Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
|
I'm excited to get my paws on this. I'm doing the ultra-fast read-through now to figure out what minis I need to print/glue to run this on Sunday. And I ran across something I can't immediately make sense of...
Before Combat Rigrory burrows into a snowdrift at the base of the rocky mound and waits for the party to arrive. Rigrory recognizes Uliyara, and tries to use her deception to his
advantage. He emerges from the snow, tells the PCs who she is, and demands that they surrender her to him. He threatens to call down the entire pack if the PCs don’t acquiesce.
Development: If the PCs relinquish Uliyara, Rigrory doesn’t attack them or call his pack. He also doesn’t care if they take her gear, including the ice diamond necklace. Uliyara follows the winter wolf without putting up a fight—she recognizes that she would be unlikely to win in combat, and believes that she would be better off trying to resolve this situation diplomatically with whoever gave the order to track her down. If the PCs protect Uliyara, they earn 1 Influence Point. Now exposed, Uliyara no longer pretends to be Haltani.
So what happens if the PCs decide not to give her up, and he calls his pack?
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm excited to get my paws on this. I'm doing the ultra-fast read-through now to figure out what minis I need to print/glue to run this on Sunday. And I ran across something I can't immediately make sense of...
So what happens if the PCs decide not to give her up, and he calls his pack?
It's Schrödinger's wolf pack; they may or may not be out there also searching for Uliyara.
Essentially, he should howl and fight, freaking the PCs out that there are more winter wolves nearby.
|
|
The guards in A2 are using longspears, but don't have the 1.5x strength modifier figured into the damage. But they pretty much have to use those spears two-handed.
Also, CR1 enemies with +9 to hit, 1d8+7 damage? Ouch!
True... but the fight starts at range, if there's a fight at all. The Whiterook guards really want to talk to the PCs and bring them to speak to their battle leader. They should look big and scary, throw some javelin with great force if the PCs start to get aggressive.
The +9 is how the math ended up working out... though that should only come into play for very aggressive PCs who really want to go ashore to fight them hand-to-hand.
You're right about the longspear damage. I think I know what happened there, but I don't want to give advice either way on how to "fix" it. I'd recommend not increasing the damage. Again, they'd like to question the PCs, capturing them only if they're hostile. As far as the guard know, it's just a merchant ship heading east.
|
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
|
I was already thinking about spooking the players with howls in the distance. It seems cinematically appropriate, at least. Although I'm wary of suggesting a "timer" to the PCs that doesn't exist.
Where's that +9 coming from anyway? +2 from levels, +5 Str, +1 Weapon focus... the stats do list a BAB +3, which is a bit much for level 2 barbarians.
I'm pretty excited about running this. I'll definitely have to read up on Irrisen for some background. I like the political machinations happening in the background and the opportunities for the PCs to get involved with them.
|
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
|
Where's that +9 coming from anyway? +2 from levels, +5 Str, +1 Weapon focus... the stats do list a BAB +3, which is a bit much for level 2 barbarians.+1 from masterwork.
Ah, yes. Although they've got 1d6 damage instead of the normal for a longspear (1d8).
Also, if they're not immediately hostile, why are they statted as being in Rage?
|
|
The spears are missing their crit multiplier as well. I'm guessing the javelin numbers were substituted on the spear line by mistake.
As to the rage stats, if a fight breaks out (which is the most likely reason for needing the stats) then they will rage. It's worth bearing in mind however that they aren't in a rage to begin with, so that might affect things before they have a chance to rage on the first round of combat or if something happens before combat starts.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
|
The net is described at being 30' across, assuming a square either side to anchor it that makes the river 20' across at that point. The boat is a couple of squares across and the barbarians are using reach weapons which means they can conceivably engage the PC's in melee from the shoreline if they get very aggressive.
We know that at least one side of the boat is 10 feet from one of the shores (maybe both of them?).
The PCs’ boat passes 10 feet from the shoreline and 20 feet from the nearest Ulfen’s hiding place.
The net isn't necessarily as wide as the river. In fact it probably isn't, since:
The boat’s pilot must succeed at a DC 20 Profession (sailor) check (DC 25 in Subtier 4–5), or the boat is entangled.
and,
If the PCs decide to stop and negotiate...
So presumably there is room to steer around the net and if the PCs avoid getting entangled they could just sail on...
|
Assistant Developer
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The spears are missing their crit multiplier as well. I'm guessing the javelin numbers were substituted on the spear line by mistake.
