RangerWickett
Legend
People who will be playing in the game I run at GenCon, keep out please.
In a one-shot I'm planning, there's a coven of witches who have set up shop atop a mountain that overlooks a city. They've been abducting, murdering, and all-around terrorizing the place to fuel their magic as they prepare to bring a horrible sun god back from his imprisonment in the plane of shadow. Their ritual is set for the night of a lunar eclipse, to start when the red light of the moon drapes the mountaintop in a cloak of blood.
The PCs (pre-generated) are a team of bad-asses preparing to free some hostages, assault the mountaintop, and stop the ritual.
* Lorcan, the king of the nation of Risur
* Harkover, the court archmage
* Tomas, a foreign paladin with special knowledge of the witches
* Melissa, the king's chosen successor
* Roland, the well-meaning mayor of the city
* Amielle, a war hero from a nation hostile to Risur who offers to aid the fight to help bring peace
There's the added complication that Amielle wants Melissa to die before she can take the throne, but she wants to make it look like an accident. And Roland, who is not much of a fighter, made a vow to a mysterious figure that in exchange for the power he needed to save his city, he had to make one promise: to kill Amielle before she makes it down from the mountain.
I've attached one of the sample character sheets I've made. I sadly don't have portraits yet, but I'm working on those. The PCs are each 10th level D&D Next characters, with some tweaks and simplifications to make the game run faster.
I'm looking for suggestions on things to add to the adventure. Ideally I'd like to have a mix of roleplaying, clever thinking, and a bit of combat. Right now my loose outline goes like so:
Intro. Group assembles at site of recent abduction. Some VIP was taken. Group gets some chatting time, and then a random bystander attacks. Upon his death (or if he's captured, after he starts eerily vomiting blood and dies), the group is addressed by the head witch, the Red Contessa, who can see and speak through pools of blood. Establishes villain, stakes, and modus operandi of bad guys.
Act One. Deal with some allies of the witches, probably rescuing hostages in the process. Mild combat, but ideally have some trouble that must be out-thought, not out-fought.
Act Two. Ascend the mountain. Deal with defending monsters, ghosts, goblins, etc. Trick is that if any of their blood touches the ground, the witch will know and send more forces at you. Party wizard has magic item that helps with that, but you still have to be judicious.
Act Three. Reach the peak during a lunar eclipse. Confront witches. Depending on how easy the battle is (and how much time we have), maybe the sun god emerges for the big boss.
The thing is, right now I've just got 'action' planned, and not enough 'character' stuff. I don't want it to just be dice-rolling vs. monsters, but for some reason my brain's not suggesting any good role-playing scenes that fit into that framework. I could use some help.
In a one-shot I'm planning, there's a coven of witches who have set up shop atop a mountain that overlooks a city. They've been abducting, murdering, and all-around terrorizing the place to fuel their magic as they prepare to bring a horrible sun god back from his imprisonment in the plane of shadow. Their ritual is set for the night of a lunar eclipse, to start when the red light of the moon drapes the mountaintop in a cloak of blood.
The PCs (pre-generated) are a team of bad-asses preparing to free some hostages, assault the mountaintop, and stop the ritual.
* Lorcan, the king of the nation of Risur
* Harkover, the court archmage
* Tomas, a foreign paladin with special knowledge of the witches
* Melissa, the king's chosen successor
* Roland, the well-meaning mayor of the city
* Amielle, a war hero from a nation hostile to Risur who offers to aid the fight to help bring peace
There's the added complication that Amielle wants Melissa to die before she can take the throne, but she wants to make it look like an accident. And Roland, who is not much of a fighter, made a vow to a mysterious figure that in exchange for the power he needed to save his city, he had to make one promise: to kill Amielle before she makes it down from the mountain.
I've attached one of the sample character sheets I've made. I sadly don't have portraits yet, but I'm working on those. The PCs are each 10th level D&D Next characters, with some tweaks and simplifications to make the game run faster.
I'm looking for suggestions on things to add to the adventure. Ideally I'd like to have a mix of roleplaying, clever thinking, and a bit of combat. Right now my loose outline goes like so:
Intro. Group assembles at site of recent abduction. Some VIP was taken. Group gets some chatting time, and then a random bystander attacks. Upon his death (or if he's captured, after he starts eerily vomiting blood and dies), the group is addressed by the head witch, the Red Contessa, who can see and speak through pools of blood. Establishes villain, stakes, and modus operandi of bad guys.
Act One. Deal with some allies of the witches, probably rescuing hostages in the process. Mild combat, but ideally have some trouble that must be out-thought, not out-fought.
Act Two. Ascend the mountain. Deal with defending monsters, ghosts, goblins, etc. Trick is that if any of their blood touches the ground, the witch will know and send more forces at you. Party wizard has magic item that helps with that, but you still have to be judicious.
Act Three. Reach the peak during a lunar eclipse. Confront witches. Depending on how easy the battle is (and how much time we have), maybe the sun god emerges for the big boss.
The thing is, right now I've just got 'action' planned, and not enough 'character' stuff. I don't want it to just be dice-rolling vs. monsters, but for some reason my brain's not suggesting any good role-playing scenes that fit into that framework. I could use some help.
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