In Book 2 we see Laios’ guild going through the Golden Kingdom’s third level (the Crypt being the 1st and the Forest Top the 2nd) and reaching the 4th near the end. The 3rd level is more of a classical dungeon setting as we’re now inside the upper part of the castle and what we see is a lot of bricks: corridors, great halls, and at one point, a vast atrium surrounded by balconies.
The main denizens of the level are undead (skeletons, ghouls and ghosts) and golems (only 3 remains but there were more before) and a few more surprises too. We learn that the presence of the golems is the main reason why there’s not much monsters invading from below. I’m guessing that the golems don’t attack the undead.
Sounds are amplified a lot, echoing along the stone corridors and one attentive listener can identify what’s nearby.
There’s a few fountains with running water but not much food to be collected from monsters on this level for obvious reasons.
There’s places that serves as a kind of disreputable taverns where one can meet adventurers and criminals in hiding.
In the book we see Orcs raiding the area but they usually stay on the lower levels. They’ve been forced out of their village by a rampaging Red Dragon. Orcs weren’t part of the Golden Kingdom, but they were the first to explore the lower levels as they were fleeing the surface after being attacked by Elves and Humans.
Orc toddlers are extra cute, of course they are.
There’s a thing that’s called a Treasure Insect that looks like a coin or a gem or even a pearl necklace (the centipede version).
There’s Living Paintings, if you get near one you get sucked in into a phantasmal world, sort of an extension of the scene that was depicted on the painting where you can get hurt, and probably die too. You’ll need external help to get out, you can’t bring back anything that you found inside but it can be an invaluable source of information/lore as you can see past events and talk to people long lost.
Mimics are very much like giant hermit crabs, they go from small to bigger containers as they grow in size. We learn (here’s a pretty potent example of applied monster ecology) that Treasure Insects are parasites of Mimics: they lay their eggs inside a Mimic so that their larvae feed on it, they can then count on greedy adventurers to open the chest later on and free the new generation!
The 3rd level is in fact many floors high, at the bottom you reach the 4th, the flooded level. It seems like the whole base of the castle is underwater.
I’ve been quite fascinated by the concept of megadungeons for the last two years or so. I’m actually running a campaign inside Castle Xyntillan where I can see for myself how it’s done, we’re seven sessions in and it’s been a blast! I’ve listened attentively (twice!) to Mazirian’s Garden podcast episodes of Into the Megadungeon, on how to run a megadungeon for 100 + sessions (!), trying to absorb everything I hear.
Another media that hooked me to megadungeons is the Delicious in Dungeon (Danjon Meshi), a D&D inspired manga by Ryoko Kui. That’s what I want to talk about today.
the french translation I’m reading with my kids
I don’t quite know how popular it is but it must be doing good enough as Netflix is launching a series starting soon, on January. So, you see, I’m actually doing a hype job, would you believe it! But you know what, I think it deserves the attention as I’m sure it offers a thing or two that even the most jaded, old-school gray-bearded dungeon master can borrow from…
In short:
a vast, unique megadungeon: a cursed kingdom that as been magically transported underground a 1000+ years ago, castle, village, fields, inhabitants and even sunlight
Monster ecology cranked to 11; reproducing habits, anatomy and of course, how to cook them
Related: Monsters as Puzzles, even weak monsters seem to be dangerous in this world, to fight them efficiently you must KNOW them, their tactics and weak spots
The logistic of food in dungeon-crawling way beyond simply bringing rations; have you eaten a balanced diet the last few days because if not, you won’t be at your best (and will probably die)!
a well-thought-out dungeon-centered economy: adventuring guilds, the town’s prosperity linked with the dungeon delves, etc.
Now here’s what I’ll do on my blog, I won’t talk much about the storyline I think, but I will highlight the stuff we learn about the Golden Kingdom, the dungeon lore if you will, from book to book. More specifically what we would need to know to run it as a ttrpg or, as usual, what’s worth stealing from.
Book 1
In order of the book:
The dungeon was discovered when a wall inside the village’s crypt (which seems surprisingly extensive) shattered. Beyond the wall, the inspecting villagers found a man that presented himself as the king of the Golden Kingdom that disappeared more than a millenium ago. He mentions a Mad Sorcerer that took control of the Golden Kingdom and he (the king) offers all his wealth to whom could defeat him and then his body turns to dust. (Don’t worry, it’s not simply a « wizard did this » dungeon…).
