This is Part VII of my series on adapting the AD&D 2nd Edition Ravenloft module RQ1 Night of the Walking Dead to Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne setting, Rober E. Howard’s Cormac Fitzgeoffrey’s setting, early–to–mid 14th Century France, and using the NWN/D&D 3rd edition ruleset. In this post I will be looking at the Village Events section of the module. To read Part I of this series, click here.
VILLAGE EVENTS
Bill Slavicsek writes in this adventure module:
“Speed or slow the events to match the pace of your players.”
Now perhaps it is because I started with the OD&D Whitebox + Greyhawk rules that I refuse to speed up or slow down events. I believe that the game world lives independent of Player Characters. PCs can most certainly influence events, but the world does not wait for the players to act. This is Grymwurld™ and not Schrödinger’s World. In other words, ‘you snooze, you lose.’
However, I also believe that all PCs have the Lucky trait from the AD&D 2nd Edition Skills & Powers book. “Lucky” in this case is a matter of ‘being in the right place at the right time.’ But I also believe that all PCs are also Unlucky and have a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. One might say that the party has a ‘reality distortion field’ around them. In this module there are several encounters that almost always happen to the PCs regardless of what they do or where they are. I am perfectly fine with this precisely because of them being both Lucky and Unlucky at the same time. Weird things always happen to PCs — that is one of the things that makes them PCs.
Day I: The Funeral (Rite)
The PCs basically have no choice but to attend the funeral simply because the entire village has shut down for this event. The way this scenario is setup, the PCs are expected to react as if the village was burying a man alive. The adventure does not explictly state that the PCs do react that way and it does describe what happens if they do not. Consider the following:
“The priest continues his liturgy, even though a muffled bang causes him a moment’s pause. The villagers flinch but quickly regain their composure. The bang sounds again from within the coffin. The coffin rocks back and forth, but the priest and the crowd ignore it.”
How can any first level characters react in that situation without metagaming? The characters are going to naturally assume that the villagers are burying a man alive whereas the players (other than truly novice ones) are going to assume that it is a zombie — especially if they know the name of the module or have seen the cover. I am very tempted to change this scenario to burying people alive rather than zombies! That of course would drastically change this module, but one of these days I will have an adventure like that just to mess with the Players!
There is also an interesting line that I bet all of us GMs have ignored or forgotten about:
“Once free, he [the zombie] attacks the party and tries to escape into the fields east of the village.”
Has any party ever let the zombie escape so as to follow him? Where in the fields does the zombie amble off to? The great house? The secret tunnel on the northeast side of the old cemetery? Here is what Slavicsek wrote:
“If at any time the PCs decide to follow a fleeing ghoul or zombie, they can easily track the undead creature to the fields beyond the Tarascon plantation. After that, the creature loses them in the rows of crops and backtracks to the passage in the side of the cemetery hill. Do not allow the PCs to discover the passage yet.”
Seriously?!? Bad game designer, bad! I really cannot believe that the party cannot follow a zombie. The ghouls are based in the manoir house and therefore would not lead the PCs to the secret tunnel. And why would the PCs discovering the tunnel early ‘mess up’ the adventure? After all, they could climb over the walls of the old cemetery!
So my ruling is thus: I will allow the PCs to follow the zombie to the secret tunnel.
Day II: Scene of the Crime
No matter where the PCs are in the village, at some point they will notice Gremin the Baillif (Constable or Reeve) kneeling in an “alley.” But as I mentioned above, I am okay with this because the PCs are ‘fate magnets.’ In the midst of the blood splatter is the réglisse sanguine (blood-red liquorice). The PCs can offer to help and the Baillif reluctantly accepts (unless the PCs roll a natural 1).
Night II: The Odour of Death (l’odeur de mort)
Some time during the second night while the PCs are relaxing in the common room of the Hospitale de Pleine Lune, Marcel comes up the window and lets out an epic fart! No, seriously!
