Oh, Tower...!

I received this today, got permission to post it:

"My group has just played through Tower of the Stargazer (and believe it or not none of them died!). It was great fun and wife has even written a ballad, composed by a bard during the carousing funded with the gold found in the dungeon (quick google translation, but should be ok):

(the original Italian version is here)

From the hills to thick forests
True adventurers and shady types
wondered what was the cause
of the thunderbolt which fell without a pause

Fearful was the lightning
upon the tower that still stands
it is said to have belonged to a magician
of which a vague memory remains

One day arrived there without fear
from Retoril defying the thunder
four worthy and valiant men
a mysterious elf and a dwarf

Among them, the great warrior Calistasio
with a magnificent steed
Derrimaldeo of the Golden Dawn
whose wart offended decorum

Dargan followed with sharp ingenuity
ready to explore the depths
Hedstrom the barbarian whose speech
was poor, but mighty in arms

Suddenly they met on the ridge
the body of someone that ended badly
challenging the beam from above
they reached him with a jump

Having examined those remains
they did not lose their courage
running they reached the door
without becoming dead meat

The entrance of that high tower
already suggested dangers
inside they found objects and old horrors
until they met the mirrors

Of these one was fruitful
One created a double warrior
The Barbarian seemed lost in another
But the elf and the dwarf came to the rescue

Perhaps it was the end of the adventure
the mirrors seemed enough to scare
To Retoril they returned for cures
and to consider what to do

The dwarf and elf in the city they remained
the four instead one day went again
ready to do everything possible to discover
what the tower could offer

Way up the hill they went in very early
in the mysterious place again
they found a bizarre elevator
and at the top in amazement they reached

Precious manuscripts and strange vials
those halls filled in thousands
but then an amazing discovery
what seemed to be a magician's diary

The pages spoke of an evil
that with death was at ease
He wanted to rule the bodies
and dark dimensions visit

Behold, suddenly in a room
that villain with his boldness
proved to be an old charmer
imprisoned by his servant

Threats uttered the old man
talking about a supernatural power
but a circle kept him locked
next to an egg of unclear use

Our heroes were not deceived
leaving him they continued to explore
Finally coming to a big room
that held treasures in abundance

Alas coffers awaited proudly
protected by magical barriers
An arcane mechanism ruled them
But nobody knew how it worked

Much time was needed for reflection
to find the position of the levers
the enterprise was almost inhuman
seemed to take an entire week

But finally, with his usual cleverness Dargan
in a pebble found the key
and looking beyond appearance
understood the essence of the levers

Crossing the now harmless barriers
they emptied the rich big chest
And loaded of gold and silver and jewels
they ignored the magician's lament

Quickly out they went
the adventure was over now
Batuseo would explain the magic
In Retoril between partying and gifts

I relate this adventure as a bard
There seems to be nothing worthy of respect?
Perhaps because there were no killings
battles or conquests of bastions

Do you think the value of the hero
is only in the fight and fuss?
I say no, not just this
and I'll explain why oh quick:

our four worthy adventurers
deserve beautiful verses and thoughts
since they stopped at nothing
wonders, mysteries and horrors they faced

Thanks to the courage they found the treasure
we'll sing of them and their cunning
but what deserves them a place in the annals
is the parties, and the bacchanalian revelry

In fact, that night was memorable
to the city droves and legions rushed
to be there in the great celebration
they must have been more than eleven hundred!

Music and jumps, wine and rivers of beer
in the street beautiful scents of roasted boar
and all ate, knights and fools
a painter immortalized the great revelry, too

Many other deeds the heroes did
perhaps more noble, but always for us
will remain the eternal memory of Retoril
that night when all hell broke loose!"

I Don't Suck

Grognardia reviews Hammers of the God here.

Reviews from R'lyeh reviewed Tower of the Stargazer here a few days back.

One Goal Attained! A Tower of the Stargazer question for you!

The Tower of the Stargazer draft is completed and sent to the editors. 12000 words, in the three days I had allotted. I feel like I've just done some actual work.

A general question for you... I've put some "designer notes/tutorial/extra explanation" text in the adventure to basically be an aid to new Referees in putting adventures together and help in deciphering published adventures in general.

Basically, I want this to be the go-to module that people suggest when someone asks "What is a good adventure for a first time Referee to run?"

And I also want the adventure to be robust enough that experienced Referees find it interesting enough to want to run.

Ambitious to be sure, but it's small potatoes compared to the greater goals of the box set.

I was thinking that including copies of the original hand-drawn map and copies of the index cards I originally used to run the adventure might be a cool idea, to demonstrate how adventures made for one's own use differ from those written to be run by other people.

It'll increase the size of the module by 25% (16 to 20 pages) so it'll increase the cost a bit (not 25% though).

Do you think this is a worthwhile and useful idea for a tutorial adventure?

Awesome Typo

Weird game yesterday, with a death attributable to a lack of party cohesion (one guy charges into combat, all others run from it) which created a bit of a bleak atmosphere for a bit, and the session started slowly as 3/4ths of the players had new characters and when I asked, "So how do you guys know each other?" took forever to get answered. hmm. No game on Sunday as 4/5ths of the players had other commitments (Mother's Day...).

