Month: October 2016

How to Prep for running Deep Carbon Observatory

/ Daniel / 7 Comments
how i prepped for deep carbon observatory

behold

Deep Carbon Observatory is a great module, but it’s missing an important component. The content is fresh and interesting and not the same “there’s a cult and you have to stop it” thing you always see in WotC’s stuff. It’s got it’s own thing going. It treats you like an adult.

20170711 Update: added pictures of minimaps and annotations. Linked to Claytonian’s version of the dungeon map.

HOWEVER

The UX needs work. (But, really, that’s unremarkable. Most modules suffer from the same flaw and require the same work to deal with.)

I’m going to talk about how I prepped for running DCO, but this should be applicable to running pretty much any other module that’s not engineered to be run on the first read. Continue reading →

43 – Let’s Play Deep Carbon Observatory (Part 4) – Does It Have Bones?

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We talk about our experience playing LotFP at DragonCon 2016 in more detail before getting to the actual play. Oh, and also before the actual play, we chat about video games (Doom, Grim Dawn, Dark Souls 3) and other media. Our lovely tour through the ruins of the valley continues, and we wind up at the foot of the broken dam. AP starts at 17:07.

You’ll hear this in the episode, but here are our protips for running LoTFP at cons:

  1. Use the summon spell generator
  2. Start in medias res
  3. NEVER LET PEOPLE SHOP AT A CON

Dam pic Prisma’d from a pic of Glen Canyon dam on Wikipedia by Adbar.

“Lewis and Dekalb” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

42 – Let’s Play Deep Carbon Observatory (Part 3) – A Wet Bag Thrown by a Fool

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We make our way up the flood valley. Knife-fighting wizards, carrion, and more.

[excuse the tapping, we figured it out (a shock mount) in an episode or two.]

Daniel’s not sure he ran the valley properly—or effectively, rather. It’s essentially a pointcrawl, but without distances (that we could find) between the points, and without instructions on how to present the points. Probably Daniel didn’t even stick to his own method and just went with what felt right at the time.

So that’s a thing we’d recommend for a Deep Carbon Observatory second edition.

The writing in the module is captivating, and the art is striking, but Daniel wishes he knew exactly how, in the moment, the author wanted these points/nodes/locations/situations presented to the players, verbally.

Not flavor text, but flavor technique. 

That’s something we’d like to see in modules more generally. Let’s make things better.

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we must all improve

Out of Context D&D

  • We should ask the copse for help.
  • You should dissect one of them with your bone thing. Meanwhile, I will shoot one of them with a poison.
  • Can we just WATCH the wizard duel? // I don’t think this is a spectator sport.
  • I’m lusting after his arcanum.
  • Starving children are bobbing past you on what looks like a chunk of grey wood. // Do they look happy? // They do not look happy.
  • What? Wizards knife fighting!? This is even better than I thought. Let’s watch.
  • LEAVE THE DUTCH ALONE
  • I explain what I’m doing to him to make his eye not weird.
  • I lost 20 pounds, didn’t even notice. Roll Tide.
  • I’m a get me a wife. I’m a get me a houseful of mistresses.
  • Think if *you* were a crab.
  • We haven’t tried the meat and poo. . . . Just try the meat and poo one.

“Lewis and Dekalb” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Illustration of child-sized scavenging lungfish by Scrap Princess.

Big lungfish illustration is public domain.

41 – Let’s Play Deep Carbon Observatory (Part 2) – A Murder of Crow

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We start off with an undeleted deleted scene where we talk about MCU, whether anyone actually likes Superman, and get confused about Highlander 1. Then we start the meat of the module a few minutes in (5:10).

This episode presents us with our first look at the Crows, the “rival adventuring party” trope that’s been DCOd as much as the landscape.

But, with some quick thinking by Tim and quick shooting by Jim’s character Bird, the party gets a leg up at the very start.

Then I spend a really long time reading them the indulgent backstory of all the loot they find.

Of the peaks and valleys of the campaign so far, this episode has them pretty near the top.

This week, remember Bird’s words: reload first, loot later.

***

“Lewis and Dekalb” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Portrait of Ghar Zaghouan by Scrap Princess.

Photo of 1913 Dayton flood rescue is public domain.