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Dead God Excavation $2.50
Average Rating:4.3 / 5
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Dead God Excavation
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Dead God Excavation
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 06/25/2018 05:45:39

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module clocks in at 15 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of Kort’thalis glyph, leaving us with 11 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

So, first things first: This module was made for Crimson Dragon Slayer, using Venger’s FREE rules-lite dark fantasy rules. The adventure itself, is in presentation, very much an old-school module, in that it eschews read-aloud text and the like for the most part – there is a box provided for a key scene. When using said rules, a brief table for some effects a cleric might have on unearthly creatures is a potent angle. 4 rumors and 4 reasons for the PCs to arrive at the scene of the adventure are provided. Before the PCs reach the excavation site, they will have to deal with fully-statted winged bat-demon-things. Combat-relevant beings like these tend to be statted for Crimson Dragon Slayer, noting HP and dice pool, but conversion should not be too hard for most old-school GMs, should you use another system.

NPCs are noted with flavorful descriptions and motivations, but don’t have stats. The biggest hurdle, conversion-wise, would be a “spell”, which is thankfully slightly tighter in its codification that CDS’s in my opinion non-functional free-form magic system, which boils down to “I try to convince the GM this works.” (Yeah, I will forevermore complain about the like – I just don’t enjoy it. No, I will not penalize the pdf for this.) The module presented sports a couple of Venger’s trademarks: It is very high-concept, has a couple of delightfully nigh-unpronounceable names and focuses on presenting a situation, without prescribing how it’ll run its course. The adventure features a stunning full-page full-color artwork, but not map for the complex to be explored. It should be noted that I can see this work particularly well for DCC’s aesthetics or LotFP, should you be playing those systems.

All right, this is as far as I can go without going into SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion.

..

.

So, the PCs arrive at basically an archaeological dig, where one person actually has the Al Azif (rename it if you’re as tired as I am of dragging the poor ole’ Necry around) and from nobility to a Rosicrucian and a sage, there are some interesting NPCs to interact with. Touching the strange metal of the tomb that is explored can btw. have disquieting ramifications. When the sage’s brother arrives, he consults the book and deems the excavation unsafe. No one listens. Sure, his agenda is black as the night, but he, technically, is right. As antediluvian air escapes from the breached sepulcher, the PCs can wander into a strange dungeon where drops of acid drip from daemonic flesh, and ultimately lay their eyes upon the eponymous dead god, sleeping or dead. Indeed, a PC may unwittingly bond with a horrific alien entity that acts as basically a symbiotic, living artifact that can halt the flow of time, a servitor creature that may well kill the wielder, one in service to the dread inhuman god-thing lying there. A dark wall contains mighty glyphs that contain a superbly potent spell; essential salts may be consumed to speak to the high priest of the fallen deity and worse, there are hatchlings…

The finding of the dread great old one/deity may well end civilization, the start of a truly apocalyptic campaign…if you, for example, enjoy Shadows over Vathak, it may make for an interesting prologue to the proceedings hundreds of years later. Or you can use this to start something weird. This module pulls out the biggest punches of the mythos in the very first session, connecting because they are not expected then, but rather at the end of a campaign. This presents a couple of interesting variations for you: As the pdf closes with ideas for the benefits of having a dead god under your kingdom. The angles/suggestions here literally can govern whole campaigns, making this a truly efficient kick-off module.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no serious glitches. Layout is gorgeous and one of my favorites in the whole Kort’thalis catalogue: With shades of purple and orange, blood-spatters and the like, Glynn Seal really delivers here. The b/w-artworks are nice, and the full-page full-color piece is fantastic and not something I expected to see in such an inexpensive supplement. The pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks and a second, more printer-friendly version. Kudos!

Now, Dead God Excavation is not a hand-holding module; it is a sketch for you to fill out; it requires that you flesh out the main locale, potentially stat the NPCs, etc. It has no synopsis that would make spontaneously running it easier. Here, I get why. This is a proposition for a whole campaign or at least a story-angle, disguised as a brief introductory module. A Gm should think carefully about the ramifications of the adventure, of how it will shape the future. The presence of a variety of very potent concepts usually reserved for endgame-scenarios means that this is deadly; greed can kill PCs; so can curiosity. This is unforgiving, but it is brutal for a reason. It makes sense in the context of the adventure. The high impact nature of the module and clever use of player-expectation subversion makes for a fun and ultimately cool scenario. Sure, as always with Venger As’Nas Satanis’ relatively free-form modules, you’ll have to do a little more work structuring/fleshing out components, but for $2.50, it is worth getting!

That being said, I think that this offering suffers a bit from its presentation – DGE can’t seem to really decide whether it wants to be a toolkit/campaign-theme or adventure; as a toolkit, it is a success – the setting of the stage it delivers, is fantastic and evocative. However, the whole thing is billed as a module, and as such, it is more sketch-like than it should be. The descriptions and prose are top-notch, but the adventure doesn’t offer that much meat/substance. As a module, I think this would have benefited from being less abstract, from being more concrete. On the other hand, the aspects of the toolkit function basically almost invalidate the function as a module. No GM/referee/judge will run this as presented. It doesn’t have sufficient details for that; it’s not intended for that. At the same time, the suggested turn of events and characters make the toolkit-aspect feel less customizable than they are.

