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Showing posts with label campaign write-ups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label campaign write-ups. Show all posts
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Sunday, October 10, 2010
HackMoor XVIII - Conclusion of the Palace of the Vampire Queen
HackMoor XVIII - Conclusion of the Palace of Vampire Queen
Thursday, June 28, 2007 1:11 AM
From: "Tracy Johnson"Add sender to Contacts
To: greytalk@canonfire.com
Cast of Characters:
Absalon: A Human Enchanter
St. George: A Human Defender of Heironious
Jon: A Human Doobie Friar of Heironeous
Thor: Human Captain
Arioch: A Half-Elven Male Knight of the Shifting Sands
Sreighin Thorn: Pixie Sprite Sigil of Primus (Sidekick of Arioch)
Lace: Drow Fingersmith (Female Albino with Male Pattern Baldness)
Grumpy: Human Altar-Boy of Loviatar
Lucius: High-Elf Bravo
Bill: Veteran (recently deceased, but corrected.)
Crystal Kross - Human Mortician and several Zombies
This report covers several sessions.
Because the Blackmoor area isn't canon Greyhawk I'm more free to make up stuff. The timeline is per the DA1 modules, but I use Arneson's map.
The party that stayed behind from the previous session waited a sufficiently long
time to ensure that whatever was going to happen had completed. Emerging from
their hiding place in Room 16 they found the hallway empty. They take the long
way around to get to the next staircase.
(To fit the time line, this is the time the new Vampire recruited Party members are coming up the stairs. Going the short way opposite the party, they check out
where the party was hiding and find them not. Meanwhile the main party is going
down the stairs and close the soundproof doors behind them.)
Seeing the Hallway unguarded and armed with the Player maps, they set their two
strongest characters at the lead, taking no chances to make a beeline for the
lowest level. They whack the few Orc guards at the bottom of the stairs from
Level 2 to 3. To their credit, the guards were careless for their own safety and
bang the gong alarm, dying at the only stroke.
The Ghouls that populate the immediate vicinity will pop out two rounds later from
a nearby room. They are told of scrambling footsteps coming from beyond
double-doors. Not wanting to deal with threats on this level, they take a left
turn and close the door behind them. Finding themselves in another short hallway,
they duck behind another door, and get spat several times by a Giant Slug.*
* This is OD&D, so it is not unusual the type of random monsters they threw in for
no apparent reason.
Frying the slug with some fire-based solution (I forget if it was a spell or just
oil,) they head through two double doors to a 'V' intersection with a chest there.
Not resisting temptation, they open it only to be a attacked by a Wight. The
lead character fends off a close call attack while another Wight pops out the next
round. The smartest one of the Players gathering the hint, makes a dive for the
chest and closes the lid, thus making the Wights disappear. Whew! They thought
they would have to at least fight the remaining Wights.
Backing out of that corridor, the party skirts the edge of this level and their
Elf thief detects the secret passage to the next level en passant.
This time they were mindful of the Gnoll Guards and use a ruse to trick them so
they can't sound another alarm. Past that, they pause in the room with the
Lammasu statue but decline to investigate and continue on, skipping all doors to
the next staircase. There they encounter 6 main Vampire Guards and finally take
some hits. It took some serious spell casting (and aim) by Absalon with his Magic
Missiles of Skewering.
(Forgetting Vampire combat parameters, I only docked the players one experience
level when hit. When my error was noted to the other players next session, I
decided to let it go rather than backtrack the experience loss.)
It was after this skirmish that Players realized Vampires can only be hit with
Magical Weapons. They reallocated hoarded weapons accordingly.
Taking the obvious route on the map on the last level, they head for the BIG ROOM,
pausing to take in scenery afforded by passing doors. Behind door #6 they run
into a Flesh Golem, so taking a cue from an old movie they set him alight with
some of their oil and leave the area, where cries of "Fire, ... Bad!" fade in the
distance.
(In the time line the Vampire Recruited party members on Level 1 get the alarm and
head back to this room. I roll a 20 sider and it tops at 16, I start decrementing
that number of 1 minute rounds it will take to get here.)
Lastly, they make it to the BIG ROOM, crash the door down and defeat the next six
Vampires using hand to hand combat and the last of Absalon's Magic Missiles and
their Wand of Fire from Castle Amber. Their superior armor class let the higher
members of the party avoid hits, but Lucius takes a hit and goes to -1 and dies.
The 20 sider is down to 9.
Worrying about Lucius later, the party goes in to the next room with 4 Vampires
and uses the last of their Scatterblast Fireballs to eliminate them.
The 20 sider is down to 5.
In the next room the party sees a Female Vampire reclining across a gold plated
coffin with a slight smile on her face. The party exhausted, decides to take a
breather and backs out. Wondering what else to do, they discover another secret
door behind them and retreats in there and close the door behind them. SUCCESS!
This is the Dungeon's treasure room. Absalon, using much needed time to
rememorizes lower level spells, has the party block the door and takes a rest
while he studies.
The 20 sider is down to 0 and the Vampire Recruit reinforcements arrive.
Taking stock of the treasure room, they find a pile of money of course, a Ring of
Undead Utilities (the closest thing in Hackmaster to the original Ring of Undead
Control,) a Scarab of Death, Eyes of Charming, and one of their goals, the Pinball
Machine of Wishes (Saonuihun's Speeding Sphere Game from the Book of Wondrous
Inventions.)
Meanwhile on the other side of the door, entrapment bars had slid down to keep the
intruders in the Treasure Room (killing one reinforcement Gnoll leaning against
the wall.) This worked out to the advantage of the Main Party. Thor on the other
side of it took several minutes to Break the Bars so he could attack his own party
on the other side.
The Pinball Machine has been recently refurbished as it had been taken by Baylor
Island's Mechanical Dwarfwerks for Maintenance so it ran in tip-top condition
without any of the usual adverse reactions. Waiting for the bars to be broken,
they had plenty of coins in the room so they decided to play. They got as far
Absalon memorizing 3 spells and gaining Two Wishes when they decide to sortie.
The first wish de-webs the Player from the Machine.
As soon as the bars were almost broken through, Grumpy 'warns' the enemy to leave
the room or die. The Thralled party members take the hint and back out. The
party fireballs the next room and crisps most anything left. Next, Grumpy uses
the Ring of Undead Control, takes control of the Ghoul reinforcements and has them
turn about and fight the 'living' reinforcements. Both sides cancel each other
out with low level monsters leaving the Thralls and the remaining true Vampires.
Using the Ring of Undead Utilities again Grumpy takes control of the Vampires and
uses the 2nd Wish to de-Thrall the party members. Thus armed, he storms into the
room with the Lady Vampire. This vampire, seeing which way the wind is blowing
simply says, "Hey, I'm just the decoy! The Real Vampire Queen is in the next room
behind another secret door."
Though the next secret door they find the Vampire Queen. She turns out to be a
wuss and attempts to flee in bat form. A lucky swat knocks her silly to the floor
and she is dispatched without further ado, wooden stakes, decapitation, and
whatever else is required.
Obviously, there will be much Experience Awarded for this event. There is still
stuff in the Palace that needs to be cleaned up. The party has to decide to do
this or let the Dwarves finish the job when they re-occupy the Palace.
-- BT
Tracy Johnson
Justin Thyme Productions
Ye olde free telnet games at:
http://hp3000.empireclassic.com/
Thursday, June 28, 2007 1:11 AM
From: "Tracy Johnson"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com
Cast of Characters:
Absalon: A Human Enchanter
St. George: A Human Defender of Heironious
Jon: A Human Doobie Friar of Heironeous
Thor: Human Captain
Arioch: A Half-Elven Male Knight of the Shifting Sands
Sreighin Thorn: Pixie Sprite Sigil of Primus (Sidekick of Arioch)
Lace: Drow Fingersmith (Female Albino with Male Pattern Baldness)
Grumpy: Human Altar-Boy of Loviatar
Lucius: High-Elf Bravo
Bill: Veteran (recently deceased, but corrected.)
Crystal Kross - Human Mortician and several Zombies
This report covers several sessions.
Because the Blackmoor area isn't canon Greyhawk I'm more free to make up stuff. The timeline is per the DA1 modules, but I use Arneson's map.
The party that stayed behind from the previous session waited a sufficiently long
time to ensure that whatever was going to happen had completed. Emerging from
their hiding place in Room 16 they found the hallway empty. They take the long
way around to get to the next staircase.
(To fit the time line, this is the time the new Vampire recruited Party members are coming up the stairs. Going the short way opposite the party, they check out
where the party was hiding and find them not. Meanwhile the main party is going
down the stairs and close the soundproof doors behind them.)
Seeing the Hallway unguarded and armed with the Player maps, they set their two
strongest characters at the lead, taking no chances to make a beeline for the
lowest level. They whack the few Orc guards at the bottom of the stairs from
Level 2 to 3. To their credit, the guards were careless for their own safety and
bang the gong alarm, dying at the only stroke.
The Ghouls that populate the immediate vicinity will pop out two rounds later from
a nearby room. They are told of scrambling footsteps coming from beyond
double-doors. Not wanting to deal with threats on this level, they take a left
turn and close the door behind them. Finding themselves in another short hallway,
they duck behind another door, and get spat several times by a Giant Slug.*
* This is OD&D, so it is not unusual the type of random monsters they threw in for
no apparent reason.
Frying the slug with some fire-based solution (I forget if it was a spell or just
oil,) they head through two double doors to a 'V' intersection with a chest there.
Not resisting temptation, they open it only to be a attacked by a Wight. The
lead character fends off a close call attack while another Wight pops out the next
round. The smartest one of the Players gathering the hint, makes a dive for the
chest and closes the lid, thus making the Wights disappear. Whew! They thought
they would have to at least fight the remaining Wights.
Backing out of that corridor, the party skirts the edge of this level and their
Elf thief detects the secret passage to the next level en passant.
This time they were mindful of the Gnoll Guards and use a ruse to trick them so
they can't sound another alarm. Past that, they pause in the room with the
Lammasu statue but decline to investigate and continue on, skipping all doors to
the next staircase. There they encounter 6 main Vampire Guards and finally take
some hits. It took some serious spell casting (and aim) by Absalon with his Magic
Missiles of Skewering.
(Forgetting Vampire combat parameters, I only docked the players one experience
level when hit. When my error was noted to the other players next session, I
decided to let it go rather than backtrack the experience loss.)
It was after this skirmish that Players realized Vampires can only be hit with
Magical Weapons. They reallocated hoarded weapons accordingly.
Taking the obvious route on the map on the last level, they head for the BIG ROOM,
pausing to take in scenery afforded by passing doors. Behind door #6 they run
into a Flesh Golem, so taking a cue from an old movie they set him alight with
some of their oil and leave the area, where cries of "Fire, ... Bad!" fade in the
distance.
