See part 1 here.
(After writing part 1, I realized that I got the order of how each of the four plots were introduced wrong. Instead of correcting it, I’ll adjust the tale accordingly. Let’s just assume that the PCs convinced the Drow to give them a few hours’ respite).
When the PCs, standing on one of the City’s upper terraces, saw that an Adamantine Dragon was eating everything it could get its claws upon, they started thinking they were in way too deep.
However, when I mentioned that the Dragon seemed to be very careful not to eat or hurt anyone, going as far as removing inhabitants from a house before eating it all, the PCs relaxed and gathered for a little Pow-Wow.
Romero rears his head
As the PCs were discussing how to deal with the current problems I decided to drop the final bomb on the group. While the players were chatting excitedly, I reached over to Franky and I pulled on his sleeve repeatedly.
When he looked at me, I mimed wiping a runny nose…
Snotty Kid: ” Mister Shaman Sir? My poppa tole me to come an find you. (SNORT) He says that some Advenchewrors died at da Inn last night and now they be walkin’ all over da place!'”
Franky (recoiling from me with horror): No, No, No, you have GOT to be kidding me Phil! ZOMBIES?
‘fraid so dear Franky…
Seeing that the dragon wasn’t killing anyone yet the PCs followed the kid to the Inn and got confirmation that it was overrun by Zombies! They called in the city’s militia and had the Inn surrounded, strongly suggesting that the soldiers not let anything leave the Inn under any pretenses. Dworkin (Franky’s dwarven Shaman) also had the snotty kid be placed under tight surveillance, convinced that he was the source of the Zombie plague.
How to fast talk a Dragon and blow the DM’s socks off.
The party then returned to the dragon to see if it could be reasoned with. It was obviously ravenous and seemed to be looking for something that would appease its unnatural hunger. I informed that players that getting the Dragon to acknowledge the PCs as a credible source of help would require a Skill Challenge (5 successes, 3 failures) based on the Diplomacy, Nature, Arcana and Bluff skills.
What followed was a beautiful example of team play where players with low skill bonuses used ‘aid another’ so that skills would have maximum bonuses. However that wasn’t just dice rolling. If a player had a hard time coming up with a description of how his PC used his knowledge, other players (and myself) would suggest examples. Some were so cool that they garnered hefty bonuses.
It made for such a great narrative. Some PCs recalled reading an old legend about a draconic champion of Bahamut who was as proud as it was hungry for riches and glory. The legend said that Kord chastised that dragon to eternal hunger until it found, somewhere in the City Within, the one thing that would satisfy it. It slept, buried deep, for 200 years and woke up whenever the Nexus departed.
The PCs then tried to convince Carilyx (the dragon) that the curse was likely a parable and that to break it the dragon likely had to perform some sort of act that Kord would approve of. Then Corwin sealed the deal by saying:
“In FACT I’m 100% sure that what you need to do is fight the enemies of the city in it’s hour of need! Just stop eating for some time and we’ll give you some juicy enemies!”
All this, the players made up as they were going along. I looked at my notes for what I had written as likely solution to deal with the dragon and then promptly chucked it away. My player’s solution was so much cooler!
At this point I said something about not having had one fight yet, to which Math responded “We don’t need one, this is too much fun!”
What more can a DM ask for?
Carilyx accepted to wait for up to 3 days before it would start eating again (the skill challenge called for 3 days, minus 1 per failures).
Ah the sweet stench of knowledge!
With still some time on the clock before dealing with the Drow, the PCs came back to the lava problem. It was apparent that they had to find the 5 original souls that would need to sacrifice themselves. Jaiel (Deva Avenger) was one of them so she went out to seek the other 4 Devas that were the City’s sworn defendant. I told them that he could easily find 2 of them. He was also preety sure that a third one could be found in University burg.
Jaiel went there to look for the 3rd Deva but was shocked to see the whole place overruned with Zombies!!! She promptly turned back.
Mwa Ha Ha Ha!
Drow Faceoff!
As the PCs were getting ready to face the Drow, I told Rocco (halfling Rogue) that he had learned some interesting facts about the Drow while getting ready to move his career from the surface to the underworld. Before the event that destroyed the world so many centuries ago, the Drow were a force to be reckoned with. But after their patron goddess failed to capture this world, her interest in it vanished and the Drow were left to fend for themselves. All Drow cities were destroyed or were abandonned and the few remaining Dark Elves were usually nothing more than Mercenaries or Hustlers.
When I was done explaining that, all my players decided to go and confront the Drow as a bunch of frauds out to steal from the city’s overly gullible gouvernment. Seeing their bluff being called, the drow gambled on killing the PCs.
A fight was finally at hand, but I had only one hour for it as I had a teeneaged babysitter at home.
The fight was hard, the Drow were all a few levels higher than the PCs. The details are fuzzy but I recall dropping one PCs into negatives . By the end of the hour, most drow were either KOed or Bloodied, that’s when I called that they all surrendered.
