Planning a one-off adventure - advice sought

Heruka · Post by **Heruka** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:47 am

I'm using this rare time off work (with flu) to get into the first stage of planning a one-off adventure to introduce some old d&d friends to C&C, probably during the Christmas holiday. Does anyone have any advice as to which module might work best as a one-off, but (assuming things go well and enjoyment is had by all) would still leave a hook or two open for some follow-up links?

At the moment I'm toying with a level 1-3 sort of adventure (probably starting characters at high end of 2nd level). On my considered list currently I have The Mysterious Tower, Dwarven Glory II (Wyrm Well), A Lion in the Ropes, and two Dragonsfoot freebies - The Beacon at Enon Tor and a converted Endless Tunnels of Enlandin.

I guess the other relevant factors here are a) it'll be my first time CKing (though I'm used to OD&D and AD&D as DM), b) I'd like to showcase the 4 main character classes and reckon on 5 or 6 characters in total, and c) I intend a session of, say, 6-8 hours play time (more if people get the buzz).

I'd be grateful for any thoughts if you've played any of these modules or if you have better ideas, or have experience of setting up something similar...

Sorry for the vagueness... I feel like someone stuffed my head full of cotton-wool today; Oh for a 'cure heavy snot' spell.

Thanks Troll-watchers...

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:50 pm

The hottest salsa with chips you can tolerate works wonders for clearing the passages.

Personally I would go with Mysterious Tower. IT has areas where all 4 class types get to shine. Thief, fighter, healer, and mage.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

Heruka · Post by **Heruka** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:33 pm

Thanks be unto to the Ruby Lord - molten-lava strength salsa it is then, and a steer towards the Tower - having flicked through it this afternoon, I can see what you mean.

moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:24 pm

What kind of running time are you looking at would be one question I'd ask.

I've run all those adventures on that list with the exception of the Endless Tunnels and both the Mysterious Tower and the Lion in the Ropes have run longer than either Beacon at Enon Tor or Dwarven Glory II.

They are all fun but the Lion in the Ropes probably has the most in terms of a story If your friends like an adventure that is very true to a dungeon crawl, then I agree with Treebore and will say that the Mysterious Tower is your winner.

If looking to do a one-shot that isn't too long, the both Beacon and Dwarven Glory II are good but I'd quickly go through the both of them and simply choose which one appeals to you the most. I liked them both for what they offered but if I had to choose, I'd go with the Beacon of Enon Tor for a shorter one.

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

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

seskis281 · Post by **seskis281** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:35 pm

Mysterious Tower is actually for a bit higher levels, I believe - the front cover that says 1-3 is actually a misprint, and if you look inside it wants for more initial levels (3-4 I believe), so despite being an excellent mod it might not be what you want - and it would take more than a one-shot to really engage - the central shield puzzle alone will take some time for even the most intelligent of parties to sort out with going back and forth to make sure levers are set correctly, not to mention taking on monsters & other sundries.

Beacon and Enon Tor and Lion in the Ropes are both good suggestions in my book. There's also a more recent one-shot in Crusader #12 you might check out that's sort of written just for this kind of need.....

_________________
John "Sir Seskis" Wright

Ilshara: Lands of Exile:
http://johnwright281.tripod.com/

High Squire of the C&C Society
www.cncsociety.org

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:53 pm

Beacon of Enon Tor which is a free download, but a very simplistic adventure as it is designed for C&C newbies.

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

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 7:20 pm

He said 6 to 8 hours of "run time". As for the "maze", yes, it was kind of slow going, but my kids, with no help from their mom, worked through it in about 90 minutes, and figured out how to get into the ower proper in about 5 to 10 minutes.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

Heruka · Post by **Heruka** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:58 am

Thanks again everyone - very interesting;

Seskis, I just checked and you're right about the cover of Mysterious Towers saying level 1-3 but the inside blurb saying level 3-5... although Goodman do give some scaling information, so I could tweak it on those lines to fit whatever feels best, if I'm feeling tweaky!

My main aim is for us to have a good day's play, and, if I'm honest to showcase C&C and pique my friends into wanting to do more... from what people have said it still sounds like Mysterious Tower may well be the one to go for (though I haven't got any Crusader magazines as yet; apart from number 12 are there any others you know that might have adventure material suited to this sort of need?)

cheers folks

Tadhg · Post by **Tadhg** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:12 pm

Heruka wrote:
are there any others you know that might have adventure material suited to this sort of need?)

cheers folks

Yes, go here and download "The Rising Knight" and have a read:
http://www.trolllord.com/downloads/index.html

An excellent C&C intro adventure and the first of the premier "A" series modules from TLG.

Enjoy!

_________________
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

Maliki · Post by **Maliki** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:47 pm

Rhuvein wrote:
Yes, go here and download "The Rising Knight" and have a read:
http://www.trolllord.com/downloads/index.html

An excellent C&C intro adventure and the first of the premier "A" series modules from TLG.

Enjoy!

I second the Rising Knight, a good solid adventure and if things go good, it leads right into the "A" series.
_________________
Never throw rocks at a man with a Vorpal Sword!

Buttmonkey · Post by **Buttmonkey** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:04 pm

A lot of people think highly of "Becon at Enon Tor," but I give it a thumb's down. It is very boring as written. For newbies it might be an okay choice, but for anyone with playing experience, I think it will largely be a yawner. It's not even good hack and slash.

