Happy Gary Gygax Day everyone! Today Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of D&D alongside Dave Arneson and so-called "Father of Tabletop Gaming," would be 77 years old. He developed D&D first as an offshoot of Chain Mail, his more historically accurate medieval tabletop war game, which he and his associates eventually developed into it's own fully-fledged separate system where individual characters and stories were more important than tactics, though tactics still were the focus of its combat.
For the past three years I have played D&D, at first as a DM and then as a player. My very first world has been retroactively dubbed Titanica, after the gigantic mechanical titans left over from the war that served as the basis for the worlds history, and which would have been a greater focus of the campaign if I had known then what I know now. As it is, the titans only showed up a couple of times, and were mostly forgotten window dressing, though later campaigns (my college roommates and I have carried this same world through each campaign) have made more references to them and played up their importance and cultural history far more.
So for the next couple of posts, I'm going to kick off a renewed effort at blogging with an exploration of how to keep a campaign focused. This is an issue for many groups, and is the reason why a campaign may never end meaningfully; the stories are too sprawling and their worlds too closely covered for everything to come together for a satisfying ending.
My first piece of advice is this: always go for a smaller setting if you can fit a story into it, even at the cost of the larger setting it is nested within. Many people tend to go for two major plots, the Lord of the Rings and the Indiana Jones movie, for their campaign. In each of these campaigns, the players destinations are constantly shifting and travel becomes a conundrum for new DM's, as they realize that they've begun to lose track of why the players are adventuring or going to the places they visit. The social contract of players to "go with it" becomes a crutch, with a bunch of strangers seeking golden idols from forgotten tombs to fight powerful enemies they know nothing about in adventures they can't justify in-character until later down the road, probably making enemies out of every sociopolitical faction from East to West because the DM needed to justify including every enemy stat block and every culture.
Interestingly, Indiana Jones isn't actually like this. The Indy films usually only take place in a couple of locations foreign to the audience per film, and spend a decent amount of time dealing with those countries unique threats before moving on, usually to chase an enemy who the heroes are already invested in defeating from previous encounters in the area. Star Wars is the same way; for a world filled with so many planets, each trilogy only touched on a small handful of politically or strategically vital worlds, hopping between them only to continue a grand chase or highlight disparate scenes of victory and loss around the war front.
In my case, and in the cases of other new DM's I'm sure, I didn't do that. I created a massive list of countries and cultures and enemies to incorporate into a campaign that was pegged as one year long, and ended up getting lost and rewriting a lot of it because I figured a year was enough to read an epic, and thus long enough for a similarly lengthy campaign at one 4 hour session a week.
Now I know that's not true. So here is my advice: When you create your own campaign, zoom in on a small area of your world that really excites you, and stay there. That might be simple advice for a lot of people, but I'm going to continue diving into it in the next couple of weeks as I get this place up and running again. I'll be going into some existing published adventures for 5th Edition, and my own misadventures developing my worlds of Titanica and Starfall.
For now though, happy gaming, everyone, and long live Gygax!
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Warriors Weekly: Hold 'Em
A collection of harrying challenges and horrifying tales for the modern adventurer!
This week's theme was originally suggested to be Poker, but unfortunately that seems too specific. So instead, these encounters will focus on a more general Gambling theme. This includes such things as a tense social encounter for a game of poker, a fight with effects determined by astral gambling, and an Oogie Boogie's Casino style fight in an arena filled with randomized traps. I won't doubt for a second that this is the most complicated series of encounters I'll be doing for a while.
Monster Roster: 1 High Elf Mage, 4 High Elf Knights, 3 High Elf Commoners, 1 Bugbear Chief, 1 Werewolf, 1 Orog
In this encounter, the players are involved in a gambling game with an Elven mage, perhaps in the Feywild. The players want something from the mage, who is likely nobility, and have thus decided to join in a gambling game akin to poker in order to see if they can win it from the mage. In this case, we will be making the desired reward a kidnapped commoner from the Material World, who has been made a slave of the Elven mage; and the players have another NPC with them, a relative of the kidnapping victim who the Elven mage would appreciate being able to enslave. Neither NPC has been bet at the moment.
At the start of the match, the Elven mage is playing with the Bugbear Chief, Werewolf, and Orog. When the players first arrive, they are all taking a short break for food and drink before they return to their game. Every player in the game wants something from someone, and the players can learn this through varying skill checks. Hence, I present the Social Stat Block, a stat block listing the character traits, flaws, and goals of the various players as well as how high of a Persuasion or Deception check is required to convince them of something, and how high of an Intimidation check is required to cow them into submission.
Oklin Knuckles, Bugbear Chieftain
Appearance: Nervously twitches
Trait: Loud and nervous
Quirk: Visibly shakes and furrows his brow when thinking too hard
Ideal: Domination
Flaw: Easily angered
Goals: Win money from Markwin, assassinate Markwin
Gold: 39
P. Perception: 13
Insight:13
Persuasion DC: 13
Intimidation DC:18
Bludor Gutrender, Orog Mercenary
Appearance: Many traditional tattoos
Trait: Relaxed
Quirk: Eats when he's stressed
Ideal: Calm
Flaw: Touchy about being kicked out of his tribe
Goals: Make some money, look for a wealthy employer
Gold: 400
P. Perception: 12
Insight: 12
Persuasion DC: 12
Intimidation DC:17
Jacques de Marlouis, Werewolf
Appearance: Rugged, side-burned; like a skinny, young Hugh Jackman
Trait: Friendly
Quirk: Gets a crick in his neck when annoyed or losing
Ideal: Hedonism
Flaw: 50% chance to go into a Rage (as Lvl 1 Barbarian) and take on Hybrid form when he runs out of money. Targets whoever he feels was responsible for his loss, such as a cheater.
