I need some suggestions on how to run this, and an overall opinion on how it looks so far.
My PCs are entering a tournament in Drooam in order to get a favor from the Daughters of Sora Kell. They'll be battling her fierce generals in fights to the death, in a big Coliseum.
I made the map in Dundjinni and I wanted your opinion on it. You see, I wanted to restrict mobility a little and, at the same time, give the cambatants some options on positioning, line of effect and so on. I want it to be brutal, and yet tactical.
I made the two sides of the ring equal, so that they don't complain about favoritism(sp?). In the middle we got a pit with spikes and boulders in the ring, so that they can climb and stuff.
As a rule, I was thinking of "Whomever falls from the ring is out", but I've been thinking it could be too hard on them.
Massive image coming, beware:
So, any thoughts?
1) This is just me thinking as a DM, but the first thing that strikes me is that you said the PCs are fighting a few of the Daughters' *generals* in a fight to the death. In addition to being formidable warriors, generals are also often political leaders-- especially in a warlord state like Droaam. In such a case, killing a few generals is going to have a serious impact beyond the ring. Something to think about.
(Personally, in my campaigns, generals wouldn't set foot in a ring-- that's what champions are for. In fact, in my Droaam, successful trial-by-combat gladiators are called "lawyers.")
2) What are the capabilities of your generals? Are they ogres, trolls, giants, something more exotic? The size, reach, and movement abilities of your baddies are going to dictate which terrain features they actually care about. Conversely, the PCs will care most about those features *they* can use.
3) Speaking of using, if you want to shake things up, consider adding a lever so that that the central pit can be opened and closed on command. Do that, and suddenly the arena itself becomes a weapon (and the lever becomes a goal).
The map itself looks great, and the arena is an excellent size. Having seen a few Roman amphitheaters, though, I'd at least double the seating area, unless this is meant to be a relatively "private" ring.
I mistyped when I said they were going to battle the Generals themselves, I'm really putting champions agains them. There is one general that is going to step foward and fight, to make thing even more thrilling.
Another thing I forgot to mention is that they'll be battling teams, 3x3 or 4x4, depending on one player's response on whether he'll keep playing or not. You think the arena is in good size for a team battle?
Maybe I could put them in 3x3 even though I got 4 players! One would have to wait, but could give some kind of "support" (maybe an arrow that comes from nowhere...).
I intend to put some dificulties so that it has the Drooam "lawless" feeling, like they's obligated to fight 2 times in a row or objects being thrown by the crowd.
The lever thing I'll be doing for sure, it'll be awesome!
I'll see what I can do about the seating area, Dundjinni isn't exacly great for that kind of thing
I'll be sharing that map in rpgmapshare.com, so feel free to pick it up!
Thanks again!
For getting the crowd in on the action, you might look up the gladiator articles that came out in Dragon #368 (or the Dragon Annual hardback). Lots of good rules/suggestions in there for what effect the roar of support and/or hurled bottles might have. (I assume you're using 4th, but even if you're using 3/3.5, the numbers should be easy to extrapolate).
The platform looks plenty big enough for even a 4-on-4 fight if everybody's Medium, but if some or all of your champions are Large, 4-on-4 might get a little tight. This might not be a problem for the baddies, but it might leave the PCs with less room to maneuver. If they have the whole ring to run around, though, it's not an issue at all.
I'll be running it this weekend, so I'll post how it goes!
:gets popcorn, awaits play report:
So how did it go? What was good, what was bad?
Well, here's how it went. first of all the had to cross the Breland-Drooam border, for which I made a skill challenge. It ran REALLY well, I was surprised!
There are 4 players: a human assasin, a human paladin, a dragonborn fighter and a tiefling warlock.
The Assassin took hiding in one wagon that got clearance from the guards and escaped the whole mess. The dragonborn tried to do the same and got caught. 4d6 hours of detention. The human paladin used diplomacy and insight to get through.
Well, the Tiefling tried to intimidate at first, which was an auto failure. 1d6 hours of detention too. The dragonborn eventually talked (bribed) his way out of detention, but the tiefling tried to lie: he said one of the Daughters had summoned him and suceeded in his bluff. Then the guard asked "which one?", to what he answered "The eldest...?"
That got a big laugh out of us.
Anyway, one they got to the Great Crag they had to figure out what was what, because they couldn't really make out of the few signs where they should apply to the tournament. Some skill checks later they got a bed, their appliance and...a "sponsor".
See, the winner gets one big favor from the Daughters, AND some lands to rule. The "sponsor", a gnome bard named "Jar Jar" (yes, I was thinking of Jar Jar Binks) wants the land, and would help them with some info on the other teams and serve as a guide in the Crag.
While going to the stadium they bumped a huge Goliath warrior, which was very polite and excused himself. I plan to make this guy interested on winning because Drul Kantar has his family as hostage. That'll get some moral choices from the players.
Anyway, next day was the...erm, sorting day (portuguese speaker here, sorry). The Daughters stood in front of everyone and layed the rules. I made sure I did an actual shuffling of little paper pieces, so that it looked real and exciting. The rules are:
3 versus 3 only. Although one player would have to wait, he could "help" as long as nobody saw (throw something for extra damage, for example, or shout in encouragement, for a eventual bonus). The PCs liked it, because according to Jar Jar's tips, they would have to choose the right member.
Fight to the death. Or not. Another moral choice to them.
Whomever fall from the ring has 1 turn to get back up. If you leave through the stairs it means automatic forfeit.
First fight was PCs versus Harpy Flights. It was awesome and fierce, I got to down the assassin (which NEVER happened). Since all the mobs could fly, they gave the PCs a hard time alright. Bull rushes were used a lot, and all the dailies were spent! Huge, deadly fight, really. One player fell on the pit and almost died too.
Oh, one detail: I told them, unliked the other tournaments, the Lords went to the dephts of the World to get the most fierce and deadly champions, which were NOT necessarily from their predominant race (like harpies). This way I got to make the teams of any monsters I chose, and made really balanced fights, some harder, some moderate, so that the shuffling would not get in my way.
Anyway, it's been really fun and intense! I hope I can carry this mood to the end.
I need more minis, but they're so expensive here in Brazil. I got some coming from the States already (shipping is a killer), but I'm buying more to myself as an X-Mas present!
I'll post the next fights! Hang on!
EDIT: Oh, oh!! I could prepare a side quest on teh Goliath's case! The player's would have to enter the battle with one less member becuase the other one went on to save the Goliath's family! He can arrive late at the battle! What you guys think?
EDIT: Damnit, one of my players had his nephew baptized tiday and we couldn't play
Very cool! Sounds like your work paid off.