Post/Author/DateTime	Post
WotC_Doog 08-03-04, 10:35 PM	Inspired by Keith Baker’s swashbuckle-riffic article here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040803a), this thread is for people to post Eberron set pieces. A set piece, in this context, is a big action scene set in a particular place and situation, full of details that fuel the imagination and add to the thrill and fun for the DM and players. An example of an Indiana Jones set piece might be the chase in the underground mine cars: blind turns, dodging stalactites, creative use of the hand brake, jumping from one car to another, etc. To start with some obvious—er, classic ones: :dice: Ambushed in the Alleyway: The thugs emerge from the darkness and want the heroes’ money/items/lives. Scenery: It is, of course, nighttime. Very urban. There are dripping drain-pipes along the walls of the alleyway. Trash containers and piles of refuse. Skittering rats. Flickering not-so-everbright lanterns. Chain-link fences blocking (or permitting) your escape. Ladders leading from windows high above. Overhanging walkways. Sewer entrances. Back-door entrances to seedy clubs or open-late pawn shops. Meowling cats or other creatures. Cast-off potion bottles or scroll cases. Old newspapers. Crazy but harmless onlookers. Action: The heroes could rip drain-pipes off the walls for an improvised weapon. Throw trash bins at the thugs, or roll them to trip the baddies. Someone could slip on icky refuse or in a puddle. Strong characters could rip down fences or even bash through walls for new exits. Shadows and trash bins might make good hiding places, or cover from missile weaponry. They could splash water or throw discarded junk to distract an enemy. With too much fighting, maybe an overhanging walkway becomes unstable and falls down into the alleyway. Or maybe a cat bites someone’s ankle out of spite. :dice: Aboard the Lightning Rail: The action takes place aboard a speeding magical locomotive. Hilarity ensues? Scenery: Dining cars. Sleeping cars. Luggage and cargo compartments. The coach/engine. The back of the caboose. And of course, the outside of the train, especially up on top. Tight passageways where people have to stop and let each other pass. Formal dinners taking place in slightly shaky dining cars, with white tablecloths, lit candles, a grand piano, and a hostess. Waiters carrying hot covered dishes. Passengers wearing the finest stuff they brought in their luggage. Half-elven ticket takers. Dwarven engineer-wizards. A warforged security officer. Bunk beds. Fold-down benches and tables. Overhead luggage nets. Magical lighting. And then there’s outside—the train enters the tunnel, or goes over a rail bridge. There are steep inclines to go up and down. Coming into station. Action: The dining car is full of crazy actions—heroes or baddies throwing tables, upsetting dinner carts, dropping hot soup everywhere. Chases through the precarious junctions between the cars. Throwing up a window and climbing out onto the outside of the car—while the tunnel or mail-drop approaches. Ducking down to avoid an obstacle as the train speeds along. Doing something about that broken bridge, or the misplaced conductor stone, or the gang of bandits on horseback sidling up to the train. Blowing the hot steam whistle right in a bad guy’s face. Throwing more fuel into the engine (not sure how that works with lightning rails) to speed up the train. Or setting free the air elemental to slow it down! Opening the luggage compartment so that bags fall down all over someone. Throwing someone off the train, especially while going over a bridge over a deep chasm or a rushing river. Smashing into station at full speed with cut brakes and out-of-control rolling momentum. Got more? Post ‘em! :D
Pocket Ace Pretender 08-03-04, 11:30 PM	The rooftop chase scene! The PCs just accomplished their mission objective, and retrieved the stolen (and fragile!) heirloom. Their pursuers are at their heels, and frantically they burst onto the roof of the building. Run! Slippery shingles, glass skylights, 30 foot drops. A strong PC could bull rush opponents off the edge, or throw fellow party members who can't jump far enough across the gaps. A tricksy PC could duck into the upper floor of the building, and let the pursuers go by. The desperate battle in an expensive mansion! The PCs have been charged with the defense of Baron d'(appropriate house), in his luxury suite. The baddies swarm in, and chaos ensues! Expensive vases and portraits. Fancy, Sarlonan(ese?) sculptures, and rich, expansive tapestries. Ornate furniture and the obligatory chandeliers. Vases and other breaks-into-tiny-sharp-pieces objects are good improvised weapons. Naturally, chairs are too. Big, rich couches make excellent cover (and more improvised weapons, if you're strong). Tapestries can be used as nets or fuel. Second story balconies make excellent vantage points from which to fire arrows and drop flaming tapestries. We all know that with a well placed swing you can drop a giant chandelier onto an unsuspecting opponent. How much fun would that be? The clifftop duel A fight to the death on the .... cliffs overlooking the .... bay. The BBEG unveils the last of his sinister scheme, but doesn't care, because he is about to finish off the meddlesome PCs. Uneven, rocky terrain. Large birds wheeling overhead, and a couple who were on a picnic screaming hysterically. The BBEG cackles manically as he springs from a high rock to gain an advantage. And of course, the everlooming threat of falling 500 feet to the jagged rocks and crashing waves below. Balance checks on the slippery/uneven rocks. Lots of high and low ground, so smart opponents can make use of that. Bull Rushes galore. Plus, admitting that you are not really left handed.
St23aM 08-04-04, 12:30 AM	*sniff.. sniff* WotC_Doog I LOVE YOU MAN!
hiryuu 08-04-04, 01:05 AM	To add an extra wrinkle to the lightning rail, you could move the fight on top and maybe involve another rail train accelerating and decelerating alongside as well as an airship hovering nearby. That'd be a tough one to get all three things together, but it would be one heckuva fight, 'specially if the airship keeps dropping off fascist cult soldiers.
WotC_Doog 08-04-04, 01:30 AM	Pocket Ace Pretender -- you've got the spirit perfectly. I am going to use the thrown burning tapestries thing. And I can't believe I didn't think of more than one train, thanks hiryuu :) Here're some more: :dice: Fight Scene at the Airship Hangar! The heroes need to get away on an airship in a hurry—and/or stop the thugs from doing the same! Scene details: The hangar is open on one side, and that means you have a natural cliff since the hangar is up on a tower. There are straining ropes keeping the airship tied down, or maybe heavy docking clamps holding it in place. The fire ring (thanks for the evocative illo (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82108.jpg), Mark Tedin) may be turned off so far, or it could be fired up already. There are people loading cargo onto one side, others doing last-minute repairs to the hull. High ceilings with exposed rafters, artificial lights or skylights. Wheeled tool chests. Shelves full of heavy woodworking, metalworking, and magical tools. Perhaps a spellcaster in charge of keeping the bound fire elemental happy. A crane with a heavy boom and a hook at the end. Cargo crates being loaded with the crane. A set of carpeted stairs extended down from the ship. Maybe two guys hefting a very fragile giant mirror up the stairs. Hoses, lots of hoses, providing various liquids to the ship. People with clipboards and schedules. People with flags and signaling equipment. Security guards. A poor House Lysander bureaucrat who wants to ensure that everything goes according to the proper procedure! But it won’t! Actions: Chasing and fighting and dodging around and under the floating hull. Using the hull as cover. Climbing ropes that secure the ship or other items. Pushing the wheeled tool chests, or jumping on them like skateboards. Swinging on the crane hook, or pushing it so it hits a bad guy right in the chest! Clambering around on the cargo as it’s being lifted. People firing crossbows from the hull windows. At a crucial moment, the captain or someone sets alight the fire ring! If the docking clamps are detached at that point (which is surely against procedure), the ship might swing wildly! Maybe the “ignition incantation” gets messed up. Someone goes over the side into the open air! He’s hanging on by a loose rope! The procedure isn’t being followed at all, so the ship might lurch and be sitting all funny and the bureaucrats are freaking out. The fire ring is coming in contact with the wall of the hangar, setting a nasty magical fire and interfering with the ship’s ability to hover right. Someone fires one of the on-ship cannons right back into the hangar! And then, even as the ship lurches away from the hangar, heroes or baddies bravely leap across the gap, like Morpheus leaping out of the office building! They try to grab the railing on the near side of the ship, or a dangling rope or anchor. And of course there’s a whole new set piece aboard the ship, as people try to wrest the controls away from each other, even as the airship is careening through the city towers. :dice: The Dinosaur Race! The heroes are entrants in a race on dinosaur-back, or are trying to catch a particular bad guy who is hiding out by posing as a contestant in the race. Scene details: All sizes of dinosaurs, mostly ridden by tough-looking halflings but other races are present too (thanks, Tomm Coker (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82081.jpg) -- all the chapter start illos are great set piece inspiration, btw). Dust and dry grass. Stony terrain, hills, pebbly streams. Rocky outcroppings. Stone archways that you could go around or through. Precariously balanced boulders along the raceway that are just asking for it. Cheering crowds gathered near certain points in the race. A very scary high-speed stretch through a huge pine forest. Maybe there are giant spider webs strung across the trees. Sweaty dinosaurs (do dinosaurs sweat?), screeching dinosaurs, roaring dinosaurs. The heavy thump of huge herbivore-riders. The earth rumbles as trees are felled. Some (the judges?) are on flying dinosaurs. One dwarf guy wearing goggles has a wooly mammoth for some reason. Whistles of the referees. Elaborate hunt-masks on some of the halflings. Reins and saddles on some, bareback for others (ouch). Loosening buckles—uh oh hold on the saddle is slipping off! Is that goblin riding standing up? Actions: Weapons and magic are illegal in the race, but that doesn’t stop some people (including the bad guy the PCs are trying to catch up to). Boot knives. Concealed poison-tipped spears. Nets or bolas or boomerangs. Little traps set up to knock over that huge boulder. Some dinosaur-riders wait in ambush for you to come out of the cavern or tunnel, and leap down on you from above. Knocking down trees or rolling them at you. A huge dinosaur falls in mid-race (twisted its ankle) and it’s…coming…down…right in front of…YOU! The mammoth guy is actually doing well, but the mammoth’s butt obscures your view. Little goblin guys leap from their mounts onto yours! Some people are actually trying to hit your mount with bows! Maybe somebody changed the sign that indicates the race route, and you head through thick brush right toward a ravine! If you survive the fall, it might actually be a useful shortcut. Maybe a bad guy calls down a pterosaur-riding judge and knocks the judge off, and now he has the flyer. Maybe all the judges are actually bad guys, and they hurl down rocks and spears! Every Ewok or Pod Race trick in the book is useful here. At the finish line, if they get that far, the crowds are so thick, you can’t even see the winner’s circle—or maybe someone scoops up the huge gilded trophy and bangs somebody on the head with it. Truly a pulp-y adventure race.
