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In a little less than a month, I'm going to be running a game at a birthday party for a group of young teens. The birthday boy is turning 16 and requested a game be run at his birthday party. (Cool, right?)
Anyway, I'm trying to decide what I want to run, and I thought I'd turn to the community for a little help.
I've run games for some of this group before, and they want to use the same characters, so here's what I've got so far:
-6th level Evoker (the birthday boy)
-6th level Druid (the birthday boy's sister)
-4th level Psuedodragon Rogue (birthday boy's brother...acting as his familiar: I know it's not totally within the rules, but we don't care.)
-6th level Paladin (birthday boy's father)
There will be two other players, characters to be made later.
So, looks like it will be a party of 6 PCs, all CR 5. I think we'll stick with that.
So, now for the adventure/plot:
I am thinking that it would be fun to have it be the Evoker's 16th birthday within the game, and perhaps he's just received an inheritance that he must claim...and adventure ensues.
Beyond that, I'm not sure.
If you were in my shoes, what might you do? I'm looking to keep this a light-hearted, fun/silly game. Any thoughts/tips?
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Okay so light hearted. Not dark and gloomy and all gothic horror. Got it.
I assume you want this to be a one shot adventure, not a adventure that runs a couple times right?
If it is true that you want a one shot, look into something shorter. Pathfinder Society adventures are meant to be one shots. If you can try and squeeze a 32 page adventure in, go for it. I am not sure which ones would involve a birthday party?
If you are just looking for Zany fun, try to do something where the players encounter creatures that will remind them of pop culture things.
I did find this. I own it, however I never ran it. I liked the adventure and thought it was pretty cool idea.
The Clockwork Wonders of Brandlehill (PFRPG) PDF by Mike Myler
Paizo's Price: $4.00
A Pathfinder Compatible Adventure for 4-5 level 4 PCs.
Mundane contraptions of incredible complexity appear throughout the realm, but shrink back into obscurity just as quickly as they surfaced. Brandlehill, the gnome town responsible for these impossible to replicate creations, has dispatched local bard Terrence Threncewell to seek out adventurers and end whatever mystery plagues the unique settlement. The PCs, privy to watching the minstrel's own mechanical band go haywire, are commissioned to find a solution to the economic woes of the village just as Brandlehill is attacked by a band of enraged grippli! What plagues these industrious engineers and why have the Glachra Tribes from the nearby Zeranoth Swamps begun a war with Brandlehill?
It's up to the PCs to find out in Mike Myler's first self-published product, "The Clockwork Wonders of Brandlehill!" Each of these modules focuses on two specific themes to engage your players with theatrical descriptions and motifs that put them into the worn leather boots of their characters. This low level adventure focuses on the comical and gross elements of fantasy and is sure to illicit as many giggles from your gaming table as groans of bemusement.
What you will find within "The Clockwork Wonders of Brandlehill:"
Bogden's Tripleshot Crossbow, Phonomono and Grapple Launcher - Three mundane devices with unique effects to compliment the arsenal of any adventuring party.
Cyrreksi's Mirrored Spear - A unique magic weapon especially useful for the unlucky combatant.
Troll Wigs - Whether used in a devastating trap or to make sure a trollkin stays down, any hater of the greenskins will love this enchanted item.
Numerous plot hooks to smoothly integrate this adventure within your existing campaign.
Beautiful flowing illustrations by fantasy artist Thom DeLair.
Five obsessively detailed maps by cartographer Neil Myler.
This introductory adventure is the beginning of the Grualroth's Rot campaign series and proceeds from its sale will go to the production of the next installment, "The Mysterious Peaks of Baranthar."
Frogs. So very many frogs.
It is just a thought. I will keep thinking of ideas.
Chris
I am going to guess you want a more combat oriented adventure.
The adventure begins with the PC's coming home after a long and arduous trip. They are welcomed, given food and rest and time to catch up with family and friends. (Socializing and gossip time - Mundane townsfolk gossip about the bakers wife upset about losing her favorite tools and is on the war path, the old mill keeps breaking down, some strange man has been killing chickens and looking through second story windows at night, did you hear about the... oh shouldn't talk about that, and the mayors goat keeps escaping). The PC's should sense motive to realize the townsfolk are keeping a secret.
A few days later the party awakens to a message "Get ready and come to the town hall, quick!", the messenger leaves. The town is empty.
The party enters the town hall (darkness is cast within!) When the party enters the whole town surprises them (fireworks, dispel darkness, light). Drinks are handed out and the Bards start playing. It is a homecoming feystival!
