Company of the Random Encounter DM / Plot Thread (CotRE Players Stay Out!)

[Capellan]

Changes to Unearthing the Past

I actually didn't need to make many changes to Jesse Decker's module - it was able to slot pretty smoothly into the campaign. However, there were one or two adjustments:

I added the temperamental appearance of Kyrnyn at the beginning of the module as foreshadowing for a later session (I will be running The Ettin's Riddle).

I changed the reason that the food caravan had been sent to town, in order to make it 'work' for the current time of year in the campaign.

I also changed the person who hired them to Gendrew the cook. Again, this is foreshadowing - I'll be running a modified version of Something's Cooking in an upcoming session.

In the module as written, the Dwarven complex is on three levels, and the room descriptions end with the 'puzzle lock'. I consolidated levels 2 & 3 together on one floor, and added the burial chamber that was uncovered by opening the lock.

The only other change that comes to mind is that I made the Trember brothers followers of an unspecified 'Death Cult', rather than servants of Wee Jas. This was done to make the adventure fit better into the campaign's wider story arc. Expect to see more Death Cultists soon

Next Up: Hooberan's Stockade (from Wicht's Servants of the Swift Sword story hour)

 

[Capellan]

Musings

Two things I've learned from the first few sessions of CotRE:

- it's a risky thing to use greataxes against first level characters. Were I running Unearthing the Past again, I would probably change the Orcs to carry shields and spears, rather than those d12+3 monsters. It allows the PCs to get hit without being immediately unconscious or dead.

- ghouls do not last against a party with three elves and two clerics. Especially when one of the clerics is an elf, and also has extra turning. Were I to run Hooberan's Stockade again, I would pay more attention to the composition of the party!

 

[Capellan]

Changes to Hooberan's Stockade

I actually didn't change much in Wicht's adventure. That was probably a mistake. Not because of any failing of the adventure: I simply did not consider the impact of the particular group fo characters that I was running through the scenario. With two clerics and thee elves, the party had a pretty easy time of it against the undead in the town. A couple of lucky turning rolls really helped them, in that respect.

The changes I did make:

- I substantially reduced the number of 'generic' houses from Wicht's original map. This was partly due to the fact that I was using paper models to represent the village (see the story hour for a picture of the gaming table) and partly due to a suggestion from Wicht that it would be a good idea to do so

- I added the mangled holy symbol in the burned down cottage. This made it much easier for the players to piece together what had occurred. Which is good, since I want them to know when they are facing Death Cultists ... they'll be seeing a lot of those fellows

 

[Capellan]

On Paladins

In Galiban, Paladins generally follow one of two gods: Heironeous, or Pelor. There are rumours of Paladins dedicated to St Cuthbert, but these must be very rare, if they exist at all.

Paladins of Heironeous are all members of a religious military order: the Knights Paladin. This puts them within the hierarchy of a large church with widespread influence and interests. Those in the Duchy of Galiban (where the game is set) would almost certainly have been dispatched by the central church, with some kind of specified - though general - brief. Almost certainly, given Heironeous' function within the Empire, this would be something like "Travel widely, and fight evil wherever you find it. Remind the people that the strong shield of Heironeous guards them, but also that they must look to their own safety. Encourage the development of village militias. Liaise with the Church wherever you meet its representatives. Work with the local authorities to improve defences." There would also likely be regular updates of their orders, with specific tasks being set.

Paladins of Pelor are all locals: not outsiders sent in by the imperial church. Also, Pelor's church is far less hierarchical and structured than that of Heironeous. There is a High Priest, and regional Bishops beneath him, but the Priests of individual towns and villages are largely left to run things for themselves, and contact the hierarchy only when they need something. The church of Pelor also does not separate clerics and paladins into separate orders: Paladins are simply considered to be priests. Given the crusading spirit that usually goes with Paladinhood, however, they are usually released by the head Priest of their home town to go forth and act under their own conscience.

