D&D 4E Running player commentary on PCat's 4E Campaign - Heroic tier (finished)

[the Jester]

The story is good enough, I think, to stand on its own, without having to mention Dungeons & Dragons at all.

That is a lot harder than it sounds. Also, with the smashing success (ahem) of the previous D&D movies, I doubt whether any studio is willing to pony up more than $5 for the licensing rights.

 

[Herobizkit]

Fantasy Action-adventure serials are rare nowadays. It seems like the most popular serials are modern fantasy (qv. Vampire Diaries, Lost Girl), teen dramas (Glee), Reality TV, cop shows, and medical dramas.

With the popularity of The Guild, could it be possible to make this a web-serial? Bonus points if you can CG-animate it.

 

[carborundum]

With a bit of luck, A Game of Thrones will have the studios breaking down the doors of anyone with a good idea for a series... like PC!

 

[Markn]

The trailers for Game of Thrones looks awesome. Just like PC's game sounds awesome!

 

[Piratecat]

Thanks, folks.

One of the joys of having two unconnected games set in the same world is that I can occasionally tie them together in small ways that amuse me. For instance, Zacris's tower had a summoning room with two demons in it, as well as one burst summoning circle.

Meanwhile in the other campaign, the Merchant Prince group is deep in the jungle continent, trying to find the lost dragonborn City of Lore in order to gain a unique ritual. The city became taboo 100 years ago when people who went in stopped coming out. The PCs went in anyways. It looks like it has been conquered by a former seneschal of Hell, a devil of knowledge that had previously been trapped by some inquisitor in Capria who used him to learn about treason in the heart of the empire. Anyone want to guess who that inquisitor was?

The next few games in both campaigns should prove to be really interesting.

 

[Seule]

The story is good enough, I think, to stand on its own, without having to mention Dungeons & Dragons at all. Still, what people do, I understand, is develop a script, find an agent to work through to get a studio's attention, and then the studio does all the work getting licensing rights, etc.

You might not get much of a cut from the first one, but by the second and third series/movie, you'll be rolling in the gp.

It's not the story or plot or characters that determine whether a story gets made into a movie or TV show (at least not entirely), as I understand it it's the execution that matters.
So, in this case, it's not that there's a cool story, it's that Piratecat has shown that he can write.
Of course Jonrog or Spyscribe would know much better than I.

--Penn

 

[Piratecat]

Paragon tier thread located here:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-dis...ts-d-d-4th-edition-campaign-paragon-tier.html

 

[Radiating Gnome]

They should be so lucky.
It's all in the mechanics. If the pseudobunny can't come to the adventurer...

[sblock=Monster stats for the encounter

Monster 1: Flock of blind, carnivorous flesh-eating cave birds.

Darkswallow Swarm (Level 4) Medium natural beast (avian, swarm) Level 4 Soldier XP 175
Initiative +8 Senses Perception +8
Swarm Attack aura 1; the darkswallow swarm makes a basic attack as a free action against each enemy that begins its turn in the aura.
HP 54; Bloodied 27
AC 20; Fortitude 17, Reflex 19, Will 16
Immune fear; Resist half damage from melee and ranged attacks; Vulnerable 5 against close and area attacks
Speed 7
Flensing Swarm (Standard, at-will)
+10 vs Armor Class; 1d10+5 damage, or 2d10+5 damage against an immobilized target..
Lift the Prey (Minor, at-will)
+9 vs Fortitude; the target is immobilized until the end of the darkswallow swarm's next turn.
Alignment Unaligned Languages --
Str 15 (+4) Dex 18 (+6) Wis 12 (+3)
Con 14 (+4) Int 2 (-2) Cha 10 (+2)


Monster 2: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
Level 4 Solo Controller Medium Aberrant Beast (Plant) XP 700
Action Points: 2
Saving throws: +5
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +11; tremorsense
Grasping Roots aura 3; the Wolf In Sheep's Clothing makes a Grasping Roots attack as a free action against each enemy that begins its turn in the aura or enters the aura.
HP 168; Bloodied 84
AC 18; Fortitude 19, Reflex 15, Will 16
Speed 2
Gnashing Teeth (standard; at-will)
+9 vs AC; 2d8 + 4 damage
Grasping Roots (Standard; at-will)
Melee Reach 3. +8 vs AC; 1d6+4 damage and target is grabbed. If the target is already grabbed, the target is Pulled 1.
Tempting Lure (requires bunny minion; standard; recharge 56)
The rabbit blinks coyly at you and hops a few paces away.
Ranged 10; +8 vs Will; 3d6 + 4 psychic damage and the target is pulled 3 towards the luring bunny.
Thrashing Roots (free, when first bloodied; encounter)
Close burst 3; +6 vs. Reflex; 2d6+4 damage, and any un-grabbed target is pushed 3 squares and knocked prone.
Combat Advantage
The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing does an additional 1d6 damage on any attack with which it has Combat advantage.
Extrude Appendage (Move; recharge 456)
The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing summons a new appendage: either a new Eyestalk or a new Bunny. The appendage must appear within 3 spaces of the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.
* The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing begins the encounter with two active Eyestalks and one active bunny, and can never have more than 4 eyestalks and two bunnies.
* For every active eyestalk, the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing gains a +1 to hit and perception checks.
* For every active Bunny, the wolf in Sheep's clothing gains a +1 to its AC and Will defense
* The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing can move its Eyestalks and Bunnies with a speed of 1 by spending a minor action.
* Eyestalks do not make attacks of their own, but do provide flanking bonuses for the Wolf in Sheep's clothing (in addition to the +1 to hit).
* A Bunny is the focus of the Tempting Lure attack -- the attack's range and line of sight is calculated from the Bunny's square.
* Eyestalks can be attacked and use the Wolf In Sheep's Clothing's defenses. Any attack that does less than 10 points of damage to the eyestalk has no effect. An attack that does 10 points of damage or more destroys the eyestalk and does 5 points of damage to the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.

Massive thanks to the guys in RBDMC for designing most of this.
[/sblock]
If you yoink these for your own game, don't take the WISC exactly as written. I'll talk about what aspects of the monster design worked, and what didn't work, after Sagiro has posted.

I thought I'd point out that it will (hopefully) soon be possible to have YOU VERY OWN Wolf-In-Sheep's Clothing mini, thanks to this Kickstarter:

Tentacles & Eyeballs: An RPG Horror Miniatures Set by Dark-Platypus Studio — Kickstarter

The WISC mini is the reward at the $10 sponsorship level.

[The KS project is by Dark Platypus studios, the folks who make the little magnetic status flags and a bunch of other good game aids. I'm not connected, just someone who has a lot of their products]

-rg