Diablo 2 Influence... with unexpected results
With horns, flutes and guitars, we were greeted to the world of Diablo 2 and the Rogue Encampment. I remember spending hours and hours playing Diablo 2. The lands of Lut Gholen and Kurast live on in my campaigns as influences and outright thefts of ideas, monsters and characters.
Now... remember these little !@#$!@# s-o-b's?
Here, let me remind you... http://diablo.gamepedia.com/Fanatic_Enslaved_(Diablo_II) These are the monsters that would come running at the player and blow up, causing a lot of damage, potentially. The first few times, they killed me dead, but then I wised up. Kill them fast... and at a distance.
So... fast forward to yesterday's game. The PCs are carefully making their way through a nest of Chaos-mutated goblyns (and now humans). An elf thief clambers up a rope into a small hole in the ceiling to scout out the way... except the 4 chaos-mutated goblyns above whacked him hard (SURPRISE!) and he fell down. 30 feet. Splat. Good thing AD&D allows you to go negative...
Anyway, so they chuck up a burning pot of oil, score a hit and then this happens...
One goblyn explodes, which causes 1d8 w/in melee range, which kills another, which... well you get the idea.
I did NOT expect that when I first adapted the Enslaved Fanatics from Diablo 2. It was an interesting option to throw in with the "normal" chaos-mutated goblyns. At first, the PCs would stand toe-to-toe and duke it out with the oddly colored goblyns... until the goblyns died... and exploded into a burst of chaos energy, causing damage to the PCs who were in melee with them. The PCs came to hate the exploding goblyns... wanted them as far away as possible.
Well, yesterday, after they saw the chain-reaction from the first four exploding goblyns, the PCs naturally had to do it again. A few rooms later, they spied a group of "six oddly colored red goblyns moving towards you." They held a choke-point at a tunnel entrance, and one of the PCs scored a missile hit... which killed the goblyn... and you know the rest. BAM. BAM. BAM... all I could do is roll the damage, and roll more damage, and roll more damage. And then just laugh my ass off along with the players.
The PCs are still scared of this dungeon, especially that they're getting back to the place where previous PCs died and there is still a great deal of Chaos-related things going on. Red slime oozing out of the ceilings. Walls bursting into flames. Whispering voices and ghosts. Globes and pillars of purplish chaos-energy. Having a bit of fun and laugh in the middle was just the thing needed.
If you're feeling nostalgic, click play on the video... "stay awhile and listen!"
Now... remember these little !@#$!@# s-o-b's?
Here, let me remind you... http://diablo.gamepedia.com/Fanatic_Enslaved_(Diablo_II) These are the monsters that would come running at the player and blow up, causing a lot of damage, potentially. The first few times, they killed me dead, but then I wised up. Kill them fast... and at a distance.
So... fast forward to yesterday's game. The PCs are carefully making their way through a nest of Chaos-mutated goblyns (and now humans). An elf thief clambers up a rope into a small hole in the ceiling to scout out the way... except the 4 chaos-mutated goblyns above whacked him hard (SURPRISE!) and he fell down. 30 feet. Splat. Good thing AD&D allows you to go negative...
Anyway, so they chuck up a burning pot of oil, score a hit and then this happens...
One goblyn explodes, which causes 1d8 w/in melee range, which kills another, which... well you get the idea.
I did NOT expect that when I first adapted the Enslaved Fanatics from Diablo 2. It was an interesting option to throw in with the "normal" chaos-mutated goblyns. At first, the PCs would stand toe-to-toe and duke it out with the oddly colored goblyns... until the goblyns died... and exploded into a burst of chaos energy, causing damage to the PCs who were in melee with them. The PCs came to hate the exploding goblyns... wanted them as far away as possible.
Well, yesterday, after they saw the chain-reaction from the first four exploding goblyns, the PCs naturally had to do it again. A few rooms later, they spied a group of "six oddly colored red goblyns moving towards you." They held a choke-point at a tunnel entrance, and one of the PCs scored a missile hit... which killed the goblyn... and you know the rest. BAM. BAM. BAM... all I could do is roll the damage, and roll more damage, and roll more damage. And then just laugh my ass off along with the players.
The PCs are still scared of this dungeon, especially that they're getting back to the place where previous PCs died and there is still a great deal of Chaos-related things going on. Red slime oozing out of the ceilings. Walls bursting into flames. Whispering voices and ghosts. Globes and pillars of purplish chaos-energy. Having a bit of fun and laugh in the middle was just the thing needed.
If you're feeling nostalgic, click play on the video... "stay awhile and listen!"
I love the visuals in Diablo I and II... and that Tristram theme... man, I could listen to that for hours.
ReplyDelete@DMW - Agreed! I'm more partial to the music from Lut Gholein and Kurast, but all of the themes from D1 and D2 were extremely evocative and well done! I think that most good video games have that underlying element of great soundtracks that stick in our memories for a long time.
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