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Enhancing "Storm King's Thunder"
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<blockquote data-quote="mjsoctober" data-source="post: 6945133" data-attributes="member: 93583"><p>I am running my players through Lost Mine of Phandelver as a preliminary to SKT <em>instead</em> of using the Nightstone adventure. I am definitely going to use some of the foreshadowing suggestions in this thread.</p><p></p><p>So far to foreshadow SKT in LMoP;</p><p>1. the PCs have seen a violent storm happening at sea;</p><p>2. seen a strange ship sailing off the Sword Coast;</p><p>3. came across a hill giant hut on the way from Cragmaw Caves to Cragmaw Castle (and barely missed being stepped on my a hill giant passing in the night while they slept);</p><p>4. and witnessing the Cloud Giants cloud as it sailed overhead on its way to Nightstone, accidentally dropping a couple of boulders near Cragmaw Castle (target practice maybe), on one of which the PCs discovered the "Enemy" rune chiseled into the rock.</p><p></p><p>I'm also planning to have a letter in Iarno "Glasstaff's" quarters from the Kraken society letting him know "The deed has been done" or something similar. Based on one of the suggestions I've seen here, I might have the party's warlock find out he's worshiping the kraken.</p><p></p><p>As far as modifying the adventure as written, I was underwhelmed by the hooks for Nightstone, as well as some of the encounters there, so I wrote on my blog about it and suggested the following:</p><p></p><p><strong>The Runaway Bride/Groom</strong> – The son or daughter of a Waterdhavian noble ran away before his/her wedding, leaving behind a note that they are heading for Nightstone to seek guidance from an old family friend (Destiny Agganor, the Tiefling Midwife). The PCs are hired to go and bring him/her back for the wedding at all costs, and will be paid 10 gp each to do this. The runaway bride/groom is in the goblin caves with Destiny.</p><p></p><p></p><p> <strong>Rub the Nightstone</strong> – A sage or wizard in Waterdeep or Daggerford tells the PCs of an ancient prophecy regarding giants, and a great “sundering” that will rock the world. She has heard of the ancient object in the center of Nighstone for which the village is named, and hires the PCs to go there to take rubbings of the symbols that are reportedly chissled into the face of the stone and return to her so she can divine their meaning. She cannot go herself as she must head to Candlekeep to seek more information there, but will pay the PCs 10 gp each upon their return.</p><p></p><p></p><p> <strong>Arrest Kella</strong> – One of the factions <em>other </em>than the Zhentarim sends the PCs to arrest Kella Darkhope and bring her to Waterdeep for questioning. This hook works best if one or more of the PCs have chosen to join one of those factions, or they could be offered membership if they succeed. Obviously this hook won’t work well if one or more PCs are members of the Zhentarim.</p><p></p><p></p><p> <strong>Help Kella</strong> – If members of the party are part of the Zhentarim, and the rest are neutral where the factions are concerned, the PCs can be sent by a Zhentarim agent in Waterdeep or Daggerford to help Kella with her task of taking Nightstone. The agent does not know what has happened, only that Kella has expressed a desire for reinforcements to help infiltrate the village and be ready for her companions (led by Xolkin Allasander) to arrive.</p><p></p><p></p><p> <strong>An Overdue Message</strong> – This one is very simple; someone in Waterdeep or Daggerford offers to pay the PCs 10 gp each to head to Nightstone to learn what has become of one of the NPCs there. This patron is very concerned because the NPC in question has cut off their usual communication (possibly of a secret nature?) and may be in trouble.</p><p></p><p></p><p> <strong>Escort the Emissary</strong> – This one is based on the existing hook of negotiating with the elves of the Ardeep Forest. Lady Nandar sends a request to Waterdeep for an ambassador to negotiate with the elves, and the PCs are hired to escort the ambassador to Nightstone to meet with Lady Nandar. This is certainly more plausible than the inexperienced first-level PCs negotiating with the elves as in the existing hook!</p><p></p><p></p><p> <strong>Dwarven Diplomacy</strong> – This hook depends on one or more members of the party being dwarves. Something has happened in the Dwarfholds and an urgent, sealed letter must be delivered to Morak Ur’gray in Nightstone. The fate of one of his family members, and possibly their entire clan, depends on Morak receiving the letter and returning home as soon as possible.</p><p></p><p></p><p> <strong>Family Matters</strong> – Sometimes (often?) the best approach to getting players invested in the story is to make it personal, and to involve your players in creating the hooks for an adventure. Explain to the players that you would like their input, and ask them to consider having a family member, or important friend, living in Nightstone. There are ten main families from which to choose (the eight cottages/farms, plus the priest Hiral Mystrum, and Lady Nandar herself), or possibly one of the common guards that lives and works in Nightstone. This has the added advantages of allowing you to give the players a bit more information up front about the village and its inhabitants, as well as giving them a very personal reason for embarking on the larger quest of battling the giants (not to mention rescuing their friend/family member from the goblins!).