Morgansfort - First game I've GM'd in 25 years.

General topics, including off-topic discussion, goes here.
Post Reply
User avatar
Cryanhall
Posts: 56
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:49 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Morgansfort - First game I've GM'd in 25 years.

Post by Cryanhall »

As I've posted before, I'm finally getting back into gaming after a long time off. I've played in one-off games as a player here and there over the years, but the last time I actually ran a game as a GM was 1992. I ran Morgansfort last week and it went really well.

I wrote a blog post about it which you can find here if you're interested: http://thebrookmerechronicles.blogspot. ... ion-1.html

I realize reading another person's play notes is never as exciting as your own, but I made a few changes to the module in case you're curious how someone else ran it.
Caelestis
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2017 4:05 pm

Re: Morgansfort - First game I've GM'd in 25 years.

Post by Caelestis »

Enjoyed reading through it and seeing what you had done on changing the adventure. I may have to pick up a copy of this and run it for my group, although I think we have a while before we have worked through what we have!

I liked the changes you made, I think the only thing I would potentially do differently, is rather than just remove the magic items if the players reach the relevant locations roll on the tables to see if the item is there. But that's just personal preference and I can more than relate to you not wanting too many magic items in the world!
User avatar
Maliki
Posts: 280
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 8:44 am

Re: Morgansfort - First game I've GM'd in 25 years.

Post by Maliki »

Enjoyable read, I like seeing how different DM's take a module and make it their own. Hope there is more to come.
User avatar
Cryanhall
Posts: 56
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:49 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Re: Morgansfort - First game I've GM'd in 25 years.

Post by Cryanhall »

Thanks, guys. I'll be trying to keep the blog up-to-date as we continue through the campaign. I'm going to try to post a map of the fortress' ground floor soon too.

I'm not going to take all the magic items out, just reducing them and making them more specific to the adventure. I'm even going to add a couple of magic items of my own. One will be a "key" to un-lock Ghazold if they choose (maybe not a wise move). The Knock scroll from area 14 might also work (or maybe the key in cell 4b), but then they'll need to find another way into the barbarian chieftain's tomb. The other new item will be a primitive, slightly cursed, wooden doll left amongst the ruins of the barbarian clan's village on the ground floor of the fortress. The doll will be a way to harness the psychic energies left from the apparitions of the cannibalized barbarian children. Jyni, the herbalist's daughter and niece to Grelda, the witch, will recognize the doll's power to use against the evil entombed below. I kind of like the idea of maybe the party risking Jyni's life by taken her into the tomb. :twisted:

Other ideas include replacing the gnolls' hideout with the absent magician's laboratory where a journal detailing some of the things he has learned about the fortress' history can be found. Also, the goblins are in over their heads with the kobolds who have laired in the fortress long enough to be affected by its curse and have taken to wearing skin masks of captured human children (Urdish slaves?) over their reptilian dog-faces. Oh, and the black robes monks entering Morganfort as the party headed toward the fortress? They're acolytes of the Green Mark, a cult bent on using the fortress to summon the ancient Shah Gherzon, the reptilian demon lord that the initial temple was built to ages ago before the barbarians arrived. He is featured in the mural in the tomb's second alternate version. His disciples are infiltrating the area. If encountered within the fortress' dungeon, they will be wearing green masks of oxidized copper in the shape of cherubic children's faces.

I've got a ton of ideas, all attached to more compelling reasons for the characters to go back into the earth. We'll see how it turns out. I think I've removed some of the monsters just to replace them with others. I've got to pace them though. They may not make it past the grey ooze. ;)
User avatar
kerc
Posts: 99
Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2016 9:38 pm
Location: Texas
Contact:

Re: Morgansfort - First game I've GM'd in 25 years.

Post by kerc »

I modified the hell out of Morgansfort, and we're still in the second adventure. I wrote up a story to tie everything together, and so far it has worked out well.
Kerc | Dice Pencil & Paper | @dicepencilpaper
User avatar
Cryanhall
Posts: 56
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:49 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Re: Morgansfort - First game I've GM'd in 25 years.

Post by Cryanhall »

We played another session yesterday - and the PCs are still alive.

For anyone who's interested, here is my map of the Old Island Fortress ground level, along with some descriptive text. It's fairly specific to the story I've put together, but of course anyone is free to use or borrow it for this adventure or any other.

I made the map in Excel. Sorry it's so primitive. I couldn't get the rounded in MapMatic to work for me.
Attachments
Old_Island_Fortress_Ground_Floor.docx
(18.64 KiB) Downloaded 305 times
Old-Island-Fortress-ground-level-map.xlsx
(42.91 KiB) Downloaded 291 times
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Google [Bot] and 29 guests