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mayonase
2008-08-14, 04:22 PM
Every DM feels in their heart like a director working on a film. We all know this, we all accept this, there is nothing wrong with this. We also all know that, while there's a good number of Coens and Cronenbergs out there who delve into the minute and impeccable detail of NPCs and mysterious scenarios, more often than not every DM slips into their own inner Michael Bay, where the explosions come first and the plot gets to fend for itself.

So now, I ask all the past, current, and hopefully future DMs out there: What are some of the scenes you have batting around in your head, the scenes that are so over the top, so incredible, so full of motion and violence and fire that your life won't be complete until you run a group of screaming first level PCs through it? Or, from a slightly different angle, what are some of the more epic scenes that you HAVE pulled off in this vein, and how did your players react to it?

The purpose of this thread is to brainstorm and entertain, and hopefully inspire some current or potential DM out there to reach for the stars. Those firey, nuclear, million degree stars...

I'll start things off with an idea that came to me after reading the Rituals section of the 4th Edition manual as the perfect way to start a new campaign in a new and far away city:

The PCs are on a continent that has been slowly and methodically taken over by a massive horde of _________ (Orcs, Demons, etc), complete with grand mages, heavy support from Giants and Trolls, and aerial support ranging from Harpies to Dragons. The city that the PCs are in is the last remaining free settlement, and has become the refugee evacuation point for the whole land. The adventure starts with the PCs (drafted as last-ditch militia) standing on a defensive wall of the city, watching as an army of tens of thousands of villains blots the horizon as they march steadily toward them. Victory isn't an option; the city will fall and everyone knows it. The assignment is for the guard (PCs included, of course) to stall the enemy and buy enough time for the last of the refugees to be sent to a 'new, far-away, safe land' through a permanent teleportation circle located in the city's keep that a group of mages are using to create Linked Portals. What follows is, of course, a running series of skirmishes as the bad guys hit the wall, break through the wall, and burn and anihilate every defensive position and standing structure in their path as they pour and pour into the city. The PCs fall back again and again, making the enemy earn every inch in blood, before finally barring the Keep Door and making one last ditch effort to buy the five minutes needed for the sole remaining wizard to complete his ritual and link them to their new home base.

Glyde
2008-08-14, 04:26 PM
I jumped onto the back of a hill giant with a critical from 'Soaring Raptor Strike'.

The best part was that it backed into the cave wall. Twice. Brought me to -7 the second time and I just kinda slid off, all squished.

I have also DMed a couple of epic scenes. I'm fond of the classic "First level PCs get a glimpse of the BBEG as he gets away." The evil Lich of course turns and directs his minions to kill the interlopers.

Little does he know that these first level 'interlopers' will be his undoing. Hopefully. <3

Dhavaer
2008-08-14, 04:29 PM
I want to have the PCs fighting their way along the giant adamantine chains tying the sun to the horizon.

Crow
2008-08-14, 04:37 PM
We had a pretty awesome duel once. One of the players was the Lord of a small city, which had been having a sort of "cold" war with the local goblinoid tribes. Finally one hobgoblin leader united the tribes to throw the "outsiders" out, and marched on the city.

The players' forces were outnumbered, but had fortifications, and when the goblinoid army arrived, the hobgoblin leader called the one player out. This was the first the players had seen of this guy. Everything before had been rumor.

So the player goes out and fights the hobgoblin leader in single combat, and is defeated. At this point, the player says his cohort is going to ride out and avenge him. So he rides out and charges the hob leader and they exchange blows until the hobgoblin drops him to 0 hit points. The cohort kneels down as if to accept the killing blow, but lashes out at the last minute and scores a critical that drops the hobgoblin before the cohort drops to -1 from making the attack.

I gave the friendly troops a morale bonus, and the remaining PC's in the city managed to defeat the goblinoid army in the ensuing battle.

It was quite cool, with no fudging at all, either.

monty
2008-08-14, 04:38 PM
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/comic_fragment.jpg

Now that would be truly epic.

LoneStarNorth
2008-08-14, 04:56 PM
I've DMed a couple.

First, there was the time the party took part in a raid on a local thieves' guild by the town guard. While the guards fought the mook thieves in the streets, the party fought their way to the top floor. Eventually they followed the guild leader onto the rooftops, where he sniped at them while his pet ethereal filcher went around stealing the party's weapons. They had to jump from roof to roof because their ranged weapons were taken first, and they finally killed the filcher by knocking it to the streets below. Good times.

The next really good one was when the party was trapped in a haunted house, and they knew they had until midnight before some horrific undead monstrosity came to devour their souls, etc. The monstrosity itself wasn't so bad, but what really got to them was that they had a puzzle to solve before he showed up to weaken him, and I only game them so much time to do it. The sound of my watch beeping more and more insistently actually freaked them out for reals. Also good times.

The party fought their evil opposites once (lame but fun, admit it). It could've been pretty epic if the artificer hadn't defeated all three doubles by himself.

The most recent one was when they had to defend and underground dwarven city from burrowing clockwork horrors. They fought a losing battle from the walls, to the great staircases to the upper level, to the temple, then managed to win the whole thing at once when the boss horror showed up. About half the city's population was killed, including the mayor, high priest, and captain of the guard. After that I wasn't really sure who was in charge anymore.

There were some other scenes that should've been epic, but didn't turn out that way. Win some, lose some.

JackMage666
2008-08-14, 04:56 PM
I once one-shotted a Plesiosaur with a Monk's punch. As soon as he lifted his head out of the water "Bam!" and he's out... I then used him as a bridge. My DM's jaw didn't lift for about 10 minutes.

chiasaur11
2008-08-14, 05:06 PM
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/comic_fragment.jpg

Now that would be truly epic.
Ah, XKCD. Truly, a thing of brilliance

So, how'd you run it for more than two characters (one for the moterbike, obviously)?

mayonase
2008-08-14, 05:17 PM
So, how'd you run it for more than two characters (one for the moterbike, obviously)?

Hmm...

I'm thinking burning Airship crashing into a lower level of Hell while the riding PCs have been stripped of all their weapons, armor, and clothes and with a trio of various elemental Tarasques with Balor riders waiting hungrily below.

Dr. Venture: Why are you naked?
Brock: To prey on their fear, move like an animal, to feel the kill.
Dr. Venture: Alright, now you're scaring me.

Chronicled
2008-08-14, 05:18 PM
One of my favorites was the swordsage doing a flying charge through a veritable forest of hydra heads, dodging every set of snapping jaws and kicking off from one head to the next, to plant her flaming falchion into its spine and kill it. TEN attacks of opportunity, and she didn't get hit once.

Saph
2008-08-14, 05:20 PM
The PCs chased a thief who was holding an artifact they needed into a city that was basically Shadar Logoth from the Wheel of Time, inhabitated by lethal killer-monsters called disps. The thief was possessed and soul-eaten by Mordeth, the last resident of the city. At this point the thief's employer, a Banite high priest, showed up. Mordeth refused to give up the artifact; the Banite called in his pet enslaved dragon. The PCs were caught in the middle.

All this was the lead-in to a massive six-way free-for-all battle between:

• The PCs,
• The thief (now Mordeth),
• The Banite high priest,
• The disps,
• Khisanth, the Banite's dragon mount,
• and Mashadar, the soul-eating mist that lived in the city.

