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Gears of Revolution: Notes on my campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Colmarr" data-source="post: 5827658" data-attributes="member: 59182"><p><strong>Session 12: Fall of Indomitability</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="color: darkorange">Session Summary</span></p><p> </p><p>[sblock]The sunrod landed square in the middle of RT3's camp, and Wilheim immediately moved to scoop it up and cast it back into the darkness. Even his fleetness proved insufficient and the semi-transparent crone circling the camp swept up into the sky with a cackle, from where she could clearly see the investigators sheltered within the ring of stones. The sudden light and the crone's insane chattering drew the attention of the other horrors, who abandoned their mindless circling of the ring of blood and began to push into the hidden camp.</p><p> </p><p>The serpent-maned lion roared with the force of nightmares and chilled blood rooted RT3 to the spot as the beast bounded through a concealing sheet of tent canvas and moved to attack Wilheim. On the opposite side of the camp, the legless horror dragged itself toward Cassi. It's eerily glowing eyes drilled into her mind, filling it with mindless terror. The hag wraith hovered overhead, its miasmic stench filling the air. As if in a dream, Erik looked to the hag, then pointed his loaded pistol at Wilheim and fired. Misshapen denizens of Cauldron Hill swooped in to join the fracas, their demonic chattering and dance biting at RT3's sanity.</p><p> </p><p>Cassi lashed out at the cackling crawler with her warhammer, even while trying to manoeuvre closer to the lion that was savaging Wilheim. Occupied with the legless horror, she had no opportunity to defend herself when a black-robed spirit manifested nearby. The vestige drifted over to her and caressed her hair with a bony hand, and Cassi felt a burning tugging as if on her very soul. The vestige disappeared as quickly as it appeared.</p><p>Thornt moved to the north of the camp, filling the area with swarms of biting and clawing insects that took a toll on the lesser swooping terrors that ringed the camp. Tok moved among the combatants, blasting at the nightmare-creatures with his magic and shouting warnings to his companions. </p><p> </p><p>Erik recovered his senses just in time for the hag to swoop down and attempt to plant a vomit-filled kiss on his lips. RT3's sergeant leapt aside and moved quickly to aid Cassi against the crawler. The lumbering thing moved with surprising agility when Erik levelled his pistol at its back, latching onto his legs and climbing the constable's body towards his neck. Erik wrestled with it, eventually managing to free his weapon. He rammed his pistol-bayonet into the crawler's mouth and pulled the trigger, scattering the creature's skull pan over a nearby fallen menhir.</p><p> </p><p>Freed from the crawler's gaze, Cassi moved off to engage the lion and in turn allowed Wilheim and Thornt to turn their attention to offence against the swarming spooks. While the risuri knight held the creature at bay, the balck-robed vestige appeared twice more, each time caressing her face. At the third touch, Cassi felt its grip on her soul solidify. She called a warning to her companions, and Erik turned against to aid her. </p><p> </p><p>When the vestige appeared for the fourth time Erik's pistol roared and the black robe danced wildly as the vestige spun. The shot had not been enough. A bone scythe appeared in the vestige's hands and swung down. Cassi, assaulted on one side by the serpent-maned lion and on the other by the vestige, could not avoid the blow. The tip of the scythe blade passed into the gorget of her armour and continued downward until it was buried almost entirely in her flesh. Cassi gasped once, and then slid wordlessly from the blade.</p><p> </p><p>Even in death, the young knight had served her companions well. Using the time Cassi had bought them, each now turned their attention to the lion, the hag wraith and the vestige. First one then another fell under a fusillade of pistol shots, blows and magic until the peak of Cauldron Hill was empty but for Nevard and the survivors of RT3. The skyseer moved quickly to Cassi and felt for a pulse. When he found none, he looked sadly to the investigators then calmly suggested that they should leave as soon as possible.</p><p> </p><p>The silhouetted figure had slipped away unnoticed during the battle.</p><p>RT3 regathered their breath before fashioning a little for Cassi's body, and then set out with utmost haste for the safety of Mayor Macbannin's manor. As they travelled, Nevard confirmed that their time at the peak had been sufficient to grant him a vision. Now he needed time to interpret it. That knowledge did little to raise RT3's spirits.</p><p> </p><p>When the investigators eventually reached Macbannin's manor, they were surprised to find a throng of people gathered inside the rear gate.[/sblock]</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: darkorange">Commentary</span></p><p> </p><p>Even though I knew the vestige of the death was distinctly capable of causing a PC death if it managed to get its keystone attack off, I can't say I was truly prepared when it eventually occurred. It certainly shook Erik's player up, as he confessed that he had already planned to use Display of Heroism to get Cassi up and running again if she were knocked unconscious. Oddly, at the time of Cassi's death only Erik's player and the player who controls Cassi and Thornt were at the table. Wilheim's player was absent for the session and Tok's player had had to leave halfway through the session. As a result, they heard about Cassi's death second hand. I'm not sure whether that makes the death more or less foreboding, but one thing is certain - the players now know that there is no guarantee of safety in the Gears of Revolution campaign.