| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| indians |
Posted - 04 Nov 2010 : 14:27:38
Hi, i'm new as DM (i have played AD&D for about 20 years as player) now with my girlfriend, her brother and other 4 players we are running a campaign in the Forgotten realms, we use 2° edition ruleset. They started in the "keep in the borderlands (B3)" i have positioned the keep near the city of Phlan and my players after a few mini adventures are now working for the town council against Tyrantraxus ("Pool of radiance"), his minions have sized the keep in the borderlands also (in my campaingn tyrantraxus has the body of a dracolich and he is working with the cult of the dragon) now the city is ready to attack the tyrantraxus base, they have support from a lot of city like Hillsfar, Mulmaster, zenthil keep and so on (they offered each city a place in the city council), probably my players will free the city in about 2-3 gaming session. After that i wish to start the "Curse of the azure bonds" but i need some ideas for some adventures to play before starting the Curse of the azure bonds. any ideas??? |
| 17 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 11 Nov 2010 : 23:52:55
You're right, the pool is moved in canon. I must be going senile and mad with power to let such obvious major details slip by. Incidentally, your English is far, far better than my Italian. I only know some importantly bad words. 
You've given me some ideas about background history for the Orb. Your campaign appears to be richer in dragons than mine - I use dragons quite sparingly and gem dragons not at all; such creatures tend to exist much more as rumours and threats (and illusions) than as real encounters. This adds a lot to the respect and terror my PCs have for dragons (they scamper away surprisingly fast whenever they see the shadow of dragonwing fall upon their path) and it allows more time for the spotlight to shine on other fantastic things instead. It also keeps my dragons out of the "Monster of the Week" pile.
I've played with very special custom swords before (oh boy, have I ever). Along with custom axes, maces, hammers, spears, daggers, bows, crossbows, staves, polearms, and even a pair of competitive garottes, a cantankerous crowbar, a shovel of pure death, and a whip with barbed attitude. And I could list any number of mighty heroes (and villains) who wield impressive signature weapons. That's half the fun of the game!
But, alas, I've observed that there is a subtle undocumented danger with these toys, a form of corruption that grows ever more seductive and venomous each time the keen sharpness of an exquisite blade becomes more dweomer-laden and more finely honed and tempered.
Over time the signature weapon becomes more prominent than the character wielding it; take it away and all you're left with is just another unexciting fighter as plain and bland as any other. Even worse, a suicidally depressed fighter who's character is no longer strong enough to sustain himself without using the weapon as a crutch. This doesn't mean he's wimpy, defenseless, and sucks in combat (as much as he'll assuredly whine and insist this is exactly the case); it really means he's a hollow outline of a person lacking vibrance and depth, more of a rudely crayoned charicature than a richly illustrated character, and he's spent so long letting his magical blade solve all his problems for him that he never matured and developed intrinsically vital traits of his own. You don't want the sword to overshadow the swordsman; as fantastic as it might be it should still never be more than a keen-edged prop that helps the character instead of defining him. Basically, if the weapon has a name then it's become another character and you should be wary about preventing this character from becoming more special than the supporting cast who's swinging it around.
If you think Drizzt is a big sissy emo now, just see what happens when both his awesome magical scimitars are forever lost and he's forced to replace them with unremarkably sturdy wares forged by some nameless village blacksmith. He's still the same old Drizzt of course (and he even has a new story to tell), and he's still going to artfully twirl a pair of scimitars with superhuman skill against the same old choreographed opponents, but he's going to have a hard time recovering from the gutshot to his self-confidence without a ton of ego stroking and sad emo poetry. He loses some appeal and a lot of people just won't find him as interesting. Chop off one of Drizzt's arms and he almost becomes boring, he's not as exotic any more because his overhyped heroic luster gets pretty tarnished by his lack of trademark weaponry. Any random hippy elf can volunteer to flash and swing a scimitar around, even a lowly druid, yawn, big deal. Again, he's still the same old Drizzt (now with two new stories to tell, offhandedly), still slicing his way through the same Hollywood-scripted heroic dance moves and still sulking in his journals, but he's really just not cool and memorable enough for mass consumption and has to depend on his past glories carrying him into his long overdue retirement. Maybe some fool will one day take pity, buy Drizzt drinks, and listen to his thoughtfully tormented tales of less unhappy times. A well-defined real hero, in comparison, would just swear at the gods, strap something sharp onto his stump and march right off to the killing fields to harvest a pile of gold so he can buy himself (in no particular order) a drink, a wench, a Regeneration spell, and a replacement sword - he doesn't let his disability do more than encumber him with the unbearably heavy weight of his gritty brooding anger at his DM. People like to see this sort of self-reliant determination, initiative, and predictable strength of character in their heros. Sadly, they like to see clowns swinging Vorpal Holy Avengers even more.
