[AA3] The Crypt of the Forgotten Lord

[puntspeedchunk]

First, I must preface this by saying that I have been a long time lurker on this site. I highly enjoy BFRPG and it is one of my two favorite RPG systems to play (DCC is the other, but that is for the more ... strange adventures ). I have thoroughly enjoyed the adventures and supplements on this site: the collaborative nature is inspiring. So much so, that I wanted to also contribute.

The Crypt of the Forgotten Lord
A one-session adventure encounter that I wrote for the subterranean campaign that I have been running. It was an early encounter for new players in the setting - they discovered the crypt complex by happenstance (although, I did write in some possible plot hooks). I rewrote part of it when formatting to the adventure template so that it can be run in any setting. In terms of narrative, the adventure should be "complete" pending feedback/revisions. I still have work to do in terms of further editing for grammar and continuity.

I would absolutely love feedback and critique!

Edit: This is now available in AA3.

[puntspeedchunk]

Quick r2:
-Caught some grammar issues
-Cleaned up some inconsistencies in terms
-Made the gems a little more rare
-Switched the gems in 1a to stones

[chiisu81]

Very nice debut! May have another possible entry for the eventual AA3. I've PM'ed you a link for the Basic Fantasy RPG fonts.

I won't do an in-depth read/review quite yet, but I only saw a couple nit-picky things at a quick glance:

• Obviously once you have the font installed you can apply the correct one on the title page
• In BFRPG, for tables we tend to only have horizontal lines, not vertical. You can select the entire table (hover your mouse near the upper left until it tuns into a tilted black arrow and then click) and then go to Table > Properties and click on the vertical lines (2-3x) to erase them. Also, you'll prolly want to bold and center the table header and left-side items.
• Your monster stats are plain text (ie the "Text Body" style) when it needs to be the "MonsterBlock" style. Hightlight each monster entry, then go to Styles > Manage Styles, then double-click on "MonsterBlock" to apply that style to the highlighted text.
• Your HP checkboxes have the correct "HPCheckBoxes" style applied, but at the end of the last row you'll need to apply the "HPChecksEnd" style; this puts a little more spacing after the boxes. To do this put your cursor at the end of the last row, then in Styles > Manage Styles click the "+" next to HPCheckBoxes to expand it, then double-click on "HPChecksEnd".
• For your boxed text, use the "BoxedText" style; it's under the "TextBody" style. I tried it out on your document and it kept the border you manually added, so you'll need to clear those first before applying the "BoxedText" style.
• At the end, in Monsters Guide, I would use normal instead of italicized text. And while the stats are in the adventure where needed, in the Monsters Guide section I would go ahead and put in stat-blocks as well. You can copy this from a Field Guide ODT to get the correct formatting, etc.
• On your MapMatic map, It looks off having some walls with a black border and others don't have it. Go head and put in the plain black walls/lines for the rest to make it look more consistent.

[puntspeedchunk]

Thanks!

I will fix up those formatting issues and add one or two more things that were lost in translation between my original notes and the adventure. Hopefully I'll be able to post the update sometime this week.

A quick note on the "shock traps": I didn't get that in the GM notes in r2, but there will be a note about a perceptive and wise PC being able to notice a faint humming or buzzing sound coming from the devices/implements that could potentially shock the PCs. That way, it isn't just a random KO on an unlucky, high roll and gives them a sporting chance (I did this when we ran it, just forgot to get it from my head to the paper).

[puntspeedchunk]

Posted r3:

-Fixed style and format errors (thanks, chiisu81!)
-Added a note to the GM regarding detecting "traps"
-References to "monsters" were changed to "creatures" to match BFRPG terms
-Added stat blocks to the creature descriptions at the end of the adventure
-Added walls to the map to give it a consistent look
-Revised some sentences here and there (for reasons)

[orobouros]

Before I read the whole thing, are you looking for playtesters? I'm glad to see people working on "short" or "short-ish" adventures that can be set up to play in a session. FWIW, I'm happy to playtest through a module that's completely open; me playing as editorial help and me playing as the character are different.

[puntspeedchunk]

I appreciate the offer! At the moment, I am not sure if I have the time available to run a proper play-test through the forums (although I am not familiar with a lot of the online methods of running sessions).

I've got another group that I might run it with as an in person play-test, too - especially now with the changes made to make it more setting-neutral (and formally written out, to boot).

[chiisu81]

Looking good! Yes we always welcome more play testing, as it can often find things a simple read-through may not. Having said that I will do a read-through soon to see if anything needs to be changed, but I'm ear-marking this for AA3.

[puntspeedchunk]

Awesome!

How do you usually do playtesting? I would definitely be open to it (and welcome it! It's fun.) - I am just not sure about time in the next few weeks.

[orobouros]

There's some easy and not-so-easy ways to do playtesting. One would be to start a play-by-post game in the forums. Slow but you don't need anything else. You could go whole-hog and create a full game on roll20 (website) or tabletop simulator (software), then play there. Just communicating over discord can work, too.

Since you're doing a playtesting game (and not a real campaign one) I thinks it's okay to just share the source information with the other playtesters. That way you can jump around as needed or "undo" things or skip ahead and everybody will still literally be on the same page.

Of course, the real test is to play it for keeps. If you have an AFK group for that, that works well. I'd venture that a large minority or small majority of TT RPGs are played online these days. It's probably worth setting one up (I'd recommend roll20, since it has the easiest learning curve and is free for basic users).

However you set it up, just get the group together to playtest or play your way through.