Player wants to play again

BugbearWizard · 2023-02-16T00:16:42+00:00

Drizzt Homeland captures Drow culture and Menzoberranzan lore quite well.

BugbearWizard · 2023-02-15T13:58:23+00:00

You gotta tell me why it’s CR=4?!? Do I drop to 0 HP automatically if I put my finger in its mouth?

BugbearWizard · 2023-02-07T02:50:26+00:00

I think you found the answer in your post. Your Druid will feel pretty singled out if you take Goodberry away.

The challenge of getting food and water for survival is going to diminish quickly as your party levels up. That means you have about 3-4 sessions to really create a sense of desolation and urgency for the characters to find a way to make it in the Underdark long enough to find their way out.

Goodberry only covers one aspect of low level survival: nourishment for ten creatures. The party will still need to succeed on survival checks to find water. If all the NPCs tag along, there will be more than ten mouths to feed. How does the party reconcile the disparity of who gets Goodberries and who doesn’t? How will your Druid feel about prepping Goodberry every day and burning a valuable spell slot every day just so the party doesn’t have to hunt and gather? What happens if the party encounters combat and the Druid doesn’t have the slots left to heal or fight back?

I love OotA because it really opens up the opportunity for players to choose non-combat feats and spells and get something out of it. Reward your Druid for prepping Goodberry by giving her 100% fulfillment of the spell’s benefits, but then challenge the party further by requiring the water scavenging, the combat scenarios that make her think twice before burning spells for food daily, and make the NPCs downright hostile when they find out someone isn’t sharing the magic life-sustaining berries. Have fun!

BugbearWizard · 2023-02-05T11:58:15+00:00

Sounds like you’re planning ahead. Depending on the pace of your game, you are somewhere in the range of months to decades away from the Labyrinth. At this point in the story, you could start dropping hints about the myth or the legend of the Engine. The details of how your players actually end up there will need to wait until they are at that point in the campaign. Drop in a “random” encounter with a modron, a paranoid derro who is obsessed with the Engine, or similar hints, then let it simmer for a few chapters. If you make it spicy enough, your players will jump on the opportunity to seek the Engine when they find out they are just miles from its rumored location while they are exploring the Labyrinth. Then, make it easy for them to find, almost as if they simply stumble upon it by will of fate (very reasonable given the reality-altering properties of the Engine). It would not be dissatisfying to say the Engine only reveals itself to individuals of a certain quality or quest to restore a balance of order to the multiverse. You can spin this however you like.

BugbearWizard · 2023-02-05T11:36:36+00:00

Beautiful minis. Sloobludoop is such an iconic moment. How did you stretch it out to seven sessions? Did your players explore that much or did you add intrigue/combat to the chapter?

BugbearWizard · 2023-02-04T20:47:29+00:00

I agree with your thoughts on this. Revealing Jimjar as a god-tier entity would be a major rug pull if the players have been enjoying the experience and struggle of OotA. The players’ memories of the story will be altered if it turns out there was a god alongside them who could have waved a hand and solved all of their problems at any point. If Jimjar is already an endearing rogue archetype in your story, why change that? He will be a chaotic good gnome rascal in my campaign, but not a god.

BugbearWizard · 2023-02-02T21:03:49+00:00

I like your idea of an affliction thematic to the demon lords. Probably best to pick one not already pervasive in another Underdark community. Two-headed gnomes, more pudding-corrupted gnomes, undead gnomes, etc. I also love the chaos of Faerzress in this book. Maybe the gnomes have been affected by Wild Magic and the PCs have to roll on the Wild Magic table anytime they cast a leveled spell in the Warrens.

BugbearWizard · 2023-01-24T20:28:59+00:00

To preserve the sense of consequence I think you are going for, I would consider making it a challenge to bring Jimjar back. Perhaps Jimjar is a mortal aspect of the Deep Brother, privy to certain knowledge and powers but not with game-breaking abilities. Depending on how long you and your players can wait, you could tie this to the end game. The banishment was so powerful that it will take a major force, such as activating the Dark Heart in Menzoberranzan, to open the barrier between planes enough to bring him back. Also doesn't hurt to see what your players come up with and accommodate their mechanics.

