MortalPlague
Adventurer
I finally had a chance to do a proper playtest last night, and here's how it went down. I had everyone make characters (we rolled for stats), and I decided to run "Reclaiming Blingdenstone" with only one change; orc xp was reduced to 200xp each. Before making any drastic changes, I wanted to see how things ran.
The Heroes:
Tavros, a Human Sorcerer was a Bounty Hunter by trade, and a Jack Of All Trades by specialty. Burning hands proved to be his best friend.
Bree Tealeaf, a Halfling Slayer Fighter was a Thief and a Survivor. Armed with her trusty sling and her combat expertise, she was a danger to her foes.
Corporal Anselm Vandergruut of Dawn Brigade Ursa, a Human War Cleric of Pelor, he was also a capable Soldier and Guardian.
Entering Blingdenstone
The first order of business was to go see Karglen, since he was in charge. The PCs took stock of the situation, asking him how they could best help. He told them the orcs were the most urgent threat, but he put the retrieval of the crown on equal footing. Anselm saw his longing for the crown, and inwardly wondered if that were good. The characters were treated to see Karglen's map of the city, and they asked to transcribe it. They had paper, so they quickly took down a map of the city.
Acquiring the map changed the feel of the game. I think it took away some of the exploration elements, but it also made it easier to see where things were in relation to each other. I'm not sure how I will handle this at PAX.
The adventurers split up to look around the town. Tavros and Bree went to the Singing Stones to talk with Gurmadden, and he filled them in on the Wormwrithings and the kobold problem. Then they went and spoke with Pingtu, who agreed to perform the divination in an hour. Anselm, meanwhile, went up to the infirmary and spoke with Jalless. She voiced her displeasure at Karglen; he wants to wear the crown, but does he deserve it? This put the PCs in an uneasy spot; if they retrieved the crown, who would they give it to?
Anselm was happy to use his healing on the fallen gnomes, putting many svirfneblin back into commission. He began to figure that if he spent most of his healing on the gnomes on a daily basis, he'd be able to really bolster the front lines against the orcs. Over the course of the game, whenever he had spare healing before they rested up, he'd visit the infirmary and help out.
Why So Silent?
The heroes met back up just outside the infirmary to discuss their course of action. They were briefly interrupted by an orc attack; five orcs assaulted the barricade! They were handily destroyed; not a single hit was landed on a PC, though one of the svirfneblin guards was injured. Even at half xp, the orcs pushed the three PCs halfway to a level.
Following the attack, the PCs resumed their discussion. They decided to attend to Pingtu's ritual. In doing so, they learned about the gems they needed to gather, and the weapons as well. They immediately realized that they would need Karglen's emerald. The others, they began to look and ask around for.
House Center
Our heroes decided on their first course of action; they would assault the House Center. They met five more orcs in the tunnel, who they handled very briefly. The surprise round did not help the orcs case. The encounter put them at enough xp to level, but they were not ready to rest, so they pressed on.
The House Center wound up being less interesting than I thought; the network of tunnels from the "south entrance" have very little actually going on for all their complexity. For PAX, I may condense some of the rooms, or add more monsters.
The battle with the five giant centipedes yielded the first hit for my monsters; one of them bit Anselm's foot for one damage! He did not succumb to any poison, however.
The fight with the wight was pretty good, though no hits were landed by the monster. Diplomacy broke down almost immediately, and when Anselm used turn undead to freeze two of the four skeletons in place, the fight was all but over. The other two skeletons and the wight were handily taken care of; +2 to hit was just not enough to best AC 16. Anselm used his guardian interrupt to good effect, while Bree was a damage dealer. Tavros made excellent use of burning hands, though he wound up rolling poorly for damage on most of them. The wight made the first save and took half (5 damage), then failed his second save and took 5 damage. In the end, while the wight had enough staying power to last a few rounds, he just couldn't hit anything.
Claiming the crown, our heroes retreated outside the House Center. Since we'd already had so many one-sided orc fights, I decided the orcs were going to keep their distance instead of attacking.
