TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!
Session 17 of Where Hell Comes To Prey is my weekly (roughly) experience DMing Miranda Elkins' Nightwick Abbey. The last time I blogged about the campaign was here.
Session 17 Congregants: Grog (F1), Froggi (Fr1), Shiva (R2), Kyte (F1), Maylay (Ch1)
Quiet in Nightwick Village as the party rests, but Grog attempts to get some holy water from Brother Rodrick who expresses dismay that Grog can delve deep in the Abbey but not so deep in his pockets to pay for holy water. Then off to the Abbey they go! (DM NOTE: I am a little ill as I write this so apologies if its scattered)
- PCs decide on hitting up the East Tower and encountering nothing decides to head SW through the door and stumble upon a bizarre choreographed battle between eye-less dead dressed in the Sword Bothers and Realmish Livery. One on each side wears a crown, but the PCs withdraw hitting up instead another room off to the side filled with rusty discarded swords- they collect a lot of silver but potentially at a price as two PC noticed knicks and cuts on their hands.
The PCs turn northward and get the drop on an ash and fire mockery of a child playing quietly until Shiva backstabs the child and the rest pile in for a beat-down!
The Silent Dance - Turning north, the PCs are surprised to find the Abbey has shifted! Just in time for a group of cultists swinging incense to come down the hall. Maylee calls out that they mean no harm and one cultist pushes forward and pulls their hood back– Gertrude! (DM NOTE: The PCs saved her from execution in Nightwick village in Session 16).
- The cultists invite them to dinner prepared by Nightwick’s most famous chef!
- Grog, Froggi, and Kyte choose neither to eat the meat or drink the milky wine of the Abbey and instead endure the cajoling of the cultists who snap at them like hungry dogs
- Eventually, the Chef brings out the meal which consists of a disturbing number of unidentified meats
- Shiva and Maylee agree to dine with Gertrude which nets them +1 HP however it contributes to both of their POSSESSION status effects
- The whole exchange was one of the more RPG-focused sessions and I was pretty pleased with it overall as I kept trying to up the tension by seeing if the PCs who participate in bad things in the Abbey.
- Eventually, dinner is completed with Shiva and Maylee looking at their blood-soaked hands wondering what they have done. PCs explore a little more but ultimately leave the Abbey much richer!
Alright, so 17 sessions into the campaign which is a solid run. I always feel anything over 10 sessions means your campaign is reaching a stable point and your PCs are invested
100 Minutes Of Megadungeon Madness: Two-hour sessions are still a great length. This is still really working for the group. It seems to fit with everyone's schedules and we seem to have a very consistent group being able to join. Sometimes we go a little extra if we get started late but roughly 120 minutes works!
Time For Exploration Still Short: However, the 120-minute sessions come at a price that is shorter overall exploration and opportunity for XP. In my other Nightwick game, by session 17 we had 2-3 PCs who were level 2 (thieves and 1 wizard) so I might need to change some things:
- Use OD&Ds 100xp/HD of monster defeated: Currently its about 50xp/HD defeated. Now given that combat in Nightwick tends to be both deadly and take up time (by nature of the ruleset) it is a good payoff. Unlike 5e, the players are not going to pick fights in the Abbey because they still are deadly.
- Passout Completed Geomorphs: When the PCs have fully explored a geomorph, I might need to just give them that geomorph. Nightwick can shift, so they still won't have 100% complete information. And it will cut down on frustration once they have mapped. The ur-goal here is playing the game (by which I mean making impactful choices), so given the compressed time-- let's lean into that.
Expanding Cast Of Characters: By 17 sessions, we've built up quite a large number of NPCs and it was suggested that I provide the players with a list of them and what they want/need-- I'll add that to the player doc.
What's A Good Frogling To Do!?: With two characters involved in cults or the Abbey's nefarious powers it clear what can happen if you do evil acts, but where is the "good"? I think I'll work on highlighting options for the "righteous".... hmm maybe even whip up a sorta half-class.
Downtime in Zyan: Finally, in an effort not to remake tools, I'll try to make a one-sheet that outlines the downtime activities Ben L. laid out in this good pamphlet. That way players have a rough feel of the rules for downtime and what is possible.
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