[No-Artpunk] #9 The Well of Night (OSE)

The Well of Night (alternatively THE TEMPLE of the ADVENT of HER COMING and of HER REIGN IMPERISHABLE in the COLD, DARKNESS, and SILENCE of her VAST, EVERLASTING NONDOM of NIGHT)
Jason Blasso
OSE
Lvl 7 – 14
Pages: 25 + 3 maps
Classification: Submarine Aircraft Carrier

We are at entry 9 and I keep thinking we must have exhausted at least the possibilities of the format so that we will see multiple takes on the same concept but every time I am proven wrong. Jason Blasso, last year’s NAP II winner returns in force with an occultic planar jaunt meant to be played alongside regular adventures, by use of an artifact known as the Well of Night. Blasso has taken the core system of OSE, and fortified it liberally with elements drawn from Rules Cyclopedia and the Creature Catalogue, the super secret add-on to B/X that contains many of its best monsters.

A concept vaguely similar to Nightwolf Inn, the Well grants access to the Temple of the Advent, dedicated to Nyx, primordial ur-power of night, and mother of all the gods. Non-aligned, her followers travel the planes, following the apophatic path, and contemplate absence as they await her inevitable advent. Once inside the shrine, players are at first bombarded with the absolute cold, darkness and silence of the shrine, but if they avoid hostilities with its sinister sacristan and return the corpse on which they found the Well of Night, they are taken to the adventure soon opens up.

Wonder, open-ness, degrees of freedom and possibility is the name of the game with Temple of the Advent, coupled with good game design decisions. Using the Well on one of 6 plinths will transport the PCs to a new location, each totally different, a sort of mini scenario or encounter where they may earn wealth, a boon or a stigmata of nix, which grants supernatural ability. Blasso announces that he will eventually complete all 30 of the plinths, which should make for one hell of an adventure. The stigmata proper are well done, perhaps a bit strong, with the only caveat that while having a single stigmata is immediately very powerful, obtaining more of them does not greatly increase this power, and I would have enjoyed seeing some sort of reward or possibility opened up for characters that succesfully obtain all six of them.

Another obvious problem is that a Well of Many Worlds that reliably leads to only one location presents a certain escape from danger. There is a small caveat, the Well always opens 6” above the surface so anyone using it takes 1d4 damage per transition, and fleeing characters would be transported to the Temple of the Advent, hardly the most hospitable location, but after obtaining the Stigmata, this would become a reliable place of safety. Disallowing any sort of rest within the temple would probalby solve potential abuse, and there are other problems with opening the Well during combat (monsters might simply pursue through it, or prepare an ambush upon return) so that I don’t think using it as written should destabilize a campaign.

Locations proper are, frankly, fantastic. I love them. They embody the sort of wonder that I associate with planar travel. In the first, you are chosen by Black Tom and taken to a ring of dolmens, and must select an opponent from one of the 12 constellations of the Zodiac, which will detach itself from the heavens and engage the characters. This could have been a simple combat, BUT, the characters get to CHOOSE. Balancing Risk vs Reward. That’s great. Fighting a giant flying whale made of stars in the distant north in a circle of dolmens so I may be initiated in the mysteries of Night. That’s what I fucking want from my high-level gaming.

What sets the scenario apart is that though there is an obvious path to follow where you explore these locations beholden to the mother of night and play by the rules, very often you can just loot the place and kill everyone. You don’t have to play by the rules. This is exemplified IN THE TEMPLE OF ADVENT itself, where there are three twelve armed statues of Nyx, with six magic items each. The drawback is you lose all your boons. And then there’s all these other possibilities, giving magic items to the statue means you can get a greater boon, you can lend an item etc. Possibility. Gameplay. Please also note Krull Glaive. As written, they are not very tough, but anyone who gets into combat suffers around 8 attacks and several magic items to contend with. Very lopsided. Lucrative as hell but risky. Perfect for an optional encounter that is tempting you to push your luck.

The rest reads like a blend of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, the Dark Crystal, Roger Zelazny and Philip Jose Farmer. Fuck with a band of sleeping Athach’s, around an altar covered with offal in front of a trilithon, maybe get your brains bashed out on an altar. Seems simple enough. But then! Do you pick up on the clues and get the Trilithon to open a gateway to the Halfling Realm of Death? Before you know it, you are palavering with Halfling Death, and may receive a boon. Its the type of mythic stuff you would see in M1 but with better considered gameplay.