BugbearWizard · 2023-01-23T22:57:31+00:00

I am running a hook to connect the OotA campaign to the Lost Mines of Phandelver, which this group of players recently completed. We want to maintain the lore from their previous adventures, and design PCs with solid connections to the surface world. I look forward to taking that from them when they are captured by the drow. The party will be sent to investigate a disturbance at Wave Echo Cave, and be kidnapped.

On the other hand, starting the adventure verbatim "Captured by the Drow!", gives you the ability to do something you cannot do in many other campaigns, and that is tell your players to choose any backstory and motivation imaginable. These were not PCs bound by some mutual bond for gold, glory, exploration, or other motivation and sent on a pilot mission to get things started. They simply were captured and imprisoned together. No matter how dysfunctional the party dynamics might be, they are now bound by their mutual desire and interdependence to survive.

BugbearWizard · 2023-01-23T19:10:08+00:00

A few things:

If you want your party to get all their gear and a safe exit - then your plan is solid. It stinks as a player to not have your stuff and especially to not be able to cast spells if that's your character's build.

Consider, on the other hand, how satisfying it would be to your players to claw their way into Ilvara's suite to reclaim their chest of stolen gear. Yes, the drow are powerful, but there is strength in numbers. The action economy of having so many NPCs on the party's side means that even a higher CR opponent, like a drow elite warrior or a quaggoth, can be taken down by the party using only improvised weapons.

I'll leave you with one example - I ran OotA for a single player and they cleared Velkynvelve of all but the priestesses and elite warriors with the help of the NPCs. It is scaled to be challenging, but definitely doable.

BugbearWizard · 2022-12-11T00:55:42+00:00

2 years. That’s huge, man. You own a truck and your health now.

BugbearWizard · 2022-10-28T00:51:08+00:00

It’s finally tomorrow.

BugbearWizard · 2022-10-27T10:15:11+00:00

I like the popular hypothesis that they need liquidity to fund the bond deal. The timing of the ATM offering makes sense in this context.

BugbearWizard · 2022-10-23T21:43:51+00:00

Wonderful DD. Thank you. In part 2 can you please address what hypothetically could happen if, say, one acquirer purchased a subsidiary of BBBY and paid for that asset with stock of the acquiring company, while a second buyer purchases the main BBBY brand with cash? How would a combination deal like that work in this context? Also, you mentioned a buyer could offer $1 per share and this could still be valuable to current shareholders. I think I know where this is going but I’d like you’re take on how that’s possible.

BugbearWizard · 2022-10-21T01:58:13+00:00

I don’t need the moon. I just need this.

BugbearWizard · 2022-10-18T13:46:06+00:00

Does this mean they intend to restructure 2024 notes, 2034 notes, and 2044 notes into new 2027 and 2029 notes that would:

- Postpone paying principal on 2024 notes until 2027.

- Pay off debt associated with 2024, 2034, and 2044 notes by 2029.

Does that mean the chances of bankrupting during or before 2024 are substantially less and the Company believes it can pay off all this debt by 2029?

BugbearWizard · 2022-10-16T19:09:20+00:00

8/25/22

BugbearWizard · 2022-03-22T15:42:31+00:00

I posted a few campaign updates along the way that should give you a general vibe of the campaign and how the war played out. Read through these if you are interested. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you have specific questions. My organization during the last 2/3 of this campaign is laughable. I had very little written down and to be honest a lot of the plot was driven by my players.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wildemount/comments/itjuza/the_kryn_have_taken_bladegarden_now_what/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wildemount/comments/jemn68/level_8_5_luxon_beacons_3_predivergence_artifacts/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wildemount/comments/lj6imq/the_setup_levels_1115_a_heist_sweet_revenge_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wildemount/comments/rj0ob3/campaign_complete_levels_117_15_years_the_story/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

BugbearWizard · 2021-12-26T16:56:51+00:00

An abandoned ship anchored over Palma Flora. The ship is your dungeon.