“…a vile stench wafts into the building. It is the odor of the zombie lord.”
All PCs must pass a Fortitude saving throw versus Poison (DC 14). However for plot reasons, nothing untowards happens if they fail. A success indicates the direction of the miasma. Whereas a Hardcore Old School GM such as myself should never use plot to save the Player Characters. Here are the rules from the module:
“…the odor of death that surrounds Marcel affects all living beings who come within 30 yards [90' radius!] of him. Characters must save vs. poison [DC 14] or suffer one of the following effects:”
Please see the module for the six different possible effects, which range from Weakness to Dying instantly & Rising as a zombie under Marcel’s control. Note that this is a continual effect! Every single round that a living creature is within 90 feet of Marcel, they have to pass a DC 14 Fortitude saving throw versus poison!
Which begs the question, ‘how is it that the entire village has not succumbed to Marcel’s foul emanations?’ The DC for a 0-level character is 16 which guarantees that within 24 seconds (4 rounds) more than 99% of the victims will fail their saving throw. Furthermore, within 54 seconds (9 rounds), 99% of the victims will die and rise up as a zombie under Marcel’s control! So all Marcel has to do is stand next to a cottage for one minute and everyone inside that huge fart will die and turn into a zombie! Over the course of eight hours, the zombie lord can enslave the entire f!@#$%g village! Am I missing something here? Or did Bill Slavicsek and his editor Andria Hayday miss something?!?
One possibility is that once “poisoned,” the victim cannot be “poisoned” again until the effect wears off. For example, if the PC fails their saving throw and rolls a 5, they will be “unable to act for 1d4 rounds due to nausea and vomiting.” But what if the PC rolls a 3 (-1 Point of Constitution)? What is the duration for that ability score loss? In the 3rd Edition rules, PCs regain ability score loss at a rate of 1/day or 2/day if having full bed rest. (I couldn’t find the corresponding rule in the AD&D 2nd Ed. DMG.) So does that mean if a PC loses a point of Con, they are immune to Marcel’s farting for 24 hours?!?
I think it is better to treat repeated “poisonings” as making the effect worse, much like getting bit by multiple venomous snakes. However, this does not solve the problem of Marcel killing off and then enslaving the entire village in one night.
While ruminating on this, we should keep in mind another of Marcel’s abilities:
“Three times per day, Marcel can cast animate dead to create zombies. By using this power on living beings, he can also turn them into zombies. In either case, the range of this innate power is 100 yards [300' range]. If a living target fails a saving throw vs. death, he is instantly slain and rises in 1d4 rounds as a zombie under Marcel’s control.”
By comparison, the AD&D 2nd Edition spell finger of death is 7th level. Only after performing a necromantic ceremony and spending 1,000 gp + 500 gp/corpse, the wizard is able to animate the cadaver as a ju-ju zombie. The range is 60 yards (180'). So Marcel’s ability is perhaps 6th level, since slay living (reverse of raise dead) is 5th level and does not create a zombie. That means, that Marcel can cast a 6th level spell three times per day in addition to all of his other abilities. But why have both the necromantic miasma as well as the super animate dead? Does he animate the dead when he does not want to get within 90 feet and/or does not want to wait the one minute (10 minutes in AD&D 2nd Ed.)?
Now recall that the zombie lord monster first appeared in the AD&D 2nd Edition Monstrous Compendium Ravenloft Appendix in 1991 which predates this module which was published in 1992 and that
“Some of these powers have been enhanced by the Land of Ravenloft…”
In that appendix, a zombie lord’s odor of death only takes effect during the first round of combat. Did Slavicsek & Hayday intentionally remove the ‘first round of combat’ part of the effect or was it an editorial oversight? The special animate dead is only once per day in the appendix whereas Marcel has it thrice a day. I can see where changing from once to thrice per day is the Ravenloft enhancement. There is a long and storied history of D&D abilities being useable thrice per day.
