DS had its share of these. I was wondering if anyone wanted to take the opportunity to share how they in particular fleshed out the areas onyl hinted at in the various modules.
for example in Slave Tribes the Black Sand Raider's dungeon is pretty scant (the lower levels and the inhabitants minus a raiig and some zoms & skellies anyways) our DM had a green age crypt to an undead king called Urthor who would not answer to any but those of his own. we also tangled with some monster in the well, and months later we returned, and the Raiders had actually secured more of the dungeon since we killed 1/2 its inhabitants! from scavenging in Kled we had a breastplate to bronze plate mail, and we were able to convince him were indeed of his era, and it was all uphill from there.
The Akarakle fortress (from Dragon's Crown) and its lower layers has a few places where passageways have collapsed: digging in those areas could give access to further parts...
The ruins taken over by Tenpug's Band are completely maped in the adventure Black Spines.
the scantly mentioned Dragons Bowl became focal for our campaign. it was guarded by a druid and contained an inverted pyramid floating above a serene lake (!) it turned into a year long quest for 10 parts of the Key (some magical wand dohickey) hidden by Orinis. key unlocked the floaty thing up into the pyramid, and it was here he renounced Rajaat so long ago, and left some clues to the Dragon and all that, as well as his discovery of the preserver metamorphis. oddly enough he used the same layout for that ruin under the lake (dont ask) as the one for tenpug's temple in the spine set (didnt city by silt sea also have that?)
Now the Dragon bowl serve as a base for the PC. Kornugard live there with the druid. Kornugard have began trying to rejuvenate Athas, its been one year is there and the scrub plain around the lake have begun to expand. It now cover half the dragon bowl. Unfortunetly, i'm about to kick in Dragon crown adventure, so Kornugard will die.
That sounds like a fun adventure do you have anything written up on it still?
I tent to like the non wold shaping adventures that way you don't have to worry about a sinlge time line to follow and your players are sitting there with a big stupid grin on there faces when news circulates of something athas shattering that has happened, and the players know it where there charactor.
maybe i'm just cruel that way... maybe one day i'lll do it.
Raksasha - do you have any written material on the campain you mentioned, parts of it sound really cool.
Kamelion,
That sounds like a fun adventure do you have anything written up on it still?
I still have my notes on those adventures in Word doc form. For the players I also produced a summary of the adventures as pdf - the adventures played out pretty differently to my initial ideas, but that's the fun of DMing for creative players ;)
yes those adventures are great, the days of looking at the campaign progress, and just shuddering at how so few things lineup on the campaign plan. truly an organic & amazing thing goes on at the gaming table. but then, its what its all about, isnt it?
something about the open-endedness of those adventures gives them a sharp appeal to gamers & Dms like me...its one thing to be told the events and what not, having the players run through the loops and experiencing a story interactively...and another to throw it all to the wind and let both sides know, that theres at least some suprises & unexpected events coming up the queue...thats why i posted this, actually. some players like it by the book, true, but i pass over adventures for supplements whenever i can. why buy the tackle & bait, when all you really need is the hook? ;)
The Pc had to recover a giant spell book for the Veiled alliance.
I replaced the Raam templar with my PC archennemi, the elf Leornis.
I added a couple of Rock golem lurking in the tower and an illusion of Kalak himself. My PC freaked out when they saw him (its the PC that killed Kalak in my campaign) and they were mad at me cause they tought it was the real Kalak. The PC mul throwed a rock at Kalak, and he dissapeared.
The look on there face was priceless :D
It finished in a big battle (on the second floor near the two stair) between Léornis and his elves and the Golden tower half-giant guard lead by senior templar Timor. One of the PC managed to survive a lighting bolt throwed by Leornis and a fireball throwed by Timor, pretty neat. He was really low on hp after that tough.
It was cool.
. We had a blast with that one when I ran it for my own group. That illusion sounds like it would have been a real laugh, heh heh...It was a cool one :D
Kam, maybe you could relate the gaming experience you and your players had in the Othand ruins, with Esputlo and an ashen...
It was a cool one :D
Seeing as you ask so nicely ;)
This was an addition to the published version of Arcane Shadows that I made. Pennarin had designed a monster inspired by the defiler picture in Dragon #315 called the Ashen (look for it in Terrors of the Deadlands, coming soon to a website near you!) and I was playtesting it. Briefly put, an Ashen is a defiler who dies when filled with unspent life energy and becomes undead as a result...
Anyhow, the players had been attacked by the Black Sand Raiders somewhere north of Othand, as per the published adventure. During the battle, I made sure that Hespulto (the Raider's defiler) took his final blows when in the midst of gathering life energy. The PCs triumphed and proceeded onwards towards Desverendi's Valley. Hespulto, of course, rose shortly thereafter as an Ashen...
A couple of nights later there was a huge storm and the PCs became separated from one of their companions, a fighter called Jenath. After much searching, they reluctantly gave Jenath up for dead and carried on their route. Emerging from the Great Alluvial Sand Wastes, they climbed the escarpments into the badlands. With moonrise, one of the remaining PCs decided to look back down into the desert wastes behind them to be sure that no Raiders were still pursuing them.
I mentioned that they could see a solitary figure making a stumbling route towards them. The PCs immediately decided that this was Jenath, wounded and struggling to catch up with them. So they lit their torches and started jumping up and down, shouting and waving their arms in an attempt to catch her attention. They seemed very pleased with themselves when I stated that the figure appeared to take note and made straight for them with redoubled effort in its stride.
By the time the figure came close enough for them to realise that it wasn't Jenath at all but was instead the undead Hespulto, it was, of course, too late. A full-on battle commenced, with much bleating and cursing from the PCs. The fact that it was a new monster that nobody had even heard of, let alone seen before, only made it all the more enjoyable (well, for me at least). I'm sure we've all seen this kind of thing before, when otherwise well-organised groups descend into chaotic confusion. Lots of screaming and running around and retreating and then running back into melee again and hitting each other by accident - that sort of thing.
Anyway, you get the idea. Cool monster, lots of fun. Highly recommended ;)
How did you separated him from the rest of the group?
I think I will stole another of your idea
Too bad I already runned Arcane shadow for my campaign.
Even if you already have run Arcane Shadows you can still introduce this particular idea by running Dragon's Crown, the Raiders also appear in that adventure.
The ashen has advancement in its build, so you can use that to boost its general capabilities to match the challenge level of that adventure.
My PC have a long time ennemies, a defiler elf (named Leornis), I think it will be him.
very soon, soon, soon....soon.........soon...........................
[/echo]
Less than a month is the most ETA I will give at this point.
Just keeping putting the whip to Gab and he'll get it out for us.
;)
How many lashes?
Do I have to bust out the scourge on the Epic Bureau, too? :D