In the Wake of the Murderhobos

So on reading through the introductory and history sections of the various "Return to the..." revisits of classic modules, there's the clear issue of how to deal with whether the module has previously been played through by the players and how to deal with such meta-game prior knowledge and potential mechanics and setting changes over the intervening years.

Even if the module is known only by its reputation as a classic, several of the revisit products imply that a similar adventuring party has completed the original module, changing not only the inhabitants / defeating the bosses but also affecting the physical environment for those that follow after. This not only gives a sense of history and nostalgia to the revisit but allows a refresh.

But how to reflect the consequences of a prior playthrough for UK6 I wondered?

The Tag System?

The best system I've seen for dealing with the effects of a previous party in the recent (or distant) past is the "Tag" system used in the LotFP module Thulian Echoes, where the historical group of pre-generated characters is played by the current players and generates changes their actual contemporary play through, with the first group's story physically represented in-game through a journal that acts as the MacGuffin for the latter group. As summarised in this review or this other review, it's in an intriguing nod to the possibility of player meta-game knowledge that in turn generates multiple variations of the base play-through. There's a similar but simpler device used in Monte Cook's excellent Dead Gods Planescape adventure in the "Ruins of Pelion" section (pages 88-100) where the current day characters can become for a time characters in the distant past in order to assist them in the future.

Coincidentally, UK6, while not beginning with a journal as the hook, uses a less detailed map as the trigger for adventure instead. Unfortunately, despite being included as background fiction, the accompanying "Tikul's Saga" detailing the preceding party's journey is not available to the players and is for the DM's eyes only. This seems a bit of a missed opportunity to me as I think a journal would have been a useful narrative device, although snippets of the story of Tikul's party are scattered throughout the descriptive text (the female thief's body, the burial mound containing the party's cleric slain by the skeleton warrior).

I suppose I could rework the base adventure with a similar "Tag" system, but despite its high concept components in some ways, UK6 is actually a quite linear, "railroad" adventure for the most part - this is not necessarily a bad thing, however (particularly when revisiting the areas "already visited" in the module as I'll explain in a later post). Apart from some random encounters in the jungle, the 1st section set in the Indicara leads almost inevitably through a sequence of encounters to the set-piece battle at the shrine with the Atem. The passages themselves have some variation, as does the final temple section, but there's a definite linearity. The potential sandbox section, the Ash Mire with the untrustworthy Hek, is presented as a sequence of events, likely due to space limitations to be fair, but similarly, there are only a handful of likely variations that could be generated, particularly with a "murderhobo" playstyle.

So I've decided to set a default premise to determine the effect of the "prior party" on the parts of the setting detailed in the module that I'll refer to as the "Murderhobo Playthrough", although I think building in some "Tag" options to provide variation may be interesting.

The Murderhobo Playthrough Premise (aka "the MHPP")

"So, What exactly is a murder hobo? The label comes from the fact that player characters are homeless & nameless strangers that travel from town to town, living out of their backpacks. And their default solution to any problem that they may encounter is to kill everything and collect the treasure. They just kill everything!" - Michael Long (Tribality, May 2017) 

I'm going to work from the default that the original party behaved like classic murderhobos throughout the original adventure as published and detail the consequences that follow on from that. 

In addition, I'm going to make the following specific mechanics assumptions:

• The pre-rolled 1E characters from page 32 were used for this "first playthrough"
• The party was predominantly neutral in alignment, with *no* evil characters
• Their background is non-Suloise, but any other Greyhawk ethnicity is fine except Olman
• The party have ventured into the Indicara region from Sasserine (or Cauldron)
• Six characters made up the party, each level 6 or 4/4 (if multi-classed)
• Sir Palimor the paladin was not in the original party (see below for rationale)
• Delana Redblade, the single-classed thief was not in the original party 
• There are only 2 clerics in the original party; the human cleric Cascus worships Fharlanghn 
• At least two of the characters died during the westward journey
• The adventure occurred before the events of The Shackled City Adventure Path 

There are a couple of flavour reasons for these assumptions, but the justification for the main premise is to simplify things so that for each relevant decision node or encounter I can ask "What would a murderhobo do?" and adjust the section accordingly to reflect the mayhem...

