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I assume there will be spoilers for all three mods listed in the title. You have been warned!
We are going to have a local con coming up in a couple weeks and I am running the Blackros Museum trilogy. ive played through Mists of Mwangi, but not the other two, and am wondering if anyone has suggestions for how to make the mods run more smoothly or things to watch out for etc. Ive already read alot of what I could find on here, but just in case I missed something, what do you suggest??
The maps will be done beforehand, thanks to Arnim Thayer
The Chronicles pre-signed
I have the Mist-Tainted template ready to go (again thanks to Arnim)
And obviously I'll have read the mods over several times.
What else do you suggest to make it run more smoothly and to help ensure the party has a fun time?
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I've played through the first two and GM'ed the last. Just make sure you want to know how to handle the shadow mechanic in The Penumbral Accords. I would suggest reading this thread *spoilers ahead*. Depending on how you do it, it can really make or break how challenging your players will find the mod. Other than that, have fun! :)
Venture-Captain, Missouri—Cape Girardeau
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The shadow mechanic is a BIG part of THREE TPKS I've had running this scenario... that and the
My players thought he was tougher than the BBEG... and kind of felt let down by that encounter.
Be prepared with Voice in the Void with how you going to use the
With Mists, the tools I gave you will go a LONG way to helping you run that with ease. I wish you had played through these under me... all the worst possibilities seemed to happen when I run these, from party composition (no healer or arcane!) to failed saves (leading to a TPK by the party to the party!). Regardless, these are always entertaining to GM!
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Venture-Captain, Missouri—Cape Girardeau
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I wish you had played through these under me... all the worst possibilities seemed to happen when I run these...I didnt think I was that obnoxious of a player.
I still wont have played through Voice or Accords, so I might get lucky and get to play them under you at some point.
Just that you would be prepared for... well, anything!
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I love the Blackos Museum. I did GM all three parts multiple times over at a Convention earlier this year.
Bits that might help:
This is a public place. As such I have the museum prebuilt. Ther is even mentioning of a map handout in the first adventure. Off course I build up using DF - so building takes extra time. But once it's done, it speeds up gaming time.
The intention was to play all three in succession. As it turned out I had players dropping in and out all time. But I always had at least one player on the table from an earlier game. I always did weave this and what had happened when they last had been in the museum into the introduction.
This really helped to immerse the characters into the story. It gave them continuity if they were at my table second or third time as well as gave a good intro to new players.
You might want to follow the link to the DwarvenForge blogs were I wrote more as well as displayed pictures.
Spoiler alert if you follow the link.
Link to Blackros Muesem Pictures
Thod
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One of the challenges with running three modules in the same relatively small place, is that your players will get familiar with the layout.
In each of the three, the final battle occurs in the same room. I have seen groups (in meta-gaming mode) skip past all the side chambers and make a 'B' line to the end.
I advise that you have a few elements in place to prepare for and prevent that from happening.
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One of the challenges with running three modules in the same relatively small place, is that your players will get familiar with the layout.
In each of the three, the final battle occurs in the same room. I have seen groups (in meta-gaming mode) skip past all the side chambers and make a 'B' line to the end.
I advise that you have a few elements in place to prepare for and prevent that from happening.
Actually, in Voice in the Void, you have a completely different map. In the other 2, however, you are correct.
And if the players want to skip all their faction missions, that would be fine with me :P
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One of the challenges with running three modules in the same relatively small place, is that your players will get familiar with the layout.
In each of the three, the final battle occurs in the same room. I have seen groups (in meta-gaming mode) skip past all the side chambers and make a 'B' line to the end.
I advise that you have a few elements in place to prepare for and prevent that from happening.
I'd love for a party meta-game to skip all the way to the end in Penumbral Accords. That means they'd only go thru 2 encounters if they beat the BBEG and destroy the connection, meaning no XP and no PA for any of them. I hate it for them, but such are the consequences of meta-gaming.
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I'd love for a party meta-game to skip all the way to the end in Penumbral Accords. That means they'd only go thru 2 encounters if they beat the BBEG and destroy the connection, meaning no XP and no PA for any of them. I hate it for them, but such are the consequences of meta-gaming.One of the challenges with running three modules in the same relatively small place, is that your players will get familiar with the layout.
In each of the three, the final battle occurs in the same room. I have seen groups (in meta-gaming mode) skip past all the side chambers and make a 'B' line to the end.
I advise that you have a few elements in place to prepare for and prevent that from happening.
Actually, if you have played Mists, its not metagaming. Your character knows where the major thing was last time, why wouldnt he search there first this time? Now, if its a different character, heck yeah.
It's more unfortunate than anything.
