D&D 3.5 Ed Campaign (Red Hand of Doom)

[Stephen Mawson]

I promised Mike that I'd post up some details of the 3.5 D&D campaign I'm intending to run once Chris's Missing Toymaker game has concluded. We've got one more session of that to go so we should be able to start in three weeks time. That'll be the 11th of June.

I'm happy to run for up to six players. Currently I have the following signed up:

Mike Armstrong
Chris
Maurice
Zack
Damon

So room for one more.

General Background
Initial focus for this campaign is on a region known as the Elsir Vale.

The Elsir Vale is a large river valley, some 200 miles long from east to west, and around 70 or 80 miles wide from north to south. The Vale gets its name from the river Elsir which flows down from the Giantshield mountains in the north-east of the Vale and runs along the northern side of the vale and out of the west end of the valley.

The Elsir Vale is a mostly peaceful pastoral region of farmland, containing a number of small towns, and two cities. The most important settlement is Brindol, where the lord of the Elsir vale, lord Jarnath lives.

The Elsir vale has been settled for as long as anyone can remember, and used to be part of the old kingdom of Rhest. However that was before as legend has it the last King was cursed and his capital sank into the swamp of the Blackfens. The old kingdom of Rhest collapsed four or five hundred years ago, and the Vale has been independent since then.

The areas surrounding the Elsir vale are as follows.

The Elsir vale sits between three mountain ranges. The Gaintshield mountains to the north, the Wyvernwatch mountains to the south, and the Wyrmsmoke mountains to the west. All three are known to be home to many sorts of goblinoid tribes, most especially the Wyrmsmokes. There are several Dwarfen settlements in the Wyvernwatch mountains to the south.

The south west of the Vale borders on a desolate scrub region known as the Thornwaste. Nothing much lives in the Thornwaste, although it is rumoured that an undead being known as the Ghostlord makes its home somewhere in the thornewaste.

There are three large areas of forest in the region. The Marth forest in the north east, which borders the Giantshield mountains. The southern portion of the forest is logged fairly heavily, but the northern portion in the hills leading to the mountains are rumoured to be home to a number of fierce creatures. Wolves, bears, worgs, dire bears, griffons, etc.

Then there is the Witchwood to the north and west of the Elsir vale. This forest is rumoured to be haunted, and the home of wild elves and forest giants. Those that live in the vale don’t venture to far into the southern reaches of the woods.

Finally further to the west outside the Elsir vale is the Westdeep forest. Elves are known to live in the Westdeep. Although since it lies on the other side of the Wyrmsmokes not a great deal else is known about it by most who live in the vale.

To the north of the vale are the swampy blackfens and lake Rhesten, site of the ruins of the old kingdom of Rhest. Beyond that are the endless plains, a steppe grassland that runs for hundreds of miles and is home to nomadic tribes.

West of the vale past the Westdeep forest are the wildlands a hilly region that is mostly unsettled, home to the occasional small walled town or village.

To the east are the golden plains, another steppe grassland, but one that is only a hundred miles or so across. Beyond that are the civilised lands of the 15 cities of the Tyroshi league.

Campaign Starting Point
You have been hired by a nobleman in Brindol, Sir Tyrell, to recover his son Brandon from the Grey Wolves company, who have captured him and are now demanding a ransom of 5,000 GP.

Brandon and a small group of his friends (5 in all) had headed out to the western border of the Elsir vale to hunt down a couple of mountain lions who had come down out of the hills from the Wyrmsmokes. At some point Brandon must have been attacked and captured, as his father received a ransom note delivered by a merchant, who the Grey Wolves stopped on his way into the Elsir vale and forced to carry their message. Along with the note was sent the head of one of Brandon’s friends and Brandon’s ring bearing the arms of the Tyrells.

Sir Tyrell wants you to attempt to track down the Grey Wolves who it is rumoured have a base somewhere in the hills south of the Wyrmsmokes, and get his son back. If you can’t rescue him he’s also sent two retainers with you carrying the ransom money. They will stay in the last settlement at the western end of the vale, Drelin’s ferry while you attempt to track down the mercenaries.

If he has to pay, Sir Tyrell, wishes you to do your best to wipe out the Grey Wolves and get his money back after his son has been released.

[chris]

Great stuff I'm in! Planning a halfling wizard - more details to follow soon

[mike]

Just to confirm I'm in with a human bard

[Damon]

I'm leaning towards a Monk (race to be decided!) - must be getting religion in my old age!!

Have borrowed a set of 3.5 books too so will do some reading!!

D

[adjudicator]

I'd find it especially difficult to join on the Monday/ Tuesday evening, but can most certainly do any other evening/ of the week, if at all possible? I'm a veteran D&D 3.5 enthusiast; played with my old group for over a decade. most of our great games have been gestalt, whilst I'm happy playing generic. Usually play cleric/ fighter, or sorcerer/ warlock type, if I could join? I have almost all of the 3.5 books, and a few 3.0- although I gave most of the 3.0 to a friend.
Would love to join if people don't mind a Sunday gladiators, or just a different evening than Monday?

[Stephen Mawson]

This game has unfortunately already started I'm afraid.

It was also always my intention to run this as a in club Monday game, rather than an outside club game. I have enough other things going on on other days of the week that any other day other the Mondays would be problematic for me.

Sorry that this game probably isn't going to work for you.

