I Smell a Rat: Rune-Lined Hallway

[WhiteLily]

I'm going to be running some DFRPG demos, but this scenario seems to suggest a TPK IMHO.

You've got the ruined-lined hallway (room 5), an almost unavoidable trap with unlimited shots that does 3d6-3, going into a very tough boss battle (room 6), with a nearby chamber of zombies.

I feel a lot of parties just die here.

[mburr0003]

Honestly, depends.

If everything goes wrong, few to none save versus the Evil Runes, Rune damage rolls higher than average, no one figures out how to fight a Peshkali, zombies get involved, everyone gets cursed by the altar... it's definitely a party wipe.

However, from what I've seen the trap tends to deal low damage (average is 7-8, if it isn't resisted), some GMs even allow it to be disarmed*, the zombies rarely get involved in the mini-Boss fight... but the Peshkali does tend to be a tough fight, especially if it knocks PCs into the altar to curse them.

Not as oddly brutal as the later Siege Beast can be, but the Peskali is a mini-boss for a reason.


If your PCs have a super rough time with the Close Combat fights earlier (spiders and rats), maybe consider reducing damage by a d6 for the trap and Peshkali (so 2d-2 for both). And if the Peshkali fight is then going too easily, the demon could always burst the false wall and invite the zeds in to help spice it up.




* I'd say use Hazardous Materials to back up Trap (Disarm), but that's just me trying to give the Wizard skills some usage.

[Anthony]

It depends a bit on some assumptions that are not clearly stated. A key thing is just how often someone can be affected by the runes. If you have to leave the area and come back to be affected again, you can sneak carefully down the passage. If it hits people every turn, you have to run through it, and the odds are the party winds up noisily trickling into the room with the Peshkali. Or worse, piling up at the door because something blocks the doorway.

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by Anthony

It depends a bit on some assumptions that are not clearly stated. A key thing is just how often someone can be affected by the runes. If you have to leave the area and come back to be affected again, you can sneak carefully down the passage. If it hits people every turn, you have to run through it, and the odds are the party winds up noisily trickling into the room with the Peshkali. Or worse, piling up at the door because something blocks the doorway.

IIRC, Kromm's intent was a "hits once per crossing", but don't quote me at him.

[Kromm]

It says "Once per visit." That means each time you enter area #5 from area #3 or area #6. It doesn't say "per second," "each turn," or anything else that would imply repeated damage over time.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Kromm

It says "Once per visit." That means each time you enter area #5 from area #3 or area #6. It doesn't say "per second," "each turn," or anything else that would imply repeated damage over time.

It does not say that in my copy, was it errata'd?

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by Anthony

It does not say that in my copy, was it errata'd?

The PDF say "once per visit", but not my paper version (first run).

I ran the dungeon a few time, the Peshkali can be a deadly fight with players not too Gurps-savvy and depending on the party composition you may want to tone it down, but the Rune hallway never killed anyone (although it came close once).
Although twice players ignored the very obvious (emphasis in the text, even !) trap and walked straight in after I described the evil-looking bright runes lining the passages... pain is a great teacher, however, they were more cautious after, which certainly help in the next room - a nice bit of scenario design there !)

For relatively inexperienced players, I allowed the runes to be disarmed using whatever clever idea they came with, especially when the group they made choosing pregens didn't have any way to boost HT or MR, and they only had a hired cleric NPC with them.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

The PDF say "once per visit", but not my paper version (first run)

I have very old PDFs that I haven't re-downloaded, so that's probably it.

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by WhiteLily

I'm going to be running some DFRPG demos, but this scenario seems to suggest a TPK IMHO.

You've got the ruined-lined hallway (room 5), an almost unavoidable trap with unlimited shots that does 3d6-3, going into a very tough boss battle (room 6), with a nearby chamber of zombies.

I feel a lot of parties just die here.

A cleric with Magic Resistance, like Miriam Suntemple, makes a huuge difference here. A couple of energy points toward the Magic Resistance spell gives a -4 to Evil Runes and a +4 to your own HT rolls, +8 total swing. The last time I ran this adventure I believe someone attempted the hallway, took a bunch of damage, and then pulled back out for healing. Then the party sent in three characters with Magic Resistance and other buffs, fought the peshkali (Grukuk lost an arm), and ignored the zombies/never released them.

Originally Posted by mburr0003

Not as oddly brutal as the later Siege Beast can be, but the Peskali is a mini-boss for a reason.

If your PCs have a super rough time with the Close Combat fights earlier (spiders and rats), maybe consider reducing damage by a d6 for the trap and Peshkali (so 2d-2 for both). And if the Peshkali fight is then going too easily, the demon could always burst the false wall and invite the zeds in to help spice it up.

Nitpick: there's no siege beast in (vanilla) I Smell A Rat.

I like your idea of involving the zombies better than the book's suggestion of multiple peshkalis. I'll maybe try that next time. It's an interesting tactic for a peshkali to try after losing an arm or two.

If you wanted to make the peshkali easy to kill I would suggest removing either its DR or its Supernatural Durability--but IMO the peshkali is the most interesting thing in the (vanilla) adventure so don't!

I also like replacing the Merle-thing at the end with a Merle-Ramex. It' thematic, dramatic, and mechanically interesting: instead of just blasting away at a target until it dies a second later, it feels more like the end of Ghostbusters where they hit Gozer and it's gone... but after a minute or so it comes back. For extra fun make Merle-thing visibly older each time it heals up and reappears. And reread Stephen King's story The Jaunt to get ideas for what kind of mad dialogue to give someone trapped outside of time.

[Kromm]

In the original Gen Con sessions, the groups who went through the dungeon came up with novel proposals for how to deal with this area, and I went with their ideas. It does say, "Disarm: No, unless the GM permits Cleansing (Exploits, p. 24)." One group tried exactly that. I forget whether they used Theology with Seeking Guidance (Exploits, p. 90) to get a hint from me.

Both groups had expert thaumatologists who warned of the danger when the door was opened. They learned about selling their soul, but nobody wanted to do that.

Three of the pre-gens have Shape Earth, too. Nobody tried it, but it would've been an option if they were willing to spend lots of time casting and recovering (~14 cubic yards, so 84 energy because it's explicitly worked stone . . .), and mostly likely meeting wandering monsters.