Well done to Dungeon Magazine for publishing an adventure which does a good job of meshing D&D with Cthulhu-style elements, something I've been secretly hanging out for more years than I can remember! It does a good job of using some interesting pieces from books I've not seen before (Lords of Madness, and DMG2), as well as good old Hastur and the Yellow Sign!
I have yet to run it, but will likely be doing so quite soon, having planted a firm hook in my PC's hands while they were cleaning out Sodden Hold in the Age of Worms. Now they can go for a side-trip running off to small towns near the Free City (Greyhawk) looking for the last pages of a book they have (the one from Mad God's Key), in between hunting the Mind Flayer who's been trying to kill them then on to the Champion's Games. Of course, Indar is changed to be the Free City itself, with the playhouse a medium-sized one in Clerkberg.
I'm pretty sure my players will enjoy the change of pace and weird alien nature of what they come across - personally, I can hardly wait!
I liked "And Madness Followed..." - just enough "different" to be creepy than your standard fare.
These stat blocks should help you out, should you decide to run it.
I'd like to add my praise to Matthew Hope - am excellent adventure.
Ditto :)
Thanks guys, I appreciate the praise! James Jacobs worked hard to get Hastur's...I mean my adventure in Dungeon. Maybe we can sneak another past the gatekeeper in the future...
-Matthew
Creative Director
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"And Madness Followed" seems to be quite popular with the readers, so the chances of another Lovecraftian-themed adventure appearing in the magazine is pretty much a done deal, soon as I see some good ones start coming in. As for adventures that actually use the proper nouns (like Cthulhu, Hastur, Nyarlathotep, etc.), they have to be okayed by both WotC and Chaosium, and on top of that they sort of send the adventure into a weird kind of implied campaign setting that's different than the core D&D world. So I don't imagine we'll be doing something like that very often... although I'd certainly like to do a full-on Lovecraftian adventure again.
Thanks guys, I appreciate the praise! James Jacobs worked hard to get Hastur's...I mean my adventure in Dungeon. Maybe we can sneak another past the gatekeeper in the future...
-Matthew
Best of luck Matthew - look forward to seeing more of your stuff soon.
Rich
During the last battle, remember to take into the effet the balcony! I had some big problems with spell areas, you may want to write some notes ahead of time. Also, using true strike in the first round worked! One of my players, who is as experienced as me, was caught completely by surprise, especially since I was making crappy rolls and still hitting.
"A six?! How the H--- does a deformed peasant with a pitchfork hit an AC of 21 with a six?!!"
Priceless.
I just finished running this one for my group recently; it didn't go as written due to my campaign geography -- the players ended up following the troupe between towns, passing them on the road so they could ambush them later.
The whole "pseudonatural mob" encounter left quite an impression on them, though!
-The Gneech
During the last battle, remember to take into the effet the balcony! I had some big problems with spell areas, you may want to write some notes ahead of time. Also, using true strike in the first round worked! One of my players, who is as experienced as me, was caught completely by surprise, especially since I was making crappy rolls and still hitting.
"A six?! How the H--- does a deformed peasant with a pitchfork hit an AC of 21 with a six?!!"
Priceless.
That's classic, Baruch! When we were testing the game, my players were equally as shocked - and there's nothing better than scaring the heck out of jaded PC's.
Thanks again guys for the continued kudos. I'm glad to hear the game's been as fun to play as it was to write.
-Matthew
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That's classic, Baruch! When we were testing the game, my players were equally as shocked - and there's nothing better than scaring the heck out of jaded PC's.Thanks again guys for the continued kudos. I'm glad to hear the game's been as fun to play as it was to write.
-Matthew
Due to time and campaign constraints (Started in Sharn and want to keep it there for a bit) I've actually decided to take the climatic final encounter as a single event, melded in with the chaos of Wildnight (see "Chimes at Midnight").
Nevertheless, I think my players are going to get a big hit out of it, especially the "Thing" at its conclusion- props for suggesting a shortened time limit for low-level parties, as that beastie is not something I wanted them to miss, even if they are 5th level :)
Here's hoping to an eventual opportunity to run your adventure in full, and to seeing more goodies from you in the future.
i would like to voice my joy about seeing the mixture of Cthulhu and DnD in this adventure! keep up the good work guys!
