RPG Retro Review: The Assassins Knot

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This week I continue my look at the Lendore Isles series by Len Lakofka with L2: The Assassin's Knot!
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Опубликовано:

16 апр 2022

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Комментарии : 78

@danjohnson887 2 года назад

In my old gaming group, we ran a lot of mystery adventures. So many in fact that we developed a symbol for ourselves with a lidless eye that gave us the nickname "Private Eyes". We loved those golden years.

@biffstrong1079 2 года назад

Our group loved Bone Hill. One of our players bought and ran the Assassins Knot, We were not a clever group and almost invariably following a kick in a door, kill a monster , get their treasure template so we were not best suited for this module. We also had players who were busily running with our #1 rumour which was "Garrottetown is a good place to have a murder arranged" And would announce this to anyone they met. I know we were to blame for lack of success. Still don't know if part of it was our DM's fault. I do remember the bar never having anyone in it who knew anything. I think I sat in there scanning people with my ESP spell for days with no hits. I can remember trying to break in somewhere and the DM not letting my character pick the lock, or have a pry bar I had the local smith make me a pry bar but everything had gone sideways long before I could use it. We did feel bad about getting the Baron and his family and Peltar killed. Always surprised the Druid in Restenford didnt do anything about it. Everyone got assassinated and we fled the Lendore Islands never to return. Never really understood what was going on. I bought the module a few years ago and read it for the first time. There were a couple things I would have done differently , certainly with the ste-up and potentially more set up while we played Bone Hill. Still unsure how I would have gotten a party on the right track. We certainly never got on track. Cult of the Reptile God Mystery I have figured out and run succesfully. This one Ive never been able to make work.

@guyfrattallone6029 2 года назад

My players died in a castle seige if I remember correctly....silly pcs.

@biffstrong1079 2 года назад

@@guyfrattallone6029 Indeed. I'm not sure what the classic mistakes were for this module but Im pretty sure we made them, all. We probably deserved to be killed off. I think we were contemplating rescuing Abraham from being executed but it seemed generally things happened before we could manage to get organized to stop them. It all ended as we were informed the last NPC was killed in restenford and we moved on.

@gregh5665 10 месяцев назад

I love the cover of this module. Some have called it "amateurish": pish-posh! It has a "rustic art" vibe that resonates with the "small town" character of the setting and - oh man - the intimidating and suspicious expressions on the characters faces, looking directly at the viewer, telegraphs forboding and intrigue!

@AndresLopez-lf3cq Год назад

Absolutely love your review of all of these great old school modules. Being an old school gamer I remember many of these modules with great fondness. Keep up the great work 👍

@beansmalone1305 2 года назад

I've watched so many of your videos that I hear your theme song when I see classic modules now. lol Thanks for the videos.

@cavemanbum 2 года назад

As I mentioned in the comments of your video on "The Secret of Bone Hill", there's an adventure in Dungeon Magazine #71 (Nov/Dec 1998) called "Priestly Secrets" which takes place in Restenford five years after the events of "The Assassin's Knot". I've run the adventure several times over the past 20+ years, and it's absolutely FANTASTIC. Well worth looking into. Incredibly fun, and very well written.

@captcorajus 2 года назад

Yeah, I'm saving my mentions of other Lendore Isles material for the third video.

@lisasavignano2675 2 года назад

@@captcorajus L3, Deep Dwarven Delve?

@captcorajus 2 года назад

@@lisasavignano2675 Yes, that's the next review in the series I'll be doing shortly!

@cavemanbum 2 года назад

@@captcorajus Ah, I see. Thanks! Please forgive me for being repetitive. "Priestly Secrets" was just so much fun to DM for my group(s), I can't help but gush about it.

@lisasavignano2675 2 года назад

Really good review. Would you ever consider doing a "Best of Dungeon Adventures" series with, say, your top 10 (or so) favorite adventures? I just finished running "Ghost of Mistmoor" and I and my players had a really great time.

@captcorajus 2 года назад

That's a great idea. I do have quite a few favorite adventures from Dungeon Magazine. A countdown would be a lot of fun.

@dr.winstonsmith 2 года назад

That’s a great idea. Heck, you could review the best dungeon in every issue. That’ll be channel content for a decade or more.

@tokyobear 2 года назад

Loved this. I really enjoy it when you go into plot detail. I ran this adventure 35 years ago and I can't remember much (NO SPOILER) apart from one dumb PC right at the start entering the pub and saying out loud, 'Anyone know where I can hire an assassin?' The rest of the PCs were rolling their eyes

@guyfrattallone6029 2 года назад

Love this module! Come for the mystery....and stay for the giant buttery crabmeat. (Or was it crawfish)...shaddap! I'm old and don't remember! Hey! I liked the creepy art! It made the players paranoid!

