Is anyone still using this document or is it done and dusted?
Not yet dd but I will be in the future. It looks like it will be a lot of fun. You've put a lot of effort into it.
My group has just finished Life's Bazaar and will start on Drakthar's Way next session.
Olaf the Stout
Very likely I will use it in T Minus 4 days and counting. Wrapping up Flood Season this weekend.
BTW, this is SOLID FREAKING GOLD. I did some prelim work on this during the first part of the flood festival. None of the PCs won the Crater Lake Monster Hunt, but of course they asked who did.
So I made up a sad story about a boy who scrimped together all the coins he could to enter (1s is a lot to a destitute urchin) and practiced swimming all through the summer. The boy won, and was going to sell the trophy to buy medicine for his sick mother. The trope is almost cliche, but my players loved it, even the CN warlock was trying to find a way to do something nice for the kid without any other PCs noticing. So when the PC fighter won the drinking contest (except against Vhalantru, of course) and got an "extra" ticket to the ball, they invited the kid along, commisioning and renting him a lantern archon costume (shirt has light cast on it, pants have a cantrip grade invisibility effect). They also paid for the services of an NPC healer they sometimes hired to cure the mother.
Seriously, DelvesDeep needs a medal for this extra Demonskar Ball material. Solid freaking gold.
A distant voice calls out...
Bring the Demonskar Ball back as a regional holiday in your campaign and it will never die. I imagine it wouldn't be a big stretch to think that the surrounding lands would eventually become aware of the near-apocalypse that took place at Cauldron and the heroic efforts that saved them all.
I haven't been keeping up, but I sure hope you're still writing, Delvesdeep. :)
Best Regards,
Koramado
A distant voice calls out...
Bring the Demonskar Ball back as a regional holiday in your campaign and it will never die. I imagine it wouldn't be a big stretch to think that the surrounding lands would eventually become aware of the near-apocalypse that took place at Cauldron and the heroic efforts that saved them all.
I haven't been keeping up, but I sure hope you're still writing, Delvesdeep. :)
Best Regards,
Koramado
Good to hear from you Koramado! What AP are you playing at the moment?
The holiday sounds like a worthwhile future concept. It would also be interesting to attand the Ball and Flood Festival in a years time after the events of Asylum.Delvesdeep
(Delvesdeep - I'm a couple chapters into the Savage Tide AP and collecting Pathfinder for the distant future. lol )
Perhaps the Vanderboren family, with relatives in Sasserine, at some point found themselves out of Cauldron during the local Demonskar Ball. Being noble and privileged, they couldn't stand to miss out on the notoreity and threw one of their own in Sasserine with the local notables. Thus, the celebration spreads to Sasserine and possibly further over time.
I just wanted to give a shout-out. I ran the Demonskar ball months and months ago, but I remember most distinctly that my players loved it, particularly the skirt-chasing priest who got to dance and chat with all the lovely ladies in elaborate costumery.
I have just begun a Shackled City campaign (converting it to 4e), and I will be running this ball in a few weeks. I have always had a rule of thumb when DMing - "players love in-game parties". I consider these parties my specialty. This one looks to be the mother of them all. Can't wait to run it, thanks for all the work put into it!
Now back to the gear doors of Jzadirune....
I really dont want to derail this thread but seeing as I can't PM you Fantomas, can you tell me how hard you are finding converting SCAP to 4E?
I have just started to read up the 4E rules and really like what I see, but suspect converting NPCs to them will be hard.
Perhaps you can start a new thread about your conversion (I'm sure you're not the only one doing such a thing) and we can all chip in? Personally, I'd like to rip your work off for my own use... :D
P.S. Total long shot but you're not the same Fantomas who is a dwarven warrior on Kilrogg server of WoW are ya?
My group finished the Demonskar Ball this week. They had lots of fun and engaged in some surprising activities but by the end they earned a whopping 4 points. There were two points that I actually had to give them negative points and say "See, that's why you don't bring barbarians to a dinner party."
