Chimes at Midnight - help with using this in a non-Eberron setting (some spoilers)

[Xilo]

Hi all,

I've recently stumbled upon the Chimes at Midnight adventure in Dungeon #133. Now I'm not using the Eberron setting, but the mood and type of the adventure is perfect for my campaign. However the very end of the adventure

Spoiler

a run away elemental train crashes into another rail car and does large amounts of elemental damage to everyone in 20 feet

. How do I have a similar effect if that kind of technology isn't around?

I was thinking of having the Baron be heading off in a carriage out of town (instead of the rail car), but this is when I draw a blank.

Any suggestions would be great.

 

[Bloosquig]

Well if you already have an idea for carriage chases you could have the climatic crash of a the bbeg's carriage (or whatever I'm sorry I'm not familiar with the adventure) into a cart full of alchemical / magical supplies causing a huge explosion / crater / randomly polymorphing nearby commoners into weird mutants or what have you to get the same effect. Anyhow good luck with it.

 

[Nlogue]

Hi all,

I've recently stumbled upon the Chimes at Midnight adventure in Dungeon #133. Now I'm not using the Eberron setting, but the mood and type of the adventure is perfect for my campaign. However the very end of the adventure

Spoiler

a run away elemental train crashes into another rail car and does large amounts of elemental damage to everyone in 20 feet

. How do I have a similar effect if that kind of technology isn't around?

I was thinking of having the Baron be heading off in a carriage out of town (instead of the rail car), but this is when I draw a blank.

Any suggestions would be great.

Hi Xilo!

This same question came up on the Paizo boards awhile back and I wrote the following there:


"...Could be that the Baron's mode of travel is a river boat, which could then be sabotaged by Viktor to head down a bad stretch of river frought with rapids, a big waterfall, dangerous river denizens (big awakened snake, nagas, merrows, etc.) or all three.

You could also have the Baron's old clunky medieval style carriage going through bandit ridden woods, and the PCs find a note at Viktor's office about him bribing bandits to waylay and kill the Baron.

Maybe the carriage has to go over a bridge, which Viktor cunningly sabotages to collapse when the full weight of the carriage reaches its midpoint. Below the bridge are hideous monstrosities of your devising to dispatch with the Baron forthwith.

Personally, I would have the Baron have a penchant for riding an aerial coach pulled by dragons, hippogriffs or some other flying creatures, and have Viktor devise some sort of sabotage involving a nearly invisible net (or several thin thin razorwires) strung between two tall towers which the flying carriage's route passes between. That would make for a crazy scene, and then Scrimshaw could have a little fun messing with the PCs as they try to disable the net before the Baron's flying coach crashes into it (he could pose as a "gargoyle" on one of the towers, or just take vicious pot shots at the party from the air). Since Viktor likes to cover his bases, maybe he arranges for a clutch of manticores being brought into town by some rich merchant for his personal menagaeire of dangerous pets to "accidentally" escape and take to the air. Chaos ensues."

I like the last option the best, gets Scrimshaw more involved in the encounter and involves high speed aerial hijinks with razorwire...always good times in my opinion!

Glad you dig on "Chimes at Midnight" if you liked that one, the sequel to it entitled "Quoth the Raven" comes out in the final issue of Dungeon (issue #150). May be worth checking out too. Good gaming!


Nick

 

[blargney the second]

A necklace of fireballs or a staff of power breaking would cause a fair amount of mayhem as well.

 

[Grymar]

Wow, NL, I like the flying coach/razor wire idea almost better than the original. Too bad I already ran Chimes.

But I will say that one of my favorite moments in my old campaign was when I was running this and the party was going through Viktor's office. I was handing them sheets of paper they found on the desk (profiles of the escaped prisoners) and then quietly started drawing on the whiteboard what they saw on the chalkboard of the office. They weren't really paying attention to me and then someone said quietly "holy ****." Everyone stopped and stared at the whiteboard in silence for a moment, then the room exploded in wild plans to get there in time.

