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Also, I'm curious what others who are making more extensive use of the chateau are using as a map. Are you simply using the outline of the winery/dungeon as the boundary of the chateau and adding multiple levels? Are you using another, perhaps pre-made, map of your own devising (or online source)? Tim, any suggestions on your part?
Yeah, I felt as though the map of the chateau was missing. If you could list some of the rooms the chateau and gave some idea of the insides of the house that would be great.
P.S.~I love this adventure, it had a story.
Hey Jenni, thanks! I'll try to post the initial query tomorrow. And I want to post a very public thanks to you for giving my manuscript the once-over. Many of your comments were very much in line with what the editors did, so I have no doubt that if your adventure proposal is accepted in the next go around, it'll be well received.
Yeah, I was kinda bummed that no first floor map made it into the mag. I actually thought it would be more useful than the estate grounds map. If you're interested in the chateau floor layout, I used the ones for Stanmer House. Click on Visit Stanmer House (which brings up a nice pic of the way we envisioned the chateau looking), then click Stanmer House Tour. From there, you can click on a floor and see the floor plan. I literally just printed those out and blew them up. Well, the ground floor was all I needed actually. The web site is cool because you can see pics of each room too if you click them, and that as they say is better than my 1000 words.
Here's some other photos I found inspiring when developing this adventure that may get you in the mood. Enjoy!
Vineyard & chateau
Foggy forgotten vineyard
Area 1: something like this
Area 2
Area 11: this or this or this
My wife and I are new at the publishing end of adventure writing. Hell, we're new at it period! We have one other published adventure. It's "Siege of the Spider Eaters" in issue #137.
When I first looked at Siege of the Spider Eaters, I thought "wow, this is really inventive. I've gotta run this."
When I first looked at this adventure, I thought "wow, this is really inventive. I've gotta run this." Didn't otherwise connect the two until now.
In both cases, your posts on the boards have added significant additional depth to the original article.
I hope you have many more great ideas where these came from. Thanks!
I hope you have many more great ideas where these came from. Thanks!
Thanks Riley! We have a whopping one adventure proposal in the submissions pile right now. We've got lots of ideas but, at least for us, it takes a great deal of time and thought to get them coherent enough to propose well. You can probably see from "Siege of the Spider Eaters" and "Escape from Meenlock Prison" that we like these involved plots for low-level characters. We tend to mentally work through all the kinks before putting anything on paper, and that makes for pretty slow going. So, while not prolific, we try to make up for it in well-placed thought behind a solid proposal. Still, it scares me everytime to have placed all our eggs in one basket, and that (and your encouragement) have got us working on another proposal as we speak.
Wow! Our not so subtle hints paid big dividends! Thanks, Tim, for the extra input. And keep these adventures coming at whatever pace works to ensure similar quality.
Yes, but I'm too sleepy to talk about it in depth tonight. We just finished playing, and I'm beat.
I've got seven players split into two ever-changing groups. I began them with both "Escape from Meenlock Prison" and "The Mad God's Key". Both adventures are unfolding simultaneously. It's going well and horrifically. The plan is to merge both plotlines into the Savage Tide AP at the beginning of 2nd level for everybody.
I'll get back to you with details tomorrow evening.
P.S. I'm running all of this in Eberron.
So Ashenvale, you got me all kindsa curious - did your PCs get suckered into the cellar after all?
GGG and Ashenvale, I'd like to get in touch with you. Not sure what messageboard etiquette demands, so I'm hoping you'd email me some time. I'm at:
timconnors at ieee dot org
...When he died he put a variation of the meenlock quote on hhis tombstone.
one side -"We you are now, I once was"
other side- "What I am now, You will be"
Hi chopswil,
I think that guy stole the quote from the same place we did. My wife went to Italy some years back and visited the Capuchin Crypt where this somewhat famous inscription can be found. This macabre crypt is really quite interesting. Have a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Friars_Minor_Capuchin. The quote fit so well with the theme of the adventure, we couldn't resist using it.
actually such inscriptions (known as Memento Mori) are fiarly common on older headstones and tombs, from the the middle ages through to the middle of the 19th century or so. Most of them say the same basic thing, and all of them are designed to remind the reader of his or her own mortality.
