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The pcs are saviours of the city! However rank hath its problems as well...The adventure I'm planning for them involves the pcs' patrons asking them to help make sure three candidates for magistracy get elected. I was hoping I could get some suggestions but also a critique of the structure of the adventure.

1. The pcs are invited to a dinner party by their patron, who introduces three candidates. They are the guild master of merchants, an inexperienced young knight of great intelligence and an experienced finance officer who has run tax/customs/public works. The pcs as foreigners cannot run for office but are known to be wealthy and are heroes to the public; they will (ideally) act as support and protection for these politicians.

2. The finance officer is running for an office that will enable him to to some extent control the elections of the other two. His intention is to have some sports events and other public spectacles to gather attention before the first stage of the electoral process.

3. Following this a public oration is necessary, to be held in the market place of the city district running the election.

4. After this there is an announcement of the gathering of representatives of the city guilds and fellowships of free citizens of non-aristocratic rank. A Censor, a high ranking magistrate, is appointed to determine who may legitimately vote and who is counted as a voter.

5. At the public gathering there is a debate between the candidates.

6. Finally, there is a vote for candidate.

What I'm trying to work out is what kind of challenges the pcs might face, and ideally I'm hoping people here can offer me things outside of my box of thinking. Thanks very much for any help that is offered!


When you're dealing with higher level/sociallly high ranking pcs what are ways of rewarding them that can keep the game still interesting? (btw thanks to all those who helped with my undead threads) Let's say the pcs are the heroes of the hour and yet they want to go on gaming, and there are rivals to deal with and still enemies to beat. I'm talking in terms of rewards at the end of adventures, given to them by important npcs or whatever.


I'm trying to come up with a series of attacks/events for a general campaign event: (and would appreciate suggestions.) What I'd ultimately like are elements that would suggest a gathering force large for attempting to assault the city, trying to get in. The pcs have an investigative mission to do involving the pyramids but I want this as a major distraction.

1. Exag is being occupied by the pcs. (for those aware it is being set in my undead war campaign and is a path along the way of the 'Rescue the Queen' adventure.

2. The city is much as described in Dungeon, but now add on about 1,200 troops including:
- 1 8th level warrior/4th aristocrat (Senior Cavalry Commander)
- 12 5th level warrior/3rd level aristocrats (Infantry and Cav commanders)
- 11 3/3 warrior/priests
- 2 6th level sorcerors
- 120 3rd level fighters (ncos)
- 40 4th level fighters (heavily armoured two handed swordsmen)
- 120 heavy cavalry (40 2/2 warrior aristocrat, 80 2nd level warriors)
- 100 1st level barbarians (mounted infantry)(3 4th level, 1 6th level)
- 400 pikemen (1st level)
- 200 crossbowmen (1st level)
- 100 halberdiers (2nd level)
- 30 1st level, 20 2nd level, 5 3rd level, 4 4th level, 1 5th level rangers. (60 altogether)

3. Perrenland embassy has become an allied Trade Envoy setup, but is basically the same.

4. Green Welcome element removed entirely.

5. Yak-Folk are changed to being part of the wererat cult in my game. (So for example Banfar has a cane with a cat's skull instead of a rat's skull for flavour)


Has anyone every started this adventure path for higher level characters? Is it still fun?


There is already a discussion thread about having this in a D20 modern setting, but what about doing it in D&D? Would this be impossible given the existence of spellcasters and magical items? How might it work?


Hi everyone. I have the following main creatures as monsters in my campaign right now:

1. wererats (plus their dire rat pets)

2. minor undead (zombies, skeletons, ghouls, ghasts, wights, monster zombies and swarm creature zombies)

3. major undead (liches, vampires, wraiths)

(this is leaving out various summoned outsiders and pc type creatures and so on)

My questions are these:

1. Can lycanthropes catch undead diseases, or can undead be affected by the bite or scratch of a lycanthrope?

2. how are outsiders like devils or demons affected by undead infection or lycanthrope infection?


My pcs have thrown me a curveball and want to go to this palace to rescue a queen from her mad husband. I foolishly didn't plan for this at all (but how can you plan for everything?) What I'd like is an interesting scenario for this rescue--if anyone knows of an already published adventure kind of like this that would be an enormous help!

The pcs are about 14th-15th level at this stage; the city itself is hostile to them. There is a largely human population of religious fanatics who are swarming in mobs purging people. There are also undead roaming the streets. (mostly ghouls, ghasts, zombies, skeletons, the occasional wight) Finally there is a cult of wererats trying to profit by things. The pcs believe these are their allies, and they are as long as the pcs stay duped.


I’m hoping people will be kind enough to critique and evaluate my adventure plan. It is frankly lifted from Fritz Leiber and I’m not trying to plagiarize, I’m just adapting a couple of stories for my own campaign for fun.

Basic background: The pcs are high ranking characters leading the army of a princess with a claim to the throne. She has captured a region and a city but has a long way to go before she has the crown. Meanwhile the king’s top general has begun a long range siege of the city in anticipation of it beginning to starve if it cannot gain access to a major harvest. An attempt at cutting off the general’s supply lines has failed.

