I accept with information:the only problem with making it black horse is the current bad guys are very thematically different, the black horse dont use arcanists for obvious reasons. it can be a difficult encounter with the flyer and the potential for getting bottle-necked between the boxes.
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Durn's War of Fire and Ice Campaign Discussion
- Thread starter Daern
- Start date
Daern
Explorer
Session 2
We played on Sunday after missing a few weeks due to the holidays. Session 2 of the Scouring of Gate Pass. It was exciting! The session began with a negotiation with the captured Kathor. I presented the players with two handouts, letters that they found in his effects: a letter of diplomatic immunity, and an incriminating letter from Guthwulf directing him to work with the Black Horse. The players decided that they would use Kathor as their ticket out of the city instead of working their merchant contacts. They played upon Kathor's honor to get him to agree. They think they can trust him and so let him go free while keeping the evidence. I played up, again, a mysterious understanding between the fighter who is wearing trilla aspected armor, and Kathor.
The trek through the city went well. I didn't do a full skill challenge. I used the scenes mostly as window dressing, allowing the players to develope their characters a bit.
At the Depository, a player immediately caught on to Larion's "Peppin" slip. They immediately assumed an ambush and only went up the stairs when they realized the "gnome" was escaping. Once they gave chase however, I discovered that my players have all invested in powers that knock people prone, so Larion didn't get far, was reduced to a handful of hp and intimidated into surrender before he or the Solon could do much damage.
The Flagus Mortus encounter was fun. I spiced it up by adding the wounded wyvern (warwing drake stats) and a bunch of precarious stone walls (one use terrain). And they wrecked the encounter.
Overall they have walked through the encounters. And this session only had three 2nd level characters (Seeker, Fighter, Sorcerer, Torrent). That's alright for the opening gambit, but I'd like to scare them next session. Perhaps they will pick a fight with Shealis.
The best part was that when the party made it to the safe house they wanted to spend some of their loot on magic weapons so I sent them down to a shrine of the Aquiline Heart where they prayed and received blessings. They then went out and used their heal skills on the refugees. I thought this was a poignant and somewhat unexpected direction on the part of the players. They have now taken two prisoners and shown mercy upon the weak. A good start for a heroic campaign!
Anyways, click on my sig to see a full write-up.
We played on Sunday after missing a few weeks due to the holidays. Session 2 of the Scouring of Gate Pass. It was exciting! The session began with a negotiation with the captured Kathor. I presented the players with two handouts, letters that they found in his effects: a letter of diplomatic immunity, and an incriminating letter from Guthwulf directing him to work with the Black Horse. The players decided that they would use Kathor as their ticket out of the city instead of working their merchant contacts. They played upon Kathor's honor to get him to agree. They think they can trust him and so let him go free while keeping the evidence. I played up, again, a mysterious understanding between the fighter who is wearing trilla aspected armor, and Kathor.
The trek through the city went well. I didn't do a full skill challenge. I used the scenes mostly as window dressing, allowing the players to develope their characters a bit.
At the Depository, a player immediately caught on to Larion's "Peppin" slip. They immediately assumed an ambush and only went up the stairs when they realized the "gnome" was escaping. Once they gave chase however, I discovered that my players have all invested in powers that knock people prone, so Larion didn't get far, was reduced to a handful of hp and intimidated into surrender before he or the Solon could do much damage.
The Flagus Mortus encounter was fun. I spiced it up by adding the wounded wyvern (warwing drake stats) and a bunch of precarious stone walls (one use terrain). And they wrecked the encounter.
Overall they have walked through the encounters. And this session only had three 2nd level characters (Seeker, Fighter, Sorcerer, Torrent). That's alright for the opening gambit, but I'd like to scare them next session. Perhaps they will pick a fight with Shealis.
The best part was that when the party made it to the safe house they wanted to spend some of their loot on magic weapons so I sent them down to a shrine of the Aquiline Heart where they prayed and received blessings. They then went out and used their heal skills on the refugees. I thought this was a poignant and somewhat unexpected direction on the part of the players. They have now taken two prisoners and shown mercy upon the weak. A good start for a heroic campaign!
Anyways, click on my sig to see a full write-up.