Zedium 08-04-04, 04:22 AM	Let me try! Let me try! Anyway, some very nice settings in this topic, waiting to be used in some big evil fight. Here are some of my ideas, first a classic: :dice:Barbrawl!: There is a badguy in the bar, and the players need to capture him, that, or the dwarven fighter in your party drank too much and someone called him a bearded freak. Whatever is the case, the result is chaos. Scene details: A smoke and crowd filled bar in downtown Sharn. The bar is mostly just a main room with poor lightning, a single everbright lantern lights the front but for the rest the place is lit by candles and the large wooden chandeleer hanging from the cieling by a rope. Smoke from cigarettes and pipes (pipeweed?) fills the room. Several tables are scattered here and there with on each table a few drunks...errm guests sitting on wooden chairs. In the corner there are a bunch of poker players who are probably cheating anyway. The warforged bouncer is having a hard time throwing out a noisy customer while the changeling waitress is running around with drinks and the half orc barkeep is having a good chat with a random person. Seems your average night in sharn, but on every average night, there is at least one good fight. Actions: As soon as the first guy gets floored, there will be a huge domino effect and within a few rounds the whole bar is in a frenzy. This has the effect that the players not only need to watch out for the badguy, but also other random people punching him or flying by. The same goes for the badguy on that matter though. For the rest this place seems to be a huge invitation to smash people, common objects being bottles, chairs, the plate carreed by the waitress and mugs (and if you do it in style, empty the mug in one round, then throw). If you want to make the whole scene even more chaotic, you can have the Sharn city watch running into the fight, but also ending up punching everyone in sight. And for the grand finale, the chandeleer seems the perfect. Just cut it loose and watch the fun. :dice:Ancient Temple of Doom: The badguys are making a mess in an ancient Xen'drik temple. They are about to activate some ancient device or to sacrafice a fair maiden, just as the players come barging in. Scene details: This is an ancient temple, consisting out of the usual dungeon, after the heroes worked themselves through the dungeon they enter a main room where the badguy is waiting for them. The room is rectangular, with the players entering from one of the short sides. Left and right are large statues of elves and drow and in the middle of the other side there is a huge statue of a female giant. There are a lot of pillars, some look like they are about to crumble to dust while others are covered in vines. On the ground are parts of the ruin which have fallen on the floor, making great hiding places. Lots of small plants and vines cover the whole ruin with several strong vines growing down from the roof. Snakes and large exotic bugs are crawling over the floor, roof and walls. And then there is of course the badguy and his gang of minions, scattered throughout the temple with the main badguy being near the statue, either completely unaware of the heroes, or having prepared for them. Actions: Fighting in an unstable and ancient building, with a group of villains? I like it. First of all there is entering the room, this can be done with style, swinging down from a vine a la Tarzan, or maybe even barging in through one of the less stable walls. Once the true fight begins, players can find cover behind the broken parts of the temple, the pillars and the statues. The more stronger chars can try to push over the smaller elven/drow statues on top of their foes. Vines and other vegetation can be used to your advantage, maybe using a fire spell to create some fire. The vines are also excelent for strangling someone or to swing across the room, knocking down baddies when needed. Druids and rangers can have fun with the wildlife, using the snakes and bugs to keep the villains occupied. If the fight escelates it might knock down enough pillars to cause the temple to start collapsing, so the players and the badguys have to get out of there, while still fighting opponents and dodging debris.
MarkB 08-04-04, 05:35 AM	:dice: Sky Pirates! Yes, this is an obvious one, but you can add a twist or two. A group of raiders have boarded your airship by means of magical flight, flying beasts and/or another airship. They've hit the ring with an experimental elemental-commanding spell that was theoretically supposed to paralyse it, but has instead sent the bound elemental manic, causing it to pull the ship violently ten feet in a random direction each round - reflex save for all aboard each round on the ship's initiative, rolling under 20 sends you five feet in the opposite direction to the ship, rolling under 15 means you're also sent prone (no AoOs provoked). Furthermore, the ship's currently flying down a canyon, with rock walls 40 feet away, and the ground 100 feet below. If the elemental's thrashing takes the ship into the canyon walls before the party can fight off the raiders and regain control, things will start to go very badly.
WotC_Doog 08-04-04, 11:56 AM	:dice: Action at the Historical Museum! The heroes are pursuing a bad guy through a historical museum, or maybe they have the final fight there. Maybe the bad guys have stolen an item, or are trying to bring a mummy to life or something. Scenery: A taxidermist’s dream: stuffed dinosaurs, stuffed horrid wolves, stuffed carrion crawlers. Mounted heads of monsters on the walls. A display of ancient Galifar formal dress on a pair of mannequins. Armor from ancient periods on stands and on large and small mannequins. A weapon display behind glass: fine Cyran scimitars and tribal spears. Art of all sizes in ornate, baroque frames. Lots of display stands as obstacles, with pottery relics, woodcarvings, statues. A bronze sarcophagus behind a velvet rope. A full-size diorama of how an ancient hill giant cave might have looked, with an informational sign in three languages. Lots of ancient documents behind glass. An ornate silver globe with glittering gems, representing some moon or other. A large painted plaster model of the heart of a troll. A working model train going around and around a model of the Brelish (or wherever) countryside. Two levels, with an open court so that people can look down on the main floor from the railing above. A very long pendulum suspended from the high ceiling: a demonstration of momentum or timekeeping or something. Maybe a giant orrery. Really large and heavy displayed things hanging from cables from the ceiling. Action: The bad guys are strong, and push down display stands. Just about every glass display case gets shattered, and people arm themselves with better and better improvised weapons: first the arm of a mannequin, then a rather heavy wrought-iron statue, then an pre-War Cyran broadsword (when the chase enters the Weapons of History Room, everyone should gasp with glee). Spellcasters obscure people’s vision and then people are banging into models and statues. Somebody gets run into the horns or antlers of a mounted monster head. Someone grabs a big piece of art and shoves it down over someone’s head, tearing the canvas, and the frame sticks around them and binds their arms. The globe goes rolling. The pendulum can be used as something to swing on, or push at someone. The velvet ropes could be used to leap and swing off the second level, crashing into a foe on the main floor. Fights on the stairs between levels are always fun. Someone pushes a stuffed monster down, trapping them underneath or just freaking them out. And the sound of pottery-breaking-on-skull should be a contant music. And someone has to cut the cables of a hanging airship model or stuffed pteranodon so that it comes crashing down onto the bad guy just as he is trying to teleport away or finish the ritual to awaken all the stuffed monsters. Variants of this set piece to think about: Action at the Zoo (uh oh, our wizard got chased into the lion exhibit), Action at the Aquarium (how many shark tanks can get smashed in one fight?). [edit: fixing typos]
Pocket Ace Pretender 08-04-04, 12:32 PM	Originally posted by MarkB Furthermore, the ship's currently flying down a canyon, with rock walls 40 feet away, and the ground 100 feet below. If the elemental's thrashing takes the ship into the canyon walls before the party can fight off the raiders and regain control, things will start to go very badly. That's so... so... *sniff* beautiful! There's no way I can't use that now!
Kaerus B'aant 08-04-04, 03:31 PM	Originally posted by WotC_Doog Action at the Historical Museum! Words never before uttered in the history of civilisation :) :dice:Pirates of The Hilt The PCs have accquired a large boat from the Sharn docks, by a slightly illegal mode of taking. They are just breaking port when the Royal Navy's best ship rolls around the corner of a jagged white cliff. Spellcasters armed with many a'wand and a case full of scrolls, as well as archers and grimfaced guards stand at the rails of the ship, in the crows nest and on the rigging, ready to board. Scenery: The tall wooden masts with miles of rope descending everywhich way, flapping in the wind, large white sails bearing the City of Sharn's insignia upon them in vibrant, unfaded colours and long, stained-soarwood decks cut the glistening blue waves. The shouts of the Captain as he orders his men about is partially lost in the briney breeze, and sunlight glints off masterwork arrows, swords and plate-armour. Action: The guards grab 10ft. boarding planks and lay them across ships upon closing in. A hail of arrows rain down on the PC's ship round after round and spells zip through the air with unerring accuracy. Some, lighter armoured, guards cut and swing on ropes (as should the PCs) from ship to ship. Balancing games upon horizontal beams, swashbucklery in teh crows nest and bullrushing off the low-cut rails into the sea, as well as being cought by a Gust of Wind while swinging, causing the PC to burst through the main sail of the ship and land in a nest of archers. Swashbuckling...wait I already used that...dare-devilling fun for a party of 4 to 6 mid-level PCs! Kaerus. Inspired by the great "Pirates of the Caribbean".