The (Relevant NPC) eventually calms everyone down and the party gathers around a cloth covered object. (Relevant NPC) gives a speech about the object under the cloth "Made by the great metal working Dwarf clan the Fjords, I present a new..." pulls the cloth to reveal... a block of wood with a tiny note attached.
"Ha ha, we took your clockwork horse (mustang type?)/servant (a unique blending of 2 different styles, a Fusion as it were)... but we left you a present".
Boom! Goes the stink bomb, triggered by the note removal. A quick skill check reveals the author to be the local Gremlin tribe (notorious haters of all things mechanical).
The party can then set out into the deep dark (fey) woods tracking the stolen inheritance/thank you for being adventurers/birthday gift.
Have tiny hordes of Gremlins (good AOE bait), charmed fey animals (wolves, wolverines, toads, etc). A friendly Leprechaun can help give them directions as he is annoyed with the evil Gremlins. After they clear the Gremlin camp they find the clockwork present, but the key is missing!
That is when, from the shadows, Spring Heeled Jack (Wand of Darkness 6 charges, throwing daggers, spell resistance cloak) and his Loyal Shadow Hunter Hatchling's. He mockingly waves the key in front of the party as he casts a scroll of mirror image upon himself, he reveals this was a trap so he could kill real heroes (for fun). A fight ensues, Jack keeps his distance and throws daggers or breathes fire, when the fight is almost won Jack flees into the canopy rhyming and taunting as he goes (quick as can be, you can't catch me!) - likely the party chases him, defeats Jack, retrieves the key and now has some loyal clockwork allies (with a nice engraving or a family crest?). If they have trouble catching him... well there is always that friendly leprechaun to trip him once or twice =p
That is what I have off of the top of my head. Maybe someone will have a better idea.
...I present a new..." pulls the cloth to reveal... a block of wood with a tiny note attached.
"Ha ha, we took your clockwork horse (mustang type?)/servant (a unique blending of 2 different styles, a Fusion as it were)... but we left you a present".,
Boom! Goes the stink bomb, triggered by the note removal. A quick skill check reveals the author to be the local Gremlin tribe (notorious haters of all things mechanical)...
I like this idea very much. I will probably work with this idea a bit, combined with some other ideas.
Any other thoughts out there?
So, here’s the short version of what I am thinking of doing.
After a successful night out hunting whatever is currently plaguing the local village, (I haven’t decided on this encounter yet, and it is largely just a “get to know what your character can do” type of encounter), the group returns back to the village to rest/recover from their wounds at the local inn.
In the morning, most of the group (everyone except for the birthday boy), will head down into the inn’s common area ahead of time to get ready for the “surprise party.” The group will have commissioned a clockwork servant as a gift for the birthday boy, and it will be in the middle of the room under a sheet. When the birthday boy comes down the stairs, all will be dark (darkness spell) and they’ll burst out with a “SURPRISE!” (We’ll see how well this goes…)
When the birthday boy pulls the sheet off of his gift, he will discover that the clockwork servant has been stolen and replaced with a goblin sculpture thumbing its nose at him. There will be a note on the statue. When removed, it will set off a Summon Monster spell that will summon Dire Bats.
After dispatching the dire bats, they will (presumably) investigate to retrieve the clockwork servant. This will lead to a combat with LOTS of goblins in the swamps. I have chosen to go with goblins because searching google images for goblins turns up LOTS of great pictures. (I am going to be running this on a virtual tabletop, so google images is my friend. )
The goblins will be working on behalf of a nasty little tinker gnome, who is gathering up a clockwork army to do…whatever he wants. (Doesn’t really matter) After defeating the goblins, they will find his lair/laboratory where they will fight the gnome and a bunch of his machinations. (Including the re-programmed servant)
Dispatch the gnome, stop the machines…have some cake.
So…that’s kind of the short version. I’m imagining it will take somewhere between 4-5 hours, and that’s the goal.
Now, oh great Paizo community…how do I make this cooler?
You could first make the Goblins themselves unique and memorable. Swamp based weapons and armor, let them throw stink mud, and get angry (and rush out from ambushes) when the party smashes their swamp treasure (idols made of rusty metal scraps).
Maybe make the surprise party more elaborate? Drinks, music, fireworks (so the dire bats will be flying among explosives and the party will be hampered).
