World's Largest Dungeon in actual play [Spoilers!]

[jim pinto]

I'm pleased, though - the party's been bulking up to fight Longtail and everything. I fully intend to use the suggestion posted several pages, though, in switching Longtail for a kyton. Great suggestion, and it'll be a real surprise for the players. That, and the nasty ton-o' chains thing will most likely reduce the army's ranks. Always a bonus.

This is particularly interesting if the creatures remember longtail as a wererat. And then find out he's a chain demon now (because of the portal's power... or the imp's)

It was funny to see, though - today, the party cleared the Lair (the darkmantle-filled rooms on the east side of Region A) fully, and found out just how useful Flaming Sphere is...

If the PC's are going to mop up all the encounters with flaming sphere, its time to up the monster's resistances.

Hint. Hint.

WLD has been great fun, and beyond a few complaints about inexactitude of stat blocks, (No spell resistance for the fiendish swarms! No damage reduction for the 4 HD fiendish swarms! Improperly figured spell resistance for those who have it!) I'm very happy with the product, and am more than willing to check over the stat blocks and fix errors as I go. Good job on this product, you guys. High fives for all of you.

You just made sean holland cry.

Actually, I think the fiendish stats were done by the writer of that region. Nonetheless, this is the first time I've heard about the inaccuracy of a stat block.

Interesting....

 

[Crothian]

Does Arum of section C show up anywhere else? The players enjoed following his story and have really started to find people asking about the guy. He's the most popular NPC I've seen that hasn't ever actually appeared in a game. If he doesn't appear else where I may have to find a way to add him in.

 

[pokedigimaniac]

Jim, thanks for the feedback - I will definitely be thinking about upping the SR. The players have nearly cleaned out almost all of the fiendish creatures that are in the region as it stands, though - they've taken out the darkmantle lair and the stirge lair, and just have some rat swarms and other fiendish things left. Of course, it would be best if I started remembering to apply SR...

Sadly, the stat blocks have been one of the most-criticized things I've seen about the WLD, especially in terms of skill points and the like and monsters/NPCs with class levels. I don't know if you guys did them by hand or used programs such as eTools, but I'm finding it wiser (and easier) to run everything through eTools when I prepare, and fixing errors in pencil. But, yeah, the fiendish templates are messed up for Region A. Oh well. It could be just a special type of fiendish? No worries. I can understand the difficulties in doing 1000+ stat blocks perfectly, especially given time/space constraints and complexity. IMO, it's a small price to pay for the high-quality encounters.

The PCs definitely know Longtail was a wererat, and that combined with my GM-cackling about how lycanthropy can be transferred has truly got them on edge for that fight. I'm very pleased about this. And plus, since I'm running two groups through, I get the best of both worlds - screw with one group by switching the encounter, and inflict lycanthropy on the other group! I love GMing so very much.

In response to Crothian's question, Arum's possible fates are mentioned on page 146, at the introduction to the "The Wizard's Domain" area. (I have to say, I like the idea of him becoming a lich... hmm. Maybe he could end up being the lich in the random encounter in Area N that comes around asking for diamond dust? )

Region C looks like a lot of fun. I'm thinking of working up paper props to represent the different pieces of journals and the like that the PCs can find in the Region - that might make things more fun and realistic.

A question for Jim, though - if everything was entering through the same entrance as the PCs, why/how is the titan's body still undisturbed? (The PCs asked the lizardfolk this question - I improvised with the idea that the lizardfolk demanded that Longtail order the orcs and kobolds to treat the body with respect.) Also, this same question goes for the gnolls and anything else that has entered through the same point - the gnolls from Region C, in particular, seem to have entered just after Longtail and his army did, as their introductory GM text describes them fighting their way through the humanoids and fiendish creatures in Region A. Interesting. I may change that some, though. Ideas on how to fix that so as to not put in too many more entry points while still keeping it roughly believable? (as in, so they don't all enter at the same time!)

Thanks!

Edit: Oh, and the WLD claimed another victim today. The party rogue got hit with 10 points of CON drain from cleaning out the stirge room (A80), and then the party made a beeline for the nasty box trap (A84). 1d6 CON initial, 2d6 CON secondary. Ouch. What really hurts is that he missed the Search DC to find the trap by one, missed his first Fort save by one, and finally couldn't make the second Fort save despite burning three action dice on it. RIP.

 

[JediSoth]

Well, after seventeen sessions and 10 months of playing, we finally had our first character death. The PCs were in Region J, The Pyrefaust, and had set into motion a chain of events that culminated in the Ogre Mage undergoing the ritual to transform himself into a Divine Elder Fire Elemental.

I spent 10 minutes explaining why no one got a saving throw from the 15d6 damage that occured when the violent wave of fire engulfed the region. ("But, there's a statue, can't I take cover behind that?" No...it covers the whole region. "Right, but there's a door...it's not open all the way.") Grrr. I had to stop the game and explain that all of Region J...all of it was affected. It was as though ALL the air combusted.

I don't really feel sorry for them. The average character level is 8, and the Pyrefaust is for levels 12-15 or something like that.

JediSoth

 

[Traevanon]

The characters in my campaign are going through Region J with everyone in the party having Fire Resistance on. It makes sense to have it, seeing as you take a point of fire damage per minute while there. My party is mostly level 12 though. Still, you probably shouldnt be hanging around a river of lava without at least some kind of fire protection.

By the way fire resistant armor is available from the Drow in region I (Halls of Flesh) if your characters wander that direction.

Sorry about the death. I understand that sort of thing can be traumatizing to players who grow attached to a long running character. Perhaps they can save the remains (assuming there are some) until the cleric (assuming there is one) gets to 9th level. Anyhow, what do you plan to do about a replacement?

