The Store Game; Session Review

I'm currently involved in three Dungeons & Dragons games. I have my monthly Eberron game that Jeff DMs, the game JP is running set in a fantasy-alternate Edmonton, and the "store campaign," the one that I DM for my customers. The latter is bastard hybrid of 4th Edition and the Pathfinder Adventure paths. I love the Adventure Path storylines (sort of; more on that later), and the structure they give to my encounters, but I've found 4th Edition much better for pick-up games for a few reasons (I'll get into that later as well).

The Store Game is a strange hybrid of 4th Edition rules with the Paizo Pathfinder Adventure Path "Council of Thieves." The characters are all members of a shadowy organization called Dungeons & Dragons Inc, which is the mother-company of the Pathfinder organization found in the Adventure Path books (and the world information Paizo's put out for their D&D3.75 setting). They are "troubleshooters," hired guns, sent on missions paid for by a customer, or into areas in which the company has a vested interest. Sometimes, in the case of Westcrown, a mission meets both of those requirements.

The players are the members of Sierra Group. The most commonly recurring characters are Riccardo Longshaft, a young, hopeful druid with a heart of gold; Fireman Tim, a ranger with ADD and a halfingweed habit; and Arko, a dragonborn fighter who loves kicking down doors (quite literally, that seems to be his favorite part of the game thus far...). Other characters flit in and out depending on the session and who's playing. Because it's a game held for the store, there are a lot of characters who pop in for a session or two and then disappear for a few more, then come back. This is explained away by DDI requiring that particular character's services on a different mission, and teleporting them out. I imagine guys in sharp suits stepping out of portals, explaining that they need a particular character for a thing, and then zapping out as though nothing happened.

We've already pushed through the first book of Council of Thieves, "The Bastards of Erebus." They escaped the dreaded Death Knights into the sewers below the city, made friends with the revolutionaries in their abandoned church to a dead god, rescued the leader of the revolutionaries from certain death, and kicked the crap out of a group of bandits on the outskirts of town to try and drum up some popular support for their movement. All in all, a good couple of days.

When the characters returned from their adventure with the tiefling bandits, they were greeted at the church by the revolution's leader (Areal) and his right hand (Janiven), who introduce Ailen Ghontasavos, a representative of Dungeons & Dragons Inc, and one of Fireman Tim's ex-girlfriends. She asks them if they like "Opera."

That's where we ended off our last session. This session, we had a few new characters, whose names I cannot remember for the life of me. Alex was playing a defender of some sort; Angus played a dwarven shaman; Holly came in late with a human Avenger, who we decided was actually Ailen Ghontasavos herself. I didn't actually have a copy of The Sixfold Trial with me when I started planning out the night (I was given about two hours of planning time to make this happen, and the book was sold out at the store), so I made most of it up off the top of my head. I had a general idea about how the sessions was supposed to go, and I improvised on the details.

Basically, here's the mission as it's written in the book: Ailen wants to get into the old Pathfinder Lodge in the city because it's probably full of some pretty neat stuff. To get into it, though, she'll need a key that can only be found at the Lord Mayor's home. In the Lord Mayor's home is likely an answer to how to stop the Shadow Beasts that plague Westcrown's streets at night. Areal and Janiven are both of the opinion that it would be a Very Good Thing to make that happen. They suggest the following course of action: infiltrate the good Lord Mayor's home, find the key and whatever information you can find on Shadow Beasts, and then go poke around the Pathfinder Lodge for a while.

Ailen suggests that perhaps the best way to infiltrate the Lord Mayor's house is to abuse his love of bloody, violent Blood Opera. The Lord Mayor is particularly fond of this theater art, and will usually host a gala banquet for whoever survives the thing. This gets you into the house, free to "get lost looking for the bathroom." The plan is a solid one, and it's one that the Children of Westcrown (the revolutionaries) approve of. Ailen, Janiven and Areal put it to the players. My players mostly agreed.

This is where the Paizo publication and my own design went in different directions. Because I didn't have the book handy at the time, I decided to design the encounters from scratch. I broke the whole thing down into four key encounters, two skill-challenges and two combat encounters. The first Skill Challenge was to be the Audition, get the Director of the thing to like you. The first combat encounter would be on the way home from that, when a group of Death Knights stop the actors from getting home, as they match the description they've been given for the people who sprung Areal. The second Skill Challenge was the Play Itself, with the second combat encounter worked into the Skill Challenge for when they succeeded for failed. I decided halfway through the second combat encounter to continue the skill challenge.

