Okay, so anyone that doesn't want spoilers for KotS should get the heck out of here now. This thread is gonna be a discussion of the KotS game I am running (we've played two sessions as of yet), so it will doubtless have plenty of them.
That said, I have started running KotS with a mixed group of players from my various groups. So far it has been really fun! The next post will be some of my impressions, etc; that's where the spoilers will start.
We have played two sessions. The first one was only about three hours long, but the pcs had the initial kobold ambush encounter, went into Winterfell and did some roleplaying, and then went out of Winterfell (hoping to get to the dragon burial site; I used the "missing mentor" adventure hook for them), only to fall victim to the second kobold ambush.
Three hour session. Two major combats plus significant roleplaying and investigation. The combats had, between them, 13 monsters (although they were all kobolds). Things were fast and furious, though I made a couple of rules mistakes (once or twice I used dragonshield tactics to shift away from a pc's charge before the attack roll; since it is a reaction, it should have gone charge-attack-shift; I couldn't quickly find the concealment rule, so I called it a miss chance; um, I think there may have been another bit somewhere).
The party triumphed. I was particularly impressed by how much healing the cleric pc could dish out. I was pleased to see that the mix of players gelled really well, and they got teamwork going quickly and efficiently. Everyone had a really fun time.
The second session (last night- we played from about 9 pm to about 2 am) was very cool too. We printed out the warlord pc from the WotC site, and a new player joined in (though one guy wasn't there, cuz he's at a con right now). The pcs went to the dragon's burial ground and met the gnome's group. I was really looking forward to playing the gnome, but- well, I'll get to that.
So the gnome's halfling slinger opens up on the pcs as they head down the steep slope, and combat breaks out. This combat was crazy- the two drakes both hit the warlord in the first round, before he had a chance to act, and did enough damage to kill him outright! (I rolled max and nigh max damage, and that was 1d10+9 each, since they were next to each other.) Bummer! Well, for once, I threw the pcs a bone, and because we all really wanted to see the warlord in action, I reduced the damage by 1, leaving him one point shy of dead.
Again, the cleric showed his crazy mastery of healing, bringing the warlord back from the brink and to near full hp in one round. (The "no negative hp penalty on healing" 4e rule is very cool, and really does aid in making the game more cinematic.)
When the wizard tossed his sleep spell, he got several of the bad guys, most importantly the gnome. Unfortunately, the gnome only got to take one turn after that- and then he failed his save and fell asleep, and didn't wake up until after the whole fight was over and he was tied up! I could not believe how bad I rolled for the monster I wanted to play the most out of the entire frickin' module!! Sigh.
Anyhow, the pcs had their hardest time with those two drakes- not surprising, as they were level 2 monsters. It was a harder fight than either of the kobold fights so far, but not as hard as the one yet to come...
Hey, they found their missing mentor under a blanket! Hurray, and they get quest xp!
The party took him back to town, rested and talked to some more locals, meeting Valthrun the Prescient, who acted all mysterious but gave them some valuable info on the Keep itself, and Ninaran (an aloof elf hunter), who pointed them towards the kobold lair.
If any of my players are in this thread, please don't look at the following:
They don't yet know that Ninaran has skipped town to go report to Kalarel, or that she is an evil bitch.
So the pcs followed Ninaran's directions to the kobold lair, where they first easily overcame the ones outside, then moved in through the waterfall and utterly destroyed the minions. But as the skirmishers, dragonshields, wyrmpriest and Irontooth got involved, things got pretty hairy- especially once Irontooth was bloodied! The party came within a hair's breadth of being tpked. At one point, only the cleric and wizard were still standing, and the cleric was out of healing! In the end, the paladin was slain by Irontooth before the pcs managed to destroy him. That extra 1d10 damage was painful, especially since I was rolling hot all night! But once they killed Irontooth, the wyrmpriest (still slowed from the sleep cast earlier by the wizard, but also still unwounded), seeing his tribe decimated, cried out, "Stop, my people! Withdraw! They have slain the cruel tyrant that took us over, let us let them escape!"
A period of negotiation ensued, with the pcs finally leaving after the kobolds agreed in principle to not hassle Winterhaven any more. That's where we ended for the night, with the pcs so close to 2nd level that they can taste it, and with the paladin dead.
I'll prolly let them get the paladin raised in town; I believe it's supposed to cost 500 gp? So they'll probably have to go into debt to do it.
So pretty much everyone in the group playing it has been having a blast. The characters' powers really play up their roles; the wizard tends to blast a bunch of enemies at once, the paladin's powers really encourage him to get in there and mix it up, etc. The combats are fast and furious, and everyone has something cool to do almost every round.
I think one thing the pcs could have done that would have helped would have been to focus more on single targets during that last fight. They spread their attacks out almost evenly amongst their enemies for a long time. It was only when Irontooth came out that they started to focus. I think all the minions made them a little careless!
As a dm, I found it to be a blast to run the monsters. It was really, really cool that every monster felt distinct. I loved, too, how Irontooth, as an elite monster, felt like a whole nother class of enemy- he was tough!
Anyway, there's the general story and set of impressions from my KotS experience so far. I hope everyone else has been having as much fun with it as I have!
This outta be interesting to run for my two players. Each is going to RP one character and then just run a second PC as a "combat helper". And I am probebly gonna run a single NPC on top of it all. Give em a full 5 people.
This outta be interesting to run for my two players. Each is going to RP one character and then just run a second PC as a "combat helper". And I am probebly gonna run a single NPC on top of it all. Give em a full 5 people.
I imagine he used 2 healing words for 18+2d6 healing, though that should have taken 2 rounds, as even though it's a minor action you can only use it once per round.
Or, hrm, maybe he made a first aid check to activate the warlord's second wind then used healing word on him, for 15+1d6 healing all in one round.
Jester,
Great writeup... seems like some great times!
But I have to ask...
Edit: dead is negative the bloodied number, not negative max HP. So, the rest of my post is incorrect... move along...
it seems like you are considering a PC dead at 0 HP. You realize that they are not dead until they are negative their max HP (so if I have 25 HP, I'm not dead until -25.) Once zero or below, they make a save every turn until they receive healing, or fail three saves. So, it should take at least three rounds for a PC reduced to 0 or less HP to actually become dead (unless an opponent does more damage.)
So, don't be afraid of letting a PC go unconscious at 0 or less HP and make the party try to save him from dying!
Jester,
Great writeup... seems like some great times!
But I have to ask...
it seems like you are considering a PC dead at 0 HP. You realize that they are not dead until they are negative their max HP (so if I have 25 HP, I'm not dead until -25.) Once zero or below, they make a save every turn until they receive healing, or fail three saves. So, it should take at least three rounds for a PC reduced to 0 or less HP to actually become dead (unless an opponent does more damage.)
So, don't be afraid of letting a PC go unconscious at 0 or less HP and make the party try to save him from dying!
I could not believe how bad I rolled for the monster I wanted to play the most out of the entire frickin' module!! Sigh. 
