Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

Shadowrun has Humanis and the Knight Templar,

Knights Templar, I don't really remember.

But Humanis and Alamos 20K were the group of human racists who reacted to the goblinization of the 6th World with xenophobia and racism.

HOWEVER...

Elves are racist against EVERYONE who isn't an elf. Hell, they're even racist against other elves. Portland, which was renamed and the only legal place for humans to live with severe exceptions, had a TV show (I don't remember the exact name) that was a comedy about the elves working for the government of Portland that translated to "Keepers of the Monkey House". Orcs are racist with a heavy dose of insecurity. Trolls are often racist as shit but are largely stupid. Dwarves are racist. Dragons are racist.

The thing with Shadowrun, is that NOBODY is good guys. (At least back in 2E) The Japanese are racist. The Tongs/Triads/Circles/Yaks are racist. Azatlan weirdos are racist.

There's even a line in there. "People are less worried about skin color because: holy crap, what is that at the end of the bus! People are more worried about metahumans than race."

Plus, Humanis did the Night of Rage. Alamos 20K blew up the Sears Tower. (IIRC, I'm not looking at my book because I'm a lazy fuck)

There's also a funny comment in one of the cyberware books, where someone mentions that Level III Dermal Plating makes someone look like they've got a bug shell, and since Chicago his street sam buddy keep having kids throwing rocks and Mollies at him, thinking he's a giant bug.

It's less "Humans are whipping boys" and more "It's cyberpunk with magic, everyone's a fucking dick."

And if the elf is being nice to you, he's fantasizing about spreading open your unlubed butt cheeks and ass fucking you.

 

[Wallace]

Knights Templar, I don't really remember.

But Humanis and Alamos 20K were the group of human racists who reacted to the goblinization of the 6th World with xenophobia and racism.

HOWEVER...

Elves are racist against EVERYONE who isn't an elf. Hell, they're even racist against other elves. Portland, which was renamed and the only legal place for humans to live with severe exceptions, had a TV show (I don't remember the exact name) that was a comedy about the elves working for the government of Portland that translated to "Keepers of the Monkey House". Orcs are racist with a heavy dose of insecurity. Trolls are often racist as shit but are largely stupid. Dwarves are racist. Dragons are racist.

The thing with Shadowrun, is that NOBODY is good guys. (At least back in 2E) The Japanese are racist. The Tongs/Triads/Circles/Yaks are racist. Azatlan weirdos are racist.

There's even a line in there. "People are less worried about skin color because: holy crap, what is that at the end of the bus! People are more worried about metahumans than race."

Plus, Humanis did the Night of Rage. Alamos 20K blew up the Sears Tower. (IIRC, I'm not looking at my book because I'm a lazy fuck)

There's also a funny comment in one of the cyberware books, where someone mentions that Level III Dermal Plating makes someone look like they've got a bug shell, and since Chicago his street sam buddy keep having kids throwing rocks and Mollies at him, thinking he's a giant bug.

It's less "Humans are whipping boys" and more "It's cyberpunk with magic, everyone's a fucking dick."

And if the elf is being nice to you, he's fantasizing about spreading open your unlubed butt cheeks and ass fucking you.

But it's not structural racism, sweaty! So it doesn't count!

 

[Alabama Gamer]

Bit of a weird first post for a new account, but me and some friends are looking for a person to join in our Pathfinder 1e campaign. We're currently playing through the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path, in which the PCs serve as agents of Cheliax (a.k.a. the Based Empire of Satanic Literal Nazis). The current time for sessions is every Tuesday from noon to 3:30PM Central Time, with the game itself being conducted over Roll20 and the voice chat being on Mumble. We only need one new player to keep the campaign going, but two would be ideal. We're a few sessions into Book 2 of the AP, with the party all being level 5. Newcomers to the system are welcome, if you've played D&D 3.5 before you basically know how it works, and if you haven't, I promise we'll only bully you a little bit. DM me if you're interested.

Azatlan weirdos are racist.

I've always filed Aztlan and Aztechnology under "lore that could never be written today". I mean, the Mexican megacorp being the racial supremacists who sacrifice people to the old gods and do blood magic on the regular despite it being one of those things that's so evil that even the fucking Corporate Court condemned it?

Their racial supremacy superseding any metatype bias is an interesting touch. 'We don't care if you're nine feet tall with horns, tusks, and natural armor plating, as long as you're our shade of brown."

