First time poster, long time listener.
I plan to take my Eberron group through "Tensions Rising" within the next week or so. I'm not sure how it will play out (of course), but it reads excellently. Very much looking forward to it.
HOWEVER...the two major antagonists of the adventure are both Lawful Evil creatures. This in itself presents no problem, but there's a decent chance one or both may make a pact with the PCs to ally against the other group. (Assuming, of course, the PCs opt to go this route - which my diplomatically-heavy group very well may.) The adventure states that neither of the LE bad guys plans on honoring this pact (once the balance of power shift in their favor).
So...I'm not sure if this is cool or if this might be tweaked. Would a LE guy go back on his word, or would he stick to the agreement he made earlier? I can see arguments both ways. In the end, I think a LE creature that made a pact would honor it so long as the balance of power was not in its favor; this caters to the "might is right" mentality which may be OK. Apparently this is the route the adventure went.
Still...I don't know. I'm wondering if anyone out there has other ideas or suggestions?
One little nit-pick, too. The main quest item in TR is a strongbox with sensitive documents. I expected to see what these "potentially volatile" papers are (or even just get a suggested list of them), but nothing's there at the end except a "use whatever works in your campaign." I don't know - it sort of left an empty feeling with me, especially because the rest of the adventure is one of the best I've read in Dungeon in quite some time.
So I guess there's another question for you Eberron guys, since I'm fairly new to the setting. Could you give me some suggestions for what those "potentially volatile" documents could be?
Many thanks in advance!
Drawmij
Ok, forget the Lawful Evil question, but - please - aren't there any Eberron folks out there? I'm new to the setting and just looking for a couple suggestions.
D. Mij
I can think of a lot of things:
Proof that a councilman in a city you use is in fact a rakshasa/dragon/changeling agent of the Tyrants.
The identity of Prisoner Deep 14 in Dreadhold.
Documents connecting activities of the Emerald Claw to the government of Karrnath.
Military papers from Aundair detailing the feasibility of an attack on Thrane.
Heretical writings on the true nature of the Silver Flame.
The location of the largest discovered dragonshard deposit in Xen'drik.
A blueprint for an eldritch machine that could kill an entire city.
An invitation, in gold filigree on expensive parchment, from the Lord of Blades, detailing the location and time of a ball where he will announce his role in the Mourning.
A draft copy of the Treaty of Thronehold recognizing a nation "officially" unrecognized (like Droaam).
A map showing a lost island rumored to have a copy of the Qalabrin Codex.
One little nit-pick, too. The main quest item in TR is a strongbox with sensitive documents. I expected to see what these "potentially volatile" papers are (or even just get a suggested list of them), but nothing's there at the end except a "use whatever works in your campaign." I don't know - it sort of left an empty feeling with me, especially because the rest of the adventure is one of the best I've read in Dungeon in quite some time.So I guess there's another question for you Eberron guys, since I'm fairly new to the setting. Could you give me some suggestions for what those "potentially volatile" documents could be?
Many thanks in advance!
Drawmij
The original draft of the adventure did have a couple of paragraphs about those documents; unfortunately, they had to be cut for space. In the end, what the documents say makes no difference to the adventure itself. That being said, I can understand how they might be helpful, so here they are:
The exact nature of the documents within the Cloud Ant’s hold is left for you to decide. If the characters do not review the documents (and both Juffrey and Aerdane would request they do not), the party may not realize the full ramifications of their mission until later in the campaign. The identity of Nef’haz employer hinges upon your decision regarding the documents. Any of the following suggestions may help you spur your campaign down a path of intrigue:The High Warlord Haruuc of the Scarlet Blade, recognized leader of Darguun, intends to break the Treaty of Thronehold by invading Thrane. The documents include the name of a hobgoblin informant highly placed within Haruuc’s court. One of Haruuc’s warlords hired Nef’haz to capture the documents so that the traitor may be revealed prior to any invasion.
A schism has erupted within House Lyrandar. Certain prominent House members dislike their matriarch’s close relationship with Queen Aurala of Aundair. The documents are an intelligence brief written for the matriarch’s benefit and include names of Lyrandar members who are considering removing her from her position. Nef’haz employer wishes to discover the names in an attempt to play different factions of Lyrandar off against one another.
The documents include the names of House Lyrandar agents who are suspected to be members of the shadowy Aurum alliance. Nef’haz’ employer is a member of the Aurum’s Platinum Concord with aims of joining the Shadow Cabinet. Should the names be revealed, Nef’haz’ employer’s station within the Aurum would be grievously undermined.
Ok, forget the Lawful Evil question, but - please - aren't there any Eberron folks out there? I'm new to the setting and just looking for a couple suggestions.
D. Mij
I have yet to play in that world but the following did come to mind:
A picture of one of the player characters with the words "terminate" written in overly large courier font.
Bwahahaha!
GGG
Awesome ideas, thanks guys. I especially like the ideas of fiddling with Droaam's legitimacy and/or the "truth" behind the Silver Flame. But all are good.
Thanks again,
D. Mij
I also had a question about this adventure, and (as the previous poster) it might be chalked up to my inexperience with Eberron--but I suspect there's something more missing.
"Nef'Haz is a Darguun mercenary hired to prevent Aerdane's ship from reaching it's destination." It never says who hired the mercenary or why the ship was supposed to be prevented from reaching said destination.
