Yesterday I DM'ed the Mines of Madness module from the Next playtest with my regular Encounters group and it was so much fun!
The Mines of Madness By Scott R. Kurtz on April 01, 2013 Last month, on my birthday, I got to go to D&D headquarters to playtest the Mines of Mandess game with my friends Kris Straub, Molly Lewis and Stephen Toulouse. My favorite character, Zook Waywocket, had a conundrum. Our campaign had recently (and temporarily) become political, having found and rescued a group of dwarven ambassadors from Mirabar. The Largest RPG Download Store! Log In My Library Wishlists New Account (or Log In) Hide my password. Get the newsletter. Mines of Madness (Next) $0.00: Publisher.
I was nervous, since it was my first time DMing anything, but I over prepared, so it went perfectly fine.
In order to use the 'PAX Event Rules' outlined in the module i.e. random event deck, I created an NPC named Raymond Darkstone, a human Wizard and Mines of Madness survivor. I had everyone roll a d20 at the game start and the highest roll got to 'investigate' the rumors surrounding Raymond.
I told them that he was driven completely insane by the Mines, and that while the PC wasn't able to speak with Raymond, they were able to talk a family member out of some of Raymond's effects, which included:
A telescoping 10 foot pole with the words 'Be Lucky!' and the initials 'L.B.' engraved into it that gave a +1 to spot checks. (The character of L.B. was an addition I made to the adventure, he was intended to make a posthumous appearance in the Mines as a kind of joke. Unfortunately, the PCs never reached that area).
An enchanted black Decagon(d10) that channels the magic of the Mines. It can't be used in combat, and it has five charges. All they need to do to use it is take it out and drop it on the floor. I gave that player my own black d10 for this purpose.
My Top 3 Moments of the Game:
Turn Undead On Each Other
By lowering the Dwarf Figher, Grakas, down the slide by means of several ropes tied together, they were able to scout out the Lime Pit + the Undead Dwarves in advance. They pulled him back up, walked around to the side and attacked.
Pax Jaggershield was killed in two well-placed hits.
Our Cleric, Father Bob, was able to use Turn Undead in such a way that she drove all the Dwarves into the Lime Pit, which of course woke up the undead Lizards, hilarity ensued.
They popped open Pax's barrel post-combat and filled several pouches with blasting powder.
Sacrificial Blasting Powder
Upon reaching the Sacrificial chamber, Grakas pulls the knife out of the adventurer's corpse and seals them inside the room, oops.
They spend quite a few minutes examining everything and I inform them on that the only way out is to kill a party member.
Mines Of Madness 5e
To their credit, despite having backup characters, they tried their best to wriggle their way out of having to kill anyone.
They rolled Raymond's Decagon for guidance and summoned an Oracle, using him to confirm that yes, the only way out was to kill somebody, and that the only way to the Forever Stone was through this room.
'Is the Oracle corporeal?'
'Maybe we could sacrifice him?'
Then, I, as the DM, reminded them they did still have those pouches of blasting powder, didn't they? (Oh, the power of suggestion!)
They then considered blowing up the altar, the obsidian door, and the door that locked them in. Their various 'tests' of the room revealed that the doors and the altar shrugged off any force applied to them i.e. our Barbarian's natural 20 roll against the door they came in sent him flying backwards across the room as his maul bounced off it.
Despite that, they still seriously considered using the blasting powder. (I was secretly hoping they would! 'You take 15 force damage, you're all blinded, deafened, and you've used up most of the oxygen in the room.' Heh heh.)
In the end, Grakas sacrificed himself for the good of the party.
Grakas Jr. (backup character) caught up with the group shortly after the door opened, mourned his dead father, and accompanied the group on their quest for the Forever Stone.
Abracadamus Likes to Knit
Everyone reached Abracadamus relatively intact. One change I made to the adventure* was that they found Abracadmus knitting something in his lair. Dark green fabric overflowed from his lap and onto the floor.
*I'm not sure why I made that change, I just thought it would be funny if Abracadamus, being bored (and insane), took up knitting as a hobby, and used said hobby to kill and/or disembowel any adventurers who reached his chamber.
Grakas Jr. allowed himself to be disintegrated for the good of the party (like Father, like Son), the party then flubbed the 3rd question, wherein I got to shout: 'WRONG! A GREEN DRAGON MADE OF YARN!' at the top of my lungs.
Abracadmus then threw the yarn at the adventurers and it coalesced into a poison-breathing green dragon.
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They defeated it fairly easily. My rolls sucked.
I then addressed Grakas Jr. and told him where he was: the Vault of the Forever Stone.
I explained about the basin full of blood, and several of the players went 'Oooohhhh!' as they got it.
I informed him that due to his Stonecunning feat, he knew that the basin of blood was directly underneath the area where his 'Father', Grakas, died.
He then dipped his hands into his Father's blood and pulled out the Forever Stone. It was one of the most morbidly hilarious moments I've ever had during a D&D game. Much fun was had by all.
Things I screwed up:
Being my first time DMing a group, I was much too nice. I could have shaved off 2-3 more party members fairly easily (it being a group of six). I don't have any kind of TPK bloodlust, but the Mines are designed to kill adventurers.
The secret door to the Sacrificial Chamber that you need a DC 20 INT to find? Yeah, I drew that on the map. >_<!?
Things I wish had happened:
Hug-Hug! I was so prepared to role-play Hug-Hug! Hug-Hug is the ENTIRE reason I wanted to DM the Mines of Madness in the first place. Oh well.
I really wanted to turn some of my players into electrum coins. That's such a great gag.
Mines Of Madness D&d 5e
Thank you Mr. Kurtz and Mr. Perkins for making such a great module!
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