Go to Part 1

If you’re a beginning GM, I encourage you to really practice framing and running roleplaying scenes using the introductory tips above. You can get a lot of mileage out of them, and you’ll honestly benefit a lot by running a dozen or more sessions like that while you get comfortable

When you’re ready to start spicing things up, though, here are a few intermediate tips you can use.

INTERMEDIATE TIP #1: ADDING CHARACTERS

First, as we’ve noted, it’s not at all unusual to have roleplaying scenes with multiple NPCs present. To get comfortable with this, I recommend starting out with no more than two major NPCs and then expanding from there. (It’s just like adding a second ball when you’re learning how to juggle.)

Being crystal clear in the NPCs’ touchstones and objectives will help a lot here.

For the touchstones, not only will their distinct mannerisms help you swap from one character to the other; it will really help the players keep track of who’s talking.

When it comes to objectives, I recommend starting out with scenes in which the two NPCs have goals which are in direct conflict with each other. This sharp distinction will not only, once again, make it easier for you to keep the two characters clear as you’re swapping between them, it will also inherently create an interesting dynamic in which the PCs will be “forced” to choose which NPC’s agenda they agree with.

Bonus Tip: It takes extra prep, but if you have a picture of each NPC, print them up as tent cards that you can display on the table in front of you or on top of your GM screen. It can really help the group keep track of all the NPCs in the scene, and you can also just reach out and lightly tap each NPC’s portrait as they speak.

INTERMEDIATE TIP #2: INCORPORATING SCENERY

When you’re just getting started, it’s okay to just stay focused on the dialogue — what your NPC is hearing and what they’re saying in response. There’s plenty of drama to be found in words.

But these conversations are not taking place in formless voids. The characters are physically present in the game world — a moldering dungeon, a sweltering swamp house, or chrome-plated neon nightclub. As the GM, it’s up to you to make sure that reality remains present in the minds of the players. It’s not enough to just talk in character; you need to periodically drop in descriptions of the environment.

It seems simple, but you may be surprised how much extra brain power it takes to make this happen. After all, your focus is going to be on the conversation; the back-and-forth of your witty repartee. It’ll be really easy to just let everything else drop away.

You’ll also find it difficult to motivate or justify these descriptive dollops: Why, exactly, are we mentioning the color of the linoleum floor again?

• Don’t just repeat what you’ve already said. Add new details and engage new senses. If you’ve described what the interrogation room looks like, now it’s time to talk about the sickly smell in the air. If you said that there was a table in the middle of the room, maybe now you can describe how the tabletop feels sticky to the touch.
• Let the scene evolve. In busy environments, describe what background characters are doing (e.g., a maid passes through the chamber dusting, loud cheers come from the roulette table, etc.). The smell of dinner cooking might drift in from the kitchen. The light outside the window might shift or a storm roll in.
• Describe the physical actions of the NPC and connect those actions to the environment. (You can combine this with miming the actions yourself if it feels appropriate.) They pace across the cream carpet; they rap their knuckles on the conference table; they glance nervously towards the double doors.
• When you’re not sure what an NPC should say next, take advantage of the moment to re-establish the scenery. (“Tom pauses, turning to gaze into the crackling fireplace.”) This pulls double duty, not only grounding the scene back into the game world, but also buying you a moment to figure out what Tom should say.

If you’re feeling really ambitious, go for the full-blown Sorkin walk-and-talk. Perhaps the conversation is happening while the characters are riding through town on horseback, and you can periodically describe the sights they see as they ride along. Or they arrive at a party and have a conversation with the host as he leads them deeper into his mansion.

INTERMEDIATE TIP #3: ROLEPLAYING ON THE INITIATIVE COUNT

In much the same way that being immersed in a roleplaying scene can make it easy to stop describing the rest of the game world, so, too, is it easy to forget to roleplay your NPCs during other scenes.

During combat, for example, you’re often juggling all kinds of stuff while simultaneously dealing with an ultra-slow pace and the artificially stilted action sequencing of the initiative order. Even though many of our favorite fight scenes from movies and comic books are filled to the brim with dialogue, it can be really easy for an RPG fight scene to play out like a silent film.

If this is true for you, too, then leverage the initiative system by giving Dialogue an initiative count separate from the NPCs: When you hit that initiative count, it’s a cue to have one or more of your NPCs say something.

For a more detailed breakdown of this technique, check out Random GM Tip: Roleplaying Initiative.