There are definitely a few wonky things in this stat block.
Feel free to use the stat block as-is. If you want to use a corrected version in your game, you are welcome to do so. Here are the corrections:Their melee attack should indeed be mwk longspear +9 (1d8+7/x3), and their CMB should be +7. Their BAB should say +2, and their Dex should say 14.
|
Assistant Developer
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ok, prepping this some more flags up a query.
It is possible to evade the initial ambush with a decent Profession: Sailor check. If you do so and just sail off down the river ignoring the Ulfen you don't "defeat" them. You also have no reason to visit Whiterock so you don't get to convince Halvor. You arrive in Dalun along with your guide so you enter the town without incident. That only leaves interacting with the Baroness as a means of getting the rewards from Areas A and B which is an automatic gold loss.
I suppose you could count escaping from the Ulfen as defeating them or you could have a second group divert them at Whiterook as you have to sail past it to get to Dalun. I am curious about what the intention was here.
I think the tidiest way to handle this situation is the following: have the Ulfen call out to the PC's, insisting that they land for inspection. If the PCs do not land, the Ulfen assume that they must have a strong reason not to land, and become suspicious. They attack with their javelins.
If you'll forgive me overthinking things a bit:If the PCs succeed at the Prof (sailor) check and withstand the Ulfen attack, go ahead and count it as a successful encounter, granting the PCs one of the rewards from A and B. Better not to have a successful skill check make the PCs lose gold.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My impression wasn't that a successful check could you get you around the net, simply that it could get you to stop short of getting entangled in the net. The passable portion of the river would still be blocked. Remember you're far enough up river that there are rapids blocking all but a "narrow channel". 30 feet should be plenty of width to block that channel. The scenario also says the boat passes 10 feet from the shore, so the channel can't be very wide. The PCs are sailing against the flow of the river as well, the ship isn't going to be moving very quickly.
Granted, resourceful PCs could cut the lines holding the net and sail on through, but they would likely still have to deal with the border guards since they have ranged and reach weapons and grappling hooks/ropes.
I'm prepping this for tomorrow, and am eagerly awaiting what sort of party we'll have. This is a very interestingly structured scenario with a lot of possible variation. Me likey.
|
|
My impression wasn't that a successful check could you get you around the net, simply that it could get you to stop short of getting entangled in the net. The passable portion of the river would still be blocked. Remember you're far enough up river that there are rapids blocking all but a "narrow channel". 30 feet should be plenty of width to block that channel. The scenario also says the boat passes 10 feet from the shore, so the channel can't be very wide. The PCs are sailing against the flow of the river as well, the ship isn't going to be moving very quickly.
Granted, resourceful PCs could cut the lines holding the net and sail on through, but they would likely still have to deal with the border guards since they have ranged and reach weapons and grappling hooks/ropes.
I'm prepping this for tomorrow, and am eagerly awaiting what sort of party we'll have. This is a very interestingly structured scenario with a lot of possible variation. Me likey.
Your impression was my intention... with one alteration:
The idea of this encounter was not to be a fight. The PCs can make it a fight, if they decide to be aggressive. The boarder guards shout that they want to question the PCs and search their ship; they'll haul it to shore if needed, but any violence will start with the PCs.
The easiest way out is to avoid getting entangled in the net and simple cut it down (one or two solid slashing attacks should do it), then sail on, albeit slowly.
Also, I fully agree with Linda: evading the boarder guards should count as "defeating" them for the purposes of gold rewards.
PS. I'm really glad you like it. Scenarios that can go a variety of ways depending on PC choices have always been my favorite. I enjoyed adding those elements, and I hope players will as well.
|
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
|
Another question. I think it's likely that Scarab Sages will ask whether the ice diamond qualifies for their faction card:
Recover a gem worth at least 400 gp plus 100 gp per level you possess during an adventure.
The only indication of the diamond's value I can find is this:
If the PCs fail the DC 20 Diplomacy or Profession (merchant) check to receive a favorable deal, they can still purchase an ice diamond from Kartov for the letter of credit and 100 gp
in Subtier 1–2, or the letter and 300 gp in Subtier 4–5.
It doesn't say anywhere what the letter of credit is worth. What if the party traded the letter for some other trade goods, and now the Scarab dudes want to buy the diamond with their own money?
Also, what if they want to use the letter of credit to buy gear? Should I just nix that?
