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Since the other thread did not have a spoiler tag, I'll start one that does.
I like the guys from Rite Publising to critique my first actions in the first combat session in the Coliseum. Just curious if this broke any of the rules or was overly cheesy?
- I made a wall of stone and stone shaped it to cover our Basket thereby preventing any apples from being put into it. I did not touch the basket. It seems from the rules point that this was legal.
- Also, one of the other players was curious if the apples were ghost touched as the Dread Wraith opponent was going to attempt to grab an apple. it never happened due to our defense strategy but the question did come up... could the Wraith grab an apple?
The wall of stone sounds like a great plan! It might be cheesy, but it sounds effective and shows you were trying to think strategically, which is good. As far as breaking rules: your GM gets to decide what is allowed or not allowed, but in the spirit of the arena, the event's of the Coliseum should be no-hold's barred, using whatever abilities you have at your disposal. But I would also say, that if the Khan thinks it will make the game more entertaining to change rules midstream, your GM should feel free to have him do so.
Which brings us to the apples. If I had been running it, not only would I have allowed the wraith to pick up the apples, but he could have carried them incorporeal through your wall: the apples are, after all, a figment of dream subject to the whim of the Khan (i.e. GM) and can have whatever attributes he wants when he wants them. Everything in the Coliseum Morpheuon is subject to change. There is nothing that says the Khan has to play either nice or fair.
...we will post after each game session what happened and so forth... I am sure more questions will arise.
Hot diggity. I'm looking forward to this thread. Is there a subscribe button somewhere?
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...we will post after each game session what happened and so forth... I am sure more questions will arise.Hot diggity. I'm looking forward to this thread. Is there a subscribe button somewhere?
Best NPC - Gallows
Undead Treant
Swarm of Stirges (live in his branches) attack
15ft. Reach attack with hangmans noose
We crushed the first team.
Set up...
Coliseum was set up with a team on each side with a tree with a single colored Apple and a basket. A river of lava divided the coliseum with raised platforms that randomly fire balled different areas of the floor every round. We had to get to the opposite sides tree and grab an Apple and put it in the basket. Only one Apple appeared on the tree at a time, it would reform after the current Apple was placed in a basket.
We could not touch or move the baskets.
We could not touch or move our (defending) apples.
Point were given for each Apple put in a basket and for each team member defeated.
We were given time to buff prior to battle and we took the victory in just under 10 rounds. The strategy used by us was simple.
3 defenders
- TWF Fighter
- Sorc
- Monk
1 mid range attacker
- to slow up the advance of the other team, we had him waiting on our side of the lava to assault the first to cross.
2 attackers
- Ranger
- Rogue/Fighter
They used stealth + magical items to capture apples and defeat thier defenders. We scored 2 apples and defeated all thier team members.
Defense
- We used wall of stone and stone shape to cover our basket.
- invisibility purge
- alarm spell on area around our basket
- defensive ward on basket area that set of an acid cone effect (1 time use) anyone entered the area. 12d6 acid / ref 1/2 dmg.
Attack
- major image repeatedly (many illusions running around)
- invisibility
- we played basket ball, got within range of basket ( usually 20 to 50ft. ) but out of range of their defenders and threw our apples into the baskets.
They never had a chance, our fighter and ranger do crushing dmg and the rogue stealth with invisibility making ranged Apple baskets worked like a charm.
...we will post after each game session what happened and so forth... I am sure more questions will arise.Hot diggity. I'm looking forward to this thread. Is there a subscribe button somewhere?
Yea, top of the page, "Recent Posts".
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yep that about sums up how it happened. Hopefully this weekend will be a greater challenge for the group. Working hard on it. We will be sure to post results.
The team will be starting the Damnation Epoch. Should be great fum.
later All Lagdufn
Hey DM... we should probably list all the PC's and class levels. I know you have a master list as I am just kinda guessing at some of the builds. I also put a link on our site for them to come here and add details.
"." for future viewing. I look forward to seeing how things play out.
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The DM seems to be a bit busy so I will list the classes for the players but he will have to update for the 2 days we gamed this weekend as I misses a few hours each night.
We are currently level - 17. Not all the players show up every night so it is a mixed group of the PCs I am listing below.
Group
Macrograte male Dwarf - Fighter (Two-Weapon Warrior) over sized morningstars.
Bonaduce male Human - Sorc / Cleric / Mystic Theurge
Severous the Grey Male Human - Ranger (Urban-Skirmisher) two weapon combat style
Waterfell male Human - Monk (Monk of the Four Winds - Aspect of the Tiger)
Manyfoes male Orc - Fighter (Two-Handed Fighter) vital strike route
Pepper Scotch male Halfling - Monk / Barbarian(Invulnerable) - Beast Totem + AM + Antagonize
Male Human - Wizard / Eldritch Knight - total gish (has not played yet)
Dead Pool
We salute those who have fallen so far.
Solaxle Del'nok male Noble Drow - Rogue(swashbuckler) / Invisible Blade / Master Thrower / Swashbuckler
Solis Lael'quarral male Noble Drow - Sorc (conjurations/summoning) Abyssal Bloodline
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The game started off with the players doing some side quests. They mainly followed the Jig and Lady Puzzledeep.
