BF3 Strongholds of Sorcery

Creating game materials? Monsters, spells, classes, adventures? This is the place!
User avatar
Solomoriah
Site Admin
Posts: 12447
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:15 pm
Location: LaBelle, Missouri
Contact:

Re: BF3 Strongholds of Sorcery

Post by Solomoriah »

Yeah, don't forget to tell me how to credit you.
My personal site: www.gonnerman.org
User avatar
Solomoriah
Site Admin
Posts: 12447
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:15 pm
Location: LaBelle, Missouri
Contact:

Re: BF3 Strongholds of Sorcery

Post by Solomoriah »

There is an issue with the doors to the staircase in House of Coldarius. I'm going to have to make some map changes... and then check the descriptive text for all the corridor sections. Gah.
My personal site: www.gonnerman.org
User avatar
Cryanhall
Posts: 56
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:49 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Re: BF3 Strongholds of Sorcery

Post by Cryanhall »

So, here are my notes for "House of Coldarius."

First off, this is a great adventure with a lot of potential future story hooks coming out of it afterwards. I really liked it. This one was pretty clean in terms of typos or mistakes (that I found). There's just a couple of small things as well as a couple of possible map-related issues.

Pg. 95 of R38, 35. Laboratory: There is a period missing at the end of the last sentence in the first boxed text.

Pg. 98 of R38, 40. Master Bedroom: At the end of the fourth to last paragraph the matching platinum shoe buckle set with an emerald is said to be presently in room 31 (which is the giant bat room). It's actually described to be in room 29 (Rafaela's bedroom).

Pg. 81 of R38, Foes, Predmore Coldarius, Vampire Wizard: I noticed his spell list doesn't mention Wizard Lock. I'm guessing this is just the list of the spells he has prepared when encountered and not his full spell book list (as the 2 X Lightning Bolt indicates). I only noticed it because he has used that spell in multiple areas (16, 35, and 39).

Pg. 88 of R38, 17. Corridor: This is where the stairs start to go funky. They start in room 8 by entering on the left going clockwise. In room 17's description, "In the north wall immediately to your left there is another door..." makes it sound like the stairs go counter-clockwise. This continues on the map with the last door coming out on the west side instead of the east. It sounds like you caught this one though. However, I did wonder about the description in room 17 and wondered if some of it should be used for room 10 which is the first time the PCs will encounter how the stairs/doors work. Just a thought.

Pg. 82 of R38, About the Tower: The scale of 5' per square is somewhat troublesome to me. It definitely gives a claustrophobic feeling to the adventure which I like. However, there are rooms where it feels appropriate and some which feel like they don't have enough room to fit the contents described. For example, the 10' x 10' of the Makeshift Cell (#5) and the 5' x 10' of the Pantry (# 12) makes perfect sense. On the other hand, the two Barracks (# 24 and # 26) don't seem nearly big enough to fit even eight sets of bunkbeds, let alone 16 individual bunks. The mapped area in these rooms is not even 10' x 20' with the curved walls. If the bunks are even only 2' across with six inches of space on either side for a total width of 3', you'd only squeeze in about seven bunks. Maybe that's a little persnickety, but other rooms like the Trophy Room (# 14) with its taxidermied dragon heads and the Crematorium (# 20) seemed a little cramped too. Even if the fire giant, Calbani, is a misshapen runt, at even half-size (7') he would still fill the 10' x 15' room along with whatever oven or hearth is used for burning bodies. I don't know. I'd be curious to hear what other people think about this. Changing it to 10' per square would be pretty easy - the maps themselves don't reference the scale. I think the only boxed text that mentions spatial dimensions is room 17. If I did run it with the 5' scale, I might apply a penalty to large or two-handed weapons in those tight, 5' x 10' hallways and reduce the number of skeletons.
User avatar
Solomoriah
Site Admin
Posts: 12447
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:15 pm
Location: LaBelle, Missouri
Contact:

Re: BF3 Strongholds of Sorcery

Post by Solomoriah »

Cryanhall wrote:So, here are my notes for "House of Coldarius."

