Are Tournament Modules Making A Comeback?
This tournament newb has questions
Someone got a package,
Someone got a package,
Someone got a package,
I wonder who it’s from?
Oh look, it’s the tournament module I backed on Kickstarter, The Lost Tomb of Kazuk Mot The Undying from Advanced Fantasy Games.
I saw author and creator, Greg Gawron on DM and Friends talking about this adventure and thought I’d throw some coins in his bucket. But, was it worth it?
I’d say yes but before I dive into my thoughts, I have never played OSRIC, but I did play 1e. I also have never played in a tournament game. That being said, let me get on with it.
The cover is what sold me
The artwork and color scheme of the cover drew me in. Three archetypal adventurers ready for action. It doesn’t hurt that the cover is in the model of 1/2e.
All the art work is done by Quoiani. The interior black and white art is just enough to give the adventure that old school aesthetic.
Adventure details
This adventure is a challenging (correctly worded) adventure for a party of 4-6 characters, levels 2-4. This is a straight forward dungeon delve. Players happen up on mausoleum in an abandoned cemetery. This is the home of Kazcuk Mot the Undying.
Who is Kazcuc? No idea and the module does not give any history or background. This is is a tournament module so no background is needed but I would have liked a few clues along the way for flavor.
There are 14 room in all with blue maps on the inside cover to guide the DM.
This is a deadly adventure and includes wraiths and tricky traps. Player’s PC will have to put on their thinking caps to navigate this deadly dungeon. When the author shares that only wish spell or resurrection can overcome this obstacle, you know it’s steep climbing.
A 2nd level adventurer can make it through the first few rooms but after that all bets are off.
The tournament time is set for 4 hours.
Tournament Rules
The author offers 36 possible points with a few possible ways to lose points (-2) along the way.
Not having played a tournament style game I wished the author had given more details of how a tournament style adventure is run, it might have answered my biggest questions,
Edit: There are tournament play rules (pg 3) which detail how to run the tournament, but my two question were not address in those rules. The author, Greg Gawron, has answered these question in the comments.
What do I do if my character dies? Do I roll up another or am I out?
Does a character’s death take off points from the group?
Fortunately there are 8 pre-generated characters in the back of the module because I think the party will need an extra character or two.
You do receive +3 points per character that survives which makes me think there are no second chances and you do not lose points for character death, you can only gain points.
Satisfied
I backed this project because I liked old school adventures and I like to support their creators.
In addition to the adventure, I received a great piece of cover art, #41 of 400.
My guess is that the author is planning a few more tournament modules, and I will likely buy them, and my hope is he will include rules on how to run the tournament.
The module is currently up on Drivethru for PWYW.
How about you? Have you ever run a tournament style module? What makes them fun and/or challenging?
Thank you for the honest review and to help, here are answers to your questions. Here are some high-level answers to your questions.
"What happens if your PC dies in tournament play?
This adventure is designed to be run with 4-6 of the 8 available PCs so there are two that can enter the tomb at any time later during the game. Since the tomb was already opened, it is logical that others would find their way in and join the party. However, the challenges faced in the first few rooms could be deadly, but most likely will not be due to the PCs being at full strength. The first few rooms took the players in two tournament games between 1-1.5 hours before getting into the meat of the adventure. I wanted everyone to at least make it half way before really wondering if their PC will survive.
"I wish the author would have provided more info on tournament play"
Page 3 has much dedicated to "How to Score Tournament Play" and "Tournament Set Up and Timekeeping". However, we can definitely add more if needed.
"Who is Kazcuk Mot?"
I took an old Gygaxian trick and reversed the name of one of my long time friends and gamer in my monthly group. We also used some of their characters as PCs in the module. This was a creation born from the love of gaming, in memory of friends, and a testament to keeping gaming alive in all forms.
Thank you for your review and supporting our first release. Look for The Cradle of Skulls to be released later this summer.
Greg Gawron
Founder, Advanced Fantasy Games