|
Now that I have finally read Headless (which I thought was a pretty nifty adventure) I ponder on how I can best use it in my campaign. Currently I have it placed as adventure #9 (set at level 13 for my player's)in my home brew sterich advenutre path.Up to this point in my outline almost all of the advenutres deal with the machinations of house Eilservs and the Malgoth entity. The only exception is the #5 adventure which I was trying to build around the cannibal Pelman Drudd somehow.My problem is that I'm trying to make a campaign thats fairly woven together and not just a series of adventures that take place in Sterich. I also wanted to base an adventure aroun the Azure Prince that was mentioned in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. Greg Vaughan mentioned in a diffrent thread that he had considered the idea of somehow linking Headless with the Azure Prince somehow. Does anybody have any ideas about what the Azure Prince is or how I can link it with the Headless adventure from Dungeon #89? As an aside note what exactly would the climate be considered to be in the Sterich region in comparision to a real world analog? I always had this vision that it was a pretty cold place in the winter and realativly dry and hot in the summer.What about in the Crystalmist mountains and Jotens?
Given its location, I'd say Sterich itself is probably comparable to the Sacramento Valley in California--hot summers, winters with rain, occasional frost, but little snow. Crystalmists and Jotens would be like the Sierras--lots of snow in winter.
You could tie headless in to Sterich by having the giant jarl who gets offed before the adventure be a well-known figure--maybe he was one of the lieutenants of the Frost Giant king who occupied Istivin (name escapes me at the moment). After Sterich was retaken by human forces, this Jarl remains a menace on the upper Davish settlements, until at some point he mysteriously stops raiding. This can be delivered in the form of news and rumors that circulate in the early phases of the campaign, to set up the adventure hook.
The Azure Prince could be ruler of a mysterious and little known Mountain Dwarf realm high in the Crystalmists near the upper headwaters of the Davish. He has historically kept his realm very isolated, even the Dwarven Court in Istivin has little intercourse with the Court of the Azure Prince. They have always been a self-reliant realm, able to hold their own against the Frost Giants, but one day a messenger arrives at Krelont Keep asking for aid against a quartet of supernatural horsemen who pass through the gates of the hold ethereally and raid the hold. They don't steal the dwarves' riches, just their heads. Later, if the party doesn't respond to these rumors right away, reports of the headhunting raiders come from outlying manors in Sterich near the upper Davish, and the Marchioness asks the party to investigate.
You could also use the "raise dead" hook built into the adventure itself if the occasion arises. If you're preceding "Headless" with Greg Vaughan's Istivin trilogy, there's bound to be at least one party death somewhere in there.
|
|
Thanks Peruhain, as always you have some good advice and ideas.
What I have been really bashing my head over the keyboard is some way of making the Azure Prince this really cool villian who has somehow been behind the events of the adventures for the past 18 levels. He needs to be cool,and not too cliche, and most of all have some sort of plan for the March that dosent invole destroying the world or opening a portal that summons legions of demons and what not into the land. He needs to be foreshadowed whithout reavealing to much. I was hoping that somehow I could link the deadgate plot to him without making him a Skull Lord of Orcus, or have it relate to Orcus at all if thats possible. Perhaps my problem lies with the way I have the adventures set up in my campaign so far. Maybe I need to change some things to make everything fit. I feel that I need to identify who the Azure Prince is and what are his motivations and goals then the rest of the campaigns adventures would fall into place, working backwards if you will.
|
|
In regards to the weather issue. The reason that I wanted to know what the real world analog would be was because I was talking to my friend (Hagen on these boards) and he suggested (I cant remeber the source,but it was from the Paizo boards) that on the net you can find daily weather reports of areas in the real world loging all of the pertininet meteorlogical details. so you could plan out your whole campaigns weather well in advance of the game. So if and when the players ask you what the weather is like or if you care to describe the weather you can be consistant thoughout by taking a look at your little printed out list of 365 days or so of point form weather reports.
