Something that takes a session a session to the next level is the proper playlist. It has to be atmospheric but not distracting. Using specialized soundtracks for certain adventures can be great (spooky music is just the thing for a Lovecraft campaign), but for good ol' fashioned sword-n-board, I use this Grooveshark playlist. There's plenty of Lord of the Rings, along with other suitably epic orchestral pieces for those tense battles with the BBEG.
Let me know if you have any other great tunes you like to game to!
A Dungeon Master's ramblings on gaming in the Internet age.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Into the Mountain - Thunderspire Pt. 1
And we're back! Bloodied and tired from their melee-fest with the Grell last week, the party made their way back to Douven with the 'liberated' formulas and reagents that he requested. As a reward, he gave them one of his many magical doo-dads, a Grey Security Card. The hilarious side-effect here (On a 1, all your clothes and armor falls off) was too much for me to resist. As written, it nullifies any need for your friendly neighborhood rogue, and that's no fun, so I houseruled it to a daily. (For anyone not familiar, treat 1 Thievery check as if you had a modifier of +20 - so the party has to carefully select what they want to use it on, without knowing what they may yet face)
After all the recent questing, everyone needed some nice R&R, so we traveled back to the ol' Drunken Minotaur Inn. (Quick aside - irl I would someday love to open a medieval themed bar. Give it a classic fantasy name [Prancing Pony, The Knave and Wand, etc.] and a painted wooden sign out front that swings over the door. Keep the lighting dim - flickering LEDs in torch sconces. During colder months, a roaring fireplace will keep the night at bay. The main room will be long, wooden tables to encourage communal conversations along with smaller circular ones for private adventuring parties. Drinks will be served in mead-tankards or bitchin' goblets. And trivia nights with a gaming category. Someday...) Our party had a extended rest - 8 hours of sleep and all the wounds are distant memories! They interacted with some of the bar patrons - I had them give me a Billy Mays (RIP) style pitch when they were trying to sell some art objects to merchants for more than they were worth, it turned out to be a fun chance for some creativity on the spot and RP. Something I enjoy a lot at the (virtual) table is doing voices, if you can get over a bit of embarrassment, it can instantly add a personality to NPCs that characters will pick up on and remember more than names. A fun accent can provide some humor, say something about the character's background, or just make it easy to tell who is talking. Our rogue couldn't pass up the chance to join some shady-looking characters playing cards in the corner, and happily informed me he was cheating - one high bluff check later and he cleaned up.
As the PCs were getting ready to leave and decide where to go next, a haggard looking women burst through the front door asking for the 'Hero of Winterhaven.' For a moment the whole party seemed a bit excited to be recognized for some past heroics, but as soon as the women saw the Half-Orc Rogue, she embraced the 'Hero!' It seems somewhere along the grapevine the story got a bit muddled, and instead of our party of five adventurers clearing the Keep and closing the rift into the Shadowfell, the deed was accomplished by Ralrott (the rogue) and his band of helpers! I was inspired a bit by Jaynestown (A moment of silence for the series that wasn't), but it will also cause some fun RPing in the future as no doubt any great deeds the party accomplishes will be attributed to the Goodish rogue by the people of Winterhaven. I'm trying to put together a poem so eventually the PCs may hear a bard reciting it in a faraway tavern...
Anyways, some pleading from Sister NPC about Bloodreaver's capturing farmers and villagers as slaves, and it's all aboard the DM Railroad! CHOO CHOO! Some historical background is given during the trip to eastern Cormyr (where Thunderspire Mountain lies in FR). After passing through the Minotaur gates, the party quickly hears some commotion from a door up ahead. A quick listen reveals some goblinoids that are up to no good and appear to be part of the slavers that the PCs are hunting. I buffed up this encounter with the addition of a Hobgoblin Fleshcarver (MM2) to head up the baddies. It was a pretty fun combat, the hobbies managed to bloody up all the front-liners and the hexxer got a chance to use all of his spells to move the heroes around a bit. The Fleshcarver was great, his Glaive Flurry connected for some big damage, and combined with his aura, made the players think twice about just mobbing him into a corner. Letting enemies live doesn't seem to be in the party's playbook, as they hacked down the last two hobgoblins as they tried to flee. No worries, becuase the halfling they had tied up provides a helpful source of information, confirming that these were the droids they were looking for, as well as providing free room and board during their stay in the inn that her family runs. Some quick travel, and the party came across the Seven Pillared Hall - the quest hub that will serve as their base of operations for the next few sessions. Wizards provides a lovely map, but its keyed with numbers. I guess this works by not revealing too much information, but I prefer to just have labels on these kind of city maps - it makes everyone's lives easier to not have to match numbers when looking for relevant information. That being said, I added the names as labels to the map and provided it to the players as a handout. A quick hop back on the DM railroad and the players were on their way to the slavers' base - the Chamber of Eyes.
