The Back-Game (1 of N)
Apr. 1st, 2009 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHi,
So last night I started the monthly back-game that I'm running for my Tuesday night D&D group. This gives our regular GM a break and let's him play and (for this game) let's us try out all the new charcters/races from Player's Handbook 2.
Our stalwart band of heroes were former members of External Relations for the Dominion -- think Special Circumstances from the Culture novels by Ian Banks. Now they've set out their shingle in a border town on the Western Edge of the Dominion. For a price they'll escort you out into the wilderness and help you make your name or take on whatever other odd jobs you've got going (so a bit like Traveller with a fixed base of operations in that respect).
The team includes:
Their first job is to help the minor son of a minor noble reclaim a family hearthstone from out in the wilderness back when they used to be big wheels in the area. The noble is waiting for some magical equipment to arrive so the team has a few days to bum around town and find out some more information.
There follows a series of short encounters designed to introduce people in town that the PCs can take advantage of and give them a chance to sort of settle in to their characters. It takes about an hour to play out and then move into the exiciting half where they navigate the wilderness and get their client kidnapped by beastmen.
Cue the big fight -- the beastmen have strapped the noble to this mechanical arm that will rise up and deposit said noble into the mouth of this huge demon statue. PCs had a pack of power chips (about 20) to buy extra uses of daily powers, roll bonuses, etc. They had the fight pretty well in hand the whole time. The Sorcerer was the only person in danger of being dropped and the Bard kept him on his feet. The fight ended just about when it was supposed to and we moved to a quick wrap-up where someone came up with an idea that will certainly become next month's adventure.
So, yeah, PB2 classes rock on toast. Two goliath Wardens? Just laid the smackdown on everything around them. The Barbarian was cleaving her way through guys left and right. The Bard was shifting people around to good effect. The Druid was shifting in and out of beast form to bring down opponents. And the sorcerer? Man, is that a sweet class. When you absolutely, positively, have to drop an NPC with magical hellfire this is the route you want to go every time. Very much in the Ranger mold, but with an arcane not martial focus.
With the power chips, I'm skewing the balance towards the players (in part because I want to wrap up in one night), but I still haven't quite got the mix right yet. It was a pretty easy fight for the most part, and I want to push the characters a bit. I suspect minions will have to be two hitters (one hit to blooded, one hit to kill) or else I'll never be able to get enough to seriously threaten them. Or, more likely, I'm gonna need a slightly larger budget. For 6 3rd level PCs, a hard encounter is 1200-2100 and I was at 1550 so I might need to push it a bit towards the high end of that scale.
But overall a good start and I'm looking forward to next time.
later
Tom
So last night I started the monthly back-game that I'm running for my Tuesday night D&D group. This gives our regular GM a break and let's him play and (for this game) let's us try out all the new charcters/races from Player's Handbook 2.
Our stalwart band of heroes were former members of External Relations for the Dominion -- think Special Circumstances from the Culture novels by Ian Banks. Now they've set out their shingle in a border town on the Western Edge of the Dominion. For a price they'll escort you out into the wilderness and help you make your name or take on whatever other odd jobs you've got going (so a bit like Traveller with a fixed base of operations in that respect).
The team includes:
- The frog-man Bard
- The shifter Druid
- The human Barbarian
- The two goliath Warden sisters
- The dragonborn Sorcerer
Their first job is to help the minor son of a minor noble reclaim a family hearthstone from out in the wilderness back when they used to be big wheels in the area. The noble is waiting for some magical equipment to arrive so the team has a few days to bum around town and find out some more information.
There follows a series of short encounters designed to introduce people in town that the PCs can take advantage of and give them a chance to sort of settle in to their characters. It takes about an hour to play out and then move into the exiciting half where they navigate the wilderness and get their client kidnapped by beastmen.
Cue the big fight -- the beastmen have strapped the noble to this mechanical arm that will rise up and deposit said noble into the mouth of this huge demon statue. PCs had a pack of power chips (about 20) to buy extra uses of daily powers, roll bonuses, etc. They had the fight pretty well in hand the whole time. The Sorcerer was the only person in danger of being dropped and the Bard kept him on his feet. The fight ended just about when it was supposed to and we moved to a quick wrap-up where someone came up with an idea that will certainly become next month's adventure.
So, yeah, PB2 classes rock on toast. Two goliath Wardens? Just laid the smackdown on everything around them. The Barbarian was cleaving her way through guys left and right. The Bard was shifting people around to good effect. The Druid was shifting in and out of beast form to bring down opponents. And the sorcerer? Man, is that a sweet class. When you absolutely, positively, have to drop an NPC with magical hellfire this is the route you want to go every time. Very much in the Ranger mold, but with an arcane not martial focus.
With the power chips, I'm skewing the balance towards the players (in part because I want to wrap up in one night), but I still haven't quite got the mix right yet. It was a pretty easy fight for the most part, and I want to push the characters a bit. I suspect minions will have to be two hitters (one hit to blooded, one hit to kill) or else I'll never be able to get enough to seriously threaten them. Or, more likely, I'm gonna need a slightly larger budget. For 6 3rd level PCs, a hard encounter is 1200-2100 and I was at 1550 so I might need to push it a bit towards the high end of that scale.
But overall a good start and I'm looking forward to next time.
later
Tom
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-01 05:26 pm (UTC)I think Adjo should be a sorcerer. ;)
no subject
Date: 2009-04-01 05:35 pm (UTC)Adjo thinks that sorcerer's are slackers who are the ultimate proof that free hand-outs of arcane power only make one a lazy, welfare-queen, slob.
He also seethes with jealousy
Tom
no subject
Date: 2009-04-02 10:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-02 12:48 pm (UTC)Yeah, a Frog-Man Bard...named Kermit.
He's the GM I'm switching out with so I suppose it's some sort of horrible revenge against me.
later
Tom