The most memorable heroes in fantasy fiction are usually the ones who can pummel the forces of evil with any nearby weapon, no matter how old and rusty it may be. The very best of these don't even care if it's a weapon, a chair or goblin leg will serve just as well. Guys like King Arthur and Elric of Melniboné are pretty cool and decidedly heroic (or anti-heroic, as the case may be), but when you boil it all down they usually play second fiddle to their phenomally powerful swords and wouldn't be quite as inspiring without them. People may whisper in awe about enchanted Elven Moonblades, the Sword of Kas, and the Rod of Seven Parts yet hardly remember the name of whats-his-face that hero guy, the interchangeable page of stats who spent ten years carrying one of these mighty weapons of destruction around in countless epic battles.
Sorry, I digress ... the Teleport idea is really just something I came up with on the fly to address a particular difficulty I was having in my campaign. Not necessarily a good idea, and there are tradeoffs and even drawbacks. Just saying that although it works perfectly (so far) at my table it's not guaranteed to be the "right" approach at yours. Not every cool new idea is a good one - be cautious about what you adopt in your campaign, be especially cautious if there's no turning back. I like to always leave myself an emergency back door; in this case I can simply declare that it was a variant spell formula by having the original "better" one suddenly appear and be available to wizards in my campaign (for a modest price, lol) and the whole soil component thing would wait until nobody's looking so it can just sort of drop off the table and quietly shuffle away, hovering dejectedly at the back door for a little while before carefully closing it on the way out.
There's also a very real limit to how many things a DM and his players can juggle. Running too many characters, subplots, rules, and details in memory can bog game processing speed with endless page swapping and can create uncomfortable problems and bad feelings whenever you fumble and drop the ball (especially when it crashes heavily onto the middle of the table and splashes dice around at a bad time). |
| indians |
Posted - 11 Nov 2010 : 11:47:02
hey, the suggestion on the teleport spell and the one concerning the astral conjuction are awesome!!! i will use them for sure!!!
I supposed that T has the ability to move the pool because in Curse of the azure bonds it's written that after the Phlan battle he moved the pool to Myth drannor leaving the phlan's pool non magical...but maybe i have translated it bad...my english it's not good (I'm Italian). O maybe we can assume that there are more magical pool and he used the phlan's pool to move directly in another pool...i have to check the module...i'm not sure.
Try this suggestion if you like it: the drow female PC fighter/mage (who is the one possessing the orb) in a solo adventure (i like to run short solo adventures for my players) on a little volcanic isle searching for her sister found a cult of the dragon stronghold in a cave. In the cave there was an huge amethyst block with a trapped amethyst egg inside, after the battle with the cultists she found her sister head (no body) and the cultist leader diary; it explained that the cult has tried to gather informations about the orb from her sister (who didn't know nothing) so the cult killed the drow and her personal bodyguards. It explained also that the cult have found in the cave 4-5 amethyst dragon eggs and they have transfered them at their central stronghold in the moonsea. After a few tries the PC unlocked an orb power: it dispelled the Amethyst block to free the egg inside and a few rounds later the egg broke giving birth to an amethyst dragon hatchling who (similar to what in nature is called "imprinting") recognized the orb owner as her (she is a lady!) natural mother! Ok now my PC has a dragon....yes an hatchling amethyst dragon, imagine how this could be fun: a baby dragon who has a special taste for gems (she ask her mother for a gem-candy every moment), she cries and and use her breath weapon (2d8+2) every time someone scold her (maybe because she has just eaten the big 1.000 gp gem the party has found), she claim her take in every treasure the group find (it's in her nature to store valuable things) and never leaves her mother alone....it also open up a lot of sub plots: who is the dragon real mother? Why she left her eggs alone? why this particular egg was protected by the big amethyst block that apparently the cult could not dispell? the hatchling it's one of the best NPC i ever used!
