Requilac
2018-12-31, 06:08 PM
If you are currently playing in my Campaign Eldritch Dissonance, please do not read this thread.
Greetings playgrounders, I have come to ask for the help of those who are more experienced than I for help in designing the events of the final adventuring day of a campaign. This was my first campaign I ever started, and although I am currently running another campaign and have done about 5 or so 4-hour one shots, this is my first time ever creating an adventuring day this important and at such a high level. The campaign has gone on for 13 months now and through that the PCs have grown from level 5 to 15, where they currently are now. In 14 days I will begin the final adventuring day of this campaign. The problem is that I am massively inexperienced with high level play such as this, and my earlier work with adventure design for the past few levels has been a little rough and filled with mistakes. I don't want to end the campaign with making the same mistakes I have been doing for far too long.
Of course to get the help I need I will need to lay out some context, but as is expected from a 13 month long campaign, the storyline is very complex, so I will try to be as simple as possible. The story started when a force of creatures from the Elemental Plane of Water, under the control of an Aboleth's ghost, invaded the Material Plane. The PCs hatched a plan to ruin their organization, morale and the telepathic link that connects them all together (let's just leave it at that for simplicity's sake) by forcing the Aboleth's ghost, which is trapped in a specific location on the Material Plane, to manifest in physical form and then killing it. The players will be aided an army of rogue water elemental creatures, fire elemental creatures and dinosaur riding druids, though they exist more for establishing immersion and preventing disbelief than any sort of practical use (as a side note, the PCs are still dramatically more powerful than all of the troops present). The problem with this plan though is that the Aboleth's death site is within seeing view of the main outpost of the enemy water creatures, who will strike on them as the PCs allies are trying to summon the ghost. Many combat encounters will occur until the ghost is finally manifested at the end.
I was probably going to make sure that the goal seems plausible by having an army aid them, but I would bypass all the rules regarding mass combat by simply having the PCs fight a small portion of the enemy's army themself and treat it like normal combat. What I could do is simply run a 4-hour long slogfest where they simply face wave after wave of enemies on a static environment, but this seems like a much too boring and tedious ending for a campaign that has lasted for over a year. So playground, what should I do to make this ending a little more interesting then such a stodgy hack' n' slash'? I have compiled a list below of the different areas I need help in.
1) The enemy will not attack them immediately, so of course there will be scouting down on the player's side to recognize when the enemy is approaching. Is there a way that I can make the scouting missions for the PCs more entertaining than a few perception checks? Should I even include scouting missions at all, or simply let the enemies attack?
2) What enemies should I pit against a level 15 party for this epic finale? The enemy's ranks consist mostly of Sahaugin, aquatic aberrations, and undead (why there are so many undead present isn't particularly important for you all). I have a tendency to skyrocket monster stats to raise their CR, use the statblock of something to represent a different creature, and add extra features to prexisitng monsters, so I am fine with editing monsters if they don't fit perfectly. The only enemy I know will be included is an Adult Green Shadow Dragon (this is necessary to include for a reason not especially relevant to you), but I still have so many other encounters to stock up with.
3) What monster could I possibly use to represent the Ghost of an Aboleth? I simply plan on giving ghost features to an Aboleth then skyrocketing their stats, but this doesn't seem like it would give enough character and personality to such an important monster.
4) The players have found it necessary for their allied army to assist them to maintain immersion in the story, but they do not want to end the game following masss combat rules. So far I have mostly just had the players individually fight a small fractions of the enemie's army when they fight, treating it as if they were fighting alone. But if this occurs then sometimes their own allies or other enemies may shift into the PCs slice of the battlefield and form an obstruction. But how would I properly represent enemies and allies whom the players are not engaged in moving across the field, because they will not stay in one place. I could randomly move new obstructions in and out every turn, but that would take much too long to do and break the rhythm of the game.
5) The environment in which the players will be fighting is a rocky coastline, much like that seen in Maine of the USA (https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/yaLPFlT7WN8AKCy8WJ4Y-L7PKL0=/1072x500/https://public-media.smithsonianjourneys.org/filer/95/80/95801541-5c09-4566-84ad-21d41f85a705/me_acadianpg_schoodicsection_tb.jpeg). I could randomly place rocks and tiny inlets over the place, but it wouldn't look very natural. How would I create an battlefield which feels like a real place and not something I cobbled together with odd paterns?
6) How many encounters should the players go through?. I would much rather prefer fewer fights with higher difficulty to make the whole thing feel much more rapid and exciting, so my preferred number is four combat encounters. On the other hand, I do recognize that it is expected to have more encounters in an adventuring day. Would four be acceptable, or should I aim for higher?
7) What could I do to bring more to the final adventure than mere combat? Don't get me wrong, I am playing with a group of mostly optomizers that enjoy combat above all else, but even four hours straight of initiative may frustrate them. Aside from some scouting, I don't know what else I could do to make things more exciting.
8) What effect should the exorcising of the Aboleth have on the environment? I have considered making it so that the waves might start crashing onto the battlefield and that rocks may be flung onto it at random, but some more dramatic effects befitting for an Aboleth I feel are in order.
If it matters to you, the party consists of...
- a champion/swashbuckler multiclass with a focus on archery
- a war mage that spends most of their time casting explosive evocation spells
- a bard whose main role is to cast spells which control the battlefield
- an Old One warlock/paladin multiclass who is both great with eldritch blast and shield + rapier melee
- an illusion wizard whose spells are themed around messing with their enemy's mind, especially debuffs. After being denied from playing as a Mystic, this player tried their best to create a wizard who was as close as possible to a Mystic.
