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Ugly is the new black
Seeker
Australia
81 Posts |
 Posted - 22 Jul 2009 : 20:40:27
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(Haven't posted on this forum in ages, but I wanted to hear your opinions on this, so I've cross-posted it from the Wizards forum)
We're about to start a game using the 4e rules, set in 3e Forgotten Realms because, frankly, none of us like the "new" Faerun at all. I'm typically the DM for this group, but my wife has stepped forward and offered to run the game so I can play instead. This is her first time behind the DM screen, so I'm helping out as much as possible with the story, dungeon design and encounters (trying my best not to be invasive). We're pretty happy with what we've come up with, but we'd like some advice on how it could be better. So, here's what we've got - let us know what you think.
The party:
Dragonborn Warlord from the Dalelands (Inspiring Presence) *
Goliath Warden (Earthstrength)
Human Wizard from Silver Marches (Orbizard)
Razorclaw Shifter Rogue from the Silver Marches (Artful Dodger)
* The Dragonborn is my character, and I had a little trouble designing him; there's no information on "Dragonborn" characters in 3e, but there's plenty on Dragonkin and Half-Dragons, which isn't exactly what I want. I spoke with my wife, and she said it'd be okay to say that he's an elf (from Myth Drannor), born in the year of the Wandering Wyrm 1317, descended from a union between the people of Cormanthor and a great green dragon. He was born an elf, but as he matured, he essentially transformed into a 4e Dragonborn. I know it might be kinda weak, but I think it fits. I swapped out the Draconic language for Elvish, and we had talked about maybe counting him as an Elf for the purposes of Paragon Paths and whatnot, but I thought that might be too powerful and/or cheesy.
At any rate, if there's a way to improve that character's storyline, I'm all ears.
The story is set in the Dalelands and begins in the Year of Wild Magic, 1372. The characters will all basically know one another when the story begins: the Dragonborn is trying to muster forces to push into Cormanthor and retake the forest from the Drow; his old friend, the Wizard, has come from far away Silverymoon to assist in that fight, and has brought along a Rogue ally of his; the Warden was hired by the pair to protect them as they passed through the desert of Anauroch, under the shadow of a newly-arrived floating city. This party will be on their way to Scarsdale when the story begins, to atttend a Dalesmeet and hopefully gather allies.
Before the adventure actually begins, however, the PCs will have already been set upon by thieves in the night, who were able to make off with a fair amount of their property. When the party makes it to a nearby town (any suggestions as to which Dale they're in or what town they're at would be awesome), and will need to stop to resupply and rest. Inevitably, they'll tell their tale to someone, probably an Innkeeper, and learn that Kobolds are responsible for all kinds of mischief in the area: they commonly set upon travelers in the night and steal their possessions; they raid trade caravans on their way to and from the town; they wreak havoc on the local farms, stealing or slaughtering small livestock; and they grow more and more bold by the day because their population is swelling.
The Innkeeper believes that the Kobolds are left-overs from the recent Goblin Wars; Kobolds from all over, he says, gathered to worship and serve the will of Nalavara, the Elf-Dragon, and many of them never left the crude warrens they dug out of the Dalelands. Upon realizing that the PCs are adventurers, he'll certainly offer some kind of reward if they're willing to head out into the nearby Dales to deal with this threat. If the party decides to accept his quest (and why wouldn't they, really? I mean, aside from anything else, those kobolds stole some of their stuff too), the Innkeeper tells them he's heard stories that indicate the kobolds have made a lair of an old (possibly Dwarven, if that fits any area you guys can think of) mine in the nearby forest / hills, and that it's probably the best place to go.
The mine itself is the big bad dungeon of this level 1 adventure; the PCs will have to locate the entrance to the mine, which has been overgrown by thick plants and thorny vines (the kobolds bypass this entrance and enter the mine through a network of tiny tunnels), and navigate through utter-darkness deep into the lower halls, where devious traps and a small army of kobolds await.
