Oh yes it is.
My group has been playing ACKS with my brother DMing. We’ve been exploring the Barrowmaze and the environs (not sure if the local towns are from the module or just something he made up or got somewhere else). FWIW here are the player-generated summaries for the first couple sessions. They were mostly written up by Seth, but I couldn’t resist adding a few remarks in brackets, and following up with my character’s will. We entered via the barrow numbered 11 on the player map, if you are familiar with the module.
[Session 1]
[The hardy band of adventurers starting in Oakhurst consisted of J the Mystic ; Septimus the Elementalist ; Heinrich the Necromancer ; Sirah the Shaman ; Antonio! the Venturer ; and Sylvus the Elf Ranger. They decided to hire on four fighting-men to help beef up the front line.]
The group’s first outing to the widely-rumored barrows found them in a previously opened barrow mound, scrounging for loose change on the floor. Septimus fondled some skeletal heads in a relief carving and caused a secret door to open, revealing stairs leading down into darkness. After figuring out who was holding the torches, they descended.
[6 Giant] Centipedes at the bottom of the stairs surprised and killed one of the 4 hired men before the brave companions could come to the rescue. Even at this early stage, the group’s unfortunate lack of muscle and armor made itself apparent. The elven ranger spotted a secret door leading to a burial crypt, which was looted post-haste. A skeletal, self-reanimating abomination [a Coffer Corpse] was disturbed, fought, run from, and then fought again, but not without the loss of 2 more hired fools, and the near death of several party members. Several party members bravely ran away, but their names are of no consequence. A second, and slightly better planned attempt saw the skeletal re-animator smoldering under a barrage of burning pitch.
After recruiting [4] more lightly armored fools [and a cleric] in the village, a second excursion was begun. Several more rooms were plundered and the party marveled at their good fortune as platinum, electrum, gems, and jewelry lined their collective pockets. The fortune was not without it’s cost. Several lumps of cannon fodder again lost their lives to the denizens of the deep. Two, a cleric and a village simpleton, walked straight into a bottomless pit, because the brave companions felt it best to put them at the head of the marching order, though none of the party members claims credit for the ingenious idea.
[Session 2: After a short respite and a trip to Wolverton to fence some of the more valuable spoils of the barrows, the party re-assembled. This time J and Sirroco stayed back in Oakhurst, complaining of cramps, and P. the Elven Nightblade joined the ranks of the party. They set off with the three surviving hired hands, plus a torchbearer and two wardogs.]
Another trip to town again rounded out the party’s number. A third excursion proved disastrous as Antonio! was felled by a well-aimed arrow before the party even arrived at the barrow. The brigands responsible we strangled, peppered with arrows, chewed upon, hacked with swords and spears, burned in hellfire, and generally given a round talking-to by the vengeful comrades. [Under pre-execution questioning, one of the brigands explained that their leader, Frederic, has two surviving brothers who are said to be dangerous and may hold more of the bandits’ plunder. The party resolved to look into the matter later. The prisoner invoked the dark gods of Zahar before being hung. Dak the Barbarian joined the party at this point.]
A fourth excursion found the companions looting several more crypts, slaying [5] giant flies, [2] mongrelmen, and [six armored] zombies. [The zombies were apparently priests of Nergal.] When they came upon a pack of [four] ghouls, the party decided to beat a noble retreat, vowing to lay almighty waste to the ghouls another day. [In their retreat they passed some bandits who had holed up in a chamber and took potshots at the fleeing party.]
The fifth excursion saw to the end of the ghouls as the group finally learned to attempt battling in confined spaces such that swarms of hell-spawn could not overwhelm multiple party members. The addition of some competent armored muscle (a rather dim, but extremely useful barbarian had joined the party taking the place of, but never replacing, the lost Antonio!) proved providential. The party is in good spirits with the influx of wealth: more gems, jewels, coins, and other odds and ends. [A Bag of Holding was added to the party’s collective loot, and will be used to hold spoils while adventuring. A pair of Gloves of Swimming & Climbing was passed about like a hot potato until finally someone begrudgingly took them. Heinrich and Septimus studied a spell book found in the dungeon but could not make out the tangled script.]
–Seth, [with annotations by Mike]
[Post session 2]
Sobered by the untimely demise of Antonio!, Heinrich writes out a last will & testament, should he suffer the same fate:
I, Heinrich the Necromancer, being of sound mind and adequately functional body, do hereby indite my wishes for the disposal of my earthly remains, should the unthinkable happen.
1) If possible, I would like to be raised as a Lich in order to continue my career in the Black Arts & Crafts.
2) Should the rituals of Lichdom be impractical, I would like 500 of my gold pieces to be used to have my remains Raised.
3) Should Raising also be impractical due to the state of my body, the passage of time, or lack of funds, my curse on you all for failing me in this, my most dire time of need. Doubtless I will have died due to neglect or treachery on the part of our arms-bearing party members, who should have realized that their first and noblest duty is to the preservation of the spell-casters, and especially of the most physically infirm spell-casters.
4) Even so, I am not wholly selfish and would fain not have my hard-won loot seized by creditors, scot-collectors, or frauds posing as my kin; no, I lief that my worldly possessions benefit those who did their best to keep my skin whole, no matter that they have proven themselves incompetent at best and, at worst, the nithings and poltroons I suspect them to be. Therefore, let my goods be divided as the party sees fit and most beneficial, apart from these specific bequeathals: Let my hunch, which has served me so well, go to Septimus; let my soap got to Dak, who stands so sorely in need of it.
5) Yea, and I say unto thee: Reave well, and raise a stout to your crookback compeer!
(Signed)
Heinrich
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