Note: it's clear from the outset that an OSR-style paladin just won't work for this style of a playthrough, which let's be honest really doesn't fit with the non-kit/variant traditional LG outlook. Technically in RAW, a paladin can't "associate with any character of non-Good alignment". Plus a warhorse makes very little sense in the jungle and even less in the Ash Mire. So no paladin. Fair?

Murderhobo Flowchart

The diagram to the left is a comical (but probably accurate) depiction of default murderhobo responses to basic challenges likely encountered in a standard module so if I need to I may refer to this from time to time if unsure of how to make a call. 

Honestly, it's likely to be pretty straightforward.

They explore, they kill, and they loot. 

Anything stronger than them they run away from if possible. Add on some aggressive "colonial" attitudes towards the native races where necessary eg. attacking the Atem shrine, robbing the Hek even if they don't try and kidnap or press-gang the clerics, murdering Kegen's mutant family, and the playthrough pretty much writes itself.

Note: although the "original party" is assumed to have behaved like murderhobos, I'm aiming to design a more nuanced adventure with some modern design sensibilities, yet an OSR feel to encourage a more "enlightened" playthrough. Of course, people will play however they want.

But Maybe a Journal or perhaps Time Travel?

So I really like these concepts from Thulian Echoes and Dead Gods, but maybe even without the "Tag" system, I'll try and work in some playthrough of past events that have effects on the present-day party of adventurers. Some way of indicating the narrative of the original murderhobo exploration and Tikul's expedition to the contemporary adventurers through a journal may be an option as a hook or as a resource. Perhaps it's the journal itself that triggers the past sequences?

Tikul's Ghost - the Missing Saga Narrator?

 

Tikul's Lost Spirit in Panther form?

In an earlier post, I speculated about Tikul's fate and the final location of his skeleton less than a day's journey from Kett's Rapids - a site readily discoverable by a subsequent party if they have knowledge of his ill-fated expedition and consider discussing his passage with the Mallata villagers.

However the characters have no way initially of knowing to search the local area for his remains - the whole backstory, in fact, remains secret, known only to the DM, unfortunately...

This seems like a major missed opportunity.

But I've had an idea of how to address that issue.

Tikul's... Ghost?

Rather than a "standard" ghost, at least in OSRIC/1E terms, Tikul's "ghost" may be best represented by a haunt, a creature originally introduced in A2 Secret of the Slaver's Stockade, and then formally introduced in 1984's 1E Monster Manual II, pages 74-75:

"A haunt is the restless spirit of a person who died leaving a vital task unfinished. A haunt inhabits an area within 6" of the site where it died. The haunt's sole purpose is to possess a living body and use it to complete the task, thus gaining a final release."

So I think this has potential to offset the "hidden backstory".

Tikul's vital task - the issue keeping his spirit from resting - is to complete his original vow "to visit the land of the Kepta and see for himself its wonders". These wonders (in the form of treasure) he believes are kept within Kegen's stronghold that was denied to him at the rout of the Hek'Ilj by the skeleton warrior. Therefore to accomplish his task, his haunt will first attack (using its Dexterity-draining touch) and then ultimately possess a character, speaking with the voice of its victim to pass on the tale of his adventure and entice others to help in his quest... in essence relating with uncertain reliability the events of "Tikul's Saga".

Ever charismatic, even in death, Tikul's haunt, speaking through the possessed victim, will then try and convince them to accompany him to the Temple of Aumata-Perion to finish the looting of the temple of its marvelous "wealth", even using the possessed character as a living hostage. This by itself doesn't solve the problem of the players finding the site of Tikul's skeleton initially, this being a key issue not dealt with in the module as written.

Note: as no player likes to lose control of their character to the DM, this creates a potential conflict. One option is to use Tikul's spirit as a more latent entity, only rising to the surface of the possessed character's consciousness when specifically addressed or activated by specific locations or events - a DM may consider this a test of Will, similar to that for an intelligent magic item. This turns the situation into one with a limited, more portioned-out, information distribution strategy that better maintains player agency. The haunt is not only linked to the original expedition but can also act as a recurring character and driver of the narrative.

