The Monastery of the Fallen Star (armitage)
S&W (OD&D) adventure for four to five PCs of levels 2nd & 3rd
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.
All right...finally.
Here we go: an honest-to-goodness adventure site in the form of a local, abandoned monastery that is now the HQ of some gnollish bandits. 12 keyed locations (really just 10 with some 'added color') with multiple entrances and lots of "stuff" going on.
Treasure is good for its level range: 4,600 (expected is 3,600-5K), and not unreasonable; magic items are of the expendable type typical for low-level adventures. Danger is good: six encounters plus a trap. Gnolls are no joke, but there are few enough that they shouldn't be an issue. Some nice whimsy here with the shadow librarian and "Pickles" the owlbear (great use of her cave/second entrance).
The obsidian egg could be tightened. How does one "chip away" adamantite? How many suits of magic armor can one make? If this was AD&D, I'd point out that this is not how you get enchanted gear, but it would make a good source of "special material" for a wizard working such an enchantment. But all that's a minor gripe.
This is solid D&D. Easy ****.
I have a somewhat bizarrely specific enthusiasm for D&D adventures set in monasteries (especially if they are Tibetan-coded monasteries up in the mountains). I once adapted the "evil abbey" portion of X4 Master of the Desert Nomads for my long-running B/X campaign (discarding the rest of the adventure), and it was very memorable. There's just something about the atmosphere of an abandoned and isolated monastery that elevates the setting.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear this author has contributed another solid example in this little subgenre. :-)
I don't run too many monastery-themed adventures myself, but I'm with you in finding them areas of fantastic potential. Probably I've just watched too many movies over the years.
Delete; )
Thanks so much for the review and critique! I was worried my submission might be a little light on treasure so I’m glad you think it’s in the right ballpark.
ReplyDeleteI based on my B/X (BFRPG) treasure calculator on your suggestions in https://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2015/08/stocking-per-moldvay-part-1.html?m=1 but it’s been tricky figuring out how to adjust things to sites with fewer encounters.
I’m curious, do you still use the guidelines from that post when estimating total treasure? Do you have any rules of thumb for scaling treasure down for smaller sites like these?
My current method is very similar to what I described in the 2nd part of that post (https://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2015/09/stocking-per-moldvay-part-2.html). These days, my treasure distribution is usually higher...more like 40% of encounter areas will have some sort of "treasure," rather than 33%. A lot of time I substitute items for simple coins: 5,000 copper pieces become 500# of food stuffs (worth 5K in copper). For an item to be "treasure" it must be A) obtainable, and B) have value. Otherwise it's just color in the dungeon.
DeleteI also have simplified the AMOUNT of treasure. 30 encounter areas should have, more or less, sufficient treasure to advance a party of the recommended number ONE LEVEL. I then cut down based on the ACTUAL number of encounters...for example, a 15 encounter site could (potentially) net treasure equal to 50% of what the party needs. It is actually EASIER to scale downward. Should a 60 encounter area have enough treasure to get a party TWO levels? Yes...but you want to make sure that you're seeding it appropriately (not letting PCs pull out big hauls in the first level, for example).
WHY do I do it like this? Because time is money, my friend. Because time...REAL WORLD TIME...is precious. It takes 4-5 (3-4 hour) sessions to get through a 30 encounter dungeon; for something with 100 encounter areas, we might be talking MONTHS of playtime. Presumably your PCs will face death in every session they delve. Do your players really want to go six months before leveling up?
The Moldvay ratios (with regard to monsters, traps, etc.), I still use, although a "special" monster often goes into the "special" category (making it seem like there are more monsters) and when I have a number that doesn't quite jibe with the ratio, I tend to drop the "empties." Because players like to spend their time interacting with stuff (even traps and baddies) rather than empty rooms.