Running a "Pitch Black" esque scenario-- ideas needed.

I'm going to be running a Pitch Black like scenario as the title implies and I need some help creating the feel. But first, I'll give some background into what is happening and my ideas so far (sorry if it's a long read ):

The PCs are currently in the Astral doing some scouting work on a dead god for their employer. In order to leave, they need to find a portal to Faerun as they're not high enough level to plane shift yet. The portal's vague location was given to them by their employer-- it's hidden somewhere on the body of Bhaal. Given my players have all been through Baldur's Gate II, they should easily recognize the name.

The godisle of Bhaal will take a similar form to the Slayer, an imposing and treacherous landscape, and filled with caves that lead into the bowls of the god's body. The only noticable feature will be a ruined Githyanki outpost on the ground.

The Gith outpost will run somewhat like Aliens I, signs of a previous struggle complete with an eerie atmosphere and no sign of the Gith's killers. Unknown to the PCs (at first of course), the killer still lurks within, and hunts them from the moment they step into the building. The idea is to find the map/ directions to the location of the portal prior to encountering the killer-- a Slaymaster Kython from the BoVD. After defeating the creature, Bhaal will become aware of the PCs presence. Seeing as they have both a paladin of Torm and a cleric of Helm, he will quickly become aggravated, and at that point the fun starts . The godisle will be shaken by tremors, and come alive as a telepathic moan emits from the rock. Hordes of Kython's begin pouring out from the aforementioned caves, coming between the PCs and their only way home.

Ideas I've had thus far:
A.) The PCs have a scroll of Magic Circle Against Evil- I'm going to rule that the Kython's are summoned creatures and cannot approach within the area of the spell, at least not the lower CR ones, higher CR Kythons will not be summoned and will be a more rare encounter. This gives the PCs a 10' safe zone, and a 90 minute time limit to cross the god. The higher CR caveat allows me to stop them from feeling too safe.
B.) The PCs have access to fly spells, but they need to navigate a course through chasms and underground tunnels to reach their destination. It will be near impossible to follow the map or locate areas from the air.
C.) It's going to be treacherous terrain, balance, climb, and jump will all be necessary. If a PC fails a check they can easily fall out of range of the magic circle against evil. Then it will become a mad scramble to recover the PC before he becomes Kython fodder.
D.) Seeing as it's quite dark, the PCs will need a light source to see- the Kython's will also likely stay outside the radius of due to their hunter's instinct to hunt from out of sight.

Problems I'm having:
A.) Creating a chase scene across this type of terrain without it dissolving into a series of Skill checks.
B.) Creating the feeling of urgency, or racing against the clock.
C.) Ideas for encounters across the chase scenes, or unique terrian encounters/ features.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Bryan898 said:

The godisle of Bhaal will take a similar form to the Slayer, an imposing and treacherous landscape, and filled with caves that lead into the bowels of the god's body.

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Ew.

Problems I'm having:
A.) Creating a chase scene across this type of terrain without it dissolving into a series of Skill checks.
B.) Creating the feeling of urgency, or racing against the clock.
C.) Ideas for encounters across the chase scenes, or unique terrian encounters/ features.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

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OK, well. I think the scroll's time limit will prolly be the best for the sense of urgency thing ... I'm guessing that none in the party have that spell available otherwise. To instill the 'better rush to get there in time' idea, maybe let them see their goal in the very far distance as a pillar of light or glowing doorway or whatever standing on the god's forehead(or toes) as they stand on the mountain that is a mole on the god's belly amongst trees which are hairs on it.

as for terrain; depending on how the god died, there may be large wounds over which the PCs must travel, possibly wounds infected with weaker monster which are NOT summoned(I'm thinking of goblins from the pits of Io-Rach, but if you don't have Savage species, reject my reality and insert your own here).

