Last Night: I6! - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Last Night: I6!

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Dec 02, 2005 11:53:31 Yeah, Strahd: 5, PCs: 1.

My little one-shot group rolls into Barovia after receiving the false note, the gates slam behind them, they find the dead messenger and real note, they run into town, get lodging at the Blood on the Vine, rest. Next morning, they follow the notes to the Burgomaster's Villa, find his body (it never occurs to them to bury it: one point of new-rules Taint, plus one more point of Taint for the healer who fails a bad save after lifting the 10-day-old corpse's head to examine the papers on the desk), take Ireena to the Blood on the Vine, disguise her to sneak her in past Arik's objections at the potential for danger the PCs are bringing on the heads of the innocents in the tavern (another point of Taint for reckless endangerment of civilians), and take up watch duty in the taproom and in Ireena's room.

The taproom is assailed by the sound of howling and scratching, which quickly subsides. Scratching becomes crunching as Strahd tears the entire door-frame out of the front of the building (adding yet another point of temporary Taint for the proximity of a darklord). The characters downstairs at this time let fly arrows (Hi! I'm undead, with no living processes to be disturbed by puncturing!), then a charge with an enchanted greatsword (easily batted away by a warrior of his skill). Command: "Leave." Two party members sheathe their weapons, turn calmly, and proceed to the rear exit of the tavern (carrying an extra point of temporary Taint with them for the darklord's mind-affecting magic).

The party member that was upstairs with Ireena - a wizard armed with a small artillery arsenal of wands - arrives on the downstairs scene. The fighter (not the one with the greatsword) grabs Ireena from the wizard, slings her over his back, and prepares to run. Greatsword boy goes full defensive, but Strahd slips easily past his parry and grabs him by his breasplate, lifts him up, and says, "I told you to leave. You don't have to die here tonight." He decides that's a good idea and runs. Unfortunately, so does the fighter carrying Ireena.

Strahd goes bat-form, the wolves outside the tavern give chase, and the bard fires an electric-jolt arrow from her heavy crossbow at the first one, blasting it completely into smoke and stinkiness. (PCs: 1.) The bats and remaining wolves pursue the party - or should I say accompany? - to the Church. They get inside, and the sorcerer decides he's going to cast Mount enough times for everybody and they're all going to just ride until the sun comes up.

He casts, I check his Taint score - 5 at this point from something - and so give him 50-50 odds that the spell will either be toyed with by the Taint-loving DPs or go off normally. I roll, the DPs take notice, and rather than a light riding horse being summoned, a nightmare screams and kicks and rips its way into our reality in response to the spell. The sorceror realizes he is going to have little - if any - control over the creature, and so points out the door of the church toward the rapidly-coalescing body of Strahd and the wolves and says, "Sic`em."

The nightmare rears, screams, and charges. It runs headlong into the wall/doorframe and tears the wall out of the front of the church, causing the otherwise unsecure building to collapse unceremoniously behind it: atop all but one of the PCs (who rolled a critical on her Reflex save). They survive, but Ireena and Donavich don't.

The scene closes with a master vampire, 5 fiendish dire wolves, a summoned nightmare, and the Mists closing in around our intrepid heroes. Roll end credits.

Have you ever run I6 or any of its children? How'd it go?
#2
scipion_emilien
Dec 04, 2005 12:59:27 I never run house of strahd but own it (I dream of the day my players will not start to be shaken in dread each time that I propose to them to make this quest.)

For the tainted rules,which one did you use? Yours PC seem to get tainted really rapidly.

And I was wondering why did you let them encounter Strahd into the village? In my opinion it would be more funny to let them encounter him when they are into the heavily trapped castle Ravenloft with Strahd sending them from one trap to another observing and glossing over theirs pathethic attempts to roam free.