As we approached the lobby, the PCs had a decision to make - bust down the front doors, or sneak through the balcony. Despite rule #2, they decided to split up and attempt a multi-pronged assault. Using the wizard's Ghost Sound to time their entry, they breached both doors and surprised the force waiting on the other side. Things got a bit bottlenecked, however, as the defender locked down the 10ft passageway leading into the lair and the rogue got stuck in the middle of a room of angry goblins and bugbears. After a quick teleport using his Breaching Armor, however, the rogue managed to deal some big sneak attack damage and phase through the wall to safety. Our wizard was happy with the clumping of enemies, however, as he managed to hit with a couple of nasty effect-inducing powers, effectively slowing, immobilizing, and sleeping all the baddies for the rest of the fight. After that, it was just a matter of mopping up and collecting that sweet, sweet, XP.
About 5 hours in, and we decided to call it a night. I'm excited for next week, because we have a couple of varied combats to clear this chamber, followed by RP in the Seven Pillared Hall, a chance to make a moral decision, some Sherlock Holmesing to find more clues (well, by the normal standard of kill everyone, sort it out later, anyways, and a handful of random encounters that will open up a couple of sidequests where the party can help out the various citizens of the Hall.
As usual, here are the maps that I used - they took about 2 hours to put together, but honestly I'm enjoying learning new techniques and getting inspired by lots of great example on the internet.
After all the recent questing, everyone needed some nice R&R, so we traveled back to the ol' Drunken Minotaur Inn. (Quick aside - irl I would someday love to open a medieval themed bar. Give it a classic fantasy name [Prancing Pony, The Knave and Wand, etc.] and a painted wooden sign out front that swings over the door. Keep the lighting dim - flickering LEDs in torch sconces. During colder months, a roaring fireplace will keep the night at bay. The main room will be long, wooden tables to encourage communal conversations along with smaller circular ones for private adventuring parties. Drinks will be served in mead-tankards or bitchin' goblets. And trivia nights with a gaming category. Someday...) Our party had a extended rest - 8 hours of sleep and all the wounds are distant memories! They interacted with some of the bar patrons - I had them give me a Billy Mays (RIP) style pitch when they were trying to sell some art objects to merchants for more than they were worth, it turned out to be a fun chance for some creativity on the spot and RP. Something I enjoy a lot at the (virtual) table is doing voices, if you can get over a bit of embarrassment, it can instantly add a personality to NPCs that characters will pick up on and remember more than names. A fun accent can provide some humor, say something about the character's background, or just make it easy to tell who is talking. Our rogue couldn't pass up the chance to join some shady-looking characters playing cards in the corner, and happily informed me he was cheating - one high bluff check later and he cleaned up.
As the PCs were getting ready to leave and decide where to go next, a haggard looking women burst through the front door asking for the 'Hero of Winterhaven.' For a moment the whole party seemed a bit excited to be recognized for some past heroics, but as soon as the women saw the Half-Orc Rogue, she embraced the 'Hero!' It seems somewhere along the grapevine the story got a bit muddled, and instead of our party of five adventurers clearing the Keep and closing the rift into the Shadowfell, the deed was accomplished by Ralrott (the rogue) and his band of helpers! I was inspired a bit by Jaynestown (A moment of silence for the series that wasn't), but it will also cause some fun RPing in the future as no doubt any great deeds the party accomplishes will be attributed to the Goodish rogue by the people of Winterhaven. I'm trying to put together a poem so eventually the PCs may hear a bard reciting it in a faraway tavern...
Anyways, some pleading from Sister NPC about Bloodreaver's capturing farmers and villagers as slaves, and it's all aboard the DM Railroad! CHOO CHOO! Some historical background is given during the trip to eastern Cormyr (where Thunderspire Mountain lies in FR). After passing through the Minotaur gates, the party quickly hears some commotion from a door up ahead. A quick listen reveals some goblinoids that are up to no good and appear to be part of the slavers that the PCs are hunting. I buffed up this encounter with the addition of a Hobgoblin Fleshcarver (MM2) to head up the baddies. It was a pretty fun combat, the hobbies managed to bloody up all the front-liners and the hexxer got a chance to use all of his spells to move the heroes around a bit. The Fleshcarver was great, his Glaive Flurry connected for some big damage, and combined with his aura, made the players think twice about just mobbing him into a corner. Letting enemies live doesn't seem to be in the party's playbook, as they hacked down the last two hobgoblins as they tried to flee. No worries, becuase the halfling they had tied up provides a helpful source of information, confirming that these were the droids they were looking for, as well as providing free room and board during their stay in the inn that her family runs. Some quick travel, and the party came across the Seven Pillared Hall - the quest hub that will serve as their base of operations for the next few sessions. Wizards provides a lovely map, but its keyed with numbers. I guess this works by not revealing too much information, but I prefer to just have labels on these kind of city maps - it makes everyone's lives easier to not have to match numbers when looking for relevant information. That being said, I added the names as labels to the map and provided it to the players as a handout. A quick hop back on the DM railroad and the players were on their way to the slavers' base - the Chamber of Eyes.
