Sandboxing in the Nentir Vale (was: Emergent Features in KotS)

[LostSoul]

Detailed encounter logs.

Now if any encounter should grind, it should be this one: fighting soldiers and an elite without any dailies left. And there was a little bit, but it was a cool battle of attrition.

[sblock]PCs:
Bren the Bold (Halfling Artful Dodger Rogue 6) (player not present, run by another player)
Jace (Half-Elf Infernal Pact Warlock 6)
Wexley (Human Sword & Board Fighter 6)
Malchior (Human Tactical Warlord/Arcane Initiate 6) (player not present, run by another player)
Armok Zed (Human Wizard/Cleric multiclass 6)

Opposition:
XP 1750, Level 8
2 duergar scouts
2 duergar guards
Murkelmor
1 duergar shock trooper
1 duergar theurge

Roll For Intitiative.

Surprise Round: All PCs save Wexley have surprise.

Jace: Eldritch Blast guard 1 for 17 damage.
Bren: Miss guard 1.
Malchior: Javeling throw vs. guard 1; hit for 10 damage.
Armok: Cloud of Daggers guard 1 for 9 damage.

Round 1:

Jace: Eldritch Blast guard 1. Miss.
Bren: Sly Flourish guard 1. Hit for 21 damage.
Malchior: Action Point: colour spray. Guard 1, Murkelmor, and the shock trooper are dazed and take 11 damage. Guard 1 dies. Miss with Wolf Pack Tactics.
Scout 1: Shoots Jace with beard spikes; hits for 4 damage. Takes OA for 3 points of damage; misses on attack.
Scout 2: Moves to flank Jace; hits jace for 13 damage.
Murkelmor: Delays.
Guard 1: <is dead>
Guard 2: Hits Malchior for 12 damage.
Murkelmor: Hits Malchior for 11 damage.
Shock Trooper: Misses.
Theurge: Hits Malchior with Firebolt for 8 damage.
Wexley: Tide of Irons Murkelmor into the Cloud of Daggers. Hits; 13 damage total. AP: Sweeping Blow. Hits Murkelmor for 13 and crits the Shock Trooper for 23.
Armok: Cause Fear. Misses. AP: Icy Rays: Murkelmor and Guard 2 take 17 damage.

Round 2:

Jace: Eldritch Blast Scout 2 for 11 damage. AP: Diabolic Grasp Scout 2 for 12 damage.
Bren: Sly Flourish Murkelmor, hits for 19 damage. AP: Sly Flourish for 16 damage.
Malchior: Commander's Strike. Wexley misses. Moves; Wexley uses Combat Challenge on Guard 2, hitting for 15 damage and Shield Pushes him out of reach of Malchior.
Scout 1: Goes invisible and hits Jace for 19 damage.
Scout 2: Flanks Jace and crits for 24 damage. Hits Malchior with beard for 6 damage.
Guard 2: Hits Malchior for 7 damage.
Murkelmor: Hits Wexley for 12 damage and ongoing Fire 5.
Shock Trooper: Misses.
Theurge: Brimstone. Hits Wexley fo 12 damage and Murkelmor and the Shock Trooper for 2, knocking them Prone.
Wexley: Misses.
Armok: Cloud of Daggers on Murkelmor.

Round 3:

Jace: Fails Death Save.
Bren: Piercing Strikes Murkelmor for 17 damage.
Malchior: Takes 2 poison damage. Moves and drinks potion.
Scout 1: Miss.
Scout 2: Moves to flank.
Guard 2: Miss.
Murkelmor: Takes 3 damage from Cloud of Daggers. Misses. Heals 25 damage.
Shock Trooper: Hits Wexley for 12 damage.
Theurge: Fumes. Hits Malchior, Scout 2, and the Shock Trooper. Malchior takes 6 damage; the duergar resist the poison. All are blind.
Wexley: Miss.
Armok: Feeds a potion to Jace.

Round 4:

Jace: Miss Eldritch Blast on Theurge.
Bren: Positioning Strike Murkelmor for 15 damage.
Malchior: Commands Wexley to hit the Shock Trooper; he does, for 15 damage. Heals Jace.
Scout 1: Stealth 25.
Scout 2: Misses Wexley.
Guard 2: Hits Wexley for 6 damage.
Murkelmor: Hits Armok for 11 damage and 5 ongoing fire.
Shock Trooper: Miss.
Theurge: Armok and Jace take 11 points of psychic damage and are Dazed.
Wexley: Crushing Blow on Guard 2; hits for 11 damage.
Armok: Thunderwaves Murkelmor for 13 damage.

