Adventure Conversion Rules to Go By
While going through the adventures for the Chaos Star series you'll see me fall back on these six guidelines for my adaption of the adventure:
1. Level up the encounters: Add between +3 or +8 levels to each encounter. Challenge for a 5th level party.
2. Modify the monsters to keep in the theme of "Cthulhu": Aberrations with psychic powers or similar.
3. Level up the treasure parcels: 5th level Parcels less the ones already given out. Select items useful for the whole party.
4. Publish the new monsters for consumption. Creative Commons license for the items in a PDF on the site.
5. Give the encounters a similar feel for the players. Provide them with a "unified" foe.
6. Diversify content: How am I using Arcane Powers? How did I use Open Grave? Additional content brought in from DDI?
loading...
Chaos Scar Encounter #1
And So It Begins...
Reading through the adventure Sunday morning, and I started jotting down how I wanted to tone up the first encounter in the series. The original encounter is a straight forward 1st level encounter with an XP budget of 526 points. My players I am running for currently have a party of five fifth level adventurers. So based on this I am adding four levels to the encounter and bring my XP budget up to at least 1,000 points.
In reading through the tactics and looking at the maps, I am considering several options for bringing the encounter level up, while also making the monsters a bit more "non-standard". In the original encounter the players are confronted with an even mix of Bullywug Croakers, Muckers and Twitchers. I was interested in using the same composition, but adding a bit extra to them. In my first iteration, I will be throwing the party against a 5th level encounter at 1,050 XP and up against 3 Bullywug Croakers, 2 Bullywug Muckers and 2 Bullywug Twitchers. In my version of the encounter, I am dropping one each of the Muckers and Twitchers, but I've increased their levels and also added an some powers.
The extra powers are to make the encounter a bit more interesting for the players, and with the additional powers, I've bumped up the base XP per Mucker and Twitcher by an extra 50 XP each. I am considering dropping the additional powers on the Twitchers and Muckers, lowering the XP value by the same 50 points each and then possibly adding several more Croakers or an additional Twitcher to the encounter. So there is my brainstorm on the first encounter. I am putting this out to provide some samples to the community for some feedback. Attached below is a zip file with the Monster write-ups. Hope you enjoy them!
loading...
The Chaos Scar in Eberron
Backstory to My Home Game
I recently was reviewing the D&D Insider site and flipping through the available content in Dungeon magazine. I am fishing around for some new and interesting pieces to add to my current Eberron campaign. To offer some background on my current game, the party is searching for a mythic artifact known as the "Cauldron of Ongurr". This artifact was used during the Age of Monsters to fortify a bridge between Eberron and Xoriat, the Plane of Madness. The Cauldron was held by the last great Goblin Emperor, Ongurr. The Cauldron and it's misuse lead to several of the rifts in the Goblin Empire and helped bring about the Goblin Civil War.
At the end of the Civil War, the Cauldron was captured by the Gatekeepers and allies within the imperial court; chief ally amongst the imperial court was Ongurr's vizier and chief wizard. He captured the Cauldron and provided it to Taichar, head of the Gatekeepers at the time. Tiachar, through some great magic was able to shatter the artifact in to seven pieces. He then sent these pieces out across the face of Khorvaire in order to protect them from being brought together again and bring Xoriat back into alignment with Eberron.
The machinations of the daelkyr are such that, only recently, a lead Provost at Morgraive University was approached about mounting an expidition to search for several pre-Galifarian artifacts. An anonymous benefactor contacted Provost Phineaus Nolan of the pre-Galifarian Studies department and through a proxy was able to convince the Provost to organize and mount the expidition. The party was the second group that was sent in search of the first piece of the Cauldron of Ongurr. They successfully located and retrieved the piece, but were also alerted to the fact that the Provost's mysterious benefactor was not the most upright of sponsors.
How the Chaos Scar Fits Eberron
With this in mind, the Chaos Scar material fits right in line with some of the story ideas that I have been incorporating in to my existing campaign. With the party currently located along the border between the Eldeen Reaches and the Shadow Marches, the possibilities of a dark meteor falling from space offered some great potential. Looking through the first adventure, I already know I am going to need to adjust several things.
Firstly, my current party is made up of 5th level characters. I will need to tweak all encounters up to their level. Second, I need to change the adventure hook. The party is currently traveling with the Provost, so I can add that there could be additional information or items of importance to be gathered at the site. The Provost traveling with the party really offers me the ability to generate plot hooks on the fly as needed. And finally, I will need to change around some of the treasure parcels. Thankfully the adventure provides some great information right up front on where and what parcels are currently in the base adventure, so I can easily pluck these out and incorporate some new parcels.
I will be updating the blog shortly with some of the updates and enhancements. Keep your fingers crossed. I should have some monsters posted in the next week or two, just moving house so it all depends on how much moving gets accomplished.
loading...
Dungeon Delve
Just ran my most current installment of the "Shadows Over Khorvaire", and being hard pressed for time, I grabbed a complete "encounter" from the recently published "Dungeon Delve" as a filler for my usually planned out game encounters. I have to say, I was a bit hesitant at first, but the players genuinely enjoyed the encounters and the feel of the encounters.
