P.S. Will Goodman Games consider making L1 into onbe of your cool books? Or perhaps combining all 3 (4?) modules and adding in Leonards campaign notes he wrote a few years ago?
Running this module soon using Savage Worlds. The "secret" in my book is this was the castle of Lendor, the Suel arch-mage who settled refugees from the Suel Imperium on the isle. He was Lawful Neutral, and devoted to learning, etc. Lendor eventually ascended to godhoos many centuries in the past. He left behind a minor artifact - the tome which neutral mages could read to gain a level and guarded by Spectaors. Over the centuries, the castle was taken over by many factions including a warlord who was a thrall to a devil and was turned into a wraith upon his death. That's my take. The owner could have also been Leomund. P.S. liked how you called Leonard Lakofka by his character name Leomund. :)
Great episode. Len participated on Lord Gosumba’s Greyhawk Twitch channel frequently during the last year of his life. He was truly an all-time designer that has been under-appreciated for his contributions to RPG’s. Hearing you talk about Leomund’s Hut articles from Dragon Magazine makes me yearn for those publications. Thanks for the great episode. Looking forward to your announcement for OAR#7. I was hoping for the G Series (Goodman Games would give it a much better treatment then WOTC’s half-hearted effort), but I am going to guess the Veiled Society - with my hope being the A Series Slaver Modules.
I have (twice) placed U 1-3 just off the map and had the players juggling that plot with things in L1-2. The second time I did this, the characters were sent by a royal official to keep an eye on things in the barony. They were forbidden from letting the Baron know what they were doing.
I’m glad you guys called out this module for the misleading back cover artwork of the hydra that doesn’t appear anywhere in it - this has always bugged me ever since I first got the module back in the ‘80s!!
They started doing that as players were being tipped off by the art. Ghost Tower of Inverness is another they did this to. A ghost on the cover, ghost in the name yet no ghost in the adventure.
I learned how to DM from DL16 (Dragonlance) World of Krynn, and having the Dargaard Keep adventure as a huge 10-level dungeon crawl to narrate my neighborhood friends through was a fantastic experience and learning tool.
Chris and Rick, please include a topic in your video titles (e.g. “Secret of Bone Hill”), so we know what the video is about before choosing whether or not to watch it.
Here my take: The Undead NPC was a sorceror who had several students, he adventured without them into Bonehill and never came out. His students then fought withe ach other for power. The Baron's Sorceror is the one who won. The other sorcerors and magic users in the town were those who lost swore an oath to the baron not to openly practice magic anymore. One of the loosers became the evil sorceror who led an adventuring party to Bonehill. The party was killed and he nowed his knee and now calls the Wraith Master. The Wraith was aactually a worshipper of the Temple of Elemental Evil long ago when the Temple fell, and he is teaching him dark magic. When the Wraith was awakened it drove the rats out of the dungeon which is why the town is being overurn by giant rats. The Wraith has been raising undead and creating ghoulish monsters. These onsters drove the animals away which has starved the wolves which is why they now hunt man. In response to this rising tide of darkness the local tribes of orcs, bugbears, etc each conquered and fortified a hill for their tribes protection. Those monsters are now sending raiding parties into the town to scope it our for possible invasion to protect against the rising evil. Oh, and by the way, tgeh rising evil has a Hydra hidden away, oh, and the lady on the cover is also the lady on the nightmare and she was one of the students who lost the vye for power.
Why is every monster group so interested in Bone Hill? The Undead, the Bugbears, the Gnolls, the Orcs, they are swarming around the ruins at Bone Hill. Telvar and his bugbears are there, searching for....something, but are prevented by the Undead led by the Wraith. My rationale is that Telvar has a lab/workshop and an observatory. Perhaps there is going to be a celestial event and everyone is waiting for that to use its power to take over the Isles.
This module is what happens when you have sandbox without plot. Everyone raves about how fun sandbox campaigns ate the best but they really aren't. You need plot. You need something to keep it moving. One of the yt channels that use to be my favorite is like this. I started following the channel bc they were playing 2e and The Night Below. They are about 165 to 175 episodes in and still aren't on the main plot. 😕 I quit after about 90 episodes. Now the characters are getting to powerful to take on the main plot. I wanted to see a group take on this campaign bc I plan on running it for the first time but I got bait and switch really. Great dm and players just not the campaign I wanted to see.
It's so weird to hear people say they haven't had in-person gaming for what 2 years bc of the plandemic. My group of 8 haven't missed a session in 2 years except for vacations, holidays, and work. None of us wear a mask nor ate we jabbed. And we don't plan on getting it. None of us have had the coof. Those that were exposed and had to be quarantined just looked at it as more gaming time.
The secret is so good it remains a secret thirty years later
You guys really struck the nail on the head when you called L1 “A setting in search of an adventure”!! 🎯
P.S. Will Goodman Games consider making L1 into onbe of your cool books? Or perhaps combining all 3 (4?) modules and adding in Leonards campaign notes he wrote a few years ago?