Am I missing something? Did I not read a section of the adventure that explains who and why Nef'haz was hired?
Please help--thank you !
Edit, later:
Ah, I see...the text that was cut for space actually has options for an explaination.
Not to be critical of an excellent adventure and magazine, but it seems this excised text should have been left in somehow, as it's raised more questions by being left out. At least a paragraph giving us a little something to work with; I mean, we're not ALL Monte Cooks. ;)
^ ^
Thanks, Jeremy! That's a big help to me, and interesting, too.
Would information like this be included in the on-line supplement for the issue?
If not, I'd hasten to add a vote that such information SHOULD always be included in the supplements when available.
I agree that that sort of information would be helpful in the supplements-perhaps they should receive their own page at the end?
Well, I'm not an Eberron convert at all, but I like the basic idea of this adventure and may cop it for use in another campaign world.
For those of us who don't have all the Eberron books and are missing one or two of the monster compendia, it would have been helpful if the base stats for dolgaunts were published. (The article refers to a page number of an unnamed source--I assume there was an editorial mistake here somewhere?)
Also a small nitpick--the dimensions of the airship in the special map detailing that particular part of the scenario don't match the dimensions on the main map--they're about 2/3 of the size. If I ran the adventure, I'd make the ship the size indicated on the main map, but someone may want to put a solution to this erratum in the online supplement.
Well, I'm not an Eberron convert at all, but I like the basic idea of this adventure and may cop it for use in another campaign world.
For those of us who don't have all the Eberron books and are missing one or two of the monster compendia, it would have been helpful if the base stats for dolgaunts were published. (The article refers to a page number of an unnamed source--I assume there was an editorial mistake here somewhere?)
Also a small nitpick--the dimensions of the airship in the special map detailing that particular part of the scenario don't match the dimensions on the main map--they're about 2/3 of the size. If I ran the adventure, I'd make the ship the size indicated on the main map, but someone may want to put a solution to this erratum in the online supplement.
I did not get to the maps yet, so thanks for the information on the mistakes. I'll keep an eye out for them.
As far as creatures, etc. appearing in Dungeon that are campaign setting specific, I find that the descriptions and stat blocks generally contain enough information so I can use the creatures or come up with substitues from books I do own.
However, a list of core monsters from the MM that could be used instead of those that are from the more esoteric sources out there would be of great help, especially to new DMs or DMs who do not own many books besides the three core books.
I just read this adventure. It seems like it would be alot of fun. Esp. the "lift off". Bunch of crazed aberrations and mercenarys jumping on board the ship. That would be memorable. AND its not a murder mystery. Which is diffrent for Eberron.
Would information like this be included in the on-line supplement for the issue?
Generally, we don't include information that was cut from the adventure in the online supplements. Generally for two reasons. First, after we cut something, we rework the adventure in such a way that it can run without the missing text, you generally don't realize it's missing
Second, the stuff that is cut does not get edited afterwards, so we can't just throw it in the online supplement verbatim.
That being said, sometimes when we cut something significant that can stand on its own, we do add it back in the online supplement (the random encounter tables from "Into the Wormcrawl Fissure" come to mind). And of course if we accidentally omit something we will always put that in there.
In this case, I will see if I can get this text added to the online supplement, as it seems there is a lot of interest in it.
For those of us who don't have all the Eberron books and are missing one or two of the monster compendia, it would have been helpful if the base stats for dolgaunts were published. (The article refers to a page number of an unnamed source--I assume there was an editorial mistake here somewhere?)
I'm not sure what you are asking for here. The only dogaunt in the adventure has a full stat block on page 28. I do see that there is an error in the page references for the dolgrim stat block that is in the issue (it should be page 23, not page 39). Still all the information is there.
For those of us who don't have all the Eberron books and are missing one or two of the monster compendia, it would have been helpful if the base stats for dolgaunts were published. (The article refers to a page number of an unnamed source--I assume there was an editorial mistake here somewhere?)
I'm not sure what you are asking for here. The only dogaunt in the adventure has a full stat block on page 28. I do see that there is an error in the page references for the dolgrim stat block that is in the issue (it should be page 23, not page 39). Still all the information is there.
How about my idea from above:
"However, a list of core monsters from the MM that could be used instead of those that are from the more esoteric sources out there would be of great help, especially to new DMs or DMs who do not own many books besides the three core books."
Not shabby, eh?
On the shabby scale, that's pretty shab-lite. Might even say it's shabby-riffic.
I agree that that sort of information would be helpful in the supplements-perhaps they should receive their own page at the end?
Nice Avatar Baruch!
I agree that that sort of information would be helpful in the supplements-perhaps they should receive their own page at the end?Nice Avatar Baruch!
I like David Jenks's. Makes me want to try the D&D miniature game all the more!
I like David Jenks's. Makes me want to try the D&D miniature game all the more!
*gasp*
Miniature? That's ME! Hmmph.
(I was going by my actual name until I saw that I could edit it. Now I'm going by my nickname.)
I like David Jenks's. Makes me want to try the D&D miniature game all the more!*gasp*
Miniature? That's ME! Hmmph.
(I was going by my actual name until I saw that I could edit it. Now I'm going by my nickname.)
You look much better now.