Another nice suggestion: The sword of my elf fighter/necromancer PC it's very particular! he bought a non magical sword at the very beginning of the campaign +1/+1 non magical for about 700 gp if a remember right. Later he found some rare material components like blue metal ore, silver/Adamantite powder, and a magical sword handle that gives 18/56 strenght for 1 hour 1/day with 9 small ruby on the handle; he decided to reforge his weapon and start searching for the right person to do the job. After a long, long time he eventually found someone who could do the job and after a few weeks (during this time he left his sword to the person who have to do the job) he returned to claim his sword, he found it on a table in an empty room (the real armorer was killed long ago, the person who made the sword was an important figure in the faeries folk in disguise) now: the sword is imbue with magic of the faeries folk and it works as follow: +2/+2 magical weapon (cursed: he cannot use any other weapon, remove curse doesn't work, maybe a wish does), strenght 18/56 for 1 hour 1/day, with a natural hit of 19-20 it will steal the life of the target like a life stealing sword (if he fail his ST of course) the life force is forced in one of the ruby of the hilt and the sword owner is affected by a "quest" spell (no ST) to do a little work for the faeries aided by a spectral version of the creature killed by the sword...after he will have filled all the 9 rubies the curse will end and the sword will reveal the true powers; but for now he is merely at 1/9....This is the only magical weapon my group have, they have a lot of other magical items but the majority of them are useless for now (for example a magical carpet that actually is a extradimensional prison of some sort, how to activate it?? who is imprisoned inside? who knows? or one black potion used by the cult of the dragon in the ritual to create a dracolich, nice....but useless). Let me know what you think...i'm interested in opinions exchange...really.... |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 11 Nov 2010 : 03:56:40
Hey you've given me a few fresh new ideas as well, indians.
I'm planning to re-run my players through a special Pool of Radiance campaign in a few months (and have already begun setting background events and rumours into motion). This was the exact adventure they cut their teeth on when they started off as level 1 noobs oh so very long ago (over 19 years ago Dale Reckoning, nearly 5 years ago Real Reckoning) so now it's approaching time for a "20 Year Reunion" encounter with Tyranthraxus in the gloriously rebuilt (and now almost totally redestroyed) ruins of Phlan. I've even managed to find some of my original DM scribblings and the players can be reacquainted with all of the same nostalgic friendly (and unfriendly) people and places and problems they've seen before. Similar enough to be remembered yet different enough to be really new and worrisome. I can even run through a few plans and paths that never properly materialized the first time through (I was a lower level DM at the time). And now everything's so much more complicated for the players because they're well established (and have so much more to lose) in the substantially more evolved and sophisticated setting.
Some of the adventure/module placements that both you and Markus have suggested for the Moonsea region would fit most excellently into my campaign. Oh yes, The Temple of Elemental Evil will fit in quite nicely indeed. Thanx, guys! 
I'll implement variations of some of your central themes. The alliance of the Moonsea cities (which has formed and disintegrated before, several times, but never quite like this; life's been a little rough lately for Zhentil Keep due to a troublesome series of fanatical religious wars and terrorism spilling into her streets, and a disastrously repelled invasion attempt on Hillsfar, and a three season siege from Cormyr, among other things) and the seats on Phlan's city council (which over the years has sadly degenerated into a room full of shouting fat greedy merchants who are easily bribed, intimidated, and corrupted). The clandestine Cult of the Dragon group and their local white dracolich hunting for the Basilious Orb artifact (which will of course eventually be in the possession of the players or Tyranthraxus; whoever reaches it first). And the impending drums of war (which will unfortunately have to consist of the usual uninspired horde of orcs, ogres, and giants from Thar and Vaasa since I haven't established your nearby Keeps and garrisons in my setting; though I have a spare cabal of exiled Red Wizards from the School of Necromancy handy to add some flavour to the mix).