Two convoys of river craft have tried to get trade resources to the city of Eruk, a tributary city state that controls a large region of farmland, but both have vanished without a trace! No one knows what has happened to them at all. In desperation the Princess’ council begs the pcs to take up their arms and spells and accompany a third convoy before the pinch is felt enough to genuinely anger and frighten the people.

Basic Hook: The pcs are asked to accompany a convoy of timber, furs, granite and other important minerals to the city of Eruk and bring back a supply of grain, vegetables and livestock.

Cast of Characters (apart from the pcs, who are The General, the High Priestess, the Wizard, the Commander of Rangers)

The Commodore (dour, suspicious, superstitious in a pragmatic tough way; knows the river country like the back of his hand, knows that the previous convoy commanders were experienced enough to make him very distrustful of any mere accident.)

The Prefect (a cop with an inferiority complex; this well born but impoverished nobleman intends to demonstrate that it is the mangy mercenaries in the princess’ employ who have been stealing the grain. He stubbornly refuses to believe anything else until it bites him on the…nose.)

The Demoiselle (this young lady is demure and lovely and seems to merely be the daughter of a wealthy grain merchant, but is in fact a were-rat intent upon destroying yet another convoy. Supposedly she is going to an important marriage that will help seal the economic alliance.

The Djinn (her mysterious and beautiful servant, who in thrall to the Demoiselle is the means by which she seems able to escape almost anything)

The Rats (these include special pet trained rats and a hidden army of dire and normal rats that either follow or hide themselves in order to obey the orders of their mistress.)

The Evil Grain Merchant (in disguise as a great black rat, this were-rat sorcerer is in league with the enemy general and is an important agent of the king—with his own agenda. He has recently been elevated to the nobility for his services.)

The Slaver (this man is actually neutral, not a bad sort but will seem more sinister than anyone. The Slaver seems sinister because his speech impediment makes him wary of talking except through a go-between, his scars are an accident and like a hunter who has shot his last buck is thinking this will be his last trip; he intends to join a priesthood. Pure red herring but possible ally.)

The Mangy Prophet (a scruffy smelly guy who predicts awful things. He warns that ‘the dead are unquiet in their graves with the impiety of those foul creatures who have deceived the princess and led her to blaspheme and attack her rightful king’)

The awful prophet (a hot eyed fanatic with followers in the city of Eruk, who talks of similar things—‘death stalks those who defy their sovereign! Our alliance is an alliance with murderers and brigands! The dead are unquiet in their graves!’)

Plotline

1. The pcs undertake the mission, have a chance to meet important (and merely colourful) npcs, equip themselves, do research etc before the mission gets underway. They discover that the journey involves the river winding through wild country inhabited by some neutral and some hostile barbarian tribes before reaching the borders of Eruk.

2. The convoy has a few dangerous encounters—a huge hydra, a ‘toll’ commanded by a mad druid and his barbarian followers. These give the pcs a chance to demonstrate that they are more than just reputation to the crew and captain.

3. The rat army begins attacking the ships and barges of the convoy; the first of them disappears. The pcs have a chance to notice that rats are involved. However the Demoiselle is trying to confuse them as best she can. The pcs have a couple of chances to prevent other ships from vanishing if they investigate. The Prefect attempts to get in their way.

4. There is a showdown of some kind with the wererats and their Djinn.
5. If the pcs reach Eruk with any part of the convoy intact, they discover that prophets stalk the streets there too; there are pyres on the streets and many people gathering in temples. The pcs discover that they are not very popular and it is a major effort (requiring bribes, intimidation, etc) to get the trading done. A riot is encouraged against them. They find out that undead stalk the streets and the city is going mad. A mad fanatic warns them that they will only find death in Numalia too.

6. The pcs return to find that there are similar scenes in Numalia. The evil Grain Merchant has gained the ear of the Princess and offers that only he can help relieve the city of the curse…


The pcs' army has taken a city in the name of a princess they are supporting for the crown. I'm trying to catch up--they used magic to undermine the walls and then simply led their forces into it in spite of overwhelming forces coming to relieve it, forced the governor to surrender before they could be attacked and now have captured it.

The question is, what to do now? The enemy general coming to the city's relief has withdrawn--not too far but neither army can really afford to campaign without the harvests coming in. How might the city respond to the pcs' conquest? They essentially command a force of mercenaries and barbarians recruited on behalf of this princess--she only has a sort of honour guard of warriors of her own folk. What I'm thinking of specifically are:

- commerce--does it continue as usual? Might the pcs gain from this?

- encounters between conquered and conquerors--how might these go?

- law and order?

- Thieves' Guild?

- Local Temples? (assuming they are not ones outright hostile to the pcs)

- Local politics? The princess has a claim to this throne, so what kinds of machinations and deals might be made, say with city aristocracy, guildmasters, officials and so on?

Anyway I greatly appreciate any help offered. At times I feel that my enjoyment of my players' proactive creativity is balanced by me trying to catch up.


A concern people sometimes have about gaming with a party that has achieved high rank is how to get them into adventures--surely it is said by some characters with high office will be too busy to adventure? Of course this tends to be from the point of view of us modern people who see leaders as office bound entirely.