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I ran this with some mods and my players really enjoyed it. On their own initiative, they sought out instructors in dance and etiquette and had a great time role-playing at the party. The paladin was selected to portray Nabthataron and succeeded at all the dance checks (thanks to the lessons), impressing the assembled nobles (which sets things up nicely for Chapter 4 and the Cusp of Sunrise). The PCs also had a chance to mingle and have dinner with most of the major villains, which sets up some great encounters in the future. Thanks for this wonderful addition to Flood Season!
My GM just ran a mutant version of it in Curse of the Crimson Throne. So it's still getting some play, if in a rather different setting!
We didn't play it when we did SCAP, because the PCs looked at the situation and said "This will be nothing but an opportunity for our rivals to humiliate us in a situation where we can't possibly retaliate" and didn't go. The CotCT party was a lot better suited for intrigue.
The high point for me was when Lashalla the aristocrat was trying to nerve herself up to ask one of the lords of the city for a dance: and Viya the wizard took advantage of her stage fright to transform himself into a pretty blonde girl and cut in. Lashalla still hasn't forgiven Viya for that one. To add insult to injury, he didn't change anything about his appearance but his gender, so the lord must have known....
Mary
So did this all happen in the Demonskar Ball?
Has anyone done a map of the Coy Nixie? It would really help to make this event come to life even more if the characters could move around the location and if all the amazing locations and ideas DD has come up with were represented on a map.
I'm especially keen to get my hands on a 5' = 1" scale version if possible but anything good would do!
Blakey
They also were upset that I had previously used the Stormblades to go on side missions that the heroes passed on, and then the Stormblades would rub their noses in it.
I am still baffled by all this. I can only guess that they were taking the Stormblades insults personally. I sometimes laugh during the game as I roleplay the Stormblades, because I get a kick out of playing a jerk character. I am thinking maybe they think it's a player vs. DM kind of...
I find that a bit weird too. I set the Stormblades up as antagonistic to my group from the start and my players are loving the rivalry. They haven't interacted with the Stormblades too much to this point (just about to finish Drakthar's Way) but they definitely know who they are and they aren't friends.
It definitely weighs on their thinking too. The group had to retreat out of the catacombs beneath the bath house in Drakthar's Way to rest. They went and told Tereson Skellerang that they had found some more goblins but they didn't tell him exactly where they were in case the Stormblades tried to steal their glory! :-)
The Stormblades are currently in the process of sealing off the Underdark passage that connects to the Malachite Fortress. The story of that will be reported in the next issue of the Cauldron Chronicle (my in-game Cauldron newspaper). In it the Stormblades will be mentioning the danger the town was left in due to some people not finishing what they started (alluding to the PC's). That should annoy the PC's nicely (in a good way).
Since your player don't seem to like the whole rival group thing I think it is a good idea that you are scaling back their involvement in the storyline.
Olaf the Stout
That's a shame that the campaign has panned out that way. Perhaps the introduction of that new law has caused more harm than good?
Just off the top of my head you could despense of the law because of the new taxes that are being asked of the nobility. Some of the nobility have tried to use the law to avoid the taxes claiming that the tax collectors have been deeming and insulting demanding money from them. As a result the council has decreed that the law to be abolished for this time forward.
You could also attempt to lure the party to the Ball through personal invitations from Vhalantru, the Aslaxins or even Celeste claiming that on the night all guests are considered equal regardless of cultural or political status.
If the ship has already sailed then so be it but I think it is a shame that the party is scared to attend because of the threat of the Stormblades. It sounds like you may have played up the rivalry [b]too well[b] where it has got to a point that the party feel beaten.
Maybe you should give them a victory such as the Stormblades are angered by the parties invitation to the Ball and hoped to be the only group rewarded and acknowledged on the night. With the parties presence they will have to share the limelight at best and be shown up as a weaker party at worst. The party choosing to not attend is a much welcome relief....
Good luck with the campaign and let us know how it all goes
Delvesdeep
Have a look at the document called 'The Seige of Redgorge' before you kill your Stormblades off. The Invasion could offer your party the opportunity and excuse to wipe out the noble adventure party. The only problem is that the Seige occurs during chapter 6 which may be too long a wait for you.
If you are interested search this forum for the thread dedicated too it or theRPGenius.com achive.
Good luck with the new years eve ball and your party in general.
