The Second Age [4e PoL campaign]

[Jack99]

I am being told that my thread from General Forum belongs here. I personally never considered it to be a Story Hour, but got to follow the rules...

I am going to copy all my posts from the original thread to this one, in order to not force people to jump between two threads in order to read about my campaign and comments.

 

[Jack99]

Molin, Bedet, BC, Bønne, Hansen og Jensen - Stay out

So, here we go again. Last week, I TPK'ed my players after 64 sessions and almost 23 levels. It was sort of an odd feeling, especially since we were all very happy with the campaign.

But sh.. err stuff happens and next week, we are getting right back on the proverbial horse and starting up a new campaign.

Our first campaign was started the week 4e was released, in June 08, and while we had lots of deaths, those that couldn't be fixed with a Raise Dead or Revive happened early in the campaign. So all classes were PHB1, straight out of the book.

It seems my players wanted to try something completely different, because the party composition certainly looks different. So far (still subject to change), we have:

Human Avenger-Invoker Hybrid
Goliath Warden
Genasi Warlord
Dragonborn Sorcerer
Elf Monk
Unknown Fighter
Half-Orc Paladin

Overall it looks like a solid party.

My last campaign was fairly railroady. Not that I do not allow them to make choices or go outside of what I had planned, but more that the campaign had 1 overall goal that more or less has been pursued since level 1. Granted, they didn't know the goal for a long time, but it was always the same goal.

This time I want to do things differently. I am not going totally sandbox, mostly because too many options never seems to be ideal for my players. They spend way too much time arguing, and while it's fun, we are all busy men with families and I feel it's not a very efficient way of spending the free-time I have.

Instead, I have made a map, a small setting, part of the world they played in, and I intend to keep the beginning of the campaign (unless the players decide otherwise, obviously) within that map. By beginning I mean the heroic tier. I haven't yet decided if I am stopping the campaign at 10th or 20th (or somewhere in between) yet, the only thing I know is that I am not going epic again, unless my players beg me to.

I also intend to have multiple story lines running at the same time, instead of just one big plot. I had a lot of ideas, but somehow I couldn't quite get them to fit together into something I was happy with.

So, instead of preparing everything in advance, I am going to try something I haven't done in many years. I am simply going to populate the world (or rather the map) with a lot of hooks, NPC's and potential BBEG's. Then, when we start on Tuesday, I will toss out a couple of hooks and we will take it from there.

Below is the maps and the information I have given to my players, if anyone is interested (or needs a good laugh over the maps).

[sblock=Introduction to the campaign setting]
Many years have passed since the world of Draegor received its now famous arrivals from another world. For long, much was clouded and secret. But from the tales of Simon the Humble and later from the gods themselves, we know now that the Swords of Drahar were fighting for a better world, a world were the true gods could guide us. Alas they failed, and met their demise in the Church of Kord in what are now the ruins of Drahar.

No one knows for sure what happened then. But word of the original gods about the story of what the Swords fought for spread amongst the general populace, not just in Drahar, but everywhere in the world. Slowly, at first, without attracting too much attention, followers of the original gods became more numerous and the original gods (at this time still exarches) began to amass power. Not all of them understood fully why this was happening, but eventually, even they heard the tale of the Usurper gods, as discovered by the Swords and chronicled by a humble priest of Kord named Simon. They were not pleased, because they started to remember what they once had been, and wanted to be so again.

At some point around 501, the original gods transcended to real gods, and thus began the War of the Gods, 483 years after the Swords died. At first, it was a silent war in the shadows of civilization, a war fought between the faithful. But after only a couple of years, it had become a full-blown, world-spanning war between empires, kingdoms and city-states, but also in the dark corners of the world and in every small village..

The war continued this way for around 14 years, slowly depleting the humanoid resources, and yet, there was no clear advantage to any of the sides. Then somehow, in 515, the real disaster struck. The Ancient Compact was broken, and once again the gods (both new and old) walked the earth again, without restrictions. Without being tempered by the primal spirits who had guarded the world since the Dawn War.

The world was sundered. Cities were destroyed, empires fell, mountain ranges were leveled, seas raised and even the weather was affected. Entire kingdoms worth of people were killed, and it looked as if there would be no one left to worship whoever would win the war.

Fortunately, the war did come to an end. Whatever had kept the primal spirits in check vanished around 521, and suddenly the gods found out what kind of fury and power the World Serpent and the other spirits have. The Usurper gods were all killed, and the original (and new) gods were once again banished from walking the mortal world and sent into the Astral Sea.

So the original gods won. Once again the gods are called Kord, Bane, Pelor, Asmodeus etc, but not much was left to rule, not many people were left to worship them. Draegor is a broken world, filled with smoking ruins where there once was might empires and cities.

The Auran Empire, gone. The Empire of the Keeper (also known as the Ebon Empire), destroyed. Drahar a shattered ruin, etc, etc.

And a lot of those left behind share an arguably strong distrust of the gods and those that still worship them. After all, they did almost destroy the world. Instead, people have come to worship the primal spirits to a larger degree. To them, the Swords were misguided fools who brought on a cataclysm, but to those of us who believe in the gods, the Swords of Drahar are the greatest heroes to ever walk the mortal world. They are the ones that freed us from more than 10.000 years of deception. They are now exarches and saints, standing at the side of the gods (Gnoguh and Saint Carric are exarches of Kord, Gork is an exarch of Moradin, Torn is an exarch of Ioun, Truxas is an exarch of Melora and Tagron is an exarch of Asmodeus). Saint Carric is even attracting quite a following.

It has now been 78 years since the second banishment (the year is 599), and the world is still licking its wounds. People live in villages and small towns, and to my knowledge, no man rules over territory much larger than what you can ride in a day. Monsters are everywhere, and the ruins after an apocalypse hold treasure beyond our wildest dreams. If there ever was a time for heroes, this is it.

Hubertus Maximiliam, Bard Extraordinaire of Laketown, in the year 599​

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[sblock=Local Map]

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[sblock=Places of Interest on Local Map]
Villages and Towns

Ash Grove: A small village of 350 inhabitants, mostly human, but with a strong presence of half-elves. Known for it's Meystival, a celebration of the Primal Spirits on the 13th of Mey every year, where thousands of people from the nearby villages and farms flock to Ashgrove to celebrate for 3 days and dance around their ancient obelisk.

Slag Fort: A village built on pontoons. It takes a certain man to live on the edge, with trolls as neighbors, but the good people of Slag Fort have none the less chosen to do so. Outsiders tend to few them as somewhere in between odd and mad. They live off the land, hunting rare animals in the swamp, especially the Slag Frog, a human sized frog that produces both a potent poison and a powerful painkiller.

Fallcrest: The second biggest town of the area, only dwarfed by Laketown. For years it has functioned as the first line of the defense against attacks from the North. For years, there was little need for it, but then, 22 years ago, the Bloodspear Orcs came down in force from the Hollow Hills and sacked Fallcrest, moving on south: Luckily they chose to move on Laketown, and were exterminated by General Balthazar at the Battle of the Red Pines. Since then, there has been a lot of rebuilding, but they are far from done and there are still ruined buildings in town.

Deerfield: Is not so much a village as a big collection of tents, where a large number of hunters live. They are sworn to the Ancient ways, forsaking the strappings of civilization, but otherwise accepting any person of any race that wishes to live like they do. They are lead by the Council of Clover, which consists of the 5 eldest female members. Aside from humans, Deerfield has an extraordinary large contingent of Goliaths, halflings and elves, the former who ended up there during the Godswar.

Miner's Gate: A small fortified mining village which has more guards than miners. Placed on top of the iron mine that is vital to the economy of Laketown, where lots of dwarven miners work. It is a place where no one enters without permit, a grim place of hard men. Such a place has to be run by a hard man, and that is precisely what Captain Tork, a huge monster of an half-orc, is.

Yorkpoint: Founded during the height of the Godswar, when some eladrin families fled the war in the Feywild, Yorkpoint is a village built more than 150 feet above ground in the tall oak-trees of the forest. The York river runs through the village and the village serves as guardian of the way to the wild east. The eladrins still run the town, but it is open to all races, as long as they behave by eladrin standard.

Laketown: Once the thriving capital of a new-founded kingdom with more than 10.000 inhabitants, Laketown now barely holds a third of that. Gone are the kings as well, and although some noble families still wield considerable power, the power was completely given back to the people 12 years ago, when it was decided that Laketown would attempt to be the first democratic town of Draegor. Opinions vary on how that is going, but at least so far, the town still stands and remain the biggest force in the western part of Draegor.

