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.
Thanks for the review. I will respond in greater depth later, but suffice it to say that I was *ecstatic* to receive a double minus! Have you ever awarded double minuses before?
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure if you’re the first person to get a “double minus,” but you’re definitely not the last (certainly not in THIS contest).
DeleteUnder other circumstances, I’d consider knocking a stat off for such an infraction, but I’m trying to draw a clear line/distinction between what is PLAYABLE (as written) and what isn’t. This adventure is in the former category, but the issues are…well, as listed.
Looking forward to your in-depth response!
Thanks, again for the review. Ben Gibson made a similar comment about the difficulty of this scenario on Discord, so you are not alone in your apprehension. I was uncertain what level range was appropriate, so being in doubt, I went with the pre-gens form the A-series. They are levels 4-6, they don’t have particular great magic, but they do have max hit points.
ReplyDeleteI ran this twice. The first group of used four pre-gens, ended in a TPK (more below), and then finished the adventure with four different pre-gens. They never went to the boring beetle or carrion crawler lairs, but they got the big loot and defeated the purple worms.
(Because of the nature of the site, my assumption was that a group that was battered and bruised would leave to heal and regain spells. There is also substantial healing available in the dungeon, so I expected a party facing the trapper and purple worms to be relatively fresh.)
The second playtest group was my son and his friends’ regular group. They are levels 4-5 but have a slightly bigger party (6-7 characters) because of a couple retainers. Because this is a regular campaign, they have better magic, but nothing too crazy: a necklace of missiles (3-, 3- and 5-dice missiles), necklace of adaption, gauntlets of dexterity, misc. +1 magic weapons and armour, wand of trap and secret door detection, ring of feather falling, scroll of sleep and magic missile (at 12th level), potion of climbing, potion of fire breathing (3-die cone), oil of slipperiness, gem of regeneration (1 hp/r while alive).
Bombardier beetles have a nasty AOE attack, but it is only a 16-ft radius. In both my playtest groups, the single-classes magic-users wisely stayed well back of melee, so only a couple of characters had to make saves. Notably, this is the only creature with an AOE or ranged attack in the module, and it will likely be disposed of in the first encounter.
Boring beetles are bruisers, but if the party is smart, they will only fight them in the passageways where only one beetle can fight at a time.
Shambling mounds and giant slugs are quite mean as wanderers, but they are slow and can likely be avoided, especially as they are looking for fungus to eat. (The two playtest groups didn’t encounter them.)
Carrion crawlers are a terrifying foe in general. The first playtest group encountered two as wanderers, and it ended in a TPK (my first as a GM). The second playtest group encountered them in lair and were properly terrified (even though they didn’t know of their paralyzing effect). They smartly walled themselves off with burning oil, retreated when the insectoids started climbing walls to get at them, and then sealed the entrance to their lair.
The trapper will only get a couple characters at once unless the party is really unlucky. It is also highly intelligent, and the MM description suggests that it will release its prey if faced with certain death.
Treasured was rolled up randomly from the MM and DMG. It knew it was a bit on the high side, but I kept it, as it fits my new GM philosophy, which is to give out more treasure! Incidentally, I credit this change to you, JB. Total XP should allow a level 4 party to level up, a level 5 party only if they find everything, and not a level 6 party.
Most designers these days tend to err on the side of “too little” treasure over “too much.” However, my numbers are based on one level advancement per 30 encounter areas…not 12.
DeleteThat the random treasure rolls ended up providing so much loot (for the level range) is probably a sign of the level range being a bit off.
Much as I enjoy a high body count in my games, we are not looking for TPKs. If that happens in play-testing, that should probably ALSO be a ‘red flag,’ unless you can point to a bit of bad luck or a particularly bone-head choice on the part of the players.
Fair!
ReplyDelete