This one, say, is sick. Islands on an ocean of radioactive ash, the observatory a tower of black glass. Upon arrival the characters gradually lose hit points every turn. The ash is like quicksand, but there are bridges linking the islands. Some of the bridges are fragile and might break, others are coated with ash. Underneath the sea of ash is a LEVIATHAN, attracted to the tremors. Then a precise description of how the Leviathan responds to the tremors, where it can attack the PCs and so on. The purple energy sphere provides protection from the radiation. The PCs wont know this. But this scenario rules. You have a situation where very patient and careful reconnaisance would allow the PCs to find the safest route, but you have a ticking clock (in the form of the ash) to keep them from taking too long. The observatory proper is ALSO GREAT and conveys the type of otherwordly wonder that is exactly what we are looking for.

Based and Skeksis pilled.

The prize, the Chronoscope allowing the viewer to see anywhere in time and space that he himself does not, or will not, occupy, is a powerful incentive. Unlimited perfect scrying. In the B/X fashion, something about the destabalizing properties of having mastery of such a device are not fully considered. On the one hand, it is the end-game, and since teleportation without error is not available in OSE, simply viewing a location and teleporting everywhere is inevitably going to end in disaster. On the other hand, limiting the device’s use to a certain number of times per day (possibly link it to wisdom/intelligence bonus) is probably a way to prevent rampant abuse. There is a huge difference between being able to use something, and being able to use something an unlimited number of times per day, after all. The ability to hijack a spaceship and venture to the Nagpa homeworld is tantalizing here, and a great way to leave something for the DM to elaborate on. Give it its own twist.

Pentagrammic! I am expecting at least one Kaballistic Tree of Life map if this thing ever hits 30!

The Black Library. Again you get a small location with lots of things going on. A circular space station somewhere in the blackness, containing 100.000 gps worth of books. The guardians of the library are Banshees, punishing noise-makers, interlopers and those who bring torches. The curator is a lich. Having to all noise within the library or risk drawing the ire of the ladies is an interesting handicap (and the decision to give people multiple ‘tries’ is fair). You can attempt to interact with the library and gain some advantage (study between sessions for the chance to gain a stigmata), you can even deal with the 5 Grey Philosophers and their swarms of Malices (just don’t make noise). By far the most lucrative option is of course to rob the place blind, but do you want to contend with 1 lich and 5 banshees? Here too there are hidden secrets, caveats, a book of life-trapping holding 20 elven nobles.

The House of Sleep. Maybe the best section in the adventure? Again its presented as an open-ended sort of location. A shrine to Sleep, an elephantine deity, and the seven sisters, each embodied in a type of drug. Robbing the place blind is lucrative but summons terrible guardians. The more intriguing mystery is found below, with the idol of sleep and two gates of blank stone. Mystery is piled upon mystery, and only the inquisitive and the cunning will be able to reach the realm of Deeper Sleep, and gain a boon from the god of Sleep. Usually these types of adventures tend to completely throw gameability out of the window but here it strikes a good balance.

An abbey perched on a precipice over an endless void, tended by various hags, there to contemplate infinity. Only women may enter (but again, you can see how illusion magic or a simple disguise might trick them, more can be done with this). Once inside, there is a boon to gain if you are friendly (and bold, to contemplate the abyss bring with it risk as well as possible reward), a great quality of loot and a rudimentary order of battle if you are not, and even rebellion you can foment among its treants and galgaraks used for food in this benighted extraplanar cloister.

There’s a few points where I am a bit uncertain. There are no premade characters and the challenge level of these locations vary considerably, especially if different approaches are taken. The encounters proper are generally well done, using multiple combantats or including caveats (like the Nasnas trying to flee and using its Obsidean golems as a shield). Treasure is on par for side-quests for high level characters that can be solved in 1-2 sessions and are appropriately guarded, and the statues in the Temple of the Advent provide an enticing opportunity to risk it all and win big in the process. This is very good. The biggest complaint is inevitably going to be that there are only 6 of these areas. The stigmata are another cool idea that seems to be building up towards some sort of payoff that does not quite arrive.

This one is already great and is going to be legendary when it is completed. A worthy entry indeed.