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Agrikk posted:Anyone have recommendations for narrative descriptions of battles being fought between large armies (100,000+ per side) in which spell-users are involved? What is the setting for the battle? Meeting on a field? Castle siege? If they're not directly involved is there something they'll be doing tangentially that would be affected or they would have an effect on?
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Jan 24, 2024 01:19
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M A L A Z A N seriously it's far from flawless but what it does well it absolutely crushes, and that's like #1 on that list. Read the first couple of chapters of gardens of the moon, I think there's a huge battle in there.
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Jan 24, 2024 01:25
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Wizards as modern era (Napoleon+) artillery.
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Jan 24, 2024 02:53
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https://malazan.fandom.com/wiki/Siege_of_Pale this is the battle I was referencing
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Jan 24, 2024 02:58
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Agrikk posted:Anyone have recommendations for narrative descriptions of battles being fought between large armies (100,000+ per side) in which spell-users are involved? Some ideas just to get you thinking and hammer down some specifics: How high level are the armies? Is this like DnD where the majority of people are low level, most < 10 and most most < 5? Then most priests are casting minor buffs and minor heals, and most mages are casting direct evocation, summons, buffs, and debuffs on the lines. A good portion of casters are the equivalent of logistics in the modern army--they're healing, teleporting/transporting, creating food and water, sending magical communications, trying to intercept magical communications, and otherwise doing a lot of the *stuff* a modern logistics staff does today. However, every successful large army will also have a core of high level casters. These are the ones who are casting the game changing spells--earthquake to disrupt enemy fortifications, weather changing spells to disrupt or confuse maneuvers, high level summons or evocations to punch holes through lines, and raises/resurrections of slain officers. Maybe these are the PCs. Or the PCs' targets. Perhaps the battle is partly a battle of wills between the major casters, where if either broke through the others' fortifications the army would be annihilated. And it's the PCs' job to either make the breach or stop the breach. Alternatively, maybe you want to make space for the common non-magical soldier to shine, or maybe the PCs don't want to be involved with magic. Then perhaps the majority of casters on both sides are being used to counter the others. Perhaps most of the casters are being used off the main line either to maintain ritual shields or provide intermittent artillery. Think Witcher 3 Kaer Morhen where Triss is casting some fireball artillery and Yen is maintaining a shield, but there's plenty of room for the fighters to actually do fighting.
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Jan 24, 2024 03:24
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Nephzinho posted:What is the setting for the battle? Meeting on a field? Castle siege? If they're not directly involved is there something they'll be doing tangentially that would be affected or they would have an effect on? This is a high level campaign in which the PCs are currently level 10 but hit over 30 when things wrap up. So everything in this campaign will eventually have the volume cranked up to eleven. This is going to be total war spanning the entire globe but the bulk of the population is concentrated in developed City-States. The bad guys are the winter elves, sorta these demons from beyond reality, who are trying to slaughter the entire human race. They are doing this because, like in the Matrix, the energy from humans powers a giant prison in which one of the Old Ones is kept. The problem is that humans have forgotten this fact but the winter elves have not. The prison is a part of the Prime Material plane that was pinched off from the rest of the plane and this bubble of reality was flung into a (previously thought to be) abandoned plane of the abyss, but it turned out to be inhabited and the inhabitants are pissed that this thing is here. This bubble contains one sun, one planet and (originally) two moons. So the war to be joined isn't a war of conquest or any kind of goal in the classic sense. War is literally the point whose end game is the slaughtering of enough humans so that the prison is weakened enough that the demons can destroy the second moon and release the old one, destroying this pocket universe in the process. The PCs are getting a sense that all is not right in the world. They have a sense that this...reality... is a closed system: every death of a human involves a battle in the Upside Down -esque spirit world in which the human spirit and the winter elf assailant are fighting for the "slot" that allows a new baby to be born. When a human wins, a baby is born and the cycle of life continues. If a winter elf appears, a new demon is released into the world and the total possible global population decreases by one. Every death is a potential swing vote in the depowering of the prison. I'll be throwing them into a position where they'll need to stop the fighting, because every death is one step closer to the liberation of whatever is in the prison. Alternately, they need to teach the spirits in the Upside Down how to fight better in order to win the spirit battle in the upside down so babies can be born instead of winter elves and boost the global population of humans up past the critical point.