Heruka · Post by **Heruka** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:00 am

Rhuvein/Maliki - thanks for 'The Rising Knight' tip - I'll give that a good look over the weekend - I like the potential bridge into the A series (as you can see, I'm hoping strongly to hook people into an ongoing enduring few decades of C&C campaigning)

Buttmonkey - is there anything you can suggest that would redeem 'Beacon at Enon Tor' from the bottomless abyss of dullness? Or is it a hopeless case? I wonder what it is that is so lacking?

naturaltwenty · Post by **naturaltwenty** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 4:57 pm

I've run Mysterious Tower for a Meetup.com group using these pregens - http://www.naturaltwenty.com/downloads/ ... regens.pdf - I ran it for a 5 hour time-slot and while we didn't finish it was fun to say the least.

Later
_________________
Greg Volz
www.naturaltwenty.com

Heruka · Post by **Heruka** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:05 am

Thanks for the pregens Naturaltwenty - very impressive indeed... I have to admit I hadn't come across Meetup.com before now, I live a sheltered life

Pdiddy · Post by **Pdiddy** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 2:50 am

I recently used Goodman's DCC #51.5 The Sinister Secret of Whiterock. It went really well and I put a very brief summary in the Crusades section of the forums. It gave everyone a chance to try various types of siege checks and will also give you a chance to check out how to convert a low level d20 module.

nwelte1 · Post by **nwelte1** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:12 am

Heruka wrote:
Rhuvein/Maliki - thanks for 'The Rising Knight' tip - I'll give that a good look over the weekend - I like the potential bridge into the A series (as you can see, I'm hoping strongly to hook people into an ongoing enduring few decades of C&C campaigning)

Buttmonkey - is there anything you can suggest that would redeem 'Beacon at Enon Tor' from the bottomless abyss of dullness? Or is it a hopeless case? I wonder what it is that is so lacking?

If you run rising Knight, I have the module mapped out in Maptool, if you play digitally or use a projector that may be a nice benefit.

Heruka · Post by **Heruka** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:52 am

Thanks for the Whiterock heads-up Diddy, I haven't got that module yet, but will maybe add it to the wishlist for Santa's attention...

Nwelte - Maptool, eh? That sounds well fancy; how would I go about accessing those maps then, my way-more-tech-savvy-than-I'll-ever-be, friend? And as to the digital projector - now that would certainly see me crowned as some species of new minor godling (at least) were I to manifest such a novelty to my gaming pals. That's if they survived the shock. I bet it is a nice benefit though, the old 'pictures-speaking-light' enhancement. Thanks for the suggestions. (Actually, if I can sort time zone issues, I'm hoping to rope in a good friend of mine who now lives in Costa Rica to play too, so the digital diligence is spot on)

Heruka · Post by **Heruka** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:42 pm

As everyone here was so helpful, I thought I'd post a quick update on this theme;

So yesterday we played Mysterious Tower (or a version of it I doctored and seasoned to taste); I had three players, all AD&Ders of yore, one playing a 3rd level lawful evil human Cavalier (Conrad Poos), one a 2nd level NG human swordsman (Anton du Laq) and the other a 4th level half-elven CN rogue (Pepe Le Pugh) and one NPC (a 2nd level NG elven magic user called Venkat Telios). They met up at Agil, staying at the Glass Onion Inn, next to a druid-run scrying pool, a sort of Lourdes with leaves, each en route to find the Tower of the lost and ancient wizard Apu Entis. Anyway, having bathed and had visions there (of their own death in one case, of power and riches in others), they formed a loose adventuring group and recruited 2 other NPCs from the Inn (thanks for the pregens True20) - Orin Dragonfist and Brother Shelbin, and after a less than savoury incident with a gnome, they set off.

The cavalier led them through the hills and forests with little incident, they shot down and butchered two wild boar for provisions, and as they camped for the night near the edge of a wood, all was well (if frosty). Until they were ambushed by 5 Ungern s that is, and a nasty midnight fight ensued, leaving the Ungern killed, but the party pretty nastily mauled up. After some basic healing they moved on at dawn, and within 3 hours found the Tower itself. There was a brush with the assassin vines in the old orchard, and lots of hurling things at the tower's force field to check its effects - and then they found a way down to the first underground level. A bit of poking around led them into the owl-bears lair, and again a dirty fight broke out - in all 4 adult owlbears were dispatched (including a pregnant one) and Brother Shelbin all but squeezed to death in the process. Again, the party survived the battle, just.

I'd rejigged some of the dungeon level with other hazards - including a blood-spot of the Black Breath of Unklar... this was noticed by Conrad, himself a minor official of the Yggsbrugh lodge of the Crna Ruk. He saw fitr to warn his companions, and they avoided its trap - if you're useful to Conrad, you live longer, it seems so far.

Anyway, this all led them to the old Meelkor temple area, where much fun was had with the skeletons and the animated coffins - the party suffered some appalling to-hit rolls and so took a bit of attrition, before they wiped out the skeletons. An overly eager and louche Anton then took a coffin-slam on a natural twenty at maximum damage, breaking his nose and knocking him clean out, before Pepe and Orin torched the remaining coffins and all calmed down.

And here we left it, having run out of time for now - but with everyone slavering at the chops for more action soon. I have to say I was really chuffed at how clean and easy it was to run the game, how quickly the plot lines evolved, and how the mechanics are seamless and mostly invisible, letting roleplay dominate, and speeding up the business of party-bonding (if that's the right phrase for a group with a lawful evil 'leader'); C&C won the day and everyone had a great time. Thanks to everyone here who helped out with ideas and support. In someone's words, 'mission accomplished', at least as far as winning players over and having fun is concerned. As for finsihing the Tower - well, that's another matter entirely! We're meeting up next week for another crack at it, and I have a head full of schemes to trip up Pcs already brewing away...