Saving Feast of Goblyns

[Black Knight]

I'm considering running the actual Hyskosa bit as a min-campaign with a system switch. I've got a few of the adventures - most importantly the climactic two dealing with the grand conjunction.

The only problem with conversion is Feast of Goblyns - there seem to be worthy elements to salvage, but overall it's unplayable. Does anyone have suggestions for converting it?

The main character, Akriel - daughter of Dark Lord Harkon Lukas - says she's to be married off to another man instead of the one she loves - Dr Dominiani. So why doesn't she just bloody-well leave? Okay, so she's purportedly held by a magical curse ... so she needs a 'Crown of Soldiers' to get her out because... it's all just seeming a bit contrived already.

So she gives the players directions and pays them well for their... no, wait. No - no payment. She just flutters her eye-lashes and asks 'Pretty please, would you go into a deep dungeon and collect the Crown of MacGuffin?'. Except she doesn't do that - she asks the players to meet her in a nearby town for directions. But... doesn't want to travel with them in case they're seen together...but will be seen with them inside the next town.

Now bear in mind that the background of the adventure is pretty detailed, and it seems a waste to not use the characters and setting. Besides - we're talking about one of the original Hyskosa adventures! So there has to be a way to save it.

Back to the adventure - the players stay overnight in the tavern, and are attacked from all sides by playful wolfweres who may or may not kill them. Akriel is a wolfwere and presumeably knows they'll be attacked, but does nothing to help the heroes who will be bringing them the crown. So she's fine with them dying and wasting all the time she spent organising them. The idea of being hounded by wolfweres in a wolf-man only pub is classic Ravenloft and looks rather fun, but it doesn't seem to fit here.

Finally the characters get to the Crown of MacGuffin. Oh dear. It's in a super-typical D&D fair-ground house of horrors ride, complete with skeleton army, statue of random death and a mad priestess who seems not to eat or drink or defecate, but only to sit on a chair in a maze of death cackling about how evil she's going to any postmen who try to visit. I'm not sure what to replace this with, but it needs to go.

Then finally, the players return with the Crown of MacGuffin, Akriel takes it to Dr Dominiani to create the goblyn army they always wanted to make! No, sorry, wait ... she can't be bothered. She trusts the heroes to take it for her, even though she's perfectly capable of taking it herself. She has reached Dominiani's place before. But she's planning to met the character's in the house of the father she's scheming against, where all his spies stay; then she'll ask them to take the crown and go to Dominiani, hoping that nobody sees or spots them.

Finally, the characters get the crown there. Harkon Lukas has found out about Akriel's evil plans, magically disguises himself as...his own daughter? Okay. He then informs the players Dr Dominiani is evil and the crown must be taken back. Finally, things are making sense. The characters can only destroy the crown once the evil priestess is destroyed. She has arisen again as an undead creature, so they must talley forth, wearing the crown of MacGuffin +2 and destroy her.

So - any suggestions on taking back the plot? Despite only one location per town being used, both places are extensively detailed. It seems like the characters and scenes might be employed for something.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I've got a few of the adventures - most importantly the climactic two dealing with the grand conjunction.

They were all once available for free on the WotC site. They took them down, but archive.org still has them, so you can grab the ones you're missing:
http://web.archive.org/web/201003291936 ... /downloads

The only problem with conversion is Feast of Goblyns

If that's your only problem, Ship of Horror must be among the ones you're missing.

there seem to be worthy elements to salvage, but overall it's unplayable.

Unplayable! Them's fighting words. That's one of my favorite modules you're talking about. Well, yes, there are deep, deep, DEEP flaws, but there's so much there to love. I've played through it 3 times, twice pretty much as written (with younger, less discerning groups, who didn't really notice the flaws) and most recently with a bit of an overhaul in my long-running campaign. If you're interested, you can read my journal for that campaign to see how it went: http://themistway.com/journaltop.html Of particular interest to you will be the DM's commentary, where I explained exactly what I changed and why. FoG spanned Sessions 7 & 8, and was run as a flashback for my post-GC party, using Scaena as a "time-travel" plot device (which conveniently explained away some of the goofier bits as products of Juste's imagination, but you won't be able to take advantage of that if you run it "straight"). For the Cliff's notes version of what I changed, see my review of the module in the drawing room.

