Characters:
Gaara (Human Warblade, Shaun)
Jeppy (Human female Barbarian, Corey)
Gaara is from a far-off, eastern land. He was banished after trying to redeem his family name, but failing because he wasn't strong enough. He is traveling to get stronger and to possibly redeem his family name through great deeds. He is confident like Sasuke, even arrogantly so, but this is because he is scared of failing again. He traveled to the west on a ship with no possessions, and earned enough doing odd jobs to buy a katana. Unfortunately the blacksmith had never seen one, so Shaun described it the best he could and he ended up with a shoddy, inferior katana for now. His upbringing was a rigid household full of rules, so he still is quite officious and lawful.
Jeppy is a large, muscular human female. Her parents died when she was young, so her aunt & uncle reluctantly took her in. (Uncle is a wealthy councillor in Paradise, aunt doesn't do much.) They have a son, Pimchee. Jeppy was very neglected growing up (think Harry Potter), and while she wasn't abused, she wasn't loved by her adoptive family either. Pimchee is a slovenly boor who is fat and doesn't do much, and likes to harass her. Jeppy was picked on as a youth, because she didn't fit in with anyone. She was too athletic for the smart kids, and too smart for the jock kids. As a result, she got in a lot of fights. Because she got nothing from her family, she worked at a farm to earn some cash and develop her muscles. One kindly farmer gave her a baby piglet on her birthday a few years back, and she has taken care of it ever since (and named it Pig.) She tends to be wary of other people because of her bad experiences with them, but trusts animals freely. Jeppy also carries around a huge barrel on her back.
Gaara was roaming around for a while and ended up in Paradise, where he met Jeppy (and assumed she was a male, something he still believes and Jeppy has not corrected.) She saw a new face that did not judge her, while Gaara was impressed with her doting nature towards Pig, a sacred animal in his homeland. They became friends. Gaara is also trying to find purpose in his life/travels, while Jeppy just wants out of this town.
Months later, they were having a friendly duel to hone their combat skills. Fang witnessed the fight (and the ensuing chaos it caused to an old man and his two mules, who were dragging a cart of logs). Fang gently reprimands them for dueling in town, and then suggests that if they are restless, Ogilvie (a merchant who passes through every couple months) needs escorts for his trip to Cauldron. Gaara and Jeppy agree.
They go to the tavern and speak with Milo, the bartender for a bit. They have some drinks before calling it a night (Shaun gets hammered, his guy doesn't drink very much.) Shaun sleeps on some bales of hay behind the blacksmith, who he helps during the day to earn his keep. Jeppy goes home and takes some mild abuse from Pimchee, who she scares away easily.
The next day they meet Ogilvie, a middle-aged out of shape man wearing blue robes and a big blue hat. They immediately suggest making a dummy out of straw and Ogilvie's robes and hat, and putting it on display on the wagon (being pulled by a single horse), and stuffing Ogilvie in the barrel and putting it in the wagon. Ogilvie, who has a load of carpets and rugs to sell, balks at the idea of being in the barrel and says how about he just lies down in the wagon under a blanket instead. Gaara and Jeppy reluctantly agree. They also put the barrel in the wagon.
It's a seven day trip. On the first night they decide that Gaara will take first watch and Jeppy the second. Gaara just sits, alert. Jeppy plays with Pig.
Second night they reach the three farmsteads and stop for water, and buy a few veggies.
Fourth night Jeppy is on watch when she sees three figures walking down the road towards them. Still far off. She hides in some nearby bushes and ties a rope into a lasso. They get closer, she can see that they're all wearing leather vests and have swords. All are men. Two have scruffy beards while the third's face is obscured by something on it. They walk up to the wagon and look around. Jeppy tries to send Pig out to investigate but Pig balks...so she tosses Pig out onto the road. Pig squeals. The three men draw swords and one thug comes to investigate, the other thug and the Last Laugh man poke around the wagon and are deciding what to do.
Jeppy doesn't make any noise to wake Gaara or Ogilvie but instead puts the rope around her neck as if she was going to hang herself, and steps out. The thug tells her stop, but is confused, but eventually conveys that he will attack if she takes another step. Gaara wakes up but remains still, listening. The Last Laugh man says to just kill her and he'll take care of Gaara and Ogilvie, then they can steal the carpets. He walks over to stab Ogilvie, but Gaara springs up and slashes away his sword. When the rogue walks into the light of the campfire Gaara can see that his face is painted black and white like a yin/yang. The loud clang fails to wake Ogilvie. Meanwhile, the thug by Jeppy stabs at her, but she slaps it away with the rope she's holding and draws her spiked maul.
The other thug leaps up onto the wagon and stabs Gaara in the shoulder. Gaara responds with a swift strike on both the thug and Last Laugh, taking out the thug but missing the Last Laugh.
Jeppy swings a massive blow that misses and destroys a nearby sapling, freaking out the rogue. He stabs Jeppy slightly but takes a big hit in return, knocking him into the tree stump. He turns to flee but trips over the stump, and Jeppy pulverizes him.
[cinema - POV of thug with Jeppy looming over, swinging down with her maul, and blood spraying up and covering her entire front.]
The rogue hits Gaara a second time, but sees the other thug get crushes and starts to panic. The rogue threatens to stab Ogilvie if Gaara doesn't back off. Gaara just attacks, he misses but the rogue only manages to cut Ogilvie's arm lightly. Ogilvie wakes up and screams when he sees what's going on.
Jeppy rushes over and tries to leap up onto the wagon, vault off, and smash the LL as she flies by. She leaps up and vaults off....and totally flies over the rogue, Gaara and Ogilvie, who all stop momentarily to watch her fly overhead.
[cinema - Gaara and the rogue fighting, Ogilvie on the ground, when suddenly Jeppy rushes up and vaults off the wagon, silhouetted against the moon with her giant maul raised and the other three gawking up at her]
Gaara is hard pressed, so Ogilvie grabs a log on fire and tosses it at the rogue. It burns him slightly and distracts him enough for Gaara to step in and finish him off.
The thug killed in the wagon is bleeding all over the carpets, but is still alive. Gaara questions him quickly, ignoring his pleas for medical aid. The thug reveals that the leader was a member of the Last Laugh thieves guild, and that they're just bandits. No ulterior motive. The thug passes out. Gaara lets him die.
They loot the bodies, try to console Ogilvie a bit over his bled-on rugs, and Gaara tells Jeppy to just wake them up next time. They get three shortswords, two daggers, two sets leather armor, one set masterwork studded leather, some cp and sp, and eight gp stamped with a jester face (though neither of them notice this.) Jeppy also takes a small wooden disk with a harlequin/yin yang symbol painted on it. Gaara advises him to keep it concealed. They also each take a dull brown cloak.
The next day they go down to a nearby river and wash out the rugs and carpets and manage to clean most of them. The rest of the trip is uneventful. They reach the Lucky Monkey inn a day away from Cauldron and stop there. When they are approaching, they spot a band of four or five baboons in the brush nearby, who stop foraging for food to watch them ominously as they walk up to the inn.
Inside they meet the innkeeper Orin, who chats with them for a bit. Gaara gives him a gp, and Orin frowns when he sees it has a jester face. Gaara groans and says to Jeppy that they're probably counterfeit. Gaara gives Orin a real gp instead. They ask about the Last Laugh thieves guild, but Orin doesn't know too much other than that he's heard mutterings about them. He does They rest, eat, and enjoy some bardic entertainment. Next day they proceed to Cauldron. They part ways with Ogilvie, who asks them what their plans on. (They say explore Cauldron.) Ogilvie says that when they're done, stop by the Drunken Morkoth inn where he is staying and see if he's still there.
(What I forgot to mention but should is that Ogilvie pays them each some money.)
Fighter using a dead hollowed-out goblin as a bag to hold his magic biscuits?
Wizard hurling bottles of poop and eggs instead of fireballs?
Frenzied berzerker being slowly and agonizingly drowned by a giant clam?
Time for a Madness Check.
Dealing with difficult personalities
When a PC has a difficult personality trait (stubborn, rebellious, loner, outsider, etc.) it can create unnecessary tension between the players. The player will want to play his loner personality, but this makes it difficult for the party to bond, and eventually irritates the other players.
A way to solve this is to have a foil - not an enemy, but essentially an NPC that the PC can take out his roleplaying thirst on. This way, the player can act standoffish or boorish towards the NPC, and the party can give him a pat on the back for treating the annoying NPC suitably. The player will probably be satisfied at being able to roleplay his character they way he wants, and cooperate with the plot/campaign/party as a result. This also gives the PC extra motivation to like the party, something that is often hard to naturally come by.
A way to solve this is to have a foil - not an enemy, but essentially an NPC that the PC can take out his roleplaying thirst on. This way, the player can act standoffish or boorish towards the NPC, and the party can give him a pat on the back for treating the annoying NPC suitably. The player will probably be satisfied at being able to roleplay his character they way he wants, and cooperate with the plot/campaign/party as a result. This also gives the PC extra motivation to like the party, something that is often hard to naturally come by.
Revena, Wild Mage
Female human sorcerer 5/wild mage 6
LG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +8 (+3 Dex, +6 Ref); Senses Detect +6
Languages Common
AC 19, touch 18, flat-footed 16
(Dex +3, armor +0, deflection +5, natural +1)
hp 48
Immune insanity, confusion, magical detection
Resist random deflector 2/day
Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +6
Speed 30 feet
Melee masterwork longspear +6 (1d8+0/x3)
Ranged Touch +8
Base Atk +5; Grp +5
Atk Options Split Ray* (+2), Quicken Spell (+4), rod of wonder
Spells Known (CL 8th+1d6)[DC: 16+spell lvl]
5th (5) - lesser spell matrix, greater fireburst
4th (7) - evard's black tentacles, ruin delver's fortune, defenestrating sphere
3rd (7) - displacement, fly, regal procession, clairaudience/clairvoyance
2nd (8) - slapping hand, invisibility, levitate, scorching ray*, mirror image
1st (7) - mage armor, true strike, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement*, benign transposition
0th (6) - mage hand, ray of frost*, daze, message, acid splash*
Abilities Str 10, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 22
SQ wild magic, random deflector, student of chaos
Feats Sudden Maximize, Magical Aptitude, Quicken Spell, Split Ray, Empower Spell
Skills Bluff +20, Detect +6
Possessions amulet of natural armor +1, bracers of armor +1, cloak of charisma +2, rod of wonder, scroll of polymorph, gray bag of tricks, wand of backbiter (28 charges), masterwork longspear, 12 gp
Wild Magic: Revena's caster level is three lower than her level indicates. However, each time she casts a spell, she rolls 1d6 and adds the result to her modified caster level to determine her adjusted caster level for that spell.
Random Deflector (Su): Immediate action, any ranged atk, ranged touch atk, spells that target only her, randomly redistribute between all targets within 20 feet, including Revena. Lasts until beginning of Revena's next turn. 2/day.
Student of Chaos (Ex): Whenever Revena uses a magic item offering a randomly determined effect (such as a bag of tricks or rod of wonder), she can roll twice and choose between the two results.
Preparation: (Revena already has mage armor cast when encountered) (3 rounds) lesser spell matrix, regal procession (12 horses), gray bag of tricks (bat, cat, badger)
Tactics: Revena tries to sap the strength of her foes with empowered or split rays of enfeeblement, and then get them trapped in evard's black tentacles. She also tries to lure enemy melee combatants near her so she can "explode" with a sudden maximized greater fireburst. If engaged by a single melee foe she relies on mirror image or uses her wand of backbiter to neutralize him while waiting for others to come near, but if there are too many melee threats she casts fly and takes to the air. She initially ignores enemy ranged foes and spellcasters, relying on her Random Deflector ability and ruin delver's fortune for protection, but if they start to be a problem she drops an evard's black tentacles on them. Once her foes are trapped or she is safe in the air, she uses defenestrating sphere and her rod of wonder.
Revena has a 25% chance each turn of abandoning what she was going to do and using her rod of wonder instead.
If she has had time to summon an animal from her gray bag of tricks, she'll try to move it close to 2 or more enemies with a low reflex save (acting insane so the act seems harmless), at which point she casts a quickened benign transposition and switches places with the animal, then casts greater fireburst (sudden maximized if she still has it available.)
If an enemy rogue is giving her a lot of trouble...what?
If Revena has to retreat, she uses her scroll of polymorph at the same time as she releases her spell matrix regal procession, summoning 12 horses and relying on the subsequent confusion to find a chance to dismiss the spell and escape.
Description/Appearance
x
Background
born
Traits or Mannerisms
• Reckless: Revena is willing to put herself at great personal risk for the chance to utterly annihilate her foes, and uses her rod of wonder whenever possible, even if she knows a spell that might be better suited for the moment.
• Deranged: Revena is utterly mad and shouts out the names of her spells as she casts them (though there is a 10% chance she is completely wrong). She is also prone to violent mood swings, and random bouts of crazed laughter.
• Devout Insanity: Revena belives in and worships ALL the gods. During battle she shouts prayers to random gods, and wears miscellaneous trinkets and symbols of her various deities. When she uses regal procession, each of the mounts summoned bears a banner with a different deity's symbol and colors.
LG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +8 (+3 Dex, +6 Ref); Senses Detect +6
Languages Common
AC 19, touch 18, flat-footed 16
(Dex +3, armor +0, deflection +5, natural +1)
hp 48
Immune insanity, confusion, magical detection
Resist random deflector 2/day
Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +6
Speed 30 feet
Melee masterwork longspear +6 (1d8+0/x3)
Ranged Touch +8
Base Atk +5; Grp +5
Atk Options Split Ray* (+2), Quicken Spell (+4), rod of wonder
Spells Known (CL 8th+1d6)[DC: 16+spell lvl]
5th (5) - lesser spell matrix, greater fireburst
4th (7) - evard's black tentacles, ruin delver's fortune, defenestrating sphere
3rd (7) - displacement, fly, regal procession, clairaudience/clairvoyance
2nd (8) - slapping hand, invisibility, levitate, scorching ray*, mirror image
1st (7) - mage armor, true strike, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement*, benign transposition
0th (6) - mage hand, ray of frost*, daze, message, acid splash*
Abilities Str 10, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 22
SQ wild magic, random deflector, student of chaos
Feats Sudden Maximize, Magical Aptitude, Quicken Spell, Split Ray, Empower Spell
Skills Bluff +20, Detect +6
Possessions amulet of natural armor +1, bracers of armor +1, cloak of charisma +2, rod of wonder, scroll of polymorph, gray bag of tricks, wand of backbiter (28 charges), masterwork longspear, 12 gp
Wild Magic: Revena's caster level is three lower than her level indicates. However, each time she casts a spell, she rolls 1d6 and adds the result to her modified caster level to determine her adjusted caster level for that spell.
Random Deflector (Su): Immediate action, any ranged atk, ranged touch atk, spells that target only her, randomly redistribute between all targets within 20 feet, including Revena. Lasts until beginning of Revena's next turn. 2/day.
Student of Chaos (Ex): Whenever Revena uses a magic item offering a randomly determined effect (such as a bag of tricks or rod of wonder), she can roll twice and choose between the two results.
Preparation: (Revena already has mage armor cast when encountered) (3 rounds) lesser spell matrix, regal procession (12 horses), gray bag of tricks (bat, cat, badger)
Tactics: Revena tries to sap the strength of her foes with empowered or split rays of enfeeblement, and then get them trapped in evard's black tentacles. She also tries to lure enemy melee combatants near her so she can "explode" with a sudden maximized greater fireburst. If engaged by a single melee foe she relies on mirror image or uses her wand of backbiter to neutralize him while waiting for others to come near, but if there are too many melee threats she casts fly and takes to the air. She initially ignores enemy ranged foes and spellcasters, relying on her Random Deflector ability and ruin delver's fortune for protection, but if they start to be a problem she drops an evard's black tentacles on them. Once her foes are trapped or she is safe in the air, she uses defenestrating sphere and her rod of wonder.
Revena has a 25% chance each turn of abandoning what she was going to do and using her rod of wonder instead.
If she has had time to summon an animal from her gray bag of tricks, she'll try to move it close to 2 or more enemies with a low reflex save (acting insane so the act seems harmless), at which point she casts a quickened benign transposition and switches places with the animal, then casts greater fireburst (sudden maximized if she still has it available.)
If an enemy rogue is giving her a lot of trouble...what?
If Revena has to retreat, she uses her scroll of polymorph at the same time as she releases her spell matrix regal procession, summoning 12 horses and relying on the subsequent confusion to find a chance to dismiss the spell and escape.
Description/Appearance
x
Background
born
Traits or Mannerisms
• Reckless: Revena is willing to put herself at great personal risk for the chance to utterly annihilate her foes, and uses her rod of wonder whenever possible, even if she knows a spell that might be better suited for the moment.
• Deranged: Revena is utterly mad and shouts out the names of her spells as she casts them (though there is a 10% chance she is completely wrong). She is also prone to violent mood swings, and random bouts of crazed laughter.
• Devout Insanity: Revena belives in and worships ALL the gods. During battle she shouts prayers to random gods, and wears miscellaneous trinkets and symbols of her various deities. When she uses regal procession, each of the mounts summoned bears a banner with a different deity's symbol and colors.
