Hi I plan to Start a D&D5e campaign on roll20 where I will have my players sent to Far Payit in Maztica to play the tome of Annihilation based campaign. The over arking Idear is the same Death Curse big end dungeon and Yuan-Ti (the have been living in hiding in the jungles of Far Payit in my Maztica until the Gods Qotal, Zaltec and the rest had disappeared during the Spellplague on the time where the other world vanished).
Volo will be a main NPC that brings the Characters to Maztica (via Bot) 30 days before the ToA story line begins (10 days before the Death curse sets in) the players are aware of the death curse but their Characters aren't aware of it until they arrive at Maxal (my resknined Port Nyanzaru)
First Session: Volo hire the players as expedition team/bodyguards for his new book Volo’s guide to Maztica starting in the Harbor of waterdeep. Offers them 1000 gp each plus all the treasure they find for helping him with his quest for his new book and keep him alive (he has a medium level plot armor just to make him not a pain to keep around) and pays every one 40 gp upfront
And a copy of his Book Volo’s Guide to monsters (effects as described in ToA)
He Has secured them a ship to Maxal by paying the Captain with a magic sail (this will reduce the travel time to 1 month)
But first the captain has a pest problem she needs the players to deal with since here Crew is busy preparing in town:
• Rat fight - Round 1 - Two Giant Rats
• Round 2 -Two Swarms of Rats join the fight
• Round 3-4 one additional swarm of Rats joins the fight
• When the last one or two Swarms of Rats drop below 50% hp the will call out and make one or two (depending on the group’s performance) Diseased Giant Rat join the fight
• (Map DM Guide Ship below deck)
The sea travel (several unevent full days and full rest)
As the can see the cost of Chult they get attack by Pirates
• Round 1 (ship crew will fight the pirates consisting of 4 thugs) two thugs and six Bandit all painted as Pirates
• Round 3 - four more Bandit
• The Pirate Captain (of the Pirates joins when there are only 3 pirates left) Thug 59 HP and name (has been boasting the howl fight at this point) (or should I go bandit captain?)
• Volo will never Fight he uses his magic only if he needs to and only to escape
- Sea burial if a NPC dies
- Uneventful days and long rest
The storm!
• Players have to support the ship crew to make it through the Storm
• They have to pass 10 (for 4 players) skill checks dc 12 or expend a spell that helps
• I will act as if they could fail and all die if the 10 if they get 10 fails before they manage to have 10 successes they will get of course and lose 5 days (this will puch back the time they arrive 20 days of the death curse +5 days)
•Time to pay the Dragon turtle see. ToA page 42-43 BAY OF CHULT but the gold is dropped into the Dragon turtles mouth instead of a sack so he can taste if the gold is real gold or how much a gem is worth
• But the payment is not enough they miss an unknown amount (80 gp)
• The Turtle will demand more or he will sink the ship if they don’t pay more or go (with the payment they did lost in that case, but they haven’t enough food to do this
They can persuade the Dragon Turtle Persuasion vs int check (DT) if they beat if by 5 he lets them pass with no extra payment if they pass with equal of +1-4 they have to pay only half (40 gp) and get told the remaining amount
- persuade Volo to pay DC 14 (he is convinced he paid his share with the magic sail and thinks this is he captains fault)
- persuade the captain to pay DC 16 (she need the money to buy goods and this will harshly reduce her profit) (he played more them last time already just to be save, but fell victim to the Dragon turtle’s mood swings)
- They can pool their Money and simply pay but this will reduce their starting capital for travel expenses
- Attack it after the first attempt he will warn them if they ignore it their ship is going to get dragged down to the bottoms of the see most of the crew dies Volo gets a plot armor save (he still is a lucky bastard) and the captain will come back with a vengeance in the story to avenge her crew (yes the captain is female I have great picture from a magic card of Ixalan for her token and handout) the PC will survive but first have to make Swim checks to the surface Athletics check DC 11 and +2 if wear Chain mail or any kind of metal armor and +2 for every metal weapon with a weight of 4 lb. or more (for example a Mace - 4 lb. will drag you down but a wooden crossbow - 5 lb. won’t a heavy crossbow maybe …) the weapons and be discarded ( I will tell them that so they know), unlike armor they wear, have no DC increase but are forever lost at the bottom of the see (they will get new weapons but not metal ones since they are rare and imported objects… the will get wooden macas, obsidian or stone weapons from vendors in the city if they need to). On a fail they will gain a level of exhaustion (Disadvantage on Ability Checks) but survive they all will get hold of some drift wood from the ship and get to the bay (beach or see no random encounters) about 1 day (2 if the speed is halved) foot travel from the harbor (stranded) and all gain 1 exhaustion level so the ones that failed the swim check have their speed halved (this will add 1 to 2 days the arrive later)