Back to the Azure Prince--here's another idea. He could be a crazed Derro savant who has designs on Sterich. (Nobody knows he's a Derro, perhaps--he rules over/dominates a stronghold of what appear to be ordinary Mountain Dwarves, using enchantment and illusion, combined with a reclusive isolationism, to keep the rest of the world from knowing what's going on in his little Kingdom. Rather than manipulating the giants, as the Drow tried to do, he wants to develop a network of spies to subvert Istivin from within. The Derro in Headless might be one of his former minions who had ideas of her own, and he sends his agents to employ the PCs to track her down and take her out. From there, he can try to use the PCs in his efforts to infiltrate and overthrow Istivin. When they finally figure out what the Azure Prince is up to, a great high-level confrontation is in order. (Maybe make him a high-level illusionist or something along those lines--you can really bend the party's minds with mirage arcanas and shadow conjurations and whatnot.)
|
|
I like the idea of the Azure Prince using spies and manipulating events like that. I hadnt really considered the idea of the Orcus worshipping crazy derro chick (forgot the name) being an enemy of the of the Azure Prince. For some reason though I dont see a derro Azure Prince being all that intimidating. I was thinking more anlong the lines of a more powerful monster or a high level Human. I think my players might laugh or groan after a year or two of gaming to finally confront the master villian and discover him to be a puny punk derro. But keep the ideas coming their great and its helping me in getting past some serious writers block.
IMC the Azure Prince is actually Raxivort, demi-god of the Xvarts. Xvarts are known to exist in the Yeomanry, so they could migrate north to Sterich thru the Jotens easily. Demi-powers are allowed to walk the Oerth without permission from the more powerful deities. Raxivort was a minor servant of Grazz't. When Grazz't vanished (captured by Iggwilv), Raxi broke into his arsenal and stole items of power and somehow got elevated to demigod-hood. I like Headless too. IMC Raxivort is off camera; he simply misdirects the derro-woman into believing that he is a follower of Orcus (betraying his rival Grazz't) in order to steal the big artifact of that adventure. Besides xvarts, you can tie in wererats which are an aspect of Raxivort as well. What's a city like Istivin without a rat (spy) problem anyway?
Regarding the weather of Sterich, I agree that it is like California's Sacremento Valley area - wet winters and hot, dry summers. Compare the geography and substitute the Pacific Ocean's moisture for that brought in from the glacial ice of the Crystalmists. Those mountains suffer the hot and dry, eastbound winds of the Sea of Dust before cooling west of Sterich. I'm no meteorologist, but I did want a reasonable solution (I think). I got my numbers by looking into the demographics of weather in northern CA. I recognize what Greg V is saying about my precip calculations, but I just lifted it directly from the CA site. Sterich gets about 50 inches per year of rain IMC.
Screen-Monkey: What's your new AP sequence looking like?
Cheers
|
|
This is the new campaign outline that Ive created for Shadows over Sterich. I added the Headless adventure and changed some stuff around to invole the drow more. In brackets beside the title of the adventure I show the major theme/plot behind each adventure. As you can see I still have alot of work to go (I have the time though)and I really need to resolve the whole Azure Prince issue.
Shadows over Sterich Outline Revised
1) Levels 1-3: “Enemy at the Gates” (Eilservs Drow)
The campaign begins with the heroes arriving on the day of the liberation festival (celebrating the defeat of the giants and the liberation of Sterich). The heroes interfere with a assassination attempt on a young nobleman who has come to Sterich to claim his rightful title due to him. Unfortunately the marchioness requires proof of his claims and so the heroes are hired to help him recover the proof of his heritage all the while battling mysterious assassins and uncovering a horrible truth behind the young nobleman’s true heritage.
2) Levels 3-5: “The Society of the Vigil” (Malgoth)
The taint of madness in the city of Istivin is growing by the day. In this adventure the hero’s unknowingly encounter the Malgoth for the first time in the form of a cult. This cult is lead by a Captain in the Army of the March call themselves “The Society of the Vigil”. The hero’s patron, the nobleman of the 1st adventure has been kidnapped. Its up to the heroes to track him down through the lair of the Mongrelfolk living in and around the Effluvium (location # 17), and then from there to the Society’s hidden lair in the sewers under an old abandoned watch post near the East Citadel (location #4).
3) Levels 5-7: “Its Alchemical my Dear!” (Eilservs Drow)
Drow agents of House Eilservs seek to gain control over the city of Istivin. In order to do so they have begun the infiltration and takeover of a number of influential organizations through out Istivin. The drow of house Eilservs have set their eyes on infiltrating the Chapterhouse of the Star. This order of swordsmen is dedicated to the hero deity Kelanen, and its leader Baldram is being slowly poisoned to death. The heroes become involved and begin to investigate Baldram’s poisoning. The investigation leads the heroes to the Kragmere School of Alchemy. When the heroes arrive at the school they discover that it is being raided by goblins. After defeating the raiding party at the school the heroes must then travel to the Stark Mounds and infiltrate the goblin tribes lair. Once the heroes have cleared the goblin caves they learn the truth behind Baldram’s assassin and must return to the order’s chapter house for a final confrontation with agents of House Eilservs.
