09-14-2020, 05:53 AM
Hey, Yaz!
Thank you for posting the transcript, and thank you for giving me some DM-to-DM feedback! I certainly had the time of my life writing this one, and I had the time of my life advising you on your own version of the story for your own “Blackmoor Living World”!
I’ve already copied this thread, and I’ll print it and add it to my personal copy of „Tales“. Extremely happy that you did this, given that this is the very first in-detail report I’ve been getting in thirteen years. (Not complaining, just saying…)
To address the points you criticize, I mostly agree with you:
The bard at the beginning of the adventure is an encounter I would probably not use today; to me, it really only makes sense if the character is already known to the party. - In my very first version of the script, as a possible sequel to my PBP, “The Grim Winter”, this bard was a character called Mant, as you probably remember, who at that point had a long history with the party for who I wrote the first scenario. As a companion, the character mainly makes sense if you can use him within existing dynamics, or, as a DM, are willing to get into this kind of spiel a whole lot. As a “generic” NPC I think he might easily become a distraction.
With the cleric of Odir, it's a similar situation, as that character is basically a narrative tool: Since the adventure might only be solvable with a cleric around, and since the adventure was also initially stated out for 1st-level characters – basically, D&D debutants -, they might need some extra help along the way. Not in the sense of “railroading”, but to make sure that the adventure is “gettable” to the group, and that they get the right kind of background info, say, related to the backstory of the Green Knight, or to the nature of undead in D&D. But for a more experienced party, this character in particular can easily be overkill, for sure. In my own game, this, too, would likely have been a character the party already knows. (I don’t remember how I did it, frankly.)
That said, the scope of the adventure seemed to fit pretty well for a one-shot, and that’s also the general feedback I got, back in the day: The times that I’ve run the adventure, both my own version, and the published one, we ended at approximately three-and-a-half hours of game time. - And I’m one of those slower, distracted, more improvisational DMs, so I always figured more focused DMs than myself would take even less time.
It’s the epic plot that has kept me returning to the adventure, over the years:
First, the story, even though more than a little bit inspired by R. A. Salvatore’s „Demon Wars“ series, and by Sean Connery’s „The Sword of the Valiant“, still works for me with most groups, and gives them a nice intro into the world of Blackmoor, outside of the castle and the dungeon. Like, you get to detail the world, and you get to play a bit on things like the Thonian-High Thonian relations, you get to explain what Maus is, or how the elves are connected to things outside of their immediate presence in Blackmoor. That was always quite useful to me.
Second, the Green Knight can be played basically as Karloff’s (or Vosloo’s!) “The Mummy”. Basically, he’s a “stranger in a strange land”, and his struggle with adapting to the new circumstances could make for a number of interesting follow-up scenarios, if he escapes the adventure, or is somehow revived later on. - The reason I’ve never gone there and done it is mainly that I’m not sure whether these concepts are as nice to play out as they are nice to write. Like, how much of the inner struggle of the Green Knight could be made accessible to the players.
I still treasure the memory of getting to work with Tad and Dawn on this at least for a little bit. While I’m pretty sure I won’t do anything with the adventure, ever again, this will always be in my bookshelf. - I got to write something for Blackmoor! Yay! That’s something to tell my kids about, some day!
Now, Tad Kilgore deserves way more credit than he has been getting for the finished adventure – my notes, I found them again a year ago. They are nice and fine, but they do not meet publication standards, of any sort. It’s due to Tad that the adventure got finished, and it’s due to Tad that it’s remotely playable and readable. My excuse is that I was still a youngster, back then, and didn’t know better, but I would totally have understood, especially now, in retrospect, if they had returned the manuscript and sent me to the library to meditate over my errors.
That Tad was so exceptionally generous with his time, and with his efforts for me, back then, is something I certainly have not forgotten, and that I’ve certainly used as a “guiding light” through all my years in the hobby since then: He wouldn’t have needed to do that, he likely got no personal profit from it - and he did it anyway.
So, overall, the idea that this has even turned out to become "a minor classic" within our little niche of the hobby is pretty nice. Hopefully, folks had the same great fun running it as I had writing it! - Especially looking back now, my experience couldn't have been better, being that I was such a noob, and really bare knew what I was doing. Yet so, everyone was exceptionally understanding and supportive with me. - Wish every job would be as beautiful as that.
