D&D 5E Small tweaks to improve Out of the Abyss [DMs toolbox; SPOILERS]

[CapnZapp]

And I believe a climax like that should happen.

First off, you do whatever you want in your campaign. This is a positive thread

That said, let me try championing BryceLynch's point one more time, okay?

If you shove Ilvara in their faces even if the PCs have done everything in their power to avoid meeting her, you are setting a zero value on those actions. This isn't just about an adventure being a railroad. Even in a railroady adventure, the players will appreciate it if you the DM listen to their actions and adjust accordingly.

If you notice they have relaxed a bit about the Drow threat, sure. If they stop worrying about Ilvara catching up, yeah. If they focus on other important stuff, say Demon Lords, go ahead.

But the point isn't "don't ever run that final confrontation".

It's us saying "if the players obsess about not being caught up to, then let them have this small victory".

You could always use another encounter of comparable challenge if you want a climactic "exiting the maw of darkness" battle. The players doesn't have to know there is no way to avoid such a battle. However, if Mistress Ilvara shows up despite their best efforts, they will know all their plans and ideas were for naught.

In the spirit of being constructive, let me make a final suggestion:

You could even have a Drow battle exactly like in the book - simply say Ilvara has used her connections to persuade fellow priestesses to set up ambushes at likely exit points. This way, you can reuse the exact same encounter, only by changing the name of the Priestess of Lolth, you're acknowledging all the hard work the PCs went through to throw her off their track, and you will be giving them the satisfaction of denying her her final moment!

And that's what all this is about: acknowledging the actions of the player's characters!

 

[LordWeh]

I have created an OGRE for the Chapter 2 encounter (Only for GM, book needed for description)

Very useful, thanks!

 

[77IM]

I plan to run the encounter with Ilvara -- but if the drow pursuit level is low, the PCs get the drop on her; if the drow pursuit level is high, she gets the drop on the PCs.

 

[Bad Fox]

Hey, Capn - sorry to have created another thread so similar to your own! I did a search to see if there was anything like this, but I missed your initial post somehow.

Anyway, to recap the idea that I'd written elsewhere: put the pictures of the NPC prisoners on index cards and spread them out on the table, so players have a visual representation of who is in the cell with them at the start of the adventure. I think it will make things easier when trying to keep track of that huge cast of characters. I'll probably start by describing the other prisoners, and then hand out the pictures one-by-one as the players interact with them.

I'm also going to write a list of mini-enounters with the jailers that I can use, rather then putting the adventurers on generic "work duty." Feeding the spiders (danger!), brawling each other for the amusement of the guards (danger!), testing an old batch of poison for potency (danger!), ect.

 

[CapnZapp]

No problem!

Since I linked to here from Badfox' thread, here's a link to Badfox' thread:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468727-Running-Out-of-the-Abyss-DM-Tips

I'm also going to write a list of mini-enounters with the jailers that I can use, rather then putting the adventurers on generic "work duty." Feeding the spiders (danger!), brawling each other for the amusement of the guards (danger!), testing an old batch of poison for potency (danger!), ect.

Great! Be sure to update us when you're done!

 

[robus]

It occurs to me that this society is perhaps self-named and thus the "brilliance" might be all in their heads. A set of impossible solutions might be fun to derive. No idea what those might be yet....

 

[robus]

My thoughts on the first couple of chapters.

1) It bothers me that Shoors quarters are below Ilvara's. I would reverse that so that he could guard the entrance to her chamber while she slept.

2) The closeness of the pursuit (as already noted) needs to be communicated. I like the cutscene idea a lot. Another alternative might be Stool having some 6th sense of their proximity and communicating that to the PCs. Perhaps when they rest?

3) Tracking who is on which web in the silken path is unclear. But we need to know that to handle a web break encounter. I could imagine some kind of belaying type thing where one of the goblins goes ahead and then the party and then the other goblin, but that sounds dull. Alternatively, the goblins could make a game out of it, splitting the party in two and racing through the webs. But it still doesn't answer the question of who is affected when the web breaks?

 

[Daern]

That OGRE thing is awesome. I wish I'd had it last night. I'd like to get the lists so that I can add it to my Last Gasp generator bookmark list.

 

[CapnZapp]

It had been bothering me I couldn't reply to [MENTION=6688546]bryce0lynch[/MENTION] in the review thread to draw his or her attention to how much use I got out of his or her review, but I finally remembered I could "mention" him or her. Hopefully this is what I just did

 

[Leopold]

Tagging this page for posterity. My order will arrive tomorrow and I"m eager to see how good/bad/other this book is.