Running this module soon using Savage Worlds. The "secret" in my book is this was the castle of Lendor, the Suel arch-mage who settled refugees from the Suel Imperium on the isle. He was Lawful Neutral, and devoted to learning, etc. Lendor eventually ascended to godhoos many centuries in the past. He left behind a minor artifact - the tome which neutral mages could read to gain a level and guarded by Spectaors. Over the centuries, the castle was taken over by many factions including a warlord who was a thrall to a devil and was turned into a wraith upon his death. That's my take. The owner could have also been Leomund.
P.S. liked how you called Leonard Lakofka by his character name Leomund. :)
Great episode. Len participated on Lord Gosumba’s Greyhawk Twitch channel frequently during the last year of his life. He was truly an all-time designer that has been under-appreciated for his contributions to RPG’s. Hearing you talk about Leomund’s Hut articles from Dragon Magazine makes me yearn for those publications. Thanks for the great episode. Looking forward to your announcement for OAR#7. I was hoping for the G Series (Goodman Games would give it a much better treatment then WOTC’s half-hearted effort), but I am going to guess the Veiled Society - with my hope being the A Series Slaver Modules.
Glad you enjoyed the show, Steven! Definitely agree that Len was (and is) under-appreciated for his RPG contributions.
You guys are doing amazing job with recreating these modules.
I hope the Slave Lords our in the future.
Thank you! The Slavers series is a personal favorite of mine-stay tuned for that series of modules to get the Talking TSR treatment.
@@rickmaffei As a DM I love having new players go through it.
I have (twice) placed U 1-3 just off the map and had the players juggling that plot with things in L1-2. The second time I did this, the characters were sent by a royal official to keep an eye on things in the barony. They were forbidden from letting the Baron know what they were doing.
I’m running this and L2 right now.
I’m glad you guys called out this module for the misleading back cover artwork of the hydra that doesn’t appear anywhere in it - this has always bugged me ever since I first got the module back in the ‘80s!!
They started doing that as players were being tipped off by the art.
Ghost Tower of Inverness is another they did this to. A ghost on the cover, ghost in the name yet no ghost in the adventure.
I learned how to DM from DL16 (Dragonlance) World of Krynn, and having the Dargaard Keep adventure as a huge 10-level dungeon crawl to narrate my neighborhood friends through was a fantastic experience and learning tool.
Chris and Rick, please include a topic in your video titles (e.g. “Secret of Bone Hill”), so we know what the video is about before choosing whether or not to watch it.
Thanks for the suggestion, Simon. We've begun doing this in our new video postings.
Here my take: The Undead NPC was a sorceror who had several students, he adventured without them into Bonehill and never came out. His students then fought withe ach other for power. The Baron's Sorceror is the one who won. The other sorcerors and magic users in the town were those who lost swore an oath to the baron not to openly practice magic anymore. One of the loosers became the evil sorceror who led an adventuring party to Bonehill. The party was killed and he nowed his knee and now calls the Wraith Master. The Wraith was aactually a worshipper of the Temple of Elemental Evil long ago when the Temple fell, and he is teaching him dark magic. When the Wraith was awakened it drove the rats out of the dungeon which is why the town is being overurn by giant rats. The Wraith has been raising undead and creating ghoulish monsters. These onsters drove the animals away which has starved the wolves which is why they now hunt man. In response to this rising tide of darkness the local tribes of orcs, bugbears, etc each conquered and fortified a hill for their tribes protection. Those monsters are now sending raiding parties into the town to scope it our for possible invasion to protect against the rising evil. Oh, and by the way, tgeh rising evil has a Hydra hidden away, oh, and the lady on the cover is also the lady on the nightmare and she was one of the students who lost the vye for power.
Yes, those clerics of the Church of the Big Gamble are a definite font of knowledge!
Unfortunately, that font is Papyrus… 😏
Heh.
I was thinking more a deck of Ivory cards.
I made up my own secret. So far, a blast!
Why is every monster group so interested in Bone Hill? The Undead, the Bugbears, the Gnolls, the Orcs, they are swarming around the ruins at Bone Hill. Telvar and his bugbears are there, searching for....something, but are prevented by the Undead led by the Wraith. My rationale is that Telvar has a lab/workshop and an observatory. Perhaps there is going to be a celestial event and everyone is waiting for that to use its power to take over the Isles.
Reminds me of the title of children's books.....like Enid blyton ' the secret of....."
This module is what happens when you have sandbox without plot. Everyone raves about how fun sandbox campaigns ate the best but they really aren't. You need plot. You need something to keep it moving. One of the yt channels that use to be my favorite is like this. I started following the channel bc they were playing 2e and The Night Below. They are about 165 to 175 episodes in and still aren't on the main plot. 😕 I quit after about 90 episodes. Now the characters are getting to powerful to take on the main plot. I wanted to see a group take on this campaign bc I plan on running it for the first time but I got bait and switch really. Great dm and players just not the campaign I wanted to see.
It's so weird to hear people say they haven't had in-person gaming for what 2 years bc of the plandemic. My group of 8 haven't missed a session in 2 years except for vacations, holidays, and work. None of us wear a mask nor ate we jabbed. And we don't plan on getting it. None of us have had the coof. Those that were exposed and had to be quarantined just looked at it as more gaming time.
It was all a scam.