1st level adventure on a battle field [Archive] - Wizards Community

1st level adventure on a battle field [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Dragom
02-09-07, 01:08 AM I'm tired of allways running "Frozen Tomb" (After a while the players start to realise my eyes have glazed over and I'm not looking at the map or my notes anymore) I'm trying to figure out how to deal with the awkward fact that I think proper characters start at 1st level and how hard it is to make appropriate adventures for 1st level.

But this is Eberron, ton's of help, experience and those intangible things like rank and medals that bind a character to the world are easily found on a battlefield of the Last War.

This being an adventure for characters that don't exist yet it would be folly to fill in ranks with nation specific troops. Indeed it would be mildly insane and almost certainly raise the challenges too high.

So I start with the single weakest humanoid in D&D and try to find a use for them. That's right Kobolds.

2 x 6 Kobold platoons = 5 Kobold warriors and 1 Kobold 1st level adept with a gastly 1hp and an AC of 12. Total EL 1 1/2 x2

1 Standard issue Kobold Guard Dire Weasel Total EL 2

1 Hobgoblin Mercenary (3rd level warrior), with 2 goblin ajutants (1st level warrior) commanding the whole fracas. Total EL 3

Little tough for first level characters but I'm used to challenging PC's

Now these Kobolds are doing things of course. They just finnished building a trench an enemy commander hopes to have filled with trained soldiers the next day.

If I decided the Kobalds where dazed and or fatigued could I lower the El? Even throw in a third such squad?

Of course this wouldn't be a proper adventure if I didn't offer a choice now would it?

As the party and whatever scouting forces acomplany them set up, they could notice the plume of smoke comming from the swamp off to the right of the battle field.

Where of course this forward planning commander has placed a hiden Mangonel Battery. His planned left flank being a no man's land type death trap.

Guards misc (Human 1st warrior) x5
Seargent misc (Human 2nd warior) x1
EL 3 1/2

Siege Engineer (Dwarf 2nd level artificer)
Mangonel Crew (Human 1st expert) x8
EL: 4

Now this bit starts to border on absurd with how many NPC's I need to pull this one off.

Now I plan for most of the treasure to be awarded in army pay... And someone might get a low command rank.

Of course this is a Kind of Commando VS Engineer pre-battle setup with a solid one day time limit.

I think the PC's will be a number of survivors from different pre-destroyed units pulled in as a last minute auxillary. Of course they get to be airdropped in if only for more flair.

Now so far this adventure lacks a heavy Eberron feel. But until I know what nation is on what side of this battle I can't really flesh out flavour or make a twist. (Like a Emerald Claw team betraying Karnathi troops)

So what do you guys think?
pegasuspaladin
02-12-07, 10:10 AM well if you are going to use emerald claw they'd still be using undead of some sort most likely. what you could do is have only one or two skeletons working on each trench and have the trenches far enough away the party can take them down one at a time if careful and have a few lvl 1 or lvl 2 clerics or dread necromancers as the overseers of each set of trenches. so i guess i'm saying for emerald claw you could actually have it be emerald claw setting up a strike for karnathi soldiers or something along those lines and just completely get rid of the kobolds. Just an idea.
Dragom
02-12-07, 08:38 PM True. Skeletal humans would make the thing work too. Would even threaten to make more sense than press ganged Kobolds. Thnx
Cifer
02-14-07, 03:44 PM With first levels, on the other hand side, you might also show the terrors of the Last War. Take a couple of anti-war movies and novels (all quiet on the western front comes to mind) and see how you could adapt them to the game.
At first level, they are still vulnerable to single lucky hits, so the game should not center so much on combat as on the threat of combat. Let them flee from a mercenary troll breaking into their trench, see a good deal of their comrades killed in front of them and finally join a thrown-together force to take some kind of fortification.

