B10 Night's Dark Terror: Tweaks
by Anarion_ElendiliNow, I don't disagree that this module is amazing, and filled to the gills with very good content.
But listening to WizardDeadloss' playthrough of the module, there are some minor things that I think I would tweak when GMing it myself. Prompted by this topic and BECMIBerserker's intent to play the Siege of Sukiskyn at a con in Norwich in August, I figured I'd share my thoughts in a more organized format.
First, some general comments.
1. Scale between the B modules and Expert Set vs. GAZ 1.
There is about a factor of 10 between the early B modules/Expert Set and GAZ1, when it comes to the population of towns and cities. Which makes sense, as you don't really get slums in a village of 550, but a town of 5500, sure. I don't have a problem with Sukiskyn or Misha's Ferry being small single (extended) family (or a single person, even) households.
2. Outdoors and Range Modifiers
A lot of the combat in the module should be happening outdoors, so everything (range, movement) is scaled up by a factor of three. In essence, going from feet to yards. The area of effect is not multiplied, though, so area spells can be less effective outdoors than in the confined dungeons, which makes sense. (Expert Set, p. 20, but also in the module itself, the Player's Handout.)
RC lists the longbow max range as 210, so 210 yards outdoors. That is doable. What does fail a reality check is the accuracy. The arrow is spending (up to) a few seconds in flight to those ranges, at a ballistic arc, so to hit an erratically moving target is pretty much impossible. That is why at those ranges, it was more of an area weapon, used with volley fire against large groups of men.
The +1/0/-1 range modifiers work well enough in a dungeon, since at 210 feet, you are still firing at a flat arc (or you'd hit the roof of the dungeon, most likely). But outdoors to shoot to 210 yards you are not. Thus, were I so inclined, I would keep the indoors range bands as is even outdoors, and I would add very long (-2) and extreme (-4) ranges, at 2x long and 3x long distances. So if you want to shoot to 210 yards, you can, provided that you are outdoors and hit at -4. And even that -4 is a cinematic concession to make the PKs be BDH at higher levels.
3. Iron Ring (especially tattoos and hounds)
Tattoos: The short of it is that it is a bit silly that a secret organization like that would brand their members to be easily identifiable by the law enforcement, just by having them roll up their sleeve. Instead, they could be detected by their equipment that they'd have at hand in some encounters, like manacles in the river ambush to take the crew captive. More of that in the next post.
Hounds: It doesn't sit well with me that these guys are essentially tortured and abused victims, forced into their roles, and then the heroes just cut them down. Also, it would be a security nightmare, as it would be way too easy for these guys to just turn on their previous abusers, being armed and all that. Just look at all the slave revolts in Ancient Rome, and there you had the state-sanctioned slavery, unlike in Karameikos. Instead, I would make these guys to be low-level criminals/thugs, who are willingly part of the organization.
The River Ambush
Boat and setup:
It says that the river is flowing faster there, as it is narrower. That should be sweeping the boat (once the crewmembers/rowers duck away) and especially the swimmers downstream. I think, were I GMing this encounter, that I would specify the swimmers starting from upstream and being helped by the flow of the river towards the boat. And as soon as the rowers duck down, the boat starts slowly swinging around, being pushed back away from the chain by the current. Sure, it is a complication, but it makes the situation feel more real, and less static.
Alternatively, you could narrate a nice, stiff wind from the west, pushing the boat up the river and giving the rowers a break. The Egyptians were blessed by pretty constant winds from the north, so they could sail with the current downriver and then use sails to sail upriver.
Enemy write-up:
The THAC0 of the bowmen write-up implies that they are at a short distance from the boat, although it could simply be in error. I would be inclined to give everyone -2 AC bonus for cover (boat, river, trees). The Reaver Thief THAC0 is wrong, it should be 17 as a 4th level Thief, not 19. Since I would be having the Hounds be just regular thugs, no ferocity bonus, THAC0 19.
Note that the Hound numbers are inconsistent between the main text (7 bows and 9 swimmers) and the stat block (8 bowmen and 12 swimmers). Use whichever fits the party size & strength better.