Adventurers work in guilds, with each members having signed contracts. The guild’s leader owns the party’s equipment in its entirety (weapons and armors included). He’s the one who buys provisions and equipment for everybody each delve. The guild members can resign and leave the guild if they wish so.
The 1st level of the dungeon is the Crypt. There’s no undead over there as one might have thought, it’s not a dangerous place per se as technically it’s not part of the Golden Kingdom but just happens to be the fortuitous entrance to the dungeon. But weak monsters do seep in, in this book we see: the Ambulatory Mushrooms (that come in many varieties, the Japanese know their mushrooms 😀 ), Scorpions (foot-long) that hides in cracks of the walls and Slimes (watch the ceiling).
beware the fearsome Ambulatory Mushroom!
The Crypt isn’t gloomy at all, it’s bursting with activity and noise. Merchants have put their wares among the alcoves of the dead and do their sales over sarcophagi. A bit sacrilegous but hey, there’s money to be made! Many adventuring guilds prepare for their expeditions or rest after they’ve returned from one. There’s a room with a fountain that is called Rookies’ Plaza where beginners gather.
We learn indirectly (there’s a hint of something else I’ll talk about when I get there), when the dwarf Senshi joins the party, that the dungeon has been open for a few years, certainly less than ten.
From the Crypt one can go down to the 2nd level, the Forest. The underground Castle’s numerous towers stand among incredibly tall trees.
A vast network of suspended bridges have been built, criss crossing the entire level, linking trees and towers together. That’s one way to descend to the lower levels, progressively by the bridges, it’s truly a vertical level.
The monsters are already a lot more dangerous (we see another adventuring party being tpked), there’s Sylvan Goblins, a variety of Carnivorous Plants, Basilisks and also, Imperial Bats (human-sized). Tree cavities and towers’ interiors provide ample hiding places for both adventurers and monsters.
There’s at least one shortcut that is indoor leading to the 3rd level (thus evading the scary Imperial Bats) that can be accessed in one of the larger tower but one need to find several secret doors and evade a series of traps.
Inside the towers (and castle) one can also encounter Living Armors. And by the way Living Armors are edible, of course they are! Or at least, the hive-minded molluscs that live inside the plates are…
That’s it for book 1, there’s 12 to date, stay tuned!
Our third frosthaven scenario (sorry I’m skipping the second one) is inside an algox mountain lair, following our entrance on its backdoor after a steep ascension.
Characters
Boneshaper (David) lvl 1>>2
Geminate (Math) lvl 1
Drifter (Guillaume) lvl 1
There’s a sort of icy tunnel and after we’ve eliminated the defenders we can access a room where two algox leaders (bosses) from rival clans/religions are having a go at each other.
Now, I thought we were gonna fight their minions or that their minions would try to stop us from intervening somehow but no, to win the scenario we specifically had to huh, meddle let’s say, and help one defeat the other.
Aside: party name proposition: Interloping Southerners
So we choose to help Snowdancer defeat Frozen Fist, it made some sense as we’ve fought alongside already on the previous scenario. We kill Frozen Fist (the Drifter does the killing blow) et voilà, we’ve solved the town’s little algox problem. Or have we?
What’s that? Hmm, yes, we’re asked to kill some more to prove our worth to our would-be allies… Yep, of course, always happy to get more skeletons help our friends!
Closing Comments:
Guillaume’s Drifter did a lot of damage throughout the scenario but he was a bit too rash and almost got killed
My boneshaper is really different from a gloomhaven summoner as most of her summons are expendables, taking a hit or two before dying if need be, in contrast with loss cards summons where you must be very careful to keep them alive. I find it’s a pretty easy character to play as long as I manage my hit points carefully.
Math still struggles with his Geminate (he doesn’t do badly mind you) but I’ll let him expand on this himself if he wishes. It IS a 5* complexity character after all.
We’ve unlocked a new character, the Snowdancer! That’s pretty cool!
I think we would have unlocked a different one have we sided with the other boss?
We’ve added a level 2 barrack (from an event) and a logging camp to the town, great!
It’s been quite some time since we’ve played anything and as our next few weekends are all pretty much booked already I’ve decided to do a thursday night session within our ongoing haunted castle campaign.
