Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Eriedm 03-19-07, 08:52 PM	Fellow Dm's I was wondering if you altered the "adventure path" for Eberron, consisting of Shadows of the Last War, Whispers of, Grasp of, and Flight of. Im preparing to run them myself and wondered what my peers may have done to improve them.
Melvin the Mediocre 03-20-07, 10:43 AM	Since the party didn't have a cleric, what I had planned to do was have a Lyrandar cleric NPC with the party through all of the Forgotten Forge and half way through the Shadows of the Last War. Then he would show back up as the captain in the Whispers of the Vampire's Blade, and again in the Voyage of the Golden Dragon (is that the correct name?) I wanted them to have a little more interest in the wellfare of the ship, and I figured a friend in charge would help. Our game group went through a major overhaul, and the plans were all disrupted so I can't tell you how that worked out :(
goblin_pride 03-20-07, 06:28 PM	My DM is running them so I'm not. Sticking to a preplanned adventure never was to my tastes as a DM anyway. You'll find the story arc for my campaign laid out in it's entirety in the No Love thread. You'll have to come up with the crunchy bits for it yourself though, I've laid too many open ends in the fluff to be able to do any of the crunch.
Subtle Knife 03-20-07, 07:19 PM	I DM'ed "Forgotten Forge", followed by the Dungeon Magazine adventure "The Queen with Burning Eyes". I injected a small mini adventure (clear out some undead from a crypt in Coldflame Keep in Sharn) for a new addition to our campaign, and then moved into "Shadows of the Last War". I'm planning to stick through "Whispers" and "Grasp", and then I haven't quite decided. That being said, I tend to inject my own plots into the periods intervening between adventures, to forward the specific stories of the adventurers. For instance, trouble may arise on the trip between Rhukaan Draal and Sharn.... However, I do find I spend quite a bit of time reformatting the published modules, as introducing new plots tends to push levels higher (our current adventurers are pushing level 5 in Shadows already!). Gives me something to do, I guess.... SK
Nundahl 03-20-07, 08:12 PM	I DM'd the Forgotten Forge, Shadows of the Last War, and then got REALLY off track with the campaign in Whispers of the Vampire's blade. That being said, I did do a few things differently ... namely ... SPOILER Warning! (I don't know how to make the little spoiler box) I ran Forgotten Forge as is, its such a simple little jaunt through that there was no reason to change anything I felt, I purposefully didn't tell my PC's they could rest at the ruined temple, because I think its a bit silly, and they didn't ask, so no rest really did hurt them, but they also had a fifth player, so they survived well enough. SotLW had a pretty big change, which I admit took away from the "boss" fight in it, but I think it was worth it. I reworked the entire Rose Quarry concept, it was not a Cannith device that destroyed the city, but instead a side effect of the Mourning. Kind of a magic shock wave that extended beyond the mist, but only slightly and less powerful. I did this because I want the players to trust their contacts in Cannith, and knowing that Cannith destroyed a town with such carelessness would not sit with a VERY good aligned party. Essentially this shock wave was enough to "melt" a crystalline substance that was incorporated in the town's wealthiest buildings, namely the Cannith Foundry and the church of the Host, likely a few others but these were the important ones for the purposes of my adventure. Basically the buildings had "skylights" with this glasslike material, when the Mourning occurred the blast melted the "crystal cathedral" over the full congregation, as well as the Cannith workers, supplying Garrow with plenty of glass-covered corpses to make into his new twisted creation. No real difference in the machine at the end, save that it now didn't shoot glass but instead was just a hydra construct more or less powered by fire elementals. Again, this was just because I had a very good aligned party that would have quite a few words for Elaydren if they found her house had nuked a town, and I apparently guessed that right because already the Stone-Wolf was bad enough, the cleric was pretty PO'd. As for WotVB, make sure the player's know that they can't catch the cart when they see him on the road ahead. I couldn't for the life of me figure out a logical reason to stop them from trying, and a few on the spot rules decided that horses pulling a massive heavy cart against riders in light armor (mostly) on single (therefore much more maneuverable) horses couldn't try to catch up. So I let them make ride checks, and they blew the cart out of the water. Oh sure I could have forced the DM hand if I wanted to, making it impossible, but I didn't like the idea, I wanted to have the chase scene, and spectacular it was ... the rogue in the party targeted the enemy horses, causing the first horse to fall, I had the rest roll reflex saves (trampling the dead one) ... and fail miserably. The result was neighing horses tripping to the ground, the loud crack of the wood and metal riggings snapping, and the entire cart flipping into the air. Well, this was great because, you know, how pulpy Eberron is that, but not good because I still had 80% of the adventure in my hands. I let them kill the vamp, who tried to run away, but hesitated just long enough when his sister died that the heroes caught up to him too. We had a blast, even if I did waste my money ;) Now I'm not running the published stuff, and its going well, I'm going to use the Grasp of the Emerald Claw material later in my campaign, upping the level significantly and making the Xulo project less the focus, and more the means to a greater end. A holding pen for a giant made device that can suppress and simultaneously create manifest zones the size of a city ... Phew, way too long winded, sorry about that.
ppirie1 04-05-07, 07:44 AM	[QUOTE=Nundahl;11837756]I Well, this was great because, you know, how pulpy Eberron is that, but not good because I still had 80% of the adventure in my hands. I let them kill the vamp, who tried to run away, but hesitated just long enough when his sister died that the heroes caught up to him too. We had a blast, even if I did waste my money ;) QUOTE] I am going to begin running WOTVB here in a couple of weeks and I have been prepping for it for the past week. I am curious as to why you allowed Lucan to be killed on the road? Certainly he has enough tricks up his sleeve, Gaseous form, children of the night to create a diverson, not to mention the fact the mod implies he doesn't stick around for the fight but flees when the coach stops. I am not critiquing you, just looking for some pointers.
