Changes to "The Secret Complex of the Old Ones" (SPOILERS)

[Mogrim]

Hi,

I am running my first Palladium Fantasy campaign ever. I am experienced with running other games (mostly D&D), and wanted to ask some questions about changes any of you have made to the adventure.

Have any of you moved the location of the adventure, and if so, where to?

Have you switched out the winged serpent creatures for creatures better fleshed out, say like minotaurs?

The portal to another dimension, do you keep it in? Or have you removed it, changed it in any way?

-I am personally thinking of moving it to another part of the mountains separating Timiro and the Old Kingdom so that it doesn't have to be so close to "The Place of Magic". I also think the change of creatures would improve the theater of the adventure. I am partial to minotaurs in this instance. As for the portal I am thinking it exists but is closed; it can be opened only by pouring enough PPE into the device controlling said rift. Thinking maybe Wormwood, or a world of my own creation. What do you think?

[Hendrik]

Hi Mogrim,

I haven't played the adventure, but I think all changes that you want to make to an adventure to make it a better fit to

- your style of play/GM'ing
- your setting, i.e. your personal brand of Palladium
- the kind of flair you want to stress
- what you feel comfortable with
- a geographic location you prefer

are all defintive go.

That said.

I am personally thinking of moving it to another part of the mountains separating Timiro and the Old Kingdom so that it doesn't have to be so close to "The Place of Magic". I also think the change of creatures would improve the theater of the adventure. I am partial to minotaurs in this instance. As for the portal I am thinking it exists but is closed; it can be opened only by pouring enough PPE into the device controlling said rift. Thinking maybe Wormwood, or a world of my own creation. What do you think?

I love your ideas, especially what you want to do with the portal.

I like Wormwood, but I never liked dimensional travel at all. I would turn it into

* a teleportal to a different place of the same world, or
* a set time dial leading perhaps to a fixed "time bubble" in the past (where the players could have a side adventure; I would do something like "The People of the Black Circle" by Robert E. Howard), or
* into a portal into a dream (which alternatively could be a "lotus dream", maybe the non-functioning portal has a lotus kind of lichen on it and that causes the dream, e.g. if disturbed). The latter would allow you to do very cool stuff with as much residual effect as you like. The dream could alternatively serve as a foreshadowing of future events, which may or may not come to pass, and how well the players do, they could get a bonus or a malus in the later real situation.

[eliakon]

I have moved the complex. It was found by a group exploring in the land of the damned.
The winged serpents were kept as is because they were unknown. The characters were like 'what the heck are these?'
I have had the portal open to a couple places....but my favorite was a nearly defunct Chinese style hell dating back to the height of the Old Ones reign. A place of pain and torment....that was closing down, most of the inmates and torturers long gone. Dust in drifts many inches thick on incomprehensible torture devices for non-humanoid forms.

[Hendrik]

Afterthought:

I LOVE the Eternity

Spoiler:

Sword and The Hunter

concept, but I would either do that or have the other

Spoiler:

Blue and the Red blades

thing.

I like the Serpent Men but it is easy to swap them for almost any another race.

As a starting adventure I am not sure if an Old Ones complex is the best choice. I mean it is a good adventure and certainly very exciting, but you set the tone of your campaign with the first adventure and unless you want to stress ruins, dungeons, and especially the role of the Old Ones, I personally would rather do something else perhaps.

[Tyberius]

I have been sketching out something similar. In that, I am going to take existing adventures, move them to different places, change some things, leave some things the same. But tie it together in places to makes it a better cohesive campaign and world. At least make the voyae of the adventurers make more sence then a bunch of singular places.

[Mogrim]

Hi!

Thanks for the replies, they have been very enlightening.

I want to clear up one thing. This is NOT going to be a starting adventure. I have run 4 sessions so far, and I have a home made adventure I am running them through first. I plan on putting the complex in the mountains in Northern Timiro, west of the Ogre Pass. My thoughts are that it was discovered hundreds of years ago by minotaurs and has become where a clan of them now reside. As part of my first adventure I am seeding the location of this complex. (By seeding it is a minotaur depiction on a map they find pointing to the mountains west of Ogre pass) Now, what the characters do with that knowledge is up to them. I plan on the minotaurs being a long term enemy as I have decided the Kkairojan minotaur clan spoke of in the Baalgor wastes have had a representative make it to this clan. They are sewing the seeds of chaos and trying to prepare the way for the old ones to return. I would never use the adventure as a starting one. While I most definitely have a different opinion of rune weapons than most people on this site, I don't want them handed out to the characters like candy.

I felt the complex was a little redundant being so close to the Place of Magic, so I wanted to move it some. The winged serpents sound interesting, but have no real oomph to them as they have nothing written about them. The rift thing I felt could be both good and bad. I am worried about it spinning out of control with dimensional travel. I think I like your suggestion of a time travel bubble or a specialized teleport to another part of the world, maybe the great ice shelf or something way out of the way.

Thanks for the ideas, keep em coming!

[The Dark Elf]

I played it as is but the only thing I did change was the swords powers and its curse. Yes it's clever but in game terms it is a 99% deathwish. I dont know many player groups in which at least one member wont take the sword. So that curse seems unfair rather than a clever plot twist for future adventures.

IIRC I think I changed the Hunter to a stalky animalistic creature and dulled down the swords powers so it balanced being able to keep it more.

[Hendrik]

I played it as is but the only thing I did change was the swords powers and its curse. Yes it's clever but in game terms it is a 99% deathwish. I dont know many player groups in which at least one member wont take the sword. So that curse seems unfair rather than a clever plot twist for future adventures.

IIRC I think I changed the Hunter to a stalky animalistic creature and dulled down the swords powers so it balanced being able to keep it more.

You are right and the change is a very good idea. The Eternity Sword concept is a killer.

I guess whether the concept should be used with this deadly force should depend on the kind of campaign one has, i.e. how many magic items are around and if they are just beneficial and only rarely cursed. My item magic level is more like Howard's Conan rather than AD&D dungeon crawl etc. In my campaigns magic items are rare, especially the ones with permanent effects and the more powerful ones. My players know that power always has a price and the more powerful items always also have drawbacks, which can be deadly. My players would be very wary of the sword and not use it or take it without research.

That said, I would give my players some warning and giveaways on the alignment and powers of the sword. I tend to think, if you pick up something evil, do not expect it will be a walk in the park - evil kills unless you are powerful enough to master it.