All this took place across a ruined city, with buildings crashing down as they were destroyed, and the PCs trying to make it outside the city limits and survive. It was awesome.

- Saph

monty
2008-08-14, 05:26 PM
I always wanted to make a party of bards and put on a rock concert.

Nero24200
2008-08-14, 06:13 PM
In a recent game, my character (Human Fighter with wild talent and -alot- of psionic combat feats) Had just taken the feat "Up the Walls". The general jist of it is, you can run up walls while in Psionic Focus.
Our DM had us chasing an evil cleric and his chain-devil buddies. When we finall caught up with them, we found ourselfs in a room with a 40ft high roof. The cleric, thinking himself smart, decides to Fly right up to the roof and attempt to rain nasty death down upon us.
My turn came, charge up the walls, power attack for full (and I had another psionic feat allowing me to hit touch armour, so you can guess just how much I put into this), and scored a critical hit. The cleric flew up to get away and my character had killed him with a charge attack.

There was another incident like this as well, though slightly less "Epic". My character performed the same tactic on a flying homebrew demon. The problem being, in order to get most of my combat bonuses, I needed to expend focus, meaning my character plummits after doing such an attack. He was caught last time, but during this fight my character was higher up, so our party barbarian decides to take the mattress from the demons bed and throw it in front. We only found out afterwards that it was in the mattress that the demon had stashed all of his gold...

thegurullamen
2008-08-15, 12:08 AM
Here's one: the party was going to take on an evil bard on top of a mountain. But this was no ordinary mountain! It was the central point of a perfectly circular desert and home of the multi-planar port/city of Twilight. Also, the bard was its founder/most famous citizen/most successful entrepreneur/most beloved/the magical incarnation of the forces holding the planar portals open/a really bored lich. Furthermore, unbeknownst to nearly every (un)living thing, the mountain contained an artifact that could rewrite the nature of the surrounding desert to conform to any admixture of the six basic elements (EWiFWaPosNeg).

As for the event itself, the party was going to have the climactic showdown as the city of Twilight was A) firebombed by the warlords of the North who had just declared war on the sovereign desert and dispatched their armada and B) besieged by burning undead created by a family of blue dragons that had used the artifact to animate the thousands of dead bodies littering the dunes (due to a cataclysm caused by the artifact's previous firing [which is also responsible for the desert.]) As the city falls to ruins, all eyes turn towards the Great Hall where the last survivors including the party, the bard, the dragon family and the armada landing party leaders converge in a four-way diplomatic free-for-all royale for the future of Twilight while its populace slowly dies just outside/below.

And, using a buildup of mayoral assassination, obvious omens, travelling Void disciples, chaotic-good thieves' guild, ghosts of a trio of detectives haunting an infamous cathedral/clocktower and the sudden rise of lightning breathing sorcerers over the past fifty years give the players enough options for what to pursue both before and after the showdown (if they're victorious).

BloodyAngel
2008-08-15, 07:15 AM
I had a pretty epic one last night that I feel like ranting about. My 4th ed group is slipping through a dungeon made by the local thieves' guild, and literally hitting one death-trap after the other. The final showdown took place between the self-appointed "Prince" of thieves, who was a doppleganger rogue and the group. The kicker? Said doppleganger had two iron guardians with him, and the first round, pulled a lever by his "throne", releasing into the room a literal horde of zombie rotters...

The doppleganger then proceeded to use shapeshift, stealth and his amazing mobility to hide amidst the mob of zombies, darting out from time to time to sneak attack anyone who was flanked, prone, or grappled by the undying horde. That rogue gave the group more trouble than the dragon I had put them against a few sessions earlier and the battle was pretty epic. The Doppleganger kept dropping party members left and right and taunting the rest of the group before slipping back into the mob again with a laugh. One of my players was literally a bit unnerved by it... or maybe it was just the soft laugh I did for "her". Or the fact that every time "it" appeared, it was in the form of someone new... The shining moment, I think, was when it popped out impersonating the party's warlord... who had fallen to a sneak attack a round or two prior... and in his voice, taunted his would-be girlfriend as she stood over his unconscious body and tried to fight off the zombie mob overwhelming her. :smallamused:

bosssmiley
2008-08-15, 07:19 AM
Three little words: Paladin in Hell (http://bp3.blogger.com/_DSs2bX13hVc/SInXZwSlGrI/AAAAAAAAAHo/PDqBX5D7gZc/s1600-h/lion009b.jpg). :smallcool:

Iudex Fatarum
2008-08-15, 09:20 AM
I have had a few of these epic scenes I want to pull off. One I witnessed was a fight on top of a dragon, running out and jumping off of its wings to kill the opposing dragon and person on its back.

One I was in involved 15 were-rats against my 5th level fighter, who ended up killing the first 3 with at least twice the max HP of the rats.

Another one that would have been epic had it not been for the GM refusing to house rule things, was my character dropping off of a ceiling onto an earth elemental surfacing. my character had his blade out, and did 3 damage according to DM (I just fell 20 feet with this thing, onto the center of its back)

celestialkin
2008-08-15, 10:15 AM
Every DM feels in their heart like a director working on a film. We all know this, we all accept this, there is nothing wrong with this. We also all know that, while there's a good number of Coens and Cronenbergs out there who delve into the minute and impeccable detail of NPCs and mysterious scenarios, more often than not every DM slips into their own inner Michael Bay, where the explosions come first and the plot gets to fend for itself.

So now, I ask all the past, current, and hopefully future DMs out there: What are some of the scenes you have batting around in your head, the scenes that are so over the top, so incredible, so full of motion and violence and fire that your life won't be complete until you run a group of screaming first level PCs through it? Or, from a slightly different angle, what are some of the more epic scenes that you HAVE pulled off in this vein, and how did your players react to it?

The purpose of this thread is to brainstorm and entertain, and hopefully inspire some current or potential DM out there to reach for the stars. Those firey, nuclear, million degree stars...


Dude......that's beautiful. Just beautiful...

Well, except for the 4.0 part.


As for what scene I dream of pulling off? I do have one scene which has been floating back-and-forth inside my head for quite a while. I just don't have the DMing skill to pull it off properly, or at least to my satisfaction. I don't even know how I would be able to do it mechanically.


Scene:
Awaken Mustakrakish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maOkR_CgHkM

Guyinthestreet
2008-08-15, 10:24 AM
What I really want to do is to have sub-story about a cult bent on summoning an elder evil (yes, it's been done countless times before).

The heroes race to stop it, partially fail. In the process the fight awakens the tarrasque of that world (which they didn't even know was sleeping beneath in the city).

The chapter after the fight will be titled "How do you stop a tarrasque?" with the inhabitants of that city trying to minimize the damage and put the tarrasque out of commission.

At the end of the chapter, the elder evil gets fully summoned and kills the tarrasque in one blow, just to show how badass that evil is.

celestialkin
2008-08-15, 10:29 AM
I want to have the PCs fighting their way along the giant adamantine chains tying the sun to the horizon.

Is this D&D canon?



What I really want to do is to have sub-story about a cult bent on summoning an elder evil (yes, it's been done countless times before).

