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Author Topic: [Actual Play] D&D 4e: Shadows over Fallcrest  (Read 29639 times)

jgants

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[Actual Play] D&D 4e: Shadows over Fallcrest
« on: January 24, 2009, 12:57:47 PM »
This will be the actual play thread for my new D&D 4e campaign called "Shadows over Fallcrest".  Listed below is the basic campaign starting point concept, with the list of regular characters.

Note: The "nameless wizard" is not actually the name/concept of the character, but rather its just that the player hadn't yet chosen a name as of this writing.  I assume by next session the character will have a name.

Campaign Background
This saga begins in the small city of Fallcrest, where a group of local would-be heroes have joined together to look for adventure.  Some of the group think it is their duty to perform good deeds and help the city regain power in the region against the evil that surrounds them.  Others simply see an opportunity for excitement, or perhaps a way to make easy money.

The group consists of:

• Al Trueism, a local human wizard who specializes in using his spells to control the movement of enemies on the battlefield.

• Berend, a local dwarf cleric of Bahamut.  His specialty is aiding allies from the back lines.

• Krolec Jar’Bin, a local elf ranger.  His skills are primarily with his two blades, but supplemented with his sturdy bow.

• Quinn, a local human fighter.  He carries a greatsword and focuses on making heavy-damaging attacks.

• Shaelynna, an eladrin ranger from the surrounding lands.  She and her beast companion, Dilis – a feyborn lynx, use tactics to outflank enemies, then move in for the kill.

• Zena, a human fighter (warrior princess) from a far-off land.  Her specialty is in fighting enemies defensively, while maneuvering them around the battlefield.

• A mysterious eladrin wizard who has not revealed her true name.  She specializes in spells that can cause great injuries from afar.
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jgants

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Session 1: Marked for Death
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2009, 12:59:34 PM »
Session 1: Scene 1 (of 3)
The day started out with the group of would-be adventurers performing the most mundane of tasks, grocery shopping at the local market in the plaza.  Everyone is in attendance.  

While relaxing over by the fountain at the center of the plaza, Al notices a couple of figures moving through one of the crowded areas.  No features can be seen, but they appear to be wearing heavy monk robes.  While not out of place by itself, Al nonetheless gets a bad feeling.  On closer inspection, he notices the two men have unnatural bulges under their robes – they are clearly carrying weapons.  He decides to head in for a closer look.

The other members of the group are spread all over the plaza.  Some of them have begun to notice Al moving deliberately towards something.  Krolec figures out that Al is looking at the monks.  He further figures out the monks are headed straight for a man in the crowd – a middle-aged human wearing a black cloak with a striking purple lining.  Krolec tries to shout out a warning to Al and the others, but his voice is largely lost in the din of the crowded market.
Just as Zena, Al, and Shaelynna move into the crowd, the two monks throw off their robes and reveal their true forms – they are drow.  The drow immediately draw their swords and hack at the man in the cloak, then begin to run off.

The first drow quickly runs past Al, Krolec, and Shaelynna, but is greatly injured in the process from their attacks.  However, Shaelynna suddenly feels the pain of a crossbow bolt striking her in the back, followed by the sickening feeling of poison.  There are apparently other drow around, hiding somewhere in the plaza.  Back at the other end, Quinn scans the crowds to find the shooter, but doesn’t see anyone.

The second drow also attempts to run for it, but is quickly stopped by Zena’s maneuvering.  She, Shaelynna, and Al quickly finish him off.  Meanwhile, the first drow has nearly made it to a building at the far end of the plaza.  The nameless wizard attempts to stop him using a burning hands spell, only to succeed in frying a local horse as collateral damage.

As Berend moves in to try and convince the drow to surrender, he is struck in the side by another poisoned crossbow bolt, while a second shot whizzes by Quinn’s head.  There are clearly two snipers in the area.  The crowd begins to panic and run, knocking Zena off her feet in the process.

As Krolec finishes off the other drow with a couple of arrow shots, some of the group begin to spot the snipers – a couple of cloaked drow are hiding up on the room of the shop at the end of the plaza.   Krolec fires off a couple of arrows while Berend and the nameless wizard use their spells to blast at the drow assassins.  The drow quickly decide to retreat and disappear from sight.
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

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jgants

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Session 1: Marked for Death
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2009, 01:00:39 PM »
Session 1: Scene 2 (of 3)
Shaelynna, Dilis, Krolec,  Zena climb up the building to the roof while Al, Quinn, Berend, and the nameless wizard stay on the ground.  The drow have split up and begin to leap across to adjacent buildings.

