Contest Entry: Forgotten Treasure (by Woad Warrior)
This adventure asks an interesting question: what happens when a dragon is slain, its hoard claimed by the heroic adventurers, but thousands of copper pieces are left behind because they're not worth the sweat of hauling them off? The answer: a deadly feud between rival villages vying for the treasure. This is an intricate piece that demands a bit of work, but it has a strong and gritty pagan vibe, perfect to set on the outskirts of civilization, or in a backwater interior. The assumed low level, but complex situation, makes this ideal for either experienced players starting a new campaign, or roleplayers who have not had their brains coagulated by cookie cutter dungeon crawling yet!
How does it do in the competition?
First, does it qualify?
Yes. The PDF is 2 pages, the text is on the smaller side but legible reading it at the table, the map as you see if helpfully colored coded to set the cavernous and built parts apart. Traitors galore in this adventure, both in the situation leading up to the adventure and in the dungeon itself. There is a miniscule amount of randomization of enemy numbers which I'll let slide, and it suggests reasons for the feud though these are specific enough to just let the dungeon master pick one or to ignore the issue (is there a reason for villages to feud beyond being neighbors?). The adventure is written for ACKS 2nd edition, so some classes and spells might be unfamiliar, and stirges are called strigas (strix) to detangle it from the OGL (and bring it back to classic era roots) but I don't forsee this causing much trouble for a DM who wants the rest of what this adventure offers.
Second, what is my judgement?
As a DM, does it respect my time, intelligence, and taste?
The size of this adventure means there is a strain between respecting the DM's time and intelligence. There is a timeline (for some reason I can't figure out presented as two timelines) of the situation developing, this changes the encounters in the dungeon significantly over time. At the start angry villagers and a few other opportunists have invaded the dungeon to loot the coppier pieces, over time the violence between the feuding villagers escalate until finally outside forces arrive to drive them away. There is also a political element, a scheming lawyer and his sorceress wife fuel the fire of the feud to discredit the baron's who're supposed to protect the two villages to be able to buy up the dungeon from their liege lord for cheap to mine the valuable ore its sitting on. The way it is presented will demand some time in thought or writing out your own timeline to cross off during the game, but it's an intelligent and logical plot.
Does it offer a good challenge and proportional reward for the players?
No suggested level is listed, though brawling with peasants and their hunting dogs over the scraps left by other adventurers is unambiguously a low level affair. The peasants are fortified by tactics, their local witches and hoodlums, and their numbers. The players, should they succeed in navigating the situation by violence or guile, can expect more coppier pieces than they can carry. There are a few magic items and special boons that would make this adventure worthwhile even for mid level adventurers.
Does it offer shortcuts and treasure for the brave and clever player?
There are several entrences to the dungeon, one requires braving a dark rat infested crevice, the other a 200' cliff. These allow you to circumvent many of the troubles, if you think to look for them. There is a pool watched over by a Wodenic statue, dragon scales floating in it. Drink and you gain the power of greater berserkergang, but also smallpox. Cure the smallpox, lose the power. Survive the smallpox, keep the power.
Does it punish the cowardly and stupid player with loss of life, resources, and opportunity?
There are several nasty traps you shoud be able to forsee by applying logic or common sense. Taking too long to finish the adventure will be the situation deteriorate and eventually get much more difficult as first various dungeon vermin return to nest, then syphilitic gnomes invade the dungeon, followed later by the Count restoring order and selling it off to the plotters.
In conclusion
This is a many layered adventure, both thematically and strategically. Heroes slay a dragon plaguing a community, but a feud erupts when fighting over the leftover treasure. There are distant nobles who let the situation slip through their fingers, manipulated by unscrupulous and ambitious people. The dungeon itself is a ruined temple, with traces of Woden and Loviator vying for space and attention. Just as the peasants wish to scavenge the dungeon, other monsters move in over time to take up their ecological niches. There is a time pressure as outside forces eventually move in to block progress. The feud does not just play out in the dungeon, there are details on how the villagers start attacking each other outside of it, there is potential there for players to take sides or use the situation to their advantage. The presentation makes this slightly cumbersome to take in, and small technical blunders like not giving the dungeon rooms proper names means parsing the text is more difficult than it should be (otherwise the dungeon rooms are both terse and clear).
Very interesting piece, great potential, it's almost overwhelming how much content was crammed into this. Ticking clock, rival adventurers, the plotters pulling the threads behind the whole peasant feud, all very good if a bit disorganized. It felt to me the wording is at times stiff and inconsistent. With some tidying up and maybe two columns for the dungeon key text, this could be extremely good.
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