During this, you may have to strike a mixture between the inhumane unimportance of single soldiers in the war and the of course existing importance of the PCs.
pegasuspaladin
02-19-07, 11:37 AM just be careful with the fear of a battle. if you have pc's like me they go into every fight headlong. even ones they're supposed to run from. So far they've lucked out. near deaths and what not.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dragom 02-09-07, 01:08 AM	I'm tired of allways running "Frozen Tomb" (After a while the players start to realise my eyes have glazed over and I'm not looking at the map or my notes anymore) I'm trying to figure out how to deal with the awkward fact that I think proper characters start at 1st level and how hard it is to make appropriate adventures for 1st level. But this is Eberron, ton's of help, experience and those intangible things like rank and medals that bind a character to the world are easily found on a battlefield of the Last War. This being an adventure for characters that don't exist yet it would be folly to fill in ranks with nation specific troops. Indeed it would be mildly insane and almost certainly raise the challenges too high. So I start with the single weakest humanoid in D&D and try to find a use for them. That's right Kobolds. 2 x 6 Kobold platoons = 5 Kobold warriors and 1 Kobold 1st level adept with a gastly 1hp and an AC of 12. Total EL 1 1/2 x2 1 Standard issue Kobold Guard Dire Weasel Total EL 2 1 Hobgoblin Mercenary (3rd level warrior), with 2 goblin ajutants (1st level warrior) commanding the whole fracas. Total EL 3 Little tough for first level characters but I'm used to challenging PC's Now these Kobolds are doing things of course. They just finnished building a trench an enemy commander hopes to have filled with trained soldiers the next day. If I decided the Kobalds where dazed and or fatigued could I lower the El? Even throw in a third such squad? Of course this wouldn't be a proper adventure if I didn't offer a choice now would it? As the party and whatever scouting forces acomplany them set up, they could notice the plume of smoke comming from the swamp off to the right of the battle field. Where of course this forward planning commander has placed a hiden Mangonel Battery. His planned left flank being a no man's land type death trap. Guards misc (Human 1st warrior) x5 Seargent misc (Human 2nd warior) x1 EL 3 1/2 Siege Engineer (Dwarf 2nd level artificer) Mangonel Crew (Human 1st expert) x8 EL: 4 Now this bit starts to border on absurd with how many NPC's I need to pull this one off. Now I plan for most of the treasure to be awarded in army pay... And someone might get a low command rank. Of course this is a Kind of Commando VS Engineer pre-battle setup with a solid one day time limit. I think the PC's will be a number of survivors from different pre-destroyed units pulled in as a last minute auxillary. Of course they get to be airdropped in if only for more flair. Now so far this adventure lacks a heavy Eberron feel. But until I know what nation is on what side of this battle I can't really flesh out flavour or make a twist. (Like a Emerald Claw team betraying Karnathi troops) So what do you guys think?
pegasuspaladin 02-12-07, 10:10 AM	well if you are going to use emerald claw they'd still be using undead of some sort most likely. what you could do is have only one or two skeletons working on each trench and have the trenches far enough away the party can take them down one at a time if careful and have a few lvl 1 or lvl 2 clerics or dread necromancers as the overseers of each set of trenches. so i guess i'm saying for emerald claw you could actually have it be emerald claw setting up a strike for karnathi soldiers or something along those lines and just completely get rid of the kobolds. Just an idea.
Dragom 02-12-07, 08:38 PM	True. Skeletal humans would make the thing work too. Would even threaten to make more sense than press ganged Kobolds. Thnx
Cifer 02-14-07, 03:44 PM	With first levels, on the other hand side, you might also show the terrors of the Last War. Take a couple of anti-war movies and novels (all quiet on the western front comes to mind) and see how you could adapt them to the game. At first level, they are still vulnerable to single lucky hits, so the game should not center so much on combat as on the threat of combat. Let them flee from a mercenary troll breaking into their trench, see a good deal of their comrades killed in front of them and finally join a thrown-together force to take some kind of fortification. During this, you may have to strike a mixture between the inhumane unimportance of single soldiers in the war and the of course existing importance of the PCs.
pegasuspaladin 02-19-07, 11:37 AM	just be careful with the fear of a battle. if you have pc's like me they go into every fight headlong. even ones they're supposed to run from. So far they've lucked out. near deaths and what not.