Wow! Whispering Cairn and The Champions Belt are my top two favorite adventures I have run from Dungeon in a long time!
Speaking specifically about the Champions Belt, it was written masterfully from a DM's perspective and in play it really shines! The adventure has appealed to me as the DM and my players and it is very rare to find an adventure that both sides can say they absolutely enjoyed. From my perspective, there were some great roleplaying moments and some awesome battles! The module also kept me in suspense quite a bit as I was unsure how the characters were going to take the bait on certain things (like the pc's overhearing that the froghemoth was in a cage encased in ice, etc).
I'll quickly run down the hightlights!
The first big moment of the adventure came at the Games opening ceremony. My PC's had kept the carcass of Xyrzog in a bag of holding and were planning on "sending a message" to Raknian that they knew what he was up to in front of a large crowd. Altough the crowd would not understand the connotation (sp?) of Xyrzog, Raknian would. However, as the ceremony proceeded they got concerned that it would tip their hand too early so they decided not to let the illithid out of the bag yet. Instead they used great roleplaying to get digs into Raknian and at one point Raknians guards had to subtly discourage this behaviour or they would be disqualified. The PC's greatly enjoyed this encounter.
Once the Games started, the players enjoyed the differing tactics of their opponents and from a DM's perspective it was nice to know that NPC's had an array of magic items that the PC's could not loot after each battle. If I was the writer I would have gone one step further and included some really wacky stuff that you don't normally see. One of my players was great with a bow and Pitch Blade came so close to sundering the bow that he had nightmare for days to come.
As the fights progressed, and the party began searching the underground areas at night I played up the fact that time was limited if they wanted to get a good rest and get fresh spells for the next round. Essentially, the PC's had to manage time and resources to do the extra carricular activies at night and it made this portion of the adventure exciting. The PC's constantly evaluated, do we go on or do we go back? My group was extremely lucky and they found the secret door down to the Zahol level pretty quick but they were stopped cold when there was an almost TPK against the Mohrg. The lone survivor made excuses that the party members were ill the next morning and thus did not come out to eat breakfast until everyone was raised. The next night they continued on, found and fought the ulgurstasta and killed it. No one died in this fight but it was damn close. They recovered Zahol's chest but chose not to open it yet. The same night they ran into the Alkalith demon after choosing to do "just one more room" and it scared the crap out of the party - In fact by the end of module they still chose not to fight it!
Meanwhile, my group fell hook, line and sinker for the ruse that Raknians gaurds set and they prepared spells that were mostly useless against the Froghemoth. I know others enjoyed the Froghemoth encounter but from my perspective, big beasts with low intelligence are not a threat at this point and my group EASILY handed it it's @ss. The party makeup and their tactics made this a rediculous fight. It was not a challenge for my group although I can see how it could be for other groups. The fact that I had a cleric with the Travel domain, a druid who summoned monsters to soak up the grapples and everyone had airwalk on them made this pretty easy. A cool encounter that happened at the end of this though was the PC's threw Zyrxog's body on the ground at the end as they were choked that they were tricked in the first place. Obviously they got a glare from Raknian at this point and the next day would likely see all the stops pulled!