@zypher8677 2 года назад

Great timing! I'm planning on having a murder mystery in my new campaign, this will make for a great source of inspiration. Thanks!

@cunningwarrior1827 2 года назад

I used this module (not adventure!) as written once. As mentioned in the L1 review, my players were unable to unravel the Assassin's Knot. They just knew certain people were bad and set able killing them all in one night ending with a successful assault on the castle. They killed everyone and dog inside the castle except for the butler and his wife that they determined were innocent and let go. After a 2 or 3 day rest with a minor skirmish with the town guRd, they fled the area. I never saw the Player's actions coming. . They had fun and, every now and then, one of them mentions "that murder mystery we never figured out." I've used Garotten Castle with and without the village many times since. It was my Keep on the Borderlands as it was smaller and easier to manage it's population. Since L3-5 came out years latsr, I never ran those. This is great murder mystery where not only innocents can get killed it the players drag their feet, so can the players. Good stuff! 👻

@robertross5201 Год назад

The wilderness map does show the geographical relation between Garroten and Restenford with the former towards the bottom left and the latter along the right hand edge, about a quarter of the way up from the bottom edge

@SupremeCleave 2 года назад

One of my all time favorite adventures to run. I've had a group actually solve the mystery as well which is pretty cool. A very unique and challenging adventure, much higher concept than hack and slash dungeons (which can also be fun!) and well worth a DMs time. Great review!

@TheGeekDaddy929 2 года назад

Oh my! Always wanted to play this module!

@robertmalinowski6804 2 года назад

Always love these reviews! Maybe one day you'll review WG4, the loose sequel to S4, or even the infamous Bloodstone H1-4 series!

@Johnny_Nitro 2 года назад

Let me guess... the town of Garroten is in the Duchy of Stranglemore, in the Principality of Throttledown, the Kingdom of Chokehold?

@captcorajus 2 года назад

Good guess!

@Johnny_Nitro 2 года назад

@@captcorajus well these fifedoms DO tend to keep to a theme. 🤗

@lisasavignano2675 2 года назад

Given the Assassin's Guild there, I always thought it was a semi-pun on "Rotten".

@Johnny_Nitro 2 года назад

@@lisasavignano2675 I'm pretty sure it is trying to emulate the old English way of modifying a word with ton or tun as a way of identifying the place as a town. So Garrotte-town or Garrotten.

@lisasavignano2675 2 года назад

@@Johnny_Nitro Yes. Chester is another town ending. Leicester, Westchester, etc.

@Tysto 2 года назад

12:45 “The assassin's guild isn’t that large, consisting of only 13 total members.” LOL That's one for every four buildings in town.

@captcorajus 2 года назад

But for the size of D&D parties of the day, its probably 1 to 1 or about that for party members.

@stephenegan3612 2 года назад

The interior art looks like Jeff Easley's ink style.

@Deannatheos Год назад

As always excellent you are the best on the internet.

@beedwarf 2 года назад

Makes me wonder if the board game, 'CLUE: D&D Edition' was inspired by 'The Assassin's Knot'

@johngarlick7905 2 года назад

That art looks very reminiscent of Jeff Easley to me

@bobbyuhoh5709 7 месяцев назад

I LOVE the cover art on this. It kinda reminds me of Lone Wolf book 4 when someone tries to assassinate you. This screams old school to me and gives me nostalgia for a time before i should have nostalgia for lol love it love it love it

@jayrobinson5014 2 года назад

One of the best

@bryansmith844 2 года назад

Anywhere I hear Karl Edward Wagner’s name spoken aloud I must investigate. Swords and Chaos sounds great

@opa-age 2 года назад

Can't wait for L3...will be epic!

@wbbartlett Год назад

The cover art has what I assume is the artists signature in the bottom right corner "MD Law"

@richardextall2002 2 года назад

I remember playing this back in the day. It did not go to plan or end well for the players.

@BanditsKeep 2 года назад

I ran this module in 5e a swapped the plot of the assassin guild to match the plans of an enemy the PCs had encountered already and we had a blast. The party stayed in the area and I ran Secret of Bone Hill after the fact - changing many of the monster encounters as t he party was I believe 4/5 level - but this area of map (L1/L2) gave us a ton of exciting play before they party moved on. Excellent module IMO

@SneakyNinjaDog 2 года назад

According to some sources (wikipedia among them) the cover is by Stephen D Sullivan. who may or may not also be the author of some later D&D novels.

@vaipuluj 2 года назад

Thanks for the Great video, I'll definitely stay tuned for more! Could you take some bass out of your voice equalizer though, your setting make my speakers buzz

@vaipuluj 2 года назад

I was listening in my car, but my phone and TV buzzed too

@agemmemnon100 2 года назад

It's funny that the cover has the artist name in the lower left corner on the cover art; the bottom corner of the bar next to the robbed character is MD LAW, but there is no reference to them anywhere.

