{"id":3135,"date":"2016-07-20T07:07:30","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T11:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=3135"},"modified":"2019-02-25T11:17:02","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T16:17:02","slug":"vault-of-the-faceless-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=3135","title":{"rendered":"Vault of the Faceless Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"vfg\"<\/a>
\nBy Richard LeBlanc Jr.
\nNew Big Dragon Games Unlimited
\nLabyrinth Lord
\nLevel 1-3<\/p>\n

In a jungle village a complains that her baby has been taken. A lot of the villagers think she abandoned it in the jungle or a tiger got it. Individually they come to the party to relate rumors of an evil temple in the jungle. Inside is a dungeon with some psionic properties, if you are so inclined to use them.<\/p>\n

This adventure is in a fifty-two room dungeon with a largely ring layout, symmetrical. It has a weird vibe to it. It has a lot of the elements that I would expect to find in an old school dungeon, but it is \u2026 plain? Boring? The writing here just doesn\u2019t grip one very strongly. I\u2019m also VERY suspicious of the ring hallway layout. Combined with a few other elements, I just can\u2019t get into this.<\/p>\n

The biggest problem with this adventure is probably the writing. I\u2019ll cite a couple of specific examples of it being non-specific, but there\u2019s something else going on and I\u2019m not sure how to describe it. The writing is \u2026 technical? It\u2019s very straightforward. It\u2019s pretty clear. And it\u2019s generally boring. I can cite a couple of examples of abstracted descriptions, like a bow that is described as \u201camazing craftsmanship\u201d or a dagger that is described as \u201cparticularly well taken care of.\u201d These descriptions are abstracted. They are conclusions. Rather than describe the dagger, or bow, and letting the player draw a conclusion that they are well taken care of (and therefore special) or of great craftsmanship, instead the read-aloud makes that conclusion for the party. This kind of genericism is the opposite of ecovative writing that inspires the DM and\/or players. There\u2019s something else going on with the writing though and I\u2019m having trouble really putting words to what the issue is. The descriptions are boring because the writing style is just not exciting. Is that the right way to say this? Not dynamic? Not inspiring? I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s technical, and the elements are all there, and it doesn\u2019t necessarily fall in to the trap of describing the mundane, but it doesn\u2019t really make me excited to run the rooms either.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example. It\u2019s a little heavy on the number specificity (which I don\u2019t think is appropriate in read-alaoud in particular) but that\u2019s not really the problem: \u201c48 straw mats are arranged in a 6\u00d78 pattern in this 30’\u00d740′ room. The walls are painted golden yellow, save for a large white symbol painted in the center of the west wall showing the symbol for the third\/plexus chakra.
\nIn each corner of the room, set on the floor, is an ornately-carved ebony incense holder featuring a seated figure. The room is permeated by the scent of lemon and myrh.\u201d It\u2019s an ok description. But not a great description.<\/p>\n

Some of you may recall the chess-players room in the Dwimmermount draft. The room had two ghostly players playing chess. They ignored the party and you could not interact with them in any way. There are some of the same sorts of rooms in this adventure, rooms in which there is trivia rather than something to interact with. I\u2019m not going to assert that every room has to be to fun and exciting, or that dungeons have no room for mysteries or empty rooms. This is something else. It\u2019s presenting something that COULD be interesting but without any elements for the players to interact with or use the room. One of the early rooms in the dungeon has steam in it, that comes in through cracks, doesn\u2019t go into the hallways, and dissipates, with the effect having a random chance each time the party enters. That\u2019s it. This isn\u2019t hinting at a volcano or steam later on. It\u2019s not a terrain effect for a challenge. It just is. This is only one example. Murals and funerary are steam rooms are fine, but they need to contribute to the adventure \u2026 and these do not.<\/p>\n

I am QUITE suspicious of the map as well. It\u2019s symmetrical, and I\u2019m not a fan of those, but the bigger issue is the ring nature of it. Imagine a long hallway that forms a circle, and bisecting the circular line are rooms. You must go into the rooms to walk the hallway. That is, essentially, the dungeon and it is, essentially, a linear layout, with all the faults and lack of options that come with that sort of design. There\u2019s also a large number of monsters, humans mostly, that come out of suspended animation to attack the party, another element that I\u2019m predisposed to enjoy. It just seems lazy. Combined with several other rooms where the read aloud has the monster immediately attacking, it\u2019 just doesn\u2019t seem interesting.<\/p>\n

There are more than a few unique magic items, and some of the items descriptions ARE decent, like a +1 dagger with an ivory handle in the shape of a serpentine dragon with red fringed silk tassels. That\u2019s something worth keeping, if you\u2019re a player. It\u2019s also got a classic set up or two like a giant spider guarding a gem. Those are all great examples of doing things well.<\/p>\n

I just can\u2019t get into this one.<\/p>\n

It’s $5 at rpgnow.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/166283\/PA1-Vault-of-the-Faceless-Giants?1892600<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Richard LeBlanc Jr. New Big Dragon Games Unlimited Labyrinth Lord Level 1-3 In a jungle village a complains that her baby has been taken. A lot of the villagers think she abandoned it in the jungle or a tiger … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/vfg.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3135"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5737,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135\/revisions\/5737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}