Friday, August 19, 2016
Getting my players into the Maze of the Blue Medusa
In light of Mandy Morbid's coming forwards regarding the abuse she's suffered from Zak S (trigger warning for descriptions of emotional and physical abuse), and in light of his longstanding harassment within the games space, I have removed this post.
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A gorgeous book that I hope to order soon. Which system are you using for this?
ReplyDeleteLamentations of the Flame Princess!
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DeleteI just purchased Lamentations of the Flame Princess, keen to give it ago.
DeleteYou've really inspired me to give OSR a shot.
Great choice! Respect!
DeleteIf I read your setup correctly, are you ignoring the criteria that the painting need be stolen before the moonlight then activates the portal into the painting?
ReplyDeleteAlso, when you say you wanted to run this as an adventure do you mean that it's not meant to be run as a multi-session series but rather as a one-shot? If one wanted to run this as a series would you recommend hand-waving how PCs survive between sessions or how new PCs would enter and join the party (assuming original PCs will die)?
Thanks in advance!
The painting has to be stolen... but it doesn't specify by whom ;)
DeleteThe backstory includes that this nobleman acquired the painting through illicit methods. However, the full list of conditions for getting into the maze is (as you notice) super restrictive! I streamlined some of it in order to just start running the dungeon.
It's a multi-session series, all focused on running this dungeon. I actually gave the players four "back up adventurers" who were also assigned to guard the house- when four of them died, we rolled to see who would take control of which back up adventurer. I'll probably streamline getting future adventurers into the dungeon similarly.
I see, so the back-up adventurers would suddenly enter the painting and appear with the party as each player's linked PC died? Or would the back-up adventurer then need to find the party in the maze?
DeleteObviously there's no "right" way to do this, but I too found the entrance conditions a bit too restrictive and wanted to start the story with the PCs noticing the moving figure in the painting and jumping in. I like your setup, though I'm not sure if session transitions should be seamless (pick up immediately where the left off last session) or if the party should start in the first room each session as they delve deeper and get to know the NPCs more each time they venture further into the maze.
If I understand correctly, should the PCs let the lady in chains free and allow her to exit the painting she will then steal the painting for herself, trapping the adventurers until some later date when she then sends in her own crew for her own agenda. If, however, she is not set free or allowed to exit and trap the PCs then theoretically the PCs could return to the starting room and exit the painting willingly, yes? This could provide an option for a multi-session series that could allow PCs to enter/exit as desired, similar to "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Not sure why a PC would ever choose to re-enter after escaping such a crazy place(!) but I'm sure there are reasons that could be created.
Thanks for sharing and talking through these ideas!
-Freddie
Through discussion on google+, someone had a neat and simple idea that future PCs could simply be statues in the maze suddenly re-animated! Their former adventuring party long gone or dead, the newly animated PC would then join the existing party.
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