 

[pokedigimaniac]

Hmm, yeah. Thanks for the tip about the drow fire-resistant armor - I was a bit curious as to how other people's players got around that nasty 1 fire damage per minute thingy.

 

[jim pinto]

Does Arum of section C show up anywhere else? The players enjoed following his story and have really started to find people asking about the guy. He's the most popular NPC I've seen that hasn't ever actually appeared in a game. If he doesn't appear else where I may have to find a way to add him in.

he does not

but you can easily add his story to D, H, and K

 

[jim pinto]

In response to Crothian's question, Arum's possible fates are mentioned on page 146, at the introduction to the "The Wizard's Domain" area. (I have to say, I like the idea of him becoming a lich... hmm. Maybe he could end up being the lich in the random encounter in Area N that comes around asking for diamond dust? )

Arum can be a lot of things and can show up in a lot of places.

Region C looks like a lot of fun. I'm thinking of working up paper props to represent the different pieces of journals and the like that the PCs can find in the Region - that might make things more fun and realistic.

Sweet

A question for Jim, though - if everything was entering through the same entrance as the PCs, why/how is the titan's body still undisturbed? (The PCs asked the lizardfolk this question - I improvised with the idea that the lizardfolk demanded that Longtail order the orcs and kobolds to treat the body with respect.) Also, this same question goes for the gnolls and anything else that has entered through the same point - the gnolls from Region C, in particular, seem to have entered just after Longtail and his army did, as their introductory GM text describes them fighting their way through the humanoids and fiendish creatures in Region A. Interesting. I may change that some, though. Ideas on how to fix that so as to not put in too many more entry points while still keeping it roughly believable? (as in, so they don't all enter at the same time!)

Thanks!

the titan died as long ago as you'd like.... (in my head it was 50 years ago). he was put here by the celestials or the gods and his body didn't rot... and if you're a stupid creature and you see a giant dead body that doesn't rot... you stay away from it.

but, everyone probably had a good reason to avoid it. if nothing else, it does (or did) radiate a powerful level of magic and good.

and to the person who wrote the chronology... excellent work, but it doesn't take into account regions B, C, I, or M

just a head's up

 

[JediSoth]

By the way fire resistant armor is available from the Drow in region I (Halls of Flesh) if your characters wander that direction.

Sorry about the death. I understand that sort of thing can be traumatizing to players who grow attached to a long running character. Perhaps they can save the remains (assuming there are some) until the cleric (assuming there is one) gets to 9th level. Anyhow, what do you plan to do about a replacement?

My player's got to J via the Halls of Flesh. Unfortunately, no one has a search skill high enough to find any of the clues to really destroy Madness or Anguish (the highest search roll they can get by taking 20 is 28). They don't have a dedicated rogue and no one has been pumping skill points into Search. I decided about 5 sessions ago to quit giving them freebies. I told them they needed a rogue, but no one listened. The explored about 25% of I before fleeing to J when Madness regenerated an hour after the "killed" him.

As for a replacement, the dead character was a sorcerer/monk. The player wants to make a pseudodragon rogue this time (they FINALLY got my hint about the DCs of traps and secret doors when I told them that they would never find a secret door or a trap in the rest of the dungeon because they long ago exited the areas where a 28 was high enough). Since the theme of my WLD is pretty much "anything goes" I'm allowing it. It certainly won't be as overpowered as the Goliath Barbarian/Cleric (who is reluctant to heal anyone else these days, so it's like not having a cleric).

Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't had a TPK yet. For a long time they had no arcane or divine magic. If I wasn't so lazy about random encounters (plus cutting them out is a way to control XP) and some of the environmental conditions (I keep forgetting about a lot of them), they would've been dead long ago.

I will freely admit, I ignored the damaging effects of the Pyrefaust in most of the areas because I was really, really sick of the Halls of Flesh and I wanted them to move on. It was getting frustrating for me to have to keep telling them they don't find anything because they weren't good enough to find it.

In retrospect, I wouldn't have said "anything goes" if I had to start over. I would make them stick to the PHB and AE (which no one is using anyway), and maybe Complete [Class]. I have learned that Goliaths have NO place in my campaigns...particularly since we have a min-maxer power gamer behind him.

JediSoth

 

[just__al]

Question for everybody.. How are you handling Summon Monster/Natures Ally?

I'm running 2 different groups through this (gotta get my 60 bucks worth).

The first group was actually summoned themselves into the dungeon by a very desperate rogue who had a mishap with a summon monster scroll. He was poisoned and the rest of his party was alreay dead. The group got summoned, had to help the rogue and still felt a need to "get them" right up until he died. Then they felt themselves being "put back" but they didn't go anywhere.

Later they summoned a celestial badger. When the fight was over, the badger didn't go home either. The party ranger cast speak w/animal and the badger (who are prone to rage) had an ATTITUDE about not going home. He ran off and if the players ever get to region E they find him there or maybe with the elves.


The second group actually wandered into the dungeon. They are after the bounty on "The man called Longtail". They just summoned a celestial riding dog into a room with an unsafe doorway but a chest they wanted to get into. The dog fetched the bundle in the chest (continual flame batons) but then the spell expired and the dog went and slept in the corner of the room.

Half the party thinks the dungeon must be in Celestia. The other group thinks nothing gets out of the prision. NOTHING.

I think if either group starts abusing the fact the animals don't go away I'll have them slowly fade. As it is, they loose control after the spell expires and they don't know it yet, but if they cast it again and there's a monster/ally they've summoned in line of sight, they'll summon it