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

Yeah, the problem with Barovians being totally reasonable, open minded Modern Day Sensibility types is that it's completely at odds with how xenophobia, paranoia, and Gothic horror work. If people were that mellow and unified, Strahd wouldn't be able to control them.

Honestly, as someone who barely knows anything about Ravenloft 5th - seriously, I really need to sit down and read more into that setting - I can already tell that the current year shit has kinda undermined the original game's story. This whole message about tolerance and open-mindedness completely undermines one of the original points of the game; it reminds me of some of the shit that GW2 and WoW have done pretty recently.

Knights Templar, I don't really remember.

But Humanis and Alamos 20K were the group of human racists who reacted to the goblinization of the 6th World with xenophobia and racism.

HOWEVER...

Elves are racist against EVERYONE who isn't an elf. Hell, they're even racist against other elves. Portland, which was renamed and the only legal place for humans to live with severe exceptions, had a TV show (I don't remember the exact name) that was a comedy about the elves working for the government of Portland that translated to "Keepers of the Monkey House". Orcs are racist with a heavy dose of insecurity. Trolls are often racist as shit but are largely stupid. Dwarves are racist. Dragons are racist.

The thing with Shadowrun, is that NOBODY is good guys. (At least back in 2E) The Japanese are racist. The Tongs/Triads/Circles/Yaks are racist. Azatlan weirdos are racist.

There's even a line in there. "People are less worried about skin color because: holy crap, what is that at the end of the bus! People are more worried about metahumans than race."

Plus, Humanis did the Night of Rage. Alamos 20K blew up the Sears Tower. (IIRC, I'm not looking at my book because I'm a lazy fuck)

There's also a funny comment in one of the cyberware books, where someone mentions that Level III Dermal Plating makes someone look like they've got a bug shell, and since Chicago his street sam buddy keep having kids throwing rocks and Mollies at him, thinking he's a giant bug.

It's less "Humans are whipping boys" and more "It's cyberpunk with magic, everyone's a fucking dick."

And if the elf is being nice to you, he's fantasizing about spreading open your unlubed butt cheeks and ass fucking you.

That's all very much true. To be honest, I brought the game in the discussion less because of the lore, and more because of the community; as shown over on RPG.net, the community often either completely ignores the racism and hatred that the other races have for humanity in favor of making the humans look psychotic... or they double down on it and try to make said hatred of humanity look like a 100% good thing. Among the more "left-wing/woke portions of the Shadowrun community - which seems to be a growing population, sadly - said "players" often focus entirely on the Night of Rage and act like that specific event was the most important thing that happened in Shadowrun's verse... yes, even more so than the Great Ghost Dance.

There was even a rather popular mod for Shadowrun Returns that has you going against a human group, with friendly and enemy orks and trolls frequently talking about how the humans/"breeders" were going to be extinct in a few years, and how it was a "good thing"/something everyone should just shut up and accept.

So, more of a community issue than an actual lore issue; sorry about the confusion, my mistake.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

I've always filed Aztlan and Aztechnology under "lore that could never be written today". I mean, the Mexican megacorp being the racial supremacists who sacrifice people to the old gods and do blood magic on the regular despite it being one of those things that's so evil that even the fucking Corporate Court condemned it?

Their racial supremacy superseding any metatype bias is an interesting touch. 'We don't care if you're nine feet tall with horns, tusks, and natural armor plating, as long as you're our shade of brown."

Yeah, it wasn't so much the blood magic that made the Corporate Court pissed at Aztechnology; it was the casual seizing and nationalization of other AAA corp properties that caused them to get slapped down.

Honestly, as someone who barely knows anything about Ravenloft 5th - seriously, I really need to sit down and read more into that setting - I can already tell that the current year shit has kinda undermined the original game's story. This whole message about tolerance and open-mindedness completely undermines one of the original points of the game; it reminds me of some of the shit that GW2 and WoW have done pretty recently.

Not really aware of what GW2 and WoW have been up to (I played GW2 for a while but that was years back). But there's been an unpleasant, downright stupid push to sanitize theme and plot elements in a number of tabletop RPGs. WotC has been the worst offender, and Paizo hasn't done themselves any favors with effectively putting the whole concept of slavery in Golarion on a bus.