WotC_Doog 08-04-04, 05:55 PM	Originally posted by Zedium Druids and rangers can have fun with the wildlife, using the snakes and bugs to keep the villains occupied. I love that, using the local fauna as living improvised weapons. :) :dice: Battle in the Forbidden Crypt The heroes explore the catacombs under a/an [ancient temple / crumbling ruin / big rock] and discover a dusty seal that [they break / is already broken]. They descend into what appears to be a curiously unlooted crypt... Scenery: Stone walls and low ceilings. Shelflike resting places for the decaying bodies of a noble family or the bygone members of some hidden cult. Burnt-out torches that could provide creepy ochre light. Symbols and runes warning of taboo. Small treasure offerings to the dead. Sealed-up stone doorways that led to... something. Inches of dust and dust-caked cobwebs. Icky posts carved from bone, with skulls propped up on them. Humanoid bones set up in weird piles or arranged in sculptural patterns, maybe even spelling words or forming symbols. Ancient clothing and suits of leather armor decayed down to the rivets. An eerie blue mist that feels deathly cold. Evidence that rats had feasted on some of the bodies long ago. Centuries-old spells still clinging weakly to the place. Heavy, ornately-carved coffins for the VIPs. Recent shuffle-prints in the dust? Scratch marks on the inside of sarcophagi? A central, better-lit chamber where the necromancer has taken up new residence? Action: Of course, when the heroes get far enough in the silent crypt of death, the residents WAKE UP and there's some serious zombie action. One by one, disturbed corpses rise to chow some brainage. Maybe one skeleton takes another skeleton's leg to use as a weapon. Could you literally dis-arm a skeleton with a called strike? Maybe the zombies will knock down lit torches to plunge the party into darkness before coming after them. Maybe the kicked-up dust will affect combat. Someone could slip on ancient dry dust or on piles of bones. Watch your head -- those low ceilings might bonk the half-orc's head during a fight. Maybe the necromancer has two or three VIPs rise from their coffins to protect him. They pick up cast-off skulls or femurs to fight with. Maybe they swing cords of spider webs as whips. Is it dawn yet -- could the PCs break the ceiling through and open a skylight? Might some of the zombies slide open other stone coffins to recruit friends -- or chow down on their friends to somehow "power up"? Could the VIPs be wearing plate mail +2? Or maybe one of the zombies loots the good magic equipment of all the other corpses, and starts arming himself with all of it while the PCs fight other bad guys. Maybe one baddie is a sewn-together conglomerate of many former Last War army officers. Could one of them set itself on fire, and try to give the PCs a hug? Or could some of the undead know spider climb and leap down from a dark ceiling? And those walled-off passages, maybe they are just secret doors that could slide open when there's someone nearby to grapple. Gotcha!
Kevin Andrew Murphy 08-05-04, 01:02 AM	Havok in the Hemp House Scenery: There's scads of scenery, both from the current production and the past ones, many of the set pieces hanging high aloft in the rigging of the old hemp house, the theatre currently hosting a production of "Lament for the Mournlands." Ropes, sandbags, two-dimensional pirate ships and even a life-size lightning carriage. Action: An exciting opera, involving armies of marching warforged, proud House d'Cannith heirs, and even a triumphal aria from the Lord of the Blades. Unfortunately, there is at least one member of House d'Cannith in the audience who the characters have heard that the Lord of Blades has targetted for assassination, and it's suspected that the assassin is going to be on stage. But is it one of the many warforged extras for the triumphal march? One of the changelings who makes up the theatre company? Is the Lord of the Blades singing his own aria? Watch sandbags drop, scenery crash, explosions galore, swinging from the chandelier and wonder how long it will be before the audience realizes it's not supposed to be part of the show.
Save_vs_DM 08-05-04, 04:59 AM	:dice:Tick Tock Combat Clock Scenery: A gigantic metal gearwork clock with an open glass face high in up in a tower located (probably) in Sharn. Huge gears slowly rotating and grinding away as a the giant clock hands can be seen through the frosted glass of the clock face. A gigantic bell sits at the top of the tower, waiting to ring when the clock strikes (what else) midnight. Large wooden catwalks seem to just out over large gears at points, with lots of ropes hanging down over gears that can grind the heroes (and villains) into paste. Most of the ropes are connected to bells, mading a loud ring will emit if they are swung on. Bats swarms fly about, the combat having disturbed them. The place is poorly lit by moonlight through frosted glass and the griding and ticking of gears is constant. Action: Jump from gear to gear without being crushed. Throw small gears and shards of glass as improvesed weapons. Fighting on catwalks above grinding gears. Ring the bell while the enemy stands underneath it to give him a surprise! At least one PC should end up smashing through the front of the clock, onyl to save themselves by grabbing a clock hand at the last minute. A dreadful empowered, maximized, enlarged cloudkill spell is rigged to go off at midnight! Disable it before the clock strikes the final gong (2 combat rounds!) or the city might perish as the deadly spell is carried on the winds! More to come later, Cheers, Save vs DM
WotC_Doog 08-05-04, 05:14 AM	Originally posted by Save_vs_DM :dice:Tick Tock Combat Clock Oh man, Save vs DM, I swear I didn't read your post while I was composing mine, but this has some unintended similarities :) Ah well, here goes... :dice: Showdown at the Observatory On a starry night atop a rocky hill, surrounded by the tops of silhouetted pines in the Eldeen Reaches, the massive Observatory (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82121.jpg) looms. The heroes have chased the mad shifter druid here, or whoever your Big Bad is. Of course tonight is the great conjunction of 1d6+2 moons, or the night when the stars spell out “E-V-I-L” or whatever ;) so time is of the essence. The bad guy must be stopped before dawn! Scenery: The observatory is on a hill ringed by a sloping trail. Massive spires curve up around a central stone platform on which are carved elaborate, geometric, mystic designs. The stone is worn and weathered from the centuries, but intricate detail can still be seen in the runes all around. There’s an altar in the center, just a crude stone slab with odd dark stains. The sounds of machinery emanate from below the platform. There’s an entrance to the lower levels of the observatory, built into the hill down from the main viewing platform. There are no guardrails on the platform’s edge, just a sheer drop down to one twist of the trail 40 feet below if you’re lucky, or all the way down to the forest floor, almost a quarter mile down, if you aren’t. The druid has an ornate cloak and a curving, runed knife. His minions wear cloaks too, and they chant even as they fight. The wind is bitterly cold on this clear night, and the stars seem to have more clarity, even urgency somehow, to their shine. A night of mysteries revealed... Action: The mad druid rushes up to the main viewing platform and begins his ritual as his minions hold off the PCs. Light from the stars and moons are focused by the giant curving spires, gathering in one central circle that glows in pale light. The druid has an offering at the altar, or maybe the minions (trolls? werebears? aberrations spawned by the daelkyr?) try to grapple a PC and drag him over to the altar to be sacrificed. Then the whole observatory platform starts moving! The whole thing rotates around the altar, building up momentum. The fight turns semi-comical as the heroes have to chase the minions just to keep up with them—they’re like ants on a turntable. Reflex saves abound as the observatory begins spinning at an unlikely speed! Once the heroes fight their way through to the druid, he slips down into a trapdoor into the clanking machinery below. Thankful to be off the tilt-a-whirl, the heroes follow him down an uncomfortable ladder into a series of precarious walkways between massive grinding gears. Levers and swing arms lunge out at unpredictable times; coiled springs and steam jets go off randomly too. It’s like being inside a pocketwatch of massive scale (with, um, steam…). The druid is getting away! He keeps dodging nimbly from machinery to machinery, making his way down into the belly of the machine. The secret to keeping the observatory rotating is the enormous stores of ochre jelly (or other monstrous ooze) packed into the inner ring—it keeps the friction down. Maybe the ring gets broken in the fight and the rotating observatory starts to fuse, screeching and bending and cracking under the strain, and now the heroes have some ooze to contend with. The druid pushes swing arms at the heroes, tries to shoot them with steam, tries to trick them into getting hit by big pendulums. Now he follows a little stream of hot water generated by the machine, following it through a tunnel to its exit: a hot waterfall off a cliff’s edge. The bad guy stands there, trapped between the PCs and a leap to certain death. What happens next?!
Sebby 08-09-04, 01:40 PM	Let's bump this cool thread with a new one: :dice: Demon Wastes Canyons Aerial Chase: The PC's are in an airship, cruising in the Demon Wastes sky minding their own buisness (or, most likely, not). Suddenly the lookout reports a big flock of UFO's (Unknown Flying Outsiders!) headed their way. There are too many of them to make a stand. They could decide that it would be a good idea to try to evade the bogeys by diving the ship in the Labyrinth. A Star Wars-like battle ensues as the ship tries to loose the demon/devil mob at high speed in the narrow canyons! Scenery: the PCs' airship, canyons of varrying widths and depths, arched stone bridges, large caves in which to hide the ship, smoke clouds from volcanic activity that provide concealment, anti-air ballista batteries (or other such weapons), enemy airships, flying carpets. Action: crewmembers being thrown off the ship during sharp maneuvers (AAAAAaaaaah... splat); Barbarian denizens of the canyons taking potshots at the PCs' ship as they pass, like trigger-happy Sandpeople hillbillies; flying demons/devils swooping the deck to attack the crew (or carry them off); the ship grazing the cliff face during a nearly missed maneuver; Zakyas on flying carpets or airships in pursuit, attacking and crashing into the walls or the canyon floor; spells that trigger rock slides in the flight paths; dives, climbs, last-second pull-ups and sharp, banking turns.
MarkB 08-09-04, 03:22 PM	Originally posted by Sebby :dice: Demon Wastes Canyons Aerial Chase: I love the idea, the mental images it creates are great. I do wonder how easy it would be to actually realise those ideas in a gaming session. Maybe you could import some of the vehicle rules from D20 Modern, or the Star Wars RPG - I've had limited experience with them, but they'd seem a lot better suited to this sort of event than what's available in standard D&D. Hmm, maybe some future Eberron supplement could include detailed stats for elemental-powered vessels, along with some extra rules to run them in combat.