But given it's been a year and a half since the original expedition, maybe Tikul's haunt has already possessed a victim or two *before* the adventurers arrive...

Former Victims of Tikul's Haunt

Through journeying in the bodies of previous victims that have stumbled across his skeleton Tikul has learned a lot about the current state of the Indicara and may act as a self-serving guide. Over the past year and a half he has possessed the following four creatures:

1. The friend of the Mallata villager that discovered Tikul's corpse shortly after his death - attacked by the haunt, the villager escaped with the map fragments, leaving his companion to his fate. Ever impatient, Tikul's spirit forces the possessed first villager back into the village only to be slain by the suspicious inhabitants, fearing him as a jungle demon.
2. A giant rhinoceros beetle wandered into the clearing with the skeleton. In this host, Tikul managed to reach the Atem Barrier Shrine, but was unable to proceed further and was killed by Vanck's giant cousins trying to travel around the northern route around Mt Gegesti. 
3. A lame piebald black leopard briefly possessed by Tikul's spirit slinked past the Atem village and made it all the way to the giant Vanck's lair but was unable to get past his pets.
4. An exiled Atem tribesman captured by his former colleagues at the orders of the witch-doctor Abu, when he returned to the village clearly possessed and acting out of character.

Tikul as Possessed Atem Skull?

Note: given the suggestion of the Atem as collectors of skulls, one option is to have the witch-doctor use a ritual to bind Tikul's spirit to the exiled Atem's skull as a trophy, similar to a mimir or unique necromantic familiar? 

This then allows Tikul to be used as a character and (unreliable) guide through the adventure without the party needing to find his lost skeleton. Normally a haunt is bound to the site of their death but perhaps the Atem witch doctor can shift and control this connection through their magic and use the decapitated skulls of opponents to bind spirits in a variant "speak with the dead" style ritual. 

Tikul's skeleton lies more than a day's journey beyond Atem territory near the village, but this is potentially within the range of an Atem head-hunting warband.

The Unreliable Narrator

Note: in many ways, I think the "intermittent" possession of a character by Tikul's haunt could act similar to a mimir from the Planescape setting - a sometimes useful source of information and variant of the information dump not only linked to the original expedition but also as a recurring character and driver of the narrative if needed.

Where in the Oerth is UK6 All that Glitters...?

 OK so UK6 has been retconned into Greyhawk (2000), but where exactly on Oerth does the module fit?

It's commonly accepted that the Indicara correlates with the Amedio Jungle south of the Holds of the Sea Princes and the Ash Mire is a section of the fabled Sea of Dust, with the Hadarna Mountains and Mount Gegesti being considered a specific section of the greater Hellfurnaces range.

The Northern Amedio Jungle Region (excerpt from The Savage Tide web supplement DUNGEON #141)

So looking at the handy map from the DUNGEON #141 web supplement for The Savage Tide Adventure Path, there's a potential section extending northwest from the source of the Bodal River, a few days journey south of the Cauldron-Sasserine region. The Utdoo River then correlates with an upper tributary of the Bodal and Kett's Rapids a relatively isolated trading outpost. The eastern volcano just to the south represents Mt Gegesti, while the western one remains unnamed.

The scale presents a small issue however. 

As written in the module, the passage is ~100 miles long from Terabar in the east to Windgate in the west, yet at this point the Hellfurnaces appears to be about 2-3 times that width, calling for some inflation. As the subterranean passages are affected by a powerful distance distortion effect from the huge earth elementals bound by the greater circles in any case, I don't think this represents a major issue. 

It may, in fact, make an interesting feature of this section as the effect of the insane earth elemental may be warping not only the subterranean area, but also the overlying mountain areas...

So the below insert highlighted in orange is the relevant area in the northwest of the Amedio:

UK6 on Oerth Location (DUNGEON #141 web supplement excerpt)

This location allows me to draw on additional elements from the pre-Pathfinder RPG Shackled City and Savage Tide Adventure Paths (for character backgrounds and NPCs), as well as introduce additional concepts from the Olman culture and explain the presence of the minions of the Scarlet Brotherhood as potential antagonists...

