My Campaign Thus Far...
- Thread starter Rugult
- Start date
RangerWickett
Legend
Color me intrigued. How exactly did you skip half of an adventure and go to the next one?
Jason Anderson
Explorer
It's not like it's hard in adventure 3 - just remove the whole storm plot and go straight into #4RangerWickett said:
RangerWickett said:
What he means is, he hasn't gotten through summarizing adventure 3 but we just finished playing adventure 4 tonight (or last night technically since I'm writing this at 2:30 in the morning).
One of the memorable moments for the swamp was, as we're rowing through, we had the barbarian Krug taking point in the lead boat. After a couple hours of rowing,
Torrent: "Do...do you know where we're going?"
Krug: "Sure do." *points ahead* "That way."
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Fredrik Svanberg
First Post
Rugult said:
I saw this one coming so I have prepared a different set of stats for the hags using non-classed monsters with interesting abilities (an annis, a green hag and a harpy). They will just use the stats for these creatures while they still keep their original appearances in order to confuse the players a bit. I hope it will make this fight a lot easier to run.
After-the-fact edit: It did make the fight easier to run but it also turned out to be a bit more difficult than I thought, resulting in three deaths... Although to be honest I didn't expect Torrent to roll a 1 on her will save against the harpy's song, and I never expected BOTH of their guards to fail the save at once. The tanker was out of armor due to having been asleep and was thus easy prey for the annis and green hag, and the remaining characters were mainly casters who never managed to penetrate the spell resistance of the hags. If I were to do this again I would have them attack in the evening before anyone has got out of their armor, and I would also remove the spell resistances.
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That's the only advantage of not having a tank in our party.Fredrik Svanberg said:
Armour ranges from none to chain shirt.
The only one in the party who even has medium armour proficiency is the druid, and since he's a pixie he didn't want the witch's dragonhide breastplate anyway.
Rugult
On Call GM
Back... from the future?
All right… I am going to TRY to update this as best I can. Our group has just finished Adventure 6 so it’s certainly a buildup from this point…
Act Two – Seaquen
-
So the party continued adventuring through the city. While Rowan worked on identifying in his shanty tent, the party accomplished in no particular order:
-Fighting an Erinyes
-Meeting Lee Sidoneth
-Learning about the Wayfarers
-Fighting Fire Rats
-Learning about the Order of Echoed Souls
Also of note was Pete’s attempt to find a religion to repent for the act of killing Haddin. Benedict tried to convince him of St. Cuthbert, but instead he went about helping at the local church. When pressing the priestess of the temple for an answer as to which deity he should follow she responded ‘Look to the hand’. Pete took this as a suggestion to worship Vecna, which almost prompted Benedict to go back to the church in full holy warrior mode…
Luckily the Erinyes encounter botched that attempted religious war.
Act Three – The Lyceum (Council of Elrond)
-
It is quite difficult to retell this story in words but I shall try…
The Party came before the council with their tale, ‘Lucky Pete’ sold himself as a rebel, a warrior, savior of the Seela people, and a spider wrangler (from exploits earlier in the adventure).
It became apparent rather quickly that Pete did not get along with the Magistrate of the city and instead he seemed to ‘schmooze’ with Xavious Foebane (apparently Pete has a fondness for fighting dwarves). During this meeting the party also met and treated with the paladin Laurabec who they found to be an honorable ally, and defender of the impoverished people in Seaquen.
The rest of the council went as intended, with Pete bringing his charms to Shalosha when she appeared. Though the Elves demands were too high, the party understood the poor princess’ position.
One of the memorable lines of the encounter was when Rowan was going around ‘mingling’ with the other nobles almost directly insulting their actions or asking questions with child like glee. When he realized how pestering he seemed, the now coined party line of ‘We’re from the mountains” was made.
I apologize if that doesn’t say a lot… But as it was a fair time ago, and it’s hard enough to sum up massive in game discussions in a recap… well that’s all I got!
Act Four – The Storm
-
The party attended the wayfarer’s play. And while Katrina mocked the entire affair, the party realized they were ‘those guys’ at the theater. Eventually Pete left in relative disgust noticing the kurfuffle upstairs.
