Tammeraut's fate! (SPOILERS?)

[Dryder]

Well, I think everyone agrees, that this is a very NICE adventure...

My pcs just finished off some of the drowned ones, and are now discussing if they want to go to the wreck of the Tammeraut.
My question here is: Who of you have played it already and cann tell me, if it will be too hard for a party of four 5th level pcs to encounter Tammeraut himself together with the two drowned ones monks in the unhallow effect?
I think my group can handle this, but I am not sure.
Any input is appreciated!

[Greg A. Vaughan]

I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's always nice to see feedback from others who have played it.

As written the adventure is for four 6th-level characters who can possibly reach 7th level before the underwater showdown with Syrgaul. The final encounter itself is EL 10, so I would imagine that it alone, not to mention the monks who can soften PCs up a bit and the difficult circumstances for the battle, should probably mince a 5th-level party. However, you know best your group's abilities and playing style, so of course it's possible. Frankly I'm impressed they survived the monastery intact. Every 6th-level party I have run through it has had trouble not feeding the chuul at least one of their number.

[Dryder]

Well, they haven't met the chuul/sea cat yet(still don't know which one to use) and managed to avoid the peryton! Presently they are level 5 almost 6.

During the first night, I started with only 7 drowned ones, but the pcs were so well prepared (they waited for the undead in area 7) that I had to increase the number to 14 during the fight! Most of the undead came from areas 11 and 4 and the assassin drowned one broke through the door, coming from area 17. He never got the chance to use it's dead attack and finally was killed! All the fighters almost always made their save vs. the nasueating attack of the undead and only the rogue and the mage failed it, starting to run away (the fight was almost over then) and broke through the riggety balcony in area 8 ;)
The last two drowned ones came throught the arrow slits in area 7/on the gallery (I let them tear apart the mortar, to make the entrance more dramatic), but they were finished after 5 more rounds from the fghters. It was a great fight, and all the pcs are below 5hp now!!!

You should have seen their faces, they really felt like having accomblished something special, it was great. But they all said "D'oh!" after I told them afterwards, that they could have used the assassine vines witht the plant charme ;)

I think I will start with only one monk (I can introduce the second one any time, if necessary) and put away with the unhallow effect. That should do it, I hope!
Boy, hopefully they don't check out the chuul-area with so few hp before they recover.

Thanx, Greg, for this adventure pearl! My players love it and it's one of the most atmospheric adventures I have ever seen! Thanx again and be sure there are some people here in germany who had a great two sessions on "your" Firewatch Island!

[Greg A. Vaughan]

Thanks so much for your kind words. I love hearing how others handle things in the adventure and what they think about it in general. I'm glad the rickety balcony got somebody. If you ever run it again, you might consider making your players hum the theme song to the A-Team while they're preparing for the undead assault. :)

If you liked it, you might check out "Torrents of Dread" in issue #114. It's another atmosphery adventure (though it took some pretty good hits on the editing chopping block - about a third of its length as near as I can tell). Anyway, it's got a different feel but still has an island flavor (even moreso considering it's on the Isle of Dread).

Thanks again for your feedback. I'm glad you guys have enjoyed it.

[Torpedo]

I'm looking forward to running this adventure. Everything about this adventure is top-notch. The maps are beautiful and the design is great. I absolutely love the full-page art piece on page 44! I can't wait to show that to the players in game. The lighting is perfect to capture the undersea feel. Upon receiving this magazine in the mail, I must have stared at that picture for an hour.

Also, good work on "Torrents of Dread." I can see running these two adventures in close proximity to each other!

[Dryder]

Greg V wrote:

If you liked it, you might check out "Torrents of Dread" in issue #114. It's another atmosphery adventure (though it took some pretty good hits on the editing chopping block - about a third of its length as near as I can tell). Anyway, it's got a different feel but still has an island flavor (even moreso considering it's on the Isle of Dread).

Thanks again for your feedback. I'm glad you guys have enjoyed it.

Thanx for the hint! I flipped through the pages of #115 but didn't realized "Torrents of Dread" was also from you. I've already read through it and must say I like it as well! (Man, how much time have you got, when your'able to prepare so much adventures? ;)

You said the adventure has been chopped down! You couldn't probably send the "whole thing" via eMail to me? (Or is this against the rules from paizo (if so, I'm sorry asking for it in the first place).
If I wouldn't presently run the Adventure Path series (with Tammeraut's fate as an insert), my players would be picked up by a storm right after having dealt with Syrgaul himself!
But for now, the Torrents have to wait...

One question: Can you, as the author, say who you want to draw the maps or does Paizo just pick one of the artists?

Torpedo: YEP! The pic is really cool! I made a full page print and will give it away as a hand-out to my players - the are going to love it!!!

[Greg A. Vaughan]

Thanks, Torpedo and Dryder.

Dryder wrote...

Quote:

(Man, how much time have you got, when your'able to prepare so much adventures?

...

There is never enough time. Wife, job, 2 little girls, and life always come first (football season tends to intrude as well this time of year). Leftover time tends to be divided between gaming and writing. Fortunately, they overlap some, since the guys I game with also graciously playtest for me. Unfortuately, I just get to sit and watch at those times and take notes instead of playing.

Actually the wheels of publication tend to run slow for me. "Torrents" was written (well, rewritten...)summer 2003. "Tammeraut" was actually sent in spring 2002. There's several more sitting with Paizo in the meantime, but I don't know what their time table is

Dryder wrote...

Quote:

You said the adventure has been chopped down! You couldn't probably send the "whole thing" via eMail to me? (Or is this against the rules from paizo (if so, I'm sorry asking for it in the first place).

...

Actually I have no idea about the legalities and ownership issues with that. Maybe if one of the Paizo guys came on the boards and said it was okay, I could. Otherwise I'd rather not risk incurring their wrath.

As to the final question, I haven't had any say in who is the cartographer for my adventures. However, Rob Lazzaretti, who has done it with both adventures, has done an awesome job! I've always been kind of a map freak so I typically put a lot of detail in to them, and Rob has been so true to them that they are virtually identical to the originals (though his manage to look much, much better). I was curious how well they would do with the catacombs map in "Torrents", which is extremely detailed and I guessed would be very difficult to reproduce. Rob blew me away. He captured it all perfectly down to the most minute details and even managed to illustrate the different types of bedrock surrounding various parts of the dungeon. Wow.