D&D 5E Enhancing "Storm King's Thunder"
- Thread starter Daern
- Start date
Some shameless self-promotion, if that's alright:
I've just uploaded The Flying Misfortune - A Storm King's Thunder Adventure to the DM's Guild. I've created it to specifically address to points I found lacking in STK: the lack of foreshadowing for Felgolos (Chapter 9) and Iymrith, the Doom of the Desert. Besides that, it's designed to be an exciting adventure to use during Chapter 3 or 4, that should challenge a party of 6th to 10th level.
The download includes:
Even if you don't run the adventure, the forest map is perfect for running random encounters while travelling the Sword Coast, and the map of Ascore can be used if your players find their way there.
I hope you'll take a look at it. It's 1.99$ at the moment, which I think is fair - but let me know what you think
I've just uploaded The Flying Misfortune - A Storm King's Thunder Adventure to the DM's Guild. I've created it to specifically address to points I found lacking in STK: the lack of foreshadowing for Felgolos (Chapter 9) and Iymrith, the Doom of the Desert. Besides that, it's designed to be an exciting adventure to use during Chapter 3 or 4, that should challenge a party of 6th to 10th level.
The download includes:
- A seven page adventure - split into two parts, this adventure first has your party squaring of with Zhentarim dragoncatchers and a bronze dragon, and later sneaking into an ancient dwarven city in the desert, where two blue dragons are laired.
- Two new items - the netlauncher, a mundane contraption great for catching dragons and giants alike, as well as the magical pipe weed Yondalla's Delight.
- Two handmade battlemaps - one is a 30x40 forest road map that has great general usability, and the other is a huge 100x50 map of the desert ruins of Ascore. Both maps come with and without grid, and the map of Ascore has both a DM and a player version.
Even if you don't run the adventure, the forest map is perfect for running random encounters while travelling the Sword Coast, and the map of Ascore can be used if your players find their way there.
I hope you'll take a look at it. It's 1.99$ at the moment, which I think is fair - but let me know what you think
MiraMels
Explorer
My account got eaten in the purge, but I'm about to start a 12 session expedited run through of the campaign, so here's what I'm changing:
1) The King is Dead. Hekaton is Hamlet's dad, not King Lear. This lets me skip chapter 11 entirely, and expand the political situation at Malestrom.
2) The Throne is Empty. None of Hekaton's daughters have taken the throne, and his brother is serving as regent. The court is in a deadlock that the players can break. Any of the three daughters are viable candidates for ascension, each with their own approach to rulership, and their own strengths and weaknesses. This gives the players true agency in respect to the aftermath of the campaign, allowing them to make a decision with consequences that will shape the fate of a region. (As is befitting of late-2nd-tier, or early-3rd-tier, characters.) The players will be able to back any one of the three without it being a "wrong choice" that leads to the "bad ending".
3) The Oracle is a Woman. Not a magic plot room. Specifically, she's the ex-court oracle of Malestrom. She'll replace Harshnag as your Giant NPC Companion after Chapter 4, and guide the player to the Giant Lords, and eventually to the Malestrom. She'll fill the players in, without spelling out too much for the players, since "it wouldn't be appropriate. My job is to see, not interpret." She can also act as a translator for the characters.
4) No Desecration of Uthgardt Holy Sites. Both in the consideration of time, and also because WOW how did that make it into the final cut of the adventure? That is so inappropriate.
5) No Magic Teleport Shells. If the court thinks smallfolk killed the Queen AND POSSIBLY their King, why would not immediately murder a pack of armed smallfolk who teleported in with a magic conch given only to ranking members of the Court? Instead, the players will gain access to the court by finding a member of the court, and gaining their sponsorship by helping them deal with some previously-low-ranked upstart who is acting out.
6) I'm using the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide characterization of the Uthgardt, instead of the Storm King's Thunder characterization of the Uthgardt. Because there's nothing really distinguishing them from the Reghed Barbarians in SKT, aside from the animal motif. Also, one of my players chose to play an Uthgardt barbarian, and like, that alone makes them an inappropriate choice for "filler mooks appropriate for a low-2nd-tier party".
7) I'm doing more to characterize each of the three sisters. Because let's face it, the begininng and end of Mirran, Nym, and Serissa's characterization is "the angry one", "the cold one", and "the good one". Rather, I'm going to start by likening each to one of Annam's daughters, who are curiously absent from the adventure itself, but are described briefly in the Monster Manual: "Hiatea, the huntress and home warden; Iallanis, goddess of love and peace; and Diancastra, and impetuous and arrogant trickster. " These three, and their family drama, are at the center of everything that is happening in this campaign, so I'm going to act like it.
Anyway, I hope this sparks some ideas of your own! I welcome any questions, respectful critiques, or additions you all may have.
