In my head while writing the pronunciation rhymed with 'Boy In Bulk', (well, 'Stuin' kind of slurred between 'BoyIn' and 'Mine'), with a hard V (not silent or sounding like a W.) But your players don't know what was in the writer's head, so let your inner crappy German flow!
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Just ran this one yesterday on low tier, after a bit of a hurried prep. I will give kudos to the author for simplicity of the opponents; while effective, they didn't have a lot of weirdness going on.
Stuinvolk's stalker though is a bit rough for a solidly low tier party of 5. Stuinvolk himself cannot hurt the damn thing with its DR if he rolls poorly. That has the potential to wipe the party.
Also, to really allow the intended depiction of Stuinvolk to come through, you need close to two hours, not including the fight with the natives or the fight with the creature. To fully run the entire scenario as intended, this clocks in at least at 6 hours. It makes for a great PbP scenario, but in a F2F context it is less than practical.
The obstacles can be difficult, and each time one is failed, you add another encounter; the exoskeletons aren't the deadliest opponents in the world, but each fight takes time this scenario desperately needs elsewhere. It works in a more casual setting, but with our 4 hour timeframes... I'm skeptical, but eager to hear if the scenario can be fully run inside the intended time frame.
It is otherwise a very enjoyable scenario that I would not mind running again, but definitely in a context where time is not a limiting factor. Otherwise a guide to Stuinvolks' other passed companions might have been a better use of the pages taken up by the summary of the influence subsystem, but I'm certain that is a more personal preference.
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The first check the PCs must attempt is to adjust Nkechi’s starting attitude of hostile (DC 28 to make her unfriendly, DC 33 to make her indifferent). If she becomes indifferent, she is willing to forgo hostilities at this time.
Should there be a DC for each tier here? This is the only check in the encounter that seems to have no tier-based adjustment.
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I ran this tonight and I had to push REALLY hard to get this finished in just over 4 hours. I dropped some of the roleplaying, pushed character decisions at the end, etc. 4 hours really is NOT long enough to do this one justice.
The fights with the stalker are absolutely brutal. The PCs are, presumably, caught sleeping with only a couple characters on watch.
With his stats, the stalker getting a surprise round is all but inevitable.
If the GM is being the least bit nasty (read, playing the stalker to its full potential) that is one dead character on the surprise round and one on the next round if it wins initiative (which is fairly likely).
Or the monster just goes in and destroys the sleeping Stuinvolk. On the bright side, this ends the scenario so the problem of time just got solved :-(.
I love this scenario in some ways. Interesting story, interesting NPCs. But that fight is PC death waiting to happen.
Also fairly expensive on consumables. When the trip takes some unknown number of days even wands of endure elements rapidly run out. Exact time taken is unclear in quite a few spots just to make things worse.
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I thought the mngwa howled every night, toying with the PCs. Why would they be asleep? Each time it howls twice before charging, alerting the PCs and making Stuin cower. It’s not the best tactics but I figured it wants to torment Stuin rather than simply kill him in his sleep.
That’s how I ran it, but maybe that was going too easy.
Organized Play Developer
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I thought the mngwa howled every night, toying with the PCs. Why would they be asleep? Each time it howls twice before charging, alerting the PCs and making Stuin cower. It’s not the best tactics but I figured it wants to torment Stuin rather than simply kill him in his sleep.
That’s how I ran it, but maybe that was going too easy.
As the scenario calls out, prior to the first combat encounter the mngwa stalks around the perimeter of the camp and screams at least twice before attacking, intentionally trying to instill as much dread as possible. After this encounter the PCs are given a chance at a fairly easy Knowledge check to attempt to identify the creature and its connection to Stuinvolk, which should give them a fair opportunity to anticipate its reappearance and prepare accordingly.
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As the scenario calls out, prior to the first combat encounter the mngwa stalks around the perimeter of the camp and screams at least twice before attacking, intentionally trying to instill as much dread as possible. After this encounter the PCs are given a chance at a fairly easy Knowledge check to attempt to identify the creature and its connection to Stuinvolk, which should give them a fair opportunity to anticipate its reappearance and prepare accordingly.