(In the time line the Vampire Recruited party members on Level 1 get the alarm and
head back to this room. I roll a 20 sider and it tops at 16, I start decrementing
that number of 1 minute rounds it will take to get here.)
Lastly, they make it to the BIG ROOM, crash the door down and defeat the next six
Vampires using hand to hand combat and the last of Absalon's Magic Missiles and
their Wand of Fire from Castle Amber. Their superior armor class let the higher
members of the party avoid hits, but Lucius takes a hit and goes to -1 and dies.
The 20 sider is down to 9.
Worrying about Lucius later, the party goes in to the next room with 4 Vampires
and uses the last of their Scatterblast Fireballs to eliminate them.
The 20 sider is down to 5.
In the next room the party sees a Female Vampire reclining across a gold plated
coffin with a slight smile on her face. The party exhausted, decides to take a
breather and backs out. Wondering what else to do, they discover another secret
door behind them and retreats in there and close the door behind them. SUCCESS!
This is the Dungeon's treasure room. Absalon, using much needed time to
rememorizes lower level spells, has the party block the door and takes a rest
while he studies.
The 20 sider is down to 0 and the Vampire Recruit reinforcements arrive.
Taking stock of the treasure room, they find a pile of money of course, a Ring of
Undead Utilities (the closest thing in Hackmaster to the original Ring of Undead
Control,) a Scarab of Death, Eyes of Charming, and one of their goals, the Pinball
Machine of Wishes (Saonuihun's Speeding Sphere Game from the Book of Wondrous
Inventions.)
Meanwhile on the other side of the door, entrapment bars had slid down to keep the
intruders in the Treasure Room (killing one reinforcement Gnoll leaning against
the wall.) This worked out to the advantage of the Main Party. Thor on the other
side of it took several minutes to Break the Bars so he could attack his own party
on the other side.
The Pinball Machine has been recently refurbished as it had been taken by Baylor
Island's Mechanical Dwarfwerks for Maintenance so it ran in tip-top condition
without any of the usual adverse reactions. Waiting for the bars to be broken,
they had plenty of coins in the room so they decided to play. They got as far
Absalon memorizing 3 spells and gaining Two Wishes when they decide to sortie.
The first wish de-webs the Player from the Machine.
As soon as the bars were almost broken through, Grumpy 'warns' the enemy to leave
the room or die. The Thralled party members take the hint and back out. The
party fireballs the next room and crisps most anything left. Next, Grumpy uses
the Ring of Undead Control, takes control of the Ghoul reinforcements and has them
turn about and fight the 'living' reinforcements. Both sides cancel each other
out with low level monsters leaving the Thralls and the remaining true Vampires.
Using the Ring of Undead Utilities again Grumpy takes control of the Vampires and
uses the 2nd Wish to de-Thrall the party members. Thus armed, he storms into the
room with the Lady Vampire. This vampire, seeing which way the wind is blowing
simply says, "Hey, I'm just the decoy! The Real Vampire Queen is in the next room
behind another secret door."
Though the next secret door they find the Vampire Queen. She turns out to be a
wuss and attempts to flee in bat form. A lucky swat knocks her silly to the floor
and she is dispatched without further ado, wooden stakes, decapitation, and
whatever else is required.
Obviously, there will be much Experience Awarded for this event. There is still
stuff in the Palace that needs to be cleaned up. The party has to decide to do
this or let the Dwarves finish the job when they re-occupy the Palace.
-- BT
Tracy Johnson
Justin Thyme Productions
Ye olde free telnet games at:
http://hp3000.empireclassic.com/
RE: Sorta Off-Topic: Political Intrigue?
RE: [greytalk] Sorta Off-topic: Political Intrigue?
Wednesday, August 8, 2007 1:25 PM
From: "Karl White"Add sender to Contacts
To: basiliv@cablespeed.com, "'GREYTALK'"
You may want to look at Atlas Games’ Dynasties and Demagogues sourcebook. It contains a lot of material about creating and running political adventures and campaigns.
In the last campaign I ran, ToEE and beyond that started from 1st level, I mapped out the main protagonists and power groups in advance. This included:
· The deities
· The leaders of the temple
· The power groups in Hommlet and Nulb
· The wider Verbobonc power groups and the regional groups.
Having read through the module several times I started to ask how and why the leaders had the powerful magic items they had, how they interacted with each other, what their operational responsibilities and reporting lines were, any relationships and so on and so forth. I found that once I started asking questions and providing answers, that the richness of the setting increased dramatically.
In the end I had about 15 different power groups that the party were interacting with either directly or indirectly in a way that shaped events in the game. In many cases an event occurred that the party had no knowledge of and would not come directly into play but would affect the campaign.
For example The bandit group at the start were concentrating on attacking Elven caravans rather than human ones. This was due to their leader’s wish to have Celene’s relations with Verbobonc sour and to close the border. The humans, not losing many caravans did not put a great deal of effort into stopping them. Meanwhile the spy leader who reports to the Temple is aware that the caravans he is identifying as good targets are not always being taken, whilst more well defended, lower value targets are being targeted. He knows another intelligence agency must be at work to pick the targets and would normally think that there is a subversive element in the Temple and root it out, but he is also aware that somebody else has been promoted and has responsiblity for recruiting for the temple, which is a role he used to be tasked with. He is now unsure of his position and is wondering if he has disappointed his masters. By the party driving off/capturing/killing the Bandit leader, the trade caravans resume their normal targeting and the relations between Celene and Verbobonc resume as Verbobonc takes a greater interest in the loss of its caravans.
The party found that they had more trouble from the good factions than the evil. They broke a Gnomish Law (in my campaign I had Verbobonc originally owned by the Gnomes and thus the laws are derived from Gnomish Law) and the St Cuthbertines were insisting the law was enforced whilst the Druids, rangers and state (through the wizard) were pleased the party had driven off the bandits and did not think that exiling them for something that was in their eyes merely a (serious) protocol mishap was the wisest course of action. Things were very tense for a while until the bandit leader killed the druid leader and the family of the rangers leader, then it got worse. The rangers went after the bandit leader thereby abandoning their post (it took many weeks to catch him and left the rangers weakened and in the Wild Coast) and the St Cuthbertines took control of the village so that the rule of law could be re-established. The party was exiled and the village was poorly defended and severe political in-fighting between the church, state and the Gnomes throughout Verbobonc occurred. Eventually leading to full Gnomish autonomy when the state found the only way to appease the church was to change some ‘out-dated Gnomish Laws’.
Why did the party have such an impact when they were only mid level? Look at the demographics of the state. With the Greyhawk demographics including population by level and class it turns out there are very few mid-level character classes and the party would be a significant resource for the state in its fight against the Temple. With the rangers gone, exiling the party would have left the Hommlet region very exposed to the now apparent Temple.
I guess my final point is, look at the background population, there may be fewer personalities than you would consider and the players can soon have a major impact if they are in the nation’s top 50 most powerful people
From: basiliv@cablespeed.com [mailto:basiliv@cablespeed.com]
Sent: 07 August 2007 19:40
To: GREYTALK
Subject: Re: [greytalk] Sorta Off-topic: Political Intrigue?
The level is flexible; for one group, they'll be somewhere between 7-10th (depending on where I put it in the campaign), for the other the level will be wide open because we'll roll up new characters just for this. The 7-10th level group is very familiar with my DMing style, the other group is not yet...although I could run them through some more standard fair if it's an advantage for the players to be familiar first.
My long-time players tend to like an overarching mystery, interspersed with fairly "standard" dungeon crawls, city adventures, or overland action. For an example of our usual style of play, here's a list of the adventures I strung together to get my PCs to 6th level, with an overarching mystery I described earlier, set in the original '83 boxed set:
- Intro to my amnesia/alternate Greyhawks campaign, starting in a cave south of Hommlet.
- Mad God's Key (Dungeon Adventure), changed to a cult of Orcus
- An altered version of Dungeon's "Shut-In", with a xvart culprit to lead to:
- An altered version of Mona's River of Blood, set in Verbobonc
- T1: Village of Hommlet
- Some overland travel to an oracle in Perrenland, then south through the Vesve for a small incursion into Delvenbrass, where a gate lead to:
- The City Beyond the Gate
- Returning from this adventure, the party is transported unknowingly to an alternate, FtA-era Oerth, where the overrun city of Chendl surprises them.
- Overland travel to Safeton, where eventually the party locates their secret contact. This shadow-dancer takes them to the Plane of Shadow, and eventually back to 576-era Oerth.
- They follow a priest of Iuz south across Woolly Bay, and I ran them through Stormwrack's "Shatterhull Isle"
- C1: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
- West to the base of the Hellfurnaces, where they discovered the lost Suloise city of Lov Ulos, which served as one end of the tunnels in:
- UK6: All That Glitters
The over-arching mystery was covered in more detail months ago, but a quick recap is that the PCs were brought here from the FtA-era 'Hawk, their memories wiped out, and now they're seeking the ochtycs (?sp)...they don't know if yet, but they used to be demigods, and the ochtycs will allow them to regain a portion of their power and eventually go after the Soul Husks to take Iuz down a notch.
Once the party reached the Sea of Dust (at the end of All That Glitters), we switched DMs, so that's where things currently stand. My next plan is some interaction with the Silent Ones of Keoland, some information-brokering with an agent of Evard, a trip through White Plume Mountain, and eventually the ToEE. At this point I haven't decided whether to make the Great Kingdom material before or after the ToEE.
On Mon Aug 6 17:03 , Marc-Tizoc "Gonzᬥz" sent:
What level will the characters start? Are the players experienced in general and with your DMing? Please describe your usual style of play / DMing.
MTG
basiliv@cablespeed.com wrote:
Hi MTG (and kiddies),
Didn't really have any plans yet. I thought I'd try my hand at some general political intrigue adventures, then re-read Ivid for ideas. My group has swapped DMs for a while, so I've got a lot more down-time to work on this than I'd usually have. In the meantime, my plan was to read through Scott's South Province reports (sadly, I never had time to read them before -- sorry Scott!). I also thought about looking into the reviews of some Birthright adventures, but that's a guess on my part.
But in general, I was hoping for more guidance on the pacing of this type of adventure, interesting ways for PCs to use skills that might be unique to a political environment, etc. (that's why I thought it was off-topic). Plotting our the political entanglements isn't where I'm worried, it's running a new type of adventure and keeping it interesting for the players. But once I get this figured out, I'll be more than happy to share. :-)
Thanks again for your help!
~Jim (Basiliv)
On Fri Aug 3 20:23 , Marc-Tizoc "Gonz�lez" sent:
Jim and fellow GTers,
I apologize for not sending this email earlier as I'd hoped.
Jim, I suggest you provide a few more details. Where you base your initial campaign is important for helping us provide further suggestions.
