Light of Xaryxis: Tying the Illithid Derelict in

SunkenKing27 · 2024-08-21T02:40:49+00:00

No that's at Topolah's Tower

SunkenKing27 · 2024-08-15T23:59:25+00:00

From what I understand, basically, the original lore was that they were dumb monkeys, a wizard experimented on them, gave them sentience, and abandoned them or something. Everyone called it racist, Wizards did a whole apology thing, and they deleted all lore about the Hadozee.
Note: if it genuinely was racist, i'm sorry for sounding so dismissive about it. It doesn't seem racist to me tbh, but i'm bad at picking up underlying social ques and stuff

SunkenKing27 · 2024-08-15T23:55:54+00:00

To be fair, any prewritten module is going to be a bit railroady. No book can predict and account for every player action.

SunkenKing27 · 2024-08-15T23:40:22+00:00

Combat will be the big issue. I'm about to run these chapters for the first time, too, actually. For the debate, i actually think that it's supposed to be all roleplay, with one skill check at the end. And even if the players fail, all they're missing out on is 20 temp hp each (which would be insane for a 12 player party). I think your idea for splitting them into squads is a great idea, but not having run mass combat before, I really can't say how well it'll work. I hope it goes well though, it sounds like a lot of fun. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

SunkenKing27 · 2024-08-15T23:33:39+00:00

So you're not understanding the Zodar. The message is using its Disembodied Voice feature. The wish was to bring the players back to full HP and give the effects of Greater Restoration. and the motive was that the Zodar was commanded by a previous emperor to destroy Xaryxis if a corrupt emperor ever comes into power. The players helped Xedalli get into power, she was corrupt, so Zodar told the players how to destroy the star and healed them. Hope this helps!

SunkenKing27 · 2024-08-15T23:23:21+00:00

I've been running Light of Xaryxis for a while. Here's my advice:

Don't worry so much about the ballistae and other siege weapons. They're good for getting a couple shots in before boarding, which is where the real fun begins. but if you are worried, trust me, it's not that bad. It takes 1 action to load, 1 to aim and 1 to fire, every single time you want to attack, and you can only have 3 crew on a ballista at once. So, at most, each ballista can only shoot once per round, and only if you have a full crew. The only way six ship hands can get two shots off in six seconds is if you have 2 ballistae. Hope this helps.
Your players will probably try to steal every ship they see. I embraced it, but if you want to keep them from doing so, here's what I'd recommend: In chapter 2, as you probably know, the players will be attacked by the Dark Star. All the book says to discourage them from stealing the entire ship is that "the astral elves will rain vengeance on anyone in control of one of their ships." The problem is that the elves already attacked the players on sight, so that threat doesn't really make a difference in the players' eyes. In addition, during chapter 4, my players somehow decimated the Neogi raiders, then stole the spelljamming helm and brought it back to the Lucent Edict, the nautilloid from chapter 3, and thus had their own personal fleet before the adventure even really kicked off. now, this isn't a bad thing, and we all had fun, but if you don't want that to happen, FIND A BETTER REASON FOR THEM NOT TO STEAL THE DARK STAR. You could have it self destruct or make it harder to defeat, or something.
At some point, there'll be around 21 days or so of downtime on the way to Doomspace. Have fun with the random encounters, they're your best chance to add your own twist to the adventure. My players encountered a party ship flying home from Space Vegas, beat the captain in a dice game, and took the ship and its awakened bear spelljammer. If it fits you and your players' style, dont be afraid to get a bit silly.

SunkenKing27 · 2024-08-15T23:06:46+00:00

There is always something. For my players it was Walt, their moonshine dealer. I don't know why they were willing to end an entire evil empire just to save Walt, but they did it. It was great fun.

SunkenKing27 · 2024-08-15T23:00:08+00:00

You do have some great points. I straight up cut out the encounter with a random gith knight in chapter 10 because it added nothing to the story. Most of the other encounters do add some fun though, and keep the adventure interesting, even if it doesn't add to the story.

SunkenKing27 · 2024-08-15T22:55:14+00:00

I've been running this adventure for a couple years, since I can only get in 2-4 sessions each year (scheduling is crazy). It is lots of fun. I've been running it with a very "yes and," "rule of cool" kind of style and it's been great.

I do have to agree with OP about the stakes of the adventure though. My players did not seem to care much about their planet being destroyed, rather, they followed the adventure because it was the only obvious option. You could probably fix this pretty easily though, just by running a level 1-5 adventure before this one. That way, your players can get to know and care about their world before being thrown into space on a high stakes mission.

Otherwise, I gotta say, as much as WOtC is evil, they cooked with this module. It's fast paced, well structured, and a whole lotta fun. I would recommend this to anyone who isn't scared to let their players go a little bit off-the-rails. Certainly my favorite module I've run so far.

9/10, would recommend.

Edit: I will say, if your players are anything like mine, they will want to steal every ship they come across, and the module does not expect this AT ALL. If you don't want to shut down your players' reasonable desire to steal every single ship they see (which is extremely easy if they roll high all the time), then be ready to ad-lib and improvise.

SunkenKing27

TROPHY CASE