World's Largest Dungeon in actual play [Spoilers!]

[rvalle]

Hi Jim!

That device sounds like fun. Unfortunatly I recently was reminded by a post made by Hussar that things like Bags of Holding don't work in the WLD.

I had a character with a Quiver of Elonar that holds lots of arrows, javelins and spears. After seeing Hussar's post I let him know the quiver stopped working once he entered the dungeon.

What stops them from working is that they can not access the extra-dimentional space. Maybe some other magical effect could be used to get that item to work.

rv

 

[Hussar]

Well, a sort of whatchamacallit from Star Trek would work. Transporter technology to synthesize whatever. That sort of thing works in the WLD. Some sort of goody with Major Creation a few times a day. Set it to random.

Just had a fantastic blow out fight today. Loads of fun. The party is in J, traveling from Ring 7 to Ring 3 and have to pass over the big pit trap the fire giants dug. They travelled to the edge of the pit, 5 feet entirely by chance and sent the halfling to go scout. Halfling goes out and scouts and comes back telling them about the "big, nasty looking red guys." That was her exact description. So, they dither about plans and then finally go forward.

Halfling first and stops in the middle of the trap. Kobold second, stops in the middle of the trap. Orc barbarian third, trap gets triggered (finally), sending the halfling thief 100 feet to the bottom, the kobold and the halfling pally on the north side of the pit and the barbarian to the south. They begin pulling up the halfling.

Out pops the Giant taskmaster. Hijinks ensue.

During the fight with the giant, everyone except for the kobold bard heads over the pit in various ways and battles the giant. Then, out pops the honking big fire elemental that was snacking on the wyvern to the north, which the halfling thief saw but neglected to mention to anyone.

Hijinks ensue.

The kobold bard manages to make the jump to safety after getting swatted a few times by the fire elemental. Fire giant goes down, fire giant number two shows up and attempts to bull rush the halfling paladin into the pit.

Fails. Sigh.

Fire Elemental attempts to climb around the pit. Kobold bard drops a grease spell and the fire elemental goes splat into the bottom of the pit. The paladin and the orc barbarian assist with the halfling thief putting on the kill of the fire giant.

Now the fire elemental is trapped in the bottom of the pit, with the party frantically dumping whatever on top to kill it. Unbeknownst to them, three more fire giants have heard the commotion and are coming up from the south.

Next week is going to be fun.

 

[Dracorat]

What stops them from working is that they can not access the extra-dimentional space. Maybe some other magical effect could be used to get that item to work.

While true, my party would kill just to have a bag of holding. They are level 7. And I'm not convinced I'll ever give them one =) I like the inventory management they have had to deal with so far. The look on their faces as they have to decide between the scrawny battle axes or the chainmail coats. The heavy steel shields or the longswords...

 

[Hussar]

Heh, one of my players, with his replacement character, had his PC appear in the WLD sitting in a small rowboat in the middle of a room. Nice sight gag and everyone giggled. Fast forward past Region C and they stumble across those Marvelous Pigments in Nardarik's hoard. They use the pigments to put wheels and whatnot on the boat and have been towing it around with them ever since.

Although, they recently lost it (again) after the Rast ambush a week or so ago. Will have to see if they hunt to get it back.

 

[Xiag]

Suggestions Needed: Orc Campaign

Well, my party finally got to and defeated Longtail. They had a relatively easy time of it due to good team work and a lucky crit against the Imp (crit from a fighter with a greatsword, and of coruse he rolled 12 for damage... the imp only got 2 rounds before that) In my game, sealing the portal strengthened the wards on the dungeon, trapping them inside. Until then, only evil creatures were trapped inside.

So, they decide to double back, and get the mining equipment from one of the rooms near the entrance. Half the party stays and secures one of the workshops as a new base camp, and the other heads out to get some equipment, hopefully to tunnel up and out. On the way back, we have our first casualty (if they'd stoped to rest after the Longtail fight, this wouldn't have been a problem). So, the player wants to replace his character with a half orc barbarian.

I COULD just give him an xp jump and start him with the party. But I hate doing that. The first few levels are always formitive for the character, so, I'm thinking this: Run him through the orc's raids on the kobolds and lizards. What I'm looking for is suggestions on how to make it more interesting.

Thanks

 

[rvalle]

I'm keeping all my characters the same level no matter what. New characters start at the same level as the existing ones. If you try to level up each new one that shows up its going to be a problem at high levels. Plus, you have a body count like Hussar does, it will end up taking lots of time.

Half-orc: Long-tail had some Orcs with him... he could be a survivor or got seperated. Or, as you say, part of the existing group that is still there. Or he was not with Longtail but survived the fights and was seperated from the main group of Orcs.

One thing to consider... this will pretty much stop any chance of the characters having a friendly encounter with the surviving kobolds.

Hmm... as a half-orc barb maybe the orc leader kicked him out as being too powerfull and a threat to his leadership. Made up some charges (collaberating with the Kolbolds) and booted him. That would make him hostile to both groups and could be fun to boot.

rv

 

[Hunter0441]

Mapping

How is everyone handling mapping in the WLD? I was using tracing paper to map out sections for my players, but this was time consuming and left the players out. Any suggestions?

 

[rvalle]

How is everyone handling mapping in the WLD? I was using tracing paper to map out sections for my players, but this was time consuming and left the players out. Any suggestions?

Ahh, this is one of the BIGGEST reasons I like using Fantasy Grounds to run WLD. Second right behind being able to play from home.

The one time I ran a face to face game we used a some dungeon tiles (that snap together to and form a surface with a grid on it) and dry erase markers. It was also time comsuming but we used the same mat to move the figures on. As they hit the end of the board we grab the ones off the back end, erase them and put them in front.

rv

 

[Dracorat]

I use MapTable. It rocks and has the additional benefit of being free.

 

[Xiag]

I'm keeping all my characters the same level no matter what. New characters start at the same level as the existing ones. If you try to level up each new one that shows up its going to be a problem at high levels. Plus, you have a body count like Hussar does, it will end up taking lots of time.

I'm putting some things in play to help have everyone with a backup character in play, so they won't have to come into the dungeon at 1, but they'll still have to cut their teeth somewhere. If nothing else, I'll do one off adventures that take the players from level 1 to 2, to let them grow into their character before their stats overwhelm who they are.

Half-orc: Long-tail had some Orcs with him... he could be a survivor or got seperated. Or, as you say, part of the existing group that is still there. Or he was not with Longtail but survived the fights and was seperated from the main group of Orcs.

One thing to consider... this will pretty much stop any chance of the characters having a friendly encounter with the surviving kobolds.

That's the plan. Found somewhere durring the exploration by the rest of the party, still wounded from the battle. I completely count on the druid taking mercy and keeping him alive, even though they are travling with the last surviving kobold. Since they are responsible for his current psychosis (the kobold rolls a will check or freaks at the site of bodies), they're very protective of him.

Hmm... as a half-orc barb maybe the orc leader kicked him out as being too powerfull and a threat to his leadership. Made up some charges (collaberating with the Kolbolds) and booted him. That would make him hostile to both groups and could be fun to boot.

rv

What I'm looking for is ideas on interesting adventures the Orc leader may have given his group before the final raid. At the final raid, I'll be sure he's eventually overwhelmed and wounded somewhere for the players to find and bring into the group. Questions like:

What would have been in area A BEFORE longtail brought his group in?
What might have caused everyone to snap and faction off?
Did the orcs have any plans on escape? Or just hang out till they die?