aboyd
Explorer
Oh man, this is so fun. I have to tell you what happened before I get to my request. The group meets monthly for a 7 hour game. We've been playing the Dragonfiend Pact module from Goodman Games (a 3.5 edition game). This is the module that involves the players shrinking in size and fighting badgers & rats and such.
Anyway, the main villain is the town judge, who wants to be the town mayor. He hires a goblin assassin to murder the current mayor. The module assumes that the end of the game involves a huge brawl, pitting the party against the town judge and his goblin ally (along with possibly other allies). The PCs did a bunch of stuff out of order, though, and ended up fighting each villain separately, with many days between them. This sent the game careening off the rails (fine by me!).
So today's game involved them tracking the goblin to his home tribe, confronting him, getting their butts kicked a wee bit (enough to pull back), and then coming back with a ruse that was epic but failed (hilariously). But the point: we ended the day with a handful of dead goblins at the cave entrance, and the group has just stepped inside. There, we called it quits, and the game picks up on May 28th. So I need ideas for that moment.
The environment
I know the first thing I will say when we reconvene is, "Roll for initiative." However, a lot is up in the air. For example, the module has no goblin lair because it assumes the goblin is killed long before the characters would care or bother with a tribe. So I'm completely on my own. What I did to prep for today's game was to grab this map of the real-world Crystal Cave and then put down the "newly discovered" section of the map onto my battlemat. However, it took up so much room that I had to put two full-table battlemats together, and add leafs to my table. It's 8 feet long. Two photos of the map are attached (the white things on it are stalagmites). They never even saw the map! I have to redraw the entire thing in a month!
What can these real-world caves do to these PCs? The map itself has many slope marks, and I'm thinking balance checks or maybe difficult terrain any time you're in such a square? Same for wet/slick areas. Also, many places have short ceilings. I'm thinking if it's 3' tall or higher, squeezing rules. But if the ceiling is under 3" tall, then prone rules apply. Yeah? Any other ideas?
Goblins with personality!
I know that the players mistakenly believe that Goren Bloodshaft (the goblin) is the tribe leader. He isn't, and I'd like to surprise my players somehow when they realize he's just a tribe member. He's a mercenary that disappears from the tribe for lengths of time as he takes jobs elsewhere. He's also very intelligent for a goblin (14), so he's not particularly fond of bumbling around with them. And the real tribe leader, Foureyes, fears him.
Foureyes actually literally has four eyes. I'm playing him like the orc leader from Lord of the Rings (not in personality, but in deformity). Remember that one who calmly stepped out of the way of the catapult shot? That guy. I'm thinking that this goblin was born with four eyes as a birth defect, but they actually work well, and his brain can process all the information just fine. I'm assuming this gives him some kind of advantage, but I don't know what yet. I was also thinking of making him a tetrachromat, but not sure.
Anyway, down to brass tacks. I want more flavorful goblins like this. The tribe is 200 strong, of which 50 are children or non-fighting goblins. The other 150 are males & females who will fight. I will have probably 140 of them be generic (close to the default in the Monster Manual). However, I'd love to get 10 that are unique.
Foureyes has four eyes. Goren is high enough level to actually have the assassin class. What else would be good here? Do you have any creative ideas? What would make a goblin interesting and/or challenging to a level 4 party? It could just be weird flavor text or mannerisms or willingness to... well, I don't know what yet. But let me know if you have ideas.
Thanks guys!
Anyway, the main villain is the town judge, who wants to be the town mayor. He hires a goblin assassin to murder the current mayor. The module assumes that the end of the game involves a huge brawl, pitting the party against the town judge and his goblin ally (along with possibly other allies). The PCs did a bunch of stuff out of order, though, and ended up fighting each villain separately, with many days between them. This sent the game careening off the rails (fine by me!).
So today's game involved them tracking the goblin to his home tribe, confronting him, getting their butts kicked a wee bit (enough to pull back), and then coming back with a ruse that was epic but failed (hilariously). But the point: we ended the day with a handful of dead goblins at the cave entrance, and the group has just stepped inside. There, we called it quits, and the game picks up on May 28th. So I need ideas for that moment.
The environment
I know the first thing I will say when we reconvene is, "Roll for initiative." However, a lot is up in the air. For example, the module has no goblin lair because it assumes the goblin is killed long before the characters would care or bother with a tribe. So I'm completely on my own. What I did to prep for today's game was to grab this map of the real-world Crystal Cave and then put down the "newly discovered" section of the map onto my battlemat. However, it took up so much room that I had to put two full-table battlemats together, and add leafs to my table. It's 8 feet long. Two photos of the map are attached (the white things on it are stalagmites). They never even saw the map! I have to redraw the entire thing in a month!
What can these real-world caves do to these PCs? The map itself has many slope marks, and I'm thinking balance checks or maybe difficult terrain any time you're in such a square? Same for wet/slick areas. Also, many places have short ceilings. I'm thinking if it's 3' tall or higher, squeezing rules. But if the ceiling is under 3" tall, then prone rules apply. Yeah? Any other ideas?
Goblins with personality!
I know that the players mistakenly believe that Goren Bloodshaft (the goblin) is the tribe leader. He isn't, and I'd like to surprise my players somehow when they realize he's just a tribe member. He's a mercenary that disappears from the tribe for lengths of time as he takes jobs elsewhere. He's also very intelligent for a goblin (14), so he's not particularly fond of bumbling around with them. And the real tribe leader, Foureyes, fears him.
Foureyes actually literally has four eyes. I'm playing him like the orc leader from Lord of the Rings (not in personality, but in deformity). Remember that one who calmly stepped out of the way of the catapult shot? That guy. I'm thinking that this goblin was born with four eyes as a birth defect, but they actually work well, and his brain can process all the information just fine. I'm assuming this gives him some kind of advantage, but I don't know what yet. I was also thinking of making him a tetrachromat, but not sure.
Anyway, down to brass tacks. I want more flavorful goblins like this. The tribe is 200 strong, of which 50 are children or non-fighting goblins. The other 150 are males & females who will fight. I will have probably 140 of them be generic (close to the default in the Monster Manual). However, I'd love to get 10 that are unique.
Foureyes has four eyes. Goren is high enough level to actually have the assassin class. What else would be good here? Do you have any creative ideas? What would make a goblin interesting and/or challenging to a level 4 party? It could just be weird flavor text or mannerisms or willingness to... well, I don't know what yet. But let me know if you have ideas.
Thanks guys!