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Jan 24, 2024 04:38
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Sorry for the double post. I wanted to get my thoughts out before I responded.Cantorsdust posted:Some ideas just to get you thinking and hammer down some specifics: Dameius posted:Wizards as modern era (Napoleon+) artillery. This is what I am thinking in terms of the pyramid distribution of power, only the humans are more plentiful but the demos are more powerful. Sorta like something from the epic battle simulator. sebmojo posted:https://malazan.fandom.com/wiki/Siege_of_Pale this is the battle I was referencing sebmojo posted:M A L A Z A N The picture on the wiki is pretty badass. Is this a single book or is it part of a series?
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Jan 24, 2024 04:46
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Six gigantic books.
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Jan 24, 2024 05:04
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Agrikk posted:I'll be throwing them into a position where they'll need to stop the fighting, because every death is one step closer to the liberation of whatever is in the prison. Alternately, they need to teach the spirits in the Upside Down how to fight better in order to win the spirit battle in the upside down so babies can be born instead of winter elves and boost the global population of humans up past the critical point. Okay, make it like Eragon, as much as I dislike the book. Powerful casters can draw on the life force of soldiers to power their own spells. Common soldiers are useful for 1) killing other common soldiers and 2) dying so that casters may power mighty spells. The armies are important only for powering spells and denying opponents power to their spells. Human armies can win battles, but only at the cost of weakening themselves long term. Different approaches that can preserve life let the PCs change the game.
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Jan 24, 2024 05:32
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Agrikk posted:This is a high level campaign in which the PCs are currently level 10 but hit over 30 when things wrap up. So everything in this campaign will eventually have the volume cranked up to eleven. I guess the logical point of comparison would be modern (i.e. 19th and 20th) century warfare. A light Civil War-era cannon like the Napoleon gun has a range of about 1500 meters, and a heavier Parrott gun is about three times that, at let's say 4500 meters. A fireball* in 3.5, for example, has a range of "only" 400' + 40'/CL, so generously let's call it 1000 feet or 300 meters, a lot less than even a relatively light and simple cannon. Maybe you could double or even quadruple it with metamagic and build choices, but it still doesn't outrange an old-timey ACW cannon. And that's pretty much the upper bound for the range of a "typical" spell in any of the last three editions - most spells are an order of magnitude shorter in range. A fireball might rip a 40-foot hole in a line of infantry, but against infantry marching in a long, thin line, it might still take out 8 (or 10, for simplicity) troops, if they each occupy a five-foot square, a standard D&D assumption and not even horrifically unreasonable by real-world standards. The end result, I guess, is a "normal" pre-modern war (whatever that means) where both sides have a modest but limited supply of frag grenades, since the average soldier is fighting with a spear and shield while there are wizards firing around dropping fireballs from relatively close range. But that's just looking at player-facing resources, when it'll probably be better and more satisfying for NPCs to do whatever feels "right" instead of being tied to rules that were only ever really meant for players. Instead, here's my thoughts: Magic is powerful, but still relatively limited in range; a wizard that's directly influencing a battle is never really totally safe from a lucky arrow. Defensive wards may exist, but where one arrow fails, ten might succeed, so magic users are almost never totally safe. The one exception to the rule of proximity is buffing spells; field enchanters can put (temporary) defensive and offensive wards on soldiers miles away from the frontlines, and stay safely in the rear, while the troops carry the magic to battle, either as large formations with basic protection, or small and potent strike forces. Of course, no one is invincible, or marching to war without armor, but it's enough magical protection that a wizard can't min-max by and wipe out an army by dealing 1 fire damage to a 5-mile radius or something dumb like that; it keeps everyone "honest." Enchantment is maybe not the most efficient way of turning magical power into dead enemies, but it is the safest, since it doesn't risk valuable mages, and the troops feel a lot better for it. Humanoids are weak but numerous and facing off against a powerful and elite force of demonic elves, so I guess this could be their trademark strategy? It definitely feels "right" that humans fight by combining their individually-weak strength, while aristocratic elves are a lot less cooperative. Armies need the protection of mages, and mages need the protection of armies, so I think either side would still try to concentrate force. Scouting is as important as ever, and probably even easier (Magical signal flares? Scrolls of instant messaging?), so armies will deploy a screen of scouts and skirmishers, not unlike reality, in order to find the enemy and notify the main force. Cavalry are still useful (horses are faster than walking!) and will probably receive heavy-duty magical enhancement to perform their role as cavalry, because "moving around quickly" is never not going to have a use; consider that we live in a reality where unarmored cavalry can charge machine guns and win, sometimes. So mages will be busy fighting mages