Goodman Games

We got together on Saturday, April 21st at 9:30 to have our selves a game day. We tackled Tower of the Black Pearl by 4 o’clock.

This thread has spoilers!

This module is a “gem!”

Ragnar1965 has a first-level female human cleric/magic-user named Madriel

Nightwing has a second-level human male ranger named Greyson

JediWife has a first-level female elven bow fighter the name of Alura.

For those interested in how the party faired in DCC #0 here is the link:

http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/vie ... php?t=1292

The party, having just defeated the ogre and basking in the glow of success, spent several weeks in Dundraville. They decided it was time to travel on and figured a trip to Fairhaven, the druidic commune, was in order.

However, the gnome gem-merchant whom the party rescued earlier had returned in his wagon seeking the three PCs. I had the gnome explain about the once-in-a-decade event. No one had ever attempted to pillage the wizard’s under sea tower before, but the gnome had grave news. He had gotten wind of Savage Quenn’s attempt to infiltrate the tower and make off with the Black Pearl. This pearl is rumored to be worth a king’s ransom and to have a curse on it to boot. “But you know how rumors are. They may be a bit over blown.”

Anyway, the gnome offered the PCs a 50gp advance if they’d be willing to travel with him to Port Town and either nab the gem for himself, or if that wasn’t possible to insure the wicked pirate would have no gain in his endeavor. Of course the three agreed to do it (they picked this adventure!).

Off I have them travel for two days before arriving at Port Town, a minor coastal city whose life blood is its docks. As they enter the city they see the ruins of an old wizard tower near the coast (This was a hook I tossed in for the old sample dungeon in TSR’s D&D “blue rule book” for those who remember it. The gamers didn’t take the bait.) and a statue of the wizard Sezrakan. The gnome asked them to get a good look at the statue since no one knows if Sezrakan still lives in his tower or not. Ragnar1965 asked a couple of questions about the length of time since the wizard was last seen and is it possible for him to have become a lich. The gnome had no idea and Nightwing asked “what’s a lich.” I remember Ragnar1965 saying in effect, “Not something low level characters live to tell about.” JediWife muttered a line from one of her favorite movies, The Fellowship of the Ring, “This foe is beyond any of you; RUN!”

The gnome introduced the party to two NPCs. The gnome planned to sail the boat out to the tower himself and remain with it with one of his guards, Ralph. He also had another of his employees along to assist the party once they got into the tower itself. This NPC I literally made up from a dream I had the night before we gamed. Since the party has no thief, I was mulling over in my head as I went to sleep how to make the adventure work. This NPC came to me that night.

His name was Jolly. He was a thin, wiry fellow in his late 40’s. He is an outstanding juggler and all around great performer. However he is a kleptomaniac and had a “side job” of cat burglary. His secret life finally caught up with him and he was captured. The lord didn’t have the heart to take one of Jolly’s hands since he was so gifted with his hands. Thus, the lord ordered Jolly’s tongue to be cut out. Jolly wears an “elven” hat that has a single bell on the end of it. Gee, as I’m reading this, Jolly sounds rather silly. Oh well, I was pumped about him when I woke up on Saturday. I gave him two levels of thieving skill and a DEX of 19. He was a pacifist, never attacking another soul.

The party and the NPCs head out on the boat and to adventure…

As I've always said, mute henchmen are good henchmen...!

(Black Pearl was our first 3.5 endeavor, so I have a fondness for this adventure. Plus, I absolutely LOVE The Adventure Begins...!)

Completely and utterly off-topic, but...

Does the ranger have an animal companion named Richard or Dick? I'm sensing a naming theme there....

DC what I mean?

G.

You would be correct sir. No animal companion though.

Rangers in Castles & Crusades don't have animal compainons, but knowing his player like I do, if such a thing comes to pass, I figure a Batman related naming will occur.

He does, however, have the Broom o' Doom!

The party sees the top of the wizard’s tower jutting above the waves. Along side the tower is an unoccupied long boat, tied to one of the tower’s edges. The gnome merchant groans in fear that Savage Quenn has made it before them. The party has the gnome guide the boat along side the pirate’s long boat. As the elf is crossing over into the enemy boat, three men rise from on top the tower.