In my game the party are responsible for a general region controlled by the army that is besieging a city. (They're basically commanding a corps of the army to all intents and purposes.) So when the chief engineer was assassinated in his tent they actually acted like leaders--they cast information gathering spells, used leadership and delegated the investigation while they continued planning the siege. I was disconcerted for a moment but then realized they were taking their responsibilities seriously. It was only when the party's wizard was almost a victim of the assassin that they got involved directly; even then they initially sent a group of lower level rangers and barbarians to try to corner the assassin and to their dismay the npc group took casualties.

So one method of having pcs who are in positions of responsibility get involved with adventures is to make it necessary to have them involved for reasons of their own. I felt kind of thrilled. Just wanted to share this.


A general question about siege warfare in D&D: would this more closely resemble modern warfare rather than ancient, because of possible equivalents to long range communications, high explosives, aerial attacks and so on? Or would all this be rare enough to be exceptional?


One thing I'm trying to work on is what kind of people are on the islands--I'd like an interesting mix of independant or semi-independant communities if possible.


Perhaps I should clarify as well--what I'm interested in mostly are adventures that this would involve.


Are there any good adventures/settings for this besides:

1. Maztica (not thrilled with it unless someone has some good ideas)

2. Tamoachan (got it)

3. Savage Tide (got it--a little too specific though fun in its own context)


This is the next in my adventure path. The pcs will have two important encounters following dealing with the city of the lost colonists. I was going to have another Mayan type ancient ruined city occupied by reptilian folk, followed by an encounter with a big inland lake. After that there is an encounter with some primitive shore dwelling hunters who live in superstitious dread of a vast unnaturally made stone barrier not far away. They claim that beyond there lies a city ruled by goddesses who have extraordinary powers.

What I want ideally is to create a utopian society that is secretly a dystopia; one which will ideally seduce the pcs without seeming totally boring. I'd appreciate any help or thoughts with this one.


In keeping with pulp adventure stories my pcs are about to encounter a lost city populated by some local barbarians but mostly by long lost explorers from a known realm. I have some vague ideas for this hook but I'm not happy with other lost city things I've been encountering so far. The only one I can think of that I have enjoyed is the "Lost City" module which I've already done.

So this may seem kinda lame but I was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to brainstorm with me a bit.


As per the "Salt Marsh Horror" thread (thanks very much for ideas) I am planning to use 'zombies' that are really host bodies for colonies of the young of giant insects. I was trying to think of what the logistics of this would be, what kind of stages might exist and so on.

This is a rough outline but I'd appreciate some help with it.

1. The young--I'm trying to figure out if these should be larvae or nymphs, though I'm thinking that the larvae inhabit the body (much as some wasps and other insects put their larvae in bodies). I'm figuring that they're Tiny to start with and grow to Small.

2. Damage to the host body. The way I've done it in general is that the host body dies soon after the eggs are laid, and the infant colony controls the body in order to intake food. But how much damage needs to be done?

3. Growth--what begins to change about the host body?


I'm running a nautical campaign and my second adventure (following merry mayhem with the Thieves Guild in a port city) involves the pcs' ship being hired to scout out a possible route through a salt marsh.

(The basic background: there is a large river that is navigable but the port city there is well defended by two forts controlling main approaches from the coast. To the south there is a large area of salt marshes leading up to a vulnerable estuary that no large fortifications can be built upon. A general occupying another city would like to see if his enemies can be outflanked using the salt marshes.)

The salt marshes are a seemingly endless labyrinth of channels and natural canals. While regular soldiers and scouts might quail at this, a band of hardy adventurers might be able to conquer this! Equipped with a small fast ship that can hide along the wild southern coastline, and with a ship's launch to get them into the channels they will try to find an approach.

The area is known to be populated mostly by wild creatures but most particularly by tribes of runaway slaves and cannibalistic barbarian tribesmen. Caution and stealth will probably succeed over brawn, but if it comes to that great heroes have been hired who should be able to prevail.

Okay that's what I have so far. I'm trying to come up with a series of encounters leading up to the pcs discovering a ruin or lair of some kind. Ideally an npc being kidnapped (a la the Olangru encounter in Dungeon) or an elusive mystery will lead them to want to figure out what's in there.

What I was actually thinking of was a truly alien horror to be discovered here: something like an intelligent giant insect colony. Perhaps for the implication to be that a group of adventurers from a cannibal village unwittingly opened a sealed area in the temple and unleashed the awfulness, and the pcs need to put a stop to them or the giant bugs will breed so rapidly they will represent another invasion. But what kind of giant bugs would suit a salt marsh?


Apart from "Savage Tide" what sea based adventures are there?


I am planning an adventure for my campaign that I have elements for but little connection with. I'd appreciate some help with it.

Elements:

- Solo game (female paladin and her followers escorting the virginal bride of her liege lord, a duke, to a castle.)(followers include soldiers, a bard, a cleric and a ranger)

- necessity of diverting the normal civilized route due to (situation?)

- ancient abandoned dwarvish city

- monastery

- barbarian/orc inhabited territory

- few settlements--mostly fortified outposts that are either ruled by rough tough traders/miners/trappers/local warlords.