That's exactly how I ran it — thanks! PCs were on high alert and prepared for it on the second night it attacked.
As I wrote above, I am not sure I understand how or why it would be attacking anyone in their sleep.
Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver
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I'm looking into running this and giving it a skim, and one question comes to mind: how should one pronounce Stuinvolk?
shtoo-in-folk would be the correct germanic pronounciation. If you wanted to have the first syllable rhyme with 'boy', then it would have to be spelled Steuinvolk. 'Eu' in German is pronounced 'oy'.
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Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver
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One of the magic items retrievable in the queen's mound is an Aspect Mask (ant). I cannot find any entry for "ant" in the hunter's list of animal aspects in any of my books. Anyone know which book it's from? It sould probably be noted next to the Aspect Mask in high tier treasure. I will have to write "(ant)" after the item listing before i make copies. Otherwise players may just choose an aspect for their mask.
Thanks.
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Organized Play Developer
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The aspect mask available from the high tier treasure on the Chronicle sheet is intentionally left "unassigned"; you can use it to obtain an aspect mask for any animal normally available under the hunter's animal focus class feature. We did this both because the mask in the scenario is not a standard version of the mask, drawing on an amended list, and so that the treasure on the Chronicle sheet would be useful and appealing to the largest number of players possible (a process we're constantly working on refining.)
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Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver
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The aspect mask available from the high tier treasure on the Chronicle sheet is intentionally left "unassigned"; you can use it to obtain an aspect mask for any animal normally available under the hunter's animal focus class feature. We did this both because the mask in the scenario is not a standard version of the mask, drawing on an amended list, and so that the treasure on the Chronicle sheet would be useful and appealing to the largest number of players possible (a process we're constantly working on refining.)
That is awesome! My players will be very pleased to know this (If they play high tier). I'm happy to hear you all are making items useful to more PCs.
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I'm running this within the next week, and had a quick question about the social encounter/empathy tracking, especially as it relates to the secondary success condition. If I am reading it correctly, it seems that the PCs have only 5 attempts to influence Stuinvolk, and require success on 4 of them in order to get their second prestige point. While I understand that enabling everyone to Aid Another probably makes the checks much easier (and the ability to blow the check out of the water for 2 empathy points), it still seems very easy for 2 crappy rolls to prevent PCs from getting their 2nd prestige. Am I interpreting that all correctly?
It may be a bit late, but I'm just now prepping this myself and took a look after reading your question.
By my read, the PCs can get as many as 2 points at area A1, 1 each at A2 and A4, and 2 more at A6. In addition, they can gain 1 more at A7. So that's 7 possible Empathy points with a requirement of 4 for their second prestige point.
Hope that helps!
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Ok, I ran this at high tier ... and it really bothers me.
I can see this easily (in fact more than likely) ending in the first round of actual combat.
How does this not happen? It seems to me it will play out something like my game ran last night...
Mngwa cries from the night - North of the Camp (just as it has done for the past 5 nights). Those PCs on watch try to make Perception checks (DC30), and those not on watch either get "up to take a whiz" or "clutch my sword tighter" or "put a pillow over my head".
Mngwa cries from the West of the Camp (just as it has done for the past 5 nights). Someone comments that they need to set some traps... "and how do we do that in this rules set?"
Mngwa attacks from the South - but with it's +30 Stealth it just walks up to charge reach and pounces Stuinvolk (who was actually standing up and in armor). 3 attacks at +17, +17, +18 against Stuinvolks AC of 18 (not even counting him as Flat-Footed) means rolling for "Not ones", gives us 3 hits. Damage on 3 regular hits is 2d6+9, 1d8+9 and 1d8+9 all with grab and the bite does an extra 1d4 bleed. Average on this is 16+13.5+13.5 or 43 HP to Stuinvolks 46. Now we have the rake (which I "forgot" to include when I ran this), which is +18 ("not a one" again) for 1d8+9 or 13.5 average. So at the end of the first monsters attack we have Stuinvolk down with 46 minus 56.5 or ON AVERAGE 10.5 HP below zero. And on his turn (if he's still alive) he'll take 1d4+1 bleed damage (average 3.5). So at the end of Stuinvolks turn he has taken 60 HP damage - which is enough to kill him. Not from a crit, not from rolling really great, or even above average, just from not rolling a "1" on an attack and rolling average damage. And we haven't even finished the first round of combat. Was this a Surprise Round?