Here's a terrain idea: at one point the body is nearly cloven in two. The only thing keeping it together is the intact spine. Unfortunately, from the surface of the skin, there is no easily-traversible path to the spine to cross it. There are, however, severed blood vessels which open up near the spine and can be reached through a nearby deep wound which is itself more cavernous(I'm thinking a big puncture wound) and possibly has more infectious monsters in it(Xorn may be another idea, or minor demons? I imagine your party is around 7th level?) So the PCs have a choice: attempt to get to the exposed spine from the surface(difficult climb checks or something similar) or see if they can get to it through a cavern and face whatever baddies may be down there?

In any case, I believe your best bet may be to present such choices to the PCs. A bunch o' skill checks vs hack our way through vs possibly something else.

Anyway; good luck.

Bryan898 said:

Problems I'm having:
A.) Creating a chase scene across this type of terrain without it dissolving into a series of Skill checks.
B.) Creating the feeling of urgency, or racing against the clock.
C.) Ideas for encounters across the chase scenes, or unique terrian encounters/ features.

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I think that's a cool idea, full of meaty flavour.

I think that you could also have the Magic Circle emit a glowing light, and as its energy wanes the light begins to diminish. So a bright 30' radius (shadowy out to 60'), which lessens by 5' every 15 minutes.

A.) Not sure about this. Simple skill checks are usually quite boring.

How about a place where the PCs have to climb something - but the demons are up above, out of range of the Magic Circle, dropping rocks on them?

Or let's say that the PCs see a "slide" above, where whoever goes first will be cut off from the rest of the group (out of the Magic Circle). You'll have to put a little thought into this to make sure it seems real. The PCs see this point and realize what it means, and the demons see this at the same time. Then you can have a race - Jump, Balance, Climb checks, and have the demons make the same - and if the PCs get there too late then at least one of them is in for a world of hurt.

B.) I think you'll have the feeling of urgency just by the fact that the PCs can't rest.

I'd create a map that winds through various obstacles, and include dead ends and the like. Have the PCs try and find the best path through. The dead ends that they run down every now and then will make them realize that they need to pick the right path or get swarmed by demons.

C.) How about an encounter with a dead Githyanki, who was crushed by a rock the demons dropped on him. He's got a wand of Protection From Evil, and it's nearly out of charges. It's only got a few left (less than the total number of party members). If and when their Magic Circle drops, they will have to decide who gets the Protection, and who doesn't.

How about an encounter where the PCs hear someone calling for help, but it's off their path. This is a real person who is going to be swarmed and eaten. If the PCs go to aid this person, it will take up some valuable time. If they don't, that person is killed and the PCs watch.

Then later on you can replay it, only this time it's an illusion.

How about one of the PCs (the one with the highest spot check) sees something glittering in the distance? It's some kind of magical treasure/gold/gems. Will they take time out to get it?


Whenever you make an encounter, try to make sure that it emphasises the fact that the PCs don't have much time. Their choices should be between one thing and making it to the portal with some time to spare. I think that you should always give them that choice.

One way to make the skill checks less dominating during play is to have your players each do five climb, jump, and balance checks at the beginning of the game and then you check them off as they perform those actions.

Except, don't tell them what they're rolling for. If you have their character sheets, just collect d20 rolls at the start and modify them yourself.

Jubilee said:

One way to make the skill checks less dominating during play is to have your players each do five climb, jump, and balance checks at the beginning of the game and then you check them off as they perform those actions.

Except, don't tell them what they're rolling for. If you have their character sheets, just collect d20 rolls at the start and modify them yourself.

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That's a brilliant idea! I'd also allow the players to decide what roll they apply to what check. It introduces another layer of strategy and it allows players to decide what is important to them.

Why do you think they shouldn't know what the rolls are for?

Well, if you tell them in advance what they're rolling for, they may be canny enough to remember the order of their rolls. This will tell them before they even attempt an action how likely it is for them to succeed or fail - and if anyone rolled a one, they'll know exactly when they'll fail before they do - and what's the fun in that?

