Not sure if this is the right place for this, but just wanted to put in a quick post to thank James Jacobs (and Rich Baker, if he ever visits these boards) for excellent authorial work on Red Hand of Doom. I know it's a WotC product, but I figure this is a better place to post this.
Just finished the final battle of an online Red Hand of Doom campaign set in the world of Greyhawk. I made Elsir Vale into a former colony of the Great Kingdom off the map to the west of Ull and the Plains of the Paynims. The campaign took just over two years (about 26 months) to run online, staying fairly faithful to the adventure as written with the exception of beefing up encounters and stat blocks to handle a group of 6-7 PCs that included some very experienced players with characters drawing on the Complete books and Spell Compendium (and gifted with some custom-made magic items of considerable power discovered in the first dungeon).
The party:
Eltanin Vraath, warlock and heir to the Vraath family lands (Eltanin on these boards)
Aloysius Delozier, druid of the Eth Circle, and his ape animal companion Rheis (Wampuscat43 on these boards)
Sir Valyan of Arthion (aka Raziel), an Elven wizard from Celene
Sojiro Kurai, an exiled Samurai from the Seric Empire (Oriental-flavored land northwest of the Paynims in my Greyhawk) in the service of Lady Kaal
Wolf, an Elven scout (slain by Ozyrrandion)
Yann Zavier, priest of Pelor (Wolf's replacement)
Ril Merrison, a woodsman and sometime smuggler born near Vraath Keep (slain by Tiamat's Vengeance, as I named the Aspect)
Varghedin, a questing Ice Barbarian (slain by Regiarix and not replaced)
Thelya, a priestess of Sehanine and Raziel's cohort.
The final battle was particularly cinematic.
It was a really cool encounter design, although the party never managed to drop the silence effect despite copious hints from the DM on how to do so. As a result two of the PCs were unable to affect the battle much, and two more (Raziel and Soji) ended up missing opportunities in their panicked concern to evacuate.
So, thanks much, James and Rich, on behalf of myself, Eltanin, and Wampuscat43!
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Agreed, Red Hand of Doom is already considered a classic by my players! Great war stories to relate come from this puppy, along with some very creative monsters and locations.
I set it in Forgotten Realms and my players still relate tales of this mighty mini-campaign.
Your end battle sounds super!
-DM Jeff
Yeah, it was awesome. Definitely one of the most memorable battles I've ever fought in D&D on either side of the screen.
I agree, one of the better adventurer products I'd ever read or tried to run. It even got me back into looking at pre-made modules. Especially the big ones like Shackled City or the other adventure paths. I guess its why I was so willing to jump over to the Pathfinder APs.
When my group started into RoHD they began ripping it a new one. Testament to the increased power in the supplement books. Fortunately or unfortunately we only got through the first act.
Some of the highlights that resulted from it have been priceless.
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On the upside. I lighting bolted them twice, the whole party in one shot in two different encounters.
Another was at the ruined keep with the bugbear commander. Thanks to the hyrda attack he freaked and quickly locked himself in the tower room. I wrote down on my note sheet that he was going to readying an action to cast lighting bolt on the first thing to open the door. Sure enough the PCs line up one behind the other and *zap*. They even told me specifically how they were 'gathering' around the door.