Since 20 is a beautifically round number I'm toying with the idea of having some peculiar astrological conjuction (a comet or alignment of planets and stars or whatever that only comes once every 20 years of course) be a critical part of whatever dastardly plan Tyranthraxus has cooked up - just to force the players to hurry their timing instead of dragging their feet in the dirt* and hanging around in bars. Or maybe force them to make difficult choices between several exciting paths because there's just not enough time to do everything. Or rush into difficult situations a little less prepared than they'd like. The clock is always ticking.
I'll probably implement some of my own suggestions to you as well. I particularly like the obsessed scalpel-wielding necromancer; haven't pulled that one on my players since ... well, the last time they were in Phlan about 19 years ago, actually. The same place they ran into their first Death Knight, too. Thanx for bringing me back to the good old days.
But now I have a question for you.
quote:
indians:
... big T has left the city giving the "old phlan" to the flames for a much more secure place (the keep on the borderlands) ... he moved the pool of radiance there because he was worried ...
Are you saying that you've moved the location of the pool or are you saying that Tyranthraxus has moved the pool? I've never even considered the possibility that these pools could be moved; in my mind they've always been fixed like mythals and portals, though of course there's no real requirement that should be the case. Tyranthraxus is a clever and industrious fellow and can command sufficient resources, so perhaps he's found a way to do the previously unthinkable. I know my players will absolutely hate me when they discover the pool itself isn't where it was last time. <giggle>
I'm just curious - have you given any thought to how a pool might be moved in the campaign? Would you think it involves the use of particular rituals or complexities?
* I've written my thoughts on dirt here. |
| indians |
Posted - 10 Nov 2010 : 18:44:16
thanks Arik. It's exactly what i need!!! |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 10 Nov 2010 : 16:23:12
I wouldn't normally advise someone else how to play a character, but you ask, so -
Tyranthraxus the Flamed One is indeed described in the Villain's Lorebook. Also in the Ruins of Adventure (Pool of Radiance) module booklet where he first appeared in print, though in much less detail. Definitely worth reading if you can get them. Information about Tyranthraxus can also be found online, at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, Planewalker, and of course many scrolls here at Candlekeep (this one isn't bad, and about 100 more can be found by searching the shelves for all lore about Tyranthraxus).
As written, T gains complete access to all the thoughts, memories, and emotions of the creature he possesses ... in RoA/PoR he actually possesses a good-aligned dragon (copper, bronze, or silver; description varies) - a very intelligent one capable of using complex spells - after possessing the dragon for a while T knows all it's secrets, how it thinks, what it feels, and what it wants. IIRC, in the PoR novel T frequently amuses himself by taunting and tormenting the conscious but imprisoned mind of his host, his absolute control over it never wavers or falters and it has no ability to resist his will at all; it is eventually driven partly insane from being powerless against the violations it suffers, and is eventually mired in a state of befuddled hopelessness and despair. Big T knows it will continuously beg, plead, scream, whine, urge and implore opponents to show mercy and not harm it during combat - he actually "releases control of its vocal cords" during the final battle against the players as a strategy to hopefully inspire terror and gain an advantage from their hesitation and confusion.
In later lore, T is actually given a minor divine rank. Without going into detailed game mechanics, this basically means that T outranks mere mortals; his powers always "win" and he is essentially impossible to actually kill. Technically speaking, T can only possess living creatures, not undead. Oops. Apparently the sages were wrong, eh? Of course, you can accept, modify, or create any version of T you like in your campaign unless you're a rules stickler. Still, it probably wouldn't hurt to use the official T canon as a baseline reference.