Okay, now that the praise has flown in, I guess that I do have one thing I really didn't like.
The end fight was a little bit anticlimactic for me. My players loved it, and all of them were wondering whether the actor playing the king in yellow was a wizard or just a normal actor, and one player was confused and slow the whole time, and another was suggested right into a chair to watch the whole fight, but I thought they got off a bit easy and that the King's Players were a bit too easy to kill.
Still excellent, and the fact that my players were severely impeded made it seem hard for them, but actually looking at the numbers, it was a bit... well I guess I already said it.
Just a suggestion for the future, they had a harder time in the first two encounters than the last one, may want to beef up the last fight.
I still haven't run it yet, but will report in when I do (should be a couple of weeks) - my players have decided to deal with everything else on offer first!
I guess that is actually my only issue with this type of adventure - it has a pre-defined, rigid time-line, i.e. things just happen to occur regardless of the PC's actions. Now, as a DM you can do your best to maintain the illusion of the players' actions making a difference, maybe even tweak it a bit either way if they are particularly slow or fast going from A to B. Ultimately though, it's nicer to have an adventure with a time-line that progresses regardless of the PC's, one they can interact with but one that has options depending on what they do. A rare thing though, those types of adventures, and easiest done on a small scale.
So in my game, I planted a lead to "and madness followed" in the only place that made sense to me at the time, in the doppleganger's lair in "hall of harsh reflections". I wrote an elaborate note from Sophia to Zyrzog, and planted it on one of the doppleganger guards (who was delivering to Telakin, who had impersonated Zyrzog when he met Sophia, not that the exact details really matter to anyone but me). The note included various pieces from Lovecraft etc's stories about Hastur, plus mention of having pages from a book the PC's are trying to piece back together (the book from "key to the grave"). Now as I said, the PC's have placed this note on hold, prefering to deal once and for all with the mind flayer that's been trying to kill them. So nearly a week's ellapsed since they got the note, and Sophia's gang kinda have to do their play (in the Free City) within the next week or so, otherwise the Free City Games begin and the opportunity is gone altogether.
So I'm thinking if I'm lucky, the PC's will deal to the mindlfayer in the next day or so, then head straight out of town to find Sophia. If they are not keen, I'll prompt them with NPC's. When they get to the first town or two, it should be obvious a few days have passed since the devistations. I guess I can then fudge it so that they get back in town just in time (maybe even have them hunt for clues as to where they might be, only hearing about the play once it's begun). Maybe if they don't bite at all, and stay in the free city, I can just let them find out about the play once it starts in the Free City, maybe from someone who escaped being enthralled and drags the PC's along just before it's too late...
Anyway, I still think it looks a great adventure and I'm really looking forward to running it soon and will report back in once I have!
Lastly, with regard to the battle with the bards being a bit too simple, I personally think this is a problem with the CR system. I've posted the details in a new thread:
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dnd/general/cRForNPCs&page=1
Yeah, as great as the system is, sometimes CR just doesn't take into effect how easily a creature with moserate HP goes down when you've got tank characters chasing it. (The size of my party doesn't help either, it's pretty big.)
I'm pretty sure my players will enjoy the change of pace and weird alien nature of what they come across - personally, I can hardly wait!
Well, I'm happy to relate that so far, my players have quite liked it. We're only half-way through, but there's certainly lots of good scares even if the real threat level hasn't been terribly high so far. The commoners were fun hitting even with low rolls initially, but a few cleaves and attacks of opportunity and the dozen were gone in two round flat, with the dual-weilder not far behind (I made him a ranger). The huge-sized critters scared my group, but were not really very tough although it was fun becasue my players assumed they had a true strike ability too (all seven attacks missed, somewhat anticlamactic). They enjoyed looking for Sophia in her manor, and finding the mad books etc. The mob in the next town was fun too - the party's fighter went straight for the mayor, leaving the others to run around avoiding the mob. One player used evard's black tentacles to good effect, but the mob got out, which scared the crap out of my players because they figured (rightly) it had a huge grapple and would crush them if it got near. The half-farspawn fighter got stuck and while he eventually got out was pretty beaten by then and finished off before he got to hit anyone more than once (despite being beefed to 8th level - I should have given him power attack too).