So why doesn't she just bloody-well leave? Okay, so she's purportedly held by a magical curse ... so she needs a 'Crown of Soldiers' to get her out because... it's all just seeming a bit contrived already.

Yeah, Akriel's story is the biggest problem, IMHO. See my review for my improvement. Still could use work. A reader of my journal offered the idea that Heinrich would use the powers of the crown to duel Jakob for the right to wed Akriel. That might work better. ETA: I forgot that I later came up with a backup plan: that Dominiani discovers that "Jacob" is darklord of Kartakass and that he can use the crown to open the borders and let her out.

So she gives the players directions and pays them well for their... no, wait. No - no payment. She just flutters her eye-lashes and asks 'Pretty please, would you go into a deep dungeon and collect the Crown of MacGuffin?'.

Payment? What kind of mercenary party do you have? Save the nice girl from an abusive arranged marriage, be a hero. THat's what heroes do. But seriously, if your players need a reward, offer one. Dominiani is moderately wealthy. (of course he doesn't have to really go through with it, so the reward offered can be whatever you think will be enough to entice them)

Except she doesn't do that - she asks the players to meet her in a nearby town for directions. But... doesn't want to travel with them in case they're seen together...but will be seen with them inside the next town.

My explanation there was that she'd have to sneak into her father's library to get more info on the crown for them.

Back to the adventure - the players stay overnight in the tavern, and are attacked from all sides by playful wolfweres who may or may not kill them. Akriel is a wolfwere and presumeably knows they'll be attacked, but does nothing to help the heroes who will be bringing them the crown. So she's fine with them dying and wasting all the time she spent organising them. The idea of being hounded by wolfweres in a wolf-man only pub is classic Ravenloft and looks rather fun, but it doesn't seem to fit here.

Oh, it's one of the best parts of the module! You've got to keep it. Keep in mind that:
a) since the PC's don't know she's a wolfwere yet, they won't think this is so strange until later
b) If they can't handle a few wolfweres, they aren't going to handle Radaga and friends. Think of it as a proving ground for her to make sure she picked the right group of do-gooders.
c) wolfweres aren't loyal packwolves like werewolves. There's infighting in their ranks (as I see it, at least). Akriel won't mind a few of her father's rank and file dying off.

I had "innocent" Akriel feign ignorance that the inn was monster-infested (heck, even the human manager (was charmed to think that he) didn't know). She just thought her father would never look for her in a seedy tavern.

It's in a super-typical D&D fair-ground house of horrors ride

Yeah this has to be toned way.... wayyyyy down to be at all believable. I cut a lot of it and explained away the rest as Juste's embellishments and/or Radaga's insanity.

sit on a chair in a maze of death cackling about how evil she's going to any postmen who try to visit.

hehe... yes, as one of my PC's said, "The witch is clearly crazy. Who builds a staircase in a giant skeleton in a bottomless pit? Who hangs around behind a curtain tied to a bone chair? It's just silly."

As for that chair, though, there's no reason she had to be there the whole time. She could have been spying on the party and then hid there when she saw them coming.

She trusts the heroes to take it for her, even though she's perfectly capable of taking it herself. She has reached Dominiani's place before.

Yeah, that's gotta be changed. He's got to have come to her, and she's got to pretend she can't leave Kartakass, due to the border closure, or for fear of her father, or what have you.

Harkon Lukas has found out about Akriel's evil plans, magically disguises himself as...his own daughter?

Yeah, Harkon's got some weird hobbies, that's for sure.

