Red Hand of Doom reloaded

[GwydapLlew]

Next stop: the Fane of Tiamat. Before they get there, I have to figure out how the Aspect of Tiamat gets to Brindol, and how the PCs can get there in time to be of some good.

One of the suggestions in the adventure is to have the Aspect rampage through the Vale for several days. If you only give the party a round or two to attack the Aspect before it breaks out, it should get away. Once away, you could have reports from survivors lead the PCs to the Aspect and have an epic slugfest.

 

[Frostmarrow]

My players are fighting in the streets of Brindol. Right now they are protecting the barricades from wave after wave of invaders. It looks pretty good. Sadly, half the party were wiped-out during Abithriax rampage.

Abithriax is one mean dragon. One breath of his fire was all it took. He did 51 fire damage so the cleric got killed by the fire and the ranger was destroyed by the massive damage. -Oh and the bard cohort sort of failed in both accounts.

Little do my players know; but they have actually already won the war. I tallied up the score after the battle with the stone slinging hill giants and now they are at 41 points. A victory in Brindol requires 40 points.

I like the idea to have the aspect and the warlord come to Brindol. Maybe I'll rearrange the ending a bit too.

 

[Klaus]

My update -- the swarm-shifting Ghostlord was perfect -- he had a great way to escape the action for a few rounds and buff up, just what every BBEG needs.

And the orb-smashing also worked out great. They didn't quite get it smashed before killing the Ghostlord, but close enough that he got frantic and stopped him from buffing up even more!

The few downsides: the bonedrinkers were completely ineffective. And the symbol of persuasion never got used. Ah well.

Next stop: the Fane of Tiamat. Before they get there, I have to figure out how the Aspect of Tiamat gets to Brindol, and how the PCs can get there in time to be of some good.

The portal could be aimed at dropping the Aspect 10 miles behind the Red Hand Horde, so they become her "vanguard". The PCs could jump through the gate as it closes behind her, and the teleportation effect lands them closer to Brindol than the Aspect. They can race to the city and rush through the council and stuff, then proceed with defending against the horde. But the climatic battle is cut short by the appearance of the Aspect itself. By now I'd increase its size to Colossal (with or without an increase in scores), to show that it is swelling in size from the victims it eats (which include human and nogbolin alike).

 

[EricNoah]

I am now leaning toward having the Aspect fly from the Fane to Brindol, and having the PCs find a way to follow behind. Options: a magic item like a carpet of flying (could find it in the Fane); maybe some elves from Starsong Hill have been scouting the area around the Fane and are hoping to meet up with the PCs and lend them giant owls to ride; or perhaps best of all ... a scroll of teleport (again, found treasure). This would allow the PCs to get to Brindol, maybe do some of the Council stuff, and maybe even rest for 8 hours after thier battle with the High Wyrmlord. And then the Aspect can show up soon afterwards, and the battle would begin...

 

[DM_Jeff]

My group finished the Battle of Brindol last week. Fight after fight really weighed heavily on the characters and the players, but because of the various opponents and dynamic of the city, everyone had a blast.

And I won't describe my dissapointment when I publicly roll a natural 1 on the Red Dragon's save against hideous laughter. He got a good three rounds in at least before that massacre and killed two important NPC's and beat up the party.

They went exploring to the fane. I began taking the end and molding it: the great treant Eth (of the druids of the same name) came awake and contacted the heroes of the valley, and helped transplant them to a snow-covered mountainside near the fane. That allowed me to use the nifty DMG avalanche rules, and I wrote in a white dragon and his lair with a portal leading to the temple of Tiamat adventure in the Dragons of Faerun hardcover. So after they go whack on Tiamat they can continue the fight after Red Hand module officially ends.

Overall the experience has been action-packed and full of stand-up excitment. On the other hand the players have begged that the next campaign have no immediate timeline so they can stop and smell the roses.

-DM Jeff

 

[Imruphel]

(snip) On the other hand the players have begged that the next campaign have no immediate timeline so they can stop and smell the roses. -DM Jeff

That's the only thing stopping me from running this right now as well. It reads so well, and I've yet to read a bad review, but I've got players who want to, as you say, stop and smell the roses.

Hmmm, maybe I need to find another group as well....

 

[DM_Jeff]

It reads so well, and I've yet to read a bad review, but I've got players who want to, as you say, stop and smell the roses.

Well, to be fair, my group also came from a straight 1-20th level run of Shackled City, where, again, there was a big overarching plot and a very concentrated feel to the adventures keepign them very focused. For my next campaign we're going to return to the 'plot-a-week' style of yesteryear. Dungeon Magazine, here I come.

-DM Jeff

 

[Wrathamon]

I have come off two campaigns (city of the spider queen) and a home brew that had timelines that were counting down... this really only penalizes crafters (which I happened to be one).

That is why we used the Craft Point rules from UA. It solved a lot of problems for us.

I run a game were there are months between adventures were their is player down time before the next major arc happens.

 

[MerricB]

Yay! 14 days before I begin to run this adventure (as a Living Greyhawk one. )

Cheers!

 

[DM_Jeff]

Well, last night was weird. My Red hand of Doom game came to a glorious end. The group confronted the evil high worllord himself and his buddy "aspect" and won the day. In a massive 7 and 1/2 hour session (quite a feat for 34-40 year olds these days) the group refused to yeild and pushed their way through the fane to the final confrontation. Because of all the combat, things got slightly punchy, but all in a good way.

I'm real proud of my players. They're all seasoned berks, but last night their good team tactics reallty paid off. They went into the fane with five 8th level PCs and one 8th level NPC. About 2-3 rooms before the BBEG, they all leveled up. By the end, everyone was out of spells, potions were spent, charges were lost, but the valley is saved and no one died (although we had 3 really, really close calls; if not for that mobile diligent cleric there would have been deaths).

During the couse of the entire campaign, there were two PC deaths. One was reborn thanks to the staff of life, the other made a new PC and joined the group. My 'dragon luck' continued last night with another natural save of a "1" vs a blindness effect which turned that battle to the PCs favor way too quickly.

Overall, everyone was real happy with Red Hand of Doom. Great locations, exciting battles, interesting foes and NPCs. The group had a blast. But, as mentioned before we're going to move away from the time-sensitive "kill it all" battle-fest and tell some stories of deception and intrigue in the next campaign.

Anyone else finishing up RHoD?

-DM Jeff