These three pirates leer down at the good guys and all are drunk. The first holds a bow, the second a mug of grog, and the third points his bow and arrow at the party. The first speaks out to the party telling them to clear out or they’ll be sleeping with Davy Jones tonight! Nightwing attempts to parley with them, but doesn’t get far. The ranger tells the pirates he wants to join the crew of the Savage Quenn but these drunks aren’t having any of it. These three pirates continue to tell them to get the elf out of their book, but seem to want to “meet the ladies.”

Ragnar1965 asks if his cleric/magic-user could cast a spell without being real noticeable about it. I say yes since the pirates are yelling at Nightwing’s ranger and alternating between telling Jediwife’s lady elf to get out of their boat or come on up to be with them. The spell caster casts “charm person” on the one with his arrow readied. I fail my save and all of a sudden the third pirate sees the wisdom in having the party come up and discussing recruitment into the brotherhood of pirate-dom. He lowers his bow and tells the others that these landlubbers may be on the level. The pirate with the mug looked at him as if he was crazy and smashes his mug upside the charmed pirate’s face yelling at him to wise up! At this point the three pirates begin fighting one another and forget all about the party who is watching this melee. The players all got a kick out of me telling how the fist fight switched to sword fight inside of two rounds. The “speaker” and the charmed pirate both die from the swords of their mates. The bodies fall into the briny deep and sink. The elf helps conclude the battle with a well placed arrow into the survivor.

So the three PCs and Jolly climb atop the tower and look around. The gnome and his guard stay in the boat. The PCs are warned they have about eight hours to complete their task before the sea reclaims the Tower of Sezrakan the Elder.

The players have the PCs look all around. They loot the remaining pirate and dump the cask of grog into the water. The trap door grabs their attention. They first off have the NPC Jolly attempt to open it. He fails. In point of fact, Jolly was going to fail this attempt no matter what. I wanted the players to figure out this puzzle on their own. Also, for those who don’t know much about Castles & Crusades, a thief only gets one attempt at picking a lock in this game. This harkens back to AD&D. If the attempt fails it is assumed that lock is too complex for the thief and no attempt may be tried again until the character rises in level.

JediWife, Ragnar1965, and Nightwing spend no little amount of time on this puzzle. I drew Sezrakan’s rune on a piece of paper so they could see it. Ragnar1965 had his character do all sorts of logical things to the rune. He and Nightwing began to do not-so-logical things like walking around it clockwise so many times. They pushed it, they pulled on it. They spoke to it. On and on it went. Suddenly, JediWife had her elf trace the rune. That was what was needed. The trap door opened an a ladder descended into the gloom below. Down they went, first the ranger, than the elf, followed by the cleric/magic-user and finally Jolly.

More to come.

The rune was very confusing for me. The pirate fight was cool. I remember taking some of their clothes......

Jedi,

I always love to read stories of your games. Very cool. Thanks for running the game. I can't wait to see how the end turns out. I had dramatically different results in playtest.

And Ogre, that's so cool that Tower was your first 3.5 adventure. Fun.

//H

Harley, glad you are enjoying our little adventure in your module!

The ladder leads the PCs down into one of the most memorable rooms I’ve ever read in a module. The players are close to awe struck as I read and describe the room. If for no other reason, I’m glad to have run this mini-adventure so the players could see this room.

Ragnar1965’s cleric/magic-user avails herself of the book.

I have the PC find the name of a famous PC in our gaming group, Maximilian the 10th level elven fighter/thief. His player is legendary for wild antics that often land his comrades in hot water, but he somehow always gets ‘em out of it (well, mostly “always” LOL). They find this famous elf’s candle. It’s about half way used. Examination of the book finds Nightwing’s ranger. His candle is newly lit. The same goes for the other PCs. They find a name with a black line through it. The name is Bigby. They realize this means the mighty wizard must be dead. At this a light bulb comes on over Ragnar1965’s head. He rarely gets so excited he bounces in his chair and his eyes go wide. However, his idea causes this reaction. I’m ready to hear it. He has his PC hunt for the name of Sezrakan!

Harley, has that happened before? Here was what I told him: After much searching the cleric/magic-user locates Sezrakan’s name. It has been scribbled out with red ink. They talked among themselves for a moment and came to the conclusion this could only mean Sezrakan was still alive but had turned to a life of evil.

They don’t touch any of the candles and I really think all three will most likely remember this room long after the rest of the adventure fades into a fuzzy memory.

With the ranger in front, the party descends the staircase.

More to come.

