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Running DDAL04 (Ravenloft) Adventures as a Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="jayoungr" data-source="post: 7576246" data-attributes="member: 6702445"><p><strong>A Trip to the Quivering Forest part 1: DDAL04-01 & DDAL04-06</strong></p><p></p><p>Since Barovia is in my group's homebrew world, the Quivering Forest just another location there, and Jeny Greenteeth came from somewhere else in the same world. In my group's world, elves don't typically live in Barovia, so I changed the history of Greenhall: it's an enclave of druids working to heal the forest, which includes some elves who have traveled there from other areas. I greatly reduced the size of Greenhall, making it only a couple of dozen or so strong.</p><p></p><p>I also threw out everything about Aya Glenmiir except her name. She's now a scout from Greenhall, using the <strong>elven scout</strong> statblock. The explanation for how she and the two boys came to be lost near the Vaduvas' camp was that thick mists had suddenly descended on the Quivering Forest about ten days earlier, when the boys were away from the camp. Aya went looking for them, but when she found them, they were unable to find their way back. They had been wandering ever since, without seeing a familiar landmark or another living soul except for Alina and Laszlo, who were beginning their violent quarrel when the elves happened on their camp.</p><p></p><p><em>(Note: Logically, the elves should have ransacked the camp for food and taken that salted ham in Laszlo's backback, since they were so hungry. If I were to run this again, I'd include that detail--unless I just cut the elves entirely.)</em></p><p></p><p>I transitioned from the last adventure by saying that the roads were impassable for several days, but since it was still early in the season, there was enough of a thaw after the storm for them to make the journey. I also included the detail about the snow disappearing when they reached the Quivering Forest.</p><p></p><p><strong>This Does Not Belong Here</strong></p><p></p><p>On the road, I inserted "This Does Not Belong Here," the encounter with the Vistani wagon with a tree growing through it, from DDAL04-02 "The Beast." That's a nicely atmospheric vignette, and it's annoying that there is no follow-up to it. I figured that the occupants of the wagon became some of the victims of the giant spiders, although I don't know if my players figured that part out. The bard took the tambourine.</p><p></p><p><strong>Fire Thistles</strong></p><p></p><p>Then, to get to the forest, they had to climb the icy hill with the fire thistles from DDAL04-01. I think the players enjoyed this. The bard and rogue picked two thistles each, and although I stressed that they wouldn't keep their power for long, I let them use them against the spiders later. The paladin and cleric lost their footing on the hill and slid into the fire thistle bush. Here's where the rules, as written, will annoy players like mine: each of them got three thistles stuck to them. The module only allows for a PC to try to carefully remove one thistle in the round before they explode. But the players wanted to use their actions to drop and roll in the snow to keep all the thistles from exploding. It would have felt really cheesy saying "No, you can't do that," so I let them make an acrobatics roll to save for half damage.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mad Elves</strong></p><p></p><p>Next, upon entering the Quivering Forest, they encountered the mad elves from "Suits of the Mists." Aya recognized them and called out to them, but they were too crazed to recognize her. The party wanted to use the cooshees against the elves, but none of them were trained in animal handling. I offered to give them advantage on the animal handling check if they made it when within melee range of a cooshee--with the downside that if the check failed, the cooshee could then make a melee attack when its turn came.</p><p></p><p><strong>Meeting with Derali</strong></p><p></p><p>I changed Derali and her guards to humans. They came on the scene as soon as the fight with the mad elves was finished. Derali explained to Aya that the mists had continued to descend since they were lost from the camp, having varying effects on the druids. Each time the mists appeared, more of the druids disappeared. Some turned up later, completely mad, like the scouts the party had just fought; others seemed to have disappeared completely. The druids had varying theories about where the mists came from: some thought they were caused by Jeny Greenteeth, and others thought Strahd was creating them. Derali sent her guards to accompany Aya's companions and the mad scouts back to Greenhall. She asked Aya and the PCs to help her look for more of the missing druids.