![[5E] Abomination Vaults first impressions](https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/b1b85723-24ac-417e-af60-1191cbc78254.jpeg){kind=link}
Hi folks, just acquired this module and had a flip through, reading the intros and some parts of the first two levels. Here’s a quick overview in case you’re interested. This is a Paizo-official 5E conversion of a Pathfinder 2E module – I haven’t played the Pathfinder version so cannot offer any comparisons.
TOC page:
The module goes from L1-L11. There’s nice little starting town 20 minutes away from a megadungeon. The dungeon has 10 levels and you should level up after completing each level. The town exists as a home base you can return to as needed, and also to provide support NPCs and plot motivation. At first glance, it appears that there is at least one event triggering in town each time you complete the level, approximately.
BBEG is an undead sorcerer who was defeated 500 years ago and is slowly rebuilding their power. Very necromancer themed, but not a Lich per se.
I like the layout of the module. Each level spells out the expected loot on page one, gives you a decent synopsis, and gets underway with minimal hassle. I haven’t read everything yet, but of the description blocks and such that I read, it is thoughtfully crafted but also leaves options for the DM. A good example is the “floor boss” on level 1 who you can convert into a useful NPC if you diplomacy them or let them live. Downside: it might lead to FOMO for the players as they provide a lot of written branches and consequences.
The Monsters are well constructed and have unique enough feel. What’s interesting is that they borrowed a few monsters from other publications and copied them in whole-cloth (with credit given on the credit page). For example, the Froghemeth comes from Necromancer Games (via Frog God Games), so it seems like they’re really leaning into reinforcing each other as publishers.
If you’ve run megadungeons before, this is probably nothing partcularly groundbreaking. But if you’re looking for a well crafted 5E megadungeon, this looks like it has a lot of potential. My guess is you could easily spend a year on the module if you’re meeting weekly :)
I started running this in PF2E because I wanted to try the system out, but most of my players were really more interested in D&D so we pivoted over to this 5E version with this book + the 5.5 release and I’ve been digging it so far.
Nice! Any advice for people running it?
Read at least one floor ahead of where your party is as there are a lot of opportunities for “oh we’ll poke our heads down this stairway and see what’s up.” And I also got access to a plotter sized printer, printed out all the floors, and then cut the rooms out and tape them onto individual cardboard sheets so as they bounce between floors I can easily flip which map they’re on!
Very cool. Yeah, scouting ahead is always a thing. If there’s a wizard in the party exploiting Arcane Eye or an invisible familiar or similar, you sort of have to read ahead.