There needs to be a DCC No Prize for "player stumping designer." If we ever do a reprint, Sez's name will be recorded in the book as you posted.

I mean sure, I make mistakes (most, thankfully, are caught by editors), but this sort of thing is on an entirely different level. It left me delighted and speechless. I had to go back and check my original manuscript just to be sure.

Congrats to Ragnar for thinking of it, and serious praise to Jedi for coming up with the right answer.

//H

Next they came to the fetishes along the stairwell. Boy did Nightwing have a problem with THAT word. He kept looking at me as if to say, “and I thought you were a church-goer?!”. He would laugh embarrassingly and move about uncomfortably in his chair. Keep in mind I’ve got no idea what’s bugging him, and, to be honest, even as I type this still have but the vaguest notion as to what he was thinking. Of course, this is coming from someone who just about made his brother-in-law fall out of his chair when I used the word “booty.” I was clueless as to what it means in slang at the time. Why has EVERYTHING devolved to sexual innuendo????

Anyway, all that aside, the players looked at the small doll/fetishes and wondered if it would be wise to just let them be. Nightwing kept thinking about touching or taking one of them, but JediWife had “a bad feeling about this.” Finally, they decided against messing with the dolls with a funny moniker. Downward they traveled until they arrived at the broken stairwell.

Nightwing had his ranger jump across. He rolled very well on his DEX check and landed perfectly on the lower stairs. These stairs promptly gave way and dropped the surprised ranger down to the next level. They overcome the problem with Nightwing’s grappling hook. The party slides down the rope and leaves the rope tied on the stairwell for their return trip.

Still more to come.

Sorry, but I want to go back to the candle room for a minute. I'll be the first to admit that I don't have Jedi's memory for the details of our gaming session. I'm better with the themes afterward than the details. In the 6 or so years I've been gaming with him, there are, however, a few memorable moments in the adventures that we've been through. Sometimes it's because of something that I or one of the other characters did, and sometimes it's just the adventure and in particular a specific part that the author did such a good job on that it stuck with me. A couple things that come to mind are the first meeting with Strahd (sp?) in the original Ravenloft (I6) and meeting Martek in the Lost Tomb of Martek (I5)(Something I still have very fond memories of). Even though it's too new in my mind to say this will be one of those moments, the Candle Room has all of the earmarks of being just that. It was a great room Harley. I know from what Jedi told me, he embellished it with Bigby (which I realize you couldn't legally add yourself, but added amazing flavor to the room). Whenever I hear the name Bigby or Mordenkanen (sp?) or Tenser it just kind of raises the hair on the back of my neck. And from your post, I'm guessing that Sezrakan was intended to be in there and wasn't for whatever reason? That was a nice touch for anyone that may have thought to look for him, and even now I have no idea what made me think of it.

Trust me Harley, as much as you enjoy hearing our exploits through your dungeons, we enjoy just as much hearing that maybe we surprised even you sometimes. It's a great adventure so far, and I'm looking forward to getting back to it.

Should his name have been there? Absolutely.

Did I think to add it? Nope.



Absolutely. It's a great feeling on my side, too. Not because I missed the detail, but because it was so real in your minds that you thought it out to its logical conclusion.

As a writer, there's no better feeling --- for a few minutes, it was real. (And again, HUGE shout-out to Jedi for running it on the fly.)

//H

That room was very cool indeed. I still wonder what might have happened if we touched the candles. Perhaps nothing.

And there is my answer.

MILD SPOILER AHEAD (if you haven't seen this series, go rent it now:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162065/ )
As I recall from when my players went through this room, they were very impressed and terrified to snuff any candles.

I took the time to describe some of the names found in the book:
...their characters' names...
...many ancient heroes of Greyhawk (since that was the setting we were using)...but there were also several unusual, alien names, foreign to them:
...Conan...
...Elric...
...Drizzt Do'Urden...
....Fafhrd and The Mouser...
...Sherlock Holmes...
...Peter Parker...
...Buffy Summers...
...Wesley Windham-Pryce (as they read this name, one of the candles flickered, then the flame went out, accompanied by a feeling of tremendous sadness)... There was nervous laughter at first, then suddenly they got a little sober when they realized who this was and what had just happened.

It was a poignant moment (for those of us who've watched the show).

SPOILERS ABOUT THE ADVENTURE AHEAD.

Ok.

