Is anyone still using this document or is it done and dusted?

Not yet dd but I will be in the future. It looks like it will be a lot of fun. You've put a lot of effort into it.

My group has just finished Life's Bazaar and will start on Drakthar's Way next session.

Olaf the Stout

Very likely I will use it in T Minus 4 days and counting. Wrapping up Flood Season this weekend.

BTW, this is SOLID FREAKING GOLD. I did some prelim work on this during the first part of the flood festival. None of the PCs won the Crater Lake Monster Hunt, but of course they asked who did.

So I made up a sad story about a boy who scrimped together all the coins he could to enter (1s is a lot to a destitute urchin) and practiced swimming all through the summer. The boy won, and was going to sell the trophy to buy medicine for his sick mother. The trope is almost cliche, but my players loved it, even the CN warlock was trying to find a way to do something nice for the kid without any other PCs noticing. So when the PC fighter won the drinking contest (except against Vhalantru, of course) and got an "extra" ticket to the ball, they invited the kid along, commisioning and renting him a lantern archon costume (shirt has light cast on it, pants have a cantrip grade invisibility effect). They also paid for the services of an NPC healer they sometimes hired to cure the mother.

Seriously, DelvesDeep needs a medal for this extra Demonskar Ball material. Solid freaking gold.

I ran DD's DB several months ago, but it lives on in tales and jokes. In fact, it came up just last session, when the party asked our half-orc barbarian if he still had the succubus costume he commissioned for the ball (the rental place didn't WANT him to return it). His reply? "What do you think's under my armor?"

It was a memorable event and still haunts the party to this day. In a good way. Thanks, DD!

A distant voice calls out...

Bring the Demonskar Ball back as a regional holiday in your campaign and it will never die. I imagine it wouldn't be a big stretch to think that the surrounding lands would eventually become aware of the near-apocalypse that took place at Cauldron and the heroic efforts that saved them all.

I haven't been keeping up, but I sure hope you're still writing, Delvesdeep. :)

Best Regards,
Koramado

A distant voice calls out...

Bring the Demonskar Ball back as a regional holiday in your campaign and it will never die. I imagine it wouldn't be a big stretch to think that the surrounding lands would eventually become aware of the near-apocalypse that took place at Cauldron and the heroic efforts that saved them all.

I haven't been keeping up, but I sure hope you're still writing, Delvesdeep. :)

Best Regards,
Koramado

Delvesdeep

(Delvesdeep - I'm a couple chapters into the Savage Tide AP and collecting Pathfinder for the distant future. lol )

Perhaps the Vanderboren family, with relatives in Sasserine, at some point found themselves out of Cauldron during the local Demonskar Ball. Being noble and privileged, they couldn't stand to miss out on the notoreity and threw one of their own in Sasserine with the local notables. Thus, the celebration spreads to Sasserine and possibly further over time.

I just wanted to give a shout-out. I ran the Demonskar ball months and months ago, but I remember most distinctly that my players loved it, particularly the skirt-chasing priest who got to dance and chat with all the lovely ladies in elaborate costumery.

I have just begun a Shackled City campaign (converting it to 4e), and I will be running this ball in a few weeks. I have always had a rule of thumb when DMing - "players love in-game parties". I consider these parties my specialty. This one looks to be the mother of them all. Can't wait to run it, thanks for all the work put into it!

Now back to the gear doors of Jzadirune....

I have just begun a Shackled City campaign (converting it to 4e), and I will be running this ball in a few weeks. I have always had a rule of thumb when DMing - "players love in-game parties". I consider these parties my specialty. This one looks to be the mother of them all. Can't wait to run it, thanks for all the work put into it!

Now back to the gear doors of Jzadirune....

I have just started to read up the 4E rules and really like what I see, but suspect converting NPCs to them will be hard.

Perhaps you can start a new thread about your conversion (I'm sure you're not the only one doing such a thing) and we can all chip in? Personally, I'd like to rip your work off for my own use... :D

P.S. Total long shot but you're not the same Fantomas who is a dwarven warrior on Kilrogg server of WoW are ya?