By the way, kudos on this adventure enabling so many Exchange faction missions;
- Visit a city other than Absalom with a population of 5,000 residents of more. While in the city, purchase or sell an item worth at least 100 gp per character level. Go shopping in Kalsgard.
- Recruit a named NPC merchant, trader, smuggler, or similar figure to cooperate with the Exchange. Doing so requires a successful Diplomacy or Profession (merchant) check with a DC equal to 15 plus your character level. Alexei Kartov.
- Acquire a merchant’s license in a city other than Absalom with a population of 5,000 or more. Doing so requires spending 25 gp per character level and succeeding on an Appraise or Profession (merchant) check with a DC equal to 15 plus your character level. If you exceed the DC of the check by 10 or more, you instead receive the license for free. Whenever you are in that city, you may purchase all mundane items at a 10% discount. You're not likely to return to Kalsgard, but this is a doable goal.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If the players are allowed to guide their boat around the net, they are denied the experience of the "choose your own path" programming to this scenario. It's even problematic: they show up at Dalun enjoying the benefit of having achieved successes with the Ulfen (ie, you don't have to fight the city guards)
Plus, taken literally, if they bypass the encounter they cannot defeat or go with the Ulfen, so in turn they cannot satisfy requirements to get full credit for gold for that chapter.
It makes more sense to just have the boat automagically caught and stopped with the players not having anything they can do about it. (other than making their ref saves to not go prone). The box text supports this.. there's a natural bottleneck the boat must pass through, right in the shade of the branches overhead. The way I choose to see that encounter, there's literally no room for the boat to avoid the net. You hit the shore to the left, or rocks to the right. The point being, you must roleplay with the Ulfen. And therefore must decide: Fight, or friends?
|
|
Ascalaphus, when I run it, I'd rule the gem counts, considering Tahonikepsu explicitly asks you to find it, unless there's any clarification before next Sunday. Naldak's Point counts as an ancient site, at least.
It does seem like almost every faction has at least one good opportunity to check something off, which is cool. I'd have to double check the status of slavery in Irrisen and the Land of the Linnorm Kings, but they both (Irrisen especially) seem like the kind of place where some Liberty's Edge speechifying would be appropriate.
My reading of the boat encounter was in line with Talon and the others, especially considering how many problems arise if they dodge it.
|
|
Another question. I think it's likely that Scarab Sages will ask whether the ice diamond qualifies for their faction card:
Recover a gem worth at least 400 gp plus 100 gp per level you possess during an adventure.It doesn't say anywhere what the letter of credit is worth. What if the party traded the letter for some other trade goods, and now the Scarab dudes want to buy the diamond with their own money?
Also, what if they want to use the letter of credit to buy gear? Should I just nix that?
The value of the letter of credit and the ice diamond necklace is intentionally left unlisted for various reasons. It is reasonable to assume that the ice diamond necklace is worth at least 900 gp and therefore could qualify.
In one of the games I ran this weekend, the PCs wanted to use the letter of credit to purchase traveling supplies to head toward Naldak's Point. I allowed them to, as it's a reasonable purchase of mundane gear. However, since they didn't actually act like merchants, they didn't "succeed" at that goal and had a hard time explaining their intentions to Baroness Nadya when asked "Where do you think you're going with all of that traveling gear?"
Part of the fun of sandbox style adventures is to allow the PCs to come up with creative solutions. As long as they're not looking to spend thousands of gp or are trying to get "free" magical items, it's reasonable. If they try to purchase potions or scrolls of endure elements I would simply have the merchants deny them as the letter is for trade goods.
While I'm thinking about it, one fun way to make the Dalun Mercantile scene entertaining is to have them perform any needed day job checks while in Dalun. It helps further establish them in town for business, and it adds a fun bit of roleplay to the day job check mechanic.
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
|
I'm going to bring some extra maps of the kingdoms involved, and the polar map from jade regent 3. And then try to do a tiny info-dump before the session on the basic politics and ethnic issues of the region.
If the players don't understand that openly going as a Jadwiga is going to cause prejudicial problems, I don't think they'll give a fair reaction at the reveal.
|
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
|
The dwarf hits hard in low tier, although he's not that tough himself. However, the environment helps him, since he's the only one making 5ft steps; everyone else is enjoying the frozen ground.