As the final fight came, they were expecting Auric and his crew to be working with Raknian so they figured that if any of them tried to surrender they would be killed. Again, this was fun as the PC's were worrying about a phantom menace here. In fact the entire adventure kept the PC's off guard and that was one of the major reasons it was so fun to DM. Anyway, I could tell the fight was heavily slanted in the PC's favor so I played up a big roleplaying scene throughout the fight. Right from the beginning I described the crowd in a frenzy, half cheering Auric, half the PC's. I described that Raknians seat was empty and I updated them on a round by round basis of this to give them a feeling that something was going to happen at some point. In reality, I decided that Raknian skipped town the night before as all was lost for him. Several crits were scored on each side in the fight and for the first few rounds each side lost two members (the 4 dropouts had surrenderred). Finally the PC's came out victorious with the crowd going wild. Talabir presented them as the champions and the PC's were on edge still expecting Aurics Band to pounce on them at any time along with Raknian. One of the PC's addressed the crowd presenting some circumstantial evidence that Raknian was guilty and associated with Kyuss, including announcing they had a chest found down below that cleary indicated Kyuss's involvement. At this point I should note that the PC's did spend a few minutes with the box the night before this scene. They summoned an unseen servant and used it to open the box. I described the box lid being opened and then suddenly slamming shut and that the caster had lost connection with the unseen servant. They took this to mean that the box sucked people in and was either imprisoning people or keeping a dangerous beast inside. Either way they were very reluctant to continue experimenting with the box. Of course, what really happened was the unseen servant would have appeared on the box but they couldn't see him. Anyways, back to the arena scene - The player who made the speech to the crowd did a great job and I asked for a diplomacy check which he failed badly. I had the crowd go quiet and then someone yelled out that they needed more proof. Since the PC's presented the box as evidence the crowd demanded to see its contents. The PC's squirmed and tried to convince the crowd that it may cause their doom but they were having none of that. Reluctantly, the druid summoned an elemental and had it open the chest. Again, the same thing happened but the PC's could clearly see the elemental on the box. They showed the crowd and now they began to believe them. To make a long story short no one ever found where Raknian went (as he will return in a future module) but they found lots of evidence of his guilt.
Loris Raknian, for all the things he did to Greyhawk and in particular the PC's, has become one of the most hated villains of any campaign I have ever done. It was a true battle of wills as each side tried to off the other. I can only attribute their hatred to the design of the module for constantly keeping the PC's off guard. Even right to the end, when they thought they were done with him, they discovered that Raknian had killed Eligos, it left a final bitter taste in their mouth! Even though the PC's were successful it was a costly victory!
What amazes me is that even at the end, they never did fight Raknian, yet they interacted with him the entire adventure. The got to know his public history, a shady side of him for what he did to Ekaym's sister and for the direct fools he made the group feel like. I have always tried to portray similar things in the past but this was the most successful I have ever been with a villain (short of one other villain, but even he never gained this noteriety this quickly).
Thanks Tito!
Agreed -- this was a highlight for me too. Give players an opportunity to showboat and they'll eat it up.
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The first big moment of the adventure came at the Games opening ceremony. My PC's had kept the carcass of Xyrzog in a bag of holding and were planning on "sending a message" to Raknian that they knew what he was up to in front of a large crowd. Altough the crowd would not understand the connotation (sp?) of Xyrzog, Raknian would. However, as the ceremony proceeded they got concerned that it would tip their hand too early so they decided not to let the illithid out of the bag yet. Instead they used great roleplaying to get digs into Raknian and at one point Raknians guards had to subtly discourage this behaviour or they would be disqualified. The PC's greatly enjoyed this encounter.
The party wizard in my game used mustache wax to shape his facial hair to resemble Zyrxog's symbol for the Free Dinner. During the mixer period, he made of point of getting close to Raknian to fish for a reaction. A subtle, clever way of saying "hi" to the villain. If they're lucky, they may live to see the first round (next game)...
Great feedback, Strachan. Thanks for sharing.
We just wrapped that one up last night. It was fun, lots of roleplay opportunities, interesting combats (though I thought the first day combats were a bit difficult to manage), and a ton of cash loot. The group came close, with the ulgurstasta down to 5 hit points and auric down to 4 constitution points left. If they didn't kill it, it would have gotten ugly very fast and likely been a total party kill.
My players thought why should they enter the games knowing Raknian had try to kill them. They thought he would rig the games so they'd get killed or othered. So they scouted out his mansion. Then the halfling rogue(Deree for those who read the diary) went into the sewers and found the shaft next to the 3 spawn's of Kyuss. They've just got to level 9 and there's 6 of them. Also, they thought Bozal's chest was more than a CR10 trap and the writer put it in there just because he could. They said they felt railroaded into doing the games but I went with it so they didn't do them.
I just don't see why the adventure writer would assume PC's would enter the games. Logic dictates that you wouldn't.
