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I'm looking for a little advice on the Strahd campaign I'm running. Vallaki story element spoilers The players have arrived in Vallaki with Ismarck and Ireena in tow. The party has a paladin of lathander and was kind to the priest of the town, so they learned of the missing bones. A short investigation and a little intimidation later, they discovered the culprit and notified the guards. The guards led Henrik away in chains and the Baron invited them to dinner the following night as a thanks. Now, the book really just drops this element, because my first thought is "what happens to Henrik"? So what I'm thinking is Izek takes to torturing Henrik overnight, and learns it was Milijov who stole the bones initially and arrests him. So while the PC's are at dinner, they'll be able to hear the moans of both npc's, with the baron completely casual about it. Maybe adding in there will be a public flogging of both at the Festival of the Blazing Sun. Is that over the top? The other factor is since they returned the bones, the church is hallowed ground again. The party left Ireena in the church and if Izek goes to arrest Milijov while he's in the church, I can see her and Ismarck trying to stop him (btw I'm not doing the gross Izek wants to gently caress Ireena bit in the book, he's just an rear end in a top hat who works for the Baron) and from there her and Ismarck being banished, thus putting them in danger again. And if the players don't find out about it, that might be when Strahd attacks, leaving Ismarck to die and taking Ireena away. Oh yeah, and they also left the vampire spawn in the coffin makers house. The two guards who were posted there might be dead in the morning. So I'm not sure how to play it. Any advice is welcome.
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Dec 22, 2018 21:01
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Epi Lepi posted:Personally I don't like the idea of Strahd taking Ireena away with little to no chance of the party being able to interfere. I also don't like it happening so soon after the PCs have arrived cause Vallaki has a lot of poo poo going on and it sounds like they just arrived. Unless you want to just dump the other plotlines running around you probably don't want them itching to leave right away. Yeah, I agree with your first point and decided not to do it. Ireena is going to stay in the church unless something else happens to make that a moot point. The party is really enjoying Vallaki and is looking forward to the dinner with the baron (mentioning it's going to be such a shitshow). I had Wachter invite them to dinner the night after the Baron's and she's definitely going to try and enlist their help. And they totally know there are vampires in the coffin shop. Henrik broke down and revealed everything. We played last night and I decided against having the vampires wake up - instead they'll be waiting for the PC's to attack, and if my group just ignores them, they'll bust out the night of the festival and wreak havoc. But they did go and keep an eye on the outside of the shop for a few hours in the evening - breaking into a nearby house for shelter from a thunderstorm and just barreled into five swarms of rats. Those things are nasty! The next day, my group has decided to go to the Winery to fetch some more wine - they think they can make it back before their dinner appointment. They convinced Rictavio to join them (just for the wagon), and I had Ismarck accompany them as well. Another element I dropped was Rictavio's tiger - this is particular for my group because I know some of them are very sensitive about animals, and it just wouldn't play well. Thanks for the advice.
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Dec 23, 2018 20:22
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Liquid Communism posted:I mean, it's not all that far off what a modern soldier carries, weight wise. A modern infantryman is often hauling 70-100lbs of poo poo into a fight. To be fair, modern infantry also aren’t expected to fight in melee combat on a regular basis.
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Dec 25, 2018 19:20
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Narsham posted:Different games and DMs, different priorities. I mostly dislike Pathfinder monsters because many of them are extremely complex (especially with multiple overlapping systems abstracted in the stat blocks, with feat chains being an especial pain sometimes if you don't rewrite to remind of all the power attack/vital strike type options) and suffer from the 3E standard of having twenty to thirty things they can do but dying within three rounds barring unbalanced effects like Mirror Image. And they die SO QUICKLY. I barely get them to do anything cool before they die.
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Apr 1, 2019 15:48
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dex_sda posted:I'd run it as a darkly humorous thing. Somewhere in the middle, I guess; my players all gravitate to that type of thing Taken as a whole, I think CoS is a strong adventure with some rough edges that need smoothing.
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Apr 30, 2019 17:29
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For Halloween this year I’m going to do the “1st level characters stuck in Castle Ravenloft” one shot I’ve seen suggested. Anybody do this? I’m thinking I’ll have them all wake up in the dungeons and go from there.
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Sep 30, 2019 15:57
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In DnD news, I had my Night in Castle Ravenloft game this past weekend. My entire group was turned into vampire spawn by Strahd. If I run them through the whole campaign at some point, I’ll have these one shot characters be enemies for the new characters.
