The Horror in Numalia

[Aholibamah]

This adventure is in Signs and Portents issue 44 and I recommend it to anyone looking for good Conan scenarios. It could possibly be set in another city with ease but one thing I like about Vincent Darlage's adventures is that they give a sense of the culture of the area as per the REH setting. It has some very well developed NPCs in it and a clear plotline that could readily be improvised with depending on the inevitable fact that players often will do things you don't expect.

 

[VincentDarlage]

Thank you.

One reason I don't write a lot of adventures is that I hate linear adventures with a passion. When I GM, I know the motivations of the NPCs and that drives the plot. I know what the NPCs will do in reaction to PC actions because I know the NPC's motivation. That is hard to write into an adventure format - which is why most adventures I submit end up being rejected. Most of them simply are not linear enough for publication.

I wish you guys could have seen my original Shadizar adventure submission. I thought it was a thing of beauty as it could have gone in a thousand different directions, but, alas, it was not linear enough.

Adventure hooks work well for me - all I need to know is the plot, and from there I can run an adventure.

But, anyway, thank you. BTW, Eric Rodriguez did a considerable amount to help flesh out my bare-as-bones plot, so he deserves some acclaim as well!

 

[Bjorn the Barbarian]

Vincent,

Any chance we might get to see the Shadizar adventure published or released in the future?

 

[VincentDarlage]

I doubt it. I just had another adventure rejected a few weeks ago because it wasn't linear enough. I don't think Mongoose is going to change its mind on adventure construction.

For example, my final submission for "The God in the Bowl" (the Compendium) allowed for multiple solutions of the mystery, but all that was edited out.

Frankly, they may be right, though. My way is more complicated than just running the game out of the box without really having to think about it. My adventures would probably have limited commercial appeal because they are too advanced for beginning GMs.

So, anyway, I doubt my original Shadizar adventure will ever see the light of day. That one was seriously non-linear and complex.

 

[Aholibamah]

That's a great pity--is there any possibility of you putting it online somewhere? And kudos to Eric Rodriguez too!

 

[slaughterj]

When I run games in general, I tend to run them fairly open, non-linear. My Conan games have been a bit more hemmed in since they are more episodic in nature, but there is still room to do various things within those adventures as well. I think I'd prefer published adventures to be "relatively" linear, but with a page of notes on options to open it up, that way they would be useful to a broader audience. Also, that limits jarring issues from arising, e.g., as I found in running Reavers of the Vilayet. Reavers was a pretty good module, but I had to substantially modify things in there in part due to the openness, which I think comes down to the difficulty in making sure things are well-covered when the adventure is so wide open.

 

[The King]

That is hard to write into an adventure format - which is why most adventures I submit end up being rejected. Most of them simply are not linear enough for publication.

It's a curious policy that Mongoose is doing. The best acknowledged Cthulhu adventures for instance are those which are not linear.

 

[Clovenhoof]

That's why I don't like prewritten adventures. Usually too linear. Why do they have to be that way? Maybe in order not to demand too much from the readers/GMs who have to prepare it?
Or maybe so that later adventures can be based on it as sequel. So it can't be "How could the Amulet of Yendor be stolen when we destroyed it a year ago?" ;-)

Anyway, I'll have a look at this one. So far, most Conan adventures I read were too generic and not Conanesque enough, almost as if they had been written for any standard fantasy world and then transmogrified for the Conan game.

 

[Krushnak]

adventure hooks ftw, i hate prewritten adventures as much becase my pc's wont stay on track as i cant be bothered rewriting everything to fit my game. my gm style solely revolves around "winging it" and the players are enjoying it so im gonna stick with it.

also finally got 'across thunder river' which is an excellent book vincent, many kudos. showed my players a few of the pictish prestige classes and got them to watch "the descent" they'll try to refuse to go back anywhere near the pictish wilderness or a cave of any sort but fate may have other plans.

 

[VincentDarlage]

also finally got 'across thunder river' which is an excellent book vincent, many kudos.

Thank you. Out of the books I have written, that one is my favourite (although Ruins of Hyboria is a close second).

