Hello
First of all, thank you everyone for your comments, it was very helpful.
I think my biggest mistake here is one of *writing*, as in how I wrote the post. At every step, the PCs have choices. Some are the "obvious" choice, some are really silly, some are unlikely but predictable, and then there is the rare but always delightful "what the?!" option you could never, ever foresee as a DM that the players will throw your way once in a while. All I tried to do was to describe what would happen following a string of predictable choices.
This adventure may not happen at all! The PCs may not take the job, for once ... maybe they *don't* want to find that special ruin for a fee!
I like it. As long as you don't over saturate your campaign with them, dramatic (and dangerous) set piece encounters like this can be exciting to play. I like how the first small encounter you included is a nice foreshadow/warning of what is to come and should make the reveal feel less of a "gotcha" type situation. It will only feel railroady if you force them to take the bait and force them down the "correct" solution. Simply describe the environment and the situation and let the PCs decide what to do. If I were you I might make a small change by describing the tower being visible before the ambush happens. That way, when it happens and if the PCs decide to take cover in it, it will feel more like their own idea and cleverness rather than presenting the solution to the problem.
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The point about introducing the tower *before* the spider horde shows up is an excellent one. I will certainly do that.
If you're players are the type to try to make checks to learn about their foes you could feed them information along the lines of "spiders fear fire" which will get them thinking.
Giving a thought about what weakness these spiders have that the PCs could plausibly know about is something I will have to do clearly.
You could also have something occur after a set amount of time that ends the encounter. Perhaps after spending an hour in the tower some top predator comes along and drives the spiders off, but leaves the PCs with a new challenge (but a single enemy challenge which is more manageable to run).
I don't want this to turn into a TPK, so an external intervention could be necessary. There is a powerful (and potentially dangerous) NPC the heroes might run into this area, that could intervene... but I would rather not, as this is even *more* deus ex machina than the flight of the Tamasic men.
My question would be – what happens if the PCs don’t retreat, or don’t go to the tower, or don’t barricade the door? I presume you know how your group generally reacts, but it’s always dangerous to plan an adventure based around a series of outcomes that may or may not happen. It might be better to plan the adventure to account for multiple paths, and adjust based on the PCs actions.
And if you’re planning on throwing overwhelming odds at them, I would suggest having a plan if they don’t do the thing (retreating). Maybe they end up cocooned for later, and have to get their gear and escape. Or the weight of the spiders in one pace causes a collapse, temporarily separating them from the spiders.
This is an encounter, not an adventure. But you are right that not retreating could happen - I can see the barbarian deciding to do a heroic stand and the others not wanting to leave him behind...
I do like the capture thing, it has some potential.
As for the Tamasic Men, have they encountered their kind before? If you’re planning on staging their grisly demise to develop pathos, I’d advise giving the PCs more of a reason to care. Maybe they’re the last of their kind, or are trying to carry their chrysalis-bound young to safety.
3 of the PCs are "not from here" and have no idea what the heck these are. They are also the type to show compassion to the weak. The local PC does know what they are and probably sees them as vermin.
They will, will they?
Anticipate at least the following questions:
- Besides the "easily defensible" tower, what else is around us?
- How far is it to run back to the gate out of the Old City?
- How many spiders, roughly? Dozens? Hundreds?
- Do they come in waves? Are they acting like a focused hive mind or like animals which can be easily distracted or dissuaded?
- Are these giant wolf spiders (CR 1/4) or giant spiders (CR 1)?
- Would the spiders' climbing still work on oil-slicked stone?
All good questions!
It's up to the players. What if they decide that an all-out retreat is more appropriate than fortifying themselves in a tower? Might want to have some chase obstacles ready and a plan for a thrilling "Chased by Giant Spiders Out of the Old City" scenario!
Indeed. One of the PCs is a bit... sluggish... being a slugman and all that, but the others would probably (haha) try to help it along. This jungle/ruin exploration scenario has encounters for when the PCs know where they are, and random encounters when they are lost, so they will have a decent idea of where to retreat to. Having this happen when they are lost would be limiting their choice.
This has potential, but it's far too railroady for my taste. I offer the following suggestions:
Add an NPC guide who will be with the party. When the spider horde attacks, have him call for the retreat. This should get the players in the right mindset (as some players never thing of retreat), but they may not retreat, even against overwhelming odds.
There will be an NPC and yes, that NPC would say something like "there are too many!!!"
Introduce the tower before the horde. Allow the PCs to go up to it and meet the butterfly people if they want. That will help them think of it as a place to fall back to, since they've already encountered it.
This was suggested above. I guess the question is "how much gap, time wise, between the heroes seeing the tower and seeing the spider horde?" Do the heroes have time to meet the Tamasic men?
Have more than 1 option. You can have 1,000 options, and the players are going to choose #1,001. It's a frickling law of nature or something. If you provide another defensive position other than the tower, you can have the spiders see the butterfly people, and slowly break off the attack for easier prey. Maybe not as dramatic, but allows for more player options.
There will be other fighting positions - even a wall is better than nothing - but the tower is the best one. The Tamasic men are cowards and would not reveal themselves during an attack... although hmmm, your idea is worth thinking about.
Oh, and if you want to keep them from just fleeing out of old town, you can have part of the horde have moved to cut them off, giving them the choice of trying to fight their way through without protection, or seeking shelter.
If they run away and successfully evade them, they get away, I wouldn't "keep them" from doing so.
I should mention that on one side of Old Town is the Jungle of Lahag. If they run into that (PCs right) instead of back to town, the spiders will not pursue, because they feel the jungle is too dangerous! I guess I'll have to come up with a Jungle encounter.
