House rules:
1. We use half-or-better HP (roll, if less than half of max, PC gets half) and maximum HP at 1st, 11th, 21st, 31st, etc.
2. Monks can freely mulitclass with Psion/Psychic Warrior
3. Any class can freely multiclass after 20th (paladins, monks)
4. Everyone gets an additional Greyhawk language (Velondi, Ancient Suloise, etc.)
5. XP awards are even for all PCs (though later members have less)
6. HERO POINTS: if the PC does something heroic (not self-preservation) in the course of the adventure they get a Hero Point which is like a get out of jail free card. They can avoid any situation.
7. COOL POINTS: rather than XP awards for roleplaying I give Cool Points for funny/appropriate/deep character interaction. 10 Cool Points equal a Hero Point. If during the course of the game I make a ruling and later it is proven incorrect the affected PC gets a Cool Point.
8. As a story device, there is some sort of Temporal Flux around the PCs and, if someone can't make it to the session, that PC jumps forward in time till when they show up again to a session, with no knowledge of what has transpired while they were gone.
9. Also character creation is as follows: 4d6 drop the lowest, six times, arrange how you'd like. A baseline of 81pts allowed people who rolled low to adjust scores to no higher than 17 until the six scores totaled 81. Since 3E I would adjust this in a new campaign to 75 pts, the idea was the PCs are truly epic heroes and above average in every stat on average (75/6 = 12.5). OldSchool DnD you didn't get a bonus on a stat until 13 which is why it used to be 81 (81/6=13.5).
10. As a DM I have unlimited resources, so when dealing with players I almost never use nasty items/spells unless the PCs have done it first.
11. BOTCHES: after incessant complaining about a 1 in 20 miss chance for progressively higher level PCs and the lack of variety in mishaps we adopted this system: Roll 1d4-1 for each PC, if 0 then next "1" is freebie, if max result move up one die size (d10 max, with no -1 modifier), after a number is set consult table below when they hit critical mass (number of 1's equal to set number).
1 Lose rest of attacks
2 Drop weapon
3 Throw weapon
4 Drop weapon and fall down
5 Throw weapon and fall down
6 #5 & randomly throw at someone
7 #5 & randomly throw at PC
8 Drop weapon and fall on it (automatic hit)
9 #8 but automatic critical hit
10 (01-50) Fall down, become dazed, throw weapon at nearest PC for critical hit
(51-100) Become dazed, weapon breaks (Str check of PC or opponent whichever is higher vs. material break DC)
For spells with attack rolls substitute spell component pouch for weapon in 1-5, 6-10 spell hits whomever weapon would've have hit. Weapon breaking could signify spell pouch being destroyed in magical backlash. For these purposes a spell pouch contains all material components less than 1gp in value.
Since adopting this system we've never gotten above a '4' but one PC has a '6' coming to him (3 more 1's)
12. Rangers can use their virtual feats with double weapons.
13. Red Avenger, Drunken Master, and Ninja of the Crescent Moon are used as Monk Prestige classes akin to the Shintao Monk, Henshin Mystic, and Tattooed Monk.
We play slightly in the past of the 'current year'. And some entries are placeholders.
*****ICONIC MODULE SPOILERS*****
(italicized denotes PC/*Cohort)
(underlined denotes ally)
(red lettering denotes villain)
(“quotation” denotes adventure name)
Common Year 583 (1227 Oeridian Record/ 6098 Suloise Dating/ 5045 Olven Calendar/ 3242 Baklunish Hegira/ 2733 Flan Tracking)
Prince Nasem a dwarf soldier from the North, who fought in the Principality of Ulek joined with Warlyke Alfonse a sorcerer (who was fair-weather at first and then disassociated), Tetsuo Kaneda a mysterious robed man with a haughty attitude, Rath Thorgunson a dwarf wizard of small repute and many piercings, Slyth a young mind mage who was almost as talented as he was full of himself, Snarl a gnoll thief who was reformed with the aid of Thelosius the True, Orion McDuff a priest of Kord from the north, and Julio Da Buff a human but a fellow soldier.
“Minding the Store” Fireseek 583CY
These men brought together by common interest and contacts within the City of Greyhawk, soon had a loose and fast friendship. Without outside prospects for adventure the group took employment with Sennard Porbel , a local shop owner in the Thieves’ Quarter, and found themselves facing a group of NPC adventurers there to claim merchandise left in the store’s care but the goods were gone along with anything else of real value. Sennard had obviously left the PCs in a bad position, one in which they fought their way out. That evening, bad became worse as thieves’ descended on the store looking for lost protection money. Killed by the PCs and devoured by Snarl, the group realized their predicament and made amends with the Thieves’ Guild allowing them to live to fight another day.
“Wine Harvest”
After the debacle at the store the PCs were eager for work outside of the city. They found it when a local vineyard began having goblin problems. The Burbarr Vineyard is north of the city nestled along the banks of the Selintan river, situated on a small tributary, it’s vineyards produce grapes that make a sweet wine popular in nearby Greyhawk. The vineyard was under attack by goblins that claimed the farmers stole their sacred stone and therefore must be punished. The PCs investigated and found that some leprachauns and a psuedodragon were playing tricks on the Burbarrs and goblins. After much pleading the fey, grew tired and turned Snarl into a goblin and left to find sport elsewhere. The group then returned to Greyhawk to find help for Snarl and seek new adventure.
“House of Dorshak Krane”
The group, healed and ready to continue, found adventure when a group from the Guild of Jewelers and Gemcutters asked them to investigate the whereabouts of one of their member, a Dorshak Krane. Dorshak was a dwarf obsessed with solitude and security, and these obsessions drove him mad. Cutting himself off from the world, Dorshak hid with his amassed wealth in a secret chamber, located in the attic of his house. During his self imposed exile the house became lair to a pair of sinister gnome rogue/illusionists. The party battled with the gnomes, who posed as ghosts, defeating them only to find the crazed Dorshak absconded upstairs. In his madness Dorshak attacked the group, but was slain. His fortune passed to the PCs, who had tp [ay his back taxes but were able to keep his fortress-like residence.
In celebration the PCs went to the Golden Dragon Gaming House only to be caught in a bar brawl, directly after seeing Sennard Porbel the dubious shopkeeper from “Minding the Store”. In the confusion of the brawl Snarl had made away with a sword, later found to be Turin Deathstalker’s ‘Orcrist’, and the group fled to their new domicile. Wisely returning the sword the PCs received a note thanking them for their honorable action.
“Dead of Night”
Nasem, Snarl, and Galvin after encountering the sagacious wizard Nightshade and encountering his mental instability, they travelled through a one-way door to a forest miles away. There they encountered Haloryn, a halfling druid, who while unwilling to travel with the PCs (he believed splitting up was better), he was willing to steer them in the right direction for adventure. They eventually encountered and destroyed a skeletal ranger, Bartas who was casting an evil pall on the area. After his destruction, Haloryn was much more friendly.
“Brannigan Farm”
While lounging at their home a new messenger came to the door carrying a message purportedly from Mordenkainen the Archmage. The message said that the PCs troublemaking ways could be overlooked if they checked on an old friend of his, and aided him if need be. The PCs feeling pressure left almost immediately and traveled west toward Verbobonc on their way to Orlane a village near the Dim Forest.
On the road the PCs came upon a farmstead under siege by hobgoblins. A gang of hobgoblins was sacking the Brannigan farm, when the second in command saw his chance to be the top dog. The leader was caught in the house with his loyal guards and the family members of slain Mel Brannigan, while the second was outside with his turncoats. The PCs rushed the house, and while the eldest daughter of Mel was killed all the hobgoblins were slain and Nasem claimed the leader’s flaming sword. The outside hobgoblins fell as well, and the group continued on their journey, glad they could help, sad that it wasn’t enough.
“Against the Cult of the Reptile God” Readying 583CY
After passing through Verbobonc, where Snarl in disguise was almost recognized, the group traveled magically fast to Hochoch, a large town west of Orlane. In Hochoch the PCs grabbed any last minute equipment and headed for Orlane. The road was uneventful and the village seemed mundane enough, so the group decided to go to the closest inn, the Inn of the Golden Grain.
Greeted by warm hospitality the group was offered food and drink after their dusty road trip. The nefarious quality of the village was shown when the group realized the food and drink were drugged and the staff, which was members of the cult, was trying to subdue PCs. The group fought through with strength of arms and begins to search the village for more mysterious or suspicious behavior. It wasn’t long before they headed into the local church of Merikka, and there they realized something was very wrong.
The temple was vandalized and occupied by villagers and strangers who formed a cult that seemed to worship something called, Explictica Defilus the Reptile God, who supposedly dwelt within the nearby Rushmoors. In the temple, Snarl discovered 12 gold statues dedicated to Merikka. Ignoring the clues that even though the rest of the temple was defiled and this place was clean, he scraped the gold to see if it was real and was cursed by Merikka 12 times! Underneath the temple they found smelly troglodytes, the true servants of the Reptile God. After dispatching the ex-High Priest of Merikka, Abramo, the group found Ranme, the friend of Mordenkainen and he offered to lead them to Explictica’s lair.