Goals: Have some fun, make some money, go home
Gold: 139
P. Perception: 17
P. Insight: 11
Persuasion DC: 14
Intimidation DC: 19
Markwin Rootfire, Elven Mage
Appearance: Two different eye colors
Trait: Creepily friendly
Quirk: Smiles when he's confused or winning
Ideal: Beauty
Flaw: Believes all things and people to be property of someone else; touchy about his scar
Goals: To keep the NPC slave, and enslave the players and their NPC companion
Gold: 356
P. Perception: 15
P. Insight: 15
Persuasion DC:15
Intimidation DC: 20
If your players roleplay particularly well and give a compelling argument or act behind their Charisma checks, give Advantage to the Charisma skill roll; if a player says something which specifically backfires or would somehow anger the person they are speaking to, give them Disadvantage.
The game is played abstractly; the game begins with each player rolling 1d20 against the NPC players. Higher results reflect better opening hands; lower results reflect worse opening hands. A maximum of 6 players are allowed into the game at any one time.
From here, treat the game as a combat round. Initiative doesn't much matter; but do keep in mind that one round of the gambling game takes 18 seconds, or about 3 combat rounds, so if one of your players decides to start sneaking around elsewhere, they can take 3 turns for every round of gambling.
Players can bet as much of their gold as they like; much like poker, each player must match or exceed the lowest bet among all players. Also like poker, a player can choose to opt out of betting a higher amount if they believe they can't win, at the cost of giving up what they bet so far.
A player can use a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check to cheat, increasing their initial roll result by 2 each time they succeed at doing so. The roll is made against the other gamblers passive Perception scores, and failure will often result in the cheater being accused of such, in which case the Knights in the room will kick the player out of the game. On a natural 20, the player can increase their own roll result by 4, and decrease the roll result of one of their neighbors by 2.
At the end of a round, once all players have made their bets, each player rolls 1d20, adding their initial roll result as a modifier. Whoever gets the highest roll wins the pot.
The ultimate goal of the encounter is to find a way to retrieve the enslaved NPC without starting a fight. The most obvious solution is to get Markwin to bet the slave, and then win the slave; however, since normal combat-style rounds are going on outside of the game (and the players around the table are liable to break out into violence with the right social maneuvering), there are a variety of other possible solutions, not least including Enchantment and Illusion magic.
Monster Roster: 1 Pit Fiend, 2 Vrocks
This encounter is a bit simpler, but does require that all players know how to play poker. The concept is simple: the players play poker against the DM, using chips of all the same value, with a total value of 20 chips. After each round of combat, the players play a round of poker; once the round is over, a round of combat is played. So on and so forth.
Each chip can be spent to add +1 to any roll, up to 3 chips per turn. When a player spends a chip, it automatically goes back into the pot.
At the end of the encounter, the player with the most chips receives a Rare magic item of their choice; the loser receives a Cursed magic item of the DM's choice. If the DM is the loser, then all players receive a Charm of their choice from the DMG, or may negotiate a new Charm with the DM. The winner still receives a Rare magic item of their choice. If the DM wins, then all players receive a Disease from the DMG.
Monster Roster: 1 Banshee, 3 Ghouls
Trap Roster: 3 Crossbow Traps, 1 Flame Pit, 1 Rotating Platform, 1 Flame Trap, 1 Pushing Trap
This encounter is the most traditional in this particular post, consisting only of a room with themed traps and random effects. This one in particular is directly ripped off from Oogie Boogie's lair in "The Nightmare before Christmas," because frankly it is the first thing I think of when I think of gambling based battlefields. The second thing I think of is the Casino Zone from Sonic 2, which I might make into a dungeon sometime.
The rotating platform takes up the center of the room. It is a 60 by 60 feet circle, with a 10 by 10 feet hole in the center. This leaves just 25 feet between the outer edge of the circle and the hole in the center. The platform is suspended over a pool of burning pitch, which deals 10d10 fire damage to anyone who falls into it and fails a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw; on a successful saving throw, they take half damage. Of course, they will also take this damage again for every round they spend in the fire, and the platform is raised 5 feet off of the ground, so anyone who falls down there is likely to die at some point or another without help. The platform rotates 90 degrees on initiative count 20, losing ties.
The three crossbow traps are arranged in a line at the northern edge of the platform. They will shoot on initiative count 20, losing the initiative tie to the rotating platform. The crossbow traps attack whoever is straight in front of them, and cannot turn to aim elsewhere. Each crossbow has a +5 bonus to hit, and a +2 bonus to damage rolls.
The flame trap is located at the western edge of the rotating platform, and forces all enemies in a 15 foot cone to make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 4d10 fire damage on a failed save and half damage on a successful save.
The pushing trap is located on the eastern edge of the rotating platform, and forces all enemies in a 10 by 10 feet area directly in front of the trap to make a DC 15 Strength saving throw, taking 2d10 bludgeoning damage and being pushed 20 feet on a failed save, and taking half damage while being pushed to the edge of the traps area on a successful saving throw. This trap rolls initiative normally, with no bonuses.
