Level 1-12 around red hand of doom?

brehobit · Oct 10, 2006

Some RHoD spoilers....

Hi folks,
I'm going to be doing a level 1-12 thing using Red Hand of Doom as the level 6-12 part. The PCs will be natives of Brindol. I'm trying to come up with interesting adventures for levels 1-5.

I'm going to start with a manor house which the PCs learn is rumored to have been taken over by undead. By local law the PCs can take as "loot" a certain percent of stuff when removing an undead infestation (sorta silly, but hey). The Manor house is some 20 miles south of Brindol. The baddies will be some non-standard creapy zombie types.

After that I've not really got a clue. I want to have the hobgoblins show up early (per WoTC web enhancement thingy) as a scouting group around level 4. After that I really don't know. A city adventure or two would be cool ion Brindol. A caravan guard job would also seem pretty obvious and interesting.

What I'm looking for is one-paragraph(ish) ideas for what to do. References to other published adventures are welcome.

Thoughts?

Mark

Ghendar · Oct 10, 2006

I haven't read RHoD yet but what about designing the lvl 1-5 adventures as some sort of preamble to the events in RHoD. Use them as a lead in, setting the stage kind of thing.

brehobit · Oct 10, 2006

Ghendar said:
I haven't read RHoD yet but what about designing the lvl 1-5 adventures as some sort of preamble to the events in RHoD. Use them as a lead in, setting the stage kind of thing.

That's kind of the plan. I want some "non-arc" adventures too. The goal would be to tie them to the world and folks they will encounter later. So in the first one, a lich that plays a role later shows up as the cause of the problem. I'm hopeful that the city or caravan guard ones might do similar things while being cool adventures by themselves.

Mark CMG · Oct 10, 2006

You should try to get them over to Drellin's Ferry early so they are invested emotionally in the trouble that comes up there at the beginning of RHoD. You might also tie the early adventures to the Druids of Witchwood and the Dwarves of the Hammerfist Holds.

Setting adventures closer to a few of the towns between Drellin's Ferry and Brindol rather than "20 miles south of Brindol" might be a good idea, too, so you can casually create friendships between the PCs and NPCs in the future path of the Horde, NPCs with spouses and children that the PCs can get to know.

The blacksmith's five year old daughter walks into the shop, looks at you, and without a word hands you a bright yellow flower then runs out again. 'I don't think I've seen her take to anyone quite like that before,' says Dontar the Blacksmith. 'Well, even though you're staying at the inn, why not have dinner with my family this evening? We'll set out the big tables by the old fire pit and invite some of the other families. We'll make a real early Summer feast of it, eh? We can toast to the goods times and prosperity ahead!'

Do something similar in three or four of the towns destined for destruction.

brehobit · Oct 11, 2006

Mark CMG said:
You should try to get them over to Drellin's Ferry early so they are invested emotionally in the trouble that comes up there at the beginning of RHoD. You might also tie the early adventures to the Druids of Witchwood and the Dwarves of the Hammerfist Holds.

Setting adventures closer to a few of the towns between Drellin's Ferry and Brindol rather than "20 miles south of Brindol" might be a good idea, too, so you can casually create friendships between the PCs and NPCs in the future path of the Horde, NPCs with spouses and children that the PCs can get to know.

The blacksmith's five year old daughter walks into the shop, looks at you, and without a word hands you a bright yellow flower then runs out again. 'I don't think I've seen her take to anyone quite like that before,' says Dontar the Blacksmith. 'Well, even though you're staying at the inn, why not have dinner with my family this evening? We'll set out the big tables by the old fire pit and invite some of the other families. We'll make a real early Summer feast of it, eh? We can toast to the goods times and prosperity ahead!'

Do something similar in three or four of the towns destined for destruction.

Good ideas. I'm a little worried about NPC overload. RHoD already has a large number of NPCs that play major roles (a good thing IMO). I don't want to add too many more. But I think a few kids in the way and stuff would rock.

Anyone else? Any specific suggestions?