Sebby 08-09-04, 05:15 PM	Originally posted by MarkB I love the idea, the mental images it creates are great. I do wonder how easy it would be to actually realise those ideas in a gaming session.Bah! Don't let the rules get in the way of a good scene, I say. The way I see this scene, It is not too important to precisely track the movement and damage inflicted on the vehicles. If you use a complicated system for the first time and you're not familiar with it, it might ruin the mood. Me, I'd have a network map of the canyons, where each node would indicate a feature (narrow passage, overhead bridge, turn, fork, encounter, etc.) with the appropriate game mechanics to adjudicate it (Skill DCs, enemy stats, special rules) and a good evocative description. The ship going fast, canyon walls speeding by, and the pursuing enemies are the backdrop of the scene, no more no less. Occasionally, enemies catch up and get close enough to engage the players in missile of melee combat. The moving ship makes the stage difficult and hazardeous, requiring balance checks to keep one's footing and having various other effects. At other times, the danger comes from negotiating the canyons at high speed, and the challenge comes from trying to evade and hide the ship from the many parties of demons, who have split into smaller forces to find the intruders. Originally posted by MarkB Maybe you could import some of the vehicle rules from D20 Modern, or the Star Wars RPG - I've had limited experience with them, but they'd seem a lot better suited to this sort of event than what's available in standard D&D. Hmm, maybe some future Eberron supplement could include detailed stats for elemental-powered vessels, along with some extra rules to run them in combat. That may work also, although you know it better than I do (I don't know those systems). But be careful of shifting the focus of the scene. It should be perceived by the players as an action scene with their PCs at the center of it, not as a wargamish tactical battle viewed from high above.
malisteen 08-09-04, 06:31 PM	Between the Lines Several 'missunderstandings', where bad information has the party advancing the ends of the Lords of Dust and a series of missing scholars lead inevitably to one conclusion- someone's thrown a wrentch in the gears of the Library of Korranberg. Investigation eventually leads the part to a confrontation with a cerebrelith and it's dominated Gith servents within the pocket dimension where the texts of the Library are stored, resulting in an escheresque battle down endless corridors of subjective-gravity where walls, floors, and ceilings all consist of shelves and shelves of books. Enemies burst through from any direction, and entire shelves realign themselves or slide away at random as regular use of the library continues despite the battle going on within the establishment's planar bowels. If the scholar in the party is both observant and unscrupulous she might even have a chance to snag one of the secret, restricted books or scrolls barred from usual circulation.
GoodGuy89 08-13-04, 04:35 PM	:dice: Stampede! The PC's encounter the baddies just as a large herd of frightened horses/dinosaurs/other big flock animal come rushing by! (Talenta Plains?). Trampling mayhem ensues! Can the PC's defeat the baddies and avoid being kocked down? Can the animals of the herd be used as steeds, taking the fight into a frantic chase mode? Can the animals be tripped, falling onto baddies/allies/other animals? What are the herd running from?
Gurv 08-13-04, 05:11 PM	:dice: Dangerous Lift: The heroes must use a decrepit mechanical elevator to ascend/descend a long abandoned shaft. Scenery: Located, naturally, between the place they are and the place they must get to, is a cable-driven lift descending into a bottomless pit. A rattling cage is the vehicle. Rust and corrosion bring up questions of the machine's durability. The screech and grind of gears and pulleys from above. Bits of the shaft and other debris can be seen above and below (sticking out too far?). Action: The heroes could be on their way into the abandoned levels of Sharn, or escaping a terror-filled ruin in Xen'drik. They can struggle with the rusty (sabotaged?) controls. Battle pursuers on the top of the cage. Climb the cables as a fast-falling cage drops down at them, or rises past where they hide. Dive off the moving cage as opening to various levels present themselves. Push foes into the dangerously exposed walls of the shaft. Gurv "The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason." -Wizard's Sixth Rule
Zunishahd 08-14-04, 11:17 AM	:dice: Battle aboard the burning ship The party is engaged in a boarding action or repelling a boarding action while one or both ship's rigging is on fire. Scenery: Add to the chaos if shipboard combat the elements of smoke and a rain of flaming bits of rope and wood. Already excited crew members become terrified and the shouting/screaming becomes louder. The groans and cracks of disintegrating beams puncuate the cacophony. Burning chunks hiss as they fall past. If left unchecked, the fire may spread to the decks. Action: Clouds of smoke and ash blow about, obscuring portions of the deck at times, blinding combatants. Pieces of the rigging keep falling on or around the heroes. As the battle progresses, the footing becomes more and more treacherous. Ropes tied down under tension snap free and whip about, tripping combatants and slashing others. The fiery rain could damage the combatants, perhaps even setting people on fire. Heroes or crew may become trapped under larger portions of flaming mast or burning sail. Depending on the location of the ships, the heroes may be more concerned with extinguishing the flames than fighting the enemy. This could be a lead in to adventure on the deserted/forgotten island as the PC's are forced to disembark to find repair materials on the conviently placed nearby island. The crew, of course, is too terrified of the legends surrounding this place to brave the beach... :dice: Combat on top the crumbling glacier Whether it is simply the appropriate time of year or an unwisely placed fireball/summoned fire elemental has weakened it, the ice flow upon which the heroes face the bad guys is breaking up and sliding into the sea. Scenery: The cloudless sky bares a golden disk of sun that blazes down on a chilly, chaotic combat. Hundreds of shore birds circle and cry overhead. To one side is a towering edifice of ice or stone. To the other is a shear drop hundreds of feet to the crashing waves. Strange scupltures carved from wind and melting ice stand here and there. Large boulders shoulder up from the ice. A stiff wind blows in from the sea, carrying with it the sharp tang of brine and perhaps the moist waff of an incoming storm. Action: The pops and cracks of rending ice echo across the water. Large pieces of the sea cliff slide away to plummet into the water with resounding splashes. Crevices and cracks snake inland from the cliff, occasionly widening enough to require Balance checks/Reflex saves to avoid falling in or Jump checks to get across. Stressed ice begins to explode upwards in sprays of moisture and tiny, flaying shards. As the fight progresses, the plane upon which it takes place becomes narrower because more of it keeps sliding away into the sea, forcing the combatants closer to the towering cliffs that prevent a simple rush inland.
DMAC 08-14-04, 01:13 PM	These are brilliant. If anyone at WotC is listening, these sort of 'building block' sets with stats for relevant PCs and detailled maps would make for a fantastic book. :thumbsup:
WotC_Doog 08-17-04, 12:21 AM	More set pieces. :) :dice: Digging up Trouble at the Archaeological Dig! In the dusty desert, the heroes are hired to help a professor of archaeology dig up and explore recently discovered, underground ruins. Half-exposed walls of an ancient palace, temple, or laboratory, made of sandstone or limestone bricks. Carvings revealing surprisingly violent imagery. The scale of the ruins is larger than human: enormous (but fallen) archways and generously-proportioned stairways. Pickaxes and shovels leaning up against old, broken walls. Ropes and buckets and carts of sand and stone. Camelopard mounts, hot-weather dinosaur mounts, and low-slung, canvas desert tents. Dwarf, gnome and kobold muscle hired to dig—they’ve rigged up wooden stairs more suited to their scale over the massive stone steps. Everybody’s got ID papers for the sensitive dig: there are rumors of khyber dragonshards present at these coordinates. Everyone complains about the heat. A sandstorm attacks and the dig comes to a halt; everyone crouches down inside the ruins until the storm whistles past. Equipment must be unburied after. The heroes are the sentries at night, and the workers give them cloths to protect their faces from the pelting sand and desert winds. Nothing interesting is found for a while except broken pottery and the occasional disturbing carving. Then: breakthrough! The workers literally break through the floor and find a huge chamber. Shafts of light filter in through the disturbed dust. An amazingly glassy blue-stone floor reflects the sunlight. The high arched ceiling is supported by enormous columns. The workers catch a glint of gold and jeweled treasure—and just then, desert bandits arrive on horseback! :dice: Battle of the Robo-Titan There’s a warforged titan designed to be more of an armored vehicle rather than an oversized soldier. In place of a head it has a control platform. The bad guy stands up on the control platform, throwing levers, spinning wheels and stepping on pedals. Dials spin and glass tubes full of liquid splash about. Action: Someone climbs up the leg of the titan to try to get up to the control platform. Maybe someone scrambles up the wall (spider climb, some kind of ability to fly, or just a good old sheer-wall Climb check). The warforged titan stumbles when its leg is damaged. Someone rigs up a grappling hook or a telekinesis spell to yank one of the levers—that makes the axe arm swing wildly the other way, saving the party member who was in the path of the weapon just in time! The chest of the titan might be equipped with fire cannons—wands of magic missile or some good old gunpowder. The controls to fire those are underneath a special locked panel labeled “CANNONS”, and the bad guy and heroes struggle to be the first one to unlock it. Warning sirens on the beast go off when the internal gyroscope goes all wonky. Maybe someone tries to trip it with a huge rope – probably it would just drag a rope, though, and everyone holding onto it! The leg pedals get stomped in rapid succession, and the beast starts a-runnin’ right at the cavern wall! All hands, abandon titan! Maybe there’s some restraints up on the control deck, and someone’s stuck in them. Maybe that isn’t the end – the warforged just bashes through the wall and starts running down a mountain! The gyroscope struggles to keep up. Maybe it takes a running leap off a massive cliff with either a PC or the bad guy still stuck in it. It’s a loooong falllll…
Alexius D'Cannith 08-17-04, 09:13 AM	:b: Battle at Etren Fields Late one day as the night is finally closing in the heroes climb a hill that overlooks the warm lights of a small village, as the party close they realise all is not as it seems, For some of the buildings are burning the town is on fire! Closer still and there upon the edge 2 combatants circle each other thrusting and parrying, a Warforged with a long sword and a Human carrying a torch and longsword, Further in the village they find more men with torches entering buildings and setting fires killing the poor orc and goblin townsfolk while 2 warforged try to hold them back from the town hall, The Humans part of a band known as the Ebon Hand believe that Humans are the true super race and that all misery including the last war can be traced to weak non humans, Can the party help the Warforged save the town or do they throw in with bandits and terrorists, As it happens the Warforged are paladins of Dol Arrah as their 'father' used to read to them between training sessions before they left the Forge and the book of Dol Arrah stirred them to higher thoughts burning buildings to jump in and out of saving people, torches that can be waved to distract opponents fun fun fun
ChrisTheS 08-17-04, 11:37 PM	:dice: Showdown in the Den of Iniquity A good follow-up to a chase scene. The villain takes refuge in a seedy tavern/opium den/brothel. The players enter right on his heels and are immediately assaulted by the sights and smells of the place, disorientating them. The lights are dim, making Spot checks difficult, and Listen checks are impeded by the sounds of the establishment's business being conducted (whatever those sounds might be). The cloying smell of incense and the reek of stale sweat and narcotics is stifling. The regular employees of the establishment approach the players to offer their services, further hampering their search for the villain. When they finally locate him, the showdown is hampered by muddled patrons, clouds of sickly-sweet smoke, curtains, furniture, and screaming girls. And whether or not the villain is defeated, the players will still have to explain things to the city watch when they arrive to bust up the joint (most of the clientele and employees having hustled off when they first hear the whistles blowing).