Enemy goal:
The Module states that they are there to just cut communications and prevent reinforcements to get up the river. That being said, they are slavers, so obviously any captives would represent profit. Thus, they would carry manacles with them to chain up captives, and hence be more easily identified as members of Iron Ring, once defeated. Also, they'd recognize that the adventurers would be the most dangerous, so would focus on them, rather than shooting at the crew (and also so that they don't accidentally shoot one of their own).
Misha's Ferry
Location:
The GM's Map implies it is north of the river; however, the Players' Map puts it south of the river and there is no mention in the text of needing a ferry to cross the river when continuing the journey in the morning. Also, the various camps and homesteads are on the southern shore. Thus, it makes more sense for it to be located on the south shore of the river, too.
Misha and the Pet Bear:
Rather than kill her off-screen, I would be tempted to make her a werebear (the pet bear is her in the bear form) and use her as a recurring character. Also, since this means that the 'bear' is intelligent, it might make for a nice, interesting scene as Misha first assumes that the PCs are looters/bandits, but depending on the PC reactions to the charging bear (having been warned by the captain of the boat that Misha has a pet bear), she might stop her attack and listen to them. She would be unlikely to reveal that she is the bear, but come back later in human form.
Siege of Sukiskyn
1.) Scale
There is no way that 11 horses will fit into the stables as shown in the map, and another 41 horses into the pen. My solution: change the Pens to the Stables, and have a large corral in the open area to the east of Sukiskyn, which is where they kept the captured wild horses. Problem solved!
2.) Level of defenders
I believe that the residents of Sukiskyn are of too high a level, in general. The suggested starting level for PCs is 5000 XP, which would put most of them on 3rd level (Elf 2nd, Thief 4th). Pyotr is 5th level, so four times as much XP as the PCs, and even his son is F3, equivalent to the PCs. While the PCs are definitely needed for the defense, this does make them feel a bit more like sidekicks. I would likely lower Pyotr to at least 4th, if not 3rd, and his son to 2nd level. This also makes it more likely that some of the defenders kick the bucket rather than tank half a dozen arrows without flinching. (Also, since I tend to play in a more magic item scarce campaign, no magical weapons for Pyotr; if Adriana, the heiress of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos doesn't have one (GAZ 1), then Pyotr doesn't either. However, if you are playing with plentiful magic items like in B2, then sure, if random goblinoid chiefs have magic weapons, this family head can have one as well. Especially if he is truly 5th level, i.e. likely a retired adventurer himself.)
3.) Snipers
In WizardDeadloss' playthrough, what the goblins were mainly accomplishing was dying. Partially this is because they kept aiming for the clad-in-metal AC monsters on the top of the tower, rather than the much squishier, lightly armored/unarmored people in the windows. I think I would be tempted to make it so that a surprise is rolled, 1-4 chance of surprise for the Goblins as they are sneaking in, 1-3 if any demihumans are keeping watch. The Goblins will shoot-and-scoot, so if they surprise the defenders and win the initiative the next round, they just got a free round of arrows off. I'd likely keep this going until 1d4+2 Goblins are dead, although obviously there would be gaps between the sneaking attempts, coming from different sides, etc. I think these changes would make it feel more dangerous and frustrating, just like it should. At any moment, arrows might come flying at you, and all you can do is to take it as the goblins scoot and laugh and taunt you from the forest. Obviously, some GM instinct as to not turn this accidentally into a TPK or weaken the party so much that they will get killed in the assault.
4.) Windows and Ladders
The windows ought to have wooden shutters, but if the PCs close them, they can't shoot at the goblins running across the clearing. It will delay the goblins for a round as they bust those open. As for pushing the ladders, instead of a to-hit roll, I would use the open doors roll: you will succeed in grabbing them, but do you have the strength and the leverage to push them off with two goblins already on there? Remember to add the STR bonus, and if you get help (1 person fits to help), add their STR bonus or +1, whichever is better. If that roll succeeds, the ladders go down. I would give falling damage only to the topmost goblin, but again, this is one of those GM calls, depending how well the PCs are doing. If they need some more help, sure, give damage to both goblins, etc.
5.) Goblin Morale breaking
I think I would not make them retreat automatically if half of them get killed. If their chief is still in the fight, at the very least I would make a morale roll and have them retreat only if that fails. Once the chief if dead and they are below half their number (at the start of the assault), then sure, let the PCs have the win. Again, in the actual situation, I would play it by the ear as I would like it to be a tense fight, but the PCs ultimately winning.