For example, I've imagined a campaign based in North Province that deals with the ramifications of Grenell's machinations regarding the fall of Bone March, starting in one of the coastal towns, Bellport, for example, and developing the PCs' knowledge about Grenell's miscalculation / betrayal, along with the Iron Schism, as it plays out with the church armies of Hextor, that center of training for Hextor sohei (Arrowstrand?), and featuring the distaff death knight that Gary Holian detailed.
Alternatively, Scottenkainen has reported repeatedly on his campaigns in the South Province.
Do you get my drift? Share more of your ideas, so we can riff off yours.
MTG
Wednesday, August 8, 2007 1:25 PM
From: "Karl White"
To: basiliv@cablespeed.com, "'GREYTALK'"
You may want to look at Atlas Games’ Dynasties and Demagogues sourcebook. It contains a lot of material about creating and running political adventures and campaigns.
In the last campaign I ran, ToEE and beyond that started from 1st level, I mapped out the main protagonists and power groups in advance. This included:
· The deities
· The leaders of the temple
· The power groups in Hommlet and Nulb
· The wider Verbobonc power groups and the regional groups.
Having read through the module several times I started to ask how and why the leaders had the powerful magic items they had, how they interacted with each other, what their operational responsibilities and reporting lines were, any relationships and so on and so forth. I found that once I started asking questions and providing answers, that the richness of the setting increased dramatically.
In the end I had about 15 different power groups that the party were interacting with either directly or indirectly in a way that shaped events in the game. In many cases an event occurred that the party had no knowledge of and would not come directly into play but would affect the campaign.
For example The bandit group at the start were concentrating on attacking Elven caravans rather than human ones. This was due to their leader’s wish to have Celene’s relations with Verbobonc sour and to close the border. The humans, not losing many caravans did not put a great deal of effort into stopping them. Meanwhile the spy leader who reports to the Temple is aware that the caravans he is identifying as good targets are not always being taken, whilst more well defended, lower value targets are being targeted. He knows another intelligence agency must be at work to pick the targets and would normally think that there is a subversive element in the Temple and root it out, but he is also aware that somebody else has been promoted and has responsiblity for recruiting for the temple, which is a role he used to be tasked with. He is now unsure of his position and is wondering if he has disappointed his masters. By the party driving off/capturing/killing the Bandit leader, the trade caravans resume their normal targeting and the relations between Celene and Verbobonc resume as Verbobonc takes a greater interest in the loss of its caravans.
The party found that they had more trouble from the good factions than the evil. They broke a Gnomish Law (in my campaign I had Verbobonc originally owned by the Gnomes and thus the laws are derived from Gnomish Law) and the St Cuthbertines were insisting the law was enforced whilst the Druids, rangers and state (through the wizard) were pleased the party had driven off the bandits and did not think that exiling them for something that was in their eyes merely a (serious) protocol mishap was the wisest course of action. Things were very tense for a while until the bandit leader killed the druid leader and the family of the rangers leader, then it got worse. The rangers went after the bandit leader thereby abandoning their post (it took many weeks to catch him and left the rangers weakened and in the Wild Coast) and the St Cuthbertines took control of the village so that the rule of law could be re-established. The party was exiled and the village was poorly defended and severe political in-fighting between the church, state and the Gnomes throughout Verbobonc occurred. Eventually leading to full Gnomish autonomy when the state found the only way to appease the church was to change some ‘out-dated Gnomish Laws’.
Why did the party have such an impact when they were only mid level? Look at the demographics of the state. With the Greyhawk demographics including population by level and class it turns out there are very few mid-level character classes and the party would be a significant resource for the state in its fight against the Temple. With the rangers gone, exiling the party would have left the Hommlet region very exposed to the now apparent Temple.
I guess my final point is, look at the background population, there may be fewer personalities than you would consider and the players can soon have a major impact if they are in the nation’s top 50 most powerful people
From: basiliv@cablespeed.com [mailto:basiliv@cablespeed.com]
Sent: 07 August 2007 19:40
To: GREYTALK
Subject: Re: [greytalk] Sorta Off-topic: Political Intrigue?
The level is flexible; for one group, they'll be somewhere between 7-10th (depending on where I put it in the campaign), for the other the level will be wide open because we'll roll up new characters just for this. The 7-10th level group is very familiar with my DMing style, the other group is not yet...although I could run them through some more standard fair if it's an advantage for the players to be familiar first.
My long-time players tend to like an overarching mystery, interspersed with fairly "standard" dungeon crawls, city adventures, or overland action. For an example of our usual style of play, here's a list of the adventures I strung together to get my PCs to 6th level, with an overarching mystery I described earlier, set in the original '83 boxed set:
- Intro to my amnesia/alternate Greyhawks campaign, starting in a cave south of Hommlet.
- Mad God's Key (Dungeon Adventure), changed to a cult of Orcus
- An altered version of Dungeon's "Shut-In", with a xvart culprit to lead to:
- An altered version of Mona's River of Blood, set in Verbobonc
- T1: Village of Hommlet
- Some overland travel to an oracle in Perrenland, then south through the Vesve for a small incursion into Delvenbrass, where a gate lead to:
- The City Beyond the Gate
- Returning from this adventure, the party is transported unknowingly to an alternate, FtA-era Oerth, where the overrun city of Chendl surprises them.
- Overland travel to Safeton, where eventually the party locates their secret contact. This shadow-dancer takes them to the Plane of Shadow, and eventually back to 576-era Oerth.
- They follow a priest of Iuz south across Woolly Bay, and I ran them through Stormwrack's "Shatterhull Isle"
- C1: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
- West to the base of the Hellfurnaces, where they discovered the lost Suloise city of Lov Ulos, which served as one end of the tunnels in:
- UK6: All That Glitters
The over-arching mystery was covered in more detail months ago, but a quick recap is that the PCs were brought here from the FtA-era 'Hawk, their memories wiped out, and now they're seeking the ochtycs (?sp)...they don't know if yet, but they used to be demigods, and the ochtycs will allow them to regain a portion of their power and eventually go after the Soul Husks to take Iuz down a notch.
Once the party reached the Sea of Dust (at the end of All That Glitters), we switched DMs, so that's where things currently stand. My next plan is some interaction with the Silent Ones of Keoland, some information-brokering with an agent of Evard, a trip through White Plume Mountain, and eventually the ToEE. At this point I haven't decided whether to make the Great Kingdom material before or after the ToEE.
On Mon Aug 6 17:03 , Marc-Tizoc "Gonzᬥz" sent:
What level will the characters start? Are the players experienced in general and with your DMing? Please describe your usual style of play / DMing.
MTG
basiliv@cablespeed.com wrote:
Hi MTG (and kiddies),
Didn't really have any plans yet. I thought I'd try my hand at some general political intrigue adventures, then re-read Ivid for ideas. My group has swapped DMs for a while, so I've got a lot more down-time to work on this than I'd usually have. In the meantime, my plan was to read through Scott's South Province reports (sadly, I never had time to read them before -- sorry Scott!). I also thought about looking into the reviews of some Birthright adventures, but that's a guess on my part.
But in general, I was hoping for more guidance on the pacing of this type of adventure, interesting ways for PCs to use skills that might be unique to a political environment, etc. (that's why I thought it was off-topic). Plotting our the political entanglements isn't where I'm worried, it's running a new type of adventure and keeping it interesting for the players. But once I get this figured out, I'll be more than happy to share. :-)
Thanks again for your help!
~Jim (Basiliv)
On Fri Aug 3 20:23 , Marc-Tizoc "Gonz�lez" sent:
Jim and fellow GTers,
I apologize for not sending this email earlier as I'd hoped.
Jim, I suggest you provide a few more details. Where you base your initial campaign is important for helping us provide further suggestions.
For example, I've imagined a campaign based in North Province that deals with the ramifications of Grenell's machinations regarding the fall of Bone March, starting in one of the coastal towns, Bellport, for example, and developing the PCs' knowledge about Grenell's miscalculation / betrayal, along with the Iron Schism, as it plays out with the church armies of Hextor, that center of training for Hextor sohei (Arrowstrand?), and featuring the distaff death knight that Gary Holian detailed.
Alternatively, Scottenkainen has reported repeatedly on his campaigns in the South Province.
Do you get my drift? Share more of your ideas, so we can riff off yours.
MTG
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Savage Tide campaign -- session 1
[greytalk] Savage Tide campaign -- session 1
Monday, October 15, 2007 10:25 AM
From: "Scott"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com
While waiting for one friend to start his Expedition to Castle Greyhawk campaign, I have begun playing in another friend’s Savage Tide campaign. I will share my spoiler-ridden observations here.
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
The first session did not, from my perspective go well at all. Our DM had stressed how our live sessions were going to be strictly for adventuring and we were to do our role-playing on his messageboard. I understood from this that the campaign would then start with the standard dungeon crawl, so I brought my seven-year old son along to play, who always enjoys killing monsters, but few of the subtleties of gaming.
Instead, we were presented with a mystery to solve. All the guys loved seeing the handout, a hot portrait of our sponsor, Lady Vanderborne. The harbormaster, or rather, his right-hand man Vark, would not let her onto her own ship, the Blue Nixie, and she wanted to find out why. If it had been the ghost of Captain Redbeard keeping her off the ship, this could have been a Scooby-Doo mystery. We all split up to look for clues, with the plan of meeting back up two mornings later to compare notes. My character planned to pass himself off as one of Vanderborne’s creditors and interview the harbormaster about repossessing the ship, or at least touring it for an evaluation. To do this, my bard found employment with one of Sasserine’s moneylenders and gained a tabard and seal that identified himself as an employee, bought fancier clothes to complete a disguise, and filled out the required paperwork to see the harbormaster, but was dismissed with a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” comment. Meanwhile, my son was entertained with a barroom brawl where he got to kill someone. Almost more disturbing was how much he enjoyed having his character drink beer.
The real trouble for me started on the next player’s turn. Our DM was using home rules for social class, and one of the PCs was of unusually high birth. Where I had a long-term plan for getting on board the Blue Nixie, he just walked in with the other party members, bullied his way past the harbormaster, and got right onboard the ship. I had refused to come, believing their plan would fail and my plan would be needed as back-up. After all, our DM had given us an investigation. The direct approach seemed the wrong way to go about it. Turns out I was wrong – you really are meant to rush onto the ship and kill everyone aboard it as if the ship was a mini-dungeon. I missed out on everything. My son’s character hopped onboard a rowboat and made it out to the battle just in time to participate in the very end of it. The battles on the ship were laughably easy, with the one on deck against the crew taking five rounds and the one with the monster below deck taking only one round. My son and I had missed that the battle was over and were waiting for round two!
This is “Savage” Tide? More like Anemic Tide, I thought. We did not even stay for the last half-hour.