4) Levels 7-8: “Pandemonium in the Veins” Dungeon #96 p.30-62 (Malgoth)
The influence of the Malgoth continues to grow as the evil entity helps bring pandemonium into the gladiator arena in Istivin known as the “Circus”. See Dungeon #117, p.41, location #16 as well as Dungeon #96 (p.30-62) for more info. Need to scale adventure up from 5th level up to 7th level and update it to version 3.5 of the rules.
**5) Levels 8-10: “Cannibal Adventure ” (Eilservs Drow)
Pelman Drudd a powerful merchant lord, cannibal and one of Marchioness most trusted advisors. He keeps a veritable army of Wild Coast mercenaries to protect his estate. And wishes to officially join the council of Barons, what kind of evil alliance has he made with the agents of House Eilservs. Only the heroes can discover this as they explore this adventure. (Still trying to work out the exact details of this one)
6) Levels 10-11: “Touch of the Abyss” Dungeon #117 p.44-59 (Malgoth)
The heroes discover that the missing Marquis Querchard was in fact still alive. They also learn the true identity of the villain that has been causing the horror and madness in Istivin. The Malgoth. Now that the heroes have identified the enemy they can finally search for a way to put an end to it.
6.5) Level 11: Side Adventure: “Assault on the Kaorti Cyst” in Jotens
Before the heroes can find the frost giant cleric, Ilkharis they must rescue the sage Algorthas from the clutches of the vile Kaorti arcanist known as Chrylis in the house of radiance the church of Pelor in Istivin. After rescuing Algorthas the heroes discover that high priest Kireth Trantle and his three acolytes (low level clerics of Pelor) have been kidnapped. Following clues left behind by Chrylis they discover the secret location of the Kaorti cyst in the Jotens. The heroes must race against time if they wish to save the clerics from the Kaorti and the terrible transformation that awaits them if they are to late. See Fiend Folio p. for more information on Kaorti and their Far Realm minions. Could also use the Daelkyr from Ebberon to expand adventure.
7) Levels 11-12: “Shadows of the Abyss” Dungeon #118 p.34-57 (Malgoth)
Having saved the clerics of Pelor from a vile fate and having identified the Malgoth, the enemy hiding in Istivin’s shadows. The heroes seek out a frost giant cleric Ilkharis whom they believe can aid them in defeating the Malgoth. The heroes believe that he is hiding out in an old border fort in southern Sterich. Once the heroes reach the border fort they soon discover that it has been taken over by a hill giant cleric of Erythnul named Velikar who sold Ilkharis to the drow of house Eilservs.
8) Levels 12-13: “Wrath of the Abyss” Dungeon #119 p.30-57 (Eilservs Drow /Malgoth)
The heroes make haste to the Oestral abyss so that they can descend into the underdark and confront the drow of house Eilservs and find Ilkharis so that they can finally defeat the Malgoth. Eventually after defeating the drow and getting the information that they need to destroy the Malgoth the heroes return to the surface to discover that the Malgoth is making its final play to dominate Istivin. The heroes must unearth the corpse of the giant-king Galmoor and destroy it so that the Malgoth must manifest in its true form. The heroes must then finally destroy the Malgoth so that it will release its hold on Istivin.
9) Levels 13-14: “Headless” Dungeon #89 p.46-66
This adventure needs to be scaled up from 12th level to 13th level and updated to 3.5
10) Levels 14-15: “Verbane’s Gambit”
I wanted to base an adventure around Verbane and his regiment of loyal wizards and battle clerics. I was hoping to tie this adventure into the Azure prince somehow, or maybe he has allied with the drow or is working to help resurrect the Malgoth. His motivation are fairly straight forward as he seeks to rule a realm of magic that rivals that of the valley of the mage, yet cares nothing for the trappings of nobility and only recognizes the authority of power.
11) Levels 15-16: ”The Harrowing” Dungeon #84 p.23-64 (Eilservs Drow)
The Drow of House Eilservs, after their defeat at the heros hands have seek the power of Laveth, Lolths daughter in order that they may destroy the heroes once and for all. Laveth wishes to over throw her mother Lolth and become the new queen of the Demonweb. In order to do so Laveth is gathering her power together so that she can perform a ritual she’s dubbed “The Harrowing” which involves the slaying of a powerful cleric of Corellon Larethian named Alerian. The heroes are drawn into the adventure when they discover abyssal swarms spiders left over from the planar invasion to capture the cleric. Following the abyssal spider swarms into the sewers of Istivin the heroes battle aranea, and eventually discover the gate into the Demonweb pits. Once there the heroes fight against drow of house Eilsers and other drow loyal to Laveth, as well as demons, slaadi and other monsters. Eventually the heroes confront Laveth herself to rescue Alerian and stop her from completing her vile ritual.
