PDA

View Full Version : D&D 4e need some advice on a few bits missing from the campaign



Sipex
2011-01-21, 02:17 PM
Alright, as far as things are looking so far I have the PCs heading to a various number of plot points because these points contain things the PCs are looking for (Macguffins essentially).

These events will take place from levels 11-20 and the current party make up is:
Half-elf Wizard - Controller focused, also very intelligent IRL. Tends to bring real world science into the mix and is fairly trustworthy to not be lying out his rear when he does so.
Tiefling Infernalock - Very spontaneous and uses her 'charisma' to her advantage a lot of the time. Also likes to burn things and has story based amnesia caused by an odd tattoo on her arm. Currently being persuaded by the demon who gifter her with her powers to do things like kill people he wants dead.
Eladrin Dual Wielding Fighter - Has a psychic link to a horse who is her reincarnated lover. Secret plot stuffs also shows horse becoming a pegasus sometime during this level stretch. She's relatively plot friendly.
Half-elf Rogue - Has more bluff than god and uses it whenever he can. Also likes to sneak around for reconnascance or just general snooping.
DMPC Dwarven Cleric so he's obviously not going to go about actively poking holes but he won't ignore them if the party finds one. Has mostly healing based rituals.

They also have an airship which is capable of transporting the lot of them but does require fuel (to a limit which I haven't yet decided) and a crew (an engineer who maintains and flies it, a mentor style character who runs their guild and a few spare PCs they invented because they like making characters and we integrated them into the story but not the active party).

The scenarios are as follows:

The Dungeon of Eternal Darkness
The PCs will reach a dungeon which has a sort of curse on it (caused by the macguffin within) which causes the entire dungeon to be plunged into darkness. This darkness has it's own initiative and actively harms players while they're in it, it also actively kills any light sources on it's turn (so light can be temporarily shed). There is an exception to this though, there are magical lanterns in the dungeon with differing weights, sizes and light radius. These lanterns are immune to the darkness.
Point of this dungeon is that the PCs have to work together to stay out of the darkness and get around hazards, kill enemies and solve puzzles.

I want to add enemies who favour the dark and can use this against the PCs. One type will be Cavern Chokers who will wait for a PC to leave the safety of their light bubble (which will be momentarily forced on them from time to time to solve the puzzles) and grapple them out of sight to let the darkness choke the life out of said PCs.

Only problem is, I need a fair way of keeping the PC quiet during this as well (but with some sort of fairness to it, none of this no save business) and an explanation on how this works. This trick will only really work once so I need it to work well and 'yell' is far too easy of a save for this at paragon levels (plus I have really creative PCs so I'd really like to make them think of a more complex solution).

I will obviously render this moot if luck is on the PCs side and they manage make their save/whatever to make noise.

The cursed village

A hermit near a small village out in the middle of nowhere finds a Macguffin and the PCs are alerted of this. The PCs arrive and are planned to get the Macguffin easily (from the dying hermit) but will then be haunted by a Nightwalker who is actively attempting to get the Macguffin and hide it away (macguffin is bad voodoo but the PCs don't know this).

During this time the Nightwalker is going to do it's best to remain out of sight because I'm trying to make this creepy as possible (it's sentient and delights in seriously messing with people so it fits). It will start converting the villagers into Bodaks too (thus causing people to dissapear but leave no bodies) in order to get this item. Bodaks have the ability to dissapear at will so it'll make for some fun creepy shenanigans.

My first problem is I want some feasable reason that doesn't sound completely hackeneyed, for the Nightwalker and Bodaks not to be able to enter residences (although possibly with being allowed in). Being shadowfell creatures I can rule that they hide during the daylight though so the PCs can still wander around town to figure out what is happening without immediately getting jumped.

Second problem, I need a reason why the PCs don't simply ship out of town with the item. This includes by foot and by airship (there is no set portal here and the wizard doesn't get true portal until later).

Third problem, I need advice on keeping the PCs from hunting the beast down once they realise that something is after them. Power isn't an issue, we're talking a Nightwalker and a village full of Bodaks (depending on how long the PCs wait). I will be running this one particularily early as well so they stand even less of a chance. I just need to convince them that the solution isn't "KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT".

