On Friday, May 26th, 2017, at Phoenix Comicon 2017, I ran Sailors on the Starless Sea as a Road Crew game for the Goodman Games World Tour 2017! Here's the report (SPOILERS if you're not familiar with the module!):
I had four players, each with 4 pregen 0-level characters, so 16 characters went in . . . 3 came out. It was almost a TPK, but the party barely survived!
* Jacob: Purcilius Roy (Noble), Theodore (Costermonger), Richard (Cutpurse), and Liana Fireheart (Rutabaga Farmer)
* Ruben: Dorn (Armorer), Rusin (Parsnip Farmer), Halcen (Elven Artisan), and Maldom (Outlaw)
* Gregg: Gurstag (Dwarven Rat-catcher), Sceotend (Woodcutter), Lairgnen (Soldier), and Rolo Lockpick (Halfling Glovemake - insists "Lockpick" is simply his family name and has nothing to do with his personality)
* Duncan: Kulitas (Cutpurse), Scanlun (Minstrel), Nahiri (Dwarven Herder), and Lilith (Fortune-teller)
On the road to the citadel, the party encountered the vine horrors. The creepiness of the scene really seemed to get to the players! Some characters retreated a safe distance while others rushed in to fight . . . badly. Gurstag the Rat-catcher was killed early on (his club, "Stumpy" was passed down through the party). One of the horrors was finished off by the Woodcutter, Sceotend, with his axe (he's not afraid of plants!), meanwhile, several characters from among the other players pooled resources to drench the horrors and their seeds in oil and set them alight. A duck was also killed and roasted in this encounter. R.I.P. Sir Duckington.
The players were playing smart when they got to the citadel. They did not trust the portcullis, so they jammed it open with crowbars. They entered the courtyard and headed straight to the tower (they were determined to avoid the well!). Kulitas the Cutpurse borrowed another crowbar from another character and actually made the strength check to force the door! Lairgnen the Soldier stepped into the breach with his shield, blocking the doorway, while the others behind him set up a rope tripwire and ambush positions on either side of the door. They managed to taunt the champion of the beastmen into rushing out to attack them (Lairgnen backpedaled to let him come), then pulled taut the rope to trip him - the champion of the beastmen fell prone in front of the soldier while the other beastmen who had followed watched in horror! Rusin the Parsnip farmer fell in battle, but the others survived, mostly by playing it smart.
Kulitas the Cutpurse donned the torc of the beastmen , and was the only one who dared search their foul lair for treasure. He gave Halcen the Elven Artisan an elven sword he found . . . after he had removed the gems set in the hilt. As the game went on, it seemed increasingly likely that Kulitas might end up as a Chaos-cultist of some sort!
The party opened the portcullis all the way and jammed it open in case they needed to retreat in a hurry. Then they looked around the courtyard, continued to avoid the well, and decided to look at the ruined chapel. The fact that it had been scorched by flames and barred from the outside really seemed to freak the players out, so they chose not to mess with it, but rather to return to the tower and descend into the depths of the dungeon.
They found the looted treasury and took the few coins that remained, but did not explore further. They found the mosaics and were creeped out. A few felt compelled to take skulls from the pool, but most did not, and they did not explore much here, either. Kulitas did take one of the cultist robes inscribed with sigils of chaos. They went down, down, down to the Starless Sea.
On the shore of the Starless Sea, Lilith the Fortune-teller tried to decipher the carvings on the menhir and went mad, determined to sacrifice her party to the Chaos Leviathan in the water! Using the battle axe that had belonged to the champion of the beastmen, she slaughtered Kulitas (ending his career as chaos-cultist!), and when Rolo Lockpick the Halfling Glovemaker tried valiantly to stop her, she killed him too! She was finally taken down by Sceotend the Woodcutter.
After this, the party successfully managed to summon the Longship over to take them to the Ziggurat, but faced with the Chaos Leviathan, they decided to fight! A couple of characters started rowing to get the ship away, but the tentacles were picking them off: They lost Theodore the Costermonger, Richard the Cutpurse, Dorn the Armorer, Halcen the Elven Artisan, Maldom the Outlaw, Sceotend the Woodcutter, Scanlun the Minstrel, and Nahiri the Dwarven Herder to the Chaos Leviathan! This is the one encounter where the players did not particularly play it smart, but they got lucky - the tentacles kept rolling very poorly to hit, and the PCs were getting lucky rolls and inflicting lots of damage to the Chaos Leviathan (they brought it down to about half its hit points). The surviving three characters reached the Ziggurat and leveled up. Purcilius Roy became a Cleric of Justicia, Liana Fireheart became a Wizard, and Lairgnen became a Warrior.
I was glad that even though Ruben and Duncan were out of characters, they decided to stay at the table and follow the game! The 3 PCs fought their way to the top of the Ziggurat (Purcilis Roy had a series of amazing Turn Unholy checks to get rid of the chaos-cultist beastment!), and at the top, I let Duncan and Ruben play prisoners who were being sacrificed. The idea was that they could rejoin the game if they were freed. Well, a lot of them were sacrificed before they could be freed, but each came out with a couple of 0-levels who technically survived, but didn't actually play. Anyway, a series of lucky rolls allowed them to take out the shaman and his minions very quickly, triggering the collapse of the cavern, and they escaped in the Longship to fight another day!
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