...how did you get the PCs to Carrowmore in the first place?

There's the opening spiel, stating that the fact that the treasure palace's existence is common knowledge, as is the fact that it's under a fucking LAKE.  A great big deep one, so might as well be on the moon.

The PCs show up the day after the dam breaks, which means they must have been on the way there for some reason.

So what was your reason?

My current thought is that the Greater Carrowmore Chamber of Commerce was running a scuzzy-ass tourist trap - they didn't actually believe there was a hidden palace up there (it's been nigh two thousand years since the dam was built, nobody has ever seen the palace), but they were sure as hell glad to get cash from occasional adventuring groups passing through the region.

They'd send hired folks out to larger cities, spreading bullshit stories about getting to the temple, the fabulous treasures within, trying to attract folks to the area.

The Crows are also on Carrowmore payroll - they're paid to make sure nobody comes back to let others know that there isn't any way to get into the palace.  They don't get paid much: a place to stay, food, some coinage, but they get to indulge their murder fetish. If the creatures in the area don't kill the adventuring parties, the Crows make sure to finish the job.  They think there IS a palace down there.  Probably.  Maybe.  They're happy to let someone else do the heavy lifting of finding a way in.  If somebody does manage to make it in, they'll follow and try to murder the lot.  If not, they had planned on wiping out the Chamber of Commerce, taking what they could, and moving on in a couple of months anyway.

The PCs are in a tavern somewhere in the vicinity and hear the story from one of the Commerce agents, head up there to investigate, and about a day from town - holy shit - the dam breaks.  The Crows saw the whole thing - some dumbass group was dicking around on top of the dam, got into a fight with a bunch of Turbine Golems, someone cast Stone to Flesh and missed in a most unfortunate fashion.  Kaboom!  There goes the dam.  The Crows hurried back to Carrowmore to check out the destruction, but plan on going back to investigate that big hole they saw in the lakebed.

I don't think modules like DCO are actually ever meant to played in a campaign...

Quote from: JeremyR;1065255I don't think modules like DCO are actually ever meant to played in a campaign...

It does seem like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Fortunately, I have a really big hammer, and a jones to make that damn thing fit.

QuoteA great big deep one, so might as well be on the moon.

Huh. In my group this is what would be known as a challenge.

My players in my LotFP campaign tracked down and raided the moutain fortress of a dead explorer who had a ship that could travel between alternate realities of earth. They had heard rumors of a magical substance on an alternate earth - and they decided to find the ship to find and recover the substance.

I have been tossing all sorts of challenges at them - too accept or made like as the wish. They keep building new plans and coming up with schemes to execute.

I type all this only because a I am truly confused that a massive treasure under a lake would be a game stopper. What sorts of adventures do your PCs normally have?

Quote from: ChristopherKubasik;1065525I type all this only because a I am truly confused that a massive treasure under a lake would be a game stopper. What sorts of adventures do your PCs normally have?

In this case, mostly land-based because one of the players has a powerful phobia of large, deep bodies of water.

She's fine as long as there's some sort of method of judging how deep the water is, but once you start talking about an enormous lake so deep that "profundal zone" is the term used in the book, that's right out.

I've had some discussion with her about the possibilities.  Carrowmore has building tops sticking up out of the water, and the river area will have trees sticking up out of the water.  An exposed lake bed won't be a problem, so she's fine with things as long as they don't actually have to go to the lake itself.

I've only ever heard good things about this book. But I don't have it.  They  never sent me a review copy.

Quote from: Thornhammer;1065537In this case, mostly land-based because one of the players has a powerful phobia of large, deep bodies of water.

She's fine as long as there's some sort of method of judging how deep the water is, but once you start talking about an enormous lake so deep that "profundal zone" is the term used in the book, that's right out.

I've had some discussion with her about the possibilities.  Carrowmore has building tops sticking up out of the water, and the river area will have trees sticking up out of the water.  An exposed lake bed won't be a problem, so she's fine with things as long as they don't actually have to go to the lake itself.

Some thoughts.

Why don't the PCs just wait for the lake and flood to drain a little more. This both makes it safer and probably makes it less of a heebyjeeby moment for the phobic player.

As for why the PCs are there? Why not ask the players? But past that some reasons could be they heard rumors of the place and were effectively just sight-seeing or reconnoitering. Or they were just passing through on the way to someplace else. Or they were there doing a delivery of a package or message. and so on.