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Oct 29, 2019 16:38
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Ohthehugemanatee posted:I want to go back six pages into the slapfight and say that I really, really like the idea someone had of starting with a total party wipe, introducing new characters loosely connected to the first and starting a story like that. It's a neat way to set up the stakes, gives out motivation in the form of fear and revenge and lets people power game to their hearts content because holy poo poo that thing is still out there and you just know it's coming back. I feel like the original Temple of Elemental Evil had this exact set up.
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Jan 8, 2020 17:10
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Yeah, whether or not you’re a fan of CR, Mercer is a good guy who’s living the dream of having his home brew setting become an official part of D&D canon. Good for him. Edit - Mercer et al also made sure to include artists in the book that they’ve gotten to know through CR fan art. Any new artists and creations that might not have been looked at otherwise is a really good thing. Lucas Archer fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Jan 13, 2020 |
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Jan 13, 2020 18:38
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Being stir crazy in the house with my partner and we decided to play a one on one campaign. Curse of Strahd. She's playing a halfling druid from the Talenta Plains of Eberron. I know CoS can be a bit of a meat grinder, so I plan on having NPC's regularly team up with her for a short while to achieve their own goals. CoS also has a good easy way for druids to be invested in the future of Barovia. And since she's the only PC, I can have the story focus much more on Strahd's reaction to her (insignificant gnat in the beginning), and make it a bit more personal. Looking forward to starting, probably tonight or tomorrow night. And I'm still itching to play more Dee En Dee. I'd love to be a PC in Tomb of Annihilation or Saltmarsh or in just one of the Yawning Portal adventures.
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Mar 26, 2020 16:11
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Kaal posted:I don't mind the 5e modules being rehashes of the classics at all. I just wish that they'd make sure each story had a beginning, middle, and an end. Too many of the modules throw up their hands at the last act. Encouraging players to diverge is fine, but there really should be a core narrative that the DM can lean on from beginning to end. I feel like they're trying to have their cake and eat it too - combine story driven campaigns with the more free form, dungeon crawls that everybody remembers as absolute classics but have zero narrative power in the module itself.
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Jul 7, 2020 21:49
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The lack of Eberron adventures is distressing. D&D has so many different worlds and universes and planes that I'm sick and tired of everything being set in the Forgotten Realms, even if they have the whole "this can be done ANYWHERE in dnd" except you know, if the adventure is steeped in Forgotten Realms lore so much so it would require a rewrite of everything to make sense. Anyway, I'm currently in the midst of a converted Pathfinder Reign of Winter campaign, just reached level 8, and after we wrap that up, I'll be DMing an Eberron campaign. Even though we won't be there for another year or so, I'm trying to build out an opening adventure. I posted before about my Eberron one-shot, the airship crash in the Mournland, but this will be much more Sharn focused, at least at the beginning. I'm currently building out two adventures for my players to choose from in the beginning - right now I'm working under the assumption they choose the Cliffside Adventurer's Guild as their patron, but the adventures I'm building should be easily transferable to a different type of patron. First possible adventure : escort quest, but with an NPC who can actually help out in combat with buffs and heals but otherwise stays the gently caress back. I also am thinking of having an experienced adventurer tag along as an "observer" and someone who can step in if things get out of hand. If you will indulge me, this is what I have so far: Opening: 1 Zarantyr 998 YK (Mid-Winter) Goal: Acquire Treasure Adventure Villain: Boromar Crime Lieutenant AND Monstrosity Allies: Skilled adventurer, scholar/patron Scholar: Human Male, House Cannith. Cantilion “Cant” d’Cannith. Skilled Adventurer: ??? Introduction: Offered job at adventurer’s guild (?) Climax: PC’s must fight off Boromar Crime Lieutenant and escape with the treasure and patron intact. Intro: PC’s are offered this mission by Clifftop Adventurer’s Guild. Escort a scholar down below to the Fallen district to enter an old family tomb and retrieve necklace of dragonshards. Scholar will pay 50GP to each character up front, and 100GP each when they have returned safely with the item. Encounters: Boromar Checkpoint – In order to get to the Fallen district, the PC’s must travel through the Castellan district, a stronghold of the Boromar Clan. Entering isn’t a problem, but there is a checkpoint set up by the Boromar’s at the entrance to the Fallen district, specifically for adventurer’s who want to explore the ruins. 