Let's say I "forgot" to do the rake attack (which I did), and the players actually get a second turn. Everyone unloads on the Mngwa and discovers the DR 10/magic... and they do 50 HP even thru that. The Mngwa starts it's second round with Stuinvolks body grabbed, and ... what?
a) drops the body to attack PCs? (so that - even it he is still alive - he can bleed out on his turn at 1d4+1 per round?)
b) finish Stu off?
And what happens of the Mngwa actually rolls just a bit above average on damage and kills Stu? Or heck, just average and kills him? Where do we go from here? End the scenario? Sign chronicles, hand them out and say "thanks for coming! see you next week!"?
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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We played this yesterday and it went better for us.
We managed to talk down the Mzali warriors. Not easy but we managed to scrape together enough Aid Anothers.
The first time the Mngwa screamed we were quite freaked. Second night we tried to find it in vain. Third night concealed PCs managed to spot it circling the camp and we got some idea of what were dealing with. We realized it wasn't particularly immune to any of our attacks so we bided our time.
I think the GM missed the idea that it was supposed to roar before the final assault, so only two PCs were awake when it did. The first one went down to -4 in the pounce but he got a hard hit in, the second one (me) woke everyone up with a big fireball to the monster's face. Hilarity ensued with the psychic pregen preferring to step close enough to the critter that it wouldn't be able to pounce her (3 full attacks is better than 5 pouncerakes). And swashbucklers using kip up to get out of bed and into the fray soooo fast. Our very-fast-mobilizing party managed to down it in one round, and a 40-something on the knowledge check had informed us that Stuinvolk should make the killing blow. (The psychic pregen is seriously good at knowledges!)
We were a pretty skilled party with a wizard, druid and psychic, and doing well at talking to Stuinvolk. By the time we got to Bujune he was in good shape psychologically. Talking to Bujune was a lot of fun, paging through chronicle sheets for amazing things we know. ("Liberating a demigod is a lot like boiling an egg; cook in superhot flame, scare with cold water, hack open with adamantine pick")
The ant queen scared our frontliners with the "not quite a swarm" aura that got past their swarmbane clasps and nauseated three of them at the same time, but she died in a fireball along with all her drones.
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On the whole, I'm impressed at how well the scenario managed to tell its story in the face of a very powerful party.
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Lau, how did the PCs get it to switch from attacking Stuinvolk to attacking someone else? on it's opening attack I mean. Did they disguise someone else as Stuinvolk? or conceal his location in some way (magically I mean)?
A good knowledge check about the monster should turn up that "...normally these magical beasts are a manifestation of the hatred from spirits offended by trespassers desecrating sacred sites..." and that it might be targeting one person...
but even if they know it's target (Stuinvolk), it has a really good stealth (30+ in high tier) and with chameleon stride it has concealment from creatures more than 5 feet away - so as long as it doesn't step next to someone it can just sneak into camp. At least close enough to get a charge/pounce on Stuinvolk.
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How does this not happen? It seems to me it will play out something like my game ran last night...
Does that sound like 'testing the party' or 'murderous rush'?
I understand most people think you should play completely optimally, but there is something to be said for not using all abilities that are available. A move action in and single attack to grab and shake Stuinvolk like a ragdoll prevents the outright murder you describe.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Lau, how did the PCs get it to switch from attacking Stuinvolk to attacking someone else? on it's opening attack I mean. Did they disguise someone else as Stuinvolk? or conceal his location in some way (magically I mean)?