Bonus Tip: Once you get a conversation running in-tandem with your fight scenes, it’s an opportunity to give your character’s an objective other than “kill the other guy,” For example, maybe they want to get information from the PCs (how did they find us? or where is the Ruby Ark?). This adds a whole extra dimension of drama and interest to the scene.

INTERMEDIATE TIP #4: BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

Over the course of a campaign, you’re going to have a lot of roleplaying scenes, many of which will likely feature NPCs that the PCs have interacted with before. Ideally, the PCs (and their players) will begin developed relationships with NPCs over time.

To help foster and develop these relationships, it’s important that your NPCs also change and grow over time. If they’re the exact same cardboard cutout every time the PCs talk to them, they’ll never feel like “real” people and the players will never invest in them. Relationships, by their very nature, must build over time.

Obviously, every relationship is unique and how it develops over time will depend on what actually happens during play. But here are two rules of thumb that can help make sure they keep moving:

• Ask yourself: What is one thing this NPC has done since they last saw the PCs? This may or may not come up in conversation, but you should generally try to find an excuse to drop it in somewhere.
• Have the NPC ask the PCs what they’ve been up to since the last time they saw them.

You don’t need to shove these in immediately as soon as the scene begins. (Although they can be good icebreakers if you need one.) In fact, they’re generally more effective if you can work them organically into the flow of the conversation. (“Have I heard anything about Marc Redfern? You know, it’s funny you ask, but when I was in Berlin last week attending the peace conference…”) Note that you don’t need to preplan how you’ll incorporate them; just look for opportunities where the anecdote can usefully contextualize information or an argument or whatever the conversation happens to be about.

Bonus Tip: Also think about how the NPC’s attitude towards the PCs may have shifted since their last interaction, either due to their last interaction or because of offscreen events in the interim. (Does the NPC have different attitudes towards different PCs?)

CONCLUSION

Even with these intermediate tips, we’re still only scratching the surface of what’s possible in a great roleplaying scene: It turns out that people are complicated.

But hopefully by breaking some of that complexity down into simple, basic rules of thumb, you’ll be able to take your first steps with confidence.

When you’re ready to take things even further, check out the Universal NPC Roleplaying Template.

FURTHER READING
Prep Tips for the Beginning DM
Prep Tips for the Beginning GM: Cyberpunk
Failure for the Beginning GM
Pacing for the Beginning GM

Players have it easy.

They have exactly one character. They can focus all of their attention on portraying that character. And once they get into character, they can basically just stay in character for the entire session.

As a GM, on the other hand, you have to portray everyone else in the entire universe! Not only will you almost certainly need to swap between multiple roles during the session, you’ll simultaneously need to be handling your adventure notes, world description, and pacing, not to mention all of the rules! Plus, there can easily be scenes where you need to play multiple characters all at the same time!

That’s quite the juggling act.

So let’s see if we can simplify it down a bit and get things off on the right foot.

INTRO TIP #1: PICK YOUR ROLE

Simple interactions with a single NPC in a scene where the sole focus is the roleplaying are, obviously, a good place to start because they let you stay focused and (relatively) undistracted. So, whenever possible, try to frame up your roleplaying scenes like this.

If you have a situation where the PCs are talking to a group of NPCs, pick one of them to be the “spokesman” of the group and focus on them. You can often ignore the rest of the group entirely, but you may find it useful to think of them as scenery: Occasionally have them agree or disagree with what’s being said, just to remind everyone that they’re there.

INTRO TIP #2: TOUCHSTONE

Create a physical touchstone for the NPC you’re roleplaying. Everyone defaults to an accent (i.e., talking in a funny voice) here, but it’s easier to do stuff like:

• This guy rubs his neck a lot.
• She sniffs imperiously.
• They nervously flip a coin.
• They lean forward
• They cock their head to the left when listening.
• They talk with a smirk.

This touchstone does not need to be clever or unique. It might be something you just do once or twice during a conversation, or it might be a persistent mannerism that the NPC does throughout the entire scene.

The touchstone gives the conversation a memorable hook and identity at the table. It’ll help the players to say, “Oh, yeah! It’s this guy again!” Making each NPC distinct — even in the most minor of ways — will make them more vivid, which will also help to make them feel more “real” to you and the players.

INTRO TIP #3: OBJECTIVE

The NPC should have an objective. What does the NPC want from this conversation/situation?