The Banshee's natural flying speed and incorporeal nature give it a serious advantage here, while its Horrifying Visage allows it to force the players into the path of various traps. Meanwhile, the Ghouls ability to paralyze players and drag them into the traps makes them much more powerful than they might be otherwise.
This was a fun one! I definitely need to clean up my design for social encounters, but hopefully I've given enough detail to make that first encounter workable. I hope you'll come back next Sunday for the next round of encounters! Please, feel free to suggest desired themes for new encounters in the comments below, and have a wonderful week!
This week's theme was originally suggested to be Poker, but unfortunately that seems too specific. So instead, these encounters will focus on a more general Gambling theme. This includes such things as a tense social encounter for a game of poker, a fight with effects determined by astral gambling, and an Oogie Boogie's Casino style fight in an arena filled with randomized traps. I won't doubt for a second that this is the most complicated series of encounters I'll be doing for a while.
Encounter 1: Tells
Difficulty: Deadly for level 9Monster Roster: 1 High Elf Mage, 4 High Elf Knights, 3 High Elf Commoners, 1 Bugbear Chief, 1 Werewolf, 1 Orog
In this encounter, the players are involved in a gambling game with an Elven mage, perhaps in the Feywild. The players want something from the mage, who is likely nobility, and have thus decided to join in a gambling game akin to poker in order to see if they can win it from the mage. In this case, we will be making the desired reward a kidnapped commoner from the Material World, who has been made a slave of the Elven mage; and the players have another NPC with them, a relative of the kidnapping victim who the Elven mage would appreciate being able to enslave. Neither NPC has been bet at the moment.
At the start of the match, the Elven mage is playing with the Bugbear Chief, Werewolf, and Orog. When the players first arrive, they are all taking a short break for food and drink before they return to their game. Every player in the game wants something from someone, and the players can learn this through varying skill checks. Hence, I present the Social Stat Block, a stat block listing the character traits, flaws, and goals of the various players as well as how high of a Persuasion or Deception check is required to convince them of something, and how high of an Intimidation check is required to cow them into submission.
Oklin Knuckles, Bugbear Chieftain
Appearance: Nervously twitches
Trait: Loud and nervous
Quirk: Visibly shakes and furrows his brow when thinking too hard
Ideal: Domination
Flaw: Easily angered
Goals: Win money from Markwin, assassinate Markwin
Gold: 39
P. Perception: 13
Insight:13
Persuasion DC: 13
Intimidation DC:18
Bludor Gutrender, Orog Mercenary
Appearance: Many traditional tattoos
Trait: Relaxed
Quirk: Eats when he's stressed
Ideal: Calm
Flaw: Touchy about being kicked out of his tribe
Goals: Make some money, look for a wealthy employer
Gold: 400
P. Perception: 12
Insight: 12
Persuasion DC: 12
Intimidation DC:17
Jacques de Marlouis, Werewolf
Appearance: Rugged, side-burned; like a skinny, young Hugh Jackman
Trait: Friendly
Quirk: Gets a crick in his neck when annoyed or losing
Ideal: Hedonism
Flaw: 50% chance to go into a Rage (as Lvl 1 Barbarian) and take on Hybrid form when he runs out of money. Targets whoever he feels was responsible for his loss, such as a cheater.
Goals: Have some fun, make some money, go home
Gold: 139
P. Perception: 17
P. Insight: 11
Persuasion DC: 14
Intimidation DC: 19
Markwin Rootfire, Elven Mage
Appearance: Two different eye colors
Trait: Creepily friendly
Quirk: Smiles when he's confused or winning
Ideal: Beauty
Flaw: Believes all things and people to be property of someone else; touchy about his scar
Goals: To keep the NPC slave, and enslave the players and their NPC companion
Gold: 356
P. Perception: 15
P. Insight: 15
Persuasion DC:15
Intimidation DC: 20
If your players roleplay particularly well and give a compelling argument or act behind their Charisma checks, give Advantage to the Charisma skill roll; if a player says something which specifically backfires or would somehow anger the person they are speaking to, give them Disadvantage.
The game is played abstractly; the game begins with each player rolling 1d20 against the NPC players. Higher results reflect better opening hands; lower results reflect worse opening hands. A maximum of 6 players are allowed into the game at any one time.
From here, treat the game as a combat round. Initiative doesn't much matter; but do keep in mind that one round of the gambling game takes 18 seconds, or about 3 combat rounds, so if one of your players decides to start sneaking around elsewhere, they can take 3 turns for every round of gambling.
Players can bet as much of their gold as they like; much like poker, each player must match or exceed the lowest bet among all players. Also like poker, a player can choose to opt out of betting a higher amount if they believe they can't win, at the cost of giving up what they bet so far.
A player can use a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check to cheat, increasing their initial roll result by 2 each time they succeed at doing so. The roll is made against the other gamblers passive Perception scores, and failure will often result in the cheater being accused of such, in which case the Knights in the room will kick the player out of the game. On a natural 20, the player can increase their own roll result by 4, and decrease the roll result of one of their neighbors by 2.
At the end of a round, once all players have made their bets, each player rolls 1d20, adding their initial roll result as a modifier. Whoever gets the highest roll wins the pot.
The ultimate goal of the encounter is to find a way to retrieve the enslaved NPC without starting a fight. The most obvious solution is to get Markwin to bet the slave, and then win the slave; however, since normal combat-style rounds are going on outside of the game (and the players around the table are liable to break out into violence with the right social maneuvering), there are a variety of other possible solutions, not least including Enchantment and Illusion magic.
