Palace of Unquiet Repose

squeen

8, 8, I forget what is for
Last week Malrex and Prince posted teasers of the next adventure they are working on.

Here and here.

Everything about it has me salivating with anticipation, but...

O...M...G...that cover!

PalceOfUnquietRepose-small.jpg

I want my players to adventure there!

EDIT: Why? It's not the creepy figures in the foreground...it's that half-collapsed/half-flooded church in the background and the caverous corridors leading away into the depths. That's what evokes the spirit of exploration to me.
 
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Grützi

Should be playing D&D instead
Can't seem to remember this discussion on here ... but then again we've had many discussions on here ;)

And that picture is really awesome ... thrilled like hell to explore this place with my group when it gets out ;)
 

Beoric

8, 8, I forget what is for
Can't seem to remember this discussion on here ... but then again we've had many discussions on here ;)
We were discussing the predilection of children to befriend monsters and collect them as if they were Pokémon, rather than killing them and taking their stuff. I now have a very short list of monsters that are not cute enough to befriend, but are also not too scary (zombies seriously freak out my youngest). Basically bugs, oozes and skeletons at this point. Maybe dragons. He seems to balk at killing humanoids, so orcs are out.
 

Malrex

So ... slow work day? Every day?
Thanks guys...Chris Cold does damn fine work. He captured what we were trying to get across perfectly.
I'd love to explain the cover...but I better not or feel the wrath of Prince. But it is a wrap-around cover, but the file is too big to share. I'm excited as hell about this one.
 

squeen

8, 8, I forget what is for
@PrinceofNothing : Nice job on the voice over. Sounds a bit stark until the music comes in. I would postulate that most professional mixers would do the opposite, start with music then add the spoken part (hence a voice-over). It fills an merges with the human voice.

Also, did you play with reverb, or was it straight up?
 

PrinceofNothing

High Executarch
Staff member
Nice job on the voice over. Sounds a bit stark until the music comes in. I would postulate that most professional mixers would do the opposite, start with music then add the spoken part (hence a voice-over). It fills an merges with the human voice.
Thanks for the feedback. We did some noise cancelling before we ruined it again by matching it to a video but for all intents and purposes that was my natural voice.
 

DangerousPuhson

Should be playing D&D instead
Ok Prince/Malrex, the marketing training in me has to ask the question: what makes this adventure so different from the others? Why should I buy?

Not asking for snark; genuinely want to know what's going to be so awesome about this one.
 

PrinceofNothing

High Executarch
Staff member
Ok Prince/Malrex, the marketing training in me has to ask the question: what makes this adventure so different from the others? Why should I buy?

Not asking for snark; genuinely want to know what's going to be so awesome about this one.
Fair question.

In terms of writing/Atmosphere it has the following USP's:
* It was written by myself, a man of above average literary ability, combined with a comprehensive knowledge of Fantasy fiction. The style is powerful without being verbose. Images leap out, atmosphere is cultivated. Short, evocative description is key.
* The style is horrific and weird but combined with HARD Sword & Sorcery influences, a rarity in the OSR that I intend to correct. Palace is infused with all the corrupted splendor of a Clark Ashton Smith short story combined with the enigmatic horror of something like Hodginson's The Night Lands. Mummified guardians studded with gems, murderous pleasure automatons of fine glass with hair of electrum, hard-bitten mercenaries in gilded chainmail. I do not boast when I say it is unique, unlike anything on the market.
* Chris Cold and James Vail are spectacular artists and they manage to capture my writing in imagery in a way that few people can. Xas Irkalla is the most Black Metal game ever made and one need only look at the palace cover to see Cold's splendidly oppressive genius. They are fit artisans to forge for Palace a fell body worthy of its tenebrous spirit.