Monday, October 15, 2007 10:25 AM
From: "Scott"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com
While waiting for one friend to start his Expedition to Castle Greyhawk campaign, I have begun playing in another friend’s Savage Tide campaign. I will share my spoiler-ridden observations here.
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
The first session did not, from my perspective go well at all. Our DM had stressed how our live sessions were going to be strictly for adventuring and we were to do our role-playing on his messageboard. I understood from this that the campaign would then start with the standard dungeon crawl, so I brought my seven-year old son along to play, who always enjoys killing monsters, but few of the subtleties of gaming.
Instead, we were presented with a mystery to solve. All the guys loved seeing the handout, a hot portrait of our sponsor, Lady Vanderborne. The harbormaster, or rather, his right-hand man Vark, would not let her onto her own ship, the Blue Nixie, and she wanted to find out why. If it had been the ghost of Captain Redbeard keeping her off the ship, this could have been a Scooby-Doo mystery. We all split up to look for clues, with the plan of meeting back up two mornings later to compare notes. My character planned to pass himself off as one of Vanderborne’s creditors and interview the harbormaster about repossessing the ship, or at least touring it for an evaluation. To do this, my bard found employment with one of Sasserine’s moneylenders and gained a tabard and seal that identified himself as an employee, bought fancier clothes to complete a disguise, and filled out the required paperwork to see the harbormaster, but was dismissed with a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” comment. Meanwhile, my son was entertained with a barroom brawl where he got to kill someone. Almost more disturbing was how much he enjoyed having his character drink beer.
The real trouble for me started on the next player’s turn. Our DM was using home rules for social class, and one of the PCs was of unusually high birth. Where I had a long-term plan for getting on board the Blue Nixie, he just walked in with the other party members, bullied his way past the harbormaster, and got right onboard the ship. I had refused to come, believing their plan would fail and my plan would be needed as back-up. After all, our DM had given us an investigation. The direct approach seemed the wrong way to go about it. Turns out I was wrong – you really are meant to rush onto the ship and kill everyone aboard it as if the ship was a mini-dungeon. I missed out on everything. My son’s character hopped onboard a rowboat and made it out to the battle just in time to participate in the very end of it. The battles on the ship were laughably easy, with the one on deck against the crew taking five rounds and the one with the monster below deck taking only one round. My son and I had missed that the battle was over and were waiting for round two!
This is “Savage” Tide? More like Anemic Tide, I thought. We did not even stay for the last half-hour.
Quest for the Octychs, Prologue
[greytalk] Quest for the Octychs, Prologue
Sunday, March 9, 2008 7:23 PM
From: "basiliv@cablespeed.com"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com
After a long hiatus into Mystara, my group has decided to switch back to my Greyhawk campaign. Since it's been close to a year since the last adventure on Oerth, I've started writing up campaign recaps for my players, and I thought I'd share with the list.
It's not that they're amazing, it's that the list is quiet. ;-)
We play 3.5 Edition, but set in a pre-Wars 576 CY Flanaess. This whole campaign idea was inspired by Erik Mona's adventures "River of Blood" and "As He Lay Dying", so if you're reading this Iquander, thank you. :-)
P R O L O G U E -- "WHERE AM I?"
Four adventurers awoke within a cave. The first was a halfing sorceress name Bitola, a wanderer who liked to disguise herself as a human girl for any benefit she could ring from it. The second was Ulgret of the Fruztii, a Suel-blooded man commonly known as a Frost Barbarian. He possessed an incredible ability to recover from wounds, coupled with a strange dislike of sunlight. Third was Ithilor, a rogue from the olven nation of Celene. This sylvan elf did not consider himself a fighter, but his mobility was a boon to his companions. Last was the company's holy man, a cleric of Olidammara. A renowned tavern brawler in his own mind, one too many mugs to the head caused him to forget his own name -- his friends called him "Preach".
As each member of the party looked around, they found that they had no idea where they were. Worse, each realized that their memories were gone, with only childhood dreams remaining. As this frightening thought took hold they saw each other, and there was recognition. Although none remembered why or how, they each knew the other, and knew they were among friends.
A noble-looking human entered the room and asked after their welfare. Each of the companions immediately knew him as Tellek, another old friend. After making them comfortable, Tellek asked them to reach under their pillows, to retrieve the envelopes found there. Each contained a letter, and each companion recognized their own handwriting. Even more convincing, each recalled a childhood memory they had never shared with anyone. The letters then explained that they voluntarily had their memories erased, for their own protection, and that they would be restored when he time was right. The letters concluded by advising what the party already knew instinctively; they should trust Tellek, and each other.
Tellek told the group that they would receive prophetic help in finding their course of action. He apologized for not being able to provide any more detail, but gave assurances that he would do everything in his power to help them. He then asked that they follow him into a neighboring chamber of the cave.
A fire lit the far side of the room, but it was otherwise dark and difficult to see. A strange voice spoke from the darkness, alternately sounding like two voices and then one. Introducing themselves as The Sisters, the voice(s) told the adventurers that they should proceed to the City of Dyvers, to seek a locksmith named Theldrat, and to obtain that which he held most dear.
Puzzled by this entire affair, the party was given some guidance by Tellek. On their way out of the cave, Tellek informed them that he was a holy warrior in the service of Pelor. He would do what he could to aid them, using his church's reputation and his family's influence to make contacts where needed, to perform research, and to provide magical communication between the party and The Sisters. He told the adventurers that this cave lay a few miles south of the village of Hommlet, and told them the safest route from there to Dyvers. Showing them the road, he returned to the cave.
Sunday, March 9, 2008 7:23 PM
From: "basiliv@cablespeed.com"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com
After a long hiatus into Mystara, my group has decided to switch back to my Greyhawk campaign. Since it's been close to a year since the last adventure on Oerth, I've started writing up campaign recaps for my players, and I thought I'd share with the list.
It's not that they're amazing, it's that the list is quiet. ;-)
We play 3.5 Edition, but set in a pre-Wars 576 CY Flanaess. This whole campaign idea was inspired by Erik Mona's adventures "River of Blood" and "As He Lay Dying", so if you're reading this Iquander, thank you. :-)
P R O L O G U E -- "WHERE AM I?"
Four adventurers awoke within a cave. The first was a halfing sorceress name Bitola, a wanderer who liked to disguise herself as a human girl for any benefit she could ring from it. The second was Ulgret of the Fruztii, a Suel-blooded man commonly known as a Frost Barbarian. He possessed an incredible ability to recover from wounds, coupled with a strange dislike of sunlight. Third was Ithilor, a rogue from the olven nation of Celene. This sylvan elf did not consider himself a fighter, but his mobility was a boon to his companions. Last was the company's holy man, a cleric of Olidammara. A renowned tavern brawler in his own mind, one too many mugs to the head caused him to forget his own name -- his friends called him "Preach".
As each member of the party looked around, they found that they had no idea where they were. Worse, each realized that their memories were gone, with only childhood dreams remaining. As this frightening thought took hold they saw each other, and there was recognition. Although none remembered why or how, they each knew the other, and knew they were among friends.
A noble-looking human entered the room and asked after their welfare. Each of the companions immediately knew him as Tellek, another old friend. After making them comfortable, Tellek asked them to reach under their pillows, to retrieve the envelopes found there. Each contained a letter, and each companion recognized their own handwriting. Even more convincing, each recalled a childhood memory they had never shared with anyone. The letters then explained that they voluntarily had their memories erased, for their own protection, and that they would be restored when he time was right. The letters concluded by advising what the party already knew instinctively; they should trust Tellek, and each other.
Tellek told the group that they would receive prophetic help in finding their course of action. He apologized for not being able to provide any more detail, but gave assurances that he would do everything in his power to help them. He then asked that they follow him into a neighboring chamber of the cave.
A fire lit the far side of the room, but it was otherwise dark and difficult to see. A strange voice spoke from the darkness, alternately sounding like two voices and then one. Introducing themselves as The Sisters, the voice(s) told the adventurers that they should proceed to the City of Dyvers, to seek a locksmith named Theldrat, and to obtain that which he held most dear.
Puzzled by this entire affair, the party was given some guidance by Tellek. On their way out of the cave, Tellek informed them that he was a holy warrior in the service of Pelor. He would do what he could to aid them, using his church's reputation and his family's influence to make contacts where needed, to perform research, and to provide magical communication between the party and The Sisters. He told the adventurers that this cave lay a few miles south of the village of Hommlet, and told them the safest route from there to Dyvers. Showing them the road, he returned to the cave.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
GriffCrier: The Birth of Malaclypse
Subject: [GREYTALK] GriffCrier: THE BIRTH OF MALACLYPSE
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 21:41:19 -0500
From: Kenneth Newquist
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Everyone:
Here's the latest Blackrazor adventure.
It takes place immediately after the end of the last saga THE DEATH OF MALPHAS. The saga, and its predecessors, is available via our Web site at
.
THE BIRTH OF MALACYPSE
GM: Ken Newquist
WHAT HAS COME BEFORE
Malphas, the insane elf responsible for the killing of two pairs of guards in two years, has been executed before an assembly of Greyhawk citizens and guildmembers. 'Nuff said. Read "The Death of Malphas"
THE STORY
In order to save Malphas, the Blackrazors had to let the city kill him. The false evidence against Malphas -- he hadn't killed the second pair of guards -- was overwhelming. Since their magically-determined evidence that he hadn't killed the guards was in admissible in the City of Greyhawk court, they had no way of fighting back.
So they didn't. Instead, after trying to convince certain powerful city officials to intervene, the Blackrazors waited for the inevitable. On the day -- Planting 20, C.Y. 588 -- that Malphas was to be executed, they gathered with the rest of the city in the River District. The guild's highest ranking and most powerful member looked on as the executioner led the elf to the killing stump. And then they watched in horror as the axe fell, and Malphas' head fell onto the floor. They absorbed the cheers of the city around them and then waited for the body to be taken away.
And then they acted.
* * *
The guild's chaotic half was not about to sit back and let Malphas be punished for the one crime he actually hadn't committed in his life. The gnome illustionist-warrior Gnarth Binderstone, the elf ranger Mist Silvershroud, the bard Yogesh, the human thief Gaiseric (aka Scrappy) and the ever vengeful human cleric of Trithereon, Kalib Ironfist ran into the sewers.
A little research earlier in the day had revealed that the city's burial chambers -- and its incinerator -- were located off of the sewers. The Blackrazors, with the magical help of the terramancer Sven Kildare, had molded a piece of the marble they'd recovered from one of the Star Cairns into the shape of Malphas. Sven had then cast stone to flesh, and the Blackrazors had burned parts of the false corpse to reflect Malphas' own burns (which he had sustained during his last brush with an incinerator during the Fall of Obsidian Bay).