Cheers,
Rafe
Thank you for posting the transcript, and thank you for giving me some DM-to-DM feedback! I certainly had the time of my life writing this one, and I had the time of my life advising you on your own version of the story for your own “Blackmoor Living World”!
I’ve already copied this thread, and I’ll print it and add it to my personal copy of „Tales“. Extremely happy that you did this, given that this is the very first in-detail report I’ve been getting in thirteen years. (Not complaining, just saying…)To address the points you criticize, I mostly agree with you:
The bard at the beginning of the adventure is an encounter I would probably not use today; to me, it really only makes sense if the character is already known to the party. - In my very first version of the script, as a possible sequel to my PBP, “The Grim Winter”, this bard was a character called Mant, as you probably remember, who at that point had a long history with the party for who I wrote the first scenario. As a companion, the character mainly makes sense if you can use him within existing dynamics, or, as a DM, are willing to get into this kind of spiel a whole lot. As a “generic” NPC I think he might easily become a distraction.
With the cleric of Odir, it's a similar situation, as that character is basically a narrative tool: Since the adventure might only be solvable with a cleric around, and since the adventure was also initially stated out for 1st-level characters – basically, D&D debutants -, they might need some extra help along the way. Not in the sense of “railroading”, but to make sure that the adventure is “gettable” to the group, and that they get the right kind of background info, say, related to the backstory of the Green Knight, or to the nature of undead in D&D. But for a more experienced party, this character in particular can easily be overkill, for sure. In my own game, this, too, would likely have been a character the party already knows. (I don’t remember how I did it, frankly.)
That said, the scope of the adventure seemed to fit pretty well for a one-shot, and that’s also the general feedback I got, back in the day: The times that I’ve run the adventure, both my own version, and the published one, we ended at approximately three-and-a-half hours of game time. - And I’m one of those slower, distracted, more improvisational DMs, so I always figured more focused DMs than myself would take even less time.
It’s the epic plot that has kept me returning to the adventure, over the years:
First, the story, even though more than a little bit inspired by R. A. Salvatore’s „Demon Wars“ series, and by Sean Connery’s „The Sword of the Valiant“, still works for me with most groups, and gives them a nice intro into the world of Blackmoor, outside of the castle and the dungeon. Like, you get to detail the world, and you get to play a bit on things like the Thonian-High Thonian relations, you get to explain what Maus is, or how the elves are connected to things outside of their immediate presence in Blackmoor. That was always quite useful to me.
Second, the Green Knight can be played basically as Karloff’s (or Vosloo’s!) “The Mummy”. Basically, he’s a “stranger in a strange land”, and his struggle with adapting to the new circumstances could make for a number of interesting follow-up scenarios, if he escapes the adventure, or is somehow revived later on. - The reason I’ve never gone there and done it is mainly that I’m not sure whether these concepts are as nice to play out as they are nice to write. Like, how much of the inner struggle of the Green Knight could be made accessible to the players.
I still treasure the memory of getting to work with Tad and Dawn on this at least for a little bit. While I’m pretty sure I won’t do anything with the adventure, ever again, this will always be in my bookshelf. - I got to write something for Blackmoor! Yay! That’s something to tell my kids about, some day!
Now, Tad Kilgore deserves way more credit than he has been getting for the finished adventure – my notes, I found them again a year ago. They are nice and fine, but they do not meet publication standards, of any sort. It’s due to Tad that the adventure got finished, and it’s due to Tad that it’s remotely playable and readable. My excuse is that I was still a youngster, back then, and didn’t know better, but I would totally have understood, especially now, in retrospect, if they had returned the manuscript and sent me to the library to meditate over my errors.
That Tad was so exceptionally generous with his time, and with his efforts for me, back then, is something I certainly have not forgotten, and that I’ve certainly used as a “guiding light” through all my years in the hobby since then: He wouldn’t have needed to do that, he likely got no personal profit from it - and he did it anyway.
So, overall, the idea that this has even turned out to become "a minor classic" within our little niche of the hobby is pretty nice. Hopefully, folks had the same great fun running it as I had writing it! - Especially looking back now, my experience couldn't have been better, being that I was such a noob, and really bare knew what I was doing. Yet so, everyone was exceptionally understanding and supportive with me. - Wish every job would be as beautiful as that.
Cheers,
Rafe