The Duke's Dress Ball

[Douglas Muir 406]

This was a scenario from the long-forgotten Thieves Guild / Haven line, waay back in 1981. Didn't get a huge print run at the time, and today it's long OOP and largely forgotten. Nonetheless, it was one of the best modules of its day.

High concept: all the PCs are thieves. They get their hands on an invitation to the Duke's Dress Ball, the great society event of the season.

Mission: go in, steal as much stuff as possible, get out (and then try to fence your highly distinctive loot). The module was a standalone, so it was basically a heist movie. "Can You Make the Big Score?"

Complications: many. Lots and lots of subplots, from a rival gang of thieves to a crazy old lady who insists one PC is her long-lost son. And at least one character better know how to dance...

Combat: little or none. You're low to midlevel thieves, while the ball is crawling with high level characters, from the High Priest of the Sun to the head of the local Wizard's Guild. Start a fight and you'll probably be killed or captured almost at once.

Basically it was pure roleplaying plus lots of skill checks. Utterly unique at the time, and still hasn't been done well too many times since.

So, two questions. One, are there any other old grognards out there who remember this one? And two, has there been anything like this for 3.5 or Pathfinder?

thanks in advance,

Doug M.

[Spiral_Ninja]

Ooo, I remember.

I think we originally had two copies, as I bought one and the guy I eventually married bought one.

Hmmm, you know, I could dust it off and update it...it would work well for my current game.

[Mojorat]

that module sounds fun. though I do not remember it. I didn't start playing until four or so years later.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Spiral_Ninja wrote:

Hmmm, you know, I could dust it off and update it...it would work well for my current game.

With a bit of work, I'm sure it would update very well.

That said: you still have the original module from 1981?

Doug M.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Updating the whole thing to Pathfinder might take a while. (But might be worth it -- it's still a very solid scenario, and totally playable.)

What I've been wondering is whether there was ever a high-concept module or scenario /like/ this. I'm sure there must have been at some point, but I've never heard of one.

Doug M.