| Author |
 ?Topic? |
? |
|
Balgin
United Kingdom
63 Posts
|
 Posted?-?19 Dec 2004?:? 20:58:59 ? ?
|
Well I've started running this one for my local gaming group and we've enjoyed it so far. At the moment I'm running the Fighting Fantasy stuff for guys who aren't involved in other games, pregenerated characters makes it easier for people to drop in without spending half an hour or so making a new character for the occassion (or dithering over existing ones :p).
So we had an interesting partnership, just the fighter and the thief (no casters).
I'll spare you some of the details but there were some real highlights. Dekion proved his scary ability to great cleave from a prone position after slaughtering the wolf that had just dragged him down. His blade sang through the chill air almost dropping the second wolf (which was giving Sarien some grief). The yeti took some heavy damage almost instantly (nonproficient thief hurls spear from the ranger's hut and because he's close enough it becomes a ranged sneak atatck) but did a fair bit before it went down. Rillion was fun. He charmed the thief then the fighter got aggressive. In the end he went in and knocked the thief out (Dekion tried to subdue almost everything he met within the caves in the hope of interrogating it but due to not pulling his weight tended to do it too well, most oponents were out cold for 5-6 hours and the party didn't have time to spend). Once Rillion was subdued a grwling Dekion dragged him to the room of the icy pools and dunked the poor man's head in the (now vacant) sword pool hoping that he'd drown.
Somehow they decided to take on the cultists by the ice demon figuring that since the monsters were all kneeling and facing the stattuue they'd get to rush them from the back and Sarien might get to drop one with a sneak attack (not to mention a charging cleave from Dekion with his sword of sharp choppy choppy). When the demon got up the "brave adventurers" ran back into th narrow side tunnel. As soon as they realised the orcish caster was using spells Sarien made some flukey tumble checks to dive past the demon and stab the caster lots. Then he got flanking on the demon (and as we all know in the d20 rules flanking normaly means you can sneak attack something). The two men worked like scissors to take the ice demon down then congratulated themselves as the erstwhile throng scrambled from the mountain at great speed (including the people in the kitchen - kind of funny since one of the players was looking really hard for a kitchen because he remembered there being one in the book, I never suggested any directions, they looked everywhere exet where it was :)).
I didn't mind the demon dropping so quickly (well not that quickly) because I've got a feeling they'll fare poorly soon. I've even dug out Titan, Dungeoneer, Blacksand and Out of the Pit so I can start making something resembling a coherent campaign if it becomes popular enough.
To quote one of my players "I thought it was going to be pretty bad but it was actualy quite fun." (All he knew was that the FF stuff's from the 80's and 90's, talk about narrow minded :p). |
|
|
Balgin
United Kingdom
63 Posts
|
Posted?-?27 Jan 2005?:? 22:25:59 ? ?
|
Having now played through the first part of the adventure with two different groups of players (one using the pregenerated characters and the other not) I have something unpleasant to say: Beware encounter 33.
A few unpleasant things (some spoilers below but I'll try to minimise it)....
The orb has Ac...., ....hp and Damage Reduction .... Alright, so in 3.5 that changes slightly to Damage Reduction/Magic because all plusses are the same size but that's not the problem.
One bunch of spoilsports hit it with shatter spells and destroyed it on sight (as soon as a familiar form began to take shape). They then complained when the roof came tumbling down upon their poor noggins and expected to be able to survive! Perhaps it should have a certain degree of magic resistance 'till Shareela has had her fun with the orc and the zombies.....
It should be noted that many players were not too happy about a save or die situation. Not for messing up the geussing game but for the roof. So I picked up the DMG and looked up the cavein rules. That sorted things out a bit :).
The opposite door: It's still there! There is nothing preventing the characters from rushing through the ice filled cavern and out the other side (save an orc and a pair of zombies). Well there is something but that's the character's desire to finish the job they started and not all characters can be counted upon to feel that honourable/petty :).
Observant players noted that they only had two discs. Having previously checked the book (and demand one player relinquish his copy during play, mine was second hand so his (better condition) was better for showing them the old pictures to help set the mood - and he couldn't check things in it :p). So before I got derailed, having checked the book I discovered that the player can only have two by that point. The third one simply isn't there. It wasn' a typo, it was keeping faifthful to the original and for that I am thankful :). |
|
|
|
Balgin
United Kingdom
63 Posts
|
Posted?-?26 Feb 2005?:? 12:35:04 ? ?
|
The journey back to Stonebridge can be tough. The Hill Trolls seem t have the wrong attack bonus? I'll do the maths again but it seems to be a bit low for their HD (when taking their str bonus and size penalty into account).
