Arden Vul - Exterior

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The Exterior is the first chapter that is keyed like a dungeon! Each of these dungeon chapters has an overview, a list of ways in and out of the level, a random encounter table, and then a list of room keys.

Overview

The overview does a great job of describing an extremely cool entrance.

The Long Falls are visible on a clear day from many miles away on the verdant and temperate valley floor, appearing as a thin stream of white against the grey and green of the cliff face. They are audible from three miles away as a dull buzzing sound in the distance. At two miles it becomes a sustained white noise as loud as a person speaking. At one mile the white cloud of mist and moisture roughly 200 yards in diameter becomes evident, and the sound is loud enough to impede conversation. Beneath the falls conversation is almost impossible, and the sound is as loud as a freight train among the smell of the damp, mold, and mildew.

As one closes towards the falls, about a mile away, the Colossal Defenders become apparent. The one representing Arden is placed just to the right of the falls, on the east side of the river (EX-6), while the other (EX-7) representing Vul stands another 400 yards further to the east. The figures are carved out of the rock face and extend a good 1,000-1,100’ up the cliff face. The Colossus at EX-6 is an enormous crouching warrior woman, helmed, with right hand gripping a sword blade down; the left hand is extended outward, palm up; the palm is only about 100’ above the valley floor. The Colossus at EX-7 is altogether different: slender, cowled, arms folded across its chest, with a stone staff in the crook of the left arm. It always appears to be looking at those who glance at it.

As you get closer, the sound of the falls keeps increasing and the two colossal statues resolve.

The cliff face is uneven rock, with bits of shrubbery and small trees growing out of it; it is home to goats and worse. Close inspection may reveal (1-4 in 20) areas that appear to be worked by human hands (e.g., EX-9, EX-14).

Hmm - the whole stair is worked by human hands right? The colossal statues are carved, and the entire stair is worked: “Carved into the face of the cliff is a set of broad steps that winds upward through three cutbacks until it reaches the top of the plateau; this is the infamous Long Stair, which varies in width from 5 to 50’.”

What do players have to do to be “close inspectors”? Can I just say that I’m inspecting things closely all the time? AD&D 1e has a couple of speeds:

That gives us:

• unfamiliar dungeon movement (120’ per 10 minutes)

• familiar dungeon movement (600’ per 10 minutes)

• running speed (1200’ per 10 minutes (yes, that is a ~45 minute mile))

• hiking speed (~3 mph, which is 2640’ per 10 minutes (yes, hiking is faster than running))

• familiar city movement (1200’ per 10 minutes (yes, you explore a city as fast as you can run in a dungeon))

• mapped city movement (120’ per 10 minutes (yes, it takes ~30 minutes to walk and map a city block obviously))

Note that it’s not clear which 1e movement speed we’re supposed to be using for walking up the long stairs, and it’s not clear how someone qualifies for “close inspection”.

Recommendation: Have players move through the exterior and ruined city at “familiar dungeon movement” which is 600’ per 10 minutes. Just tell them that the stone is worked.

Speaking of which, Barton notes that areas appear to be worked and lists EX-9 and EX-14 as examples. Are there other areas? If we skip ahead to EX-9, does it explicitly mention being worked?

It does - it’s just buried in the description with no reference to the previous 4-in-20 mechanic. What about EX-14?

Yup, the marble ledge is probably not natural. Why are we rolling 4-in-20 to notice this is man-made? Also, another eyebrow raiser: the marble is “visible even from the valley floor”. We need to put that information in the description of the base of the falls that way I don’t forget to tell players about the visible marble when I describe the approach.

Then, we get a mechanical-ish description of the noise and moisture:

The noise of the fall may have tactical implications should a combat break out within 200’. Even if it does not, the mist certainly will, since everything within 500’ is slick with moisture. At the edge of the falls’ basin, the rocks are covered with slippery moss; those climbing on the rocks will be hard pressed to keep their footing. The Colossus of Arden the Defender (EX-6) is also slick with moisture and slime, as is the Tower of Madness (EX-4) and the lower portions of the Long Stair (EX-8). Movement is halved within this radius, and combats taking place on slick surfaces impose a -1 adjustment to all rolls.

• What are the tactical implications of the loud noise? If you are intending a higher chance for surprise, say that. If you require that players not verbally coordinate, say that.

