OOC: What do you want to see?

[harknail]

Coming up next is a roleplaying interlude where Gabe will retire from the group to be replaced by a new character. Harknail will learn just how long he's been out of things. And Sart will finally learn common, along with other useful skills (like how to survive a hit).

But this game is yours as much as it is mine. What would you like to see for the next adventure? I'm even open to the idea of someone running a short adventure if you'd like to try running a PBP without the commitment of a full campaign. Several players here are running full campaigns already.

I have some vague ideas for a delve, one where the players are heading off on their own initiative to look for ancient treasures rather than reacting to immediate threats.

Also, I'll total up the XP so far later tonight to see how close everyone is to the next level, I'll report it here.

[crysun]

Here's an idea. We loose consciousness. We wake up in our future bodies ten years into the future without any memory of what happened. We are now level 11 (for this adventure only). We must solve the mystery of what happened to us and why we were sent to the future (or do we all just have amnesia?) We return to the present (as level 3s because of the knowledge gained when were 11) to prevent some catastrophic event from occurring.

[Ogremind]

Cliche, crysun, but I have to admit to being intrigued just from the "design your 11th level character" aspect.

[candi]

Cliche doesn't mean it's not a good thing. Having a run at paragon would be fun, even if for an adventure. Then we can spend the next couple adventure's wondering what in the heck that was all about. Just because we interpret it as the future doesn't mean it wasn't just a potential future, or perhaps something all together different. A group premonition, or a wizards toying with our minds.

At any rate, I'm honestly good for anything. As I'll be the one bringing the new character into the mix, from her perspective she's out for adventure for typical reasons.

[crysun]

I love mysteries. And I really love deep leveled mysteries. The Lost TV series is a good example. It where questions are raised and more mysteries are uncovered.

[harknail]

I'm still working my way up to paragon tier (very slowly). My face to face game is only level 4, and the highest I've played is level 6. So while it sounds like a fun idea, I'm not really ready to try running paragon yet.

Also, I'm not that great at mysteries. And I've never seen Lost. Though I'll try to be sure to include some mysteries, and maybe some solutions to the ones you already have: Where did a goblin get a hold of a ritual that would raise all the dead in a wide area? And where did that warlock Draigdurroch go (you never found his body)?

Now a Dragon Lair is something I can handle :-)

[candi]

Dragon Lair!!

As a DM I'm Dragon-obsessed (I have to work very hard not to attack players with dragon's all day...) I'd love to see how another DM does the Dragon thing.

I've run 2 4e dragons (I've done well not to succumb to my addictions), a Brown at level 2 and a Steel at level 6. Both battles were incredibly tense, the toughest most dangerous fights the players have ever had. Both Dragon's were battled in their preferred environment, and both had powers that gave them a lot of mobility preventing the "surround and smash" solo tactic that often happens.

For a group this large (what are we 8?) I may recommend using 2 level-1 dragons - that'd be challenging!

[crysun]

Cool! Sounds like fun!

[harknail]

Hmm, two White Dragon Wymlings (the only level 1 dragon) wouldn't be much of a challenge for any group.

I'm also fond of Dragons, after all, the name of the game is Dungeons and Dragons (I'm also fond of Dungeons). So far I've run two dragon encounters for my current 4E face to face group, not counting the one where they had to come back and kill the first dragon again (it had come back as a Wyrm-Wisp). My 3.0 group has faced 3 dragons that I can remember, but those were all in the module I've been running for the last couple of years.

It's easy to balance a Dragon for a large group, just add support creatures. For example, the last Dragon encounter I ran (for a group of 8) was a young blue dragon who preferred to fight at range. She had 4 Dragonborn solders to keep the party away from her, and it worked pretty well for a while.

[crysun]

Don't give us an spoilers. Surprise us. (roll for surprise first of coarse )

[candi]

Oh right parties level 2? Not giving in and just popping to 3

As for the White wyrmling, it's an Elite so against a large party I'd toss 4... the dragonlings of a bigger mommy perhaps .

If the party was level 3 by the time they reached the dragon level 4 or 5 with minions I think would make a good challenge. Or a level 4 dragon with some level 2 or 3 wyrmlings. You can do a lot with an 8 character XP budget

But I'd put my vote on a classic dragon hunt. Some old skewl fun.

[harknail]

Ah, old school dragons. Back when I ran 1st level D&D I mostly ran a first level dungeon for pick-up-games. Just inside the entrance (visible only if you closed the front doors) were two chambers each containing a baby dragon. Enter one of the rooms and you'd get a conversation like this:

Dragon: "I'm hungry, are you food?"
Leader: "No, I'm not food."
Dragon: <pointing to some other party member, "Is he food?"
Leader: "No he isn't food."
Perception roll to notice the dragon is holding something.
Leader: "What's that you're holding?"
Dragon: "I'm supposed to drink it if there's trouble. Are you trouble?"
Leader: "No, I'm not trouble."
Dragon: "Is he trouble?"
Leader: "No, he's not trouble either."

The encounter usually ended there. Though one group returned with the carcass of a dead monster to feed the dragon, then had it follow them. They set it up behind a door to a room containing hell hounds (yes, at first level), and told the dragon that behind the door was trouble and it was time to drink his potion. It was a haste potion, giving the dragon two actions per round, and as a side affect, aging the dragon to the next level. Between a white dragon and a wizard wielding the wand of frost found in the previous room, they made short work of the hell hounds. They didn't even peek out the other door of that room (they had just gone though 3 rooms of escalating danger). Which was funny, because the last door went into a corridor, they had reached the end of the challenges.

Hmm, I think I'll stick to the new fangled dragon hunts where even the youngest dragons are dangerous.

[candi]

Well, I meant more Classic in the sense of hunting dragons for the sake of them being dragons

Raylynn wants a dragon scale dress dammit!

And that adventure sounds awesome!
Dragon: "Are you food"
Leader: "Uh... no"
Rogue: "He lies." *sneaks back into previous room to watch*

OR
Dragon: "Are you trouble?"
Leader: "Most definitely not!" *shaking a bit*
PC: "I AM! Man, I'm so mean and powerful you wouldn't even know!"
Dragon: "Ok" *drinks potion*

Is how it would likely resolve with most all of my groups... They're trouble makers at best :S

[candi]

Or dragon scale underwear! DM, I demand my underwear be magical and give me some kind of bonus! (kidding)

So are we doing the dragon hunt? Perhaps dragon hunt tied into the hunt for an artifact while thwarting the evil kings evil plans of world domination, and save some puppies too?

[harknail]

Ok, so the dragon you hunt should be at least a local menace.

[Ogremind]

I GM's an epic 3e dungeon that was all dragons. Five different encounters, four with groups of great wyrms and above (the last one was alone, because he had eaten all the other red dragons and animated their skeletons).

[candi]

Sure Harknail, I was just tossing around ideas to inspire!

[harknail]

Well I was deciding between a dragon who lived far enough away he wasn't bothering anyone, and one close enough to bother a nearby town. Saving a town is more heroic after all.

[candi]

Yup, Saving a Town (and their puppies!) from a dragon's evil grip!

It also gives you a chance to play kobolds (I LOVE Dming kobolds, they're positively evil little buggers) because they are a good "dragon worshiping community, we've got sacrifices please don't eat us - oh thank you for your blessings dear dragon sir" type of monster.

And by my estimates level2/3/4 is the perfect region for kobold harassment.

[harknail]

I still have fond memories of a game where a wizard ended up with a pet kobold (AD&D). Wait, you guys have a pet Goblin.

Sure, I can throw some kobolds into the mix.

And I'm working out a connection with your previous adventure.