Balgin Stondraeg, the Dwarf |
|
|
|
|
jamie
United Kingdom
194 Posts
|
Posted?-?28 Feb 2005?:? 11:46:19 ? ? ?
|
I think Caverns is a great adventure. Just when you think you have completed the adventure, you realise you are only actually half way through. Pure brilliance Mr. Livingstone 
Jamie Wallis
Author
Myriador LTD |
|
|
|
|
jamie
United Kingdom
194 Posts
|
Posted?-?28 Feb 2005?:? 11:47:33 ? ? ?
|
Balgin,
thank you for posting the Caverns stories on here. I love reading how players do in these adventures.
Many thanks again
Jamie Wallis
Author
Myriador LTD |
|
|
|
|
Balgin
United Kingdom
63 Posts
|
Posted?-?28 Feb 2005?:? 15:15:19 ? ?
|
quote:
Originally posted by jamie
Balgin,
thank you for posting the Caverns stories on here. I love reading how players do in these adventures.
Many thanks again
Jamie Wallis
Author
Myriador LTD
Oh we had fun. Redswift was going to read the scroll but one of the player characters went and did it for him :). This one's moving a bit slowly because we've got other games running. After this one I'll let them make up a first level party and run Forest of Doom (for the obvious Bigleg & Stubb tie in :)).
Balgin Stondraeg, the Dwarf
|
|
|
|
|
Tim
United Kingdom
12 Posts
|
Posted?-?02 Mar 2005?:? 01:44:01 ? ?
|
quote:
Originally posted by Balgin
The journey back to Stonebridge can be tough. The Hill Trolls seem t have the wrong attack bonus? I'll do the maths again but it seems to be a bit low for their HD (when taking their str bonus and size penalty into account).
Balgin Stondraeg, the Dwarf
Actually, the opposite is true...
The base attack bonus for a Titan Hilltroll is calculated using the progression for the 'Giant' type, which gives them a +4 bonus at 6 hit dice. They then have a +5 Strength adjustment, bringing their attack bonus to +9.
The size adjustment of -1 would mean they should actually only have a +8 bonus to their various attacks. However, they are also missing one feat, and could therefore easily take Weapon Focus with one of their attacks to return it to a +9 bonus.
|
|
|
|
|
Balgin
United Kingdom
63 Posts
|
Posted?-?24 Mar 2005?:? 09:32:58 ? ?
|
I stand corrected then. I only said that it looked wrong :).
So they finaly made it to the healer and got healed but not without some amusing hitches along the way. The Man Orc's hut didn't stand a chance. Rhana decided to blast the floor with burning hands from the ground then the party ran. Behind them they heard the man orc run and hurl himself from the platform then silence (for a bit).
When they came across the sleeping barbarian Sarian decided to rob him blind and would've got away with most of it if a single bundled roll hadn't woken the man of raging fury.
There were a few problems crossing the log, people kept wanting to take lanterns or use Sarian's gogles of night vision :).
I'll see about getting round to writing up that errata soon but here's a general one for all adventures:
Magic armour always has a check penalty of 1 less than normal armour of it's kind since it has to be MW to be enchanted (and this point is in the magic armour section of the DMG too).
I've noticed that magic armour present in the adventures has been given normal armour check penalties. An annoying oversight but true.
Balgin Stondraeg, the Dwarf |
|
|
|
|
Balgin
United Kingdom
63 Posts
|
Posted?-?24 Mar 2005?:? 09:38:19 ? ?
|
quote:
Originally posted by Tim
quote:
Originally posted by Balgin
The journey back to Stonebridge can be tough. The Hill Trolls seem t have the wrong attack bonus? I'll do the maths again but it seems to be a bit low for their HD (when taking their str bonus and size penalty into account).
Balgin Stondraeg, the Dwarf
Actually, the opposite is true...
The base attack bonus for a Titan Hilltroll is calculated using the progression for the 'Giant' type, which gives them a +4 bonus at 6 hit dice. They then have a +5 Strength adjustment, bringing their attack bonus to +9.
The size adjustment of -1 would mean they should actually only have a +8 bonus to their various attacks. However, they are also missing one feat, and could therefore easily take Weapon Focus with one of their attacks to return it to a +9 bonus.
Um..
Giant type has fighter bab so it should be +6 at 6hd.
They changed the Monster Manual in 3.5 with a lot of new appendices at the back that explain how a monster's stat block is worked out so you can break it down then build it back up again. Every creature "type" is listed in one of the appendices with what attack bonus it gets, what hd, which saves are good and poor, how many skill points it gets per hd and assorted stuff like that.
Incidentaly if a bite is a creature's only primary attack then it counts as a two handed weapon for the purpose of strength and pwoer attack damage bonuses. If it's bite is a secondary atatck (with claws being primary) then the bite does not count as a two handed weapon.
Balgin Stondraeg, the Dwarf
|
|
|
|
| ? |
?Topic? |
? |
?
?Fun stuff (and vindictive people)
