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Kerrigan
Acolyte
Germany
31 Posts |
 Posted - 28 Sep 2010 : 08:43:32
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Greetings, fellow scribes!
I come to you with a delicate problem: I'm about to be the gamemaster of my D&D 3rd Edition group for some time. We've played "City of the Spider Queen" before, but the former DM became tired of leading our group. :) Now i really don't like dungeon-crawling: Interaction, puzzling and sheer roleplaying is more to my taste. I picked an adventure from Dungeon Magazine Nr. 54 called "Unhallowed Ground", which is a mystery adventure set in a monastry (the plot may remind you of "The Name of the Rose", it's quite good,by the way!).
My problem: I'm afraid that there'll be too little fights for my players. In fact, the adventure only includes one single fight against an undead avenger right at the end. I know my players - they're a bloodthirsty lot.. ;) So what should I do?
Suggestions i came up with:
- They're attacked by bandits while on their way to the monastry.
- The abbot sets them the task of exterminating the rats in the cloister's cellars. (classic..)
- There's not just one undead at the end of the adventure; instead, the undead lets a handful of skeletons rise from the chapel's graveyard before the players can even face him.
In hope for answers,
Kerrigan
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mensch
Seeker
80 Posts |
Posted - 28 Sep 2010 : 09:54:05
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It depends on the length of the adventure, I think. If it's quite short I would go for the latter option (the handful of skeletons). If it's a longer narrative you might have more opportunities than just one rat encounter. The PCs all start out as level 1 characters, I assume? Maybe the undead avenger isn't located on the grounds of the graveyard itself, but flees to a nearby crypt situated on the graveyard after your players have spotted him. You can have multiple encounters in that crypt.
Cleaning out the cellars because of the rats is a known RPG trope and might not be that interesting. You could send your PCs down the cellars to search for a something hidden that ties into the main plot of the undead avenger - some letters, a journal or any other MacGuffin. The "something" could be guarded by more interesting monsters, than rats, maybe a single CR1 monster? |
Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate to know that for destruction ice is also great and would suffice. – Robert Frost (1874 - 1963) |
Edited by - mensch on 28 Sep 2010 09:56:07 |
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Kno
Senior Scribe
452 Posts |
Posted - 28 Sep 2010 : 22:03:40
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| I'd read Rats in the Walls by Lovecraft and include parts of that story for more sheer roleplaying involving rats |
z455t |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4429 Posts |
Posted - 29 Sep 2010 : 01:07:35
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what level are we talking about here? A few small skirmishes in the cellers is an ok way to go, but if the storyline is fun and the RP is good, then sometimes you don't need to be killing monsters every night.
Also, you could make the challenge rating of the monster at the end of the adventure really high and thus something the PCs will likely have to spend all their spells and equpiment destroying. |
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althen artren
Senior Scribe
USA
780 Posts |
Posted - 29 Sep 2010 : 01:40:25
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Give them what they want, they're the whole reason ur running
the game. If they are not happy, they may leave.
I agree with Diffan, but do that all through the adventure.
I'd even get a co-Dm to help with dice rolls and reactions in battle. |
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Afetbinttuzani
Senior Scribe
Canada
434 Posts |
Posted - 29 Sep 2010 : 04:13:54
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Hi.
To some extent, I agree that you need to give the players what they want. But you need to be satisfied as well. So would make the following general suggestions.
- Bring the role play into the combat by encouraging the the players describe their combat actions as if it were a novel.
- After a roll succeeds or fails, you can describe what happens in game as if it were a novel. For example, on a close miss, you might say "He raises his sword just in time to glance you blow, but he grunts under the force of your swing"
- Make sure that combat has goals above and beyond just killing the opponents: ie. to defend an ally, to buy time to solve a puzzle, to draw the opponents away from something, to gain access to something, etc.
I hope this helps a bit. |
Afet bint Tuzaní
"As the good Archmage often admonishes me, I ought not to let my mind wander, as it's too small to go off by itself."
- Danilo Thann in Elfsong by Elaine Cunningham |
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Kerrigan
Acolyte
Germany
31 Posts |
Posted - 29 Sep 2010 : 10:10:19
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Thanks for your advice!
