Back To The Megadungeon

 

I'm currently playtesting a brand-new megadungeon in the works, that will be the main feature of book 3 in the Cha'alt trilogy.  

The megadungeon is called Cremza'amirikza'am, of course.

The Lost City is a ruin on the surface of the planet.  Below the eroded city walls and crumbling buildings is the entrance.  

After attacking several small, robed humanoids and driving them down into Cremza'amirikza'am, the PCs went in after them.  The staircase went on for what seemed like hours, descending down into the bowels of Cha'alt.

Meeting an ooze along the way, the PCs eventually came to the first floor of the dungeon, an octagonal chamber with a door ajar.  A magenta-violet light saturated the atmosphere and little aquatic insects and jellyfish looking creatures swam through the lurid illumination.

The second battle of the session was with a trio of monks wearing vials around their neck - the vials contained a glowing yellow-green liquid.

In both battles, the PCs came out victorious.  Neither battle lasted more than 3 rounds.  Even though it waited patiently in the wings, Crimson Escalation did not come into play.  Another playtest thumbs-up, in my opinion.  When creating a fresh mechanic or sub-system, you don't want it constantly making demands.  Occasionally, such things should remain in the background.

As mentioned in my latest video, I'm channeling Buffy the Vampire Slayer, From Beyond, and Event Horizon... along with all my other influences and pop-culture references.  Cha'alt is still a gonzo parody, after all.

A couple interesting tidbits of note...

• There was a surprise round where a PC shot an arrow at the diminutive humanoids.  I counted that as round zero for purposes of Crimson Escalation.
• A pixie-fairy sorceress cast sleep on the monks after a couple rounds of combat.  Since casting that spell brought her down to zero and made her unconscious, I decided to give the monks a saving throw.  Only one made it, and he quickly fled out of the octagonal chamber.
• After the first (surprise round) arrow, the humanoids took cover, giving the shooter Disadvantage, unless circumstances changed.  I think that's a good way of doing it, so just wanted to share.
• One of the PCs ate/drank a bit of the periwinkle slime they encountered on the infinite stairway.  I asked for a saving throw, and he did really well, though didn't quite make his 1st level's 19+ threshold.  So, I told him he got lucky, that several periwinkle splotches appeared on his body and face - much better than becoming a slime oneself.
• The monks of Cremza'amirikza'am told the PCs that the megadungeon was an entrance to another world.  When one of the PCs asked "What world is that?"  I immediately replied "Hell".  That's just an example of spontaneous remarks becoming worldbuilding concrete.  Yep, that's set in stone.

Another playtest session tomorrow.  Wonder what'll happen?

VS

p.s.  I've still got luxurious hardcover Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise books for sale right here.  And I'm also running an old-school, OSR, and traditional RPG convention next July in Madison, WI.  It's called VENGER CON. 

Crimson Escalation

 

The full title of this blog post should be Crimson Escalation while playtesting the Cremza'amirikza'am megadungeon, but I think that might break the internet.

Speaking of internet breakage, I didn't want to overpromise on this little mechanic until I had properly playtested it.  

Even though I've only tested it once, I believe this could be the single greatest combat-related system improvement since 5e came out with Advantage and Disadvantage.

I'm calling it Crimson Escalation.  In the simplest terms, it's a progressive critical-hit range.  The first round, crits happen on a natural 20.  The second round, crits happen on a natural 19 or 20.  Third round, it's a natural 18-20, etc.

Some optional fiddly-bits could be added, but that's the basic premise.  As I theorized, here are the results...

• Combat was shorter - without it, combat would have dragged on longer.  More misses and lower damage leads to longer combats.  Boring!
• Combat was more brutal - I think we can all agree, watching someone whittle away at the trunk of a tree is less satisfying than seeing it chopped in twain with a battle-axe. 
• Combat was more tense - as combat continued, the stakes grew higher because every round it became easier to hit with a higher probability of greater damage.

I assumed that last one (heightened tension) might be the case, but as mentioned, I didn't want to promise it before seeing for myself.

When I was asking for feedback on social media, a couple people wondered if PCs would delay their action in order to attack later in the battle, which didn't make any sense to me then and still doesn't now.  

Another point was raised about reinforcements - if a couple fresh goons rush into the battle halfway, how do you account for that, regarding crits?  Personally, I'm not going to track multiple crit ranges during combat, so everyone's at the same range.

As soon as the Cha'alt After Dark PDF is released, I'm asking my layout team to include Crimson Escalation in Crimson Dragon Slayer D20.  I'm not going to wait for next year's revision - it's that good.

I'm not going to go into detail about delving into the Cremza'amirikza'am megadungeon below The Lost City, but I'm going for a mix of Stuart Gordon's From Beyond and my Metebelis III interpretation of Lovecraft's dreamlands.  It's still very much a work-in-progress.

However, the session culminated in an epic battle between a local warlord death-priest and his guards versus the two 3rd level PCs (both fighters).  It lasted 5 rounds, which is kind of the max for a routine (but still thrilling) combat, according to my sensibilities.  As you'd expect, there were multiple crits.  It was an exciting battle as we anticipated the outcome - the longer combat lasted, chances increased that it would get exponentially bloody!

By the way, the two PCs won the battle.  They were both injured, but survived thanks to being 3rd level.

A short combat is usually a round or two (usually over in 10 minutes).  Medium combat is somewhere between three and five rounds (somewhere around 15-25 minutes).  Anything more than five rounds is long (at least a half-hour) and considered too much, unless it's some kind of major boss battle.  