</p><p></p><p></p><p> <strong>Faction Mission</strong> – Similar to the Arresting/Helping Kella hook, the PCs could simply be approached by one of the factions and asked to go to Nightstone to speak with Lady Nandar about setting up a permament faction presence.</p><p></p><p></p><p> <strong><em>More Changes</em></strong></p><p> In addition to the hooks above to add depth to the adventure consider some of the changes below to make the story more interesting.</p><p></p><p></p><p> <strong>The Temple</strong> – As written, the village priest, Hiral Mystrum, is a coward, and a prisoner in the goblin caves. As the PCs appoach the village they hear the incessant ringing of the temple bell, which is being rung by goblins who are “playing”. Frankly, this is silly, and makes the goblins seem not very threatening. Instead, consider having Hiral barricaded in his room in the temple with the goblins on the other side of the door trying to kill him. The bell is in a tower above the temple and is accessed from his room (as written). Hiral spied the PCs coming in the distance from the bell tower and has been ringing the bell ever since to get their attention in a desperate bid for help. Two of the goblins in the village were sent by their leader to find out why the bell is ringing, and stop it. The goblins are hacking away at the door with their swords, and the PCs have only a little time to rescue Hiral.</p><p></p><p></p><p> <strong>Nandar Keep</strong> – Lady Nandar is alive! Unfortunately she is also critically wounded from the giant attack, and is lying on the table as described in the text, attended by her remaining guards. They have barred the front door to the keep as well as the gates outside. The goblins have built a crude “bridge” over the hole in the actual bridge using bits of wood and detritus from the village. They are attempting to get in to the keep, but are still outside the gates. The PCs can see them from the Bailey side, and can attempt to cross the bridge to get them, however the goblins’ makeshift repair will only hold so much weight, so the PCs will need to be careful getting across, and some dexterity saves may be necessary. If the PCs defeat the goblins, rescue the village, and heal Lady Nandar, she will beg them to head for the caves to find the other villagers, offering them a large reward for their help, not to mention her undying gratitude, and a place in Nightstone whenever they wish.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="mjsoctober, post: 6945133, member: 93583"] I am running my players through Lost Mine of Phandelver as a preliminary to SKT [I]instead[/I] of using the Nightstone adventure. I am definitely going to use some of the foreshadowing suggestions in this thread. So far to foreshadow SKT in LMoP; 1. the PCs have seen a violent storm happening at sea; 2. seen a strange ship sailing off the Sword Coast; 3. came across a hill giant hut on the way from Cragmaw Caves to Cragmaw Castle (and barely missed being stepped on my a hill giant passing in the night while they slept); 4. and witnessing the Cloud Giants cloud as it sailed overhead on its way to Nightstone, accidentally dropping a couple of boulders near Cragmaw Castle (target practice maybe), on one of which the PCs discovered the "Enemy" rune chiseled into the rock. I'm also planning to have a letter in Iarno "Glasstaff's" quarters from the Kraken society letting him know "The deed has been done" or something similar. Based on one of the suggestions I've seen here, I might have the party's warlock find out he's worshiping the kraken. As far as modifying the adventure as written, I was underwhelmed by the hooks for Nightstone, as well as some of the encounters there, so I wrote on my blog about it and suggested the following: [B]The Runaway Bride/Groom[/B] – The son or daughter of a Waterdhavian noble ran away before his/her wedding, leaving behind a note that they are heading for Nightstone to seek guidance from an old family friend (Destiny Agganor, the Tiefling Midwife). The PCs are hired to go and bring him/her back for the wedding at all costs, and will be paid 10 gp each to do this. The runaway bride/groom is in the goblin caves with Destiny. [B]Rub the Nightstone[/B] – A sage or wizard in Waterdeep or Daggerford tells the PCs of an ancient prophecy regarding giants, and a great “sundering” that will rock the world. She has heard of the ancient object in the center of Nighstone for which the village is named, and hires the PCs to go there to take rubbings of the symbols that are reportedly chissled into the face of the stone and return to her so she can divine their meaning. She cannot go herself as she must head to Candlekeep to seek more information there, but will pay the PCs 10 gp each upon their