Calavingian
Explorer
Very interesting, thanks for the link. My group (with the exception of a now retired dwarven PC) has not been particularly heroic in that light at all - going to so far as to completely ignore requests from citizens in need of medical attention. Rather surprising considering they are supposedly the "Protectors" of Gate Pass. In fact, as a group, they have spent more time tending to sick animals than wounded civilians!
But then, they seem to be of the opinion that they need to look at the "bigger picture" - the result being that they've lost sight of the "little picture" all together. But then, the two party leaders in my group have a very alien outlook (in my campaign world Eladrin have more in common the Fey Elves of British & Irish legend and Shakespearian plays than they do with Tolkien's elves) and the remainder seem content to follow their lead.
I`m very interested in seeing how your campaign's party deal with the same situations and moral quandries faced by mine.
But then, they seem to be of the opinion that they need to look at the "bigger picture" - the result being that they've lost sight of the "little picture" all together. But then, the two party leaders in my group have a very alien outlook (in my campaign world Eladrin have more in common the Fey Elves of British & Irish legend and Shakespearian plays than they do with Tolkien's elves) and the remainder seem content to follow their lead.
I`m very interested in seeing how your campaign's party deal with the same situations and moral quandries faced by mine.
Daern
Explorer
Yes, i'm a bit surprised as well, but I've also been surprised by how tuned in they are to the plot. But this is a new group of players for me.
The group is literally alien: A wilden Seeker, and dark elf sorcerer (this character seems to be doing good deeds despite himself, but then, he has the most personally at stake with this attack on magic users.), and a human fighter (BUT he was apparently born on the Astral plane and raised by Gith slavemasters...)
I think a big factor is that the scenario of the adventure makes mercy and negotiation interesting, rather than just missing out on some fun combat rounds. They realized right away that there was something more to Kathor than just the bandit boss... and similarly keep asking why we can't let the elves have the case. This will make for an interesting negotiation with Shealis I think.
For what its worth to those who are about to DM the module, here is the text of my Kathor handouts. (have renamed the Imp "Croaker" and decided that he had been Kathor's contact, though he does not know its true nature.)
Kathar Danava,
Despite your ignomious failure as a soldier of the glorious Empire, Leska is gracious and would offer you and your men a bounty on behalf of the Ragesian empire – we will pay a bounty of one hundred gold for each living wizard you deliver to us.
Perhaps you may earn a place at your father’s side once again.
You will be contacted by Croaker.
Hunt well,
Guthwulf
Diplomatic Privilege
It is Hereby Declared by Formal Recommendation of the Esteemed Council of Gate Pass that in Recognition of his Honor and that of his Patrimony, Master of Arms Kathor Danava is Granted Diplomatic Access to all Outer Gates of the Free City of Gate Pass in order to Promote Familial Feelings beyond the Necessities of War.
The group is literally alien: A wilden Seeker, and dark elf sorcerer (this character seems to be doing good deeds despite himself, but then, he has the most personally at stake with this attack on magic users.), and a human fighter (BUT he was apparently born on the Astral plane and raised by Gith slavemasters...)
I think a big factor is that the scenario of the adventure makes mercy and negotiation interesting, rather than just missing out on some fun combat rounds. They realized right away that there was something more to Kathor than just the bandit boss... and similarly keep asking why we can't let the elves have the case. This will make for an interesting negotiation with Shealis I think.
For what its worth to those who are about to DM the module, here is the text of my Kathor handouts. (have renamed the Imp "Croaker" and decided that he had been Kathor's contact, though he does not know its true nature.)
Kathar Danava,
Despite your ignomious failure as a soldier of the glorious Empire, Leska is gracious and would offer you and your men a bounty on behalf of the Ragesian empire – we will pay a bounty of one hundred gold for each living wizard you deliver to us.
Perhaps you may earn a place at your father’s side once again.
You will be contacted by Croaker.
Hunt well,
Guthwulf
Diplomatic Privilege
It is Hereby Declared by Formal Recommendation of the Esteemed Council of Gate Pass that in Recognition of his Honor and that of his Patrimony, Master of Arms Kathor Danava is Granted Diplomatic Access to all Outer Gates of the Free City of Gate Pass in order to Promote Familial Feelings beyond the Necessities of War.