 

[Snekposter]

And if the elf is being nice to you, he's fantasizing about spreading open your unlubed butt cheeks and ass fucking you.

I take personal offense to that, given my character. The only ass-spreading he'd do is so he could shove a grenade on a string in there and then kick you off a tall building so he can have some fireworks.

Knights Templar, I don't really remember.

Knights of the Red Branch, maybe? Hard to say they don't have a legitimate grudge considering they were kicked out of Ireland by the fucking elves. Really, what did that faggot think was going to happen when he exiled all those IRA members? Then again, the bombs are going off in Boston and Chicago and not Tir na nOg so I can't exactly say it was a dumb move... Knight Errant are cops, and therefore every single Shadowrunner should make sure the blood stains and bullet holes are well-hidden when they get pulled over, even or especially if you're in a stolen vehicle.

Their racial supremacy superseding any metatype bias is an interesting touch. 'We don't care if you're nine feet tall with horns, tusks, and natural armor plating, as long as you're our shade of brown."

IIRC there's actually a few gangs that are like that still. Plus an Oni would have much better odds than any other Ork trying to get a promotion in Shiawase or Renraku since it would indicate Japanese ancestry, even if you know... Ork.

EDIT: I went to 1d4chan to go look up Hc Svnt Dracones, and boy, did the opening paragraph not disappoint.

Hc Svnt Dracones (or HSD) is an RPG made by and for furries. Despite saying multiple times in the beginning that this is a Transhumanist RPG a la Eclipse Phase, the fluff, crunch and accessories make it very obvious that this RPG was made solely so you could make your fursona. The cries of "but we're really just trying to help you get in touch with your human side guys!" get drowned out by how awful humanity is depicted, and by how much time they spend jerking off (literally and figuratively) the furries as bastions of the future. They partially write this off as the "spirit" of humanity getting corrupted. With Ayn Rand levels of shilling for the GLORIOUS CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY and an understanding of biology that would make your average high school graduate cringe, HSD shows little to no self-awareness and is solely focused on making furries. At least Ironclaw has decent enough crunch and fluff to justify the setting, and if you want you can swap out the furries for regular fantasy races too. HSD does not have either saving grace.

I have reached a point where I should have stopped, but I'm going to keep going and see what happens.

 

[IridiumDragon06]

Bit of a weird first post for a new account, but me and some friends are looking for a person to join in our Pathfinder 1e campaign. We're currently playing through the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path, in which the PCs serve as agents of Cheliax (a.k.a. the Based Empire of Satanic Literal Nazis). The current time for sessions is every Tuesday from noon to 3:30PM Central Time, with the game itself being conducted over Roll20 and the voice chat being on Mumble. We only need one new player to keep the campaign going, but two would be ideal. We're a few sessions into Book 2 of the AP, with the party all being level 5. Newcomers to the system are welcome, if you've played D&D 3.5 before you basically know how it works, and if you haven't, I promise we'll only bully you a little bit. DM me if you're interested.

I wish you luck finding players, but Cheliax the empire is definitely not based; the adventure path simps hard for Her Imperial Majestrix.

That was the problem me and my group had with it in the later modules; while the first few modules do a great job of giving you options and respecting the choices that low-level PCs can make, the later modules assume that you will react to Abbi in one and only one way (and it's a really boring way, to boot.)

If you are the GM, I strongly recommend that you look through the later adventure modules now and start seeing some points where your PCs may want to get off the wild ride, given that my group found the ending module and lack of interesting epilogue both a pretty solid downer. (Also, if your group has played Council of Thieves, the last module will be probably controversial.)

But, regardless, I hope you find your players.

 

[Čmarobnjak]

In 2019 /tg/ started a thread where each anon drew one square piece of a bigger dungeon.
This went on until eventually they made an entire module called "The Legendary Halls of Bardoz".



You can find the pdf here, you can also find the links for the original threads on the very last page.

 

[Mr. Manchester]

Knights Templar, I don't really remember.

But Humanis and Alamos 20K were the group of human racists who reacted to the goblinization of the 6th World with xenophobia and racism.

HOWEVER...

Elves are racist against EVERYONE who isn't an elf. Hell, they're even racist against other elves. Portland, which was renamed and the only legal place for humans to live with severe exceptions, had a TV show (I don't remember the exact name) that was a comedy about the elves working for the government of Portland that translated to "Keepers of the Monkey House". Orcs are racist with a heavy dose of insecurity. Trolls are often racist as shit but are largely stupid. Dwarves are racist. Dragons are racist.