As we approached the lobby, the PCs had a decision to make - bust down the front doors, or sneak through the balcony. Despite rule #2, they decided to split up and attempt a multi-pronged assault. Using the wizard's Ghost Sound to time their entry, they breached both doors and surprised the force waiting on the other side. Things got a bit bottlenecked, however, as the defender locked down the 10ft passageway leading into the lair and the rogue got stuck in the middle of a room of angry goblins and bugbears. After a quick teleport using his Breaching Armor, however, the rogue managed to deal some big sneak attack damage and phase through the wall to safety. Our wizard was happy with the clumping of enemies, however, as he managed to hit with a couple of nasty effect-inducing powers, effectively slowing, immobilizing, and sleeping all the baddies for the rest of the fight. After that, it was just a matter of mopping up and collecting that sweet, sweet, XP.
About 5 hours in, and we decided to call it a night. I'm excited for next week, because we have a couple of varied combats to clear this chamber, followed by RP in the Seven Pillared Hall, a chance to make a moral decision, some Sherlock Holmesing to find more clues (well, by the normal standard of kill everyone, sort it out later, anyways, and a handful of random encounters that will open up a couple of sidequests where the party can help out the various citizens of the Hall.
As usual, here are the maps that I used - they took about 2 hours to put together, but honestly I'm enjoying learning new techniques and getting inspired by lots of great example on the internet.
 |
| Into the Mountain - the first encounter |
 |
| Labeled city map of the Seven Pillared Hall |
 |
| The Chamber of Eyes |
Monday, August 13, 2012
Dungeon Tiles
So it's two hours game time, your players are all here, they're excited, you've got the snacks and beer, everything is set for a good session of D&D. There's just one problem - you don't have a battlemap! Whether you're running a totally unique adventure, or using some printed material, sometimes you just don't have the time to put together a complete atmospheric dungeon. Every DM has been there, and if you're using online tools like I do, you may wind up with a black and white layout you made in paint.
In order to add some higher quality atmosphere to the session in crunch-time, I put together this quick set of dungeon tiles. You can even use them to build a dungeon in real-time as player explore - when they reach the edge of their torch range, just drag another tile! I plan on adding more options when I get a chance, as well as some unique tiles with fun dungeon features like skeletons and fountains. Hopefully other people can benefit from these as much as I have - go team DM!
These were created as 30ftx30ft squares without grids, although you can use them in whatever scale works best for you. Here is the link to the Full Gallery.
In order to add some higher quality atmosphere to the session in crunch-time, I put together this quick set of dungeon tiles. You can even use them to build a dungeon in real-time as player explore - when they reach the edge of their torch range, just drag another tile! I plan on adding more options when I get a chance, as well as some unique tiles with fun dungeon features like skeletons and fountains. Hopefully other people can benefit from these as much as I have - go team DM!
These were created as 30ftx30ft squares without grids, although you can use them in whatever scale works best for you. Here is the link to the Full Gallery.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Rescue at Rivenroar Pt. 2
With the first floor cleared, the second session of our playthrough of Rescue at Rivenroar starts with a battle in the antechamber of level 2. Round 2 - FIGHT! It's worth noting that after the last session, the PCs had gained enough XP to level up, and after baracading themselves in the goblin's sleeping quarters, they were strong, level 2 heroes, ready to face the scarier dangers that lay ahead. The antechamber fight went off fairly easily, minions got wiped out with magic missiles and the sharpshooters quickly fell when engaged in melee. After casting Vexing Cloud (one quick clarification - the -2 to attack is in addition to the -2 to hit granted by concealment, at least that's how I interpret it), the Goblin Hexxer only managed one Stinging and one Blinding hex before also dropping in melee.
