Hey folks!
Fun situation this week - my players are about to reach Skull Gorge Bridge, but they really took their time! A series of retreats and side excursions means that they are arriving on day 8 - the day the Red Hand is set to arrive at Skull Gorge Bridge! I don't want this to mean auto-failure, but it's sure going to make this already tough scenario a bit tougher. Let's jump in!
 |
| By Tobey Nguyen |
This post outlines my plans for the first half of Book 5, Chapter 1 of Strength of Thousands, largely related to adjudicating timing but also regarding handling the individual listed events. Most of them will be relatively unchanged.
I'll be saving the Iobane and the Cathedral of Nothingness for next time!
 |
| By Ramond Minaar |
As I discussed in The History of Elsir Vale, the Hellriders will become a central sub-plot of my campaign in preparation for the Descent into Avernus remix. While that post goes through their history, this post will dive more into their present.
In broad strokes, the Hellriders shattered long before the fall of Rhest, acting ever since as lone knights or small companies instead of a unified force. The Goblinblood Wars were the first time in centuries that all the Hellriders fought together, and their fearsome charge inspired countless recruits to join up! As their numbers swelled and their structure coalesced, they needed a new crusade, and chose the Ghostlord. It went poorly, and they were scattered once more.
In this post, we will explore where they ended up, those few that yet live! Many will be placed where the PCs might gather them together, and if they gather enough the Hellriders will come to their aid during the Battle of Brindol!
 |
| The Fall of Plaguestone cover art |
I freakin love The Fall of Plaguestone! It's a beautiful adventure with complex themes about loss, betrayal, and societal guilt, and I wish more people got to experience that! Unfortunately, it is plagued (heh) by overly tough encounters that have lead to many TPKs. One person I talked to said their three groups had all TPKd, once to the wolves, once to the chapter 1 boss, and once to the chapter 2 boss! While I never had a TPK in the two times I ran it, I did lose 2 players the first time through, and there were definitely a few other close calls.
Today, we'll be going through my advice for toning down some of the rougher aspects of the module and bringing out what's really beautiful!
| Tiamat Rising |
In this version, the PCs will be imbued with a surge of "divine" energy (part of a devil's plot in my version) that allows them to full rest and level up instantaneously. Then, after a quick teleportation, they'll have to quickly navigate the (literally) hellish Fane of Tiamat and stop the ritual before it fully melds with Avernus itself!
Here's the final document - let's jump in!
Hey folks!
Elsir Vale's history is scattered throughout the book. On top of that, I'm grafting on several other modules! So today, we'll be going through both the original history as represented in the module as well as integrating the Goblinblood Wars and the Hellriders into that timeline. Originally this was going to be a joint history and politics article (looking at Weimar Germany as a way to better understand the Hand), but I'm not a historian, so that meant it was never going to be published! I might wrap up some of that into an article on Themes later on, but for now we'll just be going through fictional history, not real world history.
 |
| The Misty Mountains |
Let's jump in!
 |
| Azarr Kul |
Here's the full document.
Let's jump in!
 |
| from the Wiki |
And there are hints in the module that it originally was going to be! Page 49 says "three events will take place as they travel. The first of these, Event 5, takes place automatically the first time they arrive in the Harrowed Realm." James Jacobs confirmed that these events were incorporated into the set adventure locations, and this line was meant to be cut but was missed. On the upside, this probably made those locations cooler! On the downside, it makes the Harrowed Realm feel more static in a way I don't love.
So, today we'll be going through this chapter and the 1e module to better orient ourselves in the Harrowed Realm and help breathe some life into it!
Hey folks!
So far in this remix, we've assumed you are using the Fast Advancement variant rule, where you only require 800 XP per level. I think stretching the established encounters all the way to 1,000 XP would be a bit of a grind, and this variant fits the core progression of the campaign better.
It also leave us a lot of room to play! We can add 200 XP worth of material every level - either one major side quest or a couple of smaller challenges - without bloating the adventure too much. Even better, if we seed tons of side quests, we can give the players a choice about what they pursue! This both puts the players more in the drivers seat in terms of what they want to pursue and allows us some leeway if they do end up skipping content (we don't want them to be a whole level weaker just because they didn't head to Rhest, after all).
I'll be updating this post as I add more side quests and sandbox elements rather than making new posts, though I'll be linking separate documents for each region to help keep things contained. Documents so far: Drellins Ferry Sidequests | Witchwood Sandbox
 |
| Elsir Vale Map, by Antariuk |
 |
| Lord Jarmaath |
Brindol is a big city - Level 8! It has built in factions, several places to learn rumors about them, and enough shops to keep most parties occupied for a while.
Hey folks! Fun situation this week - my players are about to reach Skull Gorge Bridge, but they really took their time! A series of retreats...