Cordélia Lenoir (Marjorie), using the dark arts for Good (probably), Necromancer lvl 3
Noah (Isaac), crafts stuff, Expert lvl 3
Monmon (Edmond), has a powerful antique spear, Warrior lvl 3
Paul Nareff (Olivier), friend and sponsor of the numerous Jean clan, Warrior lvl 3
Paul-Jean Paul (Olivier), don’t confuse him with Jean-Paul Jean, Warrior lvl 1
Constant Jean (Olivier), vigorous member of the Jean clan, Warrior lvl 1
Retainers:
Stuffed Jean-Paul (Marjorie), killed by stuffed animals, now stuffed himself, Morale 12
Phoebus (Marjorie), ex-monk, paranoid, Morale 8
Pierrot (Isaac), caravan hand, begs for more money, Morale 8
Crypt
Zachary, Elementalist, electrocuted in front of the Anteroom (corpse in castle)
Pierre-Jean Pierre, ex-monk, clawed to death by a dark monk (RIP)
Edgar, daytaler, throat slashed by a dark monk (corpse in castle)
Charles, daytaler, skewered by a drunken skeleton (corpse in castle)
Hercule, caravan hand, seized off the raft by the Lake Monster (MIA)
Pierre Laroche du Rocher, mason, pierced by the Huntsman’s arrows (corpse seized by Charon)
Alphonse, crusader, savaged by Count Giscard’s Children of the Night. (corpse in castle)
Jacques, daytaler, got hit in the face by an Empty Armor’s halberd (corpse in castle)
Previous Infractions:
Eliminated Tristano Malévol the Love-Lost. Eliminated Merlerik the Ancient. (0)
Smoked the Ruined Quarters: 1/2 Angered a werewolf washwoman: 1/2 Stole the Reliquary of Bygone Kings: 1 Failed to convince Jean-Honoré the butler of their lies: 1/2 Stole a treasure chest full of gold from the Lake Grotto treasury: 1/2 Interrupted Runcius Malévol’s pagan ritual: 1 Slightly annoyed Count Giscard Malévol while he drank « wine »: 1 Stole the Scepter of the Merovings: 1 Defaced living portraits with holy water:1
Infractions rating: 7
Rumors:
Vyônes is filled with Count de la Frênaie’ spies… if you look to your left, that women is one of them.
Blérot the Woodsman swore to avenge his murdered love, but disappeared in the castle without a trace.
We start in Vyônes. Noah has crafted a bigass Pavise shield with spikes and all for Constant Jean who has finished his martial training. The Troubadour de l’Automne hasn’t found anyone worthwhile for them for the moment. Retainer Eudes is leaving this time around as he was summoned home by his father, the Count de la Frênaie. The group leaves for Périgon. At the monastery Cordélia learns from the abbot that retainer Bruno is linked Renfield-style with a vampiress from the Château des Fausseflammes. Not only that but the poor soul also suffers from lycanthropy! They might be able to treat him, the abbot says, but he requires a suitable donation (250gp) which Cordélia agrees to pay. Cordélia hires young Phoebus who’s not suited to ascetic monk life. Noah hires Pierrot who almost immediately begs to have a salary advance along with his hiring fee. Noah agrees to it.
Gatehouse
The fortune seekers enters through the gatehouse, under the watchful eyes of the ravens.
They know where they want to go, they go directly to the Entrance Passage. The double doors are open.
The side door that leads into the Servants’ Wing has been repaired and as they wondered upon this fact a volley of arrows is let loose on them from the murder holes! Fortunately Paul Nareff has time to shout « Watch out! » (he has the very useful Alert focus). Those with shields (Constant’s newly-crafted shield come in handy) make good use of them (Screen ally manoeuver) and the worst of the volley is evaded with only a few arrows hitting flesh.
In a hurry to get out of this lethal situation Monmon once again breaks open the side door. It falls off directly on top of the previous broken door.
They all get in and start to attack the archers, skeleton archers in fact. An arrow from Cordélia doesn’t do much. Monmon smashes one to bits with his spear with a swooping motion. Paul Nareff kills another with his short sword. The others follow suit and only one skeletons remains at the end of the round (this side of the passage), it tries to rake the face of Pierrot with one skeletal hand but fails and is quickly dispatched thereafter.
The adventurers go on. They quickly go through already-explored territory inside the Servants’ Wing and get to the set of stairs near the dark monks’ chapel. They go up.
They’re now in the Gothic Wing. They see a bust inside a nook directly in front. Monmon goes see the bust, it depicts Médard « the mighty » Malévol, and failing to resist a geas and he exclaims loudly « DEUS VULT » and charges into the large openFeasting Hallnearby.