Next up was the wandering undead encounter - this turned out to be my favorite to run as well as the most dangerous to the party (a coincidence, I swear). I like the idea of wandering monsters, it gives a little bit more life to a dungeon compared to static groups of enemies who are just waiting to be turned into XP by our plucky heroes. As soon as the PCs moved North, I rolled a d3 to determine which room they were currently in. The zombies manage to help flanking and add a little bit of damage, but the real meat here is the Ghouls. As level 5 soldiers, they provide a solid challenge, their 21 AC and 20 Ref caused my players a few double-takes. Their 1-2 combo is Claws followed by Ghoulish Bite - 3d6+4 damage in addition to a stun (save ends) is a big chunk of damage for level 2 characters, and their staying power allowed them to get this combo off a few times over the course of this encounter. Without some timely big heals from our Warlord, it had the potential for a TPK. Its worth noting that the party didn't have a cleric or paladin, as both of these undead had Vulnerable 5 Radiant, a ready source of that type of damage could easily shorten this encounter by a few rounds.
The purpose of the Crypt Guardian is a bit of a puzzle to me. One question I have is if this demon is supposed to be magically-bound to fight intruders to the tomb, why does it consider the goblins as allies? The demon itself is underwhelming in its combat stats - after describing a powerful evil demon, I felt a little silly rolling +9 to AC and 1d8 + 5 damage - he just didn't have to damage output to be a scary threat to the party.
The other undead encounter in the Audience Chamber went off about as well as expected. A Religion check identified the Wight and Boneshard Skeleton, and that allowed some intelligent prioritizing that made sure this fight didn't drag on longer than it had to. After the first minion regenerated, some magic missiles and Beast Mode (I can't say that in a voice other than Optimas Prime's...) made sure that they were all down by the time their initiate came up again. The Boneshard Burst was the most damaging attack of the encounter, hitting 3 PCs when it first bloodied, hitting 2 when it dropped, and another 2 after being raised by the Wight and dropped again.
Alright, here we are, the final showdown of the adventure, the BBEG. The party had heard his name from the prisoner they questioned back in the first session, but otherwise they didn't know anything about him. They knew some named NPC was waiting for them at the end of the dungeon, and I was looking forward to some goblin-y in-battle banter. Well, turns out that wasn't in the cards. Sinruth had only 12 seconds - 2 rounds from introduction to death. The party cornered him in a hallway, and let the nova commence. 2 rounds and 185 HP later, and he was down. He connected with a grand total of two Chain Whirlwinds - that's 2d6+8 to three targets, not very impressive for a solo.
That serves as a good segue-way into changes that I plan to make in future runs. Sinruth does not work as written. There are plenty of different ways to fix him, but what I think will spice up this encounter more is to give him some buddies. Get rid of his Solo template, and add in some Goblin Skullcleavers, Hobgoblin Torturers (From Keep on the Shadowfell, a suggestion from a player), and a couple of Sharpshooters for harassment. If the party is forced to divide their focus, Sinruth will have a bit more freedom to maneuver and take advantage of his reach 2 chain (In our run, the PCs got close so fast he only attacked adjacent characters). Another change I will make is to the Crypt Guardian. I want him to be dramatic, something that the players will see and say "Oh shit." To balance out his toughness and make a bit more sense of the room, he will attack all creatures, including the goblins and were-rats. I'm thinking a Balgura (MM 53) which has big damage potential as well as lots of room for scary descriptions. To bring the challenge back to EL3-ish, I'll add two more were-rats for the demon to beat on if the party starts getting too bloodied.
During our session, I managed to make one of the classic DM blunders - I handed out treasure without carefully inspecting the character sheets to see how it would play. One of the 4th level items I decided to place was a set of Claw Gloves (AV2) for the Druid. If you aren't familiar, it adds 1d10 to any melee damage in beast mode with CA. "Great," I thought, "this will encourage flanking, tactical movement, and add a bit of DPR for the party." Well, turns out he took Vicious Advantage (PHB3) which grants CA to slowed and immobilized foes. Not too bad on its own, but paired with Grasping Claws (At-will attack that slows on-hit and can be used as a MBA) and some basic-attack granting warlord powers, and that level 4 item winds up adding 1d10 damage almost every round, and with AoOs and Commander's Strike, multiple times per round. I'm not trying to say these kind of combos should be ban-hammered or Rule 1'd away - but this should be a lesson to all DMs out there - keep track of your players' feats and choices, and when it comes to assigning treasure try to see how a particular item will fit with your party as a whole.
As usual, here's the map for level 2 of the Rivenroar dungeon, I can change the grid-system if anyone is interested.