They then sliced off the corpse head, dumped it in a sack, and waited for the execution.
When the guards began loading Malphas' remains onto a wagon, they moved. The small band ran to the sewers and again waited. When the guards -- escorted by a priest of Ralishaz -- began moving through the sewers, the Blackrazors fell back and began scouting out possible intersections to pull their switch at.
After 10 minutes of searching, they found one.
The guards numbered eight in all -- two carried the front of the stretcher, two carried the rear, and the rest took up positions in front and in back of them. As they neared the intersection, Gnarth summoned the illusion of a giant rat at the end of the long corridor. The unattached guards immediately reacted by running up to engage the rat.
The stretcher-bearers stayed behind to guard the body, just as the Blackrazors had hoped. As they had entered the sewers, Kalib had cast fly on himself, Mist and Gnarth from his gloves of spell snaring. Now, as the remaining guards watched their companions chasing a non-existent rat, Mist swung in and snared Malphas's bagged body. Kalib followed a moment behind, dropping a second body in its place. And then both he and Gnarth launched a barrage of forget spells that made the guards lose track of the last minute or so of time.
For once, the entire plan went off without a hitch.
* * *
With Malphas' body and head in their possession, the Blackrazors beat a speedy retreat to the temple of Trithereon. Once there, Kalib explained the situation. The priests were outraged by the city's unjust taking of a life, but still hesitated. A resurrection spell was a powerful thing -- a thing that they could only cast from scrolls. And this was Malphas -- his reputation wasn't exactly sterling.
Kalib did his best to allay their fears and they finally agreed -- on the condition that the elf was Kalib's responsibility and that he tithe the cost of the resurrection spell back to the church. They also requested that he turn over a powerful magical item he finds in the next year to Kalib and the church.
They called up the elf's departed spirit via a speak with dead spell, got him to agreed to the terms, and brought him back.
Then, in a dark corner of the temple's basement, they planned their next move. As far as the city -- and the lawful members of the Blackrazors -- were concerned, Malphas was dead. To avoid making more enemies and attracting the attention of current ones, he would have to stay that way.
* * *
Malphas concentrated carefully as he wove himself into a new form. This new body would have to be as perfect -- and as capable -- as his own. As the polymorph self ended, he looked into a mirror that one of the clerics of Trithereon had provided. The face before him belonged to a to a bastard high elf/aquatic elf. He smiled -- and the hybrid soon to be known as Malaclypse smiled back.
The fan-created information featured here is not meant as a challenge or threat to TSR's copyright.
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 21:41:19 -0500
From: Kenneth Newquist
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Everyone:
Here's the latest Blackrazor adventure.
It takes place immediately after the end of the last saga THE DEATH OF MALPHAS. The saga, and its predecessors, is available via our Web site at
THE BIRTH OF MALACYPSE
GM: Ken Newquist
WHAT HAS COME BEFORE
Malphas, the insane elf responsible for the killing of two pairs of guards in two years, has been executed before an assembly of Greyhawk citizens and guildmembers. 'Nuff said. Read "The Death of Malphas"
THE STORY
In order to save Malphas, the Blackrazors had to let the city kill him. The false evidence against Malphas -- he hadn't killed the second pair of guards -- was overwhelming. Since their magically-determined evidence that he hadn't killed the guards was in admissible in the City of Greyhawk court, they had no way of fighting back.
So they didn't. Instead, after trying to convince certain powerful city officials to intervene, the Blackrazors waited for the inevitable. On the day -- Planting 20, C.Y. 588 -- that Malphas was to be executed, they gathered with the rest of the city in the River District. The guild's highest ranking and most powerful member looked on as the executioner led the elf to the killing stump. And then they watched in horror as the axe fell, and Malphas' head fell onto the floor. They absorbed the cheers of the city around them and then waited for the body to be taken away.
And then they acted.
* * *
The guild's chaotic half was not about to sit back and let Malphas be punished for the one crime he actually hadn't committed in his life. The gnome illustionist-warrior Gnarth Binderstone, the elf ranger Mist Silvershroud, the bard Yogesh, the human thief Gaiseric (aka Scrappy) and the ever vengeful human cleric of Trithereon, Kalib Ironfist ran into the sewers.
A little research earlier in the day had revealed that the city's burial chambers -- and its incinerator -- were located off of the sewers. The Blackrazors, with the magical help of the terramancer Sven Kildare, had molded a piece of the marble they'd recovered from one of the Star Cairns into the shape of Malphas. Sven had then cast stone to flesh, and the Blackrazors had burned parts of the false corpse to reflect Malphas' own burns (which he had sustained during his last brush with an incinerator during the Fall of Obsidian Bay).
They then sliced off the corpse head, dumped it in a sack, and waited for the execution.
When the guards began loading Malphas' remains onto a wagon, they moved. The small band ran to the sewers and again waited. When the guards -- escorted by a priest of Ralishaz -- began moving through the sewers, the Blackrazors fell back and began scouting out possible intersections to pull their switch at.
After 10 minutes of searching, they found one.
The guards numbered eight in all -- two carried the front of the stretcher, two carried the rear, and the rest took up positions in front and in back of them. As they neared the intersection, Gnarth summoned the illusion of a giant rat at the end of the long corridor. The unattached guards immediately reacted by running up to engage the rat.
The stretcher-bearers stayed behind to guard the body, just as the Blackrazors had hoped. As they had entered the sewers, Kalib had cast fly on himself, Mist and Gnarth from his gloves of spell snaring. Now, as the remaining guards watched their companions chasing a non-existent rat, Mist swung in and snared Malphas's bagged body. Kalib followed a moment behind, dropping a second body in its place. And then both he and Gnarth launched a barrage of forget spells that made the guards lose track of the last minute or so of time.
For once, the entire plan went off without a hitch.
* * *
With Malphas' body and head in their possession, the Blackrazors beat a speedy retreat to the temple of Trithereon. Once there, Kalib explained the situation. The priests were outraged by the city's unjust taking of a life, but still hesitated. A resurrection spell was a powerful thing -- a thing that they could only cast from scrolls. And this was Malphas -- his reputation wasn't exactly sterling.
Kalib did his best to allay their fears and they finally agreed -- on the condition that the elf was Kalib's responsibility and that he tithe the cost of the resurrection spell back to the church. They also requested that he turn over a powerful magical item he finds in the next year to Kalib and the church.
They called up the elf's departed spirit via a speak with dead spell, got him to agreed to the terms, and brought him back.
Then, in a dark corner of the temple's basement, they planned their next move. As far as the city -- and the lawful members of the Blackrazors -- were concerned, Malphas was dead. To avoid making more enemies and attracting the attention of current ones, he would have to stay that way.
* * *
Malphas concentrated carefully as he wove himself into a new form. This new body would have to be as perfect -- and as capable -- as his own. As the polymorph self ended, he looked into a mirror that one of the clerics of Trithereon had provided. The face before him belonged to a to a bastard high elf/aquatic elf. He smiled -- and the hybrid soon to be known as Malaclypse smiled back.
The fan-created information featured here is not meant as a challenge or threat to TSR's copyright.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Campaign Update III
Date sent: Tue, 4 Nov 1997 09:31:28 +0000
Send reply to: The GREYtalk Discussion List
From: Pete Blake
Subject: [GREYTALK] Campaign Update III
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Hi All,
WARNING: POTENTIAL ADVENTURE SPOILERS FOLLOWING
Carrying on my campaign update:
Quick recap:
The party are a group of militia working for Prince Serrand, Paladin of Rao, Castle Goldbolt, Western Lands, Aerdy.
Episode I: Party went to Ralsend to investigate noble from Jalpa's arrival. Totally missed SB dealings going on in the town (my “Spies Are Us' nugget that I posted a while back). Returned to Castle Goldbolt and wandered off to investigate the Haunted House (U1) in their own free time. Finished the session, about to fight for their lives against smuggling ring.
Episode II: Defeated smugglers, uncovered and executed assassin. Returned home. On the way, encountered drow priestess – exchanged words but no hostilities. Rested up, trained and got some magic identified.
Episode III (this week):
The party set out for the Bonewood, taking a supply train and a score of soldiers to boost a village of foresters who were being hassled by orcs (my adventure nugget). Got attacked by 8 skirmishing orcs that night. Lost one guard to the ambush, captured and interrogated four orcs, then killed them (nice party!). Were watched by drow priestess from the edge of the farmstead they were camped in.
Reached the village. Built a stockade around the village and organised their defenses. Repelled a few attacks by mounted orcs. Stopped a pair of invisible orcs from making off with a young girl from the village to be used as a sacrifice for The Fesival of the Blood Moon (see Greyhawk Calendar). Did a reconaisance of the fortress the orcs occupied and fought a patrol of orogs. Decided that the orcs were too powerful for them (good decision) and headed home, leaving the soldiers to guard the village (They'll come back here to fininsh the job in a few level's time). Had a couple of encounters with the same drow priestess. They are starting to get worried about her now but are too scared to try and take her on.
Next week:
They've been ordered to search for the ship which presumedly is part of the smuggling ring and destroy the smugglers for good (U1 part II).
Pete.
Send reply to: The GREYtalk Discussion List
From: Pete Blake
Subject: [GREYTALK] Campaign Update III
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Hi All,
WARNING: POTENTIAL ADVENTURE SPOILERS FOLLOWING
Carrying on my campaign update:
Quick recap:
The party are a group of militia working for Prince Serrand, Paladin of Rao, Castle Goldbolt, Western Lands, Aerdy.
Episode I: Party went to Ralsend to investigate noble from Jalpa's arrival. Totally missed SB dealings going on in the town (my “Spies Are Us' nugget that I posted a while back). Returned to Castle Goldbolt and wandered off to investigate the Haunted House (U1) in their own free time. Finished the session, about to fight for their lives against smuggling ring.
Episode II: Defeated smugglers, uncovered and executed assassin. Returned home. On the way, encountered drow priestess – exchanged words but no hostilities. Rested up, trained and got some magic identified.
Episode III (this week):
The party set out for the Bonewood, taking a supply train and a score of soldiers to boost a village of foresters who were being hassled by orcs (my adventure nugget). Got attacked by 8 skirmishing orcs that night. Lost one guard to the ambush, captured and interrogated four orcs, then killed them (nice party!). Were watched by drow priestess from the edge of the farmstead they were camped in.
Reached the village. Built a stockade around the village and organised their defenses. Repelled a few attacks by mounted orcs. Stopped a pair of invisible orcs from making off with a young girl from the village to be used as a sacrifice for The Fesival of the Blood Moon (see Greyhawk Calendar). Did a reconaisance of the fortress the orcs occupied and fought a patrol of orogs. Decided that the orcs were too powerful for them (good decision) and headed home, leaving the soldiers to guard the village (They'll come back here to fininsh the job in a few level's time). Had a couple of encounters with the same drow priestess. They are starting to get worried about her now but are too scared to try and take her on.