The heroes had to figure out what to do with the crown. Would they give it to Karglen? Would they hand it over to Jalless, who wanted to hold it in trust until an heir was found? They decided that perhaps Pingtu would be the best choice, with the idea that once the Standing Stones were speaking again, they could ask the Lords of the Golden Hill who should wear the crown.
In the meantime, it remained a secret.
The adventurers rested back in the safe zone, and they gained second level. With all the dungeon xp, they were only 400 shy of 3rd level. The increase in hit points made them far less fragile, though they had only taken a single point of damage among them to that point.
Putting The Kobolds To Work
The following day, Anselm came up with an unusual plan. Kobolds are clever trap-makers, and the svirfneblin are having trouble with orcs. He decided that a trip into the Wormwrithings might be more profitable if they were to extend the olive branch, and offer to pay the kobolds to setup some traps in the orc tunnels!
They found Minglin Crackedquartz insisting on coming along, where he made a nuisance of himself (though the gems the party generously allowed him made him plenty happy). The PCs cleverly spotted the net trap and avoided it, then pursued the kobolds into the Wormwrithings proper.
The very first encounter I rolled was a '10', followed by another '10'. Yes, the very first thing our PCs heard was a loud rumble, steadily drawing nearer. Our heroes have a lot of respect for a purple worm, so they were clever enough to get the hell out of the way before it burrowed past.
A few mining encounters later, the PCs came upon a kobold ambush. Making the sign for parley, they managed to convince one of the dragonshields (who spoke halting common) to summon someone to negotiate. Several minutes later, a shaman showed up, and he cut a deal; for each singing crystal the PCs gathered for him, he'd build one trap.
Without the fear of the kobolds, our heroes had an easy time of things in the Wormwrithings. No further purple worms were spotted, but they did find the sapphire and some citrines, along with a whole ton of singing crystals. They made some final arrangements with the kobolds, then returned to Blingdenstone to convince Karglen to let them execute their crazy plan.
It took some convincing, but with the heroes agreeing to supervise the kobolds, they were permitted to put it into motion. Our heroes rested up, levelled up, and then set about guarding the kobolds while they built some clever traps.
While they were building one of them, I introduced Talabrina Duskryn for the first time. The PCs just managed to spot a dark elf woman watching from the shadows, before she ran off into the dark. The tension was palpable, as they realized they were now being stalked by a dark elf.
The final traps were placed without further event, but the characters were now on alert. They were speculating about the dark elf, trying to figure out what she was up to. Was she behind the orcs? Was she part of a bigger force? But, as Anselm pointed out, at least she'd seen exactly what they wanted her to see; the svirfneblin were well-protected, and wouldn't be easily attacked.
Divine Divinations
Our heroes set their sights on gathering all the gems; the amethyst was easily acquired from Henkala Shadowsong (who suggested in strong terms that the PCs try and deal with Ogremoch's Bane), and they collected the ruby fragments from the temple to the north. They decided to spend another hour collecting fragments, and sure enough, the orcs attacked.
At this point, the PCs had been steamrolling everything, and they were third level. So on top of the four orcs, I added an ogre. I figured it was time for something a little bit more dangerous.
The ogre led the charge, with two of the orcs going into melee, while the other two stayed back with bows. The baddies lost the initiative, however. Bree was on top; the halfling fighter darted forward and took down one of the melee orcs with a mean sling stone. Anselm followed her; he strode up next to her (to defend her) and conjured a spiritual hammer, which batted one of the archers for a single point of damage. Tavros was next; he blasted one of the orcs with a magic missile, wounding him.
Finally the orcs managed to go; one was left in melee, pretty wounded. He'd started the fight bloodied (I wanted to give the players some immediate feedback from their trapping efforts), so he was in rough shape after the MM. He couldn't reach the PCs either, so he devoted his action to dodging. The archers both missed with lousy attack rolls. Finally, the ogre brought up the rear; he moved up and swung at Bree. Anselm imposed disadvantage, which was a good thing; the ogre's first roll turned up a crit! The second was still a result of 14 on the dice, which totalled 18 after bonuses. At long last, a second hit, and this time for 11 damage!
