Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Dude, no one mentioned the Wild Watcher yet. So far, it's been the coolest and most original new creature to come out of the AP (even better than the Kyuss creatures in SoLS. . . and that's saying alot). The artwork is excellent as well.
Great adventure, Nick. I enjoyed reading it, and will enjoy running it many, many months from now (my group just hit 2nd level. . . it'll be awhile).
Also - You should post your recent performance clips on this thread, Nick. I saw them, and they were very cool. :)
Thanks for the praise my man!
For those interested in seeing me get totally owned by a girl in a fight, check out this sight...
http://www.hawaii.edu/theatre/press/0506press/jingju/video/
Take a look at MOV000124 and MOV000125
I am the dude in the big orange suit with the four banners mounted on my back...yeah, I wonder where I got the idea for the Wild Watcher's look. ;-)
It's crazy what a small world it is. I was just catching up with an old friend from high school who knows you from your theatre. To protect the innocent, I'll just say her last name is the capital of a country in europe.
Dang it! Failed my Knowledge (geography) check!
::Still thinking::
:-)
The druids certainly intended to destroy his phylactry soon after the battle, but the results of the battle didn't go quite as they'd hoped. They won, but their resources were too depleted to do anything against Dragotha and Kyuss' forces but hide.
OK - this is the part I'm missing. And as I said, it's likely to be explained later in a part I haven't reached yet.
Nick's explanation of why they didn't destroy it immediately makes sense; what I wasn't getting was why didn't they destroy it after the battle was won.
I think now I'll stop asking silly questions until I'm done reading the whole thing. ;)
Allyson Paris? Allyson London? :D
Creative Director
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Nick's explanation of why they didn't destroy it immediately makes sense; what I wasn't getting was why didn't they destroy it after the battle was won.
Ah! Yeah; the Order of the Storm got pretty trounced in the battle, even though they DID manage to distract Dragotha by stealing the phylactery. They never recovered, and anyone who knew about where they hid the phylactery was dead soon enough and the whole thing was more or less forgotten.
Maybe she was just dropping your name to impress. ;-) Her first name is Allyson if that helps.Dang it! Failed my Knowledge (geography) check!
::Still thinking::
:-)
Ohmigod! I totally know Allyson Moscow (name changed to protect the innocent)! I misread your post and thought you meant a friend I knew from high school, not a friend of yours from high school. Yeah, me not so smart sometimes. ;-)
I LOVE ALLYSON! Tell her that! I never get to see her anymore. She is awesome. But, you know this, you have the great honor of being her friend. This pretty much means you are an awesome person by default Sebastian.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Ohmigod! I totally know Allyson Moscow (name changed to protect the innocent)! I misread your post and thought you meant a friend I knew from high school, not a friend of yours from high school. Yeah, me not so smart sometimes. ;-)I LOVE ALLYSON! Tell her that! I never get to see her anymore. She is awesome. But, you know this, you have the great honor of being her friend. This pretty much means you are an awesome person by default Sebastian.
I will pass on the love, and ditto in regards to the awesome by association.
I've DM'd Vecna Lives and played The Rod of Seven Parts as a player with the same group. Just the sight of any of these artifacts is going to make them all feel nauseous. Should be fun.
Consider the Wild Watcher stolen for any of my campaigns. They will make the perfect "local deity" for anyone living in a tribal style. Yes, I know, different than what you intended, but no group I get is going to live long enough to get that far. This I'm sure of.
And besides, I plan on staling all the monsters, so it's ok. :)
But yes. From about Spire of Long Shadows onward, I've been liking AoW more and more. if AP3 is as good from the getgo as this? It may be the greatest campaign ever.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
huge heaps of praise also from me. just compare the amount of consternation & errata on the boards from the start of the AP to now, markedly declined, well done all.
spoiler questions about the Library of Last Resort...
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1. is the concept art in the Overload supposed to represent anything in the published adventure? or was it just a red herring designed to lead nosy players astray...lol
2. it's been niggling me: other than advancing the story, i don't understand why the druids would have designed the library/fountain to essentially "fail" to keep it's secrets the first time it was successfully accessed. i know it's well protected by the trials, but why should the end result be "secret knowledge for everyone"? imc, i would portray this as an unintended & unforeseen side effect, perhaps with the pc's accidentally doing something extraordinary to unleash the lore. would not this seem more logical? any thoughts? am i missing something?
other than that, keep up the good work
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Creative Director
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The concept art in Overload represented one possible way we were thinking of developing the adventures; Nick happened to come up with a better idea than "one more dungeon crawl" and so we tossed out the original vague notions we had for this adventure.
As for the druids' reasons for storing the info the way they did... I would portray the release of all the knowledge as an unforseen side effect.
