{"id":8032,"date":"2022-06-11T07:11:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-11T11:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=8032"},"modified":"2022-05-31T14:38:58","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T18:38:58","slug":"laboratory-of-ord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=8032","title":{"rendered":"Laboratory of Ord"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Cameron Shanton\nShanton Productions\nOSE\nLevels 1-3<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
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The Laboratory of Ord has within it a self-contained mystery for players to piece together and solve, centered around the maddened sorcerer Thorngage Ord. Rumors of mass disappearances have plagued the local countryside, and many believe that Ord is to blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This nine page adventure uses four pages to describe the eleven rooms, on two levels, of \u2026 an alchemist lair! I was prepared to hate it and instead just merely dislike it. The writing is ineffective, the environment mostly boring, and, overall, more than a little confusing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who, today, troubles my weary slumber?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, there\u2019s no context for this adventure. You see that marketing blurb? That\u2019s what you get. That\u2019s ALL of the context you get. Otherwise we just get a \u201croom 1\u201d start. This is after a boring table of wanderers and one for random loot. Both of which filled me with dread. \u201cOh no! Will I be expected to roll on each room to determine what\u2019s inside?\u201d Well, kind of, but, no, there ARE encounters and treasure in this other than the stuff on the random tables. So, major crisis averted. But, also, no context on the dungeon. A stairwell leading down? I guess so, since that\u2019s what outside of room one. But, nothing else. I don\u2019t need a lot here, but a single sentence noting the dungeon environment, it\u2019s entrance, etc would have gone a LONG way to helping a mood here. But, no, just what\u2019s in the marketing blurb. Again, not two pages of backstory. But, fuck, even G1 had SOMETHING for the DM to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The map is two levels. It\u2019s kind of \u201cmanorly\u201d in tha the rooms are essentially opening in to each other. No creature reactions for an environment that small. And, the map is rather generic. A large hole in the floor in room one, indicates the text. Is the hole on the map? No. A curtain sealing off an alcove in room three. On the map? You know better than that! Pillars and staircases are the extent of what we get. Even though the hole down IS the way forward. This is a homemade map, it looks like, not a Dyson affair. Put some fucking shit on it, man, to help a DM out! I don\u2019t need every table and chair, but help me out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Descriptions? How about we use the magic items as an example? BOOK items, for the most part, as boring as any book items listing. Also, how about \u201ca strange +1 dagger, with an inlaid opal.\u201d This is the height of descriptive text. An inlaid opal. What the fuck does \u201cstrange\u201d even mean in this context? Are yu going to tell the players its strange? When they ask \u201cHow?\u201d then what will you answer? \u201cIt\u2019s strange.\u201d Yes, please, do that. There are two things goin on here. First, the word strange is meaningless. You want to provide a description that makes the PLAYERS think \u201chmmm, thats strange.\u201d Whats part of the value you are adding as a designer. You need to do more then just roll some random monster and put them on the map. You need to bring some things to life. Use all of the joy present in the english language to make inspire the DM so they can then inspire their players with wonder and awe. Strange is not that. Strange is a conclusion. \u201cEvil looking\u201d is another common thing that designers do. Don\u2019t do that. Provide a description that makes me think Oooo, thats fucking evil!\u201d Second, beef that shit up. Gimme a description, or an effect, that\u2019s more than just a roll on the table of magic items. Make me WANT it. Make it special. No, not in The CHosen One way, but just something to make the fucking thing stand out. Players LUSTafter magic items. Its part of the reward for playing. Make them happy to be here and to risk life and limb. With an over-powered item? No. Just with SOMETHING. ANYTHING. Make it fucking mundane. I don\u2019t care. Just put SOME effort in to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I mentioned confusing. How now brown cow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Room one tells us \u201cThe dungeon is crawling with the ancient bones of old priests and people who fled here.\u201d What does this mean? Literally? Figuratively? It\u2019s never mentioned again. It\u2019s not mentioned in any concrete way, or even alluded to, after this sentence.What am I to do with that? Do I take it as a description of the current room? Of the entire environment? Even if I did so, it\u2019s a pretty boring description. There\u2019s no specificity. Bring it to life! \u2026 and let me know what the fuck is actually going on in rooms. Especially every other room which imply, heavily, they are clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lever at the end of the hallway seems to control something unseen\u201d Yes. Wonderful. That\u2019s what levers in hallways do. I\u2019m not even sure how this works. I think maybe it controls gas in a nearby room and not in the hallway? Not to mention the padding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are four Normal Humans standing idly huddled in the bottom corner, breathing loudly in unison and concealing daggers. See Monsters, in Old-School Essentials Undeadnormal human\u201d Ok, so, I\u2019m guessing these are zombies? Another entry has four normal humans in it, without mentioning they are zombies. I don\u2019t know anymore. I don\u2019t cARE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think I\u2019m done caring. I\u2019m done seeing the good in things. All I see is a de rigeur attempt, and a poor one at that, at creating eleven rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hey, you know what? Let\u2019s do all this shit all over again tomorrow!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is $2 at DriveThru. The preview is six pages. It shows you the first eight rooms, so, good preview. AND it puts the level range in the product description. Most don\u2019t. Nice job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/392565\/The-Laboratory-of-Ord?1892600<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Is this a review? No. Why should I try if no one cares to?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Cameron Shanton Shanton Productions OSE Levels 1-3 The Laboratory of Ord has within it a self-contained mystery for players to piece together and solve, centered around the maddened sorcerer Thorngage Ord. Rumors of mass disappearances have plagued the local … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dungeons-dragons-adventure-review","category-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ord.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8032","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=8032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8033,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8032\/revisions\/8033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}