My group finished the Demonskar Ball this week. They had lots of fun and engaged in some surprising activities but by the end they earned a whopping 4 points. There were two points that I actually had to give them negative points and say "See, that's why you don't bring barbarians to a dinner party."

I ran this with some mods and my players really enjoyed it. On their own initiative, they sought out instructors in dance and etiquette and had a great time role-playing at the party. The paladin was selected to portray Nabthataron and succeeded at all the dance checks (thanks to the lessons), impressing the assembled nobles (which sets things up nicely for Chapter 4 and the Cusp of Sunrise). The PCs also had a chance to mingle and have dinner with most of the major villains, which sets up some great encounters in the future. Thanks for this wonderful addition to Flood Season!

My GM just ran a mutant version of it in Curse of the Crimson Throne. So it's still getting some play, if in a rather different setting!

We didn't play it when we did SCAP, because the PCs looked at the situation and said "This will be nothing but an opportunity for our rivals to humiliate us in a situation where we can't possibly retaliate" and didn't go. The CotCT party was a lot better suited for intrigue.

The high point for me was when Lashalla the aristocrat was trying to nerve herself up to ask one of the lords of the city for a dance: and Viya the wizard took advantage of her stage fright to transform himself into a pretty blonde girl and cut in. Lashalla still hasn't forgiven Viya for that one. To add insult to injury, he didn't change anything about his appearance but his gender, so the lord must have known....

Mary

Fantomas wrote:

I have just begun a Shackled City campaign (converting it to 4e), and I will be running this ball in a few weeks. I have always had a rule of thumb when DMing - "players love in-game parties". I consider these parties my specialty. This one looks to be the mother of them all. Can't wait to run it, thanks for all the work put into it!

Now back to the gear doors of Jzadirune....

I really dont want to derail this thread but seeing as I can't PM you Fantomas, can you tell me how hard you are finding converting SCAP to 4E?

I have just started to read up the 4E rules and really like what I see, but suspect converting NPCs to them will be hard.

Perhaps you can start a new thread about your conversion (I'm sure you're not the only one doing such a thing) and we can all chip in? Personally, I'd like to rip your work off for my own use... :D

P.S. Total long shot but you're not the same Fantomas who is a dwarven warrior on Kilrogg server of WoW are ya?

I just made a post about my conversion trials in the 4e thread. Converting takes a bit of time, but it's not too bad. I feel a little funny posting my conversions on here, as some have come out wonky and just plain not good. For instance, I made the pulverizer automaton an Elite creature, and it was way, way too difficult for the party. The 3e version of the creature had it operating each round only if it rolled an 11 or higher on a d20. I changed that, so that the rolls began when it became bloodied. It was ugly.

Also, another tricky thing is the treasure. In the module, there iss stuff with hundreds and even thousands of gold. 4e has a strict "parcel" system where the PCs should have a certain amount of gold in treasure. It has required massive scaling down. I made the gnome plate mail full of coins into a rusted plate filled with copper. It's a pain.

But hey, if people are interested I can start a thread. I guess I could put notes in on how challenging each encounter was. The dark creeper blindness cloud is really cool.

So did this all happen in the Demonskar Ball?

Has anyone done a map of the Coy Nixie? It would really help to make this event come to life even more if the characters could move around the location and if all the amazing locations and ideas DD has come up with were represented on a map.

I'm especially keen to get my hands on a 5' = 1" scale version if possible but anything good would do!

Blakey

Well, I had been eagerly anticipating running the Ball. I knew my players would love it. But now they've decided not to attend.

They have hated Todd Vanderboren of the Stormblades since adventure one. They knew that the city guard were lenient with the nobles, due to the olde law of peers (and later because of the "hostility" law in the rpgenius _laws of cauldron_ file I found and put into effect a few sessions ago).

Just prior to establishing "hostility" and other laws, the PCs faced off against the Stormblades in a few Flood Festival events. The big one was a wrestling competition. The finals came down to Cora Lathenmire versus our party's romantic rogue. His rolls were crazy good. He had an epic wrestling match with her, while her concerned boyfriend Zachary Aslaxin looked on. My dice suddenly ran cold, and his were on fire. The battle had gone on so long that they had been making endurance checks, and he had made his while she was on the verge of passing out...

