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I just wanted to share some ideas to make Castle Caromarc a bit more roleplaying intensive. Since my approach worked out perfectly with my group I thought others could be interested.
I took some ideas from the Disney movie "The Beauty and the Beast" and placed a number of intelligent creatures in the castle. For example the flesh and steel apparature in the living area was improved to Caromarcs Butler who could only write on a chalkboard using his clawed hands.
I also added Mr. TicToc a complex clock built in a Golem Torso including a head. Mr. TicToc was very talkactive, but had a very bad memory that could only remember stuff from the past five minutes of whatever time was set at the clock. Since he talked so much the WW had gagged him.
A housekeeper creature was added in the museum area that was supposed to clean the PCs all the time, getting into the way of fights in the most inconvenient times. My group skipped him together with the whole building :-(
Waxwood got the ability to speak to help the characters with the clues.
Finally I dedcided that the Beast already had fighted against the Aberrant Promethean to resuce his master. It failed and died on its way up the metal tower. Here the PCs had to resurrect him using the apparature before he could join the fight. This solved the problem of the beast only being a couple of rounds away.
Hope this is of use to anyone...
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IdiotDogBrain wrote: I took some ideas from the Disney movie "The Beauty and the Beast" and placed a number of intelligent creatures in the castle. Loving this. A lot of this has a very first 5 minutes of Edward Scissorhands feel too it, which is closer to the vibe I wanted Count Caromarc to have than like a James Whales version of Doctor Frankenstein. In truth, my vision of Caromarc is that he was the typical evil Dr. Frankenstein, but he's kind of mellowed in his old age - though I can't say he's Vincent Price from the beginning of Edward Scissorhands quite yet. But all of these additions are really cool, I LOVE the chalkboard and Mr. TicToc ideas - especially if you really had a piece of slate to write on for the former. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
IdiotDogBrain wrote: Finally I dedcided that the Beast already had fighted against the Aberrant Promethean to resuce his master. It failed and died on its way up the metal tower. Here the PCs had to resurrect him using the apparature before he could join the fight. This solved the problem of the beast only being a couple of rounds away. Brilliant. Like, if we had thought of this it would be in the book this way brilliant. Good show, sir!
I hope all of this went over fantastically and you all had a blast!
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Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Actually it's of great use. Thanks for posting. We are going to finish Caromac Tuesday. I love the idea of the PCs finding the beast dead.
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Thanks for the great feedback. I really appreciate it (Honestly, it made my day)!
My Caromac was really focused on bringing back his daughter and wife, both had been killed in the lands uprisal against the Count. Since he had lost in faith in the gods he wanted to restore them through more "mundane" means. He practiced creating human behaviour in his creations. The beast was created for human feelings, Mr. TicToc was aa subject on memory, the hobbling hook-clawed apparatus for good manners, Waxwood was an example for companionship...
I also used one sarcastic comment from the messageboards on the portrait in G3. Someone suggested that maybe the four armed Guardian of the tower had painted due to its high level of detail. So the Guardian became a test subject for creating a sense for art. He always depicted himself in a minor detail of each picture (I placed several more in the whole castle). Some of the pictures depicted the Count with wife and child- but the Count had erased their faces in every picture. Put my players (especially my wife) on the edge.
In the final scene of the adventure, Count Caromarc died after he was released from his prison, while the characters where switching off the apparatures that contained the corpses of his wife and child or tryed to ease his suffering. Possibly the most touching moment in many years of role playing.
Alltogether we had a blast with the adventure. So far it is the best AP adventure I ever mastered. We had great scenes in the court, and my wifes character really connected to the Beast. At some time I was not allowed to describe atrocities against it anymore, because my wife always started crying when she heard that someone had treated him badly. She now has a downgraded Beast of Lepidstadt as a Cohort and Vorsktag has become our reocurring villain in the campaign. Currently he is that shadowy presence in the Ascanor Lodge.
A real Masterwork from Mr. Pett. You really have to make him write more adventures.