Daern
Explorer
The one thing I kind of flubbed was the aftermath of the Depository fight. I got a little confused myself about why Larion needed a password and what/how Rivereye/Hedgehog knew stuff so I ended up just giving out a bunch of info.
I had meant to use some of Cal's write up dialogue, but I spaced it!
I had meant to use some of Cal's write up dialogue, but I spaced it!
Daern
Explorer
I haven't done the write-up on Obsidian Portal yet, but I wanted to report on yesterday's game. It was great! Because the party was already 2nd level I skipped from the Flaganus Mortus encounter directly to confronting Shealis at the Wizard School.
At the entrance they immediately became interested in the dead griffin in the moat. The fighter wanted to skin it, and asked if it was rotting. I said of course not, it probably died and crashed mere hours ago. It is frozen solid in this icy moat. This lead to plans to revive the griffin, which became the "in" to getting into the school. Diogenes showed them to the vivisectionist specialist "Ol' Aderol the Stuffer", who was happy to take on the project, though he couldn't promise it wouldn't end up a zombie.
Then they had tea with Diogenes and convinced him to cast a Detect Object ritual for their missing case. I described this as seeing visions in a melted bowl full of gold (which they paid). The gold drained into another dimension and then was consumed in a flash of fire! They learned that Shealis probably didn't have the case, but her companions probably did.
What followed was a great skill challenge / rp session wherein the players proved that they were completely paying attention and made great arguments to convince Shealis of their intentions and the wisdom of leaving the funny spy business to them. In the end, she was happy to roll it over and be done with all this subterfuge.
Of course, there would have to be a battle, and since I skipped the white wyrms encounter, I used the warehouse idea for the spymaster encounter. I set up wood blocks on the map to represent crates and piles of trade goods. They began with a negotiation with some very jumpy eladrin, but then a horde of rat minions invaded the party (I had been including lots of rat and crow sightings all session). The giant rats attacked the party and eladrin equally. Meanwhile Kazyk(Croaker) freed the Manticore Cub the eladrin had chained to a chest holding the case (on the other side of a wall of crates. The manticore flew over and attacked the group. The eladrin cried treachery and the fight was on.
After some tussling, the eladrin arcane archer got the case after the imp dropped it and ran for the pit. I had decided that this pit lead to the excavation of the Singing Chasm. The archer dove down the pit, followed by the imp. The barbarian (new player) followed, scoring a fatal leaping attack on the archer as he jumped into the pit, and then invoking swift charge to run over and finish off the imp! It was a bloody round.
The manticore cub was soon killed, and the eladrin soldiers surrrendered. The party stripped them of equipment, tied them up and were off. The next session will be the escape from the city, with Kathor as their guide!
I described the entrance to the Singing Chasm entrance in the pit, having told them that it was a "forgotten path, very perilous", but they are not interested. They are stoked on their deal with Kathor to sneak out the south gate. I planned a bit in case the had decided to go there. I thought I would use the "Navigating Golgorimth" challenge from DMG2, and include encounters with myconids and oozes and finally a negotiation with some duergar to escape... They didn't go for it, but I was ready!
To sum up, great session. I really feel like this scenario has set up a much more complicated situation than I would have created myself. The best part is that the players seemed very tuned into the complexities and possibilities of the game and are roleplaying it out very well.
Going forward, I'm probably do one Black Horse encounter, maybe a random encounter, and then the Inquisition fight. The party just made 3rd level. I'm gonna make Boreas a doozy!
At the entrance they immediately became interested in the dead griffin in the moat. The fighter wanted to skin it, and asked if it was rotting. I said of course not, it probably died and crashed mere hours ago. It is frozen solid in this icy moat. This lead to plans to revive the griffin, which became the "in" to getting into the school. Diogenes showed them to the vivisectionist specialist "Ol' Aderol the Stuffer", who was happy to take on the project, though he couldn't promise it wouldn't end up a zombie.