In the Ravenloft 3rd & ½ Edition book Denizens of Dread (2004), the zombie lord’s emanations become the following:
“Aura of Death (Su): The first round that a living creature comes within 90 feet of a zombie lord, it must make a Fortitude save [DC 13] or be affected as if a contagion spell had been cast on it, inflicting a disease of the zombie lord’s choice. Those who fail their save by more than 10 [or roll a natural 1] die instantly and become zombies under the zombie lord’s control. This is a continuous effect that the zombie lord cannot suppress.”
So the zombie lord can choose the disease but cannot suppress the aura?!? While it retains the initial round of the AD&D 2nd Ed. rules, it loses the wild & woolly randomness quality that helps define Old School D&D.
So my ruling is thus: Marcel’s Odour of Death only takes effect during the 1st round of contact rather than be a continuous effect. The original 1–6 possible effects remain. The reasoning behind this ruling is A) too powerful if continous and B) Andria Hayday the editor probably missed this.
So does Marcel go around the cemetery and animate three zombies and then goes into the village each night? Under the AD&D 2nd Edition rules, out of the 300 inhabitants, 225 fail their saving throw the first night (0-level save vs. poison 16). Out of those 225 people, 37 or 38 die and turn into zombies! [Under the 3½ Ed. rules, 45 become a zombie each night.] Hokey smokes, Bullwinkle! After three nights, 1/3 of the ‘300’ are zombies!
This has been happening for three weeks?!? That means that there approximately 5,000 inhabitants three weeks ago for the population to drop to 300!!! Obviously the village was not 5,000 souls three weeks ago, so what is the controlling factor? It must be Jean. He must have been doing a great job of appeasing Marcel to prevent him from creating zombies from the villagers… for the most part. Marcel took Gremin’s son two weeks ago and François a week ago. Perhaps Marcel must create at least one zombie each week regardless of the victims Jean brings to him? Or rather, deposits the victims at least 90' away from Marcel’s tomb. I doubt very much that Jean is immune to Marcel’s farting.
Getting back to the Full Moon Inn, Duncan the Red Shirt (d’Lute) is sacrificed to the Plot God so that the PCs can see him rising as a zombie if they check his room (why?) or merely hear of his missing the next morning. And yet, if they are in the common room, they get to see one of the patrons sacrificed to the Plot God. So why is Duncan sacrificed? When I ran this adventure back in 1994, I changed Duncan’s name to Philippe and made him a troubadour [bard] and most certainly did not kill him off because he made his saving throw (I honestly don’t recall if I fudged the die roll or not). Naturally, he joined the party afterwards because it would be completely natural for him to do so, given the imminent threat. All elite/heroic NPCs would join the PCs to fight this scourge becaues that is what they do (or run away to save their skins…!).
So my ruling is thus: Everyone in Hospitale de Pleine Lune makes their fortitude saving throw versus poison and if they fail, roll a d6 for the effect. Nobody will have plot armour nor will anyone be sacrificed to the Plot God. The story will emerge on its own!
Night Evenfall III: The Madman Strikes
“Late in the afternoon…”
Ah, so this even happens during dusk or twilight and not at night. (*Sigh* Insert yet another snarky comment about editors.)
While this appears as a railroad/story to knee-jerk OSR true believers, let me assure you that it is not! If I wanted to be slavishly OSR, I would create an event table and then roll each day and night to see what happens. But that is just being slavish to a preconceived notion of what Old School “truly” is (cf. No True Scotsman). The purpose of tables with random events/monsters/et cetera is to aid the GM in weaving together the events of a story and not to have a completely random adventure! Nor is this a “quantum ogre,” meaning an encounter that the PCs cannot avoid no matter which direction they take because sooner or later the party will hear a victim screaming.