and it will be up to the soldiers to fight the enemy soldiers; if one side has a significant advantage in magical firepower, the other side will probably know it through their scouts and refuse the battle, giving ground if necessary. Like in real life, battles will typically happen only when both sides think they have a fair shot of winning; if one side is much stronger, the other will just try their best to leave. Because mages protect soldiers and soldiers protect mages, the mages are typically embedded into the soldiers' formations; if one side of the battle collapses, the other should typically follow in short order. You could try to break the line by concentrating magical force at one point, but it's a high risk, high rewards strategy, since it's a big commitment of valuable resources. Cavalry will perform their traditional role of hammering at a weak flank and collapsing the enemy formation; if they can force past a mage's personal guard and take their head, their attached infantry formation will probably crumple in short order. Mounted mage-knights are doubly dangerous, since they can apply force to a line where it's least expected, although it carries obvious risks as well. A losing army can get decisively routed and wiped out, but it's not unrealistic by historical standards (i.e. Cannae); retreat in good order is never easy but not impossible, either, if a squad can find a mage and a mage can find a squad. I use "magical force" a lot as a shorthand, but I think this is one place to really invest your descriptive words. I'd guess there are tendrils of shadow and lances of ice trying to break through sun-colored shields of light, but you could probably think of something better. In practice I'd expect the combat to look "normal" in the sense of being settled by swords against swords, but every now and then a platoon of 10 or 20 guys gets turned into ice statues, or desiccated into sand, or strangled by their own shadows, or something wacky; from the other end maybe the ice demon elves are stabbed by razor-sharp vegetation, or zapped by holy laser, or induced to spontaneously combust. It also sets the stage for a plucky band of adventurers to turn the tide of a desperate battle by sneaking past the enemy scouts, fighting through their reserves, and making a climactic showdown against the enemy's strongest mage and their immediate bodyguard. Anyways, the one trope I hate the most is dense formations of infantry getting helplessly wiped out by a single fireball, so as long as people have at least as much sense of self-preservation as real-life examples and aren't acting in actively-suicidal ways, I think it'll be fine. I dunno really, I'm just a rambler having a ramble. *For fun, I compared Fireballs in 3.5, 4e, and 5e, and 3.5 has the longest-reaching one, 4e has the shortest, smallest, and weakest one, and 5e is worse-written than both by a lot because the save type and DC, the effect radius, and even the damage are all hidden inside the descriptive text, instead of being prominently printed at the top of the block. Progress, everyone!
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Jan 24, 2024 08:02
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Thanks for the ideas, folks!Nephzinho posted:If they're low level you can always give them a middle manager/Sheriff of Nottingham to have a minor victory over that can represent the flipover into "wait there's more stuff going on here" too when they're ransacking the office. I'm actually already doing the former thing! The first arc at very low levels will be about fighting back against a local lieutenant who's just a power-drunk shithead with no major plot going on, so I can introduce stuff gradually. Not doing the latter though - I've used that technique in the past and while I appreciate it works for some people, it's not for me. I end up writing myself into a corner and then it's stressful to tie everything together. Doesn't help that some of my players are incredibly fastidious note-takers who approach the plot like a detective on the case - which is fantastic engagement to have, but it means it's hard to get away with bullshitting my way through things. Gotta know what it is I'm foreshadowing. Signal posted:Given his goals and the setting, perhaps he's trying to reactivate a weapon from the Last War? Could be a means of controlling warforged,a powerful spell, or perhaps he's trying to restart a "supersoldier"program? These were my first thoughts as well, but I've used the "control over warforged" and "Last War superweapon" plot points in previous games with the same group. A powerful spell is definitely it, I'm just wondering what it could do... and... Whybird posted:There are a ton of ways that someone might want to use magic to give themself an edge as a mundane ruler, the hard part is going to be coming up with something where the ritual is a means to his political ambitions rather than his political ambitions being a means to achieving a ritual. Like, if stage 2 of his plan is to gain ultimate mastery over time and space why does he care about claiming land in stage 3? I think you hit the nail on the head with formulating the problem, and the "supernatural ally" thing gave me a lightbulb moment, thank you! Eberron has Daanvi, the Plane of Order, and with this guy's whole theme being Authoritarianism... I think I'll give him a plan to harness the power of that plane to gain the ability to magically enforce decrees, backed up by a force of extraplanar creatures. It's got clear stakes ("if you fail, BBEG consolidates power and you're up against harder enemies") and it's something that can easily be assigned a mcguffin, some breadcrumbs, fancy set-piece encounters and the possibility of partial success. Also if he's signing a pact with an extraplanar force, when the PCs gently caress that up for him they get a breather as he deals with the fallout, which is another thing I wanted to possibly happen.