4 bandits, 1 thug leader. If the PC’s pass through one of the checkpoints, word is sent to a local Boromar Lieutenant who follows the PCs into the ruins at a distance. Raver patrol – On the way through the Fallen district, they come across a group of Ravers, feral humans, 8 tribal warriors. Can be spotted before hand and avoided. Tomb Climax – The tomb is buried under some rubble in graveyard near collapsed church. Once open, 3 rooms. First room is set dressing, with 4 sarcophagi and door leading deeper. Second room is puzzle to proceed, with 6 sarcophagi. Final room is monster room and treasure room. First Room: 2 sarcophagi on either side of 15 foot long hallway that leads to heavy metal door. Requires strength to open. Second Room: 3 sarcophagi on either side and locked door with mechanism on the front. Marked with Cannith emblem. Puzzle to get inside – required Cannith heir? - traps on door and sarcophagi. Third Room: Single sarcophagus on bier, in square room. Hole in lower left where monstrosity has tunneled through and makes its home – skeletons piled up next to hole. 30% chance creature is there. Otherwise comes in when characters collect treasure. After fight, characters come out to find Boromar halfling and flunkies waiting, who demand what PC’s have. Can possibly bluff/talk their way out of it. Boromar leader will flee if any of his crew are killed. Possible follow up there. --- This is designed to be an intro to Sharn, the effects of the Last War on the city, and Dragonmarked Houses. I'm still working on what I want the other to be - possibly something to do with the corrupt City Watch, or maybe tangling with Daask operatives deep in the sewers. That's still up in the air and I have time.
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Feb 11, 2021 18:41
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Splicer posted:*laughs hollowly in Dark Sun* Yeah yeah, I'd also like to see Planescape or Spelljammer as well. Maybe it's less about Eberron and more that it seems the leadership in WotC have no interest in supporting worlds other than Forgotten Realms.
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Feb 12, 2021 00:44
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Dexo posted:https://twitter.com/Wizards_DnD/status/1363896392306065413 I'd bet fake money that it's a sequel to Curse of Strahd, levels 10-20, that cover Strahd and the Dark Lords and taking them out for good or something along those lines. Ugh.
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Feb 22, 2021 18:36
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change my name posted:The Avatar TTRPG is coming out next year and has several books planned years in advance, that might actually make a dent in things (assuming it's good) Avatar or ATLA?
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Feb 23, 2021 16:16
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change my name posted:ATLA: https://www.magpiegames.com/2021/02/03/new-rpg-set-in-world-of-avatar-tla-tlok/ I'll def check that out.
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Feb 23, 2021 16:23
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I've been building a set of adventures for my girlfriend, who wants to do some one-on-one sessions. She's building a ranger and druid, members of the Emerald Enclave, set in Waterdeep. I'm not going to be running the Heist campaign, but I'm pulling heavily from that book for inspiration. I'm also going to pull the Sunless Citadel adventure into the setting and have that be the first big dungeon crawl she's involved in. My initial thought is having one of the apples being sold to a Zhentarim, who brought it back to Waterdeep, before planting it in the outskirts which causes the Twig Blights to start emerging and killing people. Belak was an Emerald Enclave member a decade ago who disappeared after searching for fruit. So the re-emergence of the apple here in Waterdeep causes the EE higher ups to want to send some agents out to find out what happened to him, where the fruit came from, and to bring him back if possible.
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Mar 18, 2021 16:46
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Arivia posted:around waterdeep you've got a lot of places that aren't necessarily druid-related but are about nature and would be interesting/relevant. off the top of my head, there's goldenfields, ardeep forest, and the mere of dead men. Thanks for the resources, I'll look into those. We're doing our first session this weekend, and I have some stuff plotted out for her to encounter, but I want more to be there so she doesn't feel like she's being railroaded one way or the other.
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Mar 18, 2021 17:08
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Azathoth posted:Having just run Sunless Citadel, my only advice would be that the combat encounters at level 1 are kinda rough but become almost too easy once the PCs hit level 2. With smaller numbers, the latter encounters could end up being just right, but those first few encounters could be legit deadly, particularly if they get into the failed dragonpriest's tomb before meeting the kobolds like my party did. Arivia posted:Yeah, definitely drop some hooks leading to Daggerford and Ardeep if you want to expand the playspace a little bit. They're within a day's ride of Waterdeep, but give very different style/scene options. That's great stuff, thanks.