Traveling through the Dim Forest the group encounters some random goblins, spiders, and other unpleasantness but continued to the dungeon lair. Entering the muddy walls and floors of the first level the group encountered human and troglodyte denizens, making their way to the second floor the group entered more hewn stone and natural cavern to replace the mud of above. Mysteriously one of the groups number, Slyth the Psion, disappeared in the night. The group found prisoners including, Borgun a water boy in Nasem’s old army company, and Galvin Siannodel, a grey elf rogue and wizard. After Slyth’s disappearance the group was eager to have more help, as it got ready to assault ‘god’. Fighting their way through the remainder of the cult’s forces the group assaulted and defeated Explictica Defilus, who was a naga using her charm abilities to brainwash anyone nearby unlucky enough to fall into her grasp. The group returned to Orlane but with half their number gone to the naga and the rest in broken spirits their stay was short. Traveling from Orlane the group ended up taking riverboats south to the Principality of Ulek where Nasem once served in the army.
“Ogres of the Blinding Light”
After disembarking from the boat the group traveled cross-land the remaining distance into Ulek. While traveling the road the group came upon a priest of Pholtus, who was walking with ogres he had converted to LG. While accompanying them down the road the group was attacked by grim dwarves who offered no quarter once battle was joined. Despite the priest’s protestations the battle waged on and finally the ogres’ bloodlust re-emerged and the dwarves, the priest and ogres were all killed in the onslaught.
“Patriots of Ulek” Coldeven 583CY
Finally entering Gryrax, the capital of the Principality, the PCs were summoned before Prince Corrond. The Prince asked Nasem and the group to travel to Prinzfeld to help them prepare for coming conflict with the neighboring humanoids of the Pomarj. On their way to Prinzfeld the group stopped by a small unnamed village that was under the pall of Sotpah’s Tower, an evil unseen but felt throughout the tiny village. Their task however lies just ahead so the adventurers left behind the village and proceeded to Prinzfeld. Tetsuo Kaneda, the haughty monk was arrested in Gryrax. He was held upon suspicion being a spy for the Scarlet Brotherhood and the Pomarj. At this time the group met a young bard named Duric Cyrill. After discovering one of their number was a traitor, the group was happy to meet such an affable fellow as the recorder playing bard. After dealing with small bands of roving orcs, the group met Lorrig Gnollkiller, a gnomish ranger in service of Ehlonna. Snarl, still disguised, took an instant dislike to the gnome who loved to talk about killing gnolls. And during a battle, set about to shoot Lorrig with an arrow dipped in poison. The actual events are a little sketchy but, some say Lorrig drove off the gnoll and that Snarl joined with the agents of the Pomarj. In either event, the group continued to search out and destroy subversive elements in the province. Also in the area was a young druid of the Old Ways, Esk. Traveling south from the Tiger Nomads, Esk had been serving in the County of Ulek, assisting older druids in their various rites. Having common purpose, to defeat evil, the young druid joined with the group and helped free Prinzfeld from the evil influence of Horaz, an Agent of the Pomarj. Horaz, wielding the greatsword ‘Mansplitter’, was driven from the province but returned in force with goblins riding worgs, ogres, hill giants, and orcs. The PCs roused the provincial militia and met the Pomarj forces in battle. Rath and Galvin had been killed by ogres, but were later resurrected. Nasem killed the hill giant, and the sword ‘Mansplitter’ came into the possession of Julio Da Buff. Afterward the PCs continued north on the road home to Greyhawk.
“The Forest Oracle” Growfest 583CY
Just north of Prinzfeld lay the sleepy village of The Downs. As the group approached they could see something was wrong, and the townsfolk immediately begin to plead for the characters help. The problem was that the crops were under a curse, placed there by a gypsy the townsfolk had spurned. Delon, a local mage who spoke for the village, asked the group to contact the druids who dwelt within the Forest Oracle on the other side of Dragonteeth Mountains and get a cure to the blight on their crops.
They traveled to the mountain pass, but found a mysterious lake, quiet as death, on the way. Chloe, a nymph, had placed a spell on the lake and it’s environs in lament of her jealous heart. The group awoke her lover, Evan, and the spell was lifted when she saw him awake once again. They traveled to the Dragonteeth Mountains. To pass under the mountain range the group had to fight orcs and a crazed dwarf. When they emerged they saved Perciss the Dryad from orcs attacks on her tree. The group finally found the Forest Oracle. The druids required the group to clear a nearby ruin of it’s monstrous infestation. After vanquishing the goblins that inhabited the ruins of Castle Karn, the group returns to the Oracle and received the cure from the druids. Advised to take the road south the group headed back to The Downs. On the way, the group encountered and defeated bugbears that were abnormally well organized for their kind, giant toads, and a yeti living in the mountains. Crossing over the Dragonteeth, the PCs stumbled into the gypsies and their camp. Rinaldo the swashbuckler led the group to Madame Riva. She informed the characters of an encounter the gypsies had with a giant who stole their belongings and a trained Pegasus, after being shown the hospitality of the gypsy camp. Madame Riva asked The Downs for help and when spurned placed a curse in anger. Madame Riva offered to sell a cure for money or in exchange for defeating the giant, Oolot, and rescuing the Pegasus, Silverwing. The PCs stated they already had a druid cure but Madame Riva explained the druid cure would help next year, not this year. The group needed the gypsy cure for this year to be saved. After agreeing to defeat the giant, the PCs headed to his lair. Oolot put up a good fight but was defeated and Silverwing was rescued, then the group returned to Madame Riva and received the gypsy cure and Talismans of the Rom, the Traveling People. These talismans proved the PCs were friends of the Rom and they could ask for assistance. Returning to The Downs, the cures were given to Dolen, who administered them successfully and then proclaimed the group heroes. Julio Da Buff was especially idolized by the common folk and children ran around town kissing their muscles for months (Julio's quirk).
“Were-rat Attack” Planting 583CY
Nasem, Julio, and Duric, while staying at the Wildwood Inn, found a secret passage that was used by some were-rats to prey on passing merchants and travelers. The owner of the inn, Bolo Softsole, thanked the three and gave them a small reward.
"Cairn of Viliusk the Mighty, Part 1"
Nasem, Julio, and Duric, had vanquished the were-rats but then found themselves someplace else entirely. Realizing they were in some kind of burial mound the party explored the tomb eventually running into Anneka, Jetta, and Viliusk who were slain by the power of Nasem's hand. Returning to the Great Olde Wood, they realized it must have been a dream.
***3E baseline - 5th level***
“The Sunless Citadel” Flocktime 583CY
Immediately after returning to Greyhawk the PCs were visited by Sir Wennard Goodstar, a People's Constable of Greyhawk. Sir Wennard informed them of back taxes due and a penalty for tigers kept as pets. The PCs cajoled their way out of some charges and paid the rest from their new fortune. After resting at Dorshak Krane’s old house, Esk, Nasem, Galvin, Julio, Duric, Rath, and Orion heard of a hamlet called Oakhurst in need of help. The small town just south and east of Greyhawk is home to the Hucrele Merchant Company. Kerowyn Hucrele, the matriarch of the family, asked the PCs to look for Talgen Hucrele, a fighter, and Sharwyn Hucrele, a wizard, two young adventurers who went with Sir Braford, a paladin, and Karakas, a ranger, to investigate the Sunless Citadel, a ruined dwarven fortress near the hamlet that was the source of magical apples sold by goblins that cured disease and injury. However a young farm girl, Lyta Brannigan, was recently poisoned when goblins sold a faulty magic apple to the family. The first apple sold six months before worked to completely heal a man crippled by a barging accident. Julio was immediately smitten with the girl and was driven to help her. And so with a clear trail ahead of them the group traveled toward the Mistmarsh and the Sunless Citadel. The Sunless Citadel was underground and only a rift with totem pole markers was visible on approach. One marker had a rope attached and showed signs of use by goblins. The group climbed down into the rift and was attacked by Dire Rats that were easily dispatched. After traversing the winding stairs down to the entrance of the Citadel, the group entered fearlessly and was looking for adventure. Recklessly plodding though trap, goblin and kobold, the group encountered their first dragon a white named, Calcryx. It was on this first level that Aram of the Yellow Rose joined with the group after being led in by Kerix the Half-Orc Ranger. They also had rescued a prisoner named Erky Timbers, a gnome Cleric of Ehlonna. Descending to the lower level the group encountered and slaughtered bugbears, shadows, worgs, and twig blights. Finally this led to Belak the Druid and the Gulthias Tree which had spawned the magical apples. The two Hucreles where there only in form as the tree had absorbed their bodies and spit out replicants. Battle was joined and Belak was defeated and his 'Golden Sickle' was claimed by Esk.
“Bath-time for the Hopping Prophet” Wealsun 583CY
After terrorist attacks in the River Quarter of Greyhawk became widely known, the party was asked to investigate by city officials. The first appearance of Heironymus Spune a cleric of Wastri in front of the group was his last (or so they thought). Wielding 'Wastri's Righteous Storm' Spune attcked ferociously but was soon overwhelmed his final shot however slew Julio. The group then offered the expensive and evil artifact to the church of Rao, who where eager to destroy an object of such hatred as Wastri's. They in turn resurrected Julio.