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Jan 24, 2024 14:52
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lightrook posted:words This is amazing and I would totally read this book. There seems to be a theme that magic simply replaces war technology with tactics similar to those battles fought around the globe in the 1800s with cavalry charges and lines of (thinly spaced) troops. And the idea of mages being battle space modifiers is pretty cool and gives a PC group plenty of hit-and-run targets that involve localized skirmishes while making an impact to the overall battle. Cheers!
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Jan 24, 2024 18:21
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Guildencrantz posted:I need help coming up with a good actionable villainous scheme. He's bringing back Something from the Mournlands. Could be a weapon, could be a magical artifact, could be a powerful creature. Whatever it is will disrupt the balance of power in the region.
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Jan 24, 2024 18:44
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lightrook posted:Cool as hell stuff EDIT: Or take it the opposite direction, and costume a squad of hardbitten veterans as the tackiest mages imaginable. Taxidermied raven on the shoulder, rhinestone bucklers, a bandolier of wands, everyone carrying a suspiciously fancy walking stick. There's a lot of fun imagery in there. Squidster fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Jan 24, 2024 |
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Jan 24, 2024 18:51
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Guildencrantz posted:I need help coming up with a good actionable villainous scheme. Do they have a base? A home that they're from or an NPC that they like to head back to? Burn it down. Create a "captain of the watch" to be like a BBEG right-hand-person and have that person be the immediate antagonist that the PCs go after. If your players are anything like mine, burning down their favorite inn, or killing the cow that was a throwaway description that one time that's now become "Bessie" to them and gets sugar treats every time they walk by, will send them on a murderous rampage that will be the envy of murderhobos everywhere Make the captain of the watch the guy who was carrying out the aristocrats orders. Make the captain report to a marshal. And the marshal roll up to a general. And the general has the ear of the aristocrat. That way the PCs can roll up the chain, murdering all the people along the way, until they are finally high enough level for that BBEG fight that everyone knows is coming.
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Jan 24, 2024 19:22
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Squidster posted:EDIT: Or take it the opposite direction, and costume a squad of hardbitten veterans as the tackiest mages imaginable. Taxidermied raven on the shoulder, rhinestone bucklers, a bandolier of wands, everyone carrying a suspiciously fancy walking stick. There's a lot of fun imagery in there. Team, your next mission is to be the decoys for our mage operation. We need you to put on these robes and wizard hats and run around the battlefield drawing fire. I know, I know, not exactly a fun or safe mission. But, I pulled some strings and managed to get you *these*. Some of the highest level wands and staves we had at the HQ. Anything left over I have to give back afterwards, so make sure these get *used*. Understand?
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Jan 24, 2024 19:25
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Cantorsdust posted:Team, your next mission is to be the decoys for our mage operation. We need you to put on these robes and wizard hats and run around the battlefield drawing fire. 
