Dungeon Adventure Discussion

[Kwalish Kid]

A Race Against Time (#81): Delayed blast fireballs placed in stasis and scattered around a city + a list of clues + realtime time limit = fun for all (or at least the DM )!

I can't praise this adventure enough. I've run this 3 times for different 3E groups. The urban environment and variety of tasks required make it a great intro to the system, too. Some of the encounters can be deadly, though a smart DM will realize this and tone it down appropriately if needed. It is certainly possible that PCs may die, but that will be from their own folly, likely. Every group I've ever seen has solved most of the the challenges in the adventure with an hour of gametime to spare, though one didn't solve the whole thing and ended up in a 5 minute rush after they'd been thinking for a while.

I've run this game for 1st, 2nd and 6th level parties (for which I scaled it a little) and it went well for all of them. It's like a Tommy Lee Jones hidden-bomb movie!

 

[el-remmen]

Hey Willie!

Nice to see you over here (I hadn't seen you on the Aquerra boards for quite some time).

I find it interesting that you say that the editors "back in the day" didn't want dungeon crawls and wanted interesting characters - because the preponderance of the former and the lack of the latter is what has made Dungeon not as useful to me in the last 3 years or so.

I understood the the "return to the dungeon" idea as something that would be useful for all the DMs learning 3E - but I think it went on for way too long.

In the campaign I am running now "Out of the Frying Pan" we have exactly one adventure in a dungeon in over a year of real time. And it was a small dungeon (an old tomb/mastaba) at that.

Any other faves of yours, willie?

 

[King_Stannis]

I agree with those who name “unhallowed ground”. A terrific adventure, and, in fact, the adventure I used to introduce my wife to role-playing. I used it as a one-on-one, and it was perfectly suited.

However, my all-time favorite is “Rana-Mor”, which appeared last year sometime. Granted, a “ringer” wrote it (rich baker?), but easily the best adventure to appear in the magazine IMHO. You get to explore a fantastic city lost to the jungle, and get to meet a sexy, deadly woman with an interesting pet. There’s plenty of visions that’ll be emblazoned in your mind – a statue of a tiger jutting out in the middle of a waterfall. Nothing magical, just there for flavor.

 

[Percy]

I was quite proud of "Telar in Norbia" (#31), which was one of my first "serious" scenarios.

Personal favourites also included "The School of Nekros" (#27) by Lisa Smedman. My playing group really enjoyed that one too.

My own "A Wrastle with Bertrum" (#30) also caused some memorable mayhem. Anyone remember playing that???

Perhaps of interest to some people is the fact that although I wrote the scenarios I seldom got to DM them until after they were published. Strange. Probably they were easier to use in printed form than in typescript. Maybe I was just lazy. That's probably it!

 

[el-remmen]

I kind of used Bertrum's as a standing place that just waited for PCs to visit and the bandits to show up. . .

It was utter chaos - I used it on a 6th level party with few changes - because there are just so many different forces present and the troll itself (which I had "grow up a bit") that I knew it would not be easy for any party unless they were the type to kill everyone first . .. which my groups generally aren't.

Telar in Norbia is another of those "reserved" adventures - that I plan to use if ever the PCs end up in the right part of the world.

I used "School of Nekros" - but I made some changes to it - I really dislike Lisa Smedman's adventures. Actually, my friends and I refer to any adventure with a cool idea and poor execution as "a Smedman."

 

[Storminator]

However, my all-time favorite is “Rana-Mor”, which appeared last year sometime. Granted, a “ringer” wrote it (rich baker?), but easily the best adventure to appear in the magazine IMHO. You get to explore a fantastic city lost to the jungle, and get to meet a sexy, deadly woman with an interesting pet. There’s plenty of visions that’ll be emblazoned in your mind – a statue of a tiger jutting out in the middle of a waterfall. Nothing magical, just there for flavor.

I thought this one looked very cool. I'm about to run it as a one shot. One of my PBeM players is coming up and we're doing the full weekend of gaming.

So any good tips?

PS

 

[byxbee]

I love the new dungeon, though i could go without the Critical Threats.

The Maps are a trove of good ideas.

I liked Bunglewood Bandits, which was a revelation in 2e to have kobolds gain levels of fighters. Now, it's pretty standard.

There is a city adventure recently where a guy is trying to keep the PCs busy while he springs his boss from prison. He plants tiny explosive crystals in dangerous places. FUN. the PCs have to find them before they blow up too much stuff.

There was a sidetrek where a Grey Ooze ate a wand of Wonder and wreaked havok on a crowded marketplace when it escaped from the sewers, belching out random effects on the populace.

The semi-recent one with the Half-Dragon offspring of a Ancient White Dragon trying to kill it's father was well done.

Of Kings Unknown - Magical Melons cause genetic defects in a tribe of Orcs, who have Antlers, 3 eyes, tails, clear skin, etc. Random defects made orcs REALLY interesting.

Siege of Kratys Freehold -- SOOOO much fun. Must defend a homestead from an army of approaching orcs. Have 3 days to gather troops, prepare the fort, and pitch the battle. It took 16 hours to play, but it was worth it!

The Mud Sorcerors Tomb was fantastic.

 

[byxbee]

Oh and "Old Man Katan and the incredible edible dancing singing Mushroom Band" was hilarious. Actually ran that one on April 1 as a one-shot. Really Fun.

As was Euphoria Horrors: Boy loses pet. PCs must find Pet who has been taken by Tasloi into cave complex. Pet is a faerie dragon with intoxicating breath weapon. PCs find Tasloi intoxicated and silly, and if they aren't careful they get gassed too. REALLY fun, considering the tunnels were all 3' and the PCs were all human!!!

 

[King_Stannis]

I thought this one looked very cool. I'm about to run it as a one shot. One of my PBeM players is coming up and we're doing the full weekend of gaming.

So any good tips?

PS

the adventure, i think, really runs itself...but a few tips:


make sure you can describe the city based off of the maps. when they get there, i found myself retrieving information on how high the walls of the city were. also, picture yourself in the inside of the city and be able to describe it to your player(s). for whatever reason, i was not able to this off the bat and i was disappointed that i couldn't.


also, play up the journey into the city. describe the grass poking through the ancient flagstones vividly....and make sure he sees the statue of that tiger in the waterfall!


hope it works out. if you can, let me know how it went.

 

[Henry]

I just wanted to post a quick "hello" to Willie Walsh, and to thank you for some truly memorable adventures over the years.

My personal favorite was "mightier than the Sword" (I think the name was). That one was FUN for my Players!