I'd assume that Tyranthraxus possessed the dracolich against its will. No doubt it would want to do anything it could to break free of his possession and ensure it would never happen again. As a (probably evil) white/lich it would probably decide that killing or imprisoning T is the only acceptable solution; ideally after exacting revenge with some kind of punishment or torture if reasonably possible. As a self-made dracolich it's obviously intelligent and driven towards attaining power and immortality; definitely not a meek and gentle creature concerned with the fate of others. It would probably see the players as a threat or a tool, especially if it recognized they wield an artifact (the orb) with the power to drive T out of it's mind/body. At the very least, the players could provide a healthy snack and a little jump forward on gathering a new horde. It would certainly attempt to control the orb (to prevent repossession by T if nothing else). It would probably seek to destroy the orb (so nobody else could use it) if that were impossible. It would also be terribly concerned about ensuring it's phylactery was completely safe; it may not be certain that T knows exactly what and where the phylactery is (of course he does) but it just cannot afford to take any chances. It would immediately resent any attempts by the Cult of the Dragon to control it (already tasted mental/magical slavery and didn't like it). Unlike the good-aligned dragon that was pushed into apathetic insanity by the horror it it's situation, the strongwilled evil-aligned dracolich might instead be driven into an enraged fury and (impotently) attempt to defy T to the last; it might refuse to ever again allow itself to be submissive to the will of another. It might even develop an odd personality quirk (for an evil dracolich, anyhow) and act as a champion dedicated to fighting against slavery in any form - stranger things have happened. (Then again it might simply think that the strong must dominate the weak and find that perfectly acceptable, so long as it is always the one who is strong.)
If you plan to use the dracolich as a character instead of as a flaming monster truck then you'd do well to give it a name, brief history, and flesh out a few rough details of it's life/unlife, personality, motivations, girlfriend, religion, lair, and treasure horde. Once the dracolich becomes a real character (even if only a shallow one) then all the other details will naturally fall into place whenever it acts in character. Added depth can even bring other figures into the story such as the dracolich's former allies and enemies. |
| indians |
Posted - 10 Nov 2010 : 15:12:31
quote:
Originally posted by Arik
It looks like you're doing quite well already with your own ideas, but glad I could help.
I'm all about the theory that once something interesting starts happening somewhere in the Realms, everybody (good and evil) tries to jump in on the action to claim their part of the grand prize. Nobody wants to fall behind in the great race to establish their dominance of Faerūn. It's sort of like everybody clustering around a traffic accident to get a look ... half of the crowd doesn't even know what they'll find in the middle, they just saw a crowd and joined in.
tell me What's your opinion about the dracolich. I explain: if the artifact orb can force big T out of the dracolich body, how will the dracolich react when his mind will be totally free of the T presence??? He was an huge white dragon in life, and he became a dracolich by himself without the help of the cult of the dragon, so i asking how he will react toward T, the cult, the players, if i remember correctly in big T description in the villain lorebook it says that he can take only the body of a creature not the past memories and so on. So i assume that even big T doesn't know where the dracolich philactery and treasure really are... |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 10 Nov 2010 : 14:23:43
It looks like you're doing quite well already with your own ideas, but glad I could help.
I'm all about the theory that once something interesting starts happening somewhere in the Realms, everybody (good and evil) tries to jump in on the action to claim their part of the grand prize. Nobody wants to fall behind in the great race to establish their dominance of Faerūn. It's sort of like everybody clustering around a traffic accident to get a look ... half of the crowd doesn't even know what they'll find in the middle, they just saw a crowd and joined in. |
| indians |
Posted - 10 Nov 2010 : 14:21:36
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
Ruins of Adventure is set in Phlan - there are a number of scenarios in that booklet. Its dated, but it will give you plenty of ideas.
As for the timeline - ignore it. Doesn't matter if you are pre- or post-TOT (or even if you are not having tea  ). The canon timeline has ZERO affect on your home game - events happen WHEN and IF you want them to.
I started my first FR group with a Temple of Elemental Evil. Sure, it's GH, but so what? It fit just fine in the Dales near Moander's Road. I also placed Valley of the Mage to the south, near Sessrendale, for the next part of the campaign. Both those locales are south of the Moonsea, just a short hop for your party. 