DGE would have made a truly outstanding, high-concept toolkit for a campaign, had it gotten rid of its pretensions of being an adventure. As written, it does not really qualify as either adventure or toolkit as perfectly as the quality of the prose and set-up would otherwise guarantee – it tries to have its cake and eat it, too, and is weaker off for it. To cut a long ramble short: This is a phenomenal inspiration for a game; a great little supplement to scavenge materials and scenes from, and, much like the eponymous dead god, a nice place to build a campaign on – I just wished it focused structurally in its presentation more on embracing being the modular toolkit that it wants to be. As such, my final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars, but I feel I can’t round up for this one.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Dead God Excavation
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Shane W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/22/2018 10:04:20

First thing that came to my mind when I read the title was "Who in their right mind would want to dig up a dead God?

Venger Satanis!

Here's the publisher blurb:

Dead God Excavation is a short adventure for characters between 1st and 3rd level. I happen to think it's perfect for kicking off a gonzo, eldritch, science-fantasy campaign. If you incorporate this into your "session zero"... respect, hoss!

This scenario was written for Crimson Dragon Slayer (including some new rules for clerics), but everything can be easily converted to your OSR system of choice.

The layout is sick! But there's also a printer-friendly version for those who are intimidated by such lurid hues (or who want to print it out). Just to make you aware, the pagecount includes the cover, two decorative pages, and a page for the credits. It's a densely coiled micro-adventure... beyond gorgeous demon-haunted sandbox! YOU CAN GRAB IT HERE.

First things first, I have to say I really appreciate that everyone of Venger's releases has a printer friendly version. This is handy, because I still print things off when I run adventures, I haven't wrapped my head around using a tablet or laptop while GMing.

The adventure starts off with a few rumours to set the stage. The one I liked was that the adventurer's have heard of ancient treasures and have come to possibly get wealthy and adventure! Simple enough to install the players in the game world. I should note, that I am probably going to run this module is some form. My first thoughts are somewhere in the desert of Mystara. Quite possibly as a 5e one shot. In the notes at the beginning of the adventure it is suggested to run it as a "session one funnel", while that is a grand idea, I wouldn't be able to pull it off with the 5e group I have. Mostly for "character development" reasons. None of which have anything to do with the packaged material. Onward!

Once upon the scene things start to liven up. There are a bunch of interesting NPCs with really good motives. The NPCs alone can get you going on different adventure ideas.

There is a super cool table with a variety of effects when touching the Alien Metal.

This whole adventure has a demonic/alien/god thing going for it. It's sort of like if you took expedition to the barrier peaks and mashed it up with Call of Cthulu. Actually that's not a half bad idea! The one thing this adventure lacks is a detailed map of the inside of the tomb. Now obviously there's a ton of great resources out there for maps, so just do a quick search.

As a side note, Venger if you need a map you can always tag me man, I'd be happy to try it out!

Prior to entering the tomb there's a nifty table called "Strange Occurrences" here's the text prior to the table. (it gives me the willies)

Strange Occurneces table:

This is not simply the inert interior of a giant container full of deceased demonic deity, but an ultra-telluric biosphere somewhere between reality and the place where dead gods dream. For every 15 minutes spent exploring, roll once on the following random table to determine what strangeness occurs....

All in all this is a pretty solid starting point adventure, there is enough text and flavour to get you going, but not too much that it starts to feel like a railroad. And of course the whole thing is filled with the general weirdness and gonzo that we have all come to expect from Korthalis publishing. I'm almost wondering if its worth challenging Venger to write something straight up? Nah..

If you have a copy of the The S'rulyan Vault II I think this adventure would go hand in hand with it!

Good stuff!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Dead God Excavation
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Mark J. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/19/2018 14:03:50

+Venger Satanis Please note these are just my opinions.

The Good. I like the writer seems like a fan and clearly excited about this content. The monsters are original so easy enough to make up some stats. Your descriptions of npcs and their motivation is great. The art is marrying well. This is good for inspiring a game as you should always take bits and pieces from published material to your table.

The pdf also came with two versions, one with all background colors to be pleasing to the eye and one without to make it easier to read.

The Bad. I think there was some missed opportunity for more detail. There is a mechanic for exploring the tomb based on length of time, but no map or detail on how much time is needed to find things. You cannot run this game as written. I forsee plot issues with opening the tomb and how abruptly this ends. Let's be honest, as a fan I want more. This is like a good idea where more detail would make a great module.

The Ugly. There is an f-bomb near the beginning where you mention your excitement. It makes one sound less smart when I can tell by the writing you are intelligent and have a mind for well written Cthulhu style horror.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Dead God Excavation
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Justin I. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/26/2018 14:08:14

(Disclaimer, Venger did send me a review copy, but I'd already bought this before I got the review copy.)

Dead God Excavation is campaign starting adventure by Venger Satanis. It's written for Crimson Dragon Slayer, but because that's such an elegantly simple system, it's an easy one to convert to any variation of D&D. Thematically, I think it would be a great funnel adventure for Dungeon Crawl Classics. Change a few names (if you're using the early modern Earth setting) and it'd be a great way to start off a Lamentations of the Flame Princess game too. Thematically it would also be great for Astonishing Swordsman and Sorcerers of Hyborea. 

The premise is phenomenal. A massive earthquake has revealed a a massive alien mausoleum in a kingdom. I mean if you want to kick off a campaign with a bang, this is how you do it. We are presented with several colorful characters, rumor and effect charts, new creatures, a series of encounters, and a dead great old one! Then again is it actually dead? Is it sleeping? I mean, we all know the quote...

After the adventure is over, we're given the effects of having an great old one under your kingdom, which includes some great follow up ideas.

If you play CDS this is a must. You get a great campaign starter, monsters, unique and powerful magic item, new spell, and new cleric rules. If you don't play CDS, you should still pick it up, because this is a well written adventure your players won't forget. 

At two bucks this adventure is a steal.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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