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Better Than Any Man

Started by Libertad, October 04, 2013, 03:01:26 AM

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Libertad

Drive-Thru RPG Link.

Better Than Any Man is James' Raggi's magnum opus of adventures.  Created for Free RPG Day, it's meant to serve as an introduction to what Lamentations of the Flame Princess is all about.  Old-school adventuring in an Early Modern world, cthonic horrors beyond civilization guarding treasure both cursed and glorious, and a willingness to indulge in squeamish material.

Better Than Any Man is set in the northern reaches of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) during the Thirty Years War. This was a particularly brutal time in Europe, as just about every major national power got involved in the fighting.  Mass evacuations of peasants and witch-burning further contributed to widespread social instability beyond the war.  In the adventure, a group of witches (the real kind) known as the Seven took control of the town of Karlstadt, and the Swedish Army landed on the shores of Lower Franconia (Germany, again)and are slaughtering everyone in their path.  Throughout all this a cult worshiping the Insect God, a titanic abomination deep below ground, in the hope to awaken their deity.  The PCs are assumed to be treasure hunters seeking to exploit the region's instability for profit, and there is plenty to be had, from the lower Franconia's 4 dungeons to the Seven themselves.

A lot of things are going on in this adventure, but the sandbox nature of it does not push the PCs in any direction.  They could just show up to loot the countryside's nearby dungeons (half of which aren't tied into the larger plotline at all), on a mission to collect the bounty on the Seven by the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg (other major city in the adventure), or just about any plot hook developed by the Dungeon Master.  However, it's on a limited time frame, as in 11 days the Swedish Army will have ransacked the region, putting an end to most of the dangling plot hooks and important NPCs.

The adventure manages to set the proper mood.  Society is falling apart, witches are openly ruling a major city in the region, people swear that they see monsters in remote areas, there's a lot more insects than normal everywhere, and countless towns and villages vacated southward.  None of the countryside encounters are truly random, as each adds to the setting in some way: monstrous termites of the Insect God in giant mounds, paranoid inquisitorial witch-hunters, and a glass tiger commanded by a necromancer from one of the dungeons are but a few examples.

The focal point of BTAM revolves around the Seven; the PCs are going to involve themselves in their plots.  Basically the Seven came from various backgrounds, and all suffered heavily under the Thirty Years War.  When a genuine witch, the Maker, helped free them from trials and eventual execution, she told them of her plan to cast a spell which would make them all rulers of Karlstadt.  It worked, but the Maker died, and the townsfolk recognize them as legitimate rulers.  They used this opportunity to outlaw churches (private worship is still allowed) and weapons and armor, things they view as prolonging the fires of war.

Some of the more desperate refugees hope that their magic might be able to repel the Swedish Army, and are more overflowing Karlstadt as a result.  The Swedes, meanwhile, view the Seven's rulership of Karlstadt as proof that the Holy Roman Empire tolerates their presence.  Meanwhile, the Mother among the Seven's number organized a Citizen's Peace Patrol, a militia dedicated to disarming the regions' citizens of weapons of war.  Secretly the Patrol is part of the Cult of the Insect God, unknown to even most of the Seven.

The amount of detail for Karlstadt and the Seven covers all the right angles, but not enough to overshadow the rest of the work.  We get a write-up of each witch and a brief background blurb, along with a unique spell of theirs and monstrous servitor minions.

One of the adventure's weak spots is its lethality.  While Lamentations of the Flame Princess is no stranger to this, there's often some traps and monsters which can wipe out the entire party, with little to no way to avoid or bypass them.  The adventure's for PCs levels 1-4, but a lot of the monsters even in random encounters have high hit die and armor class, and while some of the stronger monsters have slow movement rates, the random nature of rolling for enemy hit dice and numbers makes it hard for a DM to plan risk assessment measures for his PCs.  Additionally, several of the major NPCs are either high level or have the command of powerful monsters which can make quick work of low-level parties.  At times it feels overwhelming.

Final Thoughts

Better Than Any Man does a great job in showing newcomers the mood and feel of Lamentations of the Flame Princess, and its open-ended nature is a fresh change of pace from other published adventures.

Since it's available as a Pay What You Want basis, I'd recommend readers to check it out and see if it's to their tastes.

everloss

The war backdrop, the Seven, the old Wizard and glass tiger, even the Infinite Tower all seem really cool to me and I'd like to try them out. But the Insect God? If/when I run it, I'm just going to wipe that out entirely. It's so unnecessary and... well I don't want to give too much away, I'll just say that I agree with you that this adventure should be rated for MUCH higher levels. Although, having higher level characters means that the players will be more attached to them. So any GM who runs this better have the means to calm down irate players who are pissed that their character died in the shittiest of ways (essentially, by fiat, and no, not the car).
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