Mensch, I agree that the rat-idea perhaps isn't the best. It might destroy the atmosphere and the suspense.. A sidequest or a McGuffin, i'll think about it. Nevertheless, i'll read that short story Kno suggested.
Diffan, the PCs are level 3 with rather mediocre equipment. You're right, it will be best to make the final fight worthwhile, so not a single melee/attacking monstre but one that perhaps summons, perhaps hides somewhere and attacks from range with magic. If you have any good suggestions for adding a bit of flavor to a fight against a single opponent (whose powers i can freely determine), please let me know! :)
Afetbinttuzani, that's a good advice. I think that actually most DMs think of themselves as describing the adventure, fight scenes and actions scenes adequatly but are indeed not satisfying their players as the make mere "rolling dices rounds" out of their adventures. |
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Mr_Miscellany
Senior Scribe
545 Posts |
Posted - 29 Sep 2010 : 17:36:25
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What if the PCs clear out the rats but discover they were feasting on a mostly fresh corpse that is an exact copy of one of the characters in the party…say, the party mage?
The corpse has some better equipment/items that the party mage does not currently possess. It also was carrying some duplicates of gear already owned by the other party members (maybe the rogue's dagger, some extra coin, a few torches, etc...). The corpse also has a note lamenting the death of the rest of the party, written on a blank page torn out of the mage's spellbook.
The writing is wild and frantic, as if penned by a madman. It could read, “I’m the last one left…if only we’d found [unintelligible writing..soaked through in blood perhaps, or chewed through by the rats?] in the cellar sooner! Then all of us could be saved! I will go back to the beginning. I will warn them...no, us that our doom can be avoided. I will show them how to destroy the terrible menace inhabiting this holy place. These cellars were never a danger; what irony they held our salvation! These dark walls that once hid this ring for so long shall serve me for a time! When we arrive, then I can reunite with my comrades. Now to word my wish precisely so as to activate the ring.”
The corpse's decrepit hand is clutching a ring that looks for all the world like it's been burned. Then show the characters a picture of the Ring of Three Wishes on purpose. ;) [In game terms the ring is a spent Ring of Three Wishes, but one cursed so that it eats the soul and irrevocably slays anyone using it in order for its power to take effect.]
As the adventure goes forward, the PCs find duplicates of the better items/gear that were on the corpse (you mentioned the party has paltry gear so this should help beef up the party's equipment some).
I know this sounds all time-warpy and it may not fit the adventure mystery at all, but I think the core idea is a lot of fun: i.e. bluntly foreshadowing the doom of the player characters.
This hopefully changes their regular motivation to slay things into a desire to save themselves from their own future deaths. The last thing you expect to find in an adventure is your own corpse! ;)
This would also explain why the rats are in the cellar now [and not the original timeline], as they've smelled out a fresh corpse to feast on. 
...and whether you want to let the PCs find the original cursed Ring of Three Wishes is up to you. No doubt they'll search for it. If yes, leave it with one wish, if no then simply rule it's something so powerful that it falls right out of the timeline when used to change time in some way. |
Edited by - Mr_Miscellany on 29 Sep 2010 20:31:52 |
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idilippy
Senior Scribe
USA
417 Posts |
Posted - 29 Sep 2010 : 19:50:36
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| Consider that idea stolen Mr_Miscellany, it may not fit all games but that would make a great start to a side adventure or horror game. |
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mensch
Seeker
80 Posts |
Posted - 29 Sep 2010 : 22:14:03
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I concur, foreshadowing is always cool!
It depends though if Kerrigan plans to run multiple adventures with the same PCs though. If so, the events tied to the "Ring of Three Wishes" could be a narrative woven through the entire series. |
Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate to know that for destruction ice is also great and would suffice. – Robert Frost (1874 - 1963) |
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Kerrigan
Acolyte
Germany
31 Posts |
Posted - 02 Oct 2010 : 07:33:48
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I ran the adventure yesterday, and it was quite fun. I think that all of my players liked - especially one, who is normally known for his powergaming-ambitions (and still got hooked by the mystery)!
Although Mr_Miscellany's idea sounds great, i didn't use - that would have been just too much for my first round. Next time, perhaps! :)
P.S.: I translated the whole adventure to german, so if a german-speaker is interested, I could send him/her the adventure |
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Adding "action" to a slow adventure