After that, the PCs turned around and destroyed the ogre. He got one more swing in, and with disadvantage, he missed. The orcs fared little better. As Anselm followed the last orc outside, he caught sight of a certain female dark elf watching the battle from a distance. When he looked back, she was gone.
I can't wait for the first actual fight with Talabrina. She's biding her time, waiting for the opportune moment.
With the ruby shards in their possession, the heroes had all the gems but one; Karglen's emerald. They marched back to his headquarters, and asked him to help out.
"Where's the crown?" was his surly reply.
The heroes suddenly realized the secret was out. Karglen had found out the House Center was clear. He knew they had the crown, and he knew they weren't giving it up. There was a tense standoff, where Tavros and Anselm told Karglen their plan to let Pingtu call the Standing Stones to life and ask the gods who should wear the crown. Realizing that he might be able to bully Pingtu into giving him the crown, Karglen made a show of reluctantly accepting. He still wasn't happy, but this wasn't a battle he could win. So he removed his emerald, and walked with them to the Standing Stones to oversee the ritual.
Pingtu and the PCs completed the ritual, and Pingtu performed a slightly different divination than the book's suggested one. He tried to divine the correct king for Blingdenstone. The gods could not agree, however; they told Pingtu to return in a week for their verdict. Which means for now, the crown was in Pingtu's keeping.
Karglen announced a celebration, and publicly thanked the heroes for their great service so far. And all the while, he waits the moment they depart for any length of time to seize the crown.
Thoughts
The Heroes:
Tavros, a Human Sorcerer was a Bounty Hunter by trade, and a Jack Of All Trades by specialty. Burning hands proved to be his best friend.
Bree Tealeaf, a Halfling Slayer Fighter was a Thief and a Survivor. Armed with her trusty sling and her combat expertise, she was a danger to her foes.
Corporal Anselm Vandergruut of Dawn Brigade Ursa, a Human War Cleric of Pelor, he was also a capable Soldier and Guardian.
Entering Blingdenstone
The first order of business was to go see Karglen, since he was in charge. The PCs took stock of the situation, asking him how they could best help. He told them the orcs were the most urgent threat, but he put the retrieval of the crown on equal footing. Anselm saw his longing for the crown, and inwardly wondered if that were good. The characters were treated to see Karglen's map of the city, and they asked to transcribe it. They had paper, so they quickly took down a map of the city.
Acquiring the map changed the feel of the game. I think it took away some of the exploration elements, but it also made it easier to see where things were in relation to each other. I'm not sure how I will handle this at PAX.
The adventurers split up to look around the town. Tavros and Bree went to the Singing Stones to talk with Gurmadden, and he filled them in on the Wormwrithings and the kobold problem. Then they went and spoke with Pingtu, who agreed to perform the divination in an hour. Anselm, meanwhile, went up to the infirmary and spoke with Jalless. She voiced her displeasure at Karglen; he wants to wear the crown, but does he deserve it? This put the PCs in an uneasy spot; if they retrieved the crown, who would they give it to?
Anselm was happy to use his healing on the fallen gnomes, putting many svirfneblin back into commission. He began to figure that if he spent most of his healing on the gnomes on a daily basis, he'd be able to really bolster the front lines against the orcs. Over the course of the game, whenever he had spare healing before they rested up, he'd visit the infirmary and help out.
Why So Silent?
The heroes met back up just outside the infirmary to discuss their course of action. They were briefly interrupted by an orc attack; five orcs assaulted the barricade! They were handily destroyed; not a single hit was landed on a PC, though one of the svirfneblin guards was injured. Even at half xp, the orcs pushed the three PCs halfway to a level.
Following the attack, the PCs resumed their discussion. They decided to attend to Pingtu's ritual. In doing so, they learned about the gems they needed to gather, and the weapons as well. They immediately realized that they would need Karglen's emerald. The others, they began to look and ask around for.