Sandpoint: Run by a council of paladins, Sandpoint is by far the most ordered and orderly village you will ever encounter. Both it's street and walls are uniformly the same size, planned from the beginning. Founded shortly after the Godswar by 3 paladins of Ioun, Raven Queen and Bahamut, Sandpoint, with its barely 1000 inhabitants, is dominated by the sumptuous tri-god church in the center market square. Every 10 years, they hold the Trigodlon, a contest sponsored by the three churches in order to find the most crafty, sneaky and brave heroes.

Knaves Hollow: One of the first Laketown governors after the Godswar, Jeremy McCracken, got the brilliant idea that all prisoners and rejects of Laketown should be shipped elsewhere. That didn't work too well, and soon after, the prisoners staged a coup and took over the prison. After several years of battle across the lake, Knaves Hollow was accepted as a legit town and its leadership acknowledged. Lots have happened since then, of course, but some still consider it a place where gambling, whoring and other illicit things set the tone and run the town.

Brynport: Also known as Fishtown or Fishport. Almost half of the town seems to works with fish, catching it in the Lake of Reflection, which has an abundance of all sorts of tasty fish. They catch so many fish in Brynport that they could feed most of the area, which they actually do.

Natural Areas

Swamp of Death: In the old days, the Swamp of Death was full of hydras and trolls. Ever since the Godswar, things have been quiet and not much has come out of the swamp. But most people still avoid the place, except the people of Slag Fort.

The Shadow Forest: While some forests can seem dark and menacing, the Shadow Forest truly is both. All trees are ashen grey, with no leaves. Despite the lack of leaves, the area is always dark as if it is in the middle of the night. Some say that the darkness comes from the veil to the Shadowfell being exceptionally thin here, but so far, it is just talk. Very few people enter the forest and even fewer come out alive. The Shadow Forest was not always like this, before the Godswar, it was a normal forest.

Hollow Hills: The Hollow Hills to the north are called so because of the many caves that riddle the area. Uncountable monsters live here, and no one knows exactly what they all are or in which cave they live, seeing that some of the caves a miles deep. There are however several tribes of orcs that make their home in the Hollow Hills.

The Silent Forest: The huge forest that encompasses most of the western part of Draegor. It's dark and scary and full of monsters. At night, it often goes very quiet, with no animal or other noises to hear. Some people believe it to happen just before the real monsters come out of the dark.

Skyfire Lake: Covering more than 30 square miles, Skyfire Lake is famous for it's many fish like the Skyfire Perch which get to weigh more than 400 lbs. Skyfire Lake got it's name after the Godswar, because of phenomenon that has been happening every 26 years on the 19th Awgost since then. At sunrise, a mile wide fire column rises from the middle of the lake, disappearing up into the sky. This lasts until sunset. Each time it happens, a lot of prophets and doom-sayers make their way to the edge of Skyfire Lake to see the happening and try to make some sense of it. Wizards, warlocks and other wielders of magic that cast a lot of fire-based spells often come here to witness the Skyfire because it is widely regarded as giving them power.

Lake of Reflection: Clear and calm are probably the words that describe the lake best. Widely known as one of the most beautiful places within hundreds of miles, and many weddings take place on the border of the lake.

High Rock Mountain: Before that was only one big lake here, but during the Godswar, Moradin, Bane and Melora fought the Keeper here. The Keeper was losing this battle, and in attempt to throw off the armies of good, he raised High Rock Mountains and the Volcano known as Keeper's Cauldron in the blink of an eye. While he still lost the battle, he did manage to get away. High Rock Mountain is an extremely steep mountain, more than 30.000 ft high, with the top half always covered in snow and fog on all but the clearest days. Odd and powerful monsters occasionally come down from the mountain, but know one knows what is up there, as no one has been stupid enough to try climbing to the top.

The Thunderspire Mountains: Ancient and mighty, the Tunderspire Mountains separate the western part of Draegor from the southern part. Unchanged for thousands of years, filled with valleys, ruins and monsters, the Thunderspire Mountains form a barrier to all but the bravest of souls. Few of the peaks break 15.000 feet.

Obelisk Valley: A small valley just south of the High Rock Mountain that was formed when the Keeper raised High Rock Mountain. But when it was discovered, it's 8 miles were already with a perfect row of marble-white obelisks evenly spaced out ever 33 ft.

Jade River: By far the longest of the 3 big rivers, Jade River has its origin in Thunderspire Mountains (just like the other rivers) and runs several hundred miles to the north, all the way up to Dead Man's Marsh.

Wild River: Rumored to have its origin in the Feywild, the Wild River lives fully up to its name. The spread is so great that it is almost impossible to navigate the river. Coming from up in the Thunderspire Mountains, it splits off, connecting with both lakes, but also disappearing into some caves south of High Rock Mountain. Where it goes from there, no one knows.

York River: Flowing from the Thunderspire Mountains and north, through Yorkpoint and all the way (almost) to the Swamp of Death, York River also splits in two and connects with Skyfire Lake. It is a river that runs at an slow and easy pace, and thus very easy to navigate. It is however almost 300 feet wide and very deep, making it almost impossible to pass, unless there is a bridge.

Devil's Tear: Named after the rare gems that was once found here, these hills are otherwise fairly normal, except for the many abandoned buildings after the Great Rush of 567, where thousands of people rushed to the hills after a sizable amount of Devil's Tear gems were found by the Muffin family. Most of those who got out alive came home with empty pockets.

Man-made Places

Castle of Flames (Ruins of): Once the home of the Sorcerer-Kings ruling the area, Castle Flame was like many other things destroyed during the Godswar when a portal to the Abyss was opened and demons poured in. Today it is just a huge ruin, which still, a 100 years later, is visited by treasure-seekers, who are looking for the fabled treasures of the Sorcerer-Kings.

Fortress Shieldmight: Shieldmight is an ancient fortress that has stood for thousands of years. Already there when the Draharians came close to 600 years ago, it was later restored by King Azul, King Azir I's great-grandson. After the Godswar, which is survived surprisingly unshattered, it has stood empty for many years, mostly due to no one being able or willing to pay for the upkeep necessary. Brigands of various sorts have used it for hideout, but 3 years ago, a tielfling named Leucis Firecold arrived and struck a deal with Laketown to take over the keep. So far, there has been no issue with Lord Leucis as he styles himself, but a lot of people fear his Red Riders. Recently rumors have started to emerge that Leucis claims kinship with Torn himself.

Bridge of Accord: Called so because according to the stories of the Godswar, it was here that the original gods met up shortly before the Primal Spirits came free and killed the Usurper Gods. The adventurer and chronicler (and notorious liar) D'agor Lubarion claims he witnessed the meeting and says it was called and led by none other than Asmodeus.[/sblock]

But, as usual, a little feedback can't hurt, because one should always strive to make the best campaign possible, within ones abilities. As mentioned earlier, we are starting off on Tuesday, and since I only just now decided on how to do things, I am probably a tad behind schedule (compared to what I would like to be anyway). Therefore, I would love some imput for my BBEG's. Below you will find a list of monsters that I could see as a BBEG (or at least a SBEG) somewhere on the map. If you feel like it, you are welcome to contribute with a hook or reason why the monster/NPC is a BBEG. You are even more welcome to link it to a place on the map. Of course, if you have a great idea for a monster not on the list (it is by no means complete), feel welcome to add that as well. Only thing I am asking is to avoid too many level 15+ monsters/NPC's, since 1) the map is relatively small and 2) there aren't many high levels in my campaign.

Kobold
The Kobolds of the Blind Eye tribe are lead by Griina, a female kobold wyrmpriest. Griina is very crafty compared to the average kobold, and as if that wasn't enough, she has a green dragon wyrmling, that goes by the name of Korak, as pet. She found Korak when he was still an egg, and has raised him, all by herself. He is thus extremely loyal and will do just about anything for her. The Blind Eye tribe, which recently arrived from the north, has made their lair in the forested hills just east of the Shadow Forest.
Motivation/hook: During a mushroom induced trance a couple of months ago, Griina had a vision which she believes to come from her god - She saw herself riding a huge dragon, with a burning Laketown below here. She now believes she is meant for greatness, but has yet no idea on how to achieve the goal. She remains confident however.