On the high tier he's pretty brutal. He has a high to-hit, makes a lot of attacks for significant damage.
|
|
The dwarf hits hard in low tier, although he's not that tough himself. However, the environment helps him, since he's the only one making 5ft steps; everyone else is enjoying the frozen ground.
On the high tier he's pretty brutal. He has a high to-hit, makes a lot of attacks for significant damage.
This should be offset somewhat by his desire to kill witches, i.e. Uliyara. When I run it she's in the back of the party, so the undead dwarf needs to move past PCs to get to her, often provoking attacks of opportunity.
The intention was to have a hard fight that's not just a PC vs. Monster fight, but one where they need to prevent their guide and new ally (hopefully) from getting destroyed by a vengeful undead. The cold aura should be the most direct problem for the PCs, while saving Uliyara's life is the indirect, though important, problem.
Depending on circumstances, he may overrun to get to her if he can't get through. I'd use your best judgement on how to maneuver this fight, but it should make the PCs feel like they're fighting for Uliyara's life, while she typically will try and save herself (full defensive, withdraw, etc).
Honestly, it's my favorite fight in the scenario, but is "optional" based on the direct effect of progressing the story or not. If the PCs use social skills to get through most of the encounters, then you should have time to run this. At that point, your combat focused characters should enjoy the challenge.
|
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
|
The dwarf hits hard in low tier, although he's not that tough himself. However, the environment helps him, since he's the only one making 5ft steps; everyone else is enjoying the frozen ground.
On the high tier he's pretty brutal. He has a high to-hit, makes a lot of attacks for significant damage.
This should be offset somewhat by his desire to kill witches, i.e. Uliyara. When I run it she's in the back of the party, so the undead dwarf needs to move past PCs to get to her, often provoking attacks of opportunity.
The intention was to have a hard fight that's not just a PC vs. Monster fight, but one where they need to prevent their guide and new ally (hopefully) from getting destroyed by a vengeful undead. The cold aura should be the most direct problem for the PCs, while saving Uliyara's life is the indirect, though important, problem.
Depending on circumstances, he may overrun to get to her if he can't get through. I'd use your best judgement on how to maneuver this fight, but it should make the PCs feel like they're fighting for Uliyara's life, while she typically will try and save herself (full defensive, withdraw, etc).
I like that idea, but the scenario's setup makes it likely that things will go differently:
Creatures: The frozen corpse of a dwarf slumps against
the wall, perfectly preserved in a block of ice. Vargrim,
descendant of Naldak, was the head of his clan when Baba
Yaga invaded. He wears a hexagonal hematite beard clasp
with a single dwarven rune inscribed on the face. Once a
creature gets within striking distance, he bursts from the
ice and attacks.
This will probably be a PC.
During Combat Vargrim uses his chilling shriek on the first round. On the second round, he then attacks a Jadwiga, if there are any present (Uliyara is his most likely target). If the PCs attack him in the first two rounds, he is enraged that they are interfering with his revenge, and he turns his attention toward killing the PCs.
This is super-likely to happen. The PC who just walked into the room is faced with a monster that just entangled him. The odds are enormous that PC is going to attack Vargrim.
I like the idea of the overruning/provoking because he's in a mad rush to get to the jadwiga, but it's quite inconsistent with the actual scenario.
---
I like that the fight is hard and different, but I didn't like just how much it was about denial and control.
Because the fight tends to start with precisely PC standing in the doorway, ranged attacks on Vargrim suffer from cover.
The entire area is difficult terrain, and you're likely to be entangled. That's moving at 1/4 speed, which means that anyone not bunched up at the door is spending multiple rounds just getting near the fight.
Because Vargrim's basically guarding the doorway, and people can't 5ft step due to difficult terrain/entangle, it's hard to get into melee with Vargrim even if you're near, without at least an AoO.
The cold aura is adding insult to injury; not only can't you move freely, you get punished for not moving freely.
---
I think it's good to have tough fights. But this one got a lot of its difficulty from locking people down, and I didn't really like that. This fight is especially harsh on tables with 5-6 people that have a lot of melee types. In my meta, those are pretty common.
---
I did very much want a real fight by this point in the adventure; the winter wolf can hit hard, but he's rather fragile himself. And all the other fights are basically supposed not to happen.
That's another point of irritation for me: so many fights that get set up with lots of fanfare, and then you're supposed to not fight if you actually want to succeed at the adventure. It feels like bait and switch.
|
|
I like that idea, but the scenario's setup makes it likely that things will go differently:
Creatures: ... Once a
creature gets within striking distance, he bursts from the
ice and attacks.