</p><p> </p><p>An old D&D friend (who played Fian and Caelen in my previous Stones & Shadow, Trees and Light campaign) is looking to rejoin the group at the end of march, and it's not clear whether he'll roll up a defender, or whether Wilheim's player will replace his monk with a paladin. If the latter, I hope to repurpose Wilheim as the sergeant of the RHC's second squad, and perhaps pit him as an NPC against the party at the end of Digging for Lies.</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: darkorange">The Good</span></p><p> </p><p>The three main antagonists in the ring of blood encounter are amazingly diverse, which made it quite difficult for the party to figure out how to combat them. The serpent-maned lion's roar allows them to get in amongst the party early, and the grabbing of the cackling crawler and the dazing attack of the hag wraith inhibit PC's usual responses. It was really enjoyable to have an encounter where it felt like I was just as much in control as the players.</p><p> </p><p>It was also great that the three "clear and present threats" made it difficult for the PCs to truly gauge the threat level of the vestige of death. In truth, I had expected it to face a barrage of readied attacks the first time I mentioned Cassi feeling a "tugging on her soul", but clearly everyone was too busy with the other monsters to make time to deal with the vestige.</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: darkorange">The Bad</span></p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, not many of the auras in the encounter (and there are plenty of them) really had much of an impact on the encounter. Tok fired off his daily Verse of Triumph, which allows all allies within 5 squares of him to shift when an enemy is reduced to 0 hp. That ability, coupled with the number of minions involved, meant that there were only two or three instances all encounter that someone ended their turn in an aura. Annoying!</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: darkorange">The Ugly</span></p><p> </p><p>I'm not really a fan of the spooks' Pandemonic Dance aura, specifically the section that specifies that spooks will damage each other. Given that they're minions, that makes them incredibly difficult to use en masse, which is really the whole point of minions. If you don't use them en masse, the PCs can pick them off fast enough that the aura never kicks in. </p><p> </p><p>The lack of a melee basic attack on the spooks also means they can't make opportunity attacks. Once my players realised that, the spooks really became secondary targets. In order to be effective minions, I recommend that you ignore the bit about damaging other monsters and/or give them a weak MBA.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Colmarr, post: 5827658, member: 59182"] [b]Session 12: Fall of Indomitability[/b] [COLOR=darkorange]Session Summary[/COLOR] [sblock]The sunrod landed square in the middle of RT3's camp, and Wilheim immediately moved to scoop it up and cast it back into the darkness. Even his fleetness proved insufficient and the semi-transparent crone circling the camp swept up into the sky with a cackle, from where she could clearly see the investigators sheltered within the ring of stones. The sudden light and the crone's insane chattering drew the attention of the other horrors, who abandoned their mindless circling of the ring of blood and began to push into the hidden camp. The serpent-maned lion roared with the force of nightmares and chilled blood rooted RT3 to the spot as the beast bounded through a concealing sheet of tent canvas and moved to attack Wilheim. On the opposite side of the camp, the legless horror dragged itself toward Cassi. It's eerily glowing eyes drilled into her mind, filling it with mindless terror. The hag wraith hovered overhead, its miasmic stench filling the air. As if in a dream, Erik looked to the hag, then pointed his loaded pistol at Wilheim and fired. Misshapen denizens of Cauldron Hill swooped in to join the fracas, their demonic chattering and dance biting at RT3's sanity. Cassi lashed out at the cackling crawler with her warhammer, even while trying to manoeuvre closer to the lion that was savaging Wilheim. Occupied with the legless horror, she had no opportunity to defend herself when a black-robed spirit manifested nearby. The vestige drifted over to her and caressed her hair with a bony hand, and Cassi felt a burning tugging as if on her very soul. The vestige disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Thornt moved to the north of the camp, filling the area with swarms of biting and clawing insects that took a toll on the lesser swooping terrors that ringed the camp. Tok moved among the combatants, blasting at the nightmare-creatures with his magic and shouting warnings to his companions. Erik recovered his senses just in time for the hag to swoop down and attempt to plant a vomit-filled kiss on his lips. RT3's sergeant leapt aside and moved quickly to aid Cassi against the crawler. The lumbering thing moved with surprising agility when Erik levelled his pistol at its back, latching onto his legs and climbing the constable's body towards his neck. Erik wrestled with it, eventually managing to