12) Levels 16-17: “The Chapel of Time”
Still trying to work out the details regarding this adventure. Hope to tie it into the azure prince somhow.
13) Levels 17-19: ???
Room to place one adventure or add one level of experience to either the chapel of time or the assault on the azure prince adventures depending on what’s needed for the campaign.
14) Levels 19-20: “Assault on the Azure Prince”
The final confrontation with the Azure Prince in the mines of the Davish headwaters. Once I figure out who and what he is the rest of the campaign should fall into place.
|
|
I have also been looking into the possiblity of adapting parts of the Forgotton Realms mega adventure City of the Spider Queen. It would be intersting if Lolth fell silent not just for the drow of the FR but of ALL the drow that worship her.
Ive been considering that the Azure Prince could be a powerful drow of the Elder Elemental Eye instead of Kiransalee. This would help me to tie the drow from the previous adventures and maintain continuity.
Another idea I was juggling around could be that the Azure Prince is actually a mindflayer manipulating the events in Sterich for some strange event yet to come.This event would be something on a scale and complexity that only creatures as alien as mindflayer's could grasp or plot.
I'm also interested in the boards opinons for material that I can "loot" (as Monte Cook wrote in Dungeoncraft) especially adventures published by WotC or Dungeon magazine for ideas and encounters that I could use to further flesh out the adventures that I have outlined above. As I work out the details of the campign I will post more a more evolved and fleshed out outline.
Savage Screen Monkey,
I am curious about how you intend to tie all these arcs into one cohesive one. What will be the background thread? For the Lord of the Rings, it was the eventual destruction of the "One Ring". What element will the PCs be aware of as a driving force? How soon will they "get it"? How will you introduce it? Is the central villain stagnant and simply standing around waiting to "throw the switch" for 20 levels, or is he adjusting his plans and reacting to each feat of daring committed against him by the PCs? If he is "alive" and reactive, could this make your last adventure drastically change?
These questions are what brings a campaign adventure path (CAP) together and separates it from just a series of adventures. Perhaps it's best to make your last adventure as original as the PCs themselves... no doubt they'll have earned that. Certainly "loot" chunks from other material, but also create chunks based on what they have achieved. Give the mega-villain a vendetta agenda as well. Heck, let them even encounter him early so that they have a face for evil. Maybe he gets called away at the last second to prevent the thrashing he starts on them. Wet their appetite.
Another question for your main villain: Is he the most powerful villain in the CAP? Darth Vader was not; the emperor was. Is the villain redeemable, like Darth Vader? Does he have human qualities that allow for a dialogue? Can he be reached or reasoned with? Or is he like Sauron, an end unto himself for the story sake... just an obstacle? Which is more entertaining to you and your group?
Sometimes published material isn't ready for PC magic items that are not neatly deciated at specific times thru-out the CAP. In otherwords, if the module you use for game C provides a cool item how could that item disrupt game D and so on? How will you handle this when you are working from various authored adventures? Are you going to comb thru them all and sort this out in advance? Are you making up any cool items yourself? What about "legacy" weapons (I've had no experience with these, but am look forward to it)?
Boy, I sure threw down a lot of stuff, but I only mean to provide inspiration, not cage ratling. : )
Keep it up.
Cheers!
|
|
I always appreciate any impute I can get on these boards. To answer your questions Skech my thoughts on what binds the campaign together are as follows.
Basically the idea was to create a living breathing campaign based on the Istivin trilogy first and foremost. I thought that if I had a series of unrelated adventures my players would lose interest over the course of the campaign. Since my group began playing Shackled City over a year ago I realized that if I ran a campaign on that scale it was going to take about 2 years to play through in it’s entirety. We try to play once a week but sometimes life interferes. Another one of my goals was to write some of my own adventures this format gave me a great opportunity to build off of the ideas of the established greats. Also I wanted to set my campaign in Greyhawk instead of a constant work in progress campaign world like the many homebrew campaigns that I launched and lasted at most 6 months if that.