Encounter 2: Devil's Hand
Difficulty: Hard for level 17Monster Roster: 1 Pit Fiend, 2 Vrocks
This encounter is a bit simpler, but does require that all players know how to play poker. The concept is simple: the players play poker against the DM, using chips of all the same value, with a total value of 20 chips. After each round of combat, the players play a round of poker; once the round is over, a round of combat is played. So on and so forth.
Each chip can be spent to add +1 to any roll, up to 3 chips per turn. When a player spends a chip, it automatically goes back into the pot.
At the end of the encounter, the player with the most chips receives a Rare magic item of their choice; the loser receives a Cursed magic item of the DM's choice. If the DM is the loser, then all players receive a Charm of their choice from the DMG, or may negotiate a new Charm with the DM. The winner still receives a Rare magic item of their choice. If the DM wins, then all players receive a Disease from the DMG.
Encounter 3: The House Always Wins
Difficulty: Deadly for Level 5Monster Roster: 1 Banshee, 3 Ghouls
Trap Roster: 3 Crossbow Traps, 1 Flame Pit, 1 Rotating Platform, 1 Flame Trap, 1 Pushing Trap
This encounter is the most traditional in this particular post, consisting only of a room with themed traps and random effects. This one in particular is directly ripped off from Oogie Boogie's lair in "The Nightmare before Christmas," because frankly it is the first thing I think of when I think of gambling based battlefields. The second thing I think of is the Casino Zone from Sonic 2, which I might make into a dungeon sometime.
The rotating platform takes up the center of the room. It is a 60 by 60 feet circle, with a 10 by 10 feet hole in the center. This leaves just 25 feet between the outer edge of the circle and the hole in the center. The platform is suspended over a pool of burning pitch, which deals 10d10 fire damage to anyone who falls into it and fails a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw; on a successful saving throw, they take half damage. Of course, they will also take this damage again for every round they spend in the fire, and the platform is raised 5 feet off of the ground, so anyone who falls down there is likely to die at some point or another without help. The platform rotates 90 degrees on initiative count 20, losing ties.
The three crossbow traps are arranged in a line at the northern edge of the platform. They will shoot on initiative count 20, losing the initiative tie to the rotating platform. The crossbow traps attack whoever is straight in front of them, and cannot turn to aim elsewhere. Each crossbow has a +5 bonus to hit, and a +2 bonus to damage rolls.
The flame trap is located at the western edge of the rotating platform, and forces all enemies in a 15 foot cone to make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 4d10 fire damage on a failed save and half damage on a successful save.
The pushing trap is located on the eastern edge of the rotating platform, and forces all enemies in a 10 by 10 feet area directly in front of the trap to make a DC 15 Strength saving throw, taking 2d10 bludgeoning damage and being pushed 20 feet on a failed save, and taking half damage while being pushed to the edge of the traps area on a successful saving throw. This trap rolls initiative normally, with no bonuses.
The Banshee's natural flying speed and incorporeal nature give it a serious advantage here, while its Horrifying Visage allows it to force the players into the path of various traps. Meanwhile, the Ghouls ability to paralyze players and drag them into the traps makes them much more powerful than they might be otherwise.
Conclusion
This was a fun one! I definitely need to clean up my design for social encounters, but hopefully I've given enough detail to make that first encounter workable. I hope you'll come back next Sunday for the next round of encounters! Please, feel free to suggest desired themes for new encounters in the comments below, and have a wonderful week!
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Encounter Feature: Flood Wall
This is just a quick look at a possible encounter feature I came up with. I don't think it's quite accurate to call it a trap, per se, as it does not act of its own accord; it's really more of a weapon built into the environment, in this case a weapon which endangers the user almost as much as their targets. I'll be using it in my first encounter post this Sunday!
A Flood Wall is any flat surface which is used to hold back a large amount of liquid or fine sand. In this case, the Flood Wall is used primarily as something like a bulkhead in a ship or a window in an underwater city.
The flood wall has 50 hit points, AC 8, and a damage threshold of 20, much like other large objects like boats; a DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check can also be used to instantly break the flood wall if one stands right next to it. When the flood wall is broken, water immediately begins to flood the room, forcing each creature in a 30 foot line in front of any 5 foot space of window to make a DC 13 Strength saving throw, taking 4d10 bludgeoning damage and being knocked prone on a failed save. On a successful saving throw, the enemy takes half damage and is not knocked prone. At a depth which might be considered dangerous to submarines, such as a trench, consider changing the Strength DC to 17 and the damage to 10d10, as well as pushing the target 20 feet regardless of whether they succeed on their save. This attack persists until the room is filled with water, so it is inadvisable to attempt to bypass the torrent.
Once a flood wall has been broken, the room will begin to fill with water. Each round, a number of square feet equal to the square footage of the hole in the wall (likely the entire window frame) multiplied by 5 is filled with water. As such, even a single 1 foot wide port hole can completely fill a 50 square foot room with water in 1 minute. An extravagant 25 square foot window could fill a 1250 square foot room if the Barbarian is stupid or audacious enough to smash it. Water which is 2 and a half feet deep (or less than 5 feet, to simplify) is considered Difficult Terrain to Medium creatures, and requires Small creatures to swim. 5 foot deep water is considered Difficult Terrain to Large creatures, and requires smaller creatures to swim.
This feature is great for underwater areas, and can also be converted to work with sand in a desert temple or ancient tomb.