On the left side of the battlefield, Al quickly casts icy terrain on the rooftop where the drow is standing.  He slips, but manages to catch himself, only to fall minutes later while trying to pull himself back up.  Al then rushes down the street, leaving Berend to finish up with the drow.

On the other street, Quinn sprints down to the end to cut off the drow assassin while the nameless wizard stops halfway to fire off a magic missile.  Everyone on the roof pursues the second drow, leaping across the divide to the adjacent building.  Shaelynna and her cat, however, stop short.  Dilis is able to grab on to the ledge with his claws, but Shaelynna crashes to the ground, causing minor injury.

Up top, Krolec fires a couple more shots at the fleeing drow.  The shots hit home, causing him to lose his balance.  The drow misses his next jump, and falls to his death.  

Everyone quickly moves towards the second drow, which Berend is unsuccessfully attempting to subdue.  Zena calls out that she agree with Berend’s idea to capture the second drow to get information, but Krolec’s hatred of the drow convinces him to finish the drow off with a couple of arrows instead.
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.

jgants

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Session 1: Marked for Death
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2009, 01:02:04 PM »
Session 1: Scene 3 (of 3)
With all of the drow dead, the group begins to collect their spoils of war.  All the drow appear to be carrying are their weapons and a couple of copper pieces.  Al is disappointed in their lack of treasure.

With everyone wanting to do something different, Shaelynna decides to take charge and direct everyone.  She and Krolec will attempt to track where the drow came from / where they were heading back to; Berend and Zena will inspect the bodies; and Al, Quinn, and the nameless wizard will go check on the man that was attacked.

Shaelynna and Krolec are able to quickly track the drow back to a sewer grate nearby.  It appears to have been opened recently.  They attempt to listen for anyone else down there, but don’t hear anything out of the ordinary.

Meanwhile, Berend and Zena discover that the drow have tattoos.  Berend recognizes the symbol as being religious, but can’t place it.  They decide to sketch a copy to show others.  They also ask around to see if anyone saw anything, with one local confirming the drow came from the sewer grate.

Across the plaza, Al, Quinn, and the nameless wizard quickly discover the cloaked man is no longer in the area, though they do spot a rather large pool of blood.  The nameless wizard tracks the blood while Quinn questions people in the plaza.  The blood trail leads to a nearby alley, which Quinn’s contacts confirm the man went into, where it stops abruptly.

The immediate area is searched.  Quinn checks the rooftops while the wizard teleports a short distance away to pick up the blood trail.  Neither of them find anything.  

Everyone reconvenes in the plaza.  Shaelynna has Dilis attempt to pick up the man’s trail, but the lynx is unable to pick up the scent.  The nameless wizard is able to identify the tattoo – it’s the mark of Lolth’s Spiderguard.  The two masquerading as monks appear to be younger recruits, while the two on the rooftop were trained assassins.  The wizard goes on to explain that these drow are sent out as a small team to assassinate targets that have been directly identified by the drow high priestesses as threats to Lolth.  Members of the group hold different opinions on whether or not this indicates the man attacked is on the side of good.

But there is one more important piece of information that the nameless wizard provides – this kind of team would always have someone in the field coordinating them.  The group surmises that whoever is in charge of the team is likely still down in the sewers.

Disagreement breaks out over what to do next.  Berend does not want to risk going into the sewers and stepping into a trap.  Al is more concerned about getting a commission for doing so, as well as thinking it is better to follow up on the missing victim first.  Quinn silently agrees with them, but says nothing openly.

However, the nameless wizard, Shaelynna, and Krolec feel that time is of the essence.  They want to intercept the leader of the drow for multiple reasons – to capture them for information, to interrupt communication back to the drow lair about the mission, and to stop what they consider a further threat to the town.  Plus, as elves and eladrin, they feel a personal obligation to wipe out evil drow.  Zena agrees with them as well.

Though the situation is not quickly resolved, Shaelynna asserts that either by her decision as the leader, or by majority decision of the group, they should head into the sewers.  She further states that her side will go in with or without the others.
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

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jgants

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Session 1: Marked for Death
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2009, 01:17:09 PM »
Session 1: Session Notes
Well, I finally got to start my actual 4e campaign after running a series of one-shots.

