|
A mystery criminal from the City of Splendours past threatens to steal Lady Zulpair’s priceless goodies, and on her birthday no less! It’s time for a 4th-5th level party to pull on their longcoats and dust of their trilbies and bust this case wide open, in an adventure in Waterdeep that works well with Dragon Heist or any other city shenanigans.
Included in this $2.95 RPG Writer Workshop adventure:
8 pages of a full-color stylized PDF
A simplified single-column tagged PDF with no images
This adventure is also included in the RPG Writer Workshop Vol. 1, among many other great adventures many of which I have had the pleasure of reviewing:
(https://www.dmsguild.com/product/284175/RPG-Writer-Workshop-Vol-1-Bundle)
Please see my in depth review below
This adventure contains spoilers regarding the nature of one of the NPCs in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Right from the off this has a fun, campy, detective noir feel, from the cover and layout by Willy Abeel. Who doesn’t love a good silhouette of a hardboiled detective with their coat flapping, hat hatting and smoke billowing!? Abeel does so much with such simple shapes, silhouettes and effective use of stock art.
Barillaro (@Barilleon) opens with a credit box, complete with, feedback and editing – Krysts and Tyson VanOverhill (@Tyson_NW), Abeel for the cover and layout, playtesters and stock art references.
Synopsis
House Zulpair has recover a threat to steal a valuable signed, “Hair of the Dog”, a phantom thief from the city’s past. The party are hired to thwart the thief, ensuring the running manor and the Lady’s birthday aren’t effected.
Adventure Hook
This adventure is optimised for 3-6 players of level 4-5 and can easily fit in with the later stages of Dragon Heist, with several familiar faces seen along the way, although it’s not necessary to be played Dragon Heist or even in Waterdeep with a little tinkering. This section doesn’t really contain a hook as such, but handily it does appear at the beginning of chapter 1: “The party discovers the ransom note and conducts their investigation into the illustrious phantom thief, Hair of the Dog. They must decide early on whose help to accept: the City Watch’s, or that of Vincent Trench: Private Eye.”
How To Use This Adventure
The section provides advice on the three beat/ chapter structure of the adventure, The Investigation, The Party and The Getaway, and how the first two parts really have no set length and are at the direction of the DM and players who long and deep they play them. There are groups that will just skip the party and those with players like myself who will enjoy scoping out the place and schmoozing with the NPCs in a fun, specific setting. Barillaro sums things up well with their closing statements: “Instead of providing for specific possibilities, this adventure aims to empower the Dungeon Master as a player in their own game. I have drawn you the board and handed you the pieces, but it is up to you to set up and run the game.”
Adventure Background
This is an adventure with a history going back 300 years with a master thief, the eponymous Hair of the Dog, amazing a gargantuan fortune, before finally getting caught. In a bizarre happenstance the lead detective was revealed to be not who the watch thought they were, creating a chance for the thief to escape. The thief had given a gift of affection to their paramour, an ancestor of the current Lady Zulpair, which they need back for sentimental reasons and the truth contained within. The outed detective is back on the beat with a new persona as a private dick, so it seems their paths will cross again.
This is definitely an exciting and enticing background, which sets the scene and grounds it in a number of stories and connections with clear motive and conflict.
Chapter 1 – The Investigation
The Argument
The adventure assumes the PCs are leaving Trollskull Manor, through they could come across the following altercation in any alley in any city as it takes place in the street. The argument is the hook to bring the PCs into the adventure, as the private detective, Vincent Trench, tries to convince Lady Zulpair to cancel her birthday party due to the note from Hair of the Dog (HOTD). The aristocrat involves the PCs, hiring them to protect their locket.
A bio of the two NPCs are provided on the page with background, physical descriptions, reference to the statblocks they would, and a full personality profile with personality, ideals, bonds and flaws for ease of reference. I particularly enjoy the making no bones about it and having “gruff, hard-boiled private investigator” as a personality, fun can be had when you knowingly lean into tropes. I have to say I’m really coming around to the having relevant information at the time of it coming up in the adventure, rather referencing to appendices, though a system employing a little of both is probably optimal.
Trench’s Office
Vincent Trench and his office, The Tiger’s Eye, will be familiar to those familiar with Trollskull Alley, while not necessarily the details about him. The private dick is cagey and sends the PCs off to gather more information. However, there are some nice hidden details about the past of the infamous HOTD and clues to their connection with Trench, which are, honestly going to be very tough for PCs to get their hands on, though it’s certainly doable. I just relish this level of detail and forethought that can be added to an adventure, and think inspirational for DMs to see these tidbits and Easter eggs that we can include in our settings to give them greater depth, even if they don’t necessarily come into play.