return. [B]Arrest Kella[/B] – One of the factions [I]other [/I]than the Zhentarim sends the PCs to arrest Kella Darkhope and bring her to Waterdeep for questioning. This hook works best if one or more of the PCs have chosen to join one of those factions, or they could be offered membership if they succeed. Obviously this hook won’t work well if one or more PCs are members of the Zhentarim. [B]Help Kella[/B] – If members of the party are part of the Zhentarim, and the rest are neutral where the factions are concerned, the PCs can be sent by a Zhentarim agent in Waterdeep or Daggerford to help Kella with her task of taking Nightstone. The agent does not know what has happened, only that Kella has expressed a desire for reinforcements to help infiltrate the village and be ready for her companions (led by Xolkin Allasander) to arrive. [B]An Overdue Message[/B] – This one is very simple; someone in Waterdeep or Daggerford offers to pay the PCs 10 gp each to head to Nightstone to learn what has become of one of the NPCs there. This patron is very concerned because the NPC in question has cut off their usual communication (possibly of a secret nature?) and may be in trouble. [B]Escort the Emissary[/B] – This one is based on the existing hook of negotiating with the elves of the Ardeep Forest. Lady Nandar sends a request to Waterdeep for an ambassador to negotiate with the elves, and the PCs are hired to escort the ambassador to Nightstone to meet with Lady Nandar. This is certainly more plausible than the inexperienced first-level PCs negotiating with the elves as in the existing hook! [B]Dwarven Diplomacy[/B] – This hook depends on one or more members of the party being dwarves. Something has happened in the Dwarfholds and an urgent, sealed letter must be delivered to Morak Ur’gray in Nightstone. The fate of one of his family members, and possibly their entire clan, depends on Morak receiving the letter and returning home as soon as possible. [B]Family Matters[/B] – Sometimes (often?) the best approach to getting players invested in the story is to make it personal, and to involve your players in creating the hooks for an adventure. Explain to the players that you would like their input, and ask them to consider having a family member, or important friend, living in Nightstone. There are ten main families from which to choose (the eight cottages/farms, plus the priest Hiral Mystrum, and Lady Nandar herself), or possibly one of the common guards that lives and works in Nightstone. This has the added advantages of allowing you to give the players a bit more information up front about the village and its inhabitants, as well as giving them a very personal reason for embarking on the larger quest of battling the giants (not to mention rescuing their friend/family member from the goblins!). [B]Faction Mission[/B] – Similar to the Arresting/Helping Kella hook, the PCs could simply be approached by one of the factions and asked to go to Nightstone to speak with Lady Nandar about setting up a permament faction presence. [B][I]More Changes[/I][/B] In addition to the hooks above to add depth to the adventure consider some of the changes below to make the story more interesting. [B]The Temple[/B] – As written, the village priest, Hiral Mystrum, is a coward, and a prisoner in the goblin caves. As the PCs appoach the village they hear the incessant ringing of the temple bell, which is being rung by goblins who are “playing”. Frankly, this is silly, and makes the goblins seem not very threatening. Instead, consider having Hiral barricaded in his room in the temple with the goblins on the other side of the door trying to kill him. The bell is in a tower above the temple and is accessed from his room (as written). Hiral spied the PCs coming in the distance from the bell tower and has been ringing the bell ever since to get their attention in a desperate bid for help. Two of the goblins in the village were sent by their leader to find out why the bell is ringing, and stop it. The goblins are hacking away at the door with their swords, and the PCs have only a little time to rescue Hiral. [B]Nandar Keep[/B] – Lady Nandar is alive! Unfortunately she is also critically wounded from the giant attack, and is lying on the table as described in the text, attended by her remaining guards. They have barred the front door to the keep as well as the gates outside. The goblins have built a crude “bridge” over the hole in the actual bridge using bits of wood and detritus from the village. They are attempting to get in to the keep, but are still outside the gates. The PCs can see them from the Bailey side, and can attempt to cross the bridge to get them, however the goblins’ makeshift repair will only hold so much weight, so the PCs will need to be careful getting across, and some dexterity saves may be necessary. If the PCs defeat the goblins, rescue the village, and heal Lady Nandar, she will beg them to head for the caves to find the other villagers, offering them a large reward for their help, not to mention her undying gratitude, and a place in Nightstone whenever they wish. [/QUOTE]
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