D&D 5E Enhancing "Storm King's Thunder"

I don't know anything about the MMO myself, except I use some of the music in my Roll20 game.

I've used the swap from "God-broke Ordning, Giants Freak Out" to "Storm King Died, Giants Freak Out," and I'm going to see how that plays out. I used Zephyros to give the players a bit of that information. Something I'm interested in thinking about is using more political machinations for the Giant Lords. Things like Cloud Giant spies sabotaging Fire Giant mech building, or Hill Giants and Stone Giants clashing in a village somewhere. I don't really know how to expand upon their plots, especially as most of them are fairly simple, but if I come up with any notes, I'll place them here.

Some customization I've made in my game: I've made Slarkrethel the patron of my PC warlock.. They're using one of the Undying Pacts (I've forgotten which), and Slarkrethel is using them to try and gain information for his ascension. The PC doesn't know the name of Slarkrethel, only that it seems like a kraken-ish type of being. I'm going to reveal more as the game goes on, and (as the PC is neutral good) I can assume they would eventually want to rebel against the kraken cult, so I'm going to have the mysterious forces that Zephyros contacts with his contact other plane spell offer to essentially "take over" their pact. I'll have to have Zeph come back some more.

I've used the Power Score RPG guides and taken most of their plot change advice, introducing Felgolos and such. As an aside, I tried to give Felgolos some kind of accent to differentiate him, but I forgot, I am horrible at accents, and my accent slowly morphed into a newfoundland accent. "Hey sorry there buddy for breathin' lightning over ya, just wanted to help you with them orc hosers, they can be crafty ya know they don't keep their sticks on the ice eh." He's going to be calling Tiamat "Timmy" and have a shrine to Tiamat be referenced as "oh yeah eh I was just headin down to Tim's if you want a lift."

So, new session today, mainly involving the Eye of the All-Father.

I have a properly paranoid party, so not only did they find and disable the rolling boulder trap, they found the stone block trap at the entry and smartly used it to break up the barbarian invasion party (some trapped between the blocks, some squashed beneath the inner block, and the chieftain and his white dragon wyrmling trapped on the inside with them, where they were quickly dispatched)

The remorhaz encounter in the south room is no joke for characters of the suggested level. Don't hesitate to use Harshnag in this fight - I hadn't actually had him get involved in any of the previous fights, other than being used as bait for the barbarians to be lured to the trap, as he saw the "small folk" he has been traveling with seem to have most threats well in hand - but the remorhaz was on another level. I had one character already swallowed, and a couple more in or near single digits for hit points before that fight came to an end.

My group managed to get most of the plot from the Oracle in just two days worth of questions - I was quite proud of their excellent questioning skills! They know they need to discover the various giant lords, get a magical conch from at least one of them, and use it to get to the storm giant court to help Serissa find King Hekaton and foil the plans of Mirran and Nym. The look on their faces when the Oracle said "Unknown" to the whereabouts of Hekaton was priceless. About the only bit of the plot they haven't sussed out yet is Iymrith's involvement. Granted, they will soon learn all about that once she arrives on the scene in the near future!

They have so far found one relic and are debating on whether to search for others. With the airship, the Great Worm burial mound is ridiculously easy and fast to get to (only a few hours away), so they went there first. I wonder how many campaigns will simply just go straight away to fight Storvald without going to another burial mound based on that alone...

Here's the full list of my background and character hook ideas:

1. My childhood home was attacked by Uthgardt barbarians, and I have never forgiven them.
2. A friend of mine won 1,000 gold gambling at the Golden Goose in Yartar, and I'm tempted to try my own luck.
3. I have always wanted to fly an airship, and I would risk everything for a chance to pilot one.
4. Someone dear to me was lost at sea, and I hope to someday learn what became of them.
5. The dwarves of Citadel Adbar are said to be master smiths. I wish to see their work for myself because....
6. I grew up listening to stories about the legendary Force Grey, a Waterdhavian adventuring company. These stories inspired me to become an adventurer, and I want nothing more than to meet my idols someday.
7. Legends speak of an ancient oracle dwelling somewhere in the Spine of the World. I have an important question to ask it.
8. As a child, I became lost in a blizzard and was saved by a frost giant. Ever since, I have felt a strange connection to frost giants and never assume that they are evil.

If you want a specific tribe for #1, I suggest Gray Wolf or Great Worm.
#4 requires you to invent some form of closure. The NPC or its ship can be found in Maelstrom, for example, or on one of the islands in the Trackless Sea.
#5 doesn't tie into the story so much as encourage the party to explore the map (Citadel Adbar lies in the extreme northeast corner).