On the way down, my players reacted the same way to the fetishes--they didn't touch any of 'em. (Highlight the forthcoming text)

On the way out, however, the young lady that plays our gnomish bard (a thief at that point in the game--there was a TPK later and she decided to be a bard) decided to grab the fetish of the ivory knight. When it animated & tried to poke her with it's little sword, they were near the top of the stairs and the exit out of the top of the tower. The tower itself was filling with water rapidly.

She held her arm out over the edge of the stairwell and just dropped the little figure. It fell head over heels down the open stairwell, and *plunked* helplessly into the water below, sinking like a stone. The bard assumed the fetish would either break on the bottom of the stone stairwell or be drowned...or wouldn't be able to chase them up the stairs fast enough to catch them before they were gone.

A short time later, the players realized that the fetish didn't need to breathe, and since it was animated it could probably follow the player. They laughed about the little figure striding, relentlessly, tirelessly and not needing air, across the bottom of the Wooly Bay towards land, towards the player who'd dropped it, to gain its revenge. They giggled nervously about the bard awaking in the middle of the night, snug in some inn room, with the tiny knight standing, sword poised to strike, above her.

This image was at once both so amusing and yet so disturbing, we all laughed about it for a long time that night...but every once in a while (almost a year later) they mention "the little ivory figurine".

Little did they realize (until it was too late) that it was actually Savage Quenn that would come back as a revenant and relentlessly pursue them...
...but the details of that are chronicled in some of my other posts.

Ogre,

Oh that is brilliant (and spooky). I have to track down the Quenn posts. Must have missed those somehow. And to have Tower set in the Wooly Bay just makes me grin.

//H

Here: http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/vie ... 4&start=25

2nd post down, and a random post or two after. Spoilers in that ^ post, if you're a player. (I ditched the Adventure Path idea that I mention.)

I renamed Quenn, as I do most NPCs.

Thanks for the link. I'm getting senile in my old age.

//H

Ogrepuppy --

Angel??? Bleech! I'm not much on television anyway, but I really didn't like Buffy or any spin-off of it. *shutters* (I'm more of an Andy Griffith, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres kind of guy -- ask Ragnar1965, a TV loving fool, and he just might tell you I belong in Green Acres!)

I love reading how you DMed this adventure. It is so neat to see two guys, with the same material, come out with different approaches. I like the spin you put on the book. Very different from mine.

As far as the fetishes go, to have one of them chasing them would have been very spooky. I had an animated statue pursue a different party that Ragnar1965 and JediWife played in for over a year of real time. It scared them silly.

The complete "make over" of the pearl is what I like best. The fact that it brought about the unlife of a savage pirate who feels compelled to hunt them down is great.

The party finished their climb down the tower and came to the gate room. This room confused the party for a spell. Nightwing’s ranger and JediWife’s elf were able to find tracks in the dust. From that and the blood puddle the players slowly worked out what happened. They attempted to enter into the south west gateway. Ragnar1965 had his PC cut her finger and attempt to open the portal. No luck. They puzzled about that for only a few seconds. They went to the north west portal doing the same thing. The magical portal opened and the ranger drew his bastard sword before him and entered the portal. The elf nocked her bow and followed. Next came the lady spell caster and lastly came the NPC, Jolly.

As the ranger emerged from the portal two pirates who knew all about the momentary confusion the portal bestowed its users attacked him. The ranger pressed ahead to clear room for his mates even as he got stabbed by two short swords. Nightwing had a grudge and made plans to bloody his sword upon two pirates. As the new round began Nightwing found out a terrible truth that continued the rest of the night. His dice couldn’t have rolled any worse regardless of what was used! The ranger fizzled out in his attempt to take out the pirates. Ragnar1965 had a few grumbles about the PCs being basically helpless for one round as they entered the melee. However, on round three, the elf and the spellcaster made up for the ranger’s poor performance.

With the fight concluded, the party looked around. The carvings of what became of the owner of the tower caught them off guard. A three headed evil dragon?! I'm not sure they wanted to continue since a lich would be perferable to what Sezrakon became. But, since its a game and they are gaming with heroes out to find riches, onward they pressed.

They proceeded through the door to the east. There they found the room of unspeakable rites. They poked about, but the elf felt ill at ease in the room.

