Centaurs of Elsir Vale [Archive] - Wizards Community

Centaurs of Elsir Vale [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Gerry
09-07-07, 07:43 PM So, I have a bunch of centaur minis. (cheap clix, cut off the base). I want to add a tribe/herd of centaurs to Red Hand of Doom. I envision them as another tribe if creatures that can be recruited for the defense of the vale. Cavalry would obviously be useful.

Two questions:
- where to put them?
- how to involve them?

They could go in any of the plains or woods.

I do NOT want to re-play Starsong Hill, so I'm at a little loss as to how to proceed. One option is to have them demonstrate that NOT EVERYTHING revolves around the PCs. They already ARE recruited by Jarmaath, or possibly Terskerwille, and are "merely colour" in Chapters 2 or 4 as the PCs move across the vale. That is, they meet a cavalry patrol, it just happens to be made up of centaurs. That makes it different from the elves or the dwarves, but also a touch boring.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Another idea might be to compete versus the Red Hand to recruit them. This seems extremely unlikely for centaurs. Hmmm, but it's a neat idea! Any thoughts as to who / what kind of Monster Manual denizen would be approachable by both the RHoD and the folks of Elsir Vale? (Oh, wait. Forest Giants.) Any others, though? I'm guessing something typically LN or N could be approached by either side.

Gerry
Archon of Light
09-07-07, 08:42 PM There are several things to consider when you want to introduce new elements to the Red Hand of Doom campaign, or even just expanding on the existing ones. One of the more appealing aspects of the adventure is how concise and structured it is, to the point where nearly every encounter and goal will directly affect the overall success or failure of the party. Not only that, but there is also a prescribed timeline to maintain the pace of the scenario and, hopefully, keep the party on track. By introducing new elements in the game, like the centaur faction, you must also consider how it will affect these other facets, if at all.

Realistically, you might want to keep the centaur episodes 'light' in comparison to the other major parts of the module. Not every ally needs to show up at the end battle for the big fight, but they can still contribute in their own way IF the party can gain their aid. The most likely location to place them would be in the heart of the Witchwood. Setting them out in the plains would require physically bringing them into the story, and taking the characters out of the 'hot spots' where the action should be taking place.

Involving the centaurs might provide ties to introducing the Keepers of Eth (the local druid group) as part of the setting, if you haven't already done so. If they are already in play, then you're that much closer to having a suitable tie-in for the party. The centaur role should be kept 'low-key', which means they might not have a large or obvious role to play in the grand scheme of things, but still can add some benefit by working behind the scenes or off-stage. The centaurs may have little to do with the humans of the region, and will not work directly with them, except through the druids who have kept long-standing relations with both. If convinced to help, the centaurs do their best to stall and stagger the advancing forces when they come through their territory, maybe adding another day or two to the advancing timeline.

The actual convincing would be part of the scenario you run for the group, which could be nothing more than a roleplaying session with some diplomatic dice rolls or a side-trek adventure for the party to gain the centaurs' favor. That's completely up to you, and I'm sure someone will come along to provide their own specific ideas for that scenario as well.
CastTiltowait
09-07-07, 08:50 PM The where to put them, or at least where did they come from would be from the North. In the module, I believe it mentions there are "wild centaur tribes." Where (and why) they appear to the party's a whole other question. Off the top of my head, there's a few ideas I can think of.

The blockades were meant to prevent "reinforcements" from the North, but it's never addressed who would be doing that reinforcement (as I discovered when my players asked that very question). The party earns Victory Points for taking down the blockades, why not have those Centaurs be the reinforcements?

In a similar vein, perhaps the druids would be the ones who would summon the centaurs, either once the blockade is gone, or independently to show that the world doesn't revolve around the party. Alternately, you could have the party involved in convincing the druids to bring their centaur allies into the fight on their side. This could take the form of having the party having to recover/find some desired object for the druids. If you want to take it further, there's even two more twists to this:

1. The druids don't care who provides/returns the desired object. The Red Hand knows this and is already searching for the object. The party finds out, either from intercepting a search party from the Red Hand, or maybe a sympathetic druid who doesn't agree with the Druid Council's more neutral position. They wind up in a race for the item.