Mark

Mark CMG · Oct 11, 2006

brehobit said:
Good ideas. I'm a little worried about NPC overload. RHoD already has a large number of NPCs that play major roles (a good thing IMO). I don't want to add too many more. But I think a few kids in the way and stuff would rock.

Anyone else? Any specific suggestions?

Mark

They might be relatives of the NPCs from RHoD. In this way, the PCs can be "passed along" as friends and acquaintances from the lower level NPCs to the more important NPCs of RHoD and the players will not need to keep track of their earlier friends too closely. You can throw in the odd, "Tontania sends her love" as a way to make mention of the earlier ones, if they survive the early incursions of the horde, which many need not.

Keith Robinson · Oct 11, 2006

Here's what I'm doing:

I started with a generic, non red-hand related adventure from Dungeon which pushed the party to 2nd level. This gave them a chance to get to know a little bit about the city (not Brindol, as I'm running my own city)

They then were hired by the local merchant's guild to deal with some hobgoblin raiders attacking merchants (this is an adventure I'll be publishing), which should take the adventurers up to 4th level. They discover a number of details about the red hand, which should get them interested.

Next, they need to tackle the smugglers who are supplying the hobgoblins with weapons (which is why they're making raids against merchants - to pay for the weapons). For this I'm using a highly modified version of the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. This should take them to 5th level and to Drellin's Ferry, having discovered that hobgoblins now inhabit Vraath's Keep.

After the Red Hand of Doom, I think I'm going to continue it with some planar stuff, but I haven't worked all that out yet as I'm still reading the last couple of chapters of the adventure.

Frostmarrow · Oct 11, 2006

I too would get players involved with Drellin's Ferry as soon as possible. There is some interesting adventures that can be had over there. They have a wizard who is into brewing potions and stuff, for one thing and there is also an interesting power struggle within the council that can be used.

I think Red Rock is a cool place. It's basically a small mining community of half-orcs and dwarves working the mine. It has a frontier feel to it and it reminds me of Klondike in the westerns. Also, if the half-orcs and the dwarves are all crooked a nice Yojimbo-scenario can be run there. Think about that; Last Man Standing with the party acting as Bruce Willis.

I'm DMing RHoD on saturday and I can hardly wait. I love this module.

Iku Rex · Oct 11, 2006

brehobit said:
I'm going to be doing a level 1-12 thing using Red Hand of Doom as the level 6-12 part.

(RHoD is level 5-10.)

Mark CMG · Oct 11, 2006

Iku Rex said:
(RHoD is level 5-10.)

I know there's a mix up in the book stating both at different points, and that the designers suggest levels 5 - 10 but as I have been running it, starting with five 5th-level PCs plus two 5th-level NPCs and it was still tough, I've moved toward considering it levels 6 - 12 and even used the online extra encounter to ease them into the adventure. (highlight for spoilers)

The group is currently just into section three with four 8th-level PCs plus one 8th-level NPC. When they tangled with "big blue" I toyed with them.

I used no melee attacks, choosing instead to run through the arsenal of SLAs. I had just used the last with not too much damage on "big blue" and was regretting sending them into the situation as unprepared as it seemed they were. The party was completely softened up and ready for gutting, as in TPK, when they won initial and got three incredibly lucky attacks, including several confirmed critcs from the multiple attackers and a spell that just slipped through the SR.

As the text allows "big blue" to be impressed enough to take a powder if the hp go below a certain threashold, I had him skeedaddle.

I don't get the impression from the text that the designers had a potential TPK planned for the early middle of the adventure, even though that might be the toughest of that section. I believe I seriously could have waded into them and finished them all off the next round or two with little risk to the bad guy if I wished to do so. That they even got as far as they did against it was a bit of a gift. I can explain it away RPG-wise as arrogance and ego but, except for the dwarf barbarian, the party was laid out like a buffet.

Level 1-12 around red hand of doom?

brehobit

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Ghendar

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brehobit

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Mark CMG

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brehobit

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Mark CMG

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Keith Robinson

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Frostmarrow

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Iku Rex

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Mark CMG

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