The heroes race to stop it, partially fail. In the process the fight awakens the tarrasque of that world (which they didn't even know was sleeping beneath in the city).

The chapter after the fight will be titled "How do you stop a tarrasque?" with the inhabitants of that city trying to minimize the damage and put the tarrasque out of commission.

At the end of the chapter, the elder evil gets fully summoned and kills the tarrasque in one blow, just to show how badass that evil is.

Dude, that is awesome!

loopy
2008-08-15, 10:37 AM
One I was in involved 15 were-rats against my 5th level fighter, who ended up killing the first 3 with at least twice the max HP of the rats.

Ok... I obviously don't know nearly enough about DMing... I sent about 30 wererats against my level 2 adventurers.

LesterLester
2008-08-15, 11:51 AM
Well, let's start.
My story is epic, but maybe not so Micheal-Bay-beat-ur-brain-with-a-stick-and-forget-the-story-epic, more connected with the story itself, which had really epic extent.

I guess my first campaign had some 'epic' scenes.
The setting was a quite typical fantasy world-apart from giant(2km high) ruins on the horizon and incredible powerful high-elves who had mastered technology and magic( but had no interest in conquering the 'inferior' races).
The Group led a 'normal' adventerturers life until the reached lvl 8 or so.
Then they ran into my storyline from hell.
Short version:
There was an incredible powerful being, locked in a stasis between dimensions for 1000s of years (actually an ascended post-human getting trapped in an accident at the chaos of transcendence, well that was also the point of the campaign, it was some kind of post human world, 10000s of years after the ascent. The 'fantasy-species' were results of genetic-engeneering and bored post-humans, some A.I.s got crazy and became the 'gods' of most religions). A young elven wizard accidently freed it and became its avatar. While his master proliferated into the planetary crust, the avatar created cults and tried to activate ancient machinery advancing his masters sole goal of creating a portal to help it joining its companions in the void.

So, the group finds a quite mysterious mentor(a almost legendary adventurer who misses parts of his body and mind in temporal inbalance)...they don't know about the nature of things and the mentor doesn't bother to tell them.
For them, their mission work on a need-to-know-basis and just some players try to find a sense in the huge puzzle).
He sends them to many places in the campaign world, where they fulfill his missions. Now, they collide with the cults of the avatar in the old ruins (one time in a huge subocean city near a subocean rift, where they have to find an old singulation energy core('thinking of it as a magic artifact').
That was quite an epic fight. 4 guys against dozends of fanatic cultists in the middle of a huge energy dome echoing the last commands of the local, long-rampant A.I.).
Unfortunatly, the couldn't get all the cores (torn between helping civilians in the campaign world,looting and salvaging these strange 'magic artifacts')

Well, they are lvl 12 and found the position of an old facility the avatar seeks( in the himalayans, for them just some giant mountain chain in a remote and unpopulated part of the world). They use their steampunk-ish flying-mashine, try to outfly a dragon and crash in a mountainside. they have to make it on foot, almost die from the cold and open the gate to the control facility.
They are fighting more cult members and finally get to the main control hall
There they find the avatar talking to an old A.I.(Shiva) and activating..something.
They are trying to stop him, but nobody of them makes the (very difficult) will save. They get paralysed, just meters away from the main console, the huge hologram of the A.I. and the avatar.
He gets security clearance, activates the facility with inhuman presicion and teleports away while the A.I. reluctantly confirms his orders with the words "orbital defence facilites activated" and counts down the numbers.
She finishes the countdown.
Lances of light hit the world.
Sunrise.
everywhere.

Sorry for that wall of text, I just realize how strange this campagin was.
It was the first D&D campaign of my group (and the first RPG-campaign as well) and I was not only DM, but also had a character.
*It was not the end of the campaign( and there are very epic fights left as well), but it was much to type, so if you would like to hear a bit more, say it.

Dr Bwaa
2008-08-15, 06:21 PM
Three little words: Paladin in Hell.

A campaign I'm in had its first little taste of that yesterday. It's set in 1340s Europe, very low-magic, except stuff is going a bit whack (as a player, I don't really know what's going on yet. We're only level 6). Basically, someone appears to be trying to bring about a planar overlay of some kind, with the result that random gateways to hell keep showing up and other wierd ...things are going down. Throughout it all, we the PCs are (mostly in the dark, as I mentioned) going back in time/forward in time/to hell/etc to recover various artifacts. yesterday we went to Hell (or at least, to the first level of Hell as described by Dante) to recover the Scimitar of Saladin. You should've seen the look on the paladin's (and my cleric's) face when we learned we couldn't hurt the banner-carrying demon on the plains, and had to go on without slaying him. Not so much an epic moment I suppose, but a promise of more to come.


As for Truly Epic:
I am lucky to have several friends who are incredible DMs. In a session of another campaign, by a different (the first to pick up the DMG for business of my friends) DM, the four PCs and DMPC (very well-played DMPC: she never exists unless she needs to plot-wise, never a spotlight-stealer or any of the other tricky things that can come about) are five warriors of prophesy. Last session, we (just the regular PCs, as the DMPC had to stay outside, or the door would shut) got inside an ancient temple, which was, we learned, the Elven capitol in this part of the world, back before they had nearly all been genocided. Specifically, it was the domain of the previous Aegis (one of the members of prophesy LAST time: and coincidentally the same as my PC is now), and more importantly, home to a corrupted Mithil. After learning a fair bit, from illusory "videotapes," about the destruction of the Elven kingdom and the fall of this place and the former Aegis, we learned that last time, the prophesy had been false, and one of the members, the Tempest, had turned against all the others and been responsible for the most horrific genocide in history. (incidentally, my character is totally in love with the current Tempest, despite remaining firmly, and probably forever, in the "friend zone.") Anyway, after we learn all this depressing history, we find our way to a chamber at the top of this pyramid that we're inside. Within is a life-size statue of a Black Dragon, prostrated on the ground, with a beautiful sword (not statue) through its head. The sword is unmistakably that of the previous Aegis (and therefore, one of the artifacts that I must reclaim to take up his mantle). We take a minute to buff up, and then my character draws out the sword, and the dragon comes to life. When he realizes that I do not yet have all the powers of the former Aegis, he immediately decides that I can't take him, and proceeds to attempt to eat me. Failing that, we go into combat, my character staying within full-attack range and exchanging horrible blows with the dragon (who can fly, but his mobility is severely restricted in here). The dragon falls eventually to a full-attack-routine in which none miss, and two of four are critical (I didn't roll below a 16!). Defeated, the gross, tar-like substance all over the ceiling (and also all over the swamp that we're in; it's being produced (we assume) by the mithil), which looks gross and feels worse (those lucky enough to touch it get enervated!), begins to fall from the ceiling. We leave and go out to the main chamber, where the same thing is happening all over, but not like a cave-in: the black stuff is flowing into a pit across the main chamber, exactly as a pair of underground streams used to (as we'd seen in our illusory videotapes), and a grand throne has been revealed in the middle of the room. we place the amulet of the Aegis in a spot for it, and it descends into absolute darkness, until we find outselves in front of a pedastal with five slots, for the five gems we'd picked up earlier. Placing the gems within, in front of us suddenly appears ground, circles written in Celestial and Abyssal, runes of binding. A silvery cocoon bubbles out of the floor in front of us, and within, a Solar writhes in constant, soundless agony. It's plain to see that veins of the black, necrotic ooze run through its body where its life force ought to reside, and as soon as it realizes we're there it begins throwing itself against the walls of its prison, begging us to release it: but also choking out that only the Aegis can do so--and only once he's fully come into himself and received the full blessing of the elves. The Solar tells us little more about the past, other than that it was originally bound here by the first Aegis willingly, to bring life and growth to everything in the forest, but someone had broken the seals, the Aegis had been tricked, and malevolent energies had been fed to the Solar until it became what is was now, choking the life out of the once-fertile lands and unable to escape its torment.

