Troll Lord Games

Anyone run it yet?
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The Rock says ...

Know your roll!

Got my copy in today. Look forward to getting a chance to soak it in.

Hehe, got mine yesterday . . it was hidden in my ignored stack of mail ~ I had forgotten about the digest size and so paid no attention to the stack!!
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Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

Looks to be a pretty solid, straight forward module. Plan onmaking use of it for our next session.

Alright, I ran Ramat for my group yesterday so here are my post game thoughts.

First let me say what I changed. I of course changed the back story to a degree in order to make it fit our campaign. I also replaced the tentcle demons with a shadow demons type thingy. Not because I had problems with the tentacle demons, again it was more to fit it with our particular campaign.

Alright, so on with the module thoughts.

I loved that it was simple and straight forward enough of a product that I could honestly drop it in to an ongoing campaign without having to do massive rewrites. I dropped it in to our Council of Thieves Adventure Path and the group had no idea it wasn't part of the path itself. Thats good product usability.

Its not a complex adventure but it posed the right amount of challenge for our group of 2nd level PC's. Not to easy and not to hard. It also switched up the encounter types enough that the players didn't get bored. Thats good too.

My only complaint about the module is a minor one, and something I gripe about from time to time in things. It made too much use, in my opinion, of the SIEGE mechanic for spot/search type rolls. Its a d20ism I hope module writers move away from. I maintain that player declaration of actions and RP'ing trumps the need for needless spot checks, especially considering the nature of the SIEGE engine and the high chance for failure among many adventurers, especially when you have challenge levels over 1.

But, that minor complaint aside, it was a grade A module. I always let my group's enjoyment of actually playing a module be the deciding factor on whether a mod is a good one or not. My group had an absolute blast (and were stoked to save the dog) so I've got to say....kick ass job with this one.

Look forward to seeing more BHP/AC products in the future.

Great review, DD.

Funny thing about the dog . . that might be my only "bone" of contention - or it's an excellent and clever/usable plot device.

Meaning . . for the younger gamers (and a few assorted dog lovers) the dog works. But for the older/veteran PCs (players that is), I'd go with the girl herself being kidnapped . . what aspiring fighter PC wants to lower himself and rescue a dog??

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Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

Heh. The reason the dog worked for my group is because they were in the village, laying low at the house of a fellow resistance member's sister and her family.

The little girl was an NPC they were interacting with and such for a little while before the dog incident. So, to them, they were not so much as saving a dog, but they were keeping the little girl's heart from being broken. Subtle difference but worked for this particular group.

DangerDwarf wrote:
My only complaint about the module is a minor one, and something I gripe about from time to time in things. It made too much use, in my opinion, of the SIEGE mechanic for spot/search type rolls. Its a d20ism I hope module writers move away from. I maintain that player declaration of actions and RP'ing trumps the need for needless spot checks, especially considering the nature of the SIEGE engine and the high chance for failure among many adventurers, especially when you have challenge levels over 1.

I'm happy to hear you and your players had a blast with the scenario.

In case anyone is wondering, the writer in this case was not responsible for those d20isms -- I'm the person to blame. This is a conversion of a Labyrinth Lord scenario which had none of these 'isms' to begin with.

I completely agree with what DangerDwarf is saying there, declaration of actions, roleplaying... and simple logic should trump the mechanic.

M
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"You face Death itself in the form of... 1d4 Tarrasques!"

Partner to Brave Halfling Publishing
http://www.arcanacreations.com

Rhuvein wrote:
Great review, DD.

Funny thing about the dog . . that might be my only "bone" of contention - or it's an excellent and clever/usable plot device.

Meaning . . for the younger gamers (and a few assorted dog lovers) the dog works. But for the older/veteran PCs (players that is), I'd go with the girl herself being kidnapped . . what aspiring fighter PC wants to lower himself and rescue a dog??

You know, it's interesting you mention that... when I first got the original scenario, I planned on running it for a game that has two kids in it. I thought the dog angle was perfect for that.
But yes... substituting the little girl or one of her friends would easily work.

M
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"You face Death itself in the form of... 1d4 Tarrasques!"

Partner to Brave Halfling Publishing
http://www.arcanacreations.com

The good thing about the "isms" Pat is that they didn't require me to rewrte anything. Just ignore (and it wasn't like it was super filled with them either) and replace with my normal method.

I do have a question about the bat swarm though. Wisdom seemed an odd check to me. It hung me up for a second (and for the record I used CHA instead).

DangerDwarf wrote:
but they were keeping the little girl's heart from being broken. Subtle difference but worked for this particular group.

Good thought/idea!!