A Flood Wall is any flat surface which is used to hold back a large amount of liquid or fine sand. In this case, the Flood Wall is used primarily as something like a bulkhead in a ship or a window in an underwater city.
The flood wall has 50 hit points, AC 8, and a damage threshold of 20, much like other large objects like boats; a DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check can also be used to instantly break the flood wall if one stands right next to it. When the flood wall is broken, water immediately begins to flood the room, forcing each creature in a 30 foot line in front of any 5 foot space of window to make a DC 13 Strength saving throw, taking 4d10 bludgeoning damage and being knocked prone on a failed save. On a successful saving throw, the enemy takes half damage and is not knocked prone. At a depth which might be considered dangerous to submarines, such as a trench, consider changing the Strength DC to 17 and the damage to 10d10, as well as pushing the target 20 feet regardless of whether they succeed on their save. This attack persists until the room is filled with water, so it is inadvisable to attempt to bypass the torrent.
Once a flood wall has been broken, the room will begin to fill with water. Each round, a number of square feet equal to the square footage of the hole in the wall (likely the entire window frame) multiplied by 5 is filled with water. As such, even a single 1 foot wide port hole can completely fill a 50 square foot room with water in 1 minute. An extravagant 25 square foot window could fill a 1250 square foot room if the Barbarian is stupid or audacious enough to smash it. Water which is 2 and a half feet deep (or less than 5 feet, to simplify) is considered Difficult Terrain to Medium creatures, and requires Small creatures to swim. 5 foot deep water is considered Difficult Terrain to Large creatures, and requires smaller creatures to swim.
This feature is great for underwater areas, and can also be converted to work with sand in a desert temple or ancient tomb.
Warriors Weekly: Under the Sea
A collection of harrying challenges and horrifying tales for the modern adventurer!
Yes, that's going to be my tagline. I couldn't resist. I'll probably have to put up a mockup image of a "Warriors Weekly" cover at some point featuring Gimli, if only to have an amusing image to attach to the series.
Please note that all encounters in this series will be balanced against a party of 5 unless stated otherwise. Sometime in the future I may consider using abnormally large or small parties as a theme, but I won't be doing so today.
At my friends suggestion, the very first theme of this series will be Underwater. All of these encounters somehow take place underwater and involve combat and skill use underwater. I'm using some classics like the Sahuagin and Apparatus of Kwalish for this one, as well as adding a new monster called the Murkon, based off of creatures like Mirelurks from the Fallout series and various sorts of crustacean monsters.
Difficulty: Hard for level 3
This encounter is supposed to take advantage of the Sahuagin's unique Blood Frenzy trait to cancel out the effects of magical darkness, and assumes the players have a method of magical breathing. The encounter takes place in a small cave about 50 feet wide and 25 feet tall, deep beneath the surface of the ocean. The cave includes three small tunnels which extend a little way and then loop back into it. All of the tunnels are about 5 feet wide and just over 5 feet tall, making for cramped conditions. The entrance and exit into the cavern are both meant for Small swimming creatures, and as such requires Medium characters to squeeze through them. The primary chamber of the cave is filled with magical darkness, making it difficult for anybody to hit their targets.
The cave contains 5 Sahuagin, all of whom begin the encounter inside of the tunnels if they can help it. The Sahuagin will attempt to hide before the encounter begins so as to get a surprise round, preferably while the last member of the party is still trying to squeeze through the cavern entrance. The Sahuagin will fight intelligently, using the magical darkness as cover and trying to split the players up. If a player goes into a tunnel, the Sahuagin will attempt to flank them; if a Sahuagin reaches half of their health, it is best to have them hang back a bit, only coming out to harass injured players. Any form of magical light used to clear the darkness will be a main priority for the Sahuagin, who will attempt to steal it from the players and put out its light in order to keep their advantage.
The swimming speed and Blood Frenzy trait of the Sahuagin is what bumps this encounter up to Hard difficulty. If the players have no method of breathing underwater, magical or otherwise, then the encounter difficulty can be increased to Deadly due to the risk of drowning. In this case, feel free to add a small pocket of air near the ceiling of one or two of the tunnels where players can freely replenish their air; alternately, place a single pocket of air at the top of the main cavern, forcing the players to return to the magical darkness to replenish their air supply.
Difficulty: Variable, likely Deadly, for level 3
This encounter probably falls under the definition of a Deadly encounter, but it's tough to say since it calls for an Apparatus of Kwalish from the DMG. First of all, this encounter calls for a Murkon, so here's the stat block for one. I'll probably bring these back in the future, I like the concept of them. This first one, the Murkon Zoea, is the smallest variety of Murkon.
Murkon Zoea
Medium monstrosity, neutral evil
Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 45 (6d8+18)
Speed 25 ft, swim 25 ft
Str 19 (+4) Dex 10 (+0) Con 16 (+3) Int 5 (-3) Wis 7 (-2) Cha 8 (-1)
Saves: Str +6
Skills: Athletics +6, Stealth +2
Damage Resistance: force, bludgeoning
Senses: darkvision 120 ft, passive Perception 10
Languages: Aquan
Challenge 3
Crushing Grip. A Murkon automatically critically hits any creature it attacks if that creature is grabbed or Restrained.
Chitin Plating. A Murkon is immune to all damage from particularly high or low pressure environments.
