I copy-pasted this from a thread I started over on enworld.
- Thread startercavalier973 Start date
Nothing I write here will be new (probably).
I was reading through my copy of this module, thinking about trying to run it again with the tax deductions. As Professor Dungeon Master said in one of his videos, this is a mini-Westmarch campaign, except it’s really an “Eastmarch-style campaign”, because the wilderness is to the east of civilization.
————————————————————————————————————————————-
The wilderness is laid out in squares rather than hexes. The map key says, “One square equals 100 yards”, which is kind of vague. Is each square 100 yards by 100 yards, or is it 100 yards square? The section entitled “ADVENTURES OUTSIDE THE KEEP” indicates that PCs take an hour to traverse one square if searching, or they can cross three squares in an hour if (by implication) they are not searching. This seems incredibly slow, even if one square is 100 yards across. In fact, if one has the “Expert Rules”, then one can see that the movement rate for wilderness travel is the same number as in dungeon travel, except expressed in yards rather than feet. So, 90′ per turn becomes 90 yards per turn, when traveling outside a dungeon.
There are around sixty squares–if following the road–between the Keep and the Caves of Chaos ravine. If each square is 100 yards across, and it takes an hour to move across three squares (sans searching), then it would take 20 hours to get from the Keep to the Ravine. That’s two or three days.
If, instead, on takes the Expert rules for movement, and the PC party can move at 90 yards per ten-minute turn, then it would take them about 67 turns to get from the Keep to the Ravine, or about 11 hours.
————————————————————————————————————————————————–
The trader will buy items from the adventurers at a 50% markdown from the prices on the equipment list. It isn’t indicated if, say, the PCs grab the spears out of the goblin cave and sell them to the trader, if the money so gained counts as XP.
————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Apart from the Caves of Chaos, and the Caves of the Unknown, there are four areas: the Lizard Men’s mound, the spider lair, the mad hermit, and the raiders’ camp. That last one sounds like an excellent reason for the PCs to initially show up in this region: they saw a wanted poster for the raiders’ leader, with a hefty reward for his capture. The module doesn’t really give anything beyond, “You want adventure and riches”. If one were running this for people who didn’t know much about the module, then I would suggest keeping the Caves of Chaos a secret until the PCs have done some exploration, first.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember who gave this advice, but the DM should play up a growing unease that spills over into terror, eventually. People go missing. Livestock are killed and pointlessly left to rot. Crops fail. The danger seems to arrive in the Keep, when a series of murders happen over several nights, a la “Jack the Ripper”. The Castellan stops visiting the tavern. The Curate starts locking up the church each night. When the PCs travel outside the Keep, they have a persistent feeling of being watched, even in the daytime. Maybe have a wealthy farmer hire them to protect his farm, and play out a scenario like this story from Mr. Ballen: https://www.youtube.com/embed/DMbY_AFXGX0
—————————————————————————————————————————————————-
B/X is a bit weaksauce when it comes to random encounters, but I didn’t realize it until I started listening to reviews of the upcoming Dolmenwood books. Have encounters in the wilderness that aren’t just monsters attacking. If one wanted more whimsical encounters, then have the PCs see a line of dwarves marching off to work, or, if they are in the forest, maybe they can just make out, in the dim light, a young girl talking to a wolf that stands on its hind legs. The wolf sees them, and runs away. Professor Dungeon Master has some of this advice in his “Caves of Carnage” series. Maybe some encounters are actually helpful to the PCs, like a talking tree that tells them how to get back to the road, if they got lost in the forest.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Something I think is missing from this module is some ancient ruins; maybe an abandoned manor house, or the crumbling remains of a stone fortress. Perhaps the “Caves of the Unknown” lay beneath these ruins. The module specifically says that the DM shouldn’t allow the PCs to find the Caves of the Unknown until the DM decided, even if the PCs are searching in the right square. This may be because the Caves are hidden by illusions that are dispelled by something the PCs do in the Caves of Chaos, but maybe the entrance to the CotU only opens at a particular time of the year–on a new moon, for example.
———————————————————————-
The module describes the priest as a jovial person, a fine companion, and a good listener, but no details are given to what he looks like.
From Hollywood, I immediately think of a fat, jolly Friar Tuck, but what if he is more like a good-guy character played by Cary Grant or Gary Cooper? Tall and in shape and good-looking?
———————————————————————
There is a section in the module that adds weight to an idea I have that the spell “Detect Evil” can reveal that an object is cursed.
On page 22, under “55. Chapel of Evil Chaos”, it speaks of bronze vessels will glow if “Detect Evil” is cast upon them. It doesn’t specifically say that the items are cursed, but the description of what happens if a PC picks up one of the items is pretty much what happens if a PC picks up a random cursed item. It says that “Dispel Magic” and then “Bless” needs to be cast to “save” the character that picks up one of the items.
Greymerry Faire 