Troll Market
Author: Rob_S
System: AD&D
Party Size: 3–4
Level Range: 1–3
Poppy the Magic-user is frantic; her baby, Par, was taken. She made a deal with Elf Lord Orion for her first born but reneged. Orion oversees the Troll Market, a nexus between distant points across the world. Poppy, barred from entering the market, needs help. The market entrance lies within the roots of an ancient tree. It only appears under an ‘old moon’ which will last another two nights.
The adventure starts with an immediate prompt to launch the party into action. The ancient tree in question is a "towering gold-leafed beech" at the top of the hill. Four gibbets hang from the branches, one of which is occupied by an illusionist who begs for help. Giving him water earns the merciful character a timed-release Change Self spell. (But wouldn't he rather someone release him instead?) Steps of cyclopean stone descend between two roots, down a fairy stair to a pair of "verdigris-covered copper doors shaped like intertwined branches" (lovely).
A clerk and elf guards wait beyond the gate to welcome visitors, taking their names and reasons for visiting, and giving each a special coin that teleports them out of the fair if they lose it or their "pass" expires. At this point, the party learns that "Only daggers, staff and leather is [sic] permitted within." This restriction is either going to be rejected completely by the party, meaning they walk away from the adventure, or they're going to split up so that a few go in while the others watch their stuff (this is not good). Maybe I game with jerks, but my players would undoubtedly say, "Okay, see you later!" and hit the road. Then I'm back to rolling random encounters.
There's an interesting and thematic bit about requiring all holy symbols be hidden from view (with a commensurate penalty to the elves in this place who can see one). This could be another big obstacle for haughty players who may be hard-pressed to go along. I also wonder if the penalty applies to elf characters as well while they're down here. It's a neat wrinkle, but one that doesn't have any foundation in the AD&D rules unless you've made it part of your campaign world.
Those who abide by the fair's policies are given entry to the cavernous space. To the east is a market fair and open-air tavern, while a barracks and mansion stand to the west. In the center of the market is a statue of a giant troll, around which floats a smirking moon—some sort of magical lamp that illuminates the fair grounds. That's cool. Of the 15 stalls in the market, only four are identified and only three are detailed. The unkeyed stall is identified only as a bookseller looking to sell the spellbook of the illusionist from the entrance. That and the seller's description are all we're given about this particular business, which is a shame because there's a lot of fantasy potential in a fairy bookseller.
The other businesses are a weapons shop run by a "clean-shaven dwarf" and a "dispassionate exiled [mind flayer]" that also traffics in magical weapons; an apothecary run by an elf reincarnated as an eloquent fox (neat!) who will sell rumors and even a map of the lord's house; and a zoocopeia, (or zoocopia, Latin for an "abundance of animals"). Here, players can buy from an inventory of bêtes fantastiques, including a blink dog pup, cockatrice eggs, and a dancing bear—all fake of course, offered up by a shady goblin and his troll assistant.
Adjacent to the market stalls is the tavern, serving drinks and simple fare: either roasted snails on skewers or fried leftovers (so, fried roast snails). Here, the party encounters a dozen customers, though only two are actually described: a halfling poet (0-level commoner?) and his unspecified "entourage," and a troupe of minstrels led by a currently-drunk satyr. There are no wandering encounters and the rest of the market is not described, so whatever else happens to the players while they explore is up to the DM. On the opposite side of the cavern are the barracks, where the fair's 10 elf guards sleep on bunkbeds and put their stuff in footlockers; the Elven Gardens which are described only as "well-tended;" and the modest house and walled garden of Lord Orion, the ruler of this pocket dimension.
It's a neat little space, and I think there's lots you could do with it, but as written I'm not sure what the adventure is asking the PCs to do. The magic-user entered into a contract and reneged, so the other party in the matter has rightfully collected their due. She's asking the party to enter the market and fix her poor choices by retrieving her baby, I guess (it's never quite made explicit), but she offers a poor rationale and no reward to intercede on her behalf. Then, even if the party agrees, they're not going to be predisposed to disarm in order to enter. Assuming all or some of them agree to the restrictions and enter the market, however, what are they supposed to do then?
There isn't a mystery who took the child, and its obvious the lord lives in the most prominent building. Do they just head straight for the house and kick the door in? Or do they visit the market first to interact with the locals before going to the house and kicking the door in? Is there a way to satisfy Lord Orion without kicking the door in? Do they break into the house somehow and try to steal the baby? Is what the players doing here lawful and/or good (it's not required of them to be Lawful Good to play the adventure, I'm simply asking from an ethical point of view, because who but a misguided Lawful Good character would even attempt this?) Orion's alignment is Chaotic Neutral, but if you take the baby-payment out of the equation, he's done nothing objectively wrong. It's Poppy the Magic-user who's the bad actor and the party who are the antagonists here.