many thanks to you too....i usually ignore the time line, and your post about moander's road has given me a good Idea! :-) i will create a few mini-adventures to introduce my players the fire knives, the moander cult, the red wizard and also the Zentharim before starting Curse of the azure bonds...i think that is a better way instead of putting my player against unknown foes that have no obvious reason to inscribe the bonds on my PC arms! Any Ideas???????? |
| indians |
Posted - 10 Nov 2010 : 14:04:35
quote:
Originally posted by Arik
Timeline be damned! You want campaign ideas? Just off the top of my head -
That little party looks perfectly suited for pounding endless waves of gibbering undead minions into dust. Give the fighter/mages some decent armor and a big fat book full of undead-stomping spells, throw a shiny two-handed sunblade at the barbarian, let the clerics fill their pouches with scrolls and holy trinkets, and dump a whole bunch of healing potions on the party. They don't properly fear the undead you say? Watch their attitude take an about-face after a couple of permanent level drains five hours before dawn. With a little creative electroplating, some meaningless but nasty looking runes, Enlarge, and Continual Darkness you too can turn a common brainless skeleton into an engine of unstoppable fear and terror - a half dozen of these standing in front of a wimpy level 3 necromancer can do a surprising amount of damage.
Big T is a well-fed dracolich, eh? Give him a team of graveyard-rejected henchmen: maybe a half-insane sociopathic necromancer who collects scalpels and has an unhealthy obsession with building his "perfect" flesh golem, a half-intangible ghost babbling cryptic tidbits from somebody's prophecy about how the worthy ones will defeat Big T, a grimly serious death knight who unwillingly serves T to work off his twisted debt of honour, a Laurel/Hardy pair of underfed vampire thugs, and a buried army of a couple thousand skeletons and zombies. Not enough dead bodies available at the local cemetary? Just hire the PCs to go take out a goblin tribe.
Hillsfar, Mulmaster, and Zhentil Keep have offered a smiling open-handed alliance? Yeah, right. Pull the other wand. Those three cities are Notorious for wanting to control and enslave the entire Moonsea (Phlan included) at any cost. And each one views itself as the only rightful ruler of the region, as attested by countless land and naval skirmishes. Diplomacy is just another tool to get what they want, and they'll happily betray Phlan and each other the moment they perceive an advantage in doing so. Don't be surprised to see a lot of dopplegangers and assassins sitting on your city council. The only thing that'll keep these evil cities from pointing their knives at each other's throats is another threat they need to stab instead (be it dangerously real or dangerously paranoid).
You say the Cult of the Dragon is involved? Well, obviously they must have their own agenda. Maybe they just want a nice little war in the region to decimate everybody else so they can more easily infiltrate the other organizations or steal some great and secret prize before the others can? No doubt they've got some dragon firepower they can tap with a phone call; or perhaps they've got an indomitable iron grip on T's enslaved mind (or perhaps they mistakenly just think they do)?
And where are all those Red Wizards? There's always a handful of Red Wizards skulking around before a big magical war. And when outside the borders of Thay you can be absolutely sure that lurking behind every Red Wizard there's a scummy little Harper on a mission. To make things even worse, any time there's more Harpers than you can count on one hand there's bound to be a Chosen of Mystra mucking things around from somewhere in the woodwork.
Of course high-and-mighty Cormyr will happily take advantage of this chaos, what better time to "liberate" the poor denizens of Zhentil Keep with Griffon stealth-bombers than when all her leaders and armies are busy marching and campaigning in the distant Moonsea?
And through all this mess there's merchants and intrigue. A shortage of steel and magic, an abundance of gold. Mercenaries and monsters recruited by the dozens, spies spying on spies for every side, a real (and lucrative) demand for the skills of hardy adventurers. Maybe your players will bite one of your hooks, or just get netted, or maybe they'll get nervous when tons of other adventurers start competing. It's usually at times like these that some hotshot shows up with a crazy powerful artifact, often followed shortly by another hotshot bringing another crazy powerful artifact and the goal of finding the first one to blow it up.
All these deliciously evil bastards scheming and plotting and backstabbing in their ever-shifting allegiances ... they hardly know who they're working for or why but they'll happily use employ your players to further their goals. Maybe your players can find some solace in the trustworthy solidity of their temple hierarchy ... then again, maybe Bad Things happen and they end up being the only ones on the spot who can get the job done. (After all, Heroes are just people who manage to somehow hold the pieces together when things start to fall apart.)
