I'm preparing to run this adventure next week & noticed a couple things, one a question & the other a problem in the stat block.
1. Mangaroo trees. What the hell is a mangaroo? The only place on the net I found mention of such a thing was in an old Oerth Journal adventure, "Ruins of the Mistmarsh" (http://216.10.17.109/codex/greyhawk/adventures/mistmarsh.htm), but the article assumes the reader knows what they are. I suspect the author of this article meant "mangrove trees" (they're essentially the same thing) & SKR repeated the mistake.
2. Lizardfolk have natural armor +5, so why do Kotabas, Hishka, & Shukak all have Amulets of Natural Armor +1? I would suggest giving Kotabas & Shukak +1 rings of protection instead, & Hishka a wooden shield or buckler.
Also, the adventure seems a bit under-powered (for my party, at least--6 PCs, 2 of who are 6th level--but I've read the same from a number of posters) & potentially short. I'll probably throw in some random encounters along the way & raise some hp. If the battle against Shukak is going too easily, perhaps I'll have Shukak him flee to the egg chamber--should they follow him, he'll use his returning trident to burst the egg open & really make things difficult.
2. Lizardfolk have natural armor +5, so why do Kotabas, Hishka, & Shukak all have Amulets of Natural Armor +1?
The amulets provide an enhancement bonuses to natural armor, which stacks with a creature's existing natural armor. A human is considered to have a natural armor bonus of 0.
I just searched my TSR downloads and only found one brief reference to Mangaroos, on page 51 of the Greyhawk Player's Guide, which mentions "a mangaroo swamp of the Mistmarsh," but doesn't elaborate. The old Greyhawk Gazetteer, which lists tree species endemic to Greyhawk's various climatic zones and describes those species unique to Oerth, mentions mangroves but not mangaroos.
Since Mistmarsh is a freshwater swamp, it can't be a real mangrove swamp, since mangroves grow in coastal tropical salt marshes. I assume "mangaroo" is meant to evoke the dense, tangled root mass of true mangroves, but grow in a different environment.
2. Lizardfolk have natural armor +5, so why do Kotabas, Hishka, & Shukak all have Amulets of Natural Armor +1?The amulets provide an enhancement bonuses to natural armor, which stacks with a creature's existing natural armor. A human is considered to have a natural armor bonus of 0.
Ahhh. Now it all makes sense.
As for mangaroos, I'll just consider them a freshwater subspecies of mangrove that grows in temperate regions.
Also, the adventure seems a bit under-powered (for my party, at least--6 PCs, 2 of who are 6th level--but I've read the same from a number of posters) & potentially short. I'll probably throw in some random encounters along the way & raise some hp. If the battle against Shukak is going too easily, perhaps I'll have Shukak him flee to the egg chamber--should they follow him, he'll use his returning trident to burst the egg open & really make things difficult.
shushak probably doesn't know about the egg trap, if you think about it. instead, just have him flee to get help from the draconic kobolds which are guarding the whole area. if the fight is really going too easily, just toss in extra kobold guards.
Well, I'm no expert, ubt I don't think mangroves grow big enough to make a structure like that detailed in EaBK, regardless of fresh- or salt-water. So, that seems a little redundant. I think that they are intended to be giant versions of mangroves, however. My players are strange about such "flavor elements", seeming to disdain things like new floral species, but not other such "flavor elements" that I add to the game. Odd.
I checked some of my GH sources (non-online) last night. It seems that mangaroos were first mentioned by Carl Sargent in the City of Greyhawk boxed set ('89). He describes the trees in the source, so perhaps he intended them to be somewhat similar to mangroves.
Also, if anyone hasn't run this adventure yet, Robin Wayne Bailey's GH novel "Night Watch" features a short journey into the Mistmarsh, painting a vivid picture of the fauna & flora. You can probably find it cheap online, or even in your local library (if not, ask about inter-library loan). I highly recommend reading this chapter to help describe the swamp to your players. In addition, it's a pretty good book, probably the best Greyhawk novel out there (though not marketed as such, unfortunately). However, it doesn't take place in the "current" (595ish) timeline, but over 50 years in the future (the Circle of 8 hasn't been heard from in at least that long, & Mordenkainen even longer).
Unfortunately my computer crash in Sept means I don't have my original turnover for this adventure; I thought I had provided a brief bit of info about the mangaroos, even if it's just something like "tangled swamp trees with thick visible roots."
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Unfortunately my computer crash in Sept means I don't have my original turnover for this adventure; I thought I had provided a brief bit of info about the mangaroos, even if it's just something like "tangled swamp trees with thick visible roots."
The mangaroo descriptions prolly got cut in the cruel machinery of editing. That said... does everything have to have an explanation? The name "mangaroo" is evocotive enough that even without a description, it seems like people figured out what they were anyway.
I had a lot of issues with this adventure and made some extensive revisions. I decided to post my ideas as possible inspiration for anyone else thinking of modifying this adventure.
In my version Ilthane has a son named Vyrex, who is younger black dragon than Ilthane. Vyrex has been charged by Ilthane with supporting Shukak and guarding the egg chamber along with a handful of black dragonspawn (there's a cool blackspawn mini from one of the D&D mini sets that I had a handful of that I wanted to make use of).
Ilthane has been flying around the mist marsh visiting the various lizard folk tribes and convincing them that they should send their warriors to the Twisted Branch lair to swear fealty to Shukak. Shukak, with the support of Vyrex and Ilthane, believes that he will be leading an army of lizardfolk to have revenge against the softskins that took him captive. However, in reality Ilthane just wants there to be a lot of lizardfolk gathered in one place, so that they can all be infected by the worms when the eggs hatch, and thus create a large force of lizardfolk Kyuss spawn.
When the PCs get into Twisted Branch territory, they are ambushed by a lizardfolk warband. I set it up so some could retreat and getaway to warn the tribe of the PC approach. When Hishka learns of this he assumes animal form and seeks out the PCs before the lizardfolk can rally a bigger warband to hunt them down. He tries to convince the PCs to take out Vyrex and Shukak, and offers them information about the lair to help. He also helps them find a hidden location to establish a base camp in the Twisted Branch territory, so they can rest without being attacked.
Several warbands from neighbouring tribes have already gathered and made camps nearby the Twisted Branch lair. The PCs will need to find a way to deal with the camps (probably stealth). Their mission going in will be to rescue the prisoners, take out Shukak and the dragon.
Before the campaign start I run a prologue for half of my players in the Mistmarsh.
I used the Swamp Things module [RPGA Living Greyhawk CORE 01-09]
The Ery Conclave, a druidic circle is attacked by a bunch of lizard men helped by a charmed troll, they captured a young woman, the druidic learder's daughter.
I made some changes so this adventure can adapt itself into AOW.
-the lizard shaman received his magical wand (in order to charm the troll) from a vecna cultist (one of the Faceless One's acolyte {TFOE]).
He's from a different tribe and the man only asked him to abduct people.
=>The only thing that the lizard shaman would say if his life is spared is that a vecnian cultist gave him the wand and ask him in exchange.
I read in your campaign P.H Dungeon, a cool stuff I will use yhe list asked by Ragnolin to Smenk). In this case, the young woman is also a virgin. So it matches.