Any further advice would be nice too.

rayne_dragon
2011-01-21, 03:34 PM
Biggest problem I can see is with your Dungeon of Eternal Darkness. It's a cool idea, but the party has a wizard so they may be able to get by with just the wizard's light cantrip since light sources aren't immediately extinguished.

As for keeping the grappled party members quiet... maybe the darkness muffles sounds so much that an active listen check would be needed to hear them yelling? Or perhaps give some sort of silence ability to the chokers (have them be choker mages or access to some sort of zone of silence ritual).

Now the village...

Perhaps the Bodaks and Nightwalker avoid all light except in dire need, so as long as the villagers have a light going in their homes they're fine, thus the nightwalker (et al) needs to trick them into coming into the darkness. The other thing I can think of is the old fairy tales that suggest keeping something iron over doors and windows to keep the fair folk from stealing your children, so perhaps the village has a tradition like that which is effective for these creatures. Or just use the vampiric tradition of not being able to enter a residence unless invited.

Perhaps there could be rumors of another macguffin in the area so that the players feel the need to stick around and look for it. This could either be a red herring or not as fits your campaign. Another possibility is you could try to arrange it so that the party runs out of fuel at this point, but there is a supply they can get access to near the village. Perhaps it even needs to be mined or otherwise extracted by the crew, putting them at risk of a Bodak attack themselves....

As for having the PCs not fight the nightwalker... maybe local legend suggests that a powerful creature in the area is responsible for something in the area the people need to live and if it was killed they'd all die. This can tie into the villagers having a reason to know of a folklore method to keep the nightwalker and company out of their homes. Have them play up the nightwalker as an immortal, godlike creature that can't be hurt at all and that if they suggest they're going to kill it have them try to talk the players out of it.

Sipex
2011-01-21, 04:19 PM
Thank you, you gave me a lot to think about and it's exactly what I needed to hear.

For the darkness, I did forget to mention that the darkness destroys the source of light in mundane cases (ie: Sunrods, candles, torches) but I realise I can't do this with the light cantrip because then I'd be destroying implements and such. I'll add in a caveat, everytime the wizard's light cantrip is extinguished the wizard will take a set amount of damage (possibly damage equal to his level). This will mean he can still use it but will be actively discouraged from it and will have a limit to it.

I like the idea about the darkness suffocating sound, it really fits the feeling of the dungeon. I'll make it so sounds in the darkness are distorted and muffled and sort of sound like they're coming from everywhere. This will require a pretty hard perception check to locate the abducted PC while giving them incentive to try creative things as well.

For the village...

I love the idea of having iron over the entrance (or some other thing, basic premise anywho) to keep them out. I'll make it an ancient tradition, so old that the villagers don't even know why they do it anymore and it's not really something you notice. This will give something for the PCs to investigate and some research topics about the town (plus it's cool history).

This also fits with some of the horror themes I'm implementing like having Bodaks slam on the windows to attempt to break in (as not all windows are guarded like the doors).

Not fighting is tricky though, and I need some time to consider what you've input.

I am shooting for a more 'mystery horror' type thing where the PCs don't even know the Nightwalker exists at first (just the violent Bodaks, with the hermit becoming the first one and even then they only catch glimpses at first).

Expanded on the feel (spoilered for long)

It's this whole creepy story with a little girl who lives at the inn where the PCs will be staying, she idolises them (as they're cool PCs in adventuring gear, c'mon) and LOVES to draw. I'll have lots of crayon made props for this part.

Anywho she starts with a lot of normal pictures, her and her daddy, etc. One is her and her friend which is just a picture of her with no friend. Her parents are all "That's her imaginary friend" and laughs are had.

She, naturally, combines her two interests of the moment and starts drawing the PCs whenever she's with them. All doing what they're doing now.

Once bodaks start to wreak havoc (yet the PCs haven't officially seen more than a glance of one) she'll start including drawings of those too as 'the grey people'. She'll have lines like "This is a one of the grey people visiting Mr. Greenwald last night." and of course, Mr. Greenwald has mysteriously dissapeared now.

