DCC17 questions

[benevolent-dm]

Hey everyone!

Just about to slaughter my group with DCC17 and had a question about the gate to "The Forge". What should I use a a break DC and move DC? I am sure the gate is not as strong as the walls (600 hp!) I could probably extrapolate a move DC based on Graah and the kolbolds strength.

I guess the other option is to make the entire party go over the wall or dimension door in.

Benevolent DM
"Don't make me mad...-5 to all your rolls for the next hour"

[Harley Stroh]

Good catch!

I'd give the gate a hardness of 5, 80 hp, and a Break DC of 30.

Moving the gate is a little more tricky, since there aren't handles or handholds on the outside for PCs to grasp.

Inside, Str check: DC 20.
Outside, Str check: DC 30.

Explanation: Graah (Str bonus +5 ) takes 10 when trying to move the gate. Six kobolds aid him each time, and on average 3 succeed in the aid attempt, for a total of +6. On average Graah and his team of kobolds (grand total 21) can move the gate, but sometimes it is stuck in the mud and takes longer to move.

If PCs try to move the gate from the outside, slip in the description of the gate being challenging to move “without handholds.” Quick PCs might slam their great axes into the gate right away to give them something to lift against, but really clever (or cruel) parties might have their poor rogues sneak back at night to cut handholds into the gate.

Enjoy! Let me know how it goes.

[benevolent-dm]

Harley,

Thanks for the information...great support for what I am sure is going to be a great adventure for my characters

We are starting on Sep 4, so I will post an update after our first session. This is our group's first DCC, and my first time DM'ing in about 15 years, so it should be interesting. We've been playing 3/3.5 since it came out, and have tried a few different campaign settings (Dawnforge, Eberron, Midnight, Banewarrens, etc) but decided to get back to the good 'ol 2nd edition AD&D style we grew up playing. I chose #17 for it's problem solving aspect, and of course any module that starts with "Initiatives please" has great appeal.

Benevolent-DM (sometimes )

[Harley Stroh]

That's great! When I wrote the module I tried to evoke the flavor from the "Tomb of the Lizard King" and a little bit of "Keep on the Borderlands." (You'll probably recognize the elements right away. )

[Chris McCoy]

Oh and a quick note, Harley, the PCs are heading in for their second time next session with the completed module.

Bwhahaha!

[Harley Stroh]

Chris,

You guys rock! And now you get the official Jim Holloway player handouts and everything!

[benevolent-dm]

Harley,

Well...the boys have had two sessions so far, and they are kicking some major butt! I've upped the ante a little for the second session by making the suggested changes for stronger parties (even though they are a party of 4 6th level characters) I even threw all three mummies at them at the same time. They basically used 100% of their resources, no spells left, two were one hit from going down, and two had mummy rot!

In the first session they were able to figure out how to activate Stygoths circlet, and clean out his treasure trove. I had him come back while they were at his lair, randomly rolled a 6 round staying time, and they had him down in 4 rounds. I entered the last round with over 60 hit points and they brought him down. Damn criticals!

So...they haven't been to the Forge yet (they went to Lair of the Lizardfolk first)...I have been thinking of buffing up the main characters at the Forge and throwing a few more kobolds and some of the Orc fighters (from a caravan or two). Any suggestions on increasing the levels of the main characters?

Everyone is having a blast and really enjoying the style of play. Any recommendations for their next adventure. They will probably be 8th or 9th level, but act like 10th or 11th level characters!

Benevolent DM

[Harley Stroh]

B-DM,

What a great couple of sessions! I'm sorry to hear that Stygoth went down so quickly, but PC legends are built on critical hits against the Big Dragon.

I don't know when you guys are playing next, but I'll try to post beefier versions of the Forge defenders tomorrow morning. In lieu of that, here are some ideas to consider:

When the orcs from the Mountain King missing, the Forge goes on high alert. The kobolds and gnolls will be readied for an assault, and Graah will have taken the time to suit up for battle. (Of course Torgo has his own ideas about this, and may try to lead a revolt.) Anticipating a frontal assault, the elite orcs will wait in reserve, then rope down over the side walls, circling around to pinch the PCs by the slave pits. Graah leads a charge from the Forge and ultra-violence ensues.

(Clever PCs – and your group sounds like such a group – will probably forgo a frontal assault, but that’s fine. Graah and his forces will still attempt a pincher maneuver, with varied success. If the PCs take the time to confound battlefield communications, they should be rewarded for their efforts and foresight.)

