Sandboxing the Feywild

[Wik]

My game has been in the feywild for a little while, in a fairly fun little plot. The plot has been a basic railroad, with PCs going from location to location while there are some more "sanboxy" elements taking place.

However, the PCs are now on the last leg of their feywild sojourn, and have to get to Point C before Bigbadtrouble starts. My original plan was to make the travel a skill challenge, but Blargney the Second wisely pointed out that I would make a very boring session had I done this, and that I should instead try a sandbox.

So, that is what I did. I detailed up a map of the surrounding terrain, gave the PCs a goal ("get to the mountains in three weeks") and seeded the area with mini plots, locations, and all that fun stuff.

I thought this would be a good place to both describe the events of my campaign, as well as the specific steps that were involved in the encounters/events that took place.

 

[Wik]

Okay, so the plot so far:

Eladrin and Drow are the same race - feywild elves. Eladrin belong to one court, and the drow belong to another. Divided politically, if one being were to change sides, they would change appearance, too. And this is in idealogy, as well - there is, for example, an NPC drow healer that is slowly "turning eladrin", which she is quite ashamed of.

Those who lack conviction turn into "half-breeds" (mechanically, Shadar-Kai), beings that are rejected by both courts. Of course, this makes most half-breeds quite unhappy with the current government, giving them a reputation as malcontents.

Someone has been poisoning the drow as the eladrin king slowly dies (there is an eladrin king, and a drow queen, that rule the kingdom... when one dies, the other has to adbicate to prevent poisoning your spouse - and then a new eladrin king/drow queen takes power, completely unrelated by blood to the former ruler). These poisoned drow don't just die, though - they turn into feral monstrosities with insectoid features (Driders, for example). Right now, there are a lot of these monstrosities in the feywild countryside, and the feywild is beginning to go bonkers.

One last fact: the feywild never ages. It is always the same time of day, based on how strong the twilight court/drow presence is. It naturally wants to be night - it is only through regular drow patrols on the edges of the feywild and eladrin ruling that keeps the time of day perpetually frozen (it is usually around 11 am in the capital city, and early evening at the edges of the kingdom). Now that disorder reigns supreme, the feywild is getting darker and darker...

Anyways. The PCs have been tyring to put together a cure for the drow, and have two of the required three parts. The third part lies somewhere in the mountains, and they have been sent to go get it. HENCE.... the sandbox.

THE PARTY: (all 12th level)

Hammer (Blargney's PC): Minotaur Two Weapon Fighter. Barbarian multi-class. A large minotaur trying to find his ancient homeland, the fabled Kael Tessera. He is beginning to connect to the primal forces his people worship, and is in commune with ancient minotaur spirits.

Kirra: Drow Artful Rogue. Kirra is the cousin to Guineadh, the adopted daughter of the drow Queen. Kirra is also a very calculating assassin and huntress, and deadly with her twin daggers. She is infected by the poison, and is slowly turning into an abomination, desperate to find a cure.

Zahar: Half-breed (shadar kai) Bard. Zahar thrives on anarchy, and enjoys snubbing both eladrins and drow. He is an excellent alchemist, and wields his fullblade to devastating effect. He is also becoming something of a legend among the half-breeds, and is beginning to entertain thoughts of becoming king...

Seahorse: Halfling scoundrel rogue. Seahorse is an inredibly ugly halfling woman, usually mistaken for a male. She is very mobile in a fight, and always finds herself in the perfect position. She is an excellent sailor, and does her best to stay out of the spotlight.

Lear: Human "Blood mage" wizard. Lear was once a human wizard with an infernal patron, until he was killed in a fight. Twice. Then he came back, and fought his former teammates, before being killed. Now, he's come back (again), and serves alongside former enemies and companions. He is possessed by a lawful good fighter named Sanctus, who does his best to prevent Lear from doing the utmost evil (in game terms, the player makes a saving throw every time he tries to be a jerk... and often fails).