6.) Extra supplies & healing
I use the skill proficiency rules, and definitely would give the two clerics the Healing proficiency. This would allow them to (try to) patch up the wounded between each siege event, helping to stretch those HP out. But I would keep in my back pocket either healing potions or clerical scrolls of healing (or both), as well as possibly one clerical scroll of Hold Person, if it looks like that the PCs are about to get overwhelmed in that final assault, to have an in-game way to address the balance a bit. Naturally, the NPC cleric, whoever it is, would probably pay for it with her life, as the goblins would try to prioritize killing her in revenge/just in case she has more spells like that. Which would give a nicely dramatic, poignant feel even though the PCs win in the end (hopefully).
Mission creep and the lack of connection
So... one thing that kinda crystalized for me in the other thread was that there is not a lot to make the PCs take ownership of the quest, especially at the start. Sure, they agree to escort the horses, and getting attacked by a 'random' encounter is par for the course, and they don't really have much of a choice than to stay and defend Sukiskyn. But after that, going after the goblins who stole the horses, I could see the PCs saying 'nah, we are good' and nope on out of there. The adventure does implicitly recognize that this might happen, as it brings the next 'scene' up if the PCs don't go after the goblins, with news of Stephan's kidnapping. The problem here is that if the horses have not been recovered, Pyotr can't use them to bribe the PCs to rescue his brother. Fortunately, as written, Pyotr does have some magical equipment that he no doubt would pledge in order to get his brother back, so that fixes that.
Still, once they track down the goblins, they get told that The Prince Is in Another Castle, i.e. Xitaqa (I do have some thoughts on that too), and in order to find that, they have to do another side mission. Well two, since they first need to find Loshad, and then do his side quest. I think it would probably be better if Loshad would show up more organically if the PCs are wandering on the Moors, and ask them for help against the werewolves, in return for a favor later. This means there is less of back and forth, and the initial encounter with Loshad feels more natural as they are exploring the Eastern Karameikos.
Anyway... once Stephan is rescued, he is fired up about this Lost Valley thing. Hopefully the PCs (and the players) will be as well, since if Stephan tries to pull the 'you have actually not completed the mission you agreed on yet' -card on them, I can see my players (via their PCs) telling him exactly where he can shove his horses, sideways.
So, how do we make this plot less fetch-questy / video gamey and more alluring to the players/PCs? Obviously making it more personal would help.
Family?
It is possible that one of the Pyotr's clan is a family member of one of the PCs, if they are Traladaran. The connection can be tenuous, but as long as it is there, it is instantly better than nothing. Stephan being their Mother's Cousin, twice removed, might not sound much to a modern, but in a more medieval world, that is practically a brother! Or could make Darya their father's younger sister, even, or some such.
Iron Ring?
The adventurers might have had encounters with the Iron Ring, either in previous adventures, or in their backstory. A family member vanishing, for instance. It would give them more motivation to try to thwart the Iron Ring.
Enemies?
Previous encounters with goblins could be possible, but I was mainly thinking that any Callarii elves might be able to recognize the elven bandit leader, and possibly be inclined to return her to justice. (No, that is not the official backstory, but given how few elves there are, they would likely know when one of them goes rogue.)
Friends?
The younger generation in Sukiskyn are probably around the age of the PCs. it is possible that Irina was a novice in the same temple as where a cleric PC trained, or Taras having been a town guard in the PC's home town briefly. Alfana could also easily be a childhood friend, etc.
Ancient History?
Any cleric of the Traladaran Trio would likely have an interest in the ruins and the tapestry and the Lost Valley. Especially once they see the 'beast-men' statues, as it kinda contradicts the myths of the Beast-Men Invasion. Something that is probably worthy of underlining. However, that is more of an additional motivation once you get to this point.
Greed?
The rewards being offered by Stephan and Pyotr are not that significant to the 3rd level-ish PCs, but once they get to the Tapestry, the idea of various cities of this lost civilization bringing all of their treasures into their refuge might be enough to get the more mercenary PCs on the side of continuing the quest. The trick is mainly getting to that point.