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Actually, if you have played Mists, its not metagaming. Your character knows where the major thing was last time, why wouldnt he search there first this time? Now, if its a different character, heck yeah.
It's more unfortunate than anything.
If you want to be nice then, just add a mechanic where some guards have a key to open the last door so they at least have to go to one other area beforehand. I don't think I would be so nice though... :)
If it's not said in character, it's meta! (Yay for arguments over semantics, lol!)
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Actually, if you have played Mists, its not metagaming. Your character knows where the major thing was last time, why wouldnt he search there first this time? Now, if its a different character, heck yeah.
It's more unfortunate than anything.
If you want to be nice then, just add a mechanic where some guards have a key to open the last door so they at least have to go to one other area beforehand. I don't think I would be so nice though... :)
If it's not said in character, it's meta! (Yay for arguments over semantics, lol!)
I wouldn't be nice about it either. That's the way the mod is written. If anything, they should have moved the BBEG. (final fight in the bathroom!) *shrug*
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For Penumbral Accords...
{5 ranks + 3(class skill) + 4 (dex) + 3 (skill focus) + 1 (trait) + 2 (MW tools) = +18...take 20 is only 38}
They can find a key either from the fletching guards or the alchemist. Heck put it on a chain around the shadow hound's neck. Would be a good influence for them to fight it. They might even have fun trying to get the key without actually having to fight the beast.
Keep in mind that they are searching for the twins who could be in any one of the rooms. The signage over the doors should influence the players to search them just in case the girls are being tortured.
If, in the end, they still insist on jetting to the final encounter, what is a GM supposed to do? Whatever happens, happens.
I have run it five times, and a few times the "meta-game" discussion occurred about jumping to the final room. However, "meta-gaming" also revealed that they risked missing PA and $$. Caution won out and they waiting on the finale.
Sometimes, player meta-gaming can help the GM.
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Venture-Captain, Missouri—Cape Girardeau
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I'd love for a party meta-game to skip all the way to the end in Penumbral Accords. That means they'd only go thru 2 encounters if they beat the BBEG and destroy the connection, meaning no XP and no PA for any of them. I hate it for them, but such are the consequences of meta-gaming.One of the challenges with running three modules in the same relatively small place, is that your players will get familiar with the layout.
In each of the three, the final battle occurs in the same room. I have seen groups (in meta-gaming mode) skip past all the side chambers and make a 'B' line to the end.
I advise that you have a few elements in place to prepare for and prevent that from happening.
This is what lead to my first TPK... the attempt by the party of 1st levels to back-track for PA.
I assume there will be spoilers for all three mods listed in the title. You have been warned!
We are going to have a local con coming up in a couple weeks and I am running the Blackros Museum trilogy. ive played through Mists of Mwangi, but not the other two, and am wondering if anyone has suggestions for how to make the mods run more smoothly or things to watch out for etc. Ive already read alot of what I could find on here, but just in case I missed something, what do you suggest??
The maps will be done beforehand, thanks to Arnim Thayer
The Chronicles pre-signed
I have the Mist-Tainted template ready to go (again thanks to Arnim)
And obviously I'll have read the mods over several times.What else do you suggest to make it run more smoothly and to help ensure the party has a fun time?
The usual suspects: pre-roll initiative, pre-draw maps, review stats.
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With Mists - it is quite possible and likely that if players fail their save, they could attack other players.
In Voice, if the players are in the lower tiers they have to worry about shattering weapons - even magical. When a player blows their +1 sword, be prepared to hear the complaints. Plus, the same creatures are immune to magic - especially that which would be available to many lower level characters.
They could also accidently set off multiple encounters. However, in this case - it is possible that the creatures could end up attacking each other which might be helpful.
In Accords, the BBEG is lame. The Alchemist is awesome, especially if you follow the tactics listed. Because of the bombs, make sure you have your chart set up for direction - that way its always the same and not arbitrary.
Also, the guards (in the rooms with the slaves) have alter self - so I had them look like slaves which allowed them to get closer to the PC's. In both cases of running this, slaves were killed because 'they could be baddies' until it was shown that it was unlikely. This could really be the case for anybody that believes slaves are chattel.
Also be aware that in the module it's spelled Blackros and on the map in Accords its spelled Blakros. I just had my hand drawn maps laminated - and have spelled it both ways on my maps. So check spelling.
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I am anticipating a bit of backlash about the statue in Voice in the Void with the shatter weapon statue(s), especially since their ability says that ANY amount of damage done beyond the hardness of the weapon gives the weapon the broken condition, opposed to normally it taking half the weapons HP before that happens.
If someone's weapon gains the broken condition but doesnt hit 0hp and become scrap, what can they do to fix the weapon during/after the scenario?