[4e] Campaign Journal - Stones & Shadow, Trees & Light

[Colmarr]

A few of these journals seems to have popped up lately so I thought I'd join the club. If the journal gets views, I'll continue to keep it updated. If not, I'll let it die.

As a general rule, our campaign is following the published WotC adventure arc (H1, H2 etc). As such, it will contain spoilers for those adventures.

UPDATE (4 March 2009): Sessions 1-15 contain spoilers for Keep on the Shadowfell.

Session 16 is an in-between session.

UPDATE (18 December 2009): Sessions 17-35 contain spoilers for Thunderspire Labyrinth.

Each post will consist largely of a link to the campaign 'newsletter' that I'm preparing after each session. The front page of each newsletter is the session recap. The second page is the "behind the scenes" info.

If you're only interested in the recap, feel free to ignore the second page of each issue.

EDIT: For what it's worth, I'm happy for this to be a "live" thread where people comment and question what goes on in the campaign. I don't want it to be a lonely thread with only one poster (ie. me).

[Colmarr]

Session 1: Into the Thunderpeaks

Our heroes find their first taste of adventure.

Observations:

Spoiler

Please don't judge this journal on the quality of the writing in Issue 1. It was cut and pasted from an email summary sent to a missing player and as such is a little off. Later issues have (I believe) better writing.

You’ll note that we started the campaign with only 4 players (and thus 4 PCs). Fortunately we had the key 4e roles covered, so there were no obvious party weaknesses.

We had all played through the fan adventure Raiders of Oakhurst Reloaded before starting KotS, so we had a pretty good idea of how 4e worked, but we had each created new characters for this campaign. I went from playing Erais the Sunlord (“lazor” cleric) to playing Pieter Grimm (battle cleric)*. I had enjoyed the fluff of playing Erais, so decided to stick with the cleric class, but in the meantime became obsessed with playing a cleric of the Lord of Battle. Thus Pieter was born.

As you’ll note from this issue of SSTL, I greatly overestimated Pieter’s survivability. So much so in fact that he almost died in the very first combat of the campaign. It was a mistake that I would make a few more times before I finally got it into my thick skull that Leaders –aren’t- Defenders.

Otherwise this was a pretty “standard” start to a campaign: four adventurers in a tavern. Having said that, it was a pleasant surprise when the combat came to the PCs rather than the other way around.

*Yes, my Avatar is Pieter Grimm

[Colmarr]

Session 2: Against the Kobolds

Our heroes investigate the Kobold activities around Winterhaven.

Observations:

Spoiler

Dek (our dwarven fighter) began the campaign as a scale-wearing greataxe wielder. After the fight with the kobolds on the road, we agreed that a great weapon fighter probably wouldn't cut it as the only defender in a party of four. He simply didn't have the survivability.

Our DM kindly allowed us to retrospectively change Dek to a plate-wearing battleaxe and shield wielder, and even kindly changed the magical scale from session 1 to magical plate so Dek could keep it. Since then Dek has been a bit of a juggernaut. If memory serves me, he's only been bloodied two or three times since.*

This was also the first session in which Shadow demonstrated the rogue's phenomenal ability to pump out damage. She has consistently done so ever since, and we accordingly take great pains to ensure that she can get combat advantage at all times.

*Written after session 14 but before session 15.

[Colmarr]

Session 3: Irontooth and Grim Portents

Our heroes deal with the kobold menace and find the first clues to a much larger threat.

Observations:

Spoiler

The Irontooth encounter from KotS is considered by many to be a TPK waiting to happen. We didn’t struggle too much with it, and we only had 4 PCs. Having said that, there was a very nervous moment when Dek used Covering Attack to get Pieter away from a very sticky situation. Irontooth also missed with approximately half of his attacks while bloodied, and just a few more hits might easily have swung the tide. As it was, I think every PC was bloodied and the party had used every available healing resource by the end of the combat.

Fian also proved this session just how much damage a tricked-out blaster (as opposed to control) wizard can do to clustered enemies. She was generally dropping Scorching Burst or Burning Hands on 2 or more enemies per round, and the damage quickly added up. In fact, I don’t think there was a living minion in the Irontooth encounter by the end of round 2.

[Colmarr]

Session 4: Strange Excavations and Hidden Cultists

The adventurers find a “missing” husband and discover the enemy within.

Observations:

Spoiler

I can’t speak for the other players, but I highly enjoyed the DM’s spin on the Duven adventure hook. It added personality to Winterhaven and gave it an appearance of verisimilitude. It also acted as a sort of roleplaying foil for each of the players: How does your character respond to this harpy demanding that you go out in the middle of the night to search for a husband who likely doesn’t want to be found? Pieter was the only character who was willing to accede to her demands (more out of concern for Duven’s safety than for Linoren’s approval or gold) and the others grudgingly tagged along.

That moment set a precedent that would be followed later in the campaign, and which also caused some intra-party conflict. More on that later.

The combat at the burial site was also our first real experience of how nasty the “gotcha” elements of 4e can be. The bonus damage ability of the guard drakes (almost doubling their damage output) is truly terrifying at level 1, and almost caused Pieter to be face down before the end of round 2. You’ll note that I made a special point of mentioning the monster knowledge rules on page 2 of the newsletter.

Although 3e had some truly nasty monsters as well, they generally all drew from the same pool of abilities and you knew roughly what to expect. Some just had higher DCs than others. I personally really like that 4e can throw some completely unexpected stuff at you, while simultaneously giving you a mechanical ruleset to avoid the worst of the surprise.