Actions
Pincer. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 8 (1d10+3) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grabbed. On a critical hit, the target must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw, losing 1 minute of air on a failed save. In the case of an underwater sealed environment like the Apparatus of Kwalish, the object is considered to automatically fail the saving throw.
Back to the encounter. This encounter is best used to scare the party in the event that they get a hold of an Apparatus of Kwalish, and consists of only a single Murkon Zoea.
This encounter takes place as the players are exploring the ocean floor, traveling through a large, flat cavern. The cavern can be as long as you please, but is about 60 feet wide and 25 feet tall. There is a system of tunnels directly beneath the floor of the cavern which are generally about 5 feet wide; in some spots, these tunnels turn into vertical rifts, which deal 10 (3d6) fire damage to any creature or object which starts its turn in them. Each rift should be about 15 to 20 feet long, and 5 feet wide.
During combat, the Murkon will try to hide in the tunnels underneath the floor. When the players get near a rift, the Murkon will try to jump out and grab them; on a success, the Murkon will then drag the players toward the nearest rift and hold their Apparatus of Kwalish in place over the rift. If the Murkon loses its hold or takes too much damage, it will abandon the attempt and retreat back into the tunnels to try again at the next rift. Consider giving it a couple of health potions stashed in the tunnels to facilitate the hit & run strategy. If the players escape successfully, you should definitely give them experience as though they had killed it. It is best to introduce the Murkon with this encounter, and describe it in vague terms while making clear the horrifying effects of its crushing claws on the Apparatus as the metal walls bend and dent and jets of water begin to flood the craft.
For the best possible results, I suggest giving the Murkon a charm which provides resistance or immunity to fire damage, provided by a small shrine in the tunnels which is too fragile to be handled as treasure. I warn you though, the players will likely find some method of taking it! Applying a variation of the Drow magic items rule to the shrine may be the best idea if the players will not be returning to the ocean floor any time soon, such as stating that the Murkon's shrine will permanently lose its magic if it is not kept fully submerged. If you do this, remember to apply the rule in future situations, as consistency improves the quality of any campaign.
Difficulty: Hard for Level 5
This is a fun one! Instead of going with a traditional underwater encounter, this encounter revolves around a cramped, airtight space which can be used for a villains underwater base, an underwater research facility, an Atlantean outpost, a Dwarven submarine- anything of that sort!
While most of this encounter can be applied with any humanoid monster types at any level, the purpose of this series is to provide encounters, not just traps and battlefield features. So for the sake of example, we're going to set this in a world like Eberron; the enemy will be made up mostly of Hobgoblins and Warforged, using the Veteran NPC type combined with the Warforged racial features like not needing to breathe.
In this case, we'll be adding a new trap, the Flood Wall. The Flood Wall can really be used with any sort of substance like sand or oil, but in this case we'll just be using ocean water; the wall will be a window in this case. The exact details on how the Flood Wall works can be found in the immediate next post going up today.
The encounter battlefield consists of a 60 by 60 feet area; the outermost part of this area is taken up by a 10 feet wide hallway which hugs the outer edge of the battlefield area. Beyond that is simply the ocean floor. At each corner there are two metal doors, with a windowless 10 by 10 feet space in between forming an airlock, which can be opened and closed with an action, and sealed or unsealed with a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. If there is a flow of water on the other side, then a DC 15 Strength check is required to close the door if the water is coming from the other side.
In addition to the outer ring, there are 3 hallways taking up the rest of the area. Each hallway is 5 feet wide and has a small curve at its halfway point, resulting in a slight S shape which prevents creatures from seeing both ends of a hallway, as well as having an iron door at each intersection; two of the hallways are parallel and divide the area into thirds, while the remaining hallway is perpendicular to the first two and splits the area in half. This leaves 6 spaces in between the hallways; of these spaces, 2 are barracks with cots, 2 are storage areas (one filled with weapons, the other with cleaning and breathing equipment), 1 is a small study, and the final space is a vertical airlock for entering and exiting the area. None of these spaces has any windows, but all of them have iron doors; however, each hallway has 5 1-foot wide portholes, except for the eastern hallway which replaces them with two 20-feet wide observation windows stretching from the floor to the ceiling.
The enemies include 3 Hobgoblins, 1 Hobgoblin Captain, and 2 Warforged Veterans. Of these enemies, the 3 Hobgoblins begin the encounter asleep in their bunks; meanwhile, the Warforged Veterans both patrol the halls. The Hobgoblin Captain is awake in their study.
If the players are detected by anyone, they will sound an alarm, waking all of the enemies in the encounter, who immediately retrieve their weapons from beneath their beds. In this case, all Hobgoblin enemies are considered to be wearing Studded Leather armor, due to being sailors rather than soldiers. The Hobgoblin Captain and Warforged Veterans are unchanged.
If the players are causing enough damage, consider drawing them toward the eastern hallway; have the Hobgoblins seal off the hallway and leave a Warforged Veteran to smash one of the windows. Be warned! This is highly likely to result in a TPK if the players are not prepared to deal with the risk of drowning, and is best left to the party Fighter or Barbarian to make a heroic sacrifice should they feel the need to do so.
Well, that wraps up the first installation of this series! Underwater encounters certainly seem quite fun after this, and I think I'll try to bring back as many of these as possible for a future underwater adventure. I hope you'll come back next Sunday for the next round of encounters! Please, feel free to suggest desired themes for new encounters in the comments below, and have a wonderful week!
