So if it wasn't obvious, there will be spoilers for this module contained within. You have been warned!
The idea of the thread is to get feedback and ideas from others that worked on it or have run it. I have an...interesting group so especially as we have been getting further in there have been points where I've thought, "uh oh".
NG Summoner -> Winged Horse Eidolon, good with supporting spells and the eidolon is pretty nasty in combat
LN Monk -> Fights mostly with his fists, decent party tank with high saves and AC
LN Alchemist -> Mutagen User with a greatsword and the occasional bomb, if you think of Geralt in the Witcher he is pretty close to that
LG Cleric -> Healing/Charm domains, his amount of healing can be pretty obscene even with Kaidan's reduced healing abilities
(Another character will be joining them shortly, we just recruited someone new...likely a mage of sorts)
Overall they are pretty heroic and good aligned, just with some quirks. The cleric is especially good at following through with hints I drop and has managed to put to rest both the Ryokan and the children at the well so far.
Additionally, they have "recruited" some others. Namely Migita (the first bandit leader), who instead of killing or handing over for the bounty, one character took him on as a sort of retainer and servant(either join us or get killed...easy choice for him). They also have two other bandits they have captured and will be turning over to the authorities. Additionally, two bear cubs the summoner is attempting to use Handle Animal to raise (a randomly rolled encounter I tossed in for fun) that the Cleric has named 'Lickey' and 'Bitey' as one has taken to it far better than the other.
They are currently on the road to Tsue-jo and about to encounter Jadoko. They have been looking forward to this for a long time now as I've been dropping hints about her involvement all along and I'm hoping it will be a good fight.
The first is regarding the first fight with Jadoko. If anyone has run this, how tough is the fight? I'm considering adding a second of "Jirok" the oni to help her out. Would this be overkill? The party does have slightly above average for loot and they handle most fights they are ready for without too many issues. I do want it to be challenging and satisfying though since they've been ticked at her since the Kika incident and it's only got worse since they found out she is attacking them with bandits and the incident at the bridge.
The second part is regarding when they present the spearhead in the second module. The monk has already mentioned to me and the rest of the party that he thinks they should not give the spear to Lord Hachiwara. I suspect he may try something during that scene, like picking a fight or trying to run with the spearhead. If something like this occurs, anyone have tips or ideas how it would be handled? I will have Marl trying to dissuade him from this considering it is his daughter on the line, of course, but more ideas would be welcome.
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In playtesting, the party barely survived the last fight using the pregens. The constant sneak attack in particular dealt out a lot of damage. The oni brute went down pretty fast though. If you throw in a second oni, and the party gets overwhelmed, you can always throw in some NPC samurai who are passing through as cannonfodder to give the PCs a respite in the middle of the fight.
As for the second, I would suggest that you have Marl talk to the monk and plead with him not to endanger his daughter's life. If necessary, let Marl drop hints that he has a way to even the score with the daimyo. Secondly, as the party enters the castle, emphasize the many soldiers, samurai, and retainers. Have a sizable contigent escort the party through the complex to make it clear that escape is unlikely.
Remember, the party gets their weapons held from them as they enter the Daimyo's castle. So even if the monk is 'armed' being unarmed - everyone else will be truly unarmed. So just that might make it too dangerous for an escape attempt with the spear...
Thanks! I hadn't even considered using the dungeon from part 3 like that. That could be just the thing I need to keep it rolling even if everything does go horribly.
We'll find out this Sunday. Suspect this thread will get more use as we go.
Just noticed this as I was doing my weekly prep work. It says under Akihiko's stat block in the 2nd book:
"SQ add all special qualities here, listed alphabetically"
I presume that was a bit of an oversight and he should actually have all the ghost SQs? ;)
There's a few copy/paste errors in some of the books - where titles should have been changed, but were not. Any page layout errors are my mistakes, however, most of the cut/paste and editing issues is Jonathan or Dave's. You might notice Yakuza Gang listed in the first table in Way of the Samurai, that should have said Samurai House.
When we get to the guide books, all these should be corrected by then.
Something I just noticed and wanted to check on (hopefully in time for the campaign I run tomorrow). In my copy of the pdf Dim Spirit, the page numbers go from 17 to 19. Am I missing a page or is this just a formatting error?
The reason I ask is when I went to look for Minako's stats I couldn't find them. Is he a regular ghoul or does he have his own set of stats (the DC of his hide check would suggest he might)?
Thanks for any help or answers you might have.
I checked my Dim Spirit PDF and on mine the page numbers are 15-17-19 (missing 16 and 18). Minako's stats seem to be the ones on page numbered "19". Somebody doesnt like even numbers...
Hm. Looking at those stats I thought they made more sense for Katsumi, especially since it makes note about the rejuvenation ability. It also doesn't mention any attack forms (which would make sense for her) or the paralysis ability ghouls have.
*edit* On second glance you're right though, there is no 16 or 18 it would appear.
No excuses, but I was rushed doing layout for Dim Spirit and Dark Path to meet a printers very tight deadline, those errors are mine - what normally takes me a week was forced into a couple days.
I'll check the original document and see if there's anything missing.
Thanks very much! I appreciate the help.
Any update on the above inquiry?
As for me, the group met on Sunday afternoon. The new player created a fighter with the weapon master archetype who was in the area when the party encountered Jadoko and her two goons. He arrived on the second round of combat and I can say confidently Jadoko herself probably could have wiped out two PCs on her own if he hadn't.
The two Oni Brutes were only really successful at tying up the Alchemist and the npc guards (I had the soldiers hired by Marl on the caravan help them out). Anyway, when combat started Jadoko had positioned herself right beside the summoner and cleric, putting her in the perfect position to poison them both. Summoner nearly died if not for using his ability to port his Eidolon right beside him. Jadoko spent most of the battle losing one of her attacks to keep it hypnotized.