The Audition:

Again, I didn't have the book sitting in front of me when I planned this out, so I decided that the Six Trials of Lazarod were the trials of a religious martyr, tortured and dragged into hell as an example of what good, clean living will get you. Keep in mind, Cheliax is run by a demon worshiping cult, so it makes sense that they would want to discourage acts of genuine Faith in the Good. To make this play happen, the Director needs a pretty specific group of people, which means auditions. Mostly, he isn't interested in any one person, he's looking for a troupe, a group of actors that will give the audience a hell of a show as they put the play on.

Level 4

Complexity: 3 (8 successes before 4 failures)

Primary Skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Insight

Secondary Skills: Acrobatics(1), Athletics(1), Perception(1), History(1)

Bluff: You read your script with faith and conviction, putting your all into making your character come alive on the stage. Failure on this skill check counts against the skill challenge, and the lead player takes a -2 on his or her next skill check.

Diplomacy: From years of practice, you speak clearly, you discuss the motivations of your character, build a strong case for your interpretations of his or her actions, and show that you have a deep understanding of who your character is. Failure on this skill check counts against the skill challenge, and the lead character takes a -2 of his or her next skill check.

Intimidate: You fill the room with your stage presence; even if your acting isn't necessarily up to snuff, your ability to command an audience's attention more than makes up for it. Failure on this skill check counts against the skill challenge, and the lead character takes a -2 on his or her next skill check.

Insight: Your keen understanding of people gives you a pretty clear idea of what the director wants to see. If you succeed at this skill check, you get a +2 bonus to your next skill check. Failing this skill check counts against the skill challenge, and the lead character takes a -4 on his or her next skill check.

Acrobatics (limit 1 success): It takes more than strong acting to make the Blood Opera work; they're more like a circus than a play, and your agility and grace ensure an entertaining performance on the night of the show. If you succeed on this skill check, you gain a +1 bonus to your next skill check. Failure on this skill check does not count against the skill challenge, but the lead character loses a healing surge and takes a -4 to his or her next skill check.

Athletics (limit 1 success): You need to be strong, powerful, toned to act in a Blood Opera, and with some showy flexing and a few feats of strength, you prove you've got what it takes to show off some muscle. If you succeed on this skill check, you gain a +1 bonus to your next skill check. Failure on this skill check does not count against the skill challenge, but the lead character loses two healing surges, and takes a -4 penalty on his or her next skill check.

Perception (limit 1 success): You notice the director is paying special attention to one of your cast-mates; now is your chance to knock him or her out of the spotlight! If you succeed on this check, you may pick an ally involved in the challenge; that ally loses two healing surges, but gains a +4 bonus to his or her next skill check. Failure on this skill check does not count against the skill challenge, but the lead character loses all of his or her healing surges and is removed from the challenge (you have sprained an ankle falling down a trap door while trying to sabotage your co-stars).

History (limit 1 success): You know which parts are traditionally played by what sorts of people, allowing you to peg the role you're most interested in. If you succeed in this skill check, you gain a +2 bonus to all of your skill checks for the rest of the skill challenge. Failure on this skill check does not count against the skill challenge, but you will take a cumulative -2 to each skill check for the rest of the skill challenge (your first attempt is at a -2 penalty, the next is at a -4 penalty, the next is at -6 and so on).

Development:

Success: You have made it! You and your troupe are the next stars of the Sixfold Trials of Lazarod!

Failure: You're pretty good, don't get me wrong, but I simply cannot put you ahead of some of the most incredible talent Westcrown has ever seen. You will be understudies to them, yes? Should something unfortunate happen to our main cast, you will be the ones to replace them. (if they wish to kill the people they are understudying, use the characters in the second combat encounter).

The Walk Home

Once the players are cast as either the main players or the understudies for the play, they're free to go home, get some rest, and spend a couple of days rehearsing the play. In the back of the book, there's an actual script you could use to play this out, spend a few minutes badly reciting lines from the play (which would be a ton of fun, and I wish I had the book when I did the game, now). Before they can sit back and start memorizing lines, though, they meet up with a Death Knight patrol that has been on the lookout for them. After all, these are the punks that busted a dangerous felon out of jail. They need to pay something fierce.

The Death Knight Initiates are mostly there for flavor. They're not incredible, they died quickly in my own session, but they made good fodder to take attention away from the acolyte. I had one minion for each player, and one Acolyte. They fought in a pretty nondescript alley, and I will NOT be making a map for it. In fact, there will be no maps today. Fuck maps.

