Wow! After reading through the first few chapters of The Demonskar Legacy I'm a bit overwhelmed. My players will be starting this adventure next week. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to how to run the Tax Riot section smoothly. Seems like a lot of NPCs to handle!
I found that the two large "crowd" so-called epic scenes (from Zenith Trajectory & Demonskar Legacy), while they may look fine on paper, aren't as exciting as one would hope. My advice would be to relax and let the scene just play out. There's no need to do it exactly right. Besides, the PCs may throw you for a loop. My group decided to care only about Mauvu and not worry about the rest. They summoned an air elemental who carried Mauvu away to safety. All that work and the crowd scene become unimportant.
I haven't planned this section yet either so my advice is untested :).
As long as you have a clear idea what is occuring and how it plays out the event should run smoothly.
Break the events down even further onto a small running sheet so, during the excitment of the event, you don't forget any part or NPCs role.
Use a lot of description rather than rules/checks. Figure out how things will most likely evolve and the way your players will most likely react.
If you know what will happen if the party was not even there during the riot it makes the event much easier to play out and alter depending upon what the characters actually do.
With a busy event such as this try and break the events down to what is important and what is not.
Good luck and let us know how it goes
Delvesdeep
I ran this scene a while ago. To prepare for it, I made a round by round breakdown of all the NPC's actions and put them into a spreadsheet. I made all the initiative rolls (except for the players) ahead of time. That way, I was able to focus on the PC's action's and the NPC's reaction to it.
The mistake I made, though, was to plan too many rounds. I had 10 or 15 rounds of combat planned out. At that time, I didn't know combat was supposed to last no longer than 5 rounds. So I would sugest cramming all the cool actions into the first 5 rounds, and then let the PC's actions dictate the rest of the combat.
To prepare for it, I made a round by round breakdown of all the NPC's actions and put them into a spreadsheet.
I also prepared ahead a round by round "script" about everybody involved in the scene as well as a reminder of PC powers that could affect the NPC actions. I recall that the scene last for at least 7 rounds followed by several few ones of complete caos (in-game).
Q. (sorry for my bad english)
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I too did a round by round checklist of pre-planned actions.
I also drew out a 'blob' to represent the crowd, and treated it as difficult terrain. I then liberally sprinkled all the townsfolk miniatures I owned (seeding in the important ones like the sergeant).
It was a really memorable encounter for the PCs, where they earned the gratitude of the local sergeant for saving him, and used a wind wall to stop the guard archers from firing into the crowd.
Actually, I'm playing the module right now and it provided a lot more roleplaying opportunities than I imagined. It was great fun. I used Maavu's written out speech and described most of the commotion around the PCs without rolling it out. I didn't use the mob rules for this encounter since the PCs weren't fighting the mob. I just had them help against the breathdrinker and try to stop the fight between the guards and the mob. One of the guards did not make it ...
I found Maavu's speech somewhere on the net. Translated it to my language and adapted it to my campaign. It really added to the realsim of the whole scene.
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I didn't use the mob rules for this encounter since the PCs weren't fighting the mob.
I found Maavu's speech somewhere on the net. It really added to the realsim of the whole scene.
Thanks for everyone's replies! I still have a week to prepare and will try not to worry and just let it "play out". I'll likely have the mobs scatter to safety when battle erupts so that I won't need the rules on running a mob. I was thinking of placing 4 inch circles of black paper to represent crowds and treating these as difficult terrain if any PCs enter these.
I'm gonna go search for that speech now. Thanks again!
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I'll likely have the mobs scatter to safety when battle erupts so that I won't need the rules on running a mob.
I just ran that encounter, and I never "planned out the rounds" anymore than using the suggested actions by round as in the module, knowing that PCs tend to change things up.
Actually, instead of scattering, the psionicist formed a medium-sized astral construct and the crowd was already on the verge of panic and rage that they went from a rioting crowd to a full-fledged mob and tore the thing apart in two rounds, believing that the town government had stooped to such draconian measures.
The "paladin rogue" (a sanctified human slayer of Domiel) tried to calm the crowd ... and they attacked her without abandoned, dropping her by half her hit points in the first round. She continued without violence, however, and the mob was able to "evolve/ devolve" back into just an angry crowd at that point.
Lots of Role-Playing yummies in this encounter. It is less the battle and more the PCs actions that matter.