Fix that module!: The created.

[Epically]

Alrighty gang, now we move onto another module - The Created! Another fantastic starter module, but it's not without it's faults.

The first problem I have with it is where are the adult carionettes kept? It's noted that all the adults in town are actually possessed by the carionettes. So where are the adults in the carionettes kept? I like to think their kept in a warehouse somewhere. If the carionette dies, does the adult host die too? I also think that too. And vice versa.

Maligno isn't stupid. Surely there's a long term plan he's thinking of in regards to the village sustainability. Kids can't effectively run the town. As much as he hates adults, surely he understands their use.

The ghosts in the theatre also seem a bit OP.

What does everyone else think?

[The Lesser Evil]

The adults could be stored in cages or locked away in the basements, attics, or other out of the way places in Area 26, the abandoned buildings. Captured/possessed PCs might've been placed in the toy shop after running out of hidden away spaces elsewhere.

Forged of Darkness gives the possibility of Guiseppe's toys leaking to other domains, which might imply some trade or other interaction with people who wander in from the Mists (however irregularly). Perhaps there is a semi-regular Mistway?

Maligno is smart, but that doesn't necessarily mean he is wise or understands human society (he wasn't quite born yesterday), so it's possible (or even highly likely) for Maligno to have had something of a myopic vision for the future where his carrionettes would taken over for the adults through possession.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

here's the relevant portion of my DM's commentary from my campaign journal from the time I ran it:

The Created is a fun little module with lots of neat ideas, but it falls down on execution of those ideas often. So I had to tinker with it, of course. Also, I wanted this to be a quick diversion on their way "home" to the core, so I tried to condense the already short module.
One thing I did was to remove the introductory chapter with Giselle Sertino and Knuckles and drop the PCs into the action, with Figlio already having attacked the adults at the theater. (This also prevented the PCs from stopping the massacre.) Hence, the statue is already changed into this state. In the module, the statue starts out happily holding a child, and changes to sadly holding a doll after the events at the theater.

The source material is a little sketchy on what exactly happens to the adults of Odiare. The module says that Maligno and friends paralyze the ones in the theater and haul them away, then hunt down the rest. But it also says that the ghosts of the parents killed in the theater haunt it later. The carrionettes who can do so (i.e. not Maligno) also possess a bunch of them and go have fun on the town. It never explains when and why the adults are killed, if indeed they are. It seems much more likely that the puppets would want to leave them alive to possess them. Also, it's unclear what they did with the bodies. There's only one in the theater. Are the rest in town somewhere? Or did they have time to dump them outside town before the domain formed? And where are the puppet bodies with the souls of the possessed adults trapped in them? The PCs-as-puppets are the only ones that get put into the toy shop. (Why the special treatment? Shouldn't all the possessed adults be trapped in puppet bodies in the toy store too?)

In any case, by the canon ending, as seen in later products, (Domains of Dread, RL3E, etc.) all the adults are eventually dead, yet the theater is burned down. The module was obviously intended as a one-shot, and the goal is to have the PCs burn down the theater, with Maligno in it, at which point the carrionettes all become lifeless when Maligno does. But, Maligno comes back when Guiseppe repairs him, and presumably so do the rest. At that point, what happened to all the adults who were possessed? Was there a second purge of adults after the events of the module? Did the other carrionettes willingly give up their human bodies?

Despite the current Odiare we see in later products, there's actually no mass killing of the adults in the module. Actually, the adventure summary in the front of the module doesn't even gibe with the sequence seen in the rest of the module. There it says they "slew" all the adults at the theater, and it also puts Maligno learning he can't possess Guiseppe after the theater incident. But Guiseppe's journal clearly puts those events in the opposite order. So, who knows?

I tried to stick to the bulk of the sequence in the module, but I assumed that most of the adults are simply possessed, not killed, and that a large number of them are just paralyzed and kept in the warehouses in town, for later possession as needed.

Forged of Darkness gives the possibility of Guiseppe's toys leaking to other domains, which might imply some trade or other interaction with people who wander in from the Mists (however irregularly). Perhaps there is a semi-regular Mistway?

There's a canon one that's one way from Valachan, but there could be others.

Maligno is smart, but that doesn't necessarily mean he is wise or understands human society (he wasn't quite born yesterday), so it's possible (or even highly likely) for Maligno to have had something of a myopic vision for the future where his carrionettes would taken over for the adults through possession.

Agreed. I'd call him more "clever" than smart. He's more motivated by pure Id than long-term planning, I think.

[Mistmaster]

http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... di#p226769This is my reworking of Odiare.

[Mischief]

http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... di#p226769This is my reworking of Odiare.

