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I ran the first section of the Sixfold Trial as an interlude in my Curse of the Crimson campaign.
The Six Trials of Larazod by Nick Logue, when combined with the fun adventure that is The Sixfold Trial by Richard Pett synergize to create... like some kind of indescribable experience.
One of my players said:
"It was the best game I've ever played."
One of my players LEARNED HIS LINES, by heart. As a DM, you dream of players that will engage in the game on the same level that you do. I am lucky enough to be blessed with about 8 such players in my pool of 12, (the others enjoy the game more as a socialisation thing which is cool, but its just awesome to have moments like these). My jaw did not leave the ground when Larazod's player (an assassin to be named Prask) delivered and acted every line (going so far as to mention his character's stage directions during certain pivotal parts!)
His character died at the end of the play, (killed by the skeletal trolls), but I couldn't allow him not to finish, and ruled that he would be bleeding out until the play was done. As Haanderthan was dragged to hell the player gave a final monologue and SHOT THE MAYOR OF WESTCROWN (ex-mayor rather, he was announced to become the new Seneschal of Korvosa). The mayor fell from the balcony, an arrow in his eye and broke his spine with an earth shattering crack. The entire playhouse was silent... FOLLOWED BY A STANDING OVATION!
I've already thanked my amazing players, but I thought I'd take a moment to thank the authors of both "The Sixfold Trial" and the "Six Trials of Larazod" for one of the best experiences I've had in my 8 years of DMing.
Mr. Pett, Mr. Logue my players and I give you both a standing ovation.
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Hello Dudemeister,
You sound like you have a very cool group of players there, some of my own group memorize things like maps and handouts and it always makes things run better, but to learn a play is something else, bravo to them and to you for running it and making it such fun. Please send my thanks to them for their kind words.
Plus of course, we all owe a debt of gratitude to the lovely Mr Jacobs and co for coming up with such an excellent AP in the first place. I hope you and your players get to run Kingmaker sometime as I'm in the process of writing the thousand screams adventure to climax that and I hope I can do the AP justice with a suitably scary conclusion.
Bravo again!
Rich
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I'm a player and we're about 80% of the way through this adventure too (unravelling the Knot right now).
We all had a blast for the whole session it took us to get through the rehearsals week, and didn't have a single combat encounter! That's pretty incredible IMO. Really refreshing to have skill challenges that mean something and to take a step away from the dungeon crawl.
We did a read through of the play (nobody memorized the lines, but we still did dramatic reading and hammed it up) while the DM through the various trials our way (mage armour is useful when getting whipped BTW).
Thankfully, our Larazod had a great acting skill and made all of the important connections, so our results were really good. Dentris (me) did okay (flubbed most of his lines, summoned celestial riding dogs against the troll skellie -crit and a trip, then the other took it apart). Our half-orc barbarian made a great torturer, but I think he enjoyed flogging us too much (Targar finds this very theraputic). The Paladin was played by our halfling rogue, who really hammed up the bufoonery (wet himself in fear at one point -the character, not the player :) ) to the delight of the players and audience alike.
Also, getting a little tired of pocked dimensions since just about every other AP has had one.
So, yeah OTT, thanks from another happy player. Good times!
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Another Thanks!
We just finished playing the Play. PCs really got into reading their lines. The hero of the play was the PC who played Tybain(a) who we changed into a female role since the pally in our group is female.
The most hated trial: The Trial of Pleasure
The most deadly trial: The Trial by Combat and Love (1 pc dropped, but was healed, and one PC was only up because of being enraged by the time the last 'devil' fell).
...
The Six Trials of Larazod by Nick Logue, when combined with the fun adventure that is The Sixfold Trial by Richard Pett synergize to create... like some kind of indescribable experience. ...
Oh, yes, we had some fun, too!
I wasn't sure - at the beginning - when I (a.k.a. Janiven) came up with the plan. I saw the concerned and almost disapproving faces of some of my players - even the one with the "Child of Infamy" trait. But at least the other half of the group wasn't all that hesitant.