This should not complicated. You should be able to state it in a single, simple sentence. You might also find it useful to state the objective in the first person:

• I want the PCs to rescue my daughter.
• I want to get out of here.
• I want them to believe my lie.
• I need them to understand how dangerous this is.
• I want them to give me an excuse to help them.

The objective may or may not be in conflict with the PCs’ goals, but when in doubt, setting an objective of “the opposite of what the PCs want” is almost always an effective default.

The objective gives you focus: Whenever you’re unsure of what the NPC should say or do next, just ask yourself, “How can I accomplish my objective?”

INTRO TIP #4: RESOLUTION POINT

When a roleplaying scene begins, the characters will talk to each other for a bit. You’ll establish what the PCs’ goal(s) and the NPC’s objective are. Everyone will be working towards their desired outcome, and this will generally lead you to one of three outcomes.

First, it will become clear that some or all of the characters’ goals in the scene have been accomplished. (For example, the NPC wanted to convince the PCs to save his daughter and the PCs have agreed to do that.) When this happens, you can just wrap the scene up. Good work!

Second, the scene will be interrupted or transform into a different scene. Maybe a PC becomes so frustrated that they throw punch — BAM! Now you’re in a combat scene. Or an NPC realizes that the PCs are onto him, so he bolts and makes a run for it — VOOM! You’re in chase scene. (These scenes might revert to roleplaying scenes later.)

Third, everyone in the scene has made their best effort to accomplish their goal, but it remains uncertain who will succeed (if anyone). This is the moment to call for a social skill check or similar mechanic. If the result is a success, great! Describe the success and move the scene to its conclusion.

If the check is a failure, on the other hand, use one of the techniques from Failure for the Beginning GM to figure out what happens next.

The real trick, when the PCs have failed (e.g., this guy isn’t going to talk), is wrapping things up: Given the chance, players will gladly just spin their wheels trying to achieve the thing they’ve already failed to accomplish. The skill check will help with this, giving a clear point of demarcation, after which you can shift to summary: “You keep at him for another hour, but it’s clear he’s not going to break and there’s no point in continuing the questioning. You send him back to his cell. What do you want to do now?”

(The better players will also figure this out, take their cue from the result of the skill check, and help you bring the scene to its conclusion: “I shove him back into the chair in disgust. ‘Get him out of here, Tommy. Maybe rotting in his cell overnight will loosen his tongue.’” But you can’t always count on this.)

Scenes can get a lot more complicated than this, of course. But for right now, just keep your eye out for these three possible outcomes and you’ll be in good shape. (When you’re ready to dive deeper here, check out The Art of Pacing.)

Bonus Tip – Key Info: Paradoxically, it’s not unusual for an adventure to include an NPC for a reason that’s antithetical to what the NPC wants. A very common example is an NPC who knows something (e.g., a clue) that the PCs are supposed to learn (e.g., by interrogating the NPC) but which the NPC doesn’t want to tell them.

The key thing here is to go all-out in roleplaying the NPC’s objective. But then, as the GM, remember that YOUR goal isn’t to stonewall the PCs. You may also find techniques like Default to Yes and Failing Forward useful when resolving the scene.

Go to Part 2: Intermediate Tips

Go to Table of Contents

The Vladaams own a block of apartments in Oldtown on Crossing Street, which are primarily as housing for members of the Vladaam deot. Recently, as detailed in the “Temple of Deep Chaos” adventure in The Night of Dissolution, a chaos cult took control of one of the buildings and used it as a site for testing and developing askara, a potent magical poison which turns its victims into venom-shaped thralls.

A few weeks ago, a party of adventurers cleaned out the chaos cultists and did their best to destroy the cultists’ research. The building was sealed for a time by the city, but then reclaimed by the Vladaams. Members of the Red Company of Magi moved in to figure out what the chaos cultists had been doing, and the project was quickly taken over by Aliaster Vladaam.

During this same time, Navanna Vladaam became aware that the Banewarrens had been breached (as described in Chapter Four of the Banewarrens campaign). She began mounting expeditions into the Banewarrens and began bringing the “banes” she liberated to the Oldtown Apartment so that they, too, could be studied by Aliaster in the labs he’s established here.

