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Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)
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<blockquote data-quote="JediSoth" data-source="post: 6597637" data-attributes="member: 13882"><p>I've been using multiple blogs and message board threads to spice up my HotDQ, then blogging about it myself over at <a href="http://doctorstrangeroll.wordpress.com" target="_blank">DoctorStrangeRoll</a>. I haven't incorporated everything, of course, because not everything is suitable for my group, but the changes I've made have generally been well-received, especially Hack'N'Slash blog's suggestion to introduce elements of the Council of Waterdeep as early as Chapter 4 after the caravan arrives in Waterdeep. I already had an NPC start hanging out with the PCs (which I'm convinced the website I used to create him was trolling me by giving the halfling the name of Tom Haverford... I don't watch Parks & Recreation, so I didn't realize it at the time), so it was a simple matter to have him actually be an agent of the Radiant Shield spying on the PCs to see if they were trustworthy (the blog used the Council Quiet as the precursor to the Council of Waterdeep, I took the concept and renamed it the Radiant Shield).</p><p></p><p>It had the great benefit of making it appear as though Ontharr Frume and Master Leonsin were actually doing something while the PCs were stuck in that caravan from Baldur's Gate for several months.</p><p></p><p>One thing I didn't do, was alter the encounter on the road at the inn with the assassins. I was curious, so mentally, I made a note to have their poison be single-use, but it never actually came up because I only got in a couple of hits, then my dice went cold. The PCs fought hard and smart and actually defeated the assassins (the PCs were no higher than level 4... maybe level 3). It helped that two NPCs from the caravan came in, but they were more of a distraction than anything. It was well-played and the players deserve the XP & treasure I gave them for the encounter (I gave almost full XP for the assassins, rather than the 300 XP per caravan section encounter the book recommends and I rolled for the treasure-- they got an immovable rod and monies). </p><p></p><p>Since they didn't hire onto the caravan as guards, I had to alter a bit of the adventure once they were in Waterdeep anyway. The dwarven priest of Sune has skill as a brewer (yeah, he's confused, I think), so they actually joined the caravan as merchants. It didn't make any sense for them to then join another caravan hauling road-repair stuff (and cultist booty) as guards and after the whole murder thing with Jamna Gleamsilver, the cultists were getting wise to the PCs anyway. So, I let Master Leosin be the one to tell them that the treasure was being taken at least as far as Karnath Roadhouse. They were then able to beat the cultists there and find the secret door with just a bit of light recon and no confrontations.</p><p></p><p>It certainly made that part of the adventure short, but that's fine with me. I want to get this thing moving!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JediSoth, post: 6597637, member: 13882"] I've been using multiple blogs and message board threads to spice up my HotDQ, then blogging about it myself over at [URL="http://doctorstrangeroll.wordpress.com"]DoctorStrangeRoll[/URL]. I haven't incorporated everything, of course, because not everything is suitable for my group, but the changes I've made have generally been well-received, especially Hack'N'Slash blog's suggestion to introduce elements of the Council of Waterdeep as early as Chapter 4 after the caravan arrives in Waterdeep. I already had an NPC start hanging out with the PCs (which I'm convinced the website I used to create him was trolling me by giving the halfling the name of Tom Haverford... I don't watch Parks & Recreation, so I didn't realize it at the time), so it was a simple matter to have him actually be an agent of the Radiant Shield spying on the PCs to see if they were trustworthy (the blog used the Council Quiet as the precursor to the Council of Waterdeep, I took the concept and renamed it the Radiant Shield). It had the great benefit of making it appear as though Ontharr Frume and Master Leonsin were actually doing something while the PCs were stuck in that caravan from Baldur's Gate for several months. One thing I didn't do, was alter the encounter on the road at the inn with the assassins. I was curious, so mentally, I made a note to have their poison be single-use, but it never actually came up because I only got in a couple of hits, then my dice went cold. The PCs fought hard and smart and actually defeated the assassins (the PCs were no higher than level 4... maybe level 3). It helped that two NPCs from the caravan came in, but they were more of a distraction than anything. It was well-played and the players deserve the XP & treasure I gave them for the encounter (I gave almost full XP for the assassins, rather than the 300 XP per caravan section encounter the book recommends and I rolled for the treasure-- they got an immovable rod and monies). Since they didn't hire onto the caravan as guards, I had to alter a bit of the adventure once they were in Waterdeep anyway. The dwarven priest of Sune has skill as a brewer (yeah, he's confused, I think), so they actually joined the caravan as merchants. It didn't make any sense for them to then join another caravan hauling road-repair stuff (and cultist booty) as guards and after the whole murder thing with Jamna Gleamsilver, the cultists were getting wise to the PCs anyway. So, I let Master Leosin be the one to tell them that the treasure was being taken at least as far as Karnath Roadhouse. They were then able to beat the cultists there and find the secret door with just a bit of light recon and no confrontations. It certainly made that part of the adventure short, but that's fine with me. I want to get this thing moving! [/QUOTE]
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