Death Knight Acolyte		Level 4 Elite Soldier
Medium natural humanoid		XP 350
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +3 HP 112; Bloodied 56 AC 20; Fortitude 17; Reflex 16; Will 15 Saving Throws +2 Speed 5 Action Points 1
m Longsword (standard; at-will) • Weapon
+11 vs AC; 1d8 + 6 damage, and the target is marked until the end of the knight's next turn
r Dagger (standard; at-will) • Weapon
Ranged 5/10; +9 vs AC; 1d4 + 6 damage
M Stealthy Smite (standard; must have combat advantage against target; recharge 5 6)
+11 vs AC; 1d8 + 10 damage, and the target falls prone
Punitive Radiance (free, when the knight hits with a melee attack; encounter)
The attack deals 1d6 extra radiant damage, and the target grants combat advantage until the end of the knight's next turn.
Knight's Shove (immediate interrupt, when a creature marked by the knight shifts; at-will)
The knight makes a longsword attack against the triggering creature. If it hits, the target falls prone.
Alignment Unaligned		Languages Common
Str 17 (+5)	Dex 15 (+4)		Wis 12 (+3)
Con 16 (+5)	Int 11 (+2)		Cha 13 (+3)
Equipment Plate Armor, Light Shield, Longsword, Dagger x2
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

Death Knight Initiate		Level 3 Minion Soldier
Medium natural humanoid		XP 38
Initiative +5 Senses Perception +1 HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion. AC 19; Fortitude 16; Reflex 15; Will 14 Speed 5
m Longsword (standard; at-will) • Weapon
+10 vs AC; 9 damage, and the target is marked until the end of the knight's next turn
r Dagger (standard; at-will) • Weapon
Ranged 5/10; +8 vs AC; 13 damage
M Stealthy Smite (standard; must have combat advantage against target; recharge 5 6)
+10 vs AC; 1d8 + 9 damage, and the target falls prone
Punitive Radiance (free, when the knight hits with a melee attack; encounter)
The attack deals 1d6 extra radiant damage, and the target grants combat advantage until the end of the knight's next turn.
Knight's Shove (immediate interrupt, when a creature marked by the knight shifts; at-will)
The knight makes a longsword attack against the triggering creature. If it hits, the target falls prone.
Alignment Unaligned		Languages Common
Str 16 (+4)	Dex 14 (+3)		Wis 11 (+1)
Con 15 (+3)	Int 10 (+1)		Cha 12 (+2)
Equipment Plate Armor, Light Shield, Longsword, Dagger x2
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

Opening Night

This challenge is all about the play itself. Whoever was cast as Lazarod is going to have a tough time of it. In the published adventure, there are a number of roles to play, and each role has a pretty well-defined character. Me, I went for a more abstract idea of what the play would look like. One player is Lazarod (in this case, Fireman Tim), two players are Executioners (Aelin and whoever Alex was playing), one player played the Demon (Arko) and two of the players were crew, using Arcana to make some special effects that didn't suck. In my original plan, Arcana didn't show up at all, but it ended up being used a few times. So too did Nature, though I didn't include it in the Challenge at all. I've included them here because they worked pretty well in practice.

Level 4

Difficulty 2 (6 successes before 3 failures)

Primary Skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Endurance (Lazarod), Insight

Secondary Skills: Arcana, Acrobatics, Athletics, Nature

Bluff: You deliver your lines pitch-perfect, and the crowd loves your interpretation of your character. Failure at this skill check counts against the Skill Challenge, and the main player loses a healing surge; add one minion to the Combat Encounter.

Diplomacy: The audience can see your vision, understanding the depth and drama you've imbued your character. Failure at this skill check counts against the Skill Challenge; the main character and the character playing Lazarod each lose two healing surges; add one minion to the Combat Encounter.

Intimidate: Your forceful stage presence can be felt all the way to the balconies. You own the room, and they love you for it. Failure at this skill check counts against the Skill Challenge; the main character and the character playing Lazarod each lose one healing surge; add one minion to the Combat Encounter.

Endurance (Lazarod Only): You withstand the many tortures set against you; though you are being slowly tortured, you think to death, your mind stays sharp and clear. Gain a healing surge. Failure on this skill check does not count against the Skill Challenge, but you lose two healing surges and take a -4 penalty to your next skill check.

Insight: You look out into the crowd and gauge their response (if the players are currently ahead in the Skill Challenge, the audience is with them; if they're behind, the audience is against them) and you can tell that they are eager for more. The player of your choice gets a +4 bonus to his or her next skill check. Failure on this skill check counts against the Skill Challenge, and both the main character and the character playing Lazarod lose a healing surge.

Arcana (limit 2 successes): You use your knowledge of magic to summon small special effects that add to the experience. A small fire catches, or a person glows with power as they speak. Choose a player. That player gains a +4 bonus to their next skill check. Failure on this skill check does not count against the Skill Challenge, but both the main character and the character that would have received the benefit of this success lose a healing surge (they catch on fire).