Next up was the wandering undead encounter - this turned out to be my favorite to run as well as the most dangerous to the party (a coincidence, I swear). I like the idea of wandering monsters, it gives a little bit more life to a dungeon compared to static groups of enemies who are just waiting to be turned into XP by our plucky heroes. As soon as the PCs moved North, I rolled a d3 to determine which room they were currently in. The zombies manage to help flanking and add a little bit of damage, but the real meat here is the Ghouls. As level 5 soldiers, they provide a solid challenge, their 21 AC and 20 Ref caused my players a few double-takes. Their 1-2 combo is Claws followed by Ghoulish Bite - 3d6+4 damage in addition to a stun (save ends) is a big chunk of damage for level 2 characters, and their staying power allowed them to get this combo off a few times over the course of this encounter. Without some timely big heals from our Warlord, it had the potential for a TPK. Its worth noting that the party didn't have a cleric or paladin, as both of these undead had Vulnerable 5 Radiant, a ready source of that type of damage could easily shorten this encounter by a few rounds.
The purpose of the Crypt Guardian is a bit of a puzzle to me. One question I have is if this demon is supposed to be magically-bound to fight intruders to the tomb, why does it consider the goblins as allies? The demon itself is underwhelming in its combat stats - after describing a powerful evil demon, I felt a little silly rolling +9 to AC and 1d8 + 5 damage - he just didn't have to damage output to be a scary threat to the party.
The other undead encounter in the Audience Chamber went off about as well as expected. A Religion check identified the Wight and Boneshard Skeleton, and that allowed some intelligent prioritizing that made sure this fight didn't drag on longer than it had to. After the first minion regenerated, some magic missiles and Beast Mode (I can't say that in a voice other than Optimas Prime's...) made sure that they were all down by the time their initiate came up again. The Boneshard Burst was the most damaging attack of the encounter, hitting 3 PCs when it first bloodied, hitting 2 when it dropped, and another 2 after being raised by the Wight and dropped again.
Alright, here we are, the final showdown of the adventure, the BBEG. The party had heard his name from the prisoner they questioned back in the first session, but otherwise they didn't know anything about him. They knew some named NPC was waiting for them at the end of the dungeon, and I was looking forward to some goblin-y in-battle banter. Well, turns out that wasn't in the cards. Sinruth had only 12 seconds - 2 rounds from introduction to death. The party cornered him in a hallway, and let the nova commence. 2 rounds and 185 HP later, and he was down. He connected with a grand total of two Chain Whirlwinds - that's 2d6+8 to three targets, not very impressive for a solo.
That serves as a good segue-way into changes that I plan to make in future runs. Sinruth does not work as written. There are plenty of different ways to fix him, but what I think will spice up this encounter more is to give him some buddies. Get rid of his Solo template, and add in some Goblin Skullcleavers, Hobgoblin Torturers (From Keep on the Shadowfell, a suggestion from a player), and a couple of Sharpshooters for harassment. If the party is forced to divide their focus, Sinruth will have a bit more freedom to maneuver and take advantage of his reach 2 chain (In our run, the PCs got close so fast he only attacked adjacent characters). Another change I will make is to the Crypt Guardian. I want him to be dramatic, something that the players will see and say "Oh shit." To balance out his toughness and make a bit more sense of the room, he will attack all creatures, including the goblins and were-rats. I'm thinking a Balgura (MM 53) which has big damage potential as well as lots of room for scary descriptions. To bring the challenge back to EL3-ish, I'll add two more were-rats for the demon to beat on if the party starts getting too bloodied.
During our session, I managed to make one of the classic DM blunders - I handed out treasure without carefully inspecting the character sheets to see how it would play. One of the 4th level items I decided to place was a set of Claw Gloves (AV2) for the Druid. If you aren't familiar, it adds 1d10 to any melee damage in beast mode with CA. "Great," I thought, "this will encourage flanking, tactical movement, and add a bit of DPR for the party." Well, turns out he took Vicious Advantage (PHB3) which grants CA to slowed and immobilized foes. Not too bad on its own, but paired with Grasping Claws (At-will attack that slows on-hit and can be used as a MBA) and some basic-attack granting warlord powers, and that level 4 item winds up adding 1d10 damage almost every round, and with AoOs and Commander's Strike, multiple times per round. I'm not trying to say these kind of combos should be ban-hammered or Rule 1'd away - but this should be a lesson to all DMs out there - keep track of your players' feats and choices, and when it comes to assigning treasure try to see how a particular item will fit with your party as a whole.
As usual, here's the map for level 2 of the Rivenroar dungeon, I can change the grid-system if anyone is interested.
 |
| Rivenroar Level 2 |
Friday, August 10, 2012
Rescue at Rivenroar Pt.1
In preparation for some irl gaming coming up, I wanted to test out and work out any kinks in the first adventure of the Scales of War path from Wizards, Rescue at Rivenroar, featured in issue 156 of Dungeon magazine, or online for DDI subscribers. So I read through the adventure, made some maps, found five level 1 PCs, and got started!
