HawaiiSteveO
Blistering Barnacles!
Anyone play through this ?
planning to use on Monday but plot holes bugging me ... Any players nitpick ?
planning to use on Monday but plot holes bugging me ... Any players nitpick ?
D&D 5E Death in the cornfields
- Thread starter HawaiiSteveO
- Start date
A bit more seriously (now that I'm not rushing out the door), if you want to PM me or email me at merricb@yahoo.co.uk, I'll be able to answer any of your concerns about Death.
Cheers!
Cheers!
The #1 plot hole people have told me about isn't a plot hole. A key moment of the adventure relies on monsters being vulnerable to the sun, which they aren't in Barovia. However, regular Barovians *believe* monsters are affected by the sun (this is called out in Curse of Strahd), and so the plot point holds.
A lot of people see the "sunlight doesn't work normally in Barovia" rule and assume it's common knowledge. It isn't.
Cheers!
A lot of people see the "sunlight doesn't work normally in Barovia" rule and assume it's common knowledge. It isn't.
Cheers!
HawaiiSteveO
Blistering Barnacles!
[sblock] First off, I like the adventure and have come up with a few ideas to get around what I see to be (for sure) a totally nit-picky point.
Dead people don't talk (usually
)!
I don't have the adventure in front of me. If Elias (?) was attacked and killed by the vampire (Strahd or other) then he was reduced to zero HP (dead).
Somehow after this (and being left out in the elements for at least a day) he stabilized and regained at least 1 HP and then healed physical evidence of his wounds?
I understand there is an info dump element - he needs to be alive to put the PCS on a false trail. What if the PCS (presumably) heal him?
I know this sounds really nit picky but my players will notice it. I've thought it through and think I'm going to have them find him dead. The PCS will be given a chance to find evidence of the bite (nothing saying it has to be on the neck). Perhaps his heart broken mother cleaned him up as she couldn't bear to see him all messed up. The mystery is still there as to what exactly happened. [/sblock]
Dead people don't talk (usually
)!I don't have the adventure in front of me. If Elias (?) was attacked and killed by the vampire (Strahd or other) then he was reduced to zero HP (dead).
Somehow after this (and being left out in the elements for at least a day) he stabilized and regained at least 1 HP and then healed physical evidence of his wounds?
I understand there is an info dump element - he needs to be alive to put the PCS on a false trail. What if the PCS (presumably) heal him?
I know this sounds really nit picky but my players will notice it. I've thought it through and think I'm going to have them find him dead. The PCS will be given a chance to find evidence of the bite (nothing saying it has to be on the neck). Perhaps his heart broken mother cleaned him up as she couldn't bear to see him all messed up. The mystery is still there as to what exactly happened. [/sblock]
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Could you put that in spoiler tags, please? (Just in case some players wander by. It's very easy to spoil this adventure!) [ sblock ] is what I use...
[sblock]The answer to your question is this: Elias was cursed, not killed, by the vampire.
The curse means he's slowly turning into a vampire spawn. The process completes at the next evening, or when he dies. As part of the process, the body has healed enough so the bite marks are no longer visible (they were still there when he arrived home, which is why his parents noticed). If the PCs heal him, he can move around, talk, and be normal. And the curse continues and transforms him when night falls.
The original version did indeed have the bite marks visible (if faint), but I removed them because I felt it weakened the impact of the adventure. Is there a version where the PCs can find the marks? Absolutely - but it plays out very differently.[/sblock]
Hope that helps!
[sblock]The answer to your question is this: Elias was cursed, not killed, by the vampire.
The curse means he's slowly turning into a vampire spawn. The process completes at the next evening, or when he dies. As part of the process, the body has healed enough so the bite marks are no longer visible (they were still there when he arrived home, which is why his parents noticed). If the PCs heal him, he can move around, talk, and be normal. And the curse continues and transforms him when night falls.
The original version did indeed have the bite marks visible (if faint), but I removed them because I felt it weakened the impact of the adventure. Is there a version where the PCs can find the marks? Absolutely - but it plays out very differently.[/sblock]
Hope that helps!
HawaiiSteveO
Blistering Barnacles!
Impressed with my techno-peasant self for figuring out the spoiler thing . . !
Looking forward to running it Monday, will let you know how it goes. Great for messing with a few of my meta-gamey players . . !
Looking forward to running it Monday, will let you know how it goes. Great for messing with a few of my meta-gamey players . . !
HawaiiSteveO
Blistering Barnacles!
Session notes
[sblock]
5 PCs, all just made 3rd (Human Fighter, Elven Monk, Halfling Rogue, Half-Elven Wizard, Dwarf Cleric).
We hadn't played for 2 weeks and I knew some of my hack & slash gang were itching for a good fight, so I gave them one. Mud bowl encounter in a rain storm in the forest with 2 scarecrows, 2 zombies, and 2 skeletons. The Dwarf got paralyzed by the scarecrow and ripped up pretty good but survived.
