What would my fellow CoT GMs suggest I do for a "hunt the shadows" session tonight? I've got a group of 6 L2 PC who have decided they want to hunt the shadows on the streets. How would you guys do it? Some questions I would like to hear some input on are:
-How common are the shadow creatures (what chance of encountering one on a given night? I've seen the random encounter table, but would love some input.)
- How would you run an encounter to make it spooky?
- What other creature do you think is really likely (the random encounter table seems a bit fantastic for a city street imho.)
- Do you have any cool shadow creatures to suggest beyond the garm?
Any thoughts or experiences would be great...I'm not as ready for this evening as I'd like to be!
I probably wouldnt do more than 2 or three encounters in a single night. Id also make them stay out all night to find these. If you make them too common, it takes away from the flavor and feeling of danger IMHO.
Making them spooky is all in the description (again IMHO). Maybe hearing some bone grinding sounds coming from the alley just ahead, and having them walk in on 2 Shadowgarms pulling a freshly killed victim apart.
Maybe seeing glowing eyes in the darkness, etc.
BTW, I ran the Shadowgarm for a party of 4 PCs, it was dead by the end of the first round. For your party of 6 Id use 2 if they are level one, maybe 3 if they are all level 2. The SR of 7 is easy to get past when your group is level 2 (5 or better on a CL check), and their weak AC (dont even get me started on their Ranged Touch AC with my happy "Ray gun" toting Sorcerer player around. He likes Ray of Frost).
I think next time my players are out at night, probably when they hit level 3, Ill throw "real" Shadows at them. The good old Undead ones. :)
I may also look for a large higher level one to scare them into fleeing for realism.
Late note*** The past week or so Ive been thinking of possibly turning the Strix (from the Bestiary section in the module) into a shadow race, making them Incorporeal etc. Might be nice having them stalking the streets of Westcrown at night.
Another thing to play up is that they are breaking curfew, so they should also be trying to avoid the dottari while they do this. They'll probably see the dottari's lights as they patrol the town, but it is possible the dottari will also see theirs, which could lead to a chase, etc.
Thanks for the input. I think I'll set up several potential encounter sites (we play online with MapTools). Then I'll have one or three encounters per night using a variant of the Westcrown At Night encounter table. I like the idea of a shadow-based Strix. That would prove very spooky to the players to see creatures flying from roof-top to roof-top in the deep of night.
I think I'll also 'flash' a devil at them in the distance...just to impress on them how dangerous this place is at night.
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Maybe hearing some bone grinding sounds coming from the alley just ahead, and having them walk in on 2 Shadowgarms pulling a freshly killed victim apart...For your party of 6 Id use 2 if they are level one, maybe 3 if they are all level 2.
Perhaps you haven't read the entire Shadowgarm entry, or have decided to ignore this part, but Shadowgarms do NOT like each other. They frenzy and fight to the death if they see each other and rarely mate.
At one point in the game the party was in the wrong side of town at night and I didn't want to go through a battle right then. To keep the feeling of danger, I had them stumble across a Shadowgarm, which they had already fought once before. I then had them spot another Shadowgarm right before they charged each other and tore each other apart. The party didn't stay to see how it ended. :)
(putting a Shadow against four 2nd levels will also increase the fear. I didn't know that incorpoeral were immune to damage except magic (the more experienced players did though), but they were bards so they just used lots of cure light wounds scrolls that one of them had made)
To help it be spooky, make use of the featherfall ability as it attacks them the first round.
Yeah, I didnt read the whole Shadowgarm entry. Thanks for the heads up.
Id rather have them not attack eachother on sight though. Having them kill something then fight over the remains works better for me, YMMV. :) So if I ever run a Shadowgarm encounter again, ill stick with my way.