On Day Two, the PCs discover the scene of the crime. Now on (Day) Three they get a chance to confront the perpetrator. This allows for the build-up of tension. The GM is free make this encounter happen sooner or later which I wholeheartedly support. A very important skill for the GM is to manage the pacing. When the game bogs down, throw in a wandering monster or in this case a murder! Likewise, the players have to catch their breath between dramatic events (e.g. combats) else the game becomes a slog. So while Jean murdering Lillin the hostler’s daughter during evenfall is in the module, the GM is free to change the timing and the victim. And or course if the PCs caught Jean in the townhouse then this event would never happen.
What I also like about this write-up is that Jean does not automatically get away with murder. If the PCs pass the GM rolled listen check (DC 10), they get to stop Jean. If they fail, they hear a second scream but by the time they get there it is too late. Had this been a railroad, the PCs would always get there too late (AD&D 2e) or just in the nick of time (D&D 5e).
However, what I do not like is that Slavicsek gives Jean plot armour. While there is supposed to be an exciting chase scene if the PCs caught Jean in the act, it is impossible for them to catch him. The reasoning is that Jean knows the village better than the PCs, he drops the sanguine liquorice to distract them, and is skilled at hiding. In other words, Jacque le Ripper. There is one problem here and that is that Jean is statted out as a 4th level fighter/Madman but the only abilities beyond that of a fighter are the following:
“Jean is a convincing actor [Skill focus (Bluff) gives +3]. If he attempts to give the PCs a false sense of security, they suffer a -2 penalty to their surprise rolls. Victims thus surprised take triple damage, as if they had been backstabbed by a 5th-level thief.”
Perhaps the Ravenloft Powers (or Anton Misroi le Seigneur du Souragne) gave Jean a +5 to his bluff, hide, and move silently checks. However, he is decked out in studded leather armour which gives him a -3 to his stealth checks. And that is assuming that he simply hides behind a rainbarrel or something. If he slips into an abandoned cottage and closes the door, the PCs might hear the door shut and then Jean is trapped inside.
So my ruling is thus: Hearing Lillin scream is a DC 5 because this encounter will only occur when the PCs are inside a building. If they catch Jean in the act, he will do his best to run away and hide but success if not automatic.
ARISTOCRAT 4 (CR 4): Chaotic/Evil Human Crazed Killer
DETECTION: Listen +2, Spot +2; Init +3; Languages: Common, French, & Occitan
DEFENCES: AC 14 (heavy maille jack), touch 11, flat-footed 14; hp 36 (4d8+4);
ACTIONS: Spd 30 ft.; Mêlée Short-spear +6 (1d6+3; 20/×2); Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; Base Atk +3
STR 14, DEX 10, CON 12, INT 11, WIS 9, CHA 9
FORT +5, REF +1, WILL +3
FEATS: Armour proficiency (All), Combat reflexes, Skill focus (Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move silently, & Spot), Stealthy &c.
SKILLS: Bluff +9, Discipline +8, Hide +2, Move Silently +2, Parry +7, Sense Motive +6
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Sneak attack +3d6
MAGICK ITEMS: Ring of Deflection +1, Short spear +1 (walking stick), & (2) Potions of Cure minor wounds
Event: The Dinner Party
This is not really an event per se, rather it is what happens if the PCs go to the manoir house around supper time. Note that Luc will not follow the party and stays far away. Yet I can think of no reason for Luc to avoid the house other then it reminds him of who he is but the village would do that as well, right? His traumatic event happened at the Old Cemetery so I can understand his staying away from the entire cemetery, but the manoir house? Luc must somehow know about the servants who became ghouls.
One of the things I like about the Ravenloft Ghouls is that they were once humans who became cannibals. The sin of cannibalism is what transformed them into ghouls!
The module states that Jean insisted that his servants eat human flesh, thus becoming ghouls. I think that in fact, he was much more subtle. After co-opting the local boucher, the cook was told to cook the “veal.” Once the servants had eaten the “veal” upon three different occassions, they became enamoured of it and began the descent into ‘ghouldom.’