Oh, incidentally, the longsword vignette at the end of the session recap is related to Pieter’s personal backstory, and more will be revealed later in the campaign.

[Colmarr]

Session 5: Darkness under Winterhaven

Our heroes capture Winterhaven’s darkest citizen and set off for the Keep.

Observations:

Spoiler

By the time the party returned to Winterhaven, everyone was down to 2 or less healing surges. If I remember correctly, Pieter had only 1 left. Most of us had used our dailies. Nevertheless, I (and I believe the DM) were keen to see just how far 4e PCs could push themselves before they got into trouble. And besides, a cleric of Tempus would rush in, right?

As mentioned in session 4, a precedent had been set that Pieter was the gung-ho type and that the others tended to grumble but acquiesce, and that’s exactly what eventually happened. Not without a “fight” though, as demonstrated by the discussion in the second spoiler block.

Session 5 was also the session when the party gained its fifth member, a human warlord named Robert. I had initially advocated having a second defender but I’ve since come to the conclusion that a second leader is an amazing 5th party member. Between Dek, Pieter and Robert our group has an astounding ability to weather battles of attrition*, and it has served us well later in the campaign.

You’ll also note the mention of the seven-pillared hall, which is the main location for H2: Thunderspire Labyrinth. I was quite impressed that the DM was inserting plot hooks for that adventure before we even reached the Keep.

*2 healing words, 2 inspiring words, Pieter’s healing strike, Robert’s Myrmidon Formation, and Dek’s minor action Second Wind, Dwarven plate armour power and Boundless Endurance.

Our first intra-party spat:

Spoiler

Me: Pieter rises from the position where he, Dek and Fian are crouching and leans over a nearby counter. He studies a barrel of rusted iron for a few seconds, before reaching into the twisted metal and silently sliding free an ornate-looking but ill-kept longsword. He grimaces almost immediately, and carefully lays the weapon down on the counter and returns to his wary crouch.

He whispers to Dek and Fian, "I want Bairwin alive."

OOC: When Shadow returns, we have the discussion about cultists etc, with the ultimate outcome that Pieter suggests that we go down there now (after taking a few minutes to gather support from the guards if possible).

Shadow’s player (SP): "What's the big hurry? They're not going anywhere, and you look exhausted. We'll lose the element of surprise, but we'll lose that by the time you take 3 steps down that staircase."

She pauses, then gives a soft, sad smile and says gently "Imele used to say that the difference between zeal and folly is that the foolish lack wisdom while the zealous ignore it. Shove a couple of those big barrels over that trapdoor and get some sleep. We'll need it."

Me: "And Saint Daelphus said, "To see the right and not to do it is cowardice". We have no choice here. I will not leave this town at the mercy of death-cultists. We don't know what they're up to down there, nor what will happen if we let them finish. I need rest as much as you, but we will not get it here and I will not allow others to stand guard in my stead."

Comment: This exchange doesn’t come across as heated as it actually was. The exchange took place on a forum we use for inter-session stuff and after the quotes (about zealotry and cowardice) were exchanged, we both fell silent for a couple of days while we each cooled off. We then had a private out-of-character discussion about why we each wanted to do what we wanted to do and SP ultimately agreed that he was as interested as I was in how far 4e PCs could be “stretched”.

SP: Shadow sighs, then closes the trapdoor. Pieter begins to object, but Shadow quickly hisses "Oh, calm down. You'll get a chance to show off your manhood soon enough." Quickly, she continues, "But before we go charging down there, I thought you might recruit some help to guard the doorway. I want someone covering our escape, and I certainly don't want to get trapped inside." She glances at some heavy crates and sacks and gives Pieter a frustrated look.

Me: Pieter looks from Fian to Shadow, then smiles. "Thank you", he says to Shadow. "The people of Winterhaven owe you their thanks". He motions Dek to help him move the bags of flour onto the trapdoor.

I think this could have easily developed into one of those “My co-player is an idiot” thread situations, but I’m quite happy that we managed to resolve it amicably and in such a way that no one’s character needed to be compromised.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Heh, interesting journal so far.

I gotta ask though - where did you get those shiny PDFs for the campaign summaries? Is that bundled with 4E modules or something?

[Colmarr]

Session 6: Keep on the Shadowfell

Our heroes delve into the Keep’s depths.

Observations:

Spoiler

By this stage in the campaign, virtually no one had revealed their character’s backstory. I had revealed that Pieter grew up an orphan before following in the footsteps of his idol Axis (a cleric of Tempus), but everyone else had remained relatively tight-lipped about their character’s background. It was almost like a meeting of Paranoid Anonymous. So it was refreshing that Robert joined the campaign and almost immediately laid his cards on the table. It opened the gates a little, and further PC backstory information came out over the next few sessions.

The book that Pieter read from was placed by the DM in Bairwin’s temple as a sort of “free pass” to the backstory of the keep, and it helped a lot in setting up a mood for the adventure that was more than just “check out the ruined building full of goblins”. It also created a sense of urgency because it gave a sense of reality to the evil underneath the keep. It was no longer a matter of “To do: vanquish faceless evil X”.

Overall our first encounters in the keep were relatively unexciting and uninspiring. At the end of the day, goblins are goblins. Fortunately, things got more exciting later on.