 

[weem]

Looking forward to it

I'm getting to a point in my current (not-so-sandboxy game) where the players are going to have a chance to settle down in an area and regroup with some others. This portion of the campaign will be much more sandbox-like in nature so seeing other examples of what people are doing is always good!

<edit>I was ninja'd!</edit>

 

[Wik]

SESSION #1

(A quick note - there was actually a "sandbox" session before this, but it wasn't really very sandboxy, so I don't count it).

Our heroes followed along a river, with Seahorse feeling as if she knew Lear (who is in a different body) and trying to figure out his "story". Meanwhile, Kirra felt sick as she followed the waters, wondering if they would make it to the mountains in time.

The land sloped upwards, with the river cutting into the bedrock and dropping further down. Eventually, they came across a pair of rock-giants blocking the one bridge across the river. These beings demanded the heroes pay a "toll", for the "modest price" of only their bones ("We're not greedy. You can keep your skin and organs... we just want your bones").

Then one of the rock trolls helpfully mentioned "or you could solve the riddle" which the heroes jumped at. The riddle was fairly easy:

(I paraphrase, from memory, here)

Those who most have me seldom care,
Yet those who have less of me are all too aware
To have me means you will surely die
yet to be born without makes mothers cry
I am driven by blood to always increase
and so upon myself I must always feast

Zahar quickly solved the riddle, and the group went on their way - all the while listening to the two rock giants feuding.

The party then came across a road heading away from the river, and followed it for a little while before meeting a wounded drow patrol. The two rogues dashed into the bush to be able to strike from surprise if necessary, and remained there while Hammer spoke with a beleagured (and curt) drow sergeant. It seems the drow had been wounded in fights with abominations, and three of their number were in the early stages of infection. They were heading back to Misenmere to regroup, and warned the PCs of the dangers in the town of Arien, up ahead ("It is a lost town under seige").

A few hours later, the party was ambushed by nearly a dozen drow abominations. They were led by a twisted drow with extremely lengthened limbs, who had the power to turne wounded allies into a swarm of spiders - which was used once, to absolutely no effect. However, the heroes made short work of the ambushers, working in tandem with one another.

The PCs followed the road for a bit more, and saw it split into two paths - one leading into Arien, and the other (more well-used, even though it is unpaved) heading north, into a field of plains.

Despite their best judgement, the party decided to head into Arien in the hopes of rescuing surrounded fey.

***

The session lasted maybe three hours, and probably less (we mostly were waiting for our takeout to arrive, and none of us were in a super rush to start gaming).

The riddle was solved remarkably quickly. This disappointed me slightly, but I guess was to be expected - I'm not used to throwing riddles at the PCs, but I guess I'd rather they be too easy than too hard. I had put it there because I knew the bridge was a rather likely location for the PCs to hit, unless they had decided to follow the river to the mountains (which was another option I had prepared for).

The drow encounter was a wandering "monster" put on my list, and consisted of 13 drow warriors (with a 25% chance of any individual being infected - I rolled per drow while talking to the players, and got a 3). Since the drow had heard of the PCs, and were on relatively friendly terms, this turned into an RP encounter that didn't really give the PCs much in the way of information. I did have notes that the drow would NOT react favourably to Kirra (who is infected, after all), but the rogue had already hidden in the bush, disarming that RP possibility.

The combat was another random encounter (I wanted a combat, so I re-rolled some of the non-combat rolls, including two more random drow patrols). Because the PCs were in the forest, I figured it was an ambush situation, and half the PCs were surprised. Against 8 minions, two driders, and a "Drow" priest, the PCs had absolutely no problems, abd burned through the encounter using mostly at-will powers and a smattering of encounters ("Come and Get it" strikes again!)

When the PCs hit the fork in the road, there was much discussion, before they decided to do the heroic thing. Good for them. It also gave me a bit of warning to do some further defining of that part of the feywild. While I have a basic map, I would like to flesh out a few factions a bit more - not to walk into the situation completely "cold", as it were.

And then we called it a night.

 

[Rechan]

Now, do you just want very localized little nooks and crannies and such encounters, or would you like a little more?