Logic doesn't have a lot to do with it in my case. I have a gung-ho fighter type just itching to go up against Auric and co. Toss in a little foreshadowing for the undead hating cleric of Pelor, the changeling rogue who caught Auric's eye back in Whispering Cairn and the sorceror who tends to just go with the flow and I'm going to have a hard time keeping them out of the Games!
I think that depends on your players. My group tends to analyse everything.
I just don't see why the adventure writer would assume PC's would enter the games. Logic dictates that you wouldn't.
If the DM makes you REALLY despise Auric & co., then ever since the 1st adventure, you'd be dreaming of the day when you could show them up, and the games are just that chance! It makes things that much cooler if the ulgustatsa breaks into the action and you're forced to fight side-by-side with Auric.
If the DM makes you REALLY despise Auric & co., then ever since the 1st adventure, you'd be dreaming of the day when you could show them up, and the games are just that chance! It makes things that much cooler if the ulgustatsa breaks into the action and you're forced to fight side-by-side with Auric.
Even so to go against someone who hired a mindflyer who nearly wiped out the party, who also runs the games. Then there's the fact you have to stay in the arena as well. Too many chances for assassination for my liking. If it were me playing I'd have major concerns too.
Darthloser,
I think its a valid point that some groups won't enter the games. For me, I know what motivates my group and I was able to turn their "not gonna enter" initial feeling to "here's a chance to put it to Auric and get revenge on Raknian too!".
I think one of the problems with D&D is that many modules are written to allow miracles to happen. By that I mean, a 1st level adventurer gets to see the king while the average joe never gets the opportunity. This adventure should be portrayed to the characters as their only chance to get close to Raknian and sure it's risky but if it works they have taken out a major pain in their backside. So while this module is written in a more realistic manor, it suffers because the fantastic situations that players are used to from other adventures makes this one a bit harder to buy.
Just my humble opinion of course. ;)
If your group won't enter, why couldn't the group be a sponsor for some other group? Just flip the roles around so that Celeste presents her friend not as a potential sponsor, but as a potential gladiator team seeking sponsorship in the games. You would have to adjust other things a bit, such as how the party gets a hold of the license to be a team sponsor but it should work out somehow.
very cool story, Strachan!
Sounds that you and your party had lots of fun.
My party has the same troubles with the box and is still carrying the thing with them - unopened - and they are in Alhaster now! They hired a high level thief to open the box but that guy miserably failed his discable trap check. They used the box to trap Ilthane with a very good placed Bluff check in GoW.
As with Raknian, there is a fine post somewhere els in this group. Where somebody let Raknian and his assassin cohort be publically executed by Prince Zeech in PoR. I used this when my group get to Alhaster and it has a great effect on the partys mood.
The Champion's Belt is the key adventure I'm looking forward to running most in the AoW path. One of my players decided that playing a full-blooded Orcish barbarian was a good idea, and he's going for Frenzied Berzerker. By the time they are ready for the Games, my main concern is that he'll just try to attack Raknian in broad daylight and get the whole party killed. Hopefully I can convince them that they need to beat the old coot at his own twisted games by joining the Arena. Of course, odds are equally good that they will jump into the Games before they even know who this Raknian guy is! Hard to predict those Orcish barbarians.
When my players first met Auric they began asking about the Champion's Games. Once they found out when it was coming up in Greyhawk they decided they were going to participate. So when the module actually came up they had been geared up for it since the Whispering Cairn.
My players had a similar set up. I first introduced them to the games, when they met Auric, I even had him tell a long story about the games, around a campfire, on their first time in to the Free City (they travelled there three times before the games). He told them of the history of the games and of the gold and glory to be had. The glory really spoke to my one player who is running a Paladin of Hextor and wants to recuit an army, the gold really spoke to my other player, a cleric of Wee Jas, who was wanting funds to open a magic shop.
Needless to say they were already gunning to figure out a way into the games long before we made it to the module. It worked out great.
As far as worring about Raknian killing you, well those who worry for their lives, can retire and go live in a nice little house like Allustan and stay at 8th level for the rest of their nice little lives.
THOSE WHO WANT GOLD AND GLORY RISK IT ALL IN THE AREANA!!!!
IMMORTALITY!!
