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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8802575" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/u1iiFke.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /><a href="https://www.dmsguild.com/product/378408/Dark-Carnival-and-the-Mirrors-of-Madness-A-Multitable-Adventure" target="_blank">Product Link</a>Product Type: AdventureCoS-Required? NoHere we have an adventure taking place in the domain of Carnival, optimized for 3rd to 6th level characters. But the Dark Carnival isn’t like other adventures; it can be run as a multi-table event, where multiple DMs simultaneously run the same adventure for their own respective groups of players. There are rules and opportunities for one table to have an effect on the other tables as well. A Facilitator, or DM of DMs, helps move the game along at hourly intervals along with facilitating inter-table communication and interaction. The adventure can also be run as a single-table event, in which case the inter-table opportunities are removed.The backdrop of the adventure is that the PCs have been hired by a certain notable organization in the Domains of Dread (the Kargat, a Vistani tribe, the Church of Ezra, etc) to go to the Carnival and retrieve mist talismans which are believed to be in the hands of the carnies. However, all is not fun and games, for Tindal the Barker is in reality (and unknown to even himself) a fetch, or a supernatural clone. His original self, the mage Tindafalus, is trapped in a mirror. Tindafalus is the “wicked half,” with the fetch being a kinder, more ideal version of the original. By making a deal with the domain’s darklord, Nepenthe, he has arranged for the minions of an archfey to kidnap several of the Carnival’s staff to infiltrate the domain with fetches set on freeing Tindafalus by kidnapping Tindal. Nepenthe hopes that violence will break out when Isolde the carnival ringleader returns, so that the darklord (who is an intelligent sword) will be wielded to enact a bloody slaughter.The adventure is mini-game heavy, and every game plus the combat encounters have tables for scaling the challenges for groups of average party levels from 1st all the way up to 8th. For mini-games this changes the DC as well as damage for failure for some mini-games, while for combat it determines the number of enemies fought. There’s also a mechanic known as Hero Points introduced, where at certain times PCs can gain such points and spend them to add 1d6 to a d20 roll they make.When the PCs first arrive they’ll be taken on a guided tour, able to explore the Carnival to a limited degree. There are enchanted funhouse mirrors reflecting the ideals, bonds, and flaws of characters. The DM can grant Inspiration for a PC who spends time explaining what the mirrors show. There’s also a marketplace that can sell equipment and vendors selling potions of Lost Memories which can instill the memories of other backgrounds and randomly determined ideals, bonds, and flaws (PCs who drink them gain a Hero Point). PCs who end up starting fights in the Carnival will be accosted by swashbuckler security guards, who will return once with reinforcements if the party manages to defeat them. Although reinforcements don’t arrive immediately and give PCs time to do some games, there is a penalty where the adventure fast-forwards to the next part (missing any remaining mini-games) as a horrified Tindal is still desperate to get whatever help he can get and contacts them immediately regarding his troubles.Additionally, the mysterious patron who hired the PCs provides for in-game benefits in the form of specialized equipment which are lended, not given. For example, the Church of Ezra lends each PC a holy symbol which can cast misty step once per long rest, the Keepers of the Feather grant each PC a raven that can fly through the Mists to come to their aid in the form of a Hero Point, and the Ulmist Inquisition gives each PC a psi crystal which if attuned to grants  telepathy to a range of 30 feet.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/350mFW6.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Part 1: Carnival Games covers the mini-games that take place before the big top event. There are 10 to participate in, and PCs need to win at least 4 games in order to impress Tindal and thus earn his confidence. Gaming groups can aid other tables via rolling to rig a game via Sleight of Hand or with Thieves’ Tools, giving the PCs of another table advantage on one d20 roll for that game. During the games, PCs can notice Clues indicating suspicious fetch activity; in lieu of performing poorly in the games, finding at least three Clues results in the same reward, as this impresses Tindal for their keen observations. The games all have some creepy risk of danger to separate them from normal carnie events: bobbing for apples has PCs roll Constitution saves as all but a few apples are poisoned (Perception to spot a safe one), dart balloons have the PCs draw quills from a spined devil to throw at balloons which impose random magical alterations to the thrower with every pop, a horse race allows PCs to choose from one of four supernatural horses (zombie horses are slower but overcome obstacles more easily, nightmares are fastest but their unruly nature increases the DC of obstacles, etc) where initiative is rolled to determine place in the race and Animal Handling or Acrobatics to avoid obstacles on the track, and a gorgon-riding contest requires a PC last at least 3 rounds bucking a gorgon as it tries to toss them off and petrify with its breath. One of the contests I really like is the PCs entering a giant sandbox to dig for buried treasure, where several treasure chests are mimic decoys who will bite an unlucky contestant. Winning a game gives a PC a random carnival prize, a 2d20 table of creepy and weird items that have no special properties or value.Between games the PCs can have their fortunes read from a blind Vistani, where a list of vague premonitions are given on a randomly-rolled table and if one comes true during the adventure then that PC gains Inspiration. There’s also a Hall of Horrors containing escaped pickled monsters that will try to steal a random carnival prize from the PCs; tracking down and capturing them for the event’s manager gives the party the opportunity to learn more information. All in all, the mini-games are all quite clever, and the penalties and damages inflicted for failed attempts can offset the fact that many PCs participating at once increase the chances of winning a game.PCs who earned Tindal’s trust will be informed that something is off, with him offering a pouch of mist talismans if they help him out.Part 2: Big Top Show has the crowd move into the main tent of the Carnival. Tindal introduces the PCs to the crowd (they provide a team name or Tindal comes up with one on the spot), where they must impress the audience in at least two out of three acts. There are five acts by default to choose from, and PCs who