I just can’t help meddling with game mechanics, and Castle Ravenloft is just so modular that it presents a lot of opportunities to meddle. You’ve likely already seen my Rust Monster for the game, if you’re a regular reader. Well, here’s a whole adventure, starring said Rust Monster.

First, a caveat or two. This is not a final version of this adventure. I’ve playtested it once, and what I’m posting here is a direct result of that playtest. You may notice that the Rust Monster contained in this adventure is pretty different from the one linked above; that’s deliberate. The original version just didn’t work in play; its AC and hit points were a little too high, and it just didn’t engage heroes often enough. Worse, it never really brought its most feared power (the ability to eat your gear) to bear. I’ve changed that (hopefully). The adventure has also been modified slightly from its original form. Originally I had item drops keyed to named tiles, but they were happening too often. I did a quick count of tiles and found that there were just as many named as unnamed tiles, making the chance of an item drop 50%. Too high. I instead keyed item drops to tiles with white triangles; there are fewer of these than those with black triangles, so the drop rate goes down to around 40%, which is a little more acceptable.

I also increased the goal requirements to escaping with all six lost relics rather than just four, for a couple of reasons. First, getting four took me about twenty minutes, which is way too short a time. Some of this was luck and some of it was because of the aforementioned drop rate, but I don’t want the game to be won that quickly (and I did win). Second, because of all the item drops, this is an item-rich adventure. You’re probably going to have quite a few on you, including the lost relics, so if that Rust Monster eats something, you should have plenty of stuff to throw at it that isn’t a lost relic. Again, playtesting may change this. I’ll have to see. The beauty of this game is that I can playtest it all by my lonesome.

Anyway, here’s the adventure, Lost Relics.

Related posts:

1. Castle Ravenloft: The Rust Monster
2. Impressions: Castle Ravenloft
3. A Session Report, and some musings