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<blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 7525404" data-attributes="member: 6787503"><p>I saw this post back in 2015 and thought I'd respond to it as I'd been running a KotB game of my own around that time. I'm finally responding now, almost three years later, because I recently logged into a campaign log I'd been keeping about the game on obsidianportal.com and was reminded of this thread.</p><p></p><p>I'd decided to run KotB for a game I was playing with my son. The original plan had been to work it into a MERP game we were playing, but when I began to research the adventure for some ideas on how to run it, I came across the D&D Next playtest, which was going on at the time, and its adaptation of the Caves of Chaos. We decided to use the playtest rules and to set the game in Greyhawk, loosely following the suggestion in RttKotB. I thought the "Dreadmarsh" area to the east of the Yeomanry seemed like a good fit for the lands of chaos mentioned in the module.</p><p></p><p>My son's character was a wood elf rogue with the guild artisan background. It was decided that he was a bladesmith from a family of wood elves that originated in the Dreadwood but had become a member and agent of the Weaponsmith's Guild of Longspear. His patron, the Master of the guild, was sending him on a mission to rescue a merchant who was important to the guild and had gone missing a week before when his caravan was waylaid on the eastern road, possibly by goblins. For that purpose, the rogue was given a riding horse and was dispatched to the Keep, a few miles west of where the ambush occurred.</p><p></p><p>After travelling for a week, mostly following the course of the Javan river under cloudy skies, wind, and rain, the rogue arrived at the Keep. He spent the first few days frequenting the tavern and met a band of mercenaries, a jolly priest, and a hill dwarf fighter on successive days. He also made contact with the local merchants' guild, which was offering a 100 gp reward for the rescue of the merchant, and gathered rumors as to the merchant's possible whereabouts and the mysterious location known as the Caves of Chaos.</p><p></p><p>The rogue's player decided to organize an expedition to the Caves and assembled a party consisting of the priest and his acolytes, the hill dwarf fighter, and four hired mercenaries. They traveled east along the road until midday when they left the road and headed towards a forest which rose to the north. They came to a high meadow in the afternoon where they made camp. That night a thunderstorm came upon them, and a heavy rain continued to fall into the next day.</p><p></p><p>They pressed on to the northeast across the meadow when the rain lifted the next morning. After passing through more dense forest, they came to a ravine and entered a cave inhabited by a tribe of hobgoblins. They killed thirteen hobgoblins as they found their way to the chamber of the Hobgoblin Warlord, at which time the priest and his acolytes turned on the rest of the party, injuring them with magic and leaving them for dead. The entire party was captured, but the rogue, who still remained conscious, called for a parley with the warlord, and ransomed himself and one of the mercenaries for 43 gp, agreeing to return with more money to ransom his companions. A light rain fell as the two made their way out of the ravine, having found that their horses were gone, and camped in the large clearing in the forest that they had passed through on the previous day. The rain continued into the predawn hours.</p><p></p><p>The next day dawned clear with little wind. The rogue and the mercenary returned to the ravine and attacked a cave inhabited by kobolds. They killed nine kobolds before they were driven out, taking one prisoner. The rogue's player interrogated the prisoner, who gave him a map of the kobold lair and some general information about the ravine. The prisoner was released, and a parley was called for with the kobolds' leader, the Trap Lord, who eventually emerged to negotiate. The rogue's player proposed forming an alliance with the kobolds, but the Trap Lord refused due to a failed Persuasion check and instead gave the rogue some information about the tribe of goblins across the ravine.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the day was spent hiding in a small grove of trees, and at dusk, the rogue and the mercenary sneaked back into the hobgoblin tunnels and found a torture chamber where the hill dwarf fighter, the other mercenaries, and some other prisoners were being kept. The rogue slew the two guards and released his friends and the other four human prisoners: the lost merchant, his wife, and their two caravan guards. They escaped from the caves and journeyed back to the Keep through the night, their way lighted by a waning crescent moon.</p><p></p><p>The ten companions arrived at the Keep before daybreak as clouds began to gather. They were admitted and told that the priest and his acolytes had returned the day before, leading the party’s horses and claiming that the rest of the party had been slain. The rogue's player then publicly accused the priest of using dark magic. Guards were sent to the priest’s house and arrested him and his acolytes. The rogue was given a reward for rescuing the merchant, and the merchant's wife requested to join the party as the rogue's apprentice, offering her magic dagger as payment to be delivered upon completion of the apprenticeship, which terms the rogue's player accepted. The merchant's guards also offered their services to the party for one year in exchange for their rescue, requesting only living expenses.</p><p></p><p>That night, there was a thunderstorm with high winds in the midnight and predawn hours, and two days later, a party consisting of the rogue, the hill dwarf fighter, the merchant's wife and guards, and the ransomed mercenary, traveled back to the Caves with the goals of recovering their captured gear and taking revenge on the hobgoblins. The other mercenaries were staying at the Keep until their equipment was retrieved. The party camped in the forest nearby as light rain fell throughout the night.</p><p></p><p>Clouds persisted through the next day. The party left the mercenary to guard the horses and attacked the hobgoblin cave once more, but this time, the hobgoblins had set a guard near the door. After much fighting, the warlord herself along with her personal guard came to meet the invaders. Many hobgoblins were slain, and the merchant's wife and one of his guards lay unconscious, but the hobgoblins were finally defeated.</p><p></p><p>The campaign was abandoned at this point and hasn't been resumed. I'd like to take it up again, but there may be a lack of enthusiasm from my son, possibly due to my use of the priest's treachery as scripted by Gary Gygax. When it happened in the game, my son wanted to know if it was in the adventure or if I'd just made it up. I told him I was following the adventure's instructions for that NPC, but If I was to run this again, I'd make sure it was telegraphed more effectively.