I am running my players through Lost Mine of Phandelver as a preliminary to SKT instead of using the Nightstone adventure. I am definitely going to use some of the foreshadowing suggestions in this thread.

So far to foreshadow SKT in LMoP;
1. the PCs have seen a violent storm happening at sea;
2. seen a strange ship sailing off the Sword Coast;
3. came across a hill giant hut on the way from Cragmaw Caves to Cragmaw Castle (and barely missed being stepped on my a hill giant passing in the night while they slept);
4. and witnessing the Cloud Giants cloud as it sailed overhead on its way to Nightstone, accidentally dropping a couple of boulders near Cragmaw Castle (target practice maybe), on one of which the PCs discovered the "Enemy" rune chiseled into the rock.

I'm also planning to have a letter in Iarno "Glasstaff's" quarters from the Kraken society letting him know "The deed has been done" or something similar. Based on one of the suggestions I've seen here, I might have the party's warlock find out he's worshiping the kraken.

As far as modifying the adventure as written, I was underwhelmed by the hooks for Nightstone, as well as some of the encounters there, so I wrote on my blog about it and suggested the following:

The Runaway Bride/Groom – The son or daughter of a Waterdhavian noble ran away before his/her wedding, leaving behind a note that they are heading for Nightstone to seek guidance from an old family friend (Destiny Agganor, the Tiefling Midwife). The PCs are hired to go and bring him/her back for the wedding at all costs, and will be paid 10 gp each to do this. The runaway bride/groom is in the goblin caves with Destiny.


Rub the Nightstone – A sage or wizard in Waterdeep or Daggerford tells the PCs of an ancient prophecy regarding giants, and a great “sundering” that will rock the world. She has heard of the ancient object in the center of Nighstone for which the village is named, and hires the PCs to go there to take rubbings of the symbols that are reportedly chissled into the face of the stone and return to her so she can divine their meaning. She cannot go herself as she must head to Candlekeep to seek more information there, but will pay the PCs 10 gp each upon their return.


Arrest Kella – One of the factions other than the Zhentarim sends the PCs to arrest Kella Darkhope and bring her to Waterdeep for questioning. This hook works best if one or more of the PCs have chosen to join one of those factions, or they could be offered membership if they succeed. Obviously this hook won’t work well if one or more PCs are members of the Zhentarim.


Help Kella – If members of the party are part of the Zhentarim, and the rest are neutral where the factions are concerned, the PCs can be sent by a Zhentarim agent in Waterdeep or Daggerford to help Kella with her task of taking Nightstone. The agent does not know what has happened, only that Kella has expressed a desire for reinforcements to help infiltrate the village and be ready for her companions (led by Xolkin Allasander) to arrive.


An Overdue Message – This one is very simple; someone in Waterdeep or Daggerford offers to pay the PCs 10 gp each to head to Nightstone to learn what has become of one of the NPCs there. This patron is very concerned because the NPC in question has cut off their usual communication (possibly of a secret nature?) and may be in trouble.


Escort the Emissary – This one is based on the existing hook of negotiating with the elves of the Ardeep Forest. Lady Nandar sends a request to Waterdeep for an ambassador to negotiate with the elves, and the PCs are hired to escort the ambassador to Nightstone to meet with Lady Nandar. This is certainly more plausible than the inexperienced first-level PCs negotiating with the elves as in the existing hook!


Dwarven Diplomacy – This hook depends on one or more members of the party being dwarves. Something has happened in the Dwarfholds and an urgent, sealed letter must be delivered to Morak Ur’gray in Nightstone. The fate of one of his family members, and possibly their entire clan, depends on Morak receiving the letter and returning home as soon as possible.


Family Matters – Sometimes (often?) the best approach to getting players invested in the story is to make it personal, and to involve your players in creating the hooks for an adventure. Explain to the players that you would like their input, and ask them to consider having a family member, or important friend, living in Nightstone. There are ten main families from which to choose (the eight cottages/farms, plus the priest Hiral Mystrum, and Lady Nandar herself), or possibly one of the common guards that lives and works in Nightstone. This has the added advantages of allowing you to give the players a bit more information up front about the village and its inhabitants, as well as giving them a very personal reason for embarking on the larger quest of battling the giants (not to mention rescuing their friend/family member from the goblins!).


Faction Mission – Similar to the Arresting/Helping Kella hook, the PCs could simply be approached by one of the factions and asked to go to Nightstone to speak with Lady Nandar about setting up a permament faction presence.