At least, you seem to have a pretty good evening, and i don't doubt that in all the cases, I6 is a heavily difficult quest for PC, I am rather curious to see how people manage to not make the players fear Ravenloft so much that they refuse to play in after making I6?
#3
breakdancin_bladesinger
Dec 05, 2005 19:03:39 I ran that particular module in 2nd ed. My group had a dwarf ranger get thrown from a tower,the psionicist go insane from making a mental contact w/ a spectere,a elf wild mage get wilted by Strahd and the survivors (a bard,a diviner,a dwarf craft priest,and a drow undead slayer ranger) mistakenly thought they killed Strahd.I felt so bad I didnt follow up w/the House on Griffon Hill.
#4
zombiegleemax
Dec 12, 2005 8:31:49
For the tainted rules,which one did you use? Yours PC seem to get tainted really rapidly.

I varied the Heroes of Horror Taint rules a bit - I amplified it somewhat due to the inherent evil of the realm itself.

And I was wondering why did you let them encounter Strahd into the village?

In the Tarokka reading (I preset it, but the PCs never made it to see Madame Eva), I determined Strahd's goal to be the possession of Ireena. He was only going to make a brief appearance, but it got later than intended, so it was an easy way to clear out for the night.

...I am rather curious to see how people manage to not make the players fear Ravenloft so much that they refuse to play in after making I6?

A couple of points on that: First, I6 is The Holy Grail of Ravenloft. It's intended to be a humbling experience, and it helps to let players know that before running it.
Second, if the players cannot handle a little trouncing at the hands of the penultimate bad guy, they shouldn't go to Penultimate Bad Guy Land. Except in the case of one-shots, I never send characters places: they make their own conscious decisions (mostly).

Hope this helps... Try it sometime! You'll have a blast. Really.
#5
zombiegleemax
Dec 13, 2005 14:54:40 We tried playing I6 several times, but even though it's Ravenloft, it's a dungeon hack. Never been one for hacking dungeons.

Didn't go over well the last time either. My paladin had been level drained from something like level 8 to level 2... And that was in the first 30 minutes or something.

