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

[Hussar]

Y'know, so many people have complained about Region A being boring or whatever. But, from the number of excellent climax battles I've read on here with Longtail, I would say that A is fine. It's a great shakedown region to get people into the groove of actually doing such long dungeon crawling.

I give Region A a thumb up.

 

[rvalle]

There were some posts that we lost about the 'path' in Region I. Did anyone copy those or remember what they said?

I'm having a hard time picturing what that path is. I THINK its a ribbon of webs that hangs in the air but is hard to see because of the vegitation, webs or other things in the rooms.

rv

 

[Dracorat]

Y'know, so many people have complained about Region A being boring or whatever. But, from the number of excellent climax battles I've read on here with Longtail, I would say that A is fine. It's a great shakedown region to get people into the groove of actually doing such long dungeon crawling.

I give Region A a thumb up.

A single battle doesn't make the region. It means a single battle was cool. Really, the region is all that it has been hailed to be. Lacklustre at best.

 

[Soarjubs]

A single battle doesn't make the region. It means a single battle was cool. Really, the region is all that it has been hailed to be. Lacklustre at best.

I guess to me a Region is what a DM makes it.
I made up countless phantom images, hauntings and strange sound effects and such to keep them all on their toes the entire Region. There have been hints that something went very wrong here, and its really kept them excited.

 

[Dracorat]

I did fine with my group as well, but I still stand by the region being lacklustre.

Especially once you get out of Region A, you will appreciate what that means.

 

[twilko]

I did fine with my group as well, but I still stand by the region being lacklustre.

Especially once you get out of Region A, you will appreciate what that means.

Gotta agree, region A was a lot of work to make interesting. E I think needs a little tweaking and the extra stuff that got posted here by the author really goes a long way to fix it. F and M will need little to nothing to run while I looks like it could stand as is.

Jim Pinto himself has said that some rooms and encounters got cut for space which may have made things better. Still my group is having fun with it.

 

[Hussar]

My players are so bloody lucky.

They have just invaded Lord Tarnaticus' lair in G. They went through the zombie elves. Well, I upped the zombie elves considerably by using the Cauldron Spawn template from Dragon. Heh. Nothing like bombing them with an EL 13 encounter right off the shot. Not really a true EL 13 though, too many small critters. But, anyway, they got through it, heavily damaged and have pulled into a small corner to rest. For 8 hours.

So, I roll 8 hours worth of random encounters. I roll 7 times between 2 and 12, no encounter, and one 20 - Raverna.

SHEESH! I wanna punish them a bit more and keep them on the ragged edge, and up pops the Ghael Eladrin to save the day. Sigh. Ah well, I'll buff them up, heal them and send them on their way. I'll get them next time my cullies.

Oh, and here's the statblock for the Cauldron Spawn elves:

From Dragon 340. I changed the zombie elves in Lord T's Lair to the following:

Cauldron Spawn Elf Warrior 6

LE Medium Undead CR 7

Init: +5 Senses: Listen: +5 Spot +5
--------------------------------------------
AC: 24 Touch 15 FF: 19 (+3 MW Studded Leather, +5 Dex, +6 Natural)
HP: 36 (6d12 HD) DR 5/-
SR: 14
Immune: Undead Traits
Fort: +5 Reflex: +7 Will:+1
--------------------------------------------
Speed: 30 ft
Melee: Longsword (19-20) +8 (1d8+2)
Full Attack: Longsword +8/+3 (19-20) (1d8+2)
Ranged Attack: MW Longbow +10 (1d8)(19-20 x3)
Full Ranged Attack: MW Longbow +10/+5 (1d8)(19-20 x3)
base Atk: +6 Grp: +8
Special Atk: Unnerving Presence (DC: 13) (Will save or be shaken for 1d4+1 rounds – 30 foot radius)
---------------------------------------------
Abilities: Str: 15 Dex: 20 Con: -- Int: 8 Wis: 9 Cha: 12
SQ: Born of the cauldron, Mindless
Feats: Point blank shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus Longbow
Skills: Climb 3, Hide 3, Listen 5 Search 2 Spot 5
Possessions: Uniform Cloak (+2 to hide in forested regions), bronze cloak clasp, longsword, masterwork longbow, 15 obsidian tipped arrows (treated as keen), masterwork studded leather,

Fun encounter.

 

[pokedigimaniac]

Hmm. This brings up another question - how often do you roll for random encounters when sleeping? I guess it depends on the area - for a heavily trafficked area like Region G, I can understand rolling hourly, but thus far, I've just rolled once per rest period, and a d8 to see what hour of the resting period it occurs during. *shrug*

 

[erucsbo]

Hmm. This brings up another question - how often do you roll for random encounters when sleeping? I guess it depends on the area - for a heavily trafficked area like Region G, I can understand rolling hourly, but thus far, I've just rolled once per rest period, and a d8 to see what hour of the resting period it occurs during. *shrug*

I don't tend to roll for random encounters. I treat the game as a story and use the random encounters if and when I think they'll add to the story, as often as necessary.

 

[Hussar]

Meh, I like the randomness. I would NEVER have brought in the Ghael at this point if I was writing the story. But, from the player's point of view, it fits perfectly. They know she's wandering around hunting demons and such, they've already interacted with her and having a 14th level cleric pop up out of the blue is nothing to be sneezed at.

This time around, they got lucky.

I believe random encounters are to be rolled every hour. The safe rooms reduce the rate considerably. Ah crap, that reminds me that there are random room effects in G. Have to remember that for next time. I do roll random encounters fairly often. Since about 1/2 are duds anyway, they don't come up that often and even when they do, I ignore the ones that don't make sense. Such as a trip wire trap while they are sleeping. That sort of thing.

Generally, I roll it whenever I think of it.