They went to get some more information about the play - even to ask some of the older people around Westcrown because the were suspicious about point of time of the writing and the first public performance (the "200-years-ago gap"). Even the most hesitant character (a litte ashamed cleric of Abadar with strong ties to law and family business) showed up for the casting. Boy (and girl), we had such fun with Robahl's insults at the casting. The players decided what costumes their characters were to wear and I added just some details.
Then - as the rehearsals began - they went paranoid (as I expected). They turned to the other Eyes of Aroden (as the former Children of Westcrown are known now) for help. They asked Vitti to observe the Nightshade theater for information and got - nearly - to know Vestus Savaska. They asked Janiven to hook herself on the heels of the "short, greasy man in red robes (Vestus), but to no avail. The halfling rogue/bard went some night before the show into the Nightshade for more information and saw the peeping hole in Robahl's room. He took a piece of red cloth from the rest of the curtain to cover the peeping hole shortly before the performance - but to no avail because Millech "cleaned" the stage, again. The players had a good gut feeling about the "summoner" - as they named unknown Vestus.
The day of the dress rehearsal was hilarious. The Perform (act) check results were catastrophal - and as provided by the AP - the audience threw vegetables onto the stage, performed their own play, shove a donkey on stage and screamed to exchange the monk (Larazod) with the scarecrow. It was just crazy...
The paladin, the halfling and the sorcerer spoke with Calseinica about an extra rehearsal on the morning of the actual performance, just to go over again the lines with the monk (Larazod) because he got the worst results in the rehearsals. They went to Thesing to get him too - but the lad only smiled sarcastically (you know why). I thought it would be great to let the players get the "friendship bonus" from Calseinica - and they were successful (even the monk). Robahl - at the time present for the last act at the Limelight - applauded and was intrigued with the characters. So I lowered the DC for the friendship bonus a little.
The day of the actual performance, their faces went pale as Robahl returned to them after speaking with Vestus. I DMed a very nervous Robahl, staring blankly into the faces of my players as they asked what will happen, ignoring their pleas for more information. But, as they knew something other than in the rehearsals would be happening, they read the lines very thouroughly and the paladin and the halfling rogue/bard asked Arael to make potions of protection from evil and acid resistance for both of them - a very good idea against the summoned lemures and the "beast". Just before the performance began, the sorcerer/wizard cast mage armor upon the monk who plays the part of Larazod to avoid damage from the whip lashes.
As I laid out the copied, enlarged and a little modified (because the openings are to small for the troll skeletons to squeeze through) map of the Nightshade and the characters took their positions on stage, I came up with some music (real opera arias and background music from Anno 1404) to enhance the atmosphere on stage. The players read their lines very well and I was very pleased to see that all of the earlier hesitation toward posing as actors were gone.
In spite of the catastrophic rehearsal "popularity" checks, the players came up with good to very good skill check results in the first five acts [we had to cut the game session at this point] and everything went flying... to the point at which the monk (Larazod) - against the ventrilocuted warnings of Millech - kicked one of the lemures off the stage into the audience...
... I think my own face went pale as I announced that the dimmed light in the theater was getting brighter, the first lines of the audience got up in fear, the musicians were jumping from their chairs and Robahl (in the background) was close to a heart attack...
... just to see that the characters were receiving the message and (those that were still standing at this point in the fight) jumped off the stage to fight or channel aligned energy at the lone lemure - killing it - and finally bluffing the audience that THIS was part of the performance. They got a Bluff result high enough to calm the frightened audience...
... as with the Popularity: I hesitated to set the result to 0 points and considered a -200 points penalty instead.
I'm very exited to see what will happen the next game session in which I hope to conclude the Six Trials of Larazod.
I'm so glad groups are having some fun with the play, even if Logue had a part to play in it. What a cool idea to put it in an AP by the lovely paizo fellows, we had great fun putting it into action.
