Behind the Screen Session 17

MAP
I'm still pleased with the fully revealed map.   Although, there were a few problems with the map this time.  The two rooms where the Old Ones were encountered, were just a bit too small.  This was partially due to the fact that the maps were originally map on the "Campaign Mapper" software program, and when I moved them onto the large scale map, I had to squeeze things in a bit, or else each level would need more paper on the table, and 2-sheets seems a functional maximum.  It just so happened that those two rooms got squeezed more than I would have liked.   I should have been monitoring contents more closely as I transferred the map.  Nevertheless, narrow rooms do make things interesting, and help to negate some of the PC's numerical edge.

Mercenaries
I really think the players ought to confer about how many mercenaries they take into a dungeon.    Occasionally, I think they go a bit overboard.   In the early days, the party was mostly spell casters, and low on beef.  Now it's mostly beef and low on casters.  Having 12 mercenary troops seemed to me to be too many this time, and they ended up getting in the way much of the time.  I think that going for henchmen and cultivating them would be a smarter use of money, but it's up to them how they want to do it.  If they want to take in 50 raw recruits with clubs, they can do it.  The game is set up to handle them.  There are tales of Old School D&D where parties had bands of 60 berserkers following them around.  And on second thought, if they decide to keep moving and not leave the dungeon right now, they are still adequately staffed without needing reinforcements.

Totally Amazing Gnorris----NOOOOOOOOO!!!   
I was really disappointed.  He was a super character with awesome stats and a lot of potential.  The party needed another caster (although his initial spells kind of sucked) and really needed a thief.   Yet he gets head-critted by an arrow in an ambush by lousy goblins and dies.   Bummer.

Mercury and mercury, breaking Chekov's Gun
The puddle of mercury and the "place set for Mercury" had absolutely nothing to do with one another. Mercury (capital) is of course one of the old Ardean pagan gods, so he's likely to appear in this old pagan shrine.   As for the puddle, I just wanted something interesting to have poured out of the broken amphorae in the tick room, to draw players in.  I rolled on some random table until something useful came up--mercury. 

The writer Chekov said "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there."   This is the common literary trope called "Chekov's Gun."

When it comes to making a dungeon, however, I say "Fooey".  When you have a bunch of guys trying to figure things out, to unlock mysteries and finding treasure--as participants---then the more red herrings, inicidentals and unconnected details you can cram in the better.  The more predictable it is the worse it is. 

For example, when the players needed someway to attach the chair to the ceiling,  I never would have expected them to use the "Sticky Black Wax" from the covering of the stone jar to glue it up there.  I was delighted.  The wax was strictly there to cause paranoia about possible poison, but they found a use for it.   It's the genius of RPG's that any item is useable, new uses for any object can be devised, and the surprising is just around the corner.