Nights Dark Terror - Review, links and thoughts

Review 

At long last my run through of Night’s Dark Terror is over.

36 sessions over 10 months. Each session around two to two and a half hours long. YMMV - I thought I’d be done by Christmas when we started. 3 PCs and many monsters dead.

I think it went quite well given my lack of experience behind the screen. I made a few mistakes along the way and I was lucky that my players knew the rules so could help me out.

But is the module actually any good?

I still think so. There’s some great set pieces, the first half is particularly good as there is the siege and then loads of places to explore.

The second half is more of a railroad and I think my players struggled with the plot - we were selling horses but now we’re looking for treasure somewhere.  Why is this NPC tagging along again? And why are you killing off our mules?

There is such a variety of stuff in this module that with a bit of work you can fit it all together. And there is a lot of adventure for your money as can be seen from the number of sessions.

In comparison to modern adventures, the short descriptions can be a bit of a pain but on the other hand they give you hints to improvise - I could play up the trader aspect of Fyodryll (and also decided she was the half-sister/black sheep of the family of Prestell in Riflian).

 From a 5th Edition D&D point of view, some of the fights are a bit unwieldy. In particular, there was a fight between the PCs and their allies in the Lost Valley that ended up as me pretty much playing against myself, which was no fun for anyone. 

I do have some ideas for some changes to make the whole thing more cohesive. I'll stick the at the end of the article as they'll likely include spoilers.

I do heartily recommend this adventure. I’m not sure all the encounters are needed when you run the adventure but there are a lot that would work as short standalone encounters or adventures - elves tormented by pixies, strange tombs, gnome mines and even with a little expansion the Threshold bits that I didn’t run.

 

 

Useful links  - Note that DTRPG/DMs Guild links are affiliate links (sorry)

 

The complete module can be purchased here as pdf and/or POD:

 https://www.dmsguild.com/product/17119/B10-Nights-Dark-Terror-Basic?affiliate_id=307673

 

 Some  5e conversions are also available to buy, which I found very useful:

 Classic modules today (DMs Guild)

 Iconic Encounters (DMs guild)

There's lots of useful free stuff on the Vault of Pandius, including:

https://pandius.com/B10_Nights_Dark_Terror_5E.pdf - a free conversion document

Maps for VTTs in Italian

Many other maps...

And it's also worth checking on The Piazza Forums

 Mystara forum at the piazza

Possible changes to the adventure... (probable spoilers ahead)

From the module as written, several months before the adventure starts, the Traldar defeat the Hutaakans and force them from this temple. It is implied that this prevents the Hutaakan from conducting the rituals required to stop the dead from rising in the valley.

The majority of the undead are not dangerous - instead just mindlessly repeat actions they carried out during their lives.

Now what happens if this doesn't just occur in the lost valley - there are sightings of strange undead activities in the wilderness regions of western Karameikos. Now the authorities in Kelven may not be too bothered but the homesteaders (possibly also gnomes and elves) are concerned and ask the adventurers for help.

Meanwhile, Golthar is also interested. I've got this vague idea of the Iron Ring's goal is to unlock the forbidden secrets of the Nithians or maybe they're all ghouls and thouls. Maybe they only have half a tapestry and think Xitaqa is where they need to be. 

Anyway, they need prisoners for some purpose and trick the goblins into attacking the homesteads to get them. And then the PCs arrive at Sukiskyn...

NDT session 36: This is the end

 Int. a cavern below the temple.

The battle against Kartoeba (totally not a Shoggoth)

The party descended down the pit into thaw cage to the cavern below. It smelled foul and was ankle deep in slime.

They decided that they just would leave but before they could find an escape route, Kartoeba emerged, all oozy and tentacly.

Ham was swiftly grappled but despite this was able to cause significant damage to the beast. However, others were also restrained by the tentacles and Han was badly bitten in return.

It became apparent that attacking the tentacles was futile as it seem to have an endless supply. In the end, Ham, aided by healing from Xianti caused most damage and the creature was slain.

A key was found in it’ remnants - it looked like it would fit the secret door in the temple. In another cave there was a trapdoor in the ceiling with a ladder leading up. And up. 

Eventually they emerged in a room they hadn’t been in before - full of treasure. The stuffed as much as they could  in their bag of holding, and another magical sack they found , then left. (Unfortunately, the second sack was a bag if devouring but they still had a sizeable fortune).

They emerged from the temple, blinking in the noon-day sun. Stephan was outside, he had fetched the Hutakaans to help free the PCs from the Traldar but the adventurers ignored him and left.

After travelling a few hours, it still seemed to be noon. And even when they felt tired it was still noon. They found some shelter to sleep and the next day they reached the edge of the valley. The statues allowed them to pass but outside the gates… things were different.

After following a pass for a short way they turned a corner to behold a stunning view. Below them was a lush jungle but more bizarrely the horizon wasn’t there. Instead the world seemed to curve up around them until all was lost in haze…

The End.

The Dublin Murder Squad by Tana French -review/inspiration

Over the past few months I’ve been reading the excellent Dublin Murder Squad novel series by Tana French

Unlikely most crime fiction, each novel is told in a first-person point of view of a different detective (except The Secret Place which is half flashbacks told in third person). However, the protagonists aren’t isolated - for example,  the main character in The Likeness is the partner of the lead in Into The Woods. And the lead in Faithful Place has a significant role in a couple of the other books.

Each story has a crime that has a personal connection to the detective - they all end up changed in some way. And the stories don’t have happy endings that are tied up in a neat bow.

However, the main draw is the writing. I really felt engaged with the characters and plots and have read them all at a rapid pace (at least rapid for me lately).

Finally, from a Role-Playing Game point of view most of the books have ideas that you could steal for investigation or horror scenarios. Why is there a large animal trap in the attic of the house where a murder occurred? What actually happened to those kids that disappeared in the woods? Why does the murder victim have the fake identity of an undercover cop?