In terms of Adventure Design:
* The advantage of reviewing hundreds of adventures if that you get a comprehensive view of all the possibilities and subtleties, which you can see in Palace. If you go in expecting a straight fight you will get slaughtered. You will NEED to master elements of your environment, bizarre new magic items and different factions of murderous NPCs if you want to have a chance of reaching Uyu-Yadmogh's Vaults.
* I hate adventures that are banal and shallow so there is deep lore in it but its all woven into items, features, hinted at but never spelled out or thrown at you in unsightly boxed text. If your players like getting immersed in something Palace has a plethora of horrific secrets to piece together, if you want to run it as a straight-up beer-pretzels dungeoncrawl that's perfectly possible too.
* There is an evolution of dungeoncrawling elements that I think DCO captures but few others do in that the gameplay evolves as you progress further. You enter doing straight up tomb-crawling but this quickly expands into a nightmarish labyrinth of investigation, faction war, horror and puzzle-solving, to conclude in the Crescendo, the Palace itself, where you will have to use EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME.
* I made Palace for my homebrew Age of Dusk setting (but it can be used anywhere and meta-data is added to help you adapt it) and as such virtually everything in it is unique. I mean new monsters, new magic items, NPCs you name it. Write what you know, and I understand this fantasy world because it is mine own, living inside my head, yearning to take shape in ink and parchment.

Miscellaneous:
* Palace is a passion project. It wasn't made by a guy trying to make a living off of it. It was made because it had a burning need to get out, for love of this hobby. We worked over every sentence and it is no joke to say that without Aaron there is no way in hell it would have come out in this shape, because he'd push me, challenge me and always kept me going. This is a work of obsessive dedication, visible in every encounter, made not for cash but for love of the art, a roaring challenge to the standard of adventure design and a living demonstration of our approach to gaming.
* It's pretty cheap for a 50 page PDF or POD. Our rates are really very affordable.

Of the top of my head, I think that's about it. Short answer: Because its really very good. If you liked Red Prophet Rises you will probably love this.
 

Malrex

So ... slow work day? Every day?
I was camping...but Prince sums it up pretty good. It's evocative as all hell. I actually get uncomfortable reading a few areas--that never happens to me usually except from reading books, but I experienced it with Palace because my brain leaps into the visual, and yet, we tried to make it easy to scan/use at the table.
Red Prophet was a fun romp into the caves and touches a bit in the weird at the end....Palace just has this horror vibe to it and tone. It has some weird components and things never before seen--your players are going to be like WTF facing off on some of the opponents and really using their brain for some of the puzzles/obstacles. The cover matches the grim tone of the writing.

Look, I suck at advertising (and HATE doing it) and talking up Merciless Merchant products, but Palace is by far the best thing we will publish currently. I'm not saying that because its new or whatever, but I really believe in this adventure and its intense evocatism (is that even a word?...it is now). And from one forum poster to another, I really feel like this product is worth the money to have on your shelf and will provide several nights of entertainment.
The layout is similar to Red Prophet with the bullet points. I plan to incorporate some things I've learned from this forum...like in the video, you see a map of the City. I plan to zoom in on each section of the city so its more visible and have it on the page that describes it so its easy to run. I don't want to give too much of it a way, but happy to try and answer any other questions here or private message.
 

squeen

8, 8, I forget what is for
It's OUT! And I've got my printed copy in my hot little hands.

So far it looks great. I am currently enjoying the intro and like how it takes the DM by the hand a bit and makes suggestions on how to use the module. It's very old-school in the sense of where it draws the line between telling you versus just making good suggestions.

More to come...
 
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PrinceofNothing

High Executarch
Staff member
It's OUT! And I've got my printed copy in my hot little hands
You sneaky devil! And the PODs aren't even done yet.

We are doing a final round of editing so keep your eyes peeled for the 10th for the definitive version. Consider this a late Beta version. There might be some minor corrections and clarifications yet inbound.
 

Beek Gwenders

*eyeroll*
I’ve read through the PDF version. Good, solid, dark S&S module, ticks the boxes. The dark art compliments the module well (though most of it is not the ‘style’ I prefer myself); I especially like the illustration for the Hallway of Devouring Death, nice!

A bit dense in some parts, lots going on; I feel I’d need to read this quite a few times and take notes to be able to run some of the locations well without halting play. Overall, nice work Prince and Malrex, looking forward to more.
 

Malrex

So ... slow work day? Every day?
Thanks Beek. That's one of my favorite art pieces as well and leans more towards the style I prefer...but was trying to get a little more of a horror vibe with the art. I also like the throne piece (and the Nine and the Wolf....and--ok I like most art).
Going to make some small edits this weekend. Hoping I get some of the proofs soon...taking forever.
 

squeen

8, 8, I forget what is for
I will try have a full review done by this weekend too. Sorry its taking me so long---the home campaign has started up again and am I rusty/unprepared as heck!
 
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