Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Scarlet Terror 11-27-04, 10:16 AM	Here's the basic premise of my new campaign for low level characters... All characters were made at lv 1 with the standard point-buy system. This campaign highlights roleplaying, meaning that plot and character story-lines are more important than epic battles and high power characters. I give as much exp. in battles as I do for good decisions, roleplaying, and opening character story-lines, which has brought them to lv 2. However, after several sessions (3) only contained a single encounter, I think its time to give them a great fight. So as I was saying... The Campaign So Far: 1. Characters arrive at The Rogue's Card, a roadside tavern. 2. Characters befreind eachother (Two Pallidins, a Fighter, and a Rogue). 3. Characters befreind the ower, a retired thief named Swift Shadow. 4. They hear a story and poem form a bard about a cursed city. 5. They find another adventurer (NPC) who wants to investigate the graveyard behind the tavern. 6. The group goes to the graveyard and hears/sees many odd things (ghosts/mists/warning of danger). 7. The party finds its way to an old house in the graveyard's center and goes in. 8. They reach the top floor with no problems. Then the NPC reveals himself as a cursed member of the cursed city. He attacks in undead form. 9. Heroes win and return to the tavern where Swift Shadow takes them to the wine cellar. 10. He commends them and gives the rogue his old rapier. 11. The group, along with the bard who told them stories, plans to go to the town that floats on the lake, where they learn more about the cursed city. 12. They chose to take the path through the woods instead of the longer and safter way. 13. Swift Shadow warns them not to go that way, but they don't heed. 14. They party finds the body of a man in the woods who was armed with silvered arrows. Thats as far as I am now... Tonight the PCs will encounter werewolves, giving the rogue and fighter a chance to be the center of attention, with there skills as archers (The pallidins slayed the undead beast with little help). After they ecounter the werewolves (2), they will meet a strange man who offers them his help. He is also a werewolf, but from another, "good" tribe. His tribe helps people survive the forest and wars with the "evil" tribe. He leads the PCs to his tribe's "fortress", which is a group of caves, a pond, and a sacred stone circle. Here the PCs learn about his clan, the magic of the stone circle, and the inevitable battle that comes. The PCs are given the choice to leave now, or fight against and along side werewolves. My PCs will likely choose to fight, and so an epic battle ensues. I am prepared for whatever choices the PCs make, but I am a bit wary on running a battle that is comprised of over 25 combatants and involves werewolves. If anyone has any experience with working with large numbers of werewolves, any experience with werewolves in general, or any thoughts on how to set up a battle with them, please contribute. I know I don't really need any help here, but a little more insight in this topic would be great. Thanks.
wizard_thoarin 11-27-04, 10:40 AM	Level 2 characters against werewolves. Seems pretty tough to me. The big things I think you need to be prepared for are Silvered weapons for the PC's. Silver tipped arrows are only usable once and if they don't have 25+ silver tipped arrows for those 25 werewolves coming at them they are going to be dog meat. Also, don't discount the possibility that your players may ask to become werewolves themselves. You are placing them in the midst of good werewolves trying to destroy evil werewolves. The benefits offered by becoming a werewolf may be tempting to your players. But then I don't know what your players are like. As for running a large battle. Divide all the werewolves into small groups for initiative purposes. 25 werewolves might pare down to 5 groups of 5 with each group going at the same time. Roll for every npc in the group at the same time and pick a different color dice for each player being attacked. Then you only have to roll damage for those that actually hit. You may consider adjusting the group size so that it exactly matches the number of players you have. That way you can make one attack against each player each time a group of werewolves gets an action. You just need to keep track of dead werewolves so that the person they were attacking that round doesn't get attacked. You could also roll damage at the same time you roll to hit and only apply damage if an actual hit was scored. These are some of the tricks for speeding up combat. After that, it's a matter of record keeping and describing what everyone is doing, unfortunately there isn't much you can do to speed that up although miniatures or counters on a square grid to represent position, movement and facing can help out quite a bit also. I hope this helps, Wizard Thoarin
Scarlet Terror 11-27-04, 12:02 PM	Yeah, it does seem pretty tough now that I think about it. Of course there will be "good" NPC werewolves helping the PCs, and the "good" werewolves would have silver weapons to use. They could give the PCs all the bolts and daggers they need. Since the battle will take place near the caves of the "good" werewolves, the PCs will have the terrain advantage. I think I will make the enemies number about 22 and the PCs' force will have about 15. Some of the good/evil werewolves will also be in human form, others in animal form. Even so, I really want the PCs to stare death in the face, and force them to make choices, like abandoning the "good" werewolves or fighting to the death. I want them to make both tactical and moral choices, giving them free reign. The idea of breaking the wolves into groups is great, for it will greatly speed up combat and seem real at the same time. I could give the "evil" werewolves a strike team of 8 hybrid form werewolves, a scout team of 3 animal form werewolves, and archer line of 5 human form werewolves, and do the same for the "good" side. Thanks alot! Anybody else have any other suggestions / experiences?