@agemmemnon100 2 года назад

Actually I have a hypothesis on this. The signature at the bottom is actually MD Lakofta; ( I assumed the last character was a strange W, but it probably is a lower case k. ), but it had been cut off when they sized the picture for the module.

@captcorajus 2 года назад

I thought that was the guy's arm tattoo or something

@SamuelAna4Ever 2 года назад

I love the cover art. The module is for an experienced DM. I wish it had been for higher level PC's so the party might have a bard in it to participate in the theater and make some friends.

@guyfrattallone6029 2 года назад

Ugh...i hate the original 1st edition bard. I like the one from dragon magazines " playing a bard that's not too hard" article.

@archersfriend5900 2 года назад

I believe there was a half orc called Zarak. Still an awesome name.

@HowtoRPG Год назад

Thanks.

@noobiesnacks1636 2 года назад

Just Finished an adventure with my kids! They are both level 5 and they are Elves! Looking for some tips on which adventure to play next! Any suggestions? Thanks Cap!

@gameon_ct 2 года назад

I think this would be a fun game to run in 5th with my group. I'd homebrew it up a little bit. Maybe just use the framework and characters but change the setting. Probably add some combat for the memes.

@zeugenberg 5 месяцев назад

ACKtually I will prime them and drybrush them as preparation for a slapchop this weekend. Really! I think.

@brothertaddeus 2 года назад

Just discovered this channel and am binging through all your module reviews! Do you have any plans to do one on N4 Treasure Hunt? It's probably the old school module I've run the most often, as I feel like it's perfect for introducing new players to D&D and is pretty easy to modify for any edition.

@captcorajus 2 года назад

I'll be honest, its not on my radar at all, but who knows! lol.. thanks for watching and commenting. Welcome!

@lisasavignano2675 2 года назад

@@captcorajus N5, "Under Illefarn" is another good one. I am running a AD$D 2e Campaign called "Town Guard of Daggerford" which used that module as its starting point.

@captcorajus 2 года назад

@@lisasavignano2675 Oh, yes, I had that module and ran it back in the day. It was the very first module released for the then new Forgotten Realms Setting. That WOULD be a fun review.

@captcorajus 2 года назад

Just checked DrivethruRPG and Treasure Hunt is available for POD, so I ordered it!

@brothertaddeus Год назад

@@captcorajus And you just uploaded a review of it! You rock!

@TallDude73 2 года назад

I never played it, but it was a good read.

@lindy9196 2 года назад

The butler did it!

@ericpeterson8732 9 месяцев назад

Would you still keep it tier 1 if converted to 5e? Levels 2-5 in ad&d is different from 2-5 in 5e. Or am I wrong?

@tuomasronnberg5244 2 года назад

A fun sounding scenario, but it never made much sense to me to run a murder mystery in a setting where resurrection magic exists :D

@captcorajus 2 года назад

THe scenario specifically states that a resurrection attempt was made but failed. Remember in old school D&D your body had to undergo a system shock survival roll in order to be resurrected. ;)

@tuomasronnberg5244 2 года назад

@@captcorajus Well, it's good that they addressed that issue!

@jeffeppenbach 2 года назад

I just looked at my copy of the PDF from DriveThruRPG, and I can see why it isn't yet POD. It's a poor scan, fairly dark, with line artifacts in the art. It seems fine if you were just using it on your PC, as many are today.

@serigraph73 2 года назад

Do you DM any online games? I would love to be a player in your group

@captcorajus 2 года назад

I just don’t have the time for that unfortunately

@guyfrattallone6029 2 года назад

@@captcorajus still..i hope you still play 1st or 2nd edition. You seem to have much respect for the older editions as everyone should. My group in CT have been playing off and on since 1995.

@serigraph73 2 года назад

@@captcorajus I totally understand! Thanks for the reply.

@nonameronin1 Год назад

The use of the name "House of Abraham" reminds me of one homebrew world I played in in which the humans (one of several races as per usual) were basically all Jews, with the different human cultures in the world being inspired by different real world Jewish cultures and denominations (i.e. there was a Sephardic analog, an Ashkenazi analog, a religion that was like Hasidism and another that was more Reform-esque, etc).

@michealbohmer2871 28 дней назад

Assassin's Knot is still unavailable as a POD, unfortunately. It's important to remember that it is not DriveThruRPG's fault for the lack of a POD, it is WotC's decision as to which items are available for POD. To be honest, I cannot understand their logic; they'll make L1 and L3 available, but skip L2? They do the same with the DL series for Dragonlance. They have DL1 but not DL2, 3, 4, 5, but DL6 is POD. They could be making bank on this old stuff as it continues to rise in popularity. I'm about to start a game of the L series and had to by a copy of Assassins Knot from an online store. It cost me AU$80 with the extraordinary shipping costs!