Tonight's Game

[the Jester]

I'm running my 4e game tonight. The party is mid-epic, currently holding Dispater's throne room against wave after wave of devils. The party's mage died, and now they have no way out of Hell. One of them used a lodestone of the planes to find the direction to the nearest portal to the material plane... but it's not very clear whether they can cut their way to it, or even if doing so is their best choice.

I'm very excited! This looks like a tough game, possibly a TPK, possibly a stunning victory for the pc with the Lord of Hell epic destiny (who is trying to supplant and replace Dispater). I am going to get to use a few great monsters that I haven't played with in 4e yet (corruption devil and corrupted minions, yay!). I get to have the whole "small group stands against an army" scene (more yay!). Maybe we clear the table for 5e; maybe we have another couple of months of 4e play before they finish the game at 30th (right now the party is approximately 25th level). Either way, the players are nervous about their chances and increasingly desperate!

This should be a hell of a fun night.

 

[Mort]

I'm running my 4e game tonight. The party is mid-epic, currently holding Dispater's throne room against wave after wave of devils. The party's mage died, and now they have no way out of Hell. One of them used a lodestone of the planes to find the direction to the nearest portal to the material plane... but it's not very clear whether they can cut their way to it, or even if doing so is their best choice.

I'm very excited! This looks like a tough game, possibly a TPK, possibly a stunning victory for the pc with the Lord of Hell epic destiny (who is trying to supplant and replace Dispater). I am going to get to use a few great monsters that I haven't played with in 4e yet (corruption devil and corrupted minions, yay!). I get to have the whole "small group stands against an army" scene (more yay!). Maybe we clear the table for 5e; maybe we have another couple of months of 4e play before they finish the game at 30th (right now the party is approximately 25th level). Either way, the players are nervous about their chances and increasingly desperate!

This should be a hell of a fun night.

Sounds Awesome!

Either they have an epic last hurrah for their characters or they have a skin of their teeth victory which is also great.

Quick question though, this being epic, doesn't at least one (or more) of the characters have the "just because I died, doesn't mean I really died" powers associated with several epic paths (been a while since I looked at any and don't have the books handy so can't remember specifics off hand).

 

[the Jester]

Sounds Awesome!

Either they have an epic last hurrah for their characters or they have a skin of their teeth victory which is also great.

Quick question though, this being epic, doesn't at least one (or more) of the characters have the "just because I died, doesn't mean I really died" powers associated with several epic paths (been a while since I looked at any and don't have the books handy so can't remember specifics off hand).

I am not sure that any of the pcs have a cheat death epic destiny feature yet. One of them gets one at 30th, but I think most of the EDs they chose have other features instead.

 

[the Jester]

After action report: The pcs succeeded by ferreting out Dispater (who was watching from a very well-hidden secret door) and dispatching his legion devils before his wounded pit fiend lieutenants could rejoin him, and before the onrushing mass of devils and corrupted minions came up on 'em. This group continued its long tradition of using diplomacy at weird moments to stall Dispater's potential aid as the pixie vampire wrestled him for his rod on his throne. It was amazing, with several key plays coming from out resident guy who dies all the time, including a domination power that got Dispater to hand his rod over (leading to the aforementioned throne-hopping rod-rasslin' good time).

Well done to my pcs, and to Dianthus, newly-made Princess of Hell.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Great stuff!

And clearly you have a great group!

 

[pemerton]

Good stuff!

(Also, +1 to more actual play reports.)

 

[the Jester]

This game really highlighted what I like about epic play: hopeless odds (at one point the barbarian was facing down three squadrons [by which I mean 25th level swarms] of barbed devils, a corruption devil and a dozen corrupted minions- and entire encounter's worth of monsters- by himself!), huge stakes (the rulership of Dis!), no escape (the only way out is through!) and something that will have lasting aftereffects on my campaign for years. (Some of you may remember the incident in my old epic 3e story hour where the pcs attacked and slew Asmodeus six or eight years ago, real time; this whole plot thread arose as a consequence of that.)

Now, hopefully, today we can crack open the 5e Starter Set and get some of that going on...

 

[the Jester]

I am also proud to report that my girlfriend has learned the term Rat Bastard DM, and started applying the term to me.

 

[Mort]

This game really highlighted what I like about epic play: hopeless odds (at one point the barbarian was facing down three squadrons [by which I mean 25th level swarms] of barbed devils, a corruption devil and a dozen corrupted minions- and entire encounter's worth of monsters- by himself!), huge stakes (the rulership of Dis!), no escape (the only way out is through!) and something that will have lasting aftereffects on my campaign for years. (Some of you may remember the incident in my old epic 3e story hour where the pcs attacked and slew Asmodeus six or eight years ago, real time; this whole plot thread arose as a consequence of that.)

Now, hopefully, today we can crack open the 5e Starter Set and get some of that going on...

High level epic play done right is one of the best experiences in gaming, at least for me.

Congratulations on a successful campaign! Seems like it would have been great even if the party hadn't succeeded, but always great to end on a high note.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

This game really highlighted what I like about epic play: hopeless odds (at one point the barbarian was facing down three squadrons [by which I mean 25th level swarms] of barbed devils, a corruption devil and a dozen corrupted minions- and entire encounter's worth of monsters- by himself!), huge stakes (the rulership of Dis!), no escape (the only way out is through!) and something that will have lasting aftereffects on my campaign for years. (Some of you may remember the incident in my old epic 3e story hour where the pcs attacked and slew Asmodeus six or eight years ago, real time; this whole plot thread arose as a consequence of that.)

Now, hopefully, today we can crack open the 5e Starter Set and get some of that going on...

I really love reading about your game.

BTW, how are your players feeling about transitioning from truly Epic (and the E is correctly capitalised in this instance!) characters to level 1 characters particularly as level 1 in 5E is so much more fragile than level 1 in 4E?