We didn't do anything particularly planned. I mean, we knew that it was probably dangerous; but we didn't know it's CR or anything. We knew it was a creature that would just keep haunting us for a long time until it picked its time to attack. So we just put out guards every night and hoped for the best.
So there were two PCs up on their feet when it attacked, and Stuinvolk was on his bed. The critter picked one of the on-his-feet people to attack.
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Lau, how did the PCs get it to switch from attacking Stuinvolk to attacking someone else? on it's opening attack I mean. Did they disguise someone else as Stuinvolk? or conceal his location in some way (magically I mean)?We didn't do anything particularly planned. I mean, we knew that it was probably dangerous; but we didn't know it's CR or anything. We knew it was a creature that would just keep haunting us for a long time until it picked its time to attack. So we just put out guards every night and hoped for the best.
So there were two PCs up on their feet when it attacked, and Stuinvolk was on his bed. The critter picked one of the on-his-feet people to attack.
At the higher tier the tactics are: "(Before Combat) The mngwa uses all its spell-like abilities before entering the camp, giving it chameleon stride, feather step, and pass without trace. This raises its Stealth bonus by 5. (During Combat) The mngwa charges Stuinvolk. If the PCs have used some means to protect Stuinvolk (for instance, disguising one of themselves as him), the mngwa doesn't have an opportunity to discover this until after combat has begun."
So... if we "Run As Written", the Mngwa knows exactly where Stu is (direction and distance, only blocked by something that blocks scrying), wants to attack him in favor of anyone else, and is very difficult to detect at more than 5 foot. And how do the players even know Stu is a Target?
But never mind.
I really like this scenario - but I really worry that the PCs are going to be stuck after the first encounter with a dead guide, and no way to finish the mission...
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I just played this yesterday, then read the scenario. I’m with Steve: why are more tables not failing completely (like ours), especially at the high tier?
The mngwa’s tactics are “charge Stuinvolk if possible.” Since it is a pounce kitty (that can ignore difficult terrain), that equates to bite, claw, claw, rake, rake. Average damage if everything hits at high tier is 70 points (Steve only calculated with one rake) and it doesn’t even need the +2 bonus from the charge to hit on “not a 1.” Compared to Stuinvolk’s 46 HP and 14 Con.
Even if the PCs happen to position themselves so Stuinvolk can’t initially be charged, all it takes is the charge lane opening up for him to die.
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Organized Play Developer
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During development we felt that the mngwa's long lead time and the multiple opportunities to deduce that it may have a connection to Stuinvolk (or at least that it was triggering traumatic memories in Stuinvolk) should serve as ample opportunity for the party to take appropriate precautions at the camp each night. The first encounter map also provides the mngwa with relatively few lanes to Stuinvolk and gives the PCs some natural cover and existing architecture to work with as they position themselves for the evening.
Ultimately you should follow your best instincts as a GM, but the initial encounter is not intended to be excessively lethal for Stuinvolk, and all the mngwa encounter maps are set-up by default so that the PCs should be able to divert the mngwa away from Stuinvolk without needing particularly complex tactics or precautions.
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In response to Mike, there’s three factors contributing to the very high chance of failure.
1. Unless the GM does the math ahead of time, he won’t realize that if he gets a chance to simply do what the tactics call for in the second encounter (charging Stuinvolk), it will result in the adventure ending.
2. The PCs are unlikely to realize exactly what the Mngwa is capable of. Even if they have discovered it has the attacks of a big cat, there’s no reason to think the major NPC will be utterly dead after one round.
3. If they have determined the connections to Stuinvolk, they know that he needs to be the one to take out the mngwa. Which may lead to leaving more opportunities for them to fight each other. Deliberately. I know if I run this I will definitely have Stu tell the PCs something like “you MUST keep it from getting close to me while I slay it.” Or “I doubt I could stand up to even a single one of its deadly charges.”
There’s a lot more problems for PCs that are unoptimized or playing up (the high damage potential means that PCs drop pretty easy as well, then the bleed means others have to scramble to keep them from dying) but the main issue is that the players probably won’t know that charge lane from mngwa to Stuinvolk = scenario failure. (Unless the GM ignores the written tactics.)