Succubus

SUCCUBUS: A succubus has escaped her ancient imprisonment and in turn captured the Fallcrest Wizard in catacombs below. She has charmed multiple NPCs and taken over the local thieves guild. She has begun summoning various devils and demons spread fear amongst the population. So that she may position herself as a law and order crusader and win the next election.

Goblin
Green Warriors Tribe is a goblin tribe located about 15 miles straight west of Fallcrest. For long, they have been as unorganized as the average goblin tribe, but a couple of years, some of the warriors struck gold. Coming home from a hunting party, they saved a hobgoblin from a bear. As it turns out, the hobgoblin is none other than Krusk, an old crafty master tactician. Pledging his life to the Green Warrior Tribe, he immediately started working on their fighting skills. Since then, the tribe has become much more organized, and Ee'rak, the goblin chieftain, has begun thinking he might have a force that can be used to teach the humans of Fallcrest a lesson, perhaps even driving them away, giving the Green Warriors dominion over the area.

Goblin & Mummy
The Tribe of the Bloody Skulls is named after their grizzly tradition of marking their territory by using the bloody skulls of past foes. The tribe is located in some ancient ruins, approximately 15 miles north-west of the Bridge of Accord. In those ruins, they recently found an burial crypt holding the old mummified corpse of a goblin high priest. A lot of rituals later, the shamans of the tribe managed to bring the mummy back to unlife. The "resurrected" high priest promptly killed the shamans and took control of the tribe.

Goblin
The Guardians of Lore Tribe is yet another goblin tribe. Their camp is located deep within the Silent Forest, approximately 25 miles east of the Hollow Hills. The Guardians of Lore exist for one thing, safe-keeping the grove where, Gh'ankh'an, an ancient Green Dragon sleeps, victim of a mysterious curse.

Adult Silver Dragon
Kamarenax Mountainreaver is a silver dragon that lives in Fallcrest. By the humans, she is known as Kama, the halfling owner of Blue Moon Alehouse. Of course, little do they suspect that the friendly halfling lady is in fact a dragon.
Motivation: During the Godswar, the Eye of the Death Queen, an ancient and very powerful evil artifact, was lost and resurfaced here, in Fallcrest. Unfortunately, Kama does not know exactly where it is, but something makes her certain that it is still in that general area. And she is determined to stay and watch for any signs of it's reappearance. Via intermediaries, she often hires local adventurers to explore newly found ruins.

Fell Taint
Following the trail of the Grells up through the Underdark was a large group of Fell Taints. They are still hiding out in the caves below the mine, but have started to explore their new territory.
Motivation: Feeding on whatever comes their way
Note: I really like the Fell Taints, but unfortunately, nothing in their lore nor stats warrants much in the way of plans beside feeding on hapless creatures.

Grell Philosopher
A few days ago, a small earthquake hit Miner's Gate, connecting the mine with several tunnels in the Underdark. A colony of Grell led by an exceptionally cunning and intelligent Grell Philosopher escaped through the mines while the miners were sleeping, and are now heading towards civilization, sleeping and hiding during daylight hours and moving only at night. They have acquired a taste for human flesh, and their leader has promised to find more bountiful hunting grounds.
Motivation: If you ask the other grells, it's food. But their leader, a loremaster of his race, wishes to learn more of the world above. He plans to enslave some scholars to read some of the many books he has acquired over time.

Vampire Necromancer

Location: Swamp of Death
Where did the trolls and hydras go? A Vampire Necromancer OR lich has moved in, using the bodies of those foolish adventurers who died in the swamp in the decades past. With these undead minions (and even a couple undead trolls or hydras?) the vampire(or lich) has a force to be reckoned with...

Werewolf

Location: Fortress Shieldmight
Prior to taking over the fortress, Leucis Firecold had in fact made another deal. This prior deal was with a pack of werewolves. In exchange for helping him claim and defend land, he would offer them shelter free of persecution. Thus, the werewolves assumed the guise of the Red Riders and became a force to be reckoned with (few could stand up to them, even in human form, thanks to their regeneration); and they attack mercilessly if given the command by their general to attack, never taking prisoners in case their wolf form was revealed during the combat. But they grizly scene they leave behind on any battlefield, as if wild animals themselves had attacked and killed whomever, is enough to make them feared by anyone who dares get in their way.

Orc, Ogre Shaman & Bulette
While the Bloodspear tribe was nearly wiped out 20 odd years ago, most of the females and those orcs too young to fight survived, back in the caves of Hollow hills. In order to survive, they made a deal with a clan of ogres for protection. So now, they are led by J'tar, an ambitious ogre shaman who has a bulette for pet (She calls it "Pain"), and her Ogre Magi lover. They have for years been feeding tales of greatness and revenge to the young orcs, who now are old enough to go to war. Fallcrest is just the first stop in a war. The couple are determined to rid the region completely of humans.

Wererat
The Twin Daggers, the thieves' guild in Fallcrest, which is controlled by the succubus Adele (or rather, that's her human name) has a family of wererats as members. They have been charmed, just as anyone else, but unbeknown to Adele, the control breaks when they change shape. For now, they play along, mostly because they do not what to do and who they can trust. But they are looking for a way out of the clutches of Adele. Just as everyone else, they have no idea what they are dealing with. They think she is a sorcerer or a witch of some sorts.

Human Bandit
Leucis Firecold is determined to be popular in the region. He has therefore (via intermediaries) hired brigands from far to come to the region and pillage and rob people. Right now, there is at least 3 bands of brigands in the general area of Fallcrest. One band is hiding in the outer ruins of Castle Flame, one in the forest between Fallcrest and Ashtown, and last but not least, one near where Jade River forks, about 15 miles South-West of the Bridge of Accord.

Lich
Deep within the Shadow Forest lies Everdark, the keep of a lich who calls himself the Shadow of the Keeper. He is behind the Shadow Forest, and is now working on expanding it, by further blurring the line between the Shadowfell and the mortal world.

Fomorian
Zanex, an atypical Fomorian, is sane. A few years ago, Zanex, a scholar and sage, figured out that the insanity and paranoia of his race was keyed to their evil eye. Keen to explore his revelation, he blinded himself and suddenly found himself seeing the world in a new light. The madness gone, he could no longer live among his own. He fled to the surface, where he took up residence in a small hut not far from Fallcrest, using his shapeshifting powers to pose as a lonely hermit. He knows that if ever his old clansmen find him, he is dead, so he will go to any length to protects its identity, so therefore, he rarely leaves his hut. The fewer people who see him, the less chance there is that someone will see through his shapeshifting. Zanex is a very powerful spellcaster, having developed blindsight to compensate for his lack of visual organ.
Motivation: Burdened by the weight of all the evil his race has done for thousands of years, Zanex is determined to do some good in the world. He has access to a lot of lore and at times uses adventurers to right wrongs or make sure that evil doesn't get the upper hand in the area.

Orcus priest
Gotzael, an evil priest dedicated to Orcus, has recently begun a cell of the Children of the Demon Prince, a cult dedicated to the magnificence of Orcus, in Laketown. The cult recruits bored rich kids or wives, andinitiates them into a life of sacrifices, murders and debauchery.
Motivation: Gotzael dreams of summoning an undead demon to have at his command. This has recently become something of an obsession, so the number of sacrifices have increased somewhat lately. He hopes they will gain him the favor of Orcus.

Bugbear Assassin
Deep into the Swamp of Death, 20 miles north-east from Slag Fort, lies a little cabin. Here lives Hraggek, once one of the best assassins on the continent of Draegor. He is now old and a bit slower, but his intellect is sharp and he can certainly still kill most people one on one. For years, every town and village in western Draegor had his face on a wanted poster, but no one ever succeeded in catching him. He knows more secrets about different rulers than they care for, especially about certain things that happened in Laketown when they were converting it to a democracy.
Motivation: Hraggek just wants to be left alone, living the rest of his life in solitude.

Flesh Golem

Flesh Golem (with Zombie 'minions')
Formerly a necromancer (wizard or cleric) of significant power, this flesh golem is a botched attempt at ascension to lichdom. However, said necromancer also has a fetish involving the dead, and so s/he opts to remain in said form. S/he dreams of converting the populace of Fallcrest into zombie/skeletal townsfolk with herself as mayor.