A bit beffudled his companions try to keep pace with him and en route they encounter Jean-Honoré the Butler who says the feast will be ready soon. They almost trample him as his platter of glasse is sent flying and crashes on the floor. He protests and cries. They ignore his pleas and continue after their single-minded companion.
But Monmon is stopped abruptly, seems to float middair for a second before everyone understand that he’s stuck in a huge spider web!
There’s some weird shadow tricks going on around them and they hear a feminine voice: « well, well, what have we got here, a choice morsel, yessss… ». They also hear the clank clank of metal boots coming from the north behind closed doors.
Monmon tries to get out of the web but to no avail, he’s stuck even worst. Cordélia shoots an arrow at something moving on the ceiling but only hit a bit of tapestry or so it seems.
Paul-Jean swings his longsword at the web and manages to cut it enough (very difficult, he rolled very high) to free Monmon from his predicament.
They all run further west and get into the Lesser Library. They don’t linger but passing by, Monmon snatches away a massive book that was held under an ominous grim reaper statue.
They turn on a corridor, open a door and get into a records room where hunchback, disfigured scribes are writing, each chained to its own desk. The scribes take a quick glance at the adventurers and then continue with their work. The PCs look at the sheets of paper and most are about them! Some about events that occured, some are outright lies (or are they?) and others don’t make much sense.
And then Monmon decides to look at the book that he found earlier. A Reaper appear before him. It swings at him with a scythe but misses. Paul intervenes but now a second Reaper appears in front of Paul! Monmon wound his with his antique spear. Paul has his +1 dagger and gets a hit too but his wounded in return (he resists a paralysis effect). Cordélia does a Smite the Dead that finish the two Reapers but another appears before her. She tries something very risky, a Command the Dead on the Reaper, if the Reaper resist (1/2) she has no other spell and she’s pretty much dead. The Reaper fails to resist and is under Cordélia’s control!
Monmon sense the compulsion of his personal crusade mounting again and leave the room shouting a mighty « DEUS VULT! » again. He gets into a fight soon after against a pair of Fallen Knights in rusted plate armors. His spear punch a big hole into one’s armor but he gets hit himself by an axe blow. His companions yet again come to help him but Paul Nareff sees a beautiful woman (her arachnid lower half notwithstanding) lurking at the corner of the corridor that tries to entice him to come to her (charm person) but he resists and Stuffed Jean-Paul, oblivious to her charming influence, shoots an arrow at her and hit her shoulder. She gets away.
Meanwhile, the others has joined the melee against the zombie Fallen Knights. Another hit from Monmon and a crossbow bolt from Noah downs one opponent and Paul Nareff cut his head off to make sure (execution attack). The other is soon overwhelmed by their combined attacks.
Inside the room of the Fallen Knights they find their second (!) fancy dentelle underwear on a chair (that’s a random curio thing on a d100). Paul Nareff put the underwear on one of the aforementionned scribe’s head who seems suddenly happy (for some undisclosed reason), to the point of stopping writing entirely.
They enter a disquieting séance room and quickly get out.
They enter a small room with two doors. There’s also a small chest on the floor. Inside are 6 tiny (6 inches tall) lead soldiers/hoplites that come to life when Monmon opens it (another random curio). They dont talk but seem to swear allegiance to him, banging their spears on their shield and all that (Edmond is absolutely DELIGHTED!).
They get into a Knight Hall, a large room with columns that support a high ceiling. There’s a mezzanine and music can be heard coming from above. There’s a foyer with a huge sword hanging above ¨like Guts’ sword¨ asks Olivier ¨Yes, like Guts’ sword¨. It falls down treacherously when Monmon approaches but he sidestep it. Paul Nareff takes it with glee. Monmon wants to send one of his little soldiers up a ladder on the mezzanine. The soldiers make a series of rock paper scissors matches and the final loser is sent. He bravely climbs the ladder and get above. The music is interrupted, there’s some scratching noises, a squeal and then a big (normal) rat fall down on the ground at the feet of the PCs, a tiny spear jutting from its side. The little soldier reappear, victorious! Monmon is very proud! Cordélia go up and find a well-crafted harp. How come there was music, they don’t know…
They go nearby and get into a Bust Gallery. There’s five busts on pedestals. Paul Nareff smashes the one depicting Aranéa Malévol, the very same that tried to charm him (and did the web that captured Monmon presumably). He resists a curse. Monmon steal the gems that served as eyes on Claudette Malévol’s. Blood come out when he does but nothing else happens. There’s a short sword jutting out from Eustache’s bust, Noah takes it. Paul again, smashes Aristide and Maximillien busts, resisting another curse with the latter (he’s been lucky with that!).
