Well, I finally got my copy of #142 a couple of days ago (living in paradise has a few drawbacks) and I must say this - BRAVISSIMO!!!
This issue is so jam-packed with sexy goodness that I couldn't put it down. It has everything. A wild party of drug-induced debauchery (as a creature of the theare, I especially appreciated this...MUHAHAAAA!), a harrowing journey through demon infested jungles, and a classic dungeon delve with a fun twist of betrayal at the end.
I loved all three adventures in this issue.
Matt - Masque of Dreams is delicous. The attention to every little detail, the fully fleshed out party-goers and their bizarre and delightful reactions to the elixir of fantasy made this a true treat. The vultures are my absolute favorite, but they are all fantastic. The dwarf who holes up in the stables is a great twist, as is the noble who releases the krenshar to "prove he's still got it." Brilliance! This adventure was so nice I read it twice in a row!
Jason - You keep topping yourself, and that is hard to do. HoHR was absolute brilliance, and Here There Be Monsters blows it out of the water! The creepy ominous atmosphere of this adventure is perfection. The NPCs and related sidebars add a whole new dimension to the "dangerous overland travel" genre and I was really on the edge of my seat reading this adventure. Fantastic stuff.
Caine - I don't know you, so I'll just fill you in on something many people probably already understand around here...Nicky hatie Dungeon Crawls. They are just not for him. The only Dungeon Crawl in Dungeon I was totally enraptured by was Whispering Cairn. So imagine my surprise when I'm casually perusing your adventure, planning on cannibalizing and raping it for a few nuggets of goodness, and I find myself totally sucked up into it! Next thing I know I'm imagining the Tomb of Bajak Thunderfist in every detail and wishing I was braving its dark depths. Well done! The flavor was so classic and gave me a real tainted Mines of Moria feel to the whole first section. The betrayal and the fact that the PCs get to pay Teverak back for what he done, makes this a real A+ in my book. Fantastic adventure, well written, well crafted and great food for the imagination.
I love when Dungeon exceeds my already astronomically high expectations for it. Thanks to James, Jeremy and James for keeping this magazine rocking!
I Agree totally, I have ready through the whole issue( twice at least but who's counting. heh) I absolutely love Here there be Monsters that adventure is going to deffinantly be tough on the group, with so few fighters.Thus likely exciting for them.
The Masque of Dreams is going to be run the Savage Tide game too. very exciting issue for me since most of it can be tied into the Savage Tides :D
I felt that Masque of Dreams should have undergone another round of editing and rewrite. The party scene is exceptional but, outside of the Copper Dragon, I found the whole aspects of the adventure involving chasing drugged prisoners did not really add much.
I'd have preffered if that whole second part of the adventure had been stripped out. I think the goblin attack is important but it would have served better as the climax. In essence I would have liked it more if more of the word count had been devoted to the weird party itself and to the events that take place when the goblins attack the party. I'd have been happier if the trek through the desert to a footnote in continuing adventures and if the adventure itself was premised on the idea that the adventurers beat off the Goblins with tracking only coming up if the players fail completely to stop the goblins and it being the DMs job to then devise an adventure involving tracking the goblins.
Well, I finally got my copy of #142 a couple of days ago (living in paradise has a few drawbacks) and I must say this - BRAVISSIMO!!!
This issue is so jam-packed with sexy goodness that I couldn't put it down. It has everything. A wild party of drug-induced debauchery (as a creature of the theare, I especially appreciated this...MUHAHAAAA!), a harrowing journey through demon infested jungles, and a classic dungeon delve with a fun twist of betrayal at the end.
I loved all three adventures in this issue.
Caine - I don't know you, so I'll just fill you in on something many people probably already understand around here...Nicky hatie Dungeon Crawls. They are just not for him. The only Dungeon Crawl in Dungeon I was totally enraptured by was Whispering Cairn. So imagine my surprise when I'm casually perusing your adventure, planning on cannibalizing and raping it for a few nuggets of goodness, and I find myself totally sucked up into it! Next thing I know I'm imagining the Tomb of Bajak Thunderfist in every detail and wishing I was braving its dark depths. Well done! The flavor was so classic and gave me a real tainted Mines of Moria feel to the whole...