Let us know how it concludes will you Scharlata?
Mnar.
Let us know how it concludes will you Scharlata?
Aye, sir!
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We, my fellow players and I finally got our hands on The Crux.
Interesting dungeon, but I feel that the wierd staircases to nowhere eats up valuable time (it took us 1/2 hour of farting around in real time to get the hang of it) to get through it where a simple series of UMD, Disable Device or Knowledge checks would have made that part of the adventure flow much smoother.
The runecurse was transferred to the bearded devil, who we cheesed off enough to invoke the curse on himself and he met a messy end while we were dealing with the shadowdancer (glitterdust brings the suck to a stealth based enemy).
BBEG went down like a chump IMO. He got the drop on us and did some damage, but the combination of our enlarged, raging, power-attacking barbarian, the cleric's awesomeness at channeling effects, and my 2 augmented summon monster III critters (augmented crock got a grapple and death rolled, lantern archon actually succeeded his aura of menace) rendered him basically ineffective and then dead in short order.
I think that our mostly inexperienced group has gotten a good grip on the rules and their roles, so yay for us!
Let us know how it concludes will you Scharlata?
Hey!
The party concluded the play on stage without losses of life.I thought the three skeleton trolls (3 of them because we have 6 PCs) would raze Larazod in an instant - but he found himself in a very advantageous strategic position. As it happend, the monk playing Larazod was standing besides the "throne" of the Magistrate and the halfling bard (belittled shortly before by the the same monk for trying to cast a needless "cantrip") cast a grease spell beneath the three troll skeletons so that two of them couldn't move towards the monk and the third didn't have enough reach to ... ah ... reach the monk. I played the undead as scheduled in the combat advice - only attacking other actors spontaneously with attacks on opportunities. At one of these occasions the bold and very self-confident ranger got one mighty blow from one of the trolls and "recoiled" to the third rank to get her wounds healed. After positioning themselves again and with united "firepower", enough cover from the throne, and the still working grease spell the three troll skeletons were defeated shortly thereafter. As a "thank you" for being so "nice" to his actor companions, Thesing got a sling bullet right into his grinning face from the halfling bard who couldn't resist the opportunity to attack him with "friendly fire". Thesing didn't buy the bluffed story, but that's another story...
I played the bleeding Thesing/Magistrate coughing and sputtering blood in the seventh act, ruining his fame a little, adding insult to injury.
We had very much fun playing the play, and in spite of the "lemure incident" the PCs got a more then acceptable popularity result.
Now they got their invitation and last game session we were right in the mess with all of the "gorgeous" guests at Aberian's Folly.
Later, the group talked to the mayor convincing him to agree to a little show act and ordering Croseal to show them an unused room to make a litle rehearsal with Robahl. They were showed - by chance - the unused bedroom of the "priest" and finding the secret chamber without Crosael noticing it... I was very astonished at their accomplishment.
In the meantime I was very pleased that the wizard/sorcerer had successfully convinced General Vourne [by the way: why isn't he Admiral?] to pour his gossip about Aberian's Folly's secret. And they even accomplished to getting the "mission" from Eirtein Oberigo to find the entrance.
I'm very anxious to see how they will survive the intoxication from the Cornucopia and finding their way to the next "location".
;)
I suspect because none of the folks who worked on the adventures have a military background and it just slipped through the cracks.
:) (*neither do I*)
Aye, capt'n, sir!
We had fun, too, at the party at Aberian's Folly the last two sessions.
As the PCs went in small groups searching the villa after the various dinner courses, they discovered the locked door in the attic (assuming that the disfigured son of the mayor was waiting for them behind that door), the rogue/bard couldn't pick the lock (he was close, but no cigar). So they went for the key to the padlock. They assumed (correctly) that the key would be in possession of Crosael [they searched the mayor's room before]. So the wizard/sorcerer tried a romantic advance towards the majordomo - and succeeded at getting with her with "his charms" into her room. After ... ahem ... "fighting a swift battle for his fatherland", he put her to sleep with a touch of fatigue - just to be sure she doesn't wake up too early. By the way, the tiefling paladin made similar efforts with Calseinica who was drunk and a bit clingy. [I never knew imagining a paladin tiefling clad in full plate making love to an actress dressed in an erinyes costume would be so silly ... :) .]