free his weapon. He rammed his pistol-bayonet into the crawler's mouth and pulled the trigger, scattering the creature's skull pan over a nearby fallen menhir. Freed from the crawler's gaze, Cassi moved off to engage the lion and in turn allowed Wilheim and Thornt to turn their attention to offence against the swarming spooks. While the risuri knight held the creature at bay, the balck-robed vestige appeared twice more, each time caressing her face. At the third touch, Cassi felt its grip on her soul solidify. She called a warning to her companions, and Erik turned against to aid her. When the vestige appeared for the fourth time Erik's pistol roared and the black robe danced wildly as the vestige spun. The shot had not been enough. A bone scythe appeared in the vestige's hands and swung down. Cassi, assaulted on one side by the serpent-maned lion and on the other by the vestige, could not avoid the blow. The tip of the scythe blade passed into the gorget of her armour and continued downward until it was buried almost entirely in her flesh. Cassi gasped once, and then slid wordlessly from the blade. Even in death, the young knight had served her companions well. Using the time Cassi had bought them, each now turned their attention to the lion, the hag wraith and the vestige. First one then another fell under a fusillade of pistol shots, blows and magic until the peak of Cauldron Hill was empty but for Nevard and the survivors of RT3. The skyseer moved quickly to Cassi and felt for a pulse. When he found none, he looked sadly to the investigators then calmly suggested that they should leave as soon as possible. The silhouetted figure had slipped away unnoticed during the battle. RT3 regathered their breath before fashioning a little for Cassi's body, and then set out with utmost haste for the safety of Mayor Macbannin's manor. As they travelled, Nevard confirmed that their time at the peak had been sufficient to grant him a vision. Now he needed time to interpret it. That knowledge did little to raise RT3's spirits. When the investigators eventually reached Macbannin's manor, they were surprised to find a throng of people gathered inside the rear gate.[/sblock] [COLOR=darkorange]Commentary[/COLOR] Even though I knew the vestige of the death was distinctly capable of causing a PC death if it managed to get its keystone attack off, I can't say I was truly prepared when it eventually occurred. It certainly shook Erik's player up, as he confessed that he had already planned to use Display of Heroism to get Cassi up and running again if she were knocked unconscious. Oddly, at the time of Cassi's death only Erik's player and the player who controls Cassi and Thornt were at the table. Wilheim's player was absent for the session and Tok's player had had to leave halfway through the session. As a result, they heard about Cassi's death second hand. I'm not sure whether that makes the death more or less foreboding, but one thing is certain - the players now know that there is no guarantee of safety in the Gears of Revolution campaign. An old D&D friend (who played Fian and Caelen in my previous Stones & Shadow, Trees and Light campaign) is looking to rejoin the group at the end of march, and it's not clear whether he'll roll up a defender, or whether Wilheim's player will replace his monk with a paladin. If the latter, I hope to repurpose Wilheim as the sergeant of the RHC's second squad, and perhaps pit him as an NPC against the party at the end of Digging for Lies. [COLOR=darkorange]The Good[/COLOR] The three main antagonists in the ring of blood encounter are amazingly diverse, which made it quite difficult for the party to figure out how to combat them. The serpent-maned lion's roar allows them to get in amongst the party early, and the grabbing of the cackling crawler and the dazing attack of the hag wraith inhibit PC's usual responses. It was really enjoyable to have an encounter where it felt like I was just as much in control as the players. It was also great that the three "clear and present threats" made it difficult for the PCs to truly gauge the threat level of the vestige of death. In truth, I had expected it to face a barrage of readied attacks the first time I mentioned Cassi feeling a "tugging on her soul", but clearly everyone was too busy with the other monsters to make time to deal with the vestige. [COLOR=darkorange]The Bad[/COLOR] Unfortunately, not many of the auras in the encounter (and there are plenty of them) really had much of an impact on the encounter. Tok fired off his daily Verse of Triumph, which allows all allies within 5 squares of him to shift when an enemy is reduced to 0 hp. That ability, coupled with the number of minions involved, meant that there were only two or three instances all encounter that someone ended their turn in an aura. Annoying! [COLOR=darkorange]The Ugly[/COLOR] I'm not really a fan of the spooks' Pandemonic Dance aura, specifically the section that specifies that spooks will damage each other. Given that they're minions, that makes them incredibly difficult to use en masse, which is really the whole point of minions. If you don't use them en masse, the PCs can pick them off fast enough that the aura never kicks in. The lack of a melee basic attack on the spooks also means they can't make opportunity attacks. Once my players realised that, the spooks really became secondary targets. In order to be effective minions, I recommend that you ignore the bit about damaging other monsters and/or give them a weak MBA. [/QUOTE]
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