The dungeon will feature kobold ambushes from behind arrowslits, cave-ins (both the "trap kind" and the "watch where you're firing that Scorching Burst" kind), trapped and locked doors, and a generous amount of complete darkness (personal light sources mandatory). Portions of the mine will have been cleared in the past using explosives, and some of those explosives will still be laying around in crates, waiting to be used. The adventure will sort of culminate at the end when the PCs discover the central hatchery, full of kobold eggs and home to a few, very large and distinctly different eggs. Successful nature checks will reveal these eggs to be actual Dragon eggs.
One of these eggs will have already hatched, but there's no dragon anywhere in the mine, which means it's already left the nest; could it be in another nearby warren? Did it leave on its own? Or was it taken? Sold to Sembians, Zhents or Drow? There are plenty of wicked forces at work in the Dales, and if any of them were able to get their hands on a dragon hatchling, the results could be horrible. So the PCs will have to figure out what they want to do with the remaining eggs: keep them for themselves; bring them to the Dalesmeet and present them to people with the best interests of the Dales in their hearts; sell them to Sembians, Zhents or Drow; or destroy them outright. I figure we'll likely smash all the kobold eggs without even thinking about it (or better yet, use the explosives we find throughout the mine to collapse the whole chamber so it can't be used by other kobold tribes), but I really have no idea what we'll do with the dragon eggs. Our choice, however, will determine the next leg of the story, so it'll have to be something we think hard about.
Also, we played around with the idea that the kindly Innkeeper is actually a Zhent operative. The local inn might have been run-down and disused after the death of the previous owner several years ago, and this new Zhent came to town only just recently and bought the place out. The locals wouldn't know that he's a Zhent, but they'd be able to tell the party if questioned that he's relatively new in town. At any rate, it just adds a bit more depth to the story if the party decides to come back to the Inn and tell the guy that they found some dragon eggs down there. You never know what he'd do with that information, you know?
Anyways, thanks for reading. We'd love to know what you think. Any ideas on how we can improve this story would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!
- ugly.
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As he knelt on the ground with his brothers around and the taste of his blood on his tongue,
His brothers knelt by him and prayed him a prayer, and he smiled and he laughed and he sung,
"Brothers, oh brothers, my days here are done, the Dornishman's taken my life,
But what does it matter? For all men must die, and I've tasted the Dornishman's wife!" |
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Arivia
Great Reader
Canada
2965 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2009 : 21:08:52
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Looks great!
Two tips:
1) Don't forget that having four PCs removes a treasure parcel and drops the XP budget for encounters.
2) You might not use it in the kobold hold, but one of the really fun things I tried early with 4e was replacing a short rest with a trap and reset opportunity.
Basically, when the PCs have finished an encounter and have an encounter coming to them (instead of them going into another room with an encounter to it), you allow them to reset traps and set up hazards for the incoming enemies. This is what I did; behind the scenes, balance the traps as encounter powers or at-wills depending upon their potency and frequency. Also, I let the difficult terrain pile up a little too much and I'd make the passageways wider; it was almost a slaughter. Either way, my players loved it. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2009 : 22:02:13
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There is info on dragonborn characters in 3.x; however, the dragonborn of 3.5 appear to not be at all related to the dragonborn of 4E. Statwise, they may or may not be similar; I've not paid enough attention to either version of the race to say.
The 3.5 book Races of the Dragon intro'ed the 3.5 version of the dragonborn. This version of the dragonborn is born a normal member of another race, and then later, thru their dedication to Bahamut, undergoes a ritual that leads to their rebirth as a dragonborn. |
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Teneck
Learned Scribe
USA
133 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2009 : 22:12:54
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quote:
Originally posted by Ugly is the new black
and some of those explosives will still be laying around in crates, waiting to be used.
You may want to be careful about letting explosives be common in your game. I let a character have knowledge of making smoke powder into one of my games and...it...blew up in my face. Pun definitely intended.
Seriously though he started having pots with locking lids made by a black smith and now he has mini bombs that he ends encounters with. Very funny but a real challenge to DM.
The trick is letting him go with his concept but still finding things that are challenging without shutting him down completely. |
"Go ahead...Sleep in the church...the vampires can't get ya in the church" Any DM...any time.
"He's like a trained ape...without the training"
Simon after Jane trashed the Med lab |
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Help / Critique this Dalelands adventure?