OR (this is my prefered explanation): The druids, being champions of the Balance, believed that knowledge granted to one group or one person was bad, even if the knowledge they gained was for the good of the world. By releasing this knowledge back into the world, they prevented one group from hording the knowledge, ensuring that if one person tried to learn the secrets that they couldn't hold that information hostage. If, for example, Dragotha's agents HAD managed to get to this info first, this knowledge would have at least alerted the forces of good in time for them to hopefully act. But by setting it up the way they did, the druids knew it was likely that like-minded souls would get to the knowledge first and therefore have a head start on acting on what they learned.
thanks for the super-fast reply!
ah the joys of deus ex machina and supposed "neutrality" ie "we know what's good for the world"
real balance would be non-interference and non-secret keeping to begin with, me thinks
the arrogance! perhaps i'll stage it so that my pc's can see just how manipulative this band of upstarts are before they encounter the wild watchers
then again, i don't want a TPK lol
HA! Yeah, one watcher they can probably handle...but all four...that's a recipe for messy remains of an adventuring party...or a bunch of cute cuddly former-adventurers-turned-harmless-woodland-creatures (baleful polymorph). At least they would be well taken care of. :-)
i'm still not sold on the idea that the supposedly neutral Order sees fit to take these secrets out of the world, sacrificing themselves in the process, only to rig it so that anyone who succeeds in the trials unintentionally hands them back to all and sundry (including their enemies). just seems incredible and counterproductive. i guess i'm with Sayren-lei on this one. of course you can shred a lot of fantasy situations by applying too much logic. oh well, i'll get over it.
i would however be VERY careful of letting the pc's know beforehand that this is going to be the result of accessing the fountain. i am playing it so that the wild watchers don't know what's going to happen (as written, it seems that they are dropping a subtle hint). either that, or have Darl Quethos and company be a LOT more successful in their efforts ie they'll do it if the pc's back off.
once they've played through the vision and are back on an empty Tilagos Island, i would stage a scene to let the pc's know what they've done, basically thus:
the storm clouds are still there as is the fountain. a tornado/vortex forms directly above the fountain and the clouds are being sucked into it. the fountain froths, bubbles and eventually explodes/implodes and disappears, sending countless ribbons of floating black script into the heavens which then speed off in all directions (mostly southwards).
ok, next problem, back to the beginning of the adventure.
my main worry is this: all of my players have skill focus (paranoia), so they're very sensitive to being manipulated into doing other people's dirty work. seeing as Lashonna virtually has "hidden agenda" tattooed on her forehead, i'm concerned that they might balk at the idea of finding Dragotha's phylactery when it seems he doesn't want to do anything while it's hidden. so, assuming these aren't answered in #133/134, the questions are:
1. is Dragotha actually doing anything about the AoW or is he waiting on his phylactery
2. does Lashonna know or share the answer to question 1 if the pc's ask her about it
3. if the pc's guess that they are being used as pawns to fulfill the prophecies and that the AoW won't come to pass without their involvement, how can an anti-climax be avoided if they want to sit back and see what happens instead of going to Tilagos? can Dragotha start tearing up the countryside looking for his phylactery? (why he hasn't been doing this already or making any guesses as to its location for 1500 years is another question which i hope is answered in #133 or so). can the vision of Darl Quethos and co onboard ship be expanded to let slip that Dragotha is their financier/co-conspirator? some better motivation than a page out of a mad wizard's journal and the agenda-tainted advice of Miss Silver Tounged.
all advice and suggestions appreciated, thanks in advance
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Creative Director
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ok, next problem, back to the beginning of the adventure.
my main worry is this: all of my players have skill focus (paranoia), so they're very sensitive to being manipulated into doing other people's dirty work. seeing as Lashonna virtually has "hidden agenda" tattooed on her forehead, i'm concerned that they might balk at the idea of finding Dragotha's phylactery when it seems he doesn't want to do anything while it's hidden. so, assuming these aren't answered in #133/134, the questions are:
1. is Dragotha actually doing anything about the AoW or is he waiting on his phylactery
2. does Lashonna know or share the answer to question 1 if the pc's ask her about it
3. if the pc's guess that they are being used as pawns to fulfill the prophecies and that the AoW won't come to pass without their involvement, how can an anti-climax be avoided if they want to sit back and see what happens instead of going to Tilagos? can Dragotha start tearing up the countryside looking for his phylactery? (why he hasn't been doing this already or making any guesses as to its location for 1500 years is another question which i hope is answered in #133 or so). can the vision of Darl Quethos and co onboard ship be expanded to let slip that Dragotha is their financier/co-conspirator? some better motivation than a page out of a mad wizard's journal and the agenda-tainted advice of Miss Silver Tounged.
The handy thing about Lashonna using the PCs is that even though she's tricking them, the advice to go kill Dragotha is actually the best advice to stopping the Age of Worms.
