D&D Expeditions: DDEX3-2 Shackles of Blood (spoilers)

[MerricB]

I ran this adventure a couple of weeks ago, and it's going to be an adventure we'll be running as part of PAX Aus. To call the adventure problematic puts it mildly, but the scheduling for the convention was decided on a while back before we saw the adventure.

Why is it such a problem? Well, here's the structure:

[sblock]* Party is asked to investigate disappearances of non-humans
* Party discover that halflings and other non-humans are being arrested by the Red Plumes
* Party are arrested by Red Plumes (potential combat - which the party are expected to lose)
* Party taken to arena. On the way, they meet a couple of minor NPCs with minor RPG potential.
* Party arrive at arena. They're imprisoned and given an elf to role-play with. (Very minor). No chance to escape
* The group are involved in a really big combat (really needs miniatures to run well).
* The group are involved in a smaller combat
* The adventure ends.

It feels very railroaded, and then there's the capture by the Red Plumes. There's also a lack of information about the state of Hillsfar in the adventure - there's a riot that appears to come out of nowhere. Really, the problems in Hillsfar need to be emphasized more in the interactions beforehand.[/sblock]

The adventure ran short for each of the three tables at my FLGS when we ran it (running to 2 to 2.5 hours each). The role-playing involved is pretty slight and, although there are a few interesting background features about the region revealed, little is particularly pertinent to the adventure.

[sblock]The capture by the Red Plumes is entirely heavy-handed. And I hope you don't have a group of 1st levels playing this, because they'll be slaughtered in the arena by the quippers. [/sblock]

(Oh, wait... it's likely we will? Uh oh!)

Errata and suggestion for the adventure by various AL people can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g6wYyw972Thm0J2_wvOTDcdzmE02VLW6vfz7ttNIH_A/edit

So, any suggestions for running the module or slightly altering it to improve it?

I'm very tempted to add an encounter with a band of goblins to the beginning of the adventure, just to give new players a first taste of D&D combat, instead of just throwing them in the deep end with the arena battle as their first experience.

Cheers!

 

[darjr]

Make that first battle with red plumes and make it an easy one. That might justify the red plumes going at them with overwhelming force just a bit later

 

[MerricB]

I really don't want to give them the idea that fighting Red Plumes is a good idea. I was thinking the Red Plumes had disturbed some goblins, who happen upon the party and fight them just before the Red Plumes turn up.

Cheers!

 

[kalani]

While the goblin encounter is a good idea in principle - We aren't allowed to add encounters to the adventure unless absolutely necessary to get it back on track (see DMing and DM Empowerment on the DndAL website). Superfluous encounters which aren't necessary should be avoided at all cost to ensure a similar gaming experience regardless of DM. In short, only make changes to the encounter if it is necessary (usually due to the actions of the PCs). We should grey to run the adventure as written (for good or ill) whenever possible.

 

[MerricB]

Hmm. What I might do is run a goblin encounter for new players before the adventure proper starts, then. Not changing the actual adventure, but allowing them a little experience of the system.

 

[MerricB]

If anyone has advice on actually running the adventure, I'd appreciate hearing it.

Cheers!

 

[imaginaryfriend]

hmm

[sblock]
I find that being a little heavy handed with the part where the players get their assignment, i.e. inserting some extra hints that it is likely the Halflings got captured in which case getting captured may be a good strategy.. can mitigate for parties that are new, or the types to never give up on a fight.
[/sblock]

 

[MerricB]

hmm

[sblock]
I find that being a little heavy handed with the part where the players get their assignment, i.e. inserting some extra hints that it is likely the Halflings got captured in which case getting captured may be a good strategy.. can mitigate for parties that are new, or the types to never give up on a fight.
[/sblock]

[sblock]When I ran it a week ago, I made it very clear to the players they should surrender, so that wasn't a problem, thankfully. Unfortunately, it still left a bunch of other problems with the adventure.[/sblock]

The thing is... I can see a lot of good things about the adventure! But it just has a very rocky first half (and may run short as a result), which mean that for first-time players - as we'll likely have at PAX Aus - I want to see what I can do to make it run better.