The thing with Shadowrun, is that NOBODY is good guys. (At least back in 2E) The Japanese are racist. The Tongs/Triads/Circles/Yaks are racist. Azatlan weirdos are racist.

There's even a line in there. "People are less worried about skin color because: holy crap, what is that at the end of the bus! People are more worried about metahumans than race."

Plus, Humanis did the Night of Rage. Alamos 20K blew up the Sears Tower. (IIRC, I'm not looking at my book because I'm a lazy fuck)

There's also a funny comment in one of the cyberware books, where someone mentions that Level III Dermal Plating makes someone look like they've got a bug shell, and since Chicago his street sam buddy keep having kids throwing rocks and Mollies at him, thinking he's a giant bug.

It's less "Humans are whipping boys" and more "It's cyberpunk with magic, everyone's a fucking dick."

And if the elf is being nice to you, he's fantasizing about spreading open your unlubed butt cheeks and ass fucking you.

Man I forgot how much I loved Shadowrun lore. Just tons of cool little ideas about a weird magical future just like this one. I've always felt like all the background stuff was written when the writers gave less of a fuck about making some point about modern society and thought more about what would happen or what would be a cool thing. Even stuff that people might assume was virtue signaling today feels like it was just done because it was cool.

Good example of this is the Great Ghost Dance. Magic came back to the world and as it turns out all the rituals and spiritualism Native Americans kept up actually worked. They all got together and summoned a fuck load of spirits and took over half of the US. Unlike Coyote and Crow which purposely talks about the world being better without the evil white man, it just takes a concept and does something cool with it.

There's also Aztechnology, their magic works too. Sacrifices and all.

 

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

But it's not structural racism, sweaty! So it doesn't count!

Sorry, Knife Ear Lover.

It is.

See, Elves had laws and social contracts that actively discriminate against non-Elves. Their version of the Supreme Court made it entirely legal to beat a human and drop him off at the border. They have no rights under Elven law. Elven culture and society says that all non-Elves are stupid apes who elves are doing a favor to when the cops shoot them.

I know it was a smartass comment, but the lore of Shadowrun is really good.

Azatlan, the Elven Nations in Oregon and Ireland, even the Native American Nations (I've got the NAN book 1 and book 2 right here) have structural racism baked right into them. Hell, every nation has racism baked into it, at a legal, social, cultural, ethical, and even propaganda level.

From forcing human/white people off of land they'd owned for centuries, nationalizing human/white people businesses, putting white/human citizens as second class or best citizens.

It's really well written. Less "Everyone holds hands" and more "Tribe X would gut Tribe Y with a fucking spoon if they had a chance."

If you want some fun, and actually researched Native American stuff, I cannot recommend NAN 1 and NAN 2 enough just for the reading.

Hell, they even address that sugar smuggling is a massive thing in the Alaskan tribal areas.

EDIT: Hell, the game even touched topics that Wizards and the others claim they're going to address in games but never did.

Fiction had it where the corps were taking massive advantage of the poor underclass based on their race. One book had it where the corp was paying Troll families to allow them to experiment on unborn children, complete with a Troll father weeping as he angrily tells the shadowrunners they don't get to judge him or his wife, since one of their cybereyes is worth more than he'll make in 10 years, and the shadowrunners embarassed about how poor and run down the Troll apartment was compared to the garage they hung out in.

Another piece involved the sex trade in Seattle, how pimps had a guy with some spells, usually charm or befuddle type stuff, they'd hang out at the bus stations, looking for some wide-eyed girl come to the big city for her big break, grab her with magic, and bring her back to get her hooked on drugs and BTL shit. There was at least once adventure like that that ended up a whirling nightmare of bug spirits and drugged out prostitutes.

They always talked about Desert Wars, which was a Forever War SPONSORED BY SUBWAY AND VERIZON in the Middle East which was televised so the viewers could watch men fight and die in a war that had been going on for 30 years and no longer had any objectives but ratings and PR.

Hell, even sexism and racism between humans was addressed in books and game material. Even the commodification and dehumanization of pop stars, including K-Pop and J-Pop stars. One module, Against the Hive, was another nightmare, the same with Ivy & Chrome.