Replacement Gods
GODS OF GOOD
Majere (The Wise) - God of Knowledge, Wisdom, Truth
Heironeous (The Guardian) - God of Justice, Protection, Honor
Pelor (The Sun Lord) - God of Sun, Healing, Light
Pan (The Innocent) - God of Leisure, Innocence, Music
Freya (The Beautiful) - Goddess of Love, Serenity, Beauty, Arts
Tymora - Goddess of Fortune
GODS OF EVIL
Loki (The Trickster) - God of Trickery, Lies, Greed
Bane (The Destroyer/Tyrant) - God of Destruction, Tyranny, Murder, Fear
Chemosh (The Corrupt) - Goddess of Undeath, Sickness, Darkness
Hades (The Torturer) - God of Suffering, Misery, Guilt
Soth (The Vengeful) - God of Vengeance, Lust, Pride, Hatred
Beshaba - Goddess of Misfortune
GODS OF NEUTRALITY
Elhonna (LN, The Earth Mother) - Goddess of Nature, Plants, Fertility
Gond (LN, The Builder) - God of Invention, Machines, Constructs
Fharlanghn (N, The Traveler) - God of Travel, Wealth, Trade
Talos (CN, The Stormlord) - God of Storms, Chaos
Neptune (N) - God of Oceans, Rain, Sailing
Malar (N) - God of Beasts, Animals, Instinct
Asha (LN) - Goddess of Dreams, Foresight
Boccob (LN) - God of Magic
(TN) - God of Judgement, Law
Charon (TN)- God of Death
GODS OF BATTLE
Hextor (NE, The Warlord) - God of War, Bloodlust
Tempus (NG, The Valiant) - God of Valor, Heroism
Kord (N, The Mighty) - God of Strength, Ambition
PATRON GODS
Mask (CN) - God of Thieves
Shar (CE) - Goddess of Shadows
Artemis (CG) - Goddess of the Moon
Wanderer (N) - God of Outcasts
RACIAL GODS
Argos - God of Giants
Bahamut - God of Good Dragons
Blibdoolpoolp - Goddess of Kuo-Toa
Corellon Larethian - God of Elves
Garl Glittergold - God of Gnomes
Great Mother - Goddess of Beholders
Gruumsh - God of Orcs
Jubilex - God of Oozes and Slimes
Kavaki - God of Goliaths
Kurtulmak - God of Kobolds
Maglubiyet - God of Goblins
Moradin - God of Dwarves
Vulkoor - God of Drow
Yeenoghu - God of Gnolls
Yondalla - Goddess of Halflings
Tiamat - Goddess of Evil Dragons
DEMIGODS
Graz'zt
Demogorgon
Orcus
Pazuzu
Pale Night
Cup/Chalice
Bloody Tooth
Wheat Stalks
Horseshoe
Eye and Pentagram
Seven Stars
Hourglass
Unicorn
Moon / Crescent Moon
Fist Clutching Lightning Bolt
Grinning Skull
Black Gauntlet
Black Rose
Smiling Mask
Weeping Mask
Broken Coin / Chains
Scythe
Ram's Head
Panpipes
Acorn
Leaf
Laughing Mask
Coiled Snake
Lidless Eye
Anvil
Majere (The Wise) - God of Knowledge, Wisdom, Truth
Heironeous (The Guardian) - God of Justice, Protection, Honor
Pelor (The Sun Lord) - God of Sun, Healing, Light
Pan (The Innocent) - God of Leisure, Innocence, Music
Freya (The Beautiful) - Goddess of Love, Serenity, Beauty, Arts
Tymora - Goddess of Fortune
GODS OF EVIL
Loki (The Trickster) - God of Trickery, Lies, Greed
Bane (The Destroyer/Tyrant) - God of Destruction, Tyranny, Murder, Fear
Chemosh (The Corrupt) - Goddess of Undeath, Sickness, Darkness
Hades (The Torturer) - God of Suffering, Misery, Guilt
Soth (The Vengeful) - God of Vengeance, Lust, Pride, Hatred
Beshaba - Goddess of Misfortune
GODS OF NEUTRALITY
Elhonna (LN, The Earth Mother) - Goddess of Nature, Plants, Fertility
Gond (LN, The Builder) - God of Invention, Machines, Constructs
Fharlanghn (N, The Traveler) - God of Travel, Wealth, Trade
Talos (CN, The Stormlord) - God of Storms, Chaos
Neptune (N) - God of Oceans, Rain, Sailing
Malar (N) - God of Beasts, Animals, Instinct
Asha (LN) - Goddess of Dreams, Foresight
Boccob (LN) - God of Magic
(TN) - God of Judgement, Law
Charon (TN)- God of Death
GODS OF BATTLE
Hextor (NE, The Warlord) - God of War, Bloodlust
Tempus (NG, The Valiant) - God of Valor, Heroism
Kord (N, The Mighty) - God of Strength, Ambition
PATRON GODS
Mask (CN) - God of Thieves
Shar (CE) - Goddess of Shadows
Artemis (CG) - Goddess of the Moon
Wanderer (N) - God of Outcasts
RACIAL GODS
Argos - God of Giants
Bahamut - God of Good Dragons
Blibdoolpoolp - Goddess of Kuo-Toa
Corellon Larethian - God of Elves
Garl Glittergold - God of Gnomes
Great Mother - Goddess of Beholders
Gruumsh - God of Orcs
Jubilex - God of Oozes and Slimes
Kavaki - God of Goliaths
Kurtulmak - God of Kobolds
Maglubiyet - God of Goblins
Moradin - God of Dwarves
Vulkoor - God of Drow
Yeenoghu - God of Gnolls
Yondalla - Goddess of Halflings
Tiamat - Goddess of Evil Dragons
DEMIGODS
Graz'zt
Demogorgon
Orcus
Pazuzu
Pale Night
Cup/Chalice
Bloody Tooth
Wheat Stalks
Horseshoe
Eye and Pentagram
Seven Stars
Hourglass
Unicorn
Moon / Crescent Moon
Fist Clutching Lightning Bolt
Grinning Skull
Black Gauntlet
Black Rose
Smiling Mask
Weeping Mask
Broken Coin / Chains
Scythe
Ram's Head
Panpipes
Acorn
Leaf
Laughing Mask
Coiled Snake
Lidless Eye
Anvil
Spinner Kendall, Con Artist
Male human rogue 10
N Medium humanoid (human)
Init +12 (+5 Dex, +7 Ref); Senses Detect +10
Languages Common
AC 21, touch 17, flat-footed 16
(Dex +5, armor +4, deflection +2)
hp 74
Resist Evasion, Improved Uncanny Dodge, +4 on saves vs fear, +4 to avoid being intimidated
Fort +8, Ref +14, Will +7
Speed 30 ft
Melee +1 saber +13 (1d6+6/18–20) or mst dagger +13 (1d4+5/19-20)
Full Melee +1 saber +11/+6 (1d6+6/18–20), mst dagger +11/+6 (1d4+2/19-20)
Ranged mst dagger +13 (1d4+1/19–20)
Full Ranged mst dagger +13 (1d4+1/19–20), mst dagger +8 (1d4+1/19-20)
Base Atk +7/+2; Grp +8
Special Attacks Sneak Attack +5d6
Atk Options Skill Mastery (take 10 on Bluff and Tumble checks)
Combat Gear 1 potion of alter self, 1 potion of cure critical wounds (+7), 1 potion of gaseous form
Abilities Str 12, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 16
Feats Weapon Finesse, Two Weapon Fighting, Quickdraw, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Lucky
Skills Bluff +16, Climb +11, Detect +10, Diplomacy +16, Disguise +13, Escape Artist +15, Jump +7, Open Lock +6, Sense Motive +15, Sneak +15, Tumble +15
Possessions +1 saber, cloak of resistance +1, +2 mithril chain shirt, chime of opening, passwall chalk (x2), badge of valor, 6 masterwork daggers, earring of dimension door (1 charge), 12 gp, 3 pp
Treasure brass statue (20 gp, 100 lbs), 5 bottles of elven firebrandy (10 gp each), 1 elixir of love, 3 gold bracelets (20 gp each), 1 crystal chalice (25 gp), 1 nobles outfit (10 gp)
Earring of Dimension Door - one use item, wearer removes the earring (standard, doesn't provoke) to trigger the effect. 600 foot range.
Description
• tall
Background
born
Traits or Mannerisms
• Magnetic Personality: Spinner is smooth talking, convincing and charming, and is quite adept at talking his way into or out of almost any situation. And if that fails, his charming personality and dashing looks will usually suffice. Spinner would be the perfect covert agent except for his woeful lack of knowledge concerning politics, local history, court etiquette, etc. Fortunately, his charming nature is enough to make people overlook his social gaffes...most of the time.
• Cautious: Spinner is accustomed to taking large risks, and readily does so. But despite his risk-taking nature, he is extremely aware of his own capabilities, and always has some sort of emergency escape planned. This might be in the case of a contingency invisibility spell, a potion of flight, or his special earring of dimension door, which he keeps absolutely secret (even from his allies) and will not use except to escape certain death.
• Skirt Chaser: Spinner is easily distracted by a pretty face, and gets himself into all sorts of trouble because of it.
N Medium humanoid (human)
Init +12 (+5 Dex, +7 Ref); Senses Detect +10
Languages Common
AC 21, touch 17, flat-footed 16
(Dex +5, armor +4, deflection +2)
hp 74
Resist Evasion, Improved Uncanny Dodge, +4 on saves vs fear, +4 to avoid being intimidated
Fort +8, Ref +14, Will +7
Speed 30 ft
Melee +1 saber +13 (1d6+6/18–20) or mst dagger +13 (1d4+5/19-20)
Full Melee +1 saber +11/+6 (1d6+6/18–20), mst dagger +11/+6 (1d4+2/19-20)
Ranged mst dagger +13 (1d4+1/19–20)
Full Ranged mst dagger +13 (1d4+1/19–20), mst dagger +8 (1d4+1/19-20)
Base Atk +7/+2; Grp +8
Special Attacks Sneak Attack +5d6
Atk Options Skill Mastery (take 10 on Bluff and Tumble checks)
Combat Gear 1 potion of alter self, 1 potion of cure critical wounds (+7), 1 potion of gaseous form
Abilities Str 12, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 16
Feats Weapon Finesse, Two Weapon Fighting, Quickdraw, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Lucky
Skills Bluff +16, Climb +11, Detect +10, Diplomacy +16, Disguise +13, Escape Artist +15, Jump +7, Open Lock +6, Sense Motive +15, Sneak +15, Tumble +15
Possessions +1 saber, cloak of resistance +1, +2 mithril chain shirt, chime of opening, passwall chalk (x2), badge of valor, 6 masterwork daggers, earring of dimension door (1 charge), 12 gp, 3 pp
Treasure brass statue (20 gp, 100 lbs), 5 bottles of elven firebrandy (10 gp each), 1 elixir of love, 3 gold bracelets (20 gp each), 1 crystal chalice (25 gp), 1 nobles outfit (10 gp)
Earring of Dimension Door - one use item, wearer removes the earring (standard, doesn't provoke) to trigger the effect. 600 foot range.
Description
• tall
Background
born
Traits or Mannerisms
• Magnetic Personality: Spinner is smooth talking, convincing and charming, and is quite adept at talking his way into or out of almost any situation. And if that fails, his charming personality and dashing looks will usually suffice. Spinner would be the perfect covert agent except for his woeful lack of knowledge concerning politics, local history, court etiquette, etc. Fortunately, his charming nature is enough to make people overlook his social gaffes...most of the time.
• Cautious: Spinner is accustomed to taking large risks, and readily does so. But despite his risk-taking nature, he is extremely aware of his own capabilities, and always has some sort of emergency escape planned. This might be in the case of a contingency invisibility spell, a potion of flight, or his special earring of dimension door, which he keeps absolutely secret (even from his allies) and will not use except to escape certain death.
• Skirt Chaser: Spinner is easily distracted by a pretty face, and gets himself into all sorts of trouble because of it.
The Gut Maggot Tribe
Population 250
Leaders: Karocc (half-dragon barbarian 5, prestige 2), Yrthak (ranger 2, scout 5), Thatch (rogue 3, druid 3)
This powerful group of goblins is unusually united in their cause, mostly because of their brutal, merciless leader Karocc. Under his leadership, the tribe systematically eliminated all enemies in their forest. They tortured anyone taken alive and then staked them to trees on the outskirts of the forest, with their guts cut open, and a handful of maggots placed in the wound. The victims would live for a few days in extreme pain before finally expiring.
Fortunately for the region around the forest, the Gut Maggot Tribe does not venture out of the woods very often. One nervous village hired a group of overconfident adventurers to eliminate the goblins. The adventuers assumed the tribe would be easy pickings; after all, they were "only goblins." However, Karocc's tribe lured the invaders into ambushes, picked them off in guerilla strikes, and had littered the forest with countless traps. The survivors eventually escaped the forest, only to arrive back at the village to find the populace slaughtered, with a handful of people staked to poles in the center of the village, maggots writhing in gaping belly wounds.
Every goblin in the tribe is trained in either hunting, trapmaking or scouting. They favor quick strikes, wolf-rider ambushes, and guerilla-style tactics. Karocc knows that a straight-up fight will likely end in disaster, so he uses the familiar forest terrain to his advantage. As a result, the tribe rarely, if ever, ventures out of the woods. This has also kept the tribe from attracting too much attention from powerful foes, which Karocc also planned.
Leaders: Karocc (half-dragon barbarian 5, prestige 2), Yrthak (ranger 2, scout 5), Thatch (rogue 3, druid 3)
This powerful group of goblins is unusually united in their cause, mostly because of their brutal, merciless leader Karocc. Under his leadership, the tribe systematically eliminated all enemies in their forest. They tortured anyone taken alive and then staked them to trees on the outskirts of the forest, with their guts cut open, and a handful of maggots placed in the wound. The victims would live for a few days in extreme pain before finally expiring.
Fortunately for the region around the forest, the Gut Maggot Tribe does not venture out of the woods very often. One nervous village hired a group of overconfident adventurers to eliminate the goblins. The adventuers assumed the tribe would be easy pickings; after all, they were "only goblins." However, Karocc's tribe lured the invaders into ambushes, picked them off in guerilla strikes, and had littered the forest with countless traps. The survivors eventually escaped the forest, only to arrive back at the village to find the populace slaughtered, with a handful of people staked to poles in the center of the village, maggots writhing in gaping belly wounds.
Every goblin in the tribe is trained in either hunting, trapmaking or scouting. They favor quick strikes, wolf-rider ambushes, and guerilla-style tactics. Karocc knows that a straight-up fight will likely end in disaster, so he uses the familiar forest terrain to his advantage. As a result, the tribe rarely, if ever, ventures out of the woods. This has also kept the tribe from attracting too much attention from powerful foes, which Karocc also planned.
Starting Gold by Level
PCS
1st varies 11th 66,000
2nd 900 12th 88,000
3rd 2,700 13th 110,000
4th 5,400 14th 150,000
5th 9,000 15th 200,000
6th 13,000 16th 260,000
7th 19,000 17th 340,000
8th 27,000 18th 440,000
9th 36,000 19th 580,000
10th 49,000 20th 760,000
NPCS
1st 900 11th 21,000
2nd 2,000 12th 27,000
3rd 2,500 13th 35,000
4th 3,300 14th 45,000
5th 4,300 15th 59,000
6th 5,600 16th 77,000
7th 7,200 17th 100,000
8th 9,400 18th 130,000
9th 12,000 19th 170,000
10th 16,000 20th 220,000
Door Ninja
The Door Ninja is an animated heavy steel door with a silent portal disk attached to it (maybe with the Stick spell)
Hit Points:
Init:
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: (+ size, + Dex, + natural), touch , flat-footed
Base Attack/Grapple:
Attack:
Full Attack:
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:
Special Qualities:
Saves: Fort +, Ref +, Will +
Feats:
Girallons are savage, magical cousins of the gorilla. When moving on the ground, a girallon walks on its legs and lower arms. An adult girallon is about 8 feet tall, broad-chested, and covered in thick, pure white fur. It weighs about 800 pounds.
Rend (Ex): A girallon that hits with two or more claw attacks latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This attack automatically deals an extra 2d4+9 points of damage.
Climb: A girallon has a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened.
Large Magical Beast [extraplanar]
Environment:
Organization:
Abilities: Str , Dex , Con , Int , Wis , Cha
Skills:
Alignment:
Treasure:
Hit Points:
Init:
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: (+ size, + Dex, + natural), touch , flat-footed
Base Attack/Grapple:
Attack:
Full Attack:
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:
Special Qualities:
Saves: Fort +, Ref +, Will +
Feats:
Girallons are savage, magical cousins of the gorilla. When moving on the ground, a girallon walks on its legs and lower arms. An adult girallon is about 8 feet tall, broad-chested, and covered in thick, pure white fur. It weighs about 800 pounds.
Rend (Ex): A girallon that hits with two or more claw attacks latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This attack automatically deals an extra 2d4+9 points of damage.
Climb: A girallon has a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened.
Large Magical Beast [extraplanar]
Environment:
Organization:
Abilities: Str , Dex , Con , Int , Wis , Cha
Skills:
Alignment:
Treasure:
Fang, Sheriff of Paradise
Male half-orc fighter 4
LG Medium humanoid (half-orc)
Init +4 (+2 Dex, +2 Reflex); Senses Detect +2
Languages Common, Orc
AC 16 (standard), touch 13, flat-footed 14
(Dex +2, armor +3, deflection +1)
AC 26 (armoured), touch 14, flat-footed 25
(Dex +1, armor +8, shield +4 deflection +3)
hp 44
Resist none
Fort +7, Ref +3, Will +0
Speed 30 ft
Melee Hooktooth +9 (1d10+8/19–20)
Ranged shortbow +6 (1d6/x3)
Base Atk +4; Grp +7
Atk Options Improved Disarm (+13 disarm check)
Combat Gear 1 tanglefoot bag, 2 potions of cure light wounds (+2)
Abilities Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 10
Feats Exotic Weapon (Bastard Sword), Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword), Expertise, Improved Disarm, Weapon Specialization (Bastard Sword)
Skills Detect +2, Handle Animal +4, Intimidate +4, Jump +6 (+0 when armored), Ride +6
Possessions Hooktooth (+1 bastard sword), masterwork studded leather, shortbow, bracers of armor +1, 5 gp
Treasure +1 heavy steel shield, +1 fullplate, 50 gp
Notes
Hooktooth - this +1 bastard sword has a bladed hook at the tip of the blade that allows the wielder to effectively disarm foes. Fang get a +2 bonus on opposed attack rolls made to disarm an enemy (including the roll to avoid being disarmed if such an attempt fails).