DESIGN NOTES & BACKGROUND

This is a tricky location. As presented here, it reflects both the actions the PCs in my group took when raiding the apartment building and how events played out in the Banewarrens (thus determining, for example, which banes Navanna was able to bring back here). I prepped the following timeline for how events played out here:

• 09/22: The “outraged” Vladaams force the city watch to remove their quarantine on their apartment complex.
• 10/06: Navanna brings the body of the pain demon here from the Banewarrens.
• 10/10: The Vladaam Pain Devil Research notes are added to area 6.
• 10/10: Contents of BW05 weapon vaults brought here by Navanna.
• 10/15: Aliaster duplicates the hell scourge & agony’s caress abilities of the pain devil. Four of the Twelve Claws gain hell scourge grafts (including the two guarding the front door).

If you’re running The Vladaam Affair independent of one or both of these other campaigns, you can just assume that an NPC party of adventurers raided the Temple of Deep Chaos and got Navanna involved with the Banewarrens. (Or, alternatively, maybe the Temple of Deep Chaos is still located beneath the apartment building, unknown to the Vladaams and filled with chaos cultists preparing to take back what the Vladaams have taken from them.)

If, on the other hand, your PCs are also playing through one or both of those adventures, you’ll want to modify the adventure key here to reflect how events actually played out (and are playing out) at your table.

Either way, you’ll likely want to review the original key describing this building in Night of Dissolution.

It’s also worth noting that overly curious PCs might be able to track Navanna and/or the banes here back to the Banewarrens. That could present a novel opportunity for the PCs to get involved with the Banewarrens campaign, but if that doesn’t interest you, you might want to provide an alternative source for the magic items Aliaster is studying.

Also of note is that the other apartment buildings in the block are still inhabited by various members of the Vladaam deot (who are largely or entirely unaware of what’s going on next door). If the PCs are tracking a member of the deot or looking for a Vladaam to question, their target could easily be a tenant of this apartment block.

Oldtown
Crossing Street – D4

DENIZENS

During the day there is a 60% chance that Aliaster Vladaam (Ptolus, p. 101) is present conducting research. If he’s present, there’s a 10% chance that another member of the family (Navanna, Gattara, or Godfred) is there – either to check up on him, collaborate with him, or just to see what all the fuss is about.

Aliaster will run at the first sign of trouble (using teleport to get out), but if other family members are present things could get ugly.

DENIZENS - NIGHT	Location
Hell-Scourged Claws (x2)	Front Door
DENIZENS - DAY	Location
Hell-Scourged Claws (x2)	Front Door
Vladaam Researchers (x4)	Second Floor

Vladaam Researcher: Use acolyte stats, MM p. 342. See Part 13: Red Company of Magi.

Hell-Scourged Claws: The Twelve Claws are Navanna’s werewolf agents (see Ptolus, p. 101 and Part 5: The Vladaam Estate). Aliaster has reverse-engineered a pain devil’s hell-scourge (see Area 6, below) and grafted them onto

• Hell-Scourge. Melee Attack Roll: +6, reach 5 ft. Hit: 15 (2d8+6) slashing damage.
• Flurry of Steel. As a bonus action, a hell-scourged claw can make two attacks with their hell-scourges.
• Agony’s Caress. As a bonus action, a hell-scourged claw can send elemental pain cascading through the scourge. Those struck by a hell-scourge must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the target becomes Restrained as their body is wracked with pain beyond imagining.

FIRST FLOOR

All of the cocoons and nests on this level have been removed to the second floor. Crude buttresses have been erected using wall of stone to reinforce the weakened floors of the upper level. The holes punched in the ceiling have also been repaired.

AREA 1 – ENTRANCE

Furnished with simple, badly dilapidated and blood-stained furniture: Tables, chairs, and a pair of divans.

AREA 1A – STONE BUTTRESSES/PATCHED CEILING

A large hole in the ceiling of this room has been patched and a wall of stone has been used to support the floor and walls.

AREA 1B – STONE BUTTRESSING

This room also contains a wall of stone used to reinforce the upper floor.

AREA 2 – FORMER APARTMENT

This room was destroyed by venom-shaped thralls. It has been left in a broken shambles.

AREA 3 – FORMER INJECTION ROOM

A large wooden table stand sin the middle of an otherwise barren room.

AREA 4 – FORMER PRISON

DOOR (Strong Wood): AC 15, 27 hp, DC 20 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools). Unlocked currently, but could be secured.

Smeared feces on the wall.

AREA 5 – THE HOLE

A hole in the corner of the room has been boarded over.