And what could we do about it? Not a damn thing.

Bad Luck
2008-08-15, 07:10 PM
What I haven't done - and this is advice for DM on retconning too.

- I was running a campaign where the players were attempting to stop an unknown menace from controlling a time-altering artifact. They had following the trail for a while when the several problems all happened at once.

1) A player in the group had to quit (wasn't working out) - had a good character just sort of "fade out" of the game.
2) Another player had a character die and, in the interest of time, instead of trying to raise just made a new one.
3) We got a new player with a new character who was way too good for the campaign.

I wound up having to stop the campaign because of time contraints, but I had a plan to "fix" the campaign like so...

Players wind up getting sidetracked by another enemy, and "killed". Well, sort of killed. They get phased out of existence. Thus, the villain winds up winning - which changes the timeline.

- All the players come back to the table with *a completely different character sheet* (and I mean completely.. like the sheet would have an entirely different layout and color scheme) -the new character would be full redesign though some things might be the same - based on their character history - for example one of the characters (timeline A) was an orphan from a war-torn land, in the new version we rewrite so that he never loses his parents and grows up well-adjusted and a hero. The naturally saucy, airhead bard is now a crazy, genius level sorceress, overpowered guy is now more back to earth, the Dead character from the first game is still alive, one the players actually winds up playing the hated NPC, who is now a good guy, etcc...

So the goal for the campaign from this point is for the players to "wake up" from the alternate timeline and repossess their original identities - if that's their choice. Or they can stay with the new character even after they return to the original timeline and continue the story. And it would cause some new problems... For example with the war-torn orphan, does he now EVEN WANT the timeline changed, because in his case the villain changing the past means a better life for him (if not the rest of the world)

The cool part is seeing the alternate future, playing as a different character for a few sessions, getting some perspective on another play style, but still moving the overall campaign story forward - for example the guy playing as his nemesis would have learned vital backstory and some of of weaknesses.

Best case scenario I would have had a guest DM run it, to really throw them off.

d-dave
2008-08-15, 07:43 PM
This was kind of the final, deadliest encounter for my last campaign. There were 7 players, and they split up into two groups.

Brief intro - The characters are Brelish heros (Eberron campaign) who defeated a dragon. One of the PCs managed to seduce the "daughter" of King Kaius of Karrnath and impregnate her with his sad seed. The dice rolls and player reactions were quite hilarious. I blame this on Knocked Up.... Well, they players were off to the hasty wedding when things got hairy. This was the last session for this group, so it was simply ridiculous and over the top.

First off, there is the kidnapping of the groom, and then transportation to Xen'drik where the group is set upon by two fire giants. There were flying boulders, explosive magic, clever use of trees, foliage and summon monster spells. A few near death experience by the rangers of the group (always happens....).

Then there is the temple of doom encounter, a fire giant shaman was harnessing the power of an ancient dragonshard to turn captives into ghouls for the Blood of Vol. So the PCs rush in to save their friend, and end up having to fight 100 ghouls and the Emerald Claw soldiers. Horribly out numbered, they manage to get on a platform which is charged to teleport back to the wedding chapel in karrnath. The villains wanted the ghouls on there to be released on all the nobility and blue blood there for the royal wedding, they were disappointed that the PCs used it to get out safely (which was amazing thanks to their dice rolls. This whole last session was all about action points and no one rolling below a 15 it seemed...)

Then as the PCs land in the middle of the wedding, a signal is sent and the blood of Vol necromancers take control of the undead stored in and around Korth. An invasion of the city with undead ensues. There's fighting, blood, guts, and tons of cinematic description of a wave of bloated corpses rushing through the streets... The only hope is for the PCs to activated Karrn's Shield, a mystical shield which should "turn" the undead horde. So half the PCs go down to the depths of the castle to activate the Shield in Karrn's tomb. The other half go to see if they can help protect the wedding guests who are in a panic. Then a lich shows up...

The other PCs face a group of yu-tani in the bowels of the castle and fight them on a lattice of metal bridges that seperates the four down there and is really a bad fight. But again, incredible dice rolls save the PCs, and the city.

Those facing the lich actually manage to destroy the body of the lich (thanks to the paladin's smite with a +2 greatsword...). Again, more pulpy action points, nasty explosions, incredible saves.

yeah, it was totally ridiculous, but a great way to end it. Now, for our next Eberron campaign, we have some heroic NPCs and plenty of raw adventure material to go with.

Sorry if it makes no sense to anyone else, but you just have to try to visualize it. =)

Xyk
2008-08-15, 08:02 PM
I really want a genius bard villain who convinces orphans that the heroes are the reason for hate in the world and the orphans attack them.

chiasaur11
2008-08-15, 08:11 PM
I really want a genius bard villain who convinces orphans that the heroes are the reason for hate in the world and the orphans attack them.

Or...
A bard who convinces the heroes that orphans are the reason for hate in the world.

It's an idea.

Dr Bwaa
2008-08-15, 08:18 PM
This was kind of the final, deadliest encounter for my last campaign.

*snip*

Sorry if it makes no sense to anyone else, but you just have to try to visualize it. =)

All that was one encounter?? I envy your group's (A) Focused-ness, or (B) amount of D&D time, or (C) both.

Sounds great, though.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2008-08-15, 08:40 PM
Army of Commoners Horror Campaign (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59107&highlight=army+commoners+horror+campaign)
What more can I say.

valadil
2008-08-15, 09:02 PM
As a GM I really want to crucify a PC. Probably not gonna happen though since then nobody would come back to my games, so I guess I'll have to do it as a PC instead.

metalbear
2008-08-15, 10:45 PM
I was in a Heroes of Battle Campaign with one other player. I had a level 4 Goliath fighter and my buddy was a level 4 aisamir. We had been conscripted into the local militia to help fight an army of goblinoids. My buddy was busy fighting a group of hobgoblin clerics when a squad of Bugbear barbarians. I charged the toughest looking one, power attacked him as high as I could, got a critical hit, killed him in one shot, then great cleaved two more of them, and in the next round killed another four. Then I took the big one's head and held it up to make a rally check on the shaken troops, rolled a natural 20 on the check and the troops surged forward to retake the castle.

arguskos
2008-08-15, 10:57 PM
I DM'd a session that involved the PC's fighting a Nycaloth ontop of a snow-covered mountain.

So, they get up on top of this damn mountain, and there's a huge, four armed, fiendish... thing waiting. So, the warforged juggernaut charges. The Nyca grapples him, flies off the mountain, and hurls him into the sky. He ends up plummeting hundreds of feet into the earth, and only survives cause the party wizard casts polymorph to become a black dragon, and saves his sorry, non-flying, butt.

