Heart of Darkness

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Blorpy
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Heart of Darkness

Post by Blorpy »

Hi guys!

Here is my second attempt at a BFRPG module. It's a straightforward dungeon romp with more of a Gothic Horror/Weird Fiction theme :twisted:. There are some fun tricks and twists as well. Overall it should be much more digestible than my first entry. I think I got the hang of formatting better this time too. I hope everyone's doing well! :mrgreen:
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Heart-of-Darkness-r6.pdf
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Last edited by Blorpy on Tue May 31, 2022 7:42 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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MinkyBoodle
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Re: Heart of Darkness

Post by MinkyBoodle »

I haven't read through it just yet, but did do a quick skim. I'm digging the maps.

EDIT:
OK, doing a more thorough read now.

Page 1:
"teen-aged son" should probably be "teenage son"

"Very dangerous, to be sure, but Dr. Moraso also tells us full of wondrous treasures." Should this say "tells us it is full of wondrous treasures" instead? Seems to be missing a word.

Page 2:
2. CLOISTER
Consecrated Whip +1 (+3 vs Undead and Infernals) should probably be in bold text since it is a magical item.

3. NAVE
"There are 20 hooded figures spread out on benches throughout the nave, all of them Zombies." I see no need to capitalize "zombies."

Page 3
6. CHAPTER HOUSE
You mention the crank is in the "Lady Chapel" but area 9 where the crank is located is listed only as "CHAPEL."

7. SANCTUARY
The Mad Cleric has an AC of 18? Hope those PCs came prepared! (Sorry, not really something to edit, I just fear for any poorly armed characters.)

8. VESTRY
Bold "Robe of Protection +1" since it is magical.

Page 5
15. GUARD ROOM
Bold text "Spear of Destiny +1 (+2 vs Spell Users)" for magical item.

Page 6
25. CLOSET
"Longsword of the Rising Sun +1," "Light" and "Dispel Magic" all should be bold text indicating a magic item and magic spells.

26. BONE PIT
Bold "plate mail +1 with +3 vs slashing and missile weapons" indicating item is magical.

28. WHIRLPOOL
"The glow in the whirlpool is a portal to the oasis in area 31, which will appear to be upside down from the PCs' perspective." You have area 29 listed as the oasis and 31 as Heart of Tower, Top. Is this a description error or a numbering error?

Page 7
31. HEART OF TOWER, TOP
"There is a pile of sacks near the far wall containing 665 cp, 2041 gp, a Potion of Heroism, a Scroll of Protection from Elementals, a Scroll of Hold Person, a Wand of
Fear, and a Cloak of Darkness.
Also amongst the treasure is an Amulet of Sacrificial Spellcasting."
Need to bold "Potion of Heroism," "Protection from Elementals," "Hold Person," "Wand of Fear," "Cloak of Darkness," and "Amulet of Sacrificial Spellcasting" for magical references.


Overall, this looks like a fun and very challenging adventure. These were just the things I caught. I'm sure the more experienced BFRPG editors will be able to help streamline things more than I can. Might ask Solo, chii, and others if you need to write up a New Magic Items page for things not covered in the core book.
Do you have an approach for what happens when the PCs return from the dream realm? Dr. Moraso and Father Alcinoff seem to just be left hanging.
"My love is my sword."
"If I were you I'd stay away from thoughts like that."
-Dekar and Guy, Lufia II
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Blorpy
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Re: Heart of Darkness

Post by Blorpy »

Amazing! Thank you so much for your editing suggestions and vote of confidence! I have uploaded a new version implementing your suggestions. I think I caught everything.

I toned down the difficulty a tad by removing one of the the wights, and by giving the mad cleric chain instead of plate mail. There is also a secret Scroll of Restoration in the sewers now. I wrote this assuming the total party level would be around 12, and I was using the rule of thumb from BECMI/RC where you make most encounters 30-50% of TPL, with the boss fight being around 80-90%. Still, energy drain is always nasty, and I did admittedly place the monsters in a somewhat tricky way. It also doesn't help that the boss is technically following you around the whole time, lol. I do want this module to be challenging, but hopefully not to the point of TPK being a usual occurrence.

Thanks again! I hope to return the favour soon!
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chiisu81
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Re: Heart of Darkness

Post by chiisu81 »

Very cool adventure 8-) Here's a proposed r3.
I reformatted the beginning to 2-column; even though it runs onto the next page, the single-column just didn't "read" as well to me, and it's our standard formatting. Overall I didn't have to change too much formatting-wise, very nice work!
Feel free to work it over, then edit your first post to upload this along w/ a PDF version.

Edit: r3 now in first post
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Blorpy
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Re: Heart of Darkness

Post by Blorpy »

Thank you very much for the edit and the kind words, chiisu! This is all very encouraging. I am uploading R3 now.

One minor thing to note is that I switched the Dagger +0 back into a magic item. I figured you might've edited it into a normal dagger under the assumption that I'd made it magic by mistake. My reason for creating this item was to provide a cheap, low-powered item that could still hit monsters with physical damage immunity. I'm open to feedback on whether an item like this should be in the game, but just wanted to clarify my rationale and that I'd put it there on purpose. 8-)
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chiisu81
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Re: [AA4] Heart of Darkness

Post by chiisu81 »

Ear-marking this for inclusion in the eventual AA4.
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chiisu81
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Re: [AA4] Heart of Darkness

Post by chiisu81 »

r5 uploaded to first post.
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Blorpy
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Re: [AA4] Heart of Darkness

Post by Blorpy »

Cool to see this one getting some love. I decided to add a few more things and have uploaded a correspondent R6. These changes are localised in areas 4, 7, 11, 27, and are aimed at introducing some extra roleplaying elements to this otherwise combat-heavy dungeon.
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chiisu81
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Re: [AA4] Heart of Darkness

Post by chiisu81 »

Thanks 8-)
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