2. What the druids want is the Ghostlord's head on a stick. Have the party discover this after chapter 3 if they successfully negotiate with the Ghostlord. Makes for an interesting dilemma- do they play it safe and leave the Ghostlord alone and at least know he won't include his troops, or risk ******* him off by attacking him with the hopes of getting additional troops AND eliminating the chance of a double cross by the Ghostlord.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Gerry 09-07-07, 07:43 PM	So, I have a bunch of centaur minis. (cheap clix, cut off the base). I want to add a tribe/herd of centaurs to Red Hand of Doom. I envision them as another tribe if creatures that can be recruited for the defense of the vale. Cavalry would obviously be useful. Two questions: - where to put them? - how to involve them? They could go in any of the plains or woods. I do NOT want to re-play Starsong Hill, so I'm at a little loss as to how to proceed. One option is to have them demonstrate that NOT EVERYTHING revolves around the PCs. They already ARE recruited by Jarmaath, or possibly Terskerwille, and are "merely colour" in Chapters 2 or 4 as the PCs move across the vale. That is, they meet a cavalry patrol, it just happens to be made up of centaurs. That makes it different from the elves or the dwarves, but also a touch boring. Any suggestions would be welcome. Another idea might be to compete versus the Red Hand to recruit them. This seems extremely unlikely for centaurs. Hmmm, but it's a neat idea! Any thoughts as to who / what kind of Monster Manual denizen would be approachable by both the RHoD and the folks of Elsir Vale? (Oh, wait. Forest Giants.) Any others, though? I'm guessing something typically LN or N could be approached by either side. Gerry
Archon of Light 09-07-07, 08:42 PM	There are several things to consider when you want to introduce new elements to the Red Hand of Doom campaign, or even just expanding on the existing ones. One of the more appealing aspects of the adventure is how concise and structured it is, to the point where nearly every encounter and goal will directly affect the overall success or failure of the party. Not only that, but there is also a prescribed timeline to maintain the pace of the scenario and, hopefully, keep the party on track. By introducing new elements in the game, like the centaur faction, you must also consider how it will affect these other facets, if at all. Realistically, you might want to keep the centaur episodes 'light' in comparison to the other major parts of the module. Not every ally needs to show up at the end battle for the big fight, but they can still contribute in their own way IF the party can gain their aid. The most likely location to place them would be in the heart of the Witchwood. Setting them out in the plains would require physically bringing them into the story, and taking the characters out of the 'hot spots' where the action should be taking place. Involving the centaurs might provide ties to introducing the Keepers of Eth (the local druid group) as part of the setting, if you haven't already done so. If they are already in play, then you're that much closer to having a suitable tie-in for the party. The centaur role should be kept 'low-key', which means they might not have a large or obvious role to play in the grand scheme of things, but still can add some benefit by working behind the scenes or off-stage. The centaurs may have little to do with the humans of the region, and will not work directly with them, except through the druids who have kept long-standing relations with both. If convinced to help, the centaurs do their best to stall and stagger the advancing forces when they come through their territory, maybe adding another day or two to the advancing timeline. The actual convincing would be part of the scenario you run for the group, which could be nothing more than a roleplaying session with some diplomatic dice rolls or a side-trek adventure for the party to gain the centaurs' favor. That's completely up to you, and I'm sure someone will come along to provide their own specific ideas for that scenario as well.
CastTiltowait 09-07-07, 08:50 PM	The where to put them, or at least where did they come from would be from the North. In the module, I believe it mentions there are "wild centaur tribes." Where (and why) they appear to the party's a whole other question. Off the top of my head, there's a few ideas I can think of. The blockades were meant to prevent "reinforcements" from the North, but it's never addressed who would be doing that reinforcement (as I discovered when my players asked that very question). The party earns Victory Points for taking down the blockades, why not have those Centaurs be the reinforcements? In a similar vein, perhaps the druids would be the ones who would summon the centaurs, either once the blockade is gone, or independently to show that the world doesn't revolve around the party. Alternately, you could have the party involved in convincing the druids to bring their centaur allies into the fight on their side. This could take the form of having the party having to recover/find some desired object for the druids. If you want to take it further, there's even two more twists to this: 1. The druids don't care who provides/returns the desired object. The Red Hand knows this and is already searching for the object. The party finds out, either from intercepting a search party from the Red Hand, or maybe a sympathetic druid who doesn't agree with the Druid Council's more neutral position. They wind up in a race for the item. 2. What the druids want is the Ghostlord's head on a stick. Have the party discover this after chapter 3 if they successfully negotiate with the Ghostlord. Makes for an interesting dilemma- do they play it safe and leave the Ghostlord alone and at least know he won't include his troops, or risk ******* him off by attacking him with the hopes of getting additional troops AND eliminating the chance of a double cross by the Ghostlord.