• Arriving in Mexal: I will have described the the city and the people kuper brown /Bronze skin tones manly Humans and Tabaxi a few other races and fair or darker people (clearly foreigner) a strange language (Payit) and 3 Big Pyramide temples…
Time to visit the honored concealers (a reskinned Trade Princes) that govern the city or the one of Lore and magic at least Xilopin (WAKANGA O'TAMU reskined)
There they will wait a will in his Villa/palace
• He will have will demand a face to face Business talk with Volo alone, but only to have the players meet Syndra Silvane (see STARTING THE ADVENTURE page 8) and she will tell the players (if they haven’t found out about the death curse in the city already) and make the same offer as described in ToA one rare magic item if they save her and destroy the soulmonger (she claims that searching for it will go hand in hand with volos goals but he should not have to know about it or he would stop them) if asked why them she tells them that she just lost her latest expedition and is disappeared…
• After that if they do not search for a guide out of own motivation Volo or Xilopin (WAKANGA O'TAMU reskined) will offer to arrange a meeting with the honored concealer Huitzitl (Jobal resined) he will hand them out the advertisements or will directly introduce them to one (the advertisements can be found in several places in the city too I still have to make new ones to match the original ones)
•After that, they have a bit time to prepare the expedition (with or without scout a scout would tell them that they should)
•Then it the can start their first expedition
Resources I use or intend to use:
WotC: Tomb of Annihilation Roll20 – https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/module/48/tomb-of-annihilation DnD Beyond – https://www.dndbeyond.com/compendium/adventures/toa Hardcover – https://goo.gl/7kCrGL (Amazon.de) https://goo.gl/KYY46i (Amazon.com) (Yes I own it 3 times roll20, DnDbeyond and Hardcover)
Dungeon Masters Guild: Maztican Bestiary - Monsters of the True World http://www.dmsguild.com/product/176654/Maztican-Bestiary--Monsters-of-the-True-World TWC1 The Maztica Campaign Guide http://www.dmsguild.com/product/171534/TWC1-The-Maztica-Campaign-Guide
Audible: The Maztica Trilogy: Ironhelm – https://goo.gl/AmiotY
Viperhand – https://goo.gl/7P1mck Featherd Dragon – https://goo.gl/TzpLi3
Resources I will buy soon: Maztica (2e) http://www.dmsguild.com/product/198112/Maztica-2e
What do you Think? Ideas how to expand on this?
Volo will be a main NPC that brings the Characters to Maztica (via Bot) 30 days before the ToA story line begins (10 days before the Death curse sets in) the players are aware of the death curse but their Characters aren't aware of it until they arrive at Maxal (my resknined Port Nyanzaru)
First Session: Volo hire the players as expedition team/bodyguards for his new book Volo’s guide to Maztica starting in the Harbor of waterdeep. Offers them 1000 gp each plus all the treasure they find for helping him with his quest for his new book and keep him alive (he has a medium level plot armor just to make him not a pain to keep around) and pays every one 40 gp upfront
And a copy of his Book Volo’s Guide to monsters (effects as described in ToA)
He Has secured them a ship to Maxal by paying the Captain with a magic sail (this will reduce the travel time to 1 month)
But first the captain has a pest problem she needs the players to deal with since here Crew is busy preparing in town:
• Rat fight - Round 1 - Two Giant Rats
• Round 2 -Two Swarms of Rats join the fight
• Round 3-4 one additional swarm of Rats joins the fight
• When the last one or two Swarms of Rats drop below 50% hp the will call out and make one or two (depending on the group’s performance) Diseased Giant Rat join the fight
• (Map DM Guide Ship below deck)
The sea travel (several unevent full days and full rest)
As the can see the cost of Chult they get attack by Pirates
• Round 1 (ship crew will fight the pirates consisting of 4 thugs) two thugs and six Bandit all painted as Pirates
• Round 3 - four more Bandit
• The Pirate Captain (of the Pirates joins when there are only 3 pirates left) Thug 59 HP and name (has been boasting the howl fight at this point) (or should I go bandit captain?)
• Volo will never Fight he uses his magic only if he needs to and only to escape
- Sea burial if a NPC dies
- Uneventful days and long rest
The storm!