TRAP IN THE SHAFT: Below the boards is a shaft leading to the sewers. Anyone climbing through the shaft will trigger a flame strike that will fill the shaft and column above and below it, inflicting 4d6 fire damage and 4d6 radiant damage. DC 14 Dexterity saving throw for half damage.

• DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation), DC 24 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools)

AREA 6 – PAIN DEVIL RESEARCH ROOM

The body of a pain devil is laid out and dissected on a worktable in the center of the room.

PAIN DEVIL (as it would appear in life): Skin of glistening ebony. Eyes a blood-red crimson. Mouth a toothless maw with razored lips. Chains are fused about its wrists, each animate with hatred.

• The body is remarkably well-preserved in death (although now vivisected). Note that the animate chains have been burnt away, leaving only charcoaled stubs on the creature’s wrists.

RESEARCH: Papers arranged on the worktable constitute the Vladaam Pain Devil Research.

GM Background: I added a pain devil to one of the Banewarrens vaults, further modifying it so that its hell-forged scourges were grafted to its wrists. The PCs in my campaign freed it, fought it, and killed it. Navanna Vladaam retrieved the corpse and brought it here. D&D 5^th Edition stat blocks for a pain devil can be found in Chains of Asmodeus, p. 249.

VLADAAM PAIN DEVIL RESEARCH

These research notes describe an autopsy and magical dissection.

GROSS CHARACTERISTICS

• Pitch black skin with scabrous patches of gem-like glistering. The flesh appears resistant to decay, but there is an intermittent degradation of its luster.
• The vitreous humour of the eye appears to be filled with blood, but not of the creature’s own. Origin of the blood is uncertain, but appears to be integral to the function of the eye.
• Body does not possess teeth, but instead several ranks of razor-sharp lips capable of independent motion along a horizontal plane.
• Charcoaled stubs on the creature’s wrists appear to be the remains of biometallic chains or possibly lashes. Beneath the stubs are receptor sites triggered to serve as channels of emotional extremity.
• Nystulean worms react with stress when placed within the creature’s transluminal aura. Despite the body having been deceased for days or possibly weeks, the strength of this lingering aura of pain and hatred is intense. During life it may have actually been capable of inflicting physical duress.

Additional preliminary notes are given, hypothesizing ways in which the biomagical properties of the creature could be reverse engineered and applied.

AREA 6A – WEAPONS RESEARCH

Multiply display cases for weaponry have been installed around the periphery of the chamber.

WEAPONS: These weapons are tainted. They were retrieved from the Banewarrens (Outer Vaults — Area 11). The weapons all have a Forge Mark on them.

• +1 battle axe
• +1 greatsword
• +1 longsword
• +1 mace
• +1 unholy shortsword
• +1 scimitar
• +1 greataxe
• +1 longbow
• dagger of venom
• sword of life stealing

GM Background: Although these weapons are being studied by Aliaster, there’s actually little of interest about them other than historical curiosity.

FORGE MARK: Worked in red gold and ebony, this forge mark indicates that these weapons were wielded by the Legion of Bhor Kei.

AREA 7 – COCOON/NEST RESEARCH

The remains of three venom-shaped thrall cocoons and four nests (most severely burnt) have been gathered in this room. There are also samples from an osyluth cocoon taken from the Banewarrens (Outer Vaults — Area 4).

AREA 8 – SECONDARY ALCHEMY LAB

DOOR (Steel-Cored): AC 19, 40 hp, DC 18 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools). Can be barred from the outside, but is not generally secured.

A secondary alchemical laboratory has been set up here to study the specific remains of the unusual nest that was in this area (the victim became a protoplasmic goo similar to a gibbering mouther, see Night of Dissolution).

• The researchers have discovered strength-boosting alchemicals in the burnt remains of the nest and are attempting to isolate them.

DRAUGHTS OF MORPHEUS: Letter from Grui to Aliaster attached to a black ebon box lined with purple velvet. Designed to hold eight bulbs of thick, black oil; it currently holds five. (These are draughts of Morpheus.)

GM Background: The researchers here have been using draughts of Morpheus to work even longer hours.

LETTER FROM GRUI TO ALIASTER

Milord Aliaster the Wise—

Please accept these Draughts of Morpheus with the most sincere compliments of your sister. If you should have need of any further aids to your work or workers, do not hesitate in your request.

