The PCs in my game entered the Tower of Mysteries - the final part of Thunderspire Labyrinth - in our session last weekend.
The PCs are 14th level, and so I have scaled up the tower a bit - MM3 paragon Norkers, paragon Enigmas extrapolated from the stats in H2, MM3 and Open Grave.
Probably the most interesting part of the session was the negotiation with Vecna to successfully teleport into the tower. In the module I think this is a Complexity 5 challenge, but I decided to run it as Complexity 2 (and level 14). This meant 6 successes, or basically one bit of information from each PC (with one extra success from a Diplomacy check or something similar).
What surprised me a bit was that, in giving Vecna pieces of information in order to satisfy him, the players did not rely upon rolling knowledge checks to acquire random tidbits of obscure lore. Instead, they just told him stuff that they though he might not know. In particular, they explained the recent history of Kas and their dealings with him - namely, that he had until a couple of days ago been trapped in a necromancer's tower sunk into the ground, but that a would-be follower of that necromancer had opened the coffin in which he (Kas) was trapped, and that - as the result of an encounter between the PCs, Kas and the would-be follower, Kas had reacquired his sword. (Details of the PCs dealing with Kas can be found here.)
Because this was actual information that was new to Vecna, I did not require skill checks. I just ticked off the successes. However, at the point where the PCs revealed that they were the ones who had given Kas back his sword, I also applied a failure (on grounds that this must be something of which Vecna does not approve). A couple of failures had already been accrued - one because the PCs had told Vecna something that was fairly common knowledge, and one because the PCs told Vecna something that was perhaps not common knowledge but was completely uninteresting (namely, the identity of the Baphomet artefacts in the Well of Demons). So this third failure meant that they failed the challenge - and so were burdened by penalties when they moved on through the teleporter (each PC lost access to one ecounter power until their next extended rest).
Anyway, I quite enjoyed playing Vecna, and expressing my displeasure at the PCs for powering up my most bitter enemy.
Has anyone else GMed or played through this encounter? How did you (or your GM) adjudicate the offering up of actual PC information, rather than information obtained just via successful skill rolls?
The PCs are 14th level, and so I have scaled up the tower a bit - MM3 paragon Norkers, paragon Enigmas extrapolated from the stats in H2, MM3 and Open Grave.
Probably the most interesting part of the session was the negotiation with Vecna to successfully teleport into the tower. In the module I think this is a Complexity 5 challenge, but I decided to run it as Complexity 2 (and level 14). This meant 6 successes, or basically one bit of information from each PC (with one extra success from a Diplomacy check or something similar).
What surprised me a bit was that, in giving Vecna pieces of information in order to satisfy him, the players did not rely upon rolling knowledge checks to acquire random tidbits of obscure lore. Instead, they just told him stuff that they though he might not know. In particular, they explained the recent history of Kas and their dealings with him - namely, that he had until a couple of days ago been trapped in a necromancer's tower sunk into the ground, but that a would-be follower of that necromancer had opened the coffin in which he (Kas) was trapped, and that - as the result of an encounter between the PCs, Kas and the would-be follower, Kas had reacquired his sword. (Details of the PCs dealing with Kas can be found here.)
Because this was actual information that was new to Vecna, I did not require skill checks. I just ticked off the successes. However, at the point where the PCs revealed that they were the ones who had given Kas back his sword, I also applied a failure (on grounds that this must be something of which Vecna does not approve). A couple of failures had already been accrued - one because the PCs had told Vecna something that was fairly common knowledge, and one because the PCs told Vecna something that was perhaps not common knowledge but was completely uninteresting (namely, the identity of the Baphomet artefacts in the Well of Demons). So this third failure meant that they failed the challenge - and so were burdened by penalties when they moved on through the teleporter (each PC lost access to one ecounter power until their next extended rest).
Anyway, I quite enjoyed playing Vecna, and expressing my displeasure at the PCs for powering up my most bitter enemy.
Has anyone else GMed or played through this encounter? How did you (or your GM) adjudicate the offering up of actual PC information, rather than information obtained just via successful skill rolls?