Comabt ensued amongst the stormy upper portions of the Wayfarer’s ship. Pete engaged with the assassin while the rest of the party fought the wayfarer traitor and his half orc friends.
Sheer damage broke down the saboteurs and the party was victorious. However the storm was at hand, and they were running short on time.
Act Five – The Fire Tomb
-
With little time and the boon protecting them, the party set forth to the Fire Tomb. They were accosted by the tojanida’s early on, which kept them weary of anything else that might be thrown at them. Not weary enough however.
As a DM it’s a good thing when interesting monsters show up. As a DM I love Mimics. I love it when they appear and cause general chaos amongst the party. This Mimic was no exception. Shock value, decent damage done. Nuff’ said.
When dealing with Skeletons a cleric is always handy. When (and I quote) ‘St. Cuthbert says sit the hell back down!’, skeletons sit the hell back down.
When dealing with a room of 13 clustered Ragesian red-shirts, a sorcerer with a penchant for fireballs is also a fine solution.
The Inquisitor was not so easily handled, and gave the party a decent run for their money. Sadly as his guards were handled rather quickly, he was overwhelmed by sheer PC numbers in turn (one of the issues with running a 5 player group).
Taking their leave of the Fire Tomb, the party walked out into the trap set by Lee. Fully half the party was engaged with the ‘squid of doom’ while Krug the barbarian viciously charged up to Lee. Then one of the Gargoyles activated and decided to take Mr. Krug down the water with them while grappling.
Seriously now… Picture it.
You’ve got a powerful monk directing a storm around the players while they fight his giant squid companion. The one player who makes it to him is taken for a ‘dunk’ underwater by a gargoyle. Things don’t look good… but that’s what this campaign is about; making the players worried.
While the wizard Rowan and the Sorceress Anika dealt with the big fish (oh the PUNishment), the cleric Benedict and our lovable rogue ‘Lucky Pete’ charged up the stairs for round 2 with Mr. Badass McMonk. Sufficed to say the battle that ensued was so epic that the whole world ended and the campaign was finished.
No wait…
Actually the party barely managed to finish off the Squiddy and Monk, while still somehow managing to save their underwater Barbarian from drowning. Drowning while receiving a bear hug from a gargoyle... I still think it would have been an awesome death.
The follow-up was rather brief as most of this would be followed up at the start of Adventure 4. I did however go through the scene involving Takashi (Lauarbec’s giant eagle).
Takashi showed up and informed the party of Laurabec’s demise during the storm. He offered her Holy Symbol to ‘Lucky Pete’ thus completing the whole ‘Look to the hand’ bit I setup earlier in the adventure. Also Laurabec’s name is now on Benedict’s resurrection list beside Haddin.
Thus ends adventure Numero 3.
Thoughts
-
I will skip over my initial comments of railroading, as it has been explained many of the initial encounters are supposed to be done out of sequence… apparently reading the adventure helps.
So my first thought on this adventure was how much of a treat it is to parties who love cinematic battles and excellent plot development. From the various battles during the storm to the entire act dedicated to the council of Seaquen, this adventure really got my players and I into the tone of the campaign.
At this point our group has run through adventures 1-6, and I still have to say that this is the adventure where the tone of the campaign was decided. The players honestly feel as though they’re part of the resistance, and will be making a difference. Sure there are some forced moments of assistance, such as the players being the only ones who can save Seaquen because of the Boon/Magical Stability… but hey, that’s what good fantasy/DnD is all about!
One thing important about this adventure that I really liked was that NPC stats were displayed when they would likely be needed. In retrospect from Adventure 6, this was quite a nice help. No having 2 copies of the adventure open on my Laptop flipping between the area descriptions and NPC stats during combat. Small things like that really made the pacing of this adventure seem strong.