House Center
Our heroes decided on their first course of action; they would assault the House Center. They met five more orcs in the tunnel, who they handled very briefly. The surprise round did not help the orcs case. The encounter put them at enough xp to level, but they were not ready to rest, so they pressed on.
The House Center wound up being less interesting than I thought; the network of tunnels from the "south entrance" have very little actually going on for all their complexity. For PAX, I may condense some of the rooms, or add more monsters.
The battle with the five giant centipedes yielded the first hit for my monsters; one of them bit Anselm's foot for one damage! He did not succumb to any poison, however.
The fight with the wight was pretty good, though no hits were landed by the monster. Diplomacy broke down almost immediately, and when Anselm used turn undead to freeze two of the four skeletons in place, the fight was all but over. The other two skeletons and the wight were handily taken care of; +2 to hit was just not enough to best AC 16. Anselm used his guardian interrupt to good effect, while Bree was a damage dealer. Tavros made excellent use of burning hands, though he wound up rolling poorly for damage on most of them. The wight made the first save and took half (5 damage), then failed his second save and took 5 damage. In the end, while the wight had enough staying power to last a few rounds, he just couldn't hit anything.
Claiming the crown, our heroes retreated outside the House Center. Since we'd already had so many one-sided orc fights, I decided the orcs were going to keep their distance instead of attacking.
The heroes had to figure out what to do with the crown. Would they give it to Karglen? Would they hand it over to Jalless, who wanted to hold it in trust until an heir was found? They decided that perhaps Pingtu would be the best choice, with the idea that once the Standing Stones were speaking again, they could ask the Lords of the Golden Hill who should wear the crown.
In the meantime, it remained a secret.
The adventurers rested back in the safe zone, and they gained second level. With all the dungeon xp, they were only 400 shy of 3rd level. The increase in hit points made them far less fragile, though they had only taken a single point of damage among them to that point.
Putting The Kobolds To Work
The following day, Anselm came up with an unusual plan. Kobolds are clever trap-makers, and the svirfneblin are having trouble with orcs. He decided that a trip into the Wormwrithings might be more profitable if they were to extend the olive branch, and offer to pay the kobolds to setup some traps in the orc tunnels!
They found Minglin Crackedquartz insisting on coming along, where he made a nuisance of himself (though the gems the party generously allowed him made him plenty happy). The PCs cleverly spotted the net trap and avoided it, then pursued the kobolds into the Wormwrithings proper.
The very first encounter I rolled was a '10', followed by another '10'. Yes, the very first thing our PCs heard was a loud rumble, steadily drawing nearer. Our heroes have a lot of respect for a purple worm, so they were clever enough to get the hell out of the way before it burrowed past.
A few mining encounters later, the PCs came upon a kobold ambush. Making the sign for parley, they managed to convince one of the dragonshields (who spoke halting common) to summon someone to negotiate. Several minutes later, a shaman showed up, and he cut a deal; for each singing crystal the PCs gathered for him, he'd build one trap.
Without the fear of the kobolds, our heroes had an easy time of things in the Wormwrithings. No further purple worms were spotted, but they did find the sapphire and some citrines, along with a whole ton of singing crystals. They made some final arrangements with the kobolds, then returned to Blingdenstone to convince Karglen to let them execute their crazy plan.
It took some convincing, but with the heroes agreeing to supervise the kobolds, they were permitted to put it into motion. Our heroes rested up, levelled up, and then set about guarding the kobolds while they built some clever traps.
While they were building one of them, I introduced Talabrina Duskryn for the first time. The PCs just managed to spot a dark elf woman watching from the shadows, before she ran off into the dark. The tension was palpable, as they realized they were now being stalked by a dark elf.
The final traps were placed without further event, but the characters were now on alert. They were speculating about the dark elf, trying to figure out what she was up to. Was she behind the orcs? Was she part of a bigger force? But, as Anselm pointed out, at least she'd seen exactly what they wanted her to see; the svirfneblin were well-protected, and wouldn't be easily attacked.