Fast forward a few rounds, and everyone is off the mountain, except the Paladin with his Holy Avenger (cause he can't fly at all). The nycaloth comes back, and melees the pally into oblivion (-8 hp) in one turn. The turn order looks like this:

Nycaloth (at like 50-60 hp)
Sorcerer/Ranger
Paladin (-8)

The sor/rgr is 350 feet away. He decides to use an arrow of cure serious wounds he bought to try and save the pally. From 350 feet. He nocks the arrow, lets it fly, and rolls a nat. 20. The pally goes to positive hp, and on his turn, gets another nat 20 on the nycaloth (with a Holy Avenger, from prone), killing it SO dead.

Ya had to be there.

-argus

Lochar
2008-08-15, 11:20 PM
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85232&page=3

Start at post 62. Realize we're not done yet, but there's a lot of background material you don't know, which would take three or four full posts to go over, and would probably include information that not all the players are privy to yet, if they ever will be.

Gist of it. An insane NPC (recurring guy who's gone over the edge because of certain players) has made a deal with a demon, and has the power to summon Yeth Hounds by shedding his blood. Or advanced yeth hounds by taking con damage. He summoned a little over forty of them and sicced them on a town they were supposed to be staying in. unfortunately, only one, the cleric, was there that night. The rest were a bit away due to issues with the local guards. Cue a major fight, and the rest teleport back in. During the ensuing battle, one of their members died (He's got a demon pact too). That's where we're at now, and we're waiting on a few things to resolve themselves through PMs before I move on to the next round.

monty
2008-08-16, 12:07 AM
As a GM I really want to crucify a PC. Probably not gonna happen though since then nobody would come back to my games, so I guess I'll have to do it as a PC instead.

That seems wrong on multiple levels. Would make an interesting story, though.

Godna
2008-08-16, 12:31 AM
*snip*
Sorry for that wall of text, I just realize how strange this campagin was.
It was the first D&D campaign of my group (and the first RPG-campaign as well) and I was not only DM, but also had a character.
*It was not the end of the campaign( and there are very epic fights left as well), but it was much to type, so if you would like to hear a bit more, say it.

Dude if you dont post more i will be disappointed that is awesome stuff dude

d-dave
2008-08-16, 06:49 AM
All that was one encounter?? I envy your group's (A) Focused-ness, or (B) amount of D&D time, or (C) both.

Sounds great, though.

Thanks =) They did keep focused which was a miracle. With that large group we actually had to institute a talking bottle...

For my next campaign, I'm thinking about running two campaigns parallel to another. One campaign will be run in the final days of the Last War while the second will be run five years later (current Eberron time). The second campaign will play off the adventures of the first one. I think I might have the first campaign deal with the Mourning in Cyre while the second campaign learns the history of the first one either through journals or draconic prophecy... Then the goal of the first campaign will be to try to stop the Mourning, or figure out that something bad is going to happen and try to stop it (epic fail!), while the second campaign will be trying to solve the mourning and either prevent it from happening again or try to reverse it.

Hrm....I think I am going to have to write this out in detail to see what happens...I love this place =)

LesterLester
2008-08-16, 08:35 AM
Huh, Thanks!
Ok then.
Where did I stop?. Oh yes! The end of the world.
[EXPLANATION OF STORYLINE]
The group survived in the control facility and tried to restore order to their world.
Destruction, chaos, anarchy, huge rifts in the earth and the fabric of reality...and strange shadow giants(75m) walking the scorched earth, pursuing their own goals, screaming inhuman into the void, mourning? cheering?(the group never dared approaching one to find out;)
After many difficult quests and sheer luck of dice, most of them got into some high positions(high priest of the world tree, Warlord of the Clans, an half-elf-king of the elfs (who had to use permanent alter self because his people would have lynched an 'impure' king and married a high-elf(<--last post) wizard/spy).Their mentor was quite pleased with their success and summoned them to a last quest. They travelled with him to an ancient high-security lab(imagine the main energy core in HL2 Ep1, just on drugs), where they retrieved some kind of singularity device being the single thing
able to harm the ascendend post-human( well, the group does still not know about that...need-to-know-basis, remember?)There they are ambushed by the avatar and a mix of cultists and shadow creatures. Totally outnumbered, they do their best to survive, shoving their enemies into streams of energy and dodging orbs. most of them are in negative hit points when their mentor
gives them the device, teleports them away and uses a meteor swarm on the core...POW!
They think their mentor gave his live to kill the avatar and end this menace.
I let them make plans for their future, what they want do do as lords and Kings. 10 years pass.
[/EXPLANATION OF STORYLINE] Time for the last act.
Storms and unnatural long winters have made living much more difficult. Some destroyed areas have been declared quarantine.
The human kingdoms battle for resources.
The avatar is not dead. the group realizes that when he visits one after the other, killing family, friends and subjects in brutal ways (conducting vivisections out of scientific interest, etc). It reaches its point when materializes at the elfen court killing guards, most of the courtiers and the expecting queen. The king, (the PC) survives the first attacks till the now horribly mutated avatar(growing shadow tentacles)destroys the whole Capital.(The PC can be resurrected, but has lost his will to live).
While the Group meets to plan countermeasures, a whole human kingdom falls to the posthuman (whoever gets killed and touches scorched ground or is attacked and lethally wounded by a "wiedergänger", an humanoid touched by the essence of the posthuman changes, becoming a drone of the posthumans will, loosing individuality,getting stronger and almost insensitive to pain.
A terrible war begins.
For almost every individual killed, a new tool of the posthuman rises.
Many cities are overrun and calculations of the A:I. Shiva(last Post) show that the last sentient being will be assimilated in about one and a half years -what will be no problem because the posthuman uses millions of drones and its knowledge to build a giant portal in the polar regions that will allow him to join the others of his kind after the aeons of waiting but that will destroy the planet and everything on it when getting activated.

So, they decide to use most of their available troops for a suicide mission to the polar regions where they plan to battle the legions of drones and shadow creatures to open a gap for a small commando unit to get to the portal and destroy the core of the posthuman entity.Well, the march of the troops is faciliated by troop carriers of the high elves, but the last
hundred kilometres are to be walked on foot and...well, imagine the march of Napoleons grande armee just with additional attacks from shadow giants and undead dragons.the ridiculously small rest of the army of elves, humans,orcs and the "volkssturm" of the other races finally faces the giant portal facility (imagine it a bit like the portal facility on earth in halo 3, just bigger with a 1okm central tower;luckily that was 2003,long before halo 3).