Oni Night Hunter

Location: Ash Grove
An Oni Night Hunter lives among the village as a village elder (see Oni Nigh Hunter's Deceptive Veil power). And he has many "farm hands" (charmed human slaves). Long ago, he embedded a mystic stone within the abelisk, such that when danced around in celebration during the Meystival, it absorbs a little life energy from those who participate (such as 1 healing surge). This tiny bit is ignored by most as just being exhausted from the drink and/or dancing. But the Oni Hunter keeps this captured life energy stored up ... for every X that he collects, he is able to charm another human slave in to his service. He does not have grand world domination plans, merely wishes to be attended to by the lesser humans since he is rightly (in his eyes) the suprior being.

Asmodeus priest

Hydra

Living Darkness

Gelatinous Cube

Bloodkiss Beholder

Example:
Kobold:
The Kobolds of the Blind Eye tribe are lead by Griina, a female kobold wyrmpriest. Griina is very crafty compared to the average kobold, and as if that wasn't enough, she has a green dragon wyrmling, that goes by the name of Korak, as pet. She found Korak when he was still an egg, and has raised him, all by herself. He is thus extremely loyal and will do just about anything for her. The Blind Eye tribe, which recently arrived from the north, has made their lair in the forested hills just east of the Shadow Forest.
Motivation/hook: During a mushroom induced trance a couple of months ago, Griina had a vision which she believes to come from her god - She saw herself riding a huge dragon, with a burning Laketown below here. She now believes she is meant for greatness, but has yet no idea on how to achieve the goal. She remains confident however.

Thanks in advance

Cheers

 

[Jack99]

The players will start in the small town of Fallcrest. It is as you can see more than based on the town from DMG2. I needed a base of operation and saw plenty of possibilities when I looked at the map and read through the info in DMG2. I changed a few things, but not much.

[sblock=Fallcrest Map]

[/sblock]

[sblock=Player Info about Fallcrest]
1. The Tower: Protecting the town from waterborne attack from the north, the Tower was sacked by the Bloodspear Orcs 22 years ago. Local rumor says that before the Godswar, the Tower was a prison for those that the town couldn't execute. Today it is simply called the Tower of Love, because many of the youngsters of town come here to "have fun".

2. Upper Quay: This is where all boats depart from.

3. The Dwarven Bridge: Originally made of stone that lasted for a millennium, the bridge is now of wood, but still sturdy. It is also the only way across the Jade River for miles, the town of Fallcrest charges 1 cp per head and 1 sp per mount for those who wishes to cross. There is at least 1 guard stationed here at all times.

4. Nentir Inn: Built on the west side of the Jade River, Nentir is a popular place for those living on the west bank, so that they can go drinking in town, without having to pay the toll on the bridge. Most people heading south stop here. Nentir Inn is owned by Erandil, an half-elf that came to town a bought some land a couple of years ago.

5. Knight's Gate: One of two main gates in Fallcrest, Knight's Gate is named thusly because it is through it that the Lord Warden's riders normally leave the city. The gate itself is reinforced timber with an inner portcullis. The Gatehouse Barracks are always manned with 5 guards and Sergeant Nereth an old and hard man who does everything by the book.

6. Silver Unicorn Inn: A luxurious inn run by the halfling Madam Osterman, the Silver Unicorn Inn was for many years the pride of Fallcrest, but ever since Nentir Inn opened, it has lost a lot of its business. Obviously, this doesn't please the Madam.

7. Halfmoon Trading House: The headquarter of a clan of halflings (The Halfmoons) who have widespread interests in the region. Selarund Halfmoon currently runs the "house", a friendly although slightly odd halfling who offers advice on just about everything. However, few people understand his advice, which leads them to call him Half-wit, at least behind his back.

8. Moonstone Keep: The home of the Lord Warden, in this case Faren Hayhill. Moonstone Keep is an old castle that sits atop a steep hill overlooking the town. The Lord, a bold middle-aged man, is married to Lady Allande, 10 years younger than her lord. They have 3 children. Evil tongues claim that the Lady Allande is a witch who steals children at night. Of course, anyone repeating such thing would be wise to do so out of earshot of the Lord.

9. The Tombwood: A large thicket on the slopes of Moonstone Hill. Within lies the old castle's cemetary as well as a battle-mound dating back to before the arrivals.

10. House of the Sun: Technically a big church of Pelor, the House of the Sun is all but abandoned. Only one priest lives here now. There are also shrines to Kord and Bahamut, but they are seldom kept clean. Brother Grundel tries his best to fix up the once great church, but there is only so much one dwarf can do.

11. House Azaer: A small well-off trading company owned by the Azaer family of tieflings. They primarily import weapons and armors. Amara Azaer, a young beautiful tiefling is currently in charge of the operations in Fallcrest.

12: The Fallcrest Heights: A unique feature in Draegor, the Fallcrest Heights are older than any recorded history. It is basically a reversed waterfall. The river arrives at the cliff at great speed, but instead of simply smashing against the rocks, they ascend the cliffs more than 200 feet up, only to continue as a river further north. Up top is a small island which holds the statue of local hero Vendar, who is said to have slain a dragon who was lairing in caves below the Fallcrest Heights.

13. Temple of Erathis: The largest temple in town, towering over most other buildings with its 30' dome, also holds shrines to Ioun and Moradin. High Priestess Dirina oversees the church and has for nearly 40 years. She is an 60 year old lady who is convinced that the dogma of Erathis is absolutely superior to all other gods, and is thus very disappointed that more people of Fallcrest do not pay proper homage to the patron god of Fallcrest.

14. The Bluffs: Fallcrest is divided in half by a great cliff cutting the town in half. The bluffs average 150-250 feet in height, and while not vertical, they are certainly too steep for most people to climb.

15. The Catacombs: The limestone bluffs between Hightown and Lowtown holds a lot of caves. For years, they have been used as burial chambers. As caves are filled, they are walled up and left. Naturally, there are plenty of stories in town about hidden crypts, undead and deadly traps in the caves.

16. Moonsong Temple: The third of Fallcrest's temples, dedicated to Sehanine, with shrines to Corellon, Melora and Avandra has been deserted for more than 15 years.

17. Fallcrest Stables: Owned by Lamnar. Here you can buy horses, harnesses and wagons, get your horses shoed, and just about anything dealing with horses or mules.

18. Wizard's Gate: The eastern gate out of Fallcrest is named for the two ancient statues of wizards flanking the gate on the inside. Just like at Knight's Gate, there is a gatehouse, with a sergeant and 5 guards on duty at all times. Sergeant Murgeddin, a dwarf veteran from the Bloodspear War runs this gate.

19. Narumar's Imports: Considered Fallcrest's finest retail establishment, Narumar's Imports deals in gems, jewelry, art and other expensive trinkets. The owner is Narumar, a tiefling.

20. Kamroth Estate: Home of Armos Kamroth, one of the wealthiest landowners in Fallcrest, a very greedy and petty man.

21. Moonwash Heights: Just as Fallcrest Heights, the river runs up the cliffs here.

22. Septarch's Tower: This seven-sided tower was formerly the seat of Fallcrest's mageguild, who all died during the Bloodspear War, it is now owned by Wizard Nimozaran, an elderly mage who keeps to himself.

23. Blue Moon Alehouse: The best tavern within 100 miles, or so the owner, a female halfling named Kama claims. And she is right, according to most guests. Of course, if you do not like ale, this is not the place for you.

24. Teldor's Arms: Teldor is the town's weaponsmith and armorer. He likes smoking his pipe and dispensing advise while his two apprentices (his sons) work. Their work, under his guidance, is excellent.

25. King's Gate: The southern gate of Fallcrest was destroyed during the final attack of the Bloodspear War, and has still not been rebuilt. The place is still being used as a guardpost however, with Sergeant Gerrand in charge.

26. The Market Green: A market square were the inhabitants and the merchants who pass through come and do business, especially when the weather is good.

27. Sandercot Provisioner: Largest general store of Fallcrest run by Nimera Sandercot, a woman who is said to have little morals.

28. Lucky Gnome Taphouse: The cheapest drinking establishment in Fallcrest, a place where fist- and knifefights are all too common. Run by Kelson, a sordid fellow.

29. Lower Quays: This is where most boats arrive. If they wish to continue up the river, they must unload and move the shipment to the upper quays. The porter's guild, run by a dwarf named Strongbeard, jealously protect their monopoly of moving things. [/sblock]

I have told the players to have a background story ready when we meet up on Tuesday (they can mail or call me, if they want to share beforehand) and while we eat, I will use one of the tips in the DMG2, and let them work out how they know each other. Everyone in the group must know another member from earlier, in some way. If they know more members, that's fine with me as well, but there should be at least one "longer duration" connection. I have never tried this before, but I am looking forward how those who usually do not spend much time on backstory will handle it.