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IdiotDogBrain wrote: A real Masterwork from Mr. Pett. You really have to make him write more adventures. Sadly, Rich Pett is the pen name of a sentient - but very British - apiary left to its own devices in a field outside Manchester. Due to the restrictions of its especially sticky writing medium, the best we can get is one adventure per AP. But rest assured, we totally believe Mr. Pett's work is worth the bears it so often attracts, and he has a standing invitation to all future insanity.
It sounds like the whole adventure went really phenomenally with all the awesome added touches! Great job!
IdiotDogBrain wrote: Very good stuff!
It was the 2nd clarification here that NAILED it for me. Stealing this.
Great, let He know how it all workerd out Tor you guys, at some point in the future I definitely have to rerun this so with another group
MORE MORE! This is great. We're JUST entering the castle in my campaign and I need ways to bring it back. My role-playing PCs would love this. Any text you want to write about what the clock did, what the chalk-writing thing did, other NPCs you made or thought about making after the fact would be hugely useful and probably would find their way into my campaign.
Cheers.
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The chalk writing thing (cwt) was naturally very much concerned with good manners. It offered a full banquet to the PCs to befriend them in the hope to have them search for the Count. It would constantly write the name of the next course on its chalkboard, interrupting the discussion with the PCs. It also tried to seperate the groups female halfling from the half orc and the human warrior after bedtime and raised general concerns about a "young girl" travelling with such "rough companions". It also took every effort to keep the PCs out of the Counts room. This nearly turned into a fight in the first place and then in a very long discussion on how how the Counts personal belongings could help with rescuing him. CWT took a very close look on what the PCs where removing from the master's bedroom.
Mr. TicToc consisted of a Golem torso and a head, with a clocks pendulum hanging out of the torso. Because he was very talkactive the Whispering Way had gagged the head and stopped the pendulum. After some time the Pcs removed the gag and started the pendulum again. They found out that Mr. TicToc was very talkactive and considered himself an "Intelectual". The bad thing was, that he only had a memory lasting for a few minutes prior to the time that was set on the clock. When the PCs set the clock back he could talk about the Whispering Way, meven though he mainly complained about their rude manners and obviously missing education.
CWT and Mr. TicToc had some sort of rivalry between them. Mr. TicToc considered the CWT a show off, with all his good manners and is inability to speak. CWT envyed Mr. TicTocs knowledge and higher education. Both where pretty sure that they where the Counts most favorite construct. Generally all the constructs where afraid the Count could favour someone else over them, while already knewing the Count only had love for his deceased family.
CWT even suggested the characters could take Mr. TicToc with them bound to the fighters back to get rid of his rival.
I also had imagined a janitor thing in the museum. While writing this I can imagine that such a construct would be more appropriate in the zoo, trying to clean up all the water the Whispering Way put into the area. If the PCs can help it with cleaning up the mess he could get a minor ally.
The guardian of the tower was the artist experiment. Before the Whispering Way had appeared it had prepared an exibition of its newest paintings and turned mad when the Count did not showed up and the Whispering Way cultist had no words of appraisal for his works. The groups bard managed to calm down the creature at first with a briliant monologue about art but then the groups fighter got nervous and the guardian had to die.
I portrayed WaxWood as the worst and piteous possible assistant ever- I couldn't otherwise after imagining him sneaking up to the Count feeding him with insects. He basicaly was an experiment on self esteem gone wrong. But he could tell the PCs something about the magical amatures on top of the tower.
Placing pictures of the Counts family (with faces erased or cut out) throughout the castle put the PC's on edge first but when they left the first building they knew that something very bad had happened in this man's live. WaxWood dropped a hint that the Count had mentioned that the mob had killed his wife and child in the lands uprising and at this point it became clear to the PCs why the Count had done what he had done. After they realised what tragic fate had befallen the Count there was no need for an discussion if the Count was an evil man anymore.
After the fight against the Promethean (who was a failed final experiment on divinity- wich the count believed rests in every man and woman) I ruled that the Count was beyond resuce due to his injuries and starvation but mainly because he had given ip living after he realised what monstrosities (mainly the Promethean) he had created and that he never would turn his family in such creatures.
Hope that helps
Very neat ideas here. Dotting for reference. Thanks!
