OK, so here's a wacky idea. In playing "Burnt Offerings," the party's paladin promised Gogmurt the goblin druid to kill as few goblins at Thistletop as possible in exchange for information from him. The paladin basically killed everything that moved anyway, and Gogmurt survived. Now I have "We Be Goblins!" in my hands -- which, as you may know, is written for 1st-level goblin characters in the Brinestump Marsh outside Sandpoint.
But WHAT IF Gogmurt has joined up with the Licktoad tribe? What if a goblin sorcerer somehow got access to a Lesser Geas spell? What if Gogmurt arranged to have the spell cast on the paladin so that he could repay his debt to goblinkind by becoming a hero to the Licktoads -- an honorary goblin who carries out the quest for the fireworks as outlined in the adventure?
Imagine a party of humans/elves/gnome having to leave all their fancy equipment behind and being encouraged to act like goblins. The party is currently involved in detective work for the Skinsaw Murders. Obviously the encounters in "Goblins!" will have to be beefed up, but I'm pretty psyched for the idea. Any suggestions/ideas/constructive criticisms of this crazy plan?
And what about the mysterious fan aboard Kaijitsu's Star? I would love to have its secret relate to Rise of the Runelords rather than Jade Regent, but I'm having trouble making a connection. Anyone got an idea?
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Yikes! No advice here, people? Nothin'?
Well, please, let me make a comment or two ...
I'm finding that beefing up "We Be Goblins!" for a group of PC's currently in "Skinsaw Murders" sort of takes the fun out of the whole thing. The original idea was that 1st level goblins would be running around shanking horses and dogs and blowing stuff up. But now I find I'm replacing the horse with a nightmare, and it sort of sucks the flavor out of the original concept. I may still go ahead with it, as I've already invested some time in the retooling.
Now any comments?
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Yikes! No advice here, people? Nothin'?
Well, please, let me make a comment or two ...
I'm finding that beefing up "We Be Goblins!" for a group of PC's currently in "Skinsaw Murders" sort of takes the fun out of the whole thing. The original idea was that 1st level goblins would be running around shanking horses and dogs and blowing stuff up. But now I find I'm replacing the horse with a nightmare, and it sort of sucks the flavor out of the original concept. I may still go ahead with it, as I've already invested some time in the retooling.
Now any comments?
Well, what if one of the horses from the farms got infected with ghoul fever but got away. What if Vorka was looking for a replacement horse at just that moment? So now, instead of a nightmare you've got a ghoul horse. Who infects all the other animals and Vorka, and now you've got another budding ghoul plague the next time the players pass through Sandpoint. You could bump up Vorka's charcter levels and add as many ghoul animals as you want to make the right CR fir you.
Doesn't quite have the same feel as the original adventure, but seems to be the most logical development. Might remind the players that ghouls keep coming back.
Ghoul animals also encourage the party to put an end to the threat before ghoul critters start attacking their camps at night. If the threat of a "pack" of ghouls big enough to use the mass combat rules doesn't motivate them to put down the ghoul infestation on the southern farm and Misgivings, then not a lot else is going to, either.
WHAT IF you ran "We Be Goblins" as intended, as a prelude to RotRL, and just had goblin "heroes" with fireworks as part of the assault on Sandpoint?
As for the fan, I would have it point to the Catacombs of Wrath, or maybe Thistletop. It should be somewhere the PCs need to go.
Thanks for the input, guys. I have gone ahead with my idea as follows: The goddess Iomedae, in response to the paladin's dishonorable handling of his oath to Gogmurt of the Thistletop goblins, has given a Licktoad sorcerer access to a Geas scroll. Gogmurt leads a commando party to the paladin's room at the Rusty Dragon and casts the Geas upon him -- he must become a hero of the Licktoads! The adventure "We Be Goblins!" continues more or less as written, with a few additions and punching-up of levels to make it appropriate for a 4th-level party. The adventurers (humans, elves, a gnome) will be treated as goblins. The paladin (or pala-deen, as the goblins call him) must bring back the fireworks to Chief Gutwad to be released from the spell. I've added challenges for each member of the party, including a "Goblin Song" challenge, where the crew may write their own songs and sing them around the campfire. I have added an encounter in the swamp with a two-headed alligator called Grampa Chompy and juiced up the spider and Vorka considerably. At the end, the fan will contain a message about truth and honor from Iomedae that only the paladin can see. The gist of all this is that the paladin's word IS his honor, even if an oath is made to the lowliest and most wretched of creatures.
The set-up has been really quite spectacular; the party doesn't quite know what to make of the paladin talking about becoming a goblin hero!