First off, this is a great adventure with a lot of potential future story hooks coming out of it afterwards. I really liked it. This one was pretty clean in terms of typos or mistakes (that I found). There's just a couple of small things as well as a couple of possible map-related issues.
Thanks for the kind words!
Cryanhall wrote:Pg. 95 of R38, 35. Laboratory: There is a period missing at the end of the last sentence in the first boxed text.
Fixed.
Cryanhall wrote:Pg. 98 of R38, 40. Master Bedroom: At the end of the fourth to last paragraph the matching platinum shoe buckle set with an emerald is said to be presently in room 31 (which is the giant bat room). It's actually described to be in room 29 (Rafaela's bedroom).
Fixed.
Cryanhall wrote:Pg. 81 of R38, Foes, Predmore Coldarius, Vampire Wizard: I noticed his spell list doesn't mention Wizard Lock. I'm guessing this is just the list of the spells he has prepared when encountered and not his full spell book list (as the 2 X Lightning Bolt indicates). I only noticed it because he has used that spell in multiple areas (16, 35, and 39).
I'm not sure it needs to be noted. It will break the current flow to add a note to the wizard himself. Besides, you figured it out; a smart GM trying to use Predmore in a campaign surely could as well.
Cryanhall wrote:Pg. 88 of R38, 17. Corridor: This is where the stairs start to go funky. They start in room 8 by entering on the left going clockwise. In room 17's description, "In the north wall immediately to your left there is another door..." makes it sound like the stairs go counter-clockwise. This continues on the map with the last door coming out on the west side instead of the east. It sounds like you caught this one though. However, I did wonder about the description in room 17 and wondered if some of it should be used for room 10 which is the first time the PCs will encounter how the stairs/doors work. Just a thought.
Somehow I got the stairs turned around as I worked my way up. I'm going to have to fix the maps, and then correct these references. When I release R39, somebody needs to remind me to recheck this.
Cryanhall wrote:Pg. 82 of R38, About the Tower: The scale of 5' per square is somewhat troublesome to me. It definitely gives a claustrophobic feeling to the adventure which I like. However, there are rooms where it feels appropriate and some which feel like they don't have enough room to fit the contents described. For example, the 10' x 10' of the Makeshift Cell (#5) and the 5' x 10' of the Pantry (# 12) makes perfect sense. On the other hand, the two Barracks (# 24 and # 26) don't seem nearly big enough to fit even eight sets of bunkbeds, let alone 16 individual bunks. The mapped area in these rooms is not even 10' x 20' with the curved walls. If the bunks are even only 2' across with six inches of space on either side for a total width of 3', you'd only squeeze in about seven bunks. Maybe that's a little persnickety, but other rooms like the Trophy Room (# 14) with its taxidermied dragon heads and the Crematorium (# 20) seemed a little cramped too. Even if the fire giant, Calbani, is a misshapen runt, at even half-size (7') he would still fill the 10' x 15' room along with whatever oven or hearth is used for burning bodies. I don't know. I'd be curious to hear what other people think about this. Changing it to 10' per square would be pretty easy - the maps themselves don't reference the scale. I think the only boxed text that mentions spatial dimensions is room 17. If I did run it with the 5' scale, I might apply a penalty to large or two-handed weapons in those tight, 5' x 10' hallways and reduce the number of skeletons.
I revised this to 10' squares after my playtest yesterday. It really is too cramped.

One more thing: You still haven't told me how to credit you!
My personal site: www.gonnerman.org
User avatar
Solomoriah
Site Admin
Posts: 12447
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:15 pm
Location: LaBelle, Missouri
Contact:

Re: BF3 Strongholds of Sorcery

Post by Solomoriah »

Also, are you still going through the book? I'll continue holding off on R39 until you tell me you're done.