• What does “hard pressed to keep their footing” mean?

• “Movement is halved within this radius, and combats taking place on slick surfaces impose a -1 adjustment to all rolls.” This exactly what I need. As far as I can tell, anything within 500ft of the falls has half move and -1 to all rolls (attacks, saves, damage, etc). Maybe the half move speed is what Barton meant by “hard pressed to keep their footing”?

So now we need to know what is within 500ft of the falls:

Barton gives that each square is 50ft; this is nice because it also works perfectly with our movement rate. 1e characters have movement given in inches; unencumbered is typically 12”. In a dungeon that means you’re moving 120’ per turn (12 squares typically). Here, we’re moving 600’ per turn (which is also helpfully 12 squares). Love that.

I added pink lines to represent being within 500ft of the falls

Note that the long stair is not within 500ft (but that the short stair broadly is).

Quick aside: the arrangement here (short stair → falls → arden → long stair → vul) is not in agreement with the (fantastic) art on the back of the books (nor is the pyramid on the correct side, but i digress):

Last nit:

The Colossus at EX-6 is an enormous crouching warrior woman, helmed, with right hand gripping a sword blade down; the left hand is extended outward, palm up; the palm is only about 100’ above the valley floor.

We got confused in the game because on the map, Arden’s hand is well above 100’ off the floor. Here’s the map I printed out for the players (from the VTT maps).

Random Encounters

These tables are to be used for those exploring the base of the Falls or traversing the cliff face. Checks should be made every 6 to 12 turns (depending on GM preference); encounters occur on a 1 in 10 chance.

Say that I don’t have a preference and instead prefer for the random encounter chance to be based on the setting and world. What did Barton use in play testing - I want to use that rate. In lieu of answers, let’s just go with every 9 turns here (the average).

uhh

Some notes

This is part of my ongoing crusade against inline stat blocks. They just are not trustworthy. Here, Barton gives 2 attacks each at 2-16 damage (more on a this in a sec). It has a “special attack poison sting”.

In actuality, wyverns have a bite/sting routine. The bite hits for 2d8 and the sting hits for 1d6+poison. The poison is save or die.

The other extremely important detail is that “wyverns will always attack”.

So, every ~9 turns, there’s a 1-in-200 chance that your party bumps into a Wyvern that flies at twice any PC’s move speed, attacks twice a turn with a thac0 of 13, (hitting AC 4 60% of the time), has ~49 HP on average, AC as plate (so PCs are hitting ~25% of the time). That’s an unlucky way to TPK a party before they get to the halls.

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Segueing into the dice syntax, lets check out some of the other numbers. Feel free to have a gander at range to dice notation - ztoz for why I hate this.

Is this 1d2•3+1, 3d2+1, or 1d4+3? Probably 1d4+3 but who knows?

Ah yes of course, the commonly rolled 1d2•2+4, 2d2+4 or perhaps 1d3+5?

Is it 1d2•3+3, 3d2+3, or 1d4+5?

Why not give normal dice syntax in 2020? Not only does it make it harder as a GM (6-9 is a harder number to parse and roll than 1d4+5), but as a hilariously misfortunate side effect, it also made it harder for fans to parse and add missing hyperlinks to the document. Check out much extra handling that Owen Rodley had to do to generate hyperlinks because it’s hard programmatically difficult to distinguish between room names (6-9) from dice ranges (6-9).

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Of all of the random encounters, only three are non-neutral: the aforementioned Wyvern that always attacks no matter what, the Set Cultists, and Craastonistorex. Both the Set Cultists and Craastonistorex are Lawful, so I’d expect them to be willing to parley or make reaction rolls. I think that’s really good.

Encounter Areas

EX-1 The Swift River

trying to ford the river at the foot of the Long Falls is foolhardy.

Say more! What, mechanically, makes it foolhardy?

EX-2: Imperial Road

The old Imperial Road runs along the east side of the Swift River and eventually leads to Newmarket. It is made of large rectangular cobblestones, and originally boasted curbs and drainage. Today it is largely overrun, cracked, with grasses and small shrubs growing out of it. Within 500’ of the Falls it is slick and treacherous.

It originally boasted curbs and drainage. Does it still have curbs and drainage? I need to know how to describe the scene to my players and mixing past and present isn’t helping.

