Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
[Let's Read] DM's Guild Ravenloft Sourcebooks
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9153069" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/lIrUhUX.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.dmsguild.com/product/352422/Laboratory-of-the-Mad-Abbot" target="_blank"><strong>Product Link</strong></a></p><p></p><p><strong>Product Type:</strong> Adventure</p><p></p><p><strong>CoS-Required?</strong> Yes</p><p></p><p>Dracula isn’t the only gothic monster Curse of Strahd deploys. Vasilka the flesh golem has a similar role to Frankenstein’s monster, but her creator, the Abbot, isn’t much of a mad scientist. He is closer to being a monster himself, as a corrupted celestial filled with a deluded plan to save Barovia via creating a new wife for Strahd. Laboratory of the Mad Abbot puts the character in the role of a demented researcher, and adds a new mini-dungeon in the form of a hidden laboratory below the Abbey of Saint Markovia. Here, the Abbot is building a secret army of monsters created from necromantic experiments for the eventual plan of going to war with Strahd.</p><p></p><p>The major changes this product makes to the default module are the removal of the Belview family and Vasilka, due to problematic ableist and racist implications of the former monsters and reworking the Abbot’s goals in the latter case. The adventure is meant to be a late-game scenario, for 3-5 PCs of 8th to 10th level.</p><p></p><p>The lab is a single-floor 10 room dungeon, with crude electrical light bulbs serving as omnipresent illumination. None of the rooms have descriptive boxed text, and while several do open up with describing the room’s environs it is part of the rest of the text. This leaves the DM to come up with descriptions themselves. Half of the rooms are occupied by creatures: a lightning elemental who is trapped to fuel the lab’s electricity and will ask to be freed if the PCs speak Primordial or Auran; a locked chimera in an otherwise empty prison guarding a chest with a Bag of Holding; mimics disguised as books in a library; a sanctum home to the Abbot; and a storage room of failed experiments and miscellaneous material containing an aquarium tank of animated brains who will attempt to ambush and attack the party. They can be reasoned with so that the party can gain more information about the Abbot and lab, as the brains are not very keen on their imprisoned status. The Abbot’s sanctum is the “boss chamber” of this dungeon, where the celestial is working in what appears to be a huge bloody medical facility, with three inert flesh golems strapped to gurneys. Upon noticing the PC’s presence (he does so automatically as part of this adventure’s only boxed text), he presumes the party to be agents of Strahd and will say that nobody can leave this room alive.</p><p></p><p>During the fight with the Abbot, each flesh golem can eventually activate and join the battle. But a character who deals enough damage to their connecting wires can prevent this before they activate. Once the foes are defeated, the PCs can recover a Ring of Mind Shielding and a key that opens up the chest that the chimera is guarding in the prison. Other treasures the party can recover in this dungeon can be found in a potions lab, where an Investigation check can locate some potions along with an Alchemy Jug; and a library containing a variety of books along with a Manual of Bodily Health. The books tend toward a more parodic element, such as the Bodily Health Manual being titled The Barovian Super Diet, a monster hunting manual written by a vampire hunter known as Arthur Fangsmith, and (groan) an adult novel written by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellyanne_Conway" target="_blank">Skellyanne Conway</a> about two undead falling in love to defeat their necromancer creator.</p><p></p><p>Regarding the new monsters, the lightning elemental is a CR 5 elemental which can turn into an electric form that deals lightning damage to those it touches, can squeeze through small areas like an ooze, constantly sheds light, can deal lightning damage via melee slams, and paralyze targets wearing armor should they fail a Constitution save. And like many elementals, it comes with a variety of resistances and immunities. The Animated Brain Colony is a CR 8 swarm that is immobile in being confined to a stationary aquarium. It has psionic abilities such as sensing creatures within 120 feet, has a variety of innate spellcasting such as Hold Person, and a damaging Mind Blast that can stun targets on a failed Intelligence save. The Mind Blast says that it recharges on a 6-7, which is a typo as recharge abilities operate on a 1d6. The colony splits up into individual animated brains once it reaches 0 hit points, and the individual monsters are much weaker.</p><p></p><p>The lightning elemental looks fine for its CR, although its lack of a fly or any special movement speed feels weird for its association with lightning. The Animated Brain Colony has some long-range attacks and spells that can inconvenience the party, such as Dissonant Whispers and Enemies Abound, but its inability to move out of its tank means that PCs can easily kite it. However, its ability to sense minds mentions no limitations based on physical barriers, so it can still supposedly use its mind blast and other spells on PCs who run outside the room and break line of sight.</p><p></p><p><strong>Overall Thoughts:</strong> While I do agree with removing or otherwise changing the Belviews, it feels weird to have a Dr. Frankenstein without Frankenstein’s monster. I suppose his monstrous army is intended to fill this function, but that removes the rather personal nature and tragedy of having an individual monster vs a bunch of them.</p><p></p><p>This product overall feels uninspired. There’s hardly anything in the way of setting the mood with boxed text besides the final room with the Abbot. And unlike in the default adventure, he cannot be reasoned with. I can definitely see some PCs of moral flexibility deciding that building up a monstrous army to fight Strahd is a viable idea. The adventure more or less leaves it up to the DM for groups who want to carry on his work, or repurpose the Abbot’s knowledge for their own pursuits. Additionally, the adventure doesn’t explain how this alters the Abbot’s relationship with the Village of Krezk. In the default adventure he was robbing graves to stitch the body parts of corpses in creating Vasilka. Is the Abbot still doing the same thing, but for generic flesh golems and brains? And what of the Fated Allies who can no longer be chosen in a Tarokka reading, such as Clovin Belview or Vasilka?