As for general advice, give the players some other stuff to do in town to get them exploring. Whatever brought them to Kartakass in the first place is up to you. You can use that to pull them around Harmonia and Skald a bit, if they don't explore out of natural curiosity. Also, be sure to include the Kargat somehow. Since the early GC modules were retconned into being signs of the hexad, no one knew when they were written that Azalin would be interested in making sure the signs came to pass, but in retrospect, we do know, so some of his agents should be lurking, surely. This will help tie the adventures together.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I just went back and reviewed my journal and realized that I cut out a lot of the back-and-forth running around as follows:

Module:
Harmonia (Akriel says meet me in Skald)
Skald (Akriel says go to Radaga's Cave to get the crown and come back to Skald)
Radaga's Cave
Skald (Akriel says go to Dr. D's house)
Teufeldorf (Dr D takes crown, sends them back to Skald to tell Akriel)
Skald (Harkon tells them Dr. D is a vampire and Akriel is playing them, tells them to get the crown back, and take it back to the cave)
Teufeldorf (take crown back)
Radaga's Cave (party chases Radaga to Daglan)
Daglan

What I did:
Harmonia (Akriel says meet me in Skald)
Skald (Akriel says go to Radaga's Cave to get the crown and go straight to Dr. D with it)
Radaga's Cave
Skald
Teufeldorf (Dr D takes crown, but is revealed a vampire and killed, crown is recovered, Akriel revealed to be playing them)
Skald (Harkon tells them to take the crown to the Misty border)
Teufeldorf
Radaga's Cave
Daglan

(Also, I cut the Jailor's trap intro (which is kinda silly) and Maria & Ontosh's house (which I like, but it's mostly irrelevant))

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

one more thing... I never liked how Akriel just kind of disappears in the latter half of the module. I recommend an attack by her towards the end, on the way to Homloch. She knows her cover is blown by Daddy, but still wants the crown, and doesn't want the party to destroy it, so she ambushes them. I was going to do that, but ran out of time and skipped it.

[Black Knight]

You are a treasure trove of Darkonian skulls, Gonzoron. Cheers for the resources.

As to the Ship of Horrors module, I didn't think it was that bad. What am I missing? Alright, the module went 'Plot, plot, [irrelevant ghouls on a ship because SCARY] plot, plot, YOU ARE IN A SNOW-DUNGEON, KILL THE BADDIE AND EVERYONE IS SAVED'. I thought I'd leave the ghoul-ship out and then try to tie the necromancer into the plot a bit more. Oh - and then there's the fact that the captain seems to be willing to chop off his big toe to get the players on deck for no reason. That's not a hard one to ignore though - players can be placed on ships.

Your plot-changes make much more sense, but manage not to completely discard the original, so well done. The only thing which still doesn't make much sense is leaving Akriel and meeting her there. The players will think she'll arrive well after them, so they may as well wait the day and travel with her (the roads are dangerous, she's the helpless lady in need and they're the heroes). If she travels by horse, maybe they do too. If she travels by boat - they will want to as well.

The random encounter on the way there doesn't vex me in the slightest. It reminds the players of the wolfish themes and foreshadows the terrible night at the inn. Speaking of, how did yours go? I suppose I'll see in the notes.

The Kargat's presence makes for nice foreshadowing. Not sure exactly what they'd be doing there - setting her up with a layer? Making sure the players kill her, because they can't? Hmmmmm....

[Black Knight]

Also - nice touch on the notes' soundtrack. I might stick some of these in. Recently I've been thinking I need more sound. I'm waiting to use an RPG sound-app too, for creaks, spashes, sword-swings et c. I won't have brain-space for it, so I'll be designating a player as the game's sound manager.

[Bluebomber4evr]

I never had any problems running Feast of Goblyns. It went off without a hitch for me.

Ship of Horrors was a completely unplayable mess, though. There's a thread about it on the forums from way back: http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... 96&start=0

The relevant points from that thread:

First is the villian. Meredoth just plain out stunk. No history, no curse, no real personality. As a DM I had to do alot of work on him to make him even a little useable. I think everyone would agree because in Domains of Dread he was given some personality. Personally I like his write up in the Nocturnal Sea Gaz. In that he is very much the great villian, too bad it only took nearly 20 years to fix him.

I hated the fact that the Graben Island section of the module was clearly rushed. The PCs pretty much have to get inside the Graben's house to find out about Meredoth but you're not given any maps of the place. It even says, "the DM should prepare a simple floor plan of the buildings on the estate as described previously." Excuse me, but I just paid $10 (1992 money) for this and you can't draw a damn map for a crucial part of the module?

No maps? Heck, they didn't even say how many lebendtod there actually are! And no stats for any specific individuals, even though they were one of the few 2E monsters that could have class levels. Granted, the vagueness gave me plenty of leeway to develop the Grabens myself for the NS Gaz, but you'd think that basic stuff like that would be a must-have for any module.

