Speaker in dreams advice

[MarauderX]

That's how I ran things, roughly; hope something in these two interminable posts is helpful!
Daniel

Holy... I recognize the monsters, the places, the NPCs... but the plot seems to have run amok!!

I went through the adventure as a player a while back and I gotta say it was kinda bleh, but I think most of it was due to the DM style of "things gotta start happening or the players will get bored". Hence, we got shoved around from place to place and didn't have the chance to explore or follow up on leads we thought were more important. Ah well, live and learn... or roll up a new PC.

 

[Joshua Randall]

We ended up saving the town, killing the mayor, getting thanked politely for our troubles, and banished from the town forever.

Wait... isn't that how all D&D adventures are supposed to end? You mean I've been doing it wrong all these years? Damn!

 

[Pielorinho]

Holy... I recognize the monsters, the places, the NPCs... but the plot seems to have run amok!!

That's probably my biggest strength and biggest failing as a DM: I go crazy on the plotting . Unless I understand everyone's motives and think everyone is behaving plausibly, I'm not happy.

In the adventure as written, you've got the mind flayer as the boss of about five completely disparate groups of monsters, with no relationships between the groups he runs. As I ran it, he controlled two groups directly (the gray men and the cultists), he was in conflict with another group (the wererats), and he had made bargains with two more groups (the monkey-demons and the evil priests). I actually had notes on how the monkey-demons and the evil priests felt toward one another, and how the priests were planning on betraying the illithid at some point to take all the sacrifices for themselves, etc., but I ended up dumping all that as way too complicated.

In the end, it was still too complicated: the PCs almost gave up and left town in disgust at some point, given the various betrayals and twists that were happening all around them. A fair amount of the plot as described was communicated through journals (which are, along with letters, one of the lamer but more reliable methods of communicating information -- bad guys sure keep meticulous notes!), and some of it came out through conversations (e.g., with the wererats), but a big chunk of stuff never came to the forefront at all. Why were the evil priests cooperating with the illithid? Why did the monkey-demons create a tower of scorpions? What was going on with the freaky, inside-out-turning elasmosaurus? The players never found out.

But at least it made sense in my head .

Daniel

 

[Guilberwood]

Amazing!!!

I got lots of replys and plenty of ideas to work with! Thanks. I guess now that, thanks to your help, I am very confident about the adventure I'll be runing.

The only point that still bothers me is the fair itself. I know my players will love the fair, if I manage to run it corectly, and I dont want to screw things up. From now on, I'll start thinking about ways to make the fair an interesting place for the characters . I'll probably do some sort of fighting competition, but I am also looking for other type of contests, anyway, I'm sure I'll come up with something of that sort.

Thank u guys, you are really helpfull.
See ya

 

[D+1]

Spoiler alert.

One very important note: Encounter #17 has an EL that is -7- over the level of PC's that the module is supposedly designed for. It is a KILLER encounter and there's just no damned good reason for it to be that deadly. Deal with it appropriately (tone it down beforehand, or go easy in running it).

Also, if the module is taken somewhat literally there is an overreliance upon PC's obtaining information through Gather Information checks. If those checks fail, then you will have to intentionally throw additional clues at them to put the investigation back on track. Better still, use roleplayed interaction with NPC's to give players information, rather than dull skill checks.

Getting to the climactic, final encounter is somewhat "forced" in the module. >SPOILER< It takes place in the baron's keep in his bedroom. The module assumes that the characters will want to confront the baron which is fine, but it also assumes that the PC's will have no problem entering the baron's personal abode, walking into his bedroom, and then laying about them with ironmongery and spells. You'll need to develop a good way for the PC's to get in unopposed (which is what I did), have the encounter take place somewhere that is less logically to be well-guarded, or otherwise just be able to "wing it" in such a way that it happens. Hell, simply finding a way to confront the baron could be half an adventure in and of itself - but you'll have to make it up on your own.

 

[D+1]

Oh yeah, just remembered something else. I don't have the module at hand, but as I recall, if you look at the flowchart for the module there are choke points - one encounter that MUST take place before the module proceeds beyond it to the remainder of the flowchart. There are notes telling you not to be overly rigid about sticking to the flowchart, but I'd suggest you set up a few of your own encounters that can bypass those choke points and still complete the module. That's how that flowchart should have been designed in the first place, IMO. I at least prefer to avoid railroading whether the players actually see it happening or not.

 

[Pielorinho]

For me, I just ignored the flowchart completely: given this type of adventure, it was a lot easier for me to figure out what the bad guys were planning on doing, what their timeline was, and where they'd be doing it. I figured that unless the PCs intervened, the bad guys would succeed. Between sessions of the game, I thought about what the PCs had done, from a bad-guy perspective, and figured out how they'd change their plans to accommodate PC meddling.

And what was the too-high encounter, D+1?

Daniel

 

[WizarDru]

Now would be a great time to learn all about the spiffy SPOILER tag that the boards offer. It works like this:


[SPOILER*]Simply remove the '*' between the tags to make them work![/SPOILER*]

Here's an example:

Spoiler

Many people, such as Wulf Ratbane, have detailed their adventure during Speaker in Dreams, and never really understood what the module's plot was. In fact, it's where Wulf's patented "pile of dead bad guys" phrase first appears, referencing that's all he really remembers about the plot, as that's really all they did...kill bad guys in a series of only partially related encounters.

This allows you to put spoiler in your post without having to waste all that space saying SPOILER!, and actually works much better for that purpose. I used only the map and a few sparse items from the module, because it really has very little by way of actual plot. It's a good starting point, but lacks a great deal to make it anything resembling a cohesive story, IMHO. It would work much better with some motivations to it, as per Daniel's suggestions. The real trick is that most people really enjoy it when the DM uses it as part of his game, and not straight out of the module, as written. Using it as a springboard for expansion often works much better.

 

[WizarDru]

And what was the too-high encounter, D+1?

Daniel

Presumably the encounter with the Wyste, which I believe was EL 7. However, it isn't really that nasty, unless the players have been winnowing away their resources on other battles during the day. One point the module makes, and one that becomes more and more valuable as the levels increase, is that if players don't feel threatened and have plenty of opportunity for down-time and rest, they will gladly use their most powerful resources (such as their most powerful spells and daily use items).

Town adventures, by their nature, usually have combat in fits and spurts, with one encounter usually being the only one for a single day (and certainly not as many as being in a dungeon). That said, the Gibbering Mouther encounter can be pretty nasty, too....perhaps even moreso than the Wyste.

 

[Daniel Knight]

Love your suggestions Daniel. Consider them stolen. Except the stuff with the demonic apes - that's just strange.

So... did you also go through the other adventures - and if so what changes did you make to them?