Description
• Personality: ??
• Black hair with streaks of grey, 6'4", 280 lbs., wears bland colors (browns and greys)
• 45 years old but still very muscular and in shape.
• Not very comfortable talking to people without military training.
• Has numerous scars, limps slightly, slight military style of speaking
Background
Fang was born in an orc clan, the child of a human slave the clan had captured. His mother died shortly after he was born. He was bullied and abused as a child, but he accepted his fate until he had the chance to kill his father while he slept and escape. He found acceptance in a mercenary army, where he sharpened his fighting skills. He became part of a special strike force used to quickly dispatch an enemy general or captain. He was forced to retire after being seriously wounded in the leg by an archer, and still limps slightly.
He moved to Paradise and quickly became known as someone not to mess with, which caught the eye of the sheriff, a female half-orc named _____. They had a son, Hofar. The mother died after ________ and Fang decided to become the sheriff in her memory. While maintaining order in Paradise Fang typically wears carries Hooktooth, a shortbow and his studded leather armor, but he keeps his heavy armor well-maintained at home in case of emergency.
Traits
• Unprejudiced: Fang is open-minded and treats everyone extremely fairly, regardless of race. Has a soft spot for orphans, outcasts and those who are exploited/picked on by others, and has no patience for those who victimize these people.
• Military Man: Genuinely likes Paradise and its people, but misses the excitement and strict rules of the military. As a result, sometimes gets annoyed with silly (in his mind) disputes and squabbles. Still uses military slang. Sees warriors and Hoof-Bite's friends as his new "peers."
• Proud Father: Unashamed of Hoof-Bite, despite his son's mental state, but is frustrated that he is unable to help him overcome his disability. Has taught Hoof-Bite how to fight well so that others will not pick on him (not really realizing that few would pick on him anyways, since Hoof-Bite is enormous) Appreciates his son's friends, as they are able to defend Hoof-Bite when Fang would feel bad doing so (against youths, for example).
LG Medium humanoid (half-orc)
Init +4 (+2 Dex, +2 Reflex); Senses Detect +2
Languages Common, Orc
AC 16 (standard), touch 13, flat-footed 14
(Dex +2, armor +3, deflection +1)
AC 26 (armoured), touch 14, flat-footed 25
(Dex +1, armor +8, shield +4 deflection +3)
hp 44
Resist none
Fort +7, Ref +3, Will +0
Speed 30 ft
Melee Hooktooth +9 (1d10+8/19–20)
Ranged shortbow +6 (1d6/x3)
Base Atk +4; Grp +7
Atk Options Improved Disarm (+13 disarm check)
Combat Gear 1 tanglefoot bag, 2 potions of cure light wounds (+2)
Abilities Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 10
Feats Exotic Weapon (Bastard Sword), Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword), Expertise, Improved Disarm, Weapon Specialization (Bastard Sword)
Skills Detect +2, Handle Animal +4, Intimidate +4, Jump +6 (+0 when armored), Ride +6
Possessions Hooktooth (+1 bastard sword), masterwork studded leather, shortbow, bracers of armor +1, 5 gp
Treasure +1 heavy steel shield, +1 fullplate, 50 gp
Notes
Hooktooth - this +1 bastard sword has a bladed hook at the tip of the blade that allows the wielder to effectively disarm foes. Fang get a +2 bonus on opposed attack rolls made to disarm an enemy (including the roll to avoid being disarmed if such an attempt fails).
Description
• Personality: ??
• Black hair with streaks of grey, 6'4", 280 lbs., wears bland colors (browns and greys)
• 45 years old but still very muscular and in shape.
• Not very comfortable talking to people without military training.
• Has numerous scars, limps slightly, slight military style of speaking
Background
Fang was born in an orc clan, the child of a human slave the clan had captured. His mother died shortly after he was born. He was bullied and abused as a child, but he accepted his fate until he had the chance to kill his father while he slept and escape. He found acceptance in a mercenary army, where he sharpened his fighting skills. He became part of a special strike force used to quickly dispatch an enemy general or captain. He was forced to retire after being seriously wounded in the leg by an archer, and still limps slightly.
He moved to Paradise and quickly became known as someone not to mess with, which caught the eye of the sheriff, a female half-orc named _____. They had a son, Hofar. The mother died after ________ and Fang decided to become the sheriff in her memory. While maintaining order in Paradise Fang typically wears carries Hooktooth, a shortbow and his studded leather armor, but he keeps his heavy armor well-maintained at home in case of emergency.
Traits
• Unprejudiced: Fang is open-minded and treats everyone extremely fairly, regardless of race. Has a soft spot for orphans, outcasts and those who are exploited/picked on by others, and has no patience for those who victimize these people.
• Military Man: Genuinely likes Paradise and its people, but misses the excitement and strict rules of the military. As a result, sometimes gets annoyed with silly (in his mind) disputes and squabbles. Still uses military slang. Sees warriors and Hoof-Bite's friends as his new "peers."
• Proud Father: Unashamed of Hoof-Bite, despite his son's mental state, but is frustrated that he is unable to help him overcome his disability. Has taught Hoof-Bite how to fight well so that others will not pick on him (not really realizing that few would pick on him anyways, since Hoof-Bite is enormous) Appreciates his son's friends, as they are able to defend Hoof-Bite when Fang would feel bad doing so (against youths, for example).
Prelude #1
Characters:
Jamie (Changeling Rogue)
Mike (Human Fighter)
Justin (Half-Elf Sorcerer)
Ryan (Half-Orc Barbarian)
Keenan (Dwarf Cleric)
Jamie and Mike are twins. They had a Changeling mother, and a human father. Not sure how this happens, but a neighbour discovers the mother shapechanging, and the father dies. Everyone assumes that it is a doppelganger monster that has killed their real mother and has taken her place, and so she is run out of town. She has taught Jamie to always appear like Mike, so everyone thinks they are both regular humans. They are taken in by the owners of the town's inn, a married human couple named _______ and _______. Mike and Jamie eventually convince them to change the name of the inn to "The Thirteenth Step", even though it sits flat on the ground and there are no steps at all. Mike has a temper and Jamie gets into trouble, but no one holds it against them because of their tragic childhood.
Justin is a half-elf, elf father, human mother, both still alive and living in town. He was born in an elven city and trained early on to be a warrior, but he proved more adept at spellcasting, to his father's disappointment. They moved to Paradise when Justin was young, and being a mischievous and prankish type, he became friends with Mike and Jamie and hung out with them a lot.
Keenan is a ward of the church, having lost both parents to _____ attacks at an early age. The elder priests (two of them, a male Halfling Elya, and a female human Kira) are both quite old, so it is his job to make house calls and be the village's everyday cleric. He felt sorry for Mike and Jamie when their parents died/left, having gone through that himself, so he became an uncle figure to them (which became a big brother role as they matured and became closer to his mental age.)
Ryan is the dumb but strong, lovable oaf who everyone in town knows and takes care of. He is exceptionally strong because he is always performing heavy-labour chores for people and helping them. His nickname is Hoof-Bite because he used to work regularly in the stables and livestock farm, until the farmer caught him trying to bite a horse. His father Fang is the town's sheriff, and loves his son without shame. Jamie is particularly loyal to Hoof-Bite because Hoof-Bite once saved him from an angry bear after Jamie harassed it.
Tavern - owned by two human sisters, Hanra and Shanra. Hanra is the cook, Shanra is the barkeep, they also employ a number of girls as barmaids.
Three farmsteads on the outskirts of town:
#1 - Stella & Eyon, humans, 2 kids, livestock
#2 - Domo, old human male, vegetables and fruit
#3 - Var & Millie, human and half-elf, 3 kids, wheat, corn, grains
5 thieves
Mazer, male human - tough, gruff, stubborn
Lipp, male human - pathetic, sneaky
Erol male half-elf - dumb
Hemmel, male elf - fanatical but has no idea what is really going on
Seris, male halfling - ...nothing
Dead Trader = Jasper, human male (middle aged)
Male Trader = Orlar, middle aged chubby human, balding. Runs Orlar's House of Magnificence in Freeport (gems and jewellery.)
Female Trader = Mara, middle aged, chubby, jolly
=================
Orlar and Mara are robbed by 5 thieves, party arrives on scene just in time to see them fleeing on horseback. The party rounds up four horses (Ryan runs) and using Justin's raven familiar, tracks them down to a farming community 2 hours ride from town. Three farms. Jamie fills his bag full of ears of corn.
They poke around and eventually find three of the thieves, with five horses, hiding in one of the barns. Justin summons a fiendish centipede to scare them, they run outside and are knocked out by the waiting party. Mazer, Lipp, and Hemmel are the three. Mike questions them, and asks where the others are (reply: Gone to get food.) Meanwhile, Jamie tries to coerce Lipp into accepting a "deal" if he'll just blame it all on Mazer. (He later tries to convince Mazer the same thing.) During this whole time Jamie looks like an orc.
While interrogating Mazer, no one notices Lipp edge up on the hay bales he's sitting on and leap for the window. Mike grabs a pitchfork and hurls it at him, just missing him. However, his landing is heard by Ryan, who strolls over and punches out Lipp as he is trying to hop away.
They question Erol, who is dumb and panics and reveals that he didn't take the amulet. When questioned farther, he tells them that Hemmel and Seris took an amulet with a blue stone because it would "light their way."
Outside, Justin and Ryan meet Domo, who is suspicious of them and tries to shoo them away, but later offers them food. He gives them apples, apologizing for the lack of their regular meal, soup, because the well was strangely low today when he went to get the water. They go inside and discuss.
They decide to tie the three thieves to horses and send them back towards Paradise, and then explore the well. Jamie drops down into the well and finds an underground/water passage into a small cavern. He gets everyone else (Ryan holds the rope, and then climbs down). Jamie morphs into Mazer now, and walks into the next room while the others wait for a signal. There are 2 men in leather armor and one cloaked, hunched figure facing away from him. The 2 men attack, injuring Jamie, who had leapt up on a table. He flips off the table and runs away, flipping his bag of corn at one of the men. The two men pursue him around the corner, only to be chopped down in a cleave by Mike.
Mike flips the cloaked figure around, it's a dead man, stripped to the waist and a strange symbol carved into his chest. Jamie searches the room and finds the blue-stoned amulet, and he puts it on. When he holds the gem, he can see through illusions, and spots a secret door (and its triggering mechanism on the wall.) They go through, find a storeroom in one direction, and a closed door in the other. Justin casts silent portal on the door and Ryan charges in.
Inside are a halfing and an elf, both armed with chain shirts and better gear than the other thieves they've met so far. There is also a large rug in the center of the room. Ryan ducks back around the door and says "PEOPLES!" Mike charges in as the halfling drinks a potion of blinking, both halfling and elf draw their weapons (dagger, longsword). Mike and quickly wounds the elf, while the halfling is attacked by Jamie, Ryan and another centipede by Justin. While charging at the halfling, Ryan almost falls into the concealed pit trap under the rug. The halfling blinks in and out constantly and most of the party's attacks keep missing him, even Justin's ice shard spell. The elf surrenders, and Keenan pins him to the ground and strips him of weapons, revealing a brooch with the same symbol.
Meanwhile the halfling sneak attacks Ryan, then runs for the door, dodging Justin's clumsy trip attempt. Mike charges after him but misses as the halfling blinks out of view again, but Justin summons a giant fire beetle which bites the halfling, then he is impaled by Ryan, charging and stabbing with the spike on the end of his greataxe. He runs out of the room and all the way down the hall before finally smearing the halfling on the ground.
They search the place and find some okay treasure. They return to the surface after knocking Hemmel unconscious.
Jamie (Changeling Rogue)
Mike (Human Fighter)
Justin (Half-Elf Sorcerer)
Ryan (Half-Orc Barbarian)
Keenan (Dwarf Cleric)
Jamie and Mike are twins. They had a Changeling mother, and a human father. Not sure how this happens, but a neighbour discovers the mother shapechanging, and the father dies. Everyone assumes that it is a doppelganger monster that has killed their real mother and has taken her place, and so she is run out of town. She has taught Jamie to always appear like Mike, so everyone thinks they are both regular humans. They are taken in by the owners of the town's inn, a married human couple named _______ and _______. Mike and Jamie eventually convince them to change the name of the inn to "The Thirteenth Step", even though it sits flat on the ground and there are no steps at all. Mike has a temper and Jamie gets into trouble, but no one holds it against them because of their tragic childhood.
Justin is a half-elf, elf father, human mother, both still alive and living in town. He was born in an elven city and trained early on to be a warrior, but he proved more adept at spellcasting, to his father's disappointment. They moved to Paradise when Justin was young, and being a mischievous and prankish type, he became friends with Mike and Jamie and hung out with them a lot.
Keenan is a ward of the church, having lost both parents to _____ attacks at an early age. The elder priests (two of them, a male Halfling Elya, and a female human Kira) are both quite old, so it is his job to make house calls and be the village's everyday cleric. He felt sorry for Mike and Jamie when their parents died/left, having gone through that himself, so he became an uncle figure to them (which became a big brother role as they matured and became closer to his mental age.)
Ryan is the dumb but strong, lovable oaf who everyone in town knows and takes care of. He is exceptionally strong because he is always performing heavy-labour chores for people and helping them. His nickname is Hoof-Bite because he used to work regularly in the stables and livestock farm, until the farmer caught him trying to bite a horse. His father Fang is the town's sheriff, and loves his son without shame. Jamie is particularly loyal to Hoof-Bite because Hoof-Bite once saved him from an angry bear after Jamie harassed it.
Tavern - owned by two human sisters, Hanra and Shanra. Hanra is the cook, Shanra is the barkeep, they also employ a number of girls as barmaids.
Three farmsteads on the outskirts of town:
#1 - Stella & Eyon, humans, 2 kids, livestock
#2 - Domo, old human male, vegetables and fruit
#3 - Var & Millie, human and half-elf, 3 kids, wheat, corn, grains
5 thieves
Mazer, male human - tough, gruff, stubborn
Lipp, male human - pathetic, sneaky
Erol male half-elf - dumb
Hemmel, male elf - fanatical but has no idea what is really going on
Seris, male halfling - ...nothing
Dead Trader = Jasper, human male (middle aged)
Male Trader = Orlar, middle aged chubby human, balding. Runs Orlar's House of Magnificence in Freeport (gems and jewellery.)
Female Trader = Mara, middle aged, chubby, jolly
=================
Orlar and Mara are robbed by 5 thieves, party arrives on scene just in time to see them fleeing on horseback. The party rounds up four horses (Ryan runs) and using Justin's raven familiar, tracks them down to a farming community 2 hours ride from town. Three farms. Jamie fills his bag full of ears of corn.
They poke around and eventually find three of the thieves, with five horses, hiding in one of the barns. Justin summons a fiendish centipede to scare them, they run outside and are knocked out by the waiting party. Mazer, Lipp, and Hemmel are the three. Mike questions them, and asks where the others are (reply: Gone to get food.) Meanwhile, Jamie tries to coerce Lipp into accepting a "deal" if he'll just blame it all on Mazer. (He later tries to convince Mazer the same thing.) During this whole time Jamie looks like an orc.
While interrogating Mazer, no one notices Lipp edge up on the hay bales he's sitting on and leap for the window. Mike grabs a pitchfork and hurls it at him, just missing him. However, his landing is heard by Ryan, who strolls over and punches out Lipp as he is trying to hop away.
They question Erol, who is dumb and panics and reveals that he didn't take the amulet. When questioned farther, he tells them that Hemmel and Seris took an amulet with a blue stone because it would "light their way."
Outside, Justin and Ryan meet Domo, who is suspicious of them and tries to shoo them away, but later offers them food. He gives them apples, apologizing for the lack of their regular meal, soup, because the well was strangely low today when he went to get the water. They go inside and discuss.
They decide to tie the three thieves to horses and send them back towards Paradise, and then explore the well. Jamie drops down into the well and finds an underground/water passage into a small cavern. He gets everyone else (Ryan holds the rope, and then climbs down). Jamie morphs into Mazer now, and walks into the next room while the others wait for a signal. There are 2 men in leather armor and one cloaked, hunched figure facing away from him. The 2 men attack, injuring Jamie, who had leapt up on a table. He flips off the table and runs away, flipping his bag of corn at one of the men. The two men pursue him around the corner, only to be chopped down in a cleave by Mike.
Mike flips the cloaked figure around, it's a dead man, stripped to the waist and a strange symbol carved into his chest. Jamie searches the room and finds the blue-stoned amulet, and he puts it on. When he holds the gem, he can see through illusions, and spots a secret door (and its triggering mechanism on the wall.) They go through, find a storeroom in one direction, and a closed door in the other. Justin casts silent portal on the door and Ryan charges in.
Inside are a halfing and an elf, both armed with chain shirts and better gear than the other thieves they've met so far. There is also a large rug in the center of the room. Ryan ducks back around the door and says "PEOPLES!" Mike charges in as the halfling drinks a potion of blinking, both halfling and elf draw their weapons (dagger, longsword). Mike and quickly wounds the elf, while the halfling is attacked by Jamie, Ryan and another centipede by Justin. While charging at the halfling, Ryan almost falls into the concealed pit trap under the rug. The halfling blinks in and out constantly and most of the party's attacks keep missing him, even Justin's ice shard spell. The elf surrenders, and Keenan pins him to the ground and strips him of weapons, revealing a brooch with the same symbol.