And until you tell me how to credit you.
My personal site: www.gonnerman.org
User avatar
Cryanhall
Posts: 56
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:49 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Re: BF3 Strongholds of Sorcery

Post by Cryanhall »

Thanks for giving me a credit! You can list me as Chris Hall. I'm on "Thaumerion's Tower" now. I'll do "Castle D'Angelo" too if you're willing to wait to post R39. I can probably get it all done by the end of the week if that's not too late.
User avatar
Solomoriah
Site Admin
Posts: 12447
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:15 pm
Location: LaBelle, Missouri
Contact:

Re: BF3 Strongholds of Sorcery

Post by Solomoriah »

It's done when it's done. I'll wait. Thanks!
My personal site: www.gonnerman.org
User avatar
Cryanhall
Posts: 56
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:49 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Re: BF3 Strongholds of Sorcery

Post by Cryanhall »

Here are my notes for "Thaumerion's Tower." I'm on "Castle D'Angelo" now.

Pg. 101 of R38, What's Going On Here?: I'm not sure it absolutely needs it, but I think the following sentence could use another comma (in red).

"The book will tell you that trolls are effectively immortal; if their flesh is not destroyed utterly, such as by fire or acid, a troll can survive indefinitely."

I've tried to avoid making too many suggestions regarding punctuation since a lot of times it boils down to personal writing style.

Pg. 101 of R38, What's Going On Here?, last paragraph on the page: I think the following passage should change "level 8a" to "level 8b."

"... no one has yet discovered the secret way from level 7 to level 8a. Thus the old wizard still lives in his office and laboratory on level 8a, ..."


Pg. 102-103 of R38, 1. ENTRANCE: GROUND LEVEL: I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but there is no map of this area. I'm not really clear what the boxed text means by saying the open back door is only 10' higher than the front door. Does it just mean that the 30'-40' of staircase between them is very gradual?

There are also two different descriptions of how excessive noise will attract the cave bears from room 2. I don't know if this is an inconsistent redundancy or if I'm missing something. The first description (second paragraph under the boxed text) says that excessive noise like fighting the stirges will attract the bears in 2d6 rounds. The next passage, two paragraphs down, says that because room 1 and room 2 share the same space, the bears will "move up the stairs to attach 2d4 rounds after this room is entered." I think it should either be 2d4 or 2d6 and only one passage is needed. I like the second better.

Finally, this section mentions a desiccated body of a Fighter. First, desiccated is misspelled as "dessicated." Then it mentions that the body lies on the stairs "just below the trap door." Is the trap door to the roof directly over the front door? The boxed text says that the stairs make two full turns before they reach the roof. Does one "full turn" mean 90-degrees, 180-degrees, or a full circle. If it's the latter, I'm more confused with where the trap door is. Sorry to be dense.

Pg. 111 of R38, 22. SECRET LIBRARY: This is more of a question than a correction. Are Thaumerion's spell books (located in his safe behind the bookshelf) written in his secret language like the books in room 21 or the books and papers in his desk in room 23?

The description doesn't specify that they are so I would assume they can be read with Read Magic since he probably didn't invent his own language until after learning his spells. Is that the correct assumption?

Pg. 118 of R38, New Monsters:
Although technically not a part of "Thaumerion's Tower," I'm including this here since it comes right at the end of the book.

The Tin Golem has the wrong stat block. It looks like it was copied from the Pangotherium on the same page. The Tin Golem on pg. 16 in "Castle D'Angelo" lists an AC of 19 (not 16), a HD of 7* (not just 7), special damage (not two, 2d4 claws), a Move of 30' (not 40'), a Morale of 12 (not 9), and an XP of 800 (not 670).
User avatar
Solomoriah
Site Admin
Posts: 12447
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:15 pm
Location: LaBelle, Missouri
Contact:

Re: BF3 Strongholds of Sorcery

Post by Solomoriah »

Cryanhall wrote:Here are my notes for "Thaumerion's Tower." I'm on "Castle D'Angelo" now.

Pg. 101 of R38, What's Going On Here?: I'm not sure it absolutely needs it, but I think the following sentence could use another comma (in red).

