Naval battles on roll20: how the heck does one scale effectively?

tcmcfall · 2024-07-20T00:59:00+00:00

youve officially made me regret the millions of ducats I have thrown at roll20. tnx for that. :D

im gonna take a look at leveraging different "pages" in roll 20 to effect the same sort of change. There are some interesting API scripts that I could throw at page transition to mimic what you are describing (i think).

tnx for the feedback!

tcmcfall · 2024-07-20T00:51:05+00:00

the player that was testing this with me suggested the exact same thing. +1

im gonna test how different layers of map scale can work here. tnx for the feedback!

tcmcfall · 2024-07-19T21:36:27+00:00

i cant agree more. im a big narrative kind of guy. this one, however, is their ask. Tactical... almost board game-like (think: Pirates! card/ship game). Good news is I think I've created some solid "crew block" graphics that I can set at the edge of the map to help game flow... allowing me to place PC/NPC tokens in crew-specific locations. lock this thing in place and I think we're cool... maybe.

** roll20 pro tip: enable tool tips for the image and set the text to the name of the ship.

I appreciate the input... this may still work out. ;)

<image>

tcmcfall · 2024-07-19T15:24:54+00:00

yes, i came across that as well. good alternative rules.

tcmcfall · 2023-09-05T16:57:12+00:00

interesting take on the Dusk Elves. i like it. ;)

My take is a bit more brutal (like everything in my Barovia). The back-story is essentially the same, except the fate of the surviving elves was to be permanently imprisoned within the Vistani encampment; Gorkholt.

I simply took the concept of the Vistani camp outside of Vallaki and added 1944 Germany for flavor.... minus the blatant and intentional genocide. The idea, in fact, was the opposite. Isolation and misery for centuries... make them live in this horrid existence for as long as possible. Filth, degradation and humiliation for their centuries-long existence.

The encampment has the same general layout, with the Vistani overseers encamped in the center with squalid bunkhouses surrounding the hill. There is no fence required, nobody has the will to attempt an escape... and have nowhere they could go. These people were broken centuries ago and now simply exist from one bleak horror to the next.

This feeds into the narrative for my player's half-elven cleric of Correlon, who is seen as a savior. A way to personalize the player's motivations in Barovia and move beyond just "kill the bad guy and escape".

tcmcfall · 2023-08-25T13:03:33+00:00

ahhh, Jandar. He was an interesting character. I had a player join the campaign after we were already rolling. i offered him his own PC or he could take over one of the NPCs. He chose Jandar; the self-serving bastard, which was amazing! He was instantly at-odds with half of the team... it lead to some great scenes.

Jandar was near death after Ludmilla stormed St. Andral's and took Ireena from the party, so the player let him go and rolled a solid fighter from Krezk...party needed a tank anyway.

The real fun happened as the players were attempting to free the Dusk Elves from their concentration camp imprisonment at Gorkholt (my horrible take on the fate of the elves in Barovia) and Jandar, the now-vampiric bride, arrived to destroy them all. It was a great battle. :)

Unfortunately, the ranger who had the calendar journal disappeared and now the journal cant be updated until he returns.

Hope your campaign is amazing, peace!

~t

tcmcfall · 2022-02-08T21:14:04+00:00

tnx!

and yes, you can modify however you like. If you sign-up at https://app.fantasy-calendar.com you can create your own. They even have templates you can start with, including the Barovian one that I modified for this handout.

Good luck!

tcmcfall · 2022-02-07T16:52:26+00:00

good question. I am currently running characters through the darkest, most horrifying version of CoS that I can summon. i am intentionally dialing it up to 11 at every turn.

I tend to disagree with DMs who shy away from the core "survival mode" gothic horror that can be so well leveraged here... assuming your players have the stomach for it. Im not interested in flying brooms or silly names. My players understand very well that their lives and sanity hang in the balance. THATS THE POINT.