 

[Capellan]

Changes to Good Friends and Fine Spirits

My changes to GF&FS were as follows:

- Roach stats. I didn't like the roaches as written, both because I thought they were tougher than they ought to be, and because the PCs would have ended up with about four times as much XP as I actually wanted to give. To re-stat them, I simply took the Rat and Dire Rat stats and tweaked them slightly (increased natural armour, slightly less Dex).

- I removed several combats from the module. Hacking through hordes and hordes of roaches would have rapidly got boring for me to run, and the PCs to play(as it was, the module was still combat-heavy).

- to balance the reduced combats, and to give the PCs something a little different to fight, I added the Otyugh. I'm very glad I did, as this was one of the most exciting fights we've had in the whole campaign.

- had the PCs succeeded in opening the iron door during the session, I would have run it as per the printed module. Because they did not, I instead used it as the venue for a later session.

 

[Capellan]

It's been a while since I updated this

I think most people are familiar with The Burning Plague. I ran it fairly close to the way it was written, with two main changes:

First, I fleshed out the character of the NPCs in Duvik's Pass. The inebriation of the local lordling, for instance

Second, I changed the encounter in the storeroom quite significantly. Rats and kobolds didn't seem very interesting. Kobold Knights on Dire Weasels, however ...

The changes made this a very tough fight, and the group never really recovered: they were below full strength for the remainder of the session. When they camped in the main tunnel on the basis that the pit trap would protect them, we came pretty close to multiple PC deaths. A volley of kobold bolts out of the darkness could easily have dropped whoever was on watch, and then a TPK would have been on the cards.

Fortunately, the kobolds had problems of their own, and with most of their warriors dead, were willing to negotiate.

For the record, Twinkle would have died at the end of the round where the Padre gave her the potion. She came very close to being the group's first fatality. Her thank you to the Padre was a nice bit of roleplaying from the player.

 

[Capellan]

Burning Plague
Once extra change that I forgot - I altered the domains of the cleric at the end of the module to include a 'Decay' domain I'd developed. Hence his ability to hurl around a (3.0) ray of enfeeblement and stinking cloud.

The next session used the introduction of one module (Bounty Hunters) and then the encounters of a third.

Bounty Hunters (Part 1)
I changed the person who comes to the PCs to be Marble McCray (whom they had met in Good Food & Fine Spirits) rather than a new NPC, and made her just a fence, rather than the original thief, to encourage a little more trust and willingness to help. I also changed events so that the adventurers who bought the stolen diamond to be Kyrnyn and his group (from Ettin's Riddle). This not only made it easier to sync in that module, but the PCs had met (and disliked) Kyrnyn in Unearthing the Past.

I only used the first half of this module in this session: the second half, I used in the next session, after:

Something's Cooking
The only significant change I made here was to replace the Calzone Golem with a 'Kettle Golem'. It had essentially the same statistics, I just used slightly different visual effects to justify them (eg steam bursts out of its wounds to scald you, rather than burning hot tomato sauce ...)

Ettin's Riddle
I didn't make any signficant changes were made to this module, beyond making Kyrnyn and his group the people who had purchased the diamond that the bounty hunters were seeking. This meant that the ettin's tower had to have an entrance to the dungeon that comprises the second half of Bounty Hunters.

Bounty Hunters (Part 2)
Beyond setting a specific deadline for how long the group had to complete this dungeon, I didn't make much in the way of changes. The PCs took a little while to get used to this: several times they made suggestions that they 'take 20' to search rooms, which would have exhausted their time limit very quickly indeed

This dungeon became pretty much infamous for Mantreus, who seemed to get knocked out in just about every fight

 

[Capellan]

Goldurnit, I never intended to actually start writing my own modules for this campaign

Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men ...

In any case, on March 27 I will be running the next CotRE.