A giant battle ensues. Squadrons of wyrms, flying battleships, shadow giants, lvl 9 spells and beyond. Moments of heroism, just to see the heores fall and ries again as pawns.While the united army desperatly fights for its survival, the group rushes into the tower, floating not only through the building, but also through the essence of the entity, feeling its solitude and experiencing some of its memories. (now, some of the players get suspicius to its nature).
After some time (they don't know how much time passed) they get to the core of the tower and the entity where they fight the avatar.
They fight for their lives, feeling the anticipation of the entity and the death of thousands of sentient beings kilometres under their feet. Now they finally realize, the entity notices them like we notice bacteria or ants. It is a crippled god, determined to leave this plane of existence no matter what it costs.
The avatar dies only to stand up again and again and just the short appearance of the original self of the elven wizard enables them to kill this form of the avatar. But now, the entity took notice of them, summons huge shadow creatures and reaches out with tentacles of energy to remove this nuisance.
The group has no more spells and no more healing, everybody clinges to life with 40-10 hp.
So they decide that the rest of the group will try to open a way to the core of the entity for one of them carrying the forerunner device.
Most of the others die, getting ripped to pieces by huge tentacles or slashed by claws, but the druid makes it and hurls himself into the giant core with the activated device.

...from the battlefield:everything is bathed in light. an immense explosion. earth itself convulses in pain and a blastwave knocks everybody down. The shadow creatures vanish and the wiedergänger fall to the ground, dieing, but freed.

Up in the tower..the half-elfen PC lies burnt and lethally wounded at the ground in his own blood, watching the dieing streams of energy. he smiles.


Sorry if it was a bit too melodramatic in the end, but for the group and me, it was very emotional at that time...good times.

Dr Bwaa
2008-08-16, 03:43 PM
Epic, Lester. Well done.

This hasn't been an epic in-play moment (yet...), but it sort of has. The PCs, about level 10 at this point (this campaign is slotted in my mind to go from level 1-30ish), had received a prophetic dream (well, one did) and through several contacts and some awkward negotiations with oppressed fey'ri at the edge of the High Forest, they managed to arrange transport out to a secret elven island. On this island lives a truly ancient monk. He is human, but indescribably old, and by all accounts has been this way forever (he is based off of the legends of Bak Mei, one of the Five Elders of the Shaolin Temple who survived its destruction (and on whom is based Pei Mei from Kill Bill and other movies). The one in this campaign actually is immortal, and about level 25.). Naturally, he already knows all about their situation, and knows why they have come, and he quickly sends them on their way (after beating a few heads for being disrespectful), through his personal permanent teleportation circle straight to the volcano that Moradin lives in (the gods literally walk the earth most of the time in this campaign setting, though they obviously don't have to). Naturally, he doesn't let them know where they're going, and they walk for a while, exploring a grand cavern, somewhere, until they finally come upon Moradin, sixty-five feet tall, standing over his forge in the heart of the volcano. They talk with him, and he's very hospitable, and he has two important announcements for them: One, he has personally seen to the resurrection of one of the dead party members (she was abroad for a term...died gloriously, too, but that is another story), who he brings out and they all greet her and everyone's happy, and there is then a fair bit more drinking. Then, Moradin sits them all down and (using his godly powers to make sure they remember it, even if they forget the rest of the night from his booze) tells them a story.

This is the whole story (an early draft, though; I'm not sure where the final has gone), which I read aloud to them, and remains the longest (by far!) uninterrupted speech in my D&D history. A short version is below :)
As told by Moradin, in his forge in Balantiir.

Long ago, the world was one. The Abyss was nonexistent, the mountains less high, and the forest covered much more of the continent. The mountains of Kur-Donoban in the west, and Donoban itself, were fortresses of the old gods. From time to time, the gods would visit from upon the mountain, and, more rarely, men, dwarves, and elves would venture up the mountain to commune with the gods, though the Dwarves, of course, more often just came here.
There was a golden age of relative peace. There existed many countries, trading together and coexisting harmoniously. Then, a human named Treblase Aêntîr’ (sideways over the e) was born and began to grow into a man. When he was just beginning to learn the ways of farming from his father, however, the country was rent by a mighty storm, followed by floods, and then worst of all, drought. His poor mother perished of hunger, and his father was slain defending Treblase during a goblin raid, brought on by the widespread famine. Treblase packed his belongings and left, and being a strong child, he made it to warmer, safer climes and there, in time, began a new apprenticeship. He became a wizard of exceptional strength, often studying furiously long into the sleepless nights. He continued to grow in power even when someone traveled to Mechanus, and told the Inevitables there of him, and brought a whole host of them back to control him and put a stop to his mad power rush. He essentially ignored the Inevitables, sequestering himself on an island far out to sea to continue his studies. When he returned, after first banishing the Inevitables back to Mechanus, he decided to bring his entire country on a pilgrimage: a pilgrimage to unite the world and take revenge on the gods who had laughed at him so long ago. He mustered the entire army of Sentiâen at Kîr-Telenûl and marched west into Felrond, into Talantîr, razing and pillaging and enslaving those who would not join him as he went. The elves surged northwest to intercept him, to stop him from ravaging the forests. His army slowed by the mountains, the elves had time to build a resistance, working out of the existing fortress of the Western Elves at Kîr-Seludol’. The armies met in the middle of the continent as the armies of Aêntîr’ poured out of the mountains, leaving behind the worst butchery the Dwarves have ever suffered, for they loved me, and fought in my name. For an incalculable amount of time, the armies raged at each other—the elves, with a few dwarves and humans and gnomes and such—against the racially-mixed (though predominantly human and orc) armies of Aêntîr’, which also contained spatterings of exotic creatures: giants and trolls that most of the world had never seen. But through all this time, the wizard himself was never seen, by either side. Certainly, his orders continued to be followed as often as they were given, but from where they came, no one could say. Until one day, Treblase appeared, luminous, clad in a spectacular cape and holding the Staff he had crafted himself on his island, into which he was said to have poured his desires, his strength, and his cunning: The Staff of Dreams. Hundreds of feet in the air over the battleground, he spoke in a voice the everyone present could hear, and which forced them to cease battle immediately.
“My friends! My enemies! Stop fighting at once and listen to me! I bring you all on my conquest of the gods! You shall accompany me to their stronghold, and we shall defeat those who have never been defeated, and reclaim this world for mortals! Long enough have they dominated us, these self-proclaimed gods! It is time we took this world back for the people it belongs to! Come with me!”
Before his words had had time to sink in, and as everyone was still dazedly looking up at him, blinding in the sky, exactly as if there were two suns, there appeared a third sun, and a fourth, and a fifth and sixth. The latter four spoke as one:
“Treblase Aêntîr’! If you want to fight us, you may do so here and now! Stop this bloody destruction: let us finish this and allow the world to go back to the way it should be—without you!”
Thus commenced the greatest battle that Praênta has ever seen. The armies on the ground, the spell broken, went directly back to fighting each other, with more ferocity that ever. At the same time, Aêntîr’ fought, one man against four gods and the destruction they caused was indescribable. Far, far past the realms the standard spells, the conjurations caused widespread panic and desolation, and soon everyone on the ground was no longer fighting; they were fleeing for their lives. The battle raged on for days, with neither side giving any ground.
On the fourth day, out of the west, came a sight those who lived to remember it will never, ever forget. An army of dragons, of all colors and varieties, was flying to the destruction. The five combatants paused to watch them approach, nearly fifty dragons in all. As they approached, they spoke as one into the minds of anyone nearby.
“Aêntîr’, we challenge you!”
The shock and force with which they spoke was overwhelming, and though no one had thought it possible, the destruction ramped up even more as the dragons joined the fray. Aêntîr’ immediately began feeling the weight of the sheer number, and incredible combative skill, of his opponents. As they closed in around him and he could no longer be seen, for a minute, two, three minutes. Then, suddenly, there was a tremendous explosion of light and sound, and bodies went flying in every direction, with Aêntîr’ still hovering in the center, glowing brightly. As the dragons and gods shook themselves off and sped back toward him, Aêntîr’ threw his arms out to the sides, as another pulse of light erupted from him, freezing every single one of them in the sky. He raised his hands to the sky, and every one of them, frozen in their postures, rose with his hands until they were far, far above him. Columns of light of every imaginable color and shade struck from the sky at Aêntîr’, adding their colors to the ones already surrounding him.
He threw his arms downward, and all of his combatants dropped as though beaten by a fist from heaven, streaking toward the ground with incredible speed. As the dragons and deities neared level with him, Aêntîr’ put his arms out once more, lifted his face to the sky, and erupted in the most incredible burst of energy the world has ever known. As his flesh was torn apart, a sphere of fire expanded in all directions, and two shockwaves followed it: a horizontal ring, which incinerated everything it touched—which included most of the dragons and all the gods. It flattened all the foothills. The beautiful forest below, already burning from the original energy burst, was flattened in an instant, still burning. The second shockwave was vertical, and it was this tremendous burst of power that gouged the Abyss through the middle of the world.
Nothing has ever regrown there; it is the place that men call the Forsaken Desert. Anyone in that forest was killed instantly, as were all of the dragons, and the gods they came to defend. This mountain used to be much taller than it is now: its top was sheared off by the first shockwave. My forges burned hot that night.If memory serves me correctly, the great gods who lost their immortal lives that night were St. Cuthbert, Corellon Larethian, Ehlonna, and Heironeous, and the noble dragon god Bahamut.
The people of the world separated, the countries changed hands as the lands of men always do, and I am fairly confident that all have forgotten the old days. Over time, the Kur-Adûl mountains grew up, making a better home for my dwarves, and cut off all contact with, or sight of, the desert. Indeed, few ever pass over the mountains, and I doubt any history books hold the records of what I have told you here.
I know not whether any dragons still live in their ancestral lands on Donoban, nor do I know if the elves still live in the West. I prefer to keep to my forge. Even still, I must help the Dwarves to rebuild, and I must keep them prepared, more able to defend themselves should the path of murderous men ever again cross this way.