And that’s when the players realized…
“Huh, guys? What will the Dragon fight now that we’ve dispatched the drow?”
Priceless.
This such an awesome game!
Lessons Learned
- The 5X5 Formula of interweaving plots worked wonderfully.
- While I worried that I PCs would not have to make significant choices, I was wrong as players made choices and took some decisions that sent the adventure in places I didn’t foresee.
- I need to give better descriptions of key NPCs when major scenes with them happen.
- Part of what slows 4e is players looking at power cards and trying to find the best move. There’s not much we can do about that except keeping gentle pressure to keep things moving and ask players to prepare turns in advance.
Post Mortem
After the game I got a fairly detailled written feedback post from one of my players. One point bears mentionning here. The player told me that he had the feeling that the Leadership of the city was seriously lacking. He had the feeling that the City Council was not a credible gouvernment and that should the PCs leave, he was sure that the whole place would topple like a house of cards. He mentionned that while the Dungeon had a clear plan, the City didn’t.
He is entirely right. In trying to make the PCs feel like badass heroes, I underplayed the role of City leaders. My friend would have an easier time immerssing himself in the game if there was a circle of competant leaders that supported the PCs in whatever mission was at hand.
I noted his feedback and will try to work this into the main storyline when we return to it in August.
That seems to be a recurring theme whenever PCs are working for a government. In order to make them feel like heroes, the rest of their allies need to be less competent than them. They now believe ICly the Adventurers’ League that hired them is a bunch of incompetent boobs with no defenses against doppleganger infiltrators, teleporters, or extradimensional threats because they are called up to help with most of the threats facing them.
That is somewhat I thought also. The thing is, making respectable NPCs that player will believe in (and not treat like dirt) is not an easy feat.
I do have an idea and I think I’ll have the City’s Secret government come out of hiding and offer partner with the PCs, opening up more sources of accumulated knowledge and means of transportation.
In fact, maybe if i reveal that the Inner Sanctum has ways to deal with the Dungeon that is on par with the various plots hatched by the dungeon so far, maybe that could work.
Sounds like a fun session. I’m inspired now to try out the 5X5 method for the next campaign I run. I’m thinking it would be a great match for the Eberron setting.
Just a little quibble, did you mean GEORGE Romero rears his head? I guess you could say John Romero had hopes Daikatana would have raised his game career from the dead too.
.-= Geek Ken´s last blog ..Playing with Miniatures =-.
@Geek Ken: Give the method a try, it works wonders.
Yeah, I fumbled with the Romero thing… edited the text accordingly.
My zombiefu is strong…
But on another point, I try to figure in an environment where the PCs get to do things that others won’t/can’t. It does get trying though to explain why, yet again, Lord Ineptitude is not committing his men and resources to stopping the local baddies, and that it is up the stalwart heroes to do something.
As with your city campaign, there are all these threats directed to the city, how can the city leaders not be proactive in addressing them? I tend to struggle with this at times and do a lot of hand waving. I guess my players are a forgiving lot and roll with the weak story elements.
As a DM you work on a good villain plot, and hooks to draw the PCs into the story. Should we also invest time into explaining why other law and order types are not able to handle these threats? And if these NPC types are more active, wouldn’t you risk the players not doing enough at times (they might just call in the local city guards if things get too hot)? Something to ponder on I guess.
.-= Geek Ken´s last blog ..Playing with Miniatures =-.
Ah, that sounds like yet another excellent session! It has everything I could hope to find in one 🙂
Regarding the governing bodies, we’re only assuming they didn’t react to what was happening, right? 😛
.-= Eric Maziade´s last blog ..Jinx Shot : bad metafluff? =-.
I would suggest that you take a cue from the Harry Dresden series and have the ruling elite focused on their goals, like keeping the damage to their rich friends to a minimum.
Have the city guard competent at dealing with normal threats (street crime, bar brawls, domestic disputes, etc.) but not really up to snuff in dealing with big bads.
But, also have an elite unit that specializes in dealing with the weird and dangerous (its a dumping ground for idiots, malcontents, and folks that cannot deal with politics) that do everything by the book and are more like a hammer than a scaple. If the unit or a member of the unit has some hate for one or more PCs all sorts of fun can happen.
So the PCs can get the government and the guard to do things but there will be consequences letting them do it as apposed to the PCs.
my ideas ons reasons for dodgy officals
1)Thinly streched – troops out of town, poorly train, farmer milita.
2)rrupt leaders – paied to cause trouble, look the other way
3)buring head in sand – it willl go away a few people wil die who cares
4)Clearly insane but in power- my view/way is the right way, thinking of the lord of rings king last film, that burns him self.
5)Alergic to… dragons lol i cart fight them!
6)Awiting comiptent help you have ot make do in the mean time?
7)Red tape, the consil must discuss the matter but the dragons eatten the west wing..! – e.g the lort ents.
