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Game Night's Back, Diseases Rock, and a Skill Challenge
Posted 9th July 2008 at 06:01 AM by Wik
So, we had a game today. We started off the campaign, with three rather interesting characters:
Thordar, a Dragonborn Paladin that belongs to the order of the Flaming Tree, where he has achieved the rank of "First Lance" (a Sergeant). The order is dedicated to the protection of the innocent, and in it's current incarnation is involved in the raising of funds. The goal is to use this money as a gift to the local king, Derek of Ravenglass (yeah, I stole the name) so he can use the funds as an alternate to the levy he must pay to a nearby Tiefling Kingdom. If Derek cannot pay money, he must pay in slaves - which he has done all too willingly. Thordar has a distrust of autocratic rulers (partially due to his natural hatred for Tieflings, who exemplify Autocratic behaviour), and seeks to turn the kingdom of Ravenglass into a democracy of sorts - with the church at the core.
Vanessa a Doppleganger Rogue. Dopplegangers used to be highly magical beings, which proved to be their downfall. With bodies charged with magical energy, they were highly prized as spell components. As such, they cast a powerful ritual that gave them the ability to change shapes, though this stripped them of much of that latent energy. Vanessa is lonely, searching for others of her kind. She grew up in a halfling circus, travelling the Shattered Isles as a gypsy and knife-thrower.
Skizz, a kobold fighter. The lookout for a kobold racial gang in the slums of Ravenglass, Skizz found he enjoyed the scraps he eventually found himself in. Enjoying combat in all forms, the spear fighter is highly mobile on the battlefield, and throws himself in the thick of any fight. He has served with Vanessa for awhile, the two pickign through ancient Eladrin ruins for whatever they may sell. Skizz is fascinated by Thordar's draconic nature.
***
The PCs are sent by Kezin, the paunchy elder commander of the local chapter of the Flaming Tree, to the island of Rouk Thazon. Their goal - to find the ruins of the Eladrin city of Theresial, in the hopes of capturing the mystical Horn of the Five Winds. Not knowing much about this horn, they still hope to make their way to the ruins - the horn will be sold to the king, who will promise the safety of over thirty slaves in the upcoming levy payments, six months hence.
Finding a ship that will take the PCs into the middle of "Orc Country" will be tough, as the Orcs are perhaps the best sailors in the world, barring the possible exemption of the Halfling Catamariners - and even the halflings cannot outrun the Orcs over short distances.
The PCs first seek to bribe Gor, a dwarven captain in the military, in the hopes of commissioning a ship. They fail this skill challenge dramatically, when Thordar fails a diplomacy check, and Skizz insists on Intimidating the dwarf with the eloquent "Give us a ship and I'll let you live" approach. The PCs are chased out of the barracks with many oaths, and threatened with making up a part of the upcoming levy payments.
The second chance involves visiting the nearby halfling gypsies in a coastal camp. When the PCs fail to give a little girl 1 silver for acting as a guide, they are pickpocketed mercilessly as they travel throughout the village, getting hopelessly lost in their search for a working ship. After many encounters with pickpockets, the PCs give up in disgust, and make their way to the docks.
Here, they encounter an orcish Drakkar crewed by a mixed orc, half-orc, and human crew, led by an Orc hero named Kachar. The first mate is a miserable dwarf named Drelb, who is determined to fleece the PCs for all they are worth. But, an agreement is made to penetrate the orc islands under the cover of night, and to pick the PCs up 48 hours later - provided they bring 10 light stones as part of their payment for passage. And if they're not there at the pickup time, the PCs will be left behind on a hostile orc island.
12 days of travel pass en route to the island, and the PCs fight a horde of giant rats while resting on an island stop. This encounter is begun by a search of a dead elk, pierced with poisoned orc arrows. When they are surrounded by numerous feral rats, they put up a masterful fight, though all but Vanessa are eventually bitten by the bites of two dire rats.
After making their way back to the Drakkar, Thordar is able to use his natural healing skills to purge the poison from a sick Skizz; the paladin was able to fight off the effects of the disease easily, without healing.