Still we're stubbornly commited to doing it on day...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Dec 02, 2005 11:53:31	Yeah, Strahd: 5, PCs: 1. My little one-shot group rolls into Barovia after receiving the false note, the gates slam behind them, they find the dead messenger and real note, they run into town, get lodging at the Blood on the Vine, rest. Next morning, they follow the notes to the Burgomaster's Villa, find his body (it never occurs to them to bury it: one point of new-rules Taint, plus one more point of Taint for the healer who fails a bad save after lifting the 10-day-old corpse's head to examine the papers on the desk), take Ireena to the Blood on the Vine, disguise her to sneak her in past Arik's objections at the potential for danger the PCs are bringing on the heads of the innocents in the tavern (another point of Taint for reckless endangerment of civilians), and take up watch duty in the taproom and in Ireena's room. The taproom is assailed by the sound of howling and scratching, which quickly subsides. Scratching becomes crunching as Strahd tears the entire door-frame out of the front of the building (adding yet another point of temporary Taint for the proximity of a darklord). The characters downstairs at this time let fly arrows (Hi! I'm undead, with no living processes to be disturbed by puncturing!), then a charge with an enchanted greatsword (easily batted away by a warrior of his skill). Command: "Leave." Two party members sheathe their weapons, turn calmly, and proceed to the rear exit of the tavern (carrying an extra point of temporary Taint with them for the darklord's mind-affecting magic). The party member that was upstairs with Ireena - a wizard armed with a small artillery arsenal of wands - arrives on the downstairs scene. The fighter (not the one with the greatsword) grabs Ireena from the wizard, slings her over his back, and prepares to run. Greatsword boy goes full defensive, but Strahd slips easily past his parry and grabs him by his breasplate, lifts him up, and says, "I told you to leave. You don't have to die here tonight." He decides that's a good idea and runs. Unfortunately, so does the fighter carrying Ireena. Strahd goes bat-form, the wolves outside the tavern give chase, and the bard fires an electric-jolt arrow from her heavy crossbow at the first one, blasting it completely into smoke and stinkiness. (PCs: 1.) The bats and remaining wolves pursue the party - or should I say accompany? - to the Church. They get inside, and the sorcerer decides he's going to cast Mount enough times for everybody and they're all going to just ride until the sun comes up. He casts, I check his Taint score - 5 at this point from something - and so give him 50-50 odds that the spell will either be toyed with by the Taint-loving DPs or go off normally. I roll, the DPs take notice, and rather than a light riding horse being summoned, a nightmare screams and kicks and rips its way into our reality in response to the spell. The sorceror realizes he is going to have little - if any - control over the creature, and so points out the door of the church toward the rapidly-coalescing body of Strahd and the wolves and says, "Sic`em." The nightmare rears, screams, and charges. It runs headlong into the wall/doorframe and tears the wall out of the front of the church, causing the otherwise unsecure building to collapse unceremoniously behind it: atop all but one of the PCs (who rolled a critical on her Reflex save). They survive, but Ireena and Donavich don't. The scene closes with a master vampire, 5 fiendish dire wolves, a summoned nightmare, and the Mists closing in around our intrepid heroes. Roll end credits. Have you ever run I6 or any of its children? How'd it go?
#2 scipion_emilien Dec 04, 2005 12:59:27	I never run house of strahd but own it (I dream of the day my players will not start to be shaken in dread each time that I propose to them to make this quest.) For the tainted rules,which one did you use? Yours PC seem to get tainted really rapidly. And I was wondering why did you let them encounter Strahd into the village? In my opinion it would be more funny to let them encounter him when they are into the heavily trapped castle Ravenloft with Strahd sending them from one trap to another observing and glossing over theirs pathethic attempts to roam free. At least, you seem to have a pretty good evening, and i don't doubt that in all the cases, I6 is a heavily difficult quest for PC, I am rather curious to see how people manage to not make the players fear Ravenloft so much that they refuse to play in after making I6?
#3 breakdancin_bladesinger Dec 05, 2005 19:03:39	I ran that particular module in 2nd ed. My group had a dwarf ranger get thrown from a tower,the psionicist go insane from making a mental contact w/ a spectere,a elf wild mage get wilted by Strahd and the survivors (a bard,a diviner,a dwarf craft priest,and a drow undead slayer ranger) mistakenly thought they killed Strahd.I felt so bad I didnt follow up w/the House on Griffon Hill.
#4 zombiegleemax Dec 12, 2005 8:31:49	For the tainted rules,which one did you use? Yours PC seem to get tainted really rapidly. I varied the Heroes of Horror Taint rules a bit - I amplified it somewhat due to the inherent evil of the realm itself. And I was wondering why did you let them encounter Strahd into the village? In the Tarokka reading (I preset it, but the PCs never made it to see Madame Eva), I determined Strahd's goal to be the possession of Ireena. He was only going to make a brief appearance, but it got later than intended, so it was an easy way to clear out for the night. ...I am rather curious to see how people manage to not make the players fear Ravenloft so much that they refuse to play in after making I6? A couple of points on that: First, I6 is The Holy Grail of Ravenloft. It's intended to be a humbling experience, and it helps to let players know that before running it. Second, if the players cannot handle a little trouncing at the hands of the penultimate bad guy, they shouldn't go to Penultimate Bad Guy Land. Except in the case of one-shots, I never send characters places: they make their own conscious decisions (mostly). Hope this helps... Try it sometime! You'll have a blast. Really.
#5 zombiegleemax Dec 13, 2005 14:54:40	We tried playing I6 several times, but even though it's Ravenloft, it's a dungeon hack. Never been one for hacking dungeons. Didn't go over well the last time either. My paladin had been level drained from something like level 8 to level 2... And that was in the first 30 minutes or something. Still we're stubbornly commited to doing it on day...