Resources

• Canonfire! "Greyhawk Module Locations"
• The Scarlet Brotherhood, Sean K Reynolds
• The Savage Tide Adventure Path, various authors (DRAGON magazine)
• The Olman Invasion of the Suloise Imperium (article by wolfsire)
• The Green Nightmare: the Amedio Jungle, Roger E Moore (OJ #4)

Tikul's Expedition - Fated to Fail?

UK6 opens with a short piece of fiction, "Tikul's Saga", detailing roughly the progress of a previous unsuccessful expedition through the Wind Walker's Passages led by a spellcaster named Tikul responsible for the dagger originally left at area I2 that triggers the magic mouth with the clue inscribed on the tree at area I3. Although the players of the original playthrough likely never discover the full narrative, the story acts as a backdrop to the module for the DM and links to the map that acts as the MacGuffin for their own expedition set about a year and a half later...

Tikul's Saga, Part 1 (excerpt from UK6)

From the Saga and notes scattered throughout the module, in 1E / BX terms the expedition consisted of:

• Tikul, a magic-user/mage of at least 3rd level (perishes upriver of Kett's Rapids)
• A female human thief (body at area W6 in the Wind Walker's Passages)
• A cleric (buried in a grave at area T4 of the village)
• A longsword-wielding human fighter 
• A longsword-wielding elf (or half-elf if OSRIC) fighter-based multi-classed character (possessions stored with the human fighter's at area I6 The Barrier Shrine)

Tikul's faithless apprentice is mentioned as "long since fled with his master's wealth and spellbooks" and did not accompany the expedition - perhaps this apprentice becomes an important NPC for the current day or was even one of the later "murderhobo" party members such as the pre-generated mage character Illic the Grey. It's unclear whether there were any hirelings, pack animals, or a native Mellata guide from the details given (perhaps one of the sword carriers was a jungle ranger instead?), but if there were part of the group they seem to have perished without leaving a trace.

Regardless of the details, only Tikul makes the return journey eastwards after the ill-fated attack on the Temple by the Hek'Ilj. His sole surviving companion from the westwards journey, the cleric, is slain by the skeleton warrior and he flees, only to die of thirst less than one day's journey from civilization clutching his map in his hand - presumably, this is the small outpost of Kett's Falls...

Not exactly a successful expedition.

And this is despite the lack of opponents, suggesting perhaps the expedition was poorly suited and underpowered to attempt such a journey, either due to Tikul's hubris, or lack of wisdom, or both.

Tikul's Saga, Part 2 (excerpt from UK6)

Let's have a look through the clues scattered throughout:

1. The main fight in the Indicara is with the Atem at their shrine
• The two "longsword-carrier" party members lost in the battle 
2. The expedition desperately flees through the bog - there is no mention of the hydra so presumably, it moves in after the expedition passes through?
3. They peacefully bypass Vanck, the delusional fire giant without any issue
4. There is *no* mention of any devils in the passages at this time, so the bearded devil must arrive somehow later if Tikul didn't summon it - an interesting possibility...
5. The greedy thief separates from Tikul and the cleric, dying at the hands of the invisible stalker as she tries to dig silver out of the lesser circle with her dagger.
6. He leads a disastrous attack on the temple and its skeleton warrior with the Hek'Ilj and during this battle, his remaining companion, the cleric, is killed and he flees
7. Tikul returns eastwards uneventfully, avoiding the Atem only to perish from the water but there is no mention of Vanck or how he avoids the Atem Shrine area
• It's unclear whether he casts the magic mouth only on his return eastwards

This isn't very encouraging.

One wonders if he indeed had a *low* Wisdom score based on the implied choices!

Running off in search of fabled treasure isn't actually that uncharacteristic of adventurers to be fair, but let's have a look at three main decision points where Tikul seems to have failed to pass the simple test of prudence and elected to "live to fight another day":

Firstly, despite losing almost half of his entire party (and from their equipment, likely the only 2 dedicated warriors) to Abu and the tribe of Atem at their village shrine, Tikul nevertheless presses on into the tunnels after fleeing through an unexplored bog in a box canyon with no other obvious exit.