Meanwhile the halfling sneak attacks Ryan, then runs for the door, dodging Justin's clumsy trip attempt. Mike charges after him but misses as the halfling blinks out of view again, but Justin summons a giant fire beetle which bites the halfling, then he is impaled by Ryan, charging and stabbing with the spike on the end of his greataxe. He runs out of the room and all the way down the hall before finally smearing the halfling on the ground.
They search the place and find some okay treasure. They return to the surface after knocking Hemmel unconscious.
things the party has done
Fang asks the party to take Hemmel to Freeport, and they travel there with Orlar who is on his way back as well. They turn the elf over to the authorities there, and Orlar buys them some fancy new equipment. They get to test this new equipment when they hear reports of zombies walking around near an abandoned mine in the hills. They travel there and find a necromancer cleric who has raised a small force of undead to excavate the mine. They attack the necromancer and dispatch the undead.
They are then asked to escort Hemmel AGAIN, this time to a major coastal city, as there has been interest about the strange symbol. They do so and Hemmel is jailed, but the next day he is found dead from unknown means, seemingly natural. The party is investigated, but eventually there are no clues and the case stops, and remains unsolved.
The party spends some time traveling around to small communities and ridding them of monster problems.
Freeport is besieged by a small army of hobgoblins, striking during a major trading convention. The party, alongside other adventurers and warriors, manage to hold the city against the force. Eventually the party sneaks out during the night and finds the army leaders, and kills them. The army falls apart after that and scatter.
When a band of gnolls attack a dwarven caravan and carries off a young dwarven girl, the party goes to rescue her. They discover that she is actually a dwarven princess, about 16 (in human years). She immediately develops a crush on Keenan, who politely declines her love.
One city tells the party that there is a trio of lizardfolk plaguing the farmers. They go to take care of them, and fall into an ambush by over 20 lizardfolk, and are taken prisoner to be eaten. They manage to escape after Jamie morphs into a lizardfolk and manages to assassinate the chief lizardfolk. In the ensuing chaos they manage to escape.
They explore the first two levels of a mysterious dungeon, but turn back before the third floor.
Due to his charming personality and good looks, Justin was asked to be an noblewoman's escort to a fancy ball. The rest of the party, suspecting a trick, decided to also infiltrate the party disguised as waiters. However, Mike got drunk and picked a fight with a duke, who happened to be the father of the young woman Justin was escorting. Meanwhile, Keenan got into a heated religious debate with another cleric who was attending, and got into a fist fight with him, and Jamie was attempting to rob the treasury. Also, Ryan was peeing in the fountain. The Duke demanded Justin help the guards round up the troublemakers, so he had to pretend to fight the others. Eventually he summoned a horde of animals, which overran the ballroom and sent all the partygoers fleeing out of the palace. There is now a bounty on Mike's head and the party is banned from the city.
They then started up a trading company in Cliffside, using the captured pirate ship from their earlier adventure there. They called it ERU (Extortions R Us). It failed because they tried to sell stolen goods and goods that weren't theirs, and also Jamie started a smuggling ring and was smuggling goods in and out of the country with the shipments. It ended when Jamie tried to sell stolen goods to an undercover agent, who busted the whole smuggling operation. Jamie, who did all his smuggling while looking like Hemmel, escaped. It was all traced back to ERU, and the party had to sell the entire operation to a rich wandering bard named Juneau, just to be able to pay for their bail and the massive legal fees.
After selling the shipping company, a gnomish shipping barge docked and asked what was going on. After finding out, they asked if the party wanted to come on a cruise with them, on their new, fresh off the design table cutting edge design craft. They agreed. It turns out the ship is submersible, and goes deep underwater. However, they are attacked by a giant squid, and the ship is defenseless. In disbelief the party asks why they don't have defenses, the gnomes reply that that task was the responsiblity of the weaponry department, who haven't been seen since they were testing their anti-dragon vehicular assault crafts, which were hot air balloons. Justin summons a giant squid to attack the other giant squid, and the gnomes and party escape during the diversion into the escape pod, a giant glass bubble that slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean. They land on the bottom and are rescued by merfolk, who take them to their underwater city, which is encased in glimmering metal/glass sphere. The merfolk can breathe both air and water, but their city is air-based, not underwater, so the party is able to breathe there. They discuss ideas of escaping, such as traveling through the underground lava passages to the surface, increasing the buoyancy of the city so the entire city rises to the surface, and just drilling a hole in the sphere and letting the ocean suck everyone out. Since the city is so deep down, the water pressure would crush them if they left the city...by the same token the merfolk can't ascend since their bodies are used to the intense pressure. Justin theorized that if they went up to the surface their skin would flop out and become unsolid, and they would be like jellyfish.
Eventually the gnomes tell them they've been working with the merfolk architects and have devised a Buoyant Ascender Flotation Craft...which was a bigger glass bubble with pumps and handles on the outside. Their plan was to have Justin summon giant squids and propel the bubble to the surface. They bob to the surface and as luck would have it, are picked up by a ship captained by the dwarven princess, who had heard Keenan was missing on a sea adventure and had come out to rescue him. They climb aboard and immediately lock up the gnomes in the brig, for everyone's safety, and for theirs, as Mike is seething and ready to kill them all. On the way back to shore, Jamie morphs into Keenan, and seduces the princess. No one else discovers this. They get back to shore and part ways.
Hoofbite, after countless adventures and loyalty, speaks up and wants to create a place to help stupid kids. He names it The Centre for Children Who Can't Read Good and Want To Do Stuff Too. Their motto is "Take a bite out of dumb!" Amazingly, it succeeds because they hire someone else to run the entire operation. However, Jamie starts a smuggling ring operating out of the same building. The center's symbol is a horseshow with a bite taken out of it.
Somehow the party ends up with a broken scepter handle that radiates evil and is constantly compelling monsters to attack the party. The party can't seem to be rid of it, as it keeps re-appearing in their possession. They find out that it is one of three pieces of a very evil artifact, so they go on a big quest and find the other two pieces. One is in the ownership of a insane frost giant with a pet white dragon in the north, and the other is hidden deep underground in hands of a xorn hermit. They retrieve the pieces and then travel to a famous floating library, where a single sage lives with all the answers of the world. He tells them that each piece must be destroyed in a different fashion. One must be thrown into the heart of an active volcano, the other needs to be buried at the bottom of the sea (they travel to the gnomes and get them to make them ANOTHER bubble, but this time with whirling blades and protruding spikes and other assorted weapons, and an electric charge), and the head of the scepter has to be taken onto the shadow plane and thrown into the chest of a nightwalker.
They are then asked to escort Hemmel AGAIN, this time to a major coastal city, as there has been interest about the strange symbol. They do so and Hemmel is jailed, but the next day he is found dead from unknown means, seemingly natural. The party is investigated, but eventually there are no clues and the case stops, and remains unsolved.
The party spends some time traveling around to small communities and ridding them of monster problems.
Freeport is besieged by a small army of hobgoblins, striking during a major trading convention. The party, alongside other adventurers and warriors, manage to hold the city against the force. Eventually the party sneaks out during the night and finds the army leaders, and kills them. The army falls apart after that and scatter.
When a band of gnolls attack a dwarven caravan and carries off a young dwarven girl, the party goes to rescue her. They discover that she is actually a dwarven princess, about 16 (in human years). She immediately develops a crush on Keenan, who politely declines her love.
One city tells the party that there is a trio of lizardfolk plaguing the farmers. They go to take care of them, and fall into an ambush by over 20 lizardfolk, and are taken prisoner to be eaten. They manage to escape after Jamie morphs into a lizardfolk and manages to assassinate the chief lizardfolk. In the ensuing chaos they manage to escape.
They explore the first two levels of a mysterious dungeon, but turn back before the third floor.
Due to his charming personality and good looks, Justin was asked to be an noblewoman's escort to a fancy ball. The rest of the party, suspecting a trick, decided to also infiltrate the party disguised as waiters. However, Mike got drunk and picked a fight with a duke, who happened to be the father of the young woman Justin was escorting. Meanwhile, Keenan got into a heated religious debate with another cleric who was attending, and got into a fist fight with him, and Jamie was attempting to rob the treasury. Also, Ryan was peeing in the fountain. The Duke demanded Justin help the guards round up the troublemakers, so he had to pretend to fight the others. Eventually he summoned a horde of animals, which overran the ballroom and sent all the partygoers fleeing out of the palace. There is now a bounty on Mike's head and the party is banned from the city.
They then started up a trading company in Cliffside, using the captured pirate ship from their earlier adventure there. They called it ERU (Extortions R Us). It failed because they tried to sell stolen goods and goods that weren't theirs, and also Jamie started a smuggling ring and was smuggling goods in and out of the country with the shipments. It ended when Jamie tried to sell stolen goods to an undercover agent, who busted the whole smuggling operation. Jamie, who did all his smuggling while looking like Hemmel, escaped. It was all traced back to ERU, and the party had to sell the entire operation to a rich wandering bard named Juneau, just to be able to pay for their bail and the massive legal fees.
After selling the shipping company, a gnomish shipping barge docked and asked what was going on. After finding out, they asked if the party wanted to come on a cruise with them, on their new, fresh off the design table cutting edge design craft. They agreed. It turns out the ship is submersible, and goes deep underwater. However, they are attacked by a giant squid, and the ship is defenseless. In disbelief the party asks why they don't have defenses, the gnomes reply that that task was the responsiblity of the weaponry department, who haven't been seen since they were testing their anti-dragon vehicular assault crafts, which were hot air balloons. Justin summons a giant squid to attack the other giant squid, and the gnomes and party escape during the diversion into the escape pod, a giant glass bubble that slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean. They land on the bottom and are rescued by merfolk, who take them to their underwater city, which is encased in glimmering metal/glass sphere. The merfolk can breathe both air and water, but their city is air-based, not underwater, so the party is able to breathe there. They discuss ideas of escaping, such as traveling through the underground lava passages to the surface, increasing the buoyancy of the city so the entire city rises to the surface, and just drilling a hole in the sphere and letting the ocean suck everyone out. Since the city is so deep down, the water pressure would crush them if they left the city...by the same token the merfolk can't ascend since their bodies are used to the intense pressure. Justin theorized that if they went up to the surface their skin would flop out and become unsolid, and they would be like jellyfish.
Eventually the gnomes tell them they've been working with the merfolk architects and have devised a Buoyant Ascender Flotation Craft...which was a bigger glass bubble with pumps and handles on the outside. Their plan was to have Justin summon giant squids and propel the bubble to the surface. They bob to the surface and as luck would have it, are picked up by a ship captained by the dwarven princess, who had heard Keenan was missing on a sea adventure and had come out to rescue him. They climb aboard and immediately lock up the gnomes in the brig, for everyone's safety, and for theirs, as Mike is seething and ready to kill them all. On the way back to shore, Jamie morphs into Keenan, and seduces the princess. No one else discovers this. They get back to shore and part ways.
Hoofbite, after countless adventures and loyalty, speaks up and wants to create a place to help stupid kids. He names it The Centre for Children Who Can't Read Good and Want To Do Stuff Too. Their motto is "Take a bite out of dumb!" Amazingly, it succeeds because they hire someone else to run the entire operation. However, Jamie starts a smuggling ring operating out of the same building. The center's symbol is a horseshow with a bite taken out of it.
Somehow the party ends up with a broken scepter handle that radiates evil and is constantly compelling monsters to attack the party. The party can't seem to be rid of it, as it keeps re-appearing in their possession. They find out that it is one of three pieces of a very evil artifact, so they go on a big quest and find the other two pieces. One is in the ownership of a insane frost giant with a pet white dragon in the north, and the other is hidden deep underground in hands of a xorn hermit. They retrieve the pieces and then travel to a famous floating library, where a single sage lives with all the answers of the world. He tells them that each piece must be destroyed in a different fashion. One must be thrown into the heart of an active volcano, the other needs to be buried at the bottom of the sea (they travel to the gnomes and get them to make them ANOTHER bubble, but this time with whirling blades and protruding spikes and other assorted weapons, and an electric charge), and the head of the scepter has to be taken onto the shadow plane and thrown into the chest of a nightwalker.
Returning Serial Killer
Early in their adventuring careers, the party has to track down a memorable serial killer. The killer has a "signature" such as cutting a pentagram into his victims' cheek. Additionally, he is memorable for some reason - maybe he makes it personal to the party (always good), maybe he is particularly cruel or merciless - something. He is killed when the party manages to find him. During the fight, he displays some unusual, slightly strange abilities - nothing extreme but noticeable.
The PCs move on with their lives, adventuring, gaining fame, fortune, and so forth. Eventually, they need to meet with an important NPC (archmage, mob boss, someone personally powerful or who would never be without bodyguards). When the party gets there, they find the NPC dead in his office, with a pentagram cut into his cheek.
Best done with some substantial time inbetween his death and "return", and best done if the party will instantly remember and recognize who they're dealing with.
POSSIBILITIES:
• it is the original killer, back to life somehow
• it is the original killer, but he's undead!
• it's an imitation killer
The PCs move on with their lives, adventuring, gaining fame, fortune, and so forth. Eventually, they need to meet with an important NPC (archmage, mob boss, someone personally powerful or who would never be without bodyguards). When the party gets there, they find the NPC dead in his office, with a pentagram cut into his cheek.
Best done with some substantial time inbetween his death and "return", and best done if the party will instantly remember and recognize who they're dealing with.
POSSIBILITIES:
• it is the original killer, back to life somehow
• it is the original killer, but he's undead!
• it's an imitation killer
Strangers at Home
The party goes on some adventure where there something happens...maybe a burst of magical energy that seemingly does nothing, or they pick up some strange magical item that has a mysterious aura.
When they return to their hometown, everyone treats them like strangers and have no memory of them at all.
When they return to their hometown, everyone treats them like strangers and have no memory of them at all.
Murder Paintings
There's been a series of murders, the party is asked to solve the mystery.
Eventually, they find a mansion or building or SHACK, whatever. Inside is piles of paintings and painting supplies. The only finished paintings, on stands, are of the murdered people. They are posed like they were posing for the paintings. One painting is covered. When the cover is revealed, it is a portrait of one of the PCs.
(Maybe it's a portrait of a PC that is 95% done...missing some small detail. Same effect.)
Eventually, they find a mansion or building or SHACK, whatever. Inside is piles of paintings and painting supplies. The only finished paintings, on stands, are of the murdered people. They are posed like they were posing for the paintings. One painting is covered. When the cover is revealed, it is a portrait of one of the PCs.
(Maybe it's a portrait of a PC that is 95% done...missing some small detail. Same effect.)
The Ruined Abbey
D&D adventure: This started off as a random encounter, which I elaborated on the fly. While traveling along an old road near sundown, the party sees a light like a lantern up on a ridge. The light stays in one place for a few minutes, bobbing and weaving, and occasionally flashing on and off, before moving along the ridge. The party decides to follow the light and does so for about two miles, back into the foothills of some mountains, eventually arriving at a ruined abbey. Even before they began exploring, the paladin said "I have a really bad feeling about this place, its unclean." They explored the abbey for about 20 minutes, until the ranger found the large bell laying in the bottom of the old tower and smacked it with his warhammer. A few minutes later, crows begin to flock to the abbey by the hundreds, cawing loudly and watching the PCs. Over all the racket the birds are raising, the rogue in the group think he hears chanting, very faintly and muffled. The group decides to leave, not even having explored the 1/3 of the abbey left above ground. They make it to a roadside inn an hour or so after sundown, and after a few drinks the ranger asks the innkeeper if he knows about a ruined abbey nearby. The innkeep goes pale, and said he did, that an order of monks used to live there about 100 years ago until it was discovered they were demon-worshippers and cannibals, and would lure travelers to their abbey by having one of the monks wait on a ridge near the road and lead them back. Once the monks finished their feast, they would ring the bell and place the discarded bits of their victims in the courtyard, where flocks of hungry fiendish crows would descend to devour the remains. The order was censured and destroyed by their parent church as blasphemous, but strage tales still speak of lights on the ridge, and that the ghosts of the former monks still exist there, attempting to lure travelers back to their doom for their infernal masters. All the players at the table looked at each other with looks of fear and disgust on their faces, and the paladin's player said "I KNEW that place was just wrong." Oddly enough, he NEVER tried to detect evil there.
