Wreck of the Anubis - A short ASE adventure

Last week in my ASE game the party investigated a wrecked paddle wheeler in the depth of the Livid Fens.  The adventure itself is a simple "wizard tower" designed to be thrown in as a random encounter. All the same I typed it up, illustrated it and drew up a silly isometric map for the thing.  The adventure is linked below.

I'm not sure what level this thing is for, the treasure shouts out 2nd - 3rd level, while some of the monsters are rather dangerous for a second level party.  Of course the best solutions for this adventure are to avoid combat where possible.

The party I ran it for was large (7 characters) and of  varying level from 1st to 4th.  They had no trouble with the ticks or zombies and managed to negotiate a peace with the Botanist (lucky reaction roll) while clearing out most of the treasure. Likely I'll edit this for typos in a day or two - also maybe add a normal map.

THE WRECK OF THE ANUBIS - PDF

It is Unsafe to Wander the Gloom Lit Red Channels and Purple Sucking Bogs of the Livid Fens

The Livid Fens are several thousand square miles of bogland South of Denethix along the River Effulent, between the Southern Certopsian Plains and the Sea. They are a strange place, shrouded in mists and lashed by scorching sun, seemingly without season. Teaming with life, the vegetation of the fens is unlike anywhere else, universally shades of red and purple, the Fen’s flora tastes of burning iron and grows in shapes that look profoundly alien even to the jaundiced eyes of the Fallen Age.  Fecundity brings wealth, and the fens have made many fortunes animal products (especially the bones, blubber and meat of the enormous Froghemoth), herbs, drugs, medicines and gems.  The Fens also contain thousands of tiny channels, innumerable islands and countless wrecks and ruins which draw adventurers, fugitives and hermits. ... (Table Follows)

Subsurface Environment Level 1 Treasures Table

In the past I've talked a bit about my efforts to run ASE, basically using the book as published by Patrick Wetmore.  Due to the tendency of my players to wander off and gain levels elsewhere, and ore their tendency to play in groups larger then the 3-4 the module seems written for. With a group of 8 or 9 2nd level PCs I've made the opposition both more numerous and more powerful. Consequently I've had to make the treasures a bit more numerous and valuable.  I've decided to do this by A) Providing groups of wandering monsters with a chance (1 in 6 for humanoid, 1 in 10 for animal/monster) to carry small treasures worth 10 x 1D6 GP.  Likewise I've added more treasure to fixed locations in packets of 100 x 1D6 or 1D8 GP.  Now packets of treasure are normally a bad thing, but to my mind a treasure type is just a packet anyhow, so I figure it's fine.  Simply handing out coins though is really boring on the other hand I don't want to design a treasure on the fly during play so I create the table a while ago of potential treasure that I think no only seem interesting but give some clues in the context of ASE's 1st Level.    

8 Wagons to Chemfoldshire - ASE travelling traders.

My Anomalous Subsurface Environment game continues on G+, and the adventurers have finally figured out some of the basic mysteries of the first level beneath Mt. Rendon.  It's been a few months of game time though and the little mold farming hamlet of Chemfoldshire is growing into a boom town a rowdy boom town from the fortune hunters flocking to Mt. Rendon's various entrances.  Below is a table of traveling merchants, some of whom have flocked to Chemfoldshire (though I've changed the details in my own game).  This isn't perhaps the most useful of tables - but with all the OSR competitions going on right now I'm trying to work on some things for Dyson, Tenkar and the One Page Dungeon contest.

Dungeon of 1,000 Coppers - A Map

Dyson, over at Dyson's Dodecahedron is running a small contest to finish a map he began and fill in the empty areas.  Now Dyson's technique has become something of the standard for hand drawn dungeon maps in the past few years, but what makes his maps great is the way they are constructed with a great deal of verticality, looping and extra entrances - so they're not just well drawn, they're well designed.

Lost Copper Isle

Anyhow, I figured I'd draw up a Dyson style map for his contest.  I have tried to make the vertical element important and use it as a way of splitting up nearby areas while offering hints of thier existence.  I've also tried to use a fair amount of water both as obstacles and to maintain the maps nautical flavor.

The map turned into some sort of fantasy version of El Fraile Island, a sea fort carved out of a rock outcropping.  Now the way I figure it the fort is relatively new and recently occupied by pirates who made a few improvements before being driven off.  Prior to that the whole island (let's call it "lost copper island" was some of temple complex or ritual site for a sea deity and its best if it's some kind of icky Cthulhu style sea deity I think.  The abandoned pirate fort fills only a third of the space with  set of sea caves, a flooded shrine and perhaps some crypts filling out the island.  There's even a little cave for a creepy old hermit in a battered coracle who might be able to impress upon characters the danger or potential glory of the island.