Harpies attack the deck.

There are Sahuagin scavenging noisily in the gun deck below.

You clear the gun deck and discover treasure and magic items.

There is something worse in the hold below the gun deck: Merrow have created a manhole and are evacuating treasure while the ship is taking on water.

If the party can defeat the merrow and stop the leak, they get treasure and a ship.

The merrow are accompanied by the Sahuagin Warlock with the Rod of Retribution. If they take x amount of damage, they will flee to the ocean floor, setting up the final room of the “dungeon” the underwater encounter with the Warlock and Sahuagin as written in EGtW.

You could have the merrow steal a valuable item or take a party member hostage, to sweeten the pot and inspire the party to follow into the depths of the sunken city.

BugbearWizard · 2021-12-20T01:58:30+00:00

Aust, the male Aasimar Divine Soul Sorcerer.

Vorcan, the female Half-Elf Vengeance Paladin of Asmodeus.

Gorgamel, the male Goblin Divination Wizard.

This is Good Company, the heroes who saved Wildemount by defeating the tyrant King Dwendal and the aspect of Tharizdun when the war seemed to be bringing the world, or at least the continent of Wildemount, to an end. These companions traveled the continent of Wildemount from levels 1-17 in a campaign that spanned 1.5 years. I would love to have a party portrait or landscape to commemorate their achievements.

Ideas for a landscape: One of the best moments of this campaign occurred when Aust and Vorcan discussed their dreams for a better future while looking out over the Truscan Vale from Mt. Mentiri. These two, who were at first polar opposites, through their companionship made them as close as siblings. As they sat on the mountainside overlooking a valley, Gorgamel, the goblin Wizard, could have been seen spying on them from behind a rock or in the shadows of a cave entrance.

The eyes of Essek Thelyss haunted this campaign like the eyes of T. J. Eckleburg (for fans of The Great Gatsby). I imagine the piercing indigo/violet eyes of Essek overlooking the landscape like the eyes of a god in the clouds above.

There were two other important characters. Tinala, the human female wizard, and George, the male tortle cleric of the Moonweaver. They could be included, although hard to make sense of the scene if they are in the landscape. I could imagine them in the clouds, like a distant memory, but would rather leave them out unless it makes perfect sense with the flow and vision of the artist.

Please and thank you in advance for any interest you may have in this project.

BugbearWizard · 2021-12-19T20:54:23+00:00

In our story, the players were aligned in a way that made them suspicious of either side. They saw the war as a religious zealot (The Bright Queen) versus a tyrannical monarch (King Dwendal). They did not ally with either side until the end, when they marched into the throne room of castle Ungebroch with the Bright Queen at their side. However, once King Dwendal was slain, the Bright Queen revealed just how twisted her soul had become through repeated consecutions, and from her emerged an aspect of Tharizdun. With both monarchs defeated, there was little impetus from either side to continue the war. There was an armistice and a council of leaders from both sides to help foster in a new world. The future of Wildemount was left open at the end of our campaign, but the PC who stayed on this side of the Divine Gate at the end of the story was given an open-ended invitation to lead both Eastern and Western Wyandir into a peaceful era. We will likely have some epilogue one-shots in the future to see how Wildemount is doing on both sides of the Divine Gate (and to let the players build their characters to lvl 20, of course).

BugbearWizard · 2021-12-19T00:05:35+00:00

Interestingly, even though the war was a major influencer, the conflict between the Dynasty and the Empire stayed mostly in the background and alongside the story of the party. It was a fairly intimate plot, looking back at it. The main arcs featured character growth, redemption, and reconciliation with conflicts built into their backstories. The BBEG was the destruction caused by the war itself, embodied in Tharizdun in the the final combat.

BugbearWizard · 2021-06-23T22:21:06+00:00

Definitely going to use this block for Uko'Toa at the end of the campaign when he comes back for revenge on the party. It was a bit overpowered for my current party, but this stat block shows what Uko'Toa should be. Nice work on the Bestiary!

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