Summoning adventurers

[blargney the second]

Tonight I found myself in the situation of having only two players out of the usual three or four. Even more awkward, last session we ended just as they were rolling initiative against a BBEG.

The PCs in the group have previously been the suckers on the receiving end of Planar Ally, and they've also been teleported unexpectedly into odd situations. So the solution tonight was that they got summoned to another plane by some druids casting Summon Nature's Ally to help them with the Beast of Burden adventure from Dungeon. The druids were quite surprised not to see hippogriffs appear!

The fun part was that they got to benefit from the effects of Augment Summoning, Ashbound, and shifter totem spirits for a whopping +4 Str, Dex, and Con as well as +3 to attacks. They particularly enjoyed being effectively immune to death - the druids would just summon them back and the PCs' magic items would even be recharged. The druids had a finite number of spells though, so it wasn't carte blanche.

I made it clear that their job was to protect and assist the druids that summoned them. Secretly, I'd prepared rewards in the event that they succeeded at the mission while keeping their summoners alive. They got no XP, but the Valenar elf earned a valuable token of respect from his ancestor, and the xeph swordsage repaid the debt to the deity who raised her and regained the lost level.
-blarg

 

[Aholibamah]

How did they enjoy being conjured?

BTW I've sometimes wondered how the non-players summoned must feel. They are apparently always ready to fight so it makes you wonder.

 

[Nifft]

So the solution tonight was that they got summoned to another plane by some druids casting Summon Nature's Ally to help them with the Beast of Burden adventure from Dungeon.

Clever. I like it.

BTW I've sometimes wondered how the non-players summoned must feel. They are apparently always ready to fight so it makes you wonder.

That's because summoned monsters come from the Internet.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Dioltach]

I read a series of graphic novels once in which the hero could summon a huge warrior once every month. The warrior would kill all the enemies, then excuse himself because he had been doing the washing up, or entertaining guests, when he was summoned.

 

[Fenes]

I read a series of graphic novels once in which the hero could summon a huge warrior once every month. The warrior would kill all the enemies, then excuse himself because he had been doing the washing up, or entertaining guests, when he was summoned.

I remember such a comic too, but can't remember the name.

Edit: Ah, "Les Forêts d'Opale".

 

[blargney the second]

How did they enjoy being conjured?

Quite a lot. I told them straight off that they felt very protective towards their druids, and they just ran with it. They also made Spellcraft checks to see if they understood that they were summoned and what that implied. It took the players a little while to fully understand that they were photocopies, but they got it eventually.
-blarg

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Michael Moorcock did something like this in at least one of his Eternal Champion cycle stories, and often alluded to it happening more than once in the dreams of the EC's various incarnations.

I think its a cool way of doing things.

 

[akbearfoot]

I was planning on using a similar plot device in a game (which unfortunately I never got to run)


Basically, the PCs run into a overly friendly gnome(or whatever race fits) in town who tries to sell them a powerful magic scroll...The PCs will inevitably refuse once they realize it is a scroll of summon undead...Later on that evening as they are enjoying themselves in the local pub the wizard who(most likely) handled the scroll and his nearby allies get teleported into the nearby woods.

They arrive just in time to see a mysterious black robed figure with a look of shock on his face with a familiar looking scroll in his hands. The man curses under his breath and the PCs hear a promise of revenge against a certain sneaky little gnome, then the PCs are compelled to fight in the mans defense along with a few of his undead servants against some monsters....After the spells normal duration is over, the black robed figure orders his remaining undead minions to kill the PCs because they've seen his face, and the PCs are then free to be hostile. The (obviously) evil wizard will have at least a few levels over the PCs and aconvenient escape mechanism in place and will eventually become a BBEG.

Turns out the scroll was a -cursed- scroll of summon undead that ended up imprinting the PCs energy when they handled the scroll, and the gnome was actually going to be one of those dreaded 'DMPCs' that had an interest in the PCs but didn't want to interfere with them directly. The PCs wouldnt have any way to really find that out until waaaay later on.

I still wish I could have run this game...even if it was just a few encounters