As most other DM's, I have some house rules, which have been implemented. I really wanted to use inherent bonuses, but a few players were against the idea, thinking it would make everything and body too much the same. So I dropped the idea, for now.

[sblock=House Rules for Second Age Campaign]
1) Everyone gets weapon and implement expertise free for any weapon or implement they use at 5th level.
Why? - To fix the math
2) Everyone gets a scaling +1/+2/+3 bonus to defenses at level 5/15/25
Why? - To fix the math
3) You get an AP after every combat.
Why? - It's easier to remember, and I plan to tone down the amount of magical items a little bit, so this is to off-set that.
4) There is no creation of magic items, but you can still upgrade an item you have with the proper ritual (which is the Create Magic Item ritual). You can also still disenchant items for residuum.
Why? - Because I hate the whole magic-shop concept which inevitably comes up with the possibility of creating magic items. Also, I am going to attempt to make a slightly more "realistic" economy, instead of the default exponential one, and the creation of magical items interferes with that.
5) Change ritual casting times expressed in minutes to rounds. This means that rituals with their casting time expressed in hours or days do not have their casting time changed. Characters count as Dazed while casting and/or aiding to cast a ritual, due to the concentration required. Rituals are Sustain (Standard) until the start of your next turn while casting.
Why? - I want to make rituals a bit more interesting and flexible. Stopping up for 10 minutes in the middle of a crypt to chant so that you might be able to see a door is a tad weird at times, while stopping for a minute might be more realistic. It also gives a mechanic to use for NPC's when they cast rituals.
6) Raise Dead is a once in a lifetime happening for a character, and only under the most exceptional circumstances. It is a quest and very expensive.
Why? - Because death should be something to fear, not just another way for the players to spend their gold.
7) Summons are DM controlled when not directed by their caster (and no Instinctual Action). Will likely attack last attacker, or random adjacent creature (depending on alignment/intelligence). Will never attack caster.
Why? - Because it adds some flexibility and usefulness to the whole summoning stitch, which otherwise is overshadowed by other options.
8) Push into wall = Prone (w/ save)
Why? - Because we have always played with it. [/sblock]
Both the players and I are curious about the ritual changes. I think they will be great, but as always, some things are hard to tell until you try them out.

Last but not least, I have also told them not to expect PHB/AV items. Each item in the campaign will be custom made. I want items to mean something, which will mean fewer but more powerful items.

 

[Jack99]

I have also received some background stories from a couple of players. Those backgrounds have added a couple of things to my campaign. Some will need some expanding.

- The Sunken Citadel: Deep within the Swamp of Death is an ancient sunken citadel which somehow is linked to the Curse of Rime*.
- The Sons of Winter: A cult dedicated to keeping Rime under her curse, perhaps even gaining control of her.
- The Bridge of Accord: The Warden was just a regular goliath, until his journey brought him to the Bridge of Accords. While passing over it, something happened and he was infused by the Primal Spirits, turning him into a warden.
- A romantic interest with Amara Azaer of Fallcrest
- Quiet a few new NPC's to incorporate

* Rime is a white dragon who once was fighting for the forces of good. She was a mount to a hero, but when he died, she remained linked to him. During winter, she is strong enough to leave the mountain where he died, but otherwise, the curse prevents her from flying away. The Sorcerer has decided that he belongs to a clan of white Dragonborn who (sorta) worship Rime and want to free her from her curse.

Otherwise, things are progressing nicely. Considering that level-wise, this campaign will be shorter than the last, the plan has always been to slow down the leveling pace. Since I do not use xp, that's really easy. After talking to a couple of players, I do think I will let them level to 3rd at normal pace, meaning around every 3rd time. That way, they will have just a couple more powers (2 at-wills, 2 encounters, 1 utility, 1 daily), giving them a bit more versatility before I slow down things.

Last campaign started with a bang - We started with initiative after I narrated their capture and attempt at escaping from some kobold slavers. I really want to start this campaign with something different than - "You are all sitting in an inn" or "You have all been hired by...". Then again, since its supposed to be a more non-linear campaign, maybe I should just place them in an inn and see what happens.

 

[Jack99]

As noted, I am not going sandbox, simply because it wouldn't suit neither me nor my players. Actually, considering all the debate the last week about what a sandbox campaign is, I am probably better off not claiming what my campaign is or is not. It seems everyone has an opinion on the definition of these things, to the point where I am not even sure of my own definition.

With that said, I have been thinking about how to handle when players head out into the wilderness. I am not a fan of random encounters, for two reasons.
1) They do not advance the story. While that doesn't mean I think random encounters are bad, see 2)
2) Encounters in modern D&D take a bit too long to have too many random encounters. I do not want my players to spend half the night fighting random stuff, and left with the feeling that they didn't advance the story, just because they were unlucky.

So, the obvious solution is to make any random encounters depend on the players. This means a skill challenge of course.

In short, every time they enter a square in which there is a chance of getting lost or encountering monsters (just about all non-plains squares more than 1 removed from a town or village), I will run a small skill challenge. I will also operate with a radius of encounters. Whenever the players enter a square (or a square adjacent thereof) which on my DM's map has a NPC camp/village/place, any encounter will be NPC's from that camp/village/place.

I have also chosen to keep the DC's fixed, at level 4 (although tweaked from WotC's official numbers). This means that things will be rough at first, but as the players become higher level, they will have an easier time moving around and finding their way in the world. The one thing that will be adjusted is the stealth DC's when players enter a square with or adjacent to NPC's - that DC will depend on what type and level NPC's "own" said square.

[sblock=Finding your way through the wilderness Skill Challenge]
Level 4 (special) Skill Challenge
Complexity 1 (per square)
Primary Skills: Nature, Perception, Stealth
Secondary Skills: Endurance, Heal
Nature and Perception can each give 2 successes
Stealth (Varies, base 15, otherwise depends on inhabitants of square) At least two characters must make a stealth check once per square. If both checks fails, the party runs into an encounter. If the party is in a square or a square adjacent to a NPC camp, the encounter will be with NPC's from that camp.
Endurance (DC 15) At least three characters must make an endurance check once per square. If all three checks fails, everyone in the party loses a healing surge due to the rigors of travel in the wilderness. A successful endurance check does not count as a success for the skill challenge.
Nature (DC 15) A success indicates that the party is on the right track, navigating skillfully through the wild.
Perception (DC 16) A success indicates that the party has notices something that helps them find their way. It could be a trail, some smoke or a thousand other things.
Heal (DC 20) In case of three failed endurance checks, one player can attempt to negate the loss of healing surges by succeeding a heal check. A successful heal check does not count as a success for the skill challenge.

Getting 4 successes before 3 failures means that the party heads in the right direction, entering the next square on the map where they intend to. Getting 3 failures before 4 successes means that the party heads in the wrong direction, entering the wrong square. The fewer wins the party has when they finish the challenge, the more off track they are.[/sblock]

I would love to hear what people think about the Skill Challenge and that way of handling "random" encounters.

 

[Jack99]

So, in case of random encounters, this is the table I will be using. It's not 100% complete as of now, and not so suitable for mountain encounters, but luckily I do not foresee my players spending a lot of time in mountains anytime soon.

Roll 1d20

1. Cockatrices
2. Dire Wolf (Shadow Beetles if close to Shadow Forest)
3. Deathjump Spiders or Giant Frog (if in square with swamp)
4. Gray Wolf (Shadow wolf if close to Shadow Forest)
5. Gray Wolf (Shadow wolf if close to Shadow Forest)
6. Stirges (Shadowhunter bat if Shadow Forest)
7. Stirges (Shadowhunter bat if Shadow Forest)
8. Wild Dogs (Shadow wolf if close to Shadow Forest)
9. Neutral NPC
10. Non-hostile NPC
11. Non-hostile NPC
12. Non-hostile NPC
13. Neutral NPC
14. Death Boar (Wraith if Shadow Forest)
15. Cave Bear (Death Dog if Shadow Forest)
16. Dire Stirge (Umbral Panther if Shadow Forest)
17. Phase Spider
18. Venom-Eyed Basilisk Shambling Mound (if Swamp)
19. Worg, Unicorn (if forest) or Bog Hag (if Swamp)
20. Special (Dragon is always a good bet)

Then roll 1d6 for Difficulty Level, but never less than 1 monster of determined type.