Of course, that was when Viktor's trap went off and they were occupied for a good long while. Due to them being quite a few levels higher than the adventure was planned for, the exploding trap was replaced with a living spell (cone of cold/enervation) that Viktor had taken from a mage he arrested.

Great times.

 

[WayneLigon]

Glad you dig on "Chimes at Midnight" if you liked that one, the sequel to it entitled "Quoth the Raven" comes out in the final issue of Dungeon (issue #150). May be worth checking out too. Good gaming!

I recently ran this adventure after doing some foreshadowing of it in earlier sessions. They met Victor on the lightning rail as he was going to Fairhaven, which is where he had his fateful interview with the Baron; he pulled a Sherlock Holmes moment where he solved the case of some missing jewelry in classic fashion ("In fact.. the thief is in this very room with us now!"), gettnig the party to like and admire him. Made it all the harder when they had to take him down later. He wound up in jail and they wound up the toast of Sharn for a month, so the idea of a sequel makes me a very, very happy person indeed.

We have a new person joining us this next session and she's starting as an inquisitive - she grew up in the same orphanage with Victor and was his associate for a few years until his arrogance drove her away. So, Victor continues to have an impact on the game long after he's been put away

 

[Nlogue]

Wow, NL, I like the flying coach/razor wire idea almost better than the original. Too bad I already ran Chimes.

But I will say that one of my favorite moments in my old campaign was when I was running this and the party was going through Viktor's office. I was handing them sheets of paper they found on the desk (profiles of the escaped prisoners) and then quietly started drawing on the whiteboard what they saw on the chalkboard of the office. They weren't really paying attention to me and then someone said quietly "holy ****." Everyone stopped and stared at the whiteboard in silence for a moment, then the room exploded in wild plans to get there in time.

Of course, that was when Viktor's trap went off and they were occupied for a good long while. Due to them being quite a few levels higher than the adventure was planned for, the exploding trap was replaced with a living spell (cone of cold/enervation) that Viktor had taken from a mage he arrested.

Great times.

I can't imagine running that scene better. Sounds awesome! The whiteboard as the visual...pure genius Grymar!

 

[Nlogue]

I recently ran this adventure after doing some foreshadowing of it in earlier sessions. They met Victor on the lightning rail as he was going to Fairhaven, which is where he had his fateful interview with the Baron; he pulled a Sherlock Holmes moment where he solved the case of some missing jewelry in classic fashion ("In fact.. the thief is in this very room with us now!"), gettnig the party to like and admire him. Made it all the harder when they had to take him down later. He wound up in jail and they wound up the toast of Sharn for a month, so the idea of a sequel makes me a very, very happy person indeed.

We have a new person joining us this next session and she's starting as an inquisitive - she grew up in the same orphanage with Victor and was his associate for a few years until his arrogance drove her away. So, Victor continues to have an impact on the game long after he's been put away

I can't tell you how perfect that is for the sequel my man!!! That's great! I love the intro you gave him too. Nothing worse than having to take down the guy you respect and admire because evil got the better of him. Well done sir. If I run my Sharn CSI campaign in New York (probably starting in late August when my schedule settles down) I'm so totally stealing your Victor intro! I love it!

Nick

 

[blargney the second]

Sharn CSI campaign

*drool*

 

[Nlogue]

*drool*

Indeed! My plan is to run every session of the campaign at some different cool venue in New York City. I'm working on logistics actually now, but basically, one will be run on a rooftop in Manhattan, another at a private room at a swank club/restaurant, another overlooking a rundown trainyard, and other cool places like that with each venue somehow tied to each night's session. Should be a real challenge to get together, but a lot of fun and waaay worth it. I'm not a very LARPy guy, but I do like the idea of it now and then, and sometimes a little LARP goes a long way toward enhancing a session methinks, especially in a campaign like this which will have a lot more RP than hack most like.