IdiotDogBrain wrote: ... Hope that helps It absolutely helps, thank you very much. I think this is wonderful and helps slowly reveal the story of the Count to the PCs without them having little-to-no-idea what is going on before they release the Count.
The "cwt", as you call it, writes on a chalkboard it carries with it? Does it erase its writings? You say it writes with its clawed hands. That would damage the chalkboard - or does it carry chalk? I could make this up myself but I'm enjoying hearing your imagination in this respect :).
It occurs to me that your imagining of Waxwood turns him into a quazimodo-style assistant to our Dr. Frankenstein (Caromarc). This is nice.
Ullapool wrote:
The "cwt", as you call it, writes on a chalkboard it carries with it? Does it erase its writings? You say it writes with its clawed hands. That would damage the chalkboard - or does it carry chalk? I could make this up myself but I'm enjoying hearing your imagination in this respect :).
I was absolutely determined to use a real chalkboard and some chalk but the birth of my first child somewhat screwed preparations... I handled the whole situation with Linguistics checks. This way some of the players could bring one of the less important skills on theyr sheets to bear.
Ullapool wrote:
It occurs to me that your imagining of Waxwood turns him into a quazimodo-style assistant to our Dr. Frankenstein (Caromarc). This is nice.
In my imagination he was something between Mr. Smithers and Homer from the Simpsons. The episode where Homer is the assistant to Mr. Burns maybe describes my version best. Gir from Invader Zim is also a good example, though WaxWood was less destructive and hectic.
IdiotDogBrain wrote:
I took some ideas from the Disney movie "The Beauty and the Beast" and placed a number of intelligent creatures in the castle. For example the flesh and steel apparature in the living area was improved to Caromarcs Butler who could only write on a chalkboard using his clawed hands.
I also added Mr. TicToc a complex clock built in a Golem Torso including a head. Mr. TicToc was very talkactive, but had a very bad memory that could only remember stuff from the past five minutes of whatever time was set at the clock. Since he talked so much the WW had gagged him.
A housekeeper creature was added in the museum area that was supposed to clean the PCs all the time, getting into the way of fights in the most inconvenient times. My group skipped him together with the whole building :-(
I've decided this along with a similar post on Caromac and his wife is the way I want to go.
The chalk writing thing (cwt) will be redone as a child sized bone golem. He'll have the slate slide in between his ribs and a chalk box hanging in his body but he'll be wearing a child clothing over his bones. Chalk-Bone is a theme.
The Tic-Toc Man? Wooden Golem with the clockwork quality... manniquin style jaw and a set of bellows pumping away inside with a constant huffing and wheezing that ought to sound bizarre at best... voice generated by the belows blowing over some sort of device. Wood-grandfather style clock as his torso etc - lots of wooden cogs and gears.
The housekeeper thing? Thats waxwood? How did you do him?
IdiotDogBrain wrote: Finally I dedcided that the Beast already had fighted against the Aberrant Promethean to resuce his master. It failed and died on its way up the metal tower. Here the PCs had to resurrect him using the apparature before he could join the fight. This solved the problem of the beast only being a couple of rounds away. I agree this is an elegant solution. Was it obvious to the PCs that they needed to (1) resurrect The Beast to fight the Aberrant Promethean and (2) use the apparature to do it?
Voomer wrote: IdiotDogBrain wrote: Finally I dedcided that the Beast already had fighted against the Aberrant Promethean to resuce his master. It failed and died on its way up the metal tower. Here the PCs had to resurrect him using the apparature before he could join the fight. This solved the problem of the beast only being a couple of rounds away. I agree this is an elegant solution. Was it obvious to the PCs that they needed to (1) resurrect The Beast to fight the Aberrant Promethean and (2) use the apparature to do it? I did this too. My PCs figured it out, but it took a lot of prodding. I would suggest the GM include a direct reference to the Thrall's capability to temporarily restore dead flesh to life, in any (or all) of the following places:
1) The papers affixed to the door in L1.
2) The chalk markings in L2 (or L3? I forget).
3) Caromac might mumble something about it through his iron prison, if the PCs are close enough to hear.