She'll also talk about her best friend (the imaginary friend) who lives in the forest with all the animals and how he's searching for something and start drawing pictures of the PCs doing things when she wasn't even there to see it. When asked she'll say her best friend told her everything.

People keep dissapearing as the PCs try to get out of there and put plans into motion. Eventually they'll start seeing more Bodaks in different ways "You some sort of face peering in the window, within a blink of your eye it's gone." or "You notice something behind you in the mirror." (naturally it's outside and looking back it's gone.

This goes on and on until one of the PCs finds a black crayon. The little girl is exstatic and begs for it saying "I can draw my best friend now!" to which I'll gather the party around and update the picture of the little girl by herself with that of a very tall, pure black figure (still badly drawn of course).

BUT WAIT! She goes through all her pictures, ones she's drawn of the party with her or when the party is alone and in every one she adds her black figure, peering through the window, watching the PCs from a distance, standing in the trees, just outside the village during daytime.

Thanks a load though, you've really helped.

Grogmir
2011-01-21, 04:42 PM
DOED, I'm not so sure - constant darkness and attacking them everywhere turn? even while just walking about out of combat? Could really slow things down.

I would rule: All light sources magically or otherwise are limited to 2sqs.
General Fort attacks or endurance checks everyhour or after every encounter to simulate the 'creeping cold'. Failure = Weakened and 1HS damage. Heal check to fixed Weakened. Save after a short rest.

Then use the more aggressive light snuffing for the final encounter - that way it'll be a surprise tactically but also fit in with the dungeon. Snuff's sound is also a good idea.

I like the light source idea - but why would light sources by in the DOED? Perhaps another explorer had got so far?

Could be a good puzzle of some kind though, say they final a chamber with 100 torches on poles, each will stay light for a certain amount time, to bring forth the final baddy they have to light them all at once. Some will last 10 turns, other 5, some 3 and a few only 1. Standard action to light. Then watch as the players try and find ways to light more than one each turn.

Throw in a religion check to read the symbol that has a riddle on it - thats answer is something light related and there is something for everyone. Especially if a few torches are trapped and EXPLODE when light he he.

As for the Cavern Chokers and them immobilising & stunning the PCs and also having them not able to move or speek. Whats the problem? Just have the monster do exactly that. Have it an recharge power 5/6 and you're good to go. Bonus points for making the player actually sit still and say nothing.
Why does it work? Well their grabbed by the tentacles and immob'd and stunned thats the poison. Consider having to make an extra attack to have the effects work. Saves needed for both. This isn't heroic anymore!

Re The Cursed Village TCV.

Love the Iron Gate idea. Run with that its not just the Gate, walls, roofs all covered, have this be the most important thing in town. Prized above water. Why well its just tradition right? We have 62" TVs. This information is given on a successful background check of tcv.

Also love the little girl. that creeped me out just reading about you describing drawing that black figure at the game table!

When the players get to the village they will find that the supply of metal has dried up, people are starting to nick it off each other, and supplies are running short.

This leaves the following clues for the party to gather on the situation.

General Religion knowledge about Iron legends and putting two and two together on the missing people.
The little girl, might be good if this took Diplomacy to get her to draw 'her real friends'
Talk to the local Miner who's mine had to shut down causing the shortage. Of course it was a NW, Bodak attack.

Question: Where exactly is the Macguffin at this point? I think that is important. The PCs expected to get it easierly, but they will be haunted. so they have the MG? but are prevented from leaving? Or does the NW have it? Then why is it still attacking? Perhaps the hermit hid it somewhere?

Perhaps Mr. Greenwald was connected to the Hermit? Perhaps there's another person in town that is also in someway connect to this mysterious trio that knows about the McGuffin?

Possible encounters then?
Looking at the mines - Bodak attack
Saving the third trio member from attack that night.
General attack on the village - although I would save this for later.
Have the Macguffin hidden some sort of puzzle.

Then the final encounter where the NW reveals itself and the Bodak attack the village - do they attack the NW or save the villagers!

The Black Crayon is difficult, I'm sure if one of the players found one somewhere they would give it to the girl. But when to reveal its a NW? and where are they going to find it. Not too sure.