The party set off along the road, the wizards familiar flying overhead serving as look out. Edgy from the battle, they were paranoid when they came across the solitary scarecrow figure staked out in the corn field. The fighter immediately fired his crossbows twice into Elias, killing him. Upon further investigation they discovered the truth and actually showed some remorse and regret over their hasty response.
The immediately buried Elias, and I decided to have him remain in the grave until sunset rather than immediately change and attack.
The group set off to investigate further and came across the home of Alina & Edwin, finding the bodies (headless) and not as much blood as would be expected . . . they seemed to be content with staying at the house for the evening and were paranoid about being out at night so settled in for the rest of the day.
At this point I decided that Abner & Milena would come back to the house to properly inter the remains they had left earlier, perhaps feeling some guilt for what needed to be done. They were surprised by a gang of adventurer types in the house . . .
After some discussion Abner told the group the truth. As the sun set, the rogue noticed a scuttling, dirt covered figure approaching the house and informed the group.
Elias proceeded to try and manipulate his parents to be let into the house, although the party tied them up and gagged them (!) Elias taunted them, and spider climbed up onto the roof and promptly ate the familiar keeping watch.
After this, he spider climbed down and continued to taunt the party through the window, telling them to come outside so he could feed . . . the cleric was successful on his turn roll and Elias returned to the roof, although he continued to taunt.
It got a little meta-gamey at this point, although the party wisely waited inside for dawn. Elias left to find somewhere to hide, although the party observed him being surprised at dawn the sky was heavily overcast and there was no sun yet again.
We had to stop at that point as we only had a little over 2 hours to play, so we left it with the group planning out how to take down Elias. They've already discussed using protection from evil spells, and are narrowing down their strategy on how to survive.
I don't want Elias to just sit there and wait for the party to kill him, so he's planning too. He has some advantage due to the lack of sunlight and the 'Ravenloft rule'. I really want this to be a serious fight for the group and a deadly encounter. I have a week to think over Elias' strategy and want to play him smart. In a stand up fight the party will simply surround him and waste him in short order!
Any suggestions appreciated!
[/sblock]
[sblock]
5 PCs, all just made 3rd (Human Fighter, Elven Monk, Halfling Rogue, Half-Elven Wizard, Dwarf Cleric).
We hadn't played for 2 weeks and I knew some of my hack & slash gang were itching for a good fight, so I gave them one. Mud bowl encounter in a rain storm in the forest with 2 scarecrows, 2 zombies, and 2 skeletons. The Dwarf got paralyzed by the scarecrow and ripped up pretty good but survived.
The party set off along the road, the wizards familiar flying overhead serving as look out. Edgy from the battle, they were paranoid when they came across the solitary scarecrow figure staked out in the corn field. The fighter immediately fired his crossbows twice into Elias, killing him. Upon further investigation they discovered the truth and actually showed some remorse and regret over their hasty response.
The immediately buried Elias, and I decided to have him remain in the grave until sunset rather than immediately change and attack.
The group set off to investigate further and came across the home of Alina & Edwin, finding the bodies (headless) and not as much blood as would be expected . . . they seemed to be content with staying at the house for the evening and were paranoid about being out at night so settled in for the rest of the day.
At this point I decided that Abner & Milena would come back to the house to properly inter the remains they had left earlier, perhaps feeling some guilt for what needed to be done. They were surprised by a gang of adventurer types in the house . . .
After some discussion Abner told the group the truth. As the sun set, the rogue noticed a scuttling, dirt covered figure approaching the house and informed the group.
Elias proceeded to try and manipulate his parents to be let into the house, although the party tied them up and gagged them (!) Elias taunted them, and spider climbed up onto the roof and promptly ate the familiar keeping watch.
After this, he spider climbed down and continued to taunt the party through the window, telling them to come outside so he could feed . . . the cleric was successful on his turn roll and Elias returned to the roof, although he continued to taunt.
It got a little meta-gamey at this point, although the party wisely waited inside for dawn. Elias left to find somewhere to hide, although the party observed him being surprised at dawn the sky was heavily overcast and there was no sun yet again.
We had to stop at that point as we only had a little over 2 hours to play, so we left it with the group planning out how to take down Elias. They've already discussed using protection from evil spells, and are narrowing down their strategy on how to survive.
I don't want Elias to just sit there and wait for the party to kill him, so he's planning too. He has some advantage due to the lack of sunlight and the 'Ravenloft rule'. I really want this to be a serious fight for the group and a deadly encounter. I have a week to think over Elias' strategy and want to play him smart. In a stand up fight the party will simply surround him and waste him in short order!
Any suggestions appreciated!
[/sblock]
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