Every player but one (the one playing Zena) had played before, so we were able to dive into the actual game right away.  We also had all characters created ahead of time, so we could skip the (usually painful) character creation session.

I've acquired a fair bit of Dungeon Tiles and miniatures over the past year, and everyone seems to enjoy using them during the game.  In previous D&D (and other RPG campaigns) were rarely, if ever, used minis.

My only regret is that a couple of the characters don't have really good fits for their PCs.  There just aren't nearly enough female and/or wizard type minis easily available/priced low (the two wizards PCs were represented by "cultist priest" type minis).

For the terrain, I used two sets the Streets of Shadow dungeon tiles.  When I first saw the tiles, I scrapped my original plans for the campaign opening and went with this.  I knew a rooftop chase would be fun.  And the opening plaza screen presented a very crowded battlefield: I had crowds, benches, fountains, troughs, market stands, and flower beds placed all over the place.

The initial encounter is obviously sub-level 1 for a group of this size.  I wanted to open the game with a quick, fun encounter that would let everyone get used to each other without being in too big of danger (although having AC 18 and the drow assassins doing 2d6+3 damage was certainly a threat).

I also wanted to start the game somewhere mundane, because the conceit at the beginning is that the PCs are somewhat accomplished / skilled, but haven't really distinguished themselves yet.  So they start off performing a rather dull task that suddenly turns interesting, and its something in public that will gain them some recognition.

The man with the cloak and what the drow are doing there is deliberately designed to be one of those opening mysteries that won't be solved any time soon (more on that after future sessions).

Overall the game went pretty smooth.  Everyone caught on pretty quick and got a feel for their niche.  I am trying to push them to use an actual leader - it's just too difficult trying to have 7 PCs or more and have them all want to argue over every little thing.  We'll see how well that goes over next session with this disagreement about where to go next.
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.

jgants

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Session 2 - Sepsis
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2009, 10:42:14 AM »
Session 2 - Cast of Characters

Krolec - Elven ranger
Shaelynna - Eladrin beastmaster, with her fey lynx companion, Dilis
Al - Human control wizard
Leigh - Eladrin battle wizard
Quinn - Laconic human fighter
Berend - Grumpy dwarf cleric

Special Guest Star
Lucan - Half-elf swordmage / wizard / stoner
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.

jgants

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Session 2: Sepsis
« Reply #6 on: February 07, 2009, 10:43:25 AM »
Session 2 - Scene 1 (of 4)

While discussing whether or not to go into the sewers to track the drow, Al reminds everyone about the dead horse.  His primary concern is to make sure there is “equine justice” before they run off after the drow, as it might look bad to observers.  He also wants to make sure the group avoids getting hauled into the local court of chancery by an angry merchant.

Krolec agrees that Al brings up a good point, but those wanting the group to head into the sewers still feel time is of the essence if they are to catch the drow.  Zena is about to make a point when she is overcome with pain, apparently having sprained her back in the rooftop chase.  As she leaves to go lie down for a while, a younger half-elf in the plaza takes notice of the group, overhearing their conversation about heading into the sewers.  He wanders over and makes a comment about the smell of barbecued horse meat in the air, but no one pays much attention to him.

Taking a break from the debate, Berend decides to again check the crowd to see if anyone else saw the man in the purple cloak, but is unsuccessful.  He also re-checks the alleyway where the man was last seen, but finds no new evidence.  He does, however, confirm that the man did not appear to go into any of the adjacent buildings in the alley.

Meanwhile, the nameless wizard, who reveals her name to be Leigh, drags Krolec and Shaelynna off to the merchant’s shop to quickly deal with the situation (though neither Krolec nor Shaelynna are quite sure why they are being dragged along).  Once inside, Leigh explains how she accidentally killed his horse while fighting drow.  

The merchant is initially upset about losing “Betsy”, but then gets quite concerned about drow being in the city.  He rushes over and begins boarding up the windows.  Krolec tries to calm him down, explaining the immediate threat is over but that they will need to come back and compensate him for the horse later, as they need to pursue any remaining drow in the sewers now.  The merchant takes Krolec for a man of his honor, and agrees.

With that taken care of, everyone reconvenes in the plaza, including the half-elf stranger who wandered over.  Although he appears to be a bit too fond of smoking herbs in his pipe, the man has the look of an adventurer and is half-elven, and so the group decides to invite him along to help, figuring they need all the help they can get.  The man introduces himself as Lucan, a swordmage who also studies the arts of wizardry.  He agrees to come along, though not so much out of a sense of duty to fight the drow as that he is bored.

