Emerald Caves (Patrick Dolan)
AD&D adventure for three to six PCs of levels 4th-6th
I am reviewing these in the order they were submitted. For my review criteria, please check out this post. All reviews will (probably) contain *SPOILERS*; you have been warned! Because these are short (two page) adventures, it is my intention to keep the reviews brief.
*sigh*
Nice concept for an adventure site. Right size, right scale, nice themes.
Total death trap. And not in a good way.
There are 12 encounter areas in the Emerald Caves, half of which have monster encounters. Here's a list of all the critters that frequent the caves:
- Boring beetles
- Bombardier beetles
- Shriekers & violet fungi
- Carrion crawlers
- Giant slugs
- Shambling mounds
- Purple worms
- and a trapper
...the latter of which is the 12 HD variety.
Boring beetles (encounter in groups of 5-8) are HD 5 monsters that do 5d4 damage. Bombardier beetles (encountered as a group of six) are only HD 2+2 and 2d6 damage, but they can fire off an AoE cloud of 3d4 damage (no save) that has a 20% chance of stunning everyone in it for multiple rounds (12 shots total). The carrion crawlers are encountered in a pack of 4 giving them 32 paralyzing attacks; alternatively they might be encountered as d3 wanderers. The violet fungi do 2d4 rotting attacks, while the shriekers can call a HD 12, acid-spitting giant slug or a pair of HD 9 shambling mounds or d3 carrion crawlers. The trapper is HD 12 with the smothering attack, while messing with the final treasure will call a pair of purple worms to cut off the party's exit and finish them.
Treasure is excessive: more than 81K when I'd be expecting more around 32K for something this size. Of course, this should see a lot of party death, so survivors (if any) should be seeing big returns. A lot of jewelry, easily swiped and stashed.
I'm torn. This one is definitely playable as is; it's just the kind of thing that will end an entire party of "three to six" characters of 5th level...and they won't be happy about it. *** but a double-minus for excessive treasure and PC demise.
If the PC level range were bumped up so that the treasure is on par for you, would the monster threats be reasonable? I.e. are the rewards commensurate with the threats and the only problem is that the advertised PC level range is too low? Or is there something about the features of the creatures and site layout that makes it more of a “death trap” where players would be *not happy* about a TPK, aside from the HD imbalance?
ReplyDeleteGood question. Treasure range suggests 7th (low) or 6th (high). Suggested number of PCs is 4 or 5. Shambling mounds are rough for those levels; purple worms, too. And that's a pretty small party...you have 7 or 8 PCs against 32 paralyzing attacks (from the carrion crawlers)...okay, that's four shots each. Against four PCs? That's EIGHT shots each...a lot more likely to see a party that size going down, paralyzed.
DeleteSay they wander into the chamber with six bombardier beetles and get hit with three or four acid strikes. Your MU is getting hit with 12d4 damage? How many hit points does a 7th level magic-user have? Do the fighters have an extra suit of armor if that acid wrecks what they're wearing?
Would it be a "death trap" for 7th level PCs? Not necessarily...but it would be pretty tough, depending on the resources available to the party. Maybe knock it down to ONE purple worm instead of two? They don't HAVE to fight the worm...but when you have two, you might run from the jaws of one into the jaws of the second. One purple worm is okay...two is over-kill.
"Double minus" is probably too much. But a little polish, a little adjustment upwards (add a little treasure, make it for more PCs of higher levels), and this could pretty easily be a 4* adventure site. As I said, the concept is pretty good.