The module further states that Jean’s motivation is to emulate his twin’s desire for rotting human flesh (and we finally learn the reason why Marcel goes hunting) yet he lacks the courage to do so. This strikes me as odd. Jean has gone mad with grief over his twin brother becoming a Zombie Lord and resorts to killing off the villagers to feed him yet also corrupts the house servants into ghouls as a twisted empathy with his brother. And yet, he will not taste the “veal”!
Lon Chaney, Sr. in London After Midnight
The way Jean is depicted in this module is a combination of Jack the Ripper and The Hypnotist from London After Midnight. In the latter, Chaney’s hypnotist is actually a vampire or a ghoul. What if Jean had in fact tasted human flesh? After all, he shares a very strong empathy if not sympathy with now–undead–twin, Marcel. And if Marcel lusts for rotting human flesh, then would not Jean feel Marcel’s hunger? Would not that hunger affect him as well? Perhaps when (or if) the PCs find Jean slaughtering Lillin the hostler’s daughter, the notice him hesitating as if to decide whether or not to taste her? Or would it be more horrible to find Jean actually tasting her instead? Perhaps there is an intermediate state between humankind and ghouldom, where the semi-ghoul has the taste for flesh but not the undead qualities of a ghoul? Perhaps a bite for 1d6 damage and two claws for 1d3 damage each but no disease, paralysis, or undead qualities? And also grant an extra hit die to represent the semi-inhuman resistance to pain and burning hunger? But in this case, does it make Jean any more powerful? He uses his cane-spear +1 which is more effective than a bite although without the cane, he gets three attacks (bite, claw, claw) with the multiattack feat. Perhaps he carries the cane during the day but at night eschews it? Something to chew on…! (Sorry, I could not resist!)
Day IV: Facing the Madman (Crazed Killer)
Yeah, his garb is anachronistic but man, it’s cool!
By this point, Jean is fed up… [We apologise for the bad puns in this blog. Those responsible have been sacked] with the PCs’ meddling and decides to kill Luc…? I think it more like Jean is afraid that Luc is close to dropping enough cryptic hints for the PCs to figure out that Marcel is in the ancient… crypt. [We apologise again for the fault in this blog. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked.] Finally Jean pursues the party around town, waiting for an opportunity to pick them off one by one. And yet, his stealth skill is actually pretty bad because he is not a thief er rogue. But the Plot God shall not let such minor details get in the way, because it has been decreed that there will be the following dramatic moment:
The madman stands before you, completely enshrouded by a black, hooded cloak. Only the curved dagger in his pale right hand is visible. Then he tosses back the hood, revealing a face twisted by madness and eyes lit by the fire of insanity. That fire is clearly consuming him, burning away what is left of his mind and humanity.
“You should not have come to Marais d’Tarascon,” the madman hisses. “And you should not have brought that whelp of a brother with you!” he shouts, waving his dagger at Luc. “You have forced this confrontation! Let the blood be on your hands as you taste the blade of Jean Tarascon!”
With that, the madman attacks.
I have to wonder if after Jean became crazed, he approached Toma Levi and requested a ‘night-black travelling cloak’ be made? And how convenient is it that before becoming traumatised, he just happened to posess a magical dagger concealable within a walking stick?
Honestly, this whole Jean le Ripper shtick has bugged me from the very beginning. I get that Jean and Marcel have the whole ‘twins empathy trope’ and that Jean is traumatised from Marcel’s horrible undeath. I also like the desperation of Jean bringing a victim to Marcel in order to both keep Marcel “alive” and also to protect the village from Marcel’s predation. But would it not make more sense for Jean to lure the victim to Marcel instead of butchering them in the village? And turning the household staff into ghouls as a sort of twisted sympathy for Marcel yet not “courageous” enough to taste human flesh himself? I have a very hard time buying that. As I mentioned earlier, I think that Jean developing a craving for human flesh certainly ties in with the ‘my–twin–is–undead empathy’. And if Jean did indeed in that taste for human flesh, then he has become some kind of a transitional ghoul — a goule, perhaps. How about the following:
Goule (maneaters)
Goules are creatures who have acquired a taste for the flesh of their own kind and thus have become cursed for comitting the sin of cannibalism. Once a goule dies, it rises three days later as an undead ghoul.