1. n-2 encounter
2. n-1 encounter
3. n-1 encounter
4. n+0 encounter
5. n+0 encounter
6. n+1 encounter

I am thinking that some places, such as the Shadow Forest, won't have many NPC's that wander around, so I need to figure out what to do then. Perhaps it's corpses or graves that the players encounter instead, in that case.

 

[Jack99]

Love it. Bookmarked.

\o/

One thing I absolutely love about 4e is how the humanoid races feel different in combat, not just in the fluff. But for this campaign, I want to make them even more distinct, meaning that each tribe (within the same race) should have a special ability or attack to set them apart.

For example, since the Green Warrior Goblins have been trained by a hobgoblin, I find it quite fitting to give them all the Phalanx Soldier ability (+2 AC when adjacent to another goblin).

Green Warrior Goblins: Phalanx Soldier
Blind Eye Kobolds: blinding poison breath
Human Bandit (Castle Flame): mace, dazing attacks
Human Bandit (Silent Forest):
Human Bandit (Bridge of Accord):
Bloody Skulls Goblins:
Guardians of Lore Goblins:
Bloodspear Orcs: spear attacks, ongoing damage, immobilize effects
Sharp Fangs Orcs: imm reaction to start eating downed enemy

A few notes. Orcs won't have the usual Warrior Surge ability as standard, instead they will deal more damage when bloodied. The Bloodspear Orcs will of course use spears, while the Sharp Fangs Orcs will have some sort of attack against prone/helpless characters. Will have to think a bit about those things.

 

[Jack99]

Session 1
So today was the first day of our new campaign. I was very optimistic. I had received 4 very good backgrounds and 1 passable out of 6 possible. Considering its only two or three that bother, it worked dangling the possibility of a magical item. Even better, it was clear that all 5 had taken the time to actually read the stuff on the campaign setting, again, usually its only a couple who do that before the campaign starts, the rest pick it up as we go.

Once people were gathered, and questions were answered, it turns out there had been a few minor adjustments to the characters. Nothing much. We had:

Lucan, Elf Monk (Centered Breath)
Garel-kai, Genasi Tactical Warlord (multiclass wizard)
Tokiel, Dragonborn Dragon Sorcerer
Kavaki, Goliath Earth Warden
Velkin, Human Avenger/Invoker (hybrid) of Ioun
Amul Zur, Halforc Paladin of Kord.

While eating, I tried something new. I can't remember where I read it, but someone suggested letting the members introduce themselves, then figure out as a group how they knew each other. I said that they had to know at least one other party-member from earlier on. It went okay. At first, there was some silence and some looking around, but once they got going, we got almost all well involved. One (the one with no background) needed some help, but we managed to make things fit together nicely. I can easily see myself doing this again, next time we start a campaign (hopefully that will be some years).

After that little exercise, we got the campaign on the road. They started out at the Alehouse in Fallcrest, having gotten together to form an adventuring band. They were also celebrating the Goliath's birthday, so he was getting quite drunk. They are approached by Amara Azaer, the tiefling who runs the local Azaer Trading House. Incidently, the Dragonborn had written in his background that since he had brokered a trade deal for his tribe to the south, he had already had several meetings with Amara and they had been a bit of flirting (not too sure about the racial issue, but he does have 18 CHA and trained bluff and diplomacy). So when an Azaer caravan had been attacked and the goods stolen, with all the guards being tied up by goblin and kobold attacks, I figured that it wasn't too unrealistic to have her approach Tokiel and his new group of friends. After some haggling, they agreed to some terms, but convinced her it was okay to put things off until the morning, as Kavaki was already borderline roaring drunk.

As she left, some Red Riders came in the door. Kavaki, who has a history with the Red Riders (he thinks he killed 3 of them a couple of months ago) tried to hide under the table, but managed instead to turn over the table and make a lot of noise (natural 1 on stealth check). They started looking around, claiming they were searching for a young human man, who had been poaching the land of their Lord. But since he wasn't there, they quickly left again and Kavaki could once again return to his drinking.

The next morning, they went and had a talk with the driver who had survived the bandit attack (by playing dead). He said they had been heading east, that they had mentioned something about a castle, and that they had expressed happiness about their job, since they both got pay and got to keep the loot. Immediately, theories of competing merchants trying to hurt House Azaer were conjured, but based on the little knowledge they had, nothing concrete came out of that. They decided to head south via the trail to find the spot where the caravan had been ambushed and go from there.

Once at the spot, marked by 3 shallow graves, they quickly found the trail and headed west, into the Silent Forest.

This is where my Find-the-way skill challenge started. They failed the first, which led to a random encounter in the form of two Phase Spiders. Ouch. Only a level n+1 combat by the XP, but with 2 level 8 skirmishers against 6 level 1 characters, it was still a rough combat. Lots of people going down due to the poison, and a lot of surges were spent. It wasn't extremely close, but close enough for my players to gain a good deal of respect of the Silent Forest.

Just to be fair, I had warned them prior to the campaign starting, that things would be more realistic this time around, with monsters varying greatly in level and such things. They were all okay with that.

Anyway, once the spiders dead, the party continued following the tracks. Or rather, they got a bit off track, and ran into a couple of dire stirges (yes, the second skill challenge was failed as well, or rather, the stealth part). Again, two higher level (7) monsters against many low-level players. On paper, not a hard fight (n+0), but in practice, it was very hard. Especially since they (the dire stirges) were constantly sitting on the back of characters, giving them a 26 AC and 23(?) Reflex defense. Both very hard to hit. But eventually the party managed, especially when they figured that attacking fortitude was much more effective than attacking AC and Reflex. It was still touch and go for a couple of characters, but luckily it was the Warden they were attached to (after the monk was dead), right when he had popped his Stone's Endurance. Otherwise 20 ongoing damage hurts most characters a lot. Like, really a lot

After fighting the stirges, they were like:"Okay, we better get out of this forest" or "We should have stayed at home. When that is said, they did continue. From here on, following the trail went mostly well, and they walked most of the day through the forest. As it was getting late, they ran into 4 bandits (or rather, were ambushed by them) but those were much easier and died quickly.

After a good night's sleep with no interruptions, they followed the trail and made it to Castle Flame. Up there, next to the castle, they found a bandit camp. They tried to ambush it, but failed at being stealthy. Instead they were showered with arrows, but in the end, the 7 bandits and their illusionist leader (7 level 2 skirmishers and a level 4 elite controller = n+3) all died the same. They found some gold and a magic staff, that none of them could identify.

Overall it was a decent session. It was fun, without being stellar or anything. I have had worse starts to a campaign, but I have certainly had better as well. It was missing je-ne-sais-quoi... Maybe because it was that the last encounter really didn't push them much, despite it being a n+3 with the monsters having the tactical advantage. On the other hand, I was pleased with the random encounters being rough on the players, making them fear just a little bit what else could be in that forest. I also liked that I got planted both the bandit, kobold and goblin hook, so they will definitely have enough to do for a while. When they return, I will start the undead part and the thieves guild part, so there will be 5 different hooks in action. Although some are of course connected.

 

[Jack99]

3) You get an AP after every combat.
Why? - It's easier to remember, and I plan to tone down the amount of magical items a little bit, so this is to off-set that.

It's funny how it's never the house-rules you imagine will cause issues or discussions that ends up doing just that.

When I added the houserule above, I never thought it would be an issue. But we were barely done playing last time, when I got a mail from one of the players. He had some concerns about the rule. He had noticed that quite a few of the others seemed to think too much about having to use that AP every combat (since collecting them becomes pretty silly), causing a slowdown in play. I put it out there to the other players. Obviously, the taclord liked it, and didn't feel we needed to return to RAW. The Sorcerer felt it made AP's less than special that they had one every fight. The Avenger/Invoker (who initially brought this forth) actually suggested to make AP's a once per day thing, but that didn't go over well with the taclord. Me, I am just trying to make everyone happy, but I decided to hold off any decision until we have tried it (the once-per-fight-houserule) at least for another session.

It's funny, my players, who are quite opinionated people, rarely have comments or an opinion when it comes to our D&D rules/houserules. I mean, not one of six people even blinked when I removed magic item creation, raise dead and made the penalties for being brought back to life 3 times as bad as RAW. So I am wondering what made the AP-houserule worthy of debate?

------------

We have done some more feedback (phone & email) and it seems the players liked the vibe that the (many) random encounters gave. So perhaps I should go ahead and expand the random encounter tables significantly. Not that there should be more encounters, just more variety, depending on where on the map they are. Having one table is kinda weak-sauce.