8)ununified- i asked the troops to do this but they went gun ho disobayed and got killed or lost ro into more trouble.
9)unite the leaders/tribes, – im not working with them to help untill X does X the town can die untill thats fixed.
10) Over Zelous paldin types blind by honner/ prohicies i want to help but im honnor bound by law, its enougth ive not arrested you even though your trying to help!
P.s i had a great adventure with a halfling undead tomb the offical wanted to burry the tomb sealing what ever inside the but the PC forced there way it it was a very teary rpg momment. your disobeying our laws we have to stop you we dotn want to hurt you..
“We don’t need one, this is too much fun!”
Sweeter words cannot be spoken in my opinion. Some groups I’ve played with love “fluff” sessions as we call them, while others start twitching violently if they don’t get to roll a die for damage every ten minutes. It takes a lot of work to break any group away from battles and keep them genuinely entertained, so well done sir!
“If a player had a hard time coming up with a description of how his PC used his knowledge, other players (and myself) would suggest examples.”
Did you ever feel like you might be stifling player creativity when you did this? That’s always my fear and I was curious to hear your thoughts on it. When PC’s plan conversations or consider how to use their skills I always keep my lips sealed for fear that I’ll make their victory feel less earned. Any thoughts?
.-= Storyteller´s last blog ..How do you use character backstories? =-.
@Geek Ken (and others): My player is not clamoring for guards and soldiers that can deal with level 10+ threats. Rather he wants to feel that he works with competent leaders that will support the party and act as if they are on top of things rather than being a disorganized corrupt Old-Republic.
Part of it is my fault as I’ve been modeling the city on some sort of decaying bloated social democracy… which makes little sense if the City is in perpetual state of War with the Dungeon it is growing in.
I should rather have modelled it after some sort of militaristic, lean-and-mean machine…
What the city needs is Ankh-Morpork’s Patrician!
@Eric: The problem here is that while this particular adventure should not fit in the current story arc, the players can’t dissociate this adventure with the prior ones. So if the lack of leadership was bothering some players a few sessions before, this storyline made it a little worse.
Now just so we’re clear. All players seem to enjoy the campaign tremendously, this little leadership thing has been pegged as ‘something to improve to increase the setting’s credibility’
@Bryan: I might take some of your suggestions and run with them. As I said above, it’s not so much about using guards and soldiers, my players naturally assumed that guards would listen to them when they attempted to contain the Zombies, it’s more about having a War Room of leader NPCs participating in decision making about the City’s defense.
@faeblood: Great examples! All good ones to explain a corrupted or overwork city gouvernment.
@Storyteller: I usually only step in to help roleplaying when I feel a player struggling for words. Being a born orator, I have an easier time with words than some, So I give examples, or push a description from time to time. I try to be careful and not steal the spotlight though,
In the game’s particular case, players were helping each other come up with likely description of how a particular skill would help deal with the ravenous dragon. It was really nice to see such teamwork spill out of combat encounters and make it into roleplaying and skill challenges.
Very happy to hear that the 5×5 is working well!
.-= Dave T. Game´s last blog ..Origins 2009: D&D 4e Villains Seminar =-.
@Dave:TG : As I was creating Plot-lines and subdividing each in 5 ‘scenes’ I was amazed to see how the method could work on both the campaign and Adventure scales.
So kudos for putting the idea on paper. I can attest that it worked perfectly in playtesting on a lower scale.
Faeblood: I really liked your reasons why the government doesn’t fix the problem itself and copied them into my d&D.txt file.
That makes a lot of sense. It’s always awesome to see players working together to overcome challenges! I’ve seen DM’s stifle that before to encourage players to overcome social and tactical challenges by themselves without other players getting them out of pickles or doing the work for them. I suppose I can see the benefits of both allowing such help and not allowing it, but in the end if the party’s all together and trying to overcome the same challenge, I think a little help from around the table never hurts.
.-= Storyteller´s last blog ..Holidays in D&D: Part Two =-.
@Storyteller: My group already has a very strong synergy in combat encounters. To see that synergy move on to non-combat scenes is absolutely blissfull. I’m blessed beyond belief to have such cool players.
To solve the percieved ineptitude of the City Leaders I have this solution;
Unless you clearly explained there were a group of City Leaders, why not just turn it around and tell the Players ‘YOU’RE IT!’ You indicated that one of the party members, a Deva, was a city founder, how big of a stretch would it be to just say that the whole party are the elected officials of the city?
It sounds like you aren’t starting at 1st level either, it wouldn’t be hard to perhaps explain that previously the heroes deposed the old and corrupt city government after a revolution where they led the people to throw off the chains of their oppression and now that puts the safety and future of the city firmly on their capable shoulders.
Just want to point out that this post hasn’t been filed under “Campaign Logs”, which confused me when I was looking for it earlier.
.-= webmaren´s last blog ..New Updates to Webmaren.com =-.
Tagged and Categorized. Thanks for catching that!