Anyway, this awesome typo. I'm doing the full writeup for Tower of the Stargazer today (and will be finished by Saturday night, dammit, and will get the maritime rules and most of the notes for Weird New World ready by next Sunday) and just made the most amusing typo.

It's supposed to say, "(monster) attacks the nearest living creature."

But what I actually wrote was, "(monster) attacks the neatest living creature."

Hilarious, isn't it? Can you imagine? Neat creatures? "Oh man, you're an adventurer, I'm not attacking you! Tuck in your pants! Pull up those socks!"

Guys?

Hello?

Anyone there?

hmmm.

See, this is what happens when I get amused by something fairly pathetic and the wifely creature is out running errands so she isn't around to be told. You all face my comedic wrath instead.

Tower of the Stargazer finished cover art by Peter Mullen!

Tower of the Stargazer Wrap-Up

Odd session yesterday. Because there were only two levels remaining to be explored, and because there was no combat, only puzzles, on those two levels, this session was a bit lopsided, according to the players.

One puzzle utterly stumped them, because while things changed when they pulled levers, the changes were not visual. They had to be touched to be noticed. A red herring stumped them here, and so they were within sight of the big treasure of the whole thing but did not get to it.

The other puzzle involved a game of chess actually being played. My concept was that it would be all the players vs the Referee (in this case me) in an intense game for one PC's soul. In actuality, it was that player vs me with one or two others giving an occasional assist, but more like most of the players twiddling their thumbs while the game went on. So that's got to significantly change. I had wanted the classic "chess board" included in my intro adventure but without making a gimmick out of it. Just play chess! Ah well... decent idea that fell down in practice.

But that's why you play these things before publishing them. Because not every seemingly good idea is a truly good idea, and the stakes are considerably higher in a for-pay product than just for the regular game group.

There was also uproarious laughter around the table for the fatality involved in one particular trap. It was later judged to be an unfair trap. But everyone enjoyed it tremendously at the time (including the victim's player). I shall examine it and see if I can simply put a bit more warning without changing the actual execution of the trap itself.

In all, five PC deaths, although three of those were because the one player, who had already lost two characters (to the chess game and to the aforementioned much-enjoyed trap), basically tripped the obvious "doomsday device" on purpose just to see what happens, since otherwise everything was completed.

So the only survivors were this new character that had just shown up at the end to trip up everything on purpose, and the magic-user who had decided to head back to town, faithful torchbearer in tow, when it was obvious they weren't getting the treasure and there was nothing more to do than fiddle with dangerous things. He didn't do too badly. Not much in the way of monetary treasure or XP for the two sessions, but he's got a spellbook and a small pile of scrolls, so he's well-positioned for future adventures.

Body Count: 1

Tower of the Stargazer went well, with 5 of the 7 levels explored (only 28 total areas, not a huge thing).

It was the same crew that did the Insect Shrine last fall, minus one, but with one new guy as well. He says he just has prior experience with World of Darkness.

There were a lot of close calls with saving throws throughout the night, but... the new guy's character was the only one who died. By a poison needle trap in a treasure chest.

He made a new character and rejoined the exploration. He says he'll be back next week though, so slaughtering him didn't seem to affect his enjoyment.

The adventure performed well, I think. It's still all on note cards so there were a few things I forgot to mention in their proper place ("Oh yeah, there's also a podium with a book!") but otherwise everyone seemed to enjoy the Weird Science aspect.

The rules at this point still have more holes than Swiss cheese, but that was to be expected. It would be great to just write the stuff and print it, but in the real world all this stuff needs to be played (and in the case of rules, a decent bit!) between those two steps. It's being done as it should. The next version of the rules should be a considerable improvement. (keep the comments coming, I read them all and keep them handy when revising things)

No game on Sunday (Easter... bleh), but we'll be back Wednesday to finish this adventure up.

I'm about 2/3rds of the way through Dan Simmons' The Terror, which is more fitting for my purposes than I had thought going in. Lots of juicy details about the running of ships. Two large books came in yesterday from Amazon UK, and of course I've got all the links you guys posted here when I asked for help, so development on that adventure should be happening quite soon too. I won't need all this detail, not by far, but having it in mind should allow me to make an exploration adventure (and maritime rules) that aren't completely bogus.

Should be plenty of time still to get that written and played before press time though.

... and I still need another revision of the Tutorial book, and the first completed draft of the Referee book isn't finished

Lots has been done, and lots still to do!

Today: Tower of the Stargazer!

Five players will be coming over later today to play the Tower of the Stargazer adventure, which will be the "introductory" adventure in the box set. Not bad for announcements going out, what Sunday morning?

I hope they realize that "introductory" means that I'll have a lot of hand-holding for new Referees in the text (and a lot of "classic" dungeon trappings), not that the adventure will be easy or anything. :D

See how he glides
Why he's lighter than air...