Within 500’ of the Falls it is slick and treacherous.

Note the missing info from the approach. Earlier we were given that within 500’ of the falls, movement is halved and combats taking place impose a -1 adjustment to all rolls. That information is worth repeating here!

EX-4: Tower of Madness

I’m going to go sentence by sentence here in an effort to demonstrate how entangled the player-facing information is from the GM-facing information and history. Player-facing information is bolded. I’ve added commentary to each line as a sub-bullet.

This watch tower was built by the revived Archontean Empire only 250 years ago, but it is already in extremely poor repair.

It is unclear if players should be told that it’s new Archontean, old Archontean, or Archontean at all. I’d lean toward just telling them.

It’s not obvious how long ago the tower was built, especially given that it is breaking down faster than normal

It takes its name from the effect produced by the noise of the Falls in the minds of those condemned to guard duty in it for any length of time.

How would the players know the tower’s name or its etymology?

All of the upper levels have collapsed into the tower and surrounding area, leaving only a treacherous ground floor.

You can probably tell that something has collapsed, but the players don’t know how many levels there used to be, whether or not the ground floor is treacherous, if there is more inside the tower.

This ground floor may be reached through a broken doorway, revealing a 50’x50’ area that, while completely dark and rather oppressive, is surprisingly dry.

Okay cool, now they know that there’s a ground floor. It’s unclear why it’s oppressive.

Parties may rest here without having their equipment (and characters) soaked.

The inside is currently dry; we don’t get to tell players the future (that it’ll stay dry). That’s up for them to decide and figure out.

Due to the ‘haunted’ reputation of the tower, visitors are not subject to random encounters while inside the tower.

The players do not know that the tower has a haunted reputation, and they do not know that there won’t be random encounters.

Resting for eight hours or more is perfectly feasible, although one party member will suffer some strange dreams/weird feelings for each period of rest.

They don’t know how feasible resting for 8 hours or more is, and they don’t know they’ll get strange dreams/weird feeling for each period of rest.

Roll randomly to determine which PC, and then roll on this [not included for space] table.

This is now a straight up mechanical instruction embedded in the room description along with the natural text.

Lengthy stays tend to produce other unsettling effects due to the constant roar of the Falls; anyone who stays for more than 3 days starts to suffer sleeplessness, irritability, and gradual madness.

The players can perceive the constant roar, but don’t know that it’s going to produce madness after 3+ days.

GMs should assign a -1 penalty to WIS for each two-day period spent in the Tower after the first three days. This WIS loss can only be regained by rest in a safe (and dry) environment.

More mixed in mechanics. I really appreciate having them, I just need them to not come before the rest of the room’s player-facing description.

Basement: Beneath some rubble in the northeast corner of the tower is a trapdoor.

Woah holy cow, now there’s special rubble in the northeast corner of the tower and a trap door beneath it. This matters a lot. Move this up.

Clearing the rubble allows it to be opened, to the peril of those who do so.

The only thing visibly blocking the door from being opened is the rubble (ie, they can see hinges on this side). There’s nothing sign-posting the peril.

Inside the 20’x20’ unfinished basement is the presence that causes unease during rest periods: it is Yrtol the Hungry, an Archontean nobleman who has become a ghost.

We can see the size of the basement, and we can also see there’s a ghost. We don’t know the ghost is Yrtol the Hungry, and we don’t know he was an Archontean nobleman.

How far down is the trapdoor from the floor? Is there a ladder or similar?

1. The ghost will not leave the tower but attacks any who open the trap door.

The players don’t know the ghost won’t leave, but it’s very important that we surface to the GM that the ghost attacks any who opens the trap door. From the player POV, this looks like opening the trap door and getting attacked.

It might be possible to communicate with Yrtol without opening the trap door; he will communicate his longing for his lost love Nyema, who was taken by the ‘new priests’ as a sacrifice.

Might be possible? Things are either possible or they’re not. More useful is to mention what makes it possible. For instance, can you just… shout to Yrtol through the door? Let’s go with yes.

