I've often praised Tammeraut's Fate on these boards, and now it's only a matter of a couple of months before I actually get to play it with a group (as opposed to playing it with myself...well.. anyway).
I've recently been readiing the Rogue Dragon series, and want to use the Rage as a campaign arc in my Realms campaign. Anyway, I wanted to know the thoughts (especially from the author), on how feasible it is to simply use the setting (island/monastery), but that the attacker(s) are dragon(s)?
In the novels, the heroes have to go search in ancient monasteries and libraries for clues on how to stop this rage, and I thought that if my players did that, they might end up right where I want them!
The downside is that I'm afraid I'll ruin an otherwise brilliant module..
A lot of the flavor of that adventure came from the "freak-out" factor of the dead sailors rising up out of the ocean to attack the monastery. My players got goosebumps especially when they realized that the "drowned ones" walked along the ocean floor the whole way. "Much scarier than Pirates of the Caribbean" was one comment that I heard.
Dragons? Sure, why not--but it won't be the same adventure really.
Hey, why not drowned one dragons? Yeah, that's stretching the rules of the template, but you're the DM and it's your campaign. Perhaps half-dragon drowned ones?
**Spoilers to follow**
I had a good time with this adventure as written with some minor story alterations to fit my campaign. The peryton lurking around the bell tower was great. When I told my players what the creature would do to their characters once it pinned them in a grapple, they freaked out and had them running in every direction. One character jumped from the bell tower and landed in the assassin vines at the bottom. Ahh... good times.
Oh, and the sea hags hiding in the cistern had fun with one of my player's character. Grapple, grapple, pin, pin, pin... and not much later, one drowned character.
The assassin drowned one that crawls up the back side of the hermitage freaked them out when they realized that it was eyeballing them through the little peephole into the hidden room under the kitchen where they were hiding during the second assault. It just couldn't figure out how to get inside to get them. But not for lack of trying. They could hear the drowned ones ransacking the kitchen above them searching for a way down, but they never found the secret passage.
My players had a hard time believing the huge coral snake on the upper floor could get through the tiny window slit into that room, so do yourself a favor and describe it as being a bit bigger than it says. Greg gets all agitated when I mention that ;)
Yeah, the hag killed the party's M-60 machinegun (aka Aria the ranger). The peryton gave them a hard time as well...bless (eat) their hearts, he he.
The female cleric NPC in the adventure became a recurring NPC in my campaign and played a role in the party's subsequent adventuring in the Styes.
...I think all the gritty seacoast modules in Dungeon would make a cool AP.....
::pretentious huffing and sniffing follows in true irritated British gentry fashion (much how I picture Richard Pett everytime I read one of his posts)::
Now, I'm off to insult Richard Pett some more on various threads. Tallyho!!!
It's sad to see a grown man sink to such desperation on the eve of defeat. Up guards and at them again! Harry him Mr Greer, harry him I say!
Hoorah!
Absolutely any change to Tammeraut's Fate would be an improvement Trellian - huzzah!
Hehe.. you Dungeon authors are really competetive, huh? Well, I realize that the changes I describe will practically change the adventure to the point where it isn't Tammeraut's Fate anymore, and that I'm only using the location. Which is something I hesitate doing with this particular module. Besides, I'm not too sure how well the siege would be when the adversaries can fly. Still, I like the idea, so I may still go for it.. saving Tammeraut's Fate for another occasion.
How about the monastery getting attacked by dragons....and then getting attacked again by the undead a few months later? Recurring victimization seems to be a common plotline on TV, so why not use Firewatch Island twice?
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How about some draconic-undead people, like, well... Undead Draconians, which are send by a huge undead Dragonturtle. The Dragonturtle would be great climactic encounter.
Imagine, this zombie-like dragonturtle crawling out of the sea, and towards the monastery...
edit: I presently don't know, if the Dragonturtle is allready available as a monster in 3.5...