This will probably be a PC.
During Combat Vargrim uses his chilling shriek on the first round. On the second round, he then attacks a Jadwiga, if there are any present (Uliyara is his most likely target). If the PCs attack him in the first two rounds, he is enraged that they are interfering...
I believe that was supposed to be "if the PCs attack him after the first two rounds" or "If the PCs attack him in the first two rounds, he turns his attention toward them in round 3" but it may have been changed by an editor. Something obviously got lost in translation.
Even as a straight-up fight, it should be pretty exciting. Groups of melee who have brought no other combat options but to attack a 5 ft. square next to them will find many fights like this challenging. Character builds that feature ranged combat, multiple combat options, Vital Strike, and high mobility will probably find this fight rewards their choices.
My recommendation would be to have him treat Uliyara (or any other unfortunate Jadwiga PC) as his primary target; have him attempt to advance to them if it makes any sense. If he can't get to her, then he can turn his full attention to the PCs and start to fight them directly.
That said, I really appreciate your feedback on this fight. It will help me greatly as a writer and designer.
|
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
|
It was a pretty exciting fight; you certainly succeeded there. The only casualty was my roc AC (with armor class 28). Better the AC than a fellow PC. But when I was the last one standing between Vargrim and Uliyara, I was feeling pretty scared too.
But thankfully, at that point another PC grabbed his axe from the table and used that to distract him (revenant weakness), and I managed to finish him off. Putting the axe there was a nice "find" for attentive players.
It's certainly challenging for "boring" melee builds that attack nearby squares, but it's also not very easy for anyone else. The initial situation of the fight has a PC in the doorway giving Vargrim cover from any ranged attacks. Most likely, there will be a pileup of PCs near the door pretty soon. The walls and melee dudes get in the way of reach and archery builds.
Since he has to work his way through 1-3 PCs to get out of the door towards Uliyara, it'll be a while before he's actually through. Meanwhile, his aura is hurting a lot of people.
Making him overrun works very well for flavor, and can get the fight un-stuck. It's also something he has a decent chance of pulling off, considering his high attack scores. Definitely something to keep in mind for next time.
|
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
|
I did have some difficulty pulling off the Whiterook/Dalun thing.
When I ran it, the PCs were all a bunch of murderhobos, the closes they came to having social stats was one PC having ranks in Knowledge Nobility. Which did help a bit, but even so.
In Whiterook they found the information to exonerate Dalun, but bombed the check to sway Halvor. So they were really frustrated; "we've shown you proof, you stubborn git, why do you still insist on going on this raid?!" According to the text, the evidence gets you only a +2 on the check, not enough by itself.
So there was the awkward situation: you're in the middle of a camp of people who're gearing up to raid a town you just told them you want to visit to trade. They can't really let you go to warn them. But forcing the PCs to join the raid or to just turn away doesn't make much sense either.
One of the players playing a knight in shining armor type PC eventually broke the stalemate by proposing trial by combat. Him against Halvor. First one to drop to 50% or less of HP loses. If the PCs won, no raid. If Halvor won, PCs would join him on the raid.
I didn't have stats for Halvor, but used the high-tier Lieutenant. Predictably, he won the fight, even without rage/power attack (I didn't want to risk a sudden death critical).
So, sulking, the PCs got to Dalun. There I nudged things so they had a second chance at convincing Halvor, and they suddenly teamworked a 30 Intimidate, which was enough for me to defuse the situation.
---
The thing about Dalun that bothers me is this: what if the PCs decide not to start a fight there, but Halvor does? He and his guys run off the map, and the PCs just kinda stand there and go "nuh-uh!".
|
|
The thing about Dalun that bothers me is this: what if the PCs decide not to start a fight there, but Halvor does? He and his guys run off the map, and the PCs just kinda stand there and go "nuh-uh!".I think in that situation the gate guards attack the PC's. I suppose they could run with Uliyara but that is tricky with a bunch of archers and a mounted cavalier.
Correct. If Halvor attacks at the gates of Dalun, then the gate guards are going to start combat with the PCs, seeing that they all came together.
The Influence Point system is designed so that as long as the PCs have 3 or more points Haltani will still meet them outside of Dalun after the fight. At this point there will have been 4 possible points:
1 PC impresses Haltani during intros/RP encounter.
50% or more PCs impress Haltani during intros/RP encounter.