“Cairn of Viliusk the Mighty, Part 2” Richfest 583CY
Esk, Galvin, Duric, and Kaz dreamt of strange place, a place that Duric, Nasem and Julio had talked about before. Also strange was the halfling they encountered there, Kazvalloc Century,a hafling rogue. Kaz said that he was on his way to Khundrukar with Erky Timbers, Orion, and Slyth but had fallen asleep and woke up in this cairn. After some investigation the group encountered Anneka, Jetta, and Viliusk, who was too much for them, but a strange rune made of mithral seemed to be the key for ending the dream. After the dream was over Kaz was gone but the group knew they'd meet him again soon.
“The Forge of Fury” Harvester 583CY
The group, always ready for adventure, heard of a dwarven stronghold secreted away in the forest, also Baron Althone, a minor noble from a small town, Blasingdel, was looking for crafts made by Durgeddin the Black, a very famous dwarven smith of antiquity. Needing no further enticement the group travelled down a forest road to find a stone formatin in the shape of a tooth. Stonetooth, as the locals called it, was not just a relic from days-gone-by but a populated pit of evil doers. While ambushed at the entrance the group overpowered the orc guards and entered through the Mountain Door. Burdug, the priest of Gruumsh and his orc warriors had laid a second trap and as the PCs search through stolen goods the trap was sprung. Burdug deliverd a mighty hit to Aram but even that was not enough to stop the juggernaught that was the party. Traverseing to the second level after bypassing a fire trap that could have fried the party, the group ran into Erky Timbers, Orion, Slyth, and the halfling they met in the dream, Kaz. The elven guide that had led them into the fortress via the 'Orc Tunnel', then spoke to Galvin in hushed tones after which Galvin left the group to take care of 'elf business'. Their attention turned back to the task at hand and soon battle was joined with troglodytes led by a chief, Kaarghaz,and a priest, Sraego. Duric died in the fighting but was miraculously resurrected by Aram using the power of 'Om'. After defeating the warriors of this tribe of evil reptilians the group decided to banish the females and young to never return. Journeying through the underground fields of mushrooms and glowing puffballs, the group encountered Greater Gricks guarding a small treasure trove. The encounter almost killed Duric but HEROically he survived. In the treasure was the 'Jester Rod' this artifact-level Rod of Wonder had facial featrures which could change with the mood of the intelligent device. Coleman, as the rod like to be called, had a purpose to defend gnomes and reallty liked to travel. The group cleared a level dominated by an underground river and slew the roper residing there. After finding a dead the group eventually discovered the secret of Khundrukar. Behind a statue in a room with two trapped doors the group encountered duergar led byNamira("Drop your wepons and gold and you may sruvive. Do it not, and you surely will die!"), who wielded a two-bladed sword, the illusionist Snurrevin, and the savant Grek the Ugly. Nasem fought Namira in personal combat whilst the rest engaged her support troops. Finally only the illusionist remained but Esk in tiger-form used his ability to scent to discover and kill Snurrevin. Next young and arrogant Slyth used his psinic powers to vanquish an allip of the original high priest, Arundil. Descending to the lowest level of the stronghold the group encountered their toughest foe yet, Nightscale the Balck Dragon. After tense combat the group eventually drove off the dragon but was unable to kill him. In Nightscale's trove they found 'Sacred Tundra' a Durgeddin masterpiece of cold iron, which Nasem claimed and he gifted his flaming sword 'Kit' to Erky Timbers. Returing to Blasingdel they unloaded most of the Durgeddin artifacts for cash with Baron Althone, though more expensive items he said he would meet them in Greyhawk City and purchase.
“The Speaker in Dreams” Brewfest 583CY
Upon entering the town of Brindinford the group was ready to party, it was Brewfest and celebrations filled the streets. Deciding to split up into two groups, the party went their separate ways. Nasem, his cohort Borgun, Julio, Duric, his friend Kerix, and Brindinford's own Kaz discovered were-rats in the bell tower and grimlocks under the streets. Meanwhile Esk, his friend (and soon to be follower) Erky, Rath, Aram, and Slyth met a new friend Elmon while fighting wystes that suddenly appeared in the street. The level of strange and disturbing activity continued to rise as they encountered members of some weird cult in a bookstore ("The Reality Wrinkle") and a paladin of Heironeus, Torea, struggling against more cultists. Afterward the party was back in full swing the group was recognized for their efforts and was given a sapphire pendant marking the friendships gained in Brindinford. All was not well, however and as the celebration ended assassins struck in the alley behind the "Stony Gaze" tavern. Among the assassins was a spiked chain wielding thug who called Nasem out and paid for that hubris. The characters set out to find the villains behind the attack but were beset in the streets by an osyluth and a hellcat. After their defeat the church of Pelor erupted into hellish light show that was a beacon to the evil-smashing group. At this time the Mayor of Brindinford, Baron Euphemes II, declared a new order that was to be enforced by hellish allies. Removing Daros Hellseeker from the temple of Pelor proved to be quick and so only the Mayor remained. Entering the Baron's Keep, the group was set upon by a beggar who was really a medusa in disguise. The manor house was occupied by Ghaerleth Axom, a mind flayer psion, an invisible ogre mage, BattleMaster Tuberoff of Hextor and an armor-plated frankenstein Tuberoff refered to as an Undead Hextorite. When the battle was finally over Tuberoff and Ghaerleth had escaped and Julio and Kerix were dead (Death Knell and Cone of Cold respectively). Hugh the Helpful,a radiant servant of Pelor, raised Hugh but with no other 500gp diamond available, Esk had to reincarnate Kerix who was brought back as a tusked wolf. Hugh then took over temporarily as steward of the recently cleansed temple and re-dedicated it to Pelor. At this time Nasem's fame was so great that a small number of locals jumped in a wagon and pledged to follow him to whatever end. The group rested up and while doing so heard rumors of a druidic circle hidden in the nearby forest. Duric using clues from 600 year old songs discovered the location south of Dyvers and the group soon was on the road again.
"Standing Stones” Patchwall 583CY
On the road to the hidden druidic circle, the group encountered a band of goblins, ogres, and orcs working in unusually close contact and greater than normal coordination. These creatures rushed from the forest to attack the camped group and were dispatched but the entire episode remained very mysterious. However the group was already on a mission and soon continued down the road. Julio who had been depressed since dying at the hands of Tuberoff decided to take some time off and head back to Brannigan's farm where Lyta Brannigan was staying with her sister. Entering into the Gnarley Forest the group traveled some time until reaching a seldom-used road that was their chosen path. Moving down this road the group ran into (almost literally) a wagon being attacked by a ghostly warrior and mount. Unable to save any of the wagon's occupants the group realized that their opponent was not affected by spells that specifically target evil but prevailed through force of arms. Traveling farther down the road the group came upon a farmhouse occupied by Tanasha Lu and her grandfather Old Tarbee. They offered to travel with the group to Ossington the town at the end of the road that was surrounded by two stone rings. On the way to Ossington the group stopped by a ancient chapel that may have once been dedicated to Beory. Now the chapel housed icons of nine gods who while all having some neutral aspect were unrelated, the whole arrangement was very enigmatic. About to leave the Chapel of the Nine Gods, an arrow flew from the forest and killed Old Tarbee; the group chased away the forest assailants and continued hurriedly to discover the source of all these troubles. Tanash Lu seemed strangely unemotional about the death of Old Tarbee but that didn't stop Duric from trying to get closer with Tanasha. Entering Ossington the group was all but mobbed by the villagers who were starving because no one had tended the fields and there was no harvest. Just as things were getting out of hand a calming melody influenced the crowd to calm down, the performer a balding bard called the Cuckoo greeted the party. Nasem and his followers shared their provisions with the starving people and the cook 'Old Man Pocojay' (a pretentious know-it-all) seemed to be able to stretch the food far more than thought possible. After questioning the Cuckoo the group was referred to Dyson the Sage who lived in the tower at the thorpe's center. Seeing Dyson the adventurers learned of the Horseman who attacked the villagers and local Grugarch (wild elves) who did the same. The mayor was next door to the tower and so the group interviewed him but as he was in mid-sentence an elf arrow flew from outside the stone circles and felled the mayor. Now hot the trail the party explored the nearby woods and local areas of interest. More and more they discovered evidence that the elves were the victims and when they finally ran into the treant Gnarlroot they learned of Dyson's hand in the local tragedy. Esk promised Gnarlroot that they would set things right in the forest and investigeted the massacre site where they found a gargantuan Caller in Darkness which 'Sacred Tundra' warned Nasem against approaching and then proceeded to the Tarn near Red Horse Hill. At then Tarn the Horseman's true nature was revealed, as a paladin of Pelor and the group at last realized Dyson was to blame. Returning to the thorpe the group was greeted by an old friend of Esk's from the Tiger Nomads, Kongol. Dyson atop his tower with Cuckoo and Henwen cautiously greeted the returning adventurers. As Dyson was denying everything Kaz saw an opportunity and shot the Cuckoo with a sneak attack. Rath then cast cloudkill and all hell broke loose. Dyson's disintegrates could not save him or Henwen but his cone of cold froze Kongol like a block of ice and the Cuckoo escaped. Esk and Duric drawing on their considerable charisma convinced the populace that Dyson was evil and that they were now free, after being fed the hungry villagers eagerly agreed. Esk who now claimed stewardship of the circles was convincing enough that the inhabitants agreed to follow him and learn from his teachings. Kongol slowly thawed and was amazingly still alive though he now claimed to be Bargas the Cold a priest of Telchur. This priest, who's breath was like icy fog, soon left without a word, his tracks leading north.