Meanwhile, Kyleth will be making her own plans. She lobs a few spells at the PCs once they make it past the slave pits, then retreats inside her fortified building to make her “stand;” she’ll make a half-hearted attempt to defend the building, then retreat out her secret door, assuming that her closing trap will finish off those pesky heroes.

If the PCs rock the ending of the module, congratulations all around! Maybe you can allow a remnant of the demon skull to remain, forcing the PCs to carry it to the Brotherhood of the Ordocar to be disposed of...

Again, I’ll try to have those new blocks up by tomorrow.

[Mike_Ferguson]

Any recommendations for their next adventure. They will probably be 8th or 9th level, but act like 10th or 11th level characters!

Benevolent DM

Crypt of the Devil Lich?

More seriously, try Temple of the Dragon Cult as a follow-up if they're 8th or 9th level. It's a challenging adventure (and one of my DCC favorites).

[Harley Stroh]

So I didn't have as much time as I would have liked, but here are two new versions of the module's chief villains. No warranties on these two – and if you find errors, the blame is mine for shoddy late night work, not Goodman Games.

That said, enjoy! Played well, they should give your PCs a run for their gold piece.

Graah, Ogre Ftr4/Exp1: CR 8; Large Giant; HD 4d8+4d10+1d6+27; hp 77; Init +2; Spd 40ft.; AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 24; Base Atk +7; Grp +11; Atk +13 +1 thundering greatsword melee (2d6+11/19-20+1d8 plus deafness); Full Atk +13/+8 +1 thundering greatsword melee (2d6+11/19-20+1d8 plus deafness); Space/Reach 10’/10'; AL LE; SV Fort +10, Ref +6, Will +6; Str 21, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 6.

Skills and Feats: Craft (Armorsmithing) +6, Craft (Blacksmithing) +6, Craft (Weaponsmithing) +6, Intimidate +7, Listen +2, Spot +2; Cleave, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Great Sword), Weapon Specialization (Great Sword).

Possessions: Spiked half-plate, Thundering Greatsword +1, large bracers of armor +3, large gauntlets of improved fire resistance.


Kyleth, half-elf Sor8: CR 8; Medium Humanoid HD 8d4+8; hp 32; Init +3; Spd 30ft.; AC 15, touch 13, flat-footed 12; Base Atk +4; Grp +2 Atk masterwork shortspear +2 melee (1d6-2/x2) or masterwork shortpear +7 ranged (1d6-2/x2); SQ immune to sleep, summon familiar; AL CE; SV Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +6; Str 7, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 17.

Skills and Feats: Concentration +12, Craft (Alchemy) +4, Hide +5, Intimidate +5, Knowledge (arcana) +6, Knowledge (nature) +3, Search +5, Spellcraft +13; Combat Casting, Item Brew Potion, Leadership.

Possessions: bracers of armor +1, ring of protection +1, masterwork shortspear, wand of magic missile (CL 3 - 20 charges).

Sorcerer spells known (6/7/7/6/3); base DC = 13 + spell level): 0—acid splash, arcane mark, daze, detect magic, flare, ghost sound, mage hand, read magic; 1—alarm, charm person, mage armor, magic missile, protection from good; 2––flaming sphere, scare, summon monster II; 3—lightning bolt, summon monster III; 4—black tentacles.

[benevolent-dm]

Harley,

Great work with the bad guys...I think they will definitely give the boys a run for their money...definitely going to have the Forge defenders encircle the party somehow to cut off any escape.

We won't be playing for about a month...we normally play every two weeks and our Eberron group (sorry!) is back from summer hiatus.

Thanks,
Benevolent DM

[Harley Stroh]

B-DM!

That awesome! Eb is a great setting, and a good contrast to the DCCs --- nothing wrong with more roleplaying, especially if the adventures are being written in Colorado (the new Wisconsin .)

If I can get my current project laid to rest it would be fun to write up a mass combat version of the closing chapter of the module.

That might be a stretch, but what a fun opportunity. Kobolds firing from the towers, gnolls hunkered down behind wagons, the Forge on fire, and a mad demon skull trying to possess the PCs ... fun times all around. I'll put it on the “to do when there’s nothing to do” list.

[benevolent-dm]

Well...

Session #3 is in the books. Another successful day of adventuring for the crew. Let's just say they are very afraid of some demon skull.

