Sejs
First Post
Allow me to set the stage a bit here:
My game takes place in the Forgotten Realms. Presently the PCs are traveling thru an area known as the Bandit Wastes, on their way to the nation of Halruaa. In preperation for this, I did some reading up on the region as I was fortunate enough to have the source book for that section of the world: Shining South.
The paragraph on the Bandit Wastes was pretty brief, about as much as I'd expect. The region itself is more or less just a footnote. One thing lept right off the page at me. My jaw hit the floor with how both awesome and ridiculous it was. I fell in love. I HAD to use it somehow.
Page 126. Discussing outlaws and bandits that plague the region, the worst of which are...
Savage Gnome Dire Were-Moles, led by a Gnomish Vampire.
I read the sentence over and over again to make sure I wasn't dreaming. But no, there it was. Savage Gnome Dire Were-Moles led by a Gnomish Vampire. I was in nirvana. It was so campy and over the top that I had to find a way to work it in. But I couldn't use it as listed - for one thing, they'd destroy my PCs without even breaking a sweat - then it hit me...
What if they're just pretending to be Savage Gnome Dire Were-Moles led by a Gnomish Vampire. What if they're actually just ... gnomes. In costumes. Led by a sorcerer who uses his spells to fake being a vampire. Pieces started to fall into place. He's got a bat for a familiar! And they've used their natural ability to speak with burrowing mammals to tame a small group of actual dire moles to work with them, build tunnels and the like! And what if the leader had a Cloak of the Bat! But not a normal one, a really hokey one that looks like every bad vampire stereotype - black with a red lining, big tall collar, and in this case, doesn't resize for the wearer or anything, so you've got a 3' tall "vampire" wearing an opera cloak sized for a tall human.
I was giggling at my desk while putting everything together. My wife looked at me like I was insane. I even made sketches of the leader and the Savage Gnome Dire Were-Moles, both in costume and out. I cooked up the most cheesy vampireish name I could for the leader: Count Dragomir von Neculai. Oh it was good. Very good.
Fast foreward a bit to game night. The encounter takes place. It's beautiful. I've even included a pair of gnome bards to act as stagehands, using illusions to highten the effect. The PCs are having an absolute blast, first getting everything ready and fretting over how much trouble they might be in when they first hear about the dread gnomish threat, then later when they figure out the ruse. Amazingly, many of the Savage Gnome Dire Were-Moles get away. The leader is able to talk his way to freedom after being plucked out of the air by the druid, follow his shrill call for retreat. Everyone was laughing and having a great time.
But now it's over. It CAN'T be over! No, these guys survived despite their defeat. They MUST be featured again somehow. But not in the same place, and not in the same way. No, they have to appear elsewhere, pretending to be other terrible threats.
That's where I need you all: please, help me. I need ideas of other things that this group of gnomish bandits can pretend to be. A swamp druid and his army of pygmy shambling mounds. Things like that.
Help keep this dream alive, EN World!
My game takes place in the Forgotten Realms. Presently the PCs are traveling thru an area known as the Bandit Wastes, on their way to the nation of Halruaa. In preperation for this, I did some reading up on the region as I was fortunate enough to have the source book for that section of the world: Shining South.
The paragraph on the Bandit Wastes was pretty brief, about as much as I'd expect. The region itself is more or less just a footnote. One thing lept right off the page at me. My jaw hit the floor with how both awesome and ridiculous it was. I fell in love. I HAD to use it somehow.
Page 126. Discussing outlaws and bandits that plague the region, the worst of which are...
Savage Gnome Dire Were-Moles, led by a Gnomish Vampire.
I read the sentence over and over again to make sure I wasn't dreaming. But no, there it was. Savage Gnome Dire Were-Moles led by a Gnomish Vampire. I was in nirvana. It was so campy and over the top that I had to find a way to work it in. But I couldn't use it as listed - for one thing, they'd destroy my PCs without even breaking a sweat - then it hit me...
What if they're just pretending to be Savage Gnome Dire Were-Moles led by a Gnomish Vampire. What if they're actually just ... gnomes. In costumes. Led by a sorcerer who uses his spells to fake being a vampire. Pieces started to fall into place. He's got a bat for a familiar! And they've used their natural ability to speak with burrowing mammals to tame a small group of actual dire moles to work with them, build tunnels and the like! And what if the leader had a Cloak of the Bat! But not a normal one, a really hokey one that looks like every bad vampire stereotype - black with a red lining, big tall collar, and in this case, doesn't resize for the wearer or anything, so you've got a 3' tall "vampire" wearing an opera cloak sized for a tall human.
I was giggling at my desk while putting everything together. My wife looked at me like I was insane. I even made sketches of the leader and the Savage Gnome Dire Were-Moles, both in costume and out. I cooked up the most cheesy vampireish name I could for the leader: Count Dragomir von Neculai. Oh it was good. Very good.
Fast foreward a bit to game night. The encounter takes place. It's beautiful. I've even included a pair of gnome bards to act as stagehands, using illusions to highten the effect. The PCs are having an absolute blast, first getting everything ready and fretting over how much trouble they might be in when they first hear about the dread gnomish threat, then later when they figure out the ruse. Amazingly, many of the Savage Gnome Dire Were-Moles get away. The leader is able to talk his way to freedom after being plucked out of the air by the druid, follow his shrill call for retreat. Everyone was laughing and having a great time.
But now it's over. It CAN'T be over! No, these guys survived despite their defeat. They MUST be featured again somehow. But not in the same place, and not in the same way. No, they have to appear elsewhere, pretending to be other terrible threats.
That's where I need you all: please, help me. I need ideas of other things that this group of gnomish bandits can pretend to be. A swamp druid and his army of pygmy shambling mounds. Things like that.
Help keep this dream alive, EN World!