In crafting the campaign I decided that I wanted to have a major villain working in the background on some grand scheme and that that villain should be the Azure Prince. However, since I wanted to use Greg Vaughan’s Istivin Trilogy I needed to add in the fact that the Malgoth was going to be a major player whether I liked it or not. What has hung me up for so long was thinking that I needed to craft a villain with motivations whole cloth. Now I realize that the drow are already in play in the trilogy with goals and plots already built in. So all in all I have two major plot lines that I want to weave together to create the tapestry of the campaign with. Those two plots are the Malgoth and the splinter group of Elder Elemental Eye worshiping drow of House Eilservs.
In the beginning of the campaign my players wont see the mover and shakers behind the different adventures but as the campaign progresses clues will begin to reveal the bad guys. In the case of the Malgoth it will take the forefront of the campaign and be the tangible evil that the players can see and do something about. In the case of the drow the will be acting behind the scenes for the most part and will be much more elusive and therefore allow the Azure Prince to continue his plans relatively undisturbed till near the end of the campaign and THEN his plans are revealed in all there evil glory.
I’m also trying to leave the adventures loose enough that I can tailor them to the party and provide custom made hooks and treasure as well as include any bad guys that they have created in their character bio’s or made during the course of the campaign. As far as looting from other sources is concerned I’m looking to include interesting locations for encounters as well as monsters or other villains and looking at their tactics and other combat situations to inspire me as well as keep things interesting for the players and save a little time for myself during the adventure writing process.
I also intend to give the players a campaign guide to create characters with well in advance of the actual campaign so that they can create characters that fit. The idea is that their characters will be pursuing their own personal agendas in the campaign and that they will be drawn into the various adventures through allies, curiosity, or other motivations depending on the character concepts. This is still very much a work in progress but its getting there slowly but surely!
By the way Skech how’s your Sterich campaign going?
|
|
As I have been looking into the whole drow worshiping the EEE I cant really find much. Even in the Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil theres only TWO freakin EEE worshiping drow in the whole darn adventure!One of the questions I was wondering was do the drow who worship the EEE all know that the EEE is infact an aspect of Tharizdun? or do they still think of it as a seperate deity? What exactly are the goals of the EEE anyway? I mean cults of Tharizdun are trying to spread madness and eventually free the big T. from imprisonment so whats the deal with the EEE?
The EEE is a being of mystery, I doubt it needs motivations at least as far as mortals can understand them...
In my Greyhawk, the Elder Elemental God (or Eye) has other forms and names in other dimensions, e.g. dead Cthulhu who waits dreaming in his house at R’lyeh, and Khalk’ru the cruel and destructive whose appetite must be appeased by human sacrifice. Once, the Elder Elemental God was entrapped by Beory, its fragments scattered. As a result the deity is crippled and can only access the Prime Material plane through these fragments (many have had temples built around them now). It greatly desires to be freed. It is unknowable what the Elder Elemental God’s true area of control is. What is known, is that the deity provides personal power and prowess to those evil humans, drow, and evil giants that sacrifice to it.
The primary drive and motivation for the Elder Elemental Priests is personal power and prowess.
For more of the latest info on the EEE see Monster Manual IV or go to the WoTC website. You'll find previews of MM4 that deal with the EEE.
My Sterich campaign is going great! I started the group with Dungeon #117. All went as per the published scenario until my players did the unthinkable. They took Querchard alive (curse those dice - yes, I could have fudged it, but they deserved their triumph thru excellent planning)! Then they forgot to check his diary (I hinted strongly for this). They didn't turn him over to the Marchioness, but instead fled with him (rendered unconscious by poison, and spell, and bound him thrice) to the Baron in Mittleberg (a former ally). There they dumped the mad Marquis and headed for Istivin to find Algorthas to seek a cure. A cure!? Hmm? What now, Greg V? <lol> I didn't see a contingency for that in the margins. ;)
I'll tell you more about my CAP soon if you have an interest.
Cheers
I'll tell you more about my CAP soon if you have an interest
Yes please!
I'm running (part of) my group through it now, as a side-trek before the (full) group heads into the Spire of Long Shadows. My group has pretty much proceeded as per the expectations of the published adventures...
The hook was different, they are in Istivin to get information about Bucknard from the "greatest sage is the world", but otherwise they have done everything expected (pretty much). Let's see...