Divine Divinations
Our heroes set their sights on gathering all the gems; the amethyst was easily acquired from Henkala Shadowsong (who suggested in strong terms that the PCs try and deal with Ogremoch's Bane), and they collected the ruby fragments from the temple to the north. They decided to spend another hour collecting fragments, and sure enough, the orcs attacked.
At this point, the PCs had been steamrolling everything, and they were third level. So on top of the four orcs, I added an ogre. I figured it was time for something a little bit more dangerous.
The ogre led the charge, with two of the orcs going into melee, while the other two stayed back with bows. The baddies lost the initiative, however. Bree was on top; the halfling fighter darted forward and took down one of the melee orcs with a mean sling stone. Anselm followed her; he strode up next to her (to defend her) and conjured a spiritual hammer, which batted one of the archers for a single point of damage. Tavros was next; he blasted one of the orcs with a magic missile, wounding him.
Finally the orcs managed to go; one was left in melee, pretty wounded. He'd started the fight bloodied (I wanted to give the players some immediate feedback from their trapping efforts), so he was in rough shape after the MM. He couldn't reach the PCs either, so he devoted his action to dodging. The archers both missed with lousy attack rolls. Finally, the ogre brought up the rear; he moved up and swung at Bree. Anselm imposed disadvantage, which was a good thing; the ogre's first roll turned up a crit! The second was still a result of 14 on the dice, which totalled 18 after bonuses. At long last, a second hit, and this time for 11 damage!
After that, the PCs turned around and destroyed the ogre. He got one more swing in, and with disadvantage, he missed. The orcs fared little better. As Anselm followed the last orc outside, he caught sight of a certain female dark elf watching the battle from a distance. When he looked back, she was gone.
I can't wait for the first actual fight with Talabrina. She's biding her time, waiting for the opportune moment.
With the ruby shards in their possession, the heroes had all the gems but one; Karglen's emerald. They marched back to his headquarters, and asked him to help out.
"Where's the crown?" was his surly reply.
The heroes suddenly realized the secret was out. Karglen had found out the House Center was clear. He knew they had the crown, and he knew they weren't giving it up. There was a tense standoff, where Tavros and Anselm told Karglen their plan to let Pingtu call the Standing Stones to life and ask the gods who should wear the crown. Realizing that he might be able to bully Pingtu into giving him the crown, Karglen made a show of reluctantly accepting. He still wasn't happy, but this wasn't a battle he could win. So he removed his emerald, and walked with them to the Standing Stones to oversee the ritual.
Pingtu and the PCs completed the ritual, and Pingtu performed a slightly different divination than the book's suggested one. He tried to divine the correct king for Blingdenstone. The gods could not agree, however; they told Pingtu to return in a week for their verdict. Which means for now, the crown was in Pingtu's keeping.
Karglen announced a celebration, and publicly thanked the heroes for their great service so far. And all the while, he waits the moment they depart for any length of time to seize the crown.
Thoughts
- Overall, the Blingdenstone adventure is very good. I ran a seven hour session, well into the night, and I think a large part of that was that my party enjoyed the political intrigue happening behind the scenes, and the opportunity to improvise on a grand scale. That's something that I haven't seen in many adventures, and it worked really well.
- Monster to-hit seems a touch low, as many posters have mentioned. In particular, orcs could really benefit from a +1 or +2 bonus. Or there need to be more orcs in those patrols.
- The Wight, as one of the bosses, really needs a +2 bonus to hit. I was slashing away at the party and I couldn't hit them once. Even with two attacks per round. He could also use a slightly higher AC, I think.
- I'm planning to draft up a list of NPCs in Blingdenstone on a cue card. There are too many to easily keep track of, I found myself forgetting names and shuffling through papers to find them. I may also do up NPC name cards for the PCs at PAX, so they can keep track of the NPCs. Or perhaps an "Important People" list?
- The journal is fun, but it feels a bit random. I want to do the pages up as hand-outs for the table, which will make things a bit more interesting I think.
- Sorcerers get a ton of spells. By third level, our sorcerer could cast burning hands eight times per day.
- Ultimately, my players had a lot of fun. There were many positive comments, and we were playing late into the night. And overall, it was a fun session to run.