It also annoyed us that the rules for the pit trap in the first encounter were significantly different to the rules in the DMG. It caused the game to grind to a halt for approximately 10 minutes while we discussed how to handle it. In my opinion, our DM sometimes tries to be too “right” and/or “fair”. I had the same flaw when I DMed my 3.5e campaign, but now I see the wisdom in just making a ruling and getting on with it. If as a DM you later feel you’ve stuffed up, you can always balance the scales by fluffing a roll or reducing a monster’s hit points. And you can discuss the ruling after the session and agree to handle things differently next time around.

[Colmarr]

Originally Posted by Oracle_Hunter

I gotta ask though - where did you get those shiny PDFs for the campaign summaries? Is that bundled with 4E modules or something?

No such luck

The newsletters are created using Microsoft Publisher and then printed to pdf using a program called PdfDocs, both of which I have access to at work.

Unfortunately Publisher isn’t in common usage, so I need to convert to pdf for the other players and the DM to be able to read them.

PdfDocs is a pay program, but I understand there are other pdf converters available online for free (our DM uses one to convert his DDI Character Builder sheets into pdfs).

[Colmarr]

Session 7: Of Torturers and Fat Goblins.

Our heroes discover the depths of goblin cruelty, and cleanse the upper level of the Keep.

Observations:

Spoiler

Again we struggled with decision-making this session. We initially wanted to go south from the excavation room, then Dek’s player insisted we check out the northwestern area (across the other side of the keep!) instead. After some more intra-party conflict, we gave in and headed that way. After getting there we saw the blood smears on the floor and decided, “hey, heading south was a good idea after all”. Then our DM sprung the scream on us. He can be a b.stard sometimes

In later sessions we’ve pretty much settled into a groove with our decision-making. If an issue can’t be resolved within a few minutes, we have a vote. With an odd number of party members, there’s almost always a clear majority. I had been a vocal opponent of the 5-person standard adventuring party but it does at least have dispute resolution in its favour.

Dek’s pushing of the torturer into the fire pit was the first “oh, cool!” moment of the campaign. While, yes it would have been doable in 3.5e, chances are it simply wouldn’t have happened. 4e does seem to me to have the edge when it comes to terrain interaction.

The secret door into Balgron’s chamber has me umming and ahhing. I like adventures that reward “good” players (including character creation), and Fian’s high passive perception certainly gave us an upper hand here. Pieter blocked the inner door by jamming his sword through the handles and our group had Balgron unconscious before his cronies could even engage. However, I can’t help but think that the secret door gave too much of an advantage. I suppose it’s a fine line for a designer to walk.

I needed to leave early this session, so I missed most of the running combat with the goblins. I’m told however, that it encompassed most of the first level of the keep, particularly once the goblins decided that the battle was lost and attempted to reach the door to the lower level.

[Colmarr]

Session 8: Caves beneath Shadowfell Keep.

Our heroes tread a morally dark line, and Pieter pays for it.

Observations:

Spoiler

It's worth noting that the party cleared the entire first level of the keep without an extended rest and without overly taxing their resources. That's 5 encounters (maybe more if Balgron and cronies is usually 2 separate encounters), a significant improvement on my experiences of the 3.5e adventuring day.

On a personal note, I’m quite happy with how this session worked out in-character for Pieter. I had always envisaged him as noble but with a hint of rage or darkness within. Mechanically, I saw his future lying towards either Kensai (reflecting a noble and good Pieter) or Pit Fighter (reflecting a morally greyer Pieter).

In that sense, the torturing of Balgron represented a step down the Pit Fighter path, and I was happy to plant the seeds for that eventuality at this stage of the campaign. Then the dice completely turned against me in the combat against the Ochre Jelly. I could have dismissed it as bad luck and forgotten about it, but I instead decided to view it from Pieter’s perspective. He had abandoned his generally righteous ways and given in to his rage over the torture and death of a fellow Tempuran, and at the very next opportunity his well-honed and divinely-granted combat skills failed him repeatedly and spectacularly. As I mentioned on page 2 of the issue, I believe I rolled three 1s in an 8-round combat. I think I hit with a total of 4 out of 10 attacks.

How would Pieter view that coincidence? I decided that he didn’t think it was a coincidence. He believes that Tempus punished him for his evil act and he hasn’t since strayed into that morally grey/black area again. He’s not necessarily destined for Kensai, but he’s well and truly on the path.

I find something immensely satisfying in having something so random as dice rolls contributing to the development of my character’s personality.

[OneFamiliarFace]

This is great! Keep up the good work!

[Colmarr]

Session 9: The Dead Walk.

Our heroes venture into Winterhaven's graveyard, and Pieter's suspicions are confirmed correct.

Observations:

Spoiler

I'm a little unsure about this session from an adventure designers point of view. I don't really see the value of the graveyard encounter from a design perspective. I think the adventure could have done well enough without. In hindsight, I suspect it was included to demonstrate that rituals are now available to everyone. After all, if an elven huntress can summon skeletons, anyone can!

Despite the design queries, I was quite pleased at the time to discover that Pieter's suspicions about Ninaran were correct. When we first started investigating the cult, Pieter had succeeded at an insight roll and knew Ninaran was withholding something. At the time the cult wasn't common knowledge amongst the townsfolk, and Pieter wasn't about to break that silence for the sake of quizzing Ninaran further, but he definitely planned to keep an eye on her.

Surprisingly, Insight has proven to be quite a useful skill, which I don't think could be generally said for the 3.5e Sense Motive.