Round 5:

Jace: Eldritch Blast misses. Saves against the daze.
Bren: Takes OA for 11 damage. Crits Guard 2 and kills him.
Malchior: Commands Wexley to strike; Wexley misses.
Scout 1: Appears out of the shadows, hits Wexley for 15 damage.
Scout 2: Misses.
Murkelmor: Misses.
Shock Trooper: Hits Wexley for 15 damage. Wexley goes down.
Theurge: Misses.
Wexley: "Death 20!" is all I have written down. edit: This is a 20 on the Death Save!
Armok: Misses or is unconcious.

Round 6: The round of whiffs, apparently.

Jace: Hits Murkelmor with an Eldritch Blast for 15 damage.
Bren: Miss.
Malchior: Miss.
Scout 1: Miss.
Scout 2: Miss.
Murkelmor: Miss.
Shock Trooper: Miss.
Theurge: 4 damage to Jace and Malchior.
Wexley: Spends Second Wind.
Armok: 12 damage to Murkelmor with his ray of frost.

Round 7:

Jace: Miss.
Bren: Sly Flourish Murkelmor for 13 damage.
Malchior: Commands Wexley to attack; he hits Scout 2 for 13
Scout 1: Invisible; runs.
Scout 2: Hides.
Murkelmor: Misses.
Shock Trooper: Misses.
Theurge: 14 damage to Armok. Armok falls.
Wexley: 11 damage to the Shock Trooper.
Armok: Fails Death Save.

Round 8:

Jace: Hits Murkelmor for 20 damage. Murkelmor dies.
Bren: Misses.
Malchior: Commands Wexley to strike; hits Shock Trooper for 18 damage. Shock Trooper dies.
Scout 1: <flees>
Scout 2: <flees>
Theurge: <surrenders>[/sblock]

 

[LostSoul]

The ghoul fight in the Chamber of Eyes.

[sblock]PCs:
Bren the Bold (Halfling Artful Dodger Rogue 6) (player not present, run by another player)
Jace (Half-Elf Infernal Pact Warlock 6)
Wexley (Human Sword & Board Fighter 6)
Malchior (Human Tactical Warlord/Arcane Initiate 6) (player not present, run by another player)
Armok Zed (Human Wizard/Cleric multiclass 6)

Opposition:
XP 800, Level 4.
1 ettercap webspinner
3 ghouls

Set-up: The PCs are dying for an extended rest. They decide to head to the Chamber of Eyes. More monsters have moved in. One ghoul pretends to be a normal person in danger. The PCs see through this ruse and Armok and Bren move around through a different entrance to flank it. Armok opens the door to see an ettercap in his face.

Roll For Intitiative.

Round 1:

Bren: Sly Flourish the Ettercap for 19 damage.
Ghoul 1: Attacks Bren; hits for 8 damage and he's Immobilized.
Ghoul 2: Attacks Bren; Crits for 22 damage and he's Stunned
Ghoul 3: Moves to Jace; hits for 5 damage and he's Immobilized.
Jace: Hellish Rebuke ghoul 3; misses.
Malchior: Delays.
Ettercap: Attacks Armok; misses.
Wexley: Attacks ghoul; misses.
Malchior: Moves to help other PCs.
Armok: Moves; takes an OA from a ghoul; hit for 11 damage and he's Immobilized. Not good.

Round 2:

Bren: <stunned>
Ghoul 1: Hits Bren for 11 damage. Bren falls.
Ghoul 2: Hits Armok for 14 damage. Armok falls.
Ghoul 3: Attacks Jace; Wexley hits him for 10 damage and pushes him out of reach.
Jace: Misses.
Ettercap: Shoots a web, fills the doorway with Jace and Wexley with webs. Misses them all.
Wexley: Hits ghoul 3 for 16 damage.
Malchior: Delays.
Armok: Fails Death Save.