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

Okay, I'm going to start an encounter-by-encounter breakdown of the adventure and my thoughts on each one. If anyone wants to chime in with suggestions to improve the running of the adventure, please do!

Introduction
[sblock]The idea of showing the debauchery of Hillsfar through a puppet show is a very good one, but the description of the show could be a little better. (It should also be in the boxed text, I think!)

Here's my version of the text:

The low basement is full of empty benches facing an ornate puppet stage. Soon after you arrive, a simple play begins. It seems to be a recent history of Hillsfar. Every disaster the city faces is caused by puppets made to look like elves, dwarves and halflings; salvation each time comes from human puppets with red-feathered hats, obviously meant to be the Red Plumes of Hillsfar, the city's army.

Finally, a puppet in golden armour appears. The puppet citizens cheer his arrival. "Torin!" "Lord Nomerthal!" The puppet strikes a dazzling pose, and the curtains come down. The production is over.

From behind the stage emerges a regal elf woman in a simple traveller's cloak, the golden puppet in her hand.

Members of the Harpers will recognise Olisara Lightsong.

"Welcome friends. My name is Olisara Lightsong. I thought you might find a glimpse of the propaganda that passes for entertainment in these parts illuminating. As you can see, it's a bad time not to be a human. 'Entertainments' like that are now common in the city, and we who harp find this disturbing.

"We would like to enlist your services. In the past half-dozen tendays, several farmsteads between Hillsfar and the Cormanthor Forrest have been raided; the farmers themselves have disappeared, never to be heard from again. The latest clan to go missing was the Tinfellows, a family of halflings who have aided my allies in the past.

"We would like you discover what became of our friends and rescue… or avenge them."[/sblock]

[sblock]Just a change in phrasing/emphasis for the final dot points:

* Olisara has received word that she finds concerning: Red Plumes have been seen actively kidnapping people. She originally thought it was nothing but a tall tale, but more reports have come in, making her believe it could be true.
* The characters should therefore be very wary around Red Plumes. If they are responsible, Olisara would very much like to discover where they're taking people.
* Directly confronting the Red Plumes would be dangerous, and the Harpers have already had run-ins with Hillsfar's leadership. They don't want to make things worse. Follow them if possible. Don't fight them!

Errata: The offer of gold is 40 gp up front and 60 gp on completion *to the entire party*, not each.

Relatively minor changes here, but making new players aware of the discrimination occurring in Hillsfar, and emphasing that they're not to fight the Red Plumes. You might have more suggestions that scan better![/sblock]

Cheers!

 

[Abciximab]

I had to run it and had the same thoughts you did. It is not well written. It only took 3-3.5 hours to complete.

[sblock]I changed it so the 1st encounter was with a small group of Red Plumes and they rescued the Tinfellows (remember there are others that still need rescuing).

Then I had Deriel approach them and tell them the truth, Arrizz was captured and taken to the area where the other prisoners are being held. She then presented "the plan". In short - The other group of Red Plumes in the area are too large to defeat so let's pretend I captured you during/after this fight and infiltrate the arena.

The players got to hide small items (daggers, thieves tools, holy symbols) and hide their gold (I found it hard to believe the Red Plumes wouldn't steal it). She locked them all in a caged wagon and put their equipment in another. One human dressed as a Red Plume as did an elf using his disguise kit.

When they showed up, the Red plumes double crossed Deriel & threw her in the cage. The disguised characters bluffed to get to "pat down" the prisoners, eliminating the need to make slight of hand checks and also smuggled food to them when they angered the 1/2 orc and he cut off all rations.

Then they all went to the arena (making sure to mention Red Plumes could volunteer for the arena, which one of the 2 disguised characters did). The next part plays out as written, with one player joining in when the riot broke out. I let characters with a high passive Insight see that the crowd had the potential to riot so they would be encouraged to play to the crowd.

As a side note, my kids helped me build platforms out of legos for the arena combat, it worked great. If you're concerned about the quippers (they do a lot of damage), when you roll to see where they are, just put them "nearby" to chase the characters out of the water. Only one of my players entered the water after a flubbed Athletics check. About half had the strength needed (15+) to make most jumps.[/sblock]