Attempt to get Halvor to come to Dalun peacefully (no check required)
Actually convince Halvor to come to Dalun peacefully.
Though that can be frustrating to have Halvor attack and force combat with the gate guards, it does represent the PCs inability to calm what is already a very volatile situation. It's not without the ability to salvage the situation, however.
One of the players playing a knight in shining armor type PC eventually broke the stalemate by proposing trial by combat. Him against Halvor. First one to drop to 50% or less of HP loses. If the PCs won, no raid. If Halvor won, PCs would join him on the raid.
I didn't have stats for Halvor, but used the high-tier Lieutenant.
Perfect! Very good improvising. Sandbox style scenarios are great for allowing the PCs to be creative, but it's hard to include every possible outcome in the word count. Sounds like you came up with a very good plan that allowed a PC to shine and directly affect the story.
|
|
I did have some difficulty pulling off the Whiterook/Dalun thing.
When I ran it, the PCs were all a bunch of murderhobos, the closes they came to having social stats was one PC having ranks in Knowledge Nobility. Which did help a bit, but even so.
In Whiterook they found the information to exonerate Dalun, but bombed the check to sway Halvor. So they were really frustrated; "we've shown you proof, you stubborn git, why do you still insist on going on this raid?!" According to the text, the evidence gets you only a +2 on the check, not enough by itself.
So there was the awkward situation: you're in the middle of a camp of people who're gearing up to raid a town you just told them you want to visit to trade. They can't really let you go to warn them. But forcing the PCs to join the raid or to just turn away doesn't make much sense either.
One of the players playing a knight in shining armor type PC eventually broke the stalemate by proposing trial by combat. Him against Halvor. First one to drop to 50% or less of HP loses. If the PCs won, no raid. If Halvor won, PCs would join him on the raid.
I didn't have stats for Halvor, but used the high-tier Lieutenant. Predictably, he won the fight, even without rage/power attack (I didn't want to risk a sudden death critical).
So, sulking, the PCs got to Dalun. There I nudged things so they had a second chance at convincing Halvor, and they suddenly teamworked a 30 Intimidate, which was enough for me to defuse the situation.
---
The thing about Dalun that bothers me is this: what if the PCs decide not to start a fight there, but Halvor does? He and his guys run off the map, and the PCs just kinda stand there and go "nuh-uh!".
I had a similar situation while running this scenario. We had a diplomacy-focused character, but he didn't speak up during the entire time in Whiterook. The grappler challenged Halvor to a wrestling match (and why wouldn't he if he's ranked 5th in the Taldan Wrestling Federation's heavyweight division?), only to get roflstomped by dice. I, for reference, treated Halvor as an advanced raider as this was the high tier.
As the PCs arrived at Dalun, I had Haltani interject and ask for peace, allowing the characters to try the sense motive and intimidate route. I was glad they succeeded.
This same group of PCs, though, spent an enormous amount of time not sending Haltani's regards when they reached the Baroness. I think it was a case of the players not paying attention to the box text. Fortunately, things sort of worked themselves out as they got to part 3.
|
|
This was a great scenario to play, though reading this discussion makes me realize how off the rails we went. A little background, my VL and I have Ifrit brothers (sorc and alchemist) and we introduce ourselves as follows..
MY NAME IS HANZ!..
AND MY NAME IS FRANZ!..
AND WE ARE HERE TO BURN (we high-five) YOU UP!!!
Well, when we ran into the Ulfen, we introduced ourselves and started an international incident as they took it as a threat. Our GM offered us a means of talking it out, but we refused to hilarious effect. My sorc somehow managed to Ear-Piercing Scream to stun the leader 2 rounds in a row (we were level 1 playing up) and slept another which let the party take the third mook out and chase off the leader. We questioned the remaining sleeper, found out what happened, and let him go. Once we got to town we made some crazy diplomatic checks and talked our way past the gate guards, then past the city officials with little (if not highly amusing) trouble.
After nearly getting wiped by the winter wolf, our Ifrits burning hands the frozen Dwarf before he could burst out. I don't know if that did something or if our GM cut the fight due to time, but he just slumped over, making it easy to collect the beads. Finally we managed to talk our way past the final encounter and gain the winter witch as an ally.
Given how deadly this scenario could have been, I am highly amused we got through it so unscathed!
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ran this one yesterday afternoon. As I said in my review, I consider this one of the hidden gems of season 6. Loved the interactions, multiple paths, and the setting.