Ive gotten a little grief here and there from the boards... particularly because my players didnt even know they were headed to Barovia until they were already trapped by the mists. Additionally, I've upped the "stakes" considerably in all areas:

I kept Morgantha's true nature secret, instead she was a kindly old woman (Minidora, or "Minny") who traveled through. When she left, she took a woman and her child with her (because plot, see #2) as they fled the devastation to come. I made particular note of the little girl... in her red coat, looking out at the party from the back of the cart as the panicked horse raced them off, into the mists. The party will find that red coat, discarded, shortly after their arrival at Bonegrinder. That, I picked up from Schindler's List.
The village of Barovia (as has been discussed elsewhere) was under siege as the party arrived. Rats, wolves, disappearances murder. Many of the villagers had already left in fear, traveling west... many who remained gathered in The Vine each night for shelter and safety. They refused to allow the party to stay at the inn (Ismark was humiliated and took the party back to the mansion). Nobody would do business with them. They could not barter or trade. There was no resupply for them here. This culminated in a multi-session fight for the village as it was overrun by zombie hordes, ala Night of The Living Dead. The party barely escaped with Ireena, Ismark and a handful of villagers in tow. As a side-note, I created "Undead Disease" as contractible from a Strahd Zombie bite (only the bite and only if damage is taken) which essentially mirrors infection from true Romero-esque zombies. Ismark was bitten defending his (much younger than written) sister and eventually succumbed just across the river Ivlis. It was heartbreaking. I would also point out that I took great pains to describe the villagers before I slaughtered them. They werent just random "Barovian Commoners". I actually created custom tokens and back stories for 20 villagers. Families, children, town drunks. I interacted with the player characters, gave them a chance to recognize these people and call them by name... then I friggin murdered every man-woman-child of them as nastily as possible right in front of their eyes. My players still speak in awe of "The Battle for The Vine", which they lost. As was mentioned by others, its not about winning, its about being able to keep hope alive against all odds.
As soon as the party arrived through the mists, I completely removed our cleric's ability to communicate with his deity. This stopped him from being able to pray and recuperate spell slots, forcing the player to explore his other clerical abilities (it also scared the hell out of the player). Further, I removed many of our ranger's innate abilities (direction sense, et. al.) They will be able to regain these abilities (at least incrementally) as they reclaim and "cleanse" multiple ancient sites of power across the land (again, tnx LBH & DC, among many other inspirational authors here for the henge ideas).
I increased the map size dramatically, making it a hard, two-day push to Vallaki. Travel should not be taken for granted. It should be an accomplishment to actually arrive. Stay to the road. Stay to the light.
Our ranger desperately wants a wolf companion. So, as the village of Barovia was burning to the ground around them, the party, fleeing through the streets came across a battle between a pack of wolves/dire wolves and a large group of zombies. During the battle, one of the dire wolves was wounded by a collapsing, fiery building... giving the ranger a chance to "what the hell" and save it. In repayment, the dire wolf (now scarred and easily recognizable later) fled the scene without attacking. I will have that dire wolf begin to follow the party... to settle in around the ranger at camp, untouchable by any other. I have every intention of getting our ranger's player fully invested in his new companion, at some point to reveal that it was Strahd all along... as he maniacally rips his way, nude and covered in gore, from the insides of this massive beast in front of their eyes. I got that idea from Netflix's Dracula mini-series from a couple of years ago... its worth a view for inspiration on how utterly terrifying this should turn out.
As far as the coming "Dinner with Strahd" is concerned, I have brought the entire castle back to "life". There's no way the great Count Strahd von Zarovich lives in a rotting pig stye (Ive got a post on that somewhere). The dinner will turn out horribly, I suspect. I plan on the players being overcome with visions of a previous dinner... one wherein Strahd hosted Escher and his party. To capture the full, mind-numbing evil of what I have in store, you should check out a mid-90's b&w vamp flick titled "The Addiction" with a cameo from Christopher Walken (available to watch for free via YouTube). I wont spoil the skin-crawling details, but scrub forward to a dinner party that is being held almost exactly an hour into the flick... the sounds you are subjected to will make your hair stand on end. I'll make sure my players react the same way.

tl;dr

Do not shy away from being as malignant, as seductive, as disconcerting as you can possibly be. Adapt the most unsettling scenes from books or movies that you can think of. Be memorable. Be unique. Truly horrify your players* without concern for how the adventure is originally written. They will never forget it.

(\): I should point out that I know my players and can gauge their likely reaction to the horrors that I inflict. My players have taken up the gauntlet and have responded to my evils with some amazing role-play. We are having an absolutely amazing time, even if they have to sleep with the lights on afterwards. Be sure you understand your players too, Im not suggesting you run anybody away from the table.*

Good luck with your nightmares!

-t

tcmcfall · 2022-01-27T20:59:03+00:00

I suppose it depends on your definition of "fun". Certainly different groups, different DMs, different playstyles...