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Jan 24, 2024 20:41
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Agrikk posted:Anyone have recommendations for narrative descriptions of battles being fought between large armies (100,000+ per side) in which spell-users are involved? The Practical Guide to Evil absolutely revels in these, particularly in book 5 onwards. The biggest takeaway is that magic is not a substitute for conventional arms, because magic is less intuitive than swinging a pointy stick. The Dread Empire uses giant groups of mates who can only throw fireballs because it's the easiest offensive magic to learn, which they use alongside goblin sappers and engineers. Guildencrantz posted:Eberron The Aurum is Khorvaire's premier secret society for guys just like this. Maybe he's saving the economic and political capital to become a member? Captain Walker fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Jan 24, 2024 |
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Jan 24, 2024 22:18
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Guildencrantz posted:I think you hit the nail on the head with formulating the problem, and the "supernatural ally" thing gave me a lightbulb moment, thank you! Eberron has Daanvi, the Plane of Order, and with this guy's whole theme being Authoritarianism... I think I'll give him a plan to harness the power of that plane to gain the ability to magically enforce decrees, backed up by a force of extraplanar creatures. It's got clear stakes ("if you fail, BBEG consolidates power and you're up against harder enemies") and it's something that can easily be assigned a mcguffin, some breadcrumbs, fancy set-piece encounters and the possibility of partial success. Also if he's signing a pact with an extraplanar force, when the PCs gently caress that up for him they get a breather as he deals with the fallout, which is another thing I wanted to possibly happen. Taking this to its logical conclusion gets you something like Kyros from the Tyranny PCRPG, using a magically empowered justice system to enact magical edicts that change the world drastically but are still only a means to an end toward conquest. You could have fun with the lawful evil flavoring in that space - nemeses who are so focused on wielding the law that they don't care that they're doing evil things in the name of order is an underexplored part of the alignment chart.
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Jan 25, 2024 06:25
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sebmojo posted:Six gigantic books. The main series is 10 gigantic books. I hope you're not missing any because the ending is phenomenal. To add to the discussion. In the Malazan world the main Malazan force manages to conquer a pretty sizable amount of land because they do not rely on magic in a high magic world, instead they have proprietary access to traditional explosives. The way they tend to use magic is they place a mage or two in a squad of about 10 soldiers. And they use their magic really close to their chest. You find out in the opening of the first book what happens when magic is fully unleashed, and its not pretty for anyone. The mages basically become a beacon in the battle for the enemy to send their own nukes at, and it devastates everyone and every thing around them. So they normally play it close and quiet only using magic when its necessary in order to keep their mages, and their soldiers alive.
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Jan 25, 2024 09:59
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Huckabee Sting posted:The main series is 10 gigantic books. I hope you're not missing any because the ending is phenomenal. I read the first six then ran out of puff
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Jan 25, 2024 10:03
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Ten books? The last time I invested time to read a series with thst kind of heft was “wheel of time” by Robert Jordan and JRRM. The GoT poo poo never finished because it was a (poo poo) TV show instead, and after making me wait twenty years for the goddamn ending of his over indulgent crap Robert Jordan loving died before finishing his magnum opus. So I ask: killer battle scenes aside, is the story worth it? Is the series finished? Because I’m never again picking up a series until the author completes it. I know, I know. Book Barn is thataways.
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Jan 25, 2024 16:27
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Agrikk posted:after making me wait twenty years for the goddamn ending of his over indulgent crap Robert Jordan loving died before finishing his magnum opus. Yeah but the ending we got actually closed poo poo out and was probably better than the entire series leading up to it. I always tell people: if you haven’t read WoT, don’t bother. Don’t. Just stay away. But if you already slogged through most of it and fell off at like 70%+, absolutely finish it. You’ve paid the price of endless character non-development and tugging of braids and folding of arms under breasts, you might as well get the prize of some actual advancement and satisfying closure. Not a good series, great ending. The series got what it needed.
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Jan 25, 2024 16:33
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Agrikk posted:Ten books? Check out the Legend of the Galactic Heroes novel series, it's in a sci-fi space opera setting but there are so many great characters to steal, and the character arcs of the two main protagonists are rife with great examples of how to build up and scale up a plot as a character goes from zero to hero. It's basically late 1800s imperial Germany hubris vs. democratic American corruption, the Space Opera Or just watch the original anime adaptation 
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Jan 25, 2024 17:00
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Bad Munki posted:Yeah but the ending we got actually closed poo poo out and was probably better than the entire series leading up to it. Don't forget the one page entirely about the lace pattern on a dress. You are spot on with this assessment. People are not missing anything by not reading this book, and if they want to read the book, watch the series instead. It wonky and doesn't hold to 100% to the plot, but drat if it doesn't make a better job of fleshing out the characters than the book ever did. ("Nynaeve tugs her braid" for the thousandth time). But yeah, Brandon Sanderson did a great job of tying off all the loose ends, although I was pissed that he took three books to do it. When they are both dead, I hope GRRM and Robert Jordan get to spend eternity locked in a room together a la Huis Clos in which George gets to read Robert endless rapey stabby passages and Robert gets to read George endless passages on lace patterns/hairstyles/bosoms/tsks of irritation. Okay enough of the derail. I'll give these series a try.