Also, here's a map of this continent as far as any map shows (sorry some names got illegible in the shrinking, the original map is about three times bigger):http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8207/mapoftheworldforinterweeu1.jpg

Essentially, a man, the BBMGG (Big Bad Misguided Good Guy) of his time, ascended quickly to a tremendous amount of wizardly power, and then conquered the whole western world in an attempt to march on the Mountain of the Gods (think Olympus) and bring them down, to free men from their tyrrany, as he blamed them for his family's suffering and death long ago in their small village. The Dwarves and Elves fought him, and a huge battle raged in the middle of the continent until he finally appeared in the sky, appealing to everyopne to cease their battle and join him. Instead, four Gods: St. Cuthbert, Correlon Larethian, Ehlonna, and Heironious, appeared in the sky and challenged him to a battle in the name of saving all the lives of those on the ground. So he fought them, for days, with neither side giving ground, and on the fourth day, out of the West a great sight appeared: Bahamut, the great Platinum Dragon God, at the head of an army of nearly fifty armored dragons, joining the fight on behalf of the Divine. Their addition tipped the scales, and the BBMGG began to fail, and was not seen for minutes at a time. Then suddenly, all the combatants exploded away from him and hovered paralyzed in the air, as he raised his arms, so did they rise, unable to control themselves. Beams of light struck him from every direction, and he dropped his arms and combusted into two shockwaves: a horizontal one, which instantly destroyed everything it touched, including the five Gods and all the dragons. it flattened the great forest below in a moment, killing all who had been fighting there. The second shockwave ran north-south, and gouged an incalculably deep abyss through the heart of the world (and rendering said abyss a dead-magic zone, to boot). The man himself was destroyed (fo' evah), and record of the event basically is limited to immortals, as it happened thousands of years ago and almost anyone who capable of witnessing it would have died in the doing. Thus do the PCs learn about the history of the Abyss (which no one has ever crossed, though many attempts have been made), and of the world.

Ravyn
2008-08-17, 01:24 PM
I had a nine-session or so sequence that I still haven't managed to top.

The situation: Group's finally reached the home of the BBEG to bail out a friend of theirs, who's been being kept there because she knows a spell necessary for a ritual that can return a bunch of ticked-off exiled Creators to where they've been. And things go pear-shaped.

That's the short version.

The long version: They get in, meet the BBEG's eldest daughter (nice girl, Rukan. Honestly sympathetic aside from the overall agenda, near-useless in a fight. Confused the living daylights out of them). Locate their missing friend Kiara, realize she's basically locked herself in her own mind, go to find another NPC who'd been taken a while before. Successfully do so. At this point, the party's shapeshifter, fellow by name of Shadow, basically declares "Change of plan. We're going to make this ritual of theirs work." Then one of the other PCs, Shoren, gets possessed by a prior incarnation, and the two of them start duking it out, with the other three members of the party and a few NPCs trying to get them both to break it up and come back to their senses. During this, one of the other NPCs yoinks the rescuee and runs for it (let's face it, being functionally catatonic in a situation like that--not pretty) before getting overwhelmed by a crowd of demons led by the BBEG's other two offspring (a lot scarier than Rukan.) Group figures this out around the time their friend snaps out of the possession, and everyone, Shadow included, goes to deal with that. Only Shadow's still functionally on the other side, and in an attempt to take out Shoren tries to send his consciousness to meet the Powerful Thing he's serving, while one of the other PCs yells "Zap me instead!" ....and of course, this strategy would've worked a lot better if it hadn't let the prior incarnation back out. Cue another fight.

Once that's resolved, they manage to work out something approximating a peaceful resolution and find a way to go into Kiara's head and let her know it's safe to wake up. So to speak. Which works pretty cleanly. And then there's an interlude where another group member (goes by Luath; same fellow responsible for "Zap me instead!") gets into an Iron Chef-style cooking contest with a rather nasty demon. Then someone actually gets around to talking to Kiara about her second thoughts on the matter, and in the middle of the indecision Shadow changes sides--again--and basically tells the group to run for it.

Which causes Rukan to call her father back.

Which was supposed to result in a big fancy boss battle... until the group ran away. Which in itself would've worked a lot better if the defenses that were meant to keep people out of the BBEG's hall weren't just as good at keeping people in as keeping them out. Which resulted in a lot of individual fights (my favorite being the rearguard action on the part of Geri, the quietest member of the group), a few attempts at talking people's way out of things, a mess involving a chess piece and an unconscious demon, a rather effective escape (also on the part of Geri--really, who expects a combat monster to be able to pick locks?), and... finally... the fight that was supposed to happen, at the end of which the BBEG fell, pierced to the heart by shards of the door of one of his own torture rooms.

Someday I'm going to top that. It's just going to take a lot of work.

Destichado
2008-08-18, 07:20 PM
This was fun last night. The PCs have been working for an isolated society of civilized giants with an Assyrian/Babylonian theme.