Round 3:

Bren: Makes Death Save.
Ghoul 1: Moves through entrance to flank PCs at doorway, sees Malchior, misses Malchior.
Ghoul 2: Follows ghoul 2.
Ghoul 3: Misses.
Jace: Misses.
Malchior: Colour Spray: Hits ghoul 2 for 11 damage and Dazes him; moves, takes an OA for 6. He only had 7 HP and no Healing Surges. Now he's down to 1 HP.
Ettercap: Spits web, misses.
Wexley: Hits ghoul 3 for 15 damage.
Armok: Fails Death Save. Face goes even more pale than normal from blood loss.

Round 4:

Bren: Fails Death Save.
Ghoul 1: Misses Malchior. Doesn't move to let Ghoul 2 through because Ghoul 2 is Dazed.
Ghoul 2: Does nothing.
Ghoul 3: Misses Wexley.
Jace: Misses Ghoul 3.
Malchior: Shifts back, moves through open door, slams door shut.
Ettercap: Readies an action.
Wexley: Misses Ghoul 3.
Armok: Makes Death Save - with a 19.

Round 5:

Bren: Makes Death Save.
Ghoul 1: Aids Ghoul 2 in opening door.
Ghoul 2: Fails to make Str. vs. Str check to open door.
Ghoul 3: Misses.
Jace: Moves to help Armok and Bren; hit by Ghoul 3 for 8 damage, Immobilized. Hits ghoul 3 for 20 damage.
Malchior: Moves into room with a Run. Spends AP to keep Running. Heals Armok (and Bren?).
Ettercap: Hits Jace for 11 damage.
Wexley: Hits Ghoul 3 for 14 damage. Hits again for 8. Drops it.
Armok: Moves towards Ghouls 1 and 2! Misses with Ray of Frost! Spends AP; hits both with Icy Rays for 9 damage, and they're Immobilized. Doesn't slam the door shut in front of him.

Round 6:

Bren: Sly Flourish the Ettercap for 21 damage.
Ghoul 1: Immobilized.
Ghoul 2: Immobilized.
Jace: Misses.
Malchior: Scorching Bursts the Ettercap (and the webs) for 11 damage.
Ettercap: Misses.
Wexley: Hits Ettercap for 16 damage.
Armok: Cloud of Daggers on Immobilized Ghoul 2. Crits for 18 damage! Uses Orb power to extend duration of Immobilization!

Round 7:

Ettercap is killed, DM calls the fight.[/sblock]

 

[firesnakearies]

Great updates! I love this thread. My favorite one on ENWorld, I think. You should have your own column in Dragon. So many great examples of creative DM'ing and creative playing.

Thanks for sharing again!



$

 

[LostSoul]

Played on Wednesday.

The PCs started out in the Horned Hold on top of one of the battlements, having gotten there using their rope. They knew the layout:

Two bridges, linking up the back portion with the front gatehouse
Guards on one bridge, generally ignoring the other
Slaves in the back, tended by devils and a powerful Theurge
An old chapel with undead (Armok identifies them as wights) that the dwarves locked in and avoid, though sometimes Murkelmor would use them as a punishment or method of execution
Orcs, the master smith, and Rundarr the duergar Champion in the front gatehouse

Malchior came up with a plan:

Bren would open the door to the wight's chamber, letting them free, then he would beat feet and head back to the rest of the group. The others would jam one bridge door the old-fashioned way, then use their new Nail of Sealing which Armok created to shut the other door, pinning the bad guys between the PCs and the wights.

The plan got off to a bad start. Bren had to unlock the door to the wight's chamber and this ruined any chance of surprise. When he opened the door, we rolled Init, and the wights went first.

Thanks to their hit + shift ability, all 5 of them were able to get in and make attacks. 3 hits meant that he had taken 28 damage and 3 healing surges in the first round of combat!

He tumbled out of there and blew his AP to get back to the rest of the PCs, with the wights hot on his trail.

The other PCs pushed into the bridge guard area, surprising the duergar, Sealing the bridge door shut and making it to the back entrance. The duergar and their animated "crossbows on wheels" were now pinned.

Combat starts. I'm rolling very hot. Jace is getting blown away by the construct arbalests and the duergar are laying out some Infernally-inspired angry blows on Wexley.

Bren makes it back to the group and opens the bridge guard barracks door. Wights chase after him, but most head for the barracks. Shouts of anger can be heard from inside as the Theurge in there gets mauled pretty badly.