Helping row the ship the next night, the PCs nearly exhaust themselves (losing several healing surges in hard rowing) moving the drakkar quickly towards the shore, and then a few surges more as they pull their shore boat the rest of the way - moving fast to avoid being spotted by orc sentries.
Hiding their vessel in some bushes, they hide in some rocks, and rest - they have 48 hours on the island.
they start moving towards the central hills, having no idea which hill the fabled city of Theresial lay - they'll have to guess. However, knowing nothing of Nature and lacking Endurance, the trek through the forest is draining for them.
(at this point, we run a modified "Getting lost" skill challenge, with only one PC having to make an endurance check a round - with failure only draining a healing surge from the whole group, and a failed nature check not draining healing surges)
Thordar tries to lead the group through the brush, assisted by Vanessa - and they perform admirably. A task that could take many, many hours is completed in only eight, with Thorday getting lost only near the end when he decides to take a "shortcut" to the spotted hill. However, Skizz fails to act well as the guide, leading the PCs through every thorn bush, rocky enclave, and poor trail possible. By the end of the travel, all PCs are exhausted, having drained many of their healing surges.
On the hill, they fan out and search, and find something curious - a smooth outcropping of rock (in a place where all rocky terrain is rugged and torn), covered in light moss. In the centre of this bowl-shaped rock is the torso, arms, and head of what seems to be an orc. Gold coins are scattered about - sixty of them, in total. It almost seems as if the orc were buried in the rock, but that can't be possible...
***
Today's session was fun. While we didn't really accomplish much, we did become very comfortbale with the system. The player of Thordar feels much more confident with his PC now, and the whole group is working better together. the fight with the Rats was an easier one, though they didn't like the disease aspect - I personally love how diseases work, as they can be an ongoing threat in the game. Especially in this case, where there is a time limit on how long the PCs have.
I don't see where the complaints about skill challenges come from. By applying some basic modifiers that make sense, the Pcs were able to complete the "getting lost" challenge, almost as written, with little trouble - though it did cost them a lot of healing surges to do so. they seem fun to play, except for social skill challenges. Not a fan of those, so far.
Thordar, a Dragonborn Paladin that belongs to the order of the Flaming Tree, where he has achieved the rank of "First Lance" (a Sergeant). The order is dedicated to the protection of the innocent, and in it's current incarnation is involved in the raising of funds. The goal is to use this money as a gift to the local king, Derek of Ravenglass (yeah, I stole the name) so he can use the funds as an alternate to the levy he must pay to a nearby Tiefling Kingdom. If Derek cannot pay money, he must pay in slaves - which he has done all too willingly. Thordar has a distrust of autocratic rulers (partially due to his natural hatred for Tieflings, who exemplify Autocratic behaviour), and seeks to turn the kingdom of Ravenglass into a democracy of sorts - with the church at the core.
Vanessa a Doppleganger Rogue. Dopplegangers used to be highly magical beings, which proved to be their downfall. With bodies charged with magical energy, they were highly prized as spell components. As such, they cast a powerful ritual that gave them the ability to change shapes, though this stripped them of much of that latent energy. Vanessa is lonely, searching for others of her kind. She grew up in a halfling circus, travelling the Shattered Isles as a gypsy and knife-thrower.
Skizz, a kobold fighter. The lookout for a kobold racial gang in the slums of Ravenglass, Skizz found he enjoyed the scraps he eventually found himself in. Enjoying combat in all forms, the spear fighter is highly mobile on the battlefield, and throws himself in the thick of any fight. He has served with Vanessa for awhile, the two pickign through ancient Eladrin ruins for whatever they may sell. Skizz is fascinated by Thordar's draconic nature.
***
The PCs are sent by Kezin, the paunchy elder commander of the local chapter of the Flaming Tree, to the island of Rouk Thazon. Their goal - to find the ruins of the Eladrin city of Theresial, in the hopes of capturing the mystical Horn of the Five Winds. Not knowing much about this horn, they still hope to make their way to the ruins - the horn will be sold to the king, who will promise the safety of over thirty slaves in the upcoming levy payments, six months hence.