ShadowDragon8685 11-27-04, 12:25 PM	I think you have a good idea. I think you're trying to put players who are WAAY to low in level up against your idea. This is a one-way ride to TPK. And yes, you may find that your players will deliberately be trying to become werewolves... As this fight stands now, that may be the only hope they actually have. If you want to run a good werewolf game, by all means, it sounds good to me.
primemover003 11-27-04, 12:57 PM	Instead of all 25 being werewolves make maybe 3 of them Lycanthropes and the rest be regular wolves... perhaps with a template. Look at the organization line of the stat block, you'll see the troupe 2-5 + 5-8 wolves... that's what you're looking for in scope. Obviously with the "good" werewolves helping it won't be so bad.
Scarlet Terror 11-27-04, 02:51 PM	Right, I think I will cut a few lycanthropes and make any that would have been in animal form just wolves. Still, I am kinda looking for a TPK situation that will slowly become clear to the PCs. It is then up to them what will happen. I doubt the Paladins or the Fighter of the party will select to become werewolves, but the Rogue just might. My players aren't the power hungry type and they just love to roleplay, so if one chooses to become a werewolf, it will be a character choice, not a player choice (which is fine by me). If the players do choose this route, is there any way for them to gain the abilities and powers instantly? I think it takes some time, right? Well, there is the magic StoneHenge-like circle by the caves... It could speed the process up or something. Anyhow, thanks for the help so far! Anything else?
ShadowDragon8685 11-27-04, 03:46 PM	Well, if you want a TPK, this is about as good as it gets, short of having all twelve Demon Princes of the Abyss and Lolth herself manifesting in an unholy thirteen-point-circle around the PCs. Which is just @^*)ing lame.
Nom 11-27-04, 08:56 PM	Be aware that DR 5/ is quite potent at low levels, especially against non-fighters. Eg: a mace with +2 Str behind it does 1d8+2 damage, which on average is 6.5 - or a mere 1.5 points beyond SR. You can make the battle seem busy without overwhelming game mechanics by using snippets. For example: An ally runs around a corner. You hear a brief combat, then a cry for help. An injured werewolf looks up from the body of the newly slain ally and attacks. Or the werewolf might run, prompting a chase. Or a second might move in from behind (make sure you roll spot + listen checks). Only play out those encounters that the PCs are actually involved in, and narrate the rest.
Scarlet Terror 11-29-04, 09:17 AM	Thanks for the help everyone! The battle went great! The PCs and their werewolf friends fought bravely, all but one of the NPC werewolves dying. After many rounds of intense combat, the PCs and one remaining werewolf retreated to one of the cave for a final stand. All said and done, two PCs fell to -9, another fell to -4, an NPC lv 1 bard in the party fell to -2, and only two PCs and one werewolf remained standing to fight off the last attackers. It was a very high tension session, and I am pround to say I didn't fudge any rolls, and the PCs lived because of strategy (not luck). However, when one of the PCs fell to -9, another party member made a heal check of 14, then the PC at -9 rolled 1% off what he needed to stop dying... It would have been great for a PC to die, but I figured that he was soooo close that it wasn't fair (and what was he to do when everyone else was leveling up their characters?). Anyhow, thanks for the help guys!!