Fellow gamers,
I'm looking to start the adventure Coliseum Morpheuon as the finale of a long-running Pathfinder campaign in the session after the next one, and I'm looking for advice. Has anyone else run it? If so, what tips do you have for running it well?
Thanks in advance for your input.
-Nate
I have it, but haven't read enough to give specific advice...OTOH...read The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath. Re-read it if you've already read it, unless it was recent.
That's the basis for it's existence...
If you have time, begin to lay the groundwork for the Coliseum by placing the agents of the different patrons in the characters' circles. Give them reasons to create competing relationships. Maybe they owe Ghostdance something, but they're working for the Pasha as ringers on a third patron's team.
Ask the players to define aspects of the characters hopes, aspirations, goals, and maybe show NPCs who know how to manage Dreamburning-- perhaps even presenting them with a couple embodied dreams as treasure, letting them get a taste of what they can do with Dreamburning.
You could build up a potential situation where they will need victory in Coliseum to overcome whatever threat you've posed to their homes/world/legacy/loved ones. This gives them a solid investment in successfully participating within the Coliseum environment. Laying a few hooks to pull them into the town of the Coliseum is a good plan, too.
Pick up a few of the the Faces of the Tarnished Souk (or the pregenerated patron teams) to build some rivalries against creatures with the CR to stand up to a couple of the party. Lay the groundwork for their competing interests and establish their relationships with favors, stolen moments, and unrequested assistance.
If you're looking at the metaplot, consider the possibility of running Down the Rabbit Hole to give the characters an edge against the Khan. But that's going to open them up to some serious (potential) opposition from the Khan.
That's what I can think of off the top of my head. Hopefully, Matt Banach, Justin Sluder, Jonathan McAnulty, and Clinton Boomer will weigh in here, too.
-Ben.
“Dream Harvest” from Adventure Quarterly #3 could probably be used for this somehow...
What is your campaign like at the moment and what are the PCs like? What motivates your players?
edit: Also, very glad to hear that you are planning on running it. The second best thing about writing material is hearing that people want to use it. The best thing is hearing the after-action reports. :)
Wicht wrote: What is your campaign like at the moment and what are the PCs like? What motivates your players?
edit: Also, very glad to hear that you are planning on running it. The second best thing about writing material is hearing that people want to use it. The best thing is hearing the after-action reports. :)
For what it's worth, I love the concept...I'm a Lovecraft nut...ran CoC for ages...Dreamlands is my favorite supplement. That said, it takes a group that has to have the right mindset. I was never able to fully utilize the Dreamlands, because I've only had one CoC game that lasted long enough...and that was before I had it.
I had the same problem with Stormbringer.
That's two of my favorite games of all time...and these days, it's harder than ever to find a good group of gamers.
Determine Player-motivations. Introduce the SETTING as a sandbox, gradually introducing patrons. Supplement with the FoTS-series if you need more high-level adversaries/allies.
That's the basics. Then make them join the gladitorial battles/trials, interjecting patron quests/social interactions etc. in-between - and go all out! The Coliseum is the one place where sky's the limit! Oh, and if you want more high-level support, also get the supplemental "Rabbit's Hole"-module for CoC meets Alice and even more potential for adventure.
Oh yeah, most importantly: Don't make any character obvious - the setting's strength is among others the weirdness that makes determining who the evil guys are rather difficult and even if you do - they may actually share your goals!
Hope that helps! If you want more detailed advice, just ask!
Wicht wrote: edit: Also, very glad to hear that you are planning on running it. The second best thing about writing material is hearing that people want to use it. The best thing is hearing the after-action reports. :) Thanks for the advice, everybody. We played the first session last weekend, and it went well. I think I'll need to beef up the enemies a little bit, or at least better plan my strategies for them, since it's a party of five characters with rather a lot of magic items. Even so, the ambush by Gallows and its associates became pretty tense. The riddles were fun, and I think some of the nature of the setting has come through. (I had the players list their characters' goals at the previous month's session, and they were pleasantly surprised to see images of these things floating around the PC's.
I'm going with the Salvation Epoch storyline, since that provides a more solid hook and the party's paladin latched on to the idea of redeeming a fallen being. For next month's session, we'll start with some shopping in the Tarnished Souk, and then I'm looking to run "The Rabbit Hole."
-Nate
Sounds excellent. Thanks for the update!
Definitely, I second Wicht!
I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes.