Grui
Master of the Alchemical Laboratories
upon the Brewer’s Close

AREA 9 – PRIMARY ALCHEMICAL LABORATORY

The primary alchemical laboratory has been erected here. Two sets of cocoons and nests are in various states of deconstruction, with various alchemical solutions being applied in an attempt to restimulate growth.

NOTE ON NECESSARY ALCHEMICAL SUPPLIES

We’ll need a fresh supply of Naiad’s Tears if we’re going to prevent the cross-contamination endemic in this fecund material.

Also—I have an urgent need for Serenity Draught. It seems to be of great use in easing the side effects of the hell-scourge grafts currently suffered by Navanna’s wolves.

Send word to the lab on Guilder Street and lay in a goodly supply of both… and perhaps a word about the efficacy of the Serenity Draught should be sent along to Brewer’s Close.

                                                                                                -Aliaster

VLADAAM ASKARA RESEARCH NOTES

These research notes describe ongoing studies of the “severely charcoaled organic remains” found in the Oldtown apartment complex. The goal of the research is clearly an attempt to reconstruct the “mutagenic and metamorphic compounds used to create the hybridized morphologies.”

In other words, the researcher clearly does not know the term askara and the research is an attempt to reconstruct its properties. To this end, they have dissected and analyzed various tissue samples and are now in the process of applying various alchemical substances in an effort to “reinvigorate growth.”

GM Note: This handout is written for PCs who participated in the vents of Night of Dissolution and are familiar with the term “askara” and, broadly, what the cultists were trying to accomplish. If that’s not the case in your campaign, you’ll want to rewrite the handout appropriately or present the information in a different way.

Go to Part 16: Vladaam Slave Trade

Bruce Cordell gives us a solid adventure, but ultimately fails to excite us.

Review Originally Published March 15th, 2002

Wizard’s Adventure Path modules are designed to take a group of starting adventurers from 1st level all the way to 20th. (You can read my reviews of The Sunless Citadel, The Forge of Fury, The Speaker in Dreams, and The Standing Stone here on RPGNet the Alexandrian.)

The first two modules in this series — The Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury — are, in my opinion, destined to become classics. These modules succeeded on three levels: First, they were executed with near-flawless precision. Second, they embodied two ineffable archetypes of D&D (a dungeon and a dwarven citadel). Finally, while playing with archetypal structures they also avoided the cliché by offering a few unique twists, lots of specific color, and well-designed encounters and scenarios.

The next two adventures in the series, unfortunately, tapered off somewhat: The Speaker in Dreams is well-executed, but simply lacks a certain degree of flair. Where The Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury have the potential to generate stories that will be swapped around your gaming table for years to come, The Speaker in Dreams provides only a light weekend’s entertainment. The fourth module, The Standing Stone, proceeded to drop the ball entirely – bordering on the unplayable without serious fix-up work by the DM.

Which brings us to the fifth Adventure Path module, Heart of Nightfang Spire, designed for 10th-level PCs.

PLOT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for Heart of Nightfang Spire and The Sunless Citadel. Players who may find themselves playing in this adventure should not read beyond this point.

Heart of Nightfang Spire is something of a sequel to The Sunless Citadel, although there’s absolutely no requirement that the party has played through the previous module. (And I mean that: This isn’t one of those “you don’t need the previous module; but this one is going to suck if you don’t have it”. Heart of Nightfang Spire really does stand by itself.) At the end of The Sunless Citadel, the players cut down the evil Gulthias Tree, which had grown from the stake stabbed through the heart of a vampire.

Unfortunately, the vampire – Gulthias – wasn’t actually dead when the PCs did this, just impaled. As a result, shortly after the PCs left, Gulthias rose once more, returning to this old power base, Nightfang Spire.

(Play the ominous music here.)

Basically it breaks down like this: Gulthias is the leader of a cult of undead, all of whom worship the dragon Ashardalon. Although Ashardalon was killed centuries ago (in fact, the titular heart of Nightfang Spire is Ashardalon’s heart, transformed into a powerful evil artifact), Gulthias believes that if he performs enough atrocities in Ashardalon’s name, the dragon will return. Gulthias is probably insane.

The PCs head off to Nightfang Spire. Once there, they have to fight through undead, girallons, and a couple of demonic servitors in order to collect the four parts of the dragon key which give them access to the Spire’s core, where they face off against Gulthias and (presumably) destroy the evil heart.

(Roll credits.)

WEAKNESSES

Overall, Heart of Nightfang Spire represents an improvement over both The Standing Stone and The Speaker in Dreams. Unfortunately, it also fails to get back up to the high quality of The Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury.