The wizard/sorcerer searched Croseal's belongings and found the key (and the papers). Anew, I was astounded to see him counting the servants' working contracts. As he knew that only 16 of them are life-in servants and he counted 17 contracts, he picked the newest one that led him to Sian's contract. At least, the PCs now got a warning shot that there could be more than the "missing son" at the attic.
But now, I long for some "real action" in the Asmodean Knot.
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I never got to put in my thanks.
We ran the Sixfold Trials two weeks ago (the rehearsal stuff was done the session before). My players all came with printed off copies of the Trials I sent them ready to go. Frankly I was stunned as I never would have imagined this group would want to read out the play but read it they did, with gusto I might add.
The play was the reason I chose to run the CoT adventure path with them. One read had me hooked and I'd have never believed how well it turned out without seeing it with my own eyes. The lead played into the role full-force (and now wants to add bard to his class list), our group's Paladin read out his lines as well as any actor, and the group's one non-charismatic member flubbed everything just as you would have imagined the PC would have done in real-life.
The play did end with one death, but the Trial by Pain, Belly of the Beast and finale went over like gangbusters. Congrats on a well written and fantastic adventure.
We just completed the play portion of the module last night, and I have to say as a DM of over 10 years, it was one of my top five all-time sessions. The players delivered their lines awesomely and the on-stage combats and trials (specifically the belly of the beast and the flukes) definitely made them sweat. Poor Calseinica got permenantly blinded on a critical hit from a Lemure (using the critical hit deck) and somehow completed the rest of the play.
Creepiest part was this: (and I am not making this up) when we totaled up the parties' popularity before adding the static 100 for surviving, the number was 666. (making it 1166 after surviving). Way to reinforce the connection between devils and D+D!!! (just kidding, but only about that last sentence)
Jeez Pett, Prince of Redhand, Skinsaw Murders, and now this!? How can you possibly top the modules??
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Just completed the Asmodean Knowt and escaped with no (real) deaths in the AP so far! I say real because a player dropped the game, 2 more were brought in, and then one of the new ones had to drop too.
One character in my group managed to trick the imprisoned bearded devil into taking the runecurse, which gave me a nice in-game exit when that same character's player had to drop. The bearded devil teleports into the dungeon the next morning, followed not much later by a bone devil, runs and grabs the halfling, teleporting back to Hell and yelling out that he'll have his revenge yet!
The player was so excited when we told her. We used the imp's Commune to learn that she is still alive, trapped on the 3rd layer of hell. The bone devil killed the bearded devil and left her to find her own way, and even now she struggles to eke out a living in those blasted lands
I gotta hand it to Mr. Pett and Mr. Logue, that adventure was a blast.
The tryouts, rehearsals, and the play itself took 3 sessions total, 2 of which had absolutely no combat. Let me tell you, it is an accomplishment for MY group to go two sessions with no combat and have so much fun in the process. Congratulations are in order.
Performing the play itself will live in my memory forever. Got by on the skin of our teeth from the combats and trials, but luckily of Bard playing Larazod did incredibly well with his Perform (act) checks.
The last two fights were fun too, with our Monk being infected by Mummy Rot but toughing it out and pushing onward to defeat the Outkast King. The Cleric made ALL the difference there, with Magic Circle Against Evil protecting most of the group from the tentacle and bite attacks.
The Outkast King himself ended up getting finished off when two summoned Celestial Giant Frogs both rolled and confirmed critical hits in the same turn, combined with a failed save against poison.