-Ben.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR COLISEUM MORPHEUON AND THE RABBIT HOLE FOLLOW.
Last night we played through the scenario "The Rabbit Hole;" it went well. The PC's were shopping in the Tarnished Souk when Tarrec approached them with his offer, and they accepted. Figuring out how to open the portal proved a little difficult for the, but not to bad. The encounter with the chaos beastling swarm made for a good fight.
Perhaps the high point was the riddling and joking with Hatta, which provided plenty of laughs,although I won't repeat the jokes here. This also gave me a chance to introduce a party of characters from a Grimm campaign--kinds then, but young adults now--stranded at the tea party. One of them had a copy of Lovecraft in his pocket, and all were much relieved when the PC's helped them go back home.
The fight with the Hounds of Ill Omen wasn't too bad, but the shoggoth was really tough. The party's fighter was killed, and things could have ended really badly if not for a combination of force cage and blade barrier from the wizard and cleric. In the end the PC's decided to destroy the Khan's lost dream, and so next month we'll see the repercussions of that while they continue participating in the Damnation Epoch.
-Nate
This sounds awesome thanks so much for posting this.
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WARNING: SPOILERS FOR COLISEUM MORPHEUON AND THE RABBIT HOLE FOLLOW.
Last night we had our third session. This time, since the PC's have been pretty well established in the area, we started with another round of the competition--"Capture the Mast." I mixed it up a little bit and used the Gray Feathers as the opponents. The PC's defeated them, in part by destroying their mast, and through an epic battle of strength between the minotaur and my party's fighter. When they learned that the Feathers were not evil, however, the PC's helped restore their mast so that they scored as many points as they could.
After this came an aside inspired by the "Setting the Captives Free" storyline and material from my d20-pirates-themed blog. The PC's had been given an oneirobound slave, whom they freed; she asked them to help her find a slaver castle from which the slavers, denizens of Leng, were based. This entailed a voyage by sea, on the party's gnome-crewed cog The Traveling Dream, and a battle with a kraken. During that fight the slavers' ship came about and tried to board the dream, but the PC's counter-boarded it and took control. They left the cog to patrol in search of the island where the slavers' castle can be found, not realizing that the captive denizens can plane shift away to warn their friends. Their intent was to use word of recall to return to the ship and then attack the slavers' castle between their next arena battles, so they're in for a surprise when they return.
Back in the arena, the PC's faced the "Into the Fire" test. They handled the less powerful minions, but grew suspicious through their interactions with the fake dragon. I played up the fact that the Khan seemed to delight in their confusion, and the paladin is already suggesting that the PC's should try to challenge him directly. They defeated the dragon, even though they were shocked to see that it was a gold one. At this point the players are bumping the characters up to 17th level, with the intention of returning to the Traveling Dream to start our next session.
One question: Does anybody know where I can find information about pit-fiend-bound creatures? The PC's are talking about trying to free/redeem the gold dragon if it's possible to do so.
-Nate
Nate Christen wrote: One question: Does anybody know where I can find information about pit-fiend-bound creatures? The PC's are talking about trying to free/redeem the gold dragon if it's possible to do so. I believe that's from Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary. Drop me a private message if you need more on it.
I am absolutely thrilled to hear the Rabbit Hole was enjoyable, and that shoggoth is no joke. I'm glad to hear the descent into the adventure was fun-- did the players utilize the Dream-plane mechanics much? How did they play for you (if they did)?
-Ben.
Yes, devil bound creatures are a template from the Advanced Bestiary.
Also, thanks for the update on the progress. Sounds like your players are interacting with the setting well.
After missing a session in August, we played again yesterday. The PC's prepared themselves for an assault on the slaver castle. When they teleported back to their ship, they found that the captive denizens of Leng had escaped (via quick healing and plane shifting). Even so, the PC's steered the capture slave ship toward the castle, fought off a red dragon, and then ran the ship aground to start their assault. They battle some cannon golems and then Leng spiders. In the underground level of the castle they found that the denizens of Leng had trapped a number of oneirobound in a giant web and poisoned them with spider venom, forcing them to use their ability to shape reality to create living creatures. (I know this contradicts the notion that oneirobound don't do so, but it seemed cool.) The resulting effect was similar to a mirror of opposition, forcing the PC's to fight versions of themselves. They succeeded in defeating these evil clones, although the wizard was killed by the evil clone cleric's implosion spell.
-Nate
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