They finished off the remainder of the lizardfolk "army", including all three kings (N'dereg, new king, new king reborn). The group's wizard came up with the idea to ground the king and sent the Paladin in to do his dirty work. During the battle, the party's cleric retreated back to heal himself, and found himself standing beside the open secret door to the treasure vault. Even though he has the best will save of the party, he was easily dominated (love it when the PC's roll a "1" on their saves! )

To the players credit, he did a great job convincing the party he was OK, and they even let him take a watch during the night. Needless to say, he was able to ambush the Paladin during the night. No one had any spells, and the cleric was the only one in armor. He had the Paladin down to 3hp before the party was able to subdue him. Too bad a cleric in plate armor doesn't have a better "Move Silently".

Anyways...I figured trying to kill one of your colleagues was a good reason for a re-attempt on the save, which he easily made...unfortunately, his party doesn't believe him, and now he is in manacles (both hand and feet), and has no weapons...they even made him stay up all night so he doesn't get any of his spells back.

Meanwhile, the party is starting to piece things together...only they think they need to stick something into the demon skull's mouth to destroy it...would have helped to go to the Forge first. Next session, they plan on visiting a couple of rooms they left behind in the "Lair" and then head to the Forge to see what's going on. The kicker is that they are so afraid of the demon skull and the obsidian greatsword, they left all the good stuff behind...wrapped the sword in a cloak and chucked it into the treasure vault, leaving it, the skull, and the remainder of the treasure behind. Maybe when they come back the lair will be filled with lizardfolk zombies.

[Harley Stroh]

WOW!

B-DM, this is incredibly fun to hear! Congrats on a great session. (Especially the possession... wow!)

It will be exciting to hear how you handle the end; sounds like you may have to improv some.

Maybe when they come back the lair will be filled with lizardfolk zombies.

Cackle. "Benevolent" indeed.

[benevolent-dm]

Well, the fourth and and final session is in the books. I am really impressed with my group's problem solving ability. While planning the nights adventure, they realized they needed to reconoiter the Forge to see what was going on there. A couple of the party went invisible and took a stroll around the Forge, finding the "Maw". They, of course, put 2&2 together, came up with 4 (amazingly) and decided it would be best to chuck the skull into the Maw.

The group sauntered back to the "Lair" and went to retreive the skull and check out the remaining 3 rooms (offering statues, collapsing room, and owlbear zombie). This is were the fun began. Upon entering the room, it was decided that the cleric (who is sort of an NPC being controlled by another player) would pilfer the gold nuggets! Not very lawful! Anyways...he stopped at two curses - food and max damage. The party decided it would be best to return to town to find a high level caster to remove the curses (I made the curses require a CL12 to remove) after the cleric had no effect. I randomly rolled the highest caster level cleric for the town (small city actually - 5001+ people, so the party could trade treasure for fancy magic items) - came up with 8th level - one up from the PC's, not good enough. They thought maybe "Break Enchantment" might work, so they found a wizard to cast - found one at CL10, but he failed his CL check! He also left them with gem - "Maybe you try making an offering instead of stealing!"

Back the party went...the cleric made an offering, which I allowed him to remove the "food" curse. Of course, the bonuses don't stack, so he was stuck with the max damage curse. The Paladin made and offering to the "Violence" statue and got the "make all saves for an hour" blessing - very important later on.

Next they went to the collapsing room. The rogue easily determined the roof would fall in, but went in anyways...just in case there was treasure. He got clobbered by falling rocks and mud, and of course did not find any treasure! They easily destroyed the owlbear, and then went off to retreive the skull.

You may remember earlier in this thread that I mentioned maybe throwing in a bunch of lizardfolk zombies...I decided not to, so they would get to the "Forge" quicker...good thing, because the battle there lasted almost the entire gaming session.

The Paladin retreived the skull and remaining magic items (including the obsidian greatsword), made his automatic save on the domination, sending the skull into it's dormant state. He and the mage dimension doored to the Maw, broke the skull and chucked it (keeping the gems of course maybe Obitu-que will come back to kick their butts later). They almost fell into the Maw as it collapsed (automatic save for the Paladin, high dex=good reflex save for the wizard). Wisely, they called forth the Paladin's mount once the Forge started coming down and rode off to collect the rogue and cleric from the Lair. They party high-tailed it back to Forge to begin their assault.

Assault on the Forge!
I left 20 kobolds and 10 gnolls alive with 1 and 7 HP respectively after the collapse. All the key combatants, including the improved Graah and Kyleth were all at 100%. They only somewhat intact building was Kyleth's.

