Dr Dominiani And The Crown Of Souls

[Rathbone]

I've been running Feast Of Goblyns for the past few months now and we've reached the point where the party has to return to Dominiani's Keep to take back the crown. I'm not entirely sure how to run this section and wondered if any other DMs have ran this adventure before and if they have any tips.

The module says that the Dr won't be pleased that the party have returned to take back the crown and that he will do everything he can can to ensure the party meet their end. Fair enough. I don't want to directly involve him in any conflict with the party, just in case they kill him (I can see the potential in his character for further adventures) but all he really has to throw at them is zombies and Worgs and I honestly don't see them being a sufficient threat (maybe I'll be proven wrong. I often am.).

Also, where does Dominiani keep the crown? There's nothing in the module about what he does with it once the party have given it to him.

Finally, and most importantly, how does the party gain access to the Keep on their return?

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I've never run the module, but isn't Dominiani's schtick that he drives people insane with his feeding and experiments? If part of his keep was already an asylum back in the Core, you could unleash Broken Ones on the party. All Dominiani has to do is fake an outbreak, and the PCs will have to decide how they want to deal what are, when all is said and done, innocent victims.

Given how important an artefact the Crown is, I'd expect Dominiani to hide it somewhere he thinks is as safe as safe can be, and preferably where he can keep an eye on it at the same time.
If Dominiani wears a hat, you could hide the Crown inside of it.
Alternatively, it could be locked inside his coffin, or inside his desk in his private study.

[The Lesser Evil]

Dr. D. always has his trusty worg minions as well as several gargoyles stationed at the gate house. In addition, he also has several charmed/dominated adventurers (and you could always add more if need be) and the madmen trapped in his basement. Gundarakite soldiers (possibly charmed/dominated) could be there as well. Dominani could have also used the crown to create some goblyns, prefacing some possible developments later. The module depicts Dr. Dominiani as an alchemist, so you might plausibly add some kind of misbegotten creation of mad science or magic if you wished.

[Rathbone]

Many thanks, you twisted pair! Mad men and some warped "misbegoten creation" seem to me to be the way to go here.

We play tonight and I'll give an update in the week about how it went.

[The Lesser Evil]

Regarding your other questions, if Dominiani doesn't keep it on his person, likely areas to keep it might be the hidden lab (area 24, p. 77) or in one of the locked and trapped chests in his sleeping room (area 14, p. 73). If the Keep is attacked and he is taken by surprise, he might conceivably leave it in area 26, the asylum caves, if he was planning on testing it on some of the chained up madmen there.

If you wanted him gone when they attack, the module comments he sometimes goes out looking for victims at night , as he does during the characters' night stay (P. 69). He could also be away dealing with Akriel. She disappears unexplainedly midway through the module,

As for how to access, you might leave that up to the player characters, as level 4-7 characters should by now have figured out some ways to handle this sort of thing. Climbing the gate (p. 69-70), the bailey walls (p. 71), and the retaining walls (p. 78) is handled in the module. The characters could also disguise themselves as Gundarakite soldiers to demand access or even as patients to be committed.

[Rathbone]

Well, the party have regained the Crown - I went with the option of it being kept in the asylum caves. But now we have diverged from the main plot. The adventurers remember encountering an eccentric, vaguely Germanic doctor at some earlier point in the game and have elected to find him and ask him what they should do with the crown. This is fine; I hate rail-roading players down a pre-determined route and I didn't much care for the way Feast Of Goblyns ends anyway.

I can't say I'm too crazy, though, that the party have decided to go and search for Von Richten in Forlorn. Whilst I'm now slouch when it comes to imitating the Scottish accent, Castles Forlorn was probably only read through once and then put away many years ago. Looks like I'm in for some serious prep before the next game...which is in approximately seven hours!

[The Lesser Evil]

Well, the party have regained the Crown - I went with the option of it being kept in the asylum caves. But now we have diverged from the main plot. The adventurers remember encountering an eccentric, vaguely Germanic doctor at some earlier point in the game and have elected to find him and ask him what they should do with the crown. This is fine; I hate rail-roading players down a pre-determined route and I didn't much care for the way Feast Of Goblyns ends anyway.

I can't say I'm too crazy, though, that the party have decided to go and search for Von Richten in Forlorn. Whilst I'm now slouch when it comes to imitating the Scottish accent, Castles Forlorn was probably only read through once and then put away many years ago. Looks like I'm in for some serious prep before the next game...which is in approximately seven hours!

Oh that's a really nice coincidence, matching the goblyns of the Crown with the goblyns of Forlorn, even though they come from completely different sources. The PCs might mistake Tristen ApBlanc as the creator of the Crown and seek to destroy him in order to destroy the Crown. It also gives you a little bit more time to flesh out Daglan and Radaga, if you so wish. It was always something of a waste to see them used up so quickly.

What's Van Richten up to in Forlorn, btw?

[Rathbone]

Well, Von Richten isn't actually in Forlorn. I had one of the characters encounter him on a coach ride through Kartakass and the party have assumed that the good doctor is in Forlorn. Which he isn't but I've let them assume that anyway. It's actually made for a fun diversion into the gloomy lands of Scottish ghosts and goblyns (and I agree, it is a rather nice coincidence, having goblyns in both adventures. The little fellas were somewhat underused in Feast Of Goblyns, I thought).

[Count Spatula]

Does anyone recommend running Feast of Goblyns? The sheer length and excessive backtracking seems like it would have the potential for PC boredom. I realize it's the first RL module-- but it does seem to be a bit of a fustercluck. Am I off on this? Does this module need shortening/repair work?

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

Gonzoron's campaign went through Feast of Goblyns during its seventh and eighth sessions. It was inserted into the game using the playwright darklord LeMot Sediam Juste, which was an interesting way to implement it. You can read about it on The Mistway.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Does anyone recommend running Feast of Goblyns?

Absolutely!

Does this module need shortening/repair work?

Absolutely!



Despite its flaws, it's one of my all time faves.
For the reasons why, and my recommendations on how to change it for the betters, see my review of the module in the drawing room.

We've also discussed it here and here.

(and thanks for the plug, Wolfglide, here's a cookie: )

[Rathbone]

I'm finding that Feast of Goblyns serves much more effectively as a springboard to further adventures than as an adventure unto itself. As above, I let my players dictate a new direction with the diversion into Forlorn (where, coincidentally, there is a sub-quest involving two characters who are on the run from Kartakass...just like the PCs). I'm not sure what's going to happen to the Crown of Souls but surely there's more potential for it than simply taking it to Radaga's newly-formed domain and destroying it.