WHERE HELL COMES TO PREY: Running Nightwick Abbey 06

Spooky...

SUNDAY SERVICE Wow. I’m behind on these because the last time I checked in was around Session 17 and we are now up to Session 26! I won’t recant everything but in the last couple of sessions:

• PC carousing resulted in fashionable villagers adopting dungeon gear as the season’s must-have items- price soar to 10x the amount

• A strange person rides into the village on a shabby horse covered in white power, wearing livery similar to the Sword Brothers;  the rider has bandaged hands and carries a bizarre square sword made of fine wood

• The PCs descend into the dungeon to free Cunneke’s ancestor, but in this quest they are rebuffed repeatedly; first by having a major fighter killed by some sorta strange plant and then a second time they picked a fight with a cult of the Bloody Baroness, barely survived, and lost the gold skull in the process

• While licking their wounds, another misplaced carousing roll resulted in the sun turning a pallid grey and the moon blood red and at the same time a distant rumble in the mountain was heard

• Down again the player went into the Abbey’s maw searching for the way to the second level which they found, but to a different section of the Abbey- one with a garden from which strange herbs were harvested

• In the subsequent days, the PCs plan a 3rd attempt to free Cunneke’s ancestor, this time suffering a beytrals by a hireling woodsman who was working for the forces of the pit and losing a second hireling  to a fit of madness as they threw themselves into a burning pit where a demon was being summoned

• In this last delve, the PC did understand the explosion has hearld changes in the Abbey and they found a route down to the second floor closer to Cunneke’s ancestor’s imprisonment before turning back

TENDING TO THE FLOCK

Adding Regional Events To Show the World Moves in the Absence of the Players: With the most recent sessions, I have incorporated yearly, monthly, and weekly events into the campaign structure. For example, the yearly result I’ve rolled has been “volcano”, a failed magical research carousing roll has provided a monthly event, and recently the weekly roll as produced “stranger”. I’ve used the volcanic activity to change the Abbey and the types of monsters in it. I also might change the cult composition as well. Currently, there are two cults in the Abbey, but perhaps a third emerges based on fire and demons from the pit. As for the change in the sun and moon, this has been blamed on magic users and caused Halfdan to sequester himself in his tower, taking the PC Kingsley with him.

Building Out New Factions In Nightwick Village To Provide PC Opportunities for Connection: A puzzling individual (Ambrose) who has drifted into Nightwick Village with bandaged hands and requested the manufacture of a “square sword” from the village blacksmith. Since rolling “stranger” for a weekly event, I’ve had Ambrose joined by another individual with similarly bandaged hands.

The 100-minute Megadungeon Campaign Format Still Serves Well: I’ve started to allow the sessions to run a little longer past the 2-hour mark. I think aiming toward a tight session that pushes action over long deliberation is good! However, I need to make sure to leave room for players to let their characters breathe, the group to discuss the world, and spontaneous opportunities that make games memorable. Being too strict to format can restrict that.

I Gave My Players A Corrected Map Of Rooms Triversed in the Abbey: I enjoy mapping and do it a lot in the Weeknights in Nightwick game I play in. My players in WHCtP, are mapping as well, but I noticed that in recent games their maps had become more a hindrance. So I gave them a corrected one for Session 26. Things ran more smoothly and they were able to move forward on a goal they’ve been working on the past three sessions. Perfect! The more I slept on it, the more I am happy with that decision.

I Started Experimenting with the Underclock: This is a new invention by Arnold K of Goblin Punch. Basically you start a counter at 20 and each round or when the player do something loud or something that takes time, roll  a 1d6 roll and subtract that from the counter. At 0, you have a random encounter. I thought I would give this a shot because Nightwick Abbey’s haunted house vibe seems to be the correct environment to try out something that will ratchet up the tension. So far it's worked out pretty well.

WHERE HELL COMES TO PREY: Running Nightwick Abbey 05

 

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 Silent Dance

  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!
• 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!

TENDING TO THE FLOCK

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.

WHERE HELL COMES TO PREY 04: Running Nightwick Abbey 04

 

HAVE YOU SEEN THE (PURPLE) SIGN?

After 13 (!) sessions of Where Hell Comes To Prey, my campaign in Miranda Elkin’s Nightwick Abbey, a character has finally gone and gotten themselves inducted into one of the Abbey’s cults. How did that happen? Certainly not by DM planning, but instead as a result of the emergent play old-school games and megadungeons are famous for.I thought I would blog about this emergent result because while emergent play is often referenced, usually little is done to describe how it arises (other than “from play”) nor, IMO, how it is carried forward in subsequent sessions.