If the PCs decide to avoid Dragotha, Darl will eventaully trigger the Fountain of Dreams, which restores the knowledge to the world. Dragotha soon thereafter sends Brazzemal to Kongen-Thulnir to lay waste to the giants. Brazzemal retireves Dragotha's phylactery and returns it to the dracolich. Once he has his phylactery, he hides it away and then, his courage restored, begins to unleash centuries of pent-up rage on the world. You can still run the last few adventures, but you'll need to adjust them quite severely. In the end, Lashonna is forced to remain in the #2 position behind Dragotha and the two work together to bring Kyuss back into the world and the PCs may end up having to deal with all three of them at once.
If your PCs are super paranoid, they probably use a lot of divination magic. You can use the results of this magic to urge them on to Tilagos, pointing out that even if Lashonna is evil and has ulterior motives, it's best to take down Dragotha before the Age of Worms begins.
Finally, if you think that the Lashonna gambit is just too cliched or won't work for your group, take her out of the picture. Instead, have Manzorian or some other NPC the PCs trust send them to Alhaster to track down where Balakarde went. Instead of having the PCs learn about this from Lashonna, maybe they find his journals in the Ebon Triad shrine (the Well of Tryptich Knowledge) and that information points them on to Tilagos. In this case, they might need to attend Zeech's banquet so they can meet one of the other NPCs there to learn where the Well is hidden, or they might just go there for the fun of it.
In the end... the Wild Watchers may suspect what happens to the Fountain of Dreams, but they don't know for sure.
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Creative Director
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i'm still not sold on the idea that the supposedly neutral Order sees fit to take these secrets out of the world, sacrificing themselves in the process, only to rig it so that anyone who succeeds in the trials unintentionally hands them back to all and sundry (including their enemies). just seems incredible and counterproductive. i guess i'm with Sayren-lei on this one. of course you can shred a lot of fantasy situations by applying too much logic. oh well, i'll get over it.
Ah ha! Just thought of something that might make it more palatable for you; perhaps this flaw was built into the Fountain by one of the druids who didn't quite agree with the idea of hiding so much knowledge from the world; he wants the knowledge to either be hidden from everyone or available to everyone, and so as he helps the others build the fountain he secretly works in the flaw to ensure that no one person or group has a chokehold on the lore.
Whew... that's all I got. If it's still not sitting right in your craw... not sure what else I can say but that sometimes it's good to just go with the flow of the story.
thanks again for the super-fast reply!
i guess in essence i wanted to make sure that whatever plans may need to be devised to get the pc's on track weren't going to conflict with AoW canon, if there is such a thing. yes i know what you're going to say, AoW canon = whatever works for you and your group. just a dose of premature panic really as my group is nowhere near this juncture and probably won't be until d&d 4.0! when kyuss will probably be ceo of paizo
thanks again
and so as he helps the others build the fountain he secretly works in the flaw to ensure that no one person or group has a chokehold on the lore.
that is exactly how I am playing it...
its very moviesque...
My favorite part of The Library of Last Resort was the big 'team fight' between Darl's group and the PCs. Just a personal favorite of mine to see two teams of powerful characters (like the X-Men versus The Brotherhood or something) going at it. Sometimes the most dangerous thing to face an adventuring party is another adventuring party, and it's a good reminder that teamwork is the really important thing to accomplish their goals. My group isn't as big on the teamwork aspect as I wish they were, so I want to reinforce how potent a team of characters can be if they work in concert and this group (and the ones in The Champion's Belt adventure) is a great way of reinforcing that.
Also, it's kind of neat to see a guy decked out in robes that isn't a wizard.
My favorite part of The Library of Last Resort was the big 'team fight' between Darl's group and the PCs. Just a personal favorite of mine to see two teams of powerful characters (like the X-Men versus The Brotherhood or something) going at it. Sometimes the most dangerous thing to face an adventuring party is another adventuring party, and it's a good reminder that teamwork is the really important thing to accomplish their goals. My group isn't as big on the teamwork aspect as I wish they were, so I want to reinforce how potent a team of characters can be if they work in concert and this group (and the ones in The Champion's Belt adventure) is a great way of reinforcing that.
Also, it's kind of neat to see a guy decked out in robes that isn't a wizard.
James!
I love the superteam fight! I am a HUGE fan of the old TSR MARVEL game and my most memorable RPG moments are those final showdowns you wait the whole adventure for...heroes vs. villains...no holds barred.
I also think the art work for the [i]robe of eyes Darl is wearing is really well done. He looks like a baaaaaad man.
My only concern is a titan being involved in a 16th level adventure. That's just a bit difficult. I knew the age of worms was supposed to be tough, but that's pushing it.
I'm playing in Eberron, and I remember seeing someone mention replacing the titan with a daelkyr. You think a titan was tough...