I would suggest making the Gnome truly madd. Have his lair filled with "Traps" that don't seem to do anything at all (Tripwire triggers a piston... 10ft from the wire) (Pressure plate starts a complex and visually interesting 1d4 round machine that... resets the pressure plate) (A 10x10x10 pit trap, with stairs at the one end) (A trap that casts light on a target, while one on the opposite side casts darkness at the same level) (Poison darts 1dmg filled with beer).
Have his army building a cake (so everyone eats too much and cannot escape his control Mwa ha ha!)
Goblins can also come with Goblin dogs, Hobgoblins, mites, and other filthy creatures. Could be fun to mix up the encounters and keep the party guessing on what tactics to use. Goblins also LOVE fire and explosions, often to their own detriment. (I once had a large party of Goblin get the jump on the PC's, only to have them blow themselves up by lighting 2 grenades when they were still 60ft away).
Maybe play up that the swamp gasses can affect peoples minds (DC 5 fort/will vs confusion 1d4 rounds). Also bugs, swamp bugs can be annoying but harmless.
Just some thoughts, I am sure the community has better ones.
Dispatch the gnome, stop the machines…have some cake.
This sounds like a perfect game day to me!
My default answer to "how do I make this cooler?" - add alcohol - is probably not a good one for a 16 year old's birthday party.
Random amusement aside, I would make a point of considering how to keep the pseudo-dragon familiar PC from overshadowing things. With flight, blindsense, an insanely high stealth, sleep poison, and telepathy it's pretty darn cool even before you give it sneak attacks, evasion and trap sense. Most of the things you might use to counter those are probably a bit over scale for a lower-level group. (Not saying don't allow it, just keep it in mind when figuring out your encounter.)
-TimD
Just keep in mind that 4-5 hours is not going to be lot of encounters at 6th level, unless most things are fairly well below the party's level and there are always obvious choices for "what to do next".
A random thought:
Take "We Be Goblins" and modify along the lines of:
- Investigation will reveal that the Licktoads are the closest goblin tribe, though they generally try to avoid the ire of the town.
- Goblin patrol encounter in swamp.
- Upon reaching Licktoads, PCs find the camp in merriment as the goblins are having fun trying to figure out their own new-found clockwork devices. After a few moments, the clockwork devices go haywire and the camp is thrown into chaos.
- PCs can help the goblins, just take everything out, or sit back and watch.
- If the PCs help the goblins, Chief Gutwad invites them to a meeting and you can basically substitute the "search for more fireworks" with the "search for Tick Tock, the goblin who sold them bad machines". You can then proceed with the bonfire and the Dares challenges scaled to their levels.
- If the PCs battle both goblin and clockwork alike, once the tribe is decimated, surviving goblins flee into the swamp. The PCs can speak with dead, save and interrogate a goblin, or simply find a map leading to a shipwreck "Automaton's Bounty".
- If the PCs simply let the battle play out, the goblins eventually win, but with heavy losses. They can then either engage the goblins with diplomacy or force as above.
- Skip the spider encounter and go straight to the shipwreck.
- Retool the wasp trap & replace dogs with clockwork pets. The ship is true to its namesake and was carrying a large cache of clockwork creations when it wrecked. Many things are beyond repair, but obviously Vorka has restored and activated some things.
- Rebuild Vorka to be a suitable challenge for a 6th level party. Since the ship is now the source of clockwork servants, you don't need the antagonist to be a smart goblin engineer, but just a goblin exploiting a cache of loot. However, you can also build Vorka to have been inspired by the ship's cache and obvious learning how to create things herself. This choice will decide on a good class and such for Vorka.
Good luck!
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Something you might consider doing...
Make the kid's birthday presents the scenario's treasure.
I move around the U.S. a lot and, whenever I'm about to move away from a place, I put together a last game with whatever group of players I've met. Everyone who shows up gets real treasure in the form of whatever crap I don't feel like taking with me to my new home.
You can dole the gifts out as the adventure progresses or save it up as part of a huge hoard the PCs find at the end. Hell, if you know what the gifts are going to be, you can even work them into the game by saying they grant special abilities based on wondrous items from the book (i.e. Congratulations, you've discovered Tube Socks of Spider Climbing!)
Thanks for all the great ideas! I still have a lot of work to do (including pretty much the entire first encounter). I thought I'd share a link to my dropbox folder where I'm putting a lot of the information. I think you'll have an idea of where I'm going with this if you look at the pictures. I'll be adding to this over the next few weeks, but if you want to take a look, feel free.
(I think you'll see why I went with goblins when you see all of the great pictures!)