Thanks Chief! Admittedly as I write this I've just come from my very, very merry office xmas party so perhaps I dont know exactly all the inticacies or spelling, or grammer, that I require for a response. To reply to the lovely person below who I cant see their name at the moment, the entrance was changed heavily as it has a lot more flavour (but not challenge) to the entrance to the Tomb of Barak. There was a river, rapids, and other cool things, but was not really a challenge for the PCs level. No doubt the description and map suffered somewhere in the cut.
I'm actually not a big fan of dungeon crawls either, but I recognize the need in some peoples campaigns, and really, occassionally you need to mutilate another person's adventure for your own use...so, I hope you enjoy!
PS...the exuse to kill a gold dragon is always very sweet...
In essence I would have liked it more if more of the word count had been devoted to the weird party itself and to the events that take place when the goblins attack the party. I'd have been happier if the trek through the desert to a footnote in continuing adventures and if the adventure itself was premised on the idea that the adventurers beat off the Goblins with tracking only coming up if the players fail completely to stop the goblins and it being the DMs job to then devise an adventure involving tracking the goblins.
Jeremy, I can see where you might feel that way. The original manuscript was structured with the party happening midway through with the opening being an overview of the oasis (which had a small keyed map) and local characters (pre-drug), which in my horribly overwritten draft was there to present the before to the masquerade ball's after as well as to allow the characters a few days to grow acquainted with the hamlet and its population, giving them more imputous to be heroic later. This is obviously more than one magazine article can handle and completely my bad. The editors in their wisdom made what I think is the right call and cut most of that passive stuff to allow the more active encounters to remain. I also think it is a good thing that the characters arrive at the pyramid or at least link the goblins, and Policrates and his followers to it sometime. One, it provides some closure for the Lost City thread that is sewn into the party. Two, it opens the door for more adventure - just the thing if you happen to be 1st-level. While, I agree this does make the adventure as presented a bit front heavy that can be remedied by playing up the time before the party using the adventure's NPCs as they normally are (sans the elixir of fantasy). In this way the adventure achieves a bit more of a bell curve flow though obviously whatever final encounter might occur (and that is left somewhat open-ended) should be suitably exciting whether it happens at the foot of the pyramid, in the center of the desert, or at Vestang's manor.
As for the party, there was a teeny bit more, but realistically how many weird people can one meet at what is essentially one encounter? As a side note, I highly recommend running the party and the attack with one or two assistant DMs, otherwise there is no easy way of meeting even half of the characters presented.
Hope that helps,
GGG
I'm actually not a big fan of dungeon crawls either, but I recognize the need in some peoples campaigns, and really, occassionally you need to mutilate another person's adventure for your own use...so, I hope you enjoy!
Well done, Woontal!
The club in particular was exceedingly cool.
GGG
As for the party, there was a teeny bit more, but realistically how many weird people can one meet at what is essentially one encounter? As a side note, I highly recommend running the party and the attack with one or two assistant DMs, otherwise there is no easy way of meeting even half of the characters presented.
Hope that helps,
GGG
OK I'm only bothering to make my points here because I feel that this adventure is important in part because Dungeon must expand out its premise beyond hacking up monsters in tombs (fun and exciting as that is). This is the kind of adventure that can raise the bar in that direction - as are some of the excellent Eberron murder mysteries we have seen recently.
Honestly I can't say I really expect to convince you of the validity of my views. This is your baby after all. I guess my points are more for the editors and other readers and contributors to Dungeon.
I'll say that I don't think portraying that party scene as one encounter is an accurate view of what it was. Or at least of what it could have been. If it was simply just one encounter then the amount of pages devoted to it would not have been nearly so high. I've not gone back and counted but my bet is that more pages where devoted to that party then to the death of the God Kyuss.
Now before you start getting really unhappy with me I'll try and mollify you by saying I found that whole scene exceptional. My bet is it was that scene that got you an acceptance for publication.