“Orc Army”
Ossington was now free of the control of Dyson and the elf attacks had stopped, the Horseman was laid to rest and the village seemed peaceful. Food was running low and as the group made plans to procure more Kerix, who had run off to adjust to his new wolf form, returned with dire news, a small army of orcs were moving this way and they looked to be ready for war. Pooling their resources the group stood against Gackrunk, druid of Obad-Hai, Kro Elfslayer, Dragos, two wyverns and their army. Victorious the group stood idly by as the faux humans removed the orc corpses only to find out later they were being eaten. Esk then instilled a "do not eat humanoids" policy in his new followers.
“Weeds, a Bulette, and Forestclaw”
Using druidic magic Esk communed with nature in an effort to help remove any remaining evil in the area. Finding strong evil presence the group tracked down and removed an assassin flower with attached vines, a fiendish shambling mound, and a fiendish tendriculous. In the last battle a bulette appeared and swallowed Elmon before escaping. Upon their return to Ossington, Old Man Pocojay, a self-proclaimed monster expert, said that Elmon was probably spit out by the bulette because those beasts hate elf meat. Aram, Elmon's closest friend, retrieved his body and used the power of Om to resurrect him. A plume of dust in the distance signaled a fast moving traveler who was a cleric of Fharlanghn. Valdos the Amazed as he was called informed the group he was heading to the Chapel to pay homage and preserve its neutrality. Pocojay noted that the bulette was likely attracted by Valdos fast running and would appear in Ossington soon. Pocojay was correct and the bulette showed and was destroyed. After reflection and prayer Esk converted to Ehlonna, likely due to the never-ending persistence of Erky Timbers who had worked on him since the Sunless Citadel. This conversion reinvigorated hidden magic at the circle setting off a light show seen for miles. It was this light show that alerted Forestclaw and prompted the dragon to investigate. Approaching invisibly, the dragon, haughty in it's power, attacked the group without warning but was rebuffed and as he attempted escape a flying Rath ended the Forestclaw's life with a fireball.
“Kaz and Duric’s dream of the Citadel”
Kaz, Duric and Julio shared a dream of the Sunless Citadel. The citadel was new to Kaz but Duric and Julio had seen it all before. The whole episode seemed to foreshadow some dire event because at the bottom of the dungeon the Gulthias Tree was overturned and something buried beneath it was no longer there. Julio later remembered little of the event but it spurred him to rejoin the group.
“Heart of Nightfang Spire” Ready’reat 583CY
The group, plus Hord Nordfink of St. Cuthbert and minus Duric who remained in Greyhawk City on an apparent drinking binge, heard rumors of a black dragon terrorizing nearby Drylake, a dragon that was known as Nightscale. Ready to bring final justice to the dragon they had fought once already the group begins the journey to Drylake. On the road the party came upon seemingly innocuous piles of harvested hay but the hay was hiding Tuberoff and new versions of his Undead Hextorites. After the ambush was launched a rival priest of Hextor, Treize Kushrinada, interfered by disrupting control of the Hextorites and forced Tuberoff's exit which allowed for the group to continue to Drylake. After arriving in hte small mining town the group wasted no time in getting directions to where the dragon had it's lair. Entering the dark gulch cautiously the group encountered twig blights and tree blights and explored the ossuary outside. Inside the ossuary was the corpse of a wild elf Galvin was looking for and besides a note warning about the Cuckoo was the longbow, Eagle's Talon. Realizing they needed to prepare different spells to make their ingress the group begin the trek beck to Drylake. Before exiting the gulch however Gulthias the vampire archmage appeared and snatched via spell Hord Nordfink. The party was unable to determine how the vampire came out under the sun and so easily captured a traveling mate, so they returned to Drylake to think on this problem. That night the group had another 'dream' where Guthias and his powerful undead minions attacked and destroyed the inn where the party was housed. Redbone (wight assassin), Skullus (Demon Armor wearing skeletal fighter), Aoket (mummy monk), Anais (wraith cleric), Dexter and Strom (shadow rogues), and Gulthias made short work of the characters, which awoke from this nightmare terrified and confused. Their confusion only grew as the 'Golden Sickle' captured from Belak in the Sunless Citadel was missing and their inn was destroyed. Slowly the details came back, they were indeed killed but St. Cuthbert resurrected them and gave them limited time to retrieve Hord Nordfink or He would reverse his spells and return the group to death. Scrying the inside of the tower the group saw a white dragon sleeping and after due preparation, Rath cast multiple spider climbs and the group scaled the tower. As they were climbing a Mooncalf engaged the group but was defeated. Inside they engaged the white dragon but soon realized the white of the dragon was the pall of undeath. Nightscale was now a wight dragon and with other wights engaged the group and lost. Having expended much of their resources for the day the group exited the tower and made camp. Re-entering the tower the next day through a drop hole the group cleared most of the first level's shadows, vampire spawn, and spectres and met Anais but after brief combat the wraith fled, again low on resources the group exited the tower. At the edge of the gulch the group saw Duric traveling toward them and Skullus, an undead Snarl and numerous undead charging from inside the gulch. As battle was joined a rift appeared in the middle of the battlefield that enveloped Kaz and deposited both strange monsters and strange allies. Undead Snarl charged the group but was also enveloped by the rift but unlike Kaz he didn't disappear but seemed to become a living gnoll once again. After the battle was over the group introduced themselves to Oyumi, Shimada and Soju who claimed to be from a land known as Rokugan. The strangers joined with the group in an effort to discover why they were there and how to get back to their home. Snarl remembered nothing since leaving the group and grasping a dark crystal ball but since his memories before that were intact and he felt continued animosity towards the party and took off on his own. Focusing on the spire the group continued it's exploration and met Aoket who teleported in with 'the Archer' and they harassed the group before Aoket escaped. Throughout this time Gulthias continued to teleport in, engage the group, become distracted and disappear. The next day Aoket continued his harassment as the group continued their exploration and they defeated girallons, spectres, and night hags before facing Dexter and Storm who teleported in with Aoket, who once again escaped. About this time they encountered a door with writing so magical in nature that to comprehend it stunned Duric, the writing read 'Redface Warmonger' and when said aloud a blast of psionic energy filled the area. Again the group retreated to regroup, met with a dwarf sorcerer named Theneus who with a small war party was there to pledge allegiance to Nasem and the next day they finally slew Aoket. Facing constant and increasingly more focused attacks by Gulthias the group sought outside help in the form of Hugh the Helpful a radiant servant of Pelor. The powerful sun cleric began to cut swaths of holy destruction through the undead including Redbone and when Gulthias was finally confronted in the heart chamber with the Heart Guardian (fire giant advanced zombie), Hugh unleashed a sunbeam that anticlimactically turned the vampire to ashes. Hord was released from a large black gem and the party left the evil and difficult tower behind to pursue individual goals.
NOTES: The "Cairn of Viliusk the Mighty" is properly known as "The Dead of the Howling Hills".
(continued below)
Before the flux I didn't play no-show-PCs I distibuted them amongst the attendees that session, because I am too busy as it is (Our group is 10 PCs, 4 cohorts so, I'm actually thinking of looking for an Assistant DM to help me out I'm so busy). After a while it became apparent it was a strain on those who did show so I started the flux to ease our workload.
However story is priority, so I wove the temporal flux into the story dynamic which dealt heavily with dreams by combining the two. Now the PCs experience dreams from the past in an effort to ready them for the true villain in the future.
edit: I will say that using a device like that really makes it easy for me to manipulate the story anyway I see fit.
Does it work the other way? Has the flux caused any PCs to "remember" the future? (Could be a useful tool for foreshadowing . . . )
EDIT: Also that's the reason we 'play in the past', so major official events I can work into my campaign and I can foreshadow, make prophecies,etc.
Originally posted by avfanatic
The "Cairn of Viliusk the Mighty" from the City of Greyhawk Boxed Set has appeared as a 'dream' 3 times. Each time it is more difficult than the last and more informative. About the time the flux started the PCs realized the dreams are likely temporal fluctuation. That's leading to a future 'real-time' exploration of the actual cairn which is located in the Howling Hills. Deep inside an area where Iuz holds power.
This is similar to what I started doing in Dave's World towards the end of Chapter 1, which finished a year and a half ago (I haven't started Chapter 2 yet .. DW has been on hiatus ever since *sigh* mostly 'cause I don't have the energy to convert the Rod of Seven Parts to 3E. ;). I ran the PCs through a module that was far and above their capabilities, but I did not tone down the module at all. Naturally, the PCs all died (though I was lenient--letting them get away with things they shouldn't have, like polymorphing colossal undead skeletons into undead bunnies). The PCs didn't die in reality, as it turned out to be just a dream .. and, like Wayne's device, it'll be a recurring dream, and one that gives them an advantage when they finally get to the real event.
EDIT: Also that's the reason we 'play in the past', so major official events I can work into my campaign and I can foreshadow, make prophecies,etc.
And it's worked quite well!
What Wayne didn't mention really was that the Temoporal Flux can send PCs backwards as well as forwards. Aram, for example, who is the female human monk I play in Wayne's World, once went back in time to an event in her distant past (the player was on travel for work that weekend). I had a good time coming up with all the necessary elements of that time jump, most notably the actual event that happened to the character before her adventuring career, and the way in which her future self contributed to the event without her past self knowing about it.