</p><p></p><p><strong>A Sticky Situation</strong></p><p></p><p>I ran this encounter without changes. After it was over, the PCs were invited back to Greenhall for a long rest.</p><p></p><p>The group reached level 2 in this session.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jayoungr, post: 7576246, member: 6702445"] [B]A Trip to the Quivering Forest part 1: DDAL04-01 & DDAL04-06[/B] Since Barovia is in my group's homebrew world, the Quivering Forest just another location there, and Jeny Greenteeth came from somewhere else in the same world. In my group's world, elves don't typically live in Barovia, so I changed the history of Greenhall: it's an enclave of druids working to heal the forest, which includes some elves who have traveled there from other areas. I greatly reduced the size of Greenhall, making it only a couple of dozen or so strong. I also threw out everything about Aya Glenmiir except her name. She's now a scout from Greenhall, using the [B]elven scout[/B] statblock. The explanation for how she and the two boys came to be lost near the Vaduvas' camp was that thick mists had suddenly descended on the Quivering Forest about ten days earlier, when the boys were away from the camp. Aya went looking for them, but when she found them, they were unable to find their way back. They had been wandering ever since, without seeing a familiar landmark or another living soul except for Alina and Laszlo, who were beginning their violent quarrel when the elves happened on their camp. [I](Note: Logically, the elves should have ransacked the camp for food and taken that salted ham in Laszlo's backback, since they were so hungry. If I were to run this again, I'd include that detail--unless I just cut the elves entirely.)[/I] I transitioned from the last adventure by saying that the roads were impassable for several days, but since it was still early in the season, there was enough of a thaw after the storm for them to make the journey. I also included the detail about the snow disappearing when they reached the Quivering Forest. [B]This Does Not Belong Here[/B] On the road, I inserted "This Does Not Belong Here," the encounter with the Vistani wagon with a tree growing through it, from DDAL04-02 "The Beast." That's a nicely atmospheric vignette, and it's annoying that there is no follow-up to it. I figured that the occupants of the wagon became some of the victims of the giant spiders, although I don't know if my players figured that part out. The bard took the tambourine. [B]Fire Thistles[/B] Then, to get to the forest, they had to climb the icy hill with the fire thistles from DDAL04-01. I think the players enjoyed this. The bard and rogue picked two thistles each, and although I stressed that they wouldn't keep their power for long, I let them use them against the spiders later. The paladin and cleric lost their footing on the hill and slid into the fire thistle bush. Here's where the rules, as written, will annoy players like mine: each of them got three thistles stuck to them. The module only allows for a PC to try to carefully remove one thistle in the round before they explode. But the players wanted to use their actions to drop and roll in the snow to keep all the thistles from exploding. It would have felt really cheesy saying "No, you can't do that," so I let them make an acrobatics roll to save for half damage. [B]Mad Elves[/B] Next, upon entering the Quivering Forest, they encountered the mad elves from "Suits of the Mists." Aya recognized them and called out to them, but they were too crazed to recognize her. The party wanted to use the cooshees against the elves, but none of them were trained in animal handling. I offered to give them advantage on the animal handling check if they made it when within melee range of a cooshee--with the downside that if the check failed, the cooshee could then make a melee attack when its turn came. [B]Meeting with Derali[/B] I changed Derali and her guards to humans. They came on the scene as soon as the fight with the mad elves was finished. Derali explained to Aya that the mists had continued to descend since they were lost from the camp, having varying effects on the druids. Each time the mists appeared, more of the druids disappeared. Some turned up later, completely mad, like the scouts the party had just fought; others seemed to have disappeared completely. The druids had varying theories about where the mists came from: some thought they were caused by Jeny Greenteeth, and others thought Strahd was creating them. Derali sent her guards to accompany Aya's companions and the mad scouts back to Greenhall. She asked Aya and the PCs to help her look for more of the missing druids. [B]A Sticky Situation[/B] I ran this encounter without changes. After it was over, the PCs were invited back to Greenhall for a long rest. The group reached level 2 in this session. [/QUOTE]
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