--------------

I have expanded a bit on my random encounter tables. It's been years since I have done those (back when I was playing 2e I think, so 7 years or so), and I had forgotten how many good ideas you get from browsing monsters for encounter tables.

So now I have to make a couple of Lizardmen tribes, a couple of troll tribes, some cultists for the Hollow Hills, an Eladrin refuge and a Monk Monastery among others. Sure, they might not run into all of these monsters, but then they are there, completing the world. Also, I really like the idea of giving each different tribe a special attack/ability, to make them different.

I also made the encounters slightly harder in certain places (everywhere but the Silent Forest basically), to emphasize that these places just are.. well more "wild".

Shadow Forest
1. Living Darkness
2. Shadow Beetles
3. Deathjump Spiders
4. Shadow wolf
5. Shadow wolf
6. Shadowhunter
7. Shadowhunter
8. Shadow wolf
9. Neutral NPC
10. Non-hostile NPC
11. Wisp Wraith
12. Skeleton Squad
13. Neutral NPC
14. Wraith
15. Death Dog
16. Umbral Panther
17. Phase Spider
18. Shadow Hound
19. Shadar-Kai Man-Hunters
20. Special (Dragon is always a good bet)

Swamp of Death
1. Fen Hydra
2. Troll
3. Giant Frog
4. Tor'lik Tribe Lizardmen
5. Giant Frog
6. Stirges
7. Stirges
8. Visejaw Crocodile
9. Neutral NPC
10. Non-hostile NPC
11. Non-hostile NPC
12. Non-hostile NPC
13. Neutral NPC
14. Visejaw Crocodile
15. Tor'lik Tribe Lizardmen
16. Dire Stirge
17. Basilisk
18. Shambling Mound
19. Bog Hag
20. Special (Dragon is always a good bet)

Hollow Hills
1. Hill Giant
2. Ogre
3. Dire Wolf
4. Gray Wolf
5. Gray Wolf
6. Sharp Fang Tribe
7. Sharp Fang Tribe
8. Wild Dogs
9. Neutral NPC
10. Non-hostile NPC
11. Non-hostile NPC
12. Non-hostile NPC
13. Neutral NPC
14. Bandits
15. Cave Bear
16. Bloodspear Tribe
17. Bloodspear Tribe
18. Cultists
19. Ogre
20. Special (Dragon is always a good bet)

High Rock Mountain
1. Adult Red Dragon
2. Draconians
3. Ice Troll
4. Hill Giant
5. Cave Troll
6. Ice Troll
7. Frost Hound
8. Ogre
9. Neutral NPC
10. Bandits
11. Non-hostile NPC
12. Dwarves
13. Monks of the Sacred Tower
14. Drows
15. Frost Hound
16. The Mad Angel
17. Eladrin Winter Knights
18. Sons of Winter
19. Adult White Dragon
20. Special

Difficulty Level For the Swamp, Mountain, Hills and Shadow Forest (roll 1d6, but never less than 1 monster of determined type)
1: n-1
2: n
3: n
4: n+1
5: n+1
6: n+2

Silent Forest
1. Cockatrices
2. Dire Wolf
3. Deathjump Spiders
4. Gray Wolf
5. Gray Wolf
6. Stirges
7. Stirges
8. Wild Dogs
9. Neutral NPC
10. Non-hostile NPC
11. Green Warriors Goblins (west) or Bloody Skulls Goblins (east) or Red Riders (south)
12. Non-hostile NPC
13. Neutral NPC
14. Death Boar
15. Cave Bear
16. Dire Stirge
17. Phase Spider
18. Venom-Eyed Basilisk
19. Unicorn
20. Special (Dragon is always a good bet)

Difficulty Level For the Silent Forest (roll 1d6, but never less than 1 monster of determined type)
1: n-2
2: n-1
3: n-1
4: n
5: n
6: n+1

 

[Jack99]

Session 2

We were missing Kavasi (warden) and Lucan (monk). Kavasi would turn up later, when his meeting was done.

Onsday 15th Zeptambor, Year 599
Having eliminated the bandits, our brave heroes without a name (yet!), sat down and chilled a bit, pondering their next move, while healing up. Velkin took a walk around (not inside) the Castle of Flames, looking for perhaps a cave or something else of interest. He soon came running back, having spotted 4 bandits returning from the hunt with a deer.

Our heroes hid in camp, ready to ambush. When they (the bandits) were close enough, Amul charged in, swinging his fullblade with fury. What at first seemed like a walk-over, turned out to be lethal. A few lucky strikes and both Amul and Garel-kai found themselves unconscious, hovering on death's door. Luckily for them, Tokiel's chose that moment to really get in gear and show the bandits just how powerful a sorcerer's magic is, killing almost all of the remaining bandits, with the last one fleeing quicker than you do before an agree Red Dragon...
[sblock=Thoughts]Low-level combats sure are more swingy and unpredictable than epic combats: Of course, it could be party composition, but they still have a defender, leader, controller and striker, so I doubt it. Maybe it's just that the party isn't as well-oiled as the last one, because they haven't found all the leet synergies there is (which is totally normal of course). Either way, I liked this fight. 4 level 2 bandits is a n+1 fight, so it shouldn't cause too much headache. And despite the fact that players had the advantage of surprise, and the bandits spent their first round with all misses, a crit and all hits during the second round turned the table on the players and changed what was looking as a walkover to a battle for their life. I liked this. A lot.

The other thing worth noting is that the sorcerer really not only seems to be effective on paper, but also in actual play. At least, he does a frightening amount of damage for a low-level. Okay, so he got a custom-tailored item that is pretty good, even very good, but still. I am going to have to watch him carefully, and see how the other strikers compare, so I am prepared if someone starts to grumble. [/sblock]
On the bandits the heroes found a treasure map.
[sblock=Thoughts] This was yet another hook. I want them to meet Zanex at some point, the blind fomorian posing as a hermit scholar, living in a hut in the woods. I also wanted to introduce the other planes, in this case the Shadowfell, to the group. The Ancient ruin on the map is really in the Shadowfell, appearing in the mortal world on the 3 days of full moon. Of course, they will need to figure this out.[/sblock]
After that fun-filled incident, the party decided to not stick around. It might be too dangerous, what if more bandits returned. Velkin and Amul got the idea to disguise their tracks and numbers, and then they all left with the mules and wagons, heading east back to Fallcrest. Or rather, heading east right into the woods, stopping once out of sight to rest, because several were pretty beat up by now, and they had no desire to navigate the big and rather dangerous Silent Forest at anything less than full strength.
[sblock=Thoughts]I must really have scared my players with the whole random encounters and Phase Spiders. I can't recall when I have seen them take as many precautions when it comes to moving around. The random encounters do take some time that doesn't advance the story per say, but it does give their group and characters some ... well character, which is also great in an RPG.[/sblock]
Velkin found them a suitable place to rest and hide, and they crashed for the rest of the day, talking about the treasure map and what it meant. Nothing happened during the night either, and at first light, the heroes continued.
[sblock=Thoughts]Another thing I have noticed is how everybody participates in the skill challenge that determines how well they navigate the wilderness. While they have a very gamist approach to it (its just rolling), they are certainly "getting into it", with a lot of yelling and cheering when the others are rolling. I also like how they each are taking charge, they want to participate and are not afraid at attempting rolls even though they maybe only have a +1 or +2 modifier. Best was when the Avenger/Invoker with a bluff check of -1 was attempting to make it look as if they had been more people, to discourage any eventual bandits to not follow them. It was his idea, so he ran with it, instead of passing the roll to the sorcerer with +9. He rolled a 19 so it paid off.[/sblock]
Torsday 16th Zeptambor, Year 599
Most of the next day was uneventful. They traveled east for the whole day, until they were tired. Velkin found them another spot to rest, and after some food, the party crashed for the night, electing to guard-duty in two's.

During the night, they were approached by a Unicorn whose corner of forest they were now in. It wanted to know what they were doing there, but they convinced it that they were merely passing through with some merchant wares, and that they meant no harm to the forest. Rather flabbergasted of having met a real Unicorn, they completely forgot to ask it's name before it was gone.
[sblock=Thoughts]This encounter showed the weakness in the many random encounters, or perhaps a weakness of my DM'ing. I (finally) rolled a non-combat random encounter, and I couldn't (at least this time) come up with something cool. So it just became a insignificant encounter. I wanted more out of it, but perhaps I can use it later on. We will see if it was just a waste of time.[/sblock]
The next day they continued east, with Velkin on point. Around midday, he suddenly heard some arguing in an unknown language. Stealthing ahead of the others, he found 4 goblins arguing (over something) over the body of a human. An attempt to lure them into a trap failed, and Velkin suddenly found himself running back to the others, with 4 howling goblins on his heals.