My bad for not thinking of this angle!
[I just got a dog for my daughter (so she will quite smoking) and I should have thought of this - meaning the attachment power]

Cool DD!
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Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

Hey thanks guys!

Sure, you can drop the dog or even replace it with the girl. But remember that the introduction for the players says that, "After all, local legends say that vast amounts of treasure lay under the darkness of Witch Hill" - which ought to satisfy the swords & sorcery folks around here.
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John Adams

Coleston the Cavalier wrote:
"After all, local legends say that vast amounts of treasure lay under the darkness of Witch Hill" - which ought to satisfy the swords & sorcery folks around here.

And nothing pimps out the party cleric like a GOLD PLATED +1 mace.

Those regular +1 maces are for suckas.

DangerDwarf wrote:
And nothing pimps out the party cleric like a GOLD PLATED +1 mace.

Those regular +1 maces are for suckas.

You know it, baby!
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John Adams

My wife plays the party cleric, and if she uses her adventuring proceeds to buy a new grill with a diamond studded holy symbol embedded in it...I'm gonna quit claiming her.

DangerDwarf wrote:
And nothing pimps out the party cleric like a GOLD PLATED +1 mace.

Those regular +1 maces are for suckas.

That's fo' sho'. Pimpin'.

~O
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

DangerDwarf wrote:
I do have a question about the bat swarm though. Wisdom seemed an odd check to me. It hung me up for a second (and for the record I used CHA instead).

In keeping with the encounter as originally written up, it called for a 'confusion-like' effect. However, using Cha (for a fear-like response) works just as well and I can understand the using this instead.

The Labyrinth Lord version called for a Save vs Petrify or Paralyze (or alternatively an optional Wisdom Ability Check).

M
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"You face Death itself in the form of... 1d4 Tarrasques!"

Partner to Brave Halfling Publishing
http://www.arcanacreations.com

DangerDwarf wrote:
And nothing pimps out the party cleric like a GOLD PLATED +1 mace.

Those regular +1 maces are for suckas.

A clerics gotta have Bling!

Relaxo wrote:
A clerics gotta have Bling!

A:"And who is your patron deity?"

B: Puts on sunglasses

A:"Hmm, Apollo?"

B: pulls out the gold mace

A:(blinded) "I'm guessing it's not Brokus, the God of Poverty and Faded Paydays."
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The Rock says ...

Know your roll!

Got it
It's actually very attractively done with decent artwork inside. And it does fit nicely inside the white box set.
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The Rock says ...

Know your roll!

I havn't got mine yet, but I love the cover art. The dark brooding colors really set the tone.

Ken Harrison has written a review of the new Castles & Crusades expanded version of "The Ruins of Ramat."

Link: http://rustybattleaxe.blogspot.com/2009 ... eview.html
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John Adams

An accurate review methinks.

~O
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

Omote wrote:
An accurate review methinks.

~O

It was. I'm very happy with what I got here.

A lot of my friends children are getting old enough to game with us and the "introduction curve" on this module was perfect.
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The Rock says ...

Know your roll!

I originally came up with this module (and the Old Isle campaign setting) to use with C&C: Basic Set.
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John Adams

My copy arrived the other day and I'm very happy with it - in fact I'm thinking of using it to run a demo game a local con in the spring.

Only one minor nit - the cover art seemed a good bit darker in the print version than the PDF. Not like blacked out or anything, like almost as if viewed through a partially-polarized filter.

But even with that small quibble, another quality product from BHP!
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"I don't wanna be remembered as the guy who died because he underestimated the threat posed by a monkey."

CKDad wrote:
My copy arrived the other day and I'm very happy with it - in fact I'm thinking of using it to run a demo game a local con in the spring.

Only one minor nit - the cover art seemed a good bit darker in the print version than the PDF. Not like blacked out or anything, like almost as if viewed through a partially-polarized filter.

But even with that small quibble, another quality product from BHP!

Hey thanks CKDad!

We aren't happy with the way the cover art of the print version turned out either. But we're learning.
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John Adams

Where's an ordering link? I google and I get yourgamesnow.
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Christina Stiles

The Misfit Troll Word Wrangler
www.christinastiles.com
www.misfit-studios.com
www.trolllord.com

Coleston the Cavalier wrote:
I originally came up with this module (and the Old Isle campaign setting) to use with C&C: Basic Set.

Which is one of the many reasons that BHP is so awesome.
~O
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

Christina Stiles wrote:
Where's an ordering link? I google and I get yourgamesnow.

You can get the print version plus a free pdf at my website:
http://bravehalflingpublishing.com/

Or just the pdf at http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php? ... s_id=65697

I haven't been able to get the uploading function to work at YOURGAMESNOW.com for quite some time and I have just about given up on it.
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John Adams