Hall of Many Panes

[Steverooo]

The Hall of Many Panes (and it's panes, not planes) is a linked series of adventures, where the PCs are supposed to be helping some "missing" deity (God knows why) by completing a looooooong series of adventures, entered into by jumping through various colored "panes" (as in panes of glass). This deposits them into an adventure area, where they have to explore around, trying to figure out what to do in order to be magically returned to the HoMP, where they can rest up and attrmpt the next go-round.

The entry is rail-roady, and while I haven't seen the finished product, I'm betting that the PCs can't "escape" the adventure by, say, Boots of Teleportation, and the like... Typical!

I doubt that Jon's stats for D&D matter, much, as most of the module (from what I understood from the play-testers' reports) didn't involve a lot of combat. If the PCs want to attack 60 Mongols, for instance, they should expect to get slaughtered.

Anyway, one adventure involves, for instance,

Spoiler

going to the plane ruled by a god of... humour? Anyway, he is Xagyg-like. The first obstacle that the PCs/ACs must overcome is to convince him that they are not supposed to be there... This gets done by answering his riddle with a pun... After that, he admits that, MAYBE, the ACs/PCs don't belong in his realm, and tells them of a way out. They then head off, looking for it, trying to get back to the HoMP for their next assignment.

Another mission involved

Spoiler

trying to get a gemstone from some burrowing forest creatures (although how the PCs figured this out, I don't know). Unlike in the above episode, there is no one to talk to, in this adventure! Anyway, the playtesters figured out a way, and succeeded,

getting back to the Hall (which I think of as a Space Station).

In all of the missions that I heard tell of, none of them involved necessary combat, although some of them might, and most of them could. I just think that this is more of a Tomb of Horrors type module, where Hack-n-Slashers will be unhappy, and "thinking men" have more to do.

IMHO. YMMV.

 

[S'mon]

In all of the missions that I heard tell of, none of them involved necessary combat, although some of them might, and most of them could. I just think that this is more of a Tomb of Horrors type module, where Hack-n-Slashers will be unhappy, and "thinking men" have more to do.

Yup - there will be combat - the climax certainly involves combat - but it's not a Necropolis-style meatgrinder. In some ways it's quite roleplay-heavy, though EGG's idea of roleplay is maybe a bit different from mine, more problem/puzzle oriented "say X and get Y". I agree the Mongol horde stats are unlikely to be a big problem, though 8th-10th level PCs might expect to be able to take on a few dozen nomads, and an entire tribe of 8th levellers stretches my credibility somewhat - mostly because with d6+1 damage they could hit each other ca 15 times each before anyone dies!

 

[thundershot]

My copy has been in transit for a couple days now. I should have it in my hands any time now....



Chris

 

[thundershot]

I got it today... and I've only had time to read the first "pane" and skim the rest.

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I'm a little disappointed. I was expecting a fourth book, but it was nothing but B&W loose pages (as mentioned above). The descrpitive text is so railroady it's not even funny. You actually TELL the players what their characters are doing.. there's something wrong with that. That can be adjusted, of course... but some of the panes... They don't even let the characters use their CHARCTERS. Acorn people? A reflex save or DIE INSTANTLY at the mouth of a chipmunk? Some of the panes don't even seem to matter what class and race your character is... but again, I haven't read it all the way, just skimmed it...

Hopefully it gets better.

Chris

 

[S'mon]

II'm a little disappointed. I was expecting a fourth book, but it was nothing but B&W loose pages (as mentioned above). The descrpitive text is so railroady it's not even funny. You actually TELL the players what their characters are doing.. there's something wrong with that. That can be adjusted, of course... but some of the panes... They don't even let the characters use their CHARCTERS. Acorn people? A reflex save or DIE INSTANTLY at the mouth of a chipmunk? Some of the panes don't even seem to matter what class and race your character is... but again, I haven't read it all the way, just skimmed it...

Hopefully it gets better.