The manor is protected by the fair's ten elf guards (2nd-level fighters), Orion's personal guard (four 3rd-level fighters), his valet (2nd-level elf magic-user), his bodyguard (5th-level fighter), and two plate-armored, halberd-wielding skeletons (who can only do 1–6 damage by the book). Orion himself is a 5th-level fighter/5th-level magic-user. ALL of these potential enemies are 90% immune to sleep and charm (100% in the case of skeletons). A pair of 2+2 HD krenshar (from 3e) also roam about.
There's absolutely no way a party of 3–4 low-level characters is going to fight their way through this place, and their odds of sneaking about without raising an alarm are slim. Even if they get in and find the baby's location—in the dungeon (!), behind bars (!!), and protected by teleport-sleep traps (!!!)—and somehow rescue the infant, they only have minutes (maybe up to 3 turns) to escape the house and somehow exit the gate without anyone noticing they're carrying Lord Orion's latest "acquisition."
It's a huge ask of a bottom-level party and, again, the writeup provides very little motivation for all this effort with seemingly little chance of success. A group of clever and forgiving players will be required for this adventure.
1) THEME
(How strong/consistent is the adventure's premise, flavor, and setting?)
The fairy market is a solid fantasy trope, and this one has plenty of flavor in that direction. The market only appears for three days each month during the "old moon," which is the last sliver of a waning crescent moon before the "new moon" appears. Very cool. The text states that the entrance connects to other locations, which is also an interesting idea, though no method to travel to other areas is given. Throughout the text there's lots of good descriptions that support the setting, making it easy to imagine the space.
As mentioned in my review of Fog Valley Retreat, I love elves as sinister, almost alien actors, if not outright villains. They're unconcerned with who is currently in power in the human lands because it won't matter to them in the long run. Their motives are opaque and Byzantine, given that they have ample time to build layers of intrigue and create complexity. It's easy to cast Lord Orion's actions here as villainous, but its not particularly evil. It's never stated why he wants the baby or what he intends to do with it (though real-world fairy legends give us plenty of leads), nor why he has placed the infant behind all these protections—does he suspect Poppy is coming for her baby? We're never given Poppy's stats, so maybe she is someone that Orion fears.
Appropriate to true fairy tales, there are elements of menace and the supernatural here. The elves' aversion to holy symbols is one example. The mind flayer may discover the party's intentions and blackmail them into delivering the drunken satyr to him so that he may feed. Worst/best of all, the baby's nanny is a 10-year old human waif who has forgotten her previous life away from the elf-lord's clutches (a portent of the infant's fate, as well). These provide ripe fruits for the DM to elaborate upon and develop, which is one of the objectives of a good adventure site.
The monsters here are varied and mostly thematic, but only if you convert their AD&D versions into sort-of classic fey creatures. Trolls and goblins in the context of "normal" AD&D probably wouldn't associate with elves (and vice versa), but if these are all fairyland goblins, trolls, and elves, then we're good to go. The mind flayer seems really out of place for a fairy setting, and I'm not sure why it hasn't taken over the place (who here could withstand it?), but it's not a deal-breaker. The skeletons and krenshar feel off-target for a fairy setting, as well. There are so many great fey creatures in AD&D: Why not use them instead?
Treasure is fine, thematically, and almost exclusively found in the manse unless the party tries ripping off one of the stalls for small change. Much of it is the form of stuff (books, porcelain and silverware, a tapestry, wine bottles, a quality lute, etc.) Proper loot (coins, jewelry, etc.) is only found in Orion's vault or on his person (~3,200 gpv total). The other NPCs have no loot. Magical treasure amounts only to a broken Horn of Blasting that works once but injures the user, a few MU scrolls, a Wand of Magic Missiles, and a pair of low-level spellbooks. A good haul if the party has an arcane spell-caster and/or sells the books, but not very much return otherwise for what they will be put through to get it.
SCORE (THEME) = 3 / 5
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2) MAP AND ART
(How complex/useful is the map and/or art? How easy is it to grok the layout?)
The map is simple and easy to read, though fairly abstract. It was drawn on engineering graph paper with both a quarter-inch and 1-inch grids. The grid is very faint, however, and the quarter-inch grid (representing 10' per square) is difficult to see at all. The footprint of the manse also changes between the cavern map (where it's ~40x60') and the detail map (where it's about 35x40'). The house is 2 floors plus a dungeon below.
I don't mind the rough, schematic-style of the map, though the grid and scale issues detract from its effectiveness. The manse map has some nicely simple icons for the status of various doors, and everything is well-labeled.
I questioned the inclusion of the manse occupants' schedules on the map page. On the one hand, this seems like information that belongs in the body text. On the other, I could argue that the schedule is a map of time and therefore this is a legit place to put it. It may be an edge-case, but I won't deduct anything for it.
SCORE (MAP/ART) = 2 / 5
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3) CLARITY
(How easy is the writeup to read/parse quickly? How well does the information flow?)