The party breached the collapsed wall near the a gate, and ignored the kobolds and gnolls milling about confused, going straight for Kyleth's "house". They quickly dispatched the 3 gnoll guards, and moved to break into Kyleth's. She obliged them by opening the door and frying them with a lightning bolt - straight through the Paladin and his mount, and into the cleric - Max Damage!!! She took a couple of arrows from the rogue, and then closed and barred the door behind her (she was with Meave, Loki and Backra). Meanwhile Graah and Torgo began organizing some defense and the 10 round battle ensued. The cleric, realizing that he was not enjoying max damage, tried to stay out of the battle (which made it difficult for him to heal anyone). Graah smacked the Paladin for a thundering critical - 47hp +deafness - automatic save! This dropped the Paladin and sent the remaining members of the party fleeing for their lives through the collapsed wall near the former Maw. Pursued by Graah and a few remaining kobolds and gnolls, they made their stand at the wall. Torgo and and 4 kobolds were "Confused" at the time...mainly Torgo killing his comrades or everyone fleeing. The rogue and wizard were finally able to bring down Graah, while the now invisible cleric tried to make his way back to the fallen Paladin.

Kyleth, realizing her best line of defense was gone, made ready for her escape, sending Meave and Backra out as cannon fodder. Loki flew out to drop some acid (literally, not the mind altering drug, of course!). Kyleth stayed at the door to cast Evard's black tentacles at the party, but before she was able to, the party's wizard cast his own EBT!!! I thought he was out of 4th level spells - stupid me! It caught Meave, Backra and Kyleth, and so began the beginning of the end for Benevolent-DM. Loki, seeing the soon to be demise of his mistress, flew back into the "house" to retreive Ars Maleficus. He had been tagged by 2 arrows from the rogue, and was then clobbered by an attack of opportunity by the invisible cleric standing beside Kyleth at the door. Needless to say, he did not survive the blow, and the party was able to capture Ars Maleficus. Evard's, and the now mobile Paladin finished off the remainder of the defenders, and the battle was over.

The party destoyed Kyleth's arcane mark, ensuring no return (of course Obitu-que may come back...) Once the dust settled, they searched the remainder of Kyleth's and the rest of the forge, the rogue got stuck in the "last laugh" trap, and the party collected all the treasure and lived happily ever after (until the next DCC module!)

Harley,
Thanks for a great module. Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. We are all looking forward to our next DCC adventure!

Benevolent-DM

[Harley Stroh]

B-DM,

Of all the great things that came from writing DCC 17 for Goodman Games, reading your account of the adventure is the best. Thank you!

:Edit:
It may be too corny for your game, but there's no reason Obitu-que's spirit couldn't find a home in Kyleth's blood-spattered corpse. Night of the Walking Witch Queen. Two great villains that taste great together!

//H

[benevolent-dm]

Harley,

You may get to see some more postings about your great modules. For our next module we are going to jump into #12 Blackguard's Revenge and then #12.5 Iron Crypt. Are they designed to flow into each other back-to-back, or do several years need to pass between "adventures". I think our current party with LG cleric and Paladin would fit into the story well.

Regards,
B-DM

[Harley Stroh]

Back to back is ideal. The Blackguard's Revenge has a horde of undead that need to be battled --- a GREAT, combat heavy adventure with some puzzles to keep the PCs on their toes.

Once the horde has been defeated, their lair needs to be sealed --- the Iron Crypt of the Heretics. The module is nearly all puzzles and traps, with some vicious combat thrown in for good measure.

Taken together, the modules compliment and balance each other. In play tests the Iron Crypt slaughtered the first round of groups. We toned the adventure down, but your players seem tougher and smarter than most. They did such a great job with Legacy that I’m intrigued to see how they handle the Crypt.

[Uratoh]

When I upgraded Kyleth to lv 8 for my party, I gave her Otliuke's Resiliant Sphere...it was great fun. She knew the party's general tactics beforehand so when she got initiative, she put the sorcerer in a bubble. Next round, the combat crazy dwarf in a bubble, then started trying to Sleep people...was great fun. Only after the fight did the sorcerer realize, 'wait...I had Dispel Magic all along!'

Also hillarious that since the dwarf was literally trapped, he made a show on his initiatives of trying to break out ^_^

[Harley Stroh]

Also hillarious that since the dwarf was literally trapped, he made a show on his initiatives of trying to break out ^_^

*cackle* The dwarf in the bubble?! That's one that will live forever in infamy.

Sounds like the consensus is that the bad guys were too weak. Hmm ... Need to step that up in the next module. I'm glad that "the last laugh" caught at least one rogue.

Off topic aside: isn’t it strange (and wonderful) that Rogues, the class that encourages so much caution and planning, is the same class that attracts all the loose cannon players?

Every thief always goes for the gem in the statue, usually when the party has its back turned and is moving on. It must be in the contract they sign with the Thieves Guild or something.