- potential lover of the future bride--an impetuous but brave and good hearted squire

- vicious rivalry between the duke and his sister. (the sister although evil pretends to be good and is very popular; the duke appears cynical, ugly and cold and yet is very good.)


Has anyone run this--and interested in sharing any tips or experiences?


I'm midway through a somewhat sponataneous adventure (though a lot of the background is developed).

Basically a paladin and her followers (level ten paladin, a lower level cleric, ranger, bard and about 40 mercenary soldiers, 20 commoners) had been sent to reinforce a fort. The fort however has been sacked (hastily) by some party that gained entrance without damaging walls or without obvious magic. Having buried the dead and explored the place a bit they found the commander of the fort who appears insane and incoherent. They also encountered a naked woman in the woods nearby who claimed to have been robbed.

I have to admit I'm not quite sure where to go from here. I had mentioned rumors of a powerful group of bandits or raiders who have been attacking local villages. The region is part of a duchy wherein there is some dispute about the succession.

Any thoughts? I realize this is kind of vague...


One thing I've often enjoyed about the fantasy novels that I like is that there are clear reasons (whether spiritual or physical) for the existence of strange creatures and monsters. Does anyone else do this?

For example I have the following ideas for my own campaign world:

1. There are creatures who represent a kind of extra planar invasion. These include undead (basically undead are posessed bodies that have different ranges of power. A zombie is more or less a mindless hunger spirit while a ghast is an intelligent crafty spirit capable of wielding magic and planning tactics) actual physical demons (which need a lot of magical power just to come from their own world).

2. The results of magical experiments--either sentient constructs or mutations.

3. Nature spirits from the native world. These range from highly intelligent beings to ones that are little more than plants and fungi.

4. Creatures who are from another plane but are benevolent, summoned or sent to help the natives.

I don't know if this simplicity is desirable for everyone, but at times I find D&D to be such a stew of different ideas that just having a creature around adds another story and level of complexity you don't always want.


(sorry if this is a double post but it didn't let me do it before)
The campaign I'm planning is about a modern small city/large town magically transported to a D&D world. Upon arrival the dead begin to walk (because they are not magically restrained) and chaos of various kinds ensues. The main plot stuff I'm still working on but to start with I had a few practical questions I was hoping could be answered such as:

1. Would water/power be cut off? And what kind of emergency sources on a large scale would exist?

2. What about communications? How would they be maintained? What problems would crop up?

3. How much fuel and food, etc need to be transported weekly to a small to medium sized city?

If anyone can think of other obvious problems please let me know...


This is a campaign/adventure that will be about a modern small city/large town that is magically transported to a D&D world. So far the background is that it is the result of an attempt at creating a massive gate that went wrong. (why I'll figure out later) It arrives in an area that fell to monstrous and magical invasion and thus has little human/demihuman population at all. Immediately upon arrival the dead begin to walk and it appears to the inhabitants to be like some kind of zombie/28 Days Later thing that creates chaos and panic.

That's just the background, but my main concern right now is some practicalities, such as:
1. What happens to water and power?

2. How long can a modern town/city go without shipments of food and fuel?

3. how much food/fuel/medecine/etc is stored in a modern town or city?

4. what kind of backup power and communications would exist?

5. How much ammunition would police/military base have access to?


I have a list of fantasy battles that I've been thinking of and how you could run them with D&D/other OGL as involving players without leaving out the pcs' self will entirely.

1. "The Battle of Minas Tirith". In this battle it seems that a large force is gathering even as raids attempt to undermine control of the borders of the kingdom of Gondor.

The mustering of the army under the Witch-King of Angmar results in them pushing across the river by main force and driving out the thinly spread force of Rangers of Ithilien led by Captain Faramir. This failure is demoralizing for the army of Gondor has not yet been mustered due to the pessimism and over caution of the Lord Steward, Denethor. The main force for optimism comes from a wizard, Mithrandir/Gandalf who is not accepted by all ranks of the leadership as having any real authority.

Nevertheless forces have gathered for Gondor in the wake of the evacuation of most of the citizens of the city, and the alliance between Gondor and Rohan is invoked so as to bring further reinforcements. For the part of the forces of Mordor they also expect reinforcements from the Corsairs but clearly the Witch-King is determined to proceed in spite of their absence--quite possibly because there is no naval force to oppose their arrival.

Soon after this the Witch-King's army, made up of orcs and Black Numenoreans, has arrived on the plains and begins to besiege the city easily due to numerical superiority. There is an attempt to prevent this but it turns out to be a forlorn hope, with Captain Faramir and his forces cut to pieces.

The siege seems to be going very much Mordor's way--the leadership suffers a collapse within Gondor with Lord Denethor's suicide. In spite of the presence of Gandalf morale is failing, and the gates are breached. Just in the nick of time the Riders of Rohan arrive.

Nevertheless in spite of this the Mordor forces rally, led directly by the Witch-King himself, whose counterattack devastates the Riders. While heavy casualties have been inflicted it seems Mordor can still win, even though as a result of the counterattack the Witch-King himself is destroyed by Eowyn of Rohan.