With that in mind, in the below blog post I will (1) review how we got to this point in the game and (2) show my DM notes on how I will be proceeding forward with incorporating this player’s choices into the greater game world.

PART I: NEOPHYTE NIGHT

This “neat” moment arose through the use of the multiple utilitarian mechanisms that spin under the hood of old-school games: random restocking, random treasure, encounter reaction roll, and finally hireling loyalty. Often by modern play standards, each is a vistigal organ of an earlier form of the game- quaint, but more likely to cause problems than provide solutions like wisdom teeth. Extraction is often best. However, I find this is not an apt description, so let me explain why and perhaps convince you to add these mechanisms back in your own D&D games.

Restocking Creates Opportunity: Cleared rooms don’t stay that way for long in megadungeons and Nightwick Abbey is no different. While stocking a room with features related to the Baroness, I ended up rolling “monster with treasure” and then “2d6 cultists”- I rolled an “8”. Okay so looking at the entry for cultists, it is noted that for cults related to the baroness, 6+ cultist are lead by a berserker. Great! Now we have the seed of an interesting encounter.

Random Treasure Creates Character: So what does this big group have? Cultist are listed as treasure type “U” and upon rolling I get “1200gp jewelry”. Hmm. Since we have a leader, why not signify that leader with the jewelry? But what kind of jewelry would stand out? Since we are prepping a sorta blood cult, how about a shroud-like executioner’s hood of garnet & ruby blood drops shaped like an executioner’s hood. Sorta like below, but with more red gleaming gems. That’s eye-catching!

Random Reaction Roll Creates Choice: Now that I have a shallow but serviceable group of cultists, the last bit is determining how they are going to act. Now certainly for four level 1 to 2 PCs a fight against these cultists would mean maybe 1 PC death, but worth it for the 1200xp treasure. However, the encounter reaction roll yielded “extort” which is my own house rules entry for a negative, but not combat, reaction that initiates a negotiation with the players. The leader, in a red-gem encrusted shroud, announces to the room that those who have arrived at the foral gate of the Baroness (Level 2) must have come “seeking admission into the cult and have brought sacrifices to bless their holy union to the Baroness!”

Random Hireling Roll Creates Action: As in most megadungeons, Nightwick Abbey has rules for hireling recruitment. Most are woodsmen and peasants, but few can be special. For this outing the PCs agreed to hire one of the special ones: a hooked-handed religious fantatic. So when this individual is confronted with the cult and their bargain I decided to test the loyalty of the hireling to remain in rank-and-file with the party or charge ahead. 

That check roll over their loyalty score, and the fanatic rushed before the party to stutter out a response! And this is where a great PC choice was made, one of the changelings, Maylay, brought down an ax to the back of the fanatic killing them in one blow! “This is our offering” the changeling stated with eerie calm and then proceeded to share in some of the flesh with the cult.

INTERLUDE: NOW WHAT?

I have an exciting climax to an adventure session with the players making very deliberate choices in unexpected ways. So how do I carry through this excitement?

The first thing that I wanted was the player to see a tangible change. They committed a terrible act inside a cursed abbey. So thinking back to my PSYCHOLOGICAL WEIGHT IN SLOT_BASED ENCUMBRANCE post, I had the player write “SIN” in capital letters in one of their open encumbrance slots.

Now thinking from the player’s point of view: so what? What does this act mean for the player? And what do I want this to mean for the Abbey/campaign? 

Helpfully Nightwick Abbey provides a section on “The Cult of the Baroness” which lists the cult's goals and compositions of their forces: berserkers, bats, and blood-cultist. Its a cult of blood, personality, and a “false” Mary-type.

But what does it mean to invest more into the cult? There are rules for “possession” which occur in 3 stages with the final one being a PC is completely taken over by the Abbey. I like the 3 stage approach, but I would like there to be continual “boons” at each stage of cult advancement that might tempt the player to continue forward, this will help naturalize the choices of the character in-game– that balance of power with ruin. If its all negative, then no one would ever try to be in a cult. I want to players to understand what the Abbey offers. Why would humans, raised in an environment that venerates LAW, start dealing with a well-known monument to hubris run by forces of the Pit.