Delvesdeep
delvesdeep, the Demonskar Ball is intended to be run after the Wands in Flood Season have been recovered, correct?
Olaf the Stout
Yes it was designed to be run after the party emerge with the wands and the city is saved but you can adapt the adventure to suit any stage.
Delvesdeep
DD, just so you know, your contributions are still being enjoyed as my group has recently started Shackled City and I will be utilizing your Demonskar Ball write-up as soon as we arrive at that chapter. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
Shannon
DD, just so you know, your contributions are still being enjoyed as my group has recently started Shackled City and I will be utilizing your Demonskar Ball write-up as soon as we arrive at that chapter. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
Shannon
Great to hear. I'm STILL playing my game and am actually playing tonight. The party just finished off Vhalantru which was a fantastic shock for the party when they finally discovered the friendly drunk that they had helped secure power in the city and claim the title of Lord Mayor was in fact the same vile creature that was known as Orbius. Great moment.
The party will spend tonight emptying Oblivion and rescuing Celeste from the painting. One of my party is particularly keen to reacquaint himself with her after a enjoying a lovely evening with her at the Demonskar Ball.
From this point on I have to write up the Haunted Village Adventure that I plan to substitute with the Ruins of Shatterhorn adventure and the final Nightmare Realm adventure. I've been putting these two off for years as my work and family life continued to increase but it's now or never.
Great to hear you are using the Demonskar Ball Shannon and I wish you every luck with your new campaign.
Delvesdeep
Delvesdeep,
This is pure genius! I'm currently a player in Shackled City campaign and my character spent the duration of the ball drinking at the Drunken Morkoth - the GM determined that only two of the party members were worthy of invites. I am envious of all who have gotten to play through your inspired expansion to this event.
I, in fact, have been so inspired by your work that the next campaign I run (currently running Rise of the Runelords with another group) my next campaign is going to be the Shackled City, simply so I have the opportunity to run the Demonskar Ball!
Thanks Diamond B! Moving your campaign just so you can run the Ball is high praise indeed!
I enjoyed writing it and playing it myself so having other people share my work is a real pleasure.
I'm about to start using my final 'changes' I made to the campaign so I hope they are as good as Demonskar Ball.
Delvesdeep
Is the RPGenius website still functional? All I can get is the frontpage, and all the links say "Sorry, this Module isn't active!" Your writeup is truly genius, and I definitely plan on using it. Thank you!
Is the RPGenius website still functional? All I can get is the frontpage, and all the links say "Sorry, this Module isn't active!" Your writeup is truly genius, and I definitely plan on using it. Thank you!
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This weekend session kicks off the ball, and my party is going to be a very interesting sight to see at it. The lizardfolk Warlock got picked to play Nabthathorn since Zach has FE: Reptilian, and they went at it in the bar fight earlier. Should be hilarious, if they don't just turn it into an out and out brawl. :)
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One PC, Forvan (a dragonborn warlord) was a celebrity judge, ...[with]...Conrad the Executioner, the city executioner. He had publicly be-headed Triel Eldurast just a few days before. Conrad wears his black pointy hood with the eyeholes almost everywhere (just because the idea makes me laugh).
Well, that makes Simon Cowell seem positively benign.
"THIS SONG NEEDS TO BE CUT SHORT...AS DO YOUUUU!!!"
Is anyone still using this document or is it done and dusted?
Oh, I've just favourited this thread for use when my brand-spankin'-new party reaches it. It looks amazing, and I can't wait to use it. The most recent version is still the first couple dozen posts in this thread, right?
I think I'll use this too.
The group I DM just began the Kopru ruins this week, but a month or so ago we had a ton of fun with the Demonskar Ball, and I got a whole lot of use out of the doc you're talking about. I'd say it's alive and kicking! Great piece of work, as I know you've heard many times before.
The group I DM just began the Kopru ruins this week, but a month or so ago we had a ton of fun with the Demonskar Ball, and I got a whole lot of use out of the doc you're talking about. I'd say it's alive and kicking! Great piece of work, as I know you've heard many times before.
Still love hearing your work is appreciated though mate!
delvesdeep, I just ran your Demonskar Ball last night. We had a blast.