Al relents and decides that although he personally thinks it is a bad idea to head into the sewers, he is willing to go along with the group.  Berend, however, seems intent on being the voice of dissent against the descent.  He begins rambling about how he’s lived in the town all his life and the sewers are too dangerous to just go heading into.  Quinn silently agrees with him while everyone else contemplates whether Berend is acting out of prudence or cowardice.  Either way, they find it an odd attitude for a would-be adventurer to have and decide to head into the sewers without them.
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.

jgants

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Session 2: Sepsis
« Reply #7 on: February 07, 2009, 10:44:28 AM »
Session 2 - Scene 2 (of 4)

Pushing the sewer grate aside the rest of the way, revealing a small ladder leading down, they peer down into the drainage system.  It’s very dark down there; too dark for even the elves or eladrin to see, much less the humans.  Al uses his light cantrip to illuminate a small rock that they then toss down.

The light illuminates the area at the bottom of the ladder.  There appears to be a ledge on either side of the sewer waters, which are flowing into a smaller grate that no doubt leads out to the river.  The sewer waters span about ten feet wide, and Krolec guesses they are probably around two to three feet deep.

Krolec heads down first to check out the immediate area more before allowing anyone else to come down.  He can see that the passage ends very shortly on his left side, leading into a dead end with the smaller grate.  To his right, he can see the passage way goes down a bit further, and there is a bridge crossing the sewer waters.  Moving a little closer in, he hears something splashing around on the other side of the bridge.

Everyone else heads down into the sewer passage.  Using a small ledge over the small drain, half the group decides to move to the opposite ledge so they can approach the bridge from both sides.  Krolec takes up the lead on his side, followed by Leigh.  On the other side, Shaelynna and Dilis head in first, followed by Al.  Lucan tries to stay somewhat in the middle, staying on Krolec’s side but hanging back a bit.

As they get closer to the bridge, Leigh spots a body floating in the sewer waters partially under the bridge.  Shaelynna moves in closer to investigate.  The body appears to be convulsing.  Thinking the man to possibly be still alive and injured by drow, Shaelynna begins to pull him up.
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.

jgants

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Session 2: Sepsis
« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2009, 10:45:48 AM »
Session 2 - Scene 3 (of 4)

As soon as Shaelynna moves the body, all hell breaks loose.  She quickly notices the body is dead, and that a giant centipede was underneath, feeding on it.  The centipede immediately attacks her with a vicious bite that contains the stinging sensation of poison entering her veins.

Shaelynna moves into flanking position with Dilis and begins to attack back.  She’s having trouble fighting off the effects of the poison, though, and quickly becoming seriously injured.  Krolec readies his bow to attack the creature while Leigh blasts it with a magic missle.  Al switches his light cantrip to target the centipede, lighting it up for easy visibility.

Things get worse from there.  The commotion of the fight appears to have disturbed a couple of resident shadowhunter bats.  The bats move in and make flyby attacks on Krolec and Shaelynna.  Worse, a couple of small swarms of demonweb spiders pour in from around the corner, also attacking Shaelynna with their poisonous bites.

Krolec quickly reacts by focusing his attention on the shadowhunter bat attacking him, firing off a couple of arrows.  Unfortunately, they fail to find their mark.  Al does better by casting a cloud of daggers around it.

Meanwhile, Shaelynna and Dilis focus on the centipede using their teamed predator strike maneuvers.  Lucan helps out by using his aegis of assault ward on it, and charging across the bridge to attack it with his greenflame sword.  Leigh also continues her barrage of magic missiles.

The centipede finally goes down in short order, but Shaelynna is still in great danger from the spider swarm and bat attacking her.  The other swarm uses its ability to crawl the walls and drop down on Al.  Al quickly succumbs to their attacks and poison, and falls unconscious.

Krolec still isn’t having much luck, either.  He keeps missing his target, and the bat is starting to seriously injure him.  He decides to rush over to help Al stabilize while Leigh uses a scorching burst to destroy the swarm that injured him.  Lucan focuses his attacks on the swarm attacking Shaelynna, but isn’t having much luck hitting with his sword.

Shaelynna decides to user her fey step to move out of the way of the spider swarm, positioning herself in the sewer waters.  Unfortunately, the bats quickly outflank her, and injure her enough to fall unconscious.  In addition to being mortally wounded, she also begins to drown in the sewer waters.

