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Knowe Remorse 
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/23/04 3:22 am)
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I've been infected!
I tracked down and bought a copy of the RttToEE, and am undergoing the debriefing process and reading the module as we speak. I'm guessing in about a month or so I will be ready to begin this monstrosity...  All the threads on this forum are invaluable and have helped bring me up to speed quickly.
If you have any suggestions on replacing the dragons, I would love to hear them. ( I really dislike dragons being so weak. The original module had a dragon or 2 flying around the surface as well, and I remember taking him out of the game as well). Thanks again.
Oh one other thing. I ran the original ToEE about 12-13 years ago, and wanted to know if the timeline of the temples being destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed , rebuilt (present) can be altered in any way, or are there problems with the story that I dont know about yet?
In particular, Im wanting to have the reconstruction of the temple from the last module to have occured 28 years ago, maybe having the original temples destruction occuring 60 years ago.
Any potential problems with this that you can forsee? Reason being is, one of the players played in my original ToEE campaign, and I plan on having him be the nephew of the original adventurer (who reportedly died fighting the evil) nearly 30 years ago.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of All Who Threaten it. Edited by: Knowe Remorse at: 1/23/04 3:38 am
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Cordo Crowfoot
Deathmantle Cultist
(1/23/04 3:25 am)
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Re: I've been infected!
A Wyvern could replace U... But is that still too dragonlike?
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Grumgarr
Crimson Coil Cultist
(1/23/04 3:59 am)
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Re: I've been infected!
Messing with the timeline a bit does no harm - my campaign uses a similar timescale to the one you propose (we too played the original ToEE many years ago and the then-PCs are now part of the stories/songs told of the fall of the temple). Y'Dey and Elmo might be a bit older but it's no big deal as their ages aren't really an issue.
I like dragons myself -the dragons aren't weak compared to the PCs - they're very nasty encounters all, but yeah, they're not exactly epic if a group of X-level folk can take them out.
They can make for memorable RP encouters too if your group doesn't just charge to the attack.
I'd say definitely leave Chymon in - my 6 PCs were forewarned, well prepared, level 9-10 and got routed by Chymon. They were terrified...which was great fun for all after lots of easy fighting toward the end of the CRM.
Replacing Utreshimon requires some other creature for the cultists to be terrified of - something that could kill them all...and that's clever enough to enjoy trapping them there. I can't think of a good replacement and a dragon as the first (and deadly) encounter really warns the PCs that this adventure pulls no punches.
Vranthis is easy to replace though - pick your favourite monster and pop it in. A drow raiding party up from the underdark, or as escorts to Dirass and Maracla, works well (and you could foreshadow the drow in the OF) and allows you to introduce items/spells/whatever from CotSQ if you want to use it without running an Underdark campaign.
I left the true dragons in but replaced the 1/2 dragon T-rexes with the Corrupted BoVD version. Not as nasty under 3.5 as 3e but more flavourful.
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 Siobharek 
Brother of Venom
(1/23/04 5:35 am)
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ezSupporter
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Re: I've been infected!
You might want to bear in mind that there are a few of the original NPCs in the module: Zert, Lareth (especially Lareth!), Hedrack, Spugnoir, etc.
Nothing earth-shattering, but especially if the original adventure has been played in your group, it might be nice to keep as much as possible of the original.
If it's a nephew, could the time-lapse be different?
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
Infiniti2000
Brother of Venom
(1/23/04 7:03 am)
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ezSupporter
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Re: I've been infected!
Utreshimon could potentially be replaced by a planar ally (or lesser planar ally) from a higher level cleric of Lolth. Lolth now realizes how she was duped and is very upset about it. On one hand, she sends in amabassadors to the OF (still not realizing that they also no longer really follow her). On the other hand, she sends something to hold down the moathouse 'until reinforcements arrive' to deal with it. Perhaps a bar-lgura demon would work, but really you should try to come up with something suitable. Maybe a palrethee or something from the BoVD.
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Narben
Ebon Hand Cultist
(1/23/04 7:15 am)
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ezSupporter
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Re: I've been infected!
