WHAT IS THE PREVAILING MOOD OF THIS ADVENTURE?
I'd say the main thing is the players are exploring a site of overwhelming horror and tragedy that had the worst possible consequences for innumerable people, but they are doing it with the hope that something good might come out of it. So there will be a natural tension that occurs: could ANYTHING good ever possibly come out of this? And the adventure is what answers that question.
HOW SHOULD THE NPCS ACT?
Most of the characters the players will meet in the dungeon will be extremely self-serving and fundamentally incurious. They've been locked in a severely bounded world for a long time, and most of them have ceased to have the ability to form curiosity about other people. Open, kind (or malicious) curiosity should be a rare phenomenon.
Similarly, most of the characters the players meet will not be reasonable. They might over-react or under-react, or be hyper-focused on one thing, or not be able to care about context, and so on. This is how they become a real obstacle to the players: not just as hostile entities (though those exist too), but as incurious, unreasonable people who are basically in the way at exactly the wrong time. Dealing with that challenge should be a big part of the game.
ON CHALLENGE
I found myself tempted to make each level harder than the one before, but I discovered that the great length of the adventure made that unworkable. Instead, your goal should be to help each game session fit into what I think of as the "Zone of Appropriate Challenge." Each gaming group has their own sweet spot of appropriate challenge, and this adventure and each session should be tailored to fit that. If they have particular trouble with traps to the point where they're afraid to walk into rooms, maybe consider making traps more obvious and less lethal. If they're very confident and tactically oriented and can tackle the bosses and combat encounters without thinking, maybe consider making the monsters smarter and more numerous. Check in frequently with your players on how the challenge is feeling, and whether they want it harder or easier, or like the way you're doing it. If they're going through a stressful period in their lives, consider that stressful encounters in the game might feel even more challenging, and maybe dial it down. This way the adventure can continue to feel personal and manageable, even though it's very long.
I found that the game worked best when the basic encounters were very easy, since the density and complexity of the dungeon meant that even on a good day we'd get through maybe 4-5 rooms, 8 max. On the other hand, don't be afraid to let the hardest encounters just be hard. Some things are just meant to be obstacles, and not all monsters or characters are very tractable: that is why they are monsters. If you deploy a trap or boss or monster that's going to be very difficult or scary, consider telling them that you know their characters might not like the situation. This way they can be reassured that you are at least keeping their feelings in mind.
WHAT KINDS OF POWERS WILL PROBABLY NOT WORK WELL WITH THIS ADVENTURE?
Anything that scans or automatically detects traps, treasure, or secret doors. I want my players to interact with the dungeon directly, and if they have a power that does that for them (unless it is in a very limited capacity), it will short-cut a lot of the obstacles.
Anything that can automatically unlock or open magically locked doors, as parts of the dungeon are gated off with magic keys or boundaries that must be found or negotiated open.
Anything that can unerringly dispel magical effects: there are a lot of magic traps, sigils, curses, spells, and so on. If your characters have a Dispel Magic effect that can just destroy these effects from a distance or lift them automatically, they'll probably have too easy of a time. Obviously Anti-Magic will be good for this reason, and your basic Dispel Magic spell should have some utility, but I mean a lot of the magic in this dungeon to be kind of sticky and durable: maybe a demon did it, or a very powerful wizard, or a spirit, or maybe it's tenth level magic, and so on, which means the players will have to think laterally instead of just making it go away.
Anything that lets them frequently travel unerringly through walls and doors. The architecture is meant to be a severe challenge, and the solid walls should not be easily passed through. The physicality of the dungeon should feel like a weight--making the walls, floors, and ceiling permeable will ruin that feeling, and trivialize a lot of challenges. Passwall and Dimension Door type spells are probably fine, but if your players can quickly clip through the walls and floors to check what's on the other side, they're gonna be missing a big part of what this adventure is about. I disallowed the spell Etherealness for this reason.
You might want to consider how scrying and oracular spells will function in your game. I used scrying as a way to give my players a chance to look at one-off scenes of off-screen characters which gave hints and useful information, but not the whole secret away. I always assume that my players will use oracular spells like Augury and Legend Lore to discover secrets and back-story, but they never really do. I don't think these spells would ruin anything--just use them to give your players information they might have trouble finding otherwise, but always keep in mind what information is meant to be a strict secret. If a spell might uncover a strict secret, consider coming up with an excuse to maintain the mystery, or give a hint that points to the secret but does not reveal it.
I wrote this adventure with the assumption that my players can easily fly, turn invisible, cure wounds, teleport short distances, breathe underwater if necessary, make difficult climbs without too much trouble, and so on. Third level magic according to Dungeons and Dragons logic. They were also quickly able to form walls, Force Cage opponents, and teleport back to camp if necessary, meaning that otherwise lethal or very threatening encounters could be avoided or mitigated, so many encounters are written with that in mind. Areas which cannot be teleported out of should be communicated clearly to the players, unless they like that kind of surprise.
ON RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
I went back and forth on random encounters a lot in running this adventure, but here's what I landed on:
Each level and sub-level has its own encounter list. Every ten minutes or so, roll on the encounter list. Every time they take a rest, roll on the encounter list. If they clear a level of most of its threats, to the point where they know confidently what's in most of the rooms and have killed or negated everything else, just stop rolling on the list. They've earned it.
In some levels, such as the Turned Castle and the Temple of Demogorgon, instead of rolling every set amount of time, I rolled every time they entered a room. This is meant to simulate a dense, living environment.
ON NAVIGATING THE DUNGEON
Since this place is really big and holds many secrets, I recommend forcing your players to tell you exactly what path they take through the dungeon every time they enter and exit. I found that they often thought that they understood the dungeon, but would get lost or confused when it came down to the details, and encounters would naturally occur as they fumbled around. They would also remember or find details they had overlooked on the first, second, or third walk through, and this way solve puzzles or find treasure they had missed for a long time.
On the other hand, if they've walked through a million times without much trouble, just let them zoom straight to the point they need to get to. Just try to remember what might have changed since the last time they passed through and let them know if anything's different.
I THINK THAT'S IT!
BEST OF LUCK ON THE CHALLENGES TO COME!
No comments:
Post a Comment