Yes, that's going to be my tagline. I couldn't resist. I'll probably have to put up a mockup image of a "Warriors Weekly" cover at some point featuring Gimli, if only to have an amusing image to attach to the series.
Please note that all encounters in this series will be balanced against a party of 5 unless stated otherwise. Sometime in the future I may consider using abnormally large or small parties as a theme, but I won't be doing so today.
At my friends suggestion, the very first theme of this series will be Underwater. All of these encounters somehow take place underwater and involve combat and skill use underwater. I'm using some classics like the Sahuagin and Apparatus of Kwalish for this one, as well as adding a new monster called the Murkon, based off of creatures like Mirelurks from the Fallout series and various sorts of crustacean monsters.
Encounter 1: Cave of Teeth
Difficulty: Hard for level 3
This encounter is supposed to take advantage of the Sahuagin's unique Blood Frenzy trait to cancel out the effects of magical darkness, and assumes the players have a method of magical breathing. The encounter takes place in a small cave about 50 feet wide and 25 feet tall, deep beneath the surface of the ocean. The cave includes three small tunnels which extend a little way and then loop back into it. All of the tunnels are about 5 feet wide and just over 5 feet tall, making for cramped conditions. The entrance and exit into the cavern are both meant for Small swimming creatures, and as such requires Medium characters to squeeze through them. The primary chamber of the cave is filled with magical darkness, making it difficult for anybody to hit their targets.
The cave contains 5 Sahuagin, all of whom begin the encounter inside of the tunnels if they can help it. The Sahuagin will attempt to hide before the encounter begins so as to get a surprise round, preferably while the last member of the party is still trying to squeeze through the cavern entrance. The Sahuagin will fight intelligently, using the magical darkness as cover and trying to split the players up. If a player goes into a tunnel, the Sahuagin will attempt to flank them; if a Sahuagin reaches half of their health, it is best to have them hang back a bit, only coming out to harass injured players. Any form of magical light used to clear the darkness will be a main priority for the Sahuagin, who will attempt to steal it from the players and put out its light in order to keep their advantage.
The swimming speed and Blood Frenzy trait of the Sahuagin is what bumps this encounter up to Hard difficulty. If the players have no method of breathing underwater, magical or otherwise, then the encounter difficulty can be increased to Deadly due to the risk of drowning. In this case, feel free to add a small pocket of air near the ceiling of one or two of the tunnels where players can freely replenish their air; alternately, place a single pocket of air at the top of the main cavern, forcing the players to return to the magical darkness to replenish their air supply.
Encounter 2: It Came from Below!
Difficulty: Variable, likely Deadly, for level 3
This encounter probably falls under the definition of a Deadly encounter, but it's tough to say since it calls for an Apparatus of Kwalish from the DMG. First of all, this encounter calls for a Murkon, so here's the stat block for one. I'll probably bring these back in the future, I like the concept of them. This first one, the Murkon Zoea, is the smallest variety of Murkon.
Murkon Zoea
Medium monstrosity, neutral evil
Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 45 (6d8+18)
Speed 25 ft, swim 25 ft
Str 19 (+4) Dex 10 (+0) Con 16 (+3) Int 5 (-3) Wis 7 (-2) Cha 8 (-1)
Saves: Str +6
Skills: Athletics +6, Stealth +2
Damage Resistance: force, bludgeoning
Senses: darkvision 120 ft, passive Perception 10
Languages: Aquan
Challenge 3
Crushing Grip. A Murkon automatically critically hits any creature it attacks if that creature is grabbed or Restrained.
Chitin Plating. A Murkon is immune to all damage from particularly high or low pressure environments.
Actions
Pincer. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 8 (1d10+3) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grabbed. On a critical hit, the target must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw, losing 1 minute of air on a failed save. In the case of an underwater sealed environment like the Apparatus of Kwalish, the object is considered to automatically fail the saving throw.
Back to the encounter. This encounter is best used to scare the party in the event that they get a hold of an Apparatus of Kwalish, and consists of only a single Murkon Zoea.
This encounter takes place as the players are exploring the ocean floor, traveling through a large, flat cavern. The cavern can be as long as you please, but is about 60 feet wide and 25 feet tall. There is a system of tunnels directly beneath the floor of the cavern which are generally about 5 feet wide; in some spots, these tunnels turn into vertical rifts, which deal 10 (3d6) fire damage to any creature or object which starts its turn in them. Each rift should be about 15 to 20 feet long, and 5 feet wide.
During combat, the Murkon will try to hide in the tunnels underneath the floor. When the players get near a rift, the Murkon will try to jump out and grab them; on a success, the Murkon will then drag the players toward the nearest rift and hold their Apparatus of Kwalish in place over the rift. If the Murkon loses its hold or takes too much damage, it will abandon the attempt and retreat back into the tunnels to try again at the next rift. Consider giving it a couple of health potions stashed in the tunnels to facilitate the hit & run strategy. If the players escape successfully, you should definitely give them experience as though they had killed it. It is best to introduce the Murkon with this encounter, and describe it in vague terms while making clear the horrifying effects of its crushing claws on the Apparatus as the metal walls bend and dent and jets of water begin to flood the craft.
For the best possible results, I suggest giving the Murkon a charm which provides resistance or immunity to fire damage, provided by a small shrine in the tunnels which is too fragile to be handled as treasure. I warn you though, the players will likely find some method of taking it! Applying a variation of the Drow magic items rule to the shrine may be the best idea if the players will not be returning to the ocean floor any time soon, such as stating that the Murkon's shrine will permanently lose its magic if it is not kept fully submerged. If you do this, remember to apply the rule in future situations, as consistency improves the quality of any campaign.