Well there's my thoughts. Very specific at times and useless at others but I hope it helps.

Grog.

rayne_dragon
2011-01-21, 05:00 PM
That's not a bad idea for the wizard's light spell, although I'd suggest making the damage half the wizard's level to make it slightly less brutal.



Not fighting is tricky though, and I need some time to consider what you've input.


In addition you could maybe have the little girl (love the idea, by the way) drop some hints like saying stuff like "my friend can't be hurt 'cause his body isn't really there" or "my friend is invincible!" or "weapons don't hurt my friend" so that they should get the idea that they can't fight this thing. You could also put a book in somewhere that mentions an ancient evil that can only be imprisoned, not fought (bonus points if you entitle it Unpronounable Cults :smalltongue:).

Sipex
2011-01-24, 11:20 AM
First, thank you both for your input, I love getting other perspectives because it really helps make the game better. I'm going to quote/reply to each of you since you both had quite lengthy responses

Grogmir


DOED, I'm not so sure - constant darkness and attacking them everywhere turn? even while just walking about out of combat? Could really slow things down.

I would rule: All light sources magically or otherwise are limited to 2sqs.
General Fort attacks or endurance checks everyhour or after every encounter to simulate the 'creeping cold'. Failure = Weakened and 1HS damage. Heal check to fixed Weakened. Save after a short rest.

I haven't officially decided on what kind of attack happens but I do need to clarify something. While in the light the PCs are fine, they are not susceptable to attack from the darkness. This includes self-made light (even though it's extinguished relatively quickly). It's just a sort of motivation I put in to make them stay out of the dark as much as possible.

Keeping the light sources limited is key because I have planned out each section of the dungeon to rely on X number of lantern carriers so the PCs have to stick and work together.

First section has two standard lanterns which light up a burst 1 or 2 area (still tweaking that). This way the PCs stay in two groups.

Second section has a large stone lantern which takes up a square of it's own and must be carried by two PCs together (handles on each side) at normal walking speed or one PC who is slowed while carrying it (to simulate dragging) or cannot take standard actions (to simulate both hands full and the weight management). This will be up to the PCs how they handle this. It will have a larger area allowing the party to move forward without being incredibly restricted.


Then use the more aggressive light snuffing for the final encounter - that way it'll be a surprise tactically but also fit in with the dungeon. Snuff's sound is also a good idea.

I like the light source idea - but why would light sources by in the DOED? Perhaps another explorer had got so far?

Could be a good puzzle of some kind though, say they final a chamber with 100 torches on poles, each will stay light for a certain amount time, to bring forth the final baddy they have to light them all at once. Some will last 10 turns, other 5, some 3 and a few only 1. Standard action to light. Then watch as the players try and find ways to light more than one each turn.

Throw in a religion check to read the symbol that has a riddle on it - thats answer is something light related and there is something for everyone. Especially if a few torches are trapped and EXPLODE when light he he.

I love this idea and I'm definitely going to use it. Thank you. I will point out that the existing light sources are there for a purpose. This is a temple which was built to hide the Macguffin away because of the danger it poses. The light sources were put in place in the odd event that the macguffin would need to be recovered.


As for the Cavern Chokers and them immobilising & stunning the PCs and also having them not able to move or speek. Whats the problem? Just have the monster do exactly that. Have it an recharge power 5/6 and you're good to go. Bonus points for making the player actually sit still and say nothing.
Why does it work? Well their grabbed by the tentacles and immob'd and stunned thats the poison. Consider having to make an extra attack to have the effects work. Saves needed for both. This isn't heroic anymore!

I wasn't thinking stunned, just restrained and immobilised. This way the PC can fight it off while their allies (but will be taking a -6 to all attacks as -2 for restrained and -4 for complete concealment by the creature). I do like the PC staying silent though, I'll give them a note and say they can't say anything out loud.


Re The Cursed Village TCV.

Love the Iron Gate idea. Run with that its not just the Gate, walls, roofs all covered, have this be the most important thing in town. Prized above water. Why well its just tradition right? We have 62" TVs. This information is given on a successful background check of tcv.

