D&D 5E (2014) Enhancing "Rise of Tiamat" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

[robus]

Here is my setup

 

[Eltab]

Here is my setup

Except for the Zhentarim delegate (says in book she acts like an agent not a lord), that looks good.

The 4 figures front-and-center are the PCs?

Tangent: has WotC (or somebody) ever done "dungeon" tiles themed on Waterdeep - and especially Castle Waterdeep? THAT product could be re-released...

 

[robus]

Except for the Zhentarim delegate (says in book she acts like an agent not a lord), that looks good.

The 4 figures front-and-center are the PCs?

Tangent: has WotC (or somebody) ever done "dungeon" tiles themed on Waterdeep - and especially Castle Waterdeep? THAT product could be re-released...

Yep I just want the named NPCs to be represented. She promises aid in the final council so she counts as a key attendee. And yeah the PCs are in the foreground.

 

[akr71]

Oh dear, all our work on Talis
@GuardianLurker - Here's my DMG formatted Devilish Influence part

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8M6x5b1sLgkNEl0bDVuZEE4cEk

Yeah, its a bummer. About all I recall is my idea to have Varrim unknowingly setup by a vengeful Talis. She orchestrated the theft of the white mask to disgrace him and put herself in a better position to claim her rightful spot as White Wyrmspeaker. I was looking for ideas on how to have her cross paths with the PCs in RoT. I don't recall what others posted unfortunately.

 

[pukunui]

That's sort of what I ended up doing. I had Talis, astride Glazhael, waiting for the PCs when they emerged from the tomb. She wanted them to hand Varram over, but the PCs refused and fought her off. They then wandered back to Boaresky Bridge and teleported back to Waterdeep. If they meet Talis again, it will be as the white wyrmspeaker.

 

[akr71]

I really like that! Is Glazhael the white dragon from the end of HotDQ? That brings them both back not too much after first meeting them. My players are getting confused with all the NPC names. Too much lag time and they may forget that they've met them at all...

Unfortunately, my players are still mired in Chapter 4 of HotDQ. Our sessions have been infrequent throughout the summer and short sessions at that.

 

[pukunui]

[MENTION=6801213]akr71[/MENTION]: Yes, Glazhael (aka "Cloudchaser") is the dragon encountered in the bowels of Skyreach Castle. In my game, he got away, as did Talis, so I had them team up. When we started RoT, I decided to begin with Varram's chapter. I had Talis contact the PCs via sending to give them Varram's whereabouts. They were teleported to Boareskyr Bridge and followed the clues to the tomb. Talis and the dragon were waiting, but once again they were no match for the PCs.


On a different note: I am facing a big info dump for my next session, and I'm not entirely sure what to do about it. I'm going to be running the first session of the Council of Waterdeep to start with, so that, along with the draakhorn, is a lot of info for me to just dump in the PCs' laps with minimal interaction on the players' parts.

I've also decided to expand on the lead-in to Episode 2 by not having Dala Silmerhelve know everything. Instead, she just knows that Maccath the Crimson knows a lot about the draakhorn. The Council will then have the PCs go to Luskan to meet with the Arcane Brotherhood, who will give the PCs most of the info that Dala is supposed to give them. They'll then offer to charter a ship to take them to the Sea of Moving Ice (in exchange for agreeing to return Maccath alive, if possible, along with the things Arauthator stole from the brotherhood).

Then there's the journey up north. I wasn't going to go into much detail, but I thought it could possibly be nice to have the ship stop in Fireshear for the night and provide the players with a bit of a description of that place.

So, all in all, lots of info with minimal opportunity for the PCs to do anything about it. What should I do?

 

[robus]

Then there's the journey up north. I wasn't going to go into much detail, but I thought it could possibly be nice to have the ship stop in Fireshear for the night and provide the players with a bit of a description of that place.

So, all in all, lots of info with minimal opportunity for the PCs to do anything about it. What should I do?

Sounds like an opportunity for a storm to hit the ship and they have to put into Fireshear for repairs? The PCs have to aid in various traumas that strike the ship. Man overboard, breached hull, helmsman knocked unconscious, sail reefing?

 

[pukunui]

[MENTION=6801558]robus[/MENTION]: That's a pretty good idea. Thanks!

 

[pukunui]

I'm sure I posted something about Maccath the Crimson and how it doesn't make sense for her to have made arrows of dragon slaying, mainly due to the high cost. I didn't think it was all that recent but I can't find it now, so I guess it must have been eaten by the forum reset.

I think I'm going to replace them with something else. (EDIT: Actually, since I'm going to have the PCs go to Luskan and meet with the Arcane Brotherhood, who will then give them the info on Maccath instead of Dala Silmerhelve, I think I'll just have the Brotherhood give them the arrows of dragon slaying instead of Maccath. She can still lend them her ring of cold resistance, though.)

Also, did anyone add any magic items to Arauthator's hoard? I'm toying with the idea of including one or two items. I'm also thinking I'll convert some of the gems into art objects.