Encounter 3: Iron and Glass House
Difficulty: Hard for Level 5
This is a fun one! Instead of going with a traditional underwater encounter, this encounter revolves around a cramped, airtight space which can be used for a villains underwater base, an underwater research facility, an Atlantean outpost, a Dwarven submarine- anything of that sort!
While most of this encounter can be applied with any humanoid monster types at any level, the purpose of this series is to provide encounters, not just traps and battlefield features. So for the sake of example, we're going to set this in a world like Eberron; the enemy will be made up mostly of Hobgoblins and Warforged, using the Veteran NPC type combined with the Warforged racial features like not needing to breathe.
In this case, we'll be adding a new trap, the Flood Wall. The Flood Wall can really be used with any sort of substance like sand or oil, but in this case we'll just be using ocean water; the wall will be a window in this case. The exact details on how the Flood Wall works can be found in the immediate next post going up today.
The encounter battlefield consists of a 60 by 60 feet area; the outermost part of this area is taken up by a 10 feet wide hallway which hugs the outer edge of the battlefield area. Beyond that is simply the ocean floor. At each corner there are two metal doors, with a windowless 10 by 10 feet space in between forming an airlock, which can be opened and closed with an action, and sealed or unsealed with a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. If there is a flow of water on the other side, then a DC 15 Strength check is required to close the door if the water is coming from the other side.
In addition to the outer ring, there are 3 hallways taking up the rest of the area. Each hallway is 5 feet wide and has a small curve at its halfway point, resulting in a slight S shape which prevents creatures from seeing both ends of a hallway, as well as having an iron door at each intersection; two of the hallways are parallel and divide the area into thirds, while the remaining hallway is perpendicular to the first two and splits the area in half. This leaves 6 spaces in between the hallways; of these spaces, 2 are barracks with cots, 2 are storage areas (one filled with weapons, the other with cleaning and breathing equipment), 1 is a small study, and the final space is a vertical airlock for entering and exiting the area. None of these spaces has any windows, but all of them have iron doors; however, each hallway has 5 1-foot wide portholes, except for the eastern hallway which replaces them with two 20-feet wide observation windows stretching from the floor to the ceiling.
The enemies include 3 Hobgoblins, 1 Hobgoblin Captain, and 2 Warforged Veterans. Of these enemies, the 3 Hobgoblins begin the encounter asleep in their bunks; meanwhile, the Warforged Veterans both patrol the halls. The Hobgoblin Captain is awake in their study.
If the players are detected by anyone, they will sound an alarm, waking all of the enemies in the encounter, who immediately retrieve their weapons from beneath their beds. In this case, all Hobgoblin enemies are considered to be wearing Studded Leather armor, due to being sailors rather than soldiers. The Hobgoblin Captain and Warforged Veterans are unchanged.
If the players are causing enough damage, consider drawing them toward the eastern hallway; have the Hobgoblins seal off the hallway and leave a Warforged Veteran to smash one of the windows. Be warned! This is highly likely to result in a TPK if the players are not prepared to deal with the risk of drowning, and is best left to the party Fighter or Barbarian to make a heroic sacrifice should they feel the need to do so.
Conclusion
Well, that wraps up the first installation of this series! Underwater encounters certainly seem quite fun after this, and I think I'll try to bring back as many of these as possible for a future underwater adventure. I hope you'll come back next Sunday for the next round of encounters! Please, feel free to suggest desired themes for new encounters in the comments below, and have a wonderful week!
Sunday, March 1, 2015
In the Beginning
Hello world!
So, this will be my new RPG blog. I'll be focusing primarily on Dungeons and Dragons related topics here, as I am not really involved in many other games at the moment. Later on I'll probably post about other things as well, such as excerpts of my own writing and blog posts concerning other RPG's that I get into. I'll be starting my blog with a couple of series, which I have yet to give names to. The first will be a weekly post containing three D&D encounters revolving around that weeks theme, whether it be a monster type, environment, or abstract concept; the second series will be a bi-weekly update on my progress with my homebrew campaign settings and adventures. Bot series will be released on Sundays at 4. I'll also post when I feel like it, but these two series should keep me on a reasonable schedule for new content at roughly 6 posts per month. I plan on trying to release full adventures on a bi-monthly basis as well, generally at least 15 pages each in PDF form, possibly on a different site where I can sell the adventures for about $10 each.
I hope you enjoy my work, and good day to you!
So, this will be my new RPG blog. I'll be focusing primarily on Dungeons and Dragons related topics here, as I am not really involved in many other games at the moment. Later on I'll probably post about other things as well, such as excerpts of my own writing and blog posts concerning other RPG's that I get into. I'll be starting my blog with a couple of series, which I have yet to give names to. The first will be a weekly post containing three D&D encounters revolving around that weeks theme, whether it be a monster type, environment, or abstract concept; the second series will be a bi-weekly update on my progress with my homebrew campaign settings and adventures. Bot series will be released on Sundays at 4. I'll also post when I feel like it, but these two series should keep me on a reasonable schedule for new content at roughly 6 posts per month. I plan on trying to release full adventures on a bi-monthly basis as well, generally at least 15 pages each in PDF form, possibly on a different site where I can sell the adventures for about $10 each.
I hope you enjoy my work, and good day to you!
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