The manuscript is written in an almost stream-of-consciousness manner with little regard to grammar structure—mostly simple phrases and incomplete sentences (which is totally acceptable for a dungeon write-up as long as the writing is concise and clear, which it is in this case). The flow of information occasionally jumps around, sometimes jarringly, skipping suddenly and without context from an area description to details about NPCs or rumors, and then back again. The margins are tight but the text is justified so while the page looks crowded, it's not difficult to read. Bolded headers and NPC descriptions in shaded boxes help locate areas and people quickly.
SCORE (CLARITY) = 3 / 5
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4) INTERACTIVITY/INNOVATION
(How well does the adventure use the rules to create interesting play?)
There isn't much interactivity with the setting itself, but there are plenty of NPCs to talk to and things to purchase. The various NPC descriptions provide physical details and often an interesting feature or behavior that makes them stand out. Not a lengthy, drawn-out backstory; just a few words or phrases that effectively present a personality ready to interact with the party (albeit without any stats or gameable details other than class and level).
I'm not sure what happens if a party of outsiders attacks Lord Orion's house. Obviously, the ten elf guards join the battle, but do the market's business owners and customers do anything? What happens if the party (somehow) defeats Lord Orion? Do they own the market now? Does it collapse into a singularity?
There is a suggestion that the party members could utilize the illusionist's special glamour to sneak into the house, but the text points out that the unique illusion carries the visibly-recognizable sigil of the banished spell-caster, and the house guards are immediately suspicious of it. D'oh!
The party could try replacing one of the entertainers here to perform for Lord Orion, but they would have to somehow bump off either the halfling poet or the 5 HD satyr without anyone noticing (the open cavern containing the fair is only about 400x160' with no areas that are completely out of sight). They could also try to convince/charm/bribe either entertainer into letting the entire party accompany them when they perform for Lord Orion, and there is a detail or two provided in that regard.
There's a bare-bones order-of-battle given if an alarm is raised (but only involves 7 of the 10 fair guards...what do the others do?), and a handy chart of the daily house schedules of Lord Orion and his retinue. The schedules only cover where they are/what they're doing between 8 AM and 8 PM (presumably they are in their private chambers for the other 12 hours of the night). There is no mention or detail of Lord Orion's personality, temperament, motives, or goals, other than that he is a "self-styled thespian."
The aforementioned baby-prison/sleep trap is actually pretty clever and would probably freak a novice party out. Besides dealing with that and initiating a massive fight, the only other proper dungeoneering activities in the adventure involve getting through a few locked/wizard-locked doors. The rest of it is dialoguing with NPCs, gathering information, figuring out what to do, and shopping. Absolutely nothing wrong with that and it achieves the contest's goals: Its a site, there are things to do and things going on, and you can achieve some adventure here. The whys and the what-happens-next is where the writeup doesn't give you very much. Whether that's a plus or minus will be up to your personal taste.
SCORE (INTERACTIVITY) = 2 / 5
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5) MODULARITY
(How easy would it be to drop/integrate the adventure into an existing campaign?)
I don't have a bit of problem with redefining a monster's tropes, but for an explicitly-modular adventure site contest, upending all conventional notions about a player-character race and several of the game's commonly-encountered enemies may limit its usefulness to many DMs.
In terms of ease of use, however, the site gives you a clear and simple path—a literal doorway into the fairy realm. You could plug this in anywhere at a moment's notice and, like Fog Valley Retreat, it could make for a recurring locale that the party can visit and interact with more than once (if they can avoid angering or killing its master).
SCORE (MODULARITY) = 4 / 5
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6) USABILITY
(How much work will the referee have to do to run this adventure at the table tonight?)
There's just not much to work with at the outset, in terms of adventure hook or motivations for both the party AND the major NPCs, and the danger level is HIGH for a low-level party without being obviously so. You'll have some prep work to do to get a normal party onboard with the adventure's premise. Same with the market: Only a few stalls are described, but the intro says it is crowded with "a mix of eclectic sellers and customers" and has "a bit of everything." If you want the rest of the fair and its inhabitants fleshed out, you'll have to do it yourself.
The aftermath is a big unknown as well. What happens if the party succeeds? What happens if they fail? What exactly is going on between Poppy and Orion? If there is no reward, are there any recriminations for stealing from an elf lord capable of dimensional travel? All of these elements and more could use some narrative accounting or the whole thing becomes kind of a pointless exercise—an episode-of-the-week adventure with no lasting impact to a campaign or its characters. That would be a shame given how interesting the overall concept is.
SCORE (USABILITY) = 2 / 5
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7) OVERALL THOUGHTS
This site contains a lot of good ideas and is shooting for a really strong vibe that most players are going to be able to key into without much effort. I think a careful recasting of some of the main elements would go a long way toward fixing the issues I have with it. When you're going for something this rich and thematic, just pour it on, man! Find the most interesting creatures you can, add more detail, really juice it up so that it drips with faerie flavor.
In theory, I want to include this site in my campaign world. In practice, I am likely to just steal a couple of its ideas and create my own version. That's meant as both critique and compliment.
FINAL SCORE = 2.7 / 5
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