Also, Yrtol can totally just… come through the floor. Ghosts are non-corporeal and can normally only be attacked on the ethereal plane. Ghosts can choose to semi-manifest on the material plane (to attack and age people for 10-40 years - is that 1d2*30-20, 30d2-20, 2d2*15-20, 15d2*2-20, 3d2*10-20, 10d2*3-20, 5d2*6-20, 6d2*5-20, 1d4*10, 10d4, 2d4*5, 5d4*2, 1d6*6+4, 6d6+4, or 2d6*3+4?).

He refers to the Cult of Set, and to their vile practice of human sacrifice.

This is a note to the GM. It’s useful and I appreciate having it, but other notes are helpfully prefaced with “GM Note:”

Nyema’s remains may be found in the pool in area 3-90; should they be given a decent burial, Yrtol’s spirit will be put to rest.

Another (very helpful) note to the GM.

In the basement is Yrtol’s corpse, still wearing a circlet of heavily tarnished metal and carrying a small silk purse.

This is part of the room description! Players can see it as soon as they look into the basement! We need to move this up?

The metal appears to be silver, but it is in fact platinum and is worth 3,000 gp.

AD&D doesn’t have any mechanics for appraisal. What’s the intended gameplay here? We give them a tarnished circlet and tell them a fake value? Then they have to think to get it appraised in town?

In my experience, this sort of thing straight up doesn’t work. Just tell players that it’s platinum and worth 3000g.

The purse contains a returning pebble (see new magic items) and a potion of flying.

AD&D doesn’t have proper magic identification rules. Instead, we have absurdly complicated but vague rules for sages and the Identify spell.

This is, by my count, 2735 words long, and we still manage to not answer the most relevant player-facing question: “Hey sage, what does this magic item do?”

Then, we have the Identify spell:

This is also an area where OSRIC heavily diverges. Here’s a quick bullet point summary of identify so you don’t have to read the wall of text:

• You need to cast identify within 1 hour per experience level of finding the item, so you need to already have it prepared effectively.

• You’re given inaccurate information; if you fail your saving throw by exactly 1 you’re told lies, and you’re deliberately told the wrong number of charges.

• You get N chances to detect properties with a (15+5•N)% chance to detect a property, where N is your level. Further, if this chance succeeds, you need to also pass a secret save vs spells (which is 45% for magic users of 1st through 5th level, and 55% until 10th level).

• You need a 100g pearl, an owl feather steeped in wine, and a live miniature carp.

• You pay 8 points of constitution.

So you need to have an owl feather, wine, a live carp, and identify already prepared. Say you’re a 1st level magic user who just came across the Returning Pebble. You, for whatever reason, have been carrying a live carp, already have your wine, already have your owl feather, and already have your pearl. If you don’t have these things and it’ll take longer than an hour to find them, you can’t identify the Pebble. You pay the mere 8 constitution penalty (hopefully you have at least 9 con!). There’s a 15% chance that you get to make a 45% saving throw to discover what the pebble does (6.75% overall chance the spell works).

Does this sound sane?

At this point, it’s worth pointing out that this isn’t what Gygax (purportedly) did. Here’s a 2005 dragonsfoot thread worth reading.

Gary IDs most magic items immediately (charging large sums of money when they return to town to rest & recuperate for this service). (This is because the players are anxious to get back into the dungeon & don't want to bother with in-town adventures.) Potions must still be tasted to ID, though.

A game where you immediately learn what magic items do (so you can use them in your adventure) and learn what potions do by taking a little sip sounds way more reasonable than the never-tested garbage that got written in 1e.

Recommendation: If your players hold the item or taste the potion, tell them what it is and how to use it. If it’s cursed, now they’re cursed and if the potion is poisoned, now they’re poisoned.

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I woud re-key this by splitting it up into the outside, ground floor and basement:

EX-4: Tower of Madness

This roof of this tower has collapsed into into itself and the surrounding area. A broken doorway leads inside.

Collapse: The tower was built by the revived Archontean empire 250 years ago but has eroded quickly from the constant sonic vibrations, moisture, and haunting.

Resting: No random encounters (due to the haunted reputation). During a night’s rest. One random PC suffers a one of the following random dreams or weird feelings [insert chart].

Ground Floor

A 50’ x 50’ area that is completely dark and surprisingly dry. The floor is strewn in rubble, with an especially large rubble pile in the northeast corner. The constant roar of the Falls is agitating in the confined space.