Acrobatics (limit 1 success): You spin and whirl across the stage, slicing into Lazarod's flesh and spraying the audience with an arc of blood. Lazarod loses 4 hit points, but gains a healing surge. Failure on this skill check does not count against the Skill Challenge, but Lazarod instead loses 10 hit points and a healing surge, and the main character loses two healing surges.

Athletics (limit 1 success): You lift Lazarod above your head with a single hand, tossing his body onto the ground like a rag doll. It looks impressive, but it's almost entirely harmless. Pick a player. That player gets a +2 bonus to his or her next Bluff check. Failure on this skill check does not count against the Skill Challenge, but both the main character and the character playing Lazarod lose a healing surge.

Nature (limit 1 success): You light the Fires of Hell behind the door frames that lead to the play's Hell. It's not dangerous, but it certainly looks impressive. Pick a player. That player gets a +2 bonus on his or her next intimidate check. Failure on this skill check does not count against the Skill Challenge, but both the main character and the character that would be been the recipient of the bonus lose a healing surge and begin the next combat encounter with ongoing 5 fire damage.

After Some Failures

If and when the players accrue a few failures on the skill challenge, pause the challenge and initiate the second combat encounter. The character's understudies have come to add a little spice to the show, something of a tradition for the Sixfold Trials. For each of the failures, add a minion or two to the encounter. There really isn't any rhyme or reason to how the actors will fight; while they're quite competent fighters, each in their own way, they are primarily actors and will act like divas given half the chance.

Kobold Rat Master		Level 4 Elite Soldier
Small natural humanoid		XP 350
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +3; darkvision Rat Horde aura 1; each enemy that begins its turns within the aura takes 5 damage. Enemies treat squares in the aura as difficult terrain. See also devouring horde. HP 114; Bloodied 57 AC 20; Fortitude 18; Reflex 17; Will 16 Speed 6
m Whip (standard; at-will) • Weapon
Reach 2; +11 vs AC; 1d4 + 2 damage, and the target is pulled 1 square
C Gnawing Rats (standard; at-will)
Close burst 2; +9 vs Fortitude; 1d6 + 2 damage and ongoing 5 damage (save ends). See also devouring horde
R Devouring Horde (standard; encounter)
Ranged 5; +9 vs Fortitude; 1d6 + 3 damage, and the target is stunned (save ends); until the target saves, the rat master loses its rat horde aura and the use of its gnawing rats attack
C Rat Frenzy (standard; encounter)
Close burst 1; +9 vs Reflex; 2d6 + 3 damage
Shifty (minor; at-will)
A kobold can shift 1 square as a minor action.
Trap Sense
A kobold gains a +2 bonus to all defenses against traps.
Alignment Evil		Languages Draconic
Skills Nature +8
Str 14 (+4)	Dex 15 (+4)		Wis 12 (+3)
Con 17 (+5)	Int 12 (+3)		Cha 13 (+3)
Monster found in Dragon Magazine Annual 2009 and Compendium
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.
Reniss, Half-Elf Ranger		Level 4 Artillery
Medium natural humanoid		XP 175
Initiative +5 Senses Perception +2; low-light vision HP 47; Bloodied 23 AC 18; Fortitude 18; Reflex 19; Will 15 Speed 6
m Longsword (standard; at-will) • Weapon
+12 vs AC; 1d8 + 2 damage
r Longbow (standard; at-will) • Weapon
Ranged 20/40; +13 vs AC; 1d10 + 3 damage
R Eyebite (standard; encounter) • Arcane, Charm, Implement, Psychic
Ranged 10; +9 vs Will; 1d6 + 1 psychic damage, and Reniss is invisible to the target until the start of her next turn
R Hunter's Bear Trap (standard; daily) • Martial, Weapon
Requires longbow; +13 vs AC; 2d10 + 3 damage, and the target is slowed and takes ongoing 5 damage (save ends)
R Nimble Strike (standard; at-will) • Martial, Weapon
Requires longbow; +13 vs AC; 1d10 + 3 damage; Reniss can shift 1 square before or after she attacks
R Shadow Wasp Strike (standard; encounter) • Martial, Weapon
Requires longbow; target quarry; +13 vs AC; 2d10 + 3 damage
Hunter's Quarry
Once per turn as a minor action, Reniss can designate the enemy nearest to her as her quarry. Once per round, Reniss deals 1d6 extra damage on an attack made against her quarry.
Unbalancing Parry (immediate reaction, when an enemy misses reniss with a melee attack; encounter)
Reniss slides the enemy into a square adjacent to her and gains combat advantage against it until the end of her next turn.
Group Diplomacy
Reniss grants allies within 10 squares of her a +1 racial bonus to Diplomacy checks.
Alignment Good		Languages Common, Elven, Dwarven
Skills Acrobatics +10, Diplomacy +5, Dungeoneering +5
Str 15 (+4)	Dex 17 (+5)		Wis 10 (+2)
Con 15 (+4)	Int 12 (+3)		Cha 13 (+3)
Equipment Leather Armor, Longsword, Longbow, Arrows (30)
Monster found in Dungeon Magazine 158 and Compendium
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.
Lady of Shadows		Level 4 Skirmisher
Small natural humanoid		XP 175
Initiative +8 Senses Perception +4; darkvision HP 54; Bloodied 27 AC 18; Fortitude 15; Reflex 17; Will 15 Speed 6
m Dagger (standard; at-will) • Weapon
+6 vs AC; 1d4 + 4 damage
R Dagger (standard; encounter) • Weapon
Ranged 5/10; +6 vs AC; 1d4 + 4 damage
C Killing Dark (when reduced to 0 hit points)
Close burst 1, targets enemies; the Lady of Shadows explodes in a spout of darkness; each target is blinded (save ends).
Combat Advantage
The Lady deals an extra 1d6 damage on melee and ranged attacks against any target she has combat advantage against.
Dark Step (move; at-will)
The Lady moves up to 4 squares, gains a +4 bonus to AC against opportunity attacks, and gains combat advantage against any target that she ends her move adjacent to.
Alignment Evil		Languages Common
Skills Stealth +11, Thievery +11
Str 11 (+2)	Dex 18 (+6)		Wis 14 (+4)
Con 14 (+4)	Int 13 (+3)		Cha 13 (+3)
Equipment Dagger x5
Monster found in Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide and Compendium
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.
Chevkos's Lackey		Level 4 Minion Skirmisher
Medium natural humanoid		XP 44
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +3 HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion. AC 18; Fortitude 18; Reflex 15; Will 16 Speed 6
m Short Sword (standard; at-will) • Weapon
+9 vs AC; 5 damage
r Hand Crossbow (standard; at-will) • Weapon
Ranged 10/20; +9 vs AC; 4 damage
Combat Advantage
A lackey deals 2 extra damage against any creature granting combat advantage to it.
Alignment Unaligned		Languages Common
Skills Stealth +7
Str 16 (+5)	Dex 11 (+2)		Wis 12 (+3)
Con 14 (+4)	Int 10 (+2)		Cha 13 (+3)
Equipment Leather Armor, Short sword, Hand Crossbow, Crossbow Bolts (20)
Monster found in Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons and Compendium
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

