Iron DM "Home Game" Revival

[mmadsen]

Ages ago, while nemmerle was running his famed Iron DM competition, I ran an Iron DM Home Game. The challenge was to design a scenario with the given ingredients, but anyone could enter, there were no time limits, and there was no strict competition. We got some great entries.

Now that incognito has started another Iron DM competition, I thought I'd start another Iron DM "Home Game" for everyone else. Any list of ingredients from incognito's contest is fair game, but only after they're all "used up" (entries are in and judged).

Until then, here are some ingredient lists to play with:

Carnival
Manticore
Crystal Hypnosis Ball
Stirges
Con Games
Giant Snakes

Bones
Earth Elemental
Ghouls
Magic Key
Kuo-toa
Holy Ground

 

[mmadsen]

A sample scenario entry:

Ingredients:
Bones
Earth Elemental
Ghouls
Magic Key
Kuo-toa
Holy Ground

Act I
Dead Silence
In their travels, the PCs chance upon a small fishing village (pop. ~100 adults). In the daylight, from a distance, it's not obvious that the town is deserted. (If the PCs arrive at night or wait until nightfall, no fires are lit, and no smoke flows from chimneys -- even in the early evening, before curfew.)

The streets are full of broken bones and scraps of human "meat". Doors lay torn off their hinges. Scratched shutters sway in the breeze as it brings salt sea air to mix with rotten fish and rotten human.

Any tracker can discern human footprints throughout the town, including bloody footprints, but a closer look (DC 25) reveals webbed footprints as well.

If the PCs examine the small shops and residences, eventually, they'll walk into a Ghoul trap (EL 6, six Ghouls). If the PCs stay together in the open, the Ghouls will stay back, out of sight. If the PCs spread out and explore, they may Spot (vs. Hide +7) a few remaining Ghouls before they ambush.

Aside from the Ghoul threat, the PCs have the run of the dead town and can stock up on whatever goods a small fishing village might have (not much). They find no survivors.

On the opposite side of town, a tracker can discern many, many "human" footprints leaving town. Even a non-tracker can find remnants of bones and "meat" along the dirt road to the next town. If the tracker looks for webbed footprints, he won't find any leaving town down that road. He can find them (DC 20) leaving town toward the shore though -- and coming too, by that same path.

Tracking the Ghouls to the next town proves trivial, as piles of bloody bones dot the dirt road. Although spread by the feasting Ghouls, the "food" obviously appears in regularly spaced intervals.

The Deep Ones of Kuo-Toa, foul fish-men from the stygian depths, have "bred" Kuo-Toa Ghouls (treat as Lacedons) and "herded" them into this small seaside community to wipe out the humans and breed still more Ghouls. Kuo-Toa "Whips" (Clerics) Command recalcitrant Ghouls, while rank-and-file soldiers (Fighters) lead the Ghouls with human "chum" and pull them off of dead foes with Pincer Staves in order to "breed" more Ghouls. The Kuo-Toa are, of course, immune to Ghoul paralysis.

Act II
Kuo-Toa revealed
If the PCs rush to the next town (at night), they arrive in the midst of a grand melee between Ghouls, ghastly white Kuo-Toa (Ghouls, not scared Kuo-Toa), and living Kuo-Toa on one side, and terrified townsfolk on the other.

Although the attacking force should consist of dozens of Kuo-Toa soldiers, dozen of Kuo-Toa Ghouls, and still more human Ghouls, the PCs should not encounter them all in one location, and they should have large numbers of townsfolk on their side -- not enough to win a straight-out victory, but enough to avoid a Total Party Kill as they rally the villagers and lead them to safety.

If the PCs don't rush to the next town, they eventually find an even larger scene like the first fishing town. The shoreline will be swarming with Ghouls "herded" by vile Kuo-Toa (at least by night).

The Kuo-Toa will continue to hit small towns and villages, building their army and building momentum, until they feel secure in attacking The Port City. The PCs may try to ambush them, to prepare town militias for the onslaught (very Seven Samurai), or to inform the Merchant Prince of The Port City.