I have three regular players. One invited three guests (his wife among them) to come play. My wife, who has already played through the SCAP but not the Ball (because we played before you created the Ball), also joined us for the night.
I gave the guest players a list of npc's to choose from.
My wife played Ophellia Knowlern.
The player's wife played Embril Aloustinai.
Their lady friend, visiting from TX, chose Celeste.
And their roommate picked Alec Tercival.
To add a bit more flavor, we also turned it into a real banquet.
For the first course, Stephen brought a vegetable platter and chips and salsa.
For the second course, Donald forgot the Tom Ka Gai soup at home, so we had to make due with hot and sour soup from the Chinese place next door. I was a little bummed because I thought Tom Ka Gai would have been a better version of spiced potato, coconut and herb soup. Oh, well.
I roasted a chicken with fingerling potatoes for the third course.
Will brought a fruit pie and chocolate cake for the fourth and fifth courses.
And everyone brought a bottle of champagne.
We all had a lot of fun. I had to modify several events to tailor it to our campaign and because the guests have never played an rpg ever before.
For instance, the group (Magma Carters) have smoothed things over with the Stormblades. During their initial assault on the Kopru Ruins, the Magma Carters' cleric was killed, the paladin was capture, and the druid took a critical hit in the gonads from Triel's morningstar that left him a eunuch. Triel then sends the blackmail demand to the city. Lord-Mayor Navalant sends in the Stormblades to deal with the situation. The Magma Carters return and both groups had to work together to defeat the situation.
So the Stormblades didn't try to ruin costumes, trip the players during dances, nor poison their desserts. But I counted that as earning the points.
For the Song of Heaven, Donald actually sang "I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLaughlin acapella. My wife played and sang Billy Joel's "Lullaby."
There was a lot of fun had by all, but the best roleplaying of the night, by far, goes to Embril. After a glass of champagne (or two), Donald's wife loosened up and got into her character. She was VISCOUS. I guess everyone chalked it up to the champagne, because no one really called her on it. But she was HARSH. It was awesome!!! Totally in character. She was so good, she got the paladin ejected from the Ball (and he was supposed to be Nabthataron!)!!!
Best line of the night goes to Will. So David (the guest playing Alec) hands Summer (Celeste) an bottle that's been opened for a minute or so and has been functioning normally. For whatever reason, when Summer gets it, the bottle starts gysering:
Summer: <slightly panicky> What do it do?!?
Will: <totally deadpan> Just suck it.
As you can imagine, that derailed us for a while.
Everyone had a lot of fun.
David wants to become a regular player.
Kailey (Embril) wants to play, too, but can't commit to every week.
I want to thank you for an excellent addition to the first AP.
Well done!
Hi Mykull
That sounds like an awesome night of roleplaying, especially with the guests coming in and using real food and singing. Very inspirational.
As a partial answer to Deryl's concern when his paladin detects evil, each of the 13 Cagewrights wears a Ring of Thirteen (outlined in appendix II of the hardcover). These rings grant evil wearers protection from good, nondetection, and endure elements along with being a +2 ring of protection.
I ran the Flood Festival and the Demonskar Ball today, gaming at AFK Tavern in Everett, WA.
It's the first time my group played a session with serious roleplaying, as opposed to combat.
After they caught Fario and Fellian spying on them and used the diplomatic approach to become friendly with them, I had the Stormblades crash a wedding of one of the PC's friends (the barman at the Tipped Tankard, rescued from the Malachite Fortress). They dealt with that diplomatically too, amazingly, and took the Stormblades jabs and insults in stride, after the Fighter/Best Man got Annah Taskerhill to back down with a 27 or so Intimidate check.
They really enjoyed the Drink Down the Flood drinking contest -- the party rogue made it to the final round on the last day but lost to Tieran Wispwort, the gnome alchemist they'd rescued from the Malachite Fortress.
The Crater Lake Monster Hunt was a hit too. I rolled at the beginning that it would 17 rounds before somebody else won, and told them so. I rolled for Cora Lathenmire and Zachary Aslaxin to compete.
In round 16, the paladin finally won it, and as a result Zachary (who I play as not a jerk) invited him to the Demonskar Ball. The paladin asked if the others could come and Zachary agreed.
