RE: [DL] This Harrowed Ground

[Jesse Burneko <jburneko@yahoo.com>]

Hello,

> I was wondering how many people here had run it and
> what they thought of it for a low level 
> adventure [This Harrowed Ground].

It was the second adventure I ran for my group and it
was one of my most successful.  I think the it's
simplest to just run though the highlights of my
experience and perhaps you can mine some of the ideas.

[HUGE SPOILERS FOR THIS HARROWED GROUND!!!!]

1) When the players encounter the bible passage give
them a REAL bible to look the passage up if you have
on hand.  All kinds of interesting redherrings and
interpretations were added to the game when the
players had the full text to consult.

2) I had GREAT fun when the players had collected all
the evidence to prove that the gold mine was faked. 
The players arranged to have a game of cards with the
conspirators.  During the game one of my players gave
this great speech ladden with insinuaded subtext.  And
as each double-meaning word was accentuated another
player through each piece of evidence on the table
(molded gold, silver tracing from the mine, the mold.)

The smartest thing I did was realize that while the
players had proof to demonstrate that the mine was
faked they hadn't found enough evidence to prove where
the gold came in the first place.  So I had the
conspirators confess to faking the mine.  BUT I had
one of them tell the players he had inherited the gold
from a relative and that they faked the mine in the
interest of bringing the town back from the brink of
death.  I turned their deception into a seeming act of
heroicism.

The look on my player's faces as they realized they
had to go out and get MORE evidence was priceless.

3) When I first read the adventure I wasn't sure how
the players were supposed to figure out that Linkous
could be harmed with his own weapons.  But then I
realized the players were supposed to pick up on the
fact that Linkous was busy collecting his old weapons.
 Well, I was right the players DID pickup on the fact
that Linkous was collecting his old weapons but they
came to the wrong conclusion.

They assumed that the Linkous's ONLY motivation was to
collect his old weapons and that as soon as he had
them all he could rest in peace and would go away. 
So, when Linkous marched into down with his undead
army the first thing the player's tried was throwing
him the one remaining service revolver they had gotten
from the Sherif's safe.  When nothing happened and
they still hadn't a clue I figured they were doomed.

But a small miricle happened.  Linkous's weapons are
Cap and Ball weapons which means they have a chance to
malfunction.  The first shot Linkous took got a
catastrophic malfunction result and the weapon blew up
in his hand.  I figured well if he can be hurt by his
own weapons then he should certainly be hurt by them
when they malfuction.  So I described Linkous reacting
as if he were in pain from the destoryed weapon.

A light went on in the players heads.  Of course, they
suddenly realized that they'd delivered the only
effective weapon they had into the enemies hands.  But
one player got brave.  He ran out into the street and
cried out amid the chaos.  He challenged Linkous to
duel.  Of course, Linkous knew he couldn't lose so he
accepted.

The two stood in the middle of the street.  My player
drew first and instead of shooting Linkous went to
shoot the gun away from him.  He succeeded.  He then
made a dash for it.  He made it to the gun before
Linkous did.  He scooped it up off the ground, turned
and then rolled a bloody HEAD SHOT.  He blew the head
right off the specter.  And of course I stared down at
my Fate Chips and knew I couldn't use them because...
well... we were in a duel.  Game Over.

So yeah, I have very fond memories of this scenario. 
I hope this was insightful.

Jesse




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