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Jan 25, 2024 18:55
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Agrikk posted:When they are both dead, I hope GRRM and Robert Jordan get to spend eternity locked in a room together a la Huis Clos in which George gets to read Robert endless rapey stabby passages and Robert gets to read George endless passages on lace patterns/hairstyles/bosoms/tsks of irritation. Let's add Patrick Rothfuss to this scene, he's part of this cadre of never releasing the final part of a series too.
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Jan 25, 2024 19:29
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Agrikk posted:Ten books? It's absolutely finished, and apparently the ending is pretty good. I wouldn't call it essential, but what it does it does very well. Basically its conception of history and ultra epic sweep is unmatched. There's lots of cool ideas. However the characters are about 60% interchangeable, and it doesn't hold your hand as it goes. People say the first book isn't as good and you should wait until the second to decide if you like it, but honestly you'd probably get a fair idea from the first, it just gets a bit more polished.
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Jan 25, 2024 19:31
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Agrikk posted:Ten books? Honestly the first book is the one that best fits my personal tastes. The ones after that get a little bit too into the "dark fantasy" genre. Wish I had realized that before getting too far along to stop. That being said reading book one and then reading just the "Chain of Dogs" parts of book 2 will give you all the back and forth magic you need. Its one of the few parts where magic supremacy goes back and forth based on what external sources the combatants can draw on. Rather than magic and monsters cancelling each other out. Or a blowout on territory the mages don't care about. Cutting out the Kalam, Fiddler and co, Icarium and Mappo, Felsin/Baudin/Heboric parts won't do the book or the series any favors. But it will cut the book down to a reasonable size for consulting.
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Jan 25, 2024 22:14
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Mederlock posted:Check out the Legend of the Galactic Heroes novel series, it's in a sci-fi space opera setting but there are so many great characters to steal, and the character arcs of the two main protagonists are rife with great examples of how to build up and scale up a plot as a character goes from zero to hero. It's basically late 1800s imperial Germany hubris vs. democratic American corruption, the Space Opera I haven't read the books but Legend of Galactic Heroes is one of the best sci-fi epics I've ever seen and is a really good show (and despite the style doesn't fall into typical anime tropes, it could be live action and you'd have no idea it was an anime at any point). Lots of good fodder for interesting political and battle situations that put the characters in moral dilemmas.
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Jan 26, 2024 01:11
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I'm building a crazy physics fight in an orb chamber on a space hulk where there are a bunch of alien orbs about two meters in diameter and gravity keeps changing. The idea is to pinball the players and orks around, providing a unique and chaotic combat encounter that becomes more about surviving the craziness than successfully fighting. I'd like to telegraph the gravity changes in a way that isn't too obvious but provides a mechanic where if players can figure it out they can use the environment to defeat their opponents. Any ideas for a way to run this?
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Feb 2, 2024 03:29
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What level of obvious are you thinking? Whatever it is you should probably move it up a notch lest they do the equivalent of getting stuck at an unlocked door.
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Feb 2, 2024 03:54
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The idea that comes to me is, they can see smaller objects shivering and start moving towards the new gravity source
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Feb 2, 2024 05:07
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Can the alien orbs be lifeforms? You know how they say animals can sense disasters before we do? What if these were gas-filled alien critters of some sort, and they could sense the gravity changes just before they happen--they start expelling gas to turn themselves around so their soft bits won't hit the wall when the change comes?
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Feb 2, 2024 05:07
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Mechanically, I'd have each orb in the room correspond to a specific direction. Have it so the orb that is going to effect gravity begin to flash the round before it changes. Each orb has a alien rune on it. Roll a dice for the number of orbs to determine which one it changes to. For extra chaos put "orbs" in the turn order a couple of times. On each 'orb' turn, gravity shifts, you roll the orb dice to determine which orb starts flashing. (if your system is using turns). The players can logic their way through the directional changes, find a science (or found footage) log where the runes are explained, and/or allow them to roll a knowledge check of some kind to understand the runes. You can also foreshadow this by having light debris in the spacehulk constantly shifting around like they are trapped in underwater currents. The closer to the orb chamber the bigger the effect.