City Watch’s Office
Access to the records with can come in many different ways, which comes down to how the PCs approach the situation. Once acquired, HOTD’s rap sheet tells an interesting tale in itself and gives them all the information they need to formulate their plan to prepare for the master thief and the next steps they want to take.
To Catch a Thief
This leaves the players and characters with a lot of choices to make, and possibly in need of a little prodding from the DM to reminds them the city and the mansion at their disposal. This section provides various options the PCs can employ, including Trench’s snooping skills, the watch and their burly sergeant they can assign to the case, as well as scoping out the mansion to lay traps and prepare for HOTD, which can be found in chapter 2.
Chapter 2 – The Party
“As Shantra’s celebration plays out on the bottom floor of Zulpair Manor, the party endeavors to guard her locket, but they may be vastly underestimating their foe.”
This chapter opens with a nice and simple map depicting the two floors of the octagonal-shaped manor with a description of its place in the sea ward and surrounding fences. This is followed by descriptions of each room, including the details of the staff in the kitchen, more clues and information in the library and the locket and its secrets in Lady Zulpair’s dressing room.
The Celebration
“Shantra’s birthday celebration fills the entire ballroom on the first floor of the villa. The players have a chance to mingle with the guests while waiting for Hair of the Dog to make a move.”
This section has the full rundown of HOTD’s true name, nature, knowledge, personality and modus operandi, as well a sidebar sensibly reminding DMs that HOTD is a master thief and adaptable.
Magical Guests
There are a number of nobles attending the celebration, any of which HOTD could be impersonating at the choice of DM or D4, and they all are under magical effects that work into their personalities nicely. This both adds flavour to the NPCs and make it so a simple Detect Magic spell doesn’t spoil the evenings fun. There is also a sensible reminder to give the PCs a chance to interact with the impersonated, before HOTD attempts their distraction.
And that is that; the table is set the players (NPCs and PCs) are ready and the celebration-come-burglary takes place however the DM and NPCs want. This brings me back to the quote from the introduction: “Instead of providing for specific possibilities, this adventure aims to empower the Dungeon Master as a player in their own game. I have drawn you the board and handed you the pieces, but it is up to you to set up and run the game.” The PCs can schmooze, rub elbows with Waterdavian nobility or seed/ bring in your own NPCs, try exotic aperitifs, marvel at the band or scandalous event’s between feuding houses (perhaps even an honour duel?), fine champagne and drunken uncles’ impromptu garbled speeches, whatever the DM’s imagination can provide (You’re more than welcome to any of those)...or you could have a party that just want to get right to trying to catch the thief. As with any roleplay the possibilities are endless.
Chapter 3 – The Chase
“When Hair of the Dog has a grasp on the locket, they make a break for their rendezvous point. The adventuring party must pursue on foot, which leads them to the City of the Dead. But there are more dangers in Waterdeep’s graveyard than a runaway thief.”
The Chase
This is a chase through the streets of Waterdeep (of whichever city you are using this in) using the rules from Chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, but with the caveats of the strict rules about combat and magic within the city, enforced by the Watch (less of an issue if your PCs have a sergeant with them), and an augmented complication table provided. This new table is varied, fun and very amusing. I actually did a little giggle at one of them, which is always a good sign to me.
City of the Dead.
The chase inevitably leads to the City of the Dead (or an appropriate graveyard or cemetery) and most likely with a confrontation with HOTD, who will say anything, everything, possibly even the truth that drove them to steal the locket...but you know when you’re having a lovely intense chat after a chase, and you’re trying to catch your breath, but the undead rudely butt in? Now it’s up to the players as to how they go about fighting side by side, chatting while fighting and whether or not they apprehend the master thief or allow them to escape, either by choice or bad luck.
Conclusion
Again, this is in the party’s hands, but there are a variety of outcomes with differing monetary and moral values. Among them, one has an unlikely to be kept promise and another has a parade! Depending on revelations made during the adventure, there are knock on effects for Trollskull Alley. I do like their being so many options and different perspectives for PCs to take, depending on the information they have and their personality. I can see some frantic and fun arguing and moralising round the table as difficult decisions have to be made.