So as he pinned her 1, 2, 3... the rogue kissed her. Right in front of Zachary Aslaxin. The crowd was simultaneously elated and stunned. Our winner got the heck out of there. After that session, I discovered the "hostility" law (where a noble could actually prosecute someone for parodying or humiliating them). I sent out an email establishing the law, but making it clear that the rogue would not be penalized for his prior actions.

After I emailed the laws out to them, the players decided not to go to the Demonskar Ball because they didn't want to be on eggshells around the Stormblades. They also were upset that I had previously used the Stormblades to go on side missions that the heroes passed on, and then the Stormblades would rub their noses in it.

I am still baffled by all this. I can only guess that they were taking the Stormblades insults personally. I sometimes laugh during the game as I roleplay the Stormblades, because I get a kick out of playing a jerk character. I am thinking maybe they think it's a player vs. DM kind of thing? So I've pretty much phased out the Stormblades, as apparently they are dampening the players' enjoyment of the entire adventure path.

So. The Demonskar Ball is not happening for them. But I am going to use whatever I can salvage from Delvesdeep's work as part of a New Year's festival for the next session.

They also were upset that I had previously used the Stormblades to go on side missions that the heroes passed on, and then the Stormblades would rub their noses in it.

I am still baffled by all this. I can only guess that they were taking the Stormblades insults personally. I sometimes laugh during the game as I roleplay the Stormblades, because I get a kick out of playing a jerk character. I am thinking maybe they think it's a player vs. DM kind of...

It definitely weighs on their thinking too. The group had to retreat out of the catacombs beneath the bath house in Drakthar's Way to rest. They went and told Tereson Skellerang that they had found some more goblins but they didn't tell him exactly where they were in case the Stormblades tried to steal their glory! :-)

The Stormblades are currently in the process of sealing off the Underdark passage that connects to the Malachite Fortress. The story of that will be reported in the next issue of the Cauldron Chronicle (my in-game Cauldron newspaper). In it the Stormblades will be mentioning the danger the town was left in due to some people not finishing what they started (alluding to the PC's). That should annoy the PC's nicely (in a good way).

Since your player don't seem to like the whole rival group thing I think it is a good idea that you are scaling back their involvement in the storyline.

Olaf the Stout

That's a shame that the campaign has panned out that way. Perhaps the introduction of that new law has caused more harm than good?

Just off the top of my head you could despense of the law because of the new taxes that are being asked of the nobility. Some of the nobility have tried to use the law to avoid the taxes claiming that the tax collectors have been deeming and insulting demanding money from them. As a result the council has decreed that the law to be abolished for this time forward.

You could also attempt to lure the party to the Ball through personal invitations from Vhalantru, the Aslaxins or even Celeste claiming that on the night all guests are considered equal regardless of cultural or political status.

If the ship has already sailed then so be it but I think it is a shame that the party is scared to attend because of the threat of the Stormblades. It sounds like you may have played up the rivalry [b]too well[b] where it has got to a point that the party feel beaten.

Maybe you should give them a victory such as the Stormblades are angered by the parties invitation to the Ball and hoped to be the only group rewarded and acknowledged on the night. With the parties presence they will have to share the limelight at best and be shown up as a weaker party at worst. The party choosing to not attend is a much welcome relief....

Good luck with the campaign and let us know how it all goes

Delvesdeep

I just had no idea they were taking the stormblades thing so personally. My plan now is to have the heroes hear that the stormblades are going through rough times (Zachary breaks up with Cora, etc.)... and eventually, an evil entity takes over Zachary Aslaxin and the stormblades just flat out try to kill the PCs outside of the city. The PCs can kill them and that will take care of that. I'll have to look for a dramatic location for this fight to take place in.

I'm running a session tommorrow, I've cooked up a little new year's celebration and I'll scavenge what I can from the Demonskar Ball and let you know how it went!

Have a look at the document called 'The Seige of Redgorge' before you kill your Stormblades off. The Invasion could offer your party the opportunity and excuse to wipe out the noble adventure party. The only problem is that the Seige occurs during chapter 6 which may be too long a wait for you.

