I think it was issue 87. I really liked this adventure but all my players hated it. I thought it was well put together and a good challege. They hated the red kuo-toa that wouldn't die. It's one of the only times they ever ran from battles instead of fighting to the death.
I ran it a few months ago. The PCs wandered around a lot, and thus met a lot of scarlet children, and it got a little bit tiresome after a while. It was a *long* adventure (half-a dozen sessions).
Fortunately for the PCs, the group that went through the adventure included a 2 paladins & a monk (all immune to diseases) and a sorcerer with lightning bolt and Energy Substitution (Acid).
I ran it for my players a while ago (two-and-a-half years or so); I had a similar experience to yours, Matt. I loved it when I read it, but my players didn't like it at all. Especially once they got to the Crown of Blipdoolpoolp -- four whip ghosts attack, one telekinetically hurls a player into the water, another lightning-bolts the pool, then they keep doing that until the ghosts are all defeated. Next room? Exactly the same thing. Next room? Same thing again. And again. And again. It got pretty old for me while I was running it, too -- I didn't realize when I was reading it just how many of those rooms were exactly the same. The Behir ancounter was fun for all, though.
Creative Director
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Yup; I agree about the kuo-toa ghosts. If I were to rewrite "Scarlet Tide" today, I'd either reduce the number of rooms in the Crown or I'd come up with more varied encounters to take place in there. As it was, I was pushing the wordcount limit for the adventure into the stratosphere, though. My advice for anyone who runs the adventure is to stop throwing the less powerful kuo-toa ghosts at the party once fights with them start to get boring, and spice thigns up with some other undead or constructs of kuo-toa design.
Yeah... looking through that adventure again... WAY too many plants and ghosts. Sorry about that! ;-)
I used the cavern portion as a side adventire to rescue the trapped deep gnomes. It was great. The plant mold creatures really kept the party on their toes. I have a write-up from the session somewhere if anybody is interested.
ASEO out
Actually, this was Dungeon 85. I was wrong.
Thanks for replying to my post James, I never expected the author of the adventure to weigh in on here.
It took us 2 and a half months of weekly 4-5 hour sessions to finish the module. My party had no trouble with the ghosts. One of my players was playing a Cleric/Sacred Exorcist of St Cuthbert and all those ghost encounters lasted just long enough for him to turn them all. They had a much more difficult time with the Scarlet Children. The only arcane caster in the group was eaten by Skellyglur the behir. His player didn't want the character raised, and then it was he who played the Cleric. As a result of that, there was nobody who could really damage them except for the Fighter/Cleric of Hieroneous with his +1 Shocking Longsword. After the first few encounters they had it down to a system though: beat them down until they quit moving and then each party member keeps beating them until the Cleric and his Shock Longsword can finish the job. Most of the combat encounters with the Scarlet Children lasted 7-10 rounds, I didn't play out the prolonged beating of the unconscious Scarlet Children until they were finally killed. My group normally has combat rounds that last for only 4-5 rounds. There were even a few fights with the Scarlet Kuo-Toa that lasted longer than 10 rounds. I thought my group came up with a lot of clever ideas and tactics to deal with a foe that they could barely deal damage to. At one point, they used a Quall's Feather Token Tree to fill a passageway that was clogged with Scarlet Kuo-toa.
There were only a few thing I didn't like about this one, the city of J'Bhulgolboth itself was sparsely fleshed out...I mean how many adventuring parties WON'T want to go explore the drow quarter? And I thought that the final battle was a little anticlimactic. I only had Xhagevoxhab attack them for 2 rounds before the completion of the ritual and while he did nearly kill 2 of the PC's with his attacks, the fight didn't last very long and it was against a monster that the group really had no chance to beat except by using the magic of the ritual.It was kind of a letdown to the group that they didn't really get to kick some major tail when they finally got to the one responsible for all the Scarlet Kuo-toa that had been giving them so much trouble.
Still, this is one of my favorite adventures from Dungeon that I have used. Good job James.
Any other advice from anyone?
My PCs are 9-11th level so I've had to up some of the encounters. I also included a swarm of infected bats. They slew the behir in 3 rounds!
They took a pretty direct route to the lake - along the eastern caverns, missing Bladestorm. They're just about to cross the lake towards the kuo-toa city.
We're using 3.5 rules.
I am running this adventure now (3.5) and they have cleared the caverns. I have a question about Scarlet Children. On page 64, it says they take normal damage from electricty, but on the same page, it says they have electricity resistance 30. Which is the case? Something that is immune to fire, cold, and electricity is hard to put down. Thanks for any help.
Yup; I agree about the kuo-toa ghosts. If I were to rewrite "Scarlet Tide" today, I'd either reduce the number of rooms in the Crown or I'd come up with more varied encounters to take place in there. As it was, I was pushing the wordcount limit for the adventure into the stratosphere, though. My advice for anyone who runs the adventure is to stop throwing the less powerful kuo-toa ghosts at the party once fights with them start to get boring, and spice thigns up with some other undead or constructs of kuo-toa design.
