We finally finished a Gathering of Winds. Although I had mixed opinions about the module, added ingredients helped it to became a memorable and worthy addition to the AoW AP.
***spoiler***
The last fight with Auggeric was tremendous. In the end it turned into an old-fashioned slugfest between the party fighter with the cleric healing (three Heal spells to be specific) and the BBEG.
Interestingly enough, at the end of the module serious magic in the form of artifacts were handed out to the PCs (with more yet to come) and a truck-load of XP dished out to boot. What did they come to appreciate the most? They liked that Icosiol called them "Brothers of the Vaati".
Sometimes its the simple things that bring pleasure in life...
|
I'm always eager to hear about ways that DMs have customized adventures (in Dungeon or otherwise) to make them more engaging to players. Any other input about changes you've made that have been received well, either in this adventure or in others from the Age of Worms AP? I'm going to be starting mine this weekend (with Whispering Cairn), so I'm not quite at the point that I have anything to share about these adventures- yet. :)
We started GoW last session, and the PCs found Allustan fairly quickly. They followed his tracks, didn't look left or right, found him, saved him, then said "Okay... let's go meet Manzorian!" (They brought Eligos back to life, and he told the PCs that they should go to Allustan to seek an audience with Manzorian.)
I transferred my shock into Allustan:
"Allustan looks a little taken aback and says, 'Don't you want to find Icosial's tomb first? Who knows what we may find here?'"
We were wrapping up at that point, but right now the players seemed content to walk away and move on. I'm not sure what I should do if they don't want to explore the rest of the tomb. Hmm.
Creative Director
|
We were wrapping up at that point, but right now the players seemed content to walk away and move on. I'm not sure what I should do if they don't want to explore the rest of the tomb. Hmm.
An interesting dilemma! I wouldn't force the PCs to explore the rest of the tomb. They'll miss out on the treasures to be found there and on some of Manzorian's aid/his offer to swap magic, but in the end the campaign won't be broken by ignoring the second half of the tomb. You might consider adding in some more encounters in "The Spire of Long Shadows" to bulk out XP and gear they should have gained in "Gathering of Winds," you can actually pick up unused encounters from that adventure and adapt them.
Alternately, Manzorian could ask the PCs to go back to finish exploring the tomb once he hears they know about it, offering his magic items as rewards if they can rescue the artifact he wants from the tomb.
There is another party of adventurers.
Add a few other losers from The Champions Belt
and have them get the piece of the rod.
So their casters is an evil Seeker?
As long as he's not an obvious caotic Icosial won't care.
You might consider adding in some more encounters in "The Spire of Long Shadows" to bulk out XP...
That's sound advice. I do need to work in an encounter anyways. One party member recently aquired an amount of enmity between him and an evil outsider, thanks to The Deck of Many Things.
Part of the reason that they are eager to leave is that one PC lost 20k xp to the DoMT, and another gained a -1 penalty on all saves. They're kinda hoping for a wish spell or two to help them out. After that, they may intend to finish the tomb.
Another aspect is strictly from a role-playing side... they need Allustan to help out Diamond Lake. The PCs want to set up either a new ruling system or oust all of the corrupt mine managers, and they believe that Allustan will be a key person to work with... to the point that they don't think that they can cause change without his influence. Even with the possibility of great treasure, they are very concerned with fixing up a few things (and people), and I think that the Tomb isn't holding great sway with them right now.