[Black Knight]

I never considered the lack of map and stats to be a problem. I suppose I'm really coming from a storytelling tradition - I'm used to writing Vampire: The Masquerade stories where a house's 'map' is just a description of the building and a list of important people or rooms. The system I'm using at the moment is perfect for stating on the fly, so it's not a problem when things don't have maps or stats. I fell in love with Ravenloft because the plots are real plots - well-stated maps seem to be something for D&D, and I've always felt Ravenloft was just...different.

So my peeves with Ship of Horrors were rather different - the trap at the necromancer's door wasn't an interesting puzzle-piece, it was a guessing game. Best to replace the entire thing with a skill roll. And the family on graben with pull-off heads and arms...that's no horrific. It's just silly. Still, easy enough to come up with some other affliction for them. The basic plot made sense - the captain's curse and motives are understandable; so it's all good from my end.

[Bluebomber4evr]

Ravenloft isn't supposed to be "different" from the D&D rules for the most part. There are changes/additions to the rules, but it's still supposed to be recognizable D&D, just scary and gothic.

And the map thing is a problem because, as I said in the original thread, when you buy an adventure module it should be complete. That's the whole point of purchasing adventure modules: it's completed adventure for those who don't have the time to write their own. As it is, you have to come up with maps, NPC stats and NPC motivations for roughly half of Ship of Horrors. Charging full price for a half-completed adventure is a ripoff, no two ways around it.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

You are a treasure trove of Darkonian skulls, Gonzoron. Cheers for the resources.

no problem, that's what we're here for.

As to the Ship of Horrors module, I didn't think it was that bad. What am I missing? Alright, the module went 'Plot, plot, [irrelevant ghouls on a ship because SCARY] plot, plot, YOU ARE IN A SNOW-DUNGEON, KILL THE BADDIE AND EVERYONE IS SAVED'.

Well, that's the issue, isn't it? It's all over the place. There isn't a clear plot running through. The bad guys from the beginning are completely disconnected from the bad guys at the end. And then a left turn at the end: WHY IS A SNOW-DUNGEON EVEN A THING? I THOUGHT THIS WAS ABOUT A BOAT! LEVEL 20? whah?

The only thing which still doesn't make much sense is leaving Akriel and meeting her there. The players will think she'll arrive well after them, so they may as well wait the day and travel with her (the roads are dangerous, she's the helpless lady in need and they're the heroes). If she travels by horse, maybe they do too. If she travels by boat - they will want to as well.

I guess this depends on your characters, but it seems perfectly reasonable for her to travel alone. She can't be seen with the heroes, or she risks being whipped again. She's a local girl, she knows the safe ways back home and to Skald, and arriving with the heroes will just create suspicion.

The random encounter on the way there doesn't vex me in the slightest. It reminds the players of the wolfish themes and foreshadows the terrible night at the inn. Speaking of, how did yours go? I suppose I'll see in the notes.

Yeah, I don't mind that one, I just didn't have the time for it.

Not sure exactly what they'd be doing there - setting her up with a layer? Making sure the players kill her, because they can't? Hmmmmm....

Well, they'd be there to ensure that the hexad sign comes to pass, whatever that might mean. This particular sign, "In the house of Daegon, the sorcerer born, through life, unlife, unliving shall scorn" means.... well, who knows, really? It's not even grammatically correct. Who is scorning whom? and how? I choose to assume it means the creation (and perhaps destruction) of Daglan. So the Kargat would be aiming for that. Helping the crown to be found and Radaga to be "destroyed" and then making sure the crown gets brought to Homlock and into the church. Anything they can do along those lines, preferably while maintaining a low profile, would work.

[Mangrum]

I had Akriel portray herself as the victim of an abusive relationship. Her "abusive fiance" is a violent thug with a countryside full of violent thugs (woodcutters) on his payroll. She's being watched at all times and if she tries to make another run for her "true love," Dominiani, she'll be seen, caught, and punished.