If you are interested search this forum for the thread dedicated too it or theRPGenius.com achive.

Good luck with the new years eve ball and your party in general.

Delvesdeep

Have a look at the document called 'The Seige of Redgorge' before you kill your Stormblades off. The Invasion could offer your party the opportunity and excuse to wipe out the noble adventure party. The only problem is that the Seige occurs during chapter 6 which may be too long a wait for you.

If you are interested search this forum for the thread dedicated too it or theRPGenius.com achive.

Good luck with the new years eve ball and your party in general.

Delvesdeep

I used a portion of the Demonskar Ball scenario in my last adventure. I placed it during a New Year's celebration. I put many of the non-noble NPCs there. Everyone from Keygan and Starbrow to the Striders.

First came the singing competition, The "Song of Heaven". I had planned it to be simple - a bard who they had paid to write songs about them was in the competition and would likely win. One of the PCs would be part of a "celebrity judge" panel and help decide the outcome.

But what ended up happening was that two of the PCs entered the singing competition. One PC, Forvan (a dragonborn warlord) was a celebrity judge, along with a couple NPCs. There was Finterwold (a nerdy kid who criticized everything, that Forvan enjoys bullying). And Conrad the Executioner, the city executioner. He had publicly be-headed Triel Eldurast just a few days before. Conrad wears his black pointy hood with the eyeholes almost everywhere (just because the idea makes me laugh).

Mr. Pip, one of the PCs, rolled really high and destroyed the competition in singing, like that opera guy on Britain's got talent. But when the judges deliberated, both of the NPCs just wanted to vote for the hottest woman. Forvan used intimidate on Finterwold to make him change his vote.

While the judges deliberated, the other PCs hopped on stage and put on an impromptu juggling show. Mr Pip and Sagan (the thief) did a juggling act (and made their rolls) while Kelvamin the wizard put on a light show. By the time the judges were ready, the crowd was chanting for the "Vanquishers" (which is the party name).

Mr. Pip was declared the winner.

Then came the dancing part, where there's two magic circles and everyone has to dance around them in a figure eight pattern. I warned the players that a bad roll would mean an embarrassing collision, and that people in the city would talk about it. But to my surprise they all entered anyway.

The favorites to win were Fario and Skie. The potential couple to collide with was Rufus (the cleric they rescued in the very first encounter of the campaign) and a "lady" from a place I made up called "The Devil's Horns". So the PCs all rolled... and did well. In fact, Sagan and Shensen Tesseril were out ahead. And then I rolled for Fario and Skie... and rolled a one! They collided with Rufus, the crowd laughed, and Fario's gonna stay inside for a month or so.

So Sagan won. Then everyone enjoyed a magic light show cpnsisting of magic images in the sky depicting big moments of the gods in my campaign (most of the good gods are former characters).

All in all, the players loved it and it was pretty much one of the highlights of the campaign. Thanks delvesdeep, you are extremely helpful!

delvesdeep, the Demonskar Ball is intended to be run after the Wands in Flood Season have been recovered, correct?

Olaf the Stout

Yes it was designed to be run after the party emerge with the wands and the city is saved but you can adapt the adventure to suit any stage.

Delvesdeep

DD, just so you know, your contributions are still being enjoyed as my group has recently started Shackled City and I will be utilizing your Demonskar Ball write-up as soon as we arrive at that chapter. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Shannon

DD, just so you know, your contributions are still being enjoyed as my group has recently started Shackled City and I will be utilizing your Demonskar Ball write-up as soon as we arrive at that chapter. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Shannon

The party will spend tonight emptying Oblivion and rescuing Celeste from the painting. One of my party is particularly keen to reacquaint himself with her after a enjoying a lovely evening with her at the Demonskar Ball.

From this point on I have to write up the Haunted Village Adventure that I plan to substitute with the Ruins of Shatterhorn adventure and the final Nightmare Realm adventure. I've been putting these two off for years as my work and family life continued to increase but it's now or never.

Great to hear you are using the Demonskar Ball Shannon and I wish you every luck with your new campaign.

Delvesdeep