The rogue got the Nabthataron invitation, but refused to go, thinking it had to be a set up of some sort. The paladin talked him into it. I gave half the party Founder invites and half Demon.
I actually did a shorter version of the scenario, without Diplomacy challenges over dinner -- their table mates were just Jenya, Alek, and the Dipinshires -- with "only" three dance events. It was interesting to see the PC's pick dance partners -- there were enough NPC's they'd met that it worked well. The final dance with the Stormblades trying to mess with them went down very well -- in the end, Todd tripped a female PC and the Fighter tackled him. I was pretty easy on them - I let them get away with doing it lightheartedly, like the Rogue saying, "Huh, you're rich" to Lady Ophella Knowlern, if they made high Diplomacy checks -- he got like a 25 on that one, so I had her be amused instead of looking down on him. Embril chatting with the paladin and the Rogue trying to seduce Celeste were also amusing, especially if one knows who those folks are. :)
After all that, in the morning I had them fight a Dire Tiger on the way to the Lucky Monkey, and they finished their first fight before we called it a night.
Since in my version of Cauldron, it's important to the setting that the nobles are slaveholding plantation owners (except Lady Ophella and Alek have freed their former slaves), I replaced the random, uninteresting hillfolk with Maroons -- desperate outlaw escaped slaves living in the jungle, in this case hired by Triel hired as the bandits. So far, the PC's have no sympathy for murderous bandits, regardless of the backstory, which I don't think they paid much attention to.
Later on, if she survives, Shensen will tell them the Lucky Monkey, with its chapel of Fharlanghn, was a depot in the Underground Railroad out of the plantations and back into the Amedio's Maroon camps. Which makes it strange Maroons would attack it . . . adding additional mystery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon_(people)
This is an amazing bit of work, kudos to delvesdeep for all the work here, I look forward to running it in the SCAP campaign I am running now. My players are just finishing Life's Bazaar, they have a dinner with Vhalantru (who I am playing as a drunkard noble that lives vicariously through the stories of the adventurer's he sponsors) and I plan on using small pieces of the dinner and socializing aspects from this to prep them for the larger event later. I will be skipping Drakthar's way (letting the Stormblades handle DW due to EXP concerns for a 4 player party) and moving into flood season, the festival games will be where the party are introduced to their rivals and develop their rivalry. Near the end of the games they'll be making their trip to the Lucky Monkey, Khopru Ruins etc. It'll be at this time that the Stormblades take care of the vandalism issue that cropped up during the games. After both "adventures" come to a conclusion word on the street will be primarily geared towards the party so the Stormblades will take offense to the lack of recognition to their own accomplishments. Cue the fight in the bar and Demonskar Ball.
Anyways just wanted to say delvesdeep if you are still around. Thanks a ton!
No problems Wolfpack. I loved the Ball and am glad to hear that people are still using it. Let me know how it goes!
@delvesdeep I just wanted you to know that my group greatly enjoyed your demonskar ball work. :)
@delvesdeep I just wanted you to know that my group greatly enjoyed your demonskar ball work. :)
Cheers. Looking back on the start of this thread, it's hard to believe that it has been that long since I wrote the thing.
My group never finished the campaign and now there is just a couple of us who are looking for a group to play with. Ironic really considering how strong our group was - took a player death to shatter the group
My condolences delvesdeep. I pray everything works out for you.
My party has just started Lords of Oblivion. They've learned about EvilCon at Lady Rhiavadi's manor and are desperately trying to get in contact with Lord Vhalantru to warn him and the government of this traitorous noble!
I'm so sorry to hear that, dd.
All good. Just need to find a group in Australia now to join or a couple of players to join us. So how is your games going?
I'm keen to start writing again so I'll see what inspires. Cheers
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All good. Just need to find a group in Australia now to join or a couple of players to join us. So how is your games going?
I'm keen to start writing again so I'll see what inspires. Cheers
Sorry to hear about your gaming group Delvesdeep. We had a death in our group of friends / players last year too, it is hard. Also abandoned our Shackled City campaign after about ten years of playing, but for unrelated reasons (that was with a different group actually).
Whereabouts in Australia are you?