I ran the second session of "Escape" tonight. OH MY GOD!!! It was WAY too much fun!!!
Some background. I’ve got two men and two women in my sub-group running the “Escape” adventure. Last time, the men went into the chateau through the front door, but the women snuck in through a back entrance they forced to watch from the shadows. The two men are a duskblade and an barbarian, both robust fighter-types. The women are a fighter and a rogue.
They men met Rook, gave him their prisoner transfer order without having read it, received the keys, and went below with Mr. Fine’s help. The immediately found themselves trapped in a situation they’d not anticipated.
Meanwhile, the two women snuck in the back and watched what the men did. They then eavesdropped on Ruck and Mr. Fine. Mr. Fine pointed out that the transfer order mentioned four guards. Ruck told Mr. Fine there were two more unwanted folks skulking about, and Mr. Fine and Mr. Dee better find them quick.
The female rogue PC confronted Ruck and Fine at that point, demanding (at dagger point) that they tell her what was really going on. Ruck and Fine skewered her, dropping her to -1 hp in one round. The female fighter burst forth, enraged, and butchered both Ruck and Fine in two rounds. Mr. Dee and Lyle came running, but the female fighter’s prowess sent them running. The female rogue rolled lucky and stabilized at -2.
The men, meanwhile, made it up to The Anglers. All of that happened last session.
Tonight, I ran the charade we'd discussed. My task was been to convince the two women to join the men down in the dungeon proper.
First, the women holed up for a time in the Warden's office, where they captured and intimidated the wine merchant. They breached the safe and found the ledger and the order to transfer prisoners (which the men had blithely handed over before going below). They now knew the transfer-prisoners’ names, Lyle Benedict and Blessed of Pelor.
Next, they snuck upstairs to listen to the conversation between Mr. Dee and Lyle. Consistent with the plan you and I hatched, I had Mr. Dee and Lyle debating who these "murderers" were, how Lyle and Mr. Dee could, in good conscience, abandon their charges (the prisoners) to "the dark ones," and so on. I played Lyle as the inquisitive fool and Mr. Dee as his big-brotherly supervisor. "Why did they just murder the warden like that?" asks Lyle. "Do you know what kind of prisoners we guard, you imbicile?" asks Mr. Dee. "Political prisoners. People the world wants to believe don't exist. They're not just murderers. They're here to free someone -- or kill someone proper."
The women bought it, pretty much. The rogue loaded her crossbow and peeked around the corner into the room where the men were. She ordered them to stand down. They dove for cover. Mr. Dee ended up behind a desk and Lyle, unfortunately, ended up behind a chair to small for his large size. The rogue questioned them on their intentions, and the two scoundrels kept to their story until Mr. Dee called Lyle “Lyle” by name. The rogue seized on that mistake, demanding to know if Lyle was Lyle Benedict, and ultimately tossing the transfer order into the room for Lyle to see. I decided Lyle was illiterate, but the jig was up. He admitted he’d been a prisoner and asked if the order meant he was free. Mr. Dee was furious but did his best to recover the situation. Lyle said he wanted to help the prisoners who’d surely die below as he had. Mr. Dee called Lyle a fool but let him go. Lyle volunteered to run the elevator if the women wanted to join the men below, saying he wished he could go with them. Mr. Dee said he was leaving.
The women let Lyle lower them to join the men in the basement. In the interim, the men had seen The Anglers drag the dude by his intestines into the cell and, calmly, shut and locked the door to that corridor. They’d then broken the door (these guys are strong and, when taking 20, can break lots of stuff) into the “locked” (my choice) western cellar rooms and explored them. Just when they realized there was no way to run the second elevator without a key (which I’m going to strap to the true warden’s belt), the women arrived. They debated what to do. The men pointed out that there was a small fortune in wine down here, apparently sought by merchants and untended. The women pointed out that they had the ledger, worth surely a fortune in blackmail. As they debated how best they were going to spend their wealth, the main elevator creaked, a light shown from the north, and Lyle came running down, armed with leather armor and a new sword and shield. “I’ve come to help save the prisoners from the dark ones!” he announced gleefully.
“Who let you down?” the PCs asked.
“Mr. Dee. He’s waiting for us above.”
The PCs checked. Mr. Dee was not waiting for them above. They were stuck again with no way out. So, with Lyle in tow, they ventured off as a group down the corridor into the dungeon proper.