Kid SixXx 04-05-07, 08:09 AM	I'll be running a couple of these pretty soon. Party right now stands as: Warforged Cleric Kalashtar Monk (may switch to Changeling Rogue) Shifter [Winterhide trait from SoS] Fighter (may play Half Flf Bard / House Phiarlan) Aerenal Elf Fighter (multiclass into mage; may switch to Gnome Artificer) There may possibly be a fifth member as well. Changes I am considering: 1) Linking path to Queen with the Burning Eyes epilogue and replacing Garrow with Demise as my primary antagonist, provided that the party does not kill her when I run QwtBE. 2) Running a few of Dungeon magazine adventures (Riding the Rail, Murder in Oakbridge, Fallen Angel, etc.) to bridge the gap from SotLW and GotEC. I really don't like the railroadiness of WotVB. 3) Lowering the difficulty of GotEC (if necessary) so it can tie as the intro to Eyes of the Lich Queen. The girl playing the Kalashtar monk really likes the Haztaratain PrC, so most likely there will be an interlude in Sarlona to serve as her pilgrimage back home to Adar to satisfy of the pre-reqs.
Nundahl 04-05-07, 09:20 AM	I am going to begin running WOTVB here in a couple of weeks and I have been prepping for it for the past week. I am curious as to why you allowed Lucan to be killed on the road? Certainly he has enough tricks up his sleeve, Gaseous form, children of the night to create a diverson, not to mention the fact the mod implies he doesn't stick around for the fight but flees when the coach stops. I am not critiquing you, just looking for some pointers. Beware of Spoilers! ------------------ Of course I'm not insulted by your critique, it wasn't so much rules as it was my DM style that killed Lucan. As per the module, he isn't catchable, he has tricks, he should be able to escape easily ... but the PC mindset doesn't always work that way. My PC's were determined (and not stubbornly so), and their determination was rewarded. It came down to several factors: A light/medium armored man on single horseback is, theoretically anyhow, faster than a full heavy cart lugging around everything that the villains were carrying. The PC's wanted ride checks, and I allowed them. They blew Lucan's sister out of the water. Now, as I've stated in other posts, I'm not above fudging die rolls, but the PC's deserved this. The PC's used all attacks to target the cart's horses, killing one and, with its falling, snapping riggings, powerful stopping power. Again, a rules conflict here, PC's shouldn't be able to attack when moving full speed on horseback, but I botched that in not remembering. Also, it made for a cool "Cowboys and Indians" raiding the caravan type scene. Lucan immediately fled the combat in Dire Wolf form, his "Children of the Night" ability in play to stop the PC's while he ran didn't work very well unfortunately and several PC's pursued. Then finally, my DM style came into play yet again, as Lucan, still new to vampirism, struggled with his love for his sister and his new evil nature. This was just long enough to cause him hesitation, allowing the PC's to catch him. With a nasty "Inflict Wounds" and a few hits from magic weapons, Lucan was done. Returning to the coffin in the cart would of course have been foolish, but at any rate the PC's had him, he couldn't really get away to anywhere safe that they wouldn't stake him and ash him. So granted, a lot of this is my "fault" but that's also why I wasn't upset about it, I knew what I was doing and was more concerned with my PC's having fun. My point I suppose is not that its terribly easy to catch him, but be prepared for the PC's to try, and to have a logical escape plan for him should they manage, or just prepare them with the knowledge that they aren't going to catch him as the chase begins. A simple, "Even at the pace your horses keep, his cart pulls almost as fast, and with the distance he's got on you, your horses will wear out long before you catch up", would suffice. -Nundahl
ppirie1 04-05-07, 04:09 PM	Sounds like a reasonable explanation. Yeah, it definately prepares me for what my players might do in this case. Thats what I was looking for, thanks.
Soloran 04-05-07, 04:21 PM	With a nasty "Inflict Wounds" and a few hits from magic weapons, Lucan was done. As Lucan is undead, wouldn't any spells with an "Inflict" descriptor heal him instead?
Nundahl 04-05-07, 04:24 PM	As Lucan is undead, wouldn't any spells with an "Inflict" descriptor heal him instead? You are absolutely correct ... I goofed that and meant "Cure". Mea Culpa.
Nevarre 04-29-07, 05:13 PM	I ran Forgotten Forge as is. The run Queen of Burning Eyes out of Dungeon Mag, as is. I then ran Shadows of the Last War as is.. Then I read Whispers of the Vampires Blade and went 'huh?' so.... I've gone back and re-written some of the back story without breaking any of the existing plot/encounters and introduced an adventure between Shadows and Whispers to get the PCs from Mournland to Sharn. What the adventure (which I'm naming 'Machinations of the Makers House') does is link in Whispers of the Vampires Blade to the rest of the schema quest adventures, not by introducing schemas into it, but by connecting Lucan with Merrix de'Cannith and the PCs. It's my hope that the adventure will bridge the gap, make Lucan a better protagonist, explain why the Lord of Blades is involved, and introduce a number of options for continuing the story after Grasp of the Emerald Claw. I'm intending and complete it and run it this week so I'd better get a move on! :D