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Mar 18, 2021 17:34
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Lore and backstory is super cool and good if there is meaningful interaction the players can have with it. The group of orcs hating the local village because the local village hired some mercs to drive the orcs out of their home so the village could get at the sweet sweet gold is great backstory because players can and should find that out and then have a moral decision their hands. Girgen Muckswiggler, orc fighter, who was a pacifist before a kraken ate his dog, and made a bargain with Buttshit the Demon to bring his dog back, but his only part in the story is Orc Guard #3 - that's lovely backstory and lore that has no place in a published product. Edit: I have not read Candlekeep Mysteries so I don't know the exact details of what was going on there. HOwever, I have read quite a few other published adventures and they are chock FULL of dumb as rocks backstory bullshit that would never organically come up in playtime and would have no impact on how the PCs go about their business. Rise of the Runelords, I'm looking at you. Lucas Archer fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Mar 22, 2021 |
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Mar 22, 2021 18:57
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Zuul the Cat posted:New 5e setting coming out from some Blizzard Alums. Kickstarter launches on 4/20 (nice). Based on a campaign Metzen was in, in the 80's and 90's. I'm not expecting much other than another generic Euro-fantasy setting. The current state of D&D worlds is exhaustingly mediocre and tired.
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Mar 23, 2021 19:34
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I'd like to see more modules released that are nothing but settings. Don't try to write an epic adventure with story twists and shocking reveals and deep dives into the lore of the setting. Just give me a creepy dungeon, a weird host of creatures to live there, why, and let me set the PC's loose in it. Expedition to Barrier Peaks comes to mind. More of something like that.
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Mar 29, 2021 16:48
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Syrinxx posted:As stated earlier in the thread, they are making money hand over fist with lovely 300 page tomes, why would they change to something good That's just it, I don't think it's an either/or proposition. Why not both? They have a poo poo ton of writers. Have the big campaigns still put out, but add in some smaller, more modular dungeons/scenarios in between. We've already seen it established that D&D, as a brand, sells great. It's like they're leaving money on the table.
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Mar 29, 2021 18:02
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Toshimo posted:In terms of what The Blackstaff's role is, they re the Archmage of Waterdeep, which to my recollection, basically puts them in the position of dealing with high-level magical threats since Waterdeep is constructed on top of Some Real Bad poo poo, and is basically a nexus for Bad Things What Happen. It's like how Doctor Strange fights giant fuckoff demons trying to extinguish/enslave all creation and doesn't deal with the NYPD. If you want to be mad at someone for the corruption in Waterdeep, look at Laerel Silverhand before anyone. Given that, it makes me wonder (Waterdeep: Dragon Heist spoilers, I guess?)- why doesn't The Blackstaff put together a high powered adventurer team, lead them in person down underneath Waterdeep, and take care of Xanathar once and for all? It's an evil beholder that runs a crime syndicate that regularly fucks with Waterdeep and it's citizens. To go along with your analogy, it's as if Dr. Strange knew of a demon that lived in the subways of New York, the demon controls a large part of organized crime in the city, but he doesn't go and deal with it because.... why?
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Mar 29, 2021 18:30
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Blooming Brilliant posted:They'd be like "I have no loving clue who Elminster is but I'm guessing he's a cool powerful wizard, so I'm going to RP him as a cool powerful wizard who treats us all to magical shots that make us roll on the Wild Magic table."
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Mar 29, 2021 18:31
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I've been reading through Tomb of Annihilation, and while I love the general idea of the campaign/sandbox, I can't get past the regressive nature of the setting. Is there any way to run ToA without including those problematic elements?
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Apr 7, 2021 16:54
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Ignite Memories posted:Just make everyone in chult helpless whiteys Honestly my first thought (and this is probably the most inelegant, brute force way to deal with it) is to just remove wholesale the entire idea of a native Chultan civilization from the continent. The continent does not have a native humanoid population - everyone there originally came from somewhere else in the Realms. Any ancient ruins are reminders of a long departed civilization or were built by other visitors in days long past. I don't know, something along those lines, but even there I feel like something is wrong.
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Apr 7, 2021 17:01
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Bogan Krkic posted:It takes a bit of work but it's certainly possible. Myself and another poster did a couple of effort posts itt a while back discussing the issues with the campaign and setting, which talks a little about how we removed some of the more problematic stuff I looked back on those and saw them - that's all really cool and good information! I especially liked your 8-bit Tomb of Horrors idea, although I doubt I could pull that off - did you actually use the old OD&D ruleset or did you use the Yawning Portal 5e update for that?
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Apr 8, 2021 17:15
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The oldest media I can think of, of "kids playing RPG transported to RPG world" is Joel Rosenberg's terrible Guardians of the Flame book series.