Now this can’t all be lollipops and sunshine (or something like that), so here are some concerns I had with this adventure…
The Fire Tomb seemed to have a LOT of randomly placed NPC’s/monsters that didn’t really fit. The group of Tojanida’s, Mimic, and even the full out group of Ragesian soldiers seemed almost ‘copy/pasted’ in. I mean I love Mimic’s and using one was quite fun from a DM perspective, but I think it took away from the intensity of the situation. The Ragesian soldiers seemed out of place for me because it seemed to take away from the idea that this was a small ‘cell’ of Ragesians who had infiltrated the city. Luckily a single fireball removed that thought
Finally, and this is really an annoyance for me in hindsight (and totally understandable why it wasn’t in the adventure). But with the inclusion of Biomancy, I think some rumors about Ostalin’s ruler might have been fluffy to throw in. That way it’s not as much of a throw in when they meet him in adventure 5. But of course that’s just me being nitpicky and thinking of cool plot points to throw in if I ran this campaign again!
Overall, Adventure 3 was the best of the first 3 adventure because of the combination of plot, intense combats, and good role-playing moments.
*Breathes deep*
Now onto adventure 4!
All right… I am going to TRY to update this as best I can. Our group has just finished Adventure 6 so it’s certainly a buildup from this point…
Act Two – Seaquen
-
So the party continued adventuring through the city. While Rowan worked on identifying in his shanty tent, the party accomplished in no particular order:
-Fighting an Erinyes
-Meeting Lee Sidoneth
-Learning about the Wayfarers
-Fighting Fire Rats
-Learning about the Order of Echoed Souls
Also of note was Pete’s attempt to find a religion to repent for the act of killing Haddin. Benedict tried to convince him of St. Cuthbert, but instead he went about helping at the local church. When pressing the priestess of the temple for an answer as to which deity he should follow she responded ‘Look to the hand’. Pete took this as a suggestion to worship Vecna, which almost prompted Benedict to go back to the church in full holy warrior mode…
Luckily the Erinyes encounter botched that attempted religious war.
Act Three – The Lyceum (Council of Elrond)
-
It is quite difficult to retell this story in words but I shall try…
The Party came before the council with their tale, ‘Lucky Pete’ sold himself as a rebel, a warrior, savior of the Seela people, and a spider wrangler (from exploits earlier in the adventure).
It became apparent rather quickly that Pete did not get along with the Magistrate of the city and instead he seemed to ‘schmooze’ with Xavious Foebane (apparently Pete has a fondness for fighting dwarves). During this meeting the party also met and treated with the paladin Laurabec who they found to be an honorable ally, and defender of the impoverished people in Seaquen.
The rest of the council went as intended, with Pete bringing his charms to Shalosha when she appeared. Though the Elves demands were too high, the party understood the poor princess’ position.
One of the memorable lines of the encounter was when Rowan was going around ‘mingling’ with the other nobles almost directly insulting their actions or asking questions with child like glee. When he realized how pestering he seemed, the now coined party line of ‘We’re from the mountains” was made.
I apologize if that doesn’t say a lot… But as it was a fair time ago, and it’s hard enough to sum up massive in game discussions in a recap… well that’s all I got!
Act Four – The Storm
-
The party attended the wayfarer’s play. And while Katrina mocked the entire affair, the party realized they were ‘those guys’ at the theater. Eventually Pete left in relative disgust noticing the kurfuffle upstairs.
Comabt ensued amongst the stormy upper portions of the Wayfarer’s ship. Pete engaged with the assassin while the rest of the party fought the wayfarer traitor and his half orc friends.
Sheer damage broke down the saboteurs and the party was victorious. However the storm was at hand, and they were running short on time.
Act Five – The Fire Tomb
-
With little time and the boon protecting them, the party set forth to the Fire Tomb. They were accosted by the tojanida’s early on, which kept them weary of anything else that might be thrown at them. Not weary enough however.
As a DM it’s a good thing when interesting monsters show up. As a DM I love Mimics. I love it when they appear and cause general chaos amongst the party. This Mimic was no exception. Shock value, decent damage done. Nuff’ said.
When dealing with Skeletons a cleric is always handy. When (and I quote) ‘St. Cuthbert says sit the hell back down!’, skeletons sit the hell back down.
When dealing with a room of 13 clustered Ragesian red-shirts, a sorcerer with a penchant for fireballs is also a fine solution.
The Inquisitor was not so easily handled, and gave the party a decent run for their money. Sadly as his guards were handled rather quickly, he was overwhelmed by sheer PC numbers in turn (one of the issues with running a 5 player group).