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Ran this a couple nights ago. Low tier, 4 player adjustment.
From the way I saw it, the Mngwa encounter should take place with the PCs awake and ready, since each night of 'torment' up to and including the combat encounters involve it making sounds to startle the party. I interpret this as giving them time to wake up, especially since its original intent is just to test them. The only issue is characters who don't want to sleep in their armor, but luckily that was only for our pregen Seelah, who (thanks to the d4) happened to be on watch and fully equipped when it struck.
One important note in the first fight is that there is a small amount of difficult terrain between it and the party, preventing a first round pounce. It won initiative, but I had it go into delay, hoping to see who the boldest/most foolish members were, and to punish them with a full attack. As no one approached it, the creature simply came out of delay and went after an isolated target (an animal companion, since I don't want to be too cruel)
The party succeeded at so many Empathy chest on the way that the true fight was less of a battle and more of a moment of triumph for the VIP. Aside from one round of pouncing the investigator while our man of the hour got his head in the game, things went off without a hitch.
Also, I would like to point out that our group realized that the Gremlin NPC is a Tiny Medium at Large tending Small hills with a Huge problem and that totally should have been a tagline somewhere.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Finland—Turku
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It's also worth noting that the starting position for the Mwgwa is set, as is Stuinvolk's position. It shouldn't have a straight chargeline to Stuinvolk, unless somehow all the PC's are out of the way, which is unlikely considering that the beast starts from one side, and the Stuinvolk is on the other side, of the map.
I've ran this twice, and on both times, I asked players to set themselves up on the campsite (I used campsite maps on every night, even on those the beast does not attack in, to keep the players on their toes and guessing about on which night something happens). There was always someone between the beast and stuinvolk.
I do admit that the other run ended in TPK, but that was mainly because it was a 3 man party + a pregen Warpriest, and the Warpriest died on the first encounter with the Mwngwa to an unlucky crit + bleeding out before anyone could save him, so the party was 3 PC's + stuinvolk, on high tier. The 4 player adjustment is nonsense, and doesn't actually change the difficulty of the encounter. Still, players (a rogue, a hunter with a large dinosaur companion, and a paladin) managed to get the beast to down to 2 hp before missing it a couple crucial times before it wiped them out. Unlucky rolls and the party was less-than optimal.
.... Aaand I even forgot to give it it's rake attacks, still was a TPK.
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I don't believe there are any rules for opposed wild empathy. I don't think it will really come in to play in that encounter. Wild empathy acts like diplomacy checks to improve the attitude, but it takes time just like Diplomacy (usually 1 minute). I doubt the character will have the time necessary to improve the attitude.
The swarm(s) has been trained by the nuno, so if the character can make Handle Animal checks with vermin, that might be an issue. I'd probably let the PC handle them as well. Bearing in mind that ants never attack nunos, it would be a clever way of deflecting the swarm.
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That is indeed a feat that I forgot existed.
So it's going to come down to how you interpret Wild Empathy in general. The ant swarm isn't really an animal companion, but Bujune has trained them somewhat. I'd go to the same endpoint I was before: if the PC successfully influences the swarm I'd make it irrelevant. Good use of a rarely useful ability.
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On 'The Moods of Stuinvolk': does his attitude reset to unfriendly each day, before they make the daily diplomacy check? That seems to be the implication.
Also, the scenario seems to suggest that each phase permits one influence check (with Aid Another allowed), and that a successful influence check simply earns 1 Empathy Point. However, the appendix says:
Each PC who successfully succeeds at a check to influence Stuinvolk Hundrakson during a social encounter improves his mood by one step (hostile to unfriendly, unfriendly to indifferent, indifferent to friendly, and friendly to helpful) while each failed attempt worsens his mood by one step. At the end of any social encounter during which Stuinvolk’s attitude is at least friendly, the party gains 1 Empathy Point
This seems odd, as if the diplomacy check at the start of the day is particularly successful/unsuccessful, the single permitted influence check would almost certainly be pointless. Am I misunderstanding something here?