Police brutality was always talked about. In the Street Sam Catalogue there was a bit with a shock baton having 'a sin wave effective against larger opponents' and one of the commenters goes off about how that's code for Orks and Trolls. Other books talk about how brutal the cops are, and how trolls and orks tend to get killed during arrest or in custody more than anyone else, how ork and troll neighborhoods are overpoliced, complete with 'commenter' arguments about whether or not the policing is due to the high crime rates or the high crime stats are due to over-policing.

Hell, the Universal Brotherhood, which they kind of made into a video game, was all about a cult taking advantage of the poor, desperate, lost, and lonely, and turning them into FUCKING BUG SPIRITS.

Mind you, this was all in the NINETEEN FUCKING EIGHTIES AND NINETIES!

You don't see that in the modern games, for all their shit talking about being inclusive and progressive and social commentators.

It's kind of funny. Shadowrun gets shit on a lot for the fantasy/magic elements, but, to be honest, the world was more real than a lot of other worlds.

Second Edition and First Edition Shadowrun, before the Great POTUS Dragon's assassination, is what I'm familiar with, but god-damned if the sourcebooks weren't fascinating as fuck. Even if you never played, the sheer world building and information in them was fucking phenomenal. Never played 3rd and beyond, because I'm poor and lazy, but holy shit, the 2E shit was sooooo good.

Shadowrun should have set the standard for fucking lore, not Wizards.

But that was back in the old FASA days, with Nigel Findley.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

Good example of this is the Great Ghost Dance. Magic came back to the world and as it turns out all the rituals and spiritualism Native Americans kept up actually worked. They all got together and summoned a fuck load of spirits and took over half of the US. Unlike Coyote and Crow which purposely talks about the world being better without the evil white man, it just takes a concept and does something cool with it.

There's also Aztechnology, their magic works too. Sacrifices and all.

Too bad that any modern games that try this will be wokeshit. No humor, no nothing, just scream endlessly about the "evils of the white man" and that's it.

Has anyone did a review on Coyote and Crow yet? I looked he game up myself; racist as shit, but I can't seem to find anyone savaging it.

It's kind of funny. Shadowrun gets shit on a lot for the fantasy/magic elements, but, to be honest, the world was more real than a lot of other worlds.

Yep. You can't get any other games like that these days. It's ironically funny, really; a game known for plenty of fantasy elements made back in the 1980s/90s ends up being more realistic than most shit made in the modern era.

EDIT: I went to 1d4chan to go look up Hc Svnt Dracones, and boy, did the opening paragraph not disappoint.

I have reached a point where I should have stopped, but I'm going to keep going and see what happens.

So, did you ever manage to read everything there?

 

[Snekposter]

So, did you ever manage to read everything there?

I did. Some things should not be spoken of. Like the fact the company who makes HSD also sells furry figurines with realistic animal vaginas. Whoops, I guess I did speak of the unspeakable there. Better call the Black Templars...

 

[Corn Flakes]

Has anyone did a review on Coyote and Crow yet? I looked he game up myself; racist as shit, but I can't seem to find anyone savaging it.

No one is going to savage it under their own name.

But man, the comments/reviews are a fully-fledged brown-nosing tournament.

I'm still amazed that they aped Storyteller so hard and nobody is saying anything about it. Yes, it's d12 instead of d10, but... Jesus Christ, guys. Look at the goddamn character sheet. Guess they get to avoid being sued by the Swedes by cloaking themselves in native oppression, but damn. At least try to have some mechanical uniqueness. No wonder barely anyone says anything about the system. It's all about "the amazing setting".

Which nobody is actually fucking playing because finding a non-white GM is hard enough at the best of times, much less a native-blooded GM who's actually interested in that shit.

 

[Wallace]

Man I forgot how much I loved Shadowrun lore. Just tons of cool little ideas about a weird magical future just like this one. I've always felt like all the background stuff was written when the writers gave less of a fuck about making some point about modern society and thought more about what would happen or what would be a cool thing. Even stuff that people might assume was virtue signaling today feels like it was just done because it was cool.

Good example of this is the Great Ghost Dance. Magic came back to the world and as it turns out all the rituals and spiritualism Native Americans kept up actually worked. They all got together and summoned a fuck load of spirits and took over half of the US. Unlike Coyote and Crow which purposely talks about the world being better without the evil white man, it just takes a concept and does something cool with it.