B3 - Palace of the Silver Princess - Review

Palace of the Silver Princess, B3, was first published in 1981 and written by Jean Wells and later revised by Tom Moldvay. Apparently when first published the module had less of a story and was more of a ruined castle to plunder with more fill in the blank style encounters. There was also something about replacing some naughty art work, but I doubt anyone really knows or should care about the whole story. Palace of the Silver Princess was designed as an introductory module, rather like Keep on the Borderlands, but rather than Gygax’s three pages of advice, the author chose to make the first three or four rooms into a 'choose your own adventure' of sorts that takes up a solid chunk of the module that doesn't give especially useful advice. Palace of the Silver Princess does not seem to be a well-loved module, and it is fraught with problems, but it's not completely lacking merit.

Space, Boredom and the Modern Megadungeon - With ASE Level 1 Examples.

I’ve been running Anomalous Subsurface Environment straight from the book, for what is really the first time. In the first campaign of Land of 1,000 Towers that I ran the party steered clear of the ASE itself and I ended up using scenarios of my own devising. That is happening in this campaign as well, but it seems like for now the adventurers are back in the megadungeon at least for now (the key is offering them revenge for several deaths).

More Morlock means more flavor!

A problem I’m noticing is that ASE has a lot of empty rooms, at least on the first level, and for online play, especially with a large number of players, this can be really slow and a bit boring. I don't think this is limited to ASE, I think this is a central issue with published megadungeon design. It's an issue of not enough flavor, and too little variety in the empty rooms, and ASE has more flavor then a lot of mega-dungeons, Stonehell for example (not to say Stonehell is bad - it's great), but even with ASE the small room descriptions leave a lot up to the GM and there are plenty of rooms that are simple filled with dust leaving a large amount of blank exploration space.

Evocative +1 Sword Replacements

So I've complained in the past about the profoundly lame effect of "+X" magic weapons and armor on a game.  I don't take it back.  In the Vaults of Pahvelorn game my 7th level thief has a 'magic sword' made of elf metal - it is one of the few magic weapons in the party.  It doesn't do much except glow in moonlight and hurt certain undead that are immune to non-silver weapons.  That's enough though. 

Magical swords are a very D&D thing, everyone wants one, and why not - they're pretty cool.  The problem with weapons that give a bonus to attack and damage is that they become expected, and lack any kind of excitement, weirdness or mystery.  I don't want magical items to be commonplace and I don't want them to be dull, ready for replacement when the next level of 'plus' comes along.  I want my magic slightly terrifying.  Beyond not being flavorful 'plus' magical weapons simply create an arms race between player treasure recovery and monster armor class.  This is how many an MMO works.  It's not that being 80th level is better then being 60th, it's just that the dungeons you've raided give you equipment that cuts the necessary .5 more seconds of killing a creature of the same level. There's nothing wrong with this approach in a video game, especially if cool graphics back it up, but in a table top game combat mechanics are frequently boring.  I firmly think that player interest and excitement is held by the discovery of mysterious artifacts that do specific things and tell specific stories.  One needn't make magic items perfect for every player in a tabletop game, because as a GM one can tailor their odd powers can to the events at hand.

Below are 10 magical swords with powers that are somewhere in the range of +1 to +2 and should actually be interesting.  Some are vaguely unsettling, others very situational and others potentially annoying.  I think the list can be easily used to make even better swords (improved bonuses and no side effects) or cursed weapons (worse side effects).