Because quite honestly, one way I picture the FW is politics. Crazy, weird politics. Each area is broken up by territories, and of course there are local Courts there as well (Equivalent of land owners/nobles and then the local government of a town, state).

PCs passing through these territories might have to get permission to pass through them. They could stumble across squabbles and power grabs. And disrupt little rituals. For instance, three beautiful fey women may be arguing on the road who is the fairest, and ask the PCs to judge them. Of course, whoever the PCs pick, an Eladrin noble pops out of the brush and says "Thanks for helping me decide my bride. Do come to the wedding baring gifts." Meanwhile, the two losers are going to harry the party for their hubris.

Not to mention many other potentials. Local little sites like a glade where a revelry is going on, a party in full swing. Of course, if the Pcs partake in anything, it's going to be a skill challenge just to escape the party (and woe be them if they have any food or drink!).

 

[Derulbaskul]

Wik, I can't give you more XP but just wanted to say I loved reading about your campaign and characters. I'm rather envious! (OK, just pretend this is an XP comment.)

 

[Wik]

Now, do you just want very localized little nooks and crannies and such encounters, or would you like a little more?

Because quite honestly, one way I picture the FW is politics. Crazy, weird politics. Each area is broken up by territories, and of course there are local Courts there as well (Equivalent of land owners/nobles and then the local government of a town, state).

PCs passing through these territories might have to get permission to pass through them. They could stumble across squabbles and power grabs. And disrupt little rituals. For instance, three beautiful fey women may be arguing on the road who is the fairest, and ask the PCs to judge them. Of course, whoever the PCs pick, an Eladrin noble pops out of the brush and says "Thanks for helping me decide my bride. Do come to the wedding baring gifts." Meanwhile, the two losers are going to harry the party for their hubris.

Not to mention many other potentials. Local little sites like a glade where a revelry is going on, a party in full swing. Of course, if the Pcs partake in anything, it's going to be a skill challenge just to escape the party (and woe be them if they have any food or drink!).

Well, the politics in my feywild are a bit different. But still very crazy weird. The drow guard the borders, hunt all these wild beasts, and prevent the night from creeping in. And of course, they hate the eladrin.

The eladrin keep the kingdom together, and maintain trade relationships. And of course, they see the drow as unkempt savages.

The two need each other to survive. And there are dozens of eladrin families that scheme against one another for connections to the king. And dozens of drow families that scheme and jockey for status.

And then there are the half-breeds, who hate the drow and eladrin, and are hated by the drow and eladrin. And would love nothing more than to see everything fall apart (it should come as no surprise that the halfbreeds were heavily involved in this drow poisoning plot... though the plot was initially orchestrated by a drow noblewoman vying for position).

As for what I'm looking for, I'm basically just posting what's going on in my campaign to give others an idea of what to keep an eye out for if they're looking to sandbox in 4e. And to keep track of my own trial by fire.

I'd love to implement some mini encounters, though - I have a list of about fifty at this point, brainstormed out during a slow shift at work.

Wik, I can't give you more XP but just wanted to say I loved reading about your campaign and characters. I'm rather envious! (OK, just pretend this is an XP comment.)

Duly noted! And hopefully some of the stuff I post in the next couple of weeks will give other GMs ideas of their own. I was amazed at how surprisingly easy it was to put this all together!

 

[blargney the second]

I'm enjoying the heck out of playing in this particular scenario. We have a concrete objective, motivation to pursue it, a deadline that's quickly approaching, and a vague idea where we need to go.

The riddle was really cool. It felt great playing through a classic literary trope. We'd fought one of the two guardians before, and it went very badly for us. The prospect of fighting a pair of them if we answered poorly was harrowing.
-blarg

ps - A couple quick corrections: Hammer is a Greatweapon Fighter, rather than Two Weapon. (that's why my Come & Get It is so nasty ) Also, it was Lear that talked to the drow patrol with 3 infected members; unfortunately Hammer doesn't speak the fey language.