[Wulf's BARAKUS FOLLIES] LOST CITY OF BARAKUS TPK...?

[DM HELP] Lost City of Barakus

I'm gearing up to run this adventure in just a couple of days, and looking for input from DMs (and players) who have been through it before.

First, I am an experienced DM, but I will be running this for newbie players.

Anything in particular I need to watch out for?

What hooks have proved the most effective? Where do players seem to go first?

Any of the sub-adventures just plain suck?

Anything you recommend really changing around?

Are the puzzles/riddles necessary to defeat the BBEG too difficult?

Any comments at all?


Wulf

Hey Wulf,

1st download the errata at Necromancer games. There are a lot of mistakes, perhaps most importantly, significant errors in the maps that can cause confusion.

Download their web bonus of a map booklet. At least you can make corrections right on those maps.

Check out pogre.com for a pdf of Micon's Hideout. An adventure I ran in my version of Endhome.

I threw tons of hooks at my players and let them go to Barakas when they wanted. Having said that they must not hit the sea cliff side adventure too fast. None of the side adventures sucked, but I did not use them all - I resolved to let my players wander wherever they chose. I tried providing each person with a separate hook and let the party decide where they were going - they really enjoyed this approach.

Some of the puzzles in the module appeared really convoluted to me, but my players got through them without much prompting.

I ignored the half experience advice, but I run an average of 6 players at my table.

pogre said:

Hey Wulf,

1st download the errata at Necromancer games. There are a lot of mistakes, perhaps most importantly, significant errors in the maps that can cause confusion.

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I've never found the errata on their site. Time to look again, I guess.

I do have the map booklets, already printed them all out. I am now weighing the foolishness of printing them out at battlemat scale on the plotters at work. (Answer: very foolish!)

So I knew pogre would answer... Is there no one else?

IS THERE NO ONE ELSE!?


Wulf

Hey! Its only been less than 12 hours since your initial post! Plus, not a whole lot of people buy/use modules on these boards, let alone have actually run them!

I have only started to use LCoB, but other than what pogre said there really isn't much to add. I have had to pay close attention to adjusting the encounters to account for level gain, but other than that the module has worked extremely well and has been a lot of fun. You should spend a lot of time "in" this module/setting. I have been using as many of the "adventures" as possible, it has been easy fitting it all together, and it has really made the setting come to life for my group. They haven't even made it to Barakus itself, yet.

No glaring problems as of yet, or anything that took more than a few seconds to decide on.

Wulf Ratbane said:

I've never found the errata on their site. Time to look again, I guess.
Wulf

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The errata is in their LCOB forum.

Wulf Ratbane said:

IS THERE NO ONE ELSE!?

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No, I am IT!

Scorch from WizardDru's group is running it right now also.

Well, because I am running mostly for newbies (one WHFB player, one ex-military co-worker, and one girlfriend dragged kicking and screaming into the game) I am worried about very quickly getting them into a dungeon proper (as opposed to leaving them to flounder aimlessly in a city for awhile, unsure of "how to play.")

Nothing forges future gamers like the fire of combat.

But, as this first session is also character creation, I don't think we have a whole lot of time to actually play.

So I am thinking about taking them past the gates to Barakus, and if I don't just bushwhack them there, then either down the river past the bandits, or the mysterious crypt (E), or down the road past the vegepygmies/hidden vault (only it will be a lot less hidden so as to hook them).

I think giving them access to the crypt early will give them a much-needed place to recover.

I am extremely underwhelmed by the wererat "warrens." The book seems to oversell this "adventure" by a long shot, as it seems like nothing more than a three-room, one-exit bolt-hole for the ratmen and a slaughter in the making.


Wulf

Wulf Ratbane said:

I am extremely underwhelmed by the wererat "warrens." The book seems to oversell this "adventure" by a long shot, as it seems like nothing more than a three-room, one-exit bolt-hole for the ratmen and a slaughter in the making.
Wulf

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I did not run the wererat thing.

Wulf Ratbane said:

I am extremely underwhelmed by the wererat "warrens." The book seems to oversell this "adventure" by a long shot, as it seems like nothing more than a three-room, one-exit bolt-hole for the ratmen and a slaughter in the making.
Wulf

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As Pogre noted earlier: I am currently running Barakus for the Meepites. So with that here are my two cents:

My hook was that the party were guards for a trading caravan coming down the Fool's Pass. It allowed me to throw some random encounters at them and get my feet wet since it has been years since I ran anything. My favorite encounter was the red dragon which I used as your typical scare the heck out of the players encounter.

This was to get them to Endhome. From there I had an idea of the first three adventures I wanted to run them through (Pogre's adventure, the wererats, and the Fell Tree Bandits). I wanted to get them up to 2nd level before allowing them to even consider find Barakus. During the Fell Tree Bandits they took a course through the forest which led them through the Gribbons, the Hidden Crypt and a few others. I took the book's advice and halved their XP so they would not rocket right up the levels and only now, after five adventures have they hit second and they are eager to get into the dungeon crawl.

That being said I was a little wary that I would have TPKs on my hand. The wererats were close but I gave them a patron in the form of Father Beamus who happened to have some silver weapons they can borrow if they agreed to rescue someone who had been kidnapped by them. It got pretty close but after the second wererat fell the tides turned and I started rolling garbage on the D20 and everyone else started rolling well.

I was also concerned about the bandits but at that point they were second level. Fortunately the fighter rolled a crit and dropped the leader in one hit but then she and the rogue got knocked down to zero when the bandits, under the command of the dwarf fighter started beating on them. Eventually the party pulled through and with their leaders down the rest of the three surviving bandits either ran or surrendered. A fun battle.

Scorch

I have altered the wererat encounter utilizing one of the maps from map folio one and adjusting it for 6th level, which is when they should run into them and the Pulanti's.

Treebore said:

I have altered the wererat encounter utilizing one of the maps from map folio one and adjusting it for 6th level, which is when they should run into them and the Pulanti's.

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Great idea, and one I might steal as my players never went through either of these.