Development

Success: You have produced the most successful version of the Sixfold Trials of Lazarod the city of Westcrown has seen in over a decade. Overnight, you have become actors of some renown in the city, and people can't wait for you next show. The mayor is holding a gala for you (tonight!) to congratulate you.

Failure: Though the play was a total ruin, it was amusing to all the right people. The mayor has deemed this the most entertaining satire of the Sixfold Trials he's ever seen, and invites the surviving cast and crew to a small get-together at his home.

Fireman Tim, playing Lazarod, nearly died before they finished the challenge and got invited to the Mayor's for dinner. The challenge was actually pretty intense, to the point where people got up and cheered when they won, and fist-bumps were awarded all around. I consider any encounter that ends with people screaming in happiness a success.

It was a really great session, I really enjoyed DMing it, and I hope the next part of the adventure (infiltrating the Mayor's home) will be half as much fun.

Random Monster

Sometimes I like making up new monsters. When I find a particularly fascinating image or someone says something that hits me in my deep places, I'll usually write a story here, but there are occasions where I see a thing and think "Well shit, what sort of encounter would this make? Where would something like this live, and how would it make that space insanely dangerous?" When I saw this critter, I thought along the latter lines; there's probably a story in there somewhere, I want to see that creepy girl with the too-big eyes and no mouth fuck some bitches up.

I'm imagining a psychic baddie. Like a siren that sings to your mind while you're traversing the already deadly Astral Seas. Off the starboard bow, you see a pair or trio of naked, ivory-skinned women who sing out to you like the voices of a dream. When you come near to them, they feed from you, draining your mind of it's ability to think or act or feel. When an Astral Siren does damage to you, it's damage to your memories, your thoughts, your philosophical reflections, your personality. Even when she's defeated, an Astral Siren leaves scars on your mind. There will always be a few things you can't quite remember, things that sit on the tip of your tongue, but you can never quite get them out. Is that just the effects of growing older, or is that something the Siren took from you, something you'll never get back?