Halfing Guardian (High AC)
Strongheart Halfing Bard 2/Fighter 2/Cleric 1/Dragon Disciple 1
Hit Points:
Init:
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: (+ size, + Dex, + natural), touch , flat-footed
Base Attack/Grapple:
Attack:
Full Attack:
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:
Special Qualities:
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +10
Feats (6): Dodge, Mobility, Weapon Finesse, Combat Expertise, Improved Natural Armor x2
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 22, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 14
Skills: Knowledge Arcana 8, Tumble 5
Treasure: +3 Mithril Breastplate, +3 Mithril Heavy Shield, +2 Ring of Protection, +2 Amulet of Natural Armor, +2 Gloves of Dexterity, Ioun Stone (+1 AC)
AC Calculations:
+1 (Size)
+8 (+3 Mithril Breastplate)
+5 (+3 Mithril Heavy Shield)
+5 (Dex)
+2 (Ring of Protection)
+2 (+2 Amulet of Natural Armor)
+1 (Natural Armor, Dragon Disciple)
+2 (Improved Natural Armor feats)
+1 (Dodge)
+1 (Ioun Stone)
38 AC
Optional:
+3 Combat Expertise (BAB is +3)
+3 Fighting Defensively
+6 Total Defense
Bard 2: 2d6, +3 Ref, +3 Will, +1 BAB, 30 skill pts
Fighter 2: 2d10, +3 Fort, +2 BAB, 4 skill pts
Cleric 1: d8, +2 Fort, +2 Will, 2 skill pts
Dragon Disciple: d12, +2 fort, +2 will, 2 skill pts, 1 bonus spell
Hit Points:
Init:
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: (+ size, + Dex, + natural), touch , flat-footed
Base Attack/Grapple:
Attack:
Full Attack:
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:
Special Qualities:
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +10
Feats (6): Dodge, Mobility, Weapon Finesse, Combat Expertise, Improved Natural Armor x2
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 22, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 14
Skills: Knowledge Arcana 8, Tumble 5
Treasure: +3 Mithril Breastplate, +3 Mithril Heavy Shield, +2 Ring of Protection, +2 Amulet of Natural Armor, +2 Gloves of Dexterity, Ioun Stone (+1 AC)
AC Calculations:
+1 (Size)
+8 (+3 Mithril Breastplate)
+5 (+3 Mithril Heavy Shield)
+5 (Dex)
+2 (Ring of Protection)
+2 (+2 Amulet of Natural Armor)
+1 (Natural Armor, Dragon Disciple)
+2 (Improved Natural Armor feats)
+1 (Dodge)
+1 (Ioun Stone)
38 AC
Optional:
+3 Combat Expertise (BAB is +3)
+3 Fighting Defensively
+6 Total Defense
Bard 2: 2d6, +3 Ref, +3 Will, +1 BAB, 30 skill pts
Fighter 2: 2d10, +3 Fort, +2 BAB, 4 skill pts
Cleric 1: d8, +2 Fort, +2 Will, 2 skill pts
Dragon Disciple: d12, +2 fort, +2 will, 2 skill pts, 1 bonus spell
Tucker's Kobolds
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
From Dragon 127, pg. 3 Tucker's kobolds
This month's editorial is about Tucker's kobolds. We get letters on occasion asking for advice on creating high-level AD&D game adventures, and Tucker's kobolds seem to fit the bill.
Many high-level characters have little to do because they're not challenged. They yawn at tarrasques and must be forcibly kept awake when a lich appears. The DMs involved don't know what to do, so they stop dealing with the problem and the characters go into Character Limbo. Getting to high level is hard, but doing anything once you get there is worse.
One of the key problems in adventure design lies in creating opponents who can challenge powerful characters. Singular monsters like tarrasques and liches are easy to gang up on; the party can concentrate its firepower on the target until the target falls down dead and wiggles its little feet in the air. Designing monsters more powerful than a tarrasque is self-defeating; if the group kills your super-monster, what will you do next‚ send in its mother? That didn't work on Beowulf, and it probably won't work here.
Worse yet, singular supermonsters rarely have to think. They just use their trusty, predictable claw/claw/bite. This shouldn't be the measure of a campaign. These games fall apart because there's no challenge to them, no mental stimulation - no danger.
In all the games that I've seen, the worst, most horrible, most awful beyond-comparison opponents ever seen were often weaker than the characters who fought them. They were simply well-armed and intelligent beings who were played by the DM to be utterly ruthless and clever. Tucker's kobolds were like that.
Tucker ran an incredibly dangerous dungeon in the days I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, N.C. This dungeon had corridors that changed all of your donkeys into huge flaming demons or dropped the whole party into acid baths, but the demons were wienies compared to the kobolds on Level One. These kobolds were just regular kobolds, with 1-4 hp and all that, but they were mean. When I say they were mean, I mean they were bad, Jim. They graduated magna cum laude from the Sauron Institute for the Criminally Vicious.
When I joined the gaming group, some of the PCs had already met Tucker's kobolds, and they were not eager to repeat the experience. The party leader went over the penciled map of the dungeon and tried to find ways to avoid the little critters, but it was not possible. The group resigned itself to making a run for it through Level One to get to the elevators, where we could go down to Level Ten and fight "okay" monsters like huge flaming demons.
It didn't work. The kobolds caught us about 60' into the dungeon and locked the door behind us and barred it. Then they set the corridor on fire, while we were still in it.
"NOOOOOO!!!" screamed the party leader. "It's THEM! Run!!!"
Thus encouraged, our party scrambled down a side passage, only to be ambushed by more kobolds firing with light crossbows through murder holes in the walls and ceilings. Kobolds with metal armor and shields flung Molotov cocktails at us from the other sides of huge piles of flaming debris, which other kobolds pushed ahead of their formation using long metal poles like broomsticks. There was no mistake about it. These kobolds were bad.
We turned to our group leader for advice.
"AAAAAAGH!!!" he cried, hands clasped over his face to shut out the tactical situation.
We abandoned most of our carried items and donkeys to speed our flight toward the elevators, but we were cut off by kobold snipers who could split-move and fire, ducking back behind stones and corners after launching steel-tipped bolts and arrows, javelins, hand axes, and more flaming oil bottles. We ran into an unexplored section of Level One, taking damage all the time. It was then we discovered that these kobolds had honeycombed the first level with small tunnels to speed their movements. Kobold commandos were everywhere. All of our hirelings died. Most of our henchmen followed. We were next.
I recall we had a 12th-level magic user with us, and we asked him to throw a spell or something. "Blast 'em!" we yelled as we ran. "Fireball 'em! Get those little @#+$%*&!!"
"What, in these narrow corridors? " he yelled back. "You want I should burn us all up instead of them?"
Our panicked flight suddenly took us to a dead-end corridor, where a giant air shaft dropped straight down into unspeakable darkness, far past Level Ten. Here we hastily pounded spikes into the floors and walls, flung ropes over the ledge, and climbed straight down into that unspeakable darkness, because anything we met down there was sure to be better than those kobolds.
We escaped, met some huge flaming demons on Level Ten, and even managed to kill one after about an hour of combat and the lives of half the group. We felt pretty good — but the group leader could not be cheered up.
"We still have to go out the way we came in," he said as he gloomily prepared to divide up the treasure.
Tucker's kobolds were the worst things we could imagine. They ate all our donkeys and took our treasure and did everything they could to make us miserable, but they had style and brains and tenacity and courage. We respected them and loved them, sort of, because they were never boring.
If kobolds could do this to a group of PCs from 6th to 12th level, picture what a few orcs and some low level NPCs could do to a 12th-16th level group, or a gang of mid-level NPCs and monsters to groups of up to 20th level. Then give it a try. Sometimes, it's the little things‚ used well, that count.
Roger E. Moore
From Dragon 127, pg. 3 Tucker's kobolds
This month's editorial is about Tucker's kobolds. We get letters on occasion asking for advice on creating high-level AD&D game adventures, and Tucker's kobolds seem to fit the bill.
Many high-level characters have little to do because they're not challenged. They yawn at tarrasques and must be forcibly kept awake when a lich appears. The DMs involved don't know what to do, so they stop dealing with the problem and the characters go into Character Limbo. Getting to high level is hard, but doing anything once you get there is worse.
One of the key problems in adventure design lies in creating opponents who can challenge powerful characters. Singular monsters like tarrasques and liches are easy to gang up on; the party can concentrate its firepower on the target until the target falls down dead and wiggles its little feet in the air. Designing monsters more powerful than a tarrasque is self-defeating; if the group kills your super-monster, what will you do next‚ send in its mother? That didn't work on Beowulf, and it probably won't work here.
Worse yet, singular supermonsters rarely have to think. They just use their trusty, predictable claw/claw/bite. This shouldn't be the measure of a campaign. These games fall apart because there's no challenge to them, no mental stimulation - no danger.
In all the games that I've seen, the worst, most horrible, most awful beyond-comparison opponents ever seen were often weaker than the characters who fought them. They were simply well-armed and intelligent beings who were played by the DM to be utterly ruthless and clever. Tucker's kobolds were like that.
Tucker ran an incredibly dangerous dungeon in the days I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, N.C. This dungeon had corridors that changed all of your donkeys into huge flaming demons or dropped the whole party into acid baths, but the demons were wienies compared to the kobolds on Level One. These kobolds were just regular kobolds, with 1-4 hp and all that, but they were mean. When I say they were mean, I mean they were bad, Jim. They graduated magna cum laude from the Sauron Institute for the Criminally Vicious.
When I joined the gaming group, some of the PCs had already met Tucker's kobolds, and they were not eager to repeat the experience. The party leader went over the penciled map of the dungeon and tried to find ways to avoid the little critters, but it was not possible. The group resigned itself to making a run for it through Level One to get to the elevators, where we could go down to Level Ten and fight "okay" monsters like huge flaming demons.
It didn't work. The kobolds caught us about 60' into the dungeon and locked the door behind us and barred it. Then they set the corridor on fire, while we were still in it.
"NOOOOOO!!!" screamed the party leader. "It's THEM! Run!!!"
Thus encouraged, our party scrambled down a side passage, only to be ambushed by more kobolds firing with light crossbows through murder holes in the walls and ceilings. Kobolds with metal armor and shields flung Molotov cocktails at us from the other sides of huge piles of flaming debris, which other kobolds pushed ahead of their formation using long metal poles like broomsticks. There was no mistake about it. These kobolds were bad.
We turned to our group leader for advice.
"AAAAAAGH!!!" he cried, hands clasped over his face to shut out the tactical situation.
We abandoned most of our carried items and donkeys to speed our flight toward the elevators, but we were cut off by kobold snipers who could split-move and fire, ducking back behind stones and corners after launching steel-tipped bolts and arrows, javelins, hand axes, and more flaming oil bottles. We ran into an unexplored section of Level One, taking damage all the time. It was then we discovered that these kobolds had honeycombed the first level with small tunnels to speed their movements. Kobold commandos were everywhere. All of our hirelings died. Most of our henchmen followed. We were next.
I recall we had a 12th-level magic user with us, and we asked him to throw a spell or something. "Blast 'em!" we yelled as we ran. "Fireball 'em! Get those little @#+$%*&!!"
"What, in these narrow corridors? " he yelled back. "You want I should burn us all up instead of them?"
Our panicked flight suddenly took us to a dead-end corridor, where a giant air shaft dropped straight down into unspeakable darkness, far past Level Ten. Here we hastily pounded spikes into the floors and walls, flung ropes over the ledge, and climbed straight down into that unspeakable darkness, because anything we met down there was sure to be better than those kobolds.
We escaped, met some huge flaming demons on Level Ten, and even managed to kill one after about an hour of combat and the lives of half the group. We felt pretty good — but the group leader could not be cheered up.
"We still have to go out the way we came in," he said as he gloomily prepared to divide up the treasure.
Tucker's kobolds were the worst things we could imagine. They ate all our donkeys and took our treasure and did everything they could to make us miserable, but they had style and brains and tenacity and courage. We respected them and loved them, sort of, because they were never boring.
If kobolds could do this to a group of PCs from 6th to 12th level, picture what a few orcs and some low level NPCs could do to a 12th-16th level group, or a gang of mid-level NPCs and monsters to groups of up to 20th level. Then give it a try. Sometimes, it's the little things‚ used well, that count.
Roger E. Moore
Quick Player Scare
It's easy to put together a trap that is inescapable, but not lethal--a good example being a magically concealed pit, that when fallen in, has iron bars slide over the top, and the pit fills with water (or whipped cream, even), then just before certain death, the water drains, a ladder appears, and at the top of the ladder is a note reading "You have been warned. The next trap will be fatal. Go home." Such a trick is sure to plant doubts into the minds of the players, and even if the trap is completely isolated and nothing comes of the warning, it will get the players on edge and make them cautious.
Making a Mystery Character
If one of your players just cannot come up with a character concept they like, there is the option of asking them to play a mystery character. This will be an ordinary, simple character, but the player knows there is something about this character that no one (not even themself) knows. There is just something mysterious that will become apparent as the game proceeds. Troubling dreams, strange memories, sudden, unexpected powers, these are all possibilities. The reason this works is because the character doesn't know they have these powers, just as the player doesn't. As the player learns everything, so too does the character.
This also lets the player flavour the character however they see fit, which may or not contrast wildly with what the character's eventual secret is. Simon of Space is a good example; his old self is a ferocious, tyrannical leader, while Simon is meek and humble and easygoing...BUT has the hidden "power" of name recognition, being rich, and connections that he stumbles upon.
This also lets the player flavour the character however they see fit, which may or not contrast wildly with what the character's eventual secret is. Simon of Space is a good example; his old self is a ferocious, tyrannical leader, while Simon is meek and humble and easygoing...BUT has the hidden "power" of name recognition, being rich, and connections that he stumbles upon.
Universal Combat Move
from ars ludi
Next time you want to do something a little different but have no idea how the M&M rules support it, try the Universal Combat Maneuver:
1) Think of an appropriate description of your maneuver, including how it's different from your normal attack.
2) Use a Move action to perform the maneuver.
3) Take a +2 on either Attack, Damage or Defense and a -2 on one of the other two. The adjustments apply to your next attack and last for a full round.
The description can be anything you want, so long as it fits your character and at least vaguely describes why you are getting the bonus and penalty you picked. For example:
• Stand very still and take careful aim with your bow, shooting more accurately but making yourself an easier target (+2 attack, -2 defense)
• Grab a telephone pole and swing it wildly (+2 damage, -2 attack)
• Use your telekinesis to hurl a spray of small rocks at your target instead of one big rock (+2 attack, -2 damage)
• Throw up a sheet of fire to singe the werewolf and keep him away from you (+2 defense, -2 damage)
• Dig in and channel the spirit of the thunder god and throw sizzling bolts of electrical death (+2 damage, -2 defense)
There are as many as you can think of. They can be actions specific to the character (”I'm doubling-down on my wrist gattling guns!”) or they can be based on the situation or the environment (”Water on the floor? Instead of grabbing him I'll lean down and electrify it with my Shock Gauntlets!”).
The same move doesn't have to use the same bonus and penalty each time. It all depends on how it is described. One round Uber Girl picks up a telephone pole and takes a vicious wild swing (+2 damage, -2 attack). Later she picks up a similar pole and swings it in a broad arc that's hard to avoid, but throws herself off-balance in the process (+2 attack, -2 defense).
The idea is to encourage players (and the GM) to come up with creative descriptions in combat, and let them adjust the odds a little bit in the process.
Next time you want to do something a little different but have no idea how the M&M rules support it, try the Universal Combat Maneuver:
1) Think of an appropriate description of your maneuver, including how it's different from your normal attack.
2) Use a Move action to perform the maneuver.
3) Take a +2 on either Attack, Damage or Defense and a -2 on one of the other two. The adjustments apply to your next attack and last for a full round.
The description can be anything you want, so long as it fits your character and at least vaguely describes why you are getting the bonus and penalty you picked. For example:
• Stand very still and take careful aim with your bow, shooting more accurately but making yourself an easier target (+2 attack, -2 defense)
• Grab a telephone pole and swing it wildly (+2 damage, -2 attack)
• Use your telekinesis to hurl a spray of small rocks at your target instead of one big rock (+2 attack, -2 damage)
• Throw up a sheet of fire to singe the werewolf and keep him away from you (+2 defense, -2 damage)
• Dig in and channel the spirit of the thunder god and throw sizzling bolts of electrical death (+2 damage, -2 defense)
There are as many as you can think of. They can be actions specific to the character (”I'm doubling-down on my wrist gattling guns!”) or they can be based on the situation or the environment (”Water on the floor? Instead of grabbing him I'll lean down and electrify it with my Shock Gauntlets!”).
The same move doesn't have to use the same bonus and penalty each time. It all depends on how it is described. One round Uber Girl picks up a telephone pole and takes a vicious wild swing (+2 damage, -2 attack). Later she picks up a similar pole and swings it in a broad arc that's hard to avoid, but throws herself off-balance in the process (+2 attack, -2 defense).
The idea is to encourage players (and the GM) to come up with creative descriptions in combat, and let them adjust the odds a little bit in the process.
Action Spots
A moment in a battle/confrontation where the players can shine by using the environment, a plan, etc., anything OTHER than just standing and exchanging blows. Sub-scenes, basically. They take place in a bigger scene (the battle) but they are memorable and let the players be creative and imaginative.
Usually splits the scene into smaller scenes, which leads to a more frantic and exciting play.
Examples:
• The octopus fight, there was fighting happening on the beach, and mike drowning, and the stone bridge
• Skeleton hallway - THREE Action Spots. Jeremy vs the Skeleton, Mike behind him vs skeleton, Jamie vs skeleton with Shaun & Cam helping, even almost a fourth as the downed skeleton crept up from behind.
Usually splits the scene into smaller scenes, which leads to a more frantic and exciting play.
Examples:
• The octopus fight, there was fighting happening on the beach, and mike drowning, and the stone bridge
• Skeleton hallway - THREE Action Spots. Jeremy vs the Skeleton, Mike behind him vs skeleton, Jamie vs skeleton with Shaun & Cam helping, even almost a fourth as the downed skeleton crept up from behind.
Revelations and Clues
Keep a checklist of important clues and info tidbits that the players need to learn. That way, you can drop them as the situation arises and check them off, rather than try to force them into a specific scenario. This leaves you free and relaxed and if the party doesn't end up in the scenario that you were planning to drop the clue? No biggie, it stays on your list, unchecked, waiting for the next available opportunity. FLEXIBLE.
Emphasize Failures
Don't just say a Scorching Ray missed, say it lit a tapestry on fire, blew out a store window, burned a hole through a nearby door...anything to add flavour and descriptiveness. Besides, anything that you introduce in this manner is another prop/detail for the players to use. Maybe they'll throw the burning tapestry on someone. Maybe they'll leap through the now-broken store window. Maybe they'll peek through the hole burned in the door. Anything works, as long as it gets them involved and thinking.