However as it stands I think the scene actually requires a great deal from the Dungeon Master that sits down and plays it. Reminds me a fair bit of A Hot Day in L'Trel. Both adventures had exceptional premises and promised gaming that really pushed the envelope but both also require the DM to really step up to the bat to do the work justice.
You mention that you feel the encounter, if it is to be played to its full potential, requires assistant DMs. That is an unacceptable answer. That scene was not one encounter nor should it have been thought of as one encounter. It could have, and I feel it should have, been the stage upon which an entire adventure took place. Now Dungeons and Dragons, in its current incarnation, has something of a hard time with this sort of thing, but I look to the staff at Dungeon to find the answers and show us all how to make this sort of thing work – they must raise the bar and their reward will hopefully be increased sales. I think a clear layout and structure to this scene is what was required. We learn tid bits from the text but by and large we are on our own in trying to make this function. A master DM with a flair for the dramatic and real talent for improvising appropriate skill calls etc. can pull it off but by and large we are left to wing it within the confines of some overriding understanding of what is going on.
In some ways breaking this scene down into functional component parts is what is required. I contend that this really is not so different then Murder at Oakbridge. If you think about it Murder at Oakbridge has a stage (an entire block or so of Sharn) and the action is tugged along by two things. The amount of time that has passed and the places that the characters go.
In essence I am arguing that the scene at the party should have been thought of in this manner - except of course its a much smaller stage and countdown is a lot tighter. Worse yet the adventure has to take into account the fact that events from one room can potentially effect what was going on in another room and that events take place that the players might well hear but not otherwise be able to interact with. Plus exactly what the scene is in any given area might change as time goes forward. So at first the oasis is empty but as time goes on there are going to be 'camels' and 'fish' there and eventually there are going to be bodies floating in the pool. Of course one does not want to allow this to get to difficult to run – each guest (and maybe there should not be more then twenty to thirty guests most with roughly the same stats) should go to X room perform W task with Y result after Z amount of time has passed.
So for example the adventure could be set up so that players that enter one of the downstairs front rooms encounter the 'vultures'. After a round or two of the players interacting with the 'vultures' they see something large fall past the windows and hear it smack into the ground followed by shrill screams (some one jumping off the balcony) at which point the 'vultures' proceed to open the windows and climb out of them in order to get at the 'meal' that has just fell from the balcony. Players could interact by say running outside and trying to heal the poor fool who jumped while attempting to drive off the 'vultures' without actually hurting them. Once they go outside they are possibly taking fire from the 'hunter' even while they are attempting to heal the fallen fool. So now they have to fend off 'vultures' deal with a hurt fallen fool, deal with the 'hunter' and from this vantage point they can probably see more people planning to jump. Can the party rogue climb the wall to the balcony? What's the DC For that?
In fact much of the adventure could be about the players trying to subdue people and protect them - probably by locking them in rooms (just make sure you don't lock 'deer' into rooms with 'hunters' etc.). Kind of an interactive puzzle in a madhouse. End the whole thing off with a big attack by Goblins and let the players get their frustrations out by giving them something to hack to bits - of course even here the goblins should have a detailed plan of attack and the players should find themselves in a highly mobile fight where they attempt to protect various parts of the manor from the attacking goblins.
All of this would have required the word count to be much higher then what it currently is. Every room would need to be detailed regarding what guests happen to be in them and when, what they are doing after the drug hits and how their actions might influence what is going on in adjoining rooms or change during the course of the hour (game time not real time, real time much longer - one to two sessions) or so of the adventure. My feeling is that an adventure about players interacting with a manor in the throes of bedlam would have really been fascinating. Here we are given a manor afflicted with chaos but no real idea about how to run it.
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Agreed, lots of good stuff in this issue.
Masque of Dreams - The party scene is splendidly hilarious and exciting. Looks like a real challenge to run (some added structure, like that suggested by Jeremy, might help), but should be loads of fun.
Here There Be Monsters - Out-and-out cool, all the way through. I plan to rip it to shreds, but that's just because of my particular campaign plans.
Bright Mountain King - An interesting premise, well-executed. The main thing I'd suggest as an alternative is to make the main antagonist, Carradoc, CN instead of NE. There's very little you'd have to change: Teverak should probably be Neutral instead of NE, and you might modify or replace Xamanthar. It works better with the (presumably NG) treant allies.
