Into the Lair of the Vampire Queen

Over the weekend my oldest son celebrated his birthday (which is today) and we went through The Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen.

We didn't get through it all, but we had a great time.

I ran this under Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition rules instead of 1st ed/OSRIC since that is the game of choice of my son now.  I think it worked out really well to be honest.

In the party we had:
- A Dragonborn Wizard (Necromancer), 15th level
- A Dragonborn Cleric of War, 14th level
- A half-elf rouge (assassin), 14th level
- A human rogue, 14th level
- A half-orc Ranger, 14th level
and a half-elf warlock (fey pact), 13th level.

My son, since he was turning 15 got the only 15th level character.

They managed to get through a few of the rooms, but the Fire-Giants gave them some issues.  After that the "Jelly" Cubes where pretty easy.

The adventure is crazy.  I am glad I am running it "outside of canon". The module is advertised as a party killer and that is no joke.  Within the first battle many of the characters were down to about half their HP.

We are planning to finish it sometime soon, but since we didn't get started till rather late my players were fading.

the Fearless Vampire Hunters

This is the same group, but not the same characters (though pretty close) that I ran the classic Palace of the Vampire Queen adventure.   Those were lower level characters using the B/X rules.  Given that we have been calling this group "the Fearless Vampire Hunters".    One day I will try to combine all the various "Vampire Queen" adventures together into a large campaign.

I did alter the beginning just a touch to accommodate the player's previous adventures a bit.  Not a big change really and I think it heightened the whole fear factor.

 We used minis cause they are fun and the boys like doing it.

I have two perfect succubi from the recent Pathfinder demon sets that are perfect for  "Sin" and "Diabolica".   The Reaper Bones Female Vampire figure makes for a perfect Lady Neeblack.  The mini is listed as "Naomi" for the metal version. So the Vampire Queen must be Lady Naomi Neeblack!  Sure. Why not.

If I ever re-run this I will do it under AD&D1 as it was meant for.  I fear that D&D5 reduces the power levels of the characters a bit at the highest levels.  Though there is great flexibility in D&D 5.
For example in the adventure there are 8 Fire Giants waiting for you when you enter the pits.  They have 93 hp and do 5d6 damage per attack.  Their D&D 5 counterparts have 160 hp (iirc) and do a lot more damage.  Character can heal faster in D&D5 yes, but their starting hp is still not much better than their AD&D1 counterparts.  Rogues get a d8 vs Thieves d6.  So yeah. Meat Grinder.

I will say this.  If you enjoyed running Tomb of Horrors then this will be right up your alley.

I will get a more proper review of the adventure up soon.