It is finally the arrival of the corsair fleet led by Aragorn, the heir of Gondor, with supernatural forces as his allies that really wins the day. It is clearly the Return of the King.

I apologize for this long analysis, but I wanted to demonstrate that the main adventure that takes place doesn't actually happen within the battle itself; it is Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli who represent what the game should focus on in a great battle.


I've been thinking of making the focus of my next campaign a civil war in a great empire, and I'm wondering if that is too complicated or how it could best be worked. What I was thinking is that in the early stages of it it would involve a lot of raids and intrigues as the three heirs or claimants are trying to avoid outright war. Thoughts?


I'd like some critique or additions or advice with an adventure I'm working on. Things I'd like in particular:

1. Nature of the Great Old One/Lord of Madness/whatever that is beneath a city.

2. Any ideas for fleshing out the actual adventure portions of this text as presented in bold.

Thanks very much in advance.

the adventure so far:

(based in part on "The Lost City", "Tatters of the King" (CoC) and also on very good ideas I was given on EnWorld)
The pcs have the following hooks

1. Scholars approach them requesting escort--following a particular path in a heavily forested wilderness will lead to landmarks that somehow magically enable finding this lost city, which is said to be the resting place of magical items and lore of great antiquity.

2. The pcs stumble upon it while on a journey following the same landmarks by pure chance/destiny accident.

(or others as necessary)

Upon arrival they discover that this city seems to have been in ancient times carved smoothly out of living rock and tree so that it has a strange smoothness and elegance. It is at first eerie and seems uninhabited, but this is only because the number of inhabitants has dwindled.

The people living there wear masks. These are almost entirely elves, most of whom live lives of a strangely artistic bent. A population of servant creatures (I'm not sure what these are yet, but lesser fae of some kind who are not very intelligent) provide food and drink and any necessary maintenance, leaving the masked citizens free of all cares. They spend their days either in delusions brought on by hallucinogens or else in pursuit of philosophies, poetry, music, dance and theatre.

On the outskirts of the city are felldrakes, which were driven out, and are wary and suspicious of strangers. These small wingless dragons as far as the present day elves are concerned are dangerous predators, though in fact they were raised as defenders. The felldrakes are among the only creatures in the area though that have some idea of what's really going on. There is a curse preventing them from re-entering; if the pcs break it they can receive help from them.

There are also three factions of outsiders, descendants of heroes who have long ago forgotten their purpose and have become rivals, fighting for the privilege of protecting an artifact locked away in an ancient building. This is an ancient sword that is a weapon of enormous power but also of great evil. Part of the adventure is this: the pcs must find a way to prevent one of the factions from getting it and ignoranly invoking its power again.

Finally there are the strange priests of the Great Old One beneath the city. The city is locked in its demi-plane to prevent this Great Old One from waking, but the inhabitants have long forgotten that. Even the priests do not remember, they only know that the Great Old One must be appeased. The pcs discover that the priests' actions are not appeasement but a process of wakening that will unleash the Great Old One unless they are stopped.


I'm planning for a demonic incursion into a rural community in my game. The pcs are called in to investigate a series of strange murders, accidents and bizarre events.

What I'd like is something more out of a horror movie than from regular D&D; I have only had a few demon encounters but I've tried to make them very scary and weird. In this case I'm thinking of evoking the sense of supernatural kind of biblical horror--from films say like "The Reaping" "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" "The Devil's Advocate" and so on. I'd appreciate any help or thoughts--in particular which kinds of demons/devils/outsiders would be good for this kind of thing.

Also, since this is D&D, how could it best be drawn out? Obviously certain spells, particularly clerical spells, can simply make a demon go away, but I don't want that. I'd like for example for the pcs to be baffled as to what is doing this but getting clues gradually, having a confrontation only after they've discovered what it is, gone to a strange location to find the being and then have a chance to deal with it.


Any ideas for composition of a horde of vermin driven by mad elvish druids? Giant bugs would be good too.


I don't know if this came up for anyone else, but supposing the pcs try to do a large scale attack on Scuttlecove? Would the other factions align with the Crimson Fleet or would they hide and hold back? What if the pcs had made a deal say with Kedward Bone or Tyralandi for example?


The 'good guys' (aka the side the pcs are on) is an alliance between several powers/tribes including: humans, lizardfolk, hobgoblins (and goblin, orc, bugbear subjects and allies), and 3 chromatic dragons (a blue, a black and a green).

The 'bad guys' are evil elves (I don't really use Drow as written up--these are vengeance driven elves who want to destroy the 'younger races' for ruining their forest homes), Grimlocks, Meenlocks, Derro mercenaries and summoned demons.

The problem is that the evil elves have created a haven for themselves underground. Unable to use former forest allies they have begun breeding up vermin to use as war material. They stage raids and then retreat beneath the surface again.

What I'd like are some ideas about this war. The following things are ideas I'm working on:

1. Uneasy alliance--the human republic, lizardfolk tribes and the goblinoid/human worshippers of Tiamat are in an alliance of necessity, not of Tolkienesque 'good guys versus bad guys'. What issues might come up, what difficulties might ensue?

2. Manner of warfare--how might the surface dwellers plan to wage such a war? Raiding parties? Establishment of zones of control that gradually converge?