WotC_Doog 08-19-04, 03:00 AM	:dice: Perils of the Underground River The heroes’ goal lies deep inside this large-mouthed cavern… into which pours a slow-moving river that covers the cavern floor from wall to wall with chilly water. There are two rafts parked against the cavern wall here. A raft doesn’t drift very fast in the lazy current, but there’s a rope, a kind of railing, extending down the tunnel into darkness. The heroes can use the rope to pull the raft hand-over-hand down the river. Because, presumably, that’s what the cavern’s denizens do every day. (Evil DM laugh.) The tunnel twists and turns. Low-hanging stalactites, bumpy mineral columns, and spiky crystal formations force some tricky maneuvering with the clumsy raft. The tunnel and river branch into smaller and larger passages, some with faster-running water, some with eerie sounds or musty smells. One tunnel opens into a large, high-ceilinged chamber full of sleeping bats. Another ends at a rusty metal grate. Another ends where the water flows into a tight little hole near the cavern floor. Another leads to a waterfall! Eventually there’s a place to “park” the raft again, and a tunnel that leads up onto dry rock. Or if you prefer, there isn’t. The cave’s denizens are Ghaal’dar goblinoids, or a band of kobolds, or whatever you like. They use the place as a hideout, and the water keeps out most intruders. There could also be water nagas slithering around, an invisible phantom fungus stalking the place for meat, some mossy orc skeletons looking to cause random harm to the living, and/or the pupa of some glistening creature looking to… um… hatch into something bad. A big fight could involve slamming other rafters into stalactites and columns, breaking the enemy’s raft, pushing the bad guys over the waterfall while you hang on tight to the rope and keep your raft from going over. Maybe things crawl and skitter around on the slick cavern walls and ceiling, and drop onto the heroes. Things (tentacles, naga heads, claws, mouths) could rise up out of the murky water and grab the raft or the heroes. Mossy ropes might clothesline the heroes or unprepared bad guys. The river gets faster as the combat heats up. A whirlpool might catch a raft. The waterfall looms. Clouds of bats obscure the fight. How will it end? Perhaps with the goblinoids’ last resort defense: a cave-in!
Bubba333 08-19-04, 06:51 AM	Ok, I'll take a stab at this (don't laugh!). Please forgive the format... Showdown at the Mad-Artificer's Foundry The violent storm still rages as the party enters the main floor of the massive foundry. The high-vaulted ceiling is crossed by a maze of metal beams and walkways that disappear into the darkness, chains and hooks swaying like clinking vines in a stone and metal jungle. The walls are buttressed with rusting iron beams and veins of plumbing are spread throughout. The muted colors of the dull building flare to life in the flashes of lightning that burst through the arched windows. Thunder rumbles and fades, its sound mixing with the growling of the cogs beneath the factory floor. Scattered before the adventurers are monstrous machines of steel and iron that belch acrid smoke and other unidentifiable fumes, a noxious vapor shrouding their feet. A bedlam of bizarre technology fills both sight and sound as the strange magical machinery churns out piece after piece of Khyber-Knows-What. Gears grind and turn as pistons pump and hiss. Conveyor belts carry parts into machines as hell-fire furnaces blast away with unimaginable heat. Shadows flicker and fade in the flames and lightning, an eerie play created by the movement of the machines. In the air, the palpable feeling of magic tingles the skin with a static caress. Parts of metal and glass litter the floor, making each step more perilous. Sweat and grim covers the party as they slowly weave their way through the nightmare technopolis, everywhere the incessant clang and ping of metal striking metal. Somewhere, the mad artificer Hadlow awaits... ... the artificer roars in pain as he tosses the halfling into the air, her dagger sticking into his side. Auret lands with a sickening smack, a pool of blood quickly forming under chestnut hair. The hobgoblin grins as he sees the motionless halfling. “Your friends are dead”, hisses Hadlow as he rips the dagger out of his side. “It’s just you and me now, boy...it’s time for this to end!” The maddened hobgoblin raises his head in laughter as he pulls the lever, igniting the engine. “You see? It’s too late! You’ve lost everything...and for nothing!” Lian slowly rises from the haze and takes aim, his last arrow quivering in his bow. “Just this one shot", he whispers, "For you Jalec...for Khorvaire!". He closes his eyes and lets the arrow fly... ...the sparks rain down like white-hot snow as Lian dives away from the exploding furnace, the thundering roar of the machine detonating deafens him as he lands on the grated floor. The haze of gases swirls around him stinging his eyes, the sound of the factory fading as the broken machines sputter and die. Lian shakes his head and clambers onto a ruined conveyor, surveying the destruction. All around him lay the twisted remains of the metal monstrosities in the private Hell of the foundry. He looks to where Hadlow had last stood: a black outline in the shape of a hobgoblin burnt into the wall. His jaw is set firm as he climbs down and begins searching for the remains of his friends... As you can tell I'm new to this writing bit. :D BTW, all you posted some pretty amazing stuff!
GoodGuy89 08-24-04, 08:39 AM	:bump: 'cause this is a cool thread!
Argonel 08-24-04, 11:18 AM	If anyone wants to take this and expand it into a Korranburg Chronical article, feel free. The Doomsday Preacher This is a city encounter that can be played a number of different ways and should be easy to adjust to an appropriate power level. The PCs encounter a street preacher with a sign proclaiming that the end of days are near. His arguments could be any of the following The Karnath undead leagions will cause an upset with the plane of Dolurrh The warforged operate using "recycled" souls from Dolurrh - "Who's soul did you steal tinman" The creation of the Mournlands is a divine punishment for over-reliance on magic That the use of magic to assist crafting has made the youth lazy and everyone will be punshed for this. They could be working alone or as part of a major or minor power group. The action would probably involve to PCs in one of three ways. [list=1] The PCs could become the target of his rants, and a crowd could be incited to riot against them. The crowd could get ugly and the PCs may need to protect the preacher from the crowd. The preacher could take direct action against the crowd or part of the crowd and the PCs could neutralize the threat. [/list=1]
Iron_Weasel 08-30-04, 10:09 PM	These are all splendid! :ayyyy!: :dice:Ancient Temple of Doom: Sweet! To make the AToD even more fun, particularly imaginative (insane?) DMs could take a cue from the Alien vs Predator movie, and have the temple's interior layout shift and change on a regular (or random!) basis! With the heavy grinding of ancient stone, the corridor ahead becomes a dead-end before the heores' very eyes, and the path behind yawns open into a deep, dark pit filled with all manner of nastiness! The character at the end of the marching order is losing her balance - someone grab her! A section of the ceiling slides open and horrible monsters drop down into the heroes' midst! Can the PCs survive until the temple shifts again? If they do, will the new paths open to them lead to safety, or to even greater peril? What danger and adventure awaits within the Ever-Changing Puzzle Pyramid of Death? In the Adventure Seeds thread that WotC_Doog started a while back, there was some discussion about what might happen if a Living Transmute Rock to Mud became embroiled in a battle with a Living Transmute Mud to Rock spell. This gave me an idea for a somewhat nastier variation: a Living Stone to Flesh vs a Living Flesh to Stone! Imagine a cave/tower/keep/whatever where the walls, floor and ceiling might be smooth stone one minute, only to turn into hideous, pulsating, Geiger-esque flesh-paths around the next bend! How disgusting! Will the heroes lose their feet (or their lunch) on the quivering meatbags and sharply-angled stone ramps? And what manner of creatures would live in such a place? Well-fed Carrion Crawlers of monstrous size? Aberations from Xoriat who like the decor? A mad necromancer or evil cleric determined to bring the place to unholy life?
Dauntless 08-30-04, 11:28 PM	:dice: Market Madness: Either the PCs are chasing a theif, or the guards are chasing the theif. Either way, the hunted takes a wrong turn, ending up in a crowded market! Scenery: The place is crowded, with people everywhere, nearly shoulder to shoulder. Running or charging is nearly impossible, and even swinging a sword has a chance to hit an innocent bystander. Merchants have carts everywhere, selling every type of produce or farm good known to man, as well as a number of crafted items. There are wagons, both attended and unattended, farmers leading donkeys around pulling carts, small children running about, the standard "stack of crates whose sole purpose is to be crashed through"... Action: Combat is difficult or nearly impossible in the crowds. Lots of spot checks just to chase the fugitive as he/they flee. Overturning carts, startled and fleeing pack animals, small children in the onrushing path will give good characters something extra to worry about. The standard "two guys carrying a large mirror/piece of furniture/ladder/lumber" will get in the way at some point too! Oh and did I mention that this market is in Sharn? Make sure to be careful when running near the edge of the platform!
GoodGuy89 11-16-04, 04:30 PM	Karrnathi!
