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[SPOILERS] Enhancing Tomb of Annihilation
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<blockquote data-quote="Brotton Goodfellow" data-source="post: 7456475" data-attributes="member: 6812740"><p>Some of this stuff may have already been discussed, but here's some of the things I've done in my ToA campaign to make it more friendly to my table. </p><p></p><p>1. I've nerfed the whole idea that the adventure is a "time bomb" style adventure. I wanted the players to not feel pressured into getting to Omu, and have them really explore Chult. I could more easily persuade them to go to other locations without them worrying about how much time is left before Syndra dies. </p><p></p><p>2. The players got into the jungle pretty quick (Lvl 2 I think), and I didn't pull too many punches when it came to random encounters. I stuck to the books way of producing random encounters and found that if I pre-planned some encounters the players enjoyed the action, and it made the jungle feel full of life. Even if the encounter was an easy fight, I still played it out (usually skipping the "mop up" stage, or having the baddies run away), just to give travelling some more flavour.</p><p></p><p>3. River and Flask were the party's guides, and I hated having to control them myself. I essentially just used them as sources of info about Chultan culture, flora/fauna and a few locations. Having 7 players at the table is already tough, adding 2 more NPC's would just grind the game down way more. I could see how beefing them up and using them in a campaign of 2-3 players would be useful. </p><p></p><p>4. I really wanted to play on the idea that surviving in the jungle wasn't easy and finding food and water was essential to the party surviving the campaign. Then the ranger with the Outlander background showed up and can find food and water for 5 players and herself each day. There was some discussion about whether or not this was an automatic thing or if she still had to roll to forage for food and water. Ultimately we decided it was an automatic thing and as long as the Ranger is foraging, the party has food and water. As much as I wanted there to be a large element of survival in this campaign, I'm actually relieved someone in the party has this capability. Managing lbs of food and litres of water was becoming monotonous and not fun. </p><p></p><p>5. Three of the players are interested in finding rare plants (two of them wanting to make their own healers kits, and the other poisons). So instead of foraging for food I have them forage for ingredients. One of the players found this really good table for foraging and making poisons, with DC's and lists of ingredients. I use the same DC's for non-poison related items, but just change what they find. I was using the list of plants in Appendix C of ToA. </p><p></p><p>6. The party's first location was Mezro. They had learned about it's destruction from Ras Nsi, and not having any other clues as to where to start looking they set out for it. I played on the idea that the Flaming Fist had picked it clean, and instead of finding the ruined city completely empty, the players were met by a large contingent of the merc group who were in the process of moving all their loot onto ships. The players were able to befriend the Flaming Fist captain and were led to a dungeon I created with a flying monkey motif. I used a premade trap hallway from XGTE, which almost resulted in a TPK. Anyway, the party found a magic item, which let them cast animal friendship every 24 hours. I felt that since this was their first trip out into the jungle, that if all they found was a completely empty city with zero treasure in it, they'd be let down. </p><p></p><p>7. Kir Sabal was their next destination. I beefed this place up and made it so the bird people live on top of the large plateau above the cliffside village. The skill challenge to get up to the cliffside village was a hoot. I cut it short once a few of the PC's made it up and convinced the guards that they were friendly. The guards then assisted the struggling players by showing them where to step exactly and providing some rope. Here they found out about the lost city of Omu and it's location. I had Asharra tell the party that if they needed more info, they should seek out Orolunga and the great seer who dwells there. And because Orolunga and Omu are so far away, Asharra offered to do her bird dance and grant them wings. I also got the princess to plead her case to the bard </p><p></p><p>8. I love the map of Nangalore so I bought it and printed it out on a regular sheet of paper for reference while the players were exploring (if combat broke out, I'd get down to the nitty gritty on the battlemap). I'm going to try and do this as often as I can. At first the party was able to avoid combat with Zalkore the Medusa. The bard even made the deal with her to stay as her slave in return for the black orchid. His plan was to sneak away during the night, but that went to hell when he drank a vial of hallucinogens and got high for 6 hours. To make matters worse, the rogue decided to steal Thiru-Taya's ashes, which resulted in him being charmed by the Eblis's Zalkore uses as servants, which then led to the rogue being turned to stone after a really bad saving throw. Combat eventually happened betwenn Zalkore, her Eblis's, and the party. She would have died hadn't I used the dying bard as ransom for them to leave.