I'm about to start this module tomorrow night. I'm wondering about some of the finer details as far as rules of the contest go, just to make sure I'm prepared for whatever might happen.
In particular, I see no reference to what happens if anyone surrenders, or dies and can't be raised? In my game, I think I'll rule that all participants must be registered on the team roster, and should any participants surrender or fail to be able to make the next round (e.g. they end up dead), there are no replacements allowed.
So for example, Auric's Warband might start off with half a dozen flesh golems, and by the time they get to the final they only have three left that were not hacked to pieces earlier.
Anyone have to come up with an answer for this sort of thing themselves, and what did you do?
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I'm about to start this module tomorrow night. I'm wondering about some of the finer details as far as rules of the contest go, just to make sure I'm prepared for whatever might happen.
In particular, I see no reference to what happens if anyone surrenders, or dies and can't be raised? In my game, I think I'll rule that all participants must be registered on the team roster, and should any participants surrender or fail to be able to make the next round (e.g. they end up dead), there are no replacements allowed.
So for example, Auric's Warband might start off with half a dozen flesh golems, and by the time they get to the final they only have three left that were not hacked to pieces earlier.
Anyone have to come up with an answer for this sort of thing themselves, and what did you do?
This is still a little way off for me (we're just finishing up a completely modified module 3 - Blackwall Keep. However, as I'm expecting my group to go to Greyhawk soon, I've already begun plans for this.
As far as the games are concerned, I'm planning several things:
- I'm varying up the teams slightly so they are more prepared for my 6 PCs (rather than the expected 4).
- I'm making the drawing of the teams a little more theatrical with the banquet being the social event of the Greyhawk calendar. My group loves this sort of stuff and it gives some fo my roleplayers a real chance to shine - particularly when they see old enemies there: Lord Smenk and Filge particularly.
- I've thought of a Red Armband that contestants may wear. This signifies that they cannot surrender and must fight to the death. Not only does this get the crowd in a greater frenzy knowing there will be no surrender, it also acts as an intimidate bonus against other opponents (affecting the bookmaking side of things too). Additionally, for those wearing a red armband, they may be replaced in the following round if their team is successful.
- I think this is important just in case I lose a PC. I don't want to make a player effectively sit out on a module that looks like so much fun.
- I was also contemplating a possible series of special solo matches where some of the local nobility would pay for a match-up between two contestants. The noble would be allowed to put up a sum of money which the two contestants could then agree to play for. Again, there is much prestige to be earned here or even a certain level of disgrace - if a "decent" wager is accepted by one party but refused by the other. (I'm planning on Filge having his revenge upon the party here for what they did to him in Diamond Lake. They took all his stuff, and left him with the Wee Jas clergy for "treatment". Of course Lord Smenk had something to say about this, freeing him and sponsoring his trip back to Greyhawk (they are good friends - somewhat).
- I am also planning on adding "furniture" to the arena floor. This could be as simple as barricades or two story wooden towers. I was thinking the introduction of a "special" animal or two onto the battlefield might be interesting as well. Something as tame as a tiger to something as vicious as a T-Rex to spice things up. It may even force the contestants to join together.
- Of course with Raknian in control of things, the PCs have a right to feel unfairly targetted (why is the T-Rex released next to the PCs rather than the opposition?).
This is a module I am so looking forward to. I know how much my players love this sort of thing.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
This module was awesome. I had two PCs and one animal companion die, and the players still absolutely loved it. That's high praise.
There's a ton of record keeping with the first fight, so introducing complications into that one might make your job too difficult, but with Pitch Blade and Auric's Warband, things like moving obstacles or random monsters might help elevate it above the I-hit-you-you-hit-me back-and-forth tedium.
In particular, I think a randomly moving wall of thorns/fire would be a neat obstacle.
Well, in the end I decided (on the fly) that if you surrendered, you could fight in the next game, assuming your team still won. Same if you died but were somehow brought back to life. Only the truly dead can't return to fight again, and you can't "sub-in" a new team member either (the full team roster must be registered prior to the game beginning, altough the register is not public knowledge so a team could still try and keep itself hidden).
In fact, that last one has turned out to be interesting - so far my players have shown no interest in sussing out the other teams themselves, but have grilled their manager for details of all the winners in the first round - what creatures, how many, what types of attacks, etc. I've only managed to keep a couple of things secret by having their manager a bit distracted in the middle of the fights, and one team containing a "mystereous robed figure" - the PC's assume it's a mage, but I know it's in fact Theldrick himself, who's joined Pitch Blade [insert evil DM laugh here], complete with a Blood Golem of Hextor. Yep, I've beefed up some of the fights, which I'm glad I did int he first round as it was a blood-bath for everyone except the PC's. Even if all three teams ganged up on them, I'm sure the PC's would not have struggled to overcome them all. As it was, the PC's were trying hard to "go easy" in the first round, not wanting to show off all their tricks too early! I decided one of the Dwarves in Pitch Blade dies in the first round, but unknown to the PC's Theldrick will be casting Raise Dead on him, then Heal, in the day off, so he'll be back alive again for the next round (minus a level).
So far, so good...
I tell ya, that "To the Games" article in #132 has some great stuff to use in Champion's Belt. I'm especially excited to run the archery contest with the PC elf scout. I'd like to hold a number of events like that before the actual games. Perhaps a day of pre-games, if you will.
I decided that those who surrendered were still eligible for the next round, assuming their team won. An interesting tactic this makes possible - a team could have a low-level spellcaster or two on their roster, whose sole job is to cast a few buffing spells, then promptly "surrender" once the fight ends - which also incidentally makes them "safe-zones" because no area effect spells can include the surrendered folks in their areas, at least for the short time it takes for them to make their way off the field.
Also, I had Auric's warband keep their golems inside huge crates. The crates were brought up to the field of battle for the first couple of battles, but not opened until they needed the assist (which I decided wasn't needed in those first two battles). Someone informed the PCs that the secret inside the crates was a pair of flesh golems, but no one knew ahead of time that the golems were rigged with a barbed-wire-and-dragonshard (I run in Eberron) item that deals electricity damage to them each round - which heals flesh golems, cancels any Slow effect, and also let them deal +1d6 electricity damage in addition to their normal damage with their slam attacks. When the crates opened and the sparking barbed wire wrapped golems, it got quite the reaction.
I decided that those who surrendered were still eligible for the next round, assuming their team won. An interesting tactic this makes possible - a team could have a low-level spellcaster or two on their roster, whose sole job is to cast a few buffing spells, then promptly "surrender" once the fight ends
I used this tactic for my replacement of Pitch Blade, which was a Warforged Titan (I bought the mini for this and it scared the PCs to deaths :)), a Warforged Fighter lvl 10 and a Warfoged Artificer lvl 10. The Artificer buffed both tanks and than surrendered - very much to the surprise of the PCs who were focussed on destroying the "wizard" at an instant.
The party lost their paladin to Bozhal and their Warforged fighter has been disqualified (see other post) - that leaves the party with only 5 (psion, druid, wizard, bard and cleric) for the last round. Clearly they will have little chance vs Auric but that does not matter as the fight will not go to the end and when the ulgurtasta shows up, the ´forged and the paladin-replacement can join the fight from the outside.
I tell ya, that "To the Games" article in #132 has some great stuff to use in Champion's Belt. I'm especially excited to run the archery contest with the PC elf scout. I'd like to hold a number of events like that before the actual games. Perhaps a day of pre-games, if you will.
I completely forgot about this. And I wanted to do a day of pre-game contests. This is going to make it so much easier. Thanks so much :-)
And since the party is only entering HoHR, I have plenty of time to work on this. Thanks again :-P