Braininthejar2
2016-08-09, 07:17 PM
Hello everyone.
For the last couple of years, I've been DMing a single player campaign based on the Baldur's Gate game series. (spoilers below)
It's been a lot of fun, despite the staggering amount of work required (with the plot so centered around a single person, and well known to most other people I could RP with, it had to be a single player game, but that means coordinating lots of characters in every fight, with the level of complexity increasing with levels) with my player's ever-pragmatic druid finding lots of ways to do things differently.
Now we have reached the Suldanessalar battle, and if the party survives it, they will face the finale of this story arc next. This involves the hell trials, and... I need to tweak them a little - they were great for a computer game, but will not work as designed in a real rpg game.
Those who played Baldur's Gate, know what I'm talking about, and what the problems might be. For thos who don't, a short overview:
After the previous boss fight, in which the heroes prevented the big bad from hacking a holy tree that serves as a faith conduit between the Fearun elves and their gods, the villain was killed, but a link he had with the protagonist (as an essential part of his plan to ur-priest himself into a god, he needed some sort of divine spark to start with - he got it by ripping a piece of soul from the protagonist, who is a child of an evil dead god, left as a backup plan to power his return) dragged them both into the afterlife together.
Now they're both stuck in a pocket realm in hell, preparing for the final battle, while the divine power manifests in them, trying to "decide" the rightful bearer.
For the villain, he gets the standard "final boss" package.
For the hero, she encounteres a door that bars her from the final fight, with a number of stone 'tears' required to open - each tear requires going through some sort of a trial, and depending on her decision, she'd get some sort of permanent bonus from each (a boost to stats, spell resistance, damage reduction, etc.)
In the computer game the tests looked as follows.
PRIDE: a fiend warns the party that there is a terrible creature guarding the tear, but surely such mighty heroes won't have a problem with it - it is a dragon, which they can either kill (bonus: extra XP points) or simply ask for the tear, (bonus: elemental resistances)
FEAR: two paths lead to the tear, one full of beholders, the other filled with a powerful fear aura. The fiend garding the trial offers the hero a cloak made of nymph skins, that will make her immune to fear. (facing the monsters grants damage reduction, taking the cloak gives a constitution bonus, plus she can keep it)
SELFISHNESS: the fiend guarding the tear abducts a party member - the hero can reach the tear through a door of sacrifice (which will eat her a point of dexterity and a couple hit points) or the door of selfishness ( which will kill the trapped companion). The good choice gives spell resistance, while the evil choice gives natural armor. (a popular mod allows the player to simply attack the fiend - I don't remember what the reward is)
GREED: a fiend warns the party of a terrible guardian, and gives them a magic weapon to kill him with. (originally a sword, but the player is a druid, so I'd need some evil summoning-themed staff - any idea?) The guardian is a genie bound to the trial against his will - he can be killed with the weapon, or he can be freed by receiving the weapon instead. (good path gives a bonus to saves, evil path gives some extra HP, and the weapon)
WRATH: one of the previous bosses, the hero's evil brother who was the main boss of the first story arc, appears and goads her to fight him. The fight is inevitable, but depending on the player's reaction it could be a proper team effort, or her going full darkside and ripping him apart with demonic claws. (the good path gives wisdom/charisma, the evil path gives strength)
So, do you guys have any ideas for how to improve this sequence to make it work better with a proper rpg game? (especially fear - there are just too many ways to bypass the problem entirely)
For the last couple of years, I've been DMing a single player campaign based on the Baldur's Gate game series. (spoilers below)
It's been a lot of fun, despite the staggering amount of work required (with the plot so centered around a single person, and well known to most other people I could RP with, it had to be a single player game, but that means coordinating lots of characters in every fight, with the level of complexity increasing with levels) with my player's ever-pragmatic druid finding lots of ways to do things differently.
Now we have reached the Suldanessalar battle, and if the party survives it, they will face the finale of this story arc next. This involves the hell trials, and... I need to tweak them a little - they were great for a computer game, but will not work as designed in a real rpg game.
Those who played Baldur's Gate, know what I'm talking about, and what the problems might be. For thos who don't, a short overview:
After the previous boss fight, in which the heroes prevented the big bad from hacking a holy tree that serves as a faith conduit between the Fearun elves and their gods, the villain was killed, but a link he had with the protagonist (as an essential part of his plan to ur-priest himself into a god, he needed some sort of divine spark to start with - he got it by ripping a piece of soul from the protagonist, who is a child of an evil dead god, left as a backup plan to power his return) dragged them both into the afterlife together.
Now they're both stuck in a pocket realm in hell, preparing for the final battle, while the divine power manifests in them, trying to "decide" the rightful bearer.
For the villain, he gets the standard "final boss" package.
For the hero, she encounteres a door that bars her from the final fight, with a number of stone 'tears' required to open - each tear requires going through some sort of a trial, and depending on her decision, she'd get some sort of permanent bonus from each (a boost to stats, spell resistance, damage reduction, etc.)
In the computer game the tests looked as follows.
PRIDE: a fiend warns the party that there is a terrible creature guarding the tear, but surely such mighty heroes won't have a problem with it - it is a dragon, which they can either kill (bonus: extra XP points) or simply ask for the tear, (bonus: elemental resistances)
FEAR: two paths lead to the tear, one full of beholders, the other filled with a powerful fear aura. The fiend garding the trial offers the hero a cloak made of nymph skins, that will make her immune to fear. (facing the monsters grants damage reduction, taking the cloak gives a constitution bonus, plus she can keep it)
SELFISHNESS: the fiend guarding the tear abducts a party member - the hero can reach the tear through a door of sacrifice (which will eat her a point of dexterity and a couple hit points) or the door of selfishness ( which will kill the trapped companion). The good choice gives spell resistance, while the evil choice gives natural armor. (a popular mod allows the player to simply attack the fiend - I don't remember what the reward is)
GREED: a fiend warns the party of a terrible guardian, and gives them a magic weapon to kill him with. (originally a sword, but the player is a druid, so I'd need some evil summoning-themed staff - any idea?) The guardian is a genie bound to the trial against his will - he can be killed with the weapon, or he can be freed by receiving the weapon instead. (good path gives a bonus to saves, evil path gives some extra HP, and the weapon)
WRATH: one of the previous bosses, the hero's evil brother who was the main boss of the first story arc, appears and goads her to fight him. The fight is inevitable, but depending on the player's reaction it could be a proper team effort, or her going full darkside and ripping him apart with demonic claws. (the good path gives wisdom/charisma, the evil path gives strength)
So, do you guys have any ideas for how to improve this sequence to make it work better with a proper rpg game? (especially fear - there are just too many ways to bypass the problem entirely)