Secondly, during the passage westward, he loses his third party member, the greedy thief, when she activates the guardian invisible stalker by trying to dig up the silver from the summoning circle. Now at less than half strength, he stubbornly continues on and enters the bizarre and deathly Ash Mire accompanied only by his sole remaining companion, a plate mail clad cleric.

Finally, out of sheer avarice for the presumed Kepta treasure or arrogance about his magical skills, he convinces the tribe of 1 HD Hek through persuasion alone (perhaps he had high Charisma and Wisdom was his dump stat instead?) to attack the fortified temple without any intelligence on what threats it contains, encountering Kegen's trump card, the 9 HD skeleton warrior (OSRIC, page 297). The Hek are slain or scattered from its fear effect, the cleric is slain mistakenly attempting to turn the unturnable creature, and Tikul's spells can't penetrate its MR 90% defense, forcing him to flee back into the Ash Mire...

Seemingly bypassing Vanck on his flight home (no mention of how is given), his only luck seems to be avoiding the Atem on the way back (perhaps using an invisibility or (Leomund's) tiny hut spell) and any random encounters in the Indicara. 

He then leaves his dagger at area I2 inexplicably and ultimately dies from drinking contaminated water...

So I'm thinking this was never meant to be a success - maybe from a meta-game perspective as decided by the author for sure, as having elements of a prior expedition certainly adds more to the module, but also just from the fact that it's actually quite a dangerous journey and difficult to prepare for. 

There's been a fair bit of material published or put forth on the Amedio but only a few successful expeditions (Rhialle's 4 ventures and the famous Matreyus expedition).

So it's not unexpected.

Tikul's expedition was fated to fail.

Optional: Conversion Notes 

I'd intentionally originally decided to go with a "mechanics-lite" OSR style approach for the UK6 revisit project, but every now and again there are some thematic elements from other modern rulesets that are worth commenting on or considering...

In PFRPG, Tikul probably would have been better as an Archaeologist archetype bard, although the rogue skills and talents instead of bardic performance certainly didn't help him survive! Elements from the Pathfinder Society Field Agent prestige class may well be applicable - although technically the wrong setting, a Greyhawk correlate of the society is feasible. If switching settings entirely even a Faerunian version such as the Harpers might work, but Tikul seems a lot more self-interested than most. Interestingly magic mouth is a 1st level bard spell (as opposed to 2nd level sorcerer/wizard spell) so it's possible in Pathfinder terms that both he and the unfortunate remaining party members could have been even lower level.

For LotFP, I'd perhaps see Tikul more as a scroll or wand using specialist using the Arcana Skill for Specialists variant rule (substituting for Architecture) proposed by James Young. The magic mouth spell then becomes a scroll the explorer kept for marking important landmarks. The "thief" then becomes a more traditional "burglar" style Specialist and the other 3 party members are likely a Cleric, a Fighter, and perhaps an OD&D-style warrior-mage Elf. 

If converted to a LotFP adventure, UK6 would be particularly lethal given some of its encounters' relative power level, but potentially lethal encounters and avoidance of combat are well placed in that game system. Perhaps the bearded devil or shadow demon encountered by the later murderhobo party is the result of Tikul's desperate attempt to use the infamous LotFP summon spell to enlist aid on his return through the Wind Walker's passages?

Addit Sept 2020: I'm more familiar with 5E now, and I'd still envision Tikul as some sort of "archaeologist-mage" or variant bard as per the Pathfinder note above. I think the Archaeologist character background from Tomb of Annihilation, page 192, or detailed here would fit well, combined with the College of Eloquence UA (Unearthed Arcana) playtest variant subclass to explain his remarkable persuasive abilities. 

Alternatively, Tikul could be a UA sidekick class Expert with the Ritual Caster feat (Bard or Wizard, Intelligence spellcasting ability) gained from being a variant human or instead of the 4th level ASI - this feat and his spellbook would allow him to cover off on most of the spells used in the original module.