3. Style of warfare--what unusual means of fighting and tactics would have to develop for the surface dwellers to be effective? How might the underground dwellers best confuse and destroy those who want to destroy them?

4. Magic particular to underground warfare. Does anyone have any good ideas about this? It seems to me that in particular magics that can manipulate rock, cause confusion, damage light or vision would be particularly effective, but any other ideas would be appreciated. On the other hand what would the surface dwellers do?


I'm preparing for this adventure and what I'm after here is not so much the meat of the adventure but the fluff surrounding it. The pcs will accompany a clever, coolheaded diplomat (aristocrat level 6) on a mission to a Theocratic Republic mostly led by hobgoblins but also with some human and other races among the leadership.

I'm depicting the hobgoblins as a rather aristocratic warrior race who leave craftsmanship and shopkeeping to 'lesser races'. (maybe like the Mamelukes in that they're quasi-religious warriors who require demonstration of ability to gain rank)

So to give a sense of structure I'd like some ideas based on:
1. The arrival in the Theocracy's borders

2. Travel to the capital.

3. Arrival in the capital--meet and greet, what they might see.

4. The process of negotiations. (trade treaty, agreements about maintaining the peace and dealing with piracy in mutually used territory such as major rivers and a shared coastline, also banditry along the borderlands)

5. Events.

6. Plans for departure.


I have a party of 4 who I left off last session fleeing from some Grimlocks and evil elves.

Background Context: In effect they had been searching the caverns below an elvish ruin in a haunted forest for some people who are missing from a caravan. The caves are only faintly lit up by luminous writing that if decoded maps the area out--somewhat. The evil elves are rather like those Forgotten Realms ones who hate humans.

The situation: I'd like to have some ideas for the pursuit--clearly letting the pcs regroup and regather spells and so on is a no no. (I'm not trying for a tpk but I do want it to be challenging)


Did anyone like the article, or consider using any part of it for a game?


I need to plan the ambush of a caravan my players are leading the security of. It consists of six wagons and a group of 12 mounted npcs. I may be unecessarily complicating things so I'd appreciate some help.

The area is a small town with a monastery overlooking it. There are orchards and fields in rolling country nearby for about four miles in each direction. Cottages dot parts of this. The town itself is on either side of a road with a brook running through it. The monastery is on a hill.

(the town for other game purposes is deserted but that's another story--just suffice to say that no one is there)

The ambushers are to be a large enough party of ghouls and ghasts as to overwhelm the caravan. The pcs are a high level group (10th) and so I need to have sufficient reason for them to retreat. It is meant to be a kind of 28 Days Later/Dawn of the Dead scenario where a hoard of hungry dead swarm at them. What is the best way to plan and present this?


My compliments to Angel McCoy, Christopher Perkins, Brom and Chuck Lukacs and Christopher West for a good all rounder of an adventure. There just aren't enough adventures set in civilized countryside. The ironic thing is that I just picked up an old copy of Dungeon out of a box in a used bookstore on a whim, and found a perfect adventure in it for my 11th level (generally) party.

I'm sure others have complimented you before but I just thought you all might like to know that the adventure is still drawing appreciation. I love the cleverness of the double dealing, the nice blend of human complexity with plot simplicity, and a very clear motivation for becoming a villain. It's also a cool ending wherein the pcs must justify their actions--how often does THAT happen? (I remember in one adventure I had a follower suddenly exclaim, "Hey, since when are we grave robbers? Is that some enemy whose grave we have the right to desecrate? You don't know..."


In the tired and weary but nearly triumphant Republic of New Edom, victory appears to be at hand. For the first time, a major expedition is planned which will invade the Great Kingdom of the Drenai--with the aid of Drenai themselves! Having built an alliance with the kingdoms of Cadwald and Courdewayne.

Link for the Celtic Great Kingdom(http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?39954)
Link for the Republic of New Edom
{http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?24252)

there is a general agreement that the Duchy of Deva and the Lords of the Haralaw Isles are the key enemies.

I'd appreciate any input or suggestions for the important elements and adventure path listed below, any requesting of details that might help me flesh out my ideas, criticisms or completely out of the box ideas. I should also add that my players at this stage have had a lot to do with advising the general plans.

Important Elements:
1. New Edom has a new High Lord named Crowl; a bitter but eloquent and shrewd man who lost a hand fighting hobgoblins on the border. It is his grand strategy that the new alliance is pursuing.

2. Two major thrusts of the planned military campaign: one is a land based one entirely which will move mainly forces of Courdewayne and Cadwald against the Duchy of Deva; the other will be supported by Yasg privateers and Cadwaldish ships but will mainly be New Edomites invading the Harlaw Isles.

The Adventure Path

1. The pcs (now at around 10th-11th level) will arrive at the city of Cordwin in Courdewayne (if someone can come up with a better name I'd be happy) and there are responsible for the safety and keeping of a disgruntled Harlaw claimant. Part of the plan is that this prince will accompany the invasion force and try to raise his people to his banner. (I'm trying to come up with an adventure for this but I thought something intriguish might be good)

2. The initial invasion calls for an attempt to get directly onto the main inhabited island. The best way is nevertheless difficult; a river entrance is guarded by a tribe of Sahuagin who are aligned with the current rulers of the Harlaw family. Once this underwater fortress is taken (by the pcs leading aquatic allies) longships can take the army up river inland.

