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Old 06-12-2019, 10:39 AM   #11
Tywyll
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Default Re: Death Test Mappable?

Quote:
Originally Posted by malchidael View Post
In DT1, in the four "corners" of the labyrinth there are "L" shaped corridors - they turn 90 degrees without mentioning it.

I don't want to give too many spoilers, but
Spoiler:  


I'm going to be sitting in a hotel room tomorrow night - I was planning on bringing one of the Dark City Games solo adventures with me, but perhaps I'll bring the revised Death Tests and see if I can find any typos.
I would call leaving out the fact that you have turned a corner a pretty serious omission! Especially since it doesn't clarify distance...are you facing West because you walked around a corner or because the hall dead-ends but has a curtain on its west side?

Descriptively speaking that's pretty awful. Especially if you are running it for other people (which I am doing tonight)!
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Old 06-12-2019, 11:22 AM   #12
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Death Test Mappable?

Now that we've gotten into details, I think I half-remember us being confused at first by that back about 1980, too. The wording of the corner passages can throw the reader for a loop, but once(if) you get its intended meaning as the passage having started in one direction and ended in another, the map will work out.
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Old 06-12-2019, 11:26 AM   #13
malchidael
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Near Milwaukee, WI
Default Re: Death Test Mappable?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tywyll View Post
I would call leaving out the fact that you have turned a corner a pretty serious omission! Especially since it doesn't clarify distance...are you facing West because you walked around a corner or because the hall dead-ends but has a curtain on its west side?

Descriptively speaking that's pretty awful. Especially if you are running it for other people (which I am doing tonight)!
I hear you, and agree. We fumbled through it quite a bit in the 80's - it's one of the reasons I have trouble playing any numbered-paragraph adventures today.

Here is the link to a DT 1 map that I sketched out a while back, hosted on my Google Drive (I need to set up my own web page one of these days).

It has the rooms with color and the paragraph number of the entry into the room (always from the east - there may be a different text for entry from the west).

This is from the vintage version; I have done a quick check of the room numbers from the new version and they match, so it should be good.

I do NOT have a similar map for DT2.

Hopefully this will help you tonight.
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Old 06-12-2019, 07:35 PM   #14
JLV
 
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Arizona
Default Re: Death Test Mappable?

Quote:
Originally Posted by malchidael View Post
I hear you, and agree. We fumbled through it quite a bit in the 80's - it's one of the reasons I have trouble playing any numbered-paragraph adventures today.

Here is the link to a DT 1 map that I sketched out a while back, hosted on my Google Drive (I need to set up my own web page one of these days).

It has the rooms with color and the paragraph number of the entry into the room (always from the east - there may be a different text for entry from the west).

This is from the vintage version; I have done a quick check of the room numbers from the new version and they match, so it should be good.

I do NOT have a similar map for DT2.

Hopefully this will help you tonight.
Yep. That's the way my old map looked.
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Old 06-13-2019, 02:04 AM   #15
Tywyll
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Default Re: Death Test Mappable?

Quote:
Originally Posted by malchidael View Post
I hear you, and agree. We fumbled through it quite a bit in the 80's - it's one of the reasons I have trouble playing any numbered-paragraph adventures today.

Here is the link to a DT 1 map that I sketched out a while back, hosted on my Google Drive (I need to set up my own web page one of these days).

It has the rooms with color and the paragraph number of the entry into the room (always from the east - there may be a different text for entry from the west).

This is from the vintage version; I have done a quick check of the room numbers from the new version and they match, so it should be good.

I do NOT have a similar map for DT2.

Hopefully this will help you tonight.
Thanks for that. I really appreciate it.

We ended up going with DT2 afterall...the rooms seemed more interesting then DT1 (this room has three goons, this room has a bear, snooozzzeeee). They ended up wrestling the fire elemental last night. They really suffered because they didn't bring any caster but one warrior with a couple of defensive spells. I ended up letting potions count as wine skins to help them out (one even tried to pee on it rather than throw a potion...I forced him to 'ready' his 'weapon' but of course it didn't do any good :D ).

