[No-Artpunk] #6 Refuse of the Gods (OD&D + Chainmail)

Refuse of the Gods
Pizzaready
3LBB + Chainmail
Lvl 12 – 15
Pages: 44 pages + 7 maps
Classification: Bismarck-class fast Battleship

The Heroes of the Age have gathered, far from their homelands to the old Monastic City. They seek to steal divinity from the clutches of the indifferent Primordial Gods to change the face of what will be forged into the world of Bronck. The cosmic struggle rages on outside of these walls, swallowing entire cities, cultures, and nations. These Heroes have been gathered by Vene, the champion of the primordial, seeking to put an end to the vicious cycle, and collectively bear the struggle of the cosmos.

You have my attention. OD&D tends to favor more loose, creative designs and this is no exception. We have received, from the benighted vaults of /OSRG/, dedicated first to Christ and second to our name, a most ambitious offering and this pleases us.

An offering towering in ambition, with some compelling imagery. We sojourn to Brancaleon, the rotting dwelling place of the now quiescent Primordial Gods, to put them to the sword and usurp their divinity. Level 12-15 seems a bit low, even, but fortunately these primordials are mere demi-gods, vulnerable to sorcery and the sword. Stern, lantern-jawed prose sets a compelling scene: ‘The center of all things decadent and disorderly in the old world of Bronck. Abandoned by their supplicants, the Primordial gods have forsaken the cosmic struggle to man, and retreated into the center of their former worship.’ Largely abandoned processional streets, offering bowls filled only with fetid rainwater, streets patrolled by armored vigilantes and illuminated by eerily glowing centers of worship, towering over the hills. There are good names; Palace of Primordial Gods, The Smoldering Towers of Vimarh the Tomb, the Luminescent Monastary.

Sadly for us, Brancaleon proper does not get the thorough treatment proper to its gloomy potency and we must make due with brief descriptions of its major landmarks, as well as a short enumeration of its various factions and what they would be willing to pay for. Something tells me some of the content may have been cut. Regardless, some details on the capabilities of each faction, some minor locations to explore, some wandering encounter tables, these would have gone a long way. As is, this is a framing device for 3 seperate dungeons that will require considerable expansion before it can be made of use, but at the very least mr. Ready strives to give us a compelling reason to do so, and there is a nice rumor table to whet our appetites (some of which perhaps correspond to cut content or are meant as inspiration for the DM). ‘The sons of Vimarh will help depose their father, for a price’. Indeed!

The Tower of Ash. The most complete and strongest of the four dungeons contained in this adventure. Inhabited by the obese wizard Rakhma, guarded by his efreet servants and dervish slaves. Each square is 30′, giving weight and size what is essentially a 17-room dungeon. Two balconies provide an opportunity for vertical entry, not unimportant on a level when you have access to fly, dimension door and levitate. A description of the tower’s height would have been icing on the cake. A good conceit: the interior and exterior walls of the tower are packed with pipes and chimneys that lead throughout the tower, to ventilate, carry spells of Rakhma, and transport items or creatures. I would have let you get away with just abstracting the pipes as the source of random encounters (2 in 6 every hour, but also 30% after you have cleared a room? Quixotic!) and not on the map if there was some sort of procedure for when characters attempt to enter the pipes, which they easily can. They can enter any room in the dungeon via the Chute Nexus in 11, but we don’t quite grasp what this thing is and how it works. Is it like Super Mario?

The good stuff. This adventure, and its compatriots, do not fuck around. Multiple efreets, invisible stalkers, whole columns of dervishes and occasionally characters that feel as if they had stepped wholesale from some sort of Indo-Aryan epic: “6- Mad Giant- Silixiau the Warrior of the Sun is a fire giant, 11+3HD AC 4, He has been mind-broken in a battle with Rakhma, and forever wanders the halls, unknowningly guarding the home of his enemy, under a geas. He mumbles under his breath about killing Rakhma, clutching his giant spear, which he speaks to like a woman. It is the Legendary Spear +2, Ashfiend, which allows the wielder to see invisible objects.” A lone 15th level fighting man enslaved to his soul-draining sword holding a passage against all comers. There’s cloned elves, geased warriors, giants, elemental beings.

This is interspersed with use of the weird. A bejeweled horn, banded with gold, capped with a diamond, the bands can be pried off but removing the diamond will summon fire elementals. A bejeweled throne allows one to cast spells into other areas of the dungeon, but it will hold and superheat anyone sitting down on it. Later on this type of weird makes a similar appearance. The Nexus room will allow you to move to any place in the tower. An altar, that if offered blood sacrifice, will conjure djinn, that can be overcome and conjured anew in gemstone forms.

You get a sense of titanic opulence and profane sorcery; tapestries woven with platinum, fire giants and efreets, jewel-studded thrones, fanatical worshippers. This is coupled with individual tactics: Efreet sealing off entrances with walls of fire, a wizard casting Grow Animal on his pet slugs, elves splitting up in different groups. The cloned elf wizard and his catspaws can be negotiated with, as can the bound jinn. That’s fine, that’s even generous.