One thing that didn't work out well this session was Ninaran's attempt to flee. She had a massive lead (roughly half of the fold-out poster map) but because of the mechanics of turn-based combat, Dek managed to get into base-to-base contact and lock her down. Once he did that, it was all over. I don't think 4e has really improved on 3.5e at all when it comes to chases, but perhaps there wasn't much that could be done.

[Colmarr]

Originally Posted by OneFamiliarFace

This is great! Keep up the good work!

Thanks. I'll keep posting them as long as people keep reading them.

5 more sessions to post and then I'm up to date and the rate of posting will slow to every fortnight or so (which is how often we play).

[Myshlaevsky]

Thanks for posting this, I'll follow it with interest.

I like the newsletters.

[its_all_ogre]

i'll follow this as we get to those parts, we killed irontooth due to a huge quantity of luck and unloading of attacks. he did not even hit any of us!

as an aside are you still giving out an action point for EVERY encounter?!
crazy! those party members should totally get a warlord to cream maximum benefit.

as an aside leaders are not defenders, my leader (inspiring warlord) is having to double up as a defender by m/c paladin in our party of ranger archer, ranger melee, rogue, wizard, fighter and me.
it's a bit hairy!

[Tygell]

I love the newsletter you guys do, though it seems sparse on details sometimes. My favorite part of most journals is reading about the combat hijinks. I tend to skim over the other sections when I haven't actually played the module myself.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Originally Posted by Colmarr

Spoiler

One thing that didn't work out well this session was Ninaran's attempt to flee. She had a massive lead (roughly half of the fold-out poster map) but because of the mechanics of turn-based combat, Dek managed to get into base-to-base contact and lock her down. Once he did that, it was all over. I don't think 4e has really improved on 3.5e at all when it comes to chases, but perhaps there wasn't much that could be done.

How'd that happen? Someone double-running with that much of a lead is uncatchable by anyone who can't beat her speed. In fact, I made up a generic Pursuit Skill Challenge in order to figure out overtaking.

[Colmarr]

Originally Posted by its_all_ogre

as an aside are you still giving out an action point for EVERY encounter?! crazy! those party members should totally get a warlord to cream maximum benefit.

Nope. This was an experiment by the DM to see whether a slight increase in the AP rate could compensate for the missing 5th PC, and thus remove the need for him to tinker with every encounter.

It did make a difference, but I don’t think it would ultimately have been enough in the long run. As it was, we picked up a 5th PC pretty soon afterwards and went back to the usual AP procedure.

as an aside leaders are not defenders… it's a bit hairy!

I agree. Pieter took (and continues to take) a pasting every time he acts as a dedicated defender. I could probably minimise that if I took scale and heavy shield proficiency, but they’re “on my list” for Paragon.

At the moment, Pieter generally acts as a quasi-defender for our wizard, mostly because the others go haring off and leave the two of us alone!

[Colmarr]

Originally Posted by Tygell

I love the newsletter you guys do, though it seems sparse on details sometimes. My favorite part of most journals is reading about the combat hijinks.

The last journal I did* was a full narrative, and amounted to 40+ pages for a single (relatively small) module. As a married man with a 2-yr-old, I don’t really have the time to do that again, so I decided to keep things simpler this time around.

Although combat is usually at the heart of a D&D play session, it’s only vary rarely at the heart of the story and I therefore try to focus equally on the non-combat events. I do recognise the enjoyment that people get from the combat sequences though, which is why every combat gets at least a mention in the recap. Significant or memorable events (particularly BIG critical hits) usually get a mention in the Points of Note sidebar if they don’t make it into the recap itself.

*This was for our Raiders of Oakhurst Reloaded mini-campaign and is available over on the EN World Story Hour Forum – look for “Raiders of Oakhurst; A Memoir of Erais Gunterson”. It’s probably well and truly off the front page by now though. Alternatively, PM me your email address and I'll send you a pdf copy.

[Colmarr]

Originally Posted by Oracle_Hunter

How'd that happen? Someone double-running with that much of a lead is uncatchable by anyone who can't beat her speed. In fact, I made up a generic Pursuit Skill Challenge in order to figure out overtaking.

There’s a 10’ fence around the graveyard and Ninaran had much more trouble getting over it than Dek did (despite her being 2’ taller ). Probably not so much a system problem as a dice problem, but once Dek was adjacent to her and had her marked, her chances of escape were virtually nil, even though she was faster than him.

[Colmarr]

Session 10: Beneath Shadowfell Keep.

Our heroes battle a shambling horde of undead, and find a place of solace amongst the evil.

Observations:

Spoiler

The combat against the zombies was as close to a whitewash as I have ever seen in 10+ years of playing D&D. It started with Burning Hands against 6+ targets, and the remainder of the party hewed into whatever was still upright afterwards. If memory serves, there was only 1 zombie left standing after the first round. The second wave of zombies then duly came shambling in, but the party had more than enough time to prepare and they went down just as easily although slightly less quickly then the first lot.

I’ve heard that some parties had trouble with the zombie horde, and if that’s true I can only imagine that Fian (and especially that first Burning Hands) made the difference for us. The zombies never really recovered from that first blitz.

The necromantic traps are pretty cool in my opinion (their effect is disclosed in the next issue), but I was disappointed to learn that it took 10 minutes to disable each one. While it makes a certain amount of sense in-game (it takes a ritual to set them up so it should take a ritual to turn them off), it imposes an ultimatum on parties – jump the traps and risk setting them off or sit on your hands for 30+ minutes while you disable them – that isn’t really conducive to the style and pacing of the rest of the module.