Author’s Notes
“Names are powerful things. They are an encapsulation of our identity. Unfortunately, identity and perception tend to get tangled up in ways that seem unfixable. Do peoples’ perceptions of you match your identity? Do you want them to? [NPCs in this adventure] have spent years being other people as a means of finding out more about themselves, which is, incidentally, exactly how I use D&D.” This heartfelt author’s note really made me stop and think. It really encapsulates some of the themes of the story, and I definitely feel I have learned so much more about myself playing D&D. I see every character I’ve ever made as an element or reflection of elements of myself, and exploring them have made me feel more confident and true that I am non-binary, and that I want to be motivated by love and positivity – that’s why I put so much effort into these reviews, to help share the wonderful things folx create.
Enough about myself. This is a fantastic short and sweet adventure that has so much potential for being played out in many different ways. There is a rich backstory, fascinating characters and some wonderful scenes to play out with your players. I thoroughly recommend this for any city action, especially working with Dragon Heist. Not enough adventures are written with such a strong concept, flavour and moral ambiguity. This adventure may leave some work for the DM to put their own mark on it, working with their own party, but all the tools, elements and beats are here, and they combine to make a great, original adventure.
I reached out to Barillaro to ask some questions about this adventure. My questions, their inspiration and insights are below:
S: Hair of the Dog has a fun noir feel, evoking hardboiled detectives, which is very different from a lot of adventures. How did your come up with the idea and the flavour of the adventure, and further how did you manage to convey it so well to Willy Abeel for the art and layout?
B: Vincent Trench is always a favorite whenever I run Dragon Heist. I always adore detective types in media (think L.A. Noire, or Dick Gumshoe from Ace Attorney), and I wanted an adventure that expanded on my favorite Trollskull neighbor. When I was first gathering resources and inspiration, he mentioned old Dick Tracy comics. I loved the idea, so he ran with it!
Barillaro laid out these inspirations in a great thread that can be found here: https://t.co/GaSP2qhVDF
S: I’m currently playing in a Waterdeep game and I’m thoroughly enjoying the city, especially after reading some of the novels. What drew you to the City of Splendors and make the wonderful choice of grounding the adventure firmly in Dragon Heist? (though I appreciate with a little tweaking it works without Dragon Heist or even Waterdeep)
B: From the moment Dragon Heist was announced, I knew that it was going to be MY adventure, so to speak. As much as I love the epic, sprawling adventures we see a lot of in 5e (a la Princes of the Apocalypse or Out of the Abyss), the setting and pacing of Dragon Heist is so close to my own comfort zone when DMing. It’s RP heavy, there’s a ton of intrigue and politics, and instead of introducing new places all the time, the table has the opportunity to iterate on the city of Waterdeep, really see how their choices has changed the world around them in a way they really don’t get to otherwise. The idea that if Trench is exposed at the end of my adventure, he disappears “for good” comes from that potential for cause and effect.
S: Like any good crime story, Hair of the Dog has varying shades of grey and genuine reason and love behind the antagonist, and some difficult choices for the players. How important is it to you as a writer and a DM to have player’s expectations subverted and for their to be history and reasoning behind the NPCs that the PCs are hired to thwart?
B: As a DM and RPG writer, I think the one concept I keep coming back to is that nothing is ever as it seems, and it’s very rarely black and white. I think the stories where there is no ‘right’ answer are super interesting, and allow players to get more invested in the world around them. Of course, that isn’t to say it’s not fun to just know who the Bad Guys are and go get ‘em, too!
S: In your heartfelt Author’s Note at the end of the adventure, you talk about the power of names and the ideas around identity, and how you use D&D as a method to find out more about yourself. I definitely echo that sentiment, and definitely think it’s helped me realise I’m non-binary. Is there anything you wanted to add about names and identities, and the your choices for names in the adventure, particularly the eponymous Hair of the Dog?
B: I’m super glad you got something out of the author’s note!! I think names are very important, whether you’re naming yourself or your children (human, furry, or fictional)! But there’s a lot of pressure around names sometimes as well. It took me a year and a half after coming out to figure out a new name for myself, and the stress I felt before going public with it was real. There’s also a ton of tension around deadnames. Sometimes just hearing your deadname makes you anxious, even if someone isn’t addressing you with it. Even if you aren’t trans or nonbinary, names and identity can be a tough subject! They mean different things to different people, which is another reason why I love them.
For that reason I also really really like it when names are silly.
Dick Gainsley and HotD were both plays on a certain part of the human body, but I actually came up with HotD’s true name when I learned that the latin word for thief was “fur.”
|
Log In 
