D&D 4E "Orphans Preferred" - Planning for my 4e Practice Game

[Quickleaf]

Sounds like a great game, and you've got a good headstart on planning the story out.

The FFL has some real mean people associated with it. You could give the players a moral dilemma at some point when one of their more despicable fellow soldiers tries to take the fight too far and threatens to commit an atrocity.

 

[Kaodi]

I have an idea for the enemy for the highest level game...

Suppose that in ancient times, when the previously mentioned tiefling hero rose to power, his patron was a powerful devil, perhaps even an archdevil. As the tiefling hero became stronger and stronger, his patron became worried that he was creating a threat to himself... This was because the legendary cultural artifact is actual a siphon that creates a bond between the devil and the servant, allowing the hero to draw on the devils power, but with the side effect that it cannot be broken except by death... So the devil was perhaps actually behind the downfall of the hero, and is a behind the scenes player in the PCs keeping him from being fully reborn, which would reestablish the link. Perhaps the PCs retrieving the artifact was part of the plan of the devil, but perhaps it comes as a surprise to him/her. So, in two branching scenarios, the PCs either give the artifact to the new warlord, who uses it to establish the bond, again threatening the devil who then helps the PCs to destroy the warlord (the final encounter?) or they defeat the un-powered up warlord and the devil later comes to reclaim the artifact (the final encounter?). So, there should be some great opportunities for Rat Bastardry.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

This sounds like a ton of fun. Out of curiosity, do you view this as an opportunity to try out 4e to decide whether to switch for future campaigns, or as a chance to have some fun while learning the new edition before launching a regular 4e game, or something different?

A couple of specific thoughts: The revised version of game 1 sounds fun, but it makes me wonder if game 3 (lvl. 5) isn't too much of the same too soon. Having two "defend the VIP" games in the first 3 sounds repetitive. Sure, they'll be different, but... I would suggest changing one of them.

It sounds like you're already planning this, but I would suggest keeping game 1 mobile. "Guard the goblin while he goes from A to B" offers more interest (terrain, ambushes, encounters with things that aren't part of the attack but are still a hassle, etc.) than "keep the goblin alive while they try to kill him."

For some of the mid-campaign games, in particular, you may want to give the PCs the option of choosing the next mission at the end of the previous one. I'm thinking mostly for games 4-6 or so. It could be as simple as the commandant saying, "so, do you have a feeling for which of these couple of missions your skills will be the best fit for?" As long as you're doing most of the prep work in the week or so in between games, which I assume you will be, it takes very little extra effort to offer three choices and then only design the one they picked, but it adds to the player agency. Otherwise, there is a risk that the campaign will last just long enough for the players to start feeling annoyed about macro level railroading.

Riffing on some of GiMiK1214's points, I agree that Yuan-ti seem like a great fit for that setting. If you would ever use them, now is probably the time (MM allowing, of course). Also, contra the concern about overusing the tieflings, I think it makes perfect sense in a game like this to have some recurrent foes. It helps give it more of a campaign feel, rather than disjointed games. And just because you're dealing with tiefling plots three games in a row doesn't mean that it's continuous hacking of tieflings. That can be part of one game, while the next is mostly the semi-undead hero (who could easily be something other than a tiefling) and the third is about a dungeon full of traps, monsters, and fiends, with some non-combat interactions with the tiefling warlord.

How did you pick the levels? You may want to revisit the precise selections once you have had a chance to read the PHB in more detail. Each new level should have a big cookie relative to the last, but you may want to vary it up from all of the levels being precisely where the biggest cookies arrive. Also, query whether you want 4-3-2 by tiers, leaving out the end of the last tier. You might be better off doing 3-3-3 and ending at the top of Epic (maybe even doing level 30 as the last game). That might be a progression like 1-4-7-11-15-19-23-27-30 (although I'm just pulling numbers out of thin air).

I wish I were going to be living near you when you run this so I could beg for a slot in the game. Good luck with it!

 

[Piratecat]

Actually, game 3 should feel different than game 1 because I'm not sure they'll see much of the goblin (who'll be locked in a tower.) I'll have limited time; people will be rules-kibitzing the first session, and we'll be playing on a week night, so I'll have about 3 hours to play.

My thought was to detail a city square with a tower in it. The PCs are the ones guarding the outside of the tower. The goblins make three wave attacks against the square: the initial scouts and minions, the competent gobbo warriors, and finally the boss and his bodyguard close behind. If I do this right, it feels like Aliens.

Agreed about the Yuan-Ti. Wonderful idea. Who doesn't like snaky guys? I should have the climax of a yuan-ti adventure involve a marilith (assuming they're in.)