After that the party went north and downwards to the dock. This was another cool encounter. The boatman was great. I enjoyed my small role in role-playing it. Ragnar1965 suggested my outstretched hand was for the toll. One of them, and I can’t remember which doggone it, immediately declared their PC gave one gold piece to the boatman and found a seat in the boat. I love it when someone is truly decisive. It freaked them out when I took my hand and moving it from being over the table to over the floor, I turned it over simulating the dropping of the coin into the dark and frigid waters. The others waited a moment to see if this was a sign of displeasure. I re-cupped my hand and brought it back to hover over the table while looking at the party. They figured everything was legit so all proceeded to give the boatman one gold piece each. After everyone was seated, the boatman begins poling the boat along the watery cavern. The PCs noted the opening to the sides and wonders where they go. The boatman doesn’t veer and continues its slow progression along the cavern. They see the bridge and wonder about that as well. None-the-less, the party remains seated and calm. I was figuring on one of them (Nightwing) to attempt a conversation with the boatman, but no one attempted anything at all.

Finally, out of the gloom emerges a dock. The boat is skillfully steered to come along side the dock and the boatman motions for all to debark. Waiting on the dock is a well-dressed half-elf – Savage Quinn! He offers his hand to the ladies and welcomes them to his current abode.

But that is something I’ll get into on my next post.

Thanks! I have to give credit to a buddy of mine who made an offhand comment about the pirate "coming back" and I ran with it.

One of my players, upon meeting Savage Quenn, said out-of-character, "Geez, he's the Scourge of the Wooly Bay but I--a first level PC--was able to defeat him in combat? He's not that powerful."

During the game, without knowing why, I said "He's supposed to be that way--there's a reason behind it." Naturally, I had no idea what that reason was, but I bluffed and they fell for it hook, line & sinker. Yet the player's comment gnawed at me.

I also played Quenn as slightly "Zapp Brannigan"-like, basically a loser who has a higher opinion of himself than he should, slimey and dripping with insincerity. (Easy for me to portray, as I work with people like that. )

Eventually, I resolved the idea that Quenn was a middle man--he was working as a lacky for someone else that was either unwilling, or unable, to terrorize the coast. A twisted version of a 'mentor and student'. I also recalled a TV show about pirates, in which it was stated that "the infamous pirates are the ones that got caught--the really dangerous pirates remain unknown and uncaptured."

That's when I struck on the idea of a pirate, much higher level, that was able to impart knowledge to Quenn (who would reap the rewards of the more experienced pirate's suggestions).

Tranicos the Damned (I'm a R E Howard fan) was shipwrecked on a small isle in the middle of the Nyr Dyv. Tranicos discovered a black sceptre at the bottom of an unnatural well on the isle. This sceptre drained his life essence and made him into the ghost he became. (I actually used a critter I found in the Tome of Horrors 3, as I recall--not really a "ghost" per se).

Tranicos was looking for an item that "slots" into the top of the sceptre--a dark orb of maign power. (Can you see where this is going? ) When the orb is joined with the sceptre, it creates an artifact that opens a breach between worlds--in this case, Greyhawk and Ravenloft! Tranicos is stuck, though, at the bottom of his well, and can't track down the orb himself.

Quenn discovered the isle...and the ghostly pirate. They struck a bargain. Quenn would retrieve the black pearl, and Tranicos would "teach" Quenn how to be a better pirate. For years, Quenn searched dark places, poured over tomes of questionable morality, listened to loathsome gossip and rumors...and discovered that the pearl was in Sezrakan's tower.

...Now, if it weren't for those pesky heroes coming along and messing everything up....

As a spoiler: The heroes failed. TPK. Tranicos merged the sceptre & orb. The barriers between Greyhawk and Ravenloft blurred & dissolved. I advanced the timeline 300 years, adding a crazy mix of steampunk--heavy influences from Gibson & Sterling's Difference Engine, Ravenloft and Greyhawk. I didn't tell the players that they're in the same world, but had them create new PCs.

Now the new PCs are running around Dementlieu, battling men who're weilding "the first guns ever in this world" and avoiding steamjacks, and I get to do a horribly bad fake French accent! Mon dieu!

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Ah, the Difference Engine! There is something so gameable about it...!

I ran a Call of Cthulhu campaign in the mid-90's in part based on it. Well, it and the kitchen sink... Maybe the most memorable game I ran for that group, along with In Search of the Unknown, which was pure fun.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled forum.

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