Ok, it got rediculously difficult to run this with any sort of speed, so halfway through I started just making calls on what happened rather than rolling through for all the various NPCs. It would probably have been pull offable in a single game session with more than one person DMing to help with the combats, tracking the buffs, available spells for the various spellcasters... not to mention potions, feats and tricks unique to each combatant.
This was a VERY difficult encounter to run... it was not enjoyable in the least by me... when it stopped being fun I changed how it was working and since I knew the PC's were going to win the day anyhow... I made the games fall in their favor.
Great in concept, but it was really tough for me to pull off. If it was all computerized it would have been spectactular to watch no doubt.
Just one request... please please please don't do that to me again. Please?
I knew it would be unweildy when I read the adventure. I also knew that a four-way battle would be fun as heck. So I changed it (surprise surprise to those whove read my posts in the past).
I informed the players what the games as all about and asked them to make 4 characters with an average party level of 6 (I think that was the level) and a total worth in equipment of 'X'. They named the characters, named the team, and ran their own team against the other players team.
It was a blast and I just sat there and watched.
The PCs team would face the victor.
This was a very challenging encounter to run.
First, you have to assume prior to the fight that the PCs are even going to consider some means of Diplomacy to put one team or another in favor of not attacking them first.
Second, even with the restricted amount of a 100-foot square, there is a lot of miniature combat going on...fine if you like it, nerve-wracking if you don't.
Third, in battle, what real factors fo you have to determine who attacks who first? The article defines the overall attitudes, personalities, and tactics of the teams rather well, but when it comes to game time, the EL is totally dependant on where the other three teams agression is directed.
I took the fight headlong, and my players did rather well, using almost all area effect spells to disable the other teams fast. Still, I never felt that this was the overall intention of the fight. I think this fight should only be as important as you want it to be, considering that the whole Champion's Games are nothing but a diversion from the real threat in the adventure.
One thing I did do to expedite the encounter was average the team members' initiative modifiers, and put everyone on a team initiative.
If I went back and did it again, I would highlight only one or two attacks for each member of the team--other than the leader--to perform, (such as charge or full atk for the gnolls, or move and fire or rapid shot for the archers).
But altogether, you could just circumvent the whole fight by playing it out like the article describes for placing wagers on p. 41 (making a d20 check for each team plus the groups EL) to determine the winner. I would go further and suggest using a smaller die for each team to use to give the PCs an edge, like a d12 or d10. This way, there's some chance, but not much time is wasted.
The first round went pretty smoothly (and quickly) when I ran it. I ran it exactly as written (I thank the Dungeon staff for incorporating all the potions and precast spells into the statblocks!), and the party allied with the Janni and his mercenaries.
The PCs rolled their initiatives, I rolled for each team leader and each minion-group (same init for all Arcane Archers, for instance). The PC Cleric went first and started off with Flame Strike on the group of elves (dropping two and dealing 20 damage to the two that saved), then the party Beguiler cast confuse on the Druid and his Gnolls.
The Janni and his group were next in line, horseback-charging the elves (dropping the leader and nearly dropping the last remaining ordinary elf), followed by that elf surrendering. The confused Gnolls babbled away their round, while the confused Badger ran somewhere. The Druid wildshaped and went for the PCs. The PC Fighter and Dragon Shaman full-attacked him when their initiatives came about.
Round 2 started with the Cleric casting a spell (don't remember which), the Beguiler Dominating one of the Janni's mercenaries (not using the bond for anything yet, as they were allied), then the Janni and his two henchmen charged the Gnolls, dropping one. The other Gnoll babbled some more. The Druid raged and full-attacked. The two melee PCs full-attacked him.
Round 3: Another Cleric spell I don't remember, another Dominate against a mercenary, Janni+mercs dropping the second Gnoll. The Badger made his confuse save and came running back towards the PCs and his Druid. The Druid full-attacked, the melee PCs full-attacked.
Round 4: Cleric readied an action. Beguiler readied an action. Janni+mercs charged the Druid. The Druid went down. Melee PCs attacked the Badger, dropping it. Cleric cast Empowered Moon [something] to deal 15 Strength damage to the Janni and one of his guys. Janni+guys surrendered.
It ended up being almost no difficulty for me in running the encounter at all; easier than most PC-vs-monsters encounters, in fact :)
The first round of Champion's Games was the single most complicated battle I have run in DnD, but also one of the most fun. I've got eight PCs, so I needed to boost the other teams if I didn't want a cakewalk. I decided to to make the fight as much of a spectacle as possible. The players were wondering why the other teams had such few members in the Coenoby, and then they were raised to the arena floor...
Arcane Auriga got trained cryohydras to protect them. The PCs' reaction to these was priceless. Sapphire Squad got advanced griffins instead of horses. This was especially fun because the PC paladin, riding his pegasus, got to go one-on-one in the air with the lance-wielding griffin riders. Badland's Revenge got some dire bears.
