10-07-2019, 01:49 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Dec 2018
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Modifying I Smell A Rat for two PC's (Swashbuckler and Cleric)
I'm going to run I Smell a Rat next week, but I only have two players. Their characters are a Swashbuckler and a Cleric built according to the Adventurers templates.
I know the adventure is designed with six delvers in mind so I'm asking for your help to tone it down. I don't mind it being a little bit of challenge, but I don't want it to be a killer dungeon it seems to be based on reading it. Some things I've thought about: - Add more actual rats - Reduce the number and size of the spiders - Tone down or remove the evil runes from the passage the characters can't avoid - Replace the peshkali with something easier or use a two-armed version - Replace the armored golem swordsman with something easier - Remove toxifier/replace with something easier - Tone down Merle's ranged attack (see below) As a background I'm dropping the adventure into my own homebrew fantasy world. I was thinking that Merle's circle found an encased demon during their excavations and tried to bind it to their will. They failed and were all killed. Merle however was able to imprison the demon inside a circle he made with his own blood. The demon would possess Merle's body and would try to convince the adventurers to break the circle and release him, making it all seem like a simple arcane mishap. What do you think? Is this a workable idea? What else would you suggest? |
10-07-2019, 02:45 AM | #2 | |
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Poland
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Re: Modifying I Smell A Rat for two PC's (Swashbuckler and Cleric)
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The runes could also be a glory moment for the cleric (let him exorcise them)… still, they could be just an alarm that alerts whatever creature guards the room. About the golem, as terrifying as it is, I like the idea of a strong, dangerous, but Move 2 opponent. Maybe just reduce it's armor and take away the Extra Life?
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10-07-2019, 02:53 AM | #3 | |
Join Date: Dec 2018
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Re: Modifying I Smell A Rat for two PC's (Swashbuckler and Cleric)
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I didn't know you could exorcise the runes. If that's the case, that changes things up a little. It read like a unavoidable trap and I thought it's pretty unreasonable. Maybe I'll let cleric do the exorcising or modify it so that it can be bypassed by breaking the runes etc. The golem: yeah, the move makes it more manageable. But I don't necessarily like puzzle opponents you have basically only one way of beating. Which in this case is probably Swashbuckler aiming for chinks in the armor with -10. If I keep it I'll probably straight up hint that trying to beat through the DR is pointless and you should try targeting weak spots. |
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10-07-2019, 03:16 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Poland
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Re: Modifying I Smell A Rat for two PC's (Swashbuckler and Cleric)
Oh, I'm pretty sure it isn't specified anywhere, just a creative interpretation.
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My irregular blog: d8 hit location table |
10-07-2019, 05:11 AM | #5 | ||||||
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Modifying I Smell A Rat for two PC's (Swashbuckler and Cleric)
Be careful it isn't so many rats that they get overwhelmed. Don;t go above 3-4 per swarm unless the PCs have a bottleneck to keep from getting surrounded. And don't forget the rats attack into Close Combat, so delvers have to keep backing away to make attacks.
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10-07-2019, 06:37 AM | #6 |
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
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Re: Modifying I Smell A Rat for two PC's (Swashbuckler and Cleric)
For what it's worth, I exorcised the runes while my team stood watch when I played the adventure with Kromm as GM at GenCon 2017.
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10-07-2019, 08:38 AM | #7 | |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Modifying I Smell A Rat for two PC's (Swashbuckler and Cleric)
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Personally, I thought Doug's request was a cool one, as was a previous group request to pray for divine aid in another sticky situation. None of it was easy or risk-free for the heroes . . . but nothing ventured, nothing gained!
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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10-07-2019, 08:55 AM | #8 | |
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
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Re: Modifying I Smell A Rat for two PC's (Swashbuckler and Cleric)
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It was one of those things where we could have suffered badly for it: we risked a lot of wandering monster rolls, and it could have failed.
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10-07-2019, 03:40 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Modifying I Smell A Rat for two PC's (Swashbuckler and Cleric)
I wish evil runes were given hit points and DR values so that holy warriors could whack at them. Maybe they have DR 15 with 100 hit points and weapon would also have to be holy in order to damage the evil runes. The exorcism could also cause damage too based on the skill level. An exorcism 25 would do more damage than an exorcism of 15 so it would take longer. The Will of the evil could be the DR value so a normal. This could also be useful for cleansing evil altars too.
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10-07-2019, 05:41 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Modifying I Smell A Rat for two PC's (Swashbuckler and Cleric)
I meant to post this here
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