Noah’s new sword, Scrupulous, vibrates when he gets near a secret sliding door and thus find a empty room with another door.
The door leads to a secret lab. Inside a basket full of decapitated heads Cordélia find an Amulet of Wolfkin. There’s a small glass domes with buzzing sparks, Monmon gets electrocuted when he opens it (he has not much hp left now). There’s jars filled with an opalescent liquid, one as an homonculus floating in it. Cordélia wants to free it and he gesticulates not to do it. She takes the jar with her.
They decide to call it a day and get out. The path on their map is pretty straightforward to the nearest exit: the Grand Entrance. They don’t encounter anything on their way out, not even the butler, but when they open the heavy double doors into the sunlight, they’re suprised to find three of their former henchmen lying on the ground.
The two statues at the Grand Entrance do their usual thing, one laughs, the other snaps its fingers and at that very moment the dead henchmen get up. Disquieting but not much danger as Paul Nareff cleaves one in two and severely wound the two others with one big swing of his Guts sword (whirlwind assault focus). They finish the two wounded zombies and leave the corpses there.
They leave the castle. Cordélia hides Stuffed Jean-Paul and the Reaper inside a local cemetary. She goes to the city of Ximes to consult with Luc Le Chaudronnier about the homonculus.
Session wrap up
4 hours session, a lot accomplished again with the players choosing to explore a new area with a process a bit less random than usual but that was complicated when Monmon got his geas from Médard’s bust. I don’t play his condition as hard as I could but it will still be very problematic on the coming sessions.
The Entrance Passage’s murder holes ambush could have gone a lot worse but a combination of relevant abilities they possess and some luck made it not too bad with only light injuries.
Speaking of this, it’s quite obvious that World Without Numbers give characters stronger abilities than other OSR systems but except for the Healer there’s nothing too egregious that I don’t approve
We’ve played a bit more with WWN combat manoeuvers this session (screen ally, execution, etc) and it was great. There’s still some other useful ones to try for another time.
Having a Reaper under Cordélia’s control is strong, very strong in fact with no time limits, but it’s also quite fun and of course Marjorie is absolutely thrilled of having succeeded this impressive feat
XP: Participation: 1 Treasure: 2 Secrets: 1
Treasures: 2 saphirs 550gp, magic sword Scrupulous, Amulet of Wolfkin, beautiful harp
Fatalities:
Quote: Marjorie: » I hate this fucking game, nothing ever works! It SUCKS! » 2 minutes later after taking control of a Reaper: « Yes, yes, YES! I LOVE IT!
New Infractions: Bullied Jean-Honoré the Butler (1/2) Smashed the busts in the Bust Gallery (1)
I’ve commented on Talaraska’sblog (check it out, it has great content!) that I’m not a big fan of hags in D&D. I’ve suggested that he takes an interesting unique monster that he’d created as a main villain instead of his pick of a green hag. I’m sorry, I know, I can be annoying that way.
But why the hate on hags?
It’s got to do with thematics… huh, I think? Part of it is their « just another monster » treatment, just like there’s medusas in the monster manual instead of you know, the Medusa and her sisters Euryale and Shteno, the three gorgons of greek mythology. But also, and more annoying to me, is… what the heck is a hag?!
The Merriam-Webster dictionnary’s definition:
1: an ugly, slatternly, or evil-looking old woman
archaic 2:
a: a female demon
b: an evil or frightening spirit : hobgoblin
3: Witch
Now, in D&D hags are definitely ugly, have witch-related powers but are certainly not mortal, human-like witches, they’re creatures. If you take the 5e lore (the pain!) their origins lie in the Fey Wyld, a different plane of existence. So if we go with this, a hag is not exactly an « evil spirit » but not that far either. Of course, saying that a creature exists because it comes from somewhereelse is the absolute laziest approach possible to lore in my not so humble opinion but hey, to each its own I guess.
Here’s a matter of personal taste but I myself prefer something more in the vein of « Fantasy Ecology » or Gygaxian Naturalism » if you like.
So in an effort of not being entirely negative I’ve searched far and wide (not) for an example of a hag that I actually do like and I’ve come up with the one in the Darkest Dungeon videogame (the original one, I’m always late to the party).
Here’s her bio from the game as explained by the Narrator/Ancestor:
I had collected many rare and elusive volumes on ancient herbal properties and was set to enjoy several weeks immersed in comfortable study. My work was interrupted, however, by a singularly striking young woman who insisted on repeated calls to the house.