It’s another interesting design decision that I don’t think I really agree with.

Those who read to the second page of the issue will discover a groovy quote by Helen Keller – “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

That quote is so fitting of D&D that I was dumfounded when I first stumbled across it. In some ways, I see it as a neat summary as the foundation of 4e humans’ approach to life. Yeah, sure they’re headstrong and willing to take risks (as Dek and Shadow keep pointing out to Pieter), but what are the alternatives?

[Colmarr]

Session 11: Even in Death He Serves.

The adventurers meet Sir Keegan and encounter a hobgoblin patrol

Observations:

Spoiler

The encounter with Keegan was somewhat of a disappointment, although largely that stems from our unfamiliarity with skill challenges. Our DM was quite down on himself afterwards, although I don’t think it was as bad as he thought it was.

Interestingly, we did come across the age-old problem with Diplomacy rolls. When trying to enlist Keegan’s aid, Pieter said words to the effect of “We wish to continue your quest; to prevent the opening of the shadow rift and to keep Shadrilax imprisoned beyond”. I then rolled the dice and it of course came up a 1. Even with Pieter’s impressive Diplomacy modifier of +10, that was still a failure. The DM’s interpretation of the situation? “You’re unnerved by Keegan’s appearance and stammer when you talk to him, so he’s unimpressed by your statement”.

To be honest, that miffed me a little bit. If I wanted Pieter to be shocked and stammer, I would have said so. It was somewhat emasculating. But in hindsight, perhaps I didn’t really leave the DM anywhere else to go.

I’m considering rolling my Diplomacy checks before choosing my words in future, and then using the results as the basis for my roleplaying. It’s an interesting dilemma, and one that’s been around in D&D for a long time.

Players and DMs of Keep on the Shadowfell will notice that there’s no mention of Aecris (Keegan’s sword) in this issue, and that’s because there was no mention of it in the session. The DM had replaced the pre-generated treasure with party-specific treasure in accordance with the DMG treasure rules, and I assume he removed Aecris as part of that process. Which IMO is a pity. Sir Braford’s sword from The Sunless Citadel (“Shatterspike” IIRC) was a pretty cool “iconic” weapon and I think Aecris could have been too. Particularly given the ease with which magic items can be upgraded in 4e.

Although I don’t have the KotS module myself, I understand that the combat with the hobgoblin patrol isn’t in it. I believe our DM added it for mechanical reasons (to keep our xp advancement on track) and story reasons (as another hook for Thunderspire Labyrinth; and to have Pieter discover another of the mysterious weapons he’s collecting). Ironically, it turned out to be one of the most deadly combats of the campaign so far.

Fian spotted 4 hobgoblins standing in and around and intersection and rushed forward on her own to unleash both Colour Spray and Flaming Sphere in the same round. It certainly was impressive, but unfortunately all 4 were still standing afterwards. The warcaster then dragged Fian into range with Force Lure and the soldiers wailed on her. Before we could blink, our wizard was face down and bleeding out, with a hobgoblin soldier standing immediately adjacent.

What followed was one of those moments that you remember for years (at least I will because I was the “hero” of the moment). Pieter was the only one within range to do anything meaningful before the hobgoblins’ next turn but he was at the time unarmed, having sheathed his sword to throw a javelin. Things were pretty dire. Pieter couldn’t do enough damage to take the hobgoblins out and couldn’t heal Fian enough to stop the hobgoblins simply putting her down (and probably out – she’d gone from full to unconscious in one round) again next round. All I could really think of was to put Pieter in harm’s way and hope the hobgoblins focused on him instead.

So he spent his normal actions just to reach her, and then an action point to bull rush the soldier standing above her. No one saw that coming, not even the DM.

The roll was successful and I described Pieter smashing into the soldier with his shield at full pace, pushing it away from Fian. Pieter followed up, placing himself between Fian and the hobgoblins. As icing on the cake, the soldier ended up next to the flaming sphere. Yes, Pieter took a bit of a pasting during the next round, but both he and Fian were still alive at the end of the combat. Pieter had managed to rescue Fian against nasty odds while unarmed. If that’s not a cinematic moment of glory, I don’t know what is.

I’ll never underestimate bull rushing again.

[Colmarr]

Session 12: Hobgoblins and Shadow-worshippers.

The adventurers solve a difficult riddle and encounter more hobgoblins.

Observations:

Spoiler

The combat with the zombies was again a relative walkover. If my understanding is correct, zombies are generally brutes, which have low AC and low attack values. Against our party (and particularly against Dek’s sky-high AC), that makes them spectacularly ineffective. I think we got through the encounter without taking anything other than a few hits from minions.

Just before this session, Fian’s player decided to pull out of the campaign. He was about to move out of town and had been busy with other things for quite a while. He had already missed quite a few sessions. There was a new player ready to join, and Fian’s player thought it better to bow out rather than have Fian hang around as an NPC.

So entered Soveliss. This is Soveliss’ player’s first 4e game.

We put Soveliss through a bit of an interrogation before he joined the party. After all, a strange eladrin showed up in the middle of the keep, didn’t help with the zombies, and then gave a party member their marching orders (metaphorically and literally). Who wouldn’t be a little uneasy about that? Although we all knew Soveliss would be joining us, we put on the show for the sake of verisimilitude.

