Secrets of the Vulgar Manse can be found on RPG Trader for $4.99.
~ 2000 words. 10 minutes to read.

I’ve been spending a lot of time focused on starter adventures during these reviews to provide a little rest for the brain while I worked on setting up the Kickstarter and all of the graphics for it so jumping back in, I wanted to do something a little more art/design focused. Revivify Games has that reputation with their other adventures so I figured, let’s take a look at the latest release – a gauntlet to introduce you into the setting of their League of Dark Few, a sort of riff on the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

This book has a companion called The Darkness Dwellers’ Handbook that I’m not reviewing here, but it does provide more context for this adventure, but it’s not necessary to have it to run this gauntlet.

What is it?

This is a 0-level gauntlet for both Shadowdark and DCC. I didn’t look at the DCC version, so I don’t know how much is a swap of stats/mechanics and how much is designed for each system individually.

Unique Features?

Normally, in a Shadowdark gauntlet, you play one character at a time. This gauntlet wants you to play everyone all at once at a certain point in the gauntlet. It tells you this upfront so it’s not a surprise.

What’s the story?

There’s a secret organization, let’s call it a league. It’s not under the sea though. It includes a dark, few bastards. They are recruiting. This is the trial to see if you pass the test. Conceptually, joining a Thieves Guild, the Monument Men, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, etc. is a tried and true trope, but it’s not one that Shadowdark has seen so this is a fun opportunity to indulge in a little pulpy, albeit potentially fatal, action.

There’s a little bit of fiction to start things off. You can use it as read aloud if you want. It’s fun. Do it.

So… Adventure?

We thought we were being gifted with an invitation, but they drugged us and we wake up in the basement. Now, we have to get out to survive and join the League. I hope this is what we really want to do.

Setup

The setup explains the unique swarming mechanic of using all of your characters at once, a little background about how this is an annual recruitment meeting.

It also includes a note about some rooms being usable outside the adventure. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone call it out like this and I’m not really sure how I feel about it. Like, I enjoy reusing locations if my players come back to them so I don’t need the reminder that it can be done. But, I’ve noticed a lot of players from the Beach Sorcerers’ game tend to seek explicit permission pointed out to them so maybe this is a useful element. Just seems weird to highlight this is here, but not to be used during the adventure. I may be misunderstanding it, but yeah, I’d probably ignoring this note if the players find a creative way to get into those rooms rather than put up the “no-go zone” warning.

No random encounters. The text states because it’s a controlled environment. That seems believable enough as is, but really, random things will happen even in controlled environments. Even labs. I say write your own and add them in. It only makes the gauntlet more gauntlet-y if things go off the rails. And isn’t that the point here. One of the things that makes Trial of the Slime Lord stand out is how wild things can get if the players do the weird things. Lick the ooze. It’s okay. But I understand this is meant to be more of a funnel so some of that gonzo contradicts that purpose.

Wait, isn’t this also written for DCC? Embrace the wyrd and wild.

I should also include that all denizens are considered dark adapted which contradicts Shadowdark which states, this is not the case for Humanoids (SD pg. 189).

Room Keys

The read aloud text is written in 2nd person perspective (writing to address the reader as “you”). I’m not fond of it. It’s not a style I like to run. It leans too close to telling players what their character would feel and how they would act. For others, it’s not a problem and they run this way. So this is definitely a personal preference. For me, every time 2nd person perspective is used, there’s probably a better way to say everything. And I know how tempting writing in 2nd person perspective is, but it’s definitely one of those where I think removing it is the stronger, more evocative choice. The player is not the character and reminding them of that with “you wake up”, “you open the doors”, etc. can be a jarring aspect of immersion for many players. It’s a trade-off.

But, if you write in third-person perspective for the read-aloud text, a GM can easily adapt that to 2nd person when relating the description to the players. This may actually be a better conversation for a different date about the benefits and drawbacks of read-aloud text and descriptive text. I’ll come back to this at some point in the future. But know, I’m in the camp for descriptive text over read-aloud text.

I think this also leads to my first conflict with the concept of this as a gauntlet. None of the monsters are particularly lethal in the same sense that we see in other gauntlets. This trial wants you to survive it. It is more funnel than not.

For instance, there is an electric eel that causes CON damage if you fail to succeed on your check to avoid shock. There is only one other attack on the character’s CON and that’s also alongside the only other CON check. It’s interesting to trigger death through multiple methods, especially in a gauntlet where life is utilitarian, but if you only do it one other time, you really aren’t using it as a means to threaten the character. It’s more of a slap on the wrist for doing the wrong thing. Sure it hurts, but you’ll survive. That’s what I mean by this being more of a funnel than gauntlet.