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May 21, 2021 15:09
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Devorum posted:Holy poo poo I've been trying to remember the name of this series for nearly 30 years. You didn't miss much. It didn't get better.
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May 21, 2021 20:26
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Has this been posted? https://www.ign.com/articles/dnd-fizban-treasury-dragons-reveal Dragon related stuff across the D&D multiverse, not Dragonlance specific even though Fizban is unfortunately the lens we have to read the fluff through. Edit: I don't know who would be worse, but I'd much prefer Raistlin or Dalamar or even Palin for gods sake from the Dragonlance world to be the "official" wizard, not unlike Mordenkainen or Elminster. Lucas Archer fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Jul 16, 2021 |
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Jul 16, 2021 19:27
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None of my players are on the SA forums (as far as I know) so I don't feel any compunction about spewing out my ideas for our next campaign once we're done with our current one. The setting: Eberron, Khorvaire, Sharn, five years after the end of the Last War. The PCS: A (formerly Kalashtar) Hexblood, created by one of the Daughters of Sora Kell. A Loxodon from Q’barra (we decided that along with the dragonborn and lizardfolk of Q’barra, there is a civilization of Loxodon living in the jungle and mountains). A Kalashtar from Adar, never having set foot in Khorvaire before the beginning of the game. And because my players love weird ideas that seem very difficult to put into practice, the players for the hexblood and kalashtar have decided that their characters are sisters. I’ve made the call that becoming a hexblood would sever the connection between her and her quori spirit, so her family (along with the kalashtar PC) would believe her to have been dead for however long she’s been gone. And she won’t recognize her when they meet. I’m still ruminating on whether the hexblood would lose some of her memories and maybe not recognize her sister either, but I don’t know about it yet. I don’t want this to be the focus of the campaign though. So far, I have some goals from the kalashtar and loxodon PCs. The kalashtar is going to be an artificer who was trained by a member of house Cannith – her mentor had fled Khorvaire during the Last War, but has since returned and disappeared from the kalashtar’s life. That’s one reason she’s ventured to Khorvaire - to find her mentor. The loxodon PC wants to be on a treasure hunt – a long time ago, his civilization had a legendary artifact (Rod of Lordly Might) which has since been sundered and broken into separate pieces and scattered throughout the world. He will start with a fragment (with a small portion of power) and goes on the adventure to piece together the missing parts of the Rod. Add into that my idea for why the hexblood was created – the Daughters of Sora Kell realize Droaam is being infiltrated by the Inspired, and wanted to create a loyal subject who would be impossible to become an Inspired agent – hence, a kalashtar hexblood. So all three are going to meet up in Sharn – the loxodon because his first clue to the next part of the Rod points to it being in Sharn somewhere. The kalashtar because her mentor mentioned that she had family and a workshop in Sharn, so that’s the most logical place to look. The hexblood because whichever hag turned her sends her there to investigate concerning reports of Inspired infiltration into the Daask. I feel like I have the set up well organized, and now I’m thinking about how to move forward and create a cool story for these folks. I know they’re ALL interested in dragonmarks (but none wanted to play a dragonmarked race, go figure) – so I plan to give them all an aberrant dragonmark at level 4. My thinking: part of the Draconic Prophecy points to the possibility to reconnecting Dal Quor to the material plane. Inspired agents in both the Daask and in House Cannith are working together – Daask to collect indigent warforged, and Cannith to create a hidden factory under Sharn, and they are using the sentient spirits of the warforged to power a giant magical machine that can implant pieces of the Prophecy onto unmarked individuals. The PC’s can find the factory, make it to the laboratory room, defeat the Inspired agents – but not before the machine makes one final push and implants aberrant dragonmarks on their bodies. This opens up all sorts of possibilities – members of the Chamber suddenly interested in this, the Lords of Dust wanting to use them, the ongoing efforts of the Inspired, and dragonmarked houses becoming very interested in a possibility that they could have a new house added to their number if another/more of these machines/factories could be made. I can’t talk about any of these ideas with my players, and I have no one else to talk to them about, so you guys get my vomit typing, you’re welcome. If anyone thinks these ideas are cool, feel free to steal. Edit: Forgot to mention - part of the Rod of Lordly Might will be being used in the machines construction, so that's how the loxodon continues his quest. I have vague ideas of other eldritch machines that could 'evolve' the aberrant dragonmarks as they get higher in level, making them both more powerful, but also more dangerous to all the power groups in Khorvaire. Lucas Archer fucked around with this message at 18:42 on Feb 3, 2022 |
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Feb 3, 2022 18:35
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