Next week:
They've been ordered to search for the ship which presumedly is part of the smuggling ring and destroy the smugglers for good (U1 part II).
Pete.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Fwd: Nolandr's account of eve of our escape
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 99 20:17PM PDT
From: victor gonzalez Add To
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: [GREYTALK] [Fwd: Nolandr's account of eve of our escape.]
Nolandr's account of eve of our escape.
Fie! Again our plans were foiled. After all our planning to overcome the orc's camp we were fooled by a leprechaun and his henchmen. Stoker levitated the man-beast beyond sight before being felled the ghoul. Being the last two (myself and Malek who had quickly recovered from the ghoul's petrifying claws) standing in our party surrounded by all sorts of foul looking beasts. We surrendered.
Stripped and interrogated. Again I won't go into the details of our torture, nor of the insignificant discussions we had with our captors. Stoker was bled and used as tygre bait. The man-beast returned and the ghoul turned out to be a leprechaun. We were duped.
Malek sought to reason with the sprite to get our freedom. I appealed to his sense of duty to release us. Afterall he had taken all our property (including that harp, oh Wee Jas what is that thing?) He wasn't to be reasoned with. I made thinly veiled threats about the capriciousness of Wee Jas and her gifts of magic. Still the sprite was resolute. Curse him. I didn't leave Shar to be a slave. So when the beasts chained us together for labor I vowed to escape; or die trying.
They took away my possessions, but not my faith. I fashioned a holy item to continue my prayers. A plan came to me during evening recitations...
Calling upon Wee Jas, I empowered Malek to break his bonds. He ran into the night seeking help. I can only hope he reaches Marya Darkeyes safely and that she will agree to help us. Much later there is a commotion near the tree I am chained to. Freddy (the vile leprechaun) stops by me to taunt me further.
"We're going to capture your friend."
"This is your last warning, free me." I reply.
"Ha" and he sped into the brush.
I quickly said the holy words and brought about Wee Jas' justice. The sprite's helm would became unbearably hot and soon he would have to remove it. I can only hope it will distract him in the midst of battle.
But lo. He doesn't remove it. He rages at the center of the camp. Shrieking at the top of his lungs. The man-beast could only stand about ineffectively.
Just then several men burst from the trees pursued by a motley group of my captors. Malek broke into the clearing. He had returned to rescue me. I gave praise to Wee Jas, and said a simple prayer of protection. Someone slipped from the melee and broke my bonds.
Guided by Wee Jas, I made my way back into the camp. With the noise of melee and the ravings of Freddy at the center of camp, I was able to pass into the sprite's tent unnoticed. I gathered our belongings into a sack, crossed myself, peered out and again called Wee Jas' fury upon Freddy. I said another prayer of thanksgiving and protection and returned to my liberators.
The stranger who broke my bonds lay bleeding only a few feet away from the broken chains. Kneeling down, I stanched the flow of blood, comforted him and thanked him for his efforts. If he is to die let his soul be guided by Wee Jas to a just reward.
Picking my way through the felled enemy I found another large man as amidst a some goblins. He was closer to death than the last man. Again I administered to his wounds and said a prayer to Wee Jas. Perhaps it isn't his time.
All about me steel clanged on armor and shields. Dust was kicked up into the bloody air. Death is not foreign to a priest of Wee Jas but I no longer wanted to stay. A ferocious man was slaying monsters left and right and shout, nay, screaming epithets at them and daring them to offer a challenge. That was when the gnolls emerged.
I vaguely remember someone putting the vile sprite out of his misery with a well placed arrow blessed by kiss of Wee Jas. I clamored onto the back of a horse and barely remember but a blur of our escape beyond that.
From: victor gonzalez
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: [GREYTALK] [Fwd: Nolandr's account of eve of our escape.]
Nolandr's account of eve of our escape.
Fie! Again our plans were foiled. After all our planning to overcome the orc's camp we were fooled by a leprechaun and his henchmen. Stoker levitated the man-beast beyond sight before being felled the ghoul. Being the last two (myself and Malek who had quickly recovered from the ghoul's petrifying claws) standing in our party surrounded by all sorts of foul looking beasts. We surrendered.
Stripped and interrogated. Again I won't go into the details of our torture, nor of the insignificant discussions we had with our captors. Stoker was bled and used as tygre bait. The man-beast returned and the ghoul turned out to be a leprechaun. We were duped.
Malek sought to reason with the sprite to get our freedom. I appealed to his sense of duty to release us. Afterall he had taken all our property (including that harp, oh Wee Jas what is that thing?) He wasn't to be reasoned with. I made thinly veiled threats about the capriciousness of Wee Jas and her gifts of magic. Still the sprite was resolute. Curse him. I didn't leave Shar to be a slave. So when the beasts chained us together for labor I vowed to escape; or die trying.
They took away my possessions, but not my faith. I fashioned a holy item to continue my prayers. A plan came to me during evening recitations...
Calling upon Wee Jas, I empowered Malek to break his bonds. He ran into the night seeking help. I can only hope he reaches Marya Darkeyes safely and that she will agree to help us. Much later there is a commotion near the tree I am chained to. Freddy (the vile leprechaun) stops by me to taunt me further.
"We're going to capture your friend."
"This is your last warning, free me." I reply.
"Ha" and he sped into the brush.
I quickly said the holy words and brought about Wee Jas' justice. The sprite's helm would became unbearably hot and soon he would have to remove it. I can only hope it will distract him in the midst of battle.
But lo. He doesn't remove it. He rages at the center of the camp. Shrieking at the top of his lungs. The man-beast could only stand about ineffectively.
Just then several men burst from the trees pursued by a motley group of my captors. Malek broke into the clearing. He had returned to rescue me. I gave praise to Wee Jas, and said a simple prayer of protection. Someone slipped from the melee and broke my bonds.
Guided by Wee Jas, I made my way back into the camp. With the noise of melee and the ravings of Freddy at the center of camp, I was able to pass into the sprite's tent unnoticed. I gathered our belongings into a sack, crossed myself, peered out and again called Wee Jas' fury upon Freddy. I said another prayer of thanksgiving and protection and returned to my liberators.
The stranger who broke my bonds lay bleeding only a few feet away from the broken chains. Kneeling down, I stanched the flow of blood, comforted him and thanked him for his efforts. If he is to die let his soul be guided by Wee Jas to a just reward.
Picking my way through the felled enemy I found another large man as amidst a some goblins. He was closer to death than the last man. Again I administered to his wounds and said a prayer to Wee Jas. Perhaps it isn't his time.
All about me steel clanged on armor and shields. Dust was kicked up into the bloody air. Death is not foreign to a priest of Wee Jas but I no longer wanted to stay. A ferocious man was slaying monsters left and right and shout, nay, screaming epithets at them and daring them to offer a challenge. That was when the gnolls emerged.
I vaguely remember someone putting the vile sprite out of his misery with a well placed arrow blessed by kiss of Wee Jas. I clamored onto the back of a horse and barely remember but a blur of our escape beyond that.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Esperian Vale Adventures
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 17:16:52 -0000
From: "Farina, Jason"
Subject: Esperian Vale Adventures. Enjoy, but pay attention to the disclai mer.... or else.....
Below, I present the first part of the latest campaign to plonk from the sewer I call an imagination.
Be warned, it might contain information your DM doesn't want you to know and could very well ruin your enjoyment of an adventure.
this weeks episode (well this part of this week's) effectively destroys all mystery etc in The Four Season's of Jivaldi, and gives away a bit about the AD&D fast play rules beginning scenario and the Free download of B3 from the WoTC website.
I would strongly advise that you ask your DM if he intends running any of these BEFORE you read any further. If you read this and your DM pokes your eyes out with a pointy object, don't come crying to me!
Now, disclaimer aside, read on, enjoy, add plenty of salt and please dispose of any combustables or flammatory devices at the entrance. Thank you.
The Esperian Vale Campaign.
Week 1.
Characters involved:
Name level class Notes:
Stuffy 1st necromancer (human) Not the brightest mage in the world, or the strongest, quickest, wisest, nicest or hardiest.
Quote: "Manacles, wooden block, sledgehammer. Wanna find out what misery really is?"
Loreal 1st elf, Fighter Vain and arrogant, considers Gunther his 'familiar'
Quote: " because I'm worth it"
Gunther 1st` Dwur, fighter Lazy, rather prone to violence, dwarven really....
Quote: "We're all going to die! Where's that bottle of wine I found?"
Panthene 1st ranger (human) a good ranger if a little accident prone, not great person skills....
Quote: "Oops, I guessed wrong"
A bit of campaign information would be nice I suppose:
Right, well, the group consists of, currently, 4 friends. We are all aged between 23 and 26 and have known each other right the way through college.
That's over 6 years I have been Dming for them (and most of that was ToEE, which they never managed to finish :-), hey wow! Word includes smileys!!!).
Anyway, we are pretty used to how each of us play and react so I decided to put together a series of adventures into a 'campaign'. The main reason for this is that we are all working and we never know whether we will make a game or not so I wanted to have a more 'freeform' game than a linear campaign like ToEE. So, I went looking on the internet and in old modules (mainly 1st ed collections etc) as well as in the Lankhmar supplements and gathered together a load of scenarios that I would like to DM. When I saw B3, I was delighted. A low level adventure that fitted perfect with the introduction I had already planned. Many bits of modules have been changed to cram them into the general storyline, but by and large they should be recognisable. Note: I might not always remember who wrote what scenario, so don't take offense if I don't credit someone when I should. It's not done deliberately.
House rules:
1. fighters (single class) roll D12 Hp, and before I get stoned for this, it's working quite well since it's introduction over two years ago.
2. Mages CAN use non-mage weapons if they pay more for them
3. Mages MUST specialise and meet the requirements for specialisation.
4. Mages can wear quilted or padded armour as per the sugestion in simon Gibbs in his Armour of the Forgotten Realms article. He also did a weapons one (more later) well worth reading IMHO.
5. Character points are used for Weapon and non-weapon proficiencies.
6. Priests do not choose their patron deity. Through their actions, a deity may or may not call them to service
7. There is NO longsword in the game. I hate that weapon. It removes the flavour of culture. And makes polearms look ridiculous :-).
Righty, that's most of the rules, there are others but they aren't really important.
Oh yeah, Stuffy the Necromancer decided to take farm implements as weapons.
I saw no reason why not as long as they were in character. He took a Scythe (for clearing long grass in graveyards....) and a sledgehammer (for breaking open sarcophagi etc.). I may not have been right allowing it, but I just thought it was a good reason for them and made for an unusual character.