The group I ran knocked the guards on the river out, so we skipped Halvor completely. I love that there are two paths to the module, and each of those have multiple possible directions things can go too. The character's decisions made had big implications of how things would run. Both I and the players loved that.
I love influence mechanic adventures, and Uliyara was a nice addition to the influence NPC's PFS has introduced us to. She has nice layers to her, and lots of openings for casual conversation to get players into their characters heads. My area is much more full of murder-hobos than roleplay heavy players, so the boat ride was as full of storytelling as I ideally would have liked, but it was an important step in building towards later roleplaying encounters. The mix of building trust, but knowing something just wasn't right got people in a more conversational mood. The fact that the influence in this adventure isn't just a bunch of diplomacy roles made it even better. Actions were just as important as words.
The big encounters...
Kartov - I didn't get as much time with Alexi Kartov as I would have liked, to make sure that I had enough time for the more important encounters. If you are running faster though (which I see as unlikely since I skipped major plot threads when the party skipped Whitebrook, and I still was concerned about running long...the encounter with the river guards went longer than I'd expecte) then I'd suggest really playing up the sleezy "Russian" merchant in the gambling den. I was very much picturing Zukovsky from the James Bond movie "The World is Not Enough". Really hoping for another visit to Dalrun in season 7 or beyond, and I'd like to see Kartov's role expanded when it happens, expanding on that Zukovsky-like side of things.
The Baroness - After a lengthy discussion with the guards and disarming themselves, My party surprised me on this one, but it created a great payoff later. They were open about looking for the ruins and sky key, and they offered (to my surprise) to turn over everything found in the ruins except the sky key. This obviously gave some profit motive for the Baroness, and since the terms were pretty favorable for her, I gave a bonus to the diplomacy role. Now that I've seen it play out that way, I would highly recommend steering the negotiation in this direction to other GM's, having the Baroness suggest it as a comprimise.
Rigrory- This was the scariest encounter, even though it was a quick fight once it came down to it. We were on low tier with a number of level 3 characters in the party, so the winter wolf wasn't that challenging. The tension of the negotiations beforehand were full of tension, and made the fight seem bigger than it was. Lots of sense motives here as they tried to read Uliyara's reaction. One of the players who half jokingly said Uliyara was probably the Baroness' daughter earlier, so the reveal wasn't a big surprise (the better reveal is coming). You can get a lot of mileage out of this one though. As said above, play up the threat of more wolves, although the prospect of one winter wolf's breath weapon was scary enough for my group.
Vargim - On one hand, the sheer number of fortitude saves the dwarf caused (cold + disease + paralysis) was scary, but at low tier, he went down extremely fast. It was really a forgetable combat overall, it's a good thing it didn't end up being the finale moment.
Kiryena - This became the shining moment that all the other roleplay and diplomacy built to. The PC's quickly guessed they had been followed by minions of the Baroness. They had just found the diary, and I hadn't let them review it. I did NOT have Uliyara step in and take over. Instead, I had her watch both sides to see how things were going to play out. The PC's realized during the conversation that they would be held to their previous deal were feeling pretty bad. They tried to negotiate with Kiryena to let them keep the journal, but being in the stronger position she was having none of it. The PC's however, now knew Uliyara was on the same side as Kiryena, and they had at least some level of trust in her, so they asked if everything could be handed over toe Uliyara instead. I ran with that, as I thought it sets up the end well. (PC's were hoping they'd be able to negotiate at least reading the journal with Uliyara.) Having handed over all of their loot, and ready to head back to Dalrun...that's when I sprung the game changer on them..."So, this Pathfinder Society you belong to...what exactly do I have to do to join up?" Players moods suddenly lightened...and it really worked as the pivotal finale type moment everything built to. I loved having a little bit of a swerve (everyone thought the Rigory encounter was the swerve for the character) and I think it was an RP moment instead of combat moment that will be the thing remembered from this module.
|
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16
|
Holy crap. She was still with us and did chip in at the end, but I guess our GM let us shine and we hammered the checks.
Super glad we didn't fight them!
When I ran this, I let players negotiate their way through (and make checks) with the gate guards even though Haltani was secretly messaging them in the background.) No reason to ever even let them know about the message. They feel it was all their negotiating skills. They just had secret help.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
When I ran it last night, PCs heavy roleplayers had a great time with Haltani, gaining many influence points along the way. The party escaped from the border guards and arrived peacefully at the gates of Dalun.