Astral Siren		Level 15 Elite Controller
Medium fey humanoid		XP 2,400
Initiative +10        Senses Perception +10 HP 333; Bloodied 166 AC 29; Fortitude 30; Reflex 27; Will 30 Saving Throws +2 Speed 6 Action Points 1
C Psychic Blast (standard; at-will) • Psychic
blast 5; +20 vs AC; Targets all enemies in blast; 2d8 + 6 psychic damage.
M Mind Melt (standard; at-will) • Psychic
+17 vs. Will; the target is stunned until the end of the Astral Siren's next turn.
C Siren's Call (minor; recharge 5 6) • Psychic
Close burst 5; +13 vs. Will; targets all creatures in burst; the Astral Siren slides the targets 2 squares.
A New Power (standard; recharge 5 6) • Psychic, Fire
blast 2; +20 vs AC; 3d6 + 6 psychic fire damage and the targets take 5 ongoing fire (save ends).
Alignment Unaligned		Languages —
Str 17 (+10)	Dex 17 (+10)		Wis 17 (+10)
Con 17 (+10)	Int 17 (+10)		Cha 17 (+10)
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

Pic was straight-jacked from http://lalory.deviantart.com/art/Placebo-161629508

The Most Metal Game Ever

So I've decided to put Undermountain to rest for a bit, and wait for Ian to come up with the next encounter for us. This is supposed to be a collaborative process, and while I'm totally down for taking his idea and running with it, I'd prefer to give the idea some time to breathe and let Ian get some input going. He's got a couple of weeks to make that happen before I jack the idea entirely. ^_^

Instead, I'm going to talk a bit about the first adventure I want to run for the Bones of a Dead God campaign. I suppose it's too much to ask for that potential players of mine avoid reading this blog, so I can't exactly get into too much detail about the first adventure or anything, but I'd like to talk a bit about the theme, the flavor and the set-dressing of the thing.

There are a few ways you can take a game setting like this one. The first thought through my head was "gothic Cthulhu horror" as we try to stop the evil cultists from waking up the dead god that makes up our whole plane of existence. Which was pretty dope. But then I got to thinking about crazy cultists, and how Rasputin (the guy that lives in my head next to the heading "cultist") wouldn't look out of place at all on a metal album cover. Tattered black robes, wispy black beard shot with streaks of gray, long black hair blowing in the wind as he holds out his hand toward you, the heart of a small child, still beating, gripped within. Yes. Rasputin-cultist is fucking metal.

Which forced the whole thing to shift in my head to become this huge, over-the-top heavy metal rock opera about stopping monsters and cultists from waking this dead god and bringing about the End of All Things. There's a very metal edge to that. Huge, macho barbarians oiled in the blood of their enemies, streetwise elven rangers dressed in spiked leather, sultry witches that look more like suicide girls than Elminster... Love it. Impossibly high castles looming over intricate cave networks of doom. Long-haired, wild-bearded cultists destroying the world. Lots of pentagrams, blood sacrifices, images of skeletons in dark robes, piles of skulls, tentacles and pig heads, anything Brom ever painted. Yeah. That's goooooood.

I'm thinking the first villain is going to be a fully-statted out cleric a few levels above the main crew. She'll be based on Baba Yaga, using a broom as her holy implement and flying about in a cauldron forged from the skulls of the children she's eaten. She'll be the leader of this death cult. The first adventure will have something to do with retrieving a very important book that has been stolen from the cobbler of the town of Capp. There will be many fights with Rasputin-cultists, a boss-fight with someone who isn't Baba Yaga, and the shocking discovery that the world is going to end in three months if y'all don't stop that bitch. ^_^

Also, I'm thinking each player should have their own WWF-style theme song. Oh fuck yes.

Why You Can't Rest in Undermountain

One of the things that Ian and I kept coming back to when we were discussing a return to Undermountain for 4th Edition was that you can’t rest whenever the fuck you want in a dungeon like this. There are entirely too many things that would like to eat you, and part of the Undermountain experience is learning to deal with some resource management. You bust a daily in your first encounter, there’s no getting that back for a good long while. If you’re out of Healing Surges and you don’t have anything that heals without using them, you’re in a pretty rough position. Being able to sit down for four to eight hours every once in a while is a luxury, and it’s one you can’t have when running around this dungeon.

Think of Undermountain like a city; it’s a city in which every single one of the citizens would be more than happy to spill your entrails on the ground and bathe in them. Every place in the dungeon gets used, and gets used fairly regularly. The only places that people might visit less often are places that are completely barricaded, places that are only accessible through secret doors, or places that are so incredibly dangerous to get to that no one ever bothers. Those places are, to be honest, pretty few and far between.