The group laughed themselves hoarse while I re-totaled the damage and confirmed that the frogs landed the killing blows.
Thanks for everything guys!
We had fun, too, at the party at Aberian's Folly the last two sessions.
** spoiler omitted **...
Interesting tactics Scharlata, and it's cool that the adventure seems to be covering several sessions, the change in pace through the knot should keep up the battle loving PCs hopefully.
Rich
I'm still reading this adventure, but so far, I'm really thrilled about it. This is really the kind of adventure I adore, with lots of chances for role-playing! Thanks a lot for taking a risk and giving us this unusual module!
Me too, it's great that Paizo are prepared to take risks with their APs as there must be a strong temptation to stick to a winning formula, bravo to them for their courage and a cool outline to work from.
Rich
I never got to put in my thanks.
We ran the Sixfold Trials two weeks ago (the rehearsal stuff was done the session before). My players all came with printed off copies of the Trials I sent them ready to go. Frankly I was stunned as I never would have imagined this group would want to read out the play but read it they did, with gusto I might add.
The play was the reason I chose to run the CoT adventure path with them. One read had me hooked and I'd have never believed how well it turned out without seeing it with my own eyes. The lead played into the role full-force (and now wants to add bard to his class list), our group's Paladin read out his lines as well as any actor, and the group's one non-charismatic member flubbed everything just as you would have imagined the PC would have done in real-life.
The play did end with one death, but the Trial by Pain, Belly of the Beast and finale went over like gangbusters. Congrats on a well written and fantastic adventure.
Logue did a fine job with those lines, as much as I hate to admit it:)
We just completed the play portion of the module last night, and I have to say as a DM of over 10 years, it was one of my top five all-time sessions.
Creepiest part was this: (and I am not making this up) when we totaled up the parties' popularity before adding the static 100 for surviving, the number was 666. (making it 1166 after surviving). Way to reinforce the connection between devils and D+D!!! (just kidding, but only about that last sentence)
Jeez Pett, Prince of Redhand, Skinsaw Murders, and now this!? How can you possibly top the modules??
Now you have me curious about the other 4 so spill the beans:)
Ah, plus they all have the guiding hand of Mr Jacobs, who I have said before should always come with a co-write for my stuff. Hopefully you'll like Sound of a Thousand Screams. It's sort of...different>)
Different.
DIFFERENT!
Bwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Just completed the Asmodean Knowt and escaped with no (real) deaths in the AP so far! I say real because a player dropped the game, 2 more were brought in, and then one of the new ones had to drop too.
One character in my group managed to trick the imprisoned bearded devil into taking the runecurse, which gave me a nice in-game exit when that same character's player had to drop. The bearded devil teleports into the dungeon the next morning, followed not much later by a bone devil, runs and grabs the halfling, teleporting back to Hell and yelling out that he'll have his revenge yet!
The player was so excited when we told her. We used the imp's Commune to learn that she is still alive, trapped on the 3rd layer of hell. The bone devil killed the bearded devil and left her to find her own way, and even now she struggles to eke out a living in those blasted lands
I gotta hand it to Mr. Pett and Mr. Logue, that adventure was a blast.
The tryouts, rehearsals, and the play itself took 3 sessions total, 2 of which had absolutely no combat. Let me tell you, it is an accomplishment for MY group to go two sessions with no combat and have so much fun in the process. Congratulations are in order.
Performing the play itself will live in my memory forever. Got by on the skin of our teeth from the combats and trials, but luckily of Bard playing Larazod did incredibly well with his Perform (act) checks.
The last two fights were fun too, with our Monk being infected by Mummy Rot but toughing it out and pushing onward to defeat the Outkast King. The Cleric made ALL the difference there, with Magic Circle Against Evil protecting most of the group from the tentacle and bite attacks.
The Outkast King himself ended up getting finished off when two summoned Celestial Giant Frogs both rolled and confirmed critical hits in the same turn, combined with a failed save against poison.