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Feb 2, 2024 05:26
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I’m prepping for a new game with the same players as just finished my five year campaign. This is the teaser I sent and they all immediately responded saying yes please and can they start at level five? Turns out they’d already been discussing it which was nice.D&D invitation posted:Throughout the land there is rejoicing. Benevolent Meshhor, wise and beautiful queen of the sea, spreads Her grace and majesty across the realms of the dead and all souls are uplifted to know that at the end of their earthly trials, it will be Her tides that guide them to their ultimate fate. But all is not well! Across the land former places of worship, dedicated to the disgraced god Morr, fall to ruin, local worshippers chased out by dark spirits and worse. For the first year of our big campaign we had a solid cast of NPCs which we all really enjoyed and never really recaptured in later parts, and I’m hoping to recreate that here. I fancy having them level up as they “clear” each part of the church - graveyard sorted, level up, priests quarters cleared out, level up, etc, and tracking days spent in the town quite closely. In the background I will be rolling to have NPCs disappearing one by one on a nightly basis, apparently falling victim to something living in the church tower. So here’s my question - it’s obviously a vampire. What else could it be?
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Feb 3, 2024 20:53
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I can think of any number of legends, myths, and other treasures that would lead someone to want to scare everyone away with the threat of vampires. But my favorite answer is some dork pretending to be a vampire with magic items and sheer gothness. 'How can I still be hungry? I've had so much blood!"
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Feb 3, 2024 21:02
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Sanford posted:I’m prepping for a new game with the same players as just finished my five year campaign. This is the teaser I sent and they all immediately responded saying yes please and can they start at level five? Turns out they’d already been discussing it which was nice. A Lich if you want to keep with the undead theme. I'm not saying the answer is Aliens. But its aliens. I think the official DND term is Kython? But some sort of freaky creature is portalling into the top of the church tower on a regular basis. And some of its strange spawn knows Hold Portal... and that vampires scare humans. edit: Or the whole church tower is just the nose cone of a big underground spaceship. If you need a source of pale and bloodless NPCs the disappearances and such have led to unharvested gourds in the fields. They have gained a thirst for blood, and some ability to move about. habituallyred fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Feb 3, 2024 |
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Feb 3, 2024 21:22
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Clodhaven's probably has to be on water of some sort, because the only other option is to be at the intersection of two major trading routes. So it's on a bay that's occasionally used by shipping but is still sort of sleepy. Turns out the problem is an aboleth, who is appropriately sized (in terms of CR/HP/damage) for the party when they encounter it. And it has an adventuring party (at least one) under its control. The controlled rogue, wizard, sorcerer, and cleric are behind the spooky effects while the high-STR unarmed-specced barbarian basically beats people unconscious and brings them to their watery master to be controlled. But the aboleth is no fool; it knows it can't go too far or too fast in taking over the town, so it's going to cautiously execute the three (or however many) major steps of its vile plan and then burn the entire place down to cover its tracks. Maybe the penultimate adventure bloc is appropriately-leveled sahuagin raid the town, thinking the landdwellers are behind their recent losses of people and goods, only to team up with the party and remaining militia in the final assault on the aboleth's lair to end this phase of adventuring.
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Feb 3, 2024 22:41
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Sanford posted:I’m prepping for a new game with the same players as just finished my five year campaign. This is the teaser I sent and they all immediately responded saying yes please and can they start at level five? Turns out they’d already been discussing it which was nice. The disease, unfortunately, eventually makes those afflicted with it invisible, and furthermore draws them to caves beneath the church where the wizards study/modification apparatus is before they eventually fall into a form of stasis. The Wizard himself is infected, but managed to partially stave off the stasis. He cannot move his body, but his mind is active and he can magically move things telekinetically. The players must assist the wizard in creating a cure for this disease using magically active ingredients. Probably including killing a few local beasts. In return the wizard will depart the church.
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Feb 4, 2024 00:10
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| # ? Jun 9, 2024 17:42 |
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It’s really weird. In person having someone tell me about their dnd campaign and setting is something that absolutely does not hold my interest. Reading other people’s idea and such is something I could do all day. It’s weird.
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Feb 4, 2024 00:57
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