They payed an extreme amount of money to the sage for his research, then went to wait the three days for a result... meanshile, they experienced the various events in the city and decided it was an even worse place to live than Diamond Lake, so when Algorthas the sage summoned them to help look into the troubles, they jumped at the chance. Of course, they hate sewers, so the prospect of having to negotiate more sewers didn't excite them but they eventually swallowed their pride and went in, with one character clearing the way, the others flying. In the dungeons, they found the Querchard with only a single encounter on the way (the ooze thing). As he ranted and raved at him, they calmly waited for this "dark master" to appear, they even told him to try and hurry it up... he he, of course that meant they had to fight every shadow in the whole place at once (I changed some to regular shadows, so it was something like a dozen shadows with four or six of the uber-shadows) - my PC's freaked once the shadows started laying into them with touch attacks, but a couple of good Turning rolls helped a lot, as did a couple of whirlwind attacks with power attack attached. The Querchard himself, he was fried with a wall of fire - no escaping that one! Not a terribly nice way to go, but by this stage my PC's were feeling like he was as evil as the rest of this place, so it was neccesary to take him out the easiest way they could while they dealt with the shadows. Once they got the Querchard's diary, they still made sure they investigated all the dungeons just in case they missed anything, so they encountered the (turned) shadows once more, this time I think it lasted about one round. The gargoyles looked a threat at first, what with flight and good attacks, but were quickly dispatched once melee kicked in.
The next day, a funny thing happened - the group decided to go visit the temple of Pelor first thing in the morning to get a big bunch of restoration scrolls (rightly paranoid about ability score drain and damage, the cleric ends up memorising a lot of restoration spells, but she would prefer to be able to take other spells). Weird, I love it when my players move towards the plot without me even prompting them. So I decided they interrupted the Kaorti's plans to summon them that evening - he was busy briefing the (pseudonatural) priests of Pelor when they walked in (I had previously decided to beef up this encounter, as a single sorcerer would last about one round against my group). Seeing a huddle of priests at the altar, my group paused and engaged in some parley... the cleric almost hit the flamestrike button as soon as she heard "welcome to the house of shadow", and lamented that decision thereafter ("could have nailed all the priests at once"). Of course, once inititive was called, she still nailed the Kaorti, 50 points of damge in fact, so he promptly ran out the back where he started summoning pseudonatural girillons (I boosted him two levels, and made him an Alienist). I'd also added a Sky Bleeder, which was meant to be his mount, but with about 12 hp, he just hid out the back as long as he could, while the priests used their true strikes to frighten the PC's (for a round), and the Sky Bleeder muddled around inflicting some damage and generally making a nuicance of itself. But of course, the PC's won pretty easily even though I think I ran their opponents quite well and made good use of the layout of the place to split them up etc.
And so they rescued Algorthas without even realising he was captured - quite funny really. Next stop - the border fort. The PC's were happy to travel south, using a map Algorthas gave them (the one in the first adventure, which shows the lands but not the actual fort), and having a look around the area - they figure wandering around in the wilderness can't be any worse than having to stay inside the city walls another night!
I didn't run any other wilderness encounters apart from the two listed in the 2nd adventure - partly because I want to speed it up, and party because they didn't much around and used the existing road and trail as long as they could. The Frost Giantess was funny, her Gorgons got roasted by fireballs and flame strikes before the PC's even saw them! (all they heard was some strange mooing from behind the barrier) Even by herself though, the frost giant barbarian was a touch challenge despite a lot of truly terrible rolls from me. As it was, she nearly killed the 12th level Paladin, who was mainly saved by me rolling a "double 1" which in my game means you lose your weapon. But then she disarmed the PC Fighter/Ogre, and proceeeded to... roll two misses. Pretty sure she was dead before her next turn. Oh well, the players know they were lucky with that one, they by-passed a significant threat and got off lightly. Of course, they do not have a magic user with spells that require will saves, otherwise it might have been an even shorter fight.
The "noble" and "mad amos" encounter was as predicted - the so-called noble got up the PC's nose very quickly, and my players actually goaded him into making the first strike, which ended up in he and all his lackeys dead, and "mad" amos rescued. They successfully talked Amos around, let him have his gold and prospecting area, and even hired him as a guide for a couple of days (Diplomacy roll of over 40), to show them exactly where this fort was.
As a side-note, my group consists of two PC's at 14th level, with one follower at 12th level. I've boosted some pieces of the adventures, but not all of it, as I want them to be able to press through it quite quickly. I've also had an NPC join them for the 2nd adventure, to boost them to four characters and give them an arcane casting option (Fighter 1 / Sorcerer 6 / Eldritch Knight 5 - actually an old elf from an old campaign of mine, "against the giants", so a good plot tie-in there too).