Ultimately, here, the flaw is not one of execution: With only a couple of exceptions, Heart of Nightfang Spire is flawless. The problem lies in Cordell’s failure to actively excite you with his adventure: Nightfang Spire is simply not all that interesting as a location; Gulthias’ cult simply isn’t that interesting an antagonist.

I mean, let’s take a closer look at the cult: As far as I can tell, their master plan boils down to nothing more than “being really nasty”. There’s nothing wrong with that, but are you really going to turn to one of your gamer buddies in later years and say, “Hey, you remember that time we beat those guys who were being really nasty?”

Similarly, there’s nothing wrong about Nightfang Spire, but there’s also nothing special about it: It’s a tower with some catacombs underneath it.

And the problem here isn’t that you won’t be swapping stories about Nightfang Spire five years from: It’s that Nightfang Spire is boring. Because there’s nothing unique about the setting, and because there’s really nothing memorable about the villains, Heart of Nightfang Spire plays like the worst of all possible dungeon crawls: Kick open the door. Kill the monsters. Gather the treasure. Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

A couple of other minor flaws I want to mention here:

First, the text of the module does not match the interior illustration which does not match the map which does not match the cover. In short, there are about a half dozen versions of the Spire in this product.

Second, the Adventure Path series as a whole suffers from very weak adventure hooks (as I’ve commented in my previous reviews). Heart of Nightfang Spire is no exception. (And this helps contribute to the lack of any sense of purpose in the module.)

Finally, Cordell doesn’t use his villains to their full effectiveness. For example, Gulthias has inscribed a magical rune in various locations throughout the Spire – allowing him to scry on those locations and teleport his vampiric spawn through the runes to those locations. But, despite a few lackluster notes about potential courses of action Gulthias might take, these gazeways (as they are called) are never truly used to their full potential. I want to see vampiric hit squads teleported in behind the PCs; hit-and-run tactics that the PCs can’t figure out; and so forth. Once Gulthias knows the PCs are there I want to see him mobilize the entire tower, not sit sulking in his lair waiting for the PCs to systematically wipe him out.

STRENGTHS

I’ve explained to you everything that’s wrong with Heart of Nightfang Spire. Now let me show you that I’ve been a little unfair:

First, there is some unique flair to Nightfang Spire. Specifically, the adventure is designed so that the PCs have to fly through the top of the tower and then work their way down. Unfortunately, this is complicated somewhat by area 1 – which is some sort of ground level entrance to the tower. Although the description of area 1 suggests that there is still a door providing access to the tower here, this door remains completely unreferenced on the maps. I can only conclude that, in point of fact, this entrance does not exist (possibly it was bricked up at some point in the past?).

Second, there are some encounters here which are notably well done. For example, the 7th-level monk mummy and the vampiric gibbering mouther. Both of these technically violate the rules, but it doesn’t really matter: They’re cool concepts. Also, the module opens with a mid-air fight as the PCs try to gain access to the Spire – an encounter which is probably the highlight of the adventure (which is unfortunate, because it’s also the first encounter of the adventure – it’s all down hill from here).

Third, Cordell does present an environment where creatures respond to disturbances near them. In fact, on a room-by-room level, the Spire is far more detailed in terms of dynamic monster reactions than most modules. The problem is that the Spire, by its very nature, should be even more dynamic.

Finally, let me repeat myself by saying that Heart of Nightfang Spire is a solid adventure. The execution of the actual elements is almost impeccably solid: It’s only the elements themselves which lack a certain luster to my eyes.

CONCLUSION

Ultimately, as I step back and look at Heart of Nightfang Spire, I am struck by a single word:

Bland.

That being said, there’s enough raw material here that you should be able to spice things up easily enough: First, give the cult some meat. They need a real, tangible, meaningful, threatening goal. Wiping out a pocket of random evil is about as exciting as watching paint dry, but having tale to tell about stopping the Cult of Gulthias from [insert dramatic plot here]? That has something going for it. (This may be as simple as having the return of Ashardalon as a serious, tangible threat – rather than something so utterly ridiculous that people giggle about it behind Gulthias’ back.)