Once this has run it's course, I might consider a monthly all day sunday game if people are interested in playing a game with that long of a pause between sessions.

[adjudicator]

I'd be fine with that idea. Any chance of that Sunday game being gestalt? I'd happily wait a month each event, as we'd have a huge half-day to sit down for it anyways, which usually works better than 4 games lasting a couple of hours each. Leaves time for roleplay, and character building (my favorite sorcerer/ warlock idea was a merchant, mainly for RP and of course buying mats for 50%, and selling to players at 75% was a huge party bonus!)

[Stephen Mawson]

I'm not sure what you mean by Gestalt? Is that a campaign setting, if so I've never heard of it.

[adjudicator]

Nope - Gestalt is a variation on the core DnD. You can amalgamate two seperate classes, keeping the best of both classes, the down-side would be the encounter levels are 2ECL higher. Imagine this, a level 6 cleric, with 10 levels prestige class radiant servant of pelor on one side, with 16 levels of fighter on the other. Good fortitude and will saves, D10 hp per level, access to all the cleric spells, (radiant servant uses d6, as they're more powerful than standard cleric, but fighter D10 is better, so uses that), you get all the fighter feats, so using knights move (teleport to other side of enemy as quick action), then getting full 4 attacks of fighter with serious weapon - I was getting roughly 100-200 damage per hit, class abilities allowed me to destroy undead (instead of turn undead) many times per day, add maximized empowered to all domain healing spells, my turn level, at 16th level cleric, was actually 24, or something stupid like that, the list goes on.

8th level sorcerer/ warlock. Warlock can fly, be invisible, throw eldritch bolts, etc, massive buffs to charisma based skills unlimited times, or unlimited duration, whilst sorcerer side of character had benign/ baleful transposition (swap places with friendly/ unfriendly), and other such spells that warlocks had no access to. The sorcerer side still had a set number of spells per day, but no longer needed to worry about flying, being invisible, or any attacking spells such as chain lightning etc, as warlock had unlimited number of eldritch (maximized chain eldritch was nasty!)

Gestalt might feel very over-powering, but if the GM thinks he can handle it, of course upping the encounter level by 2 makes a hell of a difference too! The game can be very memorable. Other such crazy gestalt characters were monk paladin; add charisma to everything, no armor, but add wisdom and dex to armor saves, crazy melee skills, virtually invulnerable at higher levels. D10 hp per level from paladin, all good saves from monk, paladin character abilities, monk damage increment (d6 to d8 to d10 at higher levels with just fists, with extra attacks from flurry, adding paladin smite attack for difficult foes)

In gestalt, may not choose classes which amalgamate other classes, such as true necromancer, or the class in DMG, which allows both arcane and divine caster levels.
I've DM'd games lasting as long as two years, campaigns going through from level 3 to level 14 (was a very good game!) And I've been told I'm pretty good at being a DM. In gestalt, it is usually ingenuity, resources, and tactfulness that gets the best results. A fantastic event, was when Elizabeth was invisible, after encoring a drunkard to fight a guard, spurring him on with "if you can beat him, I'll be very impressed" etc. The drunkard obviously couldn't take the guard, but when she was invisible, when the drunkard got close, every so often, she would stab the guard, when the 1st guard went down, a second stepped in - feeling he would actually need to fight properly, he 1-hit killed the drunkard, in front of several townsfolk. This started a huge debate with the locals, and some of the authorities, and got the characters in to a favorable position that fighting, or being super-powerful would otherwise fail at.
I've always thought it is the intellect of the individual that works best, not how high a persons stats are, or what spells they can cast. If a player can work something out, and do something in a way that changes the environment they are in, the players can change what they control. Sorry if this seems a little long winded, but we took RP much more seriously than building stereotypical characters that could walk over encounters.
A favorite event was when they robbed a museum, which held the tombs of long dead kings. Without careful planning and very cool RP, the players would not have got far. The characters' abilities just helped them along the way -

Gestalt allows players to be more flexible. A cleric no longer sits on the side-lines healing, they can fight or throw some spells of their own. A paladin is no longer Mr. squishy without his gear, on the contrary, with no gear at all, the paladin monk is probably the most feared of all gestalt characters! But a party of 4 gestalt entering a level 6 ECL fight would certainly feel the pinch. Or 5 gestalt entering a level 7 fight, for instance. Traps, mazes, puzzles, everything becomes harder. It makes the world seem a more sinister place to live in, no longer a push over, but the variety of abilities the character has makes everything balance out. A wizard throws a fireball at a group of on-coming orcs, and then pulls out "Summoning armor" (teleports on-to the caster at a snap of the fingers), draws a sword and charges the single standing boss orc, who is immune to fire spells...
All part of the fun with gestalt. I love this style of play, and makes the game far more interesting! The DM however does have to plan a lot, and deal with the characters being so hard, not wanting to kill them with over-powered encounters (A taresque, as a boss for a level 12 party, I think would be a bit difficult, unless you knew a few tricks...) and you don't want them too easy, (such as rushing 50 odd spiders at a level 6 group). It takes practice, and a lot of foreknowledge, but it's very rewarding!

Elizabeth knows fifty times as much as me, but as usual, I'm sure she will say the opposite >< I'm of course happy to DM a gestalt game, or a normal one, if Gestalt seems a bit much. But you won't know what it's like unless you try it!