So far, so good... this week, the players will arrive at the Fort itself. With an Ogre in the party, along with two humans and an elf, I fully intend to ham up the possibilities for humour at the Ogre's expense - the frost giants will assume he's been enlisted by the Hill Giants, make jokes about him, and so on, and think the other PC's are some kind of albino drow or some other kind of evil enlistees, while th Hill Giants will be similar, try to boss the Ogre about, etc. Which of course I expect to lead to some funny fights, as while my players do like a diplomatic approach from time to time, they do not like being insulted, and love to pound on those who do so...
Looking through the archives, I see others have experienced a bit of the same thing I have - a few too many single opponents in these adventures, expecially ones with classes, and the PC's walk all over them in a couple of rounds. So I'll definitely be changing the 3rd adventure a bit too - trimming it here and there (e.g. removing the roper from the underdark, there's one in the keep already), and combining some pieces to ensure a reasonable challenge but not one that takes forever. I've altered the 2nd adventure already, but not a lot: in my game, I take 4 HD of all giants and -1 to their CR, but usually add about 3 class levels to important giants with class levels already; I also re-balanced the Cleric (now 11th level not 12th, and -4 HD of Giant; same CR by my CR methods, which seems more reasonable, less cheesy than as printed). I think everyhing else is about the same - some encounters will be really easy for my group, but as I say I'm wanting them to go through it quickly, and also once the smack-down starts, it's quite likely the whole Fort will be on high alert, so the monsters won't just be waiting around in their rooms for the PC's to arrive, it will be all hands to the pumps for the baddies... I'm really looking forward to the next game!
I'm still interested in anyone else's experiences here, especially in the last part of the trilogy.
In my game, the PC's are right in the middle of the border fort, having (kind of) "stealthed" their way in so far (i.e. killed the guards in a couple of rounds without making too much noise).
I gave them a chance to get in the front door because the giants looked at the Ogre in the party and assumed he was some kind of new recruit. So after the gate guards laughed to themselves and cracked a few jokes at his expense, he actually got down on his knees, about to polish the boots of one of the frost giants... then of course he whipped out his huge maul and it was roll for initiative time... The first two Frost Giants all died in about two rounds each, then the next two as soon as they got out the door of their sleeping quarters - the giant cats didn't last long (the party has encountered dire tigers before and has a very healthy respect for them now). Although the hill giant guards goaded the Ogre into approaching towards them and setting off the CR10 collapsing wall trap (their idea of a joke; the rogue was 5' too far away to search it out), the rest of the party soon slaughtered them too, and they were off into the rest of the complex including a fun but ultimately swift fight against the Roper - the were-beast is up next, we just had to call it a night as it was about to appear, having been called out to by the dying roper.
This only leaves the six hill giant elite guards, hill giant cleric, drow and dragon - I'm going to have the guards make a stand behind cover etc, while a couple go summon the cleric and drow, so the party will have to deal with most of the rest of the dungeon at once, although I suspect by the time the rest arrive the four guards will be dead too.
For the third adventure, I'm seriously thinking I'm going to have to strip out a lot of it; it looks to be the longest by far and for my purposes I'd like them to be able to cut to the chase and let them get to the conclusion with the Malgoth. I haven't worked out which pieces to cut yet though, as it's mostly all good looking on paper (except maybe the spiders and the umber hulks).
The spider encounter was a bit of a pain to run, and not entirely necessary. The umber hulks are useful to keep the party from ganging up on the main villain. If you're looking to cut encounters, I'd get rid of the bugbears, the crawlers, and/or the chasme demon.
After a few side treks my group returned to part two in the Istivin trilogy. The PCs sought out the sage Algorthas for more advice and info. Frustrated by not finding him at home, they sought him in the temple of Pelor and discovered him there under the power of a Greater Fehyr (from MM2. I changed the monster in the temple because the Fehyr seemed more appropriate to the Malgoth's needs and could more easily be revisited since Sterich is so emotionally depressed. Once freed the sage pointed them to the mountain fortress.
The Baron and Mad Amos played out as predicted. The female giant was tricked into avoiding the party and revealed information that led to the backdoor of the keep. The group's clever illusionist is quite the lothario!