Finding a ship that will take the PCs into the middle of "Orc Country" will be tough, as the Orcs are perhaps the best sailors in the world, barring the possible exemption of the Halfling Catamariners - and even the halflings cannot outrun the Orcs over short distances.
The PCs first seek to bribe Gor, a dwarven captain in the military, in the hopes of commissioning a ship. They fail this skill challenge dramatically, when Thordar fails a diplomacy check, and Skizz insists on Intimidating the dwarf with the eloquent "Give us a ship and I'll let you live" approach. The PCs are chased out of the barracks with many oaths, and threatened with making up a part of the upcoming levy payments.
The second chance involves visiting the nearby halfling gypsies in a coastal camp. When the PCs fail to give a little girl 1 silver for acting as a guide, they are pickpocketed mercilessly as they travel throughout the village, getting hopelessly lost in their search for a working ship. After many encounters with pickpockets, the PCs give up in disgust, and make their way to the docks.
Here, they encounter an orcish Drakkar crewed by a mixed orc, half-orc, and human crew, led by an Orc hero named Kachar. The first mate is a miserable dwarf named Drelb, who is determined to fleece the PCs for all they are worth. But, an agreement is made to penetrate the orc islands under the cover of night, and to pick the PCs up 48 hours later - provided they bring 10 light stones as part of their payment for passage. And if they're not there at the pickup time, the PCs will be left behind on a hostile orc island.
12 days of travel pass en route to the island, and the PCs fight a horde of giant rats while resting on an island stop. This encounter is begun by a search of a dead elk, pierced with poisoned orc arrows. When they are surrounded by numerous feral rats, they put up a masterful fight, though all but Vanessa are eventually bitten by the bites of two dire rats.
After making their way back to the Drakkar, Thordar is able to use his natural healing skills to purge the poison from a sick Skizz; the paladin was able to fight off the effects of the disease easily, without healing.
Helping row the ship the next night, the PCs nearly exhaust themselves (losing several healing surges in hard rowing) moving the drakkar quickly towards the shore, and then a few surges more as they pull their shore boat the rest of the way - moving fast to avoid being spotted by orc sentries.
Hiding their vessel in some bushes, they hide in some rocks, and rest - they have 48 hours on the island.
they start moving towards the central hills, having no idea which hill the fabled city of Theresial lay - they'll have to guess. However, knowing nothing of Nature and lacking Endurance, the trek through the forest is draining for them.
(at this point, we run a modified "Getting lost" skill challenge, with only one PC having to make an endurance check a round - with failure only draining a healing surge from the whole group, and a failed nature check not draining healing surges)
Thordar tries to lead the group through the brush, assisted by Vanessa - and they perform admirably. A task that could take many, many hours is completed in only eight, with Thorday getting lost only near the end when he decides to take a "shortcut" to the spotted hill. However, Skizz fails to act well as the guide, leading the PCs through every thorn bush, rocky enclave, and poor trail possible. By the end of the travel, all PCs are exhausted, having drained many of their healing surges.
On the hill, they fan out and search, and find something curious - a smooth outcropping of rock (in a place where all rocky terrain is rugged and torn), covered in light moss. In the centre of this bowl-shaped rock is the torso, arms, and head of what seems to be an orc. Gold coins are scattered about - sixty of them, in total. It almost seems as if the orc were buried in the rock, but that can't be possible...
***
Today's session was fun. While we didn't really accomplish much, we did become very comfortbale with the system. The player of Thordar feels much more confident with his PC now, and the whole group is working better together. the fight with the Rats was an easier one, though they didn't like the disease aspect - I personally love how diseases work, as they can be an ongoing threat in the game. Especially in this case, where there is a time limit on how long the PCs have.
I don't see where the complaints about skill challenges come from. By applying some basic modifiers that make sense, the Pcs were able to complete the "getting lost" challenge, almost as written, with little trouble - though it did cost them a lot of healing surges to do so. they seem fun to play, except for social skill challenges. Not a fan of those, so far.
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