Memorable Sessions

smootrk · Oct 23, 2006

What are your most memorable sessions?... Really exciting and dangerous situations??... Skirting death by the thinnest of margins?...

We just had a session where the Gargantuan Black Dragon was dropped onto our battle-map to represent a Gargantuan Red Dracolich. Our party of roughly 15th-level characters (and a few cohorts) immediately moved to attack the beast which we knew previously as a non-lichified Red Dragon.

The Dracolich took the first round to 'talk smack' about roasting our bones or something like that, but was taken by surprise when my Paladin used his boots of teleportation to carry himself and the other Dwarven Tank Fighter to right up on its flank. Searing light flew a few times from party clerics while bards began to sing.

The second round caused serious damage to our tanks, but instead of my Paladin healing us up, he instead turned and used Lay Hands upon the Undead Foe, unloading his entire 96 points on the Dragon. More spells flew, arrows rained down on the beast which were mostly ineffective, and our Shadow Dancer jumped onto its back, while the dragon jumped upon two of our casters, nearly squashing the life right out of them, pinning the casters who faced something like a +56 grapple check to escape or conduct actions.

Ultimately we took the beast down knowing well that if it had another round of action, at least 4 characters would be dead in seconds, and the rest would likely be running scarred.

All in all, very memorable. Not only my first dragon in 3.x edition, but a Garagantuan Red Dracolich!!

So what say you, anything exciting out there to share.

Luthien Greyspear · Oct 23, 2006

I ran a similar situation, but with lower level characters against a much more frightening kind of dragon, a young shadow dragon. For those who don't know, shadow dragons cause negative levels rather than inflicting direct damage, and in 2e they actually drained levels (temporarily). This made for a great, gripping fight as the mages and clerics tried desperately to stay away from its breath weapon at all costs, because they would lose their most potent spells if they got hit.

The only thing that saved the party was the combination of two great tactics. The first was a wand of lightning bolts aimed at some loose rocks over the dragon's head, causing considerably more damage than would have been caused by shooting the beastie directly (half damage is almost guaranteed when dealing with a dragon and saving throws).

The second was a wonderful sacrifice play by a would-be paladin. He had a sword with the shifting characteristic, allowing it to become any type of sword or dagger. Normally he used it as a rapier, as he was a swashbuckler. However, when one of the party fell to a combination of lost levels and normal damage, he rushed in to keep the dragon from finishing his companion off. The dragon, now reeling from the cumulative damage the party had inflicted, decided to crush both the fallen character and the lightly armored fighter with the puny sword. As the dragon came down on top of him, the fighter turned his "puny sword" into a huge zweihander with barbed edges all the way down the blade. The fighter died, but so did the dragon.

My players STILL talk about that fight, and it happened in 1995.

Olaf the Stout · Oct 23, 2006

I love combat yet the most memorable session that I have had recently involved no combat whatsoever (and may have not even had any dice rolls). I was GM'ing the session and most of the 4 hours was spent with the PC's talking amongst themselves, trying to figure out what was going on with the weird things that seemed to be happening to another PC (more details about the PC in question are available here for anyone who is interested. This session was the point where the party sort of confronted Cornealis/Vargus about his dual personalities.)

For most of the session I was more just an onlooker watching the whole thing play out. It was great to see a group of players so into their characters that I had to do almost nothing. It was also interesting from my perspective because I already knew the whole story that the PC's were trying to figure it out. It was fun listening to the different theories that they came up with.

Olaf the Stout

blargney the second · Oct 23, 2006

A wagon full of halfling PCs was careening along a city street and the gate guards were closing the portcullis to stop them from escaping. Nothing opens doors like a vehicle full of hobbits yelling, "We've got the plague!"

Wik · Oct 23, 2006

We ran a game where the PCs were survivors from an army outpost after it was overrun by a legion of goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears (all with different names...). It was during the winter, and the PCs were out in the forest, trying to get to civilized lands so they could spread the word that an invasion was coming. OF course, the goblins and hobgoblins were trying to stop the PCs as best they could.

There were a lot of scenes, but the one that stuck in everyone's head was when the group, piled on to two dog sleds, were speeding through a snow-filled forest at breakneck speeds, being pursued by six teams of goblins on sleds. Each goblin had an archer, and the PCs were firing bows back at the goblins as they rushed through the forest. They had to duck low-lying branches, do jumps over logs, and risk crashing through iced-over streams while doing their best to escape their pursuers (They were only 2nd level at the time).

I think they managed to escape through some excellent rolling on their part and some poor rolling on the goblins' (several crashed into obstacles on the way), but the part that really stuck in everyone's heads was when the group's wizard started casting Summon Monster I, and placing his summoned critters in front of the pursuing goblin sleds. I dimly recall at one point having the character summon a frightened halfling family, and placing it in the path of an oncoming sled, which of course crashed violently.

Lots of fun.

megamania · Oct 23, 2006

One we will always remember is the Prison Ship. Most of the party was tricked into being captured on a prison ship. The mage was cuffed in a painful manner to keep his hands from moving or wriggling. The barbarian and fighter was locked in steel cages anchored to the walls of the ship. There were several other inmates also. One immate had his own special cell that was nearly completely enclosed. No one knew who or what he was but noticed the guards gave his door / cell a wide clearance. Only one party member had excaped capture- the rogue.

As the ship set out, the rogue had attached himself to the back of the ship and at night fall decided it was time to climb on board. In the past two hours, the weather had declined and a storm was coming. Large swells were one of the reasons the halfling rogue decided to go on board.

Unknown to any of them, a Trust member (think MI-6 J Bond) was also on the ship for unknown reasons. As the storm came in, the rogue got on ship and an alarm went up. The spy had set off an alarm. In the cells, the PCs decided enough was enough and they began to attack the bars. They did nothing to dame the bars BUT with a natural twenty (29 total for STR and Action Point [Eberron]) they noticed they had damaged the locking pins that held the entire cage to the wall.

The guards had issues as an alarm went off, the storm was causing havok and constant balance checks and now the PCs were going berserk and calling for the other immates to do so also.

The PCs break free, get the artificer free just as they relieze the Booming sound is not the thunder or the ship falling in swells but coming from the sealed cell. The very sealed cell that was beginning to break apart. Suddenly, a murderous Ogre serial killer was free on board and very angry (and scared- he can't swim and is scared of storms) and he was blocking the only exit.

Enter the bond character and together they defeat the Ogre just as the ship strikes a reef and breaks up.

The PCs are washed up on an island that has a fiendish outbreak of its own but that as they say is another story.