Rubble pile: The rubble takes a turn to clear and conceals a trap door leading to the basement. Anyone listening at the door hears Yrtol the Hungry (see below) longing for his lost love Nyema, who was taken by the ‘new priests’ as a sacrifice. Yrtol is open to communication but attacks as soon as the trap door is opened.

GM Note: Yrtol refers to the Cult of Set, and to their vile practice of human sacrifice.

GM Note: Nyema’s remains may be found in the pool in area 3-90. If given a decent burial, Yrtol’s spirit will be put to rest.

Constant roar: Anyone who stays for more than 3 days starts to suffer sleeplessness, irritability, and gradual madness. Apply a -1 penalty to WIS for each two-day period spent in the Tower after the first three days. This WIS loss can only be regained by rest in a safe (and dry) environment.

Basement

20’ x 20’ and unfinished. Contains the incorporeal Ghost (MM43) of Yrtol the Hungry and a corpse wearing a circlet of heavily tarnished metal and carrying a small silk purse.

Corpse: The desiccated and emaciated corpse of Yrtol.

Circlet: Made of platinum, and worth 3000g.

Purse: Contains a Returning Pebble (see vol4p100) and a Potion of Flying.

I think this is way better, but could still use some love. Namely, what does Yrtol actually say and know? As written, I find him pretty difficult to roleplay. Here’s a great NPC writeup from Cloister of the Frog-God:

I think this is such a great way to convey a NPC, how they talk, and what they know.

EX-5: Caveman Lair

The cavemen are easily ‘bribed’ with finished goods, particularly tools and weapons.

Say more! How much will they trade for, say, a short sword? A torch? If this is intended to serve as a modifier to a reaction roll, what is the modifier? Do the legwork!

They know that […] the Knights of the Azure Shield (see AK-1) have become a lot more interested in the Falls (and in hunting cave-men!) in the past year or so

I didn’t know this, and I can’t find any corroborating passages to explain why this would be the case. It’s not in the writeup for the Azure Shield, and I can’t find why they’d be recently interested in the Falls (or hunting cave-men).

that the Tower of Madness is to be avoided at all costs

The phrase Tower of Madness is shows up exactly 3 times in all 1161 pages. Here, the title of EX-4, and in the overview, when it describes the Tower as being slick with moisture and slime.

The one item of value is a magical axe-head currently used in food preparation; it is a hand axe +2, +3 versus demons, and would need to be remounted by a master smith (for 150 gp) to be effective. The cavemen will happily trade it for several mundane steel items.

This is almost fantastic. Does Torunn the smith from Gosterwick count as a “master smith”? You’re writing the whole setting, so you can tell us exactly who the master smiths are, no need to keep it generic. They’ll trade it for “several” mundane steel items; why keep it vague? Compare “the cavemen will happily trade it for 30g worth of mundane steel items” or “the cavemen will happily trade it for three mundane steel items”.

EX-6: Colossus: Arden the Defender (and Elevator)

Her head is helmed in a hoplite-style helmet (with chin greaves); her eyes stare downward at her palm.

This is really cool sign-posting about the palm-elevator being significant.

she appears to be wearing a breastplate

appears? Is she wearing a breastplate or not?

Arden the Swordswoman was one of the Twenty Worthies of the ancient Archontean Empire (see World of Archontos appendix), and the companion and lover of Vul the Sorcerer. With Vul, she founded the city that bears her name. She is famous for her Twelve Labors, which have become a ubiquitous part of Archontean culture (see the Twelve Labors of Arden in the Arden Vul books appendix).

This is the wrong place for a GM-facing history lesson about Arden.

Elevator: Arden the Defender’s palm acts as an elevator up to the city of Arden Vul. Those who manage to get into the 20’-long left palm of Arden and speak her name will find that the arm shifts, such that the palm eventually reaches the plateau above. Note: the name ‘Arden’ must be spoken in Mithric.

What is Arden in Mithric? It’s never hinted at anywhere that Arden used to have a differently pronounced name in old-archontean. Also, and this will become extremely relevant…

• Does the hand reset? If so, after how long? If not, can they make it go back down by saying Arden (or maybe Vul) again?

Recommendation: Just let them ride the sick elevator if they say “Arden” at all. Make the hand stay there until someone says “Vul”.

