[Adventures] Grasp of the Emerald Claw - Tips? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 lord_tirian Mar 04, 2008 14:47:41	Okay, during Easter, I'm running an extended one-shot for my group - in Eberron. From reading around and the preferred levels of my players, I've picked Grasp of the Emerald Claw as my favourite. I know that it's part of the Schema adventures... but I'm fairly optimistic that I can a) do without the previous ones, and b) can put some of the needed background story into my PCs' story - it's a glorified one-shot, after all. However, I always like to see some tips, recommendations, and... well anything else, you can tell me - from advice to play experiences! So, anything, guys? Cheers, LT.
#2 nomadicc Mar 12, 2008 20:02:58	A lot of the encounters are balanced for a low-power party, IMO. My group of four were 7th level when they entered the main ruins, and I had to seriously beef up the threats to make them meaningful. Show For example, using the SoX I added a few enhanced drow rangers and a scorrow to the drow encounter; increased the level of all the Emerald Claw soldiers to 3; added several Karrn undead to the encounter areas; added four NPC "foes" that were working for Garrow (members of the Twelve's Acq Dir, ala Exp Hbk.
#3 lord_tirian Mar 13, 2008 16:32:33	Thanks, that's helpful information! Cheers, LT.
#4 Ogiwan Mar 17, 2008 10:05:41	I'd have to agree with what the other guy said. Though, if you want my recommendation, I would advise Whispers of the Vampire's Blade. Seriously, I ran it, and my group loved it. So much cinematic stuff it's hardcore unbelievable.
#5 nomadicc Mar 17, 2008 18:18:18	I thought Whispers was fun as well... though I think I got more out of Grasp because I added a lot of story to the front end. Whispers required some tweaking as well - some of the set piece encounters just didn't pass the test of logic. An active, interested party isn't going to sit around for 2-3 days on a lightning rail when they know their quarry is on board, somewhere. Same goes for the airship... I did away completely with the stage coach race because it was poorly engineered (IMO). As written, Grasp is a full-on dungeon crawl... full of traps, monsters, and strange puzzles. I love the gargantuan scale of the place (though it made in-game mapping a pain). I had to run a few encounters using a 10' / sq inch... The water trap is my favorite, by far - my party had no idea... :evillaugh
#6 Arcane_Guyver Mar 17, 2008 18:42:01	Whispers needs a little attention, but running it again for the third time, it's not as bad as some make out (don't be too secretive about the enemy's motives...monologuing is a great tool in this respect). Bruce Cordell put out a different version of an early encounter in Grasp here on his blog.

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

lord_tirian

Mar 04, 2008 14:47:41

Okay, during Easter, I'm running an extended one-shot for my group - in Eberron. From reading around and the preferred levels of my players, I've picked Grasp of the Emerald Claw as my favourite.

I know that it's part of the Schema adventures... but I'm fairly optimistic that I can a) do without the previous ones, and b) can put some of the needed background story into my PCs' story - it's a glorified one-shot, after all.

However, I always like to see some tips, recommendations, and... well anything else, you can tell me - from advice to play experiences!

So, anything, guys?

Cheers, LT.

nomadicc

Mar 12, 2008 20:02:58

A lot of the encounters are balanced for a low-power party, IMO. My group of four were 7th level when they entered the main ruins, and I had to seriously beef up the threats to make them meaningful.

Show

For example, using the SoX I added a few enhanced drow rangers and a scorrow to the drow encounter; increased the level of all the Emerald Claw soldiers to 3; added several Karrn undead to the encounter areas; added four NPC "foes" that were working for Garrow (members of the Twelve's Acq Dir, ala Exp Hbk.

lord_tirian

Mar 13, 2008 16:32:33

Thanks, that's helpful information!

Cheers, LT.

Ogiwan

Mar 17, 2008 10:05:41

I'd have to agree with what the other guy said. Though, if you want my recommendation, I would advise Whispers of the Vampire's Blade. Seriously, I ran it, and my group loved it. So much cinematic stuff it's hardcore unbelievable.

nomadicc

Mar 17, 2008 18:18:18

I thought Whispers was fun as well... though I think I got more out of Grasp because I added a lot of story to the front end.

Whispers required some tweaking as well - some of the set piece encounters just didn't pass the test of logic. An active, interested party isn't going to sit around for 2-3 days on a lightning rail when they know their quarry is on board, somewhere. Same goes for the airship... I did away completely with the stage coach race because it was poorly engineered (IMO).

As written, Grasp is a full-on dungeon crawl... full of traps, monsters, and strange puzzles. I love the gargantuan scale of the place (though it made in-game mapping a pain). I had to run a few encounters using a 10' / sq inch... The water trap is my favorite, by far - my party had no idea... :evillaugh

Arcane_Guyver

Mar 17, 2008 18:42:01

Whispers needs a little attention, but running it again for the third time, it's not as bad as some make out (don't be too secretive about the enemy's motives...monologuing is a great tool in this respect).

Bruce Cordell put out a different version of an early encounter in Grasp here on his blog.