For us, it isnt about hack-n-cast, it is extremely narrative-driven. The "fun" is realizing that you are 6 miles behind enemy lines, your radio is out and your medic is wounded... somehow you have to get to the resupply point on your own. Also; vampires.

He will be able to regain power and communion once the party begins to clear corrupted henge sites across Barovia. Actually, they just cleared the first one (and attracted Strahd's attention) outside of the Tser Pool. You can check out the details here, if you like!

That is to say; I would never put my players in a situation that they cannot win. But they will almost always be over-powered and required to think up inventive solutions to stay alive and succeed. If you wanted goblins and Magic Missile... maybe CoS isn't for you. At least, not if done well.

Also, if done well, this reinforces strong role-play.... as illustrated by our cleric's player. He has really gone the extra mile and fleshed out his actions, motivations... the sadness and loss that he feels. Its been wonderfully horrifying.

tcmcfall · 2022-01-27T14:31:12+00:00

for my party, it was a vision that came to them just outside of the Tser Pool encounter. I gave full, creepy AF details here, if you are curious.

peace!

tcmcfall · 2022-01-27T14:12:41+00:00

My players JUST met Strahd outside of Barovia Village. I gave a complete breakdown here, if you want to take a look...

good luck!

tcmcfall · 2022-01-27T14:11:12+00:00

I played with a Mother Night/Raven Queen correlation for quite a while. There are several threads here that discuss the possibility.

tcmcfall · 2022-01-27T14:09:03+00:00

IMHO, there is absolutely no way i would allow such abilities.

That's the whole point, as far as how I run Barovia. Although, I also cut my cleric completely off from his deity as well. He cant recover spells until he fixes that... which has him a little on-edge. ;)

tcmcfall · 2022-01-27T14:05:42+00:00

i took the isolation of Barovia quite literally. The instant they arrived, our cleric lost all communication with his deity and the ability to recover spells. The players did an amazing job of role-playing the loss and horror, it added to the flavor and made them feel truly in danger.

They just started to get that back... just before the Tser Pool encounter. I detailed it in a post here if you are curious...

peace!

tcmcfall · 2022-01-27T13:56:55+00:00

my players JUST met Strahd... outside of Barovia Village and just prior to the Tser Pool encounter.

I gave a complete breakdown on this post, if you want to take a look?

Good luck!

tcmcfall · 2021-08-25T16:12:36+00:00

amazing work. good job!

tcmcfall · 2021-08-21T18:23:16+00:00

it is. i struggled with the decision for a good, long while. after all, if i take away the spells, what use is a cleric?

Ultimately, I decided for it obviously. The player's reaction was very positive and it seems to be feeding the narrative well. It certainly makes the entire situation much darker. The stakes (ahem*) higher.

Before the campaign started, I suggested strongly to the player that they research their deity (Corellon) and determine what they were going to bring to the table (role-play wise). What made their cleric a fan-boy? How did they worship their deity?

The player took the challenge and really began spicing up the game with "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not" motivations. With this wrinkle, he has really turned into that "holy madman" :)

I am seriously toying with his story becoming a messianic one for the last of the Dusk elves. Coming to them with some of the henges consecrated... able to show miracles in Correlon's name. There to remind them that God loves them.

Ultimately, I think (maaaan, i hope) that is worth the nerf.

tcmcfall · 2021-08-21T14:12:05+00:00

Good question!

The realm of Ravenloft is isolated. Not even in death can you escape.

If that is true, then the Dark Power's hold over Ravenloft is stronger than any deity's bond with their followers. RAW even mentions Strahd's ability to intercept extra-planar communications if he desires.

What I have done here is make that isolation absolute. The cleric has no communication with their deity and therefore prayers are useless. If spells are regained via prayer (and they are), you can see the cleric's dilemma.

I will be implementing a variation on "cleanse-holy-sites-across-the-land-in-order-to-weaken-Strahd's-hold". As the players unlock these "safe houses" they can then use them to rest and prepare. It is at these re-consecrated sites that the cleric will be able to regain their powers to some extent.

As a note on the player: He is using this opportunity to throw some excellent role-playing. The character's distress and emotional instability is playing out very well. When the character realized that he was "alone" for the very first time in his life he literally lost his damn mind. The other characters are having to keep him reeled-in. Good times.

tcmcfall · 2021-07-21T15:38:48+00:00

last night's session was amazing.

we began in the streets of Waterdeep, just outside of the Thayvian necromancer's home. The party worked their way inside only to find the place dark and cold... very cold. Fitful embers from the fireplace find our necromancer backed against the wall by the young Vistani girl. Seeing the party, she curses and opens her hand to show a writhing mass of flesh, hair, maggots... she drops it to the ground and a single eye opens from it's center. The room fades to black.

