one in the module -- just miles away in the lowlands -- attacked by an invading army. The characters had to work together to escape the village (or stand and die) -- it was fast-paced and netted the four surviving characters some gear and a couple of horses. I allowed them to level up after that, just to move things along.

- The NPCs in the town were great. I usually don't like my players to spend a lot of time in town, because it invariably degrades, but I really liked the interplay of the NPC's with the crisis. Essentially, the problem is so far over their head, they've regressed to helplessness in various forms.
- The Witch in town was amazing. The scene played out at our table so well, I need to add it to my personal gaming hall of fame. We'll see what happens when the party gets back to town... if they make good on their promise or not.
- The entry method to the tomb, monster and trick/trap didn't go as nastily as I'd hoped (or as Harley had written). I did forget that the monster couldn't be harmed by regular weapons, but saved it by having the monster re-form and keep attacking. The cleric used Blessing and critted the spellcheck on one party weapon -- they managed to beat the thing down.


I have to describe the way the party dealt with the secret passage -- they managed to notice it, and sent in the dwarf (only small character in the group) to scout. Dwarf missed the second secret hidey hole and had to fight off the ghoul/snake in the confined passage, realized it was for naught, and "dwarf-crawled" to the next room. Ghoul emerged and the dwarf made a good showing -- both he and the snake fell with their last blows. That was the end of the session, so I have to figure out if the dwarf bleeds out waiting for the rest of the party to investigate. They are 1st level, but I've houseruled dying -- 1st level characters get 1 round + their Stamina bonus (after the "luck chance" of being "not dead yet!"). However, I rule that they are down for the count for a week -- and they get a handy scar and ability loss.

Anyway -- great session. Loved the module. We'll see how it wraps up!

About 30 or so are phenomenal!

@ Harley

I see what you did there.

It will be fun to see if anyone else catches on. (Esp. since we forgot on our side, too! I need to find the document where I tracked all the changes.)

//H

Speaking of which, although I posted some praise about the module in the DCC modules General forum, should I have posted it in the DCC RPG forums instead? No idea if the old d20/GSL-based modules forums are going to be phased out or replaced, so thought I should ask. Should the DCC RPG forums instead have an all-new DCC Modules sub-forum of their own?

Colin

Your wish is my command...new DCC RPG Adventure Modules subforum created.

After finishing, my only question as a DM: Why all the magical items?

Hmm ... a good answer doesn't readily spring to mind, apart from that - in playtests - groups really only came across a few of the items. So while it was seeded with a fair bit of items, the actual take away was less in play.

But, yes, I think it is a valid critique.

//Harley "Monte Haul" Stroh

Not necessarily a critique -- I was wondering if they tied in to an adventure in the future. The party now has a collection of plot hooks, bad guys kicking in doors, and opportunities for vengeance from beyond the stars.



Love it.

Ah ... I see you are doing it right. Well played, sir!

//H

These are the magical items I built when we were playing the beta...

http://mysticbull.pbworks.com/w/page/45 ... veil#Magic

I have always believed that magical items were somewhere between curses and boons.

Awesome Ragboy . Cool new Patrons. Is Cherek from the David Eddings books? (Belgariad?)

Agreed. Good stuff, ragboy!

No. But of course, after I made him and thought about it, I realized where he came from.... Haven't read that series since I was a teenager... The god part is all mine. I guess the name and association with bears is Eddings...

Well (pun intended), the problem is now moot. The character that was carrying all of the magic items (except for the bear cloak), fell into the Well of Souls in the courtyard of Trellenhahl Keep... Now I just have to figure out what effects to the world occur after such powerful artifacts fall into an infinite chaos...

More news at 11.

[SPOILERS]
Well I started running DOOM of the Savage Kings tonight. Short session but we got into it. A first level thief, two 1st level wizards and three 0-level dudes.
First thing they did was hide from the mob, then brazenly confront it. One of my players is pretty accustomed to type IV gaming. His wizard marched up, chastised the mob, then marched to the front to free the girl. He got trampled by the Jarl's warhorse, who did not even draw his sword. One hit. Down. The thief ran out and rolled over the crumpled wizard, who coughed up blood, but (Luck roll!) turned out to be not quite dead yet. He continued with 1 hp, a permanent -1 to Stamina in the form of broken ribs, but not change of heart (60% chance of change in alignment) He was surprised to get such a smack down!

They party then followed the mob, hid in the woods, rescued the girl and then ambushed the Hound, who went down in one round. (Thief crit: kidney strike)
The heroes were welcomed by the Innkeeper and the villagers. They got in a shouting match with the old priest, had a cryptic talk with the Seer, and finally decided to tempt the Hound with a sheep with fur rolled in crushed glass(!) tied up in the town square.
They heard the Hound coming, slaying a Night Watchman as it approached.
The thief found himself facing the beast along with a soldier and a woodcutter, but as luck would have it, a long run of fizzling spells (the previous wizard had just been corrupted to always turn invisible when casting magic missile) ended with a crit. My houserule for spellcasting crits is the "exploding die", so he rolled again and maxed out the spell! Animal summoning. 100 Wolves were summoned out of the dark to tear apart the Hound and the sheep. Armed now with an army of wolves, the heroes lit out for the Tomb of the Savage Kings!
There we ended.

Everyone was stoked. Magic is really all or nothing! Assumptions were upended, and a good time was had by all. Lessons learned: Warhorses are tough! The Hound of Hirot isn't that tough. Some corruptions are kind of good! The Index needs to get finished! I still can't find the definition of Stunned. Lots of page flipping!
Oh, and I gave all wizards Cantrip as a bonus spell. I'm nice.

SPOILERS
Finished Doom of the savage kings tonight. 3 chars at 1st level. I think they gained around 22 xps throughout the adventure. Im digging the simple xp system.
They ran through it alright. For the 2nd session we had an elf a druid and a warrior. They started at the entrznce to the dungeon. After digging away the sand around the stone door i let them push it aside on a DC20. The water wyrd attacked but they won initiative and the elf rolled a crit with burning hands, slaying the beast outright. They crept into the tomb, looked st the bear cave but thought better about messing with it. So they messed with the lion cave where they were ambushed by the two ghouls, who were turned. They found the lion shield and continued into the false door room. Then into the crawl space. The warrior brought up the rear and was attacked by a lurking ghoul. She used a mighty deed to kick the thing away from her and get out of the tunnel into the false tomb where they slayed the ghoul and sep
Serpent. Then they climbed right up the column to grab the fake treasures. The place collapsed and they barely escaped. Then they found the spear in the chimney above. It was pretty epic. They returned to the cave bear room, finished off the ghouls and grabbe dthe bear cloak. Ey got all the treasures in this mod. Broke but feeling burly.

Thoughts. The cleric can cast alot of spells!
Moving jn combat: casting spells in front of people no attack of oppurtunity. Hmmm
Fun times though