Planescape Dead Gods adventure: give me spoilers!

[Oryan77]

I've been debating on whether I should run Dead Gods. I always here it's a great adventure, but it's just so intimidating being 170 pages long. I've never run a large adventure like that before. Here's my questions:

1. Approximately how long does it take to complete this adventure when playing twice a month, say 8-10 hrs a day?

2. When converting to 3e, what level would you guess the PC's should be at when I begin this?

3. What is it like for a DM to run something big like this? How in the world do you remember the info needed to run the game smoothly?

4. Does this adventure have good roleplaying & fighting opportunities (rp'ing being more important)?

5. Give me spoilers! What scenarios made this adventure fun? What exactly are the PC's roles in this adventure? What type of creatures/people do they encounter?

 

[Khairn]

1. Approximately how long does it take to complete this adventure when playing twice a month, say 8-10 hrs a day?

Based on when my group ran Dead Gods (converted to 3E) and depending on how focused your players are, I would say approx 6 sessions.

2. When converting to 3e, what level would you guess the PC's should be at when I begin this?

I tweaked the adventure for my players who were 12th lv when we started and 16th when we ended.

3. What is it like for a DM to run something big like this? How in the world do you remember the info needed to run the game smoothly?

I made certain I was familiar with the overall story, but then took each of the major events on its own. Its the only way to run it, as its really impossible to remember everything.

Playing in 8-10 hour chunks will make this a bit tougher on you than it was for me (5-7 hrs) but it can be done if you're orginized.

4. Does this adventure have good roleplaying & fighting opportunities (rp'ing being more important)?

My players found lots of places to RP. It began for my group with the lizard-slavers (forget their name)having stolen the beauty from the Dowager Queen of Cormyr and the players were quested to return it to her. Best RP was with the ratatosk (squirrel men of Yggdrasil ??) They completely mystified my party.

5. Give me spoilers! What scenarios made this adventure fun? What exactly are the PC's roles in this adventure? What type of creatures/people do they encounter?

MAJOR SPOILER
The ultimate battle against the half-ogre priest of Orcus / Tenebrous in the astral plane while standing on Orcus' floating corpse/husk was the one of our best battles ever. The players still talk about the fight for the Wand of Orcus ... and that was over 2 years ago.

Dead Gods is a great adventure, but it does need to be tweaked to fit 3E rules and flavor. The visages (undead floating mask servants of Tenebrous) need to be played with savage power and horrific malevolence to keep the right flavor ... at least IMHO.

 

[Felon]

My players found lots of places to RP. It began for my group with the lizard-slavers (forget their name)having stolen the beauty from the Dowager Queen of Cormyr and the players were quested to return it to her.

The khaastas and the circean embers. Good stuff. Note that 12th-level characters will maul khaastas (I think they're in the Fiend Folio as CR4), but I guess since the fight's a mcguffin, it's not supposed to be that rough. I think 8th would work.

The ultimate battle against the half-ogre priest of Orcus / Tenebrous in the astral plane while standing on Orcus' floating corpse/husk was the one of our best battles ever. The players still talk about the fight for the Wand of Orcus ... and that was over 2 years ago.

Note there are stats for the guy under the entry for Orcus in the BoVD. Of course, he's a little more advanced since those stats are for the post-dead-gods version (note that the current D&D timeline apparently has adventurers failing to stop the resurrection).

Dead Gods is a great adventure, but it does need to be tweaked to fit 3E rules and flavor. The visages (undead floating mask servants of Tenebrous) need to be played with savage power and horrific malevolence to keep the right flavor ... at least IMHO.

The visages are in Libris Mortis, but their lucidity control power is a sloppy joke. The visages could completely override a creature's sense, creating horrific landscapes. In LM, they just creat major images, as per the spell.

Note that Deads Gods actually contains two adventures. The second, shorther one is almost entierely role-playing amongst the various Sigil factions, and takes place as a result of all the turmoil that came about with Orcus slaying god after god.

 

[Monte At Home]

The visages are in Libris Mortis, but their lucidity control power is a sloppy joke. The visages could completely override a creature's sense, creating horrific landscapes. In LM, they just creat major images, as per the spell.

I must admit, I was very disappointed at the conversion of the visages to 3.0/3.5. For what it's worth, I'd do a straight conversion of the 2E versions rather than use those if you're going to run Dead Gods using the current rules.

 

[Felon]

I must admit, I was very disappointed at the conversion of the visages to 3.0/3.5. For what it's worth, I'd do a straight conversion of the 2E versions rather than use those if you're going to run Dead Gods using the current rules.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't mind the sneak attack so much, but with lucidity control rendered essentially worthless (who wouldn't disbelieve a single object or creature that the rest of the party can't see), the sneak attack winds up becoming their primary attack form. Would you have their creature type be undead or outsider (this is another case of fence-straddling creatures)?

The LM visage also looks to be another case of an artist getting assigned to a monster without actually getting anything other than a brief description. The visages in Dead Gods didn't look like Ragman.

As the author of BoVD, can you comment on Orcus' return in 3rd edition? In terms of canon, was Orcus supposed to have slain the adventurers sent to oppose him, thus allowing him to reclaim his wand?

 

[Shemeska]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't mind the sneak attack so much, but with lucidity control rendered essentially worthless (who wouldn't disbelieve a single object or creature that the rest of the party can't see), the sneak attack winds up becoming their primary attack form. Would you have their creature type be undead or outsider (this is another case of fence-straddling creatures)?

They're sort of fence-straddling creatures, but I'd have them be more outsider than undead. They're powered by negative energy by the will of Tenebrous, but they're still Tanar'ri at their very core.

The LM visage also looks to be another case of an artist getting assigned to a monster without actually getting anything other than a brief description. The visages in Dead Gods didn't look like Ragman.

Seems like it. Visage in Libris Mortis...

Visage in Dead Gods

Can you comment on Orcus' return in 3rd edition? In terms of canon, was Orcus supposed to have slain the adventurers sent to oppose him, thus allowing him to reclaim his wand?

It's stated that Qua-Nomag managed to raise Orcus from the dead in the end. But its also been said that he was apparently stopped in that attempt by a group of heroes. You could assume that he really did manage to survive and raise orcus in the events of Dead Gods, or that he made a later attempt after that one, and finally managed it on that one.

 

[Monte At Home]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't mind the sneak attack so much, but with lucidity control rendered essentially worthless (who wouldn't disbelieve a single object or creature that the rest of the party can't see), the sneak attack winds up becoming their primary attack form. Would you have their creature type be undead or outsider (this is another case of fence-straddling creatures)?

Undead. But I would have done lucidity control differently, I think.

As the author of BoVD, can you comment on Orcus' return in 3rd edition? In terms of canon, was Orcus supposed to have slain the adventurers sent to oppose him, thus allowing him to reclaim his wand?

I think my thinking was less specific. Eventually, Qua-Nomag gets Orcus back one way or another. It is anticlimactic as far as Dead Gods goes, but it's what's best for the game overall to have Orcus back in.

 

[vilani]

I am looking at running a 5e version and this is the top of the google list for anything on Dead Gods and later editions. For those interested the 5e visage.