(House Rule: Since wights drain healing surges, and NPCs don't really have any, I said that the first hit does normal damage - 1d6+4 - and drains their healing surge. Once that's gone, it does 1d6+8 damage.)

The PCs started pushing the duergar back into the wights. One duergar was able to pry open the traditionally-sealed bridge door, trying to make a break for the front gatehouse, but was jumped by a wight, immobilized by Armok's Icy Rays (for two rounds!) and then slowed.

Once the dwarves fell, the PCs busted out their area of effect fire powers on the wights and cleaned them up.

This fight was okay. It was tougher on the PCs than I thought it would be and took a long time to run (because the wights). Since there were 5 wights and 5 players, I had each player run a wight until they turned their attention on to the PCs. This worked out okay, but I wonder if I shouldn't have just handwaved the NPC-NPC conflict (or rolled a 1d20+level for each; higher roll means one guy is Bloodied; if he's hit again, he's out, or something like that).

That done, they explore the bridge area. They check out more barracks and see two arrow slits covered with iron slats. They open them, peer through, and see two orc guards fearfully watching the back door.

Armok tries to get them to fight each other - he uses Mage Hand to have one spill its drink on the other - but they are so nervous now that this fails (i.e. failed Bluff check, even with a +2 synergy bonus from Arcana); one of them heads out to warn his boss about some strange stuff going on.

That's when the PCs jump him. Most of the doors are opened so they can see a devil tormenting some slaves in a pit with a pitchfork (so typical! ), but the room where Framarth, the master Theurge, has moved into has its door shut.

The orcs die. Framarth and the devils come out to fight. Bren uses Blinding Barrage on them to blind them all. Blinded, the devils launch some spikes but can't seem to hit. Framarth gets grabbed in an icy fist thanks to Armok. He throws out his "blinding fart" and nails some of the PCs, then uses an AP to follow up with an attack that Dazes and Slows them, but it's not good enough and he runs through his Elite HP way to fast.

One devil is destroyed, and the other flees back to the slave pits. The PCs intimidate it into surrender: When they threaten it with death, it laughs at them: "I'm immortal; my soul will live on." Jace threatens it where it hurts. "If I kill you, I will send your soul to my patron, Azrael."

It gives up and offers to serve - "We just need to write up a contract and make the proper human sacrifice; let me get my pen..." Too bad for the poor Spinagon, he is the sacrifice; Jace lets the evil rope out of the bag and it strangles the devil to death.

Then it starts slithering to the slave pits, but Jace quickly gathers it up and puts it away.

The PCs rescue the slaves, who are cowering with fear. Being slaves to hobgoblins, sold to devil-dwarves, and tormented by real, live devils isn't really good for the state of mind. But they are happy to be freed.

The also find the lone goblin who escaped from the Chamber of Eyes in the pit. He grovels at Armok's feet and offers to serve him. "All the children I steal will be yours!" Armok takes him in with the idea to convert him to the faith of the Raven Queen. (Armok is a multi-classed Cleric/Wizard.)

(Armok's player also has some old D&D books, 1E and the Rules Cyclopedia, and we're planning to use the rules within to have him set up a Wizard's Tower.)

The slaves also said that some gnolls showed up and bought some slaves off the duergar. "Where did they take them?" "The Well of Demons." "Oh great, sounds like a nice place."

Since the first fight and the planning took a long time, I offered them a Quest: kill the rest of the guys in the next real-time hour for extra XP.

They sprang into action. They crossed the bridge leading to the smith's room. Listening at the door, they heard screams of pain and some hammering. When they open it, they see the master smith trying to forge a sword into a slave's arm. "Blood for the blood god!"

The PCs gained surprise, and kill him before he has a chance to act. Which is too bad, he had some cool powers. C'est la vie. Or la morte, I guess.

So they are left with two orcs. Armok is on the other side of the room facing one, alone - "It's okay, I haven't taken a point of damage yet." A crit from the orcish berserker - "Berserker!" - changes that; he took 24 damage from the one swing.

Armok spies a nearby weapon rack and uses Mage Hand to unlock the weapons so that their pointy ends stick out; then he Thunderwaves the orc into it, dealing an extra 1d12 damage. (Or 3d6+Int, but he chose the latter.) When Wexley runs up to attack, the orc pulls the weapon rack down on both of them, knocking them both prone and dealing some damage (1d12 + Str, which was the same as his greataxe attack).