We only got lost and mixed up twice playing through it...
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Old 06-13-2019, 08:18 AM   #16
malchidael
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Near Milwaukee, WI
Default Re: Death Test Mappable?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tywyll View Post
Thanks for that. I really appreciate it.

We ended up going with DT2 afterall...the rooms seemed more interesting then DT1 (this room has three goons, this room has a bear, snooozzzeeee). They ended up wrestling the fire elemental last night. They really suffered because they didn't bring any caster but one warrior with a couple of defensive spells. I ended up letting potions count as wine skins to help them out (one even tried to pee on it rather than throw a potion...I forced him to 'ready' his 'weapon' but of course it didn't do any good :D ).

We only got lost and mixed up twice playing through it...
Cool! - For the first time through, getting mixed up only twice is a victory in and of itself.

I know they're quintessential TFT modules, but the Death Tests are among my least favorite (I know - I'm a heretic). Sadly, my favorites (Treasure of the Silver Dragon and GrailQuest) still languish with MetaGaming.

If you haven't already, check out The Sorcerers Manor by Dark City Games. It's free, short, and more interesting from a story perspective (IMHO) than the Death Tests.

Of course the recently published (in PDF) TFT Adventures on Warehouse23 are available, and already designed to be game mastered.
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Old 06-13-2019, 09:34 AM   #17
Chris Rice
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: London Uk, but originally from Scotland
Default Re: Death Test Mappable?

Plus there is a new Solo soon to be available, which was a stretch goal in the Four Perilous Journeys KS. The author said this will be along the lines of Grailquest.
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Old 06-13-2019, 09:48 AM   #18
Tywyll
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Default Re: Death Test Mappable?

Quote:
Originally Posted by malchidael View Post
Cool! - For the first time through, getting mixed up only twice is a victory in and of itself.

I know they're quintessential TFT modules, but the Death Tests are among my least favorite (I know - I'm a heretic). Sadly, my favorites (Treasure of the Silver Dragon and GrailQuest) still languish with MetaGaming.

If you haven't already, check out The Sorcerers Manor by Dark City Games. It's free, short, and more interesting from a story perspective (IMHO) than the Death Tests.

Of course the recently published (in PDF) TFT Adventures on Warehouse23 are available, and already designed to be game mastered.
Thanks! I already own one of the Dark City Games books which I've had for ages but think I'm finally going to use it. Their stuff (at least that module and the two freebies) are really well written and interesting, not to mention the book I have at least has a map in the fricking back! I wish DCG wrote some traditional modules as well. Yeah, DCG do great stuff!

I did back the TFT Adventures, but I'm in Scotland so god knows when I'll get my physical copies. I don't want to run them till I have the extra map bits. But having read the pdfs, there are a couple I'm really interested in.
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Old 06-13-2019, 10:01 AM   #19
malchidael
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Near Milwaukee, WI
Default Re: Death Test Mappable?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tywyll View Post
Thanks! I already own one of the Dark City Games books which I've had for ages but think I'm finally going to use it. Their stuff (at least that module and the two freebies) are really well written and interesting, not to mention the book I have at least has a map in the fricking back! I wish DCG wrote some traditional modules as well. Yeah, DCG do great stuff!

I did back the TFT Adventures, but I'm in Scotland so god knows when I'll get my physical copies. I don't want to run them till I have the extra map bits. But having read the pdfs, there are a couple I'm really interested in.
I started to work on rewriting The Sorcerer's Manor as a 'standard' adventure instead of the solo gamebook. Got hung up with the mapping (tried using Campaign Cartographer 3 instead of being smart and just using paper). But then I started to get other evil ideas.....
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Old 06-22-2019, 07:09 AM   #20
Mallen the dark
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Carrollton, Newnan area of Ga
Default Re: Death Test Mappable?

Quote:
Originally Posted by malchidael View Post
I know they're quintessential TFT modules, but the Death Tests are among my least favorite (I know - I'm a heretic). Sadly, my favorites (Treasure of the Silver Dragon and GrailQuest) still languish with MetaGaming.
I also love GrailQuest, but you forget Orb Quest. I thought it was better than the Silver Dragon. What I liked best about Silver Dragon was the dragons... magic proof dragons really trow the players for a loop.
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