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hriston, post: 7525404, member: 6787503"] I saw this post back in 2015 and thought I'd respond to it as I'd been running a KotB game of my own around that time. I'm finally responding now, almost three years later, because I recently logged into a campaign log I'd been keeping about the game on obsidianportal.com and was reminded of this thread. I'd decided to run KotB for a game I was playing with my son. The original plan had been to work it into a MERP game we were playing, but when I began to research the adventure for some ideas on how to run it, I came across the D&D Next playtest, which was going on at the time, and its adaptation of the Caves of Chaos. We decided to use the playtest rules and to set the game in Greyhawk, loosely following the suggestion in RttKotB. I thought the "Dreadmarsh" area to the east of the Yeomanry seemed like a good fit for the lands of chaos mentioned in the module. My son's character was a wood elf rogue with the guild artisan background. It was decided that he was a bladesmith from a family of wood elves that originated in the Dreadwood but had become a member and agent of the Weaponsmith's Guild of Longspear. His patron, the Master of the guild, was sending him on a mission to rescue a merchant who was important to the guild and had gone missing a week before when his caravan was waylaid on the eastern road, possibly by goblins. For that purpose, the rogue was given a riding horse and was dispatched to the Keep, a few miles west of where the ambush occurred. After travelling for a week, mostly following the course of the Javan river under cloudy skies, wind, and rain, the rogue arrived at the Keep. He spent the first few days frequenting the tavern and met a band of mercenaries, a jolly priest, and a hill dwarf fighter on successive days. He also made contact with the local merchants' guild, which was offering a 100 gp reward for the rescue of the merchant, and gathered rumors as to the merchant's possible whereabouts and the mysterious location known as the Caves of Chaos. The rogue's player decided to organize an expedition to the Caves and assembled a party consisting of the priest and his acolytes, the hill dwarf fighter, and four hired mercenaries. They traveled east along the road until midday when they left the road and headed towards a forest which rose to the north. They came to a high meadow in the afternoon where they made camp. That night a thunderstorm came upon them, and a heavy rain continued to fall into the next day. They pressed on to the northeast across the meadow when the rain lifted the next morning. After passing through more dense forest, they came to a ravine and entered a cave inhabited by a tribe of hobgoblins. They killed thirteen hobgoblins as they found their way to the chamber of the Hobgoblin Warlord, at which time the priest and his acolytes turned on the rest of the party, injuring them with magic and leaving them for dead. The entire party was captured, but the rogue, who still remained conscious, called for a parley with the warlord, and ransomed himself and one of the mercenaries for 43 gp, agreeing to return with more money to ransom his companions. A light rain fell as the two made their way out of the ravine, having found that their horses were gone, and camped in the large clearing in the forest that they had passed through on the previous day. The rain continued into the predawn hours. The next day dawned clear with little wind. The rogue and the mercenary returned to the ravine and attacked a cave inhabited by kobolds. They killed nine kobolds before they were driven out, taking one prisoner. The rogue's player interrogated the prisoner, who gave him a map of the kobold lair and some general information about the ravine. The prisoner was released, and a parley was called for with the kobolds' leader, the Trap Lord, who eventually emerged to negotiate. The rogue's player proposed forming an alliance with the kobolds, but the Trap Lord refused due to a failed Persuasion check and instead gave the rogue some information about the tribe of goblins across the ravine. The rest of the day was spent hiding in a small grove of trees, and at dusk, the rogue and the mercenary sneaked back into the hobgoblin tunnels and found a torture chamber where the hill dwarf fighter, the other mercenaries, and some other prisoners were being kept. The rogue slew the two guards and released his friends and the other four human prisoners: the lost merchant, his wife, and their two caravan guards. They escaped from the caves and journeyed back to the Keep through the night, their way lighted by a waning crescent moon. The ten companions arrived at the Keep before daybreak as clouds began to gather. They were admitted and told that the priest and his acolytes had returned the day before, leading the party’s horses and claiming that the rest of the party had been slain. The rogue's player then publicly accused the priest of using dark magic. Guards were sent to the priest’s house and arrested him and his acolytes. The rogue was given a reward for rescuing the merchant, and the merchant's wife requested to join the party as the rogue's apprentice, offering her magic dagger as payment to be delivered upon completion of the apprenticeship, which terms the rogue's player accepted. The merchant's guards also offered their services to the party for one year in exchange for their rescue, requesting only living expenses. That night, there was a thunderstorm with high winds in the midnight and predawn hours, and two days later, a party consisting of the rogue, the hill dwarf fighter, the merchant's wife and guards, and the ransomed mercenary, traveled back to the Caves with the goals of recovering their captured gear and taking revenge on the hobgoblins. The other mercenaries were staying at the Keep until their equipment was retrieved. The party camped in the forest nearby as light rain fell throughout the night. Clouds persisted through the next day. The party left the mercenary to guard the horses and attacked the hobgoblin cave once more, but this time, the hobgoblins had set a guard near the door. After much fighting, the warlord herself along with her personal guard came to meet the invaders. Many hobgoblins were slain, and the merchant's wife and one of his guards lay unconscious, but the hobgoblins were finally defeated. The campaign was abandoned at this point and hasn't been resumed. I'd like to take it up again, but there may be a lack of enthusiasm from my son, possibly due to my use of the priest's treachery as scripted by Gary Gygax. When it happened in the game, my son wanted to know if it was in the adventure or if I'd just made it up. I told him I was following the adventure's instructions for that NPC, but If I was to run this again, I'd make sure it was telegraphed more effectively. [/QUOTE]
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