The group laughed themselves hoarse while I re-totaled the damage and confirmed that the frogs landed the killing blows.
Thanks...
I can recall a celestial bear being summoned to push open a gateway in Make it Big (I think it was called) - a great adventure from Dungeon days, and the immortal lines 'push bear push' were born into our D&D group's folklore. Summoned creatures are invariably fun.
Huzzah!
Rich
Now you have me curious about the other 4 so spill the beans:)
Fair Enough:
1)Running Dragotha in 'Wormcrawl Fissure'
2)Prince of Redhand's Dinner party (I've ran it twice)
3)Confronting the Skinsaw man (and the fantastic haunts) in "Skinsaw Murders"
4)The Sixfold Trial's Play
5)Endgame of "King's of the Rift"
I'm obviously partial to the big, epic Dragon fights, but the other three have inspired some of the best role-playing I've ever seen.
Hopefully you'll like Sound of a Thousand Screams. It's sort of...different>)
Different.
DIFFERENT!
Bwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
You are talking about a module, right?? Right??? AAHHHHHHH!!!!
BTW: The room of infinite Shadows has made my players swear like I've never heard before. (Whispering "Bravo" out of earshot of my players)
..., the change in pace through the knot should keep up the battle loving PCs hopefully.
It does!
But... the ranger made an obvious statement that put me a split second under pressure: "The elven wizard doesn't have a spellbook, does he?" "Ahem... no, he doesn't." I never wasted a thought on that subject - but the better for the PCs.
I "annoyed" Mr. Jacobs with the details of the runecurse :) that weren't clear to me. I made my peace with a house ruling for the runecurse. It was fun to put the monk [who took the parchment with the runecurse] under stress making vague statements about the holy symbol of the cleric PC's holy symbol that for a moment appeard to be a unholy symbol of Asmodeus, or letting him see shadows in the corner of his eyes, or giving him a glance of a skeleton with a scorpion tail in the hall of shadows... The monk got very irritated *hehehe*. I think they don't have a clue what this parchment is meant for and I don't want a "unjust" death delivered by a too powerful foe. So I try my best to give them a hint.
Thanks for the AP.
So, I have a con game to run in a couple of months, and I was thinking of running the Six Trials of Larazod (just the play part) for one of my sessions (just to break up the Society Scenarios I'm running).
My question, how much time did it take up to run the play? Would I be running short on time with the play in a four hour slot. Can any other GMs give an estimate of how long it takes to run through the play part of the AP (I haven't gotten to that section with my crew at home yet, so can't gauge myself)?
So, I have a con game to run in a couple of months, and I was thinking of running the Six Trials of Larazod (just the play part) for one of my sessions (just to break up the Society Scenarios I'm running).
My question, how much time did it take up to run the play? Would I be running short on time with the play in a four hour slot. Can any other GMs give an estimate of how long it takes to run through the play part of the AP (I haven't gotten to that section with my crew at home yet, so can't gauge myself)?
Took us three sessions, total of about 18 hours of play, to play through. And that's with us reading the whole thing aloud and roleplaying the whole audition and stage preparations and such out too.
Took us three sessions, total of about 18 hours of play, to play through. And that's with us reading the whole thing aloud and roleplaying the whole audition and stage preparations and such out too.
If you were to only run the play (without rehearsal etc) it'd probably take you 2-4 hours.
Thanks for the info. I'll probably run the audition and the play.
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So, I have a con game to run in a couple of months, and I was thinking of running the Six Trials of Larazod (just the play part) for one of my sessions (just to break up the Society Scenarios I'm running).
My question, how much time did it take up to run the play? Would I be running short on time with the play in a four hour slot. Can any other GMs give an estimate of how long it takes to run through the play part of the AP (I haven't gotten to that section with my crew at home yet, so can't gauge myself)?
In my group the rehearsal took right around four hours (one night's play session). The play itself made us run over and we put in around five hours to complete it.