 

[Piratecat]

I ended up using a tower raised 10 feet from the surrounding plaza, boasting two flame braziers and surrounded by fountains. I got to force-move two PCs into flaming braziers, fling someone off into a fountain, and almost kill two PCs. In exchange, they chewed through 19 monsters during two combat encounters and a skill challenge... all within less than 3 hours.

Great fun, and a delight to DM.

Time to prep a dungeon for game 2! And to see how much I can yoink from the new modules.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I ended up using a tower raised 10 feet from the surrounding plaza, boasting two flame braziers and surrounded by fountains. I got to force-move two PCs into flaming braziers, fling someone off into a fountain, and almost kill two PCs. In exchange, they chewed through 19 monsters during two combat encounters and a skill challenge... all within less than 3 hours.

Great fun, and a delight to DM.

Time to prep a dungeon for game 2! And to see how much I can yoink from the new modules.

Any chance of you (or one of your players?) writing this up as a Story Hour?

Glad to hear that it all went so smoothly and felt easy to run - I'm really hoping that when I start my game I'll have the same experience.

 

[zealdib]

Piratecat

Campaign sounds great! If your previous campaigns are any indication of the quality your players will enjoy then it will be fantastic.

I ran a short campaign in Japan with some friends that was very similar in theme. It was called the Nameless Legion and involved all the PCs having a torrid past. The Legion, however, required them to be mind wiped as a condition of entry. This meant that the PCs all knew there were probably people or things out there that were looking for them but not exactly what. It's a bit cheesy I know, but it meant the players had to focus on personality rather than background to create a distinct flavour for their character. It also gave me the chance to build in some real surprises for them to discover. I didn't actually get a chance to do much because I left Japan after a few months.

The basis for the game was take from a Dungeon magazine - I can't remember the number off hand.

The Nameless Legion was a mercenary army with a fearsome reputation. They contracted themselves out to clients. The Paymasters were the leaders of the Legion with their own agendas

Anyway here are a few of my quick ideas I had jotted down:

Old enemies (pre legion) are pursuing the PCs
Old enemies of other legionnaires are hunting these legionnaires, PCs have to protect them ".......the legion looks after its own...".
Special ops for the legion – reconnaisance, A client broke the contract, recovery of important item etc…..
Some legionnaires have deserted, PCs are bounty hunters
Retired legionnaires (or other faction) are pretending to be the Legion and the Legion's reputation is being tarnished
Legion is used on one side of a battle and then hired by the other side
A person with a vendetta against the legion has hired PCs and intends to kill them
Assassination attempt on Paymasters

 

[Piratecat]

Thanks, WI! Good ideas. Those go on my yoinkable list.

Any chance of you (or one of your players?) writing this up as a Story Hour?

That's the plan. Not every episode, but some of them.

I think I'm scoping out the next game. My plan is a dungeon crawl at 3rd level. Imagine if the city of Pliss has a lizardfolk city that it typically trades with. No one has shown up at the last two scheduled trademeets. The PCs are assigned to go find out what happened.

Accompanied by Skreet, the goblin from the first adventure, they head to the lizardfolk camp. The lizardfolk are all gone, and tracks lead to a series of partially flooded caverns in a valley.

What has happened is that a young green dragon has come to town, but the lizardfolk wouldn't pay him tribute. Jerks. He'll show them! So equipped with a device that raises the dead, he has killed most of the lizardfolk and raised them as zombies. The young dragon now lairs in the caves, using the zombies to bring him food and pour buckets of coins over him. An outcast dragonborn servant/rogue can pitch in as well, setting traps to keep its master safe.

This'll give me some roleplaying (dragon, servant, lizardman survivor), trapfinding (a back entrance to the cave system), good old-fashioned undead fighting (different sorts of zombies that happen to be lizardmen), and a big fun boss fight at the end.

Suggestions for improvements?

 

[Piratecat]

We're playing game 2 tomorrow night. I'll have the dragon hiding in a pool of murky water, one that the PCs will hopefully turn their backs towards while they pay attention to a curtain drawn across its treasure pile. I'm hoping for surprise, but I'll settle for a cinematic entrance.

I think the device he used to raise the dead will be a mummified tiefling head. Stylish.

 

[Dormain1]

You would hope that any savvy party would try and watch their back especially if they see a treasure trove and a lake nearby

Perhaps capturing the goblin during the undead fight and have him tied and gagged hanging from the roof near the treasure behind the curtain making gurgling noises or (or muffled crying) would attract the PC's more

Skreet "Save me save me, you said that you would keep me safe" As a number of undead drag him away while the PC's battle wave after wave of undead (also do this to any PC knocked out)

it would also be better if the goblin was the only one able to lead the party safely out of the caverns

also perhaps a skill challange where the party saves a number of lizardfolk who are still alive but caught in a trap (being made into dragon dinner), this may also be a good way to introduce the Dragonborn Rogue (think any Bond film and the evil scientist)

anyways sounds like good fun