Then they started the Damnation Epoch:
The Chains of Guilt... Worked out great for the PC's the NPC team kept failing their saves.
Couple questions? Neither Team was able to leave the Mist. But if a person got hit by a spell, could they be knocked out of the mist? And what would happen if they were? I ruled that a person could not leave the Mist.
Capture the Mast...This one kinda went bad for the NPC's due to me. I really screwed up my spell casting, I'm not that great at playing spell casters but I believe I'm getting better.
The PC destroyed the NPC mast...This battle did take quite a lot of time. But in the end the PC's won.
The gaming session ended. But like I said as a GM I really need to work on my spell casters.
PC's:
Human - Soc-4/Oracal-4/Mistic Thurg-9
Human - Monk 17
Elf - Fighter / Soc /Eldrich Knight
Dwarf - Warrior 17
Half-ling - Monk Barbarian
There is one other players will up date later.
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WhipShire has been a great help without me providing any spoilers for him. Thanks Whip...
Ok night two the Players where able to finish 5 or 6 side quests.
Then they once again competed in the Arena.
They did into the Fire - This went a little better. A summoner pretty much dominated this challenge.
The Dragon Rider test was fun. NPC kept missing the disks. Also because most of the PC that had spell casting did not become Dragons. One thing we talked about is that there should be a random roll, to pick the color of the Dragon each person rides.
One thing that happened was the F / Soc / Eldrich Knight kept hitting the NPC's with chain lightning. Then when out of range he teleported to ahead of them did more chain lightning.
The team accomplished more of the side quests.
Will update more later.
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There are 34 side quests in on the Island and I found that getting my players involved in them was very difficult. We have a mixed group, and The one character that was really in to roll playing out the side quests died. Once that happened the other characters, seemed to loose interest in the side quest stuff.
In our last session we completed the following areas:
Test 5 Chaotic Time
We skipped this before as I had not yet printed out the Map. This contested went very well for the PC,s. The Halfling Barbarian named pepper scotch was able to move through the gears the best and pulled three of the four levers. The players seemed to have fun in this area.
Next was Test 7 Rage against the Machine. There was a lot of confusion with this area. 1. Do to there being no map,and the dimensions of the Canyon not given, the players did not know where the alcoves were located.
2. Once they discovered the alcoves a couple of players never left them.
3. We all where wondering which way the walls rushed in. Did the come from the ends of the long canyon or move from side to side?
All in all it was pretty fun to do. Just a little confusing.
The plan is to do:
Test 8 When a Star Falls
Test 9 Race against the Beast
Test 10 The Coming of the Voracious Visitor
Then finish with Down the Rabbit Hole Adventure. My players want to try and defeat the Khan.
This is still a great game and we are having fun me as GM and my players as PC's. Will Post more later.
There are 34 side quests in on the Island and I found that getting my players involved in them was very difficult. We have a mixed group, and The one character that was really in to roll playing out the side quests died. Once that happened the other characters, seemed to loose interest in the side quest stuff.
Then you need to tie benefits to the completion of the side quests. Allow benefactors and patrons to show weaknesses in the opponents with the successful conclusion of the side missions. Give them the means to crush their enemies, such that the side quests can become as much the adventure as the events themselves. Show the first benefit for free, or make the situation apparent that the next step in the adventure *can't* be completed without the side quests. Charging through Coliseum without playing around with the side quests in some way is like running through Disneyland to ride Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, and the Tea Cups and then bolting for the parking lot while you eat an ice cream sandwich. Technically, you've visited the park, but you missed *so much.*
And truthfully, "Down the Rabbit Hole" isn't meant as a capstone adventure, unless you're trying to use the results as a bargaining chip to permanently leave the Coliseum environment. It really fits better as a penultimate adventure, especially given the sequence you're suggesting. I say this as a contributing designer to both products.
Coliseum has the potential to be high-powered subterfuge, intrigue, political maneuvering and backstabbing punctuated with absolutely crazy combats that seem half out of Escher and half out of Dali with a dash of Giger. At the risk of sounding like a deranged GM, your players don't know what they want because they don't know what is out there. Between the book itself, the Faces of the Tarnished Souk, and Down the Rabbit Hole, you should have them coated in a thick, creamy layer of Dream that makes them look like children who were told there were gold coins in a mudpit.
-Ben.
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I agree the side quests need to be tied in more to the game, just going from combat coliseum to combat is kinda boring. Part of the problem is my RP PC died and I am playing a CN Barbarian who is not really plot driven, every time I have a PC die and come back in with a new one half way through an adventure I lose a bit of connection to the game that my original had.
The plot mix at the party with the devil servers (cannot remember whose party it was) really had me confused (as a player)... So much was going on, at least 5 separate plots so I just followed the first one offered.
I am trying to follow up on helping break the slaves free from the Khan, we even traveled to the isle. Upon arriving we were unsure what to do next? We kinda RP'd between each other until a NPC showed up and said staying the night was a bad idea. The rest of the group took that as a DM hint to leave so we did.
I like to follow more plots, I am unsure if the rest of the group does or if they are a bit confused like me. I may just need more obvious DM hints... Lol on what is correct course of actions.