Solarious 11-16-04, 07:14 PM	WotC_Doog. Sticky. :devil: NOW :devil: :dice: Mad Wizard's Laboratory Unleashed! The players have found where all the missing victims have been disappearing to lately: the specific reason is up to you. Maybe our loveable resident 18'th level Wizard the Fleshweaver has been out gathering test subjects. Mayhap someone's trying to steal Dragonmarks off various Heirs... imagine someone just festooned with all the powers they can grant! Or perhaps the Blood of Vol have been experimenting with new types of undead. You decide! Scene: Giant tanks with specimens scattered about. Aforementioned mad wizard smashing tubes to release said specimens. Fragile alchemy lab tubes with pipes and everything all over. Major health hazards as these pipes explode and unleash storms of poison, acid, or anything you can possibly want. Hapazardly scattered notes with frantic scribbles all over. Mad chase scene through rows a hallway lined with statues, or perhaps more tanks. Freezer area stocked with spare body parts. Mortuary area where all corpses go to get their biweekly Gentle Repose. And the inevitable scene where our villian escapes through some kind of bizzare method, like a Dominated flying abberation, a giant planar gate, or even a Teleport Circle to places unknown! Action: Wizard outraged at PCs rampaging through her lab. Firing off spells to blow up unstable compounds. Constructs and undead bursting through the walls to grab the PCs as the wizard retreats. Insane test subjects going on a rampage. Wizard trying to save as many notes as possible as underlings try to delay the PCs. Rows and rows of gaurdian constructs comming to life as the wizard shouts out command words. :dice: It's a RAID!!! The Sharn Watch gets serious (for once), and they're conducting a raid of a drug-manufaturing plant. Scene: Alchemists and criminals caught red-handed (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/sharn_gallery/84582.jpg) with the goods in hand as the door gets barreled down. Said manufacurers of 'Happy-Time's Recreational Drugs' standing around frozen like deer in headlights. Mad scrable to escape from authoraties charging in. Clouds of addictive drugs floating around. Anything from modern drug busts can be used. Action: The door comes crashing down, and startled criminals can only stare. A few mindful lieutenants start tipping barrels containing camatose-inducing drugs all over. Pushing over equipment onto authoraties. Throwing bottles filled with dangerous chemicals at people. Some hapless watch members get inadvertantly addicted to drugs in the process. Corrupt pencil-pushers hurry to destroy all records of transactions with 'customers'. Someone sets fire to the shipments ready for delivery, trying to destroy evidence. And so on.
MarkB 01-23-06, 05:19 AM	:bump: since people have been enquiring after it.
WizO_Sith 01-23-06, 08:23 AM	:dice: The Packed Hall The PCs and a group of foes square off in the middle of a large area (a banquet hall, ballroom, theater, or throne room) that is packed with people. This kind of set piece can be anything from a swashbuckling duel in front of a huge audience to an explosive battle of metal and magic amid a rioting crowd of panicked civillians. There are all kinds of possible terrain complications; banquet tables, innocent bystanders/potential hostages, theater sets, chairs, benches, food, candles, torches, chandiliers, priceless room appointments, etc...
Thanqol 01-24-06, 03:43 AM	The Bottom of Lake Galifair: The BBEG and his minions, either with Water Breathing spells or Bottles of Air, have put on boots set with lead and sunk to the bottom of Lake Galifair as they excavate an Abolith artifact. The PCs have to find some way to exist underwater, and get to the bottom of the lake. Fighting will be with extremely limited manouverability with similarly laden foes. Of course, should the ruins be uncovered and an Abolith be set free, then everyone will have to think fast... Scenery: Huge rocks, Abolith Glyphs (see Lords of Madness), if the muck is kicked up (full round action) it can give concealment, and if the enemies are using Bottles of Air and you throw one away then they're out of the battle...
Lord_Butler 01-24-06, 10:39 AM	Being that I have no original ideas. :bump:
Commissar 01-24-06, 10:55 AM	:dice: The Sharn Griffon Race For some plot reason the PCs must take over for a jockey(s) and try to win the griffon race... maybe an NPC's cooperation depends on it! The race starts off exciting enough - dodging between towers, under bridges and around errant sky gondolas. Then the Bad Guys decide to make their move - a few of the griffon teams are ringers and produce missle weapons (bows from bags of holding, perhaps). Now we get some griffon Ben Hur action as the villains attack the PCs and maybe a particularly crazy little goblin rogue even tries to 'board' their griffon. Just as the PCs look like they have things under control, a hobgoblin mercenary company that the villains had in reserve come diving in on their sky gondolas, trying to block the PCs while peppering them with arrows. Of course these troop ships will explode and crash spectacularly when the PCs fireball them, complete with flaming hob mercs spilling off the decks to their doom as the ships list to the side. The final complication comes when the remaining enemy griffon gets an illegal boost from its jockey, a sorcerer employing a haste spell (which only the PCs notice, due to the apocalyptic combat raging among the towers... made more confusing now that the city guard has joined the fray). Will our heroes succeed?
bholdr_mage 01-24-06, 11:38 AM	:dice: Battle aboard the burning ship The party is engaged in a boarding action or repelling a boarding action while one or both ship's rigging is on fire. Scenery: Add to the chaos if shipboard combat the elements of smoke and a rain of flaming bits of rope and wood. Already excited crew members become terrified and the shouting/screaming becomes louder. The groans and cracks of disintegrating beams puncuate the cacophony. Burning chunks hiss as they fall past. If left unchecked, the fire may spread to the decks. Action: Clouds of smoke and ash blow about, obscuring portions of the deck at times, blinding combatants. Pieces of the rigging keep falling on or around the heroes. As the battle progresses, the footing becomes more and more treacherous. Ropes tied down under tension snap free and whip about, tripping combatants and slashing others. The fiery rain could damage the combatants, perhaps even setting people on fire. Heroes or crew may become trapped under larger portions of flaming mast or burning sail. Depending on the location of the ships, the heroes may be more concerned with extinguishing the flames than fighting the enemy. This could be a lead in to adventure on the deserted/forgotten island as the PC's are forced to disembark to find repair materials on the conviently placed nearby island. The crew, of course, is too terrified of the legends surrounding this place to brave the beach... I had one very similar to this: An NPC druid that believes harnessing elementals is wrong, frees a fire elemental and the air ship starts...falling without power. The crew members are frantically trying to calm passengers down, while the PC's are either dealing with the elemental that is burning everything or that plus the Emerald Claw agent they followed on board. The druid jumps overboard and turns into a falcon to fly to safety. Good characters have to save innocent NPCs from falling overboard, deal with the Emerald Claw, and stop the elemental. Chaos happens. :D
Nature-boy 01-24-06, 08:37 PM	I love this, I'm subscribing to the thread. And to contribute: The Library Perhaps a chase can lead to an encounter in Morgrave University library or even Korranberg Library. Scene: Book shelves tower above the highest windows. Ladders reach all the way to the top of the shelves. Tables stand between the many aisles of endless books. Perhaps a statue or chandelier compliment the architecture and the ground is a great distance below the windows. Great curtains line the windows and a catwalk runs the perimeter of the building near the rafters. Action: The PCs could chase or run from an antagonist through the aisles of books, knock shelves over into a domino effect. They can climb ladders and balance along the tops of the shelves. The tables can be flipped, civilians can get in the way while studying or even be threated by the falling domino shelves and must be saved before they meet their doom under a pile of books. They can climb curtains, run the catwalks, and swing from the rafters, all the while a panicked librarian demands their silence.
Edymnion 01-24-06, 10:43 PM	Battle in the Orrery! Mad prophets of doom (or perhaps draconic agents of the prophesy) are waiting for the proper conjunction of the moons in order to make their sacrifice to bring about *insert horrible thing here*. The party breaks into their Orrery (the big planetarium thing, if you don't remember the word) just in time to find the prophets/cultists/agents in the final chants as a maiden tied to one of the lunar models screams. One of the moons is going to pass so close to her that she will be crushed! Scenary: A great domed building bathed in golden light with a massive orrery modelling all of Eberron's moons circling in their orbits at a highly increased rate of speed. The cultists in crimson robes with a strange symbol stitched onto their backs with green and gold thread. Gears are grinding in the backgroun, the prophets are chanting and refuse to allow themselves be distracted, even if it means their deaths, the ritual must be completed! Action: The cultists might not fight back in order to complete their ritual, but their body guards will! The guards don't have to win, they just have to buy enough time for the moons to align, and the blood sacrifice to be completed. The only way to reach the hapless damsel is to either fly to her while avoiding the soaring moons, or to leap from one moon to the next as they come close in a makeshift stairway. Only when the girl is safe do the cultists try to stop the infidels, and who knows what dark powers they have at their disposal!
Lord_Cabby 01-24-06, 11:35 PM	Dear MarkB: Thank you very much for ressurecting this thread. This is the first time I've seen it and some of the stuff on here is just brilliant. Sincerely, Lord Cabby
LugWrench 01-26-06, 01:01 PM	The Heist An interesting scenario. The PC's have been hired by a well-known faction, dragonmarked house, or Council Member to steal an item of value from a rival. This could be anything from a ledger of shady deals to an airship. The group sneaks into the building holding their objective, dodging guards and patrols, but when they are within reach of their goal, the alarm goes off. Now the PCs have to heist the item as the whole place goes on alert. Guards closing in as locks are picked, or smashed, wards must be dispelled or bypassed. Each passing second means more and more sentries to deal with on the way out. A few years ago, Dragon magazine published a little 'one-shot' adventure that fits in perfectly with Eberron, I belive. As the PCs travel through Kyber, they must pass by a Mind Flayer prison. A cave-in forces them to seek passage through the prison just as a prison riot starts.
Aubri 01-26-06, 02:33 PM	:dice: Swamp Things There's plenty of reasons the PCs could be in Q'barra, and plenty of reasons to be attacked by lizardmen. And even the toughest PCs will fall when grappled underwater by monsters that can hold their breath twice as long! Can the PCs escape before they drown? Scenery: A swamp deep in the jungles of Q'barra. Deep bogs dot the landscape, overshadowed by huge, ancient trees covered in climbing vines and parasitic plants. Thin mist drifts between tufts of moss hanging from every branch. The first warning you have is a ripple in the chest-deep water, and then a seven foot tall lizardman bursts from the bog with a roar! Action: Vines, quicksand, fallen trees, and bogs can help or hinder either side. Anyone hurt in the water is vulnerable to jungle diseases, and huge, ancient trees might offer dubious safety for those who can climb them. Any combat will stir up silt and make the water totally opaque, and blood in the water might attract piranhas. Group grapples should keep even the party's barbarian underwater. Mix and match Cold Sun, Blackscale, and Poison Dusk lizardmen for different challenge ratings; Poison Dusks can even spearhead the attack by swimming through deep bogs and stabbing the PCs with strength-draining poisoned weapons from underwater!