Their king, Asurforias, ("the king on the mountain,") has been mortally wounded by poisoned weapons in his battle with King Ban, the Azer dwarf ("the king under the mountain") Dying, he throws a feast to announce his successor.
Being that his only surviving child Nasurfanesa is both female and the high priestess of their temple, it is assumed that he will chose an heir outside the royal line; likely Hezuripol, his war captain. When the king surprises everyone by announcing that he chooses his daughter the priestess to rule as a reigning queen, he winds up mysteriously slain the next morning. Being outsiders and renowned -even if they *are* tiny- the party is asked to find the kingslayer.

It was really rather obvious who did it, but with a little misdirection I managed to keep my players running around offering condolences while they tried to pump everyone in town *but* the murderer for information. Was it the traditionalist guardsman, or the priestess herself eager for the throne, or the young warrior who adored the priestess and hoped for something in return? ...No, of course it was the old war-captain who expected the throne. :smallbiggrin:
Eventually they figured it out, and they caught the giant war-captain in his civilian clothes armed only with a belt-axe, and fought a running duel down the streets of the city. When they whittled him down to half health, Hezuripol blew his war horn and summoned his pet, Angrist, a young blue dragon. I almost managed to knock off a few of them in that one.

Having slain the tame wyrm, our weary heroes (a wizard, warlord, paladin and cleric) mounted their horses and raced to the temple where the traitor Hezuripol had fled. There, having armed himself, he stood over the body of a fallen young warrior, and dueled with the priestess using weapons forged by the gods. Interposing themselves between the dueling giants, our heroes fought valiantly, and yea they were stomped brutally. :smallamused:
It got to the point where they were literally terrified every time the giant's turn came around; with two and a half (kinda) possible healers in the party they were OUT of healing powers, out of healing potions and down to their last healing surges. Even the cleric and wizard were scared, way back in the back, because the divine weapons had a ranged AOE in addition to their melee attack. heeheehee...

Finally, close to death the giant war-captain made a move to ignore the puny adventures and kill the priestess before he died. When he did, the mounted paladin was able to charge on his warhorse and strike him for *just* enough damage that the traitor fell dead at the feet of the rightful queen. :smallcool:

As a reward, each of our intrepid players were given the weight of the giant's head in gold. :smallcool:
(PS: using the BMI and maths, we figured out that the giant weighed a little more than 1500 lbs. That works out to a head weighing right around 120 lbs. That's... a little over $2,000,000 in today's dollars. 0_0)

Next week, I do believe I'll have them playing in the old king's funeral games... where the unexpected will undoubtedly occur. :smallwink:

Kriel
2008-08-18, 10:36 PM
I'm hoping to start up my first DnD campaign ever with a few friends who have DnD experience ranging from very little to none at all. If we can actually get this all the way to the showdown at the end, here's what I'm hoping for. Bear in mind, this will also be my first time DM'ing. Ever.

The storyline is that the party discovers a plot being hatched by Tiamat, Lolth and Erythnul, which would grant them dominion over the world in a plane of existence that no other god in any existence even knows about and finding it is impossible from the outside, as the three gods created this plane of existence with the utmost secrecy and warded it with the most powerful magics they could devise between them.

If they succeed, the entire planet will be gated into this plane of existence. The thing about this plane is that any who die there also lose their soul which will be absorbed by whatever god rules over that part of the world, which in turn strengthens the god and the god's followers. The three gods plan on using this fact to start up their own humanoid breeding program, raising humanoids until they are too old to reproduce and then slaying them. The three gods all plan on trying to outdo and slaughter the other two gods in this evil alliance and they are all aware of this fact. This will continue until the gods and their followers have become strong enough to emerge from this plane of existence, strong enough to defeat all the other gods and rule over all planes of existence.

The three gods will reach the final phase of their plan. They're gods, after all. It's up to the PC's to try and disrupt their plan's timeline and delay the final phase and simultaneously trying to figure out where the final phase will be carried out and also to recruit as many people as possible to aid in the invasion when they find out where it is.

As for the final battle to keep this from happening, I'm imagining a huge battle: a massive fight on the ground and in the air between the PC's, the chromatic dragons, celestials and whatever other groups and individuals they can convince to help them on one side and the drow, the chromatic dragons, the Ravagers, devils, demons and whatever else the three gods can bring to defend the final stage of their plan.

If the gods succeed, then there will hopefully be a quest to figure out how to contact the rest of the gods which will culminate with the PC's and their forces fighting desperately against the three gods and their superpowered legions while their most powerful spellcasters try and break through the walls of the alternate plane of existence while the rest of the gods try to break through from the other side.

Is this any good? Please say it's good... PM feedback if you wish. Seriously. Any similarities to any other campaigns you've seen or read are pure coincidence.

I'm honestly kinda hoping the PC's do fail to stop the world from disappearing, because I have some pretty cool ideas for if they do.

Elixia
2008-08-19, 08:46 AM
I always wanted to make a party of bards and put on a rock concert.
your not the only one ...

Dausuul
2008-08-19, 10:05 AM
I've had one in mind since almost the beginning of my current campaign - a grand battle scene with a horde of orcs pouring into a goblin-held fortress, with the PCs battling goblins on one side and orcs on the other as they struggle to reach their own objectives. Everything is now set up, and this Thursday, the battle begins. (Well, actually it's already begun, but the PCs have not yet entered the fray.)

There are a few other scenes I have in mind, but I'm going to hold off on describing those since some of my players read this forum... :)

Hzurr
2008-08-19, 10:45 AM
Is this any good? Please say it's good... PM feedback if you wish. Seriously. Any similarities to any other campaigns you've seen or read are pure coincidence.


Your campaign idea is bad, and you should feel bad for coming up with it!


...

Actually, that sounds pretty cool. My only initial thought is that if you've got all new players, you should consider starting at lvl 1, and this doesn't really feel like a level 1 campaign. Now, if you can slowly guide them so that they only start realizing the full impact of what they have to do when they're level...10+ or 15+, that would be a pretty cool thing. The whole "Saving the universe from evil gods" thing pretty much defines what a good high paragon/epic level quest should look like, especially if you take it to the degree that you're saying (with demons and dragons and celestials and such).

Kriel
2008-08-19, 01:48 PM
My only initial thought is that if you've got all new players, you should consider starting at lvl 1, and this doesn't really feel like a level 1 campaign.

I'm planning on starting at Level 1 and working up from there. If they don't want to finish the campaign, then that's okay too, though I would like to see it hit epic level if they're up to it.

BRC
2008-08-19, 02:01 PM
Attacking a airship piloted by moon-people with a flying tank.

The tank is a story for a different time, and I got our DM to rule that Mass Fly could effect it, epic mid air chase scene, a little boarding action, and some explosions.

This is more of a line then anything else, but
"You're looking down the finger of an Epic Level archmage, the most powerful class in the game. Now, the question is not, did he cast five spells or six, the question is, do you feel lucky, well do ya, punk?"

Though, actually, I should have said
" Now, I know what you're thinking, did he cast six spells or only five. to tell the truth, in the confusion I kinda lost track myself, However, you should know your looking down the finger of an epic level archmage, the most powerful class in the game. So there's only one question you should be asking. Do I feel lucky, well do ya, punk?"