I had the guards state that they had to perform a routine search of goods and assign taxes as per regulations, but then the Lieutenant received "the message" and allowed the party to pass without search. This confused the PCs a bit and made them start wondering who was their mysterious patron. Discussion went well with the Baroness. When the PCs find out that the Baroness isn't their well-meaning patron, their confusion (and paranoia) continued/surfaced.
Journey to Naldak's Point was without major incident, as PCs were prepared with several wands of Endure Elements (always a great 2PP purchase).
We had a 3, 4, 4, and 5 with no full-BAB. Rigrory took a good long time before combat eventually broke out, as the party was very uncertain on what do go. It was great time as a GM, as I could walk away and grab a drink, not being needed at the table. Probably 10 to 15 minutes of in-character discussion on what they should do, with the party split on giving her up. Fight was tough, as breath weapon is still real dangerous at that level. Did drop it as it was retreating, though very concerned about the rest of the pack coming after them.....
Discussions of Hao Jin came up as they surveryed the room and the 'damage' done. not quite dismissed, so it was satisfying on my end when the big reveal came shortly thereafter.
Vagrim (The Revnant) left one dead and the party on the verge of a TPK (he is a real jerk). Poor rolling didn't help, but nonetheless the confined location and footing conditions proved to be the PCs real undoing.
After a fight in which the PCs pulled out all the stops to stay alive, they were crestfallen when they went to leave and there was a small army waiting for them, demanding their surrender and arrest. Thankfully, with the true ally they made in Uliana, they convinced the witch not to arrest them.
All and all, a great scenario with great options and super fun to run.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Without going into too much specific detail (mainly because I'm currently exhausted), I just wanted to pipe up that this is now tied for my favorite Season 6 scenario (and wins on ties because of my enjoyment of Linnorm King / Irrisen stuff slightly above Qadira stuff, heh)!
|
|
Thank you andreww, for your feed back. It's super useful to have this sort of constructive criticism and shared table experiences.
I saw that you posted a review, again thank you!
If given the opportunity to write another scenario, I'll incorporate what I've learned during the experience as well as your feed back.
Based on what you've had at your tables, I'd recommend 2 things in the Vargrim fight:
1) Have him attempt to get around the PCs and just get to Uliyara for the first two rounds. Uliyara will try to save herself as much as possible, including taking withdraw actions to get away. This was what was intended, that you'd have a couple rounds of just trying to save Uliyara before he fully turns his attention to the PCs.
2) If anyone knows any one fact about revenants, tell them the Self-Loathing ability. Some of the other abilities are nice to know about, but really this is the key to the fight.
With it, the PCs may be able to shut him down, but they are likely to get get him obsessed with either his axe, or his reflection in the ice. If it's the axe, I've heard some really creative ideas for defeating him: throwing the axe in the 20 ft. pit, luring him into one of the jail cells, luring him out of the cave where he can roam free and hunt jadwiga, etc.
|
|
1) Have him attempt to get around the PCs and just get to Uliyara for the first two rounds.My only really issue with this is that the location makes this basically impossible especially given high tier Vargrimm has no ranks in Acrobatics.
Overrun!
Yes, he'll provoke, but it's very likely to happen against most characters on high tier and is usually is round 2 action. Obviously, run it how you feel is best for your table, but this is what I usually do with him on high-tier:
Round 1) He bursts from the ice, locks eyes with Uliyara, points at her and screams, "WITCH!" (everyone needs to make a Reflex save) If he can, he moves toward Uliyara.
Round 2) He attempts to move toward Uliyara, overrunning if needed and provoking while taking the most direct route possible. I describe his single-minded determination and hatred.
Round 3+) If the PCs are in the way and have been protecting her, he'll turn his attention to them if he needs to, but otherwise still continues to advance toward Uliyara (now taking 5 ft. steps and more cautious move actions to get to her). Some fun things to do are confirm grapple to move the target over the pit, then drop them. Yes, this is 2d6 falling damage, but it's also putting them out of the cold aura so... win/win. It also leaves 1 less barrier between Vargrim and the object of his hatred.
YMMV
(Also, I've run this 5 times... Vargrim is a nasty SoB on either tier. I try and play up how scary and nasty he is so the PCs don't underestimate him: throw a chair into the wall with great force, smashing it to splinters as he frees himself... that sort of cinematic flair)