So to that end, let’s create digetic cult advancement by linking boons to things the character has to do in the game world. And as a bonus, lets create a table to spice up blood cult encounters known that they are a more known faction to the PCs (see also: STRAIGHT UP VILLIAN)

PART II: CULT_URE

The Mark of The Beast

For each SIN collected fill an inventory slot

First Sin: You have eaten the flesh of man and it has changed you: cast Fear 1/day 

Transgression: Eat with a Berserker or eat at the Butcher’s table, but now NPCs generally do not like you or trust you, but can’t explain why

Second Sin: All are but lambs to the slaughter and you the wolf: cast Hold Person 1/day

Transgression: Remove your face and wear only one of those you have killed outside the Abbey or a wolf, all children of Law will shun you, hunt you and even “evil” beings feel uneasy in your presence

Third SIN: There is no other except HER: permanent Growth potion effect
Transgression: You must find the Baroness, survive the encounter, and lay with her as a lover and take from her as a babe; anytime you attempt to leave the Abbey make a save vs. spells if you fail you are POSESSED (as per Nightwick rules).

The Cult of the Baroness

I do think creating some variability in groups of enemies is a fun thing to do especially when those enemies are 1/2HD to 1HD. We can take the generic cultists found in Nightwick Abbey and add the flavoring suggested by the Cult of the Baroness write-up. I previously discussed a way to divide gang/mob/group forces by melee/range vs damage/special in the Grendel Mendal post, so let try to use some of that advice here too:

1-2 hp    Starved Wretches (melee, special) AC 9 collared and caged humans who’ve lost their minds and will scramble toward PCs with a manic zeal attempting to weight them down; bite for 1d4 dmg; on a hit, PC movement slows to 10’

3-4 hp Cult Nightkin (range, special) AC 10 cowled in white robes; a swarm of bats cling to their bare chests underneath their robes; they swarm around MU and clerics in particular; otherwise cultis attack with short swords

5-6 hp Blood Cultists (melee, dmg) AC 10 cowled with blood-streaked white robes; attack with a short sword 1d6 dmg

7-8 hp Berserkers (melee, dmg) AC 12 covered in leather of human skin; ferocious attack (+2 to-hit) with an axe 1d8 dmg (Only 1 per every 5 cultists)

How this works: So lets say a random encounter is for 2d6 cultists in a room/on a level with the Baroness’ cult. I roll 2d6 and get a “6”. So then I roll 1d8 for each HD and get “1, 2, 1, 1, 7, 4”. So our cultist band contains 4 starved wretches, 1 cult nightkin, and 1 berserker. May narrate as such:

The party turns the corner an see four pitiful naked people groveling on the ground before a fifth hooded figure prodding them with a barbed spear and tugging rope tied around each one’s neck. The hooded figure shouts an alarm, drops the leads, and raises its arms! At that moment a shadow, two heads taller than the “hounds-master” looms up… roll initiative as the four crazed emaciated human figures run toward you on four limbs!

SUNDAY SERVICE

We now have a PC neophyte cultist, a 3 step process to damnation, and a stronger cult identity. This should get us the next couple of sessions of play. For future play, I might should think of asks of the Baroness’ cult. What do they want and why should the PCs give it to them?

WHERE HELL COMES TO PREY: Running Nightwick Abbey 03

 

I have just completed DMing my 10th session of Nightwick Abbey, an OSE megadungeon authored by Miranda Elkins and illustrated by Chris Huth. These posts will be a continuing effort to document this campaign I dubbed Where Hell Comes To Prey. If these horrid halls of Nightwick Abbey call to you, then please join Miranda Elkins' Patreon!

WHERE HELL COMES TO PREY

Our Sunday Congregation:

Miriam Cleric 2
Froggie Frogling 1
Shiva Rogue 1
Grog Fighter 1

Hirelings: Hyme (barber)

Session 10 APRIL 28 Highlights: 

A DUEL!: The cleric Miriam was challenged by a fellow seminary student who believed he was wronged in the past. Miriam chose Grog as his second who then proceeded to kill the challenger in one blow.

HARTS WITH HEARTS: Down in the dungeon, a trio of deermen offered, for inexplicable reasons, a bowl of still-beating hearts and encouraged the PCs to eat them like apples. Scattered hearts and scattered deer heads resulted.

A TERRIBLE END IN EITHER DIRECTION: The probing of a dead body causes the irruption of gas which seems to paralyze Grog. As Miriam watches over the fallen fighter, Shiva and Froggie travel south until they stumble into a dining hall. They quickly leave as an impossibly large bulk squeezes itself into the hall. The party travels north and stumbles upon a room whose floor is covered in paper. Froggie leaps in to grab a few pages and also earns wounds as if some terrible invisible claws ranked his leg. 

POST-MORTEM

At session 10, how do I still feel about Nightwick? Love it! A player asked me if I still enjoy DMing it after playing in ~90+ sessions as a PC- (again) love it. It is fun to be on the other side of the screen and to be the master of the maligned forces.