The riddle proved far harder than the combat against the zombies. As soon as I heard it, I was sure that the answer was “glory”, so Pieter said it aloud. The magic mouth positing the riddle then chastised Pieter for being wrong and said we had one guess left or the treasure would be gone forever. And as we all know, there is nothing like the prospect of losing treasure for paralysing D&D players with indecision. We then spent about 15-20 minutes discussing our options. We even went back to Keegan to see if he knew the answer, to no avail.

We came up with a couple of answers, all of which sort of fit the riddle, but none of which satisfied everyone. Eventually, we asked the DM if we could make Intelligence checks for clues, and he agreed. During the ensuing discussion, the DM – intentionally, I imagine - used the word “reputation” three times. No one else seemed to pick up on that, but I managed to sway most of them around to choosing that as our guess (without actually pointing out what the DM had done). Still the debate went on, until finally Soveliss’ player said “Oh let’s get some balls!” and blurted out “reputation” in front of the magic mouth. And treasure was had by all (well, Shadow actually).

The battle against the hobgoblins was another nail-biter, because the DM had added a few hobgoblins to it from surrounding rooms and set the enemies up waiting for us. After all, the archer had gotten away earlier and we had then given the enemy 5+ minutes to prepare themselves.

Soveliss’ player showed a bit of naiveté by teleporting off behind enemy lines in an attempt to Thunderwave some hobgoblins into a pit. Of course, he then got trapped and Pieter had to run over to protect him. 4e PCs have a lot of hit points, but it’s easy to be fooled into a false sense of security by them.

At the same time, Shadow got immobilised by a Sightless One and Dek soon followed. They both spent something like 5 or 6 rounds immobilised and without an adjacent enemy. Shadow was reduced to throwing daggers (without sneak attack), and Dek was flinging around his dynamic waraxe morphed into a javelin. Shadow’s situation was especially egregious, because even after Robert granted her two extra saves (via a Martial Power feat) she was still stuck.

All but one of the enemies in that combat could impose a condition (slowed, immobilised, blinded, or ongoing poison damage). Affected by those conditions, and split into two groups by a pit, our teamwork and ability to focus fire were hamstrung. In addition, the combat included four soldiers and their high defences made life even more difficult. For a while there, it seemed like the combat (and one or more PCs) would in fact be lost. Ultimately, I think the party’s longevity is what saved us. High hp, relatively high AC, and deep healing reserves kept us in the fight long enough that the enemies simply ran out of hit points and we won “by default”.

[Colmarr]

Session 13: A Warchief Deposed.

Our heroes sever the hobgoblin chain of command, and enter a chamber of statues.

Observations:

Spoiler

The hobgoblin battle in this session was another serious combat, although I believe it was in fact 2 encounters combined into one. Notwithstanding that fact, we came through it ok largely because we were able to polish of the smaller group before the larger really engaged. Then we bottled up the larger group in a narrow corridor and took them out piecemeal.

Bottlenecking has worked well for us so far this campaign. It’s a very 3e tactic, and it’s interesting to note that despite its effectiveness, we always break out of the defensive bottleneck as soon as we can – even when it would be wiser not to. I think there’s just something about all the push and pull powers in 4e that subconsciously gets you more willing to move around, even if it’s not necessary.

The hobgoblin warchief gave us another “gotcha” moment, and I’m coming to love them more and more. Sooner or later we’ll lose a PC to one of them and I’m sure I’ll hate them then, but for now they are adding spice to combat, and I love them for it.

This particular “gotcha” was the warchief’s ability to shift his allies around. After disposing of the smaller group of hobgoblins, the party sheltered behind Dek in a 10’ wide corridor, expecting Dek’s Combat Superiority to stop the hobgoblins getting to the more vulnerable party members. The next thing we knew, 3 soldiers had shifted past Dek and each PC other than Shadow had their own personal soldier to fight. It shook the combat out of the drudgery it was threatening to become, and led to some very inspired power use.

The warchief also did a remarkably effective job of cutting up Dek. As I’ve previously mentioned, Dek has generally been almost untouchable in the campaign, but the warchief had relatively little trouble bloodying the dwarf and might (if Shadow hadn’t gotten involved) have been able to get him to unconsciousness. It was a little weird, but I felt happy for the DM that he’d finally been able to test Dek’s mettle. There had been an almost-invulnerable dwarven fighter* in the 3.5e campaign I DMed and I knew how annoying it was to be unable to harm a PC.

You will also have noticed by now that we tend to end our sessions on cliffhangers; at the start of combats rather than at the end of them. Partly that’s because we play online and can save our initiatives and positions for later reloading, but partly it’s because it’s more exciting to do it that way. Ending a session after a combat means there’s nothing imminent to look forward to the next session. Ending a session with a door slamming closed on Shadow and a huge statue swiping at Dek gives you something to think about in the time between sessions. Usually something along the lines of “just how much trouble are we in now?”

* Played by the person playing Robert in this campaign

[Colmarr]

Session 14: A Confrontation Nears.

Is there no end to the Keep’s zombie horde?

Observations:

Spoiler

The encounter with the statues was without doubt our worst experience with KotS so far. To put it simply, there were far too many safe spots. We discovered that within 1 or 2 rounds of the encounter starting, and then spent the next 3 to 4 rounds attacking or disarming traps that couldn’t hurt us. Most unsatisfying and the DM eventually just moved on. He helped us a little more on the cherub trap than he probably should have, but I think by that stage he’d just had enough of that particular encounter (the players certainly had) and wanted to get on with other things.