Also love the little girl. that creeped me out just reading about you describing drawing that black figure at the game table!

When the players get to the village they will find that the supply of metal has dried up, people are starting to nick it off each other, and supplies are running short.

This leaves the following clues for the party to gather on the situation.

General Religion knowledge about Iron legends and putting two and two together on the missing people.
The little girl, might be good if this took Diplomacy to get her to draw 'her real friends'
Talk to the local Miner who's mine had to shut down causing the shortage. Of course it was a NW, Bodak attack.

Interesting take on the situation, I'm really shining up to the mine idea. Maybe the PCs need to 'bodak proof' their airship before they can leave.


Question: Where exactly is the Macguffin at this point? I think that is important. The PCs expected to get it easierly, but they will be haunted. so they have the MG? but are prevented from leaving? Or does the NW have it? Then why is it still attacking? Perhaps the hermit hid it somewhere?

Actually, I fully intend to give them the Macguffin early. They find the hermit, half dead, retreated into his cabin clutching the Macguffin. The door to the cabin is beat up pretty badly and the windows are all cracked from impact blows. When the PCs go to him he grabs one (I'll be grabbing them IRL too) and goes "DON'T LET IT IIIIIIINNNNNNN" and dies.

The NW just wants the Macguffin to take it away, far away and hide it. Of course, it's evil, so it's not going to ask nicely and the PCs don't know the Macguffins are bad yet, they just know that a cult they're fighting is after them.


Perhaps Mr. Greenwald was connected to the Hermit? Perhaps there's another person in town that is also in someway connect to this mysterious trio that knows about the McGuffin?

Possible encounters then?
Looking at the mines - Bodak attack
Saving the third trio member from attack that night.
General attack on the village - although I would save this for later.
Have the Macguffin hidden some sort of puzzle.

I like this, but Mr. Greenwald is just sort of a throw-away NPC name I came up with on the spot. Since this will be a low encounter high mystery mission I'll make sure to add a lot of background information to uncover however.


Then the final encounter where the NW reveals itself and the Bodak attack the village - do they attack the NW or save the villagers!

While my PCs may do anything my end goal is this:

The PCs eventually find those staying at the inn (the innkeeper, his daughter, themselves and their airship crew) to be the only ones left in town and their engineer is working on the solution to get them the hell out of there but it'll be dark before he finishes. They know they can't stay, the buildings have been dropping like flies, every night another goes. The inn is the last safe haven.

So they have a final standoff while the engineer re-fits the airship (re-fuels, repairs, whatever) they must hold off the attack left 4 dead style until they can escape.


The Black Crayon is difficult, I'm sure if one of the players found one somewhere they would give it to the girl. But when to reveal its a NW? and where are they going to find it. Not too sure.

Well there's my thoughts. Very specific at times and useless at others but I hope it helps.

Grog.

Thank you for your input, it's very helpful. I'm going to look into how the Black Crayon thing goes, if the PCs have nothing on them which resembles 'black colouring item' then I'll just have the girl go on and on about how she needs black to finish her pictures. My PCs are suckers for kids so they'll look. At this point I'll have them come across some coal in the mines.

Otherwise? I'll just drop a crayon somewhere where it makes sense. Maybe the final house had a child and they find it's colouring utensils. I'll play up how the little girl is running out so they'll just instinctively bring them over to her.

Rayne_dragon


That's not a bad idea for the wizard's light spell, although I'd suggest making the damage half the wizard's level to make it slightly less brutal.

Good idea, Wizards are less harty as is so it'll help him feel useful while still avoiding substantial abuse.


In addition you could maybe have the little girl (love the idea, by the way) drop some hints like saying stuff like "my friend can't be hurt 'cause his body isn't really there" or "my friend is invincible!" or "weapons don't hurt my friend" so that they should get the idea that they can't fight this thing. You could also put a book in somewhere that mentions an ancient evil that can only be imprisoned, not fought (bonus points if you entitle it Unpronounable Cults :smalltongue:).

Hrm...this could work, I could play it up that this thing was recently released too (as part of an investigation) when the hermit originally found the Macguffin, hence, starting this entire song and dance.