Start small, just create some disgusting evil NPCs and attack the party. Confirm the players' suspicions by dropping some obvious clues. Weave disconnected things together and suddenly you have a sick evil plot being controlled by an immorally sadistic mastermind which you can claim you'd "planned" all along.
Hey....thanks a lot!!! You gave me a lot of nice ideas. I want to explain why is the "cult of the dragon" involved. The drow PC in my game has a magical item called: "the Basilious orb" (but it is only the last know name of the item....) an artifact of great power over draconic creatures (the drow PC know almost nothing about it...only one power: when a single gem touches the orb it trasform in a magical item (depending by the gem value)for a set period of time (depending by the gem brightness) consuming the gem in the process. So the CotD want the orb, big T fears the orb powers because it can force him out of the dracolich body.
Now the situation is as follow: The Phlan council has no more money to pay for extra mercenary forces, they offered 3 seat in the council at Zenthil Keep, Mulmaster and Hillsfar (4 with the seat offered to the players) and decided to send the players in search of the "Elephant graveyard" (a nice side treck adventure that i found in a dungeon magazine) to find some ivory for the payment of new mercenary forces. In the same time big T has left the city giving the "old phlan" to the flames for a much more secure place (the keep on the borderlands where my PC started the campaign, because after a few weeks it was sized by T minions) he moved the pool of radiance there because he was worried by the incoming forces that were arriving to reclaim the city. The Phlan battle will be dealyed for now....they need to gather a decent army and after that they need time to build some war machine to besiege the keep.
I will absolutely use your ideas about the sociopathic necromancer, the ghost, the death knight, the red wizard and the hard situation in town council... :-). |
| Markustay |
Posted - 09 Nov 2010 : 22:14:07
Ruins of Adventure is set in Phlan - there are a number of scenarios in that booklet. Its dated, but it will give you plenty of ideas.
As for the timeline - ignore it. Doesn't matter if you are pre- or post-TOT (or even if you are not having tea ). The canon timeline has ZERO affect on your home game - events happen WHEN and IF you want them to.
I started my first FR group with a Temple of Elemental Evil. Sure, it's GH, but so what? It fit just fine in the Dales near Moander's Road. I also placed Valley of the Mage to the south, near Sessrendale, for the next part of the campaign. Both those locales are south of the Moonsea, just a short hop for your party. |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 09 Nov 2010 : 21:21:51
Timeline be damned! You want campaign ideas? Just off the top of my head -
That little party looks perfectly suited for pounding endless waves of gibbering undead minions into dust. Give the fighter/mages some decent armor and a big fat book full of undead-stomping spells, throw a shiny two-handed sunblade at the barbarian, let the clerics fill their pouches with scrolls and holy trinkets, and dump a whole bunch of healing potions on the party. They don't properly fear the undead you say? Watch their attitude take an about-face after a couple of permanent level drains five hours before dawn. With a little creative electroplating, some meaningless but nasty looking runes, Enlarge, and Continual Darkness you too can turn a common brainless skeleton into an engine of unstoppable fear and terror - a half dozen of these standing in front of a wimpy level 3 necromancer can do a surprising amount of damage.
Big T is a well-fed dracolich, eh? Give him a team of graveyard-rejected henchmen: maybe a half-insane sociopathic necromancer who collects scalpels and has an unhealthy obsession with building his "perfect" flesh golem, a half-intangible ghost babbling cryptic tidbits from somebody's prophecy about how the worthy ones will defeat Big T, a grimly serious death knight who unwillingly serves T to work off his twisted debt of honour, a Laurel/Hardy pair of underfed vampire thugs, and a buried army of a couple thousand skeletons and zombies. Not enough dead bodies available at the local cemetary? Just hire the PCs to go take out a goblin tribe.
Hillsfar, Mulmaster, and Zhentil Keep have offered a smiling open-handed alliance? Yeah, right. Pull the other wand. Those three cities are Notorious for wanting to control and enslave the entire Moonsea (Phlan included) at any cost. And each one views itself as the only rightful ruler of the region, as attested by countless land and naval skirmishes. Diplomacy is just another tool to get what they want, and they'll happily betray Phlan and each other the moment they perceive an advantage in doing so. Don't be surprised to see a lot of dopplegangers and assassins sitting on your city council. The only thing that'll keep these evil cities from pointing their knives at each other's throats is another threat they need to stab instead (be it dangerously real or dangerously paranoid).