The format for each chapter in the book consists of a series of encounters for a given level. In my case, I used the "Orken Stronghold" from the book. Prep time for the session was easy, with stats and tactics provided for each encounter. I had already worked on a treasure allotment for the party, so I simply replaced the included treasure with my "parcels". One of the great things that dawned on me over the course of play is how badly I had been pacing combat and encounters. This book was a real eye-opener for how to properly scale out a series of adventures. I'm going back to the drawing board with my adventures and encounters and plotting them out using this book as a guideline.
There are some seriously wicked encounters in the book, and even the offer for how to expand them out in to full-blown "adventures" rather than just a packaged, yet random encounter. I'm genuinely pleased with this and would recommend it greatly to the time-pressed GM out there.
loading...
The Town of Greenheart
The party managed to narrowly escape the ambush set upon them by the gnolls in the southern woods of the Eldeen. The event left them very nervous and their progress through the woods has been cautious and slow paced to say the least. As the party traverses the wilds and come closer to civilization in the ancient woods of the Eldeen, the party sees more and more prevalent signs of human and demihuman activity.
They have made their way to Greenheart, capital of the Eldeen Reaches. Here they hope to find a guide that knows the ancient Eldeen woods and can assist them in their travels in search of the second piece of the ancient Cauldron of Ongur.
loading...
Sterngate and Beyond
3rd of Eyre, 998 YK
With the baby hobgoblin wrapped in swaddling cloth, the party continues on after the slavers. Following the winding gully, the party eventually spots an abandoned wagon in the dried riverbed ahead. The party approaches cautiously, sending in young Nebin ahead to explore the wagon. Upon approaching, Nebin sees that the rear wheel has fallen off, and that the guavitx (ox-like creatures) are still harnessed to the wagon. As he approaches, Nedin hears the deep breathing and snoring of several people. He quickly realizes that the sound is coming from the inside of the wagon. Nebin quickly calls the remainder of the party over to the wagon. With some effort, they pry open the lock from the door, and release the slaves in the wagon.
loading...
The Journey Home
2nd of Eyre, 998 YK
As the party of adventurers complete their quest in the depths of Ongurr's Watchtower, they must decide on their next course of action. They give the catacombs under the tower a thorough review, before deciding to head back up to the surface. Once on the surface, the party goes back to their maps and decide to travel overland to the village of Grellreach, from there, they hope to join a merchant caravan to Rhukaan Draal.
Upon arriving at the village, they waste no time in tracking down a merchant who is travelling to Rhukaan Draal. There is just a single caravan, taking assorted pickled fish and roots up to the city in hopes of earning a decent trade. The caravan is comprised of four rickety carts pulled by old oxen. The merchant and his guard number less than a half dozen, and they are obviously happy to have the extra bodies to bolster their numbers. During the course of the first day, the party discuss with the old merchant the trade routes and how frequently he travels to Rhukaan Draal. The old merchant mentions that the trade road to Rhukaan Draal has been plagued by slavers as of late. He mentions that they are travelling just off the trade road in order to keep out of the view of any possible slavers or bandits, as the attacks have become more and more brazen.
loading...
The Cauldron of Ongurr
1st of Eyre, 998YK
As the party recovers from its most recent encounter, they go through the details of their encounters to date. The party discusses their possible options for continuing on through the depth that lie below them in Ongurr's Tower. The likelihood of finding the Cauldron is quite good according to the information they have gathered so far, and so they decide to continue their exploration of the catacombs below the tower.
As the party returns to the depth of the catacombs, they review the area where they have already explored and continue down the nearest branch of passages to that location. There they find the reason for the previous collapse of tunnels, as they locate a large underground river that has opened a grand cavern and series of cascades near the location of the collapsed chamber. They are forced to turn back, as the same underground river has cut through the series of passages that continue on through this end of the catacombs.
loading...
Ongurr’s Tower
28th of Therendor, 998YK
As the party arrives at the base of Ongurr's Tower, they note that the ruins of the tower are very unimpressive. The remains of the tower is less than three stories tall, and the remains have windows along the second and third stories that are open to the elements. The party quickly traverses the walls of the ruins and make their way in from the second floor window. What they find inside, looks like a recently lived in study. The study contains various books in languages both mundane and arcane.
loading...
Site Search
Categories
- Eberron (19)
- Adventures (7)
- History (5)
- Locations (4)
- Site News (6)
- Reviews (1)
- The Dungeon Master's Toolkit (12)
Archives
- February 2010 (1)
- January 2010 (1)
- December 2009 (1)
- October 2009 (5)
- July 2009 (3)
- May 2009 (2)
- April 2009 (2)
- March 2009 (2)
- January 2009 (12)
Tweets
- *New post* High Wizard's Tower & Dungeon - http://tinyurl.com/yct6nex
- RT @zencorners: RT @phpFFL: Looking for a php Developer. Interested? #FantasyFootball #php #jQuery
- @newbiedm Awesome site! Thanks for this!
- *New post* The Abandoned Village - http://tinyurl.com/ybczkq2
- so ready for an easy day.
Site Options
Forge
Games
Links
The Dungeon Master's Toolkit
- Eberron Wiki
- Evernote
- Gnome Stew
- Magic Set Editor
- Maiden’s Head Evernote Book
- Shadows Over Khorvaire Wiki