Then they had tea with Diogenes and convinced him to cast a Detect Object ritual for their missing case. I described this as seeing visions in a melted bowl full of gold (which they paid). The gold drained into another dimension and then was consumed in a flash of fire! They learned that Shealis probably didn't have the case, but her companions probably did.
What followed was a great skill challenge / rp session wherein the players proved that they were completely paying attention and made great arguments to convince Shealis of their intentions and the wisdom of leaving the funny spy business to them. In the end, she was happy to roll it over and be done with all this subterfuge.
Of course, there would have to be a battle, and since I skipped the white wyrms encounter, I used the warehouse idea for the spymaster encounter. I set up wood blocks on the map to represent crates and piles of trade goods. They began with a negotiation with some very jumpy eladrin, but then a horde of rat minions invaded the party (I had been including lots of rat and crow sightings all session). The giant rats attacked the party and eladrin equally. Meanwhile Kazyk(Croaker) freed the Manticore Cub the eladrin had chained to a chest holding the case (on the other side of a wall of crates. The manticore flew over and attacked the group. The eladrin cried treachery and the fight was on.
After some tussling, the eladrin arcane archer got the case after the imp dropped it and ran for the pit. I had decided that this pit lead to the excavation of the Singing Chasm. The archer dove down the pit, followed by the imp. The barbarian (new player) followed, scoring a fatal leaping attack on the archer as he jumped into the pit, and then invoking swift charge to run over and finish off the imp! It was a bloody round.
The manticore cub was soon killed, and the eladrin soldiers surrrendered. The party stripped them of equipment, tied them up and were off. The next session will be the escape from the city, with Kathor as their guide!
I described the entrance to the Singing Chasm entrance in the pit, having told them that it was a "forgotten path, very perilous", but they are not interested. They are stoked on their deal with Kathor to sneak out the south gate. I planned a bit in case the had decided to go there. I thought I would use the "Navigating Golgorimth" challenge from DMG2, and include encounters with myconids and oozes and finally a negotiation with some duergar to escape... They didn't go for it, but I was ready!
To sum up, great session. I really feel like this scenario has set up a much more complicated situation than I would have created myself. The best part is that the players seemed very tuned into the complexities and possibilities of the game and are roleplaying it out very well.
Going forward, I'm probably do one Black Horse encounter, maybe a random encounter, and then the Inquisition fight. The party just made 3rd level. I'm gonna make Boreas a doozy!
Daern
Explorer
We finally played again last Sunday. I am finishing the write up on Obsidian Portal right now (see sig).
The session went well with lots of story progression. My players are a little bit ahead on the experience curve, so I skipped quite a few encounters during the escape from Gate Pass and beyond. I wanted to maintain a momentum and sense of flight. The party had rung an oath of assistance from Kathor in the very first encounter, so they made use of his letters of marque to approach the southern guard station.
I played the watch captain as a patriot who would not accept a bribe to let a Ragesian out on the eve of invasion so the party had to have a quick pow wow to convince him to take the money and look the other way and besides, they are the good guys. The players were wishing for a diplomatic character by the end of that! (the bard player dropped out)
Outside the walls, Kathor departed on honorable terms and the party trekked through the snowy night, knowing that the Black Horse were camped somewhere on higher ground.
I had planned to change out the "gauntlet" for the "ice goblin ambush" from and adventure in Dungeon 159, and I am glad I did because the way the rp went, I needed a more specific map.
Basically, they made a hidden camp in the woods and I rolled for wandering monsters. Using the tried and true "open the MMII to a random page" method I dropped a Wood Woad and a Vine Horror on them. However, the character on watch just happened to be a Wilden Seeker spending his first day out of the city in weeks. The Wilden spoke passionately to the Wood Woad, and, aided by good rp and good rolls, convinced the creature that not only were they not enemies, but perhaps he could show them to the real bad guys. So they were led by a forest spirit to get the jump on the Black Horse Ambush. The whole thing turned into a commando style assassination session during a blizzard. It was pretty neat!
I threw in a few extra prisoners in the Black Horse camp, including Trehan Finner, the owner of the Poison Apple, who would really prefer to rejoin his wife in the besieged city. Thus burdened, we had a crossing the winter pass scene which took us right into the encounter with the seer at the edge of the forest.