In the end, I think my players took everything out with barely a significant scratch so far. But it's still been good fun, as the implied threats and general creepiness of it all has worked really well. As has the sense of urgency - they are now less than a day behind Sophia, and are busy trying to work out a plan of attack including enlisting friends in the big city to help find her / warn of the impending threat. I think the personal threat level will rise somewhat when they get back to the city, wo it should be good fun to conclude...
Okay, my interest is piqued. I seem to recall this adventure, but can't seem to find the magazine it's in. Could someone post the issue number for me? This isn't the adventure with the old lady who captures people and stores them in her basement, is it? I don't think so, but I remember that one being creepy as well. Anyway, any help at all would be helpful. (Incidentally, is there a listing somewhere on this forum (or website in general) where the adventures are listed? Thanks all. Keep rollin'!
And Madness Followed (for 9th level PC's; Dungeon 134):
Something vile has transformed a sleepy rural village – the locals have become monsters, and the only survivors are insane. Can the PCs unravel the mystery before a troupe of insane bards plunge the heart of an unsuspecting city into the Far Realm?
The adventure about the old lady who keeps the people in the basement was called "Shut-in". Can't recall the issue right off hand.
These stat blocks should help you out, should you decide to run it.
That helped the game i was in today. The DM (my bro) used the stat blocks for some on-the-fly encounters :)
These stat blocks should help you out, should you decide to run it.That helped the game i was in today. The DM (my bro) used the stat blocks for some on-the-fly encounters :)
Excellent! I'm glad you got use from it!
The end fight was a little bit anticlimactic for me. [...] Just a suggestion for the future, they had a harder time in the first two encounters than the last one, may want to beef up the last fight.
Well... my players pretty much strolled through the whole thing. As per my last post here, the threat of the Mob of Madness was there, but it never hit anyone. When they got to the big city, they really took the threat seriously, running all over trying to find where they were, and enlisting the help of their friend the local magic user / sage (I minimised his impact to unlocking the playhouse doors, and even then only once the crowd was surging towards the re-locked doors).
As for the King's Players, well my PC's snuck into the playhouse, heard the word "Carcosa", and after the first Will Saves were rolled, the party wizard (having saved easily) hit all four of the bards with Evard's Black Tentacles. Well, that was the beginning of a quick end... It was only lucky for Sophia that I'd beefed all the bards by 2 levels, so she had pre-cast Freedom of Movement, snuck out the back room and cast summon monster 4. Of course, the mage used Dimension Door to follow her, taking the Paladin along for smack-down. Even without the party's big buff Fighter (his player was away), two PC's, one follower and one meagre animal companion took out the bards in only a handful of rounds, with no real damage in return.
Of course, the Thing from the Lake then appeared, and got a couple of hits in; luckily for the PC's I only rolled a 1 on the d6 and it was gone in two rounds.
But my players liked it - while no encounter was terribly dificult for them, that's party because they are smart players and can see the big threats before them and take appropriate measures (e.g. they are very wary of creatures size Huge and above, always splitting up and keeping their distance, and they dump the big spells at such threats straight away).
I think, in summary, this adventure was all about what "might have been", and my players liked that, as did I. There were some genuinely scary moments, with opponents that had the very real potential to mess up the PC's as well as hundreds of innocent commoners. For example, the group was like, "Four Bards, wow, they really could have messed us up!" The fact that the group took them all out with barely a scratch, well that just added to the sense of satisfaction.
SPOILER WARNING
Our DM for the FR campaign I participate in ran the adventure for us over the last two gaming sessions. The campaign ended. Grand failure. Highmoon is being gobbled up and my character fled. Three characters got transformed into half-fiends and were abandoned by my character and the only other surviving sane character. Both of these surviving characters fled overland and ended up in Waterdeep, where a new campaign will start. My character is going to retire and become an NPC and only one original character will remain as a tie in to the old campaign.