The above are purely cosmetic changes, but who says you have to stop there? Affect the battlefield. Mess people up. Change the course of battle. Who cares! Break the rules. Maybe the tapestry lights on fire and falls on whoever is nearest. Enemy? Cool. PC? Well, tough luck.
And if it's a PC failing dramatically, yes they still fail, but they're in the spotlight and failing.
The above are purely cosmetic changes, but who says you have to stop there? Affect the battlefield. Mess people up. Change the course of battle. Who cares! Break the rules. Maybe the tapestry lights on fire and falls on whoever is nearest. Enemy? Cool. PC? Well, tough luck.
And if it's a PC failing dramatically, yes they still fail, but they're in the spotlight and failing.
Roleplaying vs Rolling
from ars ludi
Rolling for Roleplaying: the Virtual Roll
Player: “… and after enumerating the logistical problems, I finish up by explaining that if the King invades now, he’s just repeating the same mistakes that doomed Badon IV when he marched into these very lands two hundred years ago, a fatal error that brought his glorious reign to an ignominous end.”
GM: “Ooooh nicely done! Now roll your Diplomacy!”
Player: “… I roll a 3.”
You’ve seen it happen. A player says something really interesting, really moving in character when trying to use a social skill, but cannot back it up with dice to save their life.
The first urge as GM is just to say “well forget the numbers, that sounded good to me, it works.” Good call, but the downside is that then you are just ignoring character stats entirely, which penalizes players who maybe aren’t so eloquent or pithy but still built characters who are supposed to be charming masters of discourse.
A better solution would be to combine roleplaying and character stats, taking the best of both worlds. How would you do that? How about assigning a virtual roll based on how good the roleplaying was, then apply character abilities to that virtual roll just like normal? Let roleplaying replace the dice instead of having the dice replace roleplaying.
I’ll use d20 as a specific example, but the concept should work for any system that uses dice to resolve social interactions.
The Virtual Roll
When a character roleplays a social action that would normally require a roll, instead of the player rolling a die the GM assigns the result of the die roll based on the roleplaying (”your speech was good enough that we’ll say you rolled a 15″). If you want some consensus democracy you can let the whole group decide what the virtual roll should be, or even just let the player assign their own score — it all depends on what kind of group you have (insert social contract here).
The default is a 10 (aka taking 10) even if you don’t roleplay at all or have nothing interesting to say. This is important because the goal is _not_ to penalize people who aren’t up for roleplaying. You should only assign a number below 10 when the player uses an argument that is particularly bad for some reason (like threatening the king, or unintentionally citing a bunch of mistakes he made recently and is still sore about).
Assign a number that seems right to you. A 15 is nicely done, and a 20 is reserved for really impressive roleplaying (naturally). You shouldn’t have a hard time coming up with the virtual roll, because you’re already used to thinking in terms of these scores — years of gaming have given you a keen sense of how good it would be to roll an 18, for example.
Now that you’ve determined the virtual roll, just proceed to add skill ranks, ability modifiers, etc to the roll and resolve the results as you normally would.
Let’s take a classic diplomatic example:
A PC knight tries to convince a weary king to join the war and save the besieged city. The character has a moderate Diplomacy score, but the player is making really good arguments, bringing in the King’s past, the plight of the people, rah rah rah.
After some consideration everyone agrees the knight did a very good job, and the group decides on a virtual roll of 16. He has a Diplomacy +6, so he gets a total of 22. Not bad.
To make things interesting let’s say another player is against the idea, and her character is trying to point out all the flaws in the plan, how it will mire the country in an unwinnable war, etc. Her priest has very sharp social skills, but the player is just saying “err, I tell him it’s a bad idea. It will go badly. Really badly.”
The priest doesn’t throw in any roleplaying, so she just takes 10, but her Diplomacy is +11 so she gets a 21. Or since she isn’t roleplaying, you could just have her roll as normal.
An interesting side effect is that you even though you aren’t penalizing people who don’t roleplay, you may encourage people who normally don’t roleplay much to do it a little bit more because of the small incentives. A player can say nothing and get a 10, but maybe if he says just a little bit, tries to get in character just a smidge, he could get an 11 or 12 pretty easily.
Is this enough to encourage some players to roleplay a bit more? Maybe, maybe not.
Why not just use bonuses?
But wait, you ask, why not just give a bonus for good roleplaying? Isn’t assigning a 16 about the same as giving a +6 bonus? No! A bonus changes the possible range of success (i.e. in this case you can a get a maximum 26 instead of a maximum 20 before factoring in your stats), whereas assigning a roll doesn’t change the range at all since you still can’t “roll” higher than a 20. And let’s face it, no matter what kind of bonus you assign the dice are still pretty random.
But what if you like the random? Well in lots of cases there is still randomness on the NPC side of the roll. If the PC rogue is just trying to deceive the NPC king, you are still rolling for the king’s ability to sense deception. There are also wacky things you can by making part of the die random and part assigned (using a d10 instead of a d20 and calling the other half the assigned score part) but I’ll leave that as an exercise for the student.
And then there’s the big question: why just social skills? What about applying a virtual roll to other things the players do? Sure, if the player works out a cunning plan to build his fortress where the marshes run up to the fork in the river to make it hard to storm, assign him a high virtual roll for his War Architect skill. Attentive readers may even now be considering how to use this idea to make decision-driven Spot checks without giving up on having some characters more perceptive than others.
How far can you take it? Try running a bar room brawl where you assign virtual attack rolls based on how interestingly players describe kicking a stool to trip someone up or swinging from a chandelier to tackle a ruffian. Or assign virtual saving throw rolls based on clever descriptions of exactly how the players avoid the fiery dragon breath, or magic rolls based on florid descriptions of mystical mumbo jumbo. You can even mix it up and let some people roll, some people roleplay, as you prefer.
Rolling for Roleplaying: the Virtual Roll
Player: “… and after enumerating the logistical problems, I finish up by explaining that if the King invades now, he’s just repeating the same mistakes that doomed Badon IV when he marched into these very lands two hundred years ago, a fatal error that brought his glorious reign to an ignominous end.”
GM: “Ooooh nicely done! Now roll your Diplomacy!”
Player: “… I roll a 3.”
You’ve seen it happen. A player says something really interesting, really moving in character when trying to use a social skill, but cannot back it up with dice to save their life.
The first urge as GM is just to say “well forget the numbers, that sounded good to me, it works.” Good call, but the downside is that then you are just ignoring character stats entirely, which penalizes players who maybe aren’t so eloquent or pithy but still built characters who are supposed to be charming masters of discourse.
A better solution would be to combine roleplaying and character stats, taking the best of both worlds. How would you do that? How about assigning a virtual roll based on how good the roleplaying was, then apply character abilities to that virtual roll just like normal? Let roleplaying replace the dice instead of having the dice replace roleplaying.
I’ll use d20 as a specific example, but the concept should work for any system that uses dice to resolve social interactions.
The Virtual Roll
When a character roleplays a social action that would normally require a roll, instead of the player rolling a die the GM assigns the result of the die roll based on the roleplaying (”your speech was good enough that we’ll say you rolled a 15″). If you want some consensus democracy you can let the whole group decide what the virtual roll should be, or even just let the player assign their own score — it all depends on what kind of group you have (insert social contract here).
The default is a 10 (aka taking 10) even if you don’t roleplay at all or have nothing interesting to say. This is important because the goal is _not_ to penalize people who aren’t up for roleplaying. You should only assign a number below 10 when the player uses an argument that is particularly bad for some reason (like threatening the king, or unintentionally citing a bunch of mistakes he made recently and is still sore about).
Assign a number that seems right to you. A 15 is nicely done, and a 20 is reserved for really impressive roleplaying (naturally). You shouldn’t have a hard time coming up with the virtual roll, because you’re already used to thinking in terms of these scores — years of gaming have given you a keen sense of how good it would be to roll an 18, for example.
Now that you’ve determined the virtual roll, just proceed to add skill ranks, ability modifiers, etc to the roll and resolve the results as you normally would.
Let’s take a classic diplomatic example:
A PC knight tries to convince a weary king to join the war and save the besieged city. The character has a moderate Diplomacy score, but the player is making really good arguments, bringing in the King’s past, the plight of the people, rah rah rah.
After some consideration everyone agrees the knight did a very good job, and the group decides on a virtual roll of 16. He has a Diplomacy +6, so he gets a total of 22. Not bad.
To make things interesting let’s say another player is against the idea, and her character is trying to point out all the flaws in the plan, how it will mire the country in an unwinnable war, etc. Her priest has very sharp social skills, but the player is just saying “err, I tell him it’s a bad idea. It will go badly. Really badly.”
The priest doesn’t throw in any roleplaying, so she just takes 10, but her Diplomacy is +11 so she gets a 21. Or since she isn’t roleplaying, you could just have her roll as normal.
An interesting side effect is that you even though you aren’t penalizing people who don’t roleplay, you may encourage people who normally don’t roleplay much to do it a little bit more because of the small incentives. A player can say nothing and get a 10, but maybe if he says just a little bit, tries to get in character just a smidge, he could get an 11 or 12 pretty easily.
Is this enough to encourage some players to roleplay a bit more? Maybe, maybe not.
Why not just use bonuses?
But wait, you ask, why not just give a bonus for good roleplaying? Isn’t assigning a 16 about the same as giving a +6 bonus? No! A bonus changes the possible range of success (i.e. in this case you can a get a maximum 26 instead of a maximum 20 before factoring in your stats), whereas assigning a roll doesn’t change the range at all since you still can’t “roll” higher than a 20. And let’s face it, no matter what kind of bonus you assign the dice are still pretty random.
But what if you like the random? Well in lots of cases there is still randomness on the NPC side of the roll. If the PC rogue is just trying to deceive the NPC king, you are still rolling for the king’s ability to sense deception. There are also wacky things you can by making part of the die random and part assigned (using a d10 instead of a d20 and calling the other half the assigned score part) but I’ll leave that as an exercise for the student.
And then there’s the big question: why just social skills? What about applying a virtual roll to other things the players do? Sure, if the player works out a cunning plan to build his fortress where the marshes run up to the fork in the river to make it hard to storm, assign him a high virtual roll for his War Architect skill. Attentive readers may even now be considering how to use this idea to make decision-driven Spot checks without giving up on having some characters more perceptive than others.
How far can you take it? Try running a bar room brawl where you assign virtual attack rolls based on how interestingly players describe kicking a stool to trip someone up or swinging from a chandelier to tackle a ruffian. Or assign virtual saving throw rolls based on clever descriptions of exactly how the players avoid the fiery dragon breath, or magic rolls based on florid descriptions of mystical mumbo jumbo. You can even mix it up and let some people roll, some people roleplay, as you prefer.
Doing Away with Spot Checks
from ars ludi
DM: “You see a few white, eyeless fish, and various stone formations in a pool of water about 4′ to 6′ deep and about 10′ long. That’s all. Do you wish to leave the place now?”
Player 1: “Yes, let’s get out of here and go someplace where we can find something interesting.”
Player 2: “Wait! If those fish are just blind cave types, ignore them, but what about the stone formations? Are any of them notable? If so I think we should check them out.”
– Dungeon Master’s Guide, 1979
Here’s a Generation Gap moment for some of you: old-school D&D did not have a Spot check.
There were no rules to determine if you saw something, or heard something, or smelled something, or whatever. There were rules for surprise, rules for listening at doors (but only doors) and there were rules for finding a secret door (”tie the elf to a stick and wave him around!”), but a generic Spot check did not exist (or Search check, or Listen check, or Notice check or whatever).
Wow, you think, things are so much better now in this modern world! Now I have an accurate way of determining whether a character notices something or not. Now I can give them fair unbiased information about the world around them with a simple die roll!
How did those primitive gamers survive, you ask? Simple: players listened to the GM’s description of the game world. Then they asked questions. Then the GM (ahem, DM) told them the results.
Rolling dice is not supposed to replace your brain. Making Spot checks all the time is just a lame way of saying “well, you haven’t asked anything that would really tell me if you would notice this or not, so we’ll just roll and let the dice decide.”
And if the information you may or may not notice is pertinent to the plot, it is asinine-by-design to decide whether to reveal it with a die roll. Scene from a GM lynching: “well if you had rolled better you would have seen that the tribe had red banners instead of black and that whole game would have probably made more sense to you, but hey, you failed your Spot check…”
One Roll to Rule Them All…
Why am I picking on the poor Spot check? Partially because I’m a big bully, but mostly because it’s a good example of a bad trend.
It’s not surprising that as a game evolves, people expand the rules to cover more and more cases. Do we have rules for car chases? No? Better add some. Even if it’s just a question of applying a core mechanic where it has not been applied before, its logical to want to be able resolve more and more situations with dice.
The trick is that dice are supposed to improve the game, not replace the gamer. What’s the final outgrowth of resolving more and more things with dice instead of brains? The one-roll adventure: if you make the roll you win! Game over. No player decision making needed.
What are dice supposed to do? They’re supposed to resolve things that cannot be resolved in the polite confines of a kitchen table or in the physics of our world. Does my car explode when I crash into that tanker truck? Does my broadsword cut off that dragon’s head? Does my magic spell levitate the castle?
If it’s something you can do at the table, you should do it, not roll for it. Unless it’s boring. Or rude.
Your character is your representative in the game world, not your replacement. Tell your character what to do. Ask the GM questions. Explore the environment. Think, play, etc.
Here’s the challenge: if it’s not a combat situation or about to become one (aka checking for surprise or attacks at unawares), don’t use Spot checks. At all. None. Zero. Let players describe what they look for or how they are behaving and just arbitrarily decide what they see or don’t see.
Once your players get the gist of it, see if they become more inquisitive, interactive and basically just play more instead of falling back on the Spot check crutch.
DM: “You see a few white, eyeless fish, and various stone formations in a pool of water about 4′ to 6′ deep and about 10′ long. That’s all. Do you wish to leave the place now?”
Player 1: “Yes, let’s get out of here and go someplace where we can find something interesting.”
Player 2: “Wait! If those fish are just blind cave types, ignore them, but what about the stone formations? Are any of them notable? If so I think we should check them out.”
– Dungeon Master’s Guide, 1979
Here’s a Generation Gap moment for some of you: old-school D&D did not have a Spot check.
There were no rules to determine if you saw something, or heard something, or smelled something, or whatever. There were rules for surprise, rules for listening at doors (but only doors) and there were rules for finding a secret door (”tie the elf to a stick and wave him around!”), but a generic Spot check did not exist (or Search check, or Listen check, or Notice check or whatever).
Wow, you think, things are so much better now in this modern world! Now I have an accurate way of determining whether a character notices something or not. Now I can give them fair unbiased information about the world around them with a simple die roll!
How did those primitive gamers survive, you ask? Simple: players listened to the GM’s description of the game world. Then they asked questions. Then the GM (ahem, DM) told them the results.
Rolling dice is not supposed to replace your brain. Making Spot checks all the time is just a lame way of saying “well, you haven’t asked anything that would really tell me if you would notice this or not, so we’ll just roll and let the dice decide.”
And if the information you may or may not notice is pertinent to the plot, it is asinine-by-design to decide whether to reveal it with a die roll. Scene from a GM lynching: “well if you had rolled better you would have seen that the tribe had red banners instead of black and that whole game would have probably made more sense to you, but hey, you failed your Spot check…”
One Roll to Rule Them All…
Why am I picking on the poor Spot check? Partially because I’m a big bully, but mostly because it’s a good example of a bad trend.
It’s not surprising that as a game evolves, people expand the rules to cover more and more cases. Do we have rules for car chases? No? Better add some. Even if it’s just a question of applying a core mechanic where it has not been applied before, its logical to want to be able resolve more and more situations with dice.
The trick is that dice are supposed to improve the game, not replace the gamer. What’s the final outgrowth of resolving more and more things with dice instead of brains? The one-roll adventure: if you make the roll you win! Game over. No player decision making needed.
What are dice supposed to do? They’re supposed to resolve things that cannot be resolved in the polite confines of a kitchen table or in the physics of our world. Does my car explode when I crash into that tanker truck? Does my broadsword cut off that dragon’s head? Does my magic spell levitate the castle?
If it’s something you can do at the table, you should do it, not roll for it. Unless it’s boring. Or rude.
Your character is your representative in the game world, not your replacement. Tell your character what to do. Ask the GM questions. Explore the environment. Think, play, etc.
Here’s the challenge: if it’s not a combat situation or about to become one (aka checking for surprise or attacks at unawares), don’t use Spot checks. At all. None. Zero. Let players describe what they look for or how they are behaving and just arbitrarily decide what they see or don’t see.
Once your players get the gist of it, see if they become more inquisitive, interactive and basically just play more instead of falling back on the Spot check crutch.
Kill The Prince!
The proposal: Some dude in charge needs to be croaked. Damn the man! Fight the power!
The twist: Set it up so that when they go to gank him. a couple of things could happen.
1) They kill the prince disturbingly easily. Only to go to court and find him there and smiling. He seems to have no interest in discussing things nor is he interested in killing the characters. That'll bake their noodles good and proper as they try to figure out what the fuck is going on.
2) They kill the prince only to have the city completely fall apart because of the way the prince put the place together. City infrastructure flies to pieces and each week therafter some vampire or other flips out in some pre-programmed fashion. Drawback: there's...no happy ending here. Since they killed him, there's no way to really fix things unless they can somehow get him raised/resurrected.
3) They get there only to dscover that he's already been destroyed (Possibly faked) and that the local law enforcement shows up just in time to catch the Would-Be Perps. A masterful frame job.
The twist: Set it up so that when they go to gank him. a couple of things could happen.