What you get is uncertainty in the choice facing players: instead of a straight good vs. evil conflict where (presumably mostly good) PCs don't really have an option, they're presented with a conflict of industry vs. nature, civilization vs. wilderness, order vs. anarchy. That's a divide that's not so easy to predict, and may actually split the party, or at least cause some serious discussion. I loves me some intra-party conflict. :) This works even better if the Khun-Drukar community alignment tends more to LN than LG.
I found that whole scene exceptional. My bet is it was that scene that got you an acceptance for publication.
I would agree.
However as it stands I think the scene actually requires a great deal from the Dungeon Master that sits down and plays it.
Yes, it can be demanding, but on the flip side of things if your PCs grow bored with delusional people you can skip right to the goblin attack after a quick description of what the toast did to folks rather than say play out all the possible enounters that could happen in a ballroom with 200+ people. As for narrowing the field to 30 or so that's small. I don't do small. I only do Hollywood summer blockbusters! I want big! big!! big!!! With an unlimited budget, and a personal masseuse, or we are renegotiating my contract.
Reminds me a fair bit of A Hot Day in L'Trel. Both adventures had exceptional premises and promised gaming that really pushed the envelope but both also require the DM to really step up to the bat to do the work justice.
Thanks I rather like "Hot Day in L'Trel." And yes if played to it's fullest possible extent I think both offer a lot of opportunities for kick-ass game play. On the other hand if you haven't had a lot of experience in that level improv or perhaps even the want to indulge in it, you can use the thumbnail encounters (whole-cloth or as inspiration for you own), or once again skip to the fight with the goblins (who as I recall have a detailed plan of attack). I run for a diverse hometown crowd so I am not deaf to the PC who uses his sword for diplomacy checks. Also I don't do easy! If it's not rough it ain't right. This is a high-impact imagination work out, baby! Detroit-style!
You mention that you feel the encounter, if it is to be played to its full potential, requires assistant DMs. That is an unacceptable answer.
Well, we definately disagree here. I find it to be a perfectly acceptable answer.
I've been to and have run games in the past that work very well with assistant DMs/GMs/Firstmates or whatever you want to call them. Many of them oddly enough involve gatherings or party scenes where the player characters get to peel off from the main group and chat in private with other partygoers. Rarely in real life do I go to a party with 3-4 other people who are always a 5-foot-move away from me in marching order in case I need a quick cure light or perhaps bardic inspiration. It just cramps my style. People mingle at parties. If I were running this for a large group I would be pulling my hair out by the evening's end. At a party like this even four PCs are likely to split up and in fact the adventure does not even really presuppose the PCs know one another prior to the toast.
I would hate to put a flow chart to something as random as character interaction at a party full of delusional people, but it could be done. It would take a tremendous amount of space and for my money be wasted in most games. The party is set up to flow to the whims of the story, the characters and the GM. If you want to, you can play it as scary as "28 Days Later" or as light as "Alice In Wonderland." They both work. Try imagining it in your head. Likewise as I mentioned on another thread it could be made kid-friendly by doing what you are suggesting or even turning the manor house into a mock dungeon of sorts by placing deranged guests in certain key rooms (there are even a few examples of this -Delvis Sandstone being the most notable). I think if you did that to every encounter, it would rob the scene of much of its spontaneity, and reduce it to a dungeon crawl with an obvious schtik. I've already been there and done that.
As to the guests, they did have stats which were probably cut for space reasons. I felt though they were important as even lowly commoners can be dangerous when you are 1st level. You can go to the Masques' Dungeon Magazine Public Wiki page to see them if you like.
Hope that helps,
GGG
I concure with the praise here. I got mine yesterday (damn UK) and opened to the contents page. I'd just been to school (last day, woohoo!!! - but I digress), and, for English Literature, we'd been asked to research... Masques! :D
They'll regret that... Mwahahaha
Here there be Monsters looks like an ace adventure. I'm hoping to run it in the Forgotten Realms after christmas, and can't wait.