By Christopher Wilson Self Published OSE Levels 3-5
A nobleman from Glaustshine, Duke Bartholomew, has taken up residence in a local hunting manor. The manor seems to have been renovated nearly overnight and farmers in the area report that the duke seems to enjoy hunting at night, as they can hear the howling of his dogs at the edge of the Solvanus Forest late in the evening.
This 78 page adventure features a manor with three levels and about thirty rooms. It’s a social adventure, maybe? Except it’s not, it’s just a hack? Some delightful farm encounters can’t save a hack adventure, literally and figuratively, with bad descriptions.
Somehow, the party gets mixed up in this adventure. I don’t know how. You’re supposed to get an invitation to dinner at the manor when you are wandering through the woods. WHY you’re wandering through the woods near town is never expanded upon. I guess there’s a rumor table that might, eventually, lead you to go poking around in farmers fields and the like? Anyway, absolutely no hook, just somehow end up wandering in the woods so you can get an invite to dinner by the guards. (There are, by the way, about a zillion normal human “veteran” guards. Holdovers from the imperial army. I guess they follow orders well and don’t question things. It’s always amazed me WHY these dudes do what they do. The seemingly mindless and never-ending number of low level mercenaries that do their masters bidding. A paychecks a paycheck, I guess, but, I’d love to see them as a faction … the big bad cant be TOOOO obviously bad, they need to maintain a pretext, and the muscle is much more easily bribed, in my fantasy world, I guess.)
Once you get in I think that this is supposed to be a social adventure. Interact with the duke, his wife, their friend, and so on. Maybe while exploring the manor? And there’s a ball with elf dignitaries the next night after you stay the first night. So, I guess you’re supposed to just explore things? There are no real guidelines on how people react, when the gig is up, how they react to shit and so on. Like I said, I think this WANTS to be a social adventure but it’s not. It’s keyed and stated like a hack fest. The dukes friend gets a 2.5 page stat block, right in the fucking middle of a room description. Like, seriously, the rest of the room, MENTIONING THE FUCKING GUARDS IN IT, shows up as like a couple of sentences at the end of that stat block. What the fuck man? You want me to follow this at the table? And the entire thing is just keyed like a normal explore adventure. Different adventure types require different keying. And while I’m a big BIG fan of the standard map/room/key format, there are times when it’s not appropriate in its usual form. Like in a social adventure. No factions, the social shit is just mixed in to the room keys willy nilly so you never really know whats going on, no timelines …. It’s really that “social shit mixed in to the room keys” thing that is a major problem here. Putting the dignitary ball in the ballroom stat block, for the next night, is the best example of this.
Wanderers are meh. They are doing something but the encounters are not interesting at all. You see a ghost and it goes away. Nothing to do with the adventure. Yo usee kittens playing. There’s just nothing to the encounter details; they don’t contribute to the adventure. And not everything has to, but, if it’s not a hack encounter then it should do SOMETHING, yes?
The adventure has $12k in treasure. Enjoy trying to level on that. Also, the cover says levels three to five while one of the first sentences says levels three to four. I wouldn’t really care about that, except it’s indicative of the degree of care, or lack thereof, expressed by the designer.
Quarter to half page stat blocks to distract. Padding in the text “The characters may choose to travel through the forest during the day, or perhaps set up a camp to rest.” Descriptions, in OSE style, which miss the point of how descriptions are supposed to work in the OSE style “White gravel (carriage turn around in front of double door entrance). Stone and polished wood beams with white plaster (manor foundation and walls).” That, gentle readers, is not how an OSE description style is supposed to work.
There are a couple of highlight though. They all involve the various farm encounters you can have while traveling around through the wilderness. In one you see a boy and ox killed, disemboweled, in a field. More dead family members are in the small home. Arrayed around it are scarecrows, facing it. And another one has been set up in the living room. Super creepy man! They are “hay golems” of course, but, still, nice! No way, as a player, I’d do anything other than burn them ar first sight, but, I like the encounter! And another with a farmer who lets you stay in his barn overnight … just keep away from his daughter! Who is VERY interested in the party. I love the classics! Another has a family in the midst of being killed by brigands burning their home, while another in a classic Dingo got my baby! Encounter. These are all delightful. Nice situations for the party to find themselves in. The entire adventure needed to be like that.
So, wrong format chose, used in the wrong way. And the duke is a doppelganger assassin, is wife actually a fey hag and their friend a necromancer wight. I mourn for the future where people think this set up makes for a good D&D adventure.
