Helium Party Balloons

We were digging through the storage shed last weekend to find just the right box of Christmas decorations, when I should chance across the dusty stack of old Dungeons & Dragons modules I’ve had with me for… well, for a very long time. For all the GeekDads who have gamed, as I scan and read through these, I’ll post them for for your enjoyment and comment, if you remember them.

We’re onto the third set now, and this time we’re going for a little depth. Not necessarily the flashy, famous modules, but fun ones that we probably all played at least once on the way to something bigger. First off, U-1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh.

Four miles east of Saltmarsh, just inland of the old coast road and looking out to sea, stands the Haunted House. Until twenty years ago it had been the residence of an aged alchemist/magician of sinister reputation, and even then had been shunned by reason of its owner’s mysterious occupations. Now, two decades after the sudden and unexplained disappearance of its occupant, the house had acquired an even greater air of evil and mystery with the passing years.

This was, to put it succinctly, the Scooby-Doo episode of D&D modules. Instead of a good old dungeon crawl, players got to explore a big old spooky house, and deal with all sorts of annoying wandering monsters, as well as traps and illusions. And then, if they made it though? Ghost Ship! All it needs is a glowing guy in a deep-sea divers suit, and a chase-sequence with a cute pop-song!

Things to remember about the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh:

• There are three important books in the Library, two by Tenser, one by Nystul. Those are names from the spell lists in the Player’s Manual, so, hello, can we say eBay?
• Ned is a nice guy, and totally trustworthy. No, really! Would I lie to you? Or, better question, would Ned?
• The Laboratory has some nice things in it. Why they had been left by the new users of the house is an open hole in the plot. Of course, what really matters are the gps, so let’s not ask silly questions.
• At the end of the main story, if you try to pull a mask of anyone, you’ll be disappointed. Especially if you try it with the Gnolls.

But wait, there’s more! Once you solve the secret, you get hired by the town council to go on a lovely sea cruise. The best thing to get out of your raid on the Sea Ghost is, if you can figure out a way, talking the Pseudo-Dragon into becoming your magic-user’s familiar. I mean, Pseudo-Dragon, people! Hello!

Alright, that was fun, but click through for one more blast from the RPG past.

[This series originally ran in December/January 2007-2008]

C stands for Challenge, and that’s good enough for me!

C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan was created as a tournament module, and actually has scoring rules to it, but that’s not important now. What’s important is cool Mayan-influenced mythology, letting us all play Indiana Jones with swords and spells.

Your party is lost! You should never have abandoned the ship and struck out into the marshes, but your pursuers were closing in on your trail, and it seemed the only way. A full moon rises, sending moonbeams and ghostly shadows to flicker through the branches. Ahead in the woods a light glows and seems to beckon – perhaps a shelter for the night. Though thorns tear and impede your progress the source of illumination is reached at last. Before you is a clearing. There is an ancient ruin- a worn and overgrown pyramid fills the courtyard, shining in the moonlight, seeming almost brighter than the moon itself. A refuge? Perhaps; tomorrow with daylight the party may explore, but tonight you must have rest.

As a tournament module, it has a very specific set-up, and pre-rolled characters in the back. Of course, if a DM wanted to run a group of existing characters through, that could work as well. The whole thing was only supposed to take two hours to finish, but come on- it usually took us longer than that to agree on the pizza we were ordering.

Things to remember in the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan:

• If you beat Tloques Popolocas (wasn’t he the zany cabbie on Taxi?), you can have his axe. However, the axe’s nickname could be “bad penny,” so think twice before picking it up.
• When you get to the Court of Cemanahuac, just consider this: the module has “drowning rules” for this room. ‘Nuff said.
• The game of handball really isn’t worth it, but would probably be pretty funny if acted out.
• Naked woman in the water: usually good in a Cinemax movie; usually bad in an ancient, evil temple.

Basically, the whole dungeon is trap-o-palooza, and it’s really important to listen, pay attention, and always assume that when something looks too good to be true, you’re probably dead already, so go ahead and grab it. And now, more pictures!

I’ve always been fascinated how one game can evoke very different reactions in different family members. Having played something together we often have very different reasons for liking it, and often spend mealtimes talking this over.

Reading some of my friend’s reviews for Limbo reminded me about this aspect of gaming again. Although Limbo is a game for the moms and dads rather than kids in our family, we still enjoy it for very different reasons.

It’s an XBLA game on the Xbox 360 that is essentially a short platforming experience. It looks like it’s been based on the black and white movie Metropolis with its out of focus hues and dark brooding backgrounds.

I really enjoyed it and was keen to write about it on GeekDad, but I think rather than simply describing the experience, a better way to communicate what it’s like would be to collect together the different things each of my friends on GamePeople said about it:

Limbo

Returning Gamer: Limbo recreates cinematic platforming, but then transports it to a better place. Both new and old, it seemed to be written exclusively for someone like me, who is back to play games again after being away.

Story Gamer: Limbo is a beautifully morbid monochrome platformer which works on the imagination, its sparse narrative leaves space for players to fill in the gaps themselves.

Limbo

Soulful Gamer: Limbo’s opening intrigued and terrified me in equal measure. But the latter portions felt forced as they resorted to puzzle mechanics rather than story telling and failed to keep its emotional and soulful edge.

Tired Gamer: There’s little doubting that the cult hit of this gaming year unfolds courtesy of the fearless, nether-world wanderings of a small boy with glowing eyes. At the start of Limbo, he wakes, sits up, stands, and in your own time you encourage him to walk with your thumb.

Limbo

Scared Gamer: Limbo caught my imagination indefinably. From the very beginning it managed to exploit and manipulate my fears, fears both innate and inherited from a lifetime of gaming – and all to tremendous effect.

Haiku: Wrote a Limbo poem – “An innocence lost; Darkness questions boy’s intent, to really wake up.”

Script Gamer: Wrote a Limbo radio play.

I’m always inspired when technology and entertainment collide in creative ways. I’ve spend many hours talking through what I thought about Limbo with my wife. In fact, we realized we have enjoyed our response to the game as much as playing the game itself.

Which games have your family talked about recently?

Perhaps this, more than anything else, is testament to Limbo’s success. Regardless of whether we loved it or loathed it, it has managed to get us thinking and expressing ourselves creatively.

We were digging through the storage shed this weekend to find just the right box of Christmas decorations that were needed to make things perfect before the party, when I should chance across the dusty stack of old Dungeons & Dragons modules I’ve had with me for… well, for a very long time.  For all the GeekDads who have gamed, as I scan and read through these, I’ll post them for for your enjoyment and comment, if you remember them.

[Editor’s Note: this series originally ran in December, 2007. As I’m currently getting my two boys into 4th Edition D&D, I thought this a good time to revisit. Hope you enjoy!]

Here’s the first, B1: In Search of the Unknown – the module that came with the boxed Basic Set, and was the first adventure that many new gamers played, setting out to find and explore Quasqueton, the abandoned dungeon complex of famed (but now, sadly, dead) adventurers. It’s a classic dungeon crawl for beginning characters.  The key things to remember:

• If you’re quiet, and put out your lights, the bats won’t bug you.
• There’s no treasure in the “Treasure Cave.”  There are, however, two magical berserkers.
• If you place a chip from the Magical Stone in you mouth, something really good (like granting a Limited Wish), or something really bad (permanent loss of 1 point of intelligence) will happen.
• Don’t confuse the Magical Stone with the bat guano.