It’s an odd encounter, and one that seems to go against WotC’s new approach that stationary traps alone do not make an encounter. They should be coupled with other things to make them dynamic. The statue chamber was anything but. Oddly, all it would have taken to change the whole encounter would be to remove the safe spots. If PCs weren’t able to get out of the humanoid’s statues reach to the north or west, there’s more chance that someone (likely a striker or controller) would try to run into the cherub alcove to the south. They would then have set that trap off and the rest of the party would have had to urgently deal with the humanoid statue so that they could rescue the drowning PC. Sooner or later someone would step too close to the dragons and then it’d be “on like Kong”.

It seems so obvious to me that I wonder how the designers didn’t see it. Maybe the playtesters were really dumb?

The next encounter gave us a couple of “oh, cool” moments, despite being yet another zombie encounter. Pieter moved into the centre of the room and waited for the zombies to swamp him before firing off his Turn Undead. It was somewhat annoying that one of the zombies got a critical hit on Pieter as he was waiting for them to crowd in. Still, he hit all his targets except one, and the immobilising effect on the non-minions meant they played little more part in the combat. Taking 14 hit points damage in exchange for inflicting a total of 20-odd, destroying a minion, and immobilising two of the nastier opponents out of reach was in my opinion a fair trade. Of course, it would have been better if that critical had been a miss

The second “oh, cool” moment is the one immortalised on the second page of the issue. Pieter and Soveliss were adjacent and had a non-minion zombie each to fight. Pieter (playing the quasi-defender role I’ve mentioned earlier) took out the zombie threatening Soveliss with Healing Strike, and when Soveliss’ initiative came up he returned the favour with Chill Strike. At the time it didn’t strike me as anything terribly special, but later that night I realised what that would have looked like in a movie. Oh, cool.

So that’s the campaign so far, and I’m told we will most likely go up against Kalarel this Sunday night (in 3 days’ time). We’re low on surges, below full hp, and most of us have used our dailies. From a metagame perspective, many of the players (myself included) want to take an extended rest. In-character however, it’s unthinkable that the PCs would retreat or rest knowing they were so close and having seen that the ritual has commenced (I mean, come on, a river of blood?!).

I’ve heard that the Kalarel fight is a doozy, and I’m note sure we can take it in our current condition, but we’re going to give it a damn good try!

Interesting fact:

Spoiler

It's worth noting that we've gone through the second and third levels of the keep (and a bonus encounter inserted by the DM) without an extended rest. That's at least 6 encounters, and it'll be 8 if we get past Kalarel in one piece. That, to me, is a pretty amazing feat and represents a significant improvement on the 3.5e adventuring workday. I'm loving this aspect of 4e.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Originally Posted by Colmarr

Spoiler

The encounter with Keegan was somewhat of a disappointment, although largely that stems from our unfamiliarity with skill challenges. Our DM was quite down on himself afterwards, although I don’t think it was as bad as he thought it was.

Interestingly, we did come across the age-old problem with Diplomacy rolls. When trying to enlist Keegan’s aid, Pieter said words to the effect of “We wish to continue your quest; to prevent the opening of the shadow rift and to keep Shadrilax imprisoned beyond”. I then rolled the dice and it of course came up a 1. Even with Pieter’s impressive Diplomacy modifier of +10, that was still a failure. The DM’s interpretation of the situation? “You’re unnerved by Keegan’s appearance and stammer when you talk to him, so he’s unimpressed by your statement”.

To be honest, that miffed me a little bit. If I wanted Pieter to be shocked and stammer, I would have said so. It was somewhat emasculating. But in hindsight, perhaps I didn’t really leave the DM anywhere else to go.

I’m considering rolling my Diplomacy checks before choosing my words in future, and then using the results as the basis for my roleplaying. It’s an interesting dilemma, and one that’s been around in D&D for a long time.

The way I solved this problem is by causing the NPC's reaction to be influenced by the PC's words, rather than the PC's words themselves.

You see, even if you say everything right, an argument can not sound convincing. Perhaps the speaker doesn't like your face, or doubts that you are sufficiently serious about the quest. Folks can be initially skeptical about random adventurers asking them to do things, and may be hesitant, even if they fully believe the PCs, to get involved.

I've found this the most satisfying way to deal with Diplomacy checks.

[Kol Korran]

an interesting and enjoyable read Colmarr. i personally don't like the H1/2/3 and so on modules (they offer no realy interesting character choices, way too focused on battles, almost no skill related encounters and challanges, and all in all- it's very repetitive. just keep battling one group of humanoids after the other, with side encounters) but it seems like your DM is making efforts (along with the group) to make it an enjoyable experience.

i join Oracle Hunter in his approach as a DM to diplomacy- the result of the rolls (epecially poor ones) should be mostly reflected on the NPCs responses. how are you dealing with intimidate and bluff though? those are usually more difficult to gauge (oh, you never realy used those before except for once with shadow...)

as to keegan's sword- the way it is written it is fairly lame (daily: gain a healing surge upon killing an undead) but it could have been made something more appropriate, more decent by your DM- adding radiant damage, or perhaps gaining a bonus to saving throws agaisnt shadow creatures powers. could have fitted your warlord nicely.

i think you would like the seven pillared hall- an interesting setting (not sure about the adventures there- i'm not that thrilled about them. though there are a couple of encounters i am curious to see how you deal with).

a request and a suggestion: can you edit the first post (or add to your "working post") a summation of races, classes, whatever bakcground you can give, and perhaps the main signature powers? it took me a little bit to understand even what the classes were, i only realised Fian's gender in the 6th or 7th installment.

i'd presonally like to learn more about the characters whenever possible. how does the drow Vs. eladrin issue works out? do the other characters believe in any specific gods? other than your sowrd and the prism soveliss is looking for (did he take that name out of the 3.5 ranger?) are there any other special items of interest.

that's all from me for now, except for telling you i'd keep reading. i enjoy mostly your observations part- it adds much to the brief session recap. good work. hope you'll keep doing it.