It really had no effect on the plot of the story, or the nature of the character, but it did help me get a better feel for Aram's motivations and principles, and it also brought some sense of closure to her, freeing her to take on some new directions in the 'present'.I wanted to comment also on some lessons learned from Wayne's World's evolution.
Earlier in the campaign, Wayne employed some experimental mechanics for encouraging attendance and roleplay. For instance, for a time, players who showed up to the session received an XP bonus for their characters, on the order of 100, 250, 500 xp, or even 1000xp depending on what 'tier' of level they were at at the time. (100 xp back when we were <8th level or so .. 250 started around 10th .. 500 around 15th). These "show-up" bonuses were later broken into two parts -- half for the first half of the session (typically 2pm-6pm), and half for the second half of the session (7:15pm - finish, usually 11pm-1am). Double show-up bonus was awarded to the lowest level PC.
Level differences were primarily a side-effect of induction into the group. The earliest PCs were the highest levels, while PCs who joined later were usually assigned a level that was some delta from the lowest-level PC. For instance, our gnome sorcerer Gerod, who joined the group within the past couple of years, is 3 levels behind the highest level PCs (on the order of 50k xp -- not counting the 50k that Orion received from the Deck of Many Things).
As time went on, show-up bonuses and the gradual immigration of new players resulted in a fairly wide spread of levels, which made for problems designing encounters. Wayne's World went through two XP baseline events. The first was a somewhat complicated mathematical distribution, which kept the same relative heirarchy across the group, but compressed the deltas between the characters, resulting in a smaller range of levels. The second baseline placed PCs into 4 tiers, ranked by their total playtime in the campaign. At the same time the 2nd baseline happened, the show-up bonus went away, as it was a contributing factor to the variance problem.
Another thing we did for a while was roleplaying bonuses. At the end of each 'half', silent votes were cast on who the best roleplayer was. The results were ranked, and all PCs got XP awards, with 1st-4th place getting commesurately more. This roleplay bonus replaced the show-up bonus after the 1st baseline--players who didn't show up got no roleplay bonus (I think--or some minimum value).
Since the 2nd baseline, XP bonuses have been very rare. There was an incident with a Deck of Many Things that skewed things a bit (Aram contemplated long and hard about it, and eventually decided the Deck was too chaotic .. Esk wouldn't go near it with a 10' pole, because he understood his luck, and figured he was doomed ;). There were also morsels handed out for specific events -- I think we all got Christmas bonuses (Wayne was feeling generous
. I got an administrative bonus for keeping track of everyone's XP, and the party's treasure. Aram also got an on-the-spot XP award for coming up with a question that Mr. "Ask me any one question, and I will answer it" couldn't answer. Possibly the only in-character question that was so poignant, its answer would spoil everything, and shorten the campaign significantly. ;) (okay, so that's my take .. I could be wrong .. in fact, I probably just became wrong by posting this ... ^H^H^H^H!!)The current status is that everyone's pretty much where they should be, except for the folks that got Deck of Many Things awards (regretably, our resident Cleric got The Sun, and so he'll be dieing a lot over future adventures, I'm afraid .. or else we'll be baselined again).
I think instead of XP awards, the Cool Point system (and Hero Point system) will serve well as a tangible kudos that will not have a lasting imbalancing effect on the game (as disparate levels/XP values did).
Cohorts get 1/2 the XP award that PCs get. Unless the XP award is a Quest award (Quest awards are for accomplishing certain milestones in the story).
-Snarf aka Snarl aka Esk
Originally posted by Snarf
Mmm, Wayne, you should flesh out the other paragraphs while it's still fresh in mind...for the Heart of Nightfang Spire chapter at least...that still stands out to me as the penultimate death-o-rama.
Hey who's doing all the work! I'm getting to it dammit :D
Originally posted by Snarf
If nothing else commenting on the elements you've added to the "stock" 3E adventures might give other DMs inspiration on how to torture their PCs too ;)
The first real additions happened at/after Speaker with the addition of Tuberoff. Before that I just adjusted the levels up. I wil try to keep it in mind however
Originally posted by Elendur
Sounds like a fun campaign, I love that you're using the greyhawk city adventure cards.
Thank you
I love to take other adventures and weave them into my campaign.I forgot to mention we also have a "not-actually-a-rule House Rule" that each PC have a quirk. I find that the little things can mean a lot and that these quirks have added a lot to the game.
Quirks:
Nasem talks to weapons
Julio kisses his muscles
Orion asks "Wanna wrassle?" to almost everyone
Esk takes on animal traits after Wild Shape
Aram quotes Ancient Suloise (Latin)
(to my group: am I missing any?)
Originally posted by avfanatic
I forgot to mention we also have a "not-actually-a-rule House Rule" that each PC have a quirk. I find that the little things can mean a lot and that these quirks have added a lot to the game.
Quirks:
Nasem talks to weapons [edit: and lets them 'do the talking']
Julio kisses his muscles [edit: or snores]
Orion asks "Wanna wrassle?" to almost everyone
Esk takes on animal traits after Wild Shape
Aram quotes Ancient Suloise (Latin) [edit: usually non-sequitorially]
(to my group: am I missing any?)
Umm, I thought Aram was quoting in Draconic all this time?
Esk hasn't acted very animal-like lately. I think his quirk should be changed to: "Rolls lots of ones, but hasn't ever died." ;)
Rath says hello with Cloud Kill.
Kaz never takes his mask off (I think there are multiple Kaz's .. just like there are multiple Kosh's in B5).
Galvin uses Nasem for target practice.
Galvin: TWANG! *thunk*
Nasem (imagine the live-action Tick): "Knock it off!"
Okay, so he stopped doing that when Nasem lost the Armor of Missile Attraction.
Duric speaks like Royalty. But isn't.
Gerod barely has time to quirk between spell castings.
Originally posted by rooth
Umm, I thought Aram was quoting in Draconic all this time?
Aram has always quoted Latin which is not consistent with all the Draconic inscriptions we've seen so I switched Latin to Ancient Suloise (FYI: we're using FR Thorass as the Draconic alphabet). Which I told you when Aram met Simon for the second time and got the Ancient Suloise watch words: Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor.
Originally posted by rooth
Duric speaks like Royalty. But isn't.
It would be a good quirk if he used the royal 'we' all the time instead of just a british accent.
Originally posted by rooth
Kaz never takes his mask off.
I like quirks to be less visual, which is why I didn't list that. His "I'm forever in the shadows" routine is closer to a quirk but is just as much self-preservation.
My hat's off to Wayne. Golf clap......
***MAP***
http://rooth.org/gaming/ww/maps/
***MAP***
Originally posted by avfanatic
It's kind of short
Man, I'm fearing this guy's long posts...
:D
Seriously though, thanks for sharing what you've done. It's always cool to compare each other's takes on the setting. Good job!
Originally posted by chatdemon
Man, I'm fearing this guy's long posts...
:D
Seriously though, thanks for sharing what you've done. It's always cool to compare each other's takes on the setting. Good job!
Good catch! :D Of course I meant it's not a full recounting of each and every encounter. And thank you for the support.
Snarf, Nightfang is done though I feel like I'm missing a bunch. So, players of mine, feel free to add the story I might be missing.
Originally posted by avfanatic
Good catch! :D Of course I meant it's not a full recounting of each and every encounter. And thank you for the support.
Snarf, Nightfang is done though I feel like I'm missing a bunch. So, players of mine, feel free to add the story I might be missing.
Hmm...
- there's the whole "limited time" thing we were under after being "resurrected by Cuthbert" to free Hord (who was soul-captured in a gem) and recover his relic hammer
- the, what, about 15 PC deaths might merit mention...including "why to never run off and open a door by yourself" and "why to never charge down a spiral staircase by yourself" by Prince Nasem the Heroic Yet Often Dead...not to mention "Not Another Finger of Death!" by Aram
- no mention of rotted funerary trappings? =)
- we were ambushed a few times outside the spire, especially by that damn archer skeleton guy...this was the first adventure where we were serious about making short forays into the dungeon...usually for resurrection purposes....
- we erected a holy barrier (forbiddance) inside the lower tower and used that as a base of operations, which was cool, and necessary because of the danger of energy-draining incorporeal enemies
-- not to mention the billion 1's rolled by our resident Druid, who has yet to die even once, despite that.
-- Oh, and one of Aram's deaths wasn't from a FoD, but rather from a soul-sucking dagger, courtesy of Sadpah (or however you spell the bastard's name). Her first death, though, was in her first session (that's the case with every character I ever write up, it seems -- they all die in the first session). 'course, that was just a lucky critical from a non-magical longspear. Luckily, I wrote up a new character JUST like my first one! =)
-- OMFG! D00D! "Two beholders enter the scene, one floats down from upstairs, the other floats up from downstairs, roll initiative." "I [Esk] cast Finger of Death." "I [Krishna] cast Phantasmal Killer." Thunk thunk. "Okay, the beholders get to go. They start rotting. Who's next?"
