The Incandescent Grottoes: OSE Starter Adventure Review

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[@QuestingBeast]

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[@ahtech1990]

Lovely review, hard disagree on the columns. Not only are the different areas separated by bold blue headings, but they are underscored by blue lines, and directly to the left of each heading is the number of the room itself. This seems like an improvement on the Tomb of the Serpent Kings layout style and I absolutely love it.

[@highlevelwizard9788]

Yeah that one I wasn't so on board with, but overall great review. Ben has a great eye for design but this seemed like an adherence to some sort of design psychology thing that doesn't actually hold up, at least in this context.

[@ahtech1990]

@@highlevelwizard9788 I agree wholeheartedly, 9 times out of ten I agree with Ben, so this sort of disagreement is bound to happen from time to time.

[@sgtearache5303]

Agreed.

[@Wishram321]

Ditto

[@origami_dream]

It's also extremely space-efficient. To do it as he suggests would likely mean an extra page or two to the book, with a bunch of wasted space. Which, if you're willing to do that, why have columns at all? Just go paperback-sized and do single-column with plenty of white space for note-taking and readability. Which is also good if that's your intent. But theirs was economy of space. And they succeeded.

[@SigveSolvaag]

Interesting dungeon! I really appreciate it when dungeons have the cyclical connectedness.

[@HeavyMetalHindu]

I just ran this last saturday. I had the kobolds argue over sorting moss like in a certain pocketss comic

[@danielrowan4716]

This kind of weird is right up in my wheelhouse, Ben. There’s unique creatures and Magic, and, as you’d indicated, a dungeon with a dragon it. Awesome. I appreciate your reviews and honest input.

[@Bluecho4]

Really like the art style.

[@jamesoboyle3026]

You should do a discussion video on the mystic underground and how we can use it in our games

[@sgtearache5303]

I've got basically all the OSE stuff now (except for the Vampire one. I hate Vampires! lol) and I absolutely LOVE the tone of the line - which seems to be a consequence of Gavin's oversight. The whimsical, weird, squishy fungal Grimm's Fairy Tale meets Lovecraft thing is so appealing to me! Combine that with the outrageous beauty and physical quality of the products and it's just an irresistible mix. Can't wait for those Dolmenwood books!

[@brianblather]

Preference aside, the rooms are separated by a "Line Break." Also, the example page would have room 4 run over onto the next page as its entry would not fit in the second column of a two-column spread.

[@craigdresser6159]

My thoughts as well. I actually tend to write my own notes like this. When there's a fair amount of text for a single room, I prefer this layout as my eyes can take in more of the information at a glance than if it were vertically arranged, especially if the column continued into the second column or page. I don't mind someone having different preferences than someone else--that's perfectly normal. I just don't like the way some of the reviews on this channel will state these as facts, not preferences.

[@jollyrogerquill]

Awesome review! Ben, one question, do you typically use Maze Rats/Knave or something like OSE to run this sort of dungeons?

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

Will probably adapt this to my desert area and have it as an option for around the starting town

[@ivanrichmond3524]

Really neat! I love these OSR adventures that are reminiscent of old school D&D but also different and weird. I love having a dragon. All dungeons aught to have one, however minor it may be

[@sumdude4281]

Good video thanks. I like the format they have tbh.

[@samurguybriyongtan146]

I have the PDF, but upon seeing it I want the hard bound!

[@mikegould6590]

Classic dungeon adventure. Nice.

[@markgnepper5636]

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

[@mechanussunrise]

Alignment as faction in the multiverse is a cool way to think about it. That would make alignment languages make more sense. With this interpretation is alignment objective or could you be a fake member of an alignment faction?

[@ericgrajeda9916]

.

[@ericgrajeda9916]

Objective. Their are spells and effects that change or target alignment. In old dnd there were planes embodying each alignment and being that hailed from those planes embodying their aspects.

[@mechanussunrise]

@@ericgrajeda9916 I'm aware of all of that but I'm still wondering. Perhaps the spell could be interpreted as detecting your "factional alignment" rather than your inner morality. I'm not sure what the timing is for fleshing all of planes out as well so the meaning of alignment may have shifted or multiple meanings may have been concurrently deployed.

[@ericgrajeda9916]

@@mechanussunrise you could change or interpret anything, anyway. Im telling you how they designed the cosmology. A demon is a physical embodiment of chaos and evil and is effected by spells or abilities relevant. Those spells would be useless if you could just claim otherwise.

[@andrewhaldenby4949]

Excellent ty

[@benjaminloyd6056]

The art is really cool, who is the artist?

[@courtofjests946]

It's Nate Treme, Highland Paranormal Society. Very cool indeed.

[@rdmsh]

Hope you review hole in the oak soon

[@liondovegm]

I don't have OSE but I'll probably pick up this badboi.

[@mechanussunrise]

The basic rules are free online and have most of the rules you need for the first couple levels if you are using a module.

[@liondovegm]

@@mechanussunrise let me clarify I have a dozen osr games amd compatible retroclones, but not ose

[@bonbondurjdr6553]

Looks fun.

[@EchoByrnes]

Would this take much conversion to run in Whitehack?

[@paulll47]

Does this one actually have a way to have players rest and level up? I've run the hole in the oak and my players are a couple of xp away from leveling, since I plan on running this one a little bit longer (about 5 sessions I think), I would rather not have to come up with an underground tavern or something (unless its already in the book, in which case, cool).

[@pickpocketpressrpgvideos6655]

Great adventure and review. I actually find the way the rooms are described (with just bolded points, bullet points, and possibly a bit more info in brackets) quite hard to read/disjointed. Personally I'd rather just a paragraph, with bold or different colours for highlights.

[@AmeliaMerry-c5h]

Kreiger Garden