The Setting:
The adventures are set in the Grand Duchy of Geoff, in a makey uppy vale called The Vale of Esperia situated in the NorthWest of the duchy. The vale map is taken from the adventure "four seasons of jivaldi" by blue troll.
I've placed the Palace of the Silver princess to the NW, just on the edge of the crystalmists - the vale being the same one described in the background of the module B3. I've also included the AD&D quick play scenario (the one with the ghoul) and am considering adapting the quick play one about the smoke dragon to fit in as well.
Now, the adventure begins:
PART 1.1: Stefan and the Trail to Dolmor.
The party begin at an interview with the local lord, a minor noble called Ulrich Wolsden. They are hired to get word to his younger of two sons , Stefan, to return. The Elder son, Karl, has been struck by a terrible fever after falling from his horse, and, fearing that he will die, Ulrich wants Stefan nearby to be ready to assume the place of heir. Stefan set out just after Harvest time to collect the taxes, a tour of the lands that he has undertaken for the past eight years accompanied by 12 of the lord's men at arms. As well as collecting the taxes, Stefan uses this opportunity to 'meet the people' and pursue his own hobby of Herbalism, art and history. He usually winters in the town of Dolmor where he is working on a herbal encyclopaedia with the local druid Foswel and the town clergyman, Lehar. He loans horses to the party and supplies them with three homing pigeons so they can send word of their progress.
The journey to Dolmor is pretty uneventful.
Just outside of Dolmor they Panthene discovers tracks in the mud, human tracks, one of them trailing blood. Alongside these are canine tracks which he thinks are those of wolves, rather large wolves. Unsure, he guesses that there are at least four but certainly no more than eight of the creatures.
Stuffy is nervous but Panthene assures him that wolves rarely attack humans, (hastily adds elves and dwarves into that statement), unless they're really hungry, or rabid. The tracks are very recent, within the last half hour or so. Cautiously they continue. The forests around them seems darker than they should, despite the approaching twilight. After a few minutes of slow progress, Loreal hears the sounds of men calling for help, and the snarling of wolves. Gunther isn't surprised, after all, elves have big ears.
The party quickly decide to investigate. Pressing through the undergrowth, they enter a small clearing and see two men trying to fend off five large mountain wolves. Only three of the wolves are fighting, the two other stand back bleeding from the mens' recent successes. The wolves have not been the only victims. One man is bleeding badly from a wound on his thigh and a third man lies dead or unconscious behind. Their retreat is block by a mass of thorns and briars, their escape blocked by the position of the wolves. At the Party's approach, the two injured wolves turn and snarl, but make no move to attack or flee. The three fighting are quickly wearing down the humans' defenses. Gunther swings from his saddle and draws his battle axe.
Unslinging his shield he charges into the fray, Loreal provides covering fire with his shortbow, so skillful is his firing that his first arrow seems to ruffle the dwur's beard! Panthene dismounts also and tries to arc around to the flank. Stuffy, thinking quickly, decided to use his spell of tiredness on one of the injured wolves (Ray of fatigue) , the smokey beam strikes it's target and the beast collapses panting to the ground, it's blood loss from injury and this unnatural fugue overpowering it. Loreal's first arrow takes the second injured wolf in the chest, killing it instantly (OK, so I'm probably wrong about the instant thing, but it sounded good when I was describing it and it was the party's very first taste of action after all. I wanted to introduce a bit of a feelgood factor).
Gunther steps in over the corpse and swings hard. Unfortuately, he decided to attack a rock that looked like a wolf rather than an actual wolf and wound up taking quite a large chunk out of his axe blade.. "damn human smithy work"... Panthene manages to place himself between one wolf and the injured woodsman, the wolf, instead of attacking decides to charge Stuffy's horse causing it to rear and throw the mage, amost knocking him unconscious and certainly making him a sitting target. Instead the wolves flee herding the mage's panicked horse into the woods before them. Embarrassed Gunther decides to give chase but then remembers that he hates forests and can't track a trail of breadcrumbs if his life depended on it, so he returns to convince Panthene to help out. Panthene is talking to the woodsmen who are thanking him for the rescue, then, when Loreal coughs (wolf fur in the throat) they thank him. Stuffy, meanwhile, has regained his feet and is busy pulping the exhausted wolf (there was a type of ritual chant, but children might read this so I won't repeat them here ;-) ).
The woodsmen tell their story on the way to Dolmor. They describe the attack on Willy's Hen house in the town and their subsequent search through the woods. Wolves are a severe concern for a village that has a large dependance on furs and meats for trade and provisions. But these wolves were unusual.
Three days they tracked them through the woods, North, South, East and West.
Never did they find any sign of a den or community (Peter, the uninjured hunter, is quite proud of his knowledge of wolves - he asked Foswel the druid a few questions before the left as well). Then on the third day, just when they were about to give up the chase, the wolves found them. Three of them stepped into a glade, as bold as brass and, snarling and snapping, forced the hunters to back away. That's when the other two attacked from behind. The ambush was uncanny, almost human planned - certainly better than anything those pesky goblins ever tried anyway. The hunters ran, but Eugene (the unconscious hunter) was bitten badly and had to be carried most of the way. Eventually they were forced off the trail to that clearing where the wolves cornered them and launched their assault. If it weren't for the party's intervention they would surely have been killed.
During this, Morris, the injured hunter - but still conscious - assures Loreal that his nose will heal. It is obvious that Gunther lacks the elve's accuracy when he uses his fists, or maybe it was the elve's lack of facial hair that caused the error in judgement?
Finally the town of Dolmor comes into view and the party make their way to the temple of Beory to get Eugene tended to. They use the back entrance under Peter's advice for fear of causing a panic in the town.
Source so far: Four Season's of Jivaldi by Blue Troll.
Continued tomorrow in part 1.2. (I'm a bit of a slow typist.....)
From: "Farina, Jason"
Subject: Esperian Vale Adventures. Enjoy, but pay attention to the disclai mer.... or else.....
Below, I present the first part of the latest campaign to plonk from the sewer I call an imagination.
Be warned, it might contain information your DM doesn't want you to know and could very well ruin your enjoyment of an adventure.
this weeks episode (well this part of this week's) effectively destroys all mystery etc in The Four Season's of Jivaldi, and gives away a bit about the AD&D fast play rules beginning scenario and the Free download of B3 from the WoTC website.
I would strongly advise that you ask your DM if he intends running any of these BEFORE you read any further. If you read this and your DM pokes your eyes out with a pointy object, don't come crying to me!
Now, disclaimer aside, read on, enjoy, add plenty of salt and please dispose of any combustables or flammatory devices at the entrance. Thank you.
The Esperian Vale Campaign.
Week 1.
Characters involved:
Name level class Notes:
Stuffy 1st necromancer (human) Not the brightest mage in the world, or the strongest, quickest, wisest, nicest or hardiest.
Quote: "Manacles, wooden block, sledgehammer. Wanna find out what misery really is?"
Loreal 1st elf, Fighter Vain and arrogant, considers Gunther his 'familiar'
Quote: " because I'm worth it"
Gunther 1st` Dwur, fighter Lazy, rather prone to violence, dwarven really....
Quote: "We're all going to die! Where's that bottle of wine I found?"
Panthene 1st ranger (human) a good ranger if a little accident prone, not great person skills....
Quote: "Oops, I guessed wrong"
A bit of campaign information would be nice I suppose:
Right, well, the group consists of, currently, 4 friends. We are all aged between 23 and 26 and have known each other right the way through college.
That's over 6 years I have been Dming for them (and most of that was ToEE, which they never managed to finish :-), hey wow! Word includes smileys!!!).
Anyway, we are pretty used to how each of us play and react so I decided to put together a series of adventures into a 'campaign'. The main reason for this is that we are all working and we never know whether we will make a game or not so I wanted to have a more 'freeform' game than a linear campaign like ToEE. So, I went looking on the internet and in old modules (mainly 1st ed collections etc) as well as in the Lankhmar supplements and gathered together a load of scenarios that I would like to DM. When I saw B3, I was delighted. A low level adventure that fitted perfect with the introduction I had already planned. Many bits of modules have been changed to cram them into the general storyline, but by and large they should be recognisable. Note: I might not always remember who wrote what scenario, so don't take offense if I don't credit someone when I should. It's not done deliberately.
House rules:
1. fighters (single class) roll D12 Hp, and before I get stoned for this, it's working quite well since it's introduction over two years ago.
2. Mages CAN use non-mage weapons if they pay more for them
3. Mages MUST specialise and meet the requirements for specialisation.
4. Mages can wear quilted or padded armour as per the sugestion in simon Gibbs in his Armour of the Forgotten Realms article. He also did a weapons one (more later) well worth reading IMHO.
5. Character points are used for Weapon and non-weapon proficiencies.
6. Priests do not choose their patron deity. Through their actions, a deity may or may not call them to service
7. There is NO longsword in the game. I hate that weapon. It removes the flavour of culture. And makes polearms look ridiculous :-).
Righty, that's most of the rules, there are others but they aren't really important.
Oh yeah, Stuffy the Necromancer decided to take farm implements as weapons.
I saw no reason why not as long as they were in character. He took a Scythe (for clearing long grass in graveyards....) and a sledgehammer (for breaking open sarcophagi etc.). I may not have been right allowing it, but I just thought it was a good reason for them and made for an unusual character.
The Setting:
The adventures are set in the Grand Duchy of Geoff, in a makey uppy vale called The Vale of Esperia situated in the NorthWest of the duchy. The vale map is taken from the adventure "four seasons of jivaldi" by blue troll.
I've placed the Palace of the Silver princess to the NW, just on the edge of the crystalmists - the vale being the same one described in the background of the module B3. I've also included the AD&D quick play scenario (the one with the ghoul) and am considering adapting the quick play one about the smoke dragon to fit in as well.
Now, the adventure begins:
PART 1.1: Stefan and the Trail to Dolmor.
The party begin at an interview with the local lord, a minor noble called Ulrich Wolsden. They are hired to get word to his younger of two sons , Stefan, to return. The Elder son, Karl, has been struck by a terrible fever after falling from his horse, and, fearing that he will die, Ulrich wants Stefan nearby to be ready to assume the place of heir. Stefan set out just after Harvest time to collect the taxes, a tour of the lands that he has undertaken for the past eight years accompanied by 12 of the lord's men at arms. As well as collecting the taxes, Stefan uses this opportunity to 'meet the people' and pursue his own hobby of Herbalism, art and history. He usually winters in the town of Dolmor where he is working on a herbal encyclopaedia with the local druid Foswel and the town clergyman, Lehar. He loans horses to the party and supplies them with three homing pigeons so they can send word of their progress.
The journey to Dolmor is pretty uneventful.