Here is what I think I am doing right:

"100 Minutes of Megadungeon Madness": When I started this series, I discussed how I was going to attempt a 120-minute setup by starting 10 minutes after the hour, run 50 minutes, break 10 minutes, and run a final 50 minutes. Around sessions 7 and 8, I started doubting about this format. I wondered if I was cramming a megadungeon into too short of a time period mainly because the players were not covering much distance in the dungeon. If they had an encounter at the beginning of the session, it was possible to have a chunk of time gone. I mulled over if I needed to change combat or allow all weapons to do average damage or if I should shortcut (undercut) some part of the BX D&D system. 

But in the end, after playing 90+ sessions of Nightwick, I know the BX chassis and the dungeon crawling aspect works. There is no need to change that, but I did wonder if I could change some other aspects of how I run the game. Plus the players were having fun.

Pre-gen PCs/Hirelings: Gotta keep doing this. When I have new players join, rolling up characters takes the most time, especially since there are some delightfully unique takes on the character classes in Nightwick. Plus, pre-gen PCs help players that die due to vampire bats or blood puddings get back into the game quickly.

Treasure Maps: These maps are actually a staple of classic play. As evidenced by the presence of treasure maps in OD&D and under Scrolls in BX D&D (B46). These maps will help enhance exploration but will come at (1) a resource cost and/or (2) require some deciphering either because they will have incomplete information or perhaps some riddles.

Light Variation: Recently, I started to use the light rule found in DURF. In short, basically, the PC roller a pool of light dice, "1"s are removed, and if all dice are removed then an encounter happens in the dark. I like it. It actually touched off a meaningful discussion about light. If the pool is equal to or larger than the number of party members, they win initiative ties in the dungeon.

Here is what I think I can improve on:

Use The 5 Senses: I really need to bring more of these into play in Nightwick. Just to add a little bit more to the world that I'm painting. And often in horror, you know something is wrong before you see "it". Like realizing the yellow rush matts on the floor are woven out of human hair or that the sound of water trickling is accompanied by the smell of blood.

Combat Variety and Objectives: I have written two particularly good posts on how to vary bands of enemies and also on objectives in combat. I need to be better about implementing them in the Abbey. In terms of bands of enemies, variety not only keeps it interesting for me the DM, but also provides a tactical opportunity for the PCs as well. I kinda think back to Darkest Dungeon- it would be fun to have something that vomits on players. Variety can also act as a way to further describe the Abbey instead of skeletons with swords, cultists with...swords, or beastmen with...swor...axes! For instance, deermen could be something like:

• (1-2 hp) Range x Special Deerman Caller Its piercing shrieks disorient enemies; the initiative die is a d4   
• (3-5 hp) Range x Dmg Deerman Hunter Uses a bow
• (6-7 hp) Melee x Dmg Deerman Stalker  Uses a battleaxe
• (8 hp) Melee x Special Crown-o-Horn Charges into battle with head heavy with a tangle of antlers & tusks    

While the Abbey is murderous, in my mind it's also interested in capture, corruption, and contamination. All these things might require a target to be alive. I'd like to force myself to slow down and give each group of enemies an objective. And actually, since starting this post, I've actually run Session 11 of Nightwick and it worked great- I had horrible rat things go after the nearest NPC and a group of Devilmen demanded the cleric hand over their holy symbol to leave the Abbey. Interesting the cleric wouldn't do that, so the devilmen ended up slaying one NPC and breaking several bones of a PC-- then they handed over the holy symbol.

"Quests": While megadungeons are eternal, my time and my player's time is not so I'd like to avoid the campaign just having to stop dead in its tracks like a tv show that gets canceled mid-season. 

After seeking some advice from other DMs and consulting the blogs, the best solution is just to declare a set period of play. Since my players so far have really dug the little "quests" that organically pop-up, I decided to make some more. 

Nightwick Abbey has a lot of blank space where elements are present but not completely defined. This provides an excellent opportunity for the DM to carve some personalization out of the module. A case in point is the tome the players "decapitated" from its lectern, then spent the next few sessions trying to find a body to reattach it to by the request of Halfdan the Necromancer. Players loved it! And now it earns them rumors.

Again since starting this post, during Session 11, I had a shadowy group approach the group to recover several more pages from a particularly violent area of the Abbey for a reward 100sp per person if at least 3 pages were recovered. A great opportunity for role-play, negotiation, and the PC to get a sense that they could have a first crack at understanding the knowledge.

In all, the players are still really engaged and are enthusiastically plunging head-first into each delve, so that is the best feedback a DM can have!