Thursday, May 7, 2015

The Meal of Oshregaal


I wrote a 17 page PDF about a dungeon.

First things first:

Patreon supporters, thank you for putting money in my tip jar.  That was the kick in the pants I needed to start typing up my dungeons and striving for some degree of professionalism in them.  So, this dungeon was really only possible because you paid me to do it.  I hope you enjoy this dungeon.

Second things second:

I think this is one of the best things I've ever written.

I've been working on this dungeon for like, 10 days, and I've realized that I'm never going to be 100% happy with it.  It's a little too dense with insanity.  There's probably too much treasure.  But that's okay.  I can revise it later if I want.  It's only a PDF.

Download it by clicking HERE

I intend to write another PDF each month, so this is hopefully just the first of many.

If you use this PDF and like it, consider buying me a beer by supporting me on Patreon.

10 comments:

  1. Arnold: Do you see these comments on older posts? Anyway, I think I might prep this to run off-grid at GaryCon. I was looking at it again, and . . . I can't think of a reason that the characters need to be higher than first level. Right?

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    1. I've run it with levels 1 and 2 to great effect. If helps to have a little disposable muscle, though, so a hireling or two would be great. The dungeon was surprisingly lethal.

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    2. Thanks! That should be perfect. I already have lvl. 1-2 pregens for a game I'm running on the grid. I'll just print 'em twice. I've been looking forward to running this one!

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  2. Is there an available mutation table that you prefer to use?

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  3. I found a typo. And another.
    In the True Rumors on page 2 it says that Oshregaal throws feast "knights".
    On page 6 it says "If the paper's protective". I think the "if"'s there by mistake.
    In the Trophy Room description it says "A single torcheS".
    The description of the fusion ooze says "Fusion 1/Round, IF it can fuse two swallowed creatures."

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  4. Running this at GaryCon again this year!

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    1. I ran it a few weeks ago! It needs a rewrite/rebuild, I think.

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    2. They killed Oshy, which is unexpected but awesome.

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  5. Hello, God bless, and happy thanksgiving. I recently had the pleasure of running Oshregaal for my players in an OD&D derived system. One of my players has asked me to provide feedback.

    In my presentation, I gave players the option of pursuing each of the available plot hooks for reward, rather than asking one of them. I also gave them the requirement that they could leave no evidence linking back to themselves or their benefactor in the quest, which I think played well with the instructions, and gave the module an experience similar to the video game series "Hitman". The playstyle that arose from this was enjoyable, with a mix of classic D&D problem solving and character based play.

    With that being said, there are a few improvements which I think would greatly improve the quality of the module.

    1) Floor Number Split: I found it very awkward having to page through the book when players moved between room 6 (foyer) and room 13 (feast hall). In the same manner, I found it rather awkward whenever players went upstairs or downstairs. Grouping these floors together linearly in the book, or by a letter designation (e.g. A1-A18 Ground Floor, B1-5 Basement, etc). would greatly improve the readability of the book.

    2) Lack of treasure, secret rooms. For being a Wizard, Oshregaal's collection of magic items seems a bit wanting to me. While there are plenty of spells, scrolls, potions, these all feel like minor magic items. It would certainly be fitting for a magic user of Oshregaal's stature to have some stronger magic items for himself and his sister. Adamantine Shield Ring is listed in Appendix B, but not placed.

    3) Stat-blocks: I found this to be the most wanting part of the module. For being a powerful chaos sorceror, it's unclear from Oshregaal's stat-block if he has access or uses any spells other than his mass command. I was playing the module off-the-cuff with no preparation, so I went with what was written, but given the opportunity to prep, I would have Oshregaal prepare spells from his spellbook listed elsewhere in the module. Perhaps a recommended spread would be appropriate in the book. Nathema's statblock is different in the two places where it appears, with one having tusk power and bone spikes, and the other having poison blood and not listing the tusk power. As well as having differing hit-dice (HD3 vs. HD4). The Tusk People also seem to lack the Tusk Power in Appendix A. Lady Kelago fares better, but her unarmored AC makes her a rather trivial encounter alone, which is how the players found her.

    Finally, there is the matter of minor omissions. I was not able to discern how the library connects between the basement and ground floors, and Hide from Ooze was missing from the spell-list. Oshregaal's immunity to non-magical weapons listed only in Xax's paragraph in the library, etc.

    All in all, it was a pleasure to run, but could stand to be greatly improved by a polishing and sanity pass such that your ideas are communicated more clearly, and the power and treasure levels brought a bit more into expectation for a 10 hit-die chaos sorceror.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the thorough write-up!

      I've been wanting to do an update on this module for a while now, and you make some really good points. The statblock and organization are the obvious places to clean up.

      Thanks for noticing stuff like the tusk men abilities + adamantine shield ring. I will absolutely mention you if/when the update occurs.

      Other things I want to add: changing the layout so that the bedrooms are more accessible once the players are "locked in" to Oshregaal's meal, expanding the library, and giving more roleplay notes for the meals (which I intended as recurring events within the dungeon). I think it's a novel gimmick (the dungeon boss is "friendly" and wants you to have meals with him before he finally eats you) but it needs a lot of polish.

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