D&D 4E My final 4E session

In June 2008, I began a new Greyhawk campaign, using the newly released 4E rules.

In July 2014, that campaign will end.

It's now less than a fortnight until that day. During the course of the campaign, the adventurers have delved beneath Castle Greyhawk (Zagyg), have fought the necromancers of the Shadow Forest, have discovered a strange, forgotten temple, have explored several versions of the Tomb of Horrors before finally defeating Acererak, have explored a crashed, flying castle (The Lost City) and rescued a god, and, in the very early days of the campaign, had one of their own turn on them.

Now, in the finale of the campaign, they're facing that character in the depths of the Temple of Elemental Evil.

Archibald the Traitor has fallen far - a tiefling warlock, his initial dabbling in darkness has led him eventually to the worship of Tharizdun. His plans for releasing the chained god have been dealt a severe blow by the party, but he still might be successful...

In stark contrast to how 4E NPCs are normally built, I've statted out Archibald as a full 30th level PC. He's a massively complicated character: 9 standard actions, 1 move action, 7 minor actions and 16 triggered actions. (He's got four effects that are effectively "When you die...") He'll have allies - lots of allies - and I'll likely allow recharging of Encounter powers half-way through the battle.

Is this overkill? Possibly, but he's been such a recurring feature of the campaign it'd be a shame to have him be nullified in one round.

The next step is to find him some appropriate allies. And then some miniatures and some Dwarven Forge Dungeon Tiles to make the final battle really special!

Cheers!

Sounds like a plan, Merric! Which levels are the PCs, by the way?

Let's hope this epic battle is as satisfying to you as fpr your players! And be sure to report on it here.

My last 4E session is saturday.

Also started in 2008. Also used the tomb of horrors book (and the RPGA conversion). Added in Gamma World, Baba Yaga's Hut, Sigil. Cameos from Grazz't, Vecna, Baba Yaga, Lady of Pain, Orcus and Demogorgon and Nerul (sort of).

Play was sporadic, so we "only" got to level 21.4E worked pretty well for an extended "high level" play experience. I do look forward to taking a break from that and saying good bye to certain 4eisms.

TerraDave said:

4E worked pretty well for an extended "high level" play experience.

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I agree. It might be interesting to figure out the "golden" levels for each edition, and then play a campaign with the same characters but using the appropriate edition for each phase. 1st or 2nd edition for, say, levels 1-4. 3e for 5-10. 4e for 10-20. Something like that. That could be cool. Using the right tool for the job, and all that.

Thaumaturge.

All levels approximate, and not intended to cast aspersions on anyone's favorite edition or levels.

MerricB said:

In June 2008, I began a new Greyhawk campaign, using the newly released 4E rules.

In July 2014, that campaign will end.

It's now less than a fortnight until that day. During the course of the campaign, the adventurers have delved beneath Castle Greyhawk (Zagyg), have fought the necromancers of the Shadow Forest, have discovered a strange, forgotten temple, have explored several versions of the Tomb of Horrors before finally defeating Acererak, have explored a crashed, flying castle (The Lost City) and rescued a god, and, in the very early days of the campaign, had one of their own turn on them.

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That is awesome. How many game sessions per year? How many PC deaths in that time?

I'm guessing the final encounter will run smoothly for you, with 6-ish years of running 4E. Good luck!

My final 4E session involved raiding a chocolate factory and fighting low-level cotton candy monsters, if I recall correctly. That was a while back.

DMMike said:

That is awesome. How many game sessions per year? How many PC deaths in that time?

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Actually, I'm not quite sure. Four or seven deaths? We had a few in the early days, and a couple during Tomb of Horrors. Most of my players have been with me since about 2002, so they're pretty good at understanding how the game works - and I tend not to throw overwhelming encounters at them.

In general, we get about 20-24 sessions per year. It's meant to be fortnightly, but things interfere. (Martin was badly ill for about 6 months at one point, which really delayed the completion of the campaign).

Three of the players will have been there from the beginning. The other three have joined in along the way as replacements for regular attrition. (One has been there for about 20 levels, the other two for about 10 levels).

Cheers!

Sounds like a great final session, Merrick! Let us know how it went when it is done.

My final 4th edition session was last night. The player characters, who started in first level and defeated the Iron Circle in Nentir Vale, then sacked the Cairn of the Winter King, played through a homebrew wilderness adventure through on a halfling gypsy riverboat, fighting a lizardman tribe, then exploring a tomb full of powerful undead in the Mistlight Fens, and then fighting through the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief and Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, finally came face to face with King Snurre Ironbelly and his hell hounds in his throne room.

I projected the image of the fifth edition Player's Handbook on the wall which shows Snurre in his hall during the entire session, which made a perfect and fitting transition for our game to fifth edition next session.

The players exhausted every daily and encounter power, potions, magic item dailys etc. and feared a TPK right to when they finally took down all but the King, one fire giant knight and one hellhound. The King finally fled through a secret door when he was down to 5 hp but the rogue finally brought him down with a thrown dagger in the back. It was a satisfying final session for all. Then I had them roll up the stats for their first level fifth edition characters, which they will use for the Starter box adventure two weeks from now.

I thought my final session would be about now. ... but we are having trouble meeting lately. We have also been playing for years, and the party is about to enter the final stages of the campaign. First, they need to free the eater of magic from Torog. ..... then they can confront an entire army led by an Exarch trying to become a goddess, then they can try to stop Acamar from eating the world.

I'm still a few sessions away, but my 4e group is around 25th level, and their last two sessions they've been holding the throne room of Dispater against Dispater's minions (and one of his aspects). They're growing increasingly desperate, and they've pretty much realized that Dispater himself isn't coming to fight them (one of the pc has the Lord of Hell epic destiny and is struggling to conquer Dis). After their wizard was unexpectedly annihilated by a blackball, they are now also without any method of escaping Hell- nobody else has the requisite rituals or powers!

Trapped in the halls of the Iron Tower, they don't know what the hell to do now, and the 4e game may end before they figure it out... if I get a TPK.

the Jester said:

After their wizard was unexpectedly annihilated by a blackball, they are now also without any method of escaping Hell- nobody else has the requisite rituals or powers!

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LOL maybe I play too many paladins, but my epic response would be, "Good! If we can't get home, we can't run away! Charge!"

Sounds like a seriously epic campaign. Then again, given the campaign advice I've gotten from you over the years, I was already quite envious of your players!