We left off as the Inquisitor attacked.
Basically my thinking was that I wanted to play the whole journey as a fast paced flight from the approaching army. I was ready to use the dwarf king material if things got off track, like if they searched for caves to the underdark, or had taken the path of the Singing Chasm, but mostly that stuff seemed extraneous. I'm now hoping to have a really climactic battle with the Inquisitor (thanks RW for the novel inspiration!) and send them plunging into the Fire!
One thing to note is that I described the river/stream as entering the forest near the farmhouse and the players were talking about following the river instead of the path. I may need to prepare for that...
The session went well with lots of story progression. My players are a little bit ahead on the experience curve, so I skipped quite a few encounters during the escape from Gate Pass and beyond. I wanted to maintain a momentum and sense of flight. The party had rung an oath of assistance from Kathor in the very first encounter, so they made use of his letters of marque to approach the southern guard station.
I played the watch captain as a patriot who would not accept a bribe to let a Ragesian out on the eve of invasion so the party had to have a quick pow wow to convince him to take the money and look the other way and besides, they are the good guys. The players were wishing for a diplomatic character by the end of that! (the bard player dropped out)
Outside the walls, Kathor departed on honorable terms and the party trekked through the snowy night, knowing that the Black Horse were camped somewhere on higher ground.
I had planned to change out the "gauntlet" for the "ice goblin ambush" from and adventure in Dungeon 159, and I am glad I did because the way the rp went, I needed a more specific map.
Basically, they made a hidden camp in the woods and I rolled for wandering monsters. Using the tried and true "open the MMII to a random page" method I dropped a Wood Woad and a Vine Horror on them. However, the character on watch just happened to be a Wilden Seeker spending his first day out of the city in weeks. The Wilden spoke passionately to the Wood Woad, and, aided by good rp and good rolls, convinced the creature that not only were they not enemies, but perhaps he could show them to the real bad guys. So they were led by a forest spirit to get the jump on the Black Horse Ambush. The whole thing turned into a commando style assassination session during a blizzard. It was pretty neat!
I threw in a few extra prisoners in the Black Horse camp, including Trehan Finner, the owner of the Poison Apple, who would really prefer to rejoin his wife in the besieged city. Thus burdened, we had a crossing the winter pass scene which took us right into the encounter with the seer at the edge of the forest.
We left off as the Inquisitor attacked.
Basically my thinking was that I wanted to play the whole journey as a fast paced flight from the approaching army. I was ready to use the dwarf king material if things got off track, like if they searched for caves to the underdark, or had taken the path of the Singing Chasm, but mostly that stuff seemed extraneous. I'm now hoping to have a really climactic battle with the Inquisitor (thanks RW for the novel inspiration!) and send them plunging into the Fire!
One thing to note is that I described the river/stream as entering the forest near the farmhouse and the players were talking about following the river instead of the path. I may need to prepare for that...
Daern
Explorer
Session 4
We finally played again last Sunday. I am finishing the write up on Obsidian Portal right now (see sig).
The session went well with lots of story progression. My players are a little bit ahead on the experience curve, so I skipped quite a few encounters during the escape from Gate Pass and beyond. I wanted to maintain a momentum and sense of flight. The party had rung an oath of assistance from Kathor in the very first encounter, so they made use of his letters of marque to approach the southern guard station.
I played the watch captain as a patriot who would not accept a bribe to let a Ragesian out on the eve of invasion so the party had to have a quick pow wow to convince him to take the money and look the other way and besides, they are the good guys. The players were wishing for a diplomatic character by the end of that! (the bard player dropped out)
Outside the walls, Kathor departed on honorable terms and the party trekked through the snowy night, knowing that the Black Horse were camped somewhere on higher ground.
I had planned to change out the "gauntlet" for the "ice goblin ambush" from and adventure in Dungeon 159, and I am glad I did because the way the rp went, I needed a more specific map.
Basically, they made a hidden camp in the woods and I rolled for wandering monsters. Using the tried and true "open the MMII to a random page" method I dropped a Wood Woad and a Vine Horror on them. However, the character on watch just happened to be a Wilden Seeker spending his first day out of the city in weeks. The Wilden spoke passionately to the Wood Woad, and, aided by good rp and good rolls, convinced the creature that not only were they not enemies, but perhaps he could show them to the real bad guys. So they were led by a forest spirit to get the jump on the Black Horse Ambush. The whole thing turned into a commando style assassination session during a blizzard. It was pretty neat!