Its a bit late to go into details, but having just finished our session of the Six Trials of Larazod, we had an amazing session. One fatality, and even that was an absolutely awesome moment.
Always pleased to hear details of how it's running, it's great to hear that people are still having fun with this adventure and again hats off to paizo for taking a risk with something that may not be everyone's cup of tea.
Huzzah and bravo!
Rich
Plus, of course, we now need to know the details of the fatality:)
Plus, of course, we now need to know the details of the fatality:)
There is so much to put it in context, but I think the summary is something like this . . .
The originally NG rogue, that was drifting towards CN territory and was slowly trying to get his "good" vibe back on. He ended up befriending Calcienica, and in the final act, after she got dropped (but not killed) by one of the skeletons, he pushed her backstage and out of danger, taking the brunt of the skeleton's damage and dying in the process.
To whit the CN divine bard of Calistria promptly felt as if he had failed his friend by not teaching him to think of himself first, and quickly calls back to Millech saying, "hey, we need a ringer to finish the act."
The whole play was a great experience, and everyone really wanted to read their lines (though I must admit to not having anyone memorizing lines). The other party rogue managing to savage the "hero" rogue in the second act with his whip was pretty funny as well.
Plus just hearing the paladin's player reading his lines about the Flukes of Asmodeus was a gaming moment that will be forever set in the gaming firmament.
(You know, it strikes me that Richard Pett currently has a tally of seven fatalities across two campaigns in my group . . . I may have to start hiding the name on the cover of the current adventure)
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While a little late to this party, I can report that my group played out the Sixfold Trial the other night. While life prevented them from memorizing lines, it didn't prevent them from coming AS their characters, in costume.
It was a great night. While initially unsure of how this would work, they all threw themselves into their parts and it was really a night to remember. The good news? I have 5 players...so one of them had to be Ilsandra.
From left to right: Tybain, Ilsandra, Larazon, Dentris and Drovalid.
Here's Ilsandra and Tybain.
And me as Haanderthan.
While a little late to this party, I can report that my group played out the Sixfold Trial the other night. While life prevented them from memorizing lines, it didn't prevent them from coming AS their characters, in costume.
Frickin' awesome. Very cool. I wish my PCs would dress up as their characters... would definitely get us a lot more weird looks in transit, but would be well worth it!
Very nice, congrats to your player's and you for your enthusiasm.
While a little late to this party, I can report that my group played out the Sixfold Trial the other night. While life prevented them from memorizing lines, it didn't prevent them from coming AS their characters, in costume.
It was a great night. While initially unsure of how this would work, they all threw themselves into their parts and it was really a night to remember. The good news? I have 5 players...so one of them had to be Ilsandra.
From left to right: Tybain, Ilsandra, Larazon, Dentris and Drovalid.
Here's Ilsandra and Tybain.
And me as Haanderthan.
Freakin' AWESOME!
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Just a hats off to you all for this book. Been a dm for over 20years and the trials play was without doubt one of the most memorable sessions ever! Everyone got into the play and tears of humour flowed - never more so when one of the characters asked what sort of play the 'the sex trolls of Larazod' was!
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My group is going to be starting the play next week, and after reading all of the posts on this thread, I must say that I am really looking forward to running this one.
4 out of the 5 players are big into the roleplaying aspect and I think they are really going to get into their characters with this one. The 5th...well...I guess he's about to be educated...or end up sitting there with a blank look on his face wandering what he's gotten himself into. :-)
...blank look on his face wandering what he's gotten himself into. :-)
... or he may be swept away with commotion and clings to his peers :)
Finally ran my players through the trial. It went awesome. There were some hairy moments, but the players made it through.
Trial by Torture: Larazod (oracle) took some nonlethal damage from the whip and the rack, but other than that, no damage.
Trial by Pleasure: Drovalid (barbarian) failed a Fort Save once and could not make the heal check for 4 rounds. Each player took at least 2 Con damage and Drovalid took 20 points of damage cutting out the rot grub.