Common Year 584 (1228 Oeridian Record/ 6099 Suloise Dating/ 5046 Olven Calendar/ 3243 Baklunish Hegira/ 2734 Flan Tracking)
“Verbeeg of the Gnarley Forest”
Since Forestclaw attacked the group had searched for his treasure hoard and finally they uncovered its location. However a tribe of verbeeg had moved in and set up camp. To make matters worse the verbeeg were hunting unicorns for their horns. Esk rallied some allies in the nearby forests and went after the verbeeg and the treasure. On the way to the mound Forestclaw used as his lair the group was harrased by a half-dragon/half-fiend sorcerer, a fiendish dire boar, and an ettercap troupe. When they arrived at the camp Esk wasted no time in laying down holy wrath upon the verbeeg but evil adventurers were also there for some sinister purpose. The evil group suffered some casualties and soon retreated their purpose seemingly fulfilled while the group encountered great resistance as they sought to pursue. The hoard secure the party did not press the issue.
“Base of Operations”
Julio, with his fiance Lyta (divine agent of Trithereon) and allies Delaermos the Bold (half-elf bard), Calgacus (suel ilithid slayer), Zak & Zeek (twin brother paladins of Pelor), and Hobey Baker (halfling bard) were asked by The Downs to investigate a nearby keep that had been used as a base for raiders. They fought a winter wolf, an orc tribe led by Kurjan Sawtooth and his animated undead. After the fight the small group decided (with Trithereon's guidance) to claim the keep for their own and protect the nearby lands from further incursions. They also decided to renew the mining that gave Brightstone Keep it's name.
“Dream of Hugh, Thelosius, and the Great Barrow Mound”
The party had another dream but this was different in that it did not include any PCs but was about their allies Hugh, Thelosius and some of their friends including a suspicious young man named Erom. Hugh concerned about the undead presence inside the barrow organized the foray to stamp out his hated enemy. The party through their eyes saw the maze full of traps, and finally reached Saithnar the Warlord. After the undead was destroyed, Erom claimed as his only share the greatsword forged by Durgeddin and used by Saithnar. The dream ended and the group was puzzled by this glimpse into the lives of others but did not discuss it further.
“Tower of Deception”
Duric, Esk, Orion, Kaz attempted to travel to Greyhawk, but when they activated the teleport circle they were transported inside a tower in the middle of the Whoolly Bay. There they fought a succubus, a hamatula, a cryohydra, and ethereal maruaders, rescued Wistamoch,a nymph, and Tri'larien, a unicorn, avoided combat through wit with a naga, and escaped the tower trap set by a Githyanki mage, Ustan Yg'niv.
“Deep Horizon”
Khundrukar began experiencing earthquakes of increasing strength and divinations revealed that an answer could be found underground. Starting in Namburil, a newly annexed hamlet of the Principality of Khundrukar, the group begin the arduous trek undergound using a book Duric had found as a guide to the ruins of an ancient drow city, Chael-Rekshaar. After fighting their way through noble salamanders, mercenary desmodu, some natural hazards and bypassing a strange iron golem flanked by two jeweled pillars which cast finger of death on people trying to circumvent the golem, then entering what could be called an underground forest the group found a huge dragon skull resting upon an adamantine lance. Searching around the area the group found the body of a paladin still holding the lance and removed both before realizing the forest was inhabited. Adjacent to the forest was a large lake with a massive pillar of rock in it's middle. Connected to the pillar were mulitple rope bridges and at it's center was a strange obelisk covered in drow writing that had faded much over the centuries but clearly had some significance. Suddenly the group was attacked by Sharindilar'telseth, Green Scourge of the Underdark, and fought the huge green dragon with their usual lethal zeal. After it's defeat Esk surmised that her treasure hoard must lay in the water below and wild shaped to investigate but was immediately attacked by a group of dire sharks and retreated vowing to come back. Travelling further down into the depths of the underdark the group noticed the outer gatehouse to the ruined city. The gatehouse was protected more desmodu and some beholders. After defeating them, the group decied to use the gatehouse as a rest stop. Continuing toward Chael-Rekshaar the group was assaulted by a dark creature beyond their ability to detect until it was too late. The gloom, Nix, attacked and killed Aram by apparently sucking out her soul saying only "Sotpah commands your death". Grief stricken over the loss of their friend the group saw no immediate way to restore her and so continued to try and save Khundrukar from further earthquakes. That night, just outside the ruins, the group had another dream of the Cairn of Viliusk the Mighty (described below). Entering the city with full knowledge of what awaited them the group acted quickly to find and free Gerod and add his skills to the group and then assaulted the beholders and their desmodu mercenaries to free the remaing slaves. Exploring the beholder base of operations Galvin found Sidhe-Lurien and intelligent elvish rapier shaped like an arrow flying from a bow and Kaz to the dismay of the group tortured a troll with an ancient iron maiden inhabited briefly by a morhg. While at the temple a slave revelaed himself as Ghaerleth Axom, the mind flayer psion, and he along with lesser mindflayers ambushed the group and if not for timely assistnace by Lyta, Calgacus ,Zak and Zeek, Hobey Baker many of their number would be without their brains. After the allies left, the next part was confusing to say the least, a number of strange occurences dealing with a squat black metal ziggurat on the south end of the city left the party without a clear idea of what actually happened but a tetramorph and rogue eidolons were involved. Resting that night the group awoke to deal with an avatar of Tharizdun, Zendrelda (ghost priestess of some dark god), and a small army of undead. However none of this was real because for three days the group lay in a demonic sleep brought on by outside forces and only survived becuase friends of Gerod, Granth(half-silver dragon paladin) and Farthange (radiant servant of Pelor), arrived with a fatespinner named Krishna Rhombi and awoke the group from their tormented dreams without restful sleep. Regrouping the party noticed that Esk,Galvin and Argosi were missing but a note was found indicating they had left to aid Ehlonna their patron (see "Battle of Flowery Meadows" below). Continuing along the group avoided the ziggurat and the insanity it seemed to spread and continued south only to find a large battlefield where the drow had made their final stand against desmodu and their dwarven allies. The field was inhabited by two ragewinds that had been spawned by the titanic battle who then fell in a new battle with the PCs. Looking then to rest and recoup their magical power the group was beset by Tuberoff, Ghaerleth Axom, an osyluth psychic warrior, a steel predator, blood golems, a cornugan, and small armies of bladelings and grimlocks. Without their magic the battle was difficult but once again the group proved too much for the evil forces and Tuberoff and Ghaerleth barely escaped with their lives. Continuing on, the group traveled no with drow books found in the temple ruins as a guide and soon came to an area apparently collapsed in the recent earthquakes. Heading in the only path that led in remotely the same direction the group came upon the lair of a ruby dragon, Rueben. The gargantuan dragon was cautious but friendly and inquisitive and soon the two sides were engaged in parley over dinner. The group was happy to finally have an encounter with a dragon that didn't end in combat and after obtaining directions from Rueben continued toward the Desmodu Enclave. Outside of the enclave the group encountered poisonous vapors and used the masks 'liberated' from the numerous mecenary desmodu they've slain. The enclave was happy to see more newcomers but suspicious of the outsiders at the same time. Going to meet Bandaar, the desmodu spiritual leader, the group encountered the other newcomers (evil adventurers) just as they were murdering Bandaar. Driving the evil group off, the PCs used powerful magics to restore life to Bandaar gaining some measure of trust. Bandaar then directed the group to the desmodu's trading partners, fire salamanders and their citadel. On the road to they encountered noble salamanders and made quick work of them but, not without cost as Borgun's tower shield and Julio's lion shield were melted by fireballs. Just outside the citadel the group encountered fire giants led by a cleric of Surtur and supported by a gargantuan red dragon, Flamotearendallfoe. After defeating the giants and sending the dragon packing the group pulled back to recouperate for the next day's assault on the citadel. Approaching the citadel, the party stumbled upon the evil adventurers as they were heading to the same destination and battle was joined at the citadel's steps. The opposing group (Delka , Heironymus Spune , Rozier the Razor , Cylos , Abilard , Rourmed , Jafar , Engrim , Kreeash , Abu ) fought long and hard but was killed or driven off. Abilard was sent to another plane, Cylos and Engrim escaped but, the group lost Nasem and was low on both resources and vitality. After restoring Nasem via scroll the group was immediately assaulted by noble slamanders from atop the citadel and again they retreated to regroup. This time they made it into the citadel, made quick work of the remaing noble salamanders, ignored a fire elemental cook and rescued some desmodu from Helkitrin the salamander leader, a beholder, a large red dragon, and the salamander smith. The dragon and Helkitrin esacaped and as the group was making it's way out they realized Flamotearendallfoe was waiting above the entrance. After doing serious damage to Nasem, the first one out, the group pressed their attack and drove him off again. That night at camp, Helkitrin, the large red dragon, and Flamotearendallfoe attacked but were slain by the powerful PCs. Returning to the desmodu enclave they were cheered for their rescue but asked to lend their services to find errant priests of Vesperian, their god, and reclaim the knowledge they stole after the war with the drow. The vampire priests were in a large cave with an altar topped with a thurible dedicated to Vesperian. The fight was quick and deadly and the group was able to return the lost books to the enclave. Khundrukar was now secured from the earthquakes and the desmodu would soon become trading partners.
"Cairn of Viliusk the Mighty, Part 3"
Appearing once again at the entrance to the strange crypt the group encountered the gnome sorcerer Gerod Glowfinger. He told them of his enslavement by a group of beholders mining the drow ruins for forgotten treasures under the volcanic rock. After this beginning conversation the group knew it had to enter the cairn and defeat Viliusk once more. New to the scenario was Bargas the Cold attending a small shrine to Telchur in the tomb's antechamber. Bargas seemed curious about the 'dream' but quickly continued his prayers. After defeating skeletal warriors and wizard wights the group met and destroyed Viliusk, again. When they awoke Gerod was gone but they felt confident they would meet him again.