The PCs snuck into the keep undetected. The roper in the keep was the second greatest challenge. It nearly beat the entire group due to great rolls by it and poor rolls by them. The leader of the giants went down surprisingly fast thanks to a group plan that went flawlessly. The dark elf with a potion of speed nearly ended the game. He was tough and went for broke (suicide mission type). The dragon was tricked into vacating the keep. The illusionist enhanced the scent of the ranger's blue dragon-skin boots (which just happened to be that of a rival male - predetermined by good player storytelling) and tied them to a summoned mountain lion. The lion was turned invisible and sent running. The dragon soon followed it out. The dragon followed its scent into a nearby cave were the lion escaped into. Then the illusionist repeated the process on the other boot and left it hidden near the lair's entrance. When the dragon did return and smelled its rival, it fled instead. Cool!
Part Three: The underground path to Mirith Glarnon was unremarkable. They only had one encounter, a beholder. No violence here. I played the beholder "Xax" as a non-typical sort. They heard him whistling (what's a beholder afraid of anyway?) a snappy gnomish tune as he came down the tunnel. When he arrived, the illusionist disguised as a drow whistled a reply finishing the tune. Xax proved very talkative, informative, and surprising friendly. After they showed him some kindness, the vegetarian beholder went on his way. Before he left Xax showed everyone the lovely tattoo a kind gnome had given him which changed his life and view of the world: a big, bright red "Target" logo on the center of his back. The party fell out laughing as we ended the game for the night. Corny, true, but a nice change from the predictable. I wanted to see if they would shoot first as a matter of course or ask for directions.
More later.
Cheers.
Well, to continue my experience of the Istivin trillogy, we finally picked it up again this week. The remaining foes in the Keep didn't do as well as they might have - rusty DM as well as good play e.g. dispelling the cleric's buffs, wall of force to keep foes at bay while half are dispatched.
My alteration of the Were-boar hill giant was good - I gave him 4 levels of Monk, which made him funny as well as quite deadly (well, if I could roll above a 9 on my d20 more he would have been more deadly, especially once he transformed into Hybrid form). Especially funny was Amos taking about a dozen shots at him with his bow before finally rolling a 20 (this player also had issues with his dice that day), only to have the giant swat the arrow aside ("ha ha, useless little tooth-picks!" he mocked).
So now the PC's have wiped out everything in the keep in one day, except the Dragon (which has not seen them due to a strategically placed web spell). I'll be looking back through the adventure to see what makes sense for the blue dragon to do - without any dragons to guard its lair, it is very vulnerable especially if the PC's rest up until the next day (as they intend to).
Thanks for the suggestions posted her in trimming the 3rd module, I'll certainly be following some of the advice as I'd like the group to get to the Malgoth as quickly as possible.
|
We just finished a Campaign featuring the Azure Prince -- for us he was a Gelugon Ice Devil that had been caught betraying his master, Mephistopheles, to Beelzebub. When Mephisto discovered the traitor, the Gelugon fled from Hell and named himself The Azure Prince. He ended up in the Jotens where he found Thrym's Heart and began using it as an artifact to create an "endless winter" in Sterich. Feel free to browse our Campaign Journal, to get some of what we did (The Azure Prince was about 1/3 of the Campaign, starting about 1/2 way in.)
Making the Azure Prince a Devil or rival Demon (Nalfeshnee w/ Levels) is really strong for what you're doing. If he hates and wants to undercut the Malgoth or Lolth he will be a great villain by the end of the Campaign -- and tying him in, somehow, with your Algorthas stuff, brilliant.
....
You're putting "Headless" pretty close to "The Harrowing" but maybe not close enough. Do you see how those two connect almost seemlessly outside of the Taint/Shadows/Wrath Trilogy. I'd put the Trilogy first, then "Headless" and "The Harrowing." (Making Jacobs' adventure higher level is EASY -- more powerful spellcaster means more powerful Simulacrum, everything solved!!!)
....
Your Pelman Drudd stuff seems out of place -- it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the stuff: saving Algorthas, stopping Eilservs, the Malgoth, etc. Once your PCs have gotten past mundane stuff like "Pandemonium in the Veins" and learn about the Malgoth and the Drow and "true" evil -- they're gonna wanna stick with it. If you really love Pelman Drudd, put him earlier.
I strongly recommend taking a look at Mike Mearls' adventure "Root of Evil" and putting it somewhere near the Oestral Abyss or something. It fits PERFECTLY with Taint/Shadow/Wrath and Headless and such.
Does anyone have Greg's direct email? Is the Root of Evil a free wotc 3.5 adventure?
Thanks
Mike
"Root of Evil" came from Dungeon #122, so, no, it's not free I'm afraid.
I don't have Greg's direct email either. Sorry, nothing but bad news!