WizO_Sith 01-26-06, 06:57 PM	:dice: The Belly of the Beast The PCs are trapped in the gullet of a truely enormous, gigantic, and otherwise really :censored: big animal (the Terrasque, perhaps, but definately Godzilla-sized or larger). They must find a way out and survive the journey. Adversaries and obsticals are many and strange: From fellow travelers/victems, to sybiotic creatures/monsters living inside the alien ecology of the Monster's digestive tract, to Baron Muchausen, to the the natural defenses of The Monster's own body. This scenareo can be played as Wonderous and Surreal (a la Fantastic Voyage), Spooky & Wierd (The Millennium Falcon scene from The Empire Strikes Back/The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen), or metephorical (Disney's Pinocchio), or just for laughs (the Futurama episode Parasites Lost).
Raziel_Brokodar 01-27-06, 01:11 AM	oooooo.... nice thread... lol... very useful stuff... I now wish I was running a Eberron campaign again instead of a d20 Modern one... :(
Actionhank57 01-27-06, 09:06 AM	Someone should make this thread a sticky. This is the kind of stuff we don't want to lose. Well, here I go... Battle on the Bridge Scene: The PCs find themselves at a long and narrow bridge. I imagine two possible settings. One is the classic rickety chasm-spanning wooden bridge that overlooks the dangerous and craggy rapids below. The other possible locale would be a long bridge of natural stone overlooking a river of bubbling magma in the depths of Kyber. The PCs arrive, thinking that their only challenge is navigating the bridge, but halfway across (of course) the action ensues. Either the pursuing badguys they thought they had evaded show up, or some natural denizens who have claimed the bridge as their own. Action: The party has to constantly deal with the narrowness of the bridge and the horrible possibility of falling off(balance checks out the wazoo!). Worse, the foes may try to shake the PCs loose, or even cut the bridge down. Loose planks give out beneath the combatants' feet while archers nick away at them from afar. This fight is gonna take everything the players can muster for them to come out on top. Magic Carpet Ride! Scene: Ideally set in Sharn, the party finds themselves riding a magic carpet borrowed from their employer to deliver a special item to a VIP of Skyway posthaste. The characters think this is just a routine delivery, but some other faction wants the item, or perhaps their employer set them up, putting them in a situation that his goons are much better trained to fight in. Not far along their journey, the party is accosted by a number of agile thugs riding personal carpets of their own. Action: The party must maintain their balance while splitting their focus on their pursuers. The thugs carpets are smaller and faster, making outmaneuvering a difficult task, plus whichever PC is directing the carpet cannot take another action. If he risks it, he may just find the carpet headed right into the side of a tower. The party must bob and weave through bridges and archways while the enemies make swooping attacks with long weapons and fire missile weapons. Perhaps a daring PC will dive onto an enemy carpet and comandeer his vehicle.
perrywrogers 01-27-06, 11:03 AM	I recently ran an ambush encounter on a narrow bridge. Instead of it being a rickety bridge, I had the encounter take place in the middle of winter. Thus, the bridge was covered with ice, and footing was tricky. A wind wall cast by the bad guy wizard in front of the players made things a real mess for them when they were attacked by winter wolves from behind.
jonthegm 01-27-06, 11:11 AM	Surprise Jungle Airship Rescue The party is travelling along a river/clearing/road in the jungle or other heavily wooded area, when the Jurassic Park effect comes on strong: "Boom... Boom... Boom... Boom..." After a few tense minutes, something HUGE tries to come through the trees, but is blocked by dense growth. It screams in frustration and moves off. A while later, something bursts through the trees a ways down the river: THE T-REX! At the same time, a deus ex machina occurs! A black airship swoops down on top of the party, and offers a ride ("Looks like y'got yourself in a spot o' trouble there, mate... Need a lift?") There seems to be just enough time to hop aboard before the TRex gets there. UNFORTUNATELY, just as the PCs get aboard and the captain yells for ascent, lizardfolk marauders (or whatever intelligent humanoid lives in the area you're in) fire improvised grappling hooks into the ship. The PCs need to help cut the ropes free, or the whole airship is in danger of being disabled by the T-Rex and the lizardfolk
Actionhank57 01-30-06, 10:02 AM	:bump: Keep 'em comin!
igotsmeakabob!! 02-03-06, 01:06 AM	hate to bring these threads back but they're damn useful and I hope that I can get even more use out of them.
the overlord 02-03-06, 02:42 PM	My head is currently not in the right state to put in a contribution. But I'll try to follow the footsteps of everyone who is positivly contributing into this thread. Love the work, love the ideas, keep them coming
WizO_Sith 02-05-06, 12:56 PM	:dice: The City of Glass a.k.a. Bulls in the China Shop Maybe it's the delicate metropolis of Tiny Fey, Maybe it's an extraplanar fortress on the border between the planes of Fire and Earth, Maybe it's part of some fantastic dreamscape, but the PCs find themselves in a pitched melee in the midst of a city made entirely out of glass. Plain old, Hardness 1, 1/hp per inch of thickness, glass. It's a pretty standard fight really, except for the ever-present danger of being sliced to ribbons by fallen debris or getting impaled by a falling shard of glass... :dice: Fire Burn & Caldera Bubble An oldie but a goodie, the PCs find themselves in a showdown in the bubbling, Lava-filled, crater of an active Volcano. A fun variation is to put a time limit on the fight, counting down to an immenent eruption or other explosive release.
Sereno 05-08-06, 09:53 AM	:dice: The Great Seal Imprisoning a Rakshasa Rajah, The Great Seal is an ancient eldritch machine built by a group of GateKeepers. Situated within the caldera of an extinct volcano, The Great Seal is shaped like a flat disk of bronze, about 450 feet across, composed of myriad meshing gears and spinning wheels. The enormous wheels and gears are large enough to serve as platforms for someone attempting to cross the seal from one side of The Great Seal to another. Mixed in with the meshed gears and wheels are control levers that can change the orientation of some gears and other spinning devices. It is said that by finding the correct combination, the magic of The Great Seal can be undone and the Rajah freed. The PCs could have an epic battle leaping from gear to gear and wheel to wheel, attempting to stop (or reverse) the work done by their enemies; a cabal of the Lords of Dust, a Cult of the Dragon Below? To make matters even more tense, The Great Seal could slowly iris open beneath its massive clockwork as the fight rages! ***Yeah, I know this is going to get lost in the shuffle to the new boards, but I'm saving this thread so I can repost after the upgrade! !!!Yay! We AREN'T going to lose all of these!! :)
Wizardman 05-10-06, 04:40 AM	:dice: A Lovely Wedding A high society wedding is taking place. Noble family or dragonmarked house (DM's discretion). The bride is radiant, the groom is nervous, everything has been painstakingly well-planned, the cream of society is present, and everything is about to go to Shavarath in a handbasket. Scenario: The PC's track the villain to the ceremony, and must infiltrate the proceedings and take their foe out- preferably without causing attention. This is made easier by: one or more PC's being on the guest list; having a wealthy contact who owes them; having a wealthy patron who is in on the whole thing; or by having them owe a favour to someone powerful. The heroes manage to get close to the villain, but chaos ensues as thugs arrive/reveal themselves and take the wedding hostage. And in the middle of the chaos, the bride whips out a Keeper's Fang and tries to stab the groom... Questions to consider for later: are these events related to each other, or are they separate? Is the villain in on either plot, both, or neither? Just who is playing whom here, and why?
Ellorin 05-12-06, 04:14 AM	It is known that a manifest zone might appear anywhere, without a warning. This time a temporary one manifests on a lightning rail...while Mabar is coterminous. Gradually the light of the day fades and a great mist surrounds all wagons.The walls' colour turns to black-an innocent touches a wall and is absorbed by it; a successful knowledge:planes recognises that the walls are now the equivalent of a sphere of annihilation!A few seconds later, the first Mabar creatures appear and they don't seem very happy. They feel quite bloodthirsty though... The creatures mostly appear at the latest wagons, with a few appearing directly where the players are. To make it worse, some house Orien empoyees at the front wagons panic, and decide to cut them off from the rest, including the players' wagon. The players' goal is simple: survive this slaughter and save the innocents if they can(and want). The manifest zone won't last long. Oh...and don't touch the walls(or get bull rushed on them).