I threw in a few extra prisoners in the Black Horse camp, including Trehan Finner, the owner of the Poison Apple, who would really prefer to rejoin his wife in the besieged city. Thus burdened, we had a crossing the winter pass scene which took us right into the encounter with the seer at the edge of the forest.
We left off as the Inquisitor attacked.
Basically my thinking was that I wanted to play the whole journey as a fast paced flight from the approaching army. I was ready to use the dwarf king material if things got off track, like if they searched for caves to the underdark, or had taken the path of the Singing Chasm, but mostly that stuff seemed extraneous. I'm now hoping to have a really climactic battle with the Inquisitor (thanks RW for the novel inspiration!) and send them plunging into the Fire!
One thing to note is that I described the river/stream as entering the forest near the farmhouse and the players were talking about following the river instead of the path. I may need to prepare for that...
We finally played again last Sunday. I am finishing the write up on Obsidian Portal right now (see sig).
The session went well with lots of story progression. My players are a little bit ahead on the experience curve, so I skipped quite a few encounters during the escape from Gate Pass and beyond. I wanted to maintain a momentum and sense of flight. The party had rung an oath of assistance from Kathor in the very first encounter, so they made use of his letters of marque to approach the southern guard station.
I played the watch captain as a patriot who would not accept a bribe to let a Ragesian out on the eve of invasion so the party had to have a quick pow wow to convince him to take the money and look the other way and besides, they are the good guys. The players were wishing for a diplomatic character by the end of that! (the bard player dropped out)
Outside the walls, Kathor departed on honorable terms and the party trekked through the snowy night, knowing that the Black Horse were camped somewhere on higher ground.
I had planned to change out the "gauntlet" for the "ice goblin ambush" from and adventure in Dungeon 159, and I am glad I did because the way the rp went, I needed a more specific map.
Basically, they made a hidden camp in the woods and I rolled for wandering monsters. Using the tried and true "open the MMII to a random page" method I dropped a Wood Woad and a Vine Horror on them. However, the character on watch just happened to be a Wilden Seeker spending his first day out of the city in weeks. The Wilden spoke passionately to the Wood Woad, and, aided by good rp and good rolls, convinced the creature that not only were they not enemies, but perhaps he could show them to the real bad guys. So they were led by a forest spirit to get the jump on the Black Horse Ambush. The whole thing turned into a commando style assassination session during a blizzard. It was pretty neat!
I threw in a few extra prisoners in the Black Horse camp, including Trehan Finner, the owner of the Poison Apple, who would really prefer to rejoin his wife in the besieged city. Thus burdened, we had a crossing the winter pass scene which took us right into the encounter with the seer at the edge of the forest.
We left off as the Inquisitor attacked.
Basically my thinking was that I wanted to play the whole journey as a fast paced flight from the approaching army. I was ready to use the dwarf king material if things got off track, like if they searched for caves to the underdark, or had taken the path of the Singing Chasm, but mostly that stuff seemed extraneous. I'm now hoping to have a really climactic battle with the Inquisitor (thanks RW for the novel inspiration!) and send them plunging into the Fire!
One thing to note is that I described the river/stream as entering the forest near the farmhouse and the players were talking about following the river instead of the path. I may need to prepare for that...
The best course would be for that plan not to work.
For starters, all the forest is in a valley, and that river will most probably enter into the forest at some point, and maybe end in Lake Seela (the other options is that it's waters sink, making the river end before reaching the lake or the sea.
The river may thin out, so that at some point they won't be able to advance with the protection of the river and they would effectively be travelling through the forest.
Be aware thet you could make them spend precious cooling draughts if they have to take a path that doesn't work.
And there's another idea: Torrent tells them that they don't have any guarantee that following the river will lead them out of the forest. While following the road will.
Besides, they may find abandoned houses or villages in which to camp or take refuge.
How are you going to handle the cooling draughts?