The first scene in the adventure starts as so many do - in a tavern. There's a reason its so cliche, I suppose, it works. The players get a chance to introduce themselves and do some role playing. After a few minutes of this, suddenly, Kobolds! We've got a nice, tiered scenario so no character gets mobbed by too many enemies all at once. To give the battle some sense of urgency, mixed in with the minions are kobolds with torches. Given the chance, they toss these torches around and try to set fire to the building. Some clever application of Acrobatics and Ray of Frost by the players quickly put a stop to that. No sooner do they catch their breath than they step outside to face an Ogre!
The Orgre is pulling a cart filled with flammable barrels and goblin archers. This has been my favorite encounter in the adventure - its potentially dangerous while still being cinematic and giving me plenty of opportunity to paint the dynamic scene in the players' minds. Immediately after witnessing the effects of those barrels, the PCs had a plan - our Goliath lept onto the Ogre's back and wrestled the goblins own torches away from them, lighting the remaining flammable material. The next few turns were lots of fun - the Ogre tried to wrest the creature from its back - the goblins scrambling to leap away - and all the while explosions of 4d6 fire damage are going off in the middle of the street. When the smoke clears, the PCs realize that the rest of the town was not as successful at fending off the surprise attack as they were - smoke and screams of pain mark the places where the invaders had struck.
By the time the authorities have a chance to take stock of the damage, its the morning, and the town council wants a word with the heroes who defeated an Ogre. After a pat on the back, they find out that seven town members were abducted along with a list of historical artifacts from the town's history (There are a few shout-outs in this adventure of the fantastic 3e mini-campaign, Red Hand of Doom - anyone who has played that should get a kick out of seeing the Vale that they worked so hard to save 10 years later). Being the paragons of good that the PCs are, they decide to recover the people and goods as soon as possible! Before they get started, however, they have the opportunity to question a goblin that the town guards captured during last night's chaos. How this encounter plays out is dependent on how comfortable the players are with role playing - it can be done almost all with skill checks, or you can talk it out. We landed somewhere in the middle - a great intimidate roll made the goblin spill his guts - but I still got a chance to to use my goblin accent, to everyone's amusement.
With their whereabouts in hand, its time to get to the rescue! The dungeon itself is well-designed, if unremarkable. I really like the idea of rescuing the civilians though - they are spread throughout the lair, and it provides a great break between "Open the door, kill the goblins, loot their corpse, repeat" that so many dungeon crawls can descend into. Each hostage has their own personality and bit of information to provide.
One notable encounter was the ettercaps. With their webs, they managed to block the entrance to their lair, immobilizing the defenders along the way. This was the first chance of dropping that the players experienced so far, and it should set the mood for the rest of the dungeon. After a solid seven hour session, the PCs had cleared out the first level of the dungeon, and the players were ready to call it a night. I had a great time running this one, and I can't wait until they move on to the second floor, where I get to introduce the big bad behind the attack Sinruth. I've made some changes to hopefully make the showdown more exciting, so stay tuned!
Here are the maps I created for our session - if you would like to use a version with different grid layout, just ask, I'd be happy to oblige!
The first scene in the adventure starts as so many do - in a tavern. There's a reason its so cliche, I suppose, it works. The players get a chance to introduce themselves and do some role playing. After a few minutes of this, suddenly, Kobolds! We've got a nice, tiered scenario so no character gets mobbed by too many enemies all at once. To give the battle some sense of urgency, mixed in with the minions are kobolds with torches. Given the chance, they toss these torches around and try to set fire to the building. Some clever application of Acrobatics and Ray of Frost by the players quickly put a stop to that. No sooner do they catch their breath than they step outside to face an Ogre!
The Orgre is pulling a cart filled with flammable barrels and goblin archers. This has been my favorite encounter in the adventure - its potentially dangerous while still being cinematic and giving me plenty of opportunity to paint the dynamic scene in the players' minds. Immediately after witnessing the effects of those barrels, the PCs had a plan - our Goliath lept onto the Ogre's back and wrestled the goblins own torches away from them, lighting the remaining flammable material. The next few turns were lots of fun - the Ogre tried to wrest the creature from its back - the goblins scrambling to leap away - and all the while explosions of 4d6 fire damage are going off in the middle of the street. When the smoke clears, the PCs realize that the rest of the town was not as successful at fending off the surprise attack as they were - smoke and screams of pain mark the places where the invaders had struck.