Act III
Assault on the Shrine of the Kuo-Toa or
Defense of the Great Port City
After harrying the Kuo-Toa war bands, the PCs should eventually learn the whereabouts of their subterranean aquatic lair (to which they retreat each night). The various entrances to the lair are sealed off by great stone portals that only open in the presence of a Kuo-Toan holy symbol (as carried by any Kuo-Toan "Whip" priest).

Without the magical key -- or without the knowledge of how to use it -- the PCs will either need to wait for a war band to make their egress and rush in before the stone door closes, or they'll need to find a way to move a large stone wall.

The Merchant Prince's advisor has an ancient stone tablet (Scroll of Planar Ally) dating back to the last Kuo-Toan invasion. With it, he can summon an Earth Elemental to aid the PCs in their attack on the Kuo-Toa (perhaps opening a stone door for them) -- or to aid them in defending The Port City from assault, if the PCs don't make a preemptive strike.

 

[mmadsen]

Also, if you're not comfortable offering up a full scenario entry, you can throw out interesting adventure fragments that came to mind, or riffs on someone else's entry. You can certainly comment on other people's entries. We always welcome razor-keen nemmerlesque criticism.

 

[Ciaran]

Hey mmadsen, I provided nemmerle with most of the ingredient lists for the original Iron DM competitions, so if you want some top-quality ingredients coming your way, just let me know!

- Eric

 

[Fast Learner]

New List of Ingredients, Perhaps?

How would you feel about a new list of ingredients? I really enjoyed lurking in the home game last time, but the ideas feel kinda played out.

 

[Psion]

Elements:

Bones
Earth Elemental
Ghouls
Magic Key
Kuo-toa
Holy Ground

Holy Ground, Unholy Water

The action occurs in and around a village near a mountain lake.

Background: Deep beneath the mountains, the deep gnomes and kou-toa have struggled for survival and dominance for centuries. After a long struggle, though the power of some deep gnome elementalists, the gnomes are finally getting the upper hand and have slain the kuo-toas leader.

Desperate, the kuo-toa turns to Plilapl, a renegade priest cast out of the clan years ago for following a god of death. The priest is eager to use this chance to gain power and acceptance. While in seclusion, Plilapl developed a method to create a powerful creature called a bone colossus that could turn the tide of the battle.

However, the gnomes struck before they could complete this construct. Plilapl and his followers could only survive by fleeing to the surface through passages to the lake. There, Plilapl creates ghouls to start attacking locals and gathering bones so he can collect the components to create a bone colossus on the surface.

The gnomes, having had the kuo toa come back from several bloody conflicts were not willing to let the task go unfinished. But they also did not have the ability to send many troops through the flooded caves through which the kuo-toa fled. So their wizards made a pact with the elemental courts to send several earth elemantals to the surface to search out and destroy the remaining kuo-toa, scrying to track the enemy and keep up with their progress.

The kuo-toa -- bolstered by some ghouls Plilapl created -- butcher a village to start to collect bones. The elementals arive on the surface and start chasing Plilapl and his followers. The kuo-toa flee from the elementals and eventually learn that the elementals cannot reach them near the site of an ancient shrine due to a permanent hallow effect. Unfortunately, neither can Plilapl create undead -- or a bone colossus on the site due to the same effect that protects him from the elementals. Plilapl and the kuo-toa take refuge in the waterways beneath the shrine until they can figure out what to do.

Plilapl discovers an ancient artifact, the Crucible of Darkenss, interred on the site. If he can get the magical key that will open the crucible, it will dispel the hallow effect and unleash an equally powerful unhallow effect. This will continue to repel the elementals, but allow his ghouls to enter the shrine as well, and allow Plilapl to finish his bone colossus.

Character levels/scaling the adventure: Plilapl will need to be an 11th level cleric (so he has access to create undead and can create ghouls); characters of 7th or 8th level would be about right. For higher level characters, use larger elementals, advanced ghouls, and increase Plilapl's levels. Plilapl only has wis 16, otherwise he could gain access to create greater undead and create better creatures than ghouls.

Character Hooks:

- The characters are travelling though the area when they discover the massacre at the village of Highloch
- The characters are hired or begged to help repel a menace in the sewers of a famous shrine, and are asked to meet a representative of the shrine in highloch

Flow of Adventure

The flow of the adventure could go somewhat like follows. This may be a little more site based/investigative, so the flow could vary.