It's definitely going to take a huge amount of editing work to be playable, most especially in the read-aloud text, much of it is unusable as written - my players would lynch me (running Necropolis they nearly did! - I know better now). Looking at another random pane, the PCs appear at a Knight's Tourney, which sounds like potentially a lot of fun, but instead of getting to RP a bit and maybe compete in some events the read-aloud text immediately forces the PCs into what looks like a very frustrating puzzle-solving exercise to 'win' the Pane. _Why_ this is necessary is not explained. No way am I running it as written. In a gamebook it might be acceptable, I don't find it acceptable in an RPG.

I really see two editing problems here, as in Necropolis, another Gygaxian LA to d20 conversion:

1. Many of the d20 stat blocks really aren't acceptable. Don't have 8th level fighter-types doing d6+1 damage. Don't equip the mercenary army of 4th level Warriors solely with Daggers (!) or the army of 3rd level orcs with padded armour & small clubs (WTF?) :\

2. The Gygaxian prose - in small doses this is great, flavourful stuff. I almost wish EGG were still restricted to 32pp to write th module in, that would help a lot. Some of the read-alouds in HoMP go on for more than an entire page! And like I said, far too often they tell the PCs what they're doing, what they're thinking etc. A player of mine commented last night re Necropolis that the natural reaction to Rogue PCs being told "Of course you do not use stealth here in approaching, that would be dishonorable.." is to do the exact opposite.
I don't know if Troll Lords and Necromancer are scared of chopping away chunks of the great man's purple prose, but trust me, the modules would really have benefitted.

I still think HoMP looks very promising, but it is going to require a lot of work, work that one might have expected the paid editors & adapters to already have done. I will continue reading through it and I expect one day I will use large parts of it IMC - but definitely not as written.

 

[S'mon]

I'm thinking now it might be better to run HoMP using Castles & Crusades - HoMP makes fairy little use of d20 mechanics anyway, from what I can see; and bad stat blocks aren't really an issue in C&C. Certainly the 'feel' should fit well. I may discuss it with my players. I haven't settled on my C&C house rules yet - probably a level defense bonus to AC, maybe add amount by which you beat AC to damage, and increasing Rogue & Assassin attack bonuses so they match Clerics at 1/2.

 

[Deogolf]

Having been a playtester of this fine adventure, I can tell you that it was written by Gary and that it was written strictly for LA - which doesn't always translate well to D&D, completely different systems.

And before you start complaining about this and that (i.e. - the acorn people), use your imagination. Yes, there is alot of role-playing, but there is also a fair bit of combat too. In fact, I thought the "acorn pane" was alot of fun. Yes, there is a way to communicate with the others and if you stop and think about things logically, you'll figure out what needs to be done.

Yes, the beginning is a bit "railroady", but sometimes things are like that. There doesn't have to be reason for everything that happens in one's world. The gods are fickels at times!

Actually, if you want to play the module as it was intended, I would try LA - it's an easy system to learn and it's offers alot of freedom when it comes to rules and character/avatar creation. Try it! You may find that you actually like it!

Oh, if you don't like the lengthy text boxes - edit them down! You are the DM! Take back control!!

 

[dcas]

I haven't seen HOMP yet but I would agree with Deogolf about Lejendary Adventure.

 

[Piratecat]

What frustrates me about this sort of adventure is that it would take relatively little work to make it fully 3.5 compatible. One of Gary's big strengths is his creativity, and I figure that someone else is doing all the stats anyways. So why the heck are the stat blocks so inappropriate? That sort of poor design is unfortunate, because it undermines and lessens an otherwise good product.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

1. Many of the d20 stat blocks really aren't acceptable. Don't have 8th level fighter-types doing d6+1 damage. Don't equip the mercenary army of 4th level Warriors solely with Daggers (!) or the army of 3rd level orcs with padded armour & small clubs (WTF?)

See, I have no problem with that. What I *do* have a problem with is that the EL should be adjusted to reflect that they are poorly equipped. If the DMG II covers that, I'll buy it today.