I wanna give my 1st level PC's artifacts and valuable treasure after a weak fight!!

[Lela]

Re: A chase through what?!

PS- They really want you to be a rat bastard...honest!

It's true! Make them work at the game. In the end--as mothers have a tendency to say--they'll thank you for it.

 

[Jolly Giant]

Some of the greatest fun I've had as a DM was giving slightly-below-mid-level players a +5 vorpal sword. I've never seen my players more nervous! It freaked them out more than anything else I've ever thrown at them. They just knew something bad would comne from it! And of course it did...

 

[Lela]

Some of the greatest fun I've had as a DM was giving slightly-below-mid-level players a +5 vorpal sword. I've never seen my players more nervous! It freaked them out more than anything else I've ever thrown at them. They just knew something bad would comne from it! And of course it did...

Oh, my gosh! I'm going to do that at my next game!

 

[ced1106]

Some of the greatest fun I've had as a DM was giving slightly-below-mid-level players a +5 vorpal sword. I've never seen my players more nervous! It freaked them out more than anything else I've ever thrown at them. They just knew something bad would comne from it! And of course it did...

One of my peeves with D&D is how magical items are more item than magical. At least we have the word "masterwork". That's a start.

Anyway, back to the original post. Not that players are happy about it, but in my own world, magic items have an ability, a drawback, and a history. So what's originally a Mask of Disguise, is now a Grimoire of Appearance. Instead of having a limited number of charges, you have to inscribe the book with the blood of what you wish to disguise yourself as. And, what with the book bound in the hide of a sentient being, you literally stick your nose in the book, it shuts on your face like something from Alien, and eyes, nose, and a mouth pop out from the folds of said hide.

And, of course, you make a Will roll.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

 

[s/LaSH]

Well, people have mentioned making the magic items necessary... what about wanted? People will naturally want to get their hands on the artifacts. For heavily twisted fun, go watch the Jackie Chan Adventures toon. If the artifacts are easily transferred, you can easily set up a quick-change battle with artifacts changing hands, foes with spiked chains grabbing items from the rafters, and all manner of cunning plans.

Any plans to use the Eye and Hand of Vecna? Or disguise them? Perhaps change them to a jewel with a dark flaw at its heart, and a gauntlet with no opening to put your hand in; the opening is covered with a flap of leather. Only when you 'install' them do they revert to their true form.

Who made the artifacts? And do they want them back? Are they part of an ancient deity that was split up and wants to be reassembled? If so, how does it trick the PCs into taking it to the Place of Assembly?

Who else has artifacts, or knows where they're hidden? If the PCs become used to having these powers, what happens when they go up against similar beings?

Above all else, planning is important. Bad guys have to have massive scrying/spying resources to lay their plans, and don't forget to make them watertight. Things have a bad habit of going pearshaped anyway. But a massive plan of attack, involving kidnapped bait, traitors amongst the PCs (who will likely not be traitors after all), and bizarre monsters in death-trap environments can always be fun. Really, I think Jackie Chan Adventures should be a must-see for someone planning to run this scenario.

 

[Azure Trance]

Anyway, back to the original post. Not that players are happy about it, but in my own world, magic items have an ability, a drawback, and a history. So what's originally a Mask of Disguise, is now a Grimoire of Appearance. Instead of having a limited number of charges, you have to inscribe the book with the blood of what you wish to disguise yourself as. And, what with the book bound in the hide of a sentient being, you literally stick your nose in the book, it shuts on your face like something from Alien, and eyes, nose, and a mouth pop out from the folds of said hide.

And, of course, you make a Will roll.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

Say, that's mighty cool. What other items did you convert?

 

[Sanackranib]

artifacts

about 15 years ago I read a story that best illustrates how your party is going to feel, its not that long, and all about perception so I'll share it with you.

Guy owns a candy store and notices that one of the girls constantly has a line of people waiting for her to wait on them. What the guy couldn't understand was why, she wasn't any better looking or more friendly and after watching for a while bewildered as to why people would wait to be served by her, he decided to take her aside and ask her. her responce might surprise you - " All the other girls take a big scoop of candy when they go to put it on the scale and then take away from it until the weight specified by the customer is obtained. What I do differently is take a smaller scoop then I think I need then add to it until the prober weight is achieved that way the customers perception on a sub-consious level is you are treating them special or giving them a little extra rather then taking somthing away. My point with this is that if you put in items that are too powerfull then the characters will become unbalanced as will your game. Then when You try to restore balance - even if that was your premice from the begining the party isn't gonna like it.