RaidingPartyGames 05-23-06, 05:04 PM	Okay... I'm cheating a bit, 'cauze there'z a bunch of different possibilitiez in your everyday farm. Especially a really big self-supplying one like I imagined. But to start us off, the commonerz hear 'a noise in the barn'... BARN Lighting - dim to none, depending on time of day or night. Noize - none at first, maybe a cat startles them, possible generic shuffling of animalz or rustling of straw, but a heckuva hullaballoo when the action gets going. Animalz gone wild, boardz clattering, and so on. Interesting terrain - ladders to climb (or kick across to the opposite side), ropes to climb up, swing across, or slide down (ahh, rope burn!), beamz to balance on, a few areas of difficult terrain with pilez of hay or feed or... um... stuff. On the upside, falling into a pile of any kind doez subdual damage rather than falling damage. And if you really want to, you can hide in it. Featurez - slippery areaz of... um... stuff (as a grease spell, but smellier), balez of hay to toss or topple, panicky animalz (balance check 10 in a swarm of fowl, rabbits, or other tiny creaturez; 15 in a herd of sheep, riding dogz, or other medium creaturez; and resolve attacks separately if unfortunate enough to be trapped in the stall with frightened horsez), water or feed troughs to hide in or spill. If it's at night, there's probably a lantern hanging somewhere or carried out with the people investigating the noize, and you find all this flammable hay lying around. For the really absurd, you can try to get fresh milk in someone'z eye with a DC 15 Animal Handling check and a ranged touch attack (5 ft range)... which then leadz us to... DAIRY Lighting - should be well-lit, although possibly not at night. Noize - none at night, chatter and clatter of milkmaidz during day... followed by screamz when weaponz are brandished... Interesting terrain - troughs and vats to balance on the edge of, lots and lots of stoolz and churnz, and a cheese-storing rack to climb. Featurez - pinz can make improvized clubz, wheelz of cheeze az subdual bludgeoning weaponz (or for the really ridiculous, the farmer waz working on a prize-winning colossal wheel of cheeze for the fair... imagine Indiana Jonez), pailz of milk to splash(ranged touch to blind), churnz full of half-milk/half-butter to spill and make the floor slippery, small saucerz of cream to chug when noone'z looking, cheezecloth to try to net someone with or have a partial-concealment swordfight between... and speaking of cloth... SPINNERY Lighting - Eh, why bother. I'll stop this section until it's almost always dark. Noize - again, noize if people, none if none. Interesting terrain - climb the loom, the bundlez of wool, the worktablez, the pulleyz used to lift bundlez up to storage, and the rollz of cloth. Featurez - tip over a roll of cloth! Try to trap someone in between moving parts in the loom: grapple for the wood parts (readied action, Craft(cloth) vs. opponent's AC if they somehow enter the loom'z square)(but no damage unless it's a giant loom), or entangle for the warp and woof (shove them into it, reflex save 12 to avoid entanglement). Attack your enemiez with ballz of yarn, bundlez of wool, scizzorz (double weapon if you're tiny or it's huge!), a spinning wheel, and anything else that happens to be lying around. BUTCHERY Noize - constant buzzing of fliez, possible screamz from unfortunate animalz... or people... Interesting Terrain - Possibly a room with a permanent 'gentle repoze'. Otherwise, cold room and/or smokehouse nearby. Also probably a tannery. Chainz to climb, beams attaching to the top of the gentle/cold room, screen around the smokehouse, piled animalz if they aren't being sanitary, blood troughs if they're being exceptionally sanitary. Featurez - Lots of sharp thingz to pick up to slaughter, although probably not ideal for extended combat. Lots of patchez of slippery floor... it's inevitable. Hooks to try to trip, entangle, or hurt enemiez with. Slabz of meat to hide in and around, or use as improvized subdual weaponz. Also large skinz stretched out on framez just daring you to hide behind them for cover, or try to pin your enemy with them. SMITHY I'll leave it to Jack and Will to demonstrate. MILLHOUSE Noize - constant grinding and turning, +5 to any listen check, possibly 10 if you're right next to a major feature. Interesting Terrain - large, moving stonez and wheelz. Either a windmill (climb check 20) or a waterwheel (balance 15 to stay atop, or climb 20 if on the side... 10 if you're on the side going up), or both if you're feeling really odd. Definitely pulleyz and ladderz to climb here. Piles of bagz of flour or meal make difficult terrain, but if stacked right they can make an easy climb check or a soft fall. (I just hope the villain didn't replace one with a bag of caltrops) Featurez - Bagz make poor improvized oversized saps, but they're there if you have any Ogre Roguez. (Roguerz?) Or you can drop them on people. Wrapping someone up in a rope and letting the mill lift them to their doom iz a classic... and that's why the villain did it with the damzel in dis dress (TM)! (Save me, save me!) Don't stand too close to the millstone, someone might bull rush you into it... balance check 15 to keep from getting knocked prone if at a point where two stonez are coming together, stones grapple with a +15 if pinned or prone at such a point, 5d6 points of damage per round you're grappled by the stones... don't tell Jagger. Probably a loft full of unground wheat or corn with a hatch just begging to be pulled open with a convenient rope or lever. You can also rip open a bag of meal to throw at someone to try to blind them, or reveal invizible creaturez, or provide concealment... but with all this flour in the air, what happenz when someone casts a fire spell? Teeheheheheeee.... Kaboom. CELLAR Light and Noize - None. Interesting Terrain - Possibly shelvez to climb, binz to hide in, a low ceiling to try to grip or break through, and iz that a secret tunnel back there? Featurez - Jam. No, seriously, jam. While it might not be historically accurate, I'm sure the good people of Eberron developed <i>some</i> method of preserving food, and at least one of them would be similar to our own. So they get jarz of jam to throw or hide... or improvize with makeup... or try to turn the villain into insect bait. Probably storing root vegetables down here as well... beat them with bagz of potatoez! And shelvez to tip over, like they seem to have everywhere else. and finally... OUT ON THE FARM Light - prevailing, open sky. Interesting Terrain - tilled furrowz, rowz of vegetablez, compost heapz, huge cornfieldz, ditchez, watering holez, orchardz to climb... it seemz endless. Featurez - cut the plow animal loose and chase the villain, who just kicked an empty wagon downhill and jumped into it! Hide in the cornfield, and then break down a stalk as a very shoddy staff (breaks on a natural roll of 1-3) when they find you! Break a pumpkin over someone'z head! Throw applez (subdual again)! Stab someone with a dire carrot! Exclamation points are fun! Trip someone with a grapevine or wrap it around them, beat someone with tree branches (see Jackie Chan in Shanghai Noon), and then to top it all off, the inevitable wrestling match in the mudhole. At least, I sincerely hope it's mud...otherwise see the Troglodyte Stench entry.
Thramzorean 05-24-06, 09:07 AM	:dice: Welcome to the Changeling Convention You track your target to a congregation of the Traveler, and the entire temple is full of changelings. The temple itself is dedicated to chaos and artifice: a randomly formed cavern, there is no order, arrangement, clear entrances or exit, lights and shadows spill in every direction and shade, fires and chemical workshops cast lurid flickering shadows, smoke fumes hammer blows and tinkling fills the air. Simply stuffed with what appears to be a milling mass of changelings (which for fun's sake have all decided to take on the apperance of either a) the target or b) the preacher)
Kreistor1 05-24-06, 03:46 PM	Jungles of Terror With the end of the Last War, mercenaries are a dime a dozen. Someone's hired a lot of them, and they're besieging Haka'torvhak. The ruins are awash in the blood of humanoids, goblinoids, reptilians, and dragonkin. The great dragon himself is held in check by a McGuffin capable of eliminating the beast, but the wily old Black has his own defense, a great shield that covers the inner city preventing the superior magics of the attackers from penetrating. The Mercs are trying to gain a foothold on the inside of the shield to move in their seige weapons, which the reptilians can't counter. (My seige weapons are elemental, which the reptilians have no access to and can't counter. You may wish to alter the shield to provide the right kind of cover for your world's seige weaponry.) The PC's arrive completely unaware of the realities of the place. The battle has raged for days. Will they naturally side with the Humanoids, or will they discover something of the truth and aid the reptilians, thereby saving the world? Details of the why's left to the DM. My guys saved the world, because they knew someone they could talk to (scry) who might give them the proper guidance on who needed to win.
Aubri 05-25-06, 01:03 PM	Yoinked from Sir Elton, from a question over on the Ask Keith Baker thread... :dice: The Day Before Tomorrow An unstable Lyrandar weather mage builds an Eldrich Machine to bring snow to Sharn, freezing rain into sleet and slicking towers and bridges in a thick rime of ice and overburdening all flying vehicles. People flee the city and huddle in the volcanic heat of The Cogs as the temperature plunges. Scene: The task is simple: the PCs must locate the machine and disable it before Sharn is reduced to a ghost town. Of course, every adventurer in the city has the same goal, but... well, it's a big city! The usual guards are busy keeping order as the populace evacuates to warmer areas, and the machine itself seems to be shielded from divination... Action: The opposition could range anywhere from roving wolfpacks to ice paraelementals to remorhaz and white and silver dragons. In any case, sleet will quickly cover the ground in heavy snow where it doesn't make bridges treacherously slick and walls unclimbable. Characters with a high Balance skill will shine here, as will those with the ability to move foes with a Bull Rush. Protection against the unexpected cold will be a necessity, but protective gear will be more easily found in outfitters' shops than clothing stores that cater to a city which never expects to see snow. Heavy drifts will impede movement, giving ranged attackers a benefit, and anyone who can channel the power of the manifest zone will have a mobility advantage. Questions to consider for later: Is the mage truly mad, or does he intend to use the chaos to his own ends? Is he working alone, or inspired by greater forces with their own agendas--perhaps a pair of white dragons intend to rob artifacts of great power from Morgrave University, or perhaps they want to hold the city ransom.
perrywrogers 06-03-06, 11:40 AM	:dice:Behind the Falls: This fight takes place on a rocky/sloping/narrow on a ledge behind a thundering waterfall (I used Karnn Falls in Atur). Scenery: A massive curtain of falling water, and a long fall are on one side, and a sheer cliff face is on the other. The air is filled with a heavy mist that sticks to the surface of everything. Footing is very treacherous- especially if the ground is sloping or tricky. All objects like ropes, etc... are hard to hold on to. Unprotected flames sputter, and go out. The ledge is not you normal shelf with a vertical drop on one side and a wall on the other. Rather, it is more or less level near the cliff face, but then slopes downward the further away from the wall you get. Thus, characters could be two or even three abreast, but the characters not against the wall must watch their footing, or slip and .... Some parts of the ledge could be very narrow (less than five feet wide), inhibiting the activities of characters on it. Other parts of the ledge could have water falling directly on it causing even more problems with LoS, balance, open flames, and other activities. Action: This fight can be a static one like at the entrance to a tomb, or be a running fight that sees the terrain change with the movement and flow of the action. Wherever it happens, the chaos of action in an environment like this should be emphasised. New combatants can arrive unexpectedly, and from unexpected directions. The bad guys could have this place all set up with secret doors to let them onto the ledge behind the heroes. Water elementals could emerge from the wall of water. There could be random splatters of water from above. The ledge could crumble from the weight of certain sized creatures upon it. Several possibilities exist for using this location: 1) The obvious one: an ambush spot 2) A heroic/unherioc last stand 3) A place to hide that doesn't work out (I'm thinking of the movie The Last of the Mohicans (sp?)). 4) Entrance to some underground lair, facility, BBEG vacation spot, etc....