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Thickets Campaign Adjustments to Micah Anderson’s The Black
Manse
The Black Manse can be purchased digitally here, and
physically here.
The following document contains the adjustments made to place it in the
map and world of The Thickets Campaign, in which it is the underground
lair of the undead king Runalt. Statblocks for creature replacements, or
where to find them, will be at the end of the document.
Some changes that do not map to particular rooms:
“The Death Knight” is now King Runalt, an ancient husk of a man wearing
sumptuous robes and a crown of gold and leather.
Fluid Brutes are now Silt Lampreys, created by one of Runalt’s long dead
magical artisans.
References to imprisoned local peasants now refer to the Satyrs who live
in the neighboring Gardens Beneath.
The Wheeled-Eye and Bronze Sun of Gung are replaced by Runalt’s family
emblem of a blue lily (on a white background flanked by gold lions, if
on a standard or crest).
The encounter and countdown die is D8. The encounter table inside the
book can be used as is, sources for stats and substitutions for monsters
at the end of this document.
Estate: opens into the Gardens Beneath in hex 0506.
E6. Maudlin is a former fire cultist, and abandoned the faith in the
ancient split between the fire cult and the stokers. Stats as Adept of
the Flame, but retains a human appearance.
Ground Floor:
GF2. Spore cloud has no save, reduces Health stat by 1d8 when inhaled
rather than being immediately lethal.
GF4. Walls are murals with indistinct figures rather than mirrors,
egomorphs are constructed of canvas and paint.
GF6. Wilhelm of Wörms is replaced by an Occult-Futurist Muraenidae named
Benicio. Highland Chieftain becomes a River Kingdom Chieftain. Pope
Antonius the Missing becomes Prophet Khashayr, a former personal friend
and advisor to the Sultan and one of the highest interpreters of
Law.
GF11. Serpent-Man statue is recognizably a Rittersnake — the neck wound
into which the parasitic snake has embedded itself is lovingly
sculpted.
GF15. The assassin is trapped under dried paint rather than wax.
GF27. An interpreter of Law has co-signed the holdings in Hell.
GF29. Skull-faced Fiends replace Baboons here.
GF32. The entity depicted in the statue is nameless rather than being
called Yalnathoth.
GF34. The top of the lookout tower is now an exit to the surface of the
wilds in hex 0506. From the castle, it can be seen vanishing into the
cave ceiling. A single Tomb Guardian lurks there, shooing away the giant
bats. Will allow adventurers in, but not out.
GF35. The bear can speak an archaic human tongue.
Underground:
U8. Saint Vulvula replaced by a statue inscribed “Freyod,” of a nude
woman with spiders attending to her. The rest can be used as-is, but due
to the sensitivities of some of my players I will remove the iron
phalluses and pears of anguish.
U9. The Imperial Postman is a messenger from Catage dispatched to the
Northmost Collaboration by a transcendentalist’s rich relatives.
U10. Room E’s graffiti says “BEASTS” rather than “BRUTES.”
U11. Ingryd is from the Valley Collaboration and her ambition was to
prove herself worthy of entry to Hare House.
U13. The cultists are Glass Thieves that Runalt has convinced to betray
the Glass Court. They hope to draw a ghoul from the
Friþgeard. The sacrifice is a satyr.
U14. Belongings of the knight in the diamond coffin are immediately
recognized and hated by Rittersnakes.
U17. Baboons are replaced by Iguanas.
U18. The orrery displays a different cosmos than the one described here
– more details to come in the future, but the sun is yellow and the low
hanging firmament is visible on the model of the earth.
U22. Papal City Inquisitors are replaced by a gang of ambitious Satyr
saboteurs.
Upper Floors:
UF5. Hounskull is replaced by Muraenidae armor.
UF15. Many of the figurines are reptilian in character.
UF16. Mirrors to outside world are different: 13 shows The
Prophet’s Balcony in Gardens hex 0314, 14 the teahouse in the
Thickets Collaboration, 15 the throne room of the duke’s castle in
Firmament hex 1307, and 16 the Sultan’s Court where the highest judges
of Law meet.
UF17. The imp is replaced by a Rittersnake. The huge portrait is the
anchor of the nightmare that has infested the castle.
UF19. The painting gallery is extradimensionally long, and lined with
innumerable paintings of runalt imbued with enough nightmare to create a
new nightmare grove.
Roofs:
R1. The gargoyles here fear The Gargoyle who roams the gardens — the
Fatherstone was once its lover. Runalt taught them enmity and jealousy,
saying that The Gargoyle will steal the Fatherstone away.
R2. Skull-Faced Fiends lurk here, once the reptile house. The alien
flora is a new addition as Runalt tried to find new hobbies after he
could no longer import reptiles but could access other planes.
Stat Blocks and Where to Find Them:
The following can be found in the TNU bestiary available on Johnston
Metzger’s patreon:
Skull-Faced Fiends.
Rittersnakes.
The average undead servant has stats as a Silent Accuser.
Fluid Brutes are replaced by Silt Lampreys.
Maudlin has stats as an Adept of the Flame.
Wraiths are replaced by Tomb Guardians.
Satyrs have stats as Beastmen.
The following can be found in Only Monsters Here:
Necrophidii have stats as Snakeworms.
Zombies.
Skeletons.
Gargoyles (level 4).
Corpse Crawlers are replaced by Slithering Demons.
Animated Armor has stats as an Animated Statue (level 6).
The following can be found in the adventure City of Poison:
Black Puddings have stats as a Caustic Ooze, raised to level 5.
Runalt replaces the death knight, and his stats are as follows:
Level 7 Evil Undead
Armor 15, Hit Die 1d10, Morale +3, Numbers 1, speed 6, surprise -2
CHA 6, DEX 10, FER 15, HTH 0, INT 16, WIL 18
3 weapon attacks or 1 weapon attack and one spell per round
wields a broadsword.
Spells known: Wave of Corruption, Death Grip, Summon Serpentine,
Serpents, Planar Destabilization, Maze, Speak with the Works of
Hands
Does not need to breathe or eat, cannot be poisoned, cannot be mind
controlled. Compelled to examine and critique images of himself he has
not seen before.