There will be 5-6 PCs, all of 3rd-4th level:

Mnk4
Pal3 (light armour, greatsword - you haven't met him yet in the SH)
Rog3/Brd1
Clr3 (light armour)
Ftr2/Wiz3 (finesse fighter)
possibly a Drd4

Here are my notes for the adventure so far:


Babes in the Woods


Premise
Company are tasked by Marikest Council to travel to the small village of Oder's Ford, and meet with a man named Parkryn, who apparently has information about the recent rash of elementals emerging from Brightstone Mines. Council knows Parkryn, an elderly and infirm wizard.

Arriving in Oder's Ford, find everyone dead - killed by a substantial (30+) force of goblins and wolves. Signs also of larger humanoids though not clear what they are.

One set of tracks leads out of the town, departing several hours after the battle - it seems there is a survivor. Based on the size, it is likely to be either a halfling or gnome (actually, a half-orc child).

Company must find the youngster, who has stumbled alone into a dangerous forest, or lose the information they seek.

Need to include reason not to go after the goblin force. Possibly have them enter and leave by many different paths - could take days to track them all down.


NPCs
These are new NPCs mentioned or met in the adventure:

Denbal
Forester who knows the route and dangers when going to Oder's Ford. Can warn the PCs about the 'Bridge Troll'.

Parkryn
Wizard at Oder's Ford. Brok's guardian. Used a sending to contact Marikest. Old and physically infirm.

Brok
Half-Orc child at Oder's Ford. Parkryn's ward. The one who learned about the goblinoids at the Keep. Saved by a rope trick spell.


Outline
Get the offer
Told if want info on route and terrain talk to Denbal
Encounter en route: 'Bridge Troll' a la Billy Goats Gruff (a Merrow with improved grapple, tries to pull people into water).
Reach Oder's Ford - everyone dead
Explore town - encounters (Dire rats, what else?)
Find Brok's tracks
Follow Brok (why not follow goblins?)
Brok fled into forest.
Forest contains spiders, an aranea ranger (who is not necessarily hostile) and a Green Hag (who has Brok)
Hag lives in a 'gingerbread cottage' (or some thing similar)
Defeat Hag, Rescue Brok and learn about keep.


As can be seen, there is a 'fairy tale' theme to a lot of the encounters: I'd welcome suggestions for reinforcing this theme, both in terms of monster selection, encounter ideas and suggestions for treasures.

Additionally, I want to try and include some cool environments for combat: Merrow Bridge, Aranea's Cave, Hag's Cottage, etc. Any ideas for things to do here would be cool.

In total, I'd like to award about 9,000 to 10,000 XP and roughly the same amount of treasure, in GP terms. I'm quite amenable to giving XP for solving encounters in a non-lethal way and resolving plot points.

Any ideas people want to offer will be appreciated

 

[Thomas Hobbes]

The easiest way to keep them from following the goblins is for there to be a goblin druid with pass without trace. That’s only 1 person/level, however. Dust of Tracelessness goes by the square foot, however- have them split up after they leave the village, and use a bag or two to cover their initial tracks. Which means you have to wander some distance from the village itself before you even start finding their scattered tracks.

You could have a confused fey "fairy godmother" offer them advice or a beneficial spell or two, or maybe just be amusing.

You could have the remains of someone who tried to use Seven League boots- boots that take you seven leagues in one step (this one is in several fairy tales, I think). He didn't realize that these boots put one foot seven leagues in front of the other. Ouch. Credit goes to Terry Pratchet on this one.

You could fit Little Red Riding Hood in there somewhere using a werewolf and a family of forest gnomes.

 

[dpdx]

Surprised you didn't run Dead of Winter at these guys when you had them at 1st/2nd level. You know, the one that's included on the disk that came with 3.0 PHB. Technically you still could, but you'd have to jack the ECL greatly, and there's nowhere on your map that looks even remotely arctic.

As far as your current idea is concerned, perhaps if that druid were sufficiently higher level, she could stave off the PCs with several summonings... I would think a forest where resides a druid would also be a full and thriving natural ecosystem, complete with several predators, animal and vegetable, at the top of the food chain.