To speed things along, I had the players rolling d20s for the attacks from one NPC against another (especially the archers and hydras). It was still pretty easy for the PCs. They wiped out Badland's Revenge in a few rounds, and still had little problem when Arcane Auriga and Sapphire Squad joined forces against them.
My favorite part was some of the PCs trying to 'accidently' kill Korush without the PC paladin knowing about it. Tirra, an agent of House Phiarlan (Eberron) in my AoW, told the PCs they would get 7,500gp if Korush didn't survive the first round. I replaced the offer that Tirra makes in the adventure with this one.
The fight was very difficult to prepare for and run, but it was definitely worth it for my group. That session had enough cheers and groans to make any DM smile :)
Something to confess...I know I said that this encounter was lengthy and complex. And I found it thus. But ironically, I went back right afterward and did it again!
A couple of months before we did the Champion's Games, I asked my players to make 8th-level versions of characters they had played in any campaign before. (Interestingly, they all remade characters from the same campaign.)
After the first 4-way free-for-all, they rested briefly, and were called upon to fill in for another team that, in short, died prior to their fight. The party agreed, and got to fight their old characters from that game, a set of PCs they once played that I remade from another campaign of mine, and a few stragglers with a recurring theme in my campaigns. This fight was loads more fun, as the players were eager to see how their old characters fared against their new ones.
If any veteran DMs are looking to spice this combat up, try replacing the old teams with old PCs/NPCs of your players'.
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you know, i didn't think about how many things there were to run in the first round of the tournament. not until i started pulling out minis and realized that i had added more due to my pc's increased level. mostly i was just very happy with it. my pc's came to the free city basically because i promised them they could fight in the arena. they had been looking forward to it for a few sessions and were very eager to get it going.
they even role-played for once. this NEVER happens. they are completely hack and slash. this is sad in a way, they have basically no knowledge or interaction skills which means they are completely out of the loop on most campaign info. but just the same, they are happy with it that way, so no real fuss.
imagine my surprise then, when they suddenly take a shine to the janni horseman. i mentioned that he was very openly speaking about his "prowess" and "virility" to the one female character. they all found this hilarious and asked him to test his prowess in an arm-wrestling contest with said female pc. they made a friendly wager with him too before she (gestalt fighter10/monk10) whooped him on opposed strength roles. they had a good laugh with him and then teamed up to beat the other teams before turning on each other. one of them even asked me to be extra descriptive when they fought him so they could switch to non-lethal damage because they didn't want to kill him. I couldn't believe it.
i agree that it is alittle lengthy, but anything so enjoyable that it got my players to role-play on their own is amazing. all in all everything went great.
The key to running this complicated encounter is preparation, and even if you are prepared it will take a long time. My party happens to love combat, and the fights in the arena have been one of their highlights in AoW. I actually had to keep reminding them that they had a mission besides competing in the games to keep the plot moving along. Since they do like combat so much, I had no problem with devoting a lot of game time to the combat. If your party is more into the role-playing and less into combat, I can definitely see finding ways to shorten it.
Questions:
Does Auric's Warband use the Leathworks (golems) in their other fights before fighting the PCs, or does it come as a surprise when they do come out against the PCs?
Do the other gladiators watch the fights when they're not fighting?
Is there a (even a small) description of the other teams available somewhere I could use?
Ultradan
Questions:
Does Auric's Warband use the Leathworks (golems) in their other fights before fighting the PCs, or does it come as a surprise when they do come out against the PCs?
Do the other gladiators watch the fights when they're not fighting?
Is there a (even a small) description of the other teams available somewhere I could use?
Ultradan
I went under the impression that Auric's Warband uses the Leatherworks in all fights. It would certainly be of questionable ethics to introduce new members to a team in the middle of a tourney...but knowing Khellek and Loris--who provided Khellek with the manuals, anyway--who's to say?
I thought so at first, but I believe that, no, the other teams do not get to witness the fights. Perhaps if they have already been disqualified, but I believe that they are confined to the Coenoby until their turn. This can work to the PCs benefit, though. If they were allowed to witness the fighting, Loris might presume that they always would, thus making it difficult for them to sneak out to scope out the Arena's secrets.
I believe the only descriptions of teams, or their members, are for those who directly interact with the PCs. Anything beyond that should come from imagination/improvisation as needed.
I ruled that the team managers were able to watch the games, so they could provide their teams with intelligence about how the winning teams fought. This added some interest to my players as they tried to work out what they would be up against, and also meant their opponents were somewhat prepared for the PC's tactics (which, of course, they changed every fight).
For some details of the other teams, I used an old post from here which detailed all the teams (it was for Ebberon I think, but easily converted). This saved me having to make it all up. I only gave out pretty generic info anyway, reasoning that their manager was not paying a huge amount of attention during the games (a bit distracted by various things).