Krolec rushes over to help her.  Leigh manages to finish off one of the bats with her magic blasts.  Lucan still isn’t having any luck hitting the spider swarm, which is now attacking him.

The other bat heads straight for Leigh.  Luckily, Krolec is able to stop it with a couple of shots from his bow.  Lucan then steps out of the way to allow Leigh to finish off the remaining spider swarm.
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.

jgants

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Session 2: Sepsis
« Reply #9 on: February 07, 2009, 10:47:18 AM »
Session 2 - Scene 4 (of 4)

With two members of the group with serious injuries, Krolec decides it’s time to make a strategic retreat.  He’s not sure the drow would still be around at this point, anyway.

Before they head out, Leigh decides to investigate the body further.  It’s been dead a while, a few days at least.  She also spots a small sack lying under the body.  Picking it up, she discovers it contains 200 silver pieces, and a fine diamond that she estimates to be worth around 100 gold pieces.

After they head back up to the plaza, everyone but Leigh heads to the river to wash themselves off.  Leigh goes back to the merchant to pay him for his horse.  He explains the horse and wagon parts that need replaced will cost him around 50 gold, but she talks him down to 40.  She gives him the 200 silver, plus 15 gold of her own money, and promises to get him the other five later.

However, the merchant also lost some special herbs that were being carried in the saddlebags on the horse.  The cost of the herbs isn’t so much a problem, but they came from Harkenwold, and the road to Harkenwold has had problems with bandits lately.  He’ll need another 100 gold just to hire mercenaries to make the trip.  Leigh offers to discuss it with her group that perhaps they could make the herb run for him.  The man is pleasantly surprised at the offer.

Once the rest of the group gets back, Leigh solicits a donation of five gold from Shaelynna and uses it to pay off the remaining debt to the merchant.  Lucan, feeling the effects of herb-induced hunger, buys half a pound of beef jerky.  Everyone then gets all together to discuss what to do next.  

Krolec isn’t happy that Berend and Quinn didn’t go along with the group, and that as a result they were nearly all killed.  Berned counters that two near deaths are exactly the reason he said not to go down there.  A long argument ensues, with Krolec insisting on hammering out some kind of agreement or charter for the group before they proceed any further in their adventuring careers.

Berend ultimately decides he can’t commit to the kind of dangerous adventures the group intends to go on without having 100% trust in his leader, and leaves.  Lucan stays around for the discussion, but makes it clear he has no real ambitions to go off adventuring at this point, and will not be joining either.

They all head to a bar to discuss the situation further.  The rest of the group decide the best thing to do is elect a leader to guide what the group will do.  Early discussions seem to favor Shaelynna or Krolec.  After casting secret ballots, Lucan acts as the impartial vote counter.  He announces Krolec to be the winner.

Krolec takes the reigns and discusses his intentions that anyone who is in the group must follow along with what the group decides to do, or they will be kicked out.  He also assigns treasury duties for the group to Leigh, after making sure no one objects.  He laments his next task – figuring out some kind of name for the group.

Coincidentally, sitting in the same bar is Berend’s cousin, Merend, who has very similar training as Berend (they went through the seminary for the church of Bahamut together).  Merend, however, has a more agreeable and less surly personality.  The group decides to let Merend join them, as they are in need of a cleric.

They all then begin planning their trip to Harkenwold…
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.

jgants

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Session 2: Sepsis
« Reply #10 on: February 07, 2009, 11:02:38 AM »
Session 2 - Session Notes

Well only two sessions in and already we've hit the "mixed bag" result.  Sigh.

The main problem here is that the Berend (now Merend) player, who is usually my favorite and most reliable player, has a tendency to get just a little too method-acty at times.  And in this case, he became too into the whole "realistic response" thing and it caused a major disruption.  So, instead of just changing Berend's personality a little to be a better fit, he wanted to replace him with an identical character with a different name.  Don't ask me why, I never really got into the method actor thing.

Hence, the demand by the Krolec player for no more splitting up and doing your own thing.  That was actually an OOC demand - he threated to quit playing the game if they do that again.  Normally that player has a tendency to over-react to stuff like this, but in this case I'd have to agree.

So, basically, the encounter I planned for seven characters was much more challenging with five, particualrly with no fighters or clerics to fill their gaps.  However, I refused to scale down the encounter when the group spilits up and have let them know as much.  I'll plan encounters based on how many people attend the session.  If they decide to split up, they increase their risk.  Its my small nod to a more simulation style of play.