The monk also had to wisely ignore the one Oni and eat about two attacks of opportunity to get over to Jadoko to help out. At the end of the fight he literally had 1 hp left after Jadoko ripped into him. The new weapon master actually got the crit that killed her the round before she would have ended the monk.
Amusingly, they almost missed the fact she was regenerating and had to fight her again except for a good perception check by the new guy. It did end up being a hell of a fight and they were almost dancing with joy the round she finally dropped.
The party leveled off the battle and will be entering Tsue-jo on the next meeting. It's already shaping up to be great fun and I'm looking forward to how they make out on book 2. Wanted to give a thank you for all the help everyone has provided so far!
PS: Yes, I saw shortly after I made this thread that I had completely spelled trilogy incorrectly and felt like a moron. I really wish they didn't lock your posts at times like that.
OK, I found the missing text (at least a page), but it's not 'prettied up', just a DOC file of text converted to PDF format. I will need to update the PDF to accomodate this missing page.
Good catch - it was a layout mistake and my fault.
And good adaption having that passing weapon master come along with the new player. It was designed to be a tough end of module combat encounter.
Exactly what I needed, thanks so much! Let me know once it is updated and I'll re-download as well.
Well, the group was on a hiatus for almost a month due to conflicting schedules and we finally got back together last week.
Regardless, the other party members did their tasks. They knocked down some of the horse cost easily through the handle animal check but didn't want to risk any of their gold gambling. They ended up paying the extra themselves.
The red handkerchiefs were handed out as well without incident. I didn't go into as much detail here as I wanted to (some of the book examples were quite fun!) but we had already lost a lot of time to the two of them bickering.
Meeting the Daimyo went alright, though a couple of the players were definitely a bit bored. Likely my fault, but that is a tough scene to run and get the players interacting with it. I had them introduce themselves but it was mostly the Daimyo ranting. I strongly suspect they will take a shot at his life later, especially due to their reactions after Marl explained things.
It really got fun as they were leaving the city. When I called for their will saves after he spoke into his handkerchief the party went nuts. They were sure they had just caused some massive genocide. I was killing myself trying not to laugh. That said, only two failed their saves at this time (a third had actually broke into the chest earlier on and failed at that time too).
So they escaped to the Garden Shrine. Marl, Honya, and one PC are barricaded in the room while the others went to investigate the light. Minako had tried to get one to come out alone but they were too paranoid for that (they had used mending and some craft checks to shore up the mill's defenses). Unfortunately for our sneaky monk he separated from the group on the walk to the shrine (he was scouting) and Minako pounced him. He took 45 damage in total on the surprise round and one more attack on the following, leaving him with a single hit point.
He managed to withdraw to the rest of the party and when they went to confront Minako he had used his invisibility to hide and is waiting for another attempt. They have just met the ghost and figured out their goals here (if they choose to deal with it).
Summary done, so the questions for this week:
1) I'd really like to have Mind Fever brought up again so they can see what happens when it fully runs it course. Suggestions? I'm thinking Kaneshi or one of the other npcs that was with them (possibly run into him when they head back to the Daimyo's palace perhaps). I also considered the party themselves but they already have an idea how to protect against it and their fort/will saves are generally quite high.
2) The party already suspects it could be the spear afflicting them with its curse a bit. There isn't much stopping them from charging back to the city to try recover it. Suggestions here? Should I let them try or encourage them to go to village what with the army on their backs?
3) The Daimyo, Lord Hachiwara. He isn't statted out for the adventure, but I'd like some ideas or suggestions on how he would be (mostly to be ready just in case). Which templates? I know he is an 8th level wizard so which kind of spells would he have memorized? If the party finds out he is alive after everything they will be going back...maybe not in the course of this adventure but eventually for sure.
Also, any luck in updating the pdf? Understand if not since you are busy with the Kickstarter but figured it was worth asking.
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Sounds like, player issues aside, it went pretty well.
Updating the PDF is entirely Michael and Steve's to-do, so I can't help you there. As for your other questions, I'll give them some thought. Right off the top of my head, though, if they are really wanting to go back, throw a couple of increasingly hard samurai encounters at them to make them realize there are a couple hundred more waiting to get them when they show their faces. You might also pull in a couple of the necrotic warriors from the third book to steer them in the right direction.
Personally, unless they tried really, really hard, I would never allow them to get close to the daimyo but would put some tough undead encounters in the palace as guards and might even give the undead lord something like a cape of the mountebanke so that he can easily get away, leaving minions in his place. Sullying his own hands with combat should be a very last resort for him.
Haven't updated this in awhile as things have overall been going well (outside of having a horrible time getting players to show up due to scheduling issues). They are at the beginning of book 3 now and planning to go raid the treasurey. Should be a blast suffice to say. I'll try get a total update done sometime later when I have more time but things have been going very well. Book 2 has been a blast and very much looking forward to the conclusion!
Finally, I did want to point out there appears to be some mistakes in book three. I don't have it in front of me, but the floor of the treasurey itself seems wrong. The various numbers do not seem to match up to the picture for the floor. I basically redid it myself, but from what I could tell the hallways with the indentations should be the one with the corpses that scream (and treasurey itself at the end). Suggest rechecking that, it might need some fixing.
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Thanks for the head's up: if Michael doesn't post, I'll bring it to his attention as he did cartography. When testing it, I used my own homedrawn maps and not Michael's, so any mislabeling escaped my attention.
Thanks also for letting us know how its going and keeping us in the loop. I am very glad to hear that it has been a blast.