Taking their leave of the Fire Tomb, the party walked out into the trap set by Lee. Fully half the party was engaged with the ‘squid of doom’ while Krug the barbarian viciously charged up to Lee. Then one of the Gargoyles activated and decided to take Mr. Krug down the water with them while grappling.
Seriously now… Picture it.
You’ve got a powerful monk directing a storm around the players while they fight his giant squid companion. The one player who makes it to him is taken for a ‘dunk’ underwater by a gargoyle. Things don’t look good… but that’s what this campaign is about; making the players worried.
While the wizard Rowan and the Sorceress Anika dealt with the big fish (oh the PUNishment), the cleric Benedict and our lovable rogue ‘Lucky Pete’ charged up the stairs for round 2 with Mr. Badass McMonk. Sufficed to say the battle that ensued was so epic that the whole world ended and the campaign was finished.
No wait…
Actually the party barely managed to finish off the Squiddy and Monk, while still somehow managing to save their underwater Barbarian from drowning. Drowning while receiving a bear hug from a gargoyle... I still think it would have been an awesome death.
The follow-up was rather brief as most of this would be followed up at the start of Adventure 4. I did however go through the scene involving Takashi (Lauarbec’s giant eagle).
Takashi showed up and informed the party of Laurabec’s demise during the storm. He offered her Holy Symbol to ‘Lucky Pete’ thus completing the whole ‘Look to the hand’ bit I setup earlier in the adventure. Also Laurabec’s name is now on Benedict’s resurrection list beside Haddin.
Thus ends adventure Numero 3.
Thoughts
-
I will skip over my initial comments of railroading, as it has been explained many of the initial encounters are supposed to be done out of sequence… apparently reading the adventure helps.
So my first thought on this adventure was how much of a treat it is to parties who love cinematic battles and excellent plot development. From the various battles during the storm to the entire act dedicated to the council of Seaquen, this adventure really got my players and I into the tone of the campaign.
At this point our group has run through adventures 1-6, and I still have to say that this is the adventure where the tone of the campaign was decided. The players honestly feel as though they’re part of the resistance, and will be making a difference. Sure there are some forced moments of assistance, such as the players being the only ones who can save Seaquen because of the Boon/Magical Stability… but hey, that’s what good fantasy/DnD is all about!
One thing important about this adventure that I really liked was that NPC stats were displayed when they would likely be needed. In retrospect from Adventure 6, this was quite a nice help. No having 2 copies of the adventure open on my Laptop flipping between the area descriptions and NPC stats during combat. Small things like that really made the pacing of this adventure seem strong.
Now this can’t all be lollipops and sunshine (or something like that), so here are some concerns I had with this adventure…
The Fire Tomb seemed to have a LOT of randomly placed NPC’s/monsters that didn’t really fit. The group of Tojanida’s, Mimic, and even the full out group of Ragesian soldiers seemed almost ‘copy/pasted’ in. I mean I love Mimic’s and using one was quite fun from a DM perspective, but I think it took away from the intensity of the situation. The Ragesian soldiers seemed out of place for me because it seemed to take away from the idea that this was a small ‘cell’ of Ragesians who had infiltrated the city. Luckily a single fireball removed that thought
Finally, and this is really an annoyance for me in hindsight (and totally understandable why it wasn’t in the adventure). But with the inclusion of Biomancy, I think some rumors about Ostalin’s ruler might have been fluffy to throw in. That way it’s not as much of a throw in when they meet him in adventure 5. But of course that’s just me being nitpicky and thinking of cool plot points to throw in if I ran this campaign again!
Overall, Adventure 3 was the best of the first 3 adventure because of the combination of plot, intense combats, and good role-playing moments.
*Breathes deep*
Now onto adventure 4!
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RangerWickett
Legend
I love reading these reviews. Thanks!
It's especially useful in case we do go back and revise them for 4th edition, so we can iron out some of the narrative issues (like hinting about Onamdammin). Even with a few mistakes on my part, though, I'm thrilled that the adventure worked so well for you.
It's especially useful in case we do go back and revise them for 4th edition, so we can iron out some of the narrative issues (like hinting about Onamdammin). Even with a few mistakes on my part, though, I'm thrilled that the adventure worked so well for you.
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