And that should be all. I send my thanks in advance to anyone who helps me here.
Greetings playgrounders, I have come to ask for the help of those who are more experienced than I for help in designing the events of the final adventuring day of a campaign. This was my first campaign I ever started, and although I am currently running another campaign and have done about 5 or so 4-hour one shots, this is my first time ever creating an adventuring day this important and at such a high level. The campaign has gone on for 13 months now and through that the PCs have grown from level 5 to 15, where they currently are now. In 14 days I will begin the final adventuring day of this campaign. The problem is that I am massively inexperienced with high level play such as this, and my earlier work with adventure design for the past few levels has been a little rough and filled with mistakes. I don't want to end the campaign with making the same mistakes I have been doing for far too long.
Of course to get the help I need I will need to lay out some context, but as is expected from a 13 month long campaign, the storyline is very complex, so I will try to be as simple as possible. The story started when a force of creatures from the Elemental Plane of Water, under the control of an Aboleth's ghost, invaded the Material Plane. The PCs hatched a plan to ruin their organization, morale and the telepathic link that connects them all together (let's just leave it at that for simplicity's sake) by forcing the Aboleth's ghost, which is trapped in a specific location on the Material Plane, to manifest in physical form and then killing it. The players will be aided an army of rogue water elemental creatures, fire elemental creatures and dinosaur riding druids, though they exist more for establishing immersion and preventing disbelief than any sort of practical use (as a side note, the PCs are still dramatically more powerful than all of the troops present). The problem with this plan though is that the Aboleth's death site is within seeing view of the main outpost of the enemy water creatures, who will strike on them as the PCs allies are trying to summon the ghost. Many combat encounters will occur until the ghost is finally manifested at the end.
I was probably going to make sure that the goal seems plausible by having an army aid them, but I would bypass all the rules regarding mass combat by simply having the PCs fight a small portion of the enemy's army themself and treat it like normal combat. What I could do is simply run a 4-hour long slogfest where they simply face wave after wave of enemies on a static environment, but this seems like a much too boring and tedious ending for a campaign that has lasted for over a year. So playground, what should I do to make this ending a little more interesting then such a stodgy hack' n' slash'? I have compiled a list below of the different areas I need help in.
1) The enemy will not attack them immediately, so of course there will be scouting down on the player's side to recognize when the enemy is approaching. Is there a way that I can make the scouting missions for the PCs more entertaining than a few perception checks? Should I even include scouting missions at all, or simply let the enemies attack?
2) What enemies should I pit against a level 15 party for this epic finale? The enemy's ranks consist mostly of Sahaugin, aquatic aberrations, and undead (why there are so many undead present isn't particularly important for you all). I have a tendency to skyrocket monster stats to raise their CR, use the statblock of something to represent a different creature, and add extra features to prexisitng monsters, so I am fine with editing monsters if they don't fit perfectly. The only enemy I know will be included is an Adult Green Shadow Dragon (this is necessary to include for a reason not especially relevant to you), but I still have so many other encounters to stock up with.
3) What monster could I possibly use to represent the Ghost of an Aboleth? I simply plan on giving ghost features to an Aboleth then skyrocketing their stats, but this doesn't seem like it would give enough character and personality to such an important monster.
4) The players have found it necessary for their allied army to assist them to maintain immersion in the story, but they do not want to end the game following masss combat rules. So far I have mostly just had the players individually fight a small fractions of the enemie's army when they fight, treating it as if they were fighting alone. But if this occurs then sometimes their own allies or other enemies may shift into the PCs slice of the battlefield and form an obstruction. But how would I properly represent enemies and allies whom the players are not engaged in moving across the field, because they will not stay in one place. I could randomly move new obstructions in and out every turn, but that would take much too long to do and break the rhythm of the game.
5) The environment in which the players will be fighting is a rocky coastline, much like that seen in Maine of the USA (https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/yaLPFlT7WN8AKCy8WJ4Y-L7PKL0=/1072x500/https://public-media.smithsonianjourneys.org/filer/95/80/95801541-5c09-4566-84ad-21d41f85a705/me_acadianpg_schoodicsection_tb.jpeg). I could randomly place rocks and tiny inlets over the place, but it wouldn't look very natural. How would I create an battlefield which feels like a real place and not something I cobbled together with odd paterns?
6) How many encounters should the players go through?. I would much rather prefer fewer fights with higher difficulty to make the whole thing feel much more rapid and exciting, so my preferred number is four combat encounters. On the other hand, I do recognize that it is expected to have more encounters in an adventuring day. Would four be acceptable, or should I aim for higher?
7) What could I do to bring more to the final adventure than mere combat? Don't get me wrong, I am playing with a group of mostly optomizers that enjoy combat above all else, but even four hours straight of initiative may frustrate them. Aside from some scouting, I don't know what else I could do to make things more exciting.
8) What effect should the exorcising of the Aboleth have on the environment? I have considered making it so that the waves might start crashing onto the battlefield and that rocks may be flung onto it at random, but some more dramatic effects befitting for an Aboleth I feel are in order.
If it matters to you, the party consists of...
- a champion/swashbuckler multiclass with a focus on archery
- a war mage that spends most of their time casting explosive evocation spells
- a bard whose main role is to cast spells which control the battlefield
- an Old One warlock/paladin multiclass who is both great with eldritch blast and shield + rapier melee
- an illusion wizard whose spells are themed around messing with their enemy's mind, especially debuffs. After being denied from playing as a Mystic, this player tried their best to create a wizard who was as close as possible to a Mystic.
And that should be all. I send my thanks in advance to anyone who helps me here.