You say the Cult of the Dragon is involved? Well, obviously they must have their own agenda. Maybe they just want a nice little war in the region to decimate everybody else so they can more easily infiltrate the other organizations or steal some great and secret prize before the others can? No doubt they've got some dragon firepower they can tap with a phone call; or perhaps they've got an indomitable iron grip on T's enslaved mind (or perhaps they mistakenly just think they do)?
And where are all those Red Wizards? There's always a handful of Red Wizards skulking around before a big magical war. And when outside the borders of Thay you can be absolutely sure that lurking behind every Red Wizard there's a scummy little Harper on a mission. To make things even worse, any time there's more Harpers than you can count on one hand there's bound to be a Chosen of Mystra mucking things around from somewhere in the woodwork.
Of course high-and-mighty Cormyr will happily take advantage of this chaos, what better time to "liberate" the poor denizens of Zhentil Keep with Griffon stealth-bombers than when all her leaders and armies are busy marching and campaigning in the distant Moonsea?
And through all this mess there's merchants and intrigue. A shortage of steel and magic, an abundance of gold. Mercenaries and monsters recruited by the dozens, spies spying on spies for every side, a real (and lucrative) demand for the skills of hardy adventurers. Maybe your players will bite one of your hooks, or just get netted, or maybe they'll get nervous when tons of other adventurers start competing. It's usually at times like these that some hotshot shows up with a crazy powerful artifact, often followed shortly by another hotshot bringing another crazy powerful artifact and the goal of finding the first one to blow it up.
All these deliciously evil bastards scheming and plotting and backstabbing in their ever-shifting allegiances ... they hardly know who they're working for or why but they'll happily use employ your players to further their goals. Maybe your players can find some solace in the trustworthy solidity of their temple hierarchy ... then again, maybe Bad Things happen and they end up being the only ones on the spot who can get the job done. (After all, Heroes are just people who manage to somehow hold the pieces together when things start to fall apart.)
Start small, just create some disgusting evil NPCs and attack the party. Confirm the players' suspicions by dropping some obvious clues. Weave disconnected things together and suddenly you have a sick evil plot being controlled by an immorally sadistic mastermind which you can claim you'd "planned" all along. |
| Rhewtani |
Posted - 05 Nov 2010 : 20:05:58
Yes, but proper timeline-wise, Curse takes places about 17 years after Ruins of Adventure. Phlan is beset by T in 1340, Alias isn't even created till 1356. |
| Alisttair |
Posted - 05 Nov 2010 : 14:47:58
quote:
Originally posted by Rhewtani
Isn't curse post ToT?
The adventure is suggested as a follow up to Ruins of Adventure.
This is mostly due to the fact that
SPOILER**
Tyranthraxus isn't really dead when you kill him in Ruins of Adventure, he returns and his symbol is one of the Azure Bonds on the characters in that adventure (all explained in the adventure book). |
| Bladewind |
Posted - 05 Nov 2010 : 14:47:24
Sea elf male cleric of Ilmater?
I need to know more! |
| indians |
Posted - 05 Nov 2010 : 14:21:04
quote:
Originally posted by Fizilbert
You may need to help us help you. What level are your characters? Are you looking for printed module adventures or are you just asking for some general ideas for adventures?
Sorry....
gold elf male fighter/necromancer 5/5
drow elf female fighter/mage 5/5
half ogre male barbarian 6
human male cleric (tempus) 6
sea elf male cleric (ilmater) 6
I need some ideas for linking the end of pool of radiance with the start of Azure bonds....and also a few side treck adventures ideas |
| Fizilbert |
Posted - 05 Nov 2010 : 10:30:52
You may need to help us help you. What level are your characters? Are you looking for printed module adventures or are you just asking for some general ideas for adventures? |
| Rhewtani |
Posted - 04 Nov 2010 : 16:22:46
Isn't curse post ToT? You could go with the avatar series. Personally, having just run Ruins of Adventure, I've been bootlegging a Pools of Darkness based adventure. |
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