As for the Old Kartakan Inn, Akriel arranged to meet the PCs there at midday (when it's fairly quiet) and made on off-hand comment about how it attracts a rough crowd at night. After the wolfwere attack, the PCs thought back to that comment and concluded that she was probably trustworthy, taking her words as a warning to stay away without indicating that she knew the true extent of the danger.

Really, if anything Akriel was the least problematic aspect of the module for me.

[Bluebomber4evr]

This particular sign, "In the house of Daegon, the sorcerer born, through life, unlife, unliving shall scorn" means.... well, who knows, really? It's not even grammatically correct. Who is scorning whom? and how? I choose to assume it means the creation (and perhaps destruction) of Daglan. So the Kargat would be aiming for that. Helping the crown to be found and Radaga to be "destroyed" and then making sure the crown gets brought to Homlock and into the church. Anything they can do along those lines, preferably while maintaining a low profile, would work.

Erm, they actually explain exactly what this means in Touch of Death:

Of the signs described, "House of Daegon" refers to the crown of souls found in the first RAVENLOFT adventure, Feast of Goblyns. Daegon's living, then undead, then dead great-granddaughter, Radaga, has kept him a harmless prisoner for many generations.

[Black Knight]

I had Akriel portray herself as the victim of an abusive relationship. Her "abusive fiance" is a violent thug with a countryside full of violent thugs (woodcutters) on his payroll. She's being watched at all times and if she tries to make another run for her "true love," Dominiani, she'll be seen, caught, and punished.

If the players are willing to take on the dungeon where Radaga stays, they'll probably be even more willing to take on a few woodcutters. It'd be simpler to just escort her. Mysterious mists seem to work - if they don't know who the domain lord is they'll have no idea how to stop them. That said, it does feel a bit like a deus ex machina - a cop out.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Erm, they actually explain exactly what this means in Touch of Death:

Of the signs described, "House of Daegon" refers to the crown of souls found in the first RAVENLOFT adventure, Feast of Goblyns. Daegon's living, then undead, then dead great-granddaughter, Radaga, has kept him a harmless prisoner for many generations.

Yeah, I know, but that actually explains nothing at all, doesn't it? OK, the House of Daegon has a double-meaning, yes. House as in a noble family, and house as in, he lives inside the crown, so it's his house. through life, unlife, unliving, ok, Radaga went through those states, yes. And he's a sorcerer, ok. But still? who is scorning whom? Is she scorning him by keeping him a prisoner? Is he scorning her by being angry about it? The crown has existed for many generations, so what actual event is this sign? This scorning has been going on for a long time. What's new now that qualifies as a sign? The crown being found? Radaga being killed twice? Daegon being released? It's vague at best. Especially if someone (like Azalin) is trying to guess beforehand and help it happen.

[Bluebomber4evr]

Erm, they actually explain exactly what this means in Touch of Death:

Of the signs described, "House of Daegon" refers to the crown of souls found in the first RAVENLOFT adventure, Feast of Goblyns. Daegon's living, then undead, then dead great-granddaughter, Radaga, has kept him a harmless prisoner for many generations.

Yeah, I know, but that actually explains nothing at all, doesn't it? OK, the House of Daegon has a double-meaning, yes. House as in a noble family, and house as in, he lives inside the crown, so it's his house. through life, unlife, unliving, ok, Radaga went through those states, yes. And he's a sorcerer, ok. But still? who is scorning whom? Is she scorning him by keeping him a prisoner? Is he scorning her by being angry about it? The crown has existed for many generations, so what actual event is this sign? This scorning has been going on for a long time. What's new now that qualifies as a sign? The crown being found? Radaga being killed twice? Daegon being released? It's vague at best. Especially if someone (like Azalin) is trying to guess beforehand and help it happen.

Ah I see what you're getting at. You're right, it doesn't really help anyone figure out what to do. It was always clear to me that it was Daegon doing the scorning, but towards what/whom is not clear from the couplet, nor is it clear why that counts as a sign of the Grand Conjunction.

It's been a while since I ran it (1992!) but when I did it was after running Night of the Walking Dead and Touch of Death, so the players already had a copy of Hyskosa's Hexad. I believe that once the players discovered the name "Daegon" in relation to the crown they knew what was up, despite it not being clear exactly what was going to happen.