[Kol Korran]

oh, and by the way, about your dilemma with chases. (the graveyard encounter with the huntress) a DM i played with made those into skill challanges:

- key attributes were athletics and endurance
- if the chase took place in places where one could hide then stealth (if you were the pursued) or perception (if you were the pursuer) would be a secondery skill, but only one to to successes allowed.
- some other ingenious skill uses could be made, if the player explained their reasoning (for example- knowing alleways in a city by using streetwise, or knowing how the land ahead behaved and how to use that to shorten the distance by knowledge nature)

- the amount of succeses needed was depended on the distance between the pursuer and pursued (or the complexity of the chase, for example through busy city street).
- the difficulty depended on the opponenets skill (the huntress would probalby have quite a high skill)

buuuuuttt, what about something simple for combat encounter? we used this simple system, though it is probably not the best:
- as part of your RUN action you could try to increase the number of squares you move. you do this by rolling for atheltics AND endurance.
- devide the athletics result by 5, this is how much more you run (insted of the extra 2 of the run action, which counts as a fairly light running).
- the DC for the endurance check is your athletics check -5. if you reached it- all is peachy. if not- you lose one healing surge (you tire yourself with quick bursts of speed). you always lower your atheltics check so running will be easier, and less exhausting.
fairly simple nechanics, that can give extra movement squares. adjust numbers to fit your own flavour.

hope this helped,
Kol.

[Colmarr]

Originally Posted by Kol Korran

a request and a suggestion: can you edit the first post (or add to your "working post") a summation of races, classes, whatever bakcground you can give, and perhaps the main signature powers? it took me a little bit to understand even what the classes were, i only realised Fian's gender in the 6th or 7th installment.

I'll go one better than that. I'll link the level 4 character sheets:

Edit: The DM has moved these character sheets from his server, so the links were broken. I've removed them.

Dek, Shield dwarf fighter from the East Rift (guardian fighter).

Spoiler

The party actually knows very little about Dek other than that he has journeyed from the East Rift (which is a LONG way) on a quest given to him by Moradin. He's actually been pretty secretive about it, but hasn't given anyone reason to doubt his good intentions.

Pieter Grimm, devout of Tempus (battle cleric).

Spoiler

Most of Pieter's backstory is spelled out already in the SSTL issues. One thing that came out recently but isn't mentioned in the newsletters is that the strange longsword Pieter recovered from Bairwin's shop (and another shortsword he found on a hobgoblin) have the same distinctive hilt design as Stormbringer, the bastard sword wielded by Pieter's hero Axis. Stormbringer was never recovered after Axis' death, so these copies are irresistible to Pieter.

Robert Tyrill, last heir of a fallen house (tactical warlord).

Spoiler

Again, Robert’s backstory has been revealed in the newsletters. There may be more to it that has currently been revealed, but I’m not privy to it.

The linked character sheet is for Robert at level 3. I don't think his player has figured out what he wants to take at level 4 yet.

Shadow, a drow rogue from Baldur's Gate (artful dodger).

Spoiler

Shadow was quite withdrawn when she joined the party, as you’d expect from a drow alone so far from home. We don't even know her real name. Since she fell in with us, we’ve learned that her mother journeyed far from home shortly after Shadow was born. We also know that Shadow grew up on the streets of Baldur’s gate, and only recently made the journey to Highmoon (another LONG journey) on foot. We’re not sure why yet. We do know that she grew up in the company of an eladrin named Jaelynna, who she refers to often and with warmth.

Shadow and Dek get on surprisingly well given the ongoing war in the East Rift between drow and the shield dwarfs. Mostly, that comradeship seems to be based on their mutual bemusement (and occasionally annoyance) at Pieter’s fervour. They often have private discussions in Deep speech, which has prompted Pieter to anger on at least one occasion; not because of the language, but because they are deliberately excluding the others.

Soveliss, eladrin orb wizard.

Spoiler

At the time of writing, Soveliss has been with the group less than 2 in-game hours, so we know very little about him. He’s aloof and arrogant, but seems to be warming to Pieter quickly. He has a rather sinister scar on his face and Pieter isn’t completely convinced of his good intentions yet. We don’t know what this prism is that he is looking for. Still, Fian vouched for him, so he’s along for the ride.

You'll note from the character sheet that Soveliss is spellscarred. No one other than Pieter knows that yet (Pieter noticed a blue glimmer in his eye after the last combat - a fluff depiction of him taking the spellscarred MC feat), so it will be interesting to see how the party reacts when he starts manifesting spellscarred powers.

PS. I’m not sure whether the name was lifted from the 3.5 iconic ranger. It’s also one of the suggested male eladrin names in the 4e PHB. When he first joined the group, the name always conjured up pictures of a ranger for me. Now, when I hear the name Soveliss, I think of the wizard