I have told my players "don't get too attached to your stuff because stuff moves on" and sometimes it does. one of my players made the comment "if you're not dangerous nekked then you're not dangerous" the game I'm running is lower magic right now the party is between 2nd ad 3rd level 2 have masterwork weapons (dagers) none have magic weapons and the best magic items they have found both grant +1 to AC and were a BIG deal. The main fighter found a smith who had a masterwork battleaxe (his main weapon) when he did'nt have enough gold to buy it. now the party is gonna travel over 500 miles and have all sorts of encounters to get back there, and the axe is't even magical! but it will become so later when he gets enough money and finds someone to enchant it. So far my players are loving it and we are all really having fun. now this means that they have "less stuff then is typical of their level, but thr CR's have taken this into account and while several have been knocked unconsious the only fatality was an NPC whose death was part of the plot.

Have fun but remember "it's all about perception"

 

[Lela]

Well, people have mentioned making the magic items necessary... what about wanted? People will naturally want to get their hands on the artifacts. For heavily twisted fun, go watch the Jackie Chan Adventures toon. If the artifacts are easily transferred, you can easily set up a quick-change battle with artifacts changing hands, foes with spiked chains grabbing items from the rafters, and all manner of cunning plans.

Any plans to use the Eye and Hand of Vecna? Or disguise them? Perhaps change them to a jewel with a dark flaw at its heart, and a gauntlet with no opening to put your hand in; the opening is covered with a flap of leather. Only when you 'install' them do they revert to their true form.

Who made the artifacts? And do they want them back? Are they part of an ancient deity that was split up and wants to be reassembled? If so, how does it trick the PCs into taking it to the Place of Assembly?

Who else has artifacts, or knows where they're hidden? If the PCs become used to having these powers, what happens when they go up against similar beings?

Above all else, planning is important. Bad guys have to have massive scrying/spying resources to lay their plans, and don't forget to make them watertight. Things have a bad habit of going pearshaped anyway. But a massive plan of attack, involving kidnapped bait, traitors amongst the PCs (who will likely not be traitors after all), and bizarre monsters in death-trap environments can always be fun. Really, I think Jackie Chan Adventures should be a must-see for someone planning to run this scenario.

s/LaSH, if you have any of this type of thing already written down, I'd love to read it.

 

[Kilmore]

Okay... an action report. We only gamed for a few hours last Saturday night. Some of the boyz wuz wore out.

One guy is an exiled dwarf mage who got run out of dwarfland for being a dwarf mage, not wanting to make magic things for the dwarf king, and taking some of the things with him that he DID make after he decided to leave.

Another's just a straight fighter who's an indentured servant pearl diver by day and a bodyguard by night.

The other guy is a Beduin type tribesman fighter who has unexpectedly taken a liking to the rapier.

Short story: bodyguard works for Aziz Azid, a jewelery merchant at the bazaar. Dwarf sells one of his rings for his starting cash. Rude adventurer sells valuable item for a thousand gold so he can go back home. The valuable item, The Tongue of Balaash, can allow conversations with the dead if hung from a tombstone. The adventurer lost his brother and his father fighting for it and wants rid of it.

The dwarf trails the adventurer until he gets to a ship and sails off. Guard guards. Tribesman walks for his tent, noticing stealthy movement. Azid hires more guards and contacts a buyer.

A wave of assassins strike. Many are killed, Azid and the bodyguard are put to sleep (by the dwarf mage by accident ^_^) and the tongue is stolen.

Dwarf and tribesman agree to get the eye back. Guard Z's. Assassin that stole tongue is found dead.

Done for night.

Actually, the guard SHOULDN'T have been put to sleep by the dwarf's spell, but his player Bryan had a rough day and was sound asleep right when Scotty cast sleep.

Kilmore (the DM): (Looks to Bryan, then to Scotty): Um, I'll give you two extra HD for that sleep spell.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

Actually, the guard SHOULDN'T have been put to sleep by the dwarf's spell, but his player Bryan had a rough day and was sound asleep right when Scotty cast sleep.

Kilmore (the DM): (Looks to Bryan, then to Scotty): Um, I'll give you two extra HD for that sleep spell.

That sucks, I know the feeling. Back in college we used to play on friday afternoons, and there'd usually be at least one person who was so beat up from the previous week's worth of studying and staying up all night and such that someone would fall asleep at the table.

The one time I tried giving my party an Ancient World-Shattering Object of Mighty Evil (AWSOME), they were frustratingly unwilling to take it.

"Oh, an amulet, you say? Covered in mystical runes? Pulsing with a soft glow that speaks of unimaginable eldritch power at our beck and call? Okay, I'll sell it and spend the money on ale and whores."

I eventually had to make the damn thing FOLLOW them around. After what seemed like months, they began to think that maybe this thing was important, and went to find a sage to have it identified. The sage's home was attacked and burned to the ground in the middle of the night. The artifact was carried off by Innumerable Demonic Idolators of Terrible Stuff (IDIOTS), as artifacts are wont to do.

The party's reaction?

"Great, we got rid of that blasted amulet!"