It was also a tough encounter because it was a small group of high-level enemies instead of one big enemies or lots of evenly matched ones.  The centipede was level 4, the bats level 3, and the spider swarms had been scaled down to level 1 (I believe they are level 7 by default).

There's also the problem that they still aren't being very smart about tactics, or understanding their roles.  One big one - the rangers still have a tendency to think of themselves as front-line assaulters and stand toe-to-toe with opponents.

If the group had traveled a little further down, they would have had a second encounter with some giant spiders (two deathjumps and a scaled down blade spider) plus the drow priestess (scaled to level 4).  Sadly, their injuries prevented that encounter from taking place.

Next up is the trip to Harkenwold and the fights against the bandits that will no doubt ensue.  As I'm sure everyone guessed already, I was completely expecting them to offer to do the escort mission rather than spend the 100 gold.

Originally, the plan was far less linear.  They were supposed to capture or kill the drow priestess, making them local heroes and presenting several different choices of jobs to do next.  However, since they fucked that up, they'll have to redeem themselves by taking out the bandits first.
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.

jgants

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[Actual Play] D&D 4e: Shadows over Fallcrest
« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2009, 12:19:26 AM »
Update - Laying down the law a bit

So, after last session I sent out some revised notes as guidelines for character personalities.  I think the group leader and the "group charter" they are working on will solve most of the problems, but I figured I may as well spell out the bare minimums for character personalities that I would find acceptable for playing in the campaign.

I try not to limit the players too much, but the problem is that in order to avoid constant arguments between characters (which bleeds into arguments between players) there's some basic guidelines they are just going to have to follow (as "unrealistic" as they might be).  I did not use these rules in other campaigns, but for this one I'm going to have to insist.

Here's the "rules for personalities" I laid out in that email:

* Your character MUST have a personality such that they are willing to
comprimise with others. If you've created a personality in your mind
that is stubborn to the point that they will never comprimise and must
always have things 100% on their terms, please come up with a new
character or change the personality.

* Your character MUST implicitly trust the other members of your
group. The characters are all supposed to be friends, and should trust
each other as friends (in and out of combat). If you've created a
character that doesn't trust anyone, please come up with a new
character or change the personality.

* Conversely, your character MUST like and respect the other members of
your group. No matter what your personality or alignment to the
outside world is, consider your alignment to be lawful good for
purposes of interacting with the other group members (i.e., no stealing
from them, no lying - directly or by ommission, no putting them in
harm's way, no failing to help them out when they need it, etc). If
you've created a character that wants to manipulate the other group
members or take advantage of them, or is simply unwilling to help them
unless there is something in it for your character, please come up with
a new character or change the personality.

* Your character MUST want to be an adventurer. They MUST desire to
gain fame and fortune being performing heroic, risky deeds that the
average person would be far too frightened to do. And they should
assume most of the time their rewards will be found from their
adventures - they do not just wait around for someone to hire them to
do things (though that can happen from time to time). They must be
willing to go where angels fear to tread if they absolutely have to.
Being smart and prudent to manage your risk is one thing, avoiding all
conflict and risk is another. If you've created a character that
doesn't want to risk his life or isn't interested in adventuring for
fortune and fame, please come up with a new character or change the
personality.
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.

jgants

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[Actual Play] D&D 4e: Shadows over Fallcrest
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2009, 12:25:59 AM »
The Lucan Player

I just realized I forgot to explain this in my session notes.  Basically, I'm keeping an open slot in the group for drop-in players because there were several who wanted to try it out, but I'm trying to keep to a hard limit of 8 players (and even that is more than I would prefer, but the politics of the situation make it difficult to do less).

So, this week we had a guy who wanted to try out a swordmage / wizard combo.  He caught on to the new rules right away, not really needing much explanation at all - leading me to continue to believe that 4e is a much simpler game than the past editions (save basic D&D) despite those who argue to the contrary.