3. The Harlaw prince (minded by the pcs) heads for his own lands to raise his personal forces. However it is discovered that they are terrified by an incursion of demonic forces sent by the Harlaw ruler to claim the lands.

4. The pcs and their ally attempt to rally certain of his clansmen to their banner; in so doing they have a chance to discover an heirloom weapon in a forgotten tomb that might give their prince the proper claim.

5. Meanwhile the rest of the army catches up (ideally helped along the way by now friendly locals) but by now the Harlaw ruler has rallied an army of powerful foes. Here a great battle is fought with magics, monsters and mighty heroes on both sides. The pcs have opportunities to discover much about enemy plans and the region to give their army an edge.

6. (Supposing victory) At the fortress-city of Harleigh the pcs are key to finding a way into the fortifications that will not involve a long costly siege or wasteful assault. In so doing they learn that this is the home of the lich that has been their true nemesis all along. They learn that for whatever reason the lich has prepared a powerful gate into another world to raise yet another force there. There are hints that they may find in this other world why the lich is the enemy of their people and what he truly has in store for them...


How many victory points did groups score in the Farshore battle? Did anyone do anything unexpectedly cool?


My pcs are keeping the black pearl from "Broken Idols" to use as a bluff weapon, basically casting an illusion on it to give it that 'evil face' thing and are planning on coating it in blood to bluff the enemy when they face the Crimson Fleet. I thought this was a good idea actually. Has anyone else's party come up with similar cleverness?


If my pcs are not going to Noltus' camp but instead are going to try to sneak onto the island, how could I best run that first fight with the two demons and the skinwalkers? I was thinking of just having them stalk the pcs (secretly doing observation rolls and so on on the pcs' behalf, maybe letting them notice things) and then plan an ambush at a vulnerable point. If this is the case should I still use the same tactics or alter them? One thing I was thinking was if there are no lizardfolk having the ghouls be summoned in place of the animate dead action. I also don't think the pcs would be tricked by a disguise at this particular point.

What I'd been thinking was this:

1. The acolyte might cast his feeblemind first; Onailati makes himself invisible; the julajimus (which might be in the area as a harmless looking small monkey or small dinosaur or something) shifts its form and attacks the toughest looking pc; the skinwalkers use their poisoned arrows.

2. The acolyte casts a fireball at whoever is not being engaged by the julajimus while Onailati summons his ghouls and the skinwalkers follow up the fireball attack with a pounce and attack.

3. The acolyte takes to the air while Onailati begins his death knell, the others continue their tactics.

How does this sound?


In my current campaign the novels I look to for inspiration are probably the grittier type, written by Steve Erikson, George R.R. Martin, Jacqueline Carey,David Gemmell, Robert E. Howard and so on. Does anyone else make use of this and run a more 'mature' campaign?


So what did people think of this? I liked the writing style and the heroine in general, which surprised me--I was expecting some kind of Anita Blake Mary Sue stuff, but it turns out that this protagonist is fairly vulnerable. The descriptions of a kind of fantasy angel descended version of France was intriguing, and the religion in particular I thought was fascinating.

What disappointed me was this: just when that all started getting really interesting it seemed to turn into a rather conventional fantasy novel. What was there was well presented, and had a few surprises (for instance that there really is a 'lord of the channel'--I was expecting some kind of important sea-prince with a vast fleet, not the Great Oz meets the Poseidon Adventure) and I did like the parts about the captivity among the Skaldi for the sheer adventure of it. But I was disappointed I think because just when I got very interested in how the society Phedre lives in functioned it all stopped and a war began. I wanted to have a clearer idea of how the Night Court co-existed with the nobility, for instance.

Apart from that it was enjoyable, but I'm wondering if it is worthwhile to read any of the other books.


Are any players/gms using elements of the draconomicon, specifically with regard to having dragons involved with a party? If so how is that going, and what is fun/challenging/sucky about that? What kind of dragons or dragon related characters are used? Are the dragon-specific feats made use of at all?


The Savage Tide Adventure Path was perfect to fit into my campaign as an adventure series. What I've changed is this:

1. The Crimson Fleet is actually a group of privateers raised by a particular noble family, enemies to the republic the pcs come from.

2. To be consistent with my overall campaign, the kopru are replaced with a Crimson Fleet-Drow-Yuan-Ti alliance. (this alliance is attempting to gather Shadow Pearls to use as a weapon in war)

3. The adventure order goes like this for the Isle:
- Here be Monsters
- Building up Farshore/Reclaiming the ship
- Zotzilaha's Wrath
- Temple of the Jaguar
- City of Broken Idols
- Lightless Depths
- Crimson Sunset

In no small part I've done this because my pcs thought of the AP this way. I liked this; rather than using Lavinia as the main motivation for doing everything, I'm going with the pcs' own motivations and ideas. They will have a chance to make allies from Rivenskull Cave in the Zotzilaha's Wrath adventure. I'm simply going to have the idol among the treasures in the plateau. It was taken to remove one of the last remaining Olman deities' influence.