There's also Aztechnology, their magic works too. Sacrifices and all.

A lot of wacky belief systems work as magic, even if it's for just one person if they have sufficient belief. The Magic splatbook for 3e went into this.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

I did. Some things should not be spoken of.

At least you know why I love to mock the shot out of the setting; it's great to talk shit about, but man, is the company messed up. Par for the course with furries, naturally.

No one is going to savage it under their own name.

But man, the comments/reviews are a fully-fledged brown-nosing tournament.

I'm still amazed that they aped Storyteller so hard and nobody is saying anything about it. Yes, it's d12 instead of d10, but... Jesus Christ, guys. Look at the goddamn character sheet. Guess they get to avoid being sued by the Swedes by cloaking themselves in native oppression, but damn. At least try to have some mechanical uniqueness. No wonder barely anyone says anything about the system. It's all about "the amazing setting".

Which nobody is actually fucking playing because finding a non-white GM is hard enough at the best of times, much less a native-blooded GM who's actually interested in that shit.

I've did a little more digging on it myself; honestly, it feels more like a low-fantasy rip-off version of Shadowrun, what with the Injun shit. The reviews for it are simultaneously hilarious and a little concerning, what with how brainwashed some of the freaks are; really, the Robert R. guy on that link is probably the cringiest:

"Yes, it's based on the indigenous native American cultures and myths, with a lot of creativity thrown in.
Apparently some have tried to slander it saying it's "woke", and I won't bore you with my opinion of those narrowminded ignorant fools, I'll just point out it's all based on a different viewpoint than that of those fascists, and instead, I'll say this once more, based on indigenous native American cultures and myths. Yes, that's right, there are multiple cultures in the world, and they all have creative people in them.
Most of the readers here are well aware of that and didn't need reminding, but there are some who need that reality check for our fantasy games. ("Our" as in gamers)"

Translation: "This game is a piece of wokeshit that we're going to praise for the sake of attacking wypypo, and anyone that disagrees with us is an ignorant fascist."

It's like these guys get all of their world knowledge from Reddit: honestly, it's like these guys are trying to make Indians more hated all around.

Edit: This is slightly off-topic, but I found this post on Reddit about a month ago that kinda fits with what I've been saying: https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitPoliti...2/the_artwork_is_called_decolonize_your_mind/

 

[anti SJW]

I don't understand why players think the way they do sometimes. In the Pathfinder2E game I'm running, they find a key ring with 2 keys on it in the dungeon they are exploring. They find out one of the keys goes to a trap door in the dungeon.
Then they all think the other key goes to a place back in town. So they go back in town and start randomly trying the key in different doors there. Both keys go to things in dungeon. No idea why they thought one went to something back in town.

 

[Mr. Manchester]

I don't understand why players think the way they do sometimes. In the Pathfinder2E game I'm running, they find a key ring with 2 keys on it in the dungeon they are exploring. They find out one of the keys goes to a trap door in the dungeon.
Then they all think the other key goes to a place back in town. So they go back in town and start randomly trying the key in different doors there. Both keys go to things in dungeon. No idea why they thought one went to something back in town.

That gets rough too because on one hand you don't want them wasting a bunch of time poking keys into random doors but you also don't want to just outright say, "You're wrong don't do it." I guess you could just have NPCs start asking them what they're doing. Don't even need to get the guards involved unless they're actively fucking with stuff, just people curious about why they keep trying the key on random stuff.

Now that I think of it that might be kind of fun. Get the town arguing about what the key actually does. Have people bring them boxes and padlocks asking if the key works. Someone sets himself up as a bookie and starts taking bets on when or what the key will open. Maybe the guards finally do show up but it's just to make sure that it's not to a jail cell or something. Some weird noble hears about it and thinks it's to unlock the heart of some lady he's got the hots for. Just escalate until they figure out that they should go back into the fucking dungeon.

 

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

Now that I think of it that might be kind of fun. Get the town arguing about what the key actually does. Have people bring them boxes and padlocks asking if the key works. Someone sets himself up as a bookie and starts taking bets on when or what the key will open. Maybe the guards finally do show up but it's just to make sure that it's not to a jail cell or something. Some weird noble hears about it and thinks it's to unlock the heart of some lady he's got the hots for. Just escalate until they figure out that they should go back into the fucking dungeon.

