Maure Castle Killed My Campaign (SPOILER WARNING)
Well, after three successive weeks of player deaths in Maure Castle, the players have revolted and the campaign is over.
They are a party of six 11th level players, but they had good magic items and great stats (base 85 points) and they've all had many years experience of D&D. It was always going to be tough, but they'd chosen characters good at sneaking and they had access to True Res back at home.
Week 1 they were ambushed by wandering bodaks after spending several hours trying to unravel the meaning of the wall covered in mad scribbles (failing to set a proper guard.) They realised it was going to get tough and quickly d-doored away but not before forgetting to attempt to avoid the gaze attacks and two players rolled 1's on their multiple Fort saves vs death.
Week 2 they completed exploring the upper level. They missed the bodaks this time while Arley spotted them and went into track mode, so they must have been pretty bored by the time they reached the golem. Anyway they cast no protective spells and all walked up to touch it simultaneously - result one more death and some more very quick teleporting to prevent further carnage.
Week 3 they went straight to the trapdoor they'd discovered the previous week and down to the second level, made short work of the tyrg and Seekers, then failed to check the tapestry for traps; result four dead players. Fortunately one of the remaining two could d-door them out and back they went to town on their flying carpet. Only the evil DM reminded them about the gold needle, and since the LN assassin had become CG after using one of Arley's cursed items he felt obliged to pull it out: resulting in an enraged Elder Air Elemental attacking them. Fortunately they managed to escape but by now the tattered remnants of the party wanted to retire, while the dead seemed happy in paradise.
So my players - a bunch of very bright 40-something men - made spluttering noises about the module ("imbecilic difficulty level") and how utterly outrageous it was that I had not toned down the challenges.
Meanwhile I'm thinking: (a) it's only a game; (b) great rewards require great challenges; (c) if I say "care bear" one more time I'm going to get punched.
Am I mad? Are my players whining babies?
Yours sadly, CerebrateKen.