By the time the authorities have a chance to take stock of the damage, its the morning, and the town council wants a word with the heroes who defeated an Ogre. After a pat on the back, they find out that seven town members were abducted along with a list of historical artifacts from the town's history (There are a few shout-outs in this adventure of the fantastic 3e mini-campaign, Red Hand of Doom - anyone who has played that should get a kick out of seeing the Vale that they worked so hard to save 10 years later). Being the paragons of good that the PCs are, they decide to recover the people and goods as soon as possible! Before they get started, however, they have the opportunity to question a goblin that the town guards captured during last night's chaos. How this encounter plays out is dependent on how comfortable the players are with role playing - it can be done almost all with skill checks, or you can talk it out. We landed somewhere in the middle - a great intimidate roll made the goblin spill his guts - but I still got a chance to to use my goblin accent, to everyone's amusement.
With their whereabouts in hand, its time to get to the rescue! The dungeon itself is well-designed, if unremarkable. I really like the idea of rescuing the civilians though - they are spread throughout the lair, and it provides a great break between "Open the door, kill the goblins, loot their corpse, repeat" that so many dungeon crawls can descend into. Each hostage has their own personality and bit of information to provide.
One notable encounter was the ettercaps. With their webs, they managed to block the entrance to their lair, immobilizing the defenders along the way. This was the first chance of dropping that the players experienced so far, and it should set the mood for the rest of the dungeon. After a solid seven hour session, the PCs had cleared out the first level of the dungeon, and the players were ready to call it a night. I had a great time running this one, and I can't wait until they move on to the second floor, where I get to introduce the big bad behind the attack Sinruth. I've made some changes to hopefully make the showdown more exciting, so stay tuned!
Here are the maps I created for our session - if you would like to use a version with different grid layout, just ask, I'd be happy to oblige!
 |
| Antler and Thistle Tavern |
 |
| City Block |
 |
| Rivenroar Level 1 |
The Raider's Hideout
My group has been doing a lot of life-or-death questing for the last few months, so I decided it would be a nice break to run a fun, one-off adventure to break the pace. My players had reacted strongly to Douven Stahl, the NPC they rescued way back in Keep on the Shadowfell, so I decided to flesh him out a bit and center this adventure around him. His accent is something like a drunk Walter Cronkite, and I love portraying his rambling monologues.
I've always enjoyed the flavor of alchemy in the Forgotten Realms setting, unfortunately in 4e its power level makes alchemical items all but useless past early levels. Our friend Douven has entered himself in the Waterdeep Alchemical Societies annual Fireworks Competition, but he needs our party's help. While they are sitting down for tea with his wife, he manages to blow a hole in the roof of his workshop. It seems his propellant isn't quite as stable as he would hope. Luckily, he just so happens to know the location of a tomb that a famous Gnome alchemist occasionally used as a workshop. Contained within are some formulas and components that can be 'liberated' and will hopefully help him wow the crowds. He'd recover them himself, but of course, recently Gnolls have been using the tomb as a base to send out raids on travelers in the area. The Gnoll threat has been increasing of late - the PCs cleared out a nest of them for Daggerdale last week, and they've been encountering some of their raiding parties as random encounters.
The tomb itself is based on the level 4 chapter in Dungeon Delves, a great Wizards book for DMs who want balanced, quick combat encounters that are ready to drop-in to existing campaigns at the last minute. They are mostly combat-oriented, so they let players flex their tactical muscles and get a feel for new powers or items. Anyways, I decided to spice the stock delve up a bit with a few traps and extra rooms. To let them take a breath from hack-and-slash, there's an old standard, the chess room. The magic of the board forces any character that steps onto a square to only move in the manner of the corresponding chess piece. By sitting in either throne, a player sees other characters as chess pieces, and can psychically compel them to perform legal moves. The challenge here is provided by pre-loading some pieces (I used Stone Golems for stats) in a puzzle. Move into any of their threatened squares, and you get a nasty melee attack. Another addition I made was a light-sensitive trap. As players descend into this dark room, they soon see this (simple) riddle engraved on the wall: "The less you have of it, the more you see". I whispered this to whichever player decided to search first, but before the party can figure it out (shadows or darkness), ghosts start materializing around them. After 1 round, I also spawned a Trap Haunt for their fun dominate ability, it provides a fun change-up from 'beat on the monster' - now they have to deal with an ally. Of course these ghosts are driven by the light that the PCs brought with them, and if they continue after a few rounds of combat, I allow an insight check to determine this. The next room is something right out of an action movie - a rickety rope bridge over a lava pit. A trio of ranged homunculi (homunculuses?) pepper the characters with bolts as they cross the lethal chasm. This gives an opportunity for some ranged combat and acrobatics checks to avoid falling in. The last encounter in this Tomb is a straight melee attack-fest. A Gnoll Demonic Scourge leads three of his companions, but just when the PCs think nothing is new - BAM, out pops a Grell from the well in the center of the room! Floating brains with tentacles provides plenty of nightmare-fuel, and its grab attack manages to keep characters wary of getting too close.
