Grand Conjunction Problems

Discussing all things Ravenloft
User avatar
The Lesser Evil
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 1544
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:17 am

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by