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Deep Carbon Observatory

Started by bryce0lynch, August 19, 2015, 07:21:52 AM

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bryce0lynch

by Patrick Stewart
False Machine Publishing
Lamentations of the Flame Princess
Mid-level

The adventure takes players from a town devastated by an unexpected flood, through a drowned land where nature is turned upside down and desperate families cling to the roofs of their ruined homes, hiding from the monstrous products of a disordered world, through the strange tomb of an ancient race, to a profundal zone, hidden for millennia and now exposed, and finally to the Observatory itself, an eerie abandoned treasure palace, where they will encounter a pale and unexpected terror which will seek to claim their lives.

It seems crazy that this hasn't been reviewed here yet.

It's been a year, time for a signal boost. Go buy this. What.The.Fuck did I just read! Go Buy this. You see, this is what commitment to a vision results in. Go buy this. Shit, now I have to think about how to revise my reviewing model to account for the disruption of my core ideas. Go Buy this. You are a fool if you are at all interested in any version of D&D, Pathfinder, etc and do not own this. You could probably fit it into Conspiracy X, CoC, or any of a dozen other genres as well. You bought it, right? No. I'll wait. Go buy it. Some people deserve to make a good living from their work. Stewart is one of those. He marries creativity with purpose to a degree that makes it seem platonic.

The adventure has a couple of overland journeys, a couple of complexes/dungeons, and a nice hook/Transition To The Mythic World section. It's light on mechanics and packed full of imagery, ideas, and gameable content. It channels the vibe that Raggi's Lamentations adventures try to reach. There's this sadness and ... inevitability present in the adventure that just kind of grows and grows. There's a river journey, so comparisons to Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now are inevitable. There's this same sort of Passing By Weird Shit Should We Stop thing going on, combined with a melancholy.

The adventure abruptly starts. Just a few sentences and no real background. Everything you learn about what's going on is revealed through the use of the encounters. This works SO well. A picture is slowly built up in your head of what's going on and how it fits together. But the picture is incomplete. Blackness hangs around the edges. This emptiness demands to be filled and your brain works feverishly to fill in the gaps. By the designer providing less information, and working it in, you get a better picture in your mind of what's going on. There are limits to this, of course. It works well for background and history and not so much in other areas. But it's used here for great effect. The adventure alludes to things. It implies. It leaves gaps present that you subconsciously fill in yourself. I don't want to imply in ANY way that the adventure is incomplete. It's not. The information missing/alluded/implied is not critical information in any way. It's the fluff that builds a world.

This adventure does what SlaughterGrid did so well: provide evocative encounters. There's thing DM's do when creating an adventure that involves minimal keying. Just jotting down a dozen or so separate lines on a paper. "Room 4. Dry well. 4 Ghouls" The home DM can do this. They created the adventure. That text prompts their minds to remember what "Dry well. 4 Ghouls." means. It's a shorthand reference to something deeper and more complex in the DM's head. This minimal keying is terrible in published adventures. The people reading it have no idea what what "Dry Well. 4 Ghouls" meant to the designer. Many designers write up boring descriptions, or resort to a lot of text to try and describe the vision. What's really needed though is a short burst of flavor. What's the key to this encounter? By just providing that much, and doing in an evocative way, the DM's head can, once again, fill in the rest. That's what this adventure does, over and over again.

"A petty cleric, clutching a log, shouts "All is Lost!" Seltor Tem is the only survivor of his village. He has a key to his church. He will drown soon.

Perfect. P.E.R.F.E.C.T. This is exactly the sort of thing D&D encounters need more of. It's memorable. It's tersely described. It's full of potential energy. As soon as you read this your brain starts to fill in the picture and the gaps. Stewart does this over and over again in this adventure. It's wonderful and a joy to encounter. This is exactly the sort of descriptions that I'm looking for to riff off of.

I could gush, over and over again, about many aspects of the adventure. The beginning section has some hooks. I guess they are hooks. There is/was this mem in the OSR about the Mythic Underworld. The players needed to cross over some threshold during their journey to the adventure proper. They needed to understand that Things Are Different Now when they entered the dungeon. I think that's what's going on in the entire "hook" section of the adventure. You learn you're not in Kansas anymore. Things are put in motion. Events happen that have repercussions elsewhere in the adventure. There's a simple time and event mechanism going on that sets the mood and provides that crossing over. From there it's up the river to find Kurtz, with ever more weird things being encountered. It's Wonderful how it builds.

I wish I had the words to relate how good the encounters are. As you journey further into the adventure things get more and removed from the traditional Tolkein tropes. It takes the bizarre that was only hinted at, in things like Vault of Drow, and provides full glimpses in to it. Nowhere have the drow seemed more Drow-like than in this adventure. Magic and mundane items are unique and wonderful.

After gushing for two pages I'll also feel compelled to hand out some lumps. Most importantly: the maps. Most of them are generally ok. I might recommend making the numbers a little clearer on them, by typing them or something. I promise it won't impact the aesthetics much and the old bifocal crowd (like me) will appreciate it. The map has to be functional. It MUST be. You can also communicate with it creatively but it must fulfill the core purpose. The DCO map, proper, fails most at this. The upper left, the entire right, the upper middle section ... Stewart or Scrap need to redraw that fucking thing and publish it. I would also mention two improvements with the NPC group. It's quite nice they were included. Just a TAD more motivation might have been nice, but I can deal with that. What they really need is a 1-page summary. 1 page with the stats and a brief personality reminder for each. Everyone who runs this is going to have to create that in order to use it. You should have provided it. The full descriptions are good and should remain, the reference sheet is just a prompter to remember the bits burned in to your brain.