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Brotton Goodfellow, post: 7456475, member: 6812740"] Some of this stuff may have already been discussed, but here's some of the things I've done in my ToA campaign to make it more friendly to my table. 1. I've nerfed the whole idea that the adventure is a "time bomb" style adventure. I wanted the players to not feel pressured into getting to Omu, and have them really explore Chult. I could more easily persuade them to go to other locations without them worrying about how much time is left before Syndra dies. 2. The players got into the jungle pretty quick (Lvl 2 I think), and I didn't pull too many punches when it came to random encounters. I stuck to the books way of producing random encounters and found that if I pre-planned some encounters the players enjoyed the action, and it made the jungle feel full of life. Even if the encounter was an easy fight, I still played it out (usually skipping the "mop up" stage, or having the baddies run away), just to give travelling some more flavour. 3. River and Flask were the party's guides, and I hated having to control them myself. I essentially just used them as sources of info about Chultan culture, flora/fauna and a few locations. Having 7 players at the table is already tough, adding 2 more NPC's would just grind the game down way more. I could see how beefing them up and using them in a campaign of 2-3 players would be useful. 4. I really wanted to play on the idea that surviving in the jungle wasn't easy and finding food and water was essential to the party surviving the campaign. Then the ranger with the Outlander background showed up and can find food and water for 5 players and herself each day. There was some discussion about whether or not this was an automatic thing or if she still had to roll to forage for food and water. Ultimately we decided it was an automatic thing and as long as the Ranger is foraging, the party has food and water. As much as I wanted there to be a large element of survival in this campaign, I'm actually relieved someone in the party has this capability. Managing lbs of food and litres of water was becoming monotonous and not fun. 5. Three of the players are interested in finding rare plants (two of them wanting to make their own healers kits, and the other poisons). So instead of foraging for food I have them forage for ingredients. One of the players found this really good table for foraging and making poisons, with DC's and lists of ingredients. I use the same DC's for non-poison related items, but just change what they find. I was using the list of plants in Appendix C of ToA. 6. The party's first location was Mezro. They had learned about it's destruction from Ras Nsi, and not having any other clues as to where to start looking they set out for it. I played on the idea that the Flaming Fist had picked it clean, and instead of finding the ruined city completely empty, the players were met by a large contingent of the merc group who were in the process of moving all their loot onto ships. The players were able to befriend the Flaming Fist captain and were led to a dungeon I created with a flying monkey motif. I used a premade trap hallway from XGTE, which almost resulted in a TPK. Anyway, the party found a magic item, which let them cast animal friendship every 24 hours. I felt that since this was their first trip out into the jungle, that if all they found was a completely empty city with zero treasure in it, they'd be let down. 7. Kir Sabal was their next destination. I beefed this place up and made it so the bird people live on top of the large plateau above the cliffside village. The skill challenge to get up to the cliffside village was a hoot. I cut it short once a few of the PC's made it up and convinced the guards that they were friendly. The guards then assisted the struggling players by showing them where to step exactly and providing some rope. Here they found out about the lost city of Omu and it's location. I had Asharra tell the party that if they needed more info, they should seek out Orolunga and the great seer who dwells there. And because Orolunga and Omu are so far away, Asharra offered to do her bird dance and grant them wings. I also got the princess to plead her case to the bard 8. I love the map of Nangalore so I bought it and printed it out on a regular sheet of paper for reference while the players were exploring (if combat broke out, I'd get down to the nitty gritty on the battlemap). I'm going to try and do this as often as I can. At first the party was able to avoid combat with Zalkore the Medusa. The bard even made the deal with her to stay as her slave in return for the black orchid. His plan was to sneak away during the night, but that went to hell when he drank a vial of hallucinogens and got high for 6 hours. To make matters worse, the rogue decided to steal Thiru-Taya's ashes, which resulted in him being charmed by the Eblis's Zalkore uses as servants, which then led to the rogue being turned to stone after a really bad saving throw. Combat eventually happened betwenn Zalkore, her Eblis's, and the party. She would have died hadn't I used the dying bard as ransom for them to leave. [/QUOTE]
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