That right there works better than "It's for the dungeon, assholes" when people start bringing all kinds of wild shit to get unlocked. The nobles start scheming to have the PC's try the "magic key brought back from the terrible dungeon" on all kinds of shit.

People are bored easily, and some shit about "the magic key from the dungeon" would bring all kinds of people with "This is the lock on my great great gran's diary, does it open it?" "This is a random box I bought real quick from a pawnshop, does it open it?" "Oh, great adventurers, please see if the key unlocks and locks the door to the pantry, for the key has been lost for years" kind of shit. People would be going to see the magic key just because it beats watching the cheese age, gets the kids out of the house, and interrupts boredom.

None of it does anything. It doesn't work on shit.

You can even hype that shit up. "The key actually fits! You go to turn it and... (roll dice just to fuck with them) it doesn't work. The crowd groans and a woman pushes her way up to the front: "Can it open my gran's recipe box?" she asks?"

You'll have them running back to the dungeon.

Or some funny shit in town.

Then you wait till they leave town in a month or two, and have the bards all talking about how there was a magic key in this town that opened women's hearts and chastity belts both.

 

[Mr. Manchester]

That right there works better than "It's for the dungeon, assholes" when people start bringing all kinds of wild shit to get unlocked. The nobles start scheming to have the PC's try the "magic key brought back from the terrible dungeon" on all kinds of shit.

People are bored easily, and some shit about "the magic key from the dungeon" would bring all kinds of people with "This is the lock on my great great gran's diary, does it open it?" "This is a random box I bought real quick from a pawnshop, does it open it?" "Oh, great adventurers, please see if the key unlocks and locks the door to the pantry, for the key has been lost for years" kind of shit. People would be going to see the magic key just because it beats watching the cheese age, gets the kids out of the house, and interrupts boredom.

None of it does anything. It doesn't work on shit.

You can even hype that shit up. "The key actually fits! You go to turn it and... (roll dice just to fuck with them) it doesn't work. The crowd groans and a woman pushes her way up to the front: "Can it open my gran's recipe box?" she asks?"

You'll have them running back to the dungeon.

Or some funny shit in town.

Then you wait till they leave town in a month or two, and have the bards all talking about how there was a magic key in this town that opened women's hearts and chastity belts both.

It opens up so many possibilities. I'd want to keep everyone just really excited and kind of honest about their genuine curiosity. I've always figured peasants get bored kind of easily and all of a sudden something interesting is going on in town. It's not like you can't throw a combat encounter here and there at the party too.

Some asshole thief tries or does steal it, leading to a chase scene ending with his thug friends attempting to kill the party. After the party kills them the guards just roll up and apologize for not stopping the thief earlier. This only makes the rumors worse because the commoners will just talk about how the party "guards the key with their lives".

Could just have some evil looking knight in black armor show up and start barking demands about how the key rightfully belongs to him because he thinks it opens whatever stupid evil shit he wants to open. Of course it doesn't, it's just to the door to some dungeon.

I figure spellcasting circles have weird rumor mills too. First they scoff at the idea, but then for whatever reason they get scared to divine anything about it. Could be someone intentionally spreading that rumor for something completely unrelated.

Or not... could be that the Mayor of the town is starting to see a bunch of people showing up and staying at all the inns and buying a bunch of taxable things. Dude just knows that once the mystery is gone so is the revenue for the town and he has a new city hall to build god damn it. Could be the one behind spreading rumors why casting divinations about the key is bad but encourages everyone to try.

If it goes far enough before the party returns to the dungeon, that key actually opening the door might be a little upsetting. They realize they were just wrong and now they're the holders of the key in the eyes of a lot of people. What they do from there might be interesting.

 

[Alabama Gamer]

That was the problem me and my group had with it in the later modules; while the first few modules do a great job of giving you options and respecting the choices that low-level PCs can make, the later modules assume that you will react to Abbi in one and only one way (and it's a really boring way, to boot.)

If you are the GM, I strongly recommend that you look through the later adventure modules now and start seeing some points where your PCs may want to get off the wild ride, given that my group found the ending module and lack of interesting epilogue both a pretty solid downer. (Also, if your group has played Council of Thieves, the last module will be probably controversial.)

I'm not, but I will pass this advice on to him.