1) They kill the prince disturbingly easily. Only to go to court and find him there and smiling. He seems to have no interest in discussing things nor is he interested in killing the characters. That'll bake their noodles good and proper as they try to figure out what the fuck is going on.
2) They kill the prince only to have the city completely fall apart because of the way the prince put the place together. City infrastructure flies to pieces and each week therafter some vampire or other flips out in some pre-programmed fashion. Drawback: there's...no happy ending here. Since they killed him, there's no way to really fix things unless they can somehow get him raised/resurrected.
3) They get there only to dscover that he's already been destroyed (Possibly faked) and that the local law enforcement shows up just in time to catch the Would-Be Perps. A masterful frame job.
The Dwarf Mole
There was a 1st or 2nd ed module (I forget which). As a random encounter a dwarf with plate mail and a Dwarven Thrower hammer would just burrow from out of the ground, he would check the sun, check the wind and ask which way was east. He could not be bothered with introductions because he was in such a hurry. Then he would jump back into his hole like a Bugs Bunny cartoon never to be seen again. I ran the encounter exactly like that and the players were mildly amused and a bit confused.
Several sessions later they were in deep trouble. Several PCs were down and dying. The ones left standing were about to go down too. I had a thought. The ground burst open and out comes this dwarf in plate mail and a hammer. He looks at the enemy and says, "Please attack me all at once, it will save me time and I'm in a great hurry." The enemy was distracted by the dwarf and eventually the battle was won. The players loved that and thought I had been planning that encounter for a long time.
I did it a third time, but by then it got old, and the players started asking when is "I forgot his name gonna show?"
We all split up and went off to college soon after. I did not see any of them for five or six years. One holiday season we all got together again and played for nostalgia and old times sake. By this time D&D 3.0 had come out and we played by the new rules. They played the sons and daughters of their favorite old characters and the adventure began.
Somewhere around the 3rd or 4th encounter the ground started rumbling and a small dwarf, too young to grow a beard, wearing ill-fitting armor and holding a heavy hammer, came up out of the ground. He threw the hammer, killing the enemy, and then he called back into the hole "Got 'im Dad!" Then drops back into the hole.
It took the room 10 minutes to stop laughing.
Several sessions later they were in deep trouble. Several PCs were down and dying. The ones left standing were about to go down too. I had a thought. The ground burst open and out comes this dwarf in plate mail and a hammer. He looks at the enemy and says, "Please attack me all at once, it will save me time and I'm in a great hurry." The enemy was distracted by the dwarf and eventually the battle was won. The players loved that and thought I had been planning that encounter for a long time.
I did it a third time, but by then it got old, and the players started asking when is "I forgot his name gonna show?"
We all split up and went off to college soon after. I did not see any of them for five or six years. One holiday season we all got together again and played for nostalgia and old times sake. By this time D&D 3.0 had come out and we played by the new rules. They played the sons and daughters of their favorite old characters and the adventure began.
Somewhere around the 3rd or 4th encounter the ground started rumbling and a small dwarf, too young to grow a beard, wearing ill-fitting armor and holding a heavy hammer, came up out of the ground. He threw the hammer, killing the enemy, and then he called back into the hole "Got 'im Dad!" Then drops back into the hole.
It took the room 10 minutes to stop laughing.
Saved, Or Are We?
If the party is in a spot of unexpected trouble against a group of generic foes (ie, not directly related to the plot or major villains), a standard way of "saving" the party is to have a group of powerful NPCs show up and rescue them. But not only is this fairly implausible, but it also feels cheap.
However, a good twist on this is to have the party's Arch-Nemesis show up. He's been keeping tabs on them, he's gathered his henchmen and buffed them all to hell, and he's ready to take his revenge. The whole group teleports in, and sees the party getting attacked.
"DOGS! HOW DARE YOU STAND BETWEEN ME AND MY PREY!" and the villains starts laying into the people whupping on the party. That's when you pass the party leader, or hell, just anyone in the group, a note that says: "RUN FOOLS!"
Not only does this save the party, it's a great memorable experience, AND it's a way to show off the villain's tactics and forces available to him.
However, a good twist on this is to have the party's Arch-Nemesis show up. He's been keeping tabs on them, he's gathered his henchmen and buffed them all to hell, and he's ready to take his revenge. The whole group teleports in, and sees the party getting attacked.
"DOGS! HOW DARE YOU STAND BETWEEN ME AND MY PREY!" and the villains starts laying into the people whupping on the party. That's when you pass the party leader, or hell, just anyone in the group, a note that says: "RUN FOOLS!"
Not only does this save the party, it's a great memorable experience, AND it's a way to show off the villain's tactics and forces available to him.
Easter Eggs
For some nice bonus appreciation, throw in Easter Eggs that allude to iconic, recognizable figures/events.
For example, in a Firefly session, the party could find a shipment of goods/supplies, which include a recommendation that Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds be promoted to the rank of lieutenant in recognition of his heroism during the Battle of Serenity Valley.
By doing this, this also avoids the potential problem of having the party meet iconic figures, and immediately try fight them or influence them so as to change history.
Unfortunately, the lack of extensive Dragonlance/Forgotten Realms knowledge limits this in our games to all but the most major of people, such as:
• Dragonlance - Lord Soth, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Sturm Brightblade, Raistlin Majere
• Forgotten Realms - Elaith Craulnober
• Ravenloft - Strahd
For example, in a Firefly session, the party could find a shipment of goods/supplies, which include a recommendation that Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds be promoted to the rank of lieutenant in recognition of his heroism during the Battle of Serenity Valley.
By doing this, this also avoids the potential problem of having the party meet iconic figures, and immediately try fight them or influence them so as to change history.
Unfortunately, the lack of extensive Dragonlance/Forgotten Realms knowledge limits this in our games to all but the most major of people, such as:
• Dragonlance - Lord Soth, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Sturm Brightblade, Raistlin Majere
• Forgotten Realms - Elaith Craulnober
• Ravenloft - Strahd
Revised Shadow
As a normal shadow, except the shadow will try to grapple the character's shadow and merge with it. It will try to do this as an ambush, so that the character doesn't even notice.
A shadow that has successfully grappled a target can be dislodged by bright light (as of a daylight spell, or natural sunlight), a successful turn attempt, or by destroying it.
Strength Damage (Su): For each full hour a shadow is merged with a living creature's shadow, it deals 1d3 points of Strength damage to the living creature. A creature reduced to Strength 0 by a shadow dies. This is a negative energy effect.
Each time the character suffers this strength damage, remark on some physical changes...hair darkening, shadows around eyes, grey pallor to skin, etc. to give them a clue.
A shadow that has successfully grappled a target can be dislodged by bright light (as of a daylight spell, or natural sunlight), a successful turn attempt, or by destroying it.
Strength Damage (Su): For each full hour a shadow is merged with a living creature's shadow, it deals 1d3 points of Strength damage to the living creature. A creature reduced to Strength 0 by a shadow dies. This is a negative energy effect.
Each time the character suffers this strength damage, remark on some physical changes...hair darkening, shadows around eyes, grey pallor to skin, etc. to give them a clue.
The Legato
The obstacle/person that must be overcome before the party is able to confront the Big Bad. Usually the second in command, or at least the second greatest challenge to the party. In any case, the Dragon is LOYAL and is trusted enough by the Big Bad to be relied on as the last line of defence. (If they are not trustworthy, they are not the Legato, they are The Starscream).
Sometimes the Legato is actually smarter than the Big Bad, and/or stronger. But the Legato is willing to follow the Big Bad, who might have have political connections or leadership capabilities (the Legato is often a loner). The Legato might also be content as a second-in-command, and not dealing with the pressures of leadership.
The Big Bad might have some direct hold/power directly over the Legato, forcing him to obey and follow commands. In these cases, the hold had better be pretty good to use the Legato as a last line of defence, or else the Legato will find a way to go against his master in the end (often involving sacrificing himself to help the party and/or just to thwart the Big Bad.)
Will sometimes be the main opposition the party/hero will face during the adventure, while the true Big Bad works behind the scenes and only occasionally makes appearances. Hence, the Legato becomes more the primary villain than the real Big Bad (Legato is a prime example of this, as is Vader.)
Samples:
• Errtu is this to Akar Kessel.
• Legato (obviously) is this to Knives.
• Darth Vader is this to Emperor Palpatine.
• Transmetal Dinobot in Beast Wars is this to Megatron.
• Pasha Pook has TWO Legatos; Artemis Entreri and LaValle. Both are more powerful, but Pook is a better leader, has connections, and is willing to lead.
Sometimes the Legato is actually smarter than the Big Bad, and/or stronger. But the Legato is willing to follow the Big Bad, who might have have political connections or leadership capabilities (the Legato is often a loner). The Legato might also be content as a second-in-command, and not dealing with the pressures of leadership.
The Big Bad might have some direct hold/power directly over the Legato, forcing him to obey and follow commands. In these cases, the hold had better be pretty good to use the Legato as a last line of defence, or else the Legato will find a way to go against his master in the end (often involving sacrificing himself to help the party and/or just to thwart the Big Bad.)
Will sometimes be the main opposition the party/hero will face during the adventure, while the true Big Bad works behind the scenes and only occasionally makes appearances. Hence, the Legato becomes more the primary villain than the real Big Bad (Legato is a prime example of this, as is Vader.)
Samples:
• Errtu is this to Akar Kessel.
• Legato (obviously) is this to Knives.
• Darth Vader is this to Emperor Palpatine.
• Transmetal Dinobot in Beast Wars is this to Megatron.
• Pasha Pook has TWO Legatos; Artemis Entreri and LaValle. Both are more powerful, but Pook is a better leader, has connections, and is willing to lead.
Groundhog Day
A plot in which the party is caught in a time loop, doomed to repeat a period of time (often exactly one day) over and over, until something is corrected. Only the party realizes what is going on -- everyone and everything else else remembers nothing, and if not interfered with will do the exact same things every time, right down to dialogue.
Think Groundhog Day and Majora's Mask.
Great potential in D&D...ensieged city, the party is trapped inside. State of war and chaos, disaster, with many people and events happening at once. They have to, through trial and error, piece together what exactly is causing this battle, what will solve it, who the major players/events are, etc. Also good because it will allow DEATHS but not really, since the dead PC's will be back the next morning (ie The Dream).
Death = Loss of Memory?
If they died, they don't remember anything they have learned during the ordeal. But this could be a pain, as too many deaths would start clashing with unconscious metagame knowledge. Maybe it's better to just have them remember everything regardless of being dead/alive at the end.
Answer = NO
The party is approached by a man to hunt down some magical item (referred to hereafter as an orb) that will protect his city/kingdom & ensure the safety of its citizens forever.
Pretty routine, in fact, almost too routine. The party might even be suspicious of such an easy quest. Might have to have a good reason why the party is being hired, ie it's an old man, the guardian is too fierce, etc.
The dungeon crawl is relatively short and routine. There's nothing TOO crazy or too dangerous, but a good "warmup" for the real adventure to come. The guardian is challenging, but has a weakness or two that their employer advises them about beforehand. There shouldn't be any deaths. There will also be some hints dropped at something strange going on...nothing too obvious, but a slight feeling of there being more going on than appears. Examples - the dungeon being not dungeonish but instead very well kept up (too obvious?) or a door being locked on the wrong side. The party should retrieve the orb with relative ease, but it should still take a bit of time.
The doors locked on the wrong side can even be passed off as a "Random dungeon generator said so" remark, which will make the players not think anything of it...until later. Other puzzling clues can be wall murals, or maybe a recurring symbol can be an infinity sign or OUROBOROS sign.
The party brings the orb to the kingdom.
Here is where the plot can go in a number of different paths:
a) The employer has no idea about the curse, and thinks he's honestly saving the city. There is no secrecy, the party returns, they are celebrated, maybe a feast and such, and they are honored guests and go to sleep in nice, nice rooms. The time loop now starts, either because the orb is cursed, or because there is a mishap when "installing" it.
b) The employer knows exactly what the orb does, and wants to trap the city in the time loop as revenge. He has also fooled the King, and there is no secrecy about the orb. The employer leaves town during the festivities to escape the curse, but otherwise it is exactly the same as above.
c) The employer knows exactly what the orb does, and wants to trap the city in the time loop WITH HIM INSIDE so he can enjoy everyone's misery forever. This path doesn't require a huge celebration, but it's a possible outcome - lied to the King, celebrate, go to sleep, curse starts. OR, he could get the orb, and immediately smash it on the ground, confusing the party, and he will start laughing wildly and insanely and then run off. The party should be somewhat disturbed, but they will have gotten paid, so they will either rest (it being late) or leave the city. If they rest, they are awoken as normal, but if they leave the city...not sure how that would work. Maybe they just appear in the city square? Or where the orb was smashed?
Problem with leaving the city - upon waking up they would realize something was wrong, since they are somewhere other than where they went to sleep. This idea is out.
WHAT ENDS THE CURSE?
- The death of someone, or maybe preventing the death of someone
- Some kind of personal resolution with the employer (kinda lame)
- Maybe the orb is shattered each day, which starts the time loop...it has to be protected
On the First Run Through (before the party knows what is happening)
• The morning starts off with one PC (or maybe all the PCs) waking up suddenly, inexplicably. Moments later, something loud and memorable (a bell tower crashing down, a fireball exploding nearby, etc.)
• Present at least one dilemma between two choices, and their choice ends up being wrong or at least unfortunate (so next time they can choose the other option). Example: Tanis in The Dream choosing between Laurana and Kitiara; he hesitates and they both end up dying.
• Seemingly random occurrences that, if the party remembers them, they can tailor to their purposes. IE, a lightning strike will always occur at a certain time at a specific spot, so the party can use that however they wish.
• Toss out some innocent details (names, directions, klatu verada nicto type stuff) that, if they knew the day was repeating, would be invaluabe...but since they don't suspect that, it will be a sudden challenge to try to remember. Should end up like Cam's "tell me the names of your party members." To be really blunt, along the lines of being led through a locked door and saying "it's a good thing the keyword is Apple or else I'd never remember it" and then never seeing that lock again that day. The party would likely just ignore it...until they need to open the door the next day by themselves. Like that, only more subtle and not so prominently brought to the party's attention.
• In a fight in a ballroom/dining hall, have a missed attack or shot cut a rope holding up a chandelier, which sways and tips and crashes to the floor. The party can remember this and use it next time.
• Preventable mishap - someone (like a gnome with a new device) tries to do something and horribly fails and explodes/dies/etc. The party can prevent this the next day...if they want to.
• Have a useful NPC be on the verge of doing something helpful (providing information, casting a triggering spell, etc.) but are slain before they can finish the act. Next time the party can save them (if they remember). A nice example would be an assassin death striking the NPC, and the party can intercept/sacrifice themselves to save them.
• With or without direct input from the party, events happen around them. During the first day they may find themselves acting as spectators more than once.
• At the end, everyone dies in a Major Disaster. Maybe the city explodes, maybe the big demon is summoned and kills everyone, maybe the moon crashes down upon the city, but it ends in a total death. And then they wake up at the beginning of the day...
On the Second Run Through
• The next morning, the party status is exactly the same as when the ordeal begins, ie no gained gear is kept. But they still have the knowledge of what happens. They will most likely be puzzled and try to discuss it and figure things out...BUT they are interrupted by the loud and memorable event. Or maybe the loud event is actually what wakes them up, like a guard yelling at them, a la the alarm clock in Groundhog Day.
• In any fights, the enemies take the same actions as before (in general - if they were wounded on Day 1 and stopped to heal, but don't get wounded on Day 2, then obviously they don't stop to heal...)
• Start chaining, ie on Day 1, Bob dies before he can lead them to the prison. On Day 2, they save Bob and he leads them to the prison, but is then eaten by a dragon before he can say the unlocking phrase to get into the prison basement. On Day 3, they save Bob, then avoid the Dragon, but then Bob is attacked & killed by an escaped insane prisoner, etc.
Bonus: Just to screw with the players, slightly bend the rules. For instance, on Day 3 or 4, an item they find during that day unexpectedly comes back with them the next morning. This should confuse them, and if it's a key item, all the better!
Bonus: Have multiple possible branching storylines. For example, they can go with Bob the guard, or with Phil the Wizard, or with Sue the princess, OR go fight the invaders...etc. Drawback: an AWFUL lot to keep track of to accurately repeat on subsequent days.
Bonus: Maybe they are not the only ones caught in this curse? They could find someone who is actually doing something different each day, for whatever reason. Or maybe their goal is to find a person trapped in the curse.
Bonus: Have an NPC named Connors - "Phil? Phil Connors??"
Bonus: Have a mystery woven into the day's events, that the party can slowly decipher piece-by-piece.
Bonus: (if death = loss of memory) When the ordeal starts, have one or more party members know what is going on already, but the others don't because they have died on a previous day's attempt. Problems = the party members who already know what's going on, WON'T actually know what's going on other than the premise. Bad idea, now that I think about it more.
Bonus: Have NPCs named the same as the characters in the movie. Phil, Rita, Ned...maybe just the first two. Or not.
Bonus: Work in the Sealab 2021 Doppelgangers quote! Something about Queen Doppelpopolos.
Murphy: "Nice try, doppelganger!"
Quinn: "What? No! We're not doppelgangers!"
Murphy: "Save it for Queen Doppelpopolous!"
Carlos: "Sweet dreams, doppelgangers!"
DM NOTE: Maybe have pre-set "results" for NPCs, like dice rolls except more generic, like success, success, failure, success, failure...then if the party interrupts the actions of a certain NPC, their destiny is still somewhat preordained.
DM NOTE: Why are the PCs the only ones unaffected? Maybe because they were the ones who handled the orb? If the employer smashes the orb as in c) below, they were exposed to its magic, which would explain things. Or maybe it's because they aren't native to the city?