Halaster’s a dick. He’s like this retarded five year old with a +5 rocket launcher of doom and a crack habit. He built this dungeon as the ultimate expression of his douchebaggery, and he knows that people are going to come in and try and fuck with his shit. To do that, they’ll need resources, and they’ll need chances to rest up, heal, get their shit in a group, and come up with a plan for how they’re going to tackle the next ring of this circus of death. He isn’t going to make that easy. If you want to sleep in Undermountain, you’d best be prepared to work for it.
Barricading a room seems like it might be the best way to make that happen at first, until you remember how much noise that makes. Monsters like noise, it’s like a dinner-bell to them down here. I don’t have a Wandering Monster chart kicking around for Undermountain yet, but if your players want to barricade more than one door of the dungeon, I’d suggest you kick in one of those doors and make them fight some monsters. “Oy, right, yeah. Heard ya bangin’ about up here an’ thought, ‘Well them’ll make a nice bit o’ supper, ne?’”

So we have a few rooms kicking around that are inherently difficult to find and/or get into. Those rooms have one entry and exit point, and that entry point is easy to barricade and make relatively safe. There's some room for discussion in how many safe rooms there are. Personally, I think it should be every six to eight encounters. So you won't see me detail a Safe Room on this blog for at least three more encounters (probably closer to five). The nature of each of the safe rooms will be different, as well. Some of them won't allow you to sleep; you can meditate fine, if you're an Elf or a Warforged or whatever, but characters that require sleep will find the safe room entirely too uncomfortable for that. Other rooms will make it impossible to mediate, but sleeping creatures will do just fine (some sort of psychic interferance). Some will allow you to do both. Some will have to be barricaded, some will require a skill challenge or an encounter to get rid of the Things Here Before You, some will need to be made more comfortable, some will have tricky little bits that will fuck with your day, some will be completely harmless but have strange features that make you think something's up. It'll be fun coming up with them.

Also, getting BACK to a safe room should be a terrifying ordeal in it's own right. Comfortable rooms in Undermountain are a premium; monsters fucking LOVE comfortable rooms. When you come back to a Safe Room after a couple of encounters, expect it to have become the home of something Terrible and Weird that will need to be defeated before you can sleep away the last three encounters.

Undermountain Encounters 3, Nimraith’s Rest

In this alcove lies a human skeleton, huddled under a riven brass shield. It is clad in the crumbling remnants of leather armor. A metal, visored helm sits upright on the flagstone floor nearby.

Nimraith's rest is a pretty simple room. In it, there is one thing, a skeleton under a shield. At least, that's the original encounter as written. If you disturb the shield, you have to deal with a stirge, which is never pleasant because stirges were assholes. In 4^th Edition, they're pretty tame little guys. They don't have many hit points, their defenses are low, and a group of kick-ass adventurers taking down a single bug is a pretty stupid encounter.

So fuck the single bug, says I. The obvious answer is to make the stirges a swarm, with a couple of singular stirges kicking around for good measure. But the smallest stirge swarm is a level six monster, and I don't really want to dumb a six down to a one. Another option is a few pesky bugs working in conjunction. D&D Encounters' first skill challenge could end in a random combat with a few different things. One of those things was a trio of bugs; a stirge and two fire beetles. Fire beetles, for the record, are fucking terrifying. 3d6 damage over a blast 3 is insane at first level. With a critical hit, it could take fresh controllers into the negatives. Put two of those assholes in the same encounter, and you've got fricassee wizard.

Normally, when I'm looking at inventing an encounter, I don't take the XP reward system into account much. I know what seems like an easy, balanced or tough encounter to me, and if it turns out it's different from what I imagined it would be like, I change it around on the fly. Today, though, I'm going to break this down by experience point values, because it seems like fun.

I'm figuring on a single flame beetle, at 100xp. It gives out a big burst to begin with, and can be either a recurring threat (depending on how your recharge rolls go), or an easy target for your players. After that, we need a stirge to hearken back to the original encounter, so I'm thinking a single stirge at 100xp. After this, we can get a bit more creative with it. I love minions because they pose a viable threat without overpowering an encounter. So I invented stirgelings by setting their Secondary Role to "minion" in the Adventure Tools, changing the amount of damage it does to a static 3 with 3 ongoing. We're throwing three of these babies in there, for another 75xp. That leaves me with some 125xp to play around with. Just enough for a second-level monster!

Going along with our bug room theme and rocking the swarm idea, let's throw in a second-level centipede swarm. For parties that don't have a lot of blast or burst damage at their disposal, swarms prove a hell of a challenge. For more balanced parties, or parties that love them some mages, swarms are easy pickings, while the critters that hang out around the swarms are a bit harder to deal with.