Her knowledge of horticulturalism and its role in various arcane practices impressed me greatly. My licentious impulse gave way to a genuine professional respect, and together, we began to plant, harvest, and brew. As time wore on, her wild policy of self-experimentation grew intolerable.
She quaffed all manner of strange fungi, herbs, and concoctions, intent on gaining some insight into the horror we both knew to be growing beneath us. The change in her was appalling, and no longer able to stomach it, I sent her to live in the weald, where her wildness would be welcomed.
(Ah, the Ancestor, what a colossal jerk)
I think her backstory is great. Okay to be honest I’m sold on her mainly because I find her fight actions immensely funny. Here’s how it goes, as a Boss she has four:
Into the Pot! sends one member of the party into her cauldron to be boiled. That’s her main threat.
(pro tip: it’s not worth it to lose actions on the cauldron but be prepared to heal the boiled character when he gets out of it at 0 hp)
Meat Tenderizer, which she does with an actual meat hammer, a simple damage attack on everybody.
Season to Perfection (my favorite), where she throws seasoning at the party which debuffs and also (of course) causes stress. Because, y’know, receiving salt&pepper on you so you’ll taste better while you fight can be a bit alarming.
Taste the Stew, where she tastes the content of her cauldron, that is, one of your guys being turned into a stew before your very eyes… It heals the Hag a little and causes more stress to your team for good measure.
My brother-in-law Math have enlisted us back after a several months’ hiatus following the end of our campaign of Gloomhaven. Its much-hyped successor Frosthaven was awfully late in materialising at his doorstep, not even counting the usual delays (covid, always covid), his kickstarter copy arriving with the very last batch of deliveries or so it seemed. Anyway here we are again, the same three players for at least a year of Frosthaven.
Note:My present cellphone is as cheap as it gets and my pictures are shit awful. I’ll try to have a better camera next time.
Note 2: Hopefully, Math and Guillaume will chime in too on the blog.
Note 3: The box comes with cardboard minis and tiles. Every tiles, decor pieces and minis in the pictures you’ll see are Math’s and not included in what you’d buy.
Characters
Boneshaper (David) lvl 1
Geminate (Math) lvl 1
Drifter (Guillaume) lvl 1
Our characters were randomly picked from the six starting ones. Mine is a necromancer who taps on her own life essence in order to fuel her dark arts and summon undead horrors. That’s cool. Even cooler is Math’s Geminate who switches round to round between « stances » as their two personalities compete to take control over their body (which is a swarm of insect, awesome). Guillaume’s Drifter is less unusual and accordingly, far simpler to play.
Town in Flames
The very first scenario.
The fortune-seekers suffer from a long, exhausting northward march in an inhospitable landscape to reach Québec CityFrosthaven only to see it burn. It’s under attack! Yeti-like Algox are swarming the poorly defended town, killing its inhabitants left and right.
After asking ourselves for a minute if we’d just go back the way we came we said **** it and just killed the baddies.
Missing (picture too sucky): my favorite moment, when I ordered my summoned skeleton to pick up loot and he was carrying it like a boss.
We save only one poor guard dude, the others are all dead… Hey, c’mon, we did our best I swear! We’ve just arrived! Our feet are like popsicles and all! Now leave the corpses to me, they’ll be treated with the respect they deserve mwahaha!
Closing comments:
The starting characters we got all seem fun to play. I have no idea what the non-starting characters look like, it’ll be great to discover them once they’re unlocked.
Math’s 3d printed new tiles are amazing. Each are single unit and magnetic so we can assemble the map very fast.
Gloomhaven is an excellent tactical boardgame but its storyline and overall worldbuilding is probably its weakest part IMO. If Frosthaven has a wee bit of improvement on this part it will enhance the gameplay experience a lot for me. We’ll see.
Frosthaven has another new thing compared to Gloomhaven, a town-building feature grafted to it. It was decided that it is I that will manage that part of the game so once I have studied it properly I’ll talk about this more probably.
The loot system seems a bit weird to me; adventurers collecting wood and metal and whatnot in monsters lair? I understand the intent but there’s a disconnect for sure. A bit too gamey for me, but it’s a minor thing, just a reminder that Frosthaven is a boardgame and not a RPG (even if it has rpg elements in it).
3 x 3 paper sheets of Battle Royale in a castle: Zombies in red, Allied Knights in black, green and yellow. Renegade Knights in blue are enemies to both zombies and regular allied knights.