His reaction to 4e, however, was pretty lukewarm - the first player who has tried the new rules and not been overly impressed.  But I kind of expected that - he's more into the role-playing part of gaming and less into the gamey parts.  He prefers to play in a GURPS campaign that's more rp-heavy, it just works better for him.  And that completely makes sense to me - D&D is clearly geared towards more action-heavy gaming which just isn't what he's looking for.
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.

jgants

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Session 3: The Prophet of Juniper Creek
« Reply #13 on: February 21, 2009, 12:34:37 PM »
Session 3 - Cast of Characters

Leigh - eladrin battle wizard
Al Truism - human controller wizard
Krolec Jar'Bin - elven two-blade ranger
Merend - dwarven devoted cleric
Shealynna & Dilis - eladrin beast master ranger and her fey lynx companion
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.

jgants

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Session 3: The Prophet of Juniper Creek
« Reply #14 on: February 21, 2009, 12:35:25 PM »
Session 3 - Scene 1 (of 4)

Discussing what to do next, it suddenly occurs to Merend and Krolec that they should probably recover the body the group found in the sewers to make sure it gets a proper burial. While this is going on, Quinn takes the opportunity to step away quietly. He’s still a bit annoyed with being yelled at for not going down into the sewers (which he knew were too dangerous), and needs some time by himself to cool off.

Merend is also concerned about finding the dead man’s next of kin. Although the sewers are not technically city limits and therefore they have legal salvage rights to the diamond and the money they found, he’s concerned about a potential moral obligation to return the money to the victim’s family. Because of the dangers they faced last time, Krolec declares they will wait until everyone has had a chance to rest up before heading back down.

Around this time, the local militia forces have finally arrived to the plaza area – three soldiers, one wearing the insignia of a sergeant. The sergeant introduces himself as Sgt. Gerdrand. He is a tall, lanky man with a gruff demeanor. Getting straight to business, he asks for details on what happened.

Krolec gives a brief explanation about the drow attack, with Sgt. Gerdrand grunting in acknowledgement at various points. The sergeant is somewhat surprised by the drow attacks, as the drow typically don’t operate in the area. He is unfamiliar with the mysterious man in the purple cloak as well. He is not, however, surprised to hear about the dangerous vermin in the sewers. Gerdrand remarks on how he’d never go down in the sewers because they are too wild and dangerous. He then proceeds to dispatch his men down there to recover the body Krolec mentioned.

Sgt. Gerdrand recognizes the body once his men pull it out of the sewers. He identifies the man as Pace, a local thief and a drunk. Gerdrand surmises that Pace probably went down into the sewers while drunk, then slipped and injured himself – causing him to drown in the sewer waters.

To Merend’s relief, Pace is not known to have any kin. According to Gerdrand, not much is known about Pace’s personal life except that he lived out of a room in a flophouse over on Orchard Street. However, they also learn from the sergeant that Pace disappeared about a week ago, after he reportedly stole a valuable diamond from a wealthy woman in Winterhaven. Merend ponders whether or not they have an obligation to return the diamond to the woman he stole it from, but says nothing in front of Gerdrand.

With nothing more to discuss, Sgt. Gerdrand and his men collect the other bodies of the drow (and the charred corpse of Betsy the horse) and begin carting them off to the potter’s field. Everyone decides to go back to their homes to rest up for the journey to Harkenwold in the morning. Al decides to take one of the drow’s short swords, while Leigh sells the rest of the drow weapons off for a few gold pieces.

On her way back to her cabin, Shaelynna stops at a butcher shop to purchase a side of beef and some extra scraps to feed Dilis with on the trip. She stuffs it all comfortably (if a bit messily) into a large sack.

Merend decides to go talk to his cousin Berend at the local temple before heading out on the trip. He wants to make sure to get his cousin’s perspective on the other members of the group. Arriving at the temple, he also finds the local temple guardian and priest of Pelor, a gruff dwarf named Grundelmar.

Grundelmar is happy the drow situation was dealt with, but complains about his parishioners having problems on the road to Harkenwold from a group of a dozen or so bandits. Grundelmar claims the bandits operate out of the ruins of Raven’s Roost. Merend floats the idea of the group taking care of the bandit problem, but is looking to see if there is any reward to be had. Grundelmar responds that he has put all his money into establishing the temple, but he will gladly reward the group with priestly favors should they eliminate the bandits. Merend agrees to bring up the idea with the group.
Now Prepping: One-shot adventures for Coriolis, RuneQuest (classic), Numenera, 7th Sea 2nd edition, and Adventures in Middle-Earth.

Recently Ended: Palladium Fantasy - Warlords of the Wastelands: A fantasy campaign beginning in the Baalgor Wastelands, where characters emerge from the oppressive kingdom of the giants. Read about it here.