This isn’t a bad thing, but my expectations were incorrectly set for it. If I think of this as a funnel to lead you into a campaign (which to be fair, it is rather explicit about being) rather than a gauntlet (as it refers to itself) in the Shadowdark sense (more akin to a funhouse dungeon), this adventure makes more sense.

That’s on me. I’m recalibrated now.

Each room has 2-3 things in them to interact with. Although we do come across one of my peeves. The page gap. And this one is magnified by the map placement.

Running the second room requires a page flip because the map comes before the remainder of the room. You’re at the start of room keys. Just move the map to the first page and start the keys on the recto (right side). For a lot of people, this will be a minor issue, but it’s entirely avoidable.

Coffin: A golden plaque adorns each, bearing the name of the slumbering skeletal warrior inside. Attack if awakened.

• Northeastern coffin missing plaque. Tunnel to Dark Wyrm’s Lair (4).
  Statues: Kneel on the ground, praying. The eyes have shallow, copper-sized indentations.
• Placing coppers will remove ward on doors to Test of Duty (3).
  Southern Doors: Inscription – “None shall rest without paying their fare.” Opening without paying toll awakens all skeletal warriors. They attack. Half awaken if only one toll paid.

Is this the best version of that room key? No. But, we’re conveying the same information in fewer words so it fits. It just makes things easier to run and while it’s not something people will vocalize appreciation for, they will express annoyance over having to flip the page to get the rest of the room. (Or miss it entirely because they didn’t flip.)

I like the praying statues, it’s a simple, but fun puzzle. The third area is a little bit of a temptation bargain trap. Meaning you tempt the players with a reward and if they take it, it activates the trap. I’m not entirely sure how the creator wants you to convey the dangers of the trap. I’d probably take a page from Solo-Leveling and have the statues watch. At the 5th key, we cross another page gap. It has an imprint puzzle that I think would be a lot of fun at the table if you print out the handouts and made a cylinder from an old oatmeal container or toilet paper roll. But on a VTT, it has less impact since you can’t interact with the cylinder. Given the power of so many VTT’s, it’s only a matter of time before we have interactive 3D puzzles in them. It’ll give more life to these moments. It’ll be great.

The rest of the room keys tend to follow this pattern. A virtue is engraved somewhere in the area. The trap or puzzle will be a test of that virtue. Survive to pass onto the next area. It’s straightforward in the “this is a trial for admission into our gentleman bastards organization” vein. It tends to be linear that way. There aren’t too many surprises or subversions. Your players should be able to figure these things out fairly easily. You know what you are getting from the setup and there aren’t any rug-pulls.

So who is this for?

Aside from map placement and the handful of keys being split across pages, everything is solid. Anyone looking for a fun start to a campaign will have something enjoyable to run. It has good art, clear maps, straightforward layout, simple premise, etc. Everything you want for an evening of fun around the table with your friends while you enjoy some food, drinks, and laughs.

As a player, this would be so much fun. It serves to provide the catalyst for good times. As a GM, I’m left wanting a little more. It’s not scratching the itch completely. I think this comes down to my personal taste as a GM. I like when things are a little weird in my adventures. The closer they hew to expectations, the less I want to run them. Here, the unexpected comes from the players. Which I think suits a lot of tables.

But I also know, I need to make changes for me to want to run this. And I think that’s okay. Not every adventure needs to be so mind-blowing you want to run it as is. Most GMs are tweaking the adventure anyway. Sometimes you just want a robust adventure where you can make a few changes, it won’t fall apart, and you can entertain everyone for an evening. That’s what this is.

In my prep, I’ve been changing this to a bandit’s hideout for my table. I can do a quick trap door slide into the start and let them wiggle through the path. And while the implied setting isn’t for me, I’m still going to have fun running this after I adapt it. In that sense, this is for everyone.

If you made it this far, thank you. Now, I’m going to nitpick & nerd out on design. You have been warned.

There’s nothing really unique to address here. The layout is fairly standard and aside from the page gaps on room keys, it doesn’t do anything offensive. A little disappointing, because the author has more creative layouts in some of their other adventures and I was hoping this would as well because I wanted to talk about the design more, but it’s staid. Sven Ghouli’s Crypt for instance gets a little creative with its use of sidebars.