DM NOTE: Have some method of tracking in-game time, because certain events can be scheduled to happen at specific times.
--------- ANOTHER OPTION -----------
The party is hired to investigate a cursed city, or a city that has suddenly ceased all communication, or fetch an item reputed to be in this legendary ghost city, WHATEVER. They enter the city & discover it's full of people (where does the time loop start?) and also get trapped in the curse.
But why is this happening? Maybe once the party figures out the solution/cure, the city and all the people fade away? This could be the result of a mission too, ie get rid of / investigate the cursed city, maybe to obtain some artifact. Then after the city fades, the artifact is the only thing left. Along similar lines, is the city real but in purgatory? Do they pass on once the party resolves the curse? Or are they not even real, and it's just a magical effect/curse?
Think Groundhog Day and Majora's Mask.
Great potential in D&D...ensieged city, the party is trapped inside. State of war and chaos, disaster, with many people and events happening at once. They have to, through trial and error, piece together what exactly is causing this battle, what will solve it, who the major players/events are, etc. Also good because it will allow DEATHS but not really, since the dead PC's will be back the next morning (ie The Dream).
Death = Loss of Memory?
If they died, they don't remember anything they have learned during the ordeal. But this could be a pain, as too many deaths would start clashing with unconscious metagame knowledge. Maybe it's better to just have them remember everything regardless of being dead/alive at the end.
Answer = NO
The party is approached by a man to hunt down some magical item (referred to hereafter as an orb) that will protect his city/kingdom & ensure the safety of its citizens forever.
Pretty routine, in fact, almost too routine. The party might even be suspicious of such an easy quest. Might have to have a good reason why the party is being hired, ie it's an old man, the guardian is too fierce, etc.
The dungeon crawl is relatively short and routine. There's nothing TOO crazy or too dangerous, but a good "warmup" for the real adventure to come. The guardian is challenging, but has a weakness or two that their employer advises them about beforehand. There shouldn't be any deaths. There will also be some hints dropped at something strange going on...nothing too obvious, but a slight feeling of there being more going on than appears. Examples - the dungeon being not dungeonish but instead very well kept up (too obvious?) or a door being locked on the wrong side. The party should retrieve the orb with relative ease, but it should still take a bit of time.
The doors locked on the wrong side can even be passed off as a "Random dungeon generator said so" remark, which will make the players not think anything of it...until later. Other puzzling clues can be wall murals, or maybe a recurring symbol can be an infinity sign or OUROBOROS sign.
The party brings the orb to the kingdom.
Here is where the plot can go in a number of different paths:
a) The employer has no idea about the curse, and thinks he's honestly saving the city. There is no secrecy, the party returns, they are celebrated, maybe a feast and such, and they are honored guests and go to sleep in nice, nice rooms. The time loop now starts, either because the orb is cursed, or because there is a mishap when "installing" it.
b) The employer knows exactly what the orb does, and wants to trap the city in the time loop as revenge. He has also fooled the King, and there is no secrecy about the orb. The employer leaves town during the festivities to escape the curse, but otherwise it is exactly the same as above.
c) The employer knows exactly what the orb does, and wants to trap the city in the time loop WITH HIM INSIDE so he can enjoy everyone's misery forever. This path doesn't require a huge celebration, but it's a possible outcome - lied to the King, celebrate, go to sleep, curse starts. OR, he could get the orb, and immediately smash it on the ground, confusing the party, and he will start laughing wildly and insanely and then run off. The party should be somewhat disturbed, but they will have gotten paid, so they will either rest (it being late) or leave the city. If they rest, they are awoken as normal, but if they leave the city...not sure how that would work. Maybe they just appear in the city square? Or where the orb was smashed?
Problem with leaving the city - upon waking up they would realize something was wrong, since they are somewhere other than where they went to sleep. This idea is out.
WHAT ENDS THE CURSE?
- The death of someone, or maybe preventing the death of someone
- Some kind of personal resolution with the employer (kinda lame)
- Maybe the orb is shattered each day, which starts the time loop...it has to be protected
On the First Run Through (before the party knows what is happening)
• The morning starts off with one PC (or maybe all the PCs) waking up suddenly, inexplicably. Moments later, something loud and memorable (a bell tower crashing down, a fireball exploding nearby, etc.)
• Present at least one dilemma between two choices, and their choice ends up being wrong or at least unfortunate (so next time they can choose the other option). Example: Tanis in The Dream choosing between Laurana and Kitiara; he hesitates and they both end up dying.
• Seemingly random occurrences that, if the party remembers them, they can tailor to their purposes. IE, a lightning strike will always occur at a certain time at a specific spot, so the party can use that however they wish.
• Toss out some innocent details (names, directions, klatu verada nicto type stuff) that, if they knew the day was repeating, would be invaluabe...but since they don't suspect that, it will be a sudden challenge to try to remember. Should end up like Cam's "tell me the names of your party members." To be really blunt, along the lines of being led through a locked door and saying "it's a good thing the keyword is Apple or else I'd never remember it" and then never seeing that lock again that day. The party would likely just ignore it...until they need to open the door the next day by themselves. Like that, only more subtle and not so prominently brought to the party's attention.
• In a fight in a ballroom/dining hall, have a missed attack or shot cut a rope holding up a chandelier, which sways and tips and crashes to the floor. The party can remember this and use it next time.
• Preventable mishap - someone (like a gnome with a new device) tries to do something and horribly fails and explodes/dies/etc. The party can prevent this the next day...if they want to.
• Have a useful NPC be on the verge of doing something helpful (providing information, casting a triggering spell, etc.) but are slain before they can finish the act. Next time the party can save them (if they remember). A nice example would be an assassin death striking the NPC, and the party can intercept/sacrifice themselves to save them.
• With or without direct input from the party, events happen around them. During the first day they may find themselves acting as spectators more than once.
• At the end, everyone dies in a Major Disaster. Maybe the city explodes, maybe the big demon is summoned and kills everyone, maybe the moon crashes down upon the city, but it ends in a total death. And then they wake up at the beginning of the day...
On the Second Run Through
• The next morning, the party status is exactly the same as when the ordeal begins, ie no gained gear is kept. But they still have the knowledge of what happens. They will most likely be puzzled and try to discuss it and figure things out...BUT they are interrupted by the loud and memorable event. Or maybe the loud event is actually what wakes them up, like a guard yelling at them, a la the alarm clock in Groundhog Day.
• In any fights, the enemies take the same actions as before (in general - if they were wounded on Day 1 and stopped to heal, but don't get wounded on Day 2, then obviously they don't stop to heal...)
• Start chaining, ie on Day 1, Bob dies before he can lead them to the prison. On Day 2, they save Bob and he leads them to the prison, but is then eaten by a dragon before he can say the unlocking phrase to get into the prison basement. On Day 3, they save Bob, then avoid the Dragon, but then Bob is attacked & killed by an escaped insane prisoner, etc.
Bonus: Just to screw with the players, slightly bend the rules. For instance, on Day 3 or 4, an item they find during that day unexpectedly comes back with them the next morning. This should confuse them, and if it's a key item, all the better!
Bonus: Have multiple possible branching storylines. For example, they can go with Bob the guard, or with Phil the Wizard, or with Sue the princess, OR go fight the invaders...etc. Drawback: an AWFUL lot to keep track of to accurately repeat on subsequent days.
Bonus: Maybe they are not the only ones caught in this curse? They could find someone who is actually doing something different each day, for whatever reason. Or maybe their goal is to find a person trapped in the curse.
Bonus: Have an NPC named Connors - "Phil? Phil Connors??"
Bonus: Have a mystery woven into the day's events, that the party can slowly decipher piece-by-piece.
Bonus: (if death = loss of memory) When the ordeal starts, have one or more party members know what is going on already, but the others don't because they have died on a previous day's attempt. Problems = the party members who already know what's going on, WON'T actually know what's going on other than the premise. Bad idea, now that I think about it more.
Bonus: Have NPCs named the same as the characters in the movie. Phil, Rita, Ned...maybe just the first two. Or not.
Bonus: Work in the Sealab 2021 Doppelgangers quote! Something about Queen Doppelpopolos.
Murphy: "Nice try, doppelganger!"
Quinn: "What? No! We're not doppelgangers!"
Murphy: "Save it for Queen Doppelpopolous!"
Carlos: "Sweet dreams, doppelgangers!"
DM NOTE: Maybe have pre-set "results" for NPCs, like dice rolls except more generic, like success, success, failure, success, failure...then if the party interrupts the actions of a certain NPC, their destiny is still somewhat preordained.
DM NOTE: Why are the PCs the only ones unaffected? Maybe because they were the ones who handled the orb? If the employer smashes the orb as in c) below, they were exposed to its magic, which would explain things. Or maybe it's because they aren't native to the city?
DM NOTE: Have some method of tracking in-game time, because certain events can be scheduled to happen at specific times.
--------- ANOTHER OPTION -----------
The party is hired to investigate a cursed city, or a city that has suddenly ceased all communication, or fetch an item reputed to be in this legendary ghost city, WHATEVER. They enter the city & discover it's full of people (where does the time loop start?) and also get trapped in the curse.
But why is this happening? Maybe once the party figures out the solution/cure, the city and all the people fade away? This could be the result of a mission too, ie get rid of / investigate the cursed city, maybe to obtain some artifact. Then after the city fades, the artifact is the only thing left. Along similar lines, is the city real but in purgatory? Do they pass on once the party resolves the curse? Or are they not even real, and it's just a magical effect/curse?
Eviler Than Thou
When there is not one major villain, but TWO, and their plots often clash and intertwine. The two are usually drastically different, such as direct and violent vs clever schemer. They will also have vastly different moral/personal beliefs, which ensures that when they inevitably meet, they dislike each other. The heroes are caught in the middle and have to deal with the two different styles.
As the schemes begin to collide, the villains will look upon each other with disdain and disapproval, and even hatred. Despite t his, sometimes they will team up against the heroes, both intending to double-cross the other or turn the situation into their own benefit, or some other ulterior motive.
Sometimes one of them will begin a scheme so terrible that the other will be shocked and willingly work with the heroes to defeat the threat. If the threat is really, really bad (so bad that there's no way the terrible scheme villain could ever be considered anything BUT the major baddie after), either the scheming villain will die and the team-up villain becomes the primary antagonist, or the team-up villain becomes a good or neutral character and gives up his villainous ways, and the scheming guy remains the primary antagonist.
Samples:
• Magneto in X2, Stryker - after teaming up with the X-Men to defeat Stryker, Magneto seizes the opportunity to try to kill all the humans on earth using Stryker's plan. This is an example of a Terrible Scheme resulting in the team-up villain becoming the primary antagonist, at least for the remainder of the movie.
• In Beast Wars, Megatron and Tarantulas. Both have their own plots and distrust the other, but they do not outwardly fight, and they still fight together against the heroes. Megatron is more of a wiser, bigger-picture villain, while Tarantulas is more focused on personal gain/power.
As the schemes begin to collide, the villains will look upon each other with disdain and disapproval, and even hatred. Despite t his, sometimes they will team up against the heroes, both intending to double-cross the other or turn the situation into their own benefit, or some other ulterior motive.
Sometimes one of them will begin a scheme so terrible that the other will be shocked and willingly work with the heroes to defeat the threat. If the threat is really, really bad (so bad that there's no way the terrible scheme villain could ever be considered anything BUT the major baddie after), either the scheming villain will die and the team-up villain becomes the primary antagonist, or the team-up villain becomes a good or neutral character and gives up his villainous ways, and the scheming guy remains the primary antagonist.
Samples:
• Magneto in X2, Stryker - after teaming up with the X-Men to defeat Stryker, Magneto seizes the opportunity to try to kill all the humans on earth using Stryker's plan. This is an example of a Terrible Scheme resulting in the team-up villain becoming the primary antagonist, at least for the remainder of the movie.
• In Beast Wars, Megatron and Tarantulas. Both have their own plots and distrust the other, but they do not outwardly fight, and they still fight together against the heroes. Megatron is more of a wiser, bigger-picture villain, while Tarantulas is more focused on personal gain/power.
Squad of Four
Refers to a plot specifically tailored to use each character's special strengths. Should be done rarely, as happening too often makes it look like the villains are idiots and designing their defenses to match the hero team's strengths. If one of the characters has a strange or lame power, it can result in an absurd obstacle that makes no sense except to "use" said character's power.
Samples:
• Chouji, Neji, Kiba, and Shikamaru in the Naruto Squad arc storyline.
• Happens a lot in One Piece as well.
Has a lot of potential in a D&D game, where most characters will have drastically different strengths.
For a twist, have the same setup, but force each character to take on a different character's tailored challenge.
Samples:
• Chouji, Neji, Kiba, and Shikamaru in the Naruto Squad arc storyline.
• Happens a lot in One Piece as well.
Has a lot of potential in a D&D game, where most characters will have drastically different strengths.
For a twist, have the same setup, but force each character to take on a different character's tailored challenge.
Death Takes a Holiday
Something happens to the personification of Death which makes no one able to die. At first this seems like a great thing, but it quickly turns into disaster - people severely injured but unable to die and in great pain, overpopulation/lack of food, supplies, living space...or other disasters. The end result is that the mystery of what has happened to Death must be solved.
Often Death is captured or imprisoned in some fashion. Sometimes it's more silly, like he's just on holiday.
Could make for an interesting quest to free Death, probably from some Death Cult (meaning to pay tribute to Death, but unknowingly screwing him over), or some Good Cult (naively meaning to prevent Death, which they interpret as Evil). With the Good Cult, they might be taught the errors of their ways and free Death, or they might be fanatics and have to be killed. With the Evil Cult, they probably will be the fanatic route and end up facing a very annoyed Death god.
If the party tries to take advantage of the no-death clause for personal gain, they quickly learn that others, more powerful than them, are going to do the same thing TO them.
Often Death is captured or imprisoned in some fashion. Sometimes it's more silly, like he's just on holiday.
Could make for an interesting quest to free Death, probably from some Death Cult (meaning to pay tribute to Death, but unknowingly screwing him over), or some Good Cult (naively meaning to prevent Death, which they interpret as Evil). With the Good Cult, they might be taught the errors of their ways and free Death, or they might be fanatics and have to be killed. With the Evil Cult, they probably will be the fanatic route and end up facing a very annoyed Death god.
If the party tries to take advantage of the no-death clause for personal gain, they quickly learn that others, more powerful than them, are going to do the same thing TO them.
The Caper
A team of criminals get together to do something, most likely carry out some kind of crime. They are usually distinct, interesting characters each, and may be polar opposites of the good characters.
Possible uses: the players play this team of criminals fully, then later "discover" the crime(s) as their real characters. It provides a nice change of pace when roleplaying, as the players can play different personalities with different motivations and goals than their regular characters.
Has potential to flesh out and individualize NPCs/villains more dramatically than the DM doing so, as each player may lend their own unique touches to the villain they play. Also potentially drawback, as a character meant to be serious might end up being portrayed as a buffoon...
Possible uses: the players play this team of criminals fully, then later "discover" the crime(s) as their real characters. It provides a nice change of pace when roleplaying, as the players can play different personalities with different motivations and goals than their regular characters.
Has potential to flesh out and individualize NPCs/villains more dramatically than the DM doing so, as each player may lend their own unique touches to the villain they play. Also potentially drawback, as a character meant to be serious might end up being portrayed as a buffoon...
Broken Pedestal
A mentor figure who taught a main character everything they know, and is revered by said character, has some dark secrets and/or is revealed to not be as good as they seemed. Often the mentor will explain his actions as "for the greater good" or "for their/your own good" but the sense of betrayal is still strong.
In some cases, not only are they imperfect, but they're downright bad, maybe even using their status as mentor to further their evil ways. Creates a sense of betrayal, surprise, and probably anger and/or thirst for vengeance. It will always come down to a final confrontation between mentor and student, of course, if the mentor is actually evil.
Sample:
• Professor X seemed like a savior and perfect person, but then MUCH, much later you learn that he lied about Vulcan's team's death, AND ignored the sentient danger room's cries for help.
• Jade Empire, your mentor/sensei trains you and coaches you throughout the entire game, only to reveal it's all been one giant plot to conquer the universe, which you learn as he beats you down.
In D&D, this could be used with an NPC, but only one who is recurring and trusted. A great example of this was Terelas/Stelera, the priestess in the forest town within Undermountain, who worked with the party to supposedly solve the mystery of the imps, disappearing townsfolk, etc. In reality, it was actually her behind it all, and by working with the party she knew how to avoid detection, AND she managed to frame (and kill!) the town's championi, Baris, who was actually good and trying to ferret out the truth himself.
In some cases, not only are they imperfect, but they're downright bad, maybe even using their status as mentor to further their evil ways. Creates a sense of betrayal, surprise, and probably anger and/or thirst for vengeance. It will always come down to a final confrontation between mentor and student, of course, if the mentor is actually evil.
Sample:
• Professor X seemed like a savior and perfect person, but then MUCH, much later you learn that he lied about Vulcan's team's death, AND ignored the sentient danger room's cries for help.
• Jade Empire, your mentor/sensei trains you and coaches you throughout the entire game, only to reveal it's all been one giant plot to conquer the universe, which you learn as he beats you down.
In D&D, this could be used with an NPC, but only one who is recurring and trusted. A great example of this was Terelas/Stelera, the priestess in the forest town within Undermountain, who worked with the party to supposedly solve the mystery of the imps, disappearing townsfolk, etc. In reality, it was actually her behind it all, and by working with the party she knew how to avoid detection, AND she managed to frame (and kill!) the town's championi, Baris, who was actually good and trying to ferret out the truth himself.
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