Great fun!!! Really!! Excellent adventure, the frustration at not getting to Highmoon on time to stop the last performance in time was palpable. We were so adamant to keep the vilagers from getting tranformed that we rushed into the fight only to all get enraptured, except for my PC who was busy warning the constable, came to the theater and saw what had happened and ran away into the dark.
Had he been there at the beginning, with his +16 Will save, things might have been different, but the rest of the party just rushed into the theater, no buff spells prepared or anything...and got their asses handed to them on a platter.
We finished playing at 1:00 a.m.....very memorable D&D moments thanks to this adventure, great DMing and players running their characters with a little too much frenzied emotion.
SPOILER WARNING
Our DM for the FR campaign I participate in ran the adventure for us over the last two gaming sessions. The campaign ended. Grand failure. Highmoon is being gobbled up and my character fled. Three characters got transformed into half-fiends and were abandoned by my character and the only other surviving sane character. Both of these surviving characters fled overland and ended up in Waterdeep, where a new campaign will start. My character is going to retire and become an NPC and only one original character will remain as a tie in to the old campaign.
Great fun!!! Really!! . . .
Now THAT'S the way a Lovecraftian adventure SHOULD end! Three transformed into insane monstrosities (excellent!), and the fourth, who's alive only because he freaked and slunk away at the moment of climax, abandons his investigation days and becomes that odd old kook who mutters under his breath and tells anyone who stops to listen, "Don't go there! Don't go there, do you hear?! There's . . . THINGS. . . there that . . . we were NOT meant to KNOW about! It's a madhouse, A MADHOUSE!"
(I miss my thrilling days of sanity loss. The plush Cthulhu dangling its plush green footies over the top of my monitor misses my days of sanity loss.)
Matthew Hope, well done!
Mr. Jacobs: MORE ADVENTURES LIKE THIS!
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Creative Director
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Never fear... the popularity of this adventure has made its mark. I'm currently in the early stages of arranging another trip into Lovecraft Country; the manuscript's not yet in, but the proposal was really nifty. Hopefully it'll see the waxen light of the gibbous moon before long...
Never fear... the popularity of this adventure has made its mark. I'm currently in the early stages of arranging another trip into Lovecraft Country; the manuscript's not yet in, but the proposal was really nifty. Hopefully it'll see the waxen light of the gibbous moon before long...
And don't forget the requests for high alpine adventures. An adventuer that COMBINES the two thrills of the frigid altitudes with the unspeakable horrors of the Cthulhu mythos would be . . . well . . . just FANTASTIC, don'tcha think? If the stars are right?
No, seriously, any Cthulhu-esque adventure would be MOST welcome! Particularly if it captures that unsettling feeling of investigating a phenomenon that grows more horrid with each revelation. Yum!
And don't forget the requests for high alpine adventures. An adventuer that COMBINES the two thrills of the frigid altitudes with the unspeakable horrors of the Cthulhu mythos would be . . . well . . . just FANTASTIC, don'tcha think?
As long as there's no yodeling....or Ricola commercials...or Heidi....(wait, Heidi would be pretty frickin' scary being summoned from the beyond by crazed Edelweiss-in-hat wearing Schuhplattler
As long as there's no yodeling....or Ricola commercials...or Heidi....(wait, Heidi would be pretty frickin' scary being summoned from the beyond by crazed Edelweiss-in-hat wearing Schuhplattler
And don't forget the requests for high alpine adventures. An adventuer that COMBINES the two thrills of the frigid altitudes with the unspeakable horrors of the Cthulhu mythos would be . . . well . . . just FANTASTIC, don'tcha think?
But . . . no yodeling? Cthulhu without . . . Ricola?
FINE. JUST . . . FORGET THE WHOLE THING. HAPPY NOW? WELL?
Those big ol' alpine horns could summon Cthulu from sixteen planes removed...as long as you clear your pipes with the refreshing blend of alpine herbs of RRRRICOOOLAAAAA!!