After this, the only thing left to do here is loot the Gnome's workshop. I had a great time creating all kinds of esoteric books and potions for the party to shift through. Eventually, they discover the formulas and supplies they came for, and via a handy teleportation circle, find their way back to the entrance. In addition to a handful of nice items, the players also find a mysterious letter in the possession of the Gnolls. Despite some trivial misdirection, its relatively obvious that this letter discusses the Gnolls selling slaves to a 'Chief Krand of the Bloodreavers.'
This is the second note that the PCs have found that will lead them to Thunderspire Labyrinth, the set of adventures that I plan to run next. Interspersed with the seriousness of stopping evil wizards and slave-trading Hobgoblins, I plan on mixing in the ongoing tale of Douven and his quest to create award-winning fireworks.
I've attached the maps that I created for this adventure, if anyone is interested, I have versions with grids available for battlemaps.
I've always enjoyed the flavor of alchemy in the Forgotten Realms setting, unfortunately in 4e its power level makes alchemical items all but useless past early levels. Our friend Douven has entered himself in the Waterdeep Alchemical Societies annual Fireworks Competition, but he needs our party's help. While they are sitting down for tea with his wife, he manages to blow a hole in the roof of his workshop. It seems his propellant isn't quite as stable as he would hope. Luckily, he just so happens to know the location of a tomb that a famous Gnome alchemist occasionally used as a workshop. Contained within are some formulas and components that can be 'liberated' and will hopefully help him wow the crowds. He'd recover them himself, but of course, recently Gnolls have been using the tomb as a base to send out raids on travelers in the area. The Gnoll threat has been increasing of late - the PCs cleared out a nest of them for Daggerdale last week, and they've been encountering some of their raiding parties as random encounters.
The tomb itself is based on the level 4 chapter in Dungeon Delves, a great Wizards book for DMs who want balanced, quick combat encounters that are ready to drop-in to existing campaigns at the last minute. They are mostly combat-oriented, so they let players flex their tactical muscles and get a feel for new powers or items. Anyways, I decided to spice the stock delve up a bit with a few traps and extra rooms. To let them take a breath from hack-and-slash, there's an old standard, the chess room. The magic of the board forces any character that steps onto a square to only move in the manner of the corresponding chess piece. By sitting in either throne, a player sees other characters as chess pieces, and can psychically compel them to perform legal moves. The challenge here is provided by pre-loading some pieces (I used Stone Golems for stats) in a puzzle. Move into any of their threatened squares, and you get a nasty melee attack. Another addition I made was a light-sensitive trap. As players descend into this dark room, they soon see this (simple) riddle engraved on the wall: "The less you have of it, the more you see". I whispered this to whichever player decided to search first, but before the party can figure it out (shadows or darkness), ghosts start materializing around them. After 1 round, I also spawned a Trap Haunt for their fun dominate ability, it provides a fun change-up from 'beat on the monster' - now they have to deal with an ally. Of course these ghosts are driven by the light that the PCs brought with them, and if they continue after a few rounds of combat, I allow an insight check to determine this. The next room is something right out of an action movie - a rickety rope bridge over a lava pit. A trio of ranged homunculi (homunculuses?) pepper the characters with bolts as they cross the lethal chasm. This gives an opportunity for some ranged combat and acrobatics checks to avoid falling in. The last encounter in this Tomb is a straight melee attack-fest. A Gnoll Demonic Scourge leads three of his companions, but just when the PCs think nothing is new - BAM, out pops a Grell from the well in the center of the room! Floating brains with tentacles provides plenty of nightmare-fuel, and its grab attack manages to keep characters wary of getting too close.
After this, the only thing left to do here is loot the Gnome's workshop. I had a great time creating all kinds of esoteric books and potions for the party to shift through. Eventually, they discover the formulas and supplies they came for, and via a handy teleportation circle, find their way back to the entrance. In addition to a handful of nice items, the players also find a mysterious letter in the possession of the Gnolls. Despite some trivial misdirection, its relatively obvious that this letter discusses the Gnolls selling slaves to a 'Chief Krand of the Bloodreavers.'
This is the second note that the PCs have found that will lead them to Thunderspire Labyrinth, the set of adventures that I plan to run next. Interspersed with the seriousness of stopping evil wizards and slave-trading Hobgoblins, I plan on mixing in the ongoing tale of Douven and his quest to create award-winning fireworks.
I've attached the maps that I created for this adventure, if anyone is interested, I have versions with grids available for battlemaps.
 |
| Douven's Home and Workshop |
 |
| Level 1 of the Lair |
 |
| Level 2 of the Lair |
 |
| A flyer advertising the Fireworks Competition |
 |
| The mysterious Slavers' note |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)