ellegua's page

At least 3 PCs a month can make the diplomacy check to increase trust.

Aha! I had read that as only one PC (of the three) could make the checks. I knew there was a disconnect there. ;)

That's where we're at as well: finished the Run, at 16 points. I doubt that they'll want to quest during the winter, so I'll probably run either the Gargoyles or Talon Peak in the springtime. I'm really excited for the mountain climb -- I think that's going to be a GREAT session or two.

The race went great! My PCs loved it, and it had some high drama at the end, as one of the PCs ran back onto "the field" after having finished the race to save the life of another PC (who had been dropped due to a nasty crit from K). They're really excited about how to earn trust with the tribe.

Also, the race wasn't as complicated as I expected -- the rules and mechanics work very smoothly with one another, and the index cards helped a lot.

Thanks again, Dudemeister!

We ran the first part of the Varnhold exploration last session. My players, surprisingly, decided to push through and explore the entire village -- including stockade -- in one day. I had assumed they'd explore the town, retreat and regroup, and them come back to the stockade fresh.

That said, the actual assault against the spriggans has the chance of being drawn out into a loooong, relatively boring encounter. Most of the spriggans' SLAs won't function against 7th-level PCs (Scare can't affect them, and Shatter won't work against magic weapons). In the end, it comes down to rogue-tactics or enlarged, try to do more damage than the PCs tactics. Not the most exciting encounter.

So, halfway through, I upped the ante a little bit. As the module suggests, I had Agai kick over the barrel of oil and set fire to the building (with four or five spriggans still inside, no less). He made a comment about the PCs not being able to save those inside, and we stopped the session there. I'm adding a family of fisherman that avoided the original Vanishing because they were fishing eels out of Lake Silverstep (these fishermen will be the same that later supply the Eel Bake quest). They've been captured by the Spriggans and are being held in the first floor bunkhouse.

So next session the PCs have a bit of a problem: Agai is going to run, the building will be on fire (I'm using the rules for fire in the "Catastrophe!" section of Council of Thieves), and a minute or two into the encounter I'll have the building start to collapse (using the collapsing building rules from the same section). I don't expect my PCs to have any trouble with these spriggans, but adding the environmental hazards, a rescue attempt, and a fleeing BBEG should divide them and make a boring encounter a lot more interesting -- especially since they'll have to move fast or get creative if they want to explore any of the rooms inside the blockhouse.

Not exactly an addition, mind you, but I thought it warranted commenting nevertheless. Next up -- the Nomen (and hopefully Dudemeister's Trust additions!). ;-)

I am extraordinarily excited about this. I thought your changes to Rivers Run Red were some of the best adjustments to existing published material I've ever seen. It inspired me to add in all kinds of elements, and I've been contemplating what to do with Varnhold Vanishing for a while. To see that you're picking up that torch as well is awesome.

Looking forward to it.

Ditto! My PCs *loved* the changes in RRR, and we're getting ready to start VV (tonight, as a matter of fact!). I'd particularly love to see a write-up regarding the trust points, since I've refrained from reading any of CC (planning on playing it as a PC after we finish up Council of Thieves).

I know that I'm concocting a reason for the PCs to visit Varnhold, rather than have any NPC ask them to investigate. Right off the bat, it seems much creepier if they just stumble into an abandoned town, rather than knowing something is up beforehand.