The Halls of Arden Vul

[dmw71]

I was just reviewing the 2020 ENnie nominated adventures and came across this beast.

For 1e, no less.

• The Halls of Arden Vul Complete
  • "Arden Vul is the most ambitious megadungeon ever created, with over 1,100 Pages of Incredible Adventure. This First Edition compatible fully-bookmarked PDF product features:
    
    2,162 Encounter Descriptions
    14 NPC Factions
    10 Massive Levels
    15 Extensive Sub-levels
    7 Dangerous Exterior locations
    149 New Monsters
    332 New Magic Items
    69 New Technological Items
    44 New Spells
    189 New Books through which PCs can gain a deep understanding of the dungeon
    A full NPC appendix with 10 competing parties at 3 levels of power
    Over 140 original pieces of art, including 28 full-page illustrations!"

I could see this being run here on the forums at some point.

Not by me.

[dmw71]

I was just reviewing the 2020 ENnie nominated adventures and came across this beast.

This beast is now part of its own Bundle of Holding -- including VTT maps -- for $24.95.

Halls of Arden Vul

[Rex]

Thanks Dave. Been thinking about picking this up and it is a good deal.

[BaltoBruiser]

Is this Spearmint's next labour of love?

[dmw71]

Thanks Dave. Been thinking about picking this up and it is a good deal.

In truth (and @Rex, you in particular might find this interesting), I have become obsessively fascinated with Hârn, and HârnMaster over the last few weeks. To the point where I was privately wondering whether I'd ever be tempted to play official D&D again.

I will.

And no, Arden Vul, while it will be fascinating to read through and study, will (almost certainly) not be the thing that gets me up and running 1e again.

[Rex]

You are always welcome to join my HarnMaster game at any time. On boarding 3 more players at the moment. For about 20 years we played nothing but HarnMaster with an occasional Top Secret SI and D&D Holmes edition mixed in, but not very often. We tried hyperborea in December of 2022 and it we have been playing it a bunch. Probably 75% Hyperborea and 25% HarnMaster since. My wife loves both, but prefers Hyperborea a little. I steal ideas anywhere I can and have been thinking of running a Hyperborea game here but I had some stuff come up that used up much of my free prep time last year. Maybe this year.

[dmw71]

I also broke down and purchased the bundle for The Midderlands. It's actually quite cool!

It is a whole campaign setting, so it's not surprising that they have their own currency system and religions/gods, etc... Maybe what's impressed me the most so far is how the core book includes pronunciation guides; like, the copper halfpenny coin is pronounced hayp’nee in the setting. There's also a whole page of Midderlands-speak, which looks/sounds a lot like Scottish.

To many folk outside the region, the
people of the Midderlands talk funny. This
is a summary of common Midderland
words that often crop up in conversations.

As an example, a face or visage would be spoken as a fairce or a kissa.


I love little details like that.

[dmw71]

You are always welcome to join my HarnMaster game at any time.

I have been tempted to reach out many times over the past few weeks about just that, I just can't right now. Maybe/hopefully I'll be up for some gaming soon.

[Rex]

I love the details in a setting myself.

You are welcome anytime.

[Spearmint]

Is this Spearmint's next labour of love?

Probably not Ardun Vul.

These guys do a great podcast and play through, if you have a couple of spare hours for a whole month, you can catch up to date.

https://youtu.be/UL0rYJw-Q9M?si=zx7KgLtoTBWvk8xp

Barrowmaze has been enough challenge, two and a half years and still; without giving too many spoilers away, not even 1/5th of the Mounds or Maze explored. So much more to discover if you survive long enough ...

[BaltoBruiser]

So I started listening to the podcast (I have about 3 hours of commute time when I have to go into the office) and these guys are pretty good. The had their first character lost on day 2 in the 4th episode. Jon the DM makes you look like a softy Spearmint.

[sastaz]

Oh, gotta give this pod a listen. I walk about an hour a weekday back and forth to the comnuter train station, so this will be just perfect.

[BaltoBruiser]

So I have had the materials for about a month and I have not DM'ed a game on PbP but I would be willing to try it if there were interest. I saw that there had been a Halls of Arden Vul game that was started in 2021 but it looks like it was abandoned?

What do you folks think? It will take a me a few weeks to finish getting through the materials but would there be interest? Maybe I should post on the LFP board.

Bruiser

[Spearmint]

There will always be interest in 1e D&D or Labyrinth Lord games, you could recruit a dozen players within hours let alone days!

Ardun Vul is very big, much larger than Barrowmaze, probably six times bigger in the number of caves, factions, levels. After two and a half years, we are barely 1/4 of the way into possible 'completion' (if you tick-box every crypt and encounter).

Highfell, the Drifting Dungeon is another 'megadungeon' in similar vein though that also petered out here as a game.

I would not discourage running such a campaign but would start by assessing what as GM I wanted to produce and be creative in. Also thinking ahead, as a GM you probably dedicate at least an hour of real life time per player to any game which you need to commit to in advance.

Certainly I would expect each player character in the archived Arden Vul would be interested in reviving characters, so you wouldn't have to look far for interest.

[rredmond]

Agreeing with Spearmint, just be clear with what you want as a DM and how you see it going with the players. Arden Vul is a megadungeon, but it's surrounded by a rich, nicely detailed, environment. You can play it in explore the world mode, or go with mini-goal oriented scenarios (which I think are suggested in the megadungeon) or treat it as a real megadungeon - get in, get gold, get out and gain XPs and replenish HPs and supplies. There's a lot that can be done there, it's truly a wonderful product what I've seen of it's thousands of pages

[Rex]

Great advice. I will add you could start with one of the side adventurers and work up to the main mega-dungeon. Give yourself a chance to get used to managing the flow in pbp, which is often the most difficult thing for a DM when transitioning from table top to pbp.

[BaltoBruiser]

Thank you for the great advice. I am going to spend a little time scouting the old threads of the Arden Vul pbp game that was run here a few years ago. I might try DM'ing something that is a part of the material as a small scale to get used to the mechanics (a small adventure from Gosterwick to the Thicket and the Kobold liar in and around the Broken Knob perhaps).

Bruiser

[gurusql]

You might get limited information at least in the most recent Arden Vul pbp game, if I recall we did not have a single combat before the game folded.