FAME!!!
AND THEIR NAMES PASSED DOWN UNTO THE LAST GENERATION!!
or something like that.
I, too, tried using Auric in the first adventure to give them some ideas of the games ahead. I provided the "campfire stories" hoping to instill a desire to play in the games. Unfortunately, most of my group is nature related in one way or another and it didn't appeal to the characters. It certainly interested the players but none of them felt it was appropriate for their characters. So, as things got closer they suspected an adventure might force them into the area. I simply told them that they didn't have to and that I was pretty sure things would arise that would make it necessary for the characters to enter. Sure enough - they found their hook and enjoyed it immensely.
Oh, and for the record, I thought my PC's came up with a pretty cool name for their company when they entered the arean - The Four of Diamond!
I, too, tried using Auric in the first adventure to give them some ideas of the games ahead.
With Auric being around, at least in general, since the Whispering Cairn the group very much had the possibility of the Champion's Games in mind. When they finally got to Greyhawk after the hullabaloo at Blackwall Keep, I was ready -- and I'd made up flyers for the Games.
Using a Photoshop-adjusted-and-cropped image from the Champion's Belt issue, I did some research on Chuck Norris one-liners and applied them to Loris Raknian. The result was this:
http://home.comcast.net/~kurukami/images/raknian-chief-export-is-pain.jpg
(I have more that I can put up on the web if anyone wants 'em for their own campaign.)
The players LOVED it. Ever since, they've been trying to finagle their way into getting an arena license, and by the time they find out Raknian's actually the bad guy they'll have scads of reason to go in already. *evil grin*
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Using a Photoshop-adjusted-and-cropped image from the Champion's Belt issue, I did some research on Chuck Norris one-liners and applied them to Loris Raknian. The result was this:
http://home.comcast.net/~kurukami/images/raknian-chief-export-is-pain.jpg
(I have more that I can put up on the web if anyone wants 'em for their own campaign.)
Please post more flyers.
Sergio :-)
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The party wizard in my game used mustache wax to shape his facial hair to resemble Zyrxog's symbol for the Free Dinner. During the mixer period, he made of point of getting close to Raknian to fish for a reaction. A subtle, clever way of saying "hi" to the villain. If they're lucky, they may live to see the first round (next game)...
Could he have shaped his beard to resemble Zyrxog's tentacles?
That would have been a striking look...!
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If the DM makes you REALLY despise Auric & co., then ever since the 1st adventure, you'd be dreaming of the day when you could show them up, and the games are just that chance! It makes things that much cooler if the ulgustatsa breaks into the action and you're forced to fight side-by-side with Auric.
My group tangled with Khellek and Co, after their early trips to the Whispering Cairn (2nd level). And they had Uluvant with them, who had slipped out of the cairn, and blundered into his old friends at Ulgo's shack...
They were outclassed, but the tide was turned by the ghost of Alastor, who had been possessing one of the PCs. He woke them up from magical sleep, poured healing potions down their necks, and they jumped up for a re-match, during which the newly-possessed Tirra sneak-attacked Auric, who fled with Khellek into the hills.
Tirra sits in the Garrison gaol, with her future undecided. If my players find out about the games, and the chance to thrash Khellek and Auric, I will be hard-pressed to keep them away!
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Using a Photoshop-adjusted-and-cropped image from the Champion's Belt issue, I did some research on Chuck Norris one-liners and applied them to Loris Raknian. The result was this:
http://home.comcast.net/~kurukami/images/raknian-chief-export-is-pain.jpg
(I have more that I can put up on the web if anyone wants 'em for their own campaign.)Please post more flyers.
Certainly. Here's links to the rest I put up:
http://home.comcast.net/~kurukami/images/raknian-3-steaks-in-one-hour.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~kurukami/images/raknian-average-sitting-parlor.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~kurukami/images/raknian-coffee-with-his-teeth.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~kurukami/images/raknian-hung-like-a-horse.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~kurukami/images/raknian-quickest-way.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~kurukami/images/raknian-steel-toed-boot.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~kurukami/images/raknian-stub-his-toe.jpg