“Battle of Flowery Meadows” Sunsebb 584CY
Esk, Galvin and Argosi had left their friends in the underdrak at the urging of their patron goddess, Ehlonna, to defend help defend the Great Olde Woode and Forest Orcale in the Suss Forest from the hordes of humaniods pouring out of the Pomarj. After many skirmishes and minor battles with the less powerful tribes first pushed out of the Pomarj the Ehlonnites recognized a new more organized menace heading their way. Reports of the Brood (half-black dragon/half-troglodyte spawn of Nightscale) working with the new orc tribe and it's powerful leaders, the force was well led and contained red robed advisors that the group surmised were part of the Scarlet Brotherhood. Readying to deal with this new threat the foresters gathered the various adventures scattered throughout the area performing much the same duties but with different motivations. Along with Esk, Glavin and Argosi, they met and allied with Haloryn (halfing druid/shapeshifter), Queran Sparklemoon (elven ranger/wizard), Flaeril Starbow (arcane archer student), Sharptongue (darkwood stalker), Jax (halfing psychic warrior), Oakrunner (wood elf ranger/barbarian/tempest), Johanna Twinkleye (gnome trickster), Den of Greyhawk (steward of the sacred flame), and Elmon (monk/wizard/deepwood sniper/branch dancer) to combat the growing threat. After battle was joined with the Brood, Borgun and Khundrukar's army (who were in the area on orders from Nasem to help protect the Principality of Ulek) entered the fray from the southwest while the orc tribe and it's leaders slowly and steadily entered the eastern side of the field of flowers. The Brood (Gor, Sirelk, Reneth, Knokem, Figreth, Darb, Gerran, Ianbarbar, and Cerresor) were physcially impressive but lacked the magical equipment possesed by the friends of the forest. Soon Darb, Ianbarbar, and Knokem, and Cerresor fell in battle and the rest retreated while the orcs were advancing. At this time a third party entered the fray at the northwest corner of the battlefield, goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears led by Hregath the Destoryer (bugbear barbarian/gladiator who gained some fame and his freedom in Greyhawk City) who was supported by a hobgoblin priest and psionic goblins called 'blues'. While the goblins and dwarves were engaged and the remaing Brood were in full retreat, the orc leaders (Genulk of Gruumsh, Nuger the Shaman, Binder of the Dark Truth, Fury of Gruumsh, and Hatefuleye) entered the battle, bolstering their troops.
At this point Esk and Galvin can't remember anything but feel confident that good won. Six months later the rest of the battle started to come back to them while adventuring inside Castle Maure in 585CY. On the second level a strange magical tapestry, depicting gates of some unknown city, sparked memory of small bronze elephant statues found of the battlefield hidden by years of forest growth. Soon the rest came flooding back.
The battle was already joined and the groups clashed in large battles across the field. At one point the goblinoids brought out a coffin-sized metal box and ran back. When the box was opened a small, scared boy stumbled out. A nearby orc ran to slaughter the child but, when his axe hit, red & black energy surounded the boy protecting him from the blow. And then cone-shaped green rays (thought to be a maximized disintegrate spell with a cone shape) turned all living matter touched into dust. Still the battle continued until a short old man and Tian Le Vaar, a bearded, middle aged ranger, were tracking something up the nearby river. The man, with recognition on his face, ran to the boy. Surviving multiple blast from the cone, Tian grabbed the boy, placed him gently in the metal box and lifted it with his great strength. The short old man covered Tian's escape by changing into a garganutan silver dragon quickly disperesed the remaining evil troops.
NOTES: The "Cairn of Viliusk the Mighty" is properly known as "The Dead of the Howling Hills".
(continued below)
Since Dave (Denver Dave) has the additional space and has offered some for our use, maybe it would work better if you created a simple Web page to house the info and just include the link in this post.
I realize that you are the one doing all of the work here and creating a new Web page just adds to that now, but in the long run it would probably be easier to maintain.
Just a thought. You can smack me next session.
David
Originally posted by Orion_of_Kord
Since Dave (Denver Dave) has the additional space and has offered some for our use, maybe it would work better if you created a simple Web page to house the info and just include the link in this post.
Actually, I captured all the house rules, and prettied them up, and slapped 'em on the http://rooth.org/gaming/ww page. Didn't do the history, though. Not an issue with space, just .. waiting for it to stabilize. ;)
“Dark Denizens of the Deep Delve"
Julio, Rath, Galvin, Gerod, and Orion were having dinner at Brightstone Keep when miners came flooding up from below claiming that dark elves had staged an attack. Rushing down the mine shafts the group cautiously entered the area of the drow incursion. The drow heard their approach and a priestess of Lloth called upon the demon queen's favor and caused an earthquake, collapsing the passage on top of the group. Using brawn and magic the party freed themselves and sought to drive out the drow. The battle was quick and the drow were deafeated but not before the priestess and her wizard companion could escape. Many miners slated to become slaves for the drow were freed and papers were found claiming a huge drow city, Mojon-Drilo was under the command of an epic priestess of Lloth and searching for more slaves to complete a grand work for their evil goddess.
“Dragon Riddles”
Aram, Orion, Galvin, and Kaz, after hearing rumors about a ‘riddlemaster’, decide to check it out. After a brief exchange with the Copper Dragon riddler, Kaz stumped 'Christie' with a vile riddle and the Dragon attacked. After Orion the Mighty Contender's feat of strength the dragon retreated. The group pursued and finally saw through the illusion to see the Black Dragon underneath. Methodically they removed the threat.
“Castle Maure” Wealsun 585CY
Esk, Snarl, Galvin, Aram, Rath, Duric, Kaz, and Gerod heard rumors in the City of Greyhawk about Castle Maure and had previous information that related the Standing Stones to a book inside the castle. After investigating the first level, meeting Arley, who operated a magical loom, and trading with him, defeating a Prismatic Golem, and bypassing a minor but effective trap they decided to head downstairs. As they were about to enter the second level Rath went into flux, they heard knocking at the Unopenable Doors, investigated and found Nasem, Zorik, Theneus, and Orion. Upon descending they ran into Tyrgs controlled/led/dominated by a Psuedonatural Tyrg. The howls of these beasts alerted nearby guards, who then rang a gong alerting many others. At this time Julio appeared but his new cohort Dylan was stuck in flux. After fighting Corrupted Fighters, Corpse Fighters, Alienists, and Priests of Arlu-Margoth (domains: Force?) they rounded up the bodies, saved a Tyrg survivor. Rath fluxed and the rest retreated to the first level. Esk, Aram, Duric, Galvin teleported to Ossington on party business but in Esk's stronghold a mystery was developing, increasing numbers of animals were getting sick. Meanwhile Nasem (with cohorts Zorik and Theneus), Kaz, Orion, returned to the second level looking for a fight with elder gricks, previously held at bay by a prismatic wall. The five made short work of the gricks while the travelers were investigating the strange disease that was thought to be the work of a cancer mage. After securing the help of allies to try and track the disease the travelers returned to Castle Maure. Entering the second level again the group quickly spread out and separately engaged a crawling head, high priests of Arlu-Margoth, and a vampire rogue that tried to dominate Julio the Holy Liberator. After Nasem and friends slew the high priests they found hidden victims broken by torture, helping them escape the group reformed to decide their next move. Deciding it was best to rest and renew their forays into the dungeon the group headed to the first level to set up camp. They could hear many creatures beyond a locked door and battered it down to have at the colchiln, hezrou, and glabrezu who were led by a nalfenshee. Since they retained much of their resources they made quick work of the demons but were then threatened by an alienist archmage of epic power, Eli Tomorast. Esk thinking quickly used shapechange to become a beholder and opened his central eye pointing it at the mage. Realizing he was unprepared for the impressive party Eli harrased them and then fled. A solar gated by Rath then proclaimed part of the group was evil, Gerod, Duric and Kaz specifically. The solar began his attack but the members in question fled before anything could be resolved. The evil members had absconded and the group was eager to track them down and while they were discussing their plans, Aram found a note sticking out of her pack. After reading it she said "I'll be back in a little bit" and left toward the Unopenable Doors. After some time the group, figuring Aram could take care of herself, left to track down the errant party members. Gerod was found at Ossington and procalimed himself free of evil due to intevention by Garl Glittergold. After some magical testing the group welcomed the gnome back and continued to look for the others. Aram was still absent but scrying was unable to penetrate her spell resistance. Finding Duric proved difficult and led to many dead ends before Delaermos was called in to assist and even then only vague rumors about Sigil were found. Kaz was eventually located, though he looked more spider than halfling in the scry, and was speaking in front of assembled gnolls from Snarl's tribe, alien creatures covered in resin soaked clothing, and ominously empty pews. Esk able to greater scry the next day and having the forethought to use true seeing and discovered Aram encased in a cocoon that seemed to be affecting some dire change upon her. Quickly they tried to teleport to her rescue but the spell failed and since this had happened before at Castle Maure they surmised she was still there. Teleporting then outside the Unopenable Doors, Esk shapeachnged into a nightmare and went ethereal only to ahev the spell cancelled by a white ethergaunt using antimagic shell. After discussing how to bypass this obstacle the Unopenable Doors opened from the inside and there was Eli shapechanged into a beholder with its central eye open and a small horde of colchiln demons. The battle was long because of the lack of magic inside the cone Eli was projecting but the group won the day and forced Eli's retreat, he vowed "It has been fun playing with you but when we meet again the game will be over". Once again the temporal flux affected the characters and some abilities were lost or changed but they were renewed for their continued attempt to rescue Aram. Friends of the captured monk who knew about her abscence appeared to help the group. After reintroductions with Shiloh, Varmai and Krishnathe party moved downstairs where they came upon darkness they could only dispel with sunbursts and telltale signs of a massive guards and wards spell. Travelling with Esk finding the path to Aram the group soon raced around in the darkness after Nasem ran ahead after walking through a strange pool of water. After some stumbling the group came upon a purple stone hidden behind a secret door. Nasem and his cohorts approached the stone and received visions of dire future events. Decding they could investigate further later the group headed downstairs after Rath used Mordenkainen's Disjunction to remove the guards and wards. Feeling the effects of a forbiddance spell the group was ready to travel forth when Krishna used passwall in an effort to speed up the search. However on the other side of a thin wall was a group of clerics of Arlu-Margoth and corpse fighters. After unleashing magical fury at the evil group and vanquishing a significant portion of the opposition, the second group of clerics of Arlu-Margoth and corrupted fighters entered the fray. When the second group was nearly destroyed, psuedonatural gnolls and minotaurs came from every side but were also destroyed by the PCs. Realizing the onslaught of enemies would likely continue they turned their attention to finding Aram as quickly as possible. And so, full of loot from earlier encounters, they left the corpses of their foes where they fell and tried to passwall directly to Aram. Opening a random hole in a dungeon is dangerous, and this time was even more so, as a lightning quick creature of alien origins, an uvuuvuudaum , burst through the magical hole as speedily as it was opened and attacked. Splitting up with the hope of securing Aram's quick release and then escaping the group delayed the uvuuvuudaum, dispatched a lone fehyr, and finally discovered the cocoon room, guarded by skybleeders, where Aram was being transformed into a kaorti. Aram was freed but kept screaming "I'm losing me! I'm losing me!" and the group quicly ran from the dungeon.