Yeah... looking through that adventure again... WAY too many plants and ghosts. Sorry about that! ;-)
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Creative Director
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I am running this adventure now (3.5) and they have cleared the caverns. I have a question about Scarlet Children. On page 64, it says they take normal damage from electricty, but on the same page, it says they have electricity resistance 30. Which is the case? Something that is immune to fire, cold, and electricity is hard to put down. Thanks for any help.
Scarlet Children have electricity resistance 30... actually, that's a 3.0 adventure. They should probalby have electricity restiance 10 (or MAYBE 20) in 3.5.
I haven't ran this adventure although I did very much enjoy reading it so it will be curious to see if my experience when I do run it is similiar to others here.
Back in 2nd edition though, Bladestorm was a significant NPC in my Greyhawk campaign so I very much enjoyed seeing her play a role.
I also really liked the unusual locations and the subterranean/aquatic setting for the finale. I got really excited reading it, so I hope I am just as excited playing it...
Cheers
Llowellen
I am using a version of this adventure in my 3.5E campaign over the next few weeks. I am removing most of the entire middle section of the campaign due to its tediousness and redundancy. My reworked version of this template is below. The main change was the limiting the Constution damage to 1d6 which I felt was more in line with a +1 LA template.
CREATING A Scarlet Child
Size and Type: A scarlet child’s type does not change, but it gains all plant traits.
Hit Dice: The base creature changes to d8 Hit Dice.
Armor Class: The creature suffers a -2 penalty to its natural armor bonus, if any (minimum bonus of +0)
Attack: A scarlet child retains all of the base creature’s attacks. It also gains a ranged touch attack. As a standard action, it can shoot forth a whip-like mass of fibrous red tendrils that lash out from the eye sockets, nostrils, or mouth to a maximum range of 15 feet. This ‘tendril attack’ has an attack bonus equal to the scarlet child’s BAB + Dexterity modifier.
Damage: Damage caused by the base creature’s attacks remain unchanged. The scarlet child’s tendril attack deals no damage but could infest the victim with scarlet rust (see Special Attacks – Infestation).
Special Attacks: The scarlet child has all the special attacks of the base creature plus those given below.
Infestation (Ex): A victim hit by the scarlet child’s tendril attack must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw (DC equals 10 + half the scarlet child’s Hit Dice plus Constitution modifier) or become infected with scarlet rust. See scarlet rust for details.
Breath Weapon (Ex): Once a day, the scarlet child can spit a concentrated glob of scarlet rust from its mouth at any target within 30 feet. The victim must succeed on a Reflex saving throw (DC equals 10 + half the scarlet child’s Hit Dice plus Dexterity Modifier) to avoid the glob. Otherwise the glob deals one point of temporary Constitution damage per round for 1d6 rounds as it quickly spreads through the victim’s body. Remove Disease destroys the infestation. Someone who dies from Constitution loss in this manner transforms into a scarlet child in 1d6 minutes,
Special Qualities: A scarlet child retains all of the special qualities of the base creature plus those given below:
Regeneration (Ex): Damage dealt to a scarlet child is treated as subdual damage, which the child heals at a rate of 3 points per round. The scarlet child suffers normal damage from electricity, acid and sunlight.
Susceptible to Sunlight (Ex): Scarlet children are susceptible to natural sunlight and daylight spells. Exposure to sunlight forces a scarlet child to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 15) or collapse into dormancy until the exposure ends. Continued exposure forces a new Fortitude save every minute.
Susceptible to Remove Disease (Ex): A scarlet child targets by a Remove Disease spell must resist the spell with a successful Fortitude saving throw or be instantly slain. Even if the saving throw is successful, the child takes 3d6 points of damage plus 1 point per caster level.
Abilities: +2 to Constitution (undead base creature do not gain this bonus), -2 to Charisma.
Skills and Feats: As base creature. Scarlet children gain a +4 racial bonus to Hide and Move Silently attacks.
Environment: Underground.
Organization: Solitary, band (1d4+1) or cult (5d20)
Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +1
Treasure: Standard.
Alignment: Always neutral evil.
Advancement: Same as base creature
Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +1
I've been digging through Dungeon back issues and Lord of the Scarlet Tide was at the top of my list to run in my current Scarred Lands campaign. I'm glad I found this thread and will tweak the adventure accordingly. Thanks!!!
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Well I was going to jump in and say it's Dungeon 85 but I see someone beat me to it.
I enjoy reading Jacobs' adventures but I've only actually thought one was good enough to run. Adventures such as "Scepter of the Underworld" (#12) and "Porphyra House Horror" (#95) are awesome to read but not so much fun to play without drastic rewriting. "Scarlet Tide" is obviously another example. "Headless" (89?), however, is only a moderately good read but it is a great adventure to run.
Anyway, James is finally becoming solid at writing "editorials"/ forwards which have always been my favorite thing so I'm starting to become a big fan.
-W. E. Ray
I loved this adventure. Though I managed to re-imprison Xhagevoxhab (?), I hope to be able to return and slay it once my characters are high enough level.
I'd also like to do something w/ that frozen edge of the subterranean Temple of Tharizdun!