Part I: Village of Highloch

The characters arrive in the village of Highloch and find it abandoned. There are signs of a massacre (blood, etc.) but no bodies.

The players meet an earth elemental shambling through town (sent by the gnomes to look for the kuo-toa). The elemental will not attack the party if not provoked, but will defend itself.

If the players do not attack, they can follow the elemental. The elemental will soon leave town to pursue the ghouls. PCs with scry may notice that there is a scrying sensor is near the elemental (the gnome wizards are controlling the elemental through a scrying connection.)

If the players destroy the elemental, they can find a distinctively inscribed amulet embedded in its body; this amulet is a focus for the scrying. A character with identify can discern the function of the amulet.

Characters searching the village will find ghoul tracks leaving the village, as well as tracks of fleeing villagers leading to the shrine.

Part II: Ghoul camp

Characters following the elemental or tracking the ghouls will find that they have congregated in a copse near the village. As they approach, characters who make a spot check may notice some figures (ghouls) leaving the ghoul camp with armloads of something (bones).

Characters who enter the camp and spy on the ghouls will notice that they are chewing the meat off of the bones and then leaving the camp with the bones.

If the characters follow the elemental, the elemental will immediately engage the ghouls.

Part III: Unholy water

Characters who follow the ghouls leaving camp with bones will notice that they go to a fast running stream upstream of the shrine and toss the bones in the water. After doing this for a while, earth elementals will appear and attack the ghouls, but the ghouls will flee. Characters who make spot checks (or go swimming) will notice some creatures (kuo-toa) retrieving bones in the water.

Part IV: Last stand on holy ground

Players that go to the shrine (motivated by following the tracks of fleeing villagers) will notice that around the perimeter of the hallow effect, several earth elementals circle listlessly. The earth elementals will not attack the PCs unless attacked.

The PCs can see that there are many villagers taking refuge in the shrine.

If the PCs enter and speak to the locals and priests, they can discover:
- Everyone who stays in the shrine is getting sick (the ghouls are spreading a sickness with the bones they are casting into the water supply of the shrine.)
- The priests think they have seen strange creatures in the water beneath the shrine. Two even saw two of the creatures shambling about the yard (the kuo-toa have learned of the key and are looking for it.)
- One priest found the door to an ancient vault beneath the shrine broken open. They fear unless it is secured, the Crucible of Darkness will fall into the wrong hands.

They players may descend into the vault. They will find the crucible as well as many collected bones, but any kuo-toa will flee into the water if confronted.

A day after they arrive, a priest will turn up dead, floating in the water (The priest was caught and killed, after being interrogated about the location of the key) The priest is on hallowed ground so the ghouls do not approach.

That night the kuo-toa will storm the ground level of the shrine and steal the key. If they succeed in getting it, they will open the crucible of darkness. If that happens, the ghouls will storm the grounds of the shrine, killing innocents. Then Plilapl will start the ritual to create the bone colossus.

The PCs have opportunities to stop this at several points.

If PCs need help, the gnomes might use sending to send them hints or have the earth elementals help them.

 

[Psion]

Re: New List of Ingredients, Perhaps?

How would you feel about a new list of ingredients? I really enjoyed lurking in the home game last time, but the ideas feel kinda played out.

Once the contestants are done with the current list, it'll go here. But don't deny the rest of us the fun just because you had the chance.

 

[mmadsen]

Hey mmadsen, I provided nemmerle with most of the ingredient lists for the original Iron DM competitions, so if you want some top-quality ingredients coming your way, just let me know!

- Eric

Sounds like a good idea, Ciaran/Eric, and Fast Learner's certainly chomping at the bit for new ingredients, but let's follow Psion's suggestion and let everyone get the most out of the current list.

Speaking of Psion, does anyone want to critique/praise his entry? I'll be back with my thoughts momentarily -- but I'll throw in a "good show!" for now.

 

[Psion]

Well...?

 

[incognito]

Psion,

I did read your story, but I can't comment becasue that would give you and "edge" so to speak over the other IROM DM contestants!

I will say that practicing is always a good idea.