It also struggles a bit with organization. There is a limited attempt at an order of battle. % of being in one location, combatants responding to noise in another. Given the limited size of the tower, I would have tackled this strategically: Tower at rest in the normal key. Before that order of battle, seperate from the key in case the alarm is sounded, so you can have people react. And that will be used. These are characters of level 12-15. They are going to use wizard eye, clairvoyance, climb or fly up the sides of the tower, teleport right on top of the wizard, send a horde of combatants as a diversion so one or two guys can finish off the wizard etc. Its written to be used like an active defence, where Rakhma can cast spells through the pipes into other chambers, but I’m not sure if it knows it should be an active defence. Sometimes you need a bit more description to make out exactly what the deal is. Take the example here:

Fair enough with the riddle and the wizard. I would have liked a riddle but I can cope. Lava will begin to spew? What does that do in the language of the game? How many rounds until the room fills up? This sort of stuff. Yeah I can infer some of it, but give me something to work with. In the Catacombs, the Old Man of the Sea delivers ‘Grim Foreshadowing.’ Give me a bit more. This and a format for consistent stat notation. It sounds silly, but if someone else has to use your adventure, it is vital. Second example is cool, but what are their stats? I take these as examples of trends.

Another thing that I would have liked to see more of is concealed treasure, a secret treasure vault, something that appears to be valuable but it is actually not, a secret door etc. Finding treasure is a part of DnD, and can provide incentives to capture, interrogate or magically compel enemies, use magic, intuition, you name it. The amount is on the lower side for high level characters but acceptable: ~250k and magic items for pulling down a tower with so many formidable guardians.

Luminescent Catacombs.
Less order of battle-ey, more traditional dungeon-crawlery, and makes use of a loophole in the LBB by way of the ‘Sea monster‘ entry. Good weird theming, eel statuettes breathing boiling water, sea creatures swimming through the air in the lower catacombs, bizarre fish champions etc. A good conceit in this one, an altar that shifts characters between the Ethereal and the Material. Several creatures in the dungeon attack from the Ethereal plane. I would have included a note for my assumptions about the Ethereal since going solely by LBB, there’s not much to go by, but its a good idea.

Very clever mr. Pizza. Where do you think you are? Gay Sex Island? Busted!

A heavy reliance on flashy set pieces. A chamber with a working pirate ship manned by goblins, with fiery cannons, and a goblin mech captain. Acolytes feeding themselves to a giant sea monster. Knights mounted on giant crabs. It has the OD&D tricks & traps and OD&D saturday night specials. A lot of details are omitted, occasional gateways lead off into realms left up to the GM and it definetely could have used another editing pass. It is also pretty cool. There is some sort of giant gaunt fortune teller that takes the characters into a dream world where they must fight several encounters and if they survive they have a chance to obtain a totem that will give them 3 HD? The goblin pirate ship has cannons, can I rip those off and fire them elsewhere? What if we telekinetically levitate them?

Some of challenges are a bit cryptic. In the lower catacombs the characters must face down the champions of the weird sea god and his deranged sea bishops but as written there really is no reason not to simply jump them so some sort of reward or divine retribution would have been appropriate here. The shark god Enneul offers great boons if you release him. AAAARGH WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. So, thematically connected, otherwise mostly disconnected, big fuckyou encounters. I dig it.

I should by this point report that I believe the limit on unique creatures and items has been overreached. Bracelet of summoning fire elementals, assassin concubines, N sea monsters, treasure detecting dagger, Sharkmen? Gator-men? Most of the champions have custom abilities, the Sea Bishops Wights wear magic armor that is impervious to magic weapons (potentially very powerful if it falls in the hands of the PCs), sentient Coral, +2 Silver Greatsword that destroys magic items and so on. That’s not bad, it doesn’t make the adventure bad, but it does count against the contest stipulation. Should have broken out supplement II for extra sea creatures.

This review is dragging on, therefore I shall not cover fully the Warrens of the Rat God, nor shall I dwell overlong on the Abode of Zephesto, despite some interesting set pieces and a superior map. I think in terms of spirit Refuge of the Gods has got it quite right, and its encounters are imbued with a certain pulchritude which should prove daunting for many formidable heroes. In terms of exploration, I would have appreciated a bit more slyness, navigational hazards, secret treasures and locked doors (although probably, the thief class does not exist yet, explaining their absence). I liked the organization in Tower of Ash, and would enjoy seeing it in other areas.

The ending of Zephesto teases us with the mother of all Chainmail battles after the heroes have snatched divinity from the tri-temporal Zephesto, but neglects to provide an order of battle for it. Streuth! When I tried to figure out how in the hell we are supposed to chop through 6 balrogs, 2 djinn and an obese 14th level spellcaster I belatedly discovered that there were no Pregens included! Drat yet again! That was a requirement!

Refuge of the Gods is an interesting and imaginative collection of high level dungeon material, with some cool set pieces and imagery, that can certainly be played for an entertaining evening of bombastic, violent abandon. Some regrettable violations of my precious contest stipulations aside, I think what would make it stronger is a nice editing pass, a bit more cohesion between the disparate temples and some extra time in the oven. It is fucking cool though!