D10	Name & Description
	Powers	Complications
1	Phantom Sword - Seemingly brittle and ancient, this blade is haunted by the spirits of its past wielders.  After the first round of combat (where it is useless) a shimmering spectral blade coalesces around the weapon’s blackened core of rotted iron.
	Ignores up to 5 points of armor, but does not affect natural armor or magical warding.	Haunted by the souls of ambitious warriors, may push wielder into berserker rage. Save vs. Wisdom after 1D6 rounds of combat.
2	Searing Sword – a blunt blade of blackened steel, the magic of this weapon heats it to red hot as battle continues.  As it begins to glow and crackle, runes of power shine menacingly on the blade and pommel.
	Each combat round after the first the searing sword gains a +1 cumulative damage bonus and may ignite flammable objects.	Each combat round after the first the weapon heats, burning the wielder for damage equal to its damage bonus. Heavy gauntlets reduce this by 1.
3	Necromancer’s Spine – A white metal weapon, usually a smallsword or rapier, with etchings of bones and mocking skeletons along its blade.  The weapon’s magic  is not strictly martial, but humanoids slain with it will quickly rise from death and battle on behalf  of the sword’s wielder.
	Humanoids killed with the sword will return from death in 1D4 rounds to serve their killer as undead thralls.  Without necromantic training these undead will serve for 1D4 turns after rising.	Sometimes the dead raised by the Necromancer’s Spine will turn on the sword’s wielder after battle.  When no enemies are available to attack the sword’s thralls must check (1 in 6 chance) or turn on their master.
4	Glass Sword – clear, translucent or solid and smoky these swords of alchemical glass were once made in numbers to equip the legions of the ancients.  They are preternaturally sharp, and on a solid strike are capable of easily bisecting even an armored enemy.
	Exploding damage - on a strike doing maximum damage the weapon will do an additional die of damage. This effect stacks, with every roll of maximum damage allowing an additional die.	On an attack roll of 1 (or if used to hack or pry at stone, metal or wood) even alchemical glass may shatter, destroying the weapon.  Roll a 1D6 and on a 1 the blade shatters.
5	Headsman’s Blade – A huge unwieldy two handed sword, engraved with at least one pithy maxim about the inevitability of death, and encrusted the decorative silverwork depicting skulls, scales and law scrolls this sword actively seeks to behead enemies.
	On an attack roll of ‘20’ the huge sword will cleave the head of any enemy with HD of up to double the wielder’s.  This is usually fatal.	The Headsman’s Blade is difficult to use even for a trained warrior of great strength and it’s wielder will strike at a -1 to hit.
6	Living Blade– A paddle of wood, more club than sword, it is carved with a pattern of thorns and leaves.  The weapon is still alive and its magical thornwood edges bite and tear at enemies just as a steel blade would.  The Living Sword also possesses the ability to grasp and entangle opponents.
	When an opponent rolls a ‘1’ to attack while facing the Living blade, their weapon has become entangled the Blade’s tendril to be snatched and cast 1D4x10’ away.	The weapon has a mind of its own and becomes frustrated when it fails to kill an enemy in combat.  At the end of any combat where it does not kill an opponent the blade will tear at it’s wielder’s wrist drinking 1D4 HP of blood.
7	Warded Blade – Well crafted from the finest steel, etched with righteous glyphs of power, these weapons are forged for holy warriors.  They revile and repel magic, offering great protection from the corruption of arcane magic.
	All spells cast against the wearer of a Warded Blade require a Save vs. Spells by the Caster to invoke. This is in addition to any other save attempts against their effects.	All arcane spells cast by allies of the wielder require a Save vs. Spells by the caster to succeed.
8	Stone Cleaver – A heavy blade of gray stone cracked and reeking of elemental power this weapon is carved from the heart stone of a powerful earth spirit and inlaid with geometric sigils in black marble.
	On a successful strike the wound will begin to petrify, slowing the victim and making them strike last in any subsequent round.	The petrifying power of the cleaver works on the wielder as well who will have a -2 to initiative (or always strike last in a round if using group initiative – though before the cleaver’s victims).
9	Cold Iron Sword  - resembling a bar mace, the cross section of this pitted iron weapon is cross shaped, and the whole item has a crude unfinished look. The Sword’s rough appearance derives from its manufacture.  Cold forged from raw meteoric iron, uncorrupted by the earth it is capable of banishing  devils, demons and other outsider entities.
	When any creature of non-terrestrial origin is struck for maximum damage, it is instantly banished to its home plane.	Outsider creatures hate this weapon, and can sense it’s presence.  Regardless of their original intentions they will seek to destroy it, either demanding it be turned over to them or slaying its owner to seize it.
10	Blooddrinker Blade – Sinuous and red, with a hilt of tarnished brass and ten glyphs of diabolic power along its blade, the Blooddrinker feasts on the souls  those it slays and allows its wielder to regain his strength by devouring any scraps that remain.
	After battle the owner of the blade may lick the blood off of it regaining 1 HP as long as it has struck an enemy.  For each enemy actually slain with the blade it will heal 1D4 HP.	Wielding a Blooddrinker blade takes its toll on the wielder as well as the weapon’s victims, and the sword will syphon 1HP per HD from any future HP rolls made by the wielder.