A primary reason I enjoy old-school D&D is shorter combats.  That leaves more time for adventuring... and even more battles each session!  Dear God, when I think back to my time running 4e and 60-90 minute combat [shuddering].  Never again.

Anyway, my mind blew-up (in a good way), and this is my life going forward - Crimson Escalation now and forever, hoss!

VS

p.s. Want the deluxe Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise hardcovers?  Boom!  Want to attend VENGER CON next July?  Shazam!

The Ultimate Megadungeon

I feel like I fought long and hard for this review...

Battled my inner demons, smoked a peace-pipe with that old serpent until we were both baked into a fever-dream cake with black rainbow frosting, risked my stack by going all-in against a lavender mo-hawked skeever who I knew was bluffing, and so forth!

Endzeitgeist's Cha'alt review!

I knew it wouldn't be easy, that he'd make me pay dearly for every bit of laziness or self-indulgence, every decision carefully considered and weighed as if standing before an exotic gold idol with a pouch full of sand, every creative choice mercilessly judged.

And yet, I came out unscathed... relatively speaking.  I just re-read the damn thing and I'm exhausted.  I don't have the time, energy, or even the inclination to refute his claims, except to say that I really wanted an all-caps GONZO fun-house megadungeon.  If blasters and sleep spells were commonplace, then really weird stuff would have to be way over-the-top.

Also, for a 90 minute online game or 3-hour face-to-face one-shot of D&D, Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 is just about perfect.  It also plays better than it reads.  ;)

Those brave enough to see for themselves are welcome to play in one of my Roll20 games or on January 11th in Madison, WI.

VS

p.s. Yep, still pimping the Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise kickstarter - only 5 days left to go!

50% off Cha'alt

I'm going on vacation in a bit, and my birthday is coming up (November 25th)... so, why not give a little to get a little?

Slashing prices while thrusting deep into the bowels of magenta slimed terrors from beyond time and space.  Who wouldn't want to adventure in a mutant wasteland of alien weirdness and ultra-telluric monstrosities?

Yes, my eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic campaign setting + megadungeon Cha'alt is only $10, now through 11/25!!!

Or, if you prefer to buy the hardcover and get the PDF for free... that's also a wise choice.

If I don't get back to you right away, it's because I'm on vacation.

Cha'alt is 218 pages of O5R sandbox lollipop-flavored doom and irreverent exploitation gloom.  You'll love it, especially The Black Pyramid.  ;)

This just in - Grim Jim Desborough just uploaded a review of Cha'alt.  I haven't watched it yet, but will later this afternoon.  Here it is...

Let him know you enjoyed his video with a like, comment, and subscription!

VS

p.s. Please leave a review and talk about Cha'alt on social media if you want to keep seeing more from Kort'thalis Publishing.

Cha'alt PDF Released

At long last, my campaign setting and dungeoncrawl extravaganza Cha'alt is now available on DriveThruRPG.

This thing is almost double the size of anything I've done before.  218 pages... I almost can't even count that high.  That's nuts!  And it's just jam-packed with content.  The thing is dense, my dudes.  And so beautifully laid-out by Glynn Seal of MonkeyBlood Design, I can't even believe it.  Yeah, it's a dream come true.

I've talked about it for a long while, but now it's time for Cha'alt to speak for itself.

VS

p.s. If you get the PDF ahead of any print version, there's going to be a price break.  So, try it out now because I'm pretty sure you'll want this in either soft or hardcover soon enough.

Printed out the first S'rulyan Vault map

I shall be buried with this giant bastard of an old school dungeon map.  Let this blog post serve as my final will and testament.

For those curious, after my 25% off coupon from FedEx Office, this 46" x 36" color printed and laminated sheet cost me about $90.  Yeah, I didn't have to go that big (see that diminutive blue thing on the right - that's a full-size set of Chessex dice).  No, I didn't have to laminate it.  Sure, it's a pretty penny, but this is my "forever dungeon."

The thing I love most about it?  The little cracks drawn into the dungeon floor.

It'll take up the majority of damn near any gaming table you set it on.  The thing is beautiful!  +MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal) did an amazing job.  This Saturday afternoon, I finally get a chance to try it out.

You see, my lame hand-drawn map of Dwimmermount sucked and even though the rooms and corridors are different shapes and configurations, I'll make it work for the monthly old school D&D dungeoncrawl.

I'm putting the whip to Glynn in order to make The S'rulyan Vault II even more badass, so definitely swing on by and back this Kickstarter.

Thanks,

VS

The S'rulyan Vault II

It's not the Kickstarter project I planned on (Gamma Turquoise KS happening spring, 2018), but it's the one I'm doing right now.  I'll be moving sometime in December, and didn't want the time, energy, and stress of that to affect what I can do for my wonderful backers (Love you guys!).

Plus, it's just fucking time for more dungeoning, am I right?  Glynn's already got his dungeon thinking cap on and will get me some preliminary sketches next week.  I want this mega-map (each quadrant is like it's own dungeon - put them together and it becomes a mega-map) to be different - older, deeper, and stranger... also more dense.

And I've got some exciting ideas for the PDF of random tables and whatnot that will accompany the map files.  I want to help GMs quickly and easily make "normal" dungeons more exotic and special, allowing you to run an awesomely non-standard dungeoncrawl on the fly - without any more than a few minutes of preparation!

I set The S'rulyan Vault II Kickstarter for 15 days, so there's about 2 weeks left.  If this is something you might want, please help us make it a reality with your generous support!  Be sure to get the word out - share this news with your gaming friends.

Thanks,

VS