Then Malchior, using Murkelmor's Flaming Maul, runs up to the weapon rack and slams his maul down on it, over and over again. We used the low limited damage option (3d6+str), on a miss both the orc and Wexley would take damage. He hit, so no problem.

The orcs from the front gate hear the noise. "What's going on in there?" Malchior keeps hammering away at the weapon rack as if he were forging something.

Jace uses his Beguiling Tongue to get the orcs to come in. "Come on in here, we've got beer and cake." When the orcs show up, there's no beer, just death. Not that the orcs fear death, but they really wanted some beer. They are surprised and are demolished without landing a blow.

We wrapped up there. The PCs are within 100 XP of 7th level now. I think I'm going to offer Wexley a Quest to fight Rundarr, Duergar Champion one-on-one in a pit fight. That could be interesting.

They are also going to quit the dungeon for now, bringing the slaves back to Winterhaven, stopping in Fallcrest to stock up on magical reagents since the Mages of Saruun have banished them from the Seven-Pillared Hall on pain of death. This should be interesting; things have been happening while the PCs have been in Thunderspire (for about 2-3 weeks I figure).

Let's go into the wayback machine.

The PCs are working for a mercenary organization called the Knights of Nerath. This group is trying to reestablish the old Empire of Nerath and bring the "Pax Romana" back to the world. In truth, the goals of this organization are far less noble (and unestablished just yet). The PC's mentor, Douven Staul, went missing somewhere around Winterhaven, bringing the PCs there, where they found an active cult of Orcus trying to open a gate to the Shadowfell.

When they found Douven, he told the PCs to keep Winterhaven safe while he went for more support from the Knights. The PCs found out they didn't have any time to waste, though, since Kalarel's ritual would be complete in a few short days.

They sprang into action like all true heroes do and put an end to Kalarel and his cult, sealing up the Shadow Rift.

When they came back to Winterhaven, the PCs deposed Paldemar, the local Lord, who had taken a bribe from Kalarel. Shortly thereafter they left for Thunderspire to rescue the slaves.

In the meantime, the reinforcements from the Knights of Nerath finally arrived in Winterhaven, only to find the legitimate Lord deposed and locked up. Well, that's not right. They are waiting in Winterhaven for the PCs while they check up on the cult and have sent word to Fallcrest and the other towns that the PCs are wanted for "questioning".

I still have to figure out what's going to happen in Fallcrest for next week, but I think it will mostly be foreshadowing the upcoming conflict between the Knights and the soon-to-reach-name-level PCs who want to establish their own little fiefdoms.

Hmm, might be cool to run a neat little urban adventure in the town of Fallcrest. Knives in the Dark. Maybe I'll boost Kelson from the DMG to provide a challenge for 7th-level PCs.

I also need to have a denouement...

 

[Kinneus]

Great thread, LostSoul, just finished reading the whole thing. I don't have a group right now, so it's nice to sort of live vicariously through other people's awesome.
Your players do know how lucky they are, righ?

 

[evilbob]

I agree with all the others: awesome stuff. I've only read through the KotS since I think our group will also be headed to Thunderspire soon, but that was really cool.

Having just finished KotS as a player and then looked through the book, I would much rather have played your game than what was written in the H1 module. Sure, a lot of that was PC creativity, but your additions - especially the skill challenge things - sound like they really spiced up the tedious grindfest that was what we played through.

My only question is: how in the world did you manage to understand how skill challenges work? Between the DMG, which is confusing, and the constant errata, which is more confusing, I can barely even figure out how they're supposed to run. As a DM I've been winging it so far - but I really like the idea of adding powers as possible rolls for the challenge; that's cool. I also think it works best if you ask your players to think of an idea for what they are doing, and then use your own judgement to make up a roll for that - in other words: try to abstract it as much as possible.

Lots of good advice and good ideas in this thread!

 

[LostSoul]

My only question is: how in the world did you manage to understand how skill challenges work?

Playing Forge-indie games. I was pretty familiar with the techniques that you use while running skill challenges, though I think skill challenges still need some work.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I ran Thunderspire Labrynth yesterday, too.