By best of friends Edmond and Samuel, both 8 years old.
Now, what follows will be my personal take on how to use the Malévols. I think it could be meant as less of a funhouse and more of a haunted castle approach perhaps? Broadly speaking I’m putting the named characters from the Rogues’ Gallery into three categories with the last one, the True Malévols, subdivided into three more. The term Malévol by default in this module refers to any of the castle’s inhabitants but « True Malévols », in my attempt at classification at least, are exclusively members by birth or wedding of the noble family to whom the castle and surrounding lands (still) belong.
(Note: For my own use and in my play reports I’m often frenchifying the names (i.e James Honoré >> Jean-Honoré) as the Malévols are supposed to be French, but for simplicity’ sake I’ll use the original names here.)
Specters
Specters, ghosts, poltergheists, whatever, things that haunt the castle and don’t have ulterior motives. Some were the accomplices of the Malévols in their nefarious activities and others were simply their victims, discarded lovers, unlucky serfs, etc. All have been denied eternal rest, are bound to the castle and hate the living.
(Note: They all have a draining effect on their attacks. Also, in my game Specters are always, all of them preceded by a telltale sign (i.e ominous children singing, blood dripping from ceiling, etc.).)
List:
12 Maximillian (his shadow manifest before he does)
20 Sébastian (wet footprints)
21 Eustace (blood smears)
22 Giselle (plaintive crying)
27 Claudette (cold)
32 Marcel, only in portraits
34 Hugo, (rattling of chains)
35 Priscilla (undulating shadows)
42 Guillemette (melodious singing)
48 Merlerik (whispers)
Castle Staff
Some key members of the castle staff who’ve been around in the tumultous times of the downfall of the castle are cursed to be employees for eternity (that must be the worst fate of all wouldn’t it?). Not part of the Malévol family, they’re nonetheless not to be trifled with. They still try to accomplish their duties, albeit in a twisted parody of their former existence.
(Note: I’m not sure about that one, but I’m thinking that a special condition must be met in order to kill any castle staffer permanently (their bonds to the castle being so strong after all) otherwise they just come back a few days later…)
List:
09 Girolamo, Seneschal
14 Mandrake, Alchemist
16 Hubert, Huntsman
18 James Honoré, Butler
28 Guy, Jester
37 Mortagu, Executioner
49 Sybille, Witch
50 Bartholomew, Artist
55 Frédéric, Playwright
True Malévols
The Malévols are members of a noble french family dating back from the time of Charlemagne, and possibly even earlier as there’s rumors they have ties with the druids worshipping the Old Ones. Some unspeakable ritual (or maybe its just the incommensurate sum of their vices) has cursed their castle and them with it.
Living members
The Malévol family is nigh extinct as far as living members are concerned. The few living ones live mostly outside of its walls but are attracted to the castle like moths to light.
List:
01 Gilbert the Fox, bandit, illegitimate son of Reynard
06 Claude, official heir, knows enough to dread the moment his inheritance come in effect
08 Gregor the Sentient Bug, has pestered one too many time Aristide as a kid
15 Olivier the Oleaginous, apprentice to Mandrake the Mixer
17 Hortensia the Lovely, younger sibling to Claude and Olivier, innocent
19 Reynard the Relapse, alcoholic monk, father of Gilbert
The Blasé Undead
The dead Malévols with a particularly strong personality, tragic destinies or both, are known to linger long after their death and go on with their (mostly wicked) activities. They know joy no more though. Furthermore, decades or centuries of cohabitation have frequently soured their relationships with their siblings to the point that they don’t care much what should happens to them.
(Note: the lair of each of the Blasé Undead should bear obvious signs of their particular decadence.)
List:
03 Adelaide the Splendid
04 Merton the Encyclopedian
10 Beatrice the Jilted
33 Gillz the Gothic
36 Philomène the Quick
39 Lydia the Luckless
40 Odile the Odious
45 Roberto the Arbiter
46 Serpentina the Sweet
56 Morella the Mournful
58 Agenor the Antique
Leaders of the family council
Some more active Malévols, maybe from a twisted sense of loyalty to their family’s legacy or more immediate desires (i.e bloodlust), still have a vested interest towards the castle’ security.
(Note: They are those who will organize actions against bothersome interlopers.)