The dragons aren't exactly pushovers, particularly if you use some of the suggestions from this board.
As for the nephew part, an aunt/uncle's age bears no direct relation to the age of the nephew/niece, particularly if you're talking about a non human race such as elves for instance.
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Knowe Remorse
Tolling Bell Cultist
(1/23/04 11:09 am)
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Re: I've been infected!
I will have to make a few changes over all to the module that dont sound like they will overtly change the module outright, but i've only read about 20 pages of it so far.
I never let the PC's complete the module in my first ToEE
I put a sidetrek in the beginning of Hommlet that the PC's bit into that would allow me to alter the campaign if I deemed, and about 1/2 way through it I did. Kind of a long story, but the PC's found a strange source of power in the hills between Hommlet and Nulb, an old abandoned ruins of a monastery, and investigating the floors beneath the ruins, they uncovered why the monastery no longer stood.
One of the priests was jealous or envious of the headmasters power and had been coerced by an unseen and unknown power, and had become a servant to this new evil. The PC's uncovered his room, found an old diary with a layout of how this priest found this new ancient power and how he planned to kill everyone in the monastery. The diary explained of a book that told him of an ancient deity, the star-eater, destroyer of worlds, etc etc. In the main chapel an ancient text lay upon a defiled altar. The room felt and smelled extremely evil, and after I was able to divert the attention from the party from playing with the book, the players returned a day or two later to the complex, to explore and what-not.
This time I had the room echoing a faint chanting, and a freshly slain lamb lay oozing on top of the book and altar. (Think I got the point across that this wasn't a good book?) and despite this, one of the PC's sneaked off to look at the book.
At this point I took a short break, went to another room and lit candles, turned off the lights, played a dark gothic chanting music tape for ambiance, put a really old Catholic bible (thing was gigantic) on a waist high pedestal that normally held a statue and gave the offending player a page long text for him to read and explaining to him to RP this as much as possible.
The game resumed minus the pesky PC, and a minute or two later they heard the player calling forth this ancient deity from another area and rushed into the room, (It was a really cool effect for the players hehe) They eventually knocked him out, and finally ended up burning the book. At this point the PC that read from the book would eventually become the next High Priest of this malevolent creature, and would eventually bring a 4th contestant to the interest of the power of the temple.
Later on in the adventure, when the party clearly felt something was going wrong with their PC compatriot, I let the PC's find a gateway to another world, and later on in the adventure, after this "Star-eater, and destroyer of worlds" had been released by their former friend, they figured that the world was going to end and took this gateway to the other world. (Mass earthquakes, darkened sky, the whole works, all the good stuff when this new entity arose from his slumber).
When they took the portal to the new lands, I originally wrote this land off for dead, and went off with the new campaign avenue, with the players thinking that the old world was gone too.
I think I found a good way to explain the world still being there and also leaving the temple destroyed as if the adventurers had destroyed it the second time. Perhaps this ancient deity went to the ToEE, seeking the power of the orb within, and he and Zuggmtoy died in battle, taking the orb with them to the abyss.
I have 3 returning players from that original campaign, should be cool to have them see the old lands intact that they thought were dead. (I wont have the original PC's return...)
In my original story, Spugnoir (the players remember him as Spugnoise) went with the party to help them wreak vengeance on the cultists for killing his daughter,
and ran with them to the new world when this entity was released.
Perhaps Spugnoir could be Spugnoise's son. Rufus and Burne they will remember from the original adventure, but their age could be an issue if i push back the events 30-40 years like I am planning.
I don't remember any other significant NPC's that the PC's had dealings with that they will remember.
One of the PC's is going to be named after the original character, ( haven't told him yet) The original character's brother named his son after his older brother who disappeared, and I plan on using Grandpa (the original characters father) as the plot device to get the grandson to go to find out what happened to his oldest son 20 years before.
Don't think I will have the other 2 PC's linked to the history of the original event, just friends or they will have an interest in stopping and thwarting the temple.
Cant wait to run this thing, it brings back so many good memories.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of All Who Threaten it. Edited by: Knowe Remorse at: 1/23/04 11:25 am
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