After that, everything went perfectly! The PCs uniformly failed their Will checks against the meenlock’s rend mind attacks. My good friend Karla, who plays the fighter, cursed me for sending her home after dark with the vision of a little girl in a white dress jumping rope with someone’s intestines. She was quietly chanting a spooky Danny Elfman tune when she left my house at the end of the evening.
The male barbarian saw a three-eyed man jump into Lyle. He told the other PCs about it. Later, the male duskblade saw Lyle touch Karla’s fighter, saw a ripple in the air, and saw Karla’s fighter change posture. So the barbarian and duskblade became convinced the ghost of The Blessed of Pelor (who must be dead) is possessing the fighter. They all then met the real Blessed of Pelor in his prison cell shortly thereafter. The barbarian and duskblade immedately assumed the real Blessed of Pelor must be an imposter trying to escape with them by disguising himself as the dead Blessed of Pelor. The real Blessed of Pelor must be dead, they reasoned, or how else could his ghost be flittering about possessing people?
“Oh, sure, we'll free you,” the duskblade said sarcastically to the real Blessed of Pelor. He then pointed to the supposedly possessed fighter. “But she's already possessed by your ghost. So why tell us how to get the Hell out of here and we’ll give your ghost back to you.”
The barbarian smacked the duskblade. “It doesn’t work that way, you idiot.”
“What’s he talking about?” the fighter asked.
“All will be revealed in due time,” the real Blessed of Pelor replied serenely from behind the barred window in his prison dooor.
It was GREAT!! Can't wait to finish!
Wonderful! Thanks for the update; I've been wondering about how all this played out in your game for some time....
I read through Ashendale's situation and I love how he got them down there, very nicely done. How has the rest of it gone?
I ran this a couple of months ago, actually with higher level pcs who had to grab a prisoner for information they needed.
I read through Ashendale's situation and I love how he got them down there, very nicely done. How has the rest of it gone?
I had the privilege of meeting Ashenvale in person last weekend. I'm pretty sure his group hasn't finished yet due to scheduling conflicts.
Hi Tim and Eileen,
Here I am resurrecting an old thread. I'm about to start my first D&D campaign in a long time (with three new players and one experienced player), and I've decided to kick it off with Escape from Meenlock Prison, which I only read a few days ago (even though I've been a Dungeon subscriber for years now)... let me tell you, I was impressed! I'm sure this adventure will have quite the impact as a campaign starter for newbies, and that it will go over well with the kinds of players I'll have in the group...
Thanks for all the suggestions you posted in this thread. I tried to access some of the links you provided, but it seems that the Stanmer House/Stanmer Park websites no longer exist. Would you happen to have some of the floor plans and room descriptions saved to your computer, or would you have hard copies that you could scan and then e-mail me?
Thanks in advance for your time and assistance, and congrats for having designed such an awesome and atmospheric adventure...
***bump***
Tim? Eileen? Anyone else who has the requested info? Maybe I'll need to e-mail them...
***bump***
Tim? Eileen? Anyone else who has the requested info? Maybe I'll need to e-mail them...
Hi TwiceBorn,
Sorry for the delay. Lilith emailed me and said you posted.
That stinks that the Stanmer House website is gone. It had a really nice interface to it that let you see the floor layouts and look inside each of the rooms. I did save a few of the pics to my computer, and I'll be happy to email them to you. Just say where.
--Tim--
***bump***
Tim? Eileen? Anyone else who has the requested info? Maybe I'll need to e-mail them...
Hi TwiceBorn,
Sorry for the delay. Lilith emailed me and said you posted.
That stinks that the Stanmer House website is gone. It had a really nice interface to it that let you see the floor layouts and look inside each of the rooms. I did save a few of the pics to my computer, and I'll be happy to email them to you. Just say where.
--Tim--
Thanks for the reply Tim, and for your willingness to e-mail me what you have (and Lilith, thanks for getting in touch with Tim on my behalf). You can e-mail the files to xavier (dot) cwrc (at) telus (dot) net.
Thanks!
Not a problem, TwiceBorn.
Just emailed you TwiceBorn!
And thanks again for the kudos on the adventure. We hope your players enjoy it.