Second, really work on giving the tower a credible defense. Gulthias not only becomes a more memorable villain if he’s manipulating his minions (and using his own powerful abilities) to constantly harass the PCs, but the entire adventure will become far more exciting because – in one stroke – you will have successfully demolished the “kick open door, kill monsters, gather treasure” mentality which is here right now. (Two things to watch for here: First, the girallons are already very potent opponents. If you allow Gulthias to gang them up against the PCs, the PCs will most likely be dead. By the same token, the PCs should really need to retreat and regroup if Gulthias manages to get his defenses credibly focused. Second, once Gulthias knows the PCs are going for the dragon key he isn’t going to just sit there and let them gather the pieces together so that they can come and destroy him.)

So, in the final analysis, Heart of Nightfang Spire is probably a good value for your money. But I would recommend against running it straight out of the box: The result will likely disappoint.

Style: 4
Substance: 4

Authors: Bruce Cordell
Company: Wizards of the Coast
Line: D&D
Price: $9.95
ISBN: 0-7869-1847-0
Production Code: WTC11847
Pages: 32

When I ran The Sunless Citadel, I revamped the entire mythology behind the Gulthias Tree. In doing so, I’d inadvertently cut myself off from using Heart of Nightfang Spire, which is, obviously, completely dependent on the original mythology of the staked vampire. (The concept of the PCs accidentally freeing a staked vampire is very clever, though.) As a result, I’ve never actually run Heart of Nightfang Spire.

I think my closing paragraphs, however, were groping towards a desire to remix these Adventure Path modules in a way that would perhaps bind them just a little closer together: The opportunity to learn more lore about Ashardalon throughout the series, for example. Or for Gulthias’ resurgent cult to have more connections to and lore about the wider drama.

I should probably resist the temptation to go deeper down this rabbit hole…

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 47B: Children of Mrathrach

Mahdoth rotated towards them. “I’m going to release you now.”

And he did.

The artificial high of ebullient friendship fled from them, but not the memory of what they had experienced.

Mahdoth asked for their assistance in mounting a defense against whatever was coming. “Since I seem to find myself rather short-handed this evening.”

Games like D&D, Numenera, and Shadowrun have bestiaries filled with strange critters. The best of these will be filled with clever and creative lore that will inspire countless adventures and help you bring the creatures to vivid life at the gaming table. But what’s also important is that each creature is a little dollop of mechanical novelty.

It’s one of the ways in which fantastical games can be easier to run than games set strictly in the real world: Once you’ve introduced those fantastical elements, it becomes a lot easier to mechanically distinguish opponents — for a dragon to be different from a beholder which is different from a rust monster which is different than a black pudding. And that mechanical distinction, in turns, helps to keep combat-oriented play varied and fresh.

For this very reason, of course, these bestiaries are primarily designed to give GMs opponents that they can funnel into combat encounters: Take monster. Plug into combat system. Out pops 15 to 45 minutes of fun.

But here’s the secret: The same dollop of mechanical novelty that makes a creature a unique opponent can also mix things up and provide a breath of fresh air for the players. All you need to do is give the PCs an opportunity to fight with monsters at their side, whether that’s

• taming exotic pets,
• recruiting fantastical hirelings,
• forming a temporary alliance with a beholder, or
• having one of the PCs magically transformed into a harpy.

Not every monster, of course, will be appropriate or effective as a constant companion or permanent fixture in the party. (At least, not in every campaign.) But for a single fight or short-term alliance? You can have success with literally any monster, as long as the circumstances are right.

When a monster has joined the party, one option to consider is letting one of the players actually run the monster. (At least during fight scenes, if not otherwise.) It’s another nice twist and really mixes things up for the players. It can also be used to let players who PCs aren’t in the current fight scene still participate.

To make this work smoothly, thought, you need to make sure that the monster’s stat block is (a) in a format you can easily hand over (i.e., a separate sheet or paper or digital handout) and (b) organized in a way that will make the creature easy to pick up and start playing immediately. (It’s surprising how many games feature stat blocks that are opaque and difficult to use. If you’re planning to do this, you may need to, for example, prep a cheat sheet for the monster’s spells or abilities so that the player won’t need to look them up, possibly in books they don’t own.)

Ultimately, variety is the spice of life. And the best way to keep things fresh is often to shuffle these monstrous wonders along so that they don’t become commonplace or standard operating procedure.

The best part, though, is that once your players start thinking of the “monsters” of your campaign setting as a recruitable resource, you won’t have to set up these situations. You’ll just have to follow your players’ lead.

Campaign Journal: Session 47C – Running the Campaign: Inserting Bangs
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index