Pod-Cavern of the Sinister Shroom

[Raven Crowking]

I would just like to mention this Expeditious Retreat module, which I am finding to be excellent value for its money. Written for 1e/OSRIC, it really feels like one of those early adventures, while being very sensible in terms of "plot" and encounters. Well worth the effort to convert!


RC

 

[Scribble]

I would just like to mention this Expeditious Retreat module, which I am finding to be excellent value for its money. Written for 1e/OSRIC, it really feels like one of those early adventures, while being very sensible in terms of "plot" and encounters. Well worth the effort to convert!


RC

The name alone sounds pretty cool... Can you give me a short "gist" of the adventure?

 

[Crothian]

The whole line I've found to be good, but so far this one does seem to the best.

 

[Raven Crowking]

[sblock=spoilers]One of the ways it can be used is: People and cattle go missing, with hunched shapes dragging them off to a cave in the night. Dare you explore?

The other way: PCs travelling along an underground river discover some interesting looking ruins.

Either way, there's a shroom (a humanoid mushroom) creating pod people and using humans as fertilizer. And it has control over some plant creatures, like hanging snagworts, insane animated trees, a captured treant, etc.

Good fun. Lots of encounters that have encouraged role-playing and problem-solving in addition to simply rolling the dice. A lvl 1 module by Matthew Finch.

I have been converting it to RCFG on the fly, and it is a lot of fun.[/sblock]

 

[Raven Crowking]

The whole line I've found to be good, but so far this one does seem to the best.

I've picked up the low-level desert one as well (name escapes me), but it doesn't seem to be nearly as well developed. I will definitely be picking up more, and I will certainly be looking for more of Mr. Finch's work in the future!


RC

 

[Scribble]

[sblock=spoilers]One of the ways it can be used is: People and cattle go missing, with hunched shapes dragging them off to a cave in the night. Dare you explore?

The other way: PCs travelling along an underground river discover some interesting looking ruins.

Either way, there's a shroom (a humanoid mushroom) creating pod people and using humans as fertilizer. And it has control over some plant creatures, like hanging snagworts, insane animated trees, a captured treant, etc.

Good fun. Lots of encounters that have encouraged role-playing and problem-solving in addition to simply rolling the dice. A lvl 1 module by Matthew Finch.

I have been converting it to RCFG on the fly, and it is a lot of fun.[/sblock]

Sounds pretty fun- I might have to check that one out. Thanks!

 

[Nikosandros]

Sounds pretty fun- I might have to check that one out. Thanks!

Depending on which setup you choose, the PC will either explore the cavers from the top going down or in the opposite direction.

 

[Contrarian]

Really? Because I had problems with the two main monsters being under-described. You have two humanoid species (shrooms and pod-men) with no mouths (according to the illustrations) and no description of their communication abilities. I don't even know if the main villain of the module is supposed to be able to talk to the PCs.

In fact, assuming the mouthless semi-intelligent pod-men don't talk means there's an entire level of the dungeon with no monsters capable of speech. That makes it one of the hack-and-slashiest adventures ever, because there's no opporturnity for PC/NPC interaction.

The dungeon map shows some sort of hidden tunnel that isn't explained in the text. Or rather, I think those dashed lines are a hidden tunnel -- it's difficult to be sure, since there is no map key. WTF?

And some general advice to module authors: If your adventure has a secret villian, don't put his name in the title of the adventure. Sheesh!

 

[Crothian]

I never tell the players before hand the module they are going through. Titles always give away too much. The module is done in the style of 1e and under monster descriptions and odd art that doesn't always make sense plus levels of hack and slash are all part of the 1e game.

 

[Falstaff]

This is an excellent module. I bought it and ran it for my group during our AD&D campaign earlier this year. We had a blast.