Another good thread for me to read! I like the fairy-tale feel! I feel like Collodi and Kartakass should be neighbors, something about a domain of singing wolves and warnings not to go in the woods and adventurous children works for me.

[Mistmaster]

http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... di#p226769This is my reworking of Odiare.

Another good thread for me to read! I like the fairy-tale feel! I feel like Collodi and Kartakass should be neighbors, something about a domain of singing wolves and warnings not to go in the woods and adventurous children works for me.

Glad you appreciated it, borders could be worked on.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

a few other tidbits I found in my journal commentary, of rough spots in the module that I had to smooth:
- I didn't like the idea of anyone leaving the group getting instantly replaced without even a roll. I played out all the possessions as a result of combat/ambushes.
- I didn't love the idea of not telling the possessed players that they were possessed, just because I don't think the carrionettes would act the same way the PCs would, but it's kind of a necessary evil for this kind of railroad plot
- The module has the PCs-in-puppet-bodies wake up to see their own possessed bodies leaving the toy shop and waving. "Cool image from the module, but we know that a victim of the carrionette possession is knocked out for one hour, so there's some weirdness in the timing of this. For one thing, the PCs shouldn't all wake together, since they weren't taken out at the same time. For another, what have the carrionettes been doing with their new bodies for an hour? Lurking around the shop, waiting for their victims to wake up, just so they can wave goodbye ominously? Makes no sense, but it's fun." I guess some of that time was used to bring their puppet bodies back to the shop, but Odiare is too small for that to take anywhere near an hour.
- In 3e, at least, Gato the cat poses no threat at all to the carrionettes due to their Hardness.
- I removed the back door of the shop, so they can't avoid confronting the other toys, which is the perhaps best part of the module.
- Don't be too literal with what will trigger the toys to attack. It's more fun if the toys actually get into the action, so don't let the PCs avoid that just because they are in doll bodies.
- "The module is a little contradictory [regarding the personality of the carrionettes]. The non-Maligno carrionettes are described as being flat and emotionless. But they are also described as reveling in their new bodies, and trying to take in all the new sensations of life.... Perhaps being in a human body "wakes up" some sort of emotion in them? (On the flipside, PCs forced into puppet bodies don't have their emotions dulled or affected at all, so it's not very consistent, if that's the case.)"
- Giuseppe only made 50 or so carrionettes, based on the number that appear throughout the module, but there must be far more than 50 adults in town, so again, some must be paralyzed and in storage somewhere (if not dead)

[Epically]

a few other tidbits I found in my journal commentary, of rough spots in the module that I had to smooth:
- I didn't like the idea of anyone leaving the group getting instantly replaced without even a roll. I played out all the possessions as a result of combat/ambushes.

I gave them saving throws when I ran it. It actually almost didn't work because they kept saving and I almost ran out of dolls lol.

- I didn't love the idea of not telling the possessed players that they were possessed, just because I don't think the carrionettes would act the same way the PCs would, but it's kind of a necessary evil for this kind of railroad plot

I countered this by not telling the player directly what happened, but I passed the players notes telling them what I wanted them to do, which made the other players fairly confused which is exactly what I wanted.

- The module has the PCs-in-puppet-bodies wake up to see their own possessed bodies leaving the toy shop and waving. "Cool image from the module, but we know that a victim of the carrionette possession is knocked out for one hour, so there's some weirdness in the timing of this. For one thing, the PCs shouldn't all wake together, since they weren't taken out at the same time. For another, what have the carrionettes been doing with their new bodies for an hour? Lurking around the shop, waiting for their victims to wake up, just so they can wave goodbye ominously? Makes no sense, but it's fun." I guess some of that time was used to bring their puppet bodies back to the shop, but Odiare is too small for that to take anywhere near an hour.

Giuseppe conveniently got injured during the inital fight by one of the players, so the player carrionettes were tending to him, then left afterwards - as the players woke up. I did space out their waking up though for the reason you brought up.

- In 3e, at least, Gato the cat poses no threat at all to the carrionettes due to their Hardness.

Not is 5e.

- I removed the back door of the shop, so they can't avoid confronting the other toys, which is the perhaps best part of the module.

I never had to deal with that. My players almost immediately when upstairs. But had some good fights before that.

- "The module is a little contradictory [regarding the personality of the carrionettes]. The non-Maligno carrionettes are described as being flat and emotionless. But they are also described as reveling in their new bodies, and trying to take in all the new sensations of life.... Perhaps being in a human body "wakes up" some sort of emotion in them? (On the flipside, PCs forced into puppet bodies don't have their emotions dulled or affected at all, so it's not very consistent, if that's the case.)"

I think it has something to do with they couldn't "feel" in their carrionette bodies.