"The book will tell you that trolls are effectively immortal; if their flesh is not destroyed utterly, such as by fire or acid, a troll can survive indefinitely."

I've tried to avoid making too many suggestions regarding punctuation since a lot of times it boils down to personal writing style.

Pg. 101 of R38, What's Going On Here?, last paragraph on the page: I think the following passage should change "level 8a" to "level 8b."

"... no one has yet discovered the secret way from level 7 to level 8a. Thus the old wizard still lives in his office and laboratory on level 8a, ..."
Fixed both of these.
Cryanhall wrote:Pg. 102-103 of R38, 1. ENTRANCE: GROUND LEVEL: I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but there is no map of this area. I'm not really clear what the boxed text means by saying the open back door is only 10' higher than the front door. Does it just mean that the 30'-40' of staircase between them is very gradual?
First, yeah, the map was missing. Gah. So I've added it.

Regarding the stairs, yes, they are relatively gradual. I thought the explanation covered that... I can't think of a better way to put it.
Cryanhall wrote:There are also two different descriptions of how excessive noise will attract the cave bears from room 2. I don't know if this is an inconsistent redundancy or if I'm missing something. The first description (second paragraph under the boxed text) says that excessive noise like fighting the stirges will attract the bears in 2d6 rounds. The next passage, two paragraphs down, says that because room 1 and room 2 share the same space, the bears will "move up the stairs to attach 2d4 rounds after this room is entered." I think it should either be 2d4 or 2d6 and only one passage is needed. I like the second better.
I agree, and I've fixed it that way.
Cryanhall wrote:Finally, this section mentions a desiccated body of a Fighter. First, desiccated is misspelled as "dessicated."
Curiously, LibreOffice thinks my version is correct. I've fixed it.
Cryanhall wrote:Then it mentions that the body lies on the stairs "just below the trap door." Is the trap door to the roof directly over the front door? The boxed text says that the stairs make two full turns before they reach the roof. Does one "full turn" mean 90-degrees, 180-degrees, or a full circle. If it's the latter, I'm more confused with where the trap door is. Sorry to be dense.
A full turn is 360 degrees. The trap door is more or less directly over the back door, and someone climbing the stairs would go 720 degrees around getting there.

I've added a bit to clarify the corpse's position.
Cryanhall wrote:Pg. 111 of R38, 22. SECRET LIBRARY: This is more of a question than a correction. Are Thaumerion's spell books (located in his safe behind the bookshelf) written in his secret language like the books in room 21 or the books and papers in his desk in room 23?

The description doesn't specify that they are so I would assume they can be read with Read Magic since he probably didn't invent his own language until after learning his spells. Is that the correct assumption?
By the book, spells are written in a special, magical language and can always be decoded with Read Magic. He uses his secret language only for his own notes and journals.
Cryanhall wrote:Pg. 118 of R38, New Monsters: Although technically not a part of "Thaumerion's Tower," I'm including this here since it comes right at the end of the book.

The Tin Golem has the wrong stat block. It looks like it was copied from the Pangotherium on the same page. The Tin Golem on pg. 16 in "Castle D'Angelo" lists an AC of 19 (not 16), a HD of 7* (not just 7), special damage (not two, 2d4 claws), a Move of 30' (not 40'), a Morale of 12 (not 9), and an XP of 800 (not 670).
DANG. That was stupid of me.

Chi, I've amended the Tin Golem in R39. When I post it, you'll want to get the stats from there for the Tin Golem and correct FG2 to agree.

Mr. Hall, thank you for all your good work so far! I've swept up all the things noted above and eagerly await your corrections for Castle D'Angelo.
My personal site: www.gonnerman.org
User avatar
Cryanhall
Posts: 56
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:49 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Re: BF3 Strongholds of Sorcery

Post by Cryanhall »

Quick update: I’m over halfway done with “Castle D’Angelo.” Sorry it’s taking so long. I should be able to post my finds by Thursday.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot] and 51 guests