Fan Dungeon for GURPS DF now Up

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Greg 1

Oo! Oo! What do I need in order to open this? (You kids with your damn computers can get off my lawn)

Presumably MapTool.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Greg 1

How did the adventure go when you played it?

As I've mentioned, I haven't been able to playtest it myself, so I'm flying somewhat blind.

My players are now on level 5 (skipped level 4). I've had to buff some of the monsters as my players have nearly 400 points right now but otherwise it's working fine.

[Dragondog]

Originally Posted by Greg 1

How and where would you guys note this in the text? Would you give heights for every room?

If the height is the same everywhere, or at least in most places, you can list the default height in one place, or perhaps once per level, and then list height specifically for any room that has a non-default height.

[mlangsdorf]

Some notes on my playthrough:

As Rasputin noted, the bugbears are a bit tough. They're probably most dangerous if they come into the guardroom from their barracks while the PCs are still fighting the guards, as then the PCs have to fight them in a relatively confined space. In the chief's hall, the bugbears have to Move for several seconds, giving arches and spellcasters multiple opportunities to take them out.

My experience was that the shamans were by far the toughest fight in the Cutnose Lair. Their high effective skill means they can toss off Strike Blinds from 5 hexes away, and most PCs come out poorly in a contest of HT vs effective skill-16. High Pain Threshold and massive hit points means that they don't go down for much of anything, especially Old Snaggle. The fight can turn into a farce, with a bunch of blind PCs desperately trying to take out a bunch of otherwise weak shaman.

I haven't played much of the 2nd or later levels, but I'm not super fond of them. The first level has implicit time pressure: sooner or later the orcs are going to notice the noise of battle or trail of bodies, and so the PCs need to quickly and efficiently dispatch the foe, secure the loot, and push on to the next bunch. The next two levels have generally weaker foes (except for the dragon) that the PCs can overwhelm individually, rest for as long as they want, and then continue.

I did a runthrough of the hellslug encounter. The PCs were all bunched up on the stairs, the hellslug managed to get through the knight's defenses and survive to make a Constriction attack. Nasty, but it's just HP damage and the party dispatched it a round or two later. Then they healed and rested for an hour and continued on. I expect the earth elemental fight will be similar.


One thing that I would recommend would be adding more opportunities for dungeon parkour (DF2 p7). A chasm separating the stairs down from the rest of the Cutnose Lair would explain why the orcs don't guard their back door and give the martial artists and thieves something to cross. Some treasures in high places that the orcs or whatever can't reach would put a little more wealth into circulation and make people appreciate points put into Perception and Climbing. There's probably other stuff; those are just the two I thought of first.

[mlangsdorf]

Originally Posted by Greg 1

Yeah, (CP growth for the final fight) is a significant issue. The Forgotten King is the boss of bosses and should put up the toughest fight in the dungeon, but he's no fun if he's impossible.

I suppose I expect my players, faced with such a problem, to do what they always do and come up with some brilliant plans that I never saw coming.

Maybe it isn't fair to expect that.

I'm not really super concerned as to whether or how hard a fight the Forgotten King is. I do think I'd have a riot on my hands if I played a group through 7 levels of dungeon, including two grueling levels of orcs, a dragon, and the assorted weirdness of the last few levels, and said "you get no CP."

I'm assuming about 10 CP a chapter, though probably staggered quite a bit:

Journey to the castle: 5 CP
Castle grounds: 10 CP
Cutnose Lair: 15 CP
Vault of Scribes: 5 CP
Vault of Servants: 10 CP
Garden: 10 CP
Palace: 10 CP
Prison: 15 CP
Tomb: 15 CP

I might have eyeballed the difficulty of the palace and prison backwards. The Vault of the Scribes is definitely easier than the previous levels.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Greg 1

How and where would you guys note this in the text? Would you give heights for every room?

A convention in 4th ed D&D modules is to list things that apply generally in a block at the beginning of the area in which they apply, and then note exceptions. I really like this, because it allows you to be thurough without being repetitive.

So, something like "This dungeon is lit with sputtering pinetar torches in sconces every 10 yards on walls (-3 light penalty, stealable). Ceilings are 8' tall. Walls are a -4 penalty to climb from being made of well fitted stone blocks, and floors are even, imposing no combat penalties. Doors are Average Ironbound doors equipped with an Average bar but are unbarred unless noted in the room description. See DF2 page 18 for details about the door construciton."

[Greg 1]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

Some notes on my playthrough:

Thank you! Very useful!

I haven't played much of the 2nd or later levels, but I'm not super fond of them. The first level has... The next two levels have generally weaker foes (except for the dragon) that the PCs can overwhelm individually, rest for as long as they want, and then continue.

I'm not surprised in the slightest, given the lack of playtest, that the balance is wildly off.

Do folks agree that the monsters on levels 2 and 3 are too weak?

Suggestions on beefing them up to appropriate levels?

[Greg 1]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

I'm not really super concerned as to whether or how hard a fight the Forgotten King is. I do think I'd have a riot on my hands if I played a group through 7 levels of dungeon, including two grueling levels of orcs, a dragon, and the assorted weirdness of the last few levels, and said "you get no CP."

I don't want to make suggestions on CP until I'm pretty sure I've more or less done the balancing. If the Vault of the Scribes is boringly easy, for instance, it needs beefing up.

[Greg 1]

It occurs to me that one thing that folk could do to help me balance is to identify any specific monsters that seem underpowered (or overpowered) and give me an idea of how underpowered (or overpowered) you think they are.

That would be a useful guide for raising scores and adding abilities.

[Greg 1]

So, for instance, we might take the poor old hell slug. Do folk agree that it is underpowered? What does it need?

Hellslug takes half impaling damage? Or does that make the creature too complex?

Here is the original:

Hell Slug
The Hell slug is a broad, flat invertebrate of roughly oval shape that hides in trees or on ceilings, dropping onto creatures passing below to grapple and smother them. It has a limited ability to alter the color of its rough, slimy hide for camouflage and may vary in color from light brown to dark brown or green, to black. The slug waiting on the ceiling here is dark brown and well-concealed against its background. PCs coming through the door above which it waits are at -6 to notice it. PCs entering through any other door are at -2. The Hell Slug’s pink blood is extremely thick and sticky. Anyone who damages the slug with a weapon of Reach 1 or less must roll Dodge or be splattered with blood on the attacking limb or limbs (no Dodge permitted if striking bare-handed). If a character is splattered, consider their limb to be covered by units of goo equal to the damage they just caused to the slug (example: a sword blow to the slug causing 4 points of damage will produce 4 points of goo). Until the goo is removed, use of the limb will require the character to win a contested ST roll every second against the cumulative amount of goo on it. The goo can be removed at a rate of one unit per second of cloth-wiping or five units per second of washing.

ST: 40 HP: 50 Speed: 5
DX: 12 Will: 11 Move: 5
IQ: 3 Per: 10 SM: 2
HT: 12 FP: 40 DR: 2, 8 vs Crushing
Dodge: 9 Parry: N/A Block: N/A

Attacks: Squeeze-16 4d Crushing

Traits: Constriction Attack; High Pain Threshold; Infravision; Invertibrate; Vermiform.

Skills: Brawling-16; Stealth-16.

Class: Dire Animal.

Notes: None