</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we help Van Richten arrange a night of carnival fun and games in Vallaki’s Got Talent!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 9153069, member: 6750502"] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/lIrUhUX.jpg[/img][/center] [url=https://www.dmsguild.com/product/352422/Laboratory-of-the-Mad-Abbot][b]Product Link[/b][/url] [b]Product Type:[/b] Adventure [b]CoS-Required?[/b] Yes Dracula isn’t the only gothic monster Curse of Strahd deploys. Vasilka the flesh golem has a similar role to Frankenstein’s monster, but her creator, the Abbot, isn’t much of a mad scientist. He is closer to being a monster himself, as a corrupted celestial filled with a deluded plan to save Barovia via creating a new wife for Strahd. Laboratory of the Mad Abbot puts the character in the role of a demented researcher, and adds a new mini-dungeon in the form of a hidden laboratory below the Abbey of Saint Markovia. Here, the Abbot is building a secret army of monsters created from necromantic experiments for the eventual plan of going to war with Strahd. The major changes this product makes to the default module are the removal of the Belview family and Vasilka, due to problematic ableist and racist implications of the former monsters and reworking the Abbot’s goals in the latter case. The adventure is meant to be a late-game scenario, for 3-5 PCs of 8th to 10th level. The lab is a single-floor 10 room dungeon, with crude electrical light bulbs serving as omnipresent illumination. None of the rooms have descriptive boxed text, and while several do open up with describing the room’s environs it is part of the rest of the text. This leaves the DM to come up with descriptions themselves. Half of the rooms are occupied by creatures: a lightning elemental who is trapped to fuel the lab’s electricity and will ask to be freed if the PCs speak Primordial or Auran; a locked chimera in an otherwise empty prison guarding a chest with a Bag of Holding; mimics disguised as books in a library; a sanctum home to the Abbot; and a storage room of failed experiments and miscellaneous material containing an aquarium tank of animated brains who will attempt to ambush and attack the party. They can be reasoned with so that the party can gain more information about the Abbot and lab, as the brains are not very keen on their imprisoned status. The Abbot’s sanctum is the “boss chamber” of this dungeon, where the celestial is working in what appears to be a huge bloody medical facility, with three inert flesh golems strapped to gurneys. Upon noticing the PC’s presence (he does so automatically as part of this adventure’s only boxed text), he presumes the party to be agents of Strahd and will say that nobody can leave this room alive. During the fight with the Abbot, each flesh golem can eventually activate and join the battle. But a character who deals enough damage to their connecting wires can prevent this before they activate. Once the foes are defeated, the PCs can recover a Ring of Mind Shielding and a key that opens up the chest that the chimera is guarding in the prison. Other treasures the party can recover in this dungeon can be found in a potions lab, where an Investigation check can locate some potions along with an Alchemy Jug; and a library containing a variety of books along with a Manual of Bodily Health. The books tend toward a more parodic element, such as the Bodily Health Manual being titled The Barovian Super Diet, a monster hunting manual written by a vampire hunter known as Arthur Fangsmith, and (groan) an adult novel written by [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellyanne_Conway]Skellyanne Conway[/url] about two undead falling in love to defeat their necromancer creator. Regarding the new monsters, the lightning elemental is a CR 5 elemental which can turn into an electric form that deals lightning damage to those it touches, can squeeze through small areas like an ooze, constantly sheds light, can deal lightning damage via melee slams, and paralyze targets wearing armor should they fail a Constitution save. And like many elementals, it comes with a variety of resistances and immunities. The Animated Brain Colony is a CR 8 swarm that is immobile in being confined to a stationary aquarium. It has psionic abilities such as sensing creatures within 120 feet, has a variety of innate spellcasting such as Hold Person, and a damaging Mind Blast that can stun targets on a failed Intelligence save. The Mind Blast says that it recharges on a 6-7, which is a typo as recharge abilities operate on a 1d6. The colony splits up into individual animated brains once it reaches 0 hit points, and the individual monsters are much weaker. The lightning elemental looks fine for its CR, although its lack of a fly or any special movement speed feels weird for its association with lightning. The Animated Brain Colony has some long-range attacks and spells that can inconvenience the party, such as Dissonant Whispers and Enemies Abound, but its inability to move out of its tank means that PCs can easily kite it. However, its ability to sense minds mentions no limitations based on physical barriers, so it can still supposedly use its mind blast and other spells on PCs who run outside the room and break line of sight. [b]Overall Thoughts:[/b] While I do agree with removing or otherwise changing the Belviews, it feels weird to have a Dr. Frankenstein without Frankenstein’s monster. I suppose his monstrous army is intended to fill this function, but that removes the rather personal nature and tragedy of having an individual monster vs a bunch of them. This product overall feels uninspired. There’s hardly anything in the way of setting the mood with boxed text besides the final room with the Abbot. And unlike in the default adventure, he cannot be reasoned with. I can definitely see some PCs of moral flexibility deciding that building up a monstrous army to fight Strahd is a viable idea. The adventure more or less leaves it up to the DM for groups who want to carry on his work, or repurpose the Abbot’s knowledge for their own pursuits. Additionally, the adventure doesn’t explain how this alters the Abbot’s relationship with the Village of Krezk. In the default adventure he was robbing graves to stitch the body parts of corpses in creating Vasilka. Is the Abbot still doing the same thing, but for generic flesh golems and brains? And what of the Fated Allies who can no longer be chosen in a Tarokka reading, such as Clovin Belview or Vasilka? [b]Join us next time as we help Van Richten arrange a night of carnival fun and games in Vallaki’s Got Talent![/b] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
[Let's Read] DM's Guild Ravenloft Sourcebooks
Top