 

[Clovenhoof]

Question about the Numalia adventure -- attention, spoiler:








Can the DR of the animated statues be penetrated in the usual way? I'd say no, because they are all stone. So I suppose Finesse should have no effect at all. How about regular attacks, can they halve the DR?
Moreover, I'd give these buggers an immunity against Slashing and Piercing weapons, as well as the chance of damaging a S or P weapon that hits them. Are there any Conan-specific rules for that, or can you simply take the D&D rules (i.e. "immunity" means half damage from specified source).
It may be nitpicking, but I'd like to refine these constructs a little further.







end spoiler.

 

[Trodax]

For example, my final submission for "The God in the Bowl" (the Compendium) allowed for multiple solutions of the mystery, but all that was edited out.

That's interesting. I'm a huge fan of your work Vincent, so I hope you don't take this as a slight in any way, but I found The God in the Bowl scenario in the Compendium to be pretty much unusable. It seemed to be written without any thought of deviation from the linear story, and basically assumed that the PCs would stand there during the scenario and do nothing (much as Conan did in the original story).

A scenario written with multiple solutions would have been far more appealing to me.

Out of the books I have written, that one is my favourite (although Ruins of Hyboria is a close second).

Of all your Conan work, those two are my favorites as well.

 

[Trodax]

In regards to prewritten adventures, here are a couple that I think are great:

Heretics of Tarantia (for Conan)
It thought this adventure was amazingly well written and complete for a book of only 32 pages. Its a basic little story, but has options for various PC actions, and does not assume that they follow a certain course. My favorite Conan adventure.

Power Behind the Throne (for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay)
An adventure location with a mystery to be solved and a ton of interesting NPCs to interact with. It has a given time-frame, but other than that does not assume anything of the PCs and is extremely non-linear. I'm prepping to run this adventure in the not-so-far future, and it's pure gold.

Masks of Nyarlathotep (for Call of Cthulhu)
A global spanning campaign with cool adventure locations for the PCs to visit in any order they choose. Good stuff.

 

[Axerules]

Question about the Numalia adventure -- attention, spoiler:








Can the DR of the animated statues be penetrated in the usual way? I'd say no, because they are all stone. So I suppose Finesse should have no effect at all. How about regular attacks, can they halve the DR?








end spoiler.

The constructs have hardness, like objects. This hardness cannot by halved nor finessed. This is how all objects and constructs are treated, whatever the material they are made of.

 

[Bjorn the Barbarian]

Vincent,

What I meant was is there any possibility that "you" could release it to us fans, or are you under some kind of "gag" order since you had submitted it to Mongoose Hall?

I don't care if it is in a final manuscript form or not. I would just like to see more of your excellent work.

 

[VincentDarlage]

That's interesting. I'm a huge fan of your work Vincent, so I hope you don't take this as a slight in any way, but I found The God in the Bowl scenario in the Compendium to be pretty much unusable. It seemed to be written without any thought of deviation from the linear story, and basically assumed that the PCs would stand there during the scenario and do nothing (much as Conan did in the original story).

My final submission detailed each and every room in the museum and gave a lot more options. I am not sure why it was edited down to its "pure" Howard form. The extras were certainly requested of me by Mongoose long ago, so at one time they wanted all the options. The only thing I can think of is that the options do require the GM to understand the motivations of everyone in that museum in order to make the options work.

 

[VincentDarlage]

What I meant was is there any possibility that "you" could release it to us fans, or are you under some kind of "gag" order since you had submitted it to Mongoose Hall?

I will look into it.

 

[Clovenhoof]

@Axerules: ah, hardness, right, that makes a lot of sense. I was confused because the stat block read DR.

 

[Axerules]

@Axerules: ah, hardness, right, that makes a lot of sense. I was confused because the stat block read DR.

It's written in the stats blocks about animated objects (or constructs, I haven't my book at hand) in Scrolls of Skelos. I asked myself the same question before using two statues in a scenario not so long ago.

 

[Supplement Four]

For example, my final submission for "The God in the Bowl" (the Compendium) allowed for multiple solutions of the mystery, but all that was edited out.

Frankly, they may be right, though. My way is more complicated than just running the game out of the box without really having to think about it. My adventures would probably have limited commercial appeal because they are too advanced for beginning GMs.

So, anyway, I doubt my original Shadizar adventure will ever see the light of day. That one was seriously non-linear and complex.

Vincent...I sure would like to see the stuff that was edited out of God In the Bowl and your original Shadizar adventure.

Still have them handy?