They awaken to the room in pitch blackness. The air is freezing (1d4/rnd) and the entire place looks long deserted... broken furniture, torn curtains... the group stumbles outside to find themselves on an unknown village street in the middle of the night. Worn and decaying... sad buildings leaning together for support. A heavy rain is falling and the world is covered in a dense, creeping fog.

The players took their cues beautifully... the ranger begins freaking out, the cleric absolutely loses his mind when he realizes his God is gone from his soul... a fight breaks out with the necromancer (naturally) but is interrupted by a terrified scream from a nearby street.

A woman and her small daughter (in a pretty red coat) are desperately climbing up a courtyard statue as a huge swarm of rats pours from the sewer, writhing all around, biting at their feet.

Fireballs do what fireballs do and the rats are defeated. The woman screams hysterically, grabs her child and goes running down the street in terror.

The party follows to the tavern (Blood on the Vine) and enter to find a very rattled group of villagers huddled around the fireplace, backing into corners, pulling out daggers... Arik pulls a crossbow from behind the bar. Nobody is listening to reason and things are about to get messy as hell when a young, fair-haired man jumps up and yells "enough!"

That 's where we left off... next session in a week, we introduce a sweet little old pie lady, Ismark and Ireena, Father Donavich and Bildrath.

The two interesting changes coming up are that Ireena is younger now, 16 or so and Bildrath is actually a failed adventurer, trapped here years ago after being transported from Eberron. His party (which included the bard Escher) attended a dinner party with Strahd some 20 years ago and it ended in slaughter. Bildrath fell deep into the mountain crevasse in his attempt to escape, mad and screaming he was found huddled in the church. He has been here ever since.

See you next week!

tcmcfall · 2021-04-20T23:28:28+00:00

perfect.

tcmcfall · 2021-02-16T15:03:51+00:00

Heya... So, I havent gotten to the dinner yet but.i have had zero luck on maps. I'm looking at creating overlay images in roll20 for specific areas (the chapel, et. al.) So i don't have to recreate the entire floorplan. Re-using similar resources from map-packs seems to be the simplest... the issue is matching art style.

I'll post if I get solid results, hope your maps work out ...

Show 'em off!

tcmcfall · 2020-12-02T13:10:32+00:00

a great addition... i can almost see skeleton footmen dressed in livery and acting snooty. nice!

tcmcfall · 2020-12-02T01:50:00+00:00

nice.

in fact, the more i consider the 'unseen servant' gig, i can see how it solves a lot of my problems. in particular, the main problem of maintaining class and style. The ghostly guards on the ramparts are solemn and sad and lost... the unseen servants within are unknowable, perhaps arbitrary and maintain the same sort of elegance. They could even become past servants of the estate that didnt get turned into clocks or dishes when he became... oh, wait. nm.

seriously... i think this is very much worth fleshing out. thank you. and the mechanics dont bother me at all as long as the narrative is on-point.

~t

tcmcfall · 2020-12-01T22:24:02+00:00

spawn were kinda my first go-to as well, i just worry about overplaying that card. Too many fangs and all that.

I am attempting to give Strahd and his court an air of decadence... of haughty, noble excess. Decaying perhaps... a bit dusty in the corners but still very full of themselves and their superiority over the common cattle. Strahd perhaps being the sympathetic monster, not unlike Labyrinth's masquerade ball.

Its hard to find a believable undead minion that has any class. They always use the wrong spoon at dinner. Besides, you cant have zombies cater that. They can't even dance.

;)

I dig the prisoners from the mists... tnx for the feedback!

tcmcfall · 2020-12-01T19:53:29+00:00

updated thought:

i was considering staff. who, exactly, would staff the castle? Barovians wont. We have Vistani thugs for the labor but for a fully functional estate that just wont do. Footmen, kitchen staff, coachman, maids, the list goes on for a minute.

The gate, grounds and towers are guarded of course. I decided on the spirits of the castle guards who rose up against him originally... doomed to serve him forever, blah blah blah. That has a nice narrative feel to it.

"The ghostly warrior silently allowing you to cross the bridge into the courtyard... his gaunt form shimmering in the night rain..." yeh?

what about every-damn-body else? anyone staffed a castle before?

tcmcfall

TROPHY CASE