Having never been bested the group tried to put the incident behind them, even though that meant abandoning Kaz to the depths of the dungeon and that they lost Duric to evil magic they found within Castle Maure.
“Kord Games” Richfest 585CY
Orion had started the Kord Games in Greyhawk as a way to lure more followers to the cause, especially since the Greyhawk Wars had seen a loss of followers to deities with a more protective aspect. His companions supported him and some even consented to compete in exhibitions of the non-faithful. Athleticism and brawling make good spectator sports and capitalizing on this made it easier to bring more into the faithful of Kord. Nasem, Snarl, Galvin, Shadukar the Strong , Krishna and Shiloh Arnath competed against Pol the Ogre, Zeingaf , and other less memorable competitors. At the opening wrestling ritual of the games an aspect of kord appeared and challenged Orion to a match. Hard fought Orion eventually prevailed and gained further respect in the eyes of Kord and his church.
“Lich-staff” Godsday, Richfest 585CY (out of order - time flux)
The group was in Greyhawk City while the Kord Games were taking a break for each faith's internal rituals and they were taking a moment to relax. Out of thin air a lammasu named Archuleta appeared and pleaded for the groups help. An artifact of evil was at rest under the city and protected by powerful magics set by Zagyg the Mad Archmage, but these magics were failing and fast. Travelling into the sewers the group encountered a couple of annis standing outside a unique prismatic sphere and after they were slain the sphere began to shimmer. Soon the protective magics failed and the group entered the area to secure it from evil forces that were certain to show up soon. First were vampire monk/shadow dancers and shortly after came the lich, Haas-Balbaar. The lich showed with additional vampire allies and after a long fought battle the vampires were slain along with Haas-Balbaar but, they knew the lich would return someday. Securing the relic and some additional treasure the group was happy to see Archuleta appear with allies of good and the party turned over custody of the relic to him.
"Cairn of Viliusk the Mighty, Part 4"
Appearing at the beginning of the oft-visited dreamland that constituted the cairn, the group realized that half it's number frozen were frozen in time. Those not stuck in time grouped together and noticed chanting coming from the south door. Before they could investigate, the two other doors opened and a mass of skeletal creatures with wolf-like heads and long claws rushed into battle with the PCs. The skeltal creautres were powerful but mindless and fell to the group. Next they came into a small shrine to Telchur attended by Bargas the Cold/Kongol. Bargas was less than helpful as far as the whats and whys, but told the group they may stay in the shrine if they needed to rest.
"Lord of the Iron Fortress"
Esk, Snarl, Nasem, Zorik, Galvin, Shadukar, Julio, Dyllon, Gerod and Orion lamented the loss of two comrades to an artifact that changed Kaz and Duric to evil. Unable to retrieve Kaz beacuse of Castle Maure's powerful denizens and unable to find a way to Duric without his gather information skills they turned their attention to the matter of numerous murders/disappearances of master smiths of various areas. After some prelimnary investigation of the disappearance of the smiths, including some familiar to the group, the party headed to Rigus to follow up on their only lead, meeting Varrachus an efreet of the Rigan Mercantile Guild (RMG). Opening a gate to the Outlands just outside of Rigus the group's chaotic nature soon had them in hot water with the locals, charged with disturbing the peace the group was incarcerated overnight. On the morrow they began their investigations, finding the destination of the shipment, Razlac the Smith. Razlac's shop was eerily quiet when the group approached, a clear sign something was wrong. Entering they saw the smith near a floating greataxe, holding a steel predator head and talking to himself and it. After introductions and some common ground found the PCs, the smith and his axe travelled into the LowerDark, the underground area below the lower plane portal towns of the Outlands, where the ambush was to take place near a portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire. After some waiting, the portal opened and at first nothing happened, but then a large group of well-organized fire giants came through and established defensive positions, shortly thereafter the efreet, Varrachus came through the portal and demanded to know the groups purpose. Pointing out Razlac and explaining their benign purpose, the two groups were soon discussing the missing smiths and missing shipments of adamantine. Varrachus mentioned the Lost Cube which Gerod identified as the cube Kolyoral on the first plane of Acheron, Avalas. Heading to the Lion's Gate, also in the LowerDark, they used wind walk spells to accelerate their movement and entered Avalas via the Lion's Gate. Immediately upon entering the portal they saw a group of colossal fiendish monstrous spiders serving as mounts to a small group of drow avoiding detection they travelled some distance, used find the path and began the 700 mile trek to Kolyoral. Alon the way they were attacked by two nightwings who dispelled some of the wind walks, requiring Esk to shapechange into a roc to save his comrades, before the foes were destroyed by the much more powerful group. Two more find the paths later, the group landed on an unknown cube to rest and afterward, continue their journey. Rust dragon, axiomatic rocs, slaad disguised as humans fighting formians, release of a minor duke of hell and a chichimec later they decided to head back to Greyhawk to resupply and sell some booty. As they prepared to head to Acheron again they were attacked by the Uvuuvuudaum from Maure Castle.
Soon I might touch on some of the themes of the campaign like the small black figurines and I'll probably detail some of the PCs (for those of you on the boards it'd be nice if you did your own character
).edit to #5: experience is awarded to the party based on current level (23 at time of writing) with a 5% increase for each level below party average and a 5% decrease for every level above. Cohorts still get half, but a 17th level cohort would get half of 130% of XP gained from a 23rd level party reward.
#14: If someone succeeds on a Massive Death save than they are 'clobbered' for 1 round.
I'll add more to the history and bring it current to the beginning of 'Lord of the Iron Fortress' later.
HOUSE RULES
edit to #5: experience is awarded to the party based on current level (23 at time of writing) with a 5% increase for each level below party average and a 5% decrease for every level above. Cohorts still get half, but a 17th level cohort would get half of 130% of XP gained from a 23rd level party reward.
I have a nifty Excel spreadsheet that I've been using to keep track of the group's XP. It's not in its final stage yet, so I'm not going to link it 'til I get a chance to fix it up, but basically, it looks like this:
- Main page - XP-at-a-glance, showing each PC, their current level, current total XP, their goal for next level, and the difference between next level and current XP. Sidebar showing the XP-per-level table. Below is the campaign XP award history -- the dates, award amounts, corresonding events, and APL (Average Party Level - 23 in avfanatic's example above).
- Other sheets - one sheet per character, all referencing the main page's XP history, modifying it per the formula above based on the character's level. There's also allowance for inserting custom PC XP, such as the occasional bonus XP I get for being a secretary of sorts. Quest XP is tagged as having an APL of 'quest', and the formula detects this and does not modify the awarded XP (Quest XP, when awarded, is not modified, even for cohorts).
- Graphs - tracks XP over time for each character. Most of it tracks in parallel, except for occasional bonuses, such as from out-of-band work, or from a Deck of Many Things, or for deaths.
What avfanatic didn't mention was the rationale behind the XP formula. It allows the lower level people a chance to eventually catch up to the rest of the PCs. The rate would be extremely gradual, but one could modify the 5% factor to, say, 25%, to accelerate the "compression", if one so chose.
It's cumbersome, but once it's in a spreadsheet, it's easy to deal with.