Thornkeep: Accursed Halls *SPOILERS*

[J-Bone]

I ran Thornkeep at the FLGS and will run it again tomorrow at a Con and there was one encounter I had issue with and would like to hear some others thoughts on it:

SPOILER:

As a lvl 1-2 module, all of the characters last night, and I anticipate tomorrow will be new characters. With that in mind the Shadow turned into a pretty nasty encounter with its incorporeal condition making it immune to most lvl 1 characters ability to do significant damage.

How I ran it, was let the party make an intimidate check after it got a burn from the Clerics channel energy.

How do other GMs play this out to prevent it from turning into a game stopper, especially when running for potentially brand new players?

[Matthew Morris]

J-Bone wrote:

I ran Thornkeep at the FLGS and will run it again tomorrow at a Con and there was one encounter I had issue with and would like to hear some others thoughts on it:

** spoiler omitted **

How do other GMs play this out to prevent it from turning into a game stopper, especially when running for potentially brand new players?

Spoiler:

I had it attacking from half in the wall, allowing people to throw holy water, alchemical fire, etc at it and breaking the flasks on the wall. It was a creative player idea, so I ran with it.

[Rycaut]

It will depend a lot on your party mix. Last night I had a large party of mixed 1st and 2nd. The shadow got some good hits in but the party half-Orc evoker wizard's force bolts and the party oracle of life's channels managed to kill it before anyone died. But since they triggered two encounters at once they were definitely frightened and concerned.

And don't neglect the effects of the third room in the part of the map. Depending on what direction they enter from those can have a huge impact on the encounters.

Thornkeep is a deadly module that is designed to push a party of 6 to their limits. Personally I think it is a fantastic old school mega dungeon. The maps are perhaps a bit excessively large (don't forget that they are 10' squares) and don't forget some of the feats and abilities of the various monsters. Many are exceptionally deadly.

[Mike Clarke]

I also ran this last weekend at a con and the party had 2 clerics and a bard using magic stones created by one of the clerics. It went down pretty quick. They had a bigger problem with

Spoiler:

Pouncing plants

[Razlin]

the shadow was the worst encounter in the book, but the Wight before it could have definitely been a TPK. These encounters were back to back. Definitely difficult.

[Prethen]

The doors to A4 are locked with an Arcane Lock (from "THIS" side). What does that mean if the adventurers approach the door from A9; they can only try to break through and can't disable device? Is an Arcane Lock only able to be disabled/dispelled on the "side" it is cast?

[kinevon]

It means that they can't go backwards through the dungeon without using Disable Device or otherwise breaking those doors. From the other side, the doors are unlocked, and the PCs can easily come back out on the balcony level of A4.

So, coming from A9 or A15 to A4 is simply opening the door. Going into those rooms from A4, until you've come out of them, requires opening an easy arcane locked door.

[Prethen]

kinevon wrote:

It means that they can't go backwards through the dungeon without using Disable Device or otherwise breaking those doors. From the other side, the doors are unlocked, and the PCs can easily come back out on the balcony level of A4.

So, coming from A9 or A15 to A4 is simply opening the door. Going into those rooms from A4, until you've come out of them, requires opening an easy arcane locked door.

That's interesting. I don't think I would have ever interpreted an Arcane Locked door in that way. I guess it makes sense in context with how the level flows, though.

[Alex McGuire]

Try to guide the players to go to the other side. The loot within will help.