If you tell them what the rolls are in advance, I would put them in some order other than how they rolled on a sheet of paper and go down the list. Also, having them roll in advance but decide which rolls to apply to which check still has them applying a bunch of skill checks, which slows down play - the idea is for them to declare what they are doing, you to check what their next roll is going to be, and tell them whether they succeed or fail.

Taking the time to choose which roll to apply will take as long as asking for rolls and going around the table adding & announcing rolls.

One thing you can also do, though, is every time a check comes up ask if they want to take a roll from the beginning of the session or take 10. Since they've got the circle protecting them, I assume they can still take 10 on climbing and balancing, but it'll add to the urgency AND if only one person takes 10, they might get left behind by the rest of the party, if they're not paying attention.

Jubilee said:

One way to make the skill checks less dominating during play is to have your players each do five climb, jump, and balance checks at the beginning of the game and then you check them off as they perform those actions.

Except, don't tell them what they're rolling for. If you have their character sheets, just collect d20 rolls at the start and modify them yourself.

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Excellent idea, this I like a lot. Then when the player says what he does I can keep the pace of the action. Awesome

LostSoul said:

I think that you could also have the Magic Circle emit a glowing light, and as its energy wanes the light begins to diminish. So a bright 30' radius (shadowy out to 60'), which lessens by 5' every 15 minutes.

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Another good idea that I like, I can imagine their reactions when I first state that it diminishes.

How about a place where the PCs have to climb something - but the demons are up above, out of range of the Magic Circle, dropping rocks on them?

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Hmmm.. for some reason I got the image of the PCs trying to run down a steep rocky hillside. Then the horde of Kython's crests the hill after them, and one trips... and rolls into another, until it builds into a kython/ boulder landslide heading right at the PCs! [Mr. Burns] Excellent [/Mr. Burns]

C.) How about an encounter with a dead Githyanki, who was crushed by a rock the demons dropped on him. He's got a wand of Protection From Evil, and it's nearly out of charges. It's only got a few left (less than the total number of party members). If and when their Magic Circle drops, they will have to decide who gets the Protection, and who doesn't.

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A good idea, but I want to capture the feel that if someone loses the protection he's a dead man walking. There will be literally hordes of Kython's.

How about one of the PCs (the one with the highest spot check) sees something glittering in the distance? It's some kind of magical treasure/gold/gems. Will they take time out to get it?

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I like the bait idea, and have a player that will probably go for it unfortunately... course it's more fun for me that way. ;-)

Thanks for more good ideas.

Bryan898 said:

Excellent idea, this I like a lot. Then when the player says what he does I can keep the pace of the action. Awesome

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If there's are any really abyssmal rolls, I might also consider substituting that one with a "take ten" - the character succeeds, but barely (maybe do a "you start to slip as you climb" - and then move onto another character's action, letting the other sweat a bit) and have it take a bit more time. It'll add tension, but won't kill them outright.

Also, if you use action points, you could also do a "you feel yourself slipping. Do you want to use an action point?"

Then again, you could just let the player get toasted.

/ali

Jubilee said:

Well, if you tell them in advance what they're rolling for, they may be canny enough to remember the order of their rolls. This will tell them before they even attempt an action how likely it is for them to succeed or fail - and if anyone rolled a one, they'll know exactly when they'll fail before they do - and what's the fun in that?

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I was thinking that it doesn't really take that long to resolve a check. That's not where the tension is going to be lost. What you want to do is add tension to each roll.

If they know what the rolls are, and they can choose to apply whichever roll they want each time a skill check comes up, then they will have to decide which ones to use. Use up the good ones now, or use a poor one hoping that it's enough now and you can use the good rolls when you really need them.

I think having them make that choice will increase the tension. Each roll becomes a choice, and it's not down to random chance.

It will slow the game down, but it's slowing it down because the players are invested in the outcome. When the game slows down a bit because the player is sitting there thinking, "Should I use this roll now? Or this one? What to do?" is okay in my book.