Last Call of Ashenport : Tipps & co

[Lindeloef]

I will run Last Call of Ashenport (Dungeon Mag 156) in some weeks, so I want to ask if some, who had the pleasure to play or run it, have some comments on it.
Like some scenes that need some fixing or more emphasis on them. Or maybe some battles that should be skipped.

Happy to get some input


and don't throw any heavy or pointy objects at me if you think, I butchered the english language in this post as this won't do any good to your Monitor.

 

[Vorne]

I ran this right around Halloween this past year, to great success. My players still talk about it.
The thing that helped a ton was my use of sound - it's the only time I've done it, but having a computer so I could queue up my special "call" sound whenever it went out was full of awesome. I used a suitably creepy, long sound bite I downloaded for the occasion, and when that wasn't on, had a storm sound in the background whenever they were outside.

For particular encounter information, I cut "The Pool" (party went around back, just didn't feel right doing that encounter after what they'd already done). Other than that, I pretty much played the encounters as they were.

Most of the changes I made dealt with how they got there, how they left, and who the other people at the inn were, but honestly, the major high points were emphasizing the horror of what was going on, the inexorable nature of the call, and that lovely, beautiful call sound (freesound :: view sample :: subtractor_voices.wav).

 

[Riastlin]

I ran a slightly modified version of it. Basically, I upped it so it would be appropriate for a 9th - 10th level group then added a few encounters at the end to cap off the heroic tier of my campaign. That being said, it worked really well imho. The only things you might consider is adjusting monster damage to be more in line with the new MM3 figures and perhaps adjusting the solo monster on the beach front. That monster suffers from all the same issues that all solos suffer from. Number of attacks, status effects, etc. Having it grab a PC then jump back into the ocean with said PC definitely got the party's attention though.

All in all, its an excellent adventure with plenty of opportunities for RP as well as future developments.

 

[Ryujin]

I haven't run it, but I played it. If you wish to get the mood and setting right then I suggest that you read the story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", by HP Lovecraft. It's a horror story, written in the 1930s, and rather than the adventure being 'heavily influenced by the writings of HP Lovecraft', the setting is virtually ripped from the pages of that story. I had read it, many times and many years ago. The DM hadn't.

 

[Al'Kelhar]

I ran this adventure last year, albeit slightly modified for my own campaign and PCs. My notes on the adventure and encounters are attached. I didn't use any of the horror elements that others have commented on, and ran it pretty much as an investigative -> dungeon crawl adventure, which was quite successful.

A couple of comments on encounters. First, I found the description of the traps in the hallway of the hidden shrine underneath the church confusing - but I find many trap descriptions in Dungeon magazine to be confusing. I now design my own traps to replace them. Second, the Tendrils of Dagon encounter is badly designed. The tendrils themselves have no land speed and are stuck in the water. If they expose themselves in order to attack the PCs, they can be despatched easily at range. IMC I handwaved this encounter - the PCs shot at the tendrils a couple of times, forcing them to retreat.

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[Ajar]

My girlfriend ran this for our three-player party about a month ago, knowing full well that two of the three players were huge Lovecraft fans. She didn't initially realize that the story was exactly the same, but it was totally fine with us -- knowing exactly what was going on right from the minute we walked into Ashenport actually made it really fun. The adventure became about uncovering evidence to prove what we already knew, then trying to save as many people as possible, then finally actually triumphing over the forces of Dagon in a way that would never happen in authentic Lovecraft... only to find that the entire town died despite our best efforts. It was really satisfying and was our favourite adventure since Dead by Dawn, the desperate defence of a defiled church against endless hordes of undead.

We went out of our way to earn Melora's favour during the adventure, and as a reward our Warlord got a divine boon, which was really cool.

I know some of the encounters were adjusted because our party is undersized -- dropping a few monsters here and there, mainly. We made a point of doing the entire temple crawl without an extended rest, because we discovered the hidden entrance in the church very early on and wanted to press our advantage while we still had surprise on our side. Going up against the high priest at the bottom of the dungeon with our defender (me) having only 1 healing surge left at the start of the battle was very intense.

I agree with the comments that the Tendrils of Dagon encounter needs some tweaking. The rest of them were pretty good for us.

I love the idea of using sound, especially for the call.

 

[Ryujin]

She didn't initially realize that the story was exactly the same, but it was totally fine with us -- knowing exactly what was going on right from the minute we walked into Ashenport actually made it really fun.

I'm pretty sure that our DM thought I had cheated, and read the whole adventure