More Changes
In addition to the hooks above to add depth to the adventure consider some of the changes below to make the story more interesting.


The Temple – As written, the village priest, Hiral Mystrum, is a coward, and a prisoner in the goblin caves. As the PCs appoach the village they hear the incessant ringing of the temple bell, which is being rung by goblins who are “playing”. Frankly, this is silly, and makes the goblins seem not very threatening. Instead, consider having Hiral barricaded in his room in the temple with the goblins on the other side of the door trying to kill him. The bell is in a tower above the temple and is accessed from his room (as written). Hiral spied the PCs coming in the distance from the bell tower and has been ringing the bell ever since to get their attention in a desperate bid for help. Two of the goblins in the village were sent by their leader to find out why the bell is ringing, and stop it. The goblins are hacking away at the door with their swords, and the PCs have only a little time to rescue Hiral.


Nandar Keep – Lady Nandar is alive! Unfortunately she is also critically wounded from the giant attack, and is lying on the table as described in the text, attended by her remaining guards. They have barred the front door to the keep as well as the gates outside. The goblins have built a crude “bridge” over the hole in the actual bridge using bits of wood and detritus from the village. They are attempting to get in to the keep, but are still outside the gates. The PCs can see them from the Bailey side, and can attempt to cross the bridge to get them, however the goblins’ makeshift repair will only hold so much weight, so the PCs will need to be careful getting across, and some dexterity saves may be necessary. If the PCs defeat the goblins, rescue the village, and heal Lady Nandar, she will beg them to head for the caves to find the other villagers, offering them a large reward for their help, not to mention her undying gratitude, and a place in Nightstone whenever they wish.

I'm not sure of the timeline for the Vovinode construct that the fire giants are hunting, and the Forge of Spells in LMoP....but I made the forge the coal-fired engine of the Vovinode.

Having cleared Wave Echo, all the party know is that no-one would build a forge (furnace) like that, not even a magical engineering one. It was re-purposed from...something.

I like all these ideas. Prakriti's ideas would be good as rumours for my established PC group. One player played Phandelver years ago. It wouldn't be a bad idea to bring that back at some point...

JValeur said:

And, yet another one I've just uploaded a DM's Resource for Triboar. The product is created to enhance the town of Triboar when you run it during the Storm King's Thunder adventure, as well as significantly reduce the preparation time needed to run Triboar in an entertaining way. The download includes:

• Introductions - a guide to introducing Triboar and its NPCs to your players in an immersive and entertaining manner. Includes two one-page quests that introduce your party to all the playable NPCs.
• Attack on Triboar - a step-by-step guide to running the attack on Triboar, giving you a plan to follow so that you don't get overwhelmed.
• Playable NPCs - an evaluation of each playable NPC.
• NPC Quests - an evaluation of each NPC quest, as well as advice on which to focus on.
• Maps - two 50 x 50 handdrawn maps of different locations in Triboar, that can be both printed or used with a digital tabletop. The features of each map are also explained, and each map come in a gridded and ungridded version. The maps are scaled perfectly to the map of the town found in the book.
• Creature Cards - Printable index cards for each of the creatures your players are likely to interact with during the attack on Triboar.

Click to expand...

I picked this up today, excellent stuff.

I would appreciate any additional or strengthened links you can provide to LMoP, the ones included in SKT are a bit thin.

I've backed this boardgame on kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806316071/mythic-battles-pantheon
It's full of giants sized god minis that I will use for this module. Looks like a fun game to. Painting minis for days.

And another dose of shameless self-promotion. I've uploaded DM's Resources for Bryn Shander. It's created to enhance the town of Bryn Shander when you run it during the Storm King's Thunder adventure, as well as significantly reduce the preparation time needed to run Bryn Shander in an entertaining way. The download includes:

• Introductions - a guide to introducing Bryn Shander through minor tasks and sidequests.
• Attack on Goldenfields - a step-by-step guide to running the attack on Bryn Shander, so that you can create a cool experience for your players.
• Playable NPCs - an evaluation of each playable NPC.
• NPC Quests - an evaluation of each NPC quest, as well as advice on which to use, or not to use.
• Maps - a 50 x 50 handdrawn map depicting Bryn Shander's walls and the terrain beyond, and a 30 x 40 map of the Bryn Shander's gates. Both maps come in separate JPEGs in gridded and ungridded versions.
• Creature Cards - Printable index cards for each of the creatures your players are likely to interact with during the attack on Bryn Shander.

Check it out if you want to and leave a comment or a review!

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