• Players have to support the ship crew to make it through the Storm
• They have to pass 10 (for 4 players) skill checks dc 12 or expend a spell that helps
• I will act as if they could fail and all die if the 10 if they get 10 fails before they manage to have 10 successes they will get of course and lose 5 days (this will puch back the time they arrive 20 days of the death curse +5 days)
•Time to pay the Dragon turtle see. ToA page 42-43 BAY OF CHULT but the gold is dropped into the Dragon turtles mouth instead of a sack so he can taste if the gold is real gold or how much a gem is worth
• But the payment is not enough they miss an unknown amount (80 gp)
• The Turtle will demand more or he will sink the ship if they don’t pay more or go (with the payment they did lost in that case, but they haven’t enough food to do this
They can persuade the Dragon Turtle Persuasion vs int check (DT) if they beat if by 5 he lets them pass with no extra payment if they pass with equal of +1-4 they have to pay only half (40 gp) and get told the remaining amount
- persuade Volo to pay DC 14 (he is convinced he paid his share with the magic sail and thinks this is he captains fault)
- persuade the captain to pay DC 16 (she need the money to buy goods and this will harshly reduce her profit) (he played more them last time already just to be save, but fell victim to the Dragon turtle’s mood swings)
- They can pool their Money and simply pay but this will reduce their starting capital for travel expenses
- Attack it after the first attempt he will warn them if they ignore it their ship is going to get dragged down to the bottoms of the see most of the crew dies Volo gets a plot armor save (he still is a lucky bastard) and the captain will come back with a vengeance in the story to avenge her crew (yes the captain is female I have great picture from a magic card of Ixalan for her token and handout) the PC will survive but first have to make Swim checks to the surface Athletics check DC 11 and +2 if wear Chain mail or any kind of metal armor and +2 for every metal weapon with a weight of 4 lb. or more (for example a Mace - 4 lb. will drag you down but a wooden crossbow - 5 lb. won’t a heavy crossbow maybe …) the weapons and be discarded ( I will tell them that so they know), unlike armor they wear, have no DC increase but are forever lost at the bottom of the see (they will get new weapons but not metal ones since they are rare and imported objects… the will get wooden macas, obsidian or stone weapons from vendors in the city if they need to). On a fail they will gain a level of exhaustion (Disadvantage on Ability Checks) but survive they all will get hold of some drift wood from the ship and get to the bay (beach or see no random encounters) about 1 day (2 if the speed is halved) foot travel from the harbor (stranded) and all gain 1 exhaustion level so the ones that failed the swim check have their speed halved (this will add 1 to 2 days the arrive later)
• Arriving in Mexal: I will have described the the city and the people kuper brown /Bronze skin tones manly Humans and Tabaxi a few other races and fair or darker people (clearly foreigner) a strange language (Payit) and 3 Big Pyramide temples…
Time to visit the honored concealers (a reskinned Trade Princes) that govern the city or the one of Lore and magic at least Xilopin (WAKANGA O'TAMU reskined)
There they will wait a will in his Villa/palace
• He will have will demand a face to face Business talk with Volo alone, but only to have the players meet Syndra Silvane (see STARTING THE ADVENTURE page 8) and she will tell the players (if they haven’t found out about the death curse in the city already) and make the same offer as described in ToA one rare magic item if they save her and destroy the soulmonger (she claims that searching for it will go hand in hand with volos goals but he should not have to know about it or he would stop them) if asked why them she tells them that she just lost her latest expedition and is disappeared…
• After that if they do not search for a guide out of own motivation Volo or Xilopin (WAKANGA O'TAMU reskined) will offer to arrange a meeting with the honored concealer Huitzitl (Jobal resined) he will hand them out the advertisements or will directly introduce them to one (the advertisements can be found in several places in the city too I still have to make new ones to match the original ones)
•After that, they have a bit time to prepare the expedition (with or without scout a scout would tell them that they should)
•Then it the can start their first expedition
Resources I use or intend to use:
WotC: Tomb of Annihilation Roll20 – https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/module/48/tomb-of-annihilation DnD Beyond – https://www.dndbeyond.com/compendium/adventures/toa Hardcover – https://goo.gl/7kCrGL (Amazon.de) https://goo.gl/KYY46i (Amazon.com) (Yes I own it 3 times roll20, DnDbeyond and Hardcover)
Dungeon Masters Guild: Maztican Bestiary - Monsters of the True World http://www.dmsguild.com/product/176654/Maztican-Bestiary--Monsters-of-the-True-World TWC1 The Maztica Campaign Guide http://www.dmsguild.com/product/171534/TWC1-The-Maztica-Campaign-Guide
Audible: The Maztica Trilogy: Ironhelm – https://goo.gl/AmiotY
Viperhand – https://goo.gl/7P1mck Featherd Dragon – https://goo.gl/TzpLi3
Resources I will buy soon: Maztica (2e) http://www.dmsguild.com/product/198112/Maztica-2e
What do you Think? Ideas how to expand on this?
