Lost City of Barakus - help?

[Ry]

Hi everybody, just getting ready to run the Lost City of Barakus. One thing that strikes me is that there doesn't seem to be a real "villain" for the campaign - I mean, the lich is evil and all, but there's no consistent nemesis that works for each game. Am I missing something? Are the Pulantis supposed to fill this role, or the Ghoul Lord, or the goblin cleric, or maybe one of the dragons?

So here's a twofold question: Did you add a consistent villain to Barakus, and if not, how did you use other elements to fill this role? More broadly, what did you do (and especially, what did you add) to make Barakus great?

Finally... Do you have a story hour?

 

[S'mon]

Spoilers for Lost City of Barakus

Hi rycan - my Barakus page is at:
http://www.geocities.com/s.t.newman/barakus.htm

Players' story posts at:
http://www.randomlingshouse.net/viewtopic.php?t=4146&sid=d5bc1abdb50f5997b89353d55bba275b

I agree that there isn't really a single overarching active BBEG in Barakus, Devron is passive and just sits there. I haven't really found this to be a problem, my last campaign (Lost City of Gaxmoor) suffered from having a too-powerful BBEG vs fairly incompetent PCs, he kept killing them! There are several characters potentially usable as villains; eg Elan Kanto the leader of the death cultists in Endhome, or the leader of the drow expedition in Barakus. Some GMs use the Evil Adventuring Party as long-term villains, see the Necromancer discussion board:
http://p096.ezboard.com/fnecromancergamesfrm54

Since IMC the evil adventurers and death cultists met swift demises, my own plans are likely to focus on the drow, I bought the Green Ronin product "Dezzavold: Fortress of the Drow" to use as the drow home city. Barakus is really more designed for episodic play and doesn't need a regular villain I think, my PC group are basically focused on the following missions - find Fenton Barmey, recover the Sword of Kell, and discover the lost secrets of Barakus. Recovering & empowering the sword of Kell is a good long-term goal, although AFAICS there's no real motiviation to go after Devron other than for loot and XP.

 

[S'mon]

Things I've added - some NPCs, such as other NPC adventurers. Added several villages to the map, and a home base village (Branford) 8 miles from Barakus, so the PCs aren't constantly making the 50 mile trek to Endhome. Added various links to the scenario in the PC backgrounds, eg 1 PC is a cleric of Girru, I made Penelope a Girruite who asked him to find her husband Fenton. 1 PC is a 'shadow elf' from elf caves beneath the Penprie Forest, with good reason to hate the drow. 1 PC is a member of the same mystical order as Stylus Kant, the head of the wizards' college, and he has got her to perform various errands for him such as investigating the death cultists and finding the renegade wizard Bezlur.

 

[sfedi]

Shouldn't spoilers be avoided in this forum?

Or at least be warned?

 

[S'mon]

Shouldn't spoilers be avoided in this forum?

Or at least be warned?

I've added a spoiler warning but I'd think it obvious that discussion of a scenario will include spoilers. I don't think spoilers are forbidden in this forum. Are you planning to play this scenario & you read this thread?

 

[scadgrad]

I ran the module without worrying too much about a BBEG. I did add one in the city later, but he had little effect on the actual dungeon setting. He was simply a presence in the city so that the PCs didn't get too comfy there.

My group had a lot of fun in the module. We had a near TPK when...


SPOILER ALERT

In the very depths of the module, the PCs dispatched the Hyrda allowing the baddies on that level to escape down into the underdark. The PCs followed and as I set increasingly difficult encounters upon them, they pressed on to the point of exhaustion. Finally, they met w/ an encounter that they could not handle resulting in the death of about half the party. At that point all of the original party members were dead and the players decided to move on to another campaign. We had played the mod for almost a year at that point so we felt that was as good a place as any to call it quits.

They really enjoyed all of the cursed items and came close to a TPK when they met the dragon on the 1st level. Oddly enough, they didn't get around to driving the dragon off since they kept their focus on going further down into the depths. I think it would take perhaps as long as a year and a half of game play to get to a point where you've actually 'finished' the module. That's assuming your PCs are seeking to destroy Devron and can manage 4-5 sessions per/month. If you want to speed things along, you might allow them to begin at a higher level than what is recommended. Still, I think you'll want to hold the XPs down as recommended by the author so that the final sessions don't become anticlimatic.

It's a great module and filled with intriguing sidetreks. You really need to get a handle on the maps though. IIRC level 2 of the central dungeon is missing a critical secret door, or it may just be a door I can't recall at this point. It was a big problem for me when running the module. Good luck!

 

[Ry]

Thanks for all the advice and responses. I think I'll go with the evil adventuring party as a steady nemesis, although I won't put any obvious moments where the PCs can just kill them all. I'm also adding an ageless wizard named Uross the Survivor, who lived in Barakus but is very difficult to track down (he spends his time battling aberrations and steers clear of the city). I'm hoping Uross, and other NPCs knowing Uross, can make Barakus a feel a little less dungeon and a little more lost city.

Also, I've got a long-term nemesis in my campaign by the name of Andarys; he's a half-dragon-by-ritual sorcerer who's trying to ressurect his master, a great Black Dragon by the name of Zolanderos. This involves a lot of ancient magic - any thoughts on the best way to tie such a character in?

 

[scadgrad]

...Also, I've got a long-term nemesis in my campaign by the name of Andarys; he's a half-dragon-by-ritual sorcerer who's trying to ressurect his master, a great Black Dragon by the name of Zolanderos. This involves a lot of ancient magic - any thoughts on the best way to tie such a character in?

Well, IIRC there is the black dragon on the first level of the LCoB (the caverns above the city) and perhaps it is to play an integral part of the ritual. Maybe Andarys has placed this "ritual spell component" here and is watching over it until such time as the component/young dragon can become the vehicle for Zolanderos' return.

What do you think?

 

[Ry]

I like it. In fact, that dragon can be a close decendant of the big Z, too. I like...