This is $6 at DriveThru. The preview is five pages and tells you nothing but the irrelevant backstory. Shitty preview.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/422733/The-Noblemans-Manor?1892600
Isn’t that the blandest name for an adventure ever?
And methinks manor-with-a-dark-secret adventures had already been done to absolute death even when Ravenloft was a fresh novelty.
Should we add “nobles in a manor” to “rats in a cellar” and “orcs in a hole”?
Throw “cultists in a cave” onto that pile, while we’re at it.
I don’t mind “nobles in a manor,” “rats in a cellar” or “orcs in a hole,” because not every possible encounter should be wild, weird and crazy – not everything can be Cannibal Space Kooks from the Moon Have Invaded the Robot Brain Inside a Dead God’s Head! I’m fine with well-done vanilla adventures using the hobby’s classic tropes, but sadly these tend to go hand in hand with otherwise bad modules, i.e., not well done. YMMV.
Chainsaw speaks truth! Vanilla done right is no sin. Gonzo for the sake of gonzo becomes boring after a time and in order to top the previous gonzo you need to get even more gonzo.
I’m literally going to be publishing a nobleman’s manor heist module in two weeks. I think it’s a good environment if designed well.
“Cannibal Space Kooks from the Moon Have Invaded the Robot Brain Inside a Dead God’s Head”
Now that’s a contest!
For the record, I’ve attempted both with Lost Treasure of Atlantis (not vanilla at all) and Brazen Bull (cultists in a cave). I think they both have their place, if done well of course.
A vengeful module-cobbler out there still owes Bryce a ‘Dream Temple of the Underwater Sewers.’
Carnival Murder Mystery Involving Caravan Guards in the Ren Faire Dream Temple of the Underwater Sewers
We have our next competition!
Dream Carnival of the Symmetrical Sewers
Bold & Brash Baboons of the Bumpy Bent Bog.
Yet another cash grab! Which is slowly but surely killing the OSE brand – death by a thousand cuts!
Interesting comment, not that I disagree. But, the overall lack of published material is what has basically killed AS&SH, due to the authors reticence in allowing “unofficial” published adventures for the exact reason you state. Neither extreme (no control vs total control) seems to be the answer. Shocking (red font).
Jeff’s doing better than ever, nowhere remotely close to “basically killed.” By design, he releases 1-2 products a year. The game’s 10+ years old, in its third edition now after selling out 1e/2e and he’s about to launch a KS with three new modules (~15 total). He has a core of repeat customers that continues to grow with each KS and through regular-way new customers. His biggest problem is accommodating the strong demand, not generating the strong demand.
There’s a big difference between being the year’s “hot new thang” (complete with a ton of garbage third party modules) and still making great material after 10+ years. He’s got 3-5 years of product in the pipeline now between modules and some larger mega-modules, so I think the game’s very much alive.
My two cents, YMMV.
I see one published adventure (TLTL) since 2019, and an all-too-soon 3rd edition ruleset that you have to look REALLY hard to find any discussion about outside of his own site. Am I missing something? I hope he really is going to get back to actually supporting his product with supplemental materials. I know directly you’re a good guy, so I’ll simply say that you and I have had this discussion before, after TLToA…
@chainsaw:
I believe that Jeff has made the right decision in maintaining control and oversight of AS&SH brand.
Just consider the number of poor to awful modules Bryce has recently reviewed which have either the OSE or Shadow Dark brand?
Right. New modules are always fun and good, but the pandemic happened and he also ran out of 2e books, which delayed things. We have some new material coming soon with the new module three-pack looming now, so that’s cool. Should be good!
It does seem to be diluted by anything outside of direct Necrotic Gnome publishing.
There was of course Peril in Oldenwood and Palace, both from the humble coffers of the Merciless Merchants. Overal quality seems to be dipping when compared to LL, virtually the same system. The dilution is starting to take its toll I’m afraid.
How it sold 50+ copies is a mystery for the ages
He’s my son, so I bought 49 copies, Bryce bought the 50th.
I am one of the ones who actually likes the OSE format. It’s easy to read and doesn’t take 2 pages for each room. Plus, as English is my second language I think it is slightly easier to implement. Having said that, how would the examples above be a correct usage?
entrance(double door, hardwood), carriage turn around(paved with white gravel), manor walls(stone and polished wood beams, white plaster)
would something like that be more acceptable in this case?