The goblins fought in an uncharacteristically disciplined way, using their shields to cover for each other, but little good did that do. Our heroes killed them all the same, although one (Velkin) was down and counting.
[sblock=Thoughts]Another n+1 encounter that almost caused a death, something which hasn't happened for a long time. Not sure why. There was no clear advantage of terrain nor surprise, but still, the small buggers proved a good bit harder than I expected. They were pretty standard goblins, with an extra power matching the Hobgoblin Phalanx power (+2 AC when next to another goblin).[/sblock]
After the fight, they continued so quickly they completely forgot to check what the body was.. aah, being a newbie again

Later, towards sunset, as they were approaching civilized lands, they ran into Robin the ranger, who was out hunting goblins and kobolds. They had a little talk with him, but soon moved on, making it to Fallcrest late evening.

Before heading to bed, they went and finished their business with Amara, each getting paid 100 gold pieces for their hard work. They inquired whether she had more work for them, but she said that if they wanted to work, they should talk to the Lord Warden. With the multiple goblin and kobold attacks and with zombies and skeletons running wild in Fallcrest a couple of nights ago, surely the Lord Warden had something they could do.

They decided to get some sleep and headed back to their "rooms" at the Lucky Gnome Taphouse.

Freeday 17th Zeptambor, Year 599
After having only slept a couple of hours, Velkin awoke in the middle of the night to the screams of a woman, coming from outside on the street. He looked out the window and saw a skeleton who had ripped out a rib and was using said rib to bore into the chest of a woman.

Yelling for the others to wake up, Velkin opens a window and tosses some magic at the skeleton. Kavaki jumps out of the bed, graps weapon and shield, and jumps out through the window, pulling with him the window frame. But out he got, and between the two of them, the skeleton soon died. But it was too late to save the woman. The others arrived, and they headed out into town to find out whether there were more instances of undead slaying defenseless victims. But having to wait for the armor-wearers to put on armor cost some time, and by the time they got to the square, the skeletons and zombies had all been slain. They tried to track the undead, but lost the tracks around the bluffs. They figured the undead had come from the crypts built in the bluff, and returned to bed, as they could not find any more clues.
[sblock=Thoughts]Overall, I think our setup is working well. All the info the players should have is posted on our blog, In the room where we play, we have a 90' inch projector, so during play, we have whatever map is relevant, be it the world map, the treasure map or the Fallcrest map, up on the wall. It helps the players a lot, to visualize the world. It also helps a lot when things happen in the city, so that everyone can just look up and place things that I explain, when they move around or such. I mean, no player can remember every NPC or place that a DM invents, but with the info readily at hand on the wall, it almost makes it as if they can.[/sblock]
Lordday 18th Zeptambor, Year 599
Once awake, Velkin and Kavasi headed to visit the wizard in his tower, in order to get identified the new staff of Velkin. But no one was home. After that, the party headed up to see the Lord Warden. He accepted their help, and told them they could either go after kobolds, goblins or handle undead in town. They decided to spend a night laying in ambush near the crypts, in order to perhaps catch a skeleton or two. Or maybe the evil necromancer they think is behind the undead attacks.

Night came, and the heroes hid, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly Velkin spotted some shadowy figures in the middle of a break-in. The thieves (all but one) were attacked and slain inside the house, and as they prepared to turn the last one in, he offered them something better. He told that weird things were happening in the thieves' guild, that a woman called Mistress Adele had taken over the guild, controlling almost everyone with the help of magic. He also told that one of the guild's hideout was in the deserted Moonsong Temple. For this information, he was let go, before the guards arrived.
[sblock=Thoughts]This is yet another hook place, the one about the succubus and the thieves' guild under her command. I have decided that her powers of domination work much longer on low-level NPC's, but that the shapechanging abilities of the wererats have some odd side effects. They are dominated as others, but when they shift, they are no longer dominated. As such, the wererat family, is not under her control, but have stuck around while faking it, not knowing what to do. They want a way out, and see the PC's as that - possibly. [/sblock]
Sonday 19th Zeptambor, Year 599
The next morning, the heroes packed their bags and headed out, aiming to find the pesky kobolds who had attacked the farms several times within the week. They easily found the tracks and followed them into the forest, to the Jade River. The followed the river and the tracks downstream, where there was a possibility of passage. Part of a bridge was still standing, but in order to get to and from the bridge, there was a lot of jumping from rock to rock. As they were almost over the river, 5 kobolds came out of the woods. They had been hiding, waiting for the right moment. Battle started, and it soon proved to be a precarious situation. Velkin was unable to get from rock to rock without help, so he was stuck out on the bridge, 45 feet from land. The others were trying to get to land, but they were assaulted by gluepots and many other things from the kobolds' slings. Kavasi was seconds from dying for good and Garel-kai was in a rough place as well, but, as often before, the heroes managed to get the upper hand at the end.
[sblock=Thoughts]This was a really cool fight that ended being much much closer to a TPK than I thought. n+1 is normally not too bad, but when coupled with a big terrain disadvantage, it can be downright lethal. Of course, I am not pulling any punches, which the paladin felt when suddenly both kobold soldiers tried to push him in the river (he was standing at the edge), with plate and all. There was some great moments, with the warden jumping from rock to rock, charging the kobolds, pushing them all back to make room for the others, only to be downed by the 3 slingers. The Warlord was downed while still out on the rocks, with ongoing damage and with no one able to get to him at that time, at which point he pops a surge (second time that night btw). And when things looked the most bleak, the sorcerer pulled out an AP and tossed two spells which hit all targets, both times, tipping the combat. When the combat was over, the warden and the warlord were still down, with the avenger stuck out on the rocks. The paladin popped a surge on the warlord (he couldn't get to the warden) who stands up and heals the warden. At that point, the warden has 2 failed death saves already and is next in the initiative order, so he was very happy about that.

Worth noting is that we roll death saves behind a screen, so the others in the party do not know how bad things are. We prefer this to avoid all the silly metagaming that inevitably (in our experience) comes with knowing how badly hurt others are. We do not tell how wounded we are either, just bloodied or not bloodied.

Also, I instituted another house rule:
[sblock=Potion House Rule]
9) You can only drink 1 non-healing potion per encounter. Drinking more than 1 potion causes great internal damage (lose 1 healing surge and take damage equal to your healing surge value). Should anyone be stupid (or daring) enough to drink a third potion during the same encounter, he will lose 2 healing surges and take damage equal to 2x healing surge value. A 4th potion will kill you (lose 4 surges and take damage equal to 4x healing surge value)
Why? - Well, with the removal of magic item creation, it gives me the liberty to control the flow of potions. I want potions to be a bonus, not the deciding factor in important fights. Meaning, to avoid hoarding of the potions, we are going to go oldschool and see if the mixing of potions can't detract people from doing just that.. [/sblock][/sblock]

I was so much happier with this session. We had some good fights, and the plot/world opened up a lot more. They now have several hooks (bandits, kobolds, goblins, undead in town, treasure map, thieves' guild) and I have no idea what they will chose.

Regarding the AP-debate. I must admit that I like my own houserule less and less. It just makes it non-special to use the AP and removes a lot of the choices behind the mechanic. I think I am going to recommend that we remove it.

-----

This is the treasure map the PC's found:

[sblock=Treasure Map]

[/sblock]

The cave mentioned will also provide access for the Underdark, for later in the campaign. I am not quite sure if I will run it all through paragon, but if I do, it's going to be an Underdark themed campaign. Reading the Underdark-book atm, and it rocks.

Also, I have had a chat with the player who plays paladin. He is the brand new player who joined the last campaign at level 21, so still very much learning the ropes (mostly as we go). He was wondering if he could play a warrior instead, so I think I will let him do just that. My philosophy has always been to allow (within the limits of the world) to let the players play a character that they enjoy. I think I will plot the death of the paladin for the next time. I just need to get him far away from the warlord. Slow or immobilize was the initial idea, but not sure that will work. The warlord was given some magic boots that helps against such things (for his excellent backstory).