EX-7: Colossus: Vul the Defender

Vul the Sorcerer was one of the Twenty Worthies of the ancient Archontean Empire (see World of Archontos appendix). Along with his companion and lover, Arden, Vul located the hidden caverns below the plateau and founded the site that bears his (and Arden’s) name. After the death of Vul and Arden, the governors who succeeded them ordered the colossi to be built.

This is the wrong place for a history lesson about Vul.

GM Note: if expansion of Arden Vul is desired, a wizard’s laboratory might be located behind the colossus of Vul.

Very awkward phrasing. How about “If expansion of Arden Vul is desired, behind the Colossus of Vul would be a great place for Vul’s wizard laboratory.”

EX-8: The Long Stair

The ‘stair’ is really a ramp that rises slowly along the cliff face. In ancient times, the ramp was sheathed with large flagstones, mortared together. Today the flagstones are broken, rutted, and in places quite dangerous.

Okay so it’s definitely man made. It’s a bunch of flagstones mortared together! Again, the history lessons are not helpful. I don’t need to know what the ramp was like 2500 years ago, I need to describe what it’s like now (and may infer what it used to be like if it pleases me) to the players.

Twice during an ascent of the long stair each PC will find his/her balance threatened, and must roll 2d6 under DEX or risk stumbling off the cliff face.

Wait so what actually happens here? Every time we go up and down the long stair, each PC needs to roll 2d6 under DEX twice. If they fail, they risk stumbling off the cliff face. It’s not that if they fail they fall off, if they fail they risk falling off. How do we resolve this risk? Is it a death save? Say more! Use AD&D’s mechanics!

PCs that are roped together subtract 2 from this roll.

Wait so multiple people are roped together and one risks falling off because they failed anyway, what happens?

Recommendation: Scrap it. Rolling twice every time you go up and down the stair is silly.

Combat on the lower third of the stair is risky due to the moisture from the Falls; here, ‘to hit’ rolls are at -1.

This disagrees with the earlier stated mechanics: “Movement is halved within this radius, and combats taking place on slick surfaces impose a -1 adjustment to all rolls.”

Note “all rolls” vs “to hit rolls”, and this section doesn’t reference the half movement speed so it’s easy to forget.

EX-9: Lower Customs Post

At the second switchback in the Long Stair may be found a 20’-wide entrance into the cliff.

“may be found”? Do they need to roll to find it, or is it just there?

the entrance leads to a low (8’-tall) chamber that once served as a customs and guard post for those ascending the path to Arden Vul. The chamber is neatly shaped rock, without decoration or ornamentation. Any remains of the interior subdivisions and furnishings have long since disappeared. Today all that is found within is a fire-circle and a two-weeks supply of firewood.

Okay so this is all just actually a history lesson, and the only player facing detail is that there’s a shaped-rock 8’ tall chamber with a fire circle and a bunch of firewood.

EX-10: Guard Position

the ancient Archonteans installed a guard post of 20 men and a lieutenant who were charged with checking the business of those traveling upward.

The players have no way of discovering this information.

A stone door originally opened into a small H-shape barracks.

It used to open into a H-shape. It still does, but it used to, too.

The door has been smashed, and lies in shards.

Okay, so there isn’t a door. There’s an opening and a bunch of shards on the ground. Say that instead! See how much harder this makes describing the scene?

The entrance passageway is 20’ wide x 20’ deep, and is littered with bits of trash (a broken canteen, some scraps of leather, etc.), but the two arms of the barracks are choked with thick, ropy cobwebs.

Usually when you say the word “but”, you’re introducing a clause that contrasts with something you mentioned earlier in the sentence. “Small but fierce”. The arms of the barracks being choked with cobwebs does not contrast with the entrance passageway being littered with trash!

If fire is applied to the cobwebs, they will burn, but slowly and with much thick black smoke, which will push out toward the entrance.

And then nothing happens!

EX-13: The Short Stair

Clever PCs who investigate the base of the Short Stair will see signs of recent activity, including many boot prints and signs of pack-animal activity.

Is this just any PC who goes to the base of the Stair, or do you need to pass some sort of intelligence check to be “clever”?