succeed on rolls adjust the crowd’s overall attitude. More positive audiences lower the DC, but ones that get ornery end up harder to impress thereby raising the DC. For multi-table events, the total successes and failures of all tables per act determines the crowd’s mood on the next act. Tables can encourage the crowd to cheer on another table, granting the PCs of that table an Applause Point which can be spent to give one PC Inspiration.The six acts are as follows: Chimera Tamer (PCs must handle the individual heads of an ornery chimera, with failures causing the monster to attack with those heads or a breath weapon if all PCs fail), Clown Comedians (undead clowns engage in violent slapstick with the PCs who must attack and dismember them in suitably entertaining ways), Sword Magicians (PCs enter coffins where an actress stabs flaming swords through the coffins), Tightrope Walkers (PCs tread a tightrope over a poisonous web while a mage conjures prismatic rings for them to jump through), Theater Troupe (PCs must put on a play with a wererat; failing the roll causes the wererat to bite a PC as a “surprise twist” to enliven a boring play), or Something New (an act not covered here with guidelines for setting it up).Failures on each act carry some kind of consequence, as I mentioned for a few already. PCs who manage to entertain the crowd can take a short rest before the next event. Tindal will still promise a satchel of mist talismans either way, but on a failure only if they help clean up the stands for an hour which robs them of a rest opportunity.Once Tindal returns with their reward, a group of fetches the PCs saw earlier via Clues ambushes the group, tossing shards of explosive glass and kidnapping Tindal. PCs who managed to see a Fetch acting suspicious earlier in the adventure have advantage on the Dexterity save to avoid the AoE damage.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/DGufjzx.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Part 3: the Final Showdown is the combat-heavy portion of the adventure, being one climactic battle against a number of fetches whose stats and numbers are determined by the Average Party Level. The fetches are mirror images of the PCs, although one of them is the image of the hag Zuriñe, who is working for Nepenthe. Her fetch is the Chosen of Nepenthe and is wielding the sword in combat. The fetch is automatically attuned to the weapon (+3 greatsword or longsword damage depending on fetch strength that deals 2d10 bonus radiant damage against fiends and undead), and Nepenthe appears in the hands of another fetch if the one wielding him is slain. But it won’t be a straight fight; the fetch wielding the sword will offer the PCs a choice of a carnival game to revisit, which affects the battlefield based on the carnival game from Chapter 1. For example, choosing Apple Bobbing gives the fetches poisoned apples they can throw as a ranged weapon attack, Horse Race has the fetches mounted on horse monsters whose stat block is determined by APL, etc. PCs can trigger inter-table events, some of which can give the other parties a benefit but in some cases trigger equal-opportunity multitarget effects.The fetches are new monsters in this adventure, and we have stat blocks for Lesser and Greater varieties. Fetches have the mirrored appearance of another, and they have advantage on certain skill checks vs their doppelganger. They can enter, exit, and teleport between reflective surfaces which grants them a free use of the Stealth skill, and breaking a reflection in which the fetch resides deals damage as they are forcefully shunted into another nearby one or the nearest unoccupied space. They also explode in a burst of damaging glass on defeat.If the PCs are victorious, then Tindafalus’ reflection will appear in the shattered remains of the fetches, spilling the beans on his trapped fate and his scheme. Tindal the Barker has no memory of the split, so both believe themselves to be the “real one.” It is up to the PCs whether to keep Tindafalus imprisoned or replace him with Tindal; in the case of a multi-table event, it is put up to a majority vote. Either way, the kidnapped carnies are rescued, the Carnival celebrates the PCs’ actions, and they are able to leave the domain a satchel of mist tokens richer. They’re also given the invitation to be honorary carnies, having a home in Carnival should they desire.If the PCs fail, then the carnival ringleader Isolde arrives, wrestling Nepenthe from the fetches and slaughtering them. The kidnapped carnies are freed from their mirror prisons, and Isolde tells the PCs to leave the carnival before she changes her mind in showing them mercy. But before the Mists claim them, Nepenthe bestows on each PC a Dark Gift as a “reward,” whether the PCs want one or not (it can be chosen by the players or rolled randomly, DM’s discretion). In the event that a PC already has a Dark Gift, they can choose to keep their original or replace it with a new result.The book ends with a bunch of helpful appendices, containing stats for the new fetches as well as monsters reprinted from official sourcebooks that are in the adventure, Dramatis Personae on the major NPCs, advice on how to run multi-table adventures, the tables for the Tarokka fortunes and carnival prizes, handouts for poster and ticket artwork, and maps of the carnival and the big top tent.Overall Thoughts: I like this adventure a lot. I don’t know how easy it is to run in a multi-table event, but as a single-group adventure it can make for a fun change of pace from the more combat-heavy dungeon crawls that predominate D&D. The rewards for a victory can be useful for spiriting the party to other domains of dread the DM has an interest in running, and the imposition of Dark Gifts in lieu of a TPK can still serve as a penalty depending on the Gift in question. It also has the benefit of giving future hooks in either getting rid of the Dark Gifts or stopping Nepenthe’s wicked designs in a future quest. The carnival games and attractions are varied and interesting enough to make for an adventure that can keep the players guessing as to what will happen next.On the note for the major villain, I feel that the loss stakes are a bit too low; the Dark Gift penalties really only affect the PCs, and the fetches die either way. I suppose Isolde becomes more corrupted in using Nepenthe, but that isn’t exactly evident in the adventure as is or what I read in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, so to PCs not familiar with the setting may feel that a victory/defeat didn’t make all that much difference. Even on a loss, Tindafalus is still trapped, and given he’s more evil than Tindal his imprisonment may not be that bad of a thing depending on how one feels about supernatural incarceration.Join us next time as we take a walk on the other side in an adventure where the Devil’s Brides are the star of the show in a Curse of Strahd campaign gone sideways!</blockquote>

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