Also, when the PCs enter the upper room, you might make a point of saying "the Beast's inanimate corpse lies in the centre of the room, beneath a cluster of coiled metal rods that descend from the roof above." This might give them the final clue they need to resurrect him -- or, at least, save them the trouble of moving his body around during the fight with the Promethean.
It's a deadly fight, and it may be unrealistic to expect your players to be puzzle-solving at the same time. But if you think they're up for it, it makes for a terrific climax.
IdiotDogBrain wrote: For example the flesh and steel apparature in the living area was improved to Caromarcs Butler who could only write on a chalkboard using his clawed hands.
So does that mean that the construct did not attack the PCs upon entering, as the module indicates it would? Did you just eliminate that combat encounter essentially?
The housekeeper was not supposed to be waxwood. I only had a vague idea about a broom swinging thing, that's always in the way of spells and strokes. I wanted to improvise, but since my players never really went into the building I did not had to ;-)
It was quite obvious to my players they had to resurrect the Beast using the metal apparature. They already had figured out that you need electricity to start a flesh golem and the beast was frozen in the try of reaching the metal apparature.
The CWS did indeed not attack the characters- since they politely knocked on the door using a door knocker that was provided there. If they would have smashed the door the CWS would have been very angry about this, like when a bunch of kids destroy your window with a football... It would never have attacked though, because that would be rude and way to dangerous
I'm trying to think through this angle of the Beast arriving at the tower first. If he is ahead of the party, then why didn't he set off all the traps or have to deal with any of the encounters on the way to the tower? Or did he, knowing the layout, scale the cliffs and go directly to the tower? The module doesn't make it clear whether that sort of climbing feat would be possible, but it seems the only explanation. I would probably want to have Waxwood explain it.
If the party is going to use the Bondslave Thrall to resurrect The Beast, don't they need to get him into it? How do they do that, since it is on the highest part of the tower and you have to go through the level with the Aberrant Promethean to get there.
For that matter, in the module as written, does the party need to scale the outside of the tower to get to the Bondslave Thrall and summon The Beast, without having to fight the Aberrant on the way?
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I decided that the Beast climbed to the tower through the mountains (he is used to the surrounding countryside). He met waxwood, got told what happened to "father", freaked out and attacked the Promethean. The Promethean nearly killed him, so he fled up to the Bondslave Thrall. His body just ceased functioning when he was nearly there, close enough to get resurrected but not able to start the process.
It will be necessary to get through the room with the Promethean, as you pointed out. In my game waxwood pointed out that this Promethean is a real beast, so everyone was very sneaky. Naturally, one of the players failed the move silently roll and they had to "speed reanimate" the beast using Use Magic Device.
Great ideas. Thanks for sharing!
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I will now proceed to shamelessly push this thread back to the top.
I used the IdiotDogBrains suggestion for the hook-clawed robot and it turned out great.
The group heard a faint scratching all the time while walking through the Schloss. When they reached the dining room they saw the robotic servant (who had not scythes as hands but rather fairly normal hands, though they ended in pretty shard knives as fingers) pinned against a wall. The Whispering Way had pinned him between the wall and the table and put his chalk board just out of reach so he kept clawing the table mechanically to reach it - of course, the only effect was that the table in his reach had been scrateched pretty badly.
After they had freed him and given him chalk it was great fun to roleplay him with his mechanical movements and everytime they asked him something the room grew dead silent while everybody was looking at me while I wrote something down on a block of paper. I also restricted me to no more than four words before I had to "erase" the chalk board (I gave him a sponge embedded into his right hand for such an occasion) and a very polite way of speech so they often had to wait for three or four boards.
I made sure however that while he would help them (I added some loot he would hand out freely to support them on their quest to save the Count) he had some barriers he was unable to break. He could not reveal secret doors, he could not tell them anything about the Count's wife and so on.
Not because he didn't know, but because he was not allowed to. He had no problems on them USING the secret doors, he just couldn't point them out.
All in all I'm really, really happy I stumbled upon this thread and wanted to raise it back up to show it to some newcomers! ;)
love to see it come back again as a lession on why GMs should look over the AP forums.
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