That’s really hard to say. You know your group best, so you can better gauge how well the scenario would be received. As you know, it is not integral to the STAP, so it’s not necessary, strictly speaking. Do you think the extra XP will throw of balance later on? Are your players eager to “get on with it”?
In our group, the previous DM instituted ‘No XP/Level Up’ system. I don’t know if that’s been talked about here before. Instead of dealing with the ‘bookkeeping’ involved with XP (how many NPCs? What is the relative Challenge Rating? etc.) he would just say “Level Up” whenever appropriate based on where we were in the STAP. This meant he never had to add extra stuff to get us up to where we needed to be, and he could drop the encounters he didn’t like or knew we would hate (flotsam ooze, anyone?) I know this doesn’t help you with the “should I” of your question, but it does address the XP factor.
Also, we kind of re-worked the ending of scenario; the encounter with the Mother of All. The whole set up inside the Rage makes combat very constrained and, frankly, a cluster f---. You might consider reworking that setup, if you do go ahead with Journey’s End.
Hope my random babbling helped in some way.
Some recommendations if you do Journey’s End.
Music can really set the mood and one of the best pieces for this scenario is Hoist the Colors from the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End soundtrack. Really creepy! You say, when the ship is stuck and nobody can really do anything, Tavey is lazily sitting with his legs dangling over the edge and starts to sing, then play that piece.
One of the players in my group had the idea of using spare timber and pitch from the ship stores to put out torches in a perimeter in the Sargasso around the ship. It was his idea to help combat the dark and mist to allow better visibility at night so missile weapons could be used. As the mist began to rise, the Sargasso animated and the torches slowly began to sink until they hit the water and wink out, one by one, with a soft his. Very creepy (inspired by the mist snuffing the torches in Sleepy Hollow)
As for minitatues, a large number of HorrorClix POD ZOMBIE and there is a really good one from MageKnight, but I can’t remember what it’s called.
As a DM, the Sargasso sounded great and I looked forward to running. My players though were kind of blah on the whole thing. They took to the air, saw the middle part, slogged their way their, and had the fight. We missed out on the whole cthulu aspect of it.
If you run it, I changed it so that middle part is not obvious. Make them find the clues to get there. Make them fight off a night of attackers.
If you don't run it, no biggie. There's nothing of the plot in the Sargasso.
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Thanks! I have already added a few side adventures at sea, including a kraken, so it seems like time to get back on dry land. I might replace Fogmire dungeon with a sargasso equivalent though, with waves of swampy vine horrors, and the Lemorian golem and Olangru in a temple to DG at the centre.
Whaddya think?
Thanks! I have already added a few side adventures at sea, including a kraken, so it seems like time to get back on dry land. I might replace Fogmire dungeon with a sargasso equivalent though, with waves of swampy vine horrors, and the Lemorian golem and Olangru in a temple to DG at the centre.
Whaddya think?
Well, in a way, that’s kind of what Formire is, isn’t it? A Jungle Sargasso. Sure, it works, I guess.
Say, BTW, where did you get that fig?
As a DM, the Sargasso sounded great and I looked forward to running. My players though were kind of blah on the whole thing. They took to the air, saw the middle part, slogged their way their, and had the fight. We missed out on the whole cthulu aspect of it.
If you run it, I changed it so that middle part is not obvious. Make them find the clues to get there. Make them fight off a night of attackers.
If you don't run it, no biggie. There's nothing of the plot in the Sargasso.
My group really loved the session that involved the Sargasso.
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There's plenty of flying goodness, unfortunately. Plus, we only play for about 2.5 hours every two weeks, so dragging out the same combat over and over would be hard to pull off. There'd be weeks between waves and then I'm afraid one session would be too similar to the last. I love it, but it's not their style.
Someone bought me that Kraken in a toy shop in Manchester. It didn't have any logos like Pirates of the Caribbean attached to identify it, so I've no idea what it is.
You really need one night on the Sargasso for it to be an effective story element. The combat is sort of meh, but the fog, the chorus of plant/zombies, and the feeling of overwhelming dread as the party is forced to face wave after wave with no end in sight . . .
If your party can fly, or possess some other way of getting directly and almost instantly to the heart of the Sargasso, then it's probably best to skip it. This encounter is really only effective after a night or two. Being scared is wonderful fun.
It really is the quintessential zombie fight. As you all know, zombies can be done really well and you have a horror classic, or they can be done bad and it’s laughable at best (a boring waste of time at worst). One knight of wave after wave of the zombies attacking the ship is so “Night of the Living Dead.” Then you have the chase across the Sargasso (“You can’t stop or they’ll get you!” “You’re going so slow because of the spongy conditions – they’re catching up!” “They’re going to get you, Barbara!”) Yeah, flying ability really kills that.