Sorry...it really was a good adventure....and more Lovecraftian themed stuff in Dungeon is very welcome. Thank you, James & Paizo staff.
::slinks back to his hole::
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so! I'd like to run a snag by you all in regards to my running of this module. Maybe someone can help me come up with a "Plan B".
SPOILERS FOLLOW, of course.
Ok. Well, I'm running this module as part of my home campaign, and my players have completed acts I and II. They've managed to slay the mob of madness and others in Lamid and are going to be moving toward Indar the following morning. However, one of my PCs got the bright idea to send a "Quaal's Feather Token: Bird Token" ahead of the party with an official message from the Constable of Lamid warning that under no circumstances should the King's players be allowed to put on their play - and that they should be arrested if possible... and that people would be coming to testify against them. And of course, Indar is listed as a Military Run City - so it's not like some dire warning like this would have to run its course through layers of aristocracy... being warned about the death of dozens, if not hundreds in smaller outlying towns and villages would certainly be enough to delay/prevent a play from being put on.
I know that the Module says that no matter what, The play has just recently started when the players arrive, but given this rather inventive solution from one of the players I really hate to take that away from them. I've already figured out based on the geography of my game and the placement of the cities that the Quaal's Feather token is going to arrive ahead of the King's Players.... and so have the players. I really like this module, but I think it's going to lose quite a bit if the final showdown between the King's players and the Heroes doesn't happen during a performance of the play, where the portal can open up. Any suggestions? I've got some ideas, but I'm not liking any of them so far.
nOe of my PCs got the bright idea to send a "Quaal's Feather Token: Bird Token" ahead of the party with an official message from the Constable of Lamid warning that under no circumstances should the King's players be allowed to put on their play - and that they should be arrested if possible... and that people would be coming to testify against them. And of course, Indar is listed as a Military Run City - so it's not like some dire warning like this would have to run its course through layers of aristocracy...
Of course some kind of officer is sent out to investigate the King's Players. When he retunrs to the headquarters of the city guard (or whatever military or police force is appropriate), he claims to have run a thorough investigation. Still, he found no reason whatsoever to stop the performance, now convinced that the message from the Feather Token was a bad prank by rivals of the King's Players, who want to sabotage their play. Really, what else could it be? The King's Players are just actors after all, what harm could they do? And don't forget that Sophia Lasilaran has an outstanding reputation.
Obviously the officer has been charmed by the bards. When the PCs get to Indar, try to have them meet up with the officer first and find out what happened. After that they'll be in a panic to stop the play themselves ...
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Of course some kind of officer is sent out to investigate the King's Players. When he retunrs to the headquarters of the city guard (or whatever military or police force is appropriate), he claims to have run a thorough investigation. Still, he found no reason whatsoever to stop the performance, now convinced that the message from the Feather Token was a bad prank by rivals of the King's Players, who want to sabotage their play. Really, what else could it be? The King's Players are just actors after all, what harm could they do? And don't forget that Sophia Lasilaran has an outstanding reputation.Obviously the officer has been charmed by the bards. When the PCs get to Indar, try to have them meet up with the officer first and find out what happened. After that they'll be in a panic to stop the play themselves ...
Yeah, I think I may have to do something along these lines, just to keep the module from a total anticlimax. It still feels like cheating them a bit, but I think I can work out a suitable in-game compensation for their actions... perhaps with the PCs having proved to the Captain of the guard that his man was charmed, they'll send along some extra aid in arresting the King's Players... something. Thanks for the advice!
Yeah, I think I may have to do something along these lines, just to keep the module from a total anticlimax. It still feels like cheating them a bit, but I think I can work out a suitable in-game compensation for their actions... perhaps with the PCs having proved to the Captain of the guard that his man was charmed, they'll send along some extra aid in arresting the King's Players... something. Thanks for the advice!
It just goes to show how powerful the adversaries are ... it's not cheating the PCs. And of course the city guard could send help, but aren't most city guards like 1st or 2nd level? Not much help, I'm afraid ...