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Orcs on Stairs (When Adventures Are Incomplete)
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8619919" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Or, in my case, the players caused them.</p><p></p><p>Can't speak for H2 or H3 but I converted and ran H1 early in my current campaign. It wasn't perfect and didn't convert all that well but in general it didn't go too badly...until the final encounter, where the author ignoring some very obvious what-ifs left me hanging.</p><p></p><p><strong>Spolier alert</strong> for H1 Keep on the Shadowfell, if anyone cares.</p><p></p><p>The final encounter involves the PCs arriving during a ritual being cast to summon some huge tentacled horror from another plane - when the PCs get there the horror is already partway through a gate, and the PCs have to shut the ritual down before the horror gets all the way through. Seems simple, right? Not so much, when my lot got to it...</p><p></p><p>1) The party archer ignored the ritual and instead started shooting the tentacled horror. I think someone else chopped at it with a sword a few times as well.</p><p>2) The rest killed the ritual caster and his buddies; then some tried to shut down the gate while one tried to continue the ritual (!), perhaps hoping to end up with a really big tentacled friend afterwards.</p><p></p><p>Still seems simple, right? Except:</p><p></p><p>1) The module gives no information whatsoever about the tentacled horror. What's its AC? Hit points? Attack modes, types, and number? Damage per attack? Special defenses? It just seems so obvious that one or more PCs might go for it rather than the caster, and try to kill it while it's stuck in the gate and vulnerable.</p><p></p><p>1a) Corollary to this, the module gives no information as to what happens should the PCs fail. If it's a TPK, that's easy; but a far more likely outcome is that one or more PCs will get away and the horror - once it figures out how to get out of the dungeon complex - will be free to roam the land. Statting it out would be kinda useful here, and that's not work I-as-DM should have to do (never mind this was supposed to be the introductory module for a whole new edition, meaning many DMs wouldn't yet fully know how the new rules would work for this).</p><p></p><p>2) The module gives no information on what happens when the caster dies. Does this auto-close the gate, or just send the horror away, do nothing, or does something else happen? It also gives no information on the gate itself - how can the PCs close it, or banish the horror, or do anything else to mop up?</p><p></p><p>I don't mind this at all provided there's a rationale behind the crazy, even if the players never learn what that rationale is.</p><p></p><p>I wrote a module based on this very idea - that the room inhabitants appeared to be completely random and made no sense e.g. some of the monsters literally could not have fit in through the doors and hallways to access the rooms where they were found, and that there was a reason for it.</p><p></p><p>The underlying rationale: an item in the dungeon - the McGuffin they were after, in fact - had an unknown curse on it such that if left untended for seven continuous days it would summon a random monster to a location somewhere near itself, and in some cases more or less put that monster in stasis until any living thing disturbed it (which could include something as simple as opening the room's door).</p><p></p><p>What this led to was a gonzo module where you might meet four pathetic Goblins in one room and a Huge Ancient White Dragon in full glory in the next.</p><p></p><p>This is something I'm just fine with. Sometimes the PCs will either a) just get lucky and do the right thing without realizing it, or b) they'll trip on to the solution early through creative thinking. It's the sort of thing that would occasionally happen were the setting real, so no problem if it happens now and then in the game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 8619919, member: 29398"] Or, in my case, the players caused them. Can't speak for H2 or H3 but I converted and ran H1 early in my current campaign. It wasn't perfect and didn't convert all that well but in general it didn't go too badly...until the final encounter, where the author ignoring some very obvious what-ifs left me hanging. [B]Spolier alert[/B] for H1 Keep on the Shadowfell, if anyone cares. The final encounter involves the PCs arriving during a ritual being cast to summon some huge tentacled horror from another plane - when the PCs get there the horror is already partway through a gate, and the PCs have to shut the ritual down before the horror gets all the way through. Seems simple, right? Not so much, when my lot got to it... 1) The party archer ignored the ritual and instead started shooting the tentacled horror. I think someone else chopped at it with a sword a few times as well. 2) The rest killed the ritual caster and his buddies; then some tried to shut down the gate while one tried to continue the ritual (!), perhaps hoping to end up with a really big tentacled friend afterwards. Still seems simple, right? Except: 1) The module gives no information whatsoever about the tentacled horror. What's its AC? Hit points? Attack modes, types, and number? Damage per attack? Special defenses? It just seems so obvious that one or more PCs might go for it rather than the caster, and try to kill it while it's stuck in the gate and vulnerable. 1a) Corollary to this, the module gives no information as to what happens should the PCs fail. If it's a TPK, that's easy; but a far more likely outcome is that one or more PCs will get away and the horror - once it figures out how to get out of the dungeon complex - will be free to roam the land. Statting it out would be kinda useful here, and that's not work I-as-DM should have to do (never mind this was supposed to be the introductory module for a whole new edition, meaning many DMs wouldn't yet fully know how the new rules would work for this). 2) The module gives no information on what happens when the caster dies. Does this auto-close the gate, or just send the horror away, do nothing, or does something else happen? It also gives no information on the gate itself - how can the PCs close it, or banish the horror, or do anything else to mop up? I don't mind this at all provided there's a rationale behind the crazy, even if the players never learn what that rationale is. I wrote a module based on this very idea - that the room inhabitants appeared to be completely random and made no sense e.g. some of the monsters literally could not have fit in through the doors and hallways to access the rooms where they were found, and that there was a reason for it. The underlying rationale: an item in the dungeon - the McGuffin they were after, in fact - had an unknown curse on it such that if left untended for seven continuous days it would summon a random monster to a location somewhere near itself, and in some cases more or less put that monster in stasis until any living thing disturbed it (which could include something as simple as opening the room's door). What this led to was a gonzo module where you might meet four pathetic Goblins in one room and a Huge Ancient White Dragon in full glory in the next. This is something I'm just fine with. Sometimes the PCs will either a) just get lucky and do the right thing without realizing it, or b) they'll trip on to the solution early through creative thinking. It's the sort of thing that would occasionally happen were the setting real, so no problem if it happens now and then in the game. [/QUOTE]
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