Just outside of Dolmor they Panthene discovers tracks in the mud, human tracks, one of them trailing blood. Alongside these are canine tracks which he thinks are those of wolves, rather large wolves. Unsure, he guesses that there are at least four but certainly no more than eight of the creatures.
Stuffy is nervous but Panthene assures him that wolves rarely attack humans, (hastily adds elves and dwarves into that statement), unless they're really hungry, or rabid. The tracks are very recent, within the last half hour or so. Cautiously they continue. The forests around them seems darker than they should, despite the approaching twilight. After a few minutes of slow progress, Loreal hears the sounds of men calling for help, and the snarling of wolves. Gunther isn't surprised, after all, elves have big ears.
The party quickly decide to investigate. Pressing through the undergrowth, they enter a small clearing and see two men trying to fend off five large mountain wolves. Only three of the wolves are fighting, the two other stand back bleeding from the mens' recent successes. The wolves have not been the only victims. One man is bleeding badly from a wound on his thigh and a third man lies dead or unconscious behind. Their retreat is block by a mass of thorns and briars, their escape blocked by the position of the wolves. At the Party's approach, the two injured wolves turn and snarl, but make no move to attack or flee. The three fighting are quickly wearing down the humans' defenses. Gunther swings from his saddle and draws his battle axe.
Unslinging his shield he charges into the fray, Loreal provides covering fire with his shortbow, so skillful is his firing that his first arrow seems to ruffle the dwur's beard! Panthene dismounts also and tries to arc around to the flank. Stuffy, thinking quickly, decided to use his spell of tiredness on one of the injured wolves (Ray of fatigue) , the smokey beam strikes it's target and the beast collapses panting to the ground, it's blood loss from injury and this unnatural fugue overpowering it. Loreal's first arrow takes the second injured wolf in the chest, killing it instantly (OK, so I'm probably wrong about the instant thing, but it sounded good when I was describing it and it was the party's very first taste of action after all. I wanted to introduce a bit of a feelgood factor).
Gunther steps in over the corpse and swings hard. Unfortuately, he decided to attack a rock that looked like a wolf rather than an actual wolf and wound up taking quite a large chunk out of his axe blade.. "damn human smithy work"... Panthene manages to place himself between one wolf and the injured woodsman, the wolf, instead of attacking decides to charge Stuffy's horse causing it to rear and throw the mage, amost knocking him unconscious and certainly making him a sitting target. Instead the wolves flee herding the mage's panicked horse into the woods before them. Embarrassed Gunther decides to give chase but then remembers that he hates forests and can't track a trail of breadcrumbs if his life depended on it, so he returns to convince Panthene to help out. Panthene is talking to the woodsmen who are thanking him for the rescue, then, when Loreal coughs (wolf fur in the throat) they thank him. Stuffy, meanwhile, has regained his feet and is busy pulping the exhausted wolf (there was a type of ritual chant, but children might read this so I won't repeat them here ;-) ).
The woodsmen tell their story on the way to Dolmor. They describe the attack on Willy's Hen house in the town and their subsequent search through the woods. Wolves are a severe concern for a village that has a large dependance on furs and meats for trade and provisions. But these wolves were unusual.
Three days they tracked them through the woods, North, South, East and West.
Never did they find any sign of a den or community (Peter, the uninjured hunter, is quite proud of his knowledge of wolves - he asked Foswel the druid a few questions before the left as well). Then on the third day, just when they were about to give up the chase, the wolves found them. Three of them stepped into a glade, as bold as brass and, snarling and snapping, forced the hunters to back away. That's when the other two attacked from behind. The ambush was uncanny, almost human planned - certainly better than anything those pesky goblins ever tried anyway. The hunters ran, but Eugene (the unconscious hunter) was bitten badly and had to be carried most of the way. Eventually they were forced off the trail to that clearing where the wolves cornered them and launched their assault. If it weren't for the party's intervention they would surely have been killed.
During this, Morris, the injured hunter - but still conscious - assures Loreal that his nose will heal. It is obvious that Gunther lacks the elve's accuracy when he uses his fists, or maybe it was the elve's lack of facial hair that caused the error in judgement?
Finally the town of Dolmor comes into view and the party make their way to the temple of Beory to get Eugene tended to. They use the back entrance under Peter's advice for fear of causing a panic in the town.
Source so far: Four Season's of Jivaldi by Blue Troll.
Continued tomorrow in part 1.2. (I'm a bit of a slow typist.....)
Sunday, December 14, 2008
FW: Good low level Adventures
Subject: [GREYTALK] FW: Good low level Adventures
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 10:35:39 -0700
From: "Matthewson, Kent"
Reply-To: The GREYtalk Discussion List
> ----------
> From: Immaculate Image[SMTP:immaculateimage@HOTMAIL.COM]
>
"The City Of Greyhawk boxed set has some great 1 pg low level adventures. Among them are Wine Harvest, Siege of the Highfolk, Minding the Store, and The Final Resting Place of Dorshak Krane."
_________________
I used three of the low level adventure cards from the City of GH to start off our campaign, extending each adventure with additional material.
The players consisted of:
Gareth of Verbobonc - thief, formerly of a good family
Graham Trueseeker - Shield Lander, friend to the Rhennee and a Priest of Trithereon
Thorlag - a Snow Barbarian
SPOILERS
Minding the Store
Gareth's Fence, a man called Sennard Porbell, contacted Gareth to mind his "pawnshop" for a few days, taking his "muscle" with him for protection. Gareth recruited a recent acquaintance, Graham Trueseeker, as well as Thorlag the Barbarian, whose sword was in hock to Sennard, due to his heavy drinking and gambling losses.
After an attack by some angry customers looking for their property (which was not in evidence), and an attack by a contingent of the local thieves guild, they discovered that Sennard had heavy debts and was probably in the process of fleeing the city. Having been made "an offer they couldn't refuse" by the area lieutenant guildmaster, i.e. bring back Sennard or be responsible for his debts, the trio went to investigate at the Silver Dice Casino, where Sennard had been known to gamble (and lose) heavily.
Information was gleaned at the casino from a smuggler who refused (from fear of retribution from the Guild) to help Sennard, and who had instead referred him to the Rhenee (the barge-folk). Through Graham's contacts, the group was able to find and capture Sennard, after a tense battle and hostage taking
The Final Resting Place of Dorshak Krane
Having gained some measure of reknown, word of mouth led to them being contacted by the Guild of Jewelers and Gemcutters regarding the disappearance of Dorshak Krane, a dwarf gemcutter of incredible skill and artistry who had been working on the "Gem of Fire" - a large, dark gem with a deep red heart. Investigating his now abandoned mansion, the group discovered Dorshak Krane in hiding in a secret room in the attic, driven insane by fear. The gem had been taken by "Balor" who was discovered to be a wizard (illusionist) with a tower in the Foreign Quarter. The group set out to beard Balor in his lair. After fighting through his fierce war hounds and his deformed servant Nogrod, the party faced and defeated Balor, though he escaped capture by means of a wraithform spell. The gem, however, was recovered.
Bath Time for the Hopping Prophet
Terrorist activity, consisting of drive-by shootings (poisoned) and the kidnapping of a local merchant and others led the PC's to try and win the reward for apprehension of the villains and the safe return of the captives.
The group staked out a likely target, and as expected, the terrorists (grung) attacked. Fending off the attackers, the party tracked them to an old bath-house. Routing the enemy there, they were obliged to follow them into the sewers.
In the vast underground network of tunnels and cisterns, the PC's fought their way through giant crocodiles, an otyugh, and bullywugs to the secret Temple of Wastri, the Hopping Prophet. There they defeated the priest, Heironymous Spune, and freed the captives.
Kent Matthewson
www.greyhawk-codex.com
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 10:35:39 -0700
From: "Matthewson, Kent"
Reply-To: The GREYtalk Discussion List
> ----------
> From: Immaculate Image[SMTP:immaculateimage@HOTMAIL.COM]
>
"The City Of Greyhawk boxed set has some great 1 pg low level adventures. Among them are Wine Harvest, Siege of the Highfolk, Minding the Store, and The Final Resting Place of Dorshak Krane."
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I used three of the low level adventure cards from the City of GH to start off our campaign, extending each adventure with additional material.
The players consisted of:
Gareth of Verbobonc - thief, formerly of a good family
Graham Trueseeker - Shield Lander, friend to the Rhennee and a Priest of Trithereon
Thorlag - a Snow Barbarian
SPOILERS
Minding the Store
Gareth's Fence, a man called Sennard Porbell, contacted Gareth to mind his "pawnshop" for a few days, taking his "muscle" with him for protection. Gareth recruited a recent acquaintance, Graham Trueseeker, as well as Thorlag the Barbarian, whose sword was in hock to Sennard, due to his heavy drinking and gambling losses.
After an attack by some angry customers looking for their property (which was not in evidence), and an attack by a contingent of the local thieves guild, they discovered that Sennard had heavy debts and was probably in the process of fleeing the city. Having been made "an offer they couldn't refuse" by the area lieutenant guildmaster, i.e. bring back Sennard or be responsible for his debts, the trio went to investigate at the Silver Dice Casino, where Sennard had been known to gamble (and lose) heavily.
Information was gleaned at the casino from a smuggler who refused (from fear of retribution from the Guild) to help Sennard, and who had instead referred him to the Rhenee (the barge-folk). Through Graham's contacts, the group was able to find and capture Sennard, after a tense battle and hostage taking
The Final Resting Place of Dorshak Krane
Having gained some measure of reknown, word of mouth led to them being contacted by the Guild of Jewelers and Gemcutters regarding the disappearance of Dorshak Krane, a dwarf gemcutter of incredible skill and artistry who had been working on the "Gem of Fire" - a large, dark gem with a deep red heart. Investigating his now abandoned mansion, the group discovered Dorshak Krane in hiding in a secret room in the attic, driven insane by fear. The gem had been taken by "Balor" who was discovered to be a wizard (illusionist) with a tower in the Foreign Quarter. The group set out to beard Balor in his lair. After fighting through his fierce war hounds and his deformed servant Nogrod, the party faced and defeated Balor, though he escaped capture by means of a wraithform spell. The gem, however, was recovered.
Bath Time for the Hopping Prophet
Terrorist activity, consisting of drive-by shootings (poisoned) and the kidnapping of a local merchant and others led the PC's to try and win the reward for apprehension of the villains and the safe return of the captives.
The group staked out a likely target, and as expected, the terrorists (grung) attacked. Fending off the attackers, the party tracked them to an old bath-house. Routing the enemy there, they were obliged to follow them into the sewers.
In the vast underground network of tunnels and cisterns, the PC's fought their way through giant crocodiles, an otyugh, and bullywugs to the secret Temple of Wastri, the Hopping Prophet. There they defeated the priest, Heironymous Spune, and freed the captives.
Kent Matthewson
www.greyhawk-codex.com
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