List:
07 Runcius the Dark Man of the Woods, leader of the druids
11 Aristide the Patrician, Aristide is absorded by his thirst for knowledge and will take part on the council only if that’s absolutely necessary (i.e very high Infractions rating)
13 Médard the Mighty, a companion to Roland centuries ago, opposes Runcius in almost everything
30 Count Giscard, married into the family, from Malinbois
31 Countess Maltricia, bored by her vampire husband
43 Montfort the Bygone, linked somehow to the lake monster
(Not classified above, some won’t feature in my game: 23 Jean-Luc, 24 Léopold, 25 Patrice, 26 Vincent, 29 Samuel, 38 Rodento, 41 Jerôme, 44 Jaumon, 47 Meandering, 51 Jean-Jacques, 52 Kent, 53 Ambrosius, 54 Charles, 57 Mummified, 59 The Bearer of Sins, 60 The Beast)
So now you can see (in this version) we’ve got 6 living Malévols and 6 leaders. Those are the ones I personally will focus on to add some layers of complexity, plots and whatnot, to the adventure.
I’m also adding my own characters (not featuring on this post) to replace those that I’m discarding and that’s something I very much enjoy to do.
Feel free to tell me if you’re doing something similar or what you’re doing or would do differently.
After six sessions in the campaign we’ve reached a critical landmark as the Infractions Rating is high enough now (6 as stated in the book) to warrant a Malévol Intervention against the adventurers.
That means they‘ll try to fend them off actively. That’ll be most interesting. Officially, also as stated in the book, it means as a first step to launch a combination of 1d3+1 encounters against the adventurers. That could be pretty brutal and things will then surely escalate…
But wait, who’s they? Who are the « influential family members » the books talk about in this instance? They’re not specifically named. Of course we can infer who they are from their description (and their stats in some instance) in the Rogues’ Gallery and ultimately, as always, it’s up to the dungeon master to decide which one of the Malévols are the leaders. But that whole process highlight a gap in Castle Xyntillan’s design (in an otherwise great product), as central as they are to the module the Malévol family members aren’t well fleshed out and furthermore, we know next to nothing of their relations to each other. I’ve seen the author argue it was a deliberate choice to keep it simple, and I can see the argument for it. But… Well, I’ve cut my teeth (bad pun) on Vampire: the masquerade/dark ages when I was a teenager and was writing characters relationships charts all the time! The difficulty is that there’s 50+ Malévols but it seems obvious to me that not every one of them should be treated equally.
With that in mind I aim to share my own classification of the Malévols next week but for the moment I’ve gone on a bit of a tangent…
Malévols, Rumps and Ambers oh my!
(Gabor Lux, feel free to write to me if I get anything wrong)
Castle Xyntillan was originally written as to be a revamped Tegel Manor. The project was sidelined and many years later, and much playtesting (and characters deaths), it became its own thing. I would describe it as a generous serving of Tegel Manor, accompanied by a portion of Castle Amber and spiced up with folklore tales.
Both Tegel Manor and Castle Amber are funhouse modules and each feature an extensive family of crazy people at its heart. Tegel Manor has the Rump family, 13 generations of them (with only 3 members alive, in bright red below).
We see CX’s roots in Tegel Manor’s map (as a chassis), use of family « living portraits » (no its not from Harry Potter, haha) and its terse room descriptions. There’s also a similar thing going on with the few living relatives amongst a mostly dead/undead family if we squint a little. I have to mention an interesting twist in TM as the evil Rumps want the lone « good » (he’s not a paragon of virtue by any means) Rump dead in order to complete their ritual!
With Castle Amber we have the d’Ambervile family (shortened to Amber). The Ambers are definitely cursed folks but (most) aren’t undead per se. They’re all very blasé and each have their own brand of wicked hobby to pass time (i.e sponsor of bareknuckle matches!). Also, of particular interest here is its treatment of the Amber family members as random encounters. We can readily see that CX has taken quite a few elements from this ole module too (i.e the indoor forest).
Aside: CX borrows a character (Madeline) from CA which itself had borrowed it from Poe’s The Fall of House Usher.
Aside 2: CA borrows Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne characters and, contrary to the stories, lump them in the same time period, something that I myself will definitely do!
An easy take then is to see Castle Xyntillan as a mix of its two predecessors with of course new inputs from its author’s own ideas. The same goes with its own brand of cursed family; the Malévols are mostly undead and portrait-linked like in TM, but also I think in a way more along CA’s whimsical fantasy. Where CX diverges from the two is with its inclusion of folklore material (i.e The Beast as in the beauty and the beast).
Streets & Spores 