EX-14: Former Grand Entrance

In the glory days of the Archontean empire, the precincts of Set were accessed through this formerly impressive grand entrance. Cult members climbed a staircase (EX-13) cut into the cliff face from the valley floor up to a thirty-foot wide ledge that gave entrance to the cult’s sphere of entrance. The ledge, made of marble, still exists and is visible even from the valley floor; the impressive decorations that adorned the ledge are long gone, however.

Unimportant history lesson and a marble ledge visible from the base (but we forgot to write about it in the approach).

EX-16: Cave Behind the Falls

The path is really no more than a goat track, and is thus difficult to traverse. In order to successfully navigate the path, adventurers must successfully roll 4d6 under DEX or plunge to their deaths below.

Okay so 4d6 under DEX or fall - notice how much more clear this is than 2d6 under DEX or risk falling.

Thieves, of course, need not make this roll.

Do thieves also get an exception for walking up the long stair?

A party that ropes itself together increases its chances: the roll is improved to 3d6 under DEX.

Still unclear what happens when some people in the party fall and other don’t but they’re all roped together. This is the most common result so probably worth writing it down.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The exterior is messy. I had quibbles with 13 of the 17 keyed locations. Information needs to be moved to where it’s accessed from. For instance, the marble ledge needs to be mentioned in the approach and the trap door to the basement of the tower of madness needs to be mentioned in the ground floor of the tower of madness.

Consistent with the rest of the book, I hate the use of range notation instead of dice notation, and Barton (whose job is literally to be a historian) just cannot help himself from telling the GM irrelevant history.

On a game level, I love what’s happening. There are 4 different entrances to the halls available to even low-level players (with just a bit of climbing and exploring), and two paths up to the top, one of which is a huge magic statue that reinforces a running modules theme that names and statues are important. What a sweet, sweet set-piece.

I recommend:

• Adding notes about missing information to the respective keys. Make sure to…

  • mention the marble ledge in the approach

  • the rubble pile in the tower of madness ground floor

  • roll for an inhabitant of EX-15 each time the party approaches, they might see someone entering that way

• Reworking the mechanics for falling off the long stair or the ledge in EX-16.

  • Ignore the long stair

  • For EX-16 if the sum of strength of the people who are falling is higher than the sum of strength of the people who aren’t, they all fall, otherwise they’re all fine.

• Come up with some phrases and knowledge for Yrtol the Hungry. Here’s a LLM:

  • "Leave this place... before you become another forgotten whisper."

  • "You seek treasure? I seek only her. A fool's errand for us both."

  • "The cold of the grave is nothing to the cold of a heart without its love."

  • "Hunger... a hunger that food cannot sate. Do you know that feeling?"

  • "Do not speak to me of gods. They were silent when she was taken."

  • "Another footstep... another soul to be lost."

  • (About his lost love, Nyema): "They took her. The priests in their red robes. Down to the profane waters. They gave her to their slithering god."

  • (About the Cult of Set): "The new priests, with their serpent banners and their bloody altars. They promise power, but deliver only emptiness."

  • (About the Tower of Madness): "This tower is my prison. And my tomb. You may rest here, but you will not find peace. My sorrow is a chill that seeps into the very stones."

  • (About his hunger): "They call me 'the Hungry'. It is not for food I yearn, but for a justice that will never come. For a love that was stolen. For an end to this endless torment."

  • (About Arden Vul): "This whole place is a grave. A monument to ambition and folly. You walk on the bones of better men than you."

  • (About revenge): "I would have my revenge on the serpent-priests, but I am bound to this place. Perhaps you... no, you will likely end up as another offering on their altars."

• Nixing all of the uncertainty. Any time the module says “may” or specifies types of PCs like “clever” or “sharp-eyed” or whatever, just ignore it and tell them the info.

• Figure out your movement and how many turns (and thus random encounters) it takes to climb the stair. Your players will probably be doing it a lot, so pre-calculate it. I recommend 12 squares per turn unencumbered. I count 65 squares diagonally to get to the top, so call it six turns to climb the long stair at full move speed, 8 turns at 9”, 12 turns at 6”, and 24 turns at 3” movement.

• Related to the above, pre-calculate how long it takes to go from Gosterwick to the approach. According to the map, it looks like it’s about ~9 miles. I recommend making this take 18 turns at 12” movement, 24 turns at 9” movement, 36 turns at 6” movement, and 72 turns at 3” movement. I use days with 72 turns in them.

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