4. The climax will join elements of "Serpents of Scuttlecove" to "Crimson Sunset" to level things up. (more Yuan-Ti, higher level pirate commanders)

5. The city of Thanaclan is reduced in population but still the remnant of a great civilization. I'm blending elements of Conan with Burroughs' Opar and the game material.

- Skinwalkers lead the evil cult.
- dire apes act as footsoldiers
- mercenaries from the Crimson Fleet and certain savage mainland tribes act as slavehunters for population replenishment and slaves.
- the actual population are like lotus-eaters. They are decadent and dreamy, barely aware of what evils are being done. They now and then dreamily wander through the inner city but never venture out. The basic work is done by slaves directed by skinwalker overseers.
- The Drow/Yuan-Ti force have led a troglodyte supported expedition into the Lightless Depths to gather material for Shadow Pearls. There are a smaller number of these in the old pyramid guarded by Skinwalkers.
- the god/demon prince is Dagon instead of Demogorgon. The pcs have encountered 3 different major servitors including the Green Mother, Yibb-Still in the Shrine of the Black Ones, and a secret shrine in Farshore operated by people loyal to Vanthus Vanderboren.


Did anyone come up with a different plan of attack on the part of the enemy? I can't help but think that the harbour looks like a lousy place to send in a fleet. There are rocky outcroppings preventing the fleet from spreading out, forcing them into a small circular bay on a narrow landing front, with huge cliffs on either side and a wild opposite coast preventing other kinds of landings.

A few thoughts of mine:

1. My general view of war in D&D is that it might more greatly resemble 20th century warfare as opposed to medieval in certain aspects.

2. With this in mind I'm thinking that a smart admiral might have winged allies quickly capture the heights above the town, at the very least to prevent attackers from using them to advantage.

3 I'm thinking of a more concerted attack by winged allies plus bombardment--that is to say the bombardment focused on particular areas of town while the winged allies take out more mobile targets. Magic or something could be used as signals.

4. The bombardment covers the approach of the boats, landing the force of sailors under this cover, ideally enabling them to then make a dash up to the now (ideally) ruined defensive wall.

In counter to this, my pcs have been doing the following:

1. Preparing pits and ditches with stakes to make the palisade less easy to capture.

2. Reinforcing the towers.

3. Training and improving the town militia.

4. Have used charm monster on a flock of terror birds.

5. Are intending to try to recruit Olman help.

6. Intend to use the Sea Wyvern and the Blue Nixie to try to ambush the enemy fleet after they move into the bay, by having them swing round the cliffs. Ideally they also want Olman boats to support this attack.

7. They don't know about other resources inland yet, that will be for next adventure session.


I'm thinking of an adventure path for my higher level characters that involves them helping lead a re-settlement in an area that has been plagued by war. My premise is to partly have their government reward them with some land and titles and also to give them some interesting challenges. My players themselves have expressed interest in some ideas, including the Psion wanting his character to found a school and the paladin wanting to start a knightly order devoted to her goddess, the cleric wanting to found a shrine or temple, etc.

Are there any suggestions on how to best make this work? Should I for instance just offer it to the group and then let them figure out how they want to manage it? Should I have a senior nobleman or something as an npc governor? What kinds of challenges that are both high level and yet non-epic might I offer in this kind of situation?


Has anyone got any fun Thunderstrike stories? I know there are threads for Churtle and Avner but what about the horse?

In my game the party's paladin decided to charge the T-Rex on the beach while astride Thunderstrike, generally rolling and doing so well that she did the coup de grace at the dramatic moment of the fight.


I don't know why I didn't comment on this one earlier, but I have to say I really liked this one. I managed to find an old battered copy of the original module, and in a way this has a perfect feel as a sort of Conan type adventure but set in the D&D universe. I love how it alludes to the mask wearing of the citizens of the underworld city and the strangeness and eccentricity of the party.

Like with a lot of Dungeon stuff I'm probably going to modify this, probably to suit a party I need to have happen in my current game (which as it happens takes place in a desert place) But as is so often the case Dungeon provides excellent inspiration. Thanks for writing this one.


I'm doing advance prep for the adventure on the plateau and I'm wondering about any tips or thoughts on prep for this. I have a few questions:

1. It seems like there are an awful lot of Skinwalkers. They seem like very tough opponents as well. So it further seems that if the pcs don't take care they might get swarmed.

2. Khala's link to the demon at the water gate strikes me as being a serious problem. I'm wondering how the pcs might manage to survive these encounters--luck with dismissal or something barred...

3. New pcs--I'm trying to plan in advance how to allow players to keep going just in case--for instance Feeblemind is hard to get rid of, and there is just plain decent possibility of death here.

4. Getting there. The route is made easier if the pcs have the inland encounters with the tar pits and jaguar temple et al, but it simply seems to assume that either I fill in details on getting up there or that I assume they do, as with the pcs' encounter with Tanaroa in HBM. Should I just make the assumption or is there a fun and interesting way to heighten the drama of the climb?

5. Rest and Refit: there seems to be little means to rest and refit once the pcs are on the plateau, or am I missing something?

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