Creating a Goule
“Goule” is an acquired template that can be applied to any living, sentient creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature).
Hit Dice: Add one additional hit die of the base creature’s type. For example, humanoids get an additional d8.
Attacks: Goules retains all the natural weapons, manufactured weapon attacks, and weapon proficiencies of the base creature. A creature with hands gains one claw attack per hand as well as a bite; the goule can strike with each of its claw attacks at its full attack bonus.
Damage: Natural and manufactured weapons deal damage normally. Bite and claw attacks deal damage depending on the goule’s size. (If the base creature already had claw attacks with its hands, use the goule claw damage only if it’s better.) Exempli gratis, a medium-sized goule does claw damage of 1d4 each and a bite of 1d6.
Special Attacks: A goule retains all of the base creature’s special attacks.
Special Qualities: A goule retains all of the base creature’s special qualities.
Saves: A goule gains a +1 bonus to Fort, Ref, & Will saving throws over and above that of the base creature’s.
Abilities: No change.
Skills: Bluff, Climb, Hide, Listen, Move silently, & Spot become class skills and the goule gains 1 additional rank in each of those skills.
Feats: A goule gains the following feats — Alertness, Multiattack, Skill focus (Bluff, Climb, Hide, Listen, Move silently, & Spot), Stealthy, and Toughness.
Environment: Same as the base creature.
Organisation: Solitary.
Challenge Rating: Depends on Hit Dice.
Treasure: Depends on the base creature
Alignment/Intent: Always chaotic/ evil.
Advancement: As base creature.
Level Adjustment: None.
Jean, Sieur de Crapaud (Crazed Human Goule)
Size/Type: Medium Aristocrat 3/Humanoid 1 (Human)
Hit Dice: 4d8+8 (40 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armour Class: 14 (+1 ring, +3 heavy maille jack), touch 11, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+3
Attack: 2 claws +3 mêlée (1d4+2 / 20 × 2)
Full Attack: Bite +3 mêlée (1d6+2 /20 × 2) and 2 claws +1 mêlée (1d4+2 / 20 × 2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft.
Special Attacks: Sneak attack (+1d6)
Special Qualities: Rise as a ghoul 3 days post mortem
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +4
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 11, Wis 9, Cha 9
Skills: Bluff +9, Climb +6, Hide +6, Intimidate +9, Listen +5, Move silently +6, Persuade +5, Spot +5
Feats: Alertness, Armour proficiency (Light), Multiattack, Skill focus (Bluff, Climb, Hide, Intimidate, Listen, Move silently, & Spot), Stealthy, and Toughness.
Environment: Le Village des Crapauds
Organisation: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: Ring of Deflection +1, (3) Potions of Cure Minor Wounds
Alignment: Always chaotic/evil
Jean prefers to use his bluff skill to lure unspecting victims and then attack them while they are flat-footed.
Nota bene: In the Neverwinter Nights videogame, the toughness feat adds +1 hit point/die rather than a flat +3.
POST SCRIPT
After sitting on this for a couple of days, I am still not comfortable with the depiction of Jean. In the original module, he acquires 5 levels of thief (for all intents & purposes) over the course of three weeks. Perhaps we can hand-wave that away by calling it a gift from the Ravenloft Dark Powers. In the pseudo-historical world of Averoigne and Cormac Fitzgeoffrey, I suppose we could call it a gift from Satan — but in both of these instances, it feels like a cheap excuse. So then I created a Crazed Human Goule as an interim step between Human and Ghoul with a bite, claws, and 1st level Rogue abilities. It does not feel as contrived but it still stretches credibility a bit. So I reserve the right to change Jean’s statistics later.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated so do watch your language.