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Just have the church of Tiamat or the cult of the dragon be the ones who attacked the island during the time of troubles. Tammeraut can be the high priest of the dragonworshippers who was looking for The Maw,the gateway to a area contaning a legendary graveyard for evil dragons who died drowning in battle. Tammeraut had brought with him two black small dragons and Tammerraut and his crew drowned ,so the two Wyrmlings. Somehow the maw's residual energies gave many but not most of the human drowned ones some draconic features.The dragons became Zombie Dragons.
Now look here, Greer. I already explained all that. The snakes were really skinny and illiterate. Therefore they had never read the squeezing rules in the PHB. It's like the old cartoons, as long as you don't realize you didn't walk over a cliff you can keep walking. It's only when you look down that you have to worry about. Now I think we've finally put that bit to rest once and for all.
::pretentious huffing and sniffing follows in true irritated British gentry fashion (much how I picture Richard Pett everytime I read one of his posts)::
LOL. I'll have to use that analogy when beating on my group. "Uh... Well, you see it's like this... The hill giant with the great axe isn't actually aware that he doesn't have a 20 Dexterity and Combat Reflexes... So, every time one of you so much as looks away he get an AOO..."
I promise I'll never bring up the snake think again.
::fingers crossed behind back::
How about some draconic-undead people, like, well... Undead Draconians, which are send by a huge undead Dragonturtle. The Dragonturtle would be great climactic encounter.
Imagine, this zombie-like dragonturtle crawling out of the sea, and towards the monastery...edit: I presently don't know, if the Dragonturtle is allready available as a monster in 3.5...
The dragonturtle is indeed in the current version of the game and right there in the Monster Manual pg. 88. That's a very cool idea, Tom!
It's sad to see a grown man sink to such desperationNo one has ever accused me of acting like a grown up.
Okay fine, Cold Steel, if you're going to make it all a plausible storyline and stuff.
I'm not going to say I'm psychic, Mr. Greer (though, of course, I am), but for some reason I have a sneaking suspicion that you're being slightly less than truthful. Just call it my fifth sense for sarcasm (Yes, I said fifth sense, my wife tells me I have no sense of taste--insert rimshot here--).
Okay, enough of the bad comedy. I'm off to leave some more filth fever-infected blankets on Richard Pett's doorstep.
How's that sniffle, Rich?
Just because your foul otyugh henchmen ruined my xmas is no need to gloat. Of course, adding a dragon turtle to the adventure (ala 'Hollow Threats' Dungeon #96 - a very fine issue I must add :)) would greatly improve matters - perhaps running Hollow Threats and forgetting about Tammeraut's Fate entirely would be an even better step in the right direction...
Have at you!
The dragonturtle is indeed in the current version of the game and right there in the Monster Manual pg. 88. That's a very cool idea, Tom!How about some draconic-undead people, like, well... Undead Draconians, which are send by a huge undead Dragonturtle. The Dragonturtle would be great climactic encounter.
Imagine, this zombie-like dragonturtle crawling out of the sea, and towards the monastery...edit: I presently don't know, if the Dragonturtle is allready available as a monster in 3.5...
It's so cool in fact that last year I submitted something with one that got greenlighted. Whether it ever sees the light of day from under the editorial pile is another question....
;)
GGG
I just re-read this adventure over the Xmas break (busy avoiding talking to my parents) and I was again reminded of its greatness (don't worry Richard, I also re-read "The Styes" and it is also great). After reading Steve's experiences of playing the adventure with his group, I'm very interested in hearing others' play experiences with the adventure.
Greg took a group of us through "Tammeraut's Fate" some time ago, just after the issue hit the street. My fondest memory was creating several booby traps while waiting for the zombies to stage their attack. I could almost hear the A-Team Theme playing in the background. The fact my sorcerer couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with his scorching ray didn't detract from the overall fun of the scenario.
I did always wonder how those snakes got into that room though . . .