B2 - Keep on the Borderlands - Review

In honor of D&D's 40th anniversary, I have read and reviewed the product that gave me my first exposure to D&D and fantasy in general - the module B2 - Keep on the Borderlands.

B2 - Rear Cover Art.

It came in the box with the 1st game of D&D I ever owned. It’s iconic and widely adored, the Ur module, written by Gary Gygax in 1980 (at least partially in a struggle to grab more royalties) and designed to introduce players and GMs to the game. B2- Keep on the Borderlands is likely the adventure that most home brewed adventures aspired to be in the 1980’s and certainly still informs many of the modules written today. I am not writing a comprehensive review, I’m not even going to bother declaring B2 good or bad. Instead I will do some lists – a list of key features, a list of problems, and a list of ways I’d personally run this module to make it interesting and fun.

Underdark Musings - Equipment Generation

“First the slow maneuvering of the supply pallet over the whistling maw, hot air buffeting its considerable bulk.  “Everything we redeemers will need” the Inquisitor Paladin laughed: old rusted armaments, recovered from battlefields or the depleted armories of crushed empires, sacks of weevil ravaged flour, tuns of sour wine, sides of rancid meat, cheap picks, battered shovels, innumerable casks of lamp oil and bundles of poorly tarred rush torches.  After the supplies descended on the end of the clanking iron chain, with a crew of several trustees and missionaries to mind them, Inquisitorial Guards wheeled a rickety bridge out. A prisoners' band played hymns to the Light on ill repaired instruments, and two by two we redeemers, thin from weeks of labor on poor rations, marched to the dangling chain where each secured him or herself to an arm thick link with a crude metal hook.  Those with foresight lashed themselves securely to the chain, and with the capstans above straining the chain continued its descent.  Vanishing into the earth’s hot throat one saw the final circle of the sky’s light vanishing slowly above the next man’s rotted boots.  The descent dragged slow and endless, hours down clutching the rocking chain, the heat from below growing.  After a few hours flaming bales of pitch soaked straw, heaved from above came down the shaft, comets designed to light our way at the bottom.  Thrown from the shaft’s lip, most passed roaring in the darkness, but one bounced from the walls and exploded against the chain, burning one man and sending three more redeemers screaming down the shaft.  They weren’t the first to go, as the hours holding to swaying took a toll.  Fingers crushed by a sudden movement, a woman screamed down into the blackness.  Weak arms or badly healed wounds betray and another man plummeted.  Some saw the sky vanish and the gloom welled up in them.  With a cheery wave I saw a former boy cadet from the young kingdoms step free from the chain, his tattered red uniform orange and then grey as he seemed to float down into the reaching dark.

When we finally saw the bottom of the shaft where the burning bundles shed a flickering light, and we had our first inkling of the real terrors that exile to the deeps entail.  Pale beasts, muscled like bears, with wrinkled heads, bone breaking jaws and thin translucent skin covered in scars were already among the fallen dead, gorging themselves.  They may have been startled by the light, but the bounty of meat we represented seemed to call more of the things from the dark by the minute.  Afterwards I only remember snatching a rusted axe from the hands of a dying redeemer who stumbled back with his belly torn open from a huge claw and fighting against the beasts.  I remember the man who’s death saved me was from the North, a scarred tattooed savage a with cleanly shaved head and filthy beard tied in a great knot.  In the end we killed two, and lost half of our number to the pale tigers, as they became known. The survivors camped in a hollow of an ancient stone structure, a square pier for trade from above and ate the tigers as a paltry revenge for our unknown fellows who had been dragged screaming into the darkness and devoured.” – Testimony of fallen redeemers No. 34 at the Inquisitional inquest regarding the White Fortress massacres.

Supplies given to those “Redeemers” sent into the darkness of the underworld are poor.  Most armaments consist of plunder from the great crusade, though all markings and symbols have been crudely hammered off or replaced with symbols of the Light, sometimes damaging the equipment in the process.  Each player rolls below on the list and receives both a personal kit for the officer or specialist they play in the initial session and a selection of useful dungeoneering supplies and armaments.  If the number of players is less than the total number of officers in the ‘company’ the GM should consider additional rolls for those remaining unused. In addition to these items the company will have 2 resource points of supplies (a minimum of 4 sessions before exhaustion) and this includes such basic items as food, water, clothing, torches and sacks in amounts great enough to outfit many adventuring parties.