GREAT adventure. More than enough content, and the content is VERY easy to build off of.

You bought it, right?
OSR Module Reviews @: //www.tenfootpole.org

Battle Mad Ronin

I'm so sorry, but I do not find this review helpful at all. The far too prevalent praise, the references that I don't know what to do with - what the hell is Slaugther Grid? Where should I know Patrick Stewart from?

I have no clear idea of the adventure's general theme. The descripition given in the first few lines is a  copy from the Rpgnow.com sales pitch which, while intended to be explanatory, I do not feel should be included in a review of the product as it is by nature biased. I can't from this review get a clear picture of what makes the adventure great. Is it a sandbox of encounters where the players explore the settlement? Is it a linear adventure where a string of encounters are presented? What is the basic premise here?

The lotfp association makes me sceptical. Are there multiple ways for the party to arbitrarily kill themselves and the universe with no sensible warning (a common staple of lotfp adventures)? Does the adventure involve lots of physical mutilation for shock value (another lotfp staple)?

These are just some questions I am left with after reading the review.

No, I did not buy the adventure.

Aos

Quote from: Battle Mad Ronin;849860I'm so sorry, but I do not find this review helpful at all. The far too prevalent praise, the references that I don't know what to do with - what the hell is Slaugther Grid? Where should I know Patrick Stewart from?

I have no clear idea of the adventure's general theme. The descripition given in the first few lines is a  copy from the Rpgnow.com sales pitch which, while intended to be explanatory, I do not feel should be included in a review of the product as it is by nature biased. I can't from this review get a clear picture of what makes the adventure great. Is it a sandbox of encounters where the players explore the settlement? Is it a linear adventure where a string of encounters are presented? What is the basic premise here?

The lotfp association makes me sceptical. Are there multiple ways for the party to arbitrarily kill themselves and the universe with no sensible warning (a common staple of lotfp adventures)? Does the adventure involve lots of physical mutilation for shock value (another lotfp staple)?

These are just some questions I am left with after reading the review.

No, I did not buy the adventure.

There is a link in his sig that leads to a review site. There is a review of slaughter grid there. If you read a few of Bryce's reviews you'll get an idea what his criteria are.

No, I do not buy adventures.
You are posting in a troll thread.

Metal Earth

Cosmic Tales- Webcomic

Battle Mad Ronin

Quote from: Aos;849901There is a link in his sig that leads to a review site. There is a review of slaughter grid there. If you read a few of Bryce's reviews you'll get an idea what his criteria are.

Thanks, that's a help.

Just Another Snake Cult

Quote from: Battle Mad Ronin;849860Is it a sandbox of encounters where the players explore the settlement? Is it a linear adventure where a string of encounters are presented? What is the basic premise here?

The lotfp association makes me sceptical. Are there multiple ways for the party to arbitrarily kill themselves and the universe with no sensible warning (a common staple of lotfp adventures)? Does the adventure involve lots of physical mutilation for shock value (another lotfp staple)?

.

REALLY TRYING TO AVOID SPOILERS:

An ancient dam finally gives out, causing a terrible flood. This has two main effects: It creates an awful New-Orleans-During-Hurricane Katrina-style natural disaster, and it exposes an ancient dungeon that's been underwater a very, very long time. In order to get to the dungeon Our Heroes have to travel through the flooded disaster zone. This forces them to make moral choices in which there is often no clear answer ("Help Group A and watch Group B die or help Group B and watch Group A die or save time and food and keep going). The PCs actions and inactions will have lasting consequences. There are many possible complications and encounters I won't spoil, because some of them are FUCKING GOLD (Really biting my tongue here to avoid spoilers). This section involves both a mini-sandbox and linear encounter paths, which can change based on the PCs actions and locations.

The second part involves the freaky-ass dungeon. It's a D&D dungeon-crawl... except it's a very atmospheric and unconventional one with lots of creepy and even beautiful elements. Absolutely no orcs in ten-foot rooms here. I -think- I remember reading somewhere that Mr. Stuart is a geologist or spelunker or something... anyway, the dude knows a lot about rocks and uses it to good effect. The "Underdark" portrayed here really comes off like a challenging and alien underworld hostile on a basic level to humans, rather than just another place to loot when you get to the double-digit levels.

There are some very, very dangerous bits to the adventure, but none that I found arbitrary IMHO. Your mileage may vary, as I'm told I'm a bloodthirsty bastard. There is some gore and Clive-Barker-in-the-Early-80's-ness. There is a theme of tragedy and GLOOM and it's almost more of a horror adventure than a fantasy one but the players have agency to effect things if they keep their goals realistic and play things smart and cautious.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

VengerSatanis

Light on the details, sure, but still a review that got me interested in the book. Originally, my question was, "What does the name mean?"  Because Deep Carbon Observatory means nothing to me and doesn't give me any idea about what the adventure is about.  

It's long, too.  Like, 90+ pages!  So, DCO could be a long-term campaign.  

Will be purchasing it later this week.

VS

Just Another Snake Cult

Quote from: VengerSatanis;851126Light on the details, sure, but still a review that got me interested in the book. Originally, my question was, "What does the name mean?"  Because Deep Carbon Observatory means nothing to me and doesn't give me any idea about what the adventure is about.  

VS

The title is a reference to the dungeon in the adventure and it's original purpose before it was abandoned. I will say no more to avoid spoilers.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.