For tactics, I'm thinking the stirges are going to attack as soon as the party is visible to them. They're going to go for the weakest looking characters, even if they're marked; they aren't smart enough to realize they're in danger of the fighter's opportunity attacks, or that the Warden is going to push them away from their food. The fire beetle is going to step out from behind the shield and let go with its recharging blast attack, then hide behind the shield for the extra cover and take a total defense action until the blast recharges. The centipede swarm is going to come from the hall to the south, a good choke point, where it will try to draw their enemies so that they can make short work of them between their own aura attack and the fireballs behind them.

This isn't intelligence, mind, this is blind instinct. The bugs don't want to deal with a group of people, they want to deal with small chunks of a group of people so that they can eat.

The (F) can be a little tough to see over the skeleton and the shield, but that's where the Fire Beetle is. 

 

Stirge (S)		Level 1 Lurker
Small natural beast		XP 100
Initiative +7        Senses Perception +0; darkvision HP 22; Bloodied 11 AC 15; Fortitude 12; Reflex 13; Will 10 Speed 2 , Fly 6 (hover)
m Bite (standard; at-will)
+6 vs AC; 1d4 damage, and the target is grabbed (until escape) and takes ongoing 5 damage until it escapes. An attached stirge doesn't make attack rolls while grabbing a target and gains a +5 bonus to its AC and Reflex defenses
Alignment Unaligned		Languages —
Skills Stealth +8
Str 8 (–1)	Dex 16 (+3)		Wis 10 (+0)
Con 10 (+0)	Int 1 (–5)		Cha 4 (–3)
Monster found in Monster Manual and Compendium
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

 

Stirgeling (L)		Level 1 Minion Lurker
Small natural beast		XP 25
Initiative +7        Senses Perception +0; darkvision HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion. AC 15; Fortitude 12; Reflex 13; Will 10 Speed 2 , Fly 6 (hover)
m Bite (standard; at-will)
+6 vs AC; 3 damage, and the target is grabbed (until escape) and takes ongoing 3 damage until it escapes. An attached stirge doesn't make attack rolls while grabbing a target and gains a +5 bonus to its AC and Reflex defenses
Alignment Unaligned		Languages —
Skills Stealth +8
Str 8 (–1)	Dex 16 (+3)		Wis 10 (+0)
Con 10 (+0)	Int 1 (–5)		Cha 4 (–3)
This one's my own creation, based on the Stirge, above. © 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

 

Fire Beetle (F)		Level 1 Brute
Small natural beast		XP 100
Initiative +1        Senses Perception +0 HP 32; Bloodied 16 AC 13; Fortitude 13; Reflex 12; Will 11 Resist 10 fire Speed 6
m Bite (standard; at-will)
+5 vs AC; 2d4 + 2 damage
C Fire Spray (standard; recharge 5 6) • Fire
Close blast 3; +4 vs Reflex; 3d6 fire damage
Alignment Unaligned		Languages —
Str 14 (+2)	Dex 12 (+1)		Wis 10 (+0)
Con 12 (+1)	Int 1 (–5)		Cha 8 (–1)
Monster found in Monster Manual and Compendium
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

 

Centipede Swarm (C)		Level 2 Brute
Medium natural beast		XP 125
Initiative +4        Senses Perception +1; darkvision Swarm Attack aura 1; each enemy that starts its turn within the aura takes 3 damage plus 2 extra damage per centipede swarm adjacent to the enemy. HP 44; Bloodied 22 AC 14; Fortitude 14; Reflex 15; Will 10 Resist half damage from melee and ranged attacks; Vulnerable 10 against close and area attacks Speed 6 , Climb 6 (spider climb)
m Swarm of Mandibles (standard; at-will) • Poison
+4 vs AC; 1d6 damage, and ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends); a creature already taking ongoing poison damage is also weakened (save ends). The centipede swarm's attack deals 1 extra damage for each centipede swarm adjacent to it
Survival Instinct (immediate reaction, when hit by an area or close attack; at-will)
The centipede swarm shifts 3 squares.
Alignment Unaligned		Languages —
Skills Stealth +9
Str 9 (+0)	Dex 17 (+4)		Wis 10 (+1)
Con 14 (+3)	Int 1 (–4)		Cha 6 (–1)
Monster found in Monster Manual 2 and Compendium
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

The skeleton has some gear on him, but it's mostly useless. The shield is split in half (the word "Nimraith" written across it in Thorass). The leather armor is old and cracked and parts crumble into useless strips of leather when someone attempts to wear it. The rotting remains of a backpack are folded under the corpse containing a moldy mass of cloth scraps and a polished ivory tube worth 2sp. Inside the tube are two scraps of parchment. One is a partially completed map of Undermountain called Nimraith's Map, the other is a scroll with the Comrade's Succor ritual written on it (Dragon, 380), which is a godsend in a place like Undermountain. With it, a group can give up healing surges to give those surges to other players. And in a place as deadly as this, every one of those surges counts.