We have a new player and character (A female Dragonborn Barbarian adding to an Elven Paladin of the Raven Queen, an Elven Cleric and a Dwarven Orb Wizard), and I used the fact that I rolled a "random encounter" to introduce the new PC.

I combined three random encounters into one:
- The Kruthik Encounter (but used only 2 instead of 4 Adults)
- The Firebats
- The Dwarven wanna-be-King.

The Dragonborn got hired by the Dwarf and in his attempts to make new allies, he decided to help the Deepgem Company and retrieve lost goods (after a team was ran over by Gnolls.)

The PCs are on their retreat from their first attack on the Horned Helm (Murkelmoors group), as they discover smoke blowing their way - from the other direction, our wanna-be-king and his entourage arrives. A fight against the firebats ensues, and after two rounds, the Kruthik emerge from a tunnel, attracted by the smoke from the burning lumber.

The fight worked pretty well, but I noticed that running NPC vs NPC combat is boring and needless book-keeping. I think I'll go back to the "hand-wave" method next time. x NPC allies occupy x NPC enemies and that's it.

The PCs were not impressed by the Dwarf King. But after losing 2 of his Berserkes against the Kruthik, he didn't dare to do anything about it.
The PCs head back to the Hall of Seven Pillars, and hand what little remains from the Mining Equipment over, and get the "Boar captured by Gnolls" quest (The Deepgem Company leader doesn't seem to trust the King much, either.)

They then start their next assault on the Duergar base. I reorganized the defenses - the Arbalesters are now on the balcony and the northern bridge, and guard the entrance area. The Dwarfen Elite Theurge and two Spined Devils holding guard (they are the only other creatures with enough range).

The PCs figure out that with only two characters (Barbarian and Cleric) with ranged weapons of barely sufficient range (leaving Wizard and Paladin mostly useless), they can't succeed. They would need to break through the barricaded entrance, but they didn't even bother trying (they would have been exposed to the Double Attacks from the Arbalesters there, but they didn't see that power in action). They head back and finally give the pathetic, err valorous Paladin a ranged weapon. But they decide it might be better to look for an alternate route. (I decided that considering the Labyrinth, there is another passageway to get to the "back entrance". It's just hard to find.) That worked out well, with the Barbarian intimidating a hapless Duergar in the Hall of Seven Pillars, the Dwarf trying to make sense of the labyrinth maze, the Cleric trying to find traces and the Paladin trying to gauge the Duergars truthfulness. (They don't fail at all). They soon find themselves facing 4 Orcs, an Ogre and 2 Duergar Soldiers, and blast and slash them into oblivion, where our session ended.

 

[LostSoul]

Cool.

The guy who plays Malchior was talking to me about the battered crown he found from the dwarf. He said that he sees Malchior playing with it at night, staring into the campfire, thinking about his own goals and ambitions. For him it's a potent symbol, the result of reaching to far too fast.

It's interesting in RPGs how you can have your PC thinking something like that, but is it true if you don't tell anyone else? It's an interesting game we play.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Cool.

The guy who plays Malchior was talking to me about the battered crown he found from the dwarf. He said that he sees Malchior playing with it at night, staring into the campfire, thinking about his own goals and ambitions. For him it's a potent symbol, the result of reaching to far too fast.

It's interesting in RPGs how you can have your PC thinking something like that, but is it true if you don't tell anyone else? It's an interesting game we play.

It reminds me of what I sometimes feel tempted to use - Cut Scenes. Stuff that the player characters just cannot know, but would make the story more interesting. I did a little of that in Keep on the Shadowfell - the PCs got visions of the Paladin that lead the Keep and his activities. (Fighting the Dragon, arranging a truce with the surviving Kobolds, inviting his family into the newly build Keep, and finally as he went mad and killed hi family and comrades). It's a dangerous road, though - too much exposition means taking away the players activity and them feeling like just watching "your story".

For this at hand - I suppose it is something that just makes the game a little more fun for oneself, but it would be even better if one could share. (I suppose that's why the player told you the story.) Maybe this is for you an opportunity to use that in the story-line maybe some NPC hitting on that (maybe someone berating him for having become to reluctant?), so that the other players can share.

Mustrum "Who is convinced that this Message Board makes him look like a better DM then he is" Ridcully