Kol Korran
2014-03-17, 09:15 AM
So, I have been playing this module with my party (Planning on doing the entire path), but we're not that satisfied with the design so far, so on some points I've changed stuff. This has been quite fun so far. (Got a log in my sig, but that's not important for this thread)
In a session or two the party will get to the top of the Gray Garrison, fight the oracle and her demons, crash the Wardstone fragment and... face the incredibly boring and disappointing encounter called Areelu's revenge. That encoutner is wrong on... so many levels. It fails to do Areelu any credit, keep any sort of intimidation affect, is an entire cake walk and the opposite of a climax, aaaaaaannnnd- it robs the party of a whole level of roleplay fun.
So I was thinking of doing something instead. My goals:
1) Make Areelu Vorlesh feel like a force to be reckoned with. Sure, The wardstone may prevent the witch' spell affecting directly, but she might have many more resources, influences and other mojo to pull.
2) Make a fitting, climactic scene, befitting the heroes who now hold the powerful mystic power in their souls.
3) My ideas (Will come soon) can be battle oriented, but they really don't have to be. They can also be something more subtle, mystical, trickery and more.
4) I hope for one intense/ complex/ rolling encounter, but one that might give enough XP. It need not be by defeating and killing foes, but it does need to feel worth a level.
5) I want it to tax the characters to the max.
My current idea is fairly the same idea, with slight variations, but it is not complete:
Basically After being burned by the Wardstone's power, Vorlesh calls upon the power of Deskari. She then somehow either plunge the heroes into the hells, or bring the hells to them. she either tears down some of the walls of thee wardstone room, revealing the plains of the hells beyond (The characters are left on a sort of ruin of the former room, somehow now in hell.
Oooorrr.. the ground drops beneath the party, and they fall to the hells (a short distance, via MAGIC).
Or Vorlesh sends out her hand, and it becomes huge, as the room and party becomes small, until they are in the palm of her hand, with the surface of her hand as a "sort of hell" (but hand shaped).
The idea from this point is "swarms/ waves of demons" (mostly lower kind)
And the party needs to sort of.... escape from hell. They need to accomplish something, find a route back or something, or the like. Only I can't quite think of what this will be. One idea is that the gods arrange some sort of help for them, but I'd rather avoid that. Someone in their team might have some sort of clue (They may be traveling with a maddned dwarf/ semi oracle), but that feels a bit of a cop out as well. Ideally, I'd like it to be somethign the party thing of themselves.
One option, if we're takign the "you're all in the palm of my hand" idea above, is that the party comes to damage the pillars (fingers) of Areelu, though that feels a bit computer- game style.
So, any ideas? Either to finish my idea, or rather entirely other ideas?
Thanks!
In a session or two the party will get to the top of the Gray Garrison, fight the oracle and her demons, crash the Wardstone fragment and... face the incredibly boring and disappointing encounter called Areelu's revenge. That encoutner is wrong on... so many levels. It fails to do Areelu any credit, keep any sort of intimidation affect, is an entire cake walk and the opposite of a climax, aaaaaaannnnd- it robs the party of a whole level of roleplay fun.
So I was thinking of doing something instead. My goals:
1) Make Areelu Vorlesh feel like a force to be reckoned with. Sure, The wardstone may prevent the witch' spell affecting directly, but she might have many more resources, influences and other mojo to pull.
2) Make a fitting, climactic scene, befitting the heroes who now hold the powerful mystic power in their souls.
3) My ideas (Will come soon) can be battle oriented, but they really don't have to be. They can also be something more subtle, mystical, trickery and more.
4) I hope for one intense/ complex/ rolling encounter, but one that might give enough XP. It need not be by defeating and killing foes, but it does need to feel worth a level.
5) I want it to tax the characters to the max.
My current idea is fairly the same idea, with slight variations, but it is not complete:
Basically After being burned by the Wardstone's power, Vorlesh calls upon the power of Deskari. She then somehow either plunge the heroes into the hells, or bring the hells to them. she either tears down some of the walls of thee wardstone room, revealing the plains of the hells beyond (The characters are left on a sort of ruin of the former room, somehow now in hell.
Oooorrr.. the ground drops beneath the party, and they fall to the hells (a short distance, via MAGIC).
Or Vorlesh sends out her hand, and it becomes huge, as the room and party becomes small, until they are in the palm of her hand, with the surface of her hand as a "sort of hell" (but hand shaped).
The idea from this point is "swarms/ waves of demons" (mostly lower kind)
And the party needs to sort of.... escape from hell. They need to accomplish something, find a route back or something, or the like. Only I can't quite think of what this will be. One idea is that the gods arrange some sort of help for them, but I'd rather avoid that. Someone in their team might have some sort of clue (They may be traveling with a maddned dwarf/ semi oracle), but that feels a bit of a cop out as well. Ideally, I'd like it to be somethign the party thing of themselves.
One option, if we're takign the "you're all in the palm of my hand" idea above, is that the party comes to damage the pillars (fingers) of Areelu, though that feels a bit computer- game style.
So, any ideas? Either to finish my idea, or rather entirely other ideas?
Thanks!