Trial in the Belly of the Beast: Being the nice GM that I am, I had Robahl recommend they buy a ring of Climbing to share between them. Ilsandra (Calsenica) dropped in the acid, but someone gave her a cure potion. Dentris (sorcerer) was down to 1 hp before being able to make it out.
Trial by Lemures (don't remember the name): This one was easily handled with only minor scrapes to the actors, though Tybain (summoner) brought her eidolon onto the stage and the audience thought it was lame
Trial by Troll Skeletons (again don't remember the act name): Could have been deadly if I had remembered to move the second skeleton. Oh, well, it was late and I forgot.
All in all, they rolled really well and had bonuses from befriending Calsenica. They ended up with 1050 popularity at the end. They were very happy with the take considering they used up many charges on a wand, several potions of cure light wounds, and had to buy a Ring of Climbing (which they bought after one of the players had managed to make the DC 27 check to befriend the Visbaronetess, thus getting 20% off the ring).
I'm running Sixfold Trial now, as part of a broader, non-AP campaign--wanted to give myself a breather from original content, and the concept was too good not to run.
My players haven't loved all of it, and we did some hand-waving through the latter halves of the rehearsal and the cast party, but actually running the play was one of folks' favorite sessions ever, and the Knot so far is proving memorable.
Party of 6, 4th level for the play and 5th entering the knot, has required some modding.
For the play, I had one player read Haanderthan's lines; I gave the 6th player Farus the Traveled, and edited in some lyrics and chants from Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Sorcerer" as his lines. I think my players were most entertained by my reading for Ilsandra while my wife's bard read for Larazod, but they one and all seemed to love both the concept and execution of the play.
Once in the Knot, the runecurse was immediately (and predictably) snapped up by the bard. As the only arcane caster in the group, she's pumped spellcraft and UMD, and is the default treasure detector/identifier, and pretty good at discerning the nature of the runecurse just barely too late. "What did I find? ...wait, scrolls of icky necromancy 1, 2, and 3 and a whatcurse, now?"
The shadows proved a challenge even for 6 players a level higher than intended--partly because one of the monks happened to be goofing off with slow fall in the infinite stairwell and missed the first round or two of combat before he could get to a landing, and strength drain did a number on the damage-dealers' ability to get through hardness on the mirrors. They couldn't really hit on the idea of just running, and I think could likely have died of strength attrition while trying to poke the mirrors to death, had it not been for the fact that I'd previously run the group through D1 - Crown of the Kobold King, from which,
Perhaps the highlight of the early Knot was Szasmir, though. The fighter and the two monks, all lawfuls, and including my two experienced players, called a huddle to start laying out elaborate battle tactics and evaluate whether to let Szasmir out to fight or just bypass him. This left the chaotic half of the party free to chat with the devil through the bars. Ranger and cleric attempted to negotiate a deal in which they'd let the devil out if he agreed to leave the party alone and go take his revenge on the Mayor. ("We know it's not the same dude, but it's the thought that counts, right?")
The bard eventually piped in with, "Hey, we'll let you out if you can tell us what this piece of paper says!" and poked the runecurse through the bars. She bluffed high, Szasmir took the paper, glanced at it, declared the "page torn from an unknown book on devilish religion" to be nonsense, and tore it up in his frustration. The party goggled as Nyxervex materialized inside the now-very-cramped cell, paused in surprise at seeing another devil as his target, then shrugged, ("Sorry about this--it's just business.") and took Szasmir apart. "So...does the bone devil disappear then?" Well, actually, no. Rule zero decides that the cell's dimensional anchor would let Nyxervex appear, but he'd then be just as stuck as Szasmir was. Which the party loves--Nyxervex doesn't--and they decide they'll definitely continue on their way without a fight. (Now I just have to figure out how strong the cell is, physically/magically, relative to a bone demon, and whether/when he manages to get free and come fixing for revenge.)