1) The King is Dead. Hekaton is Hamlet's dad, not King Lear. This lets me skip chapter 11 entirely, and expand the political situation at Malestrom.
2) The Throne is Empty. None of Hekaton's daughters have taken the throne, and his brother is serving as regent. The court is in a deadlock that the players can break. Any of the three daughters are viable candidates for ascension, each with their own approach to rulership, and their own strengths and weaknesses. This gives the players true agency in respect to the aftermath of the campaign, allowing them to make a decision with consequences that will shape the fate of a region. (As is befitting of late-2nd-tier, or early-3rd-tier, characters.) The players will be able to back any one of the three without it being a "wrong choice" that leads to the "bad ending".
3) The Oracle is a Woman. Not a magic plot room. Specifically, she's the ex-court oracle of Malestrom. She'll replace Harshnag as your Giant NPC Companion after Chapter 4, and guide the player to the Giant Lords, and eventually to the Malestrom. She'll fill the players in, without spelling out too much for the players, since "it wouldn't be appropriate. My job is to see, not interpret." She can also act as a translator for the characters.
4) No Desecration of Uthgardt Holy Sites. Both in the consideration of time, and also because WOW how did that make it into the final cut of the adventure? That is so inappropriate.
5) No Magic Teleport Shells. If the court thinks smallfolk killed the Queen AND POSSIBLY their King, why would not immediately murder a pack of armed smallfolk who teleported in with a magic conch given only to ranking members of the Court? Instead, the players will gain access to the court by finding a member of the court, and gaining their sponsorship by helping them deal with some previously-low-ranked upstart who is acting out.
6) I'm using the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide characterization of the Uthgardt, instead of the Storm King's Thunder characterization of the Uthgardt. Because there's nothing really distinguishing them from the Reghed Barbarians in SKT, aside from the animal motif. Also, one of my players chose to play an Uthgardt barbarian, and like, that alone makes them an inappropriate choice for "filler mooks appropriate for a low-2nd-tier party".
7) I'm doing more to characterize each of the three sisters. Because let's face it, the begininng and end of Mirran, Nym, and Serissa's characterization is "the angry one", "the cold one", and "the good one". Rather, I'm going to start by likening each to one of Annam's daughters, who are curiously absent from the adventure itself, but are described briefly in the Monster Manual: "Hiatea, the huntress and home warden; Iallanis, goddess of love and peace; and Diancastra, and impetuous and arrogant trickster. " These three, and their family drama, are at the center of everything that is happening in this campaign, so I'm going to act like it.
Anyway, I hope this sparks some ideas of your own! I welcome any questions, respectful critiques, or additions you all may have.
machineelf
Explorer
I am a fan of using Murder in Baldur's Gate as an intro for the first 5 levels for characters as an intro to Storm King's Thunder. I think that'd work out really nicely.
MiraMels
Explorer
Unfortunately, I am running my game to be AL-legal, so I can't use supplementary materials. BUT I love the idea of creating 'expansion packs' and fan-made supplements. Thank you for bringing this to our attention!
This is an excellent idea. Murder in Baldur's Gate is an amazing adventure.
Daern
Explorer
Very inspiring! I love the idea of using the Annam's daughters characterizations. I think having the group influence which daughter inherits the throne is the way to go.
What if the Oracle/Harshnag replacement is sort of a 4th sister, or Harshnag is an escaped "ward of the court" brother figure. Maybe the way to get to Maelstrom is to provide evidence of the disordered behavior of the giant lords so as to garner an invitation to the court. Maybe blowing the (giant sized, necessitating a gust of wind spell) conch merely summons communication with Maelstrom, and the players must still provide compelling reasons to be invited.
What if the Oracle/Harshnag replacement is sort of a 4th sister, or Harshnag is an escaped "ward of the court" brother figure. Maybe the way to get to Maelstrom is to provide evidence of the disordered behavior of the giant lords so as to garner an invitation to the court. Maybe blowing the (giant sized, necessitating a gust of wind spell) conch merely summons communication with Maelstrom, and the players must still provide compelling reasons to be invited.
I've added a pay-what-you-want DM's Resources for A Great Upheaval to the DM's Guild. It isn't a big enhancement with groundbreaking changes to the overall storyline, but it has some handy tools for running the first chapter that some of you might be interested in. Happy goblin-hunting!
I'm just popping in to say that it looks like I'm going to be playing in this adventure, so I won't be able to participate much in this thread for fear of spoilers--at least, not for a while. But for now I'll just leave links to a couple of other related threads that I've found (but again, not read).
Dragon Listing
Background Bonds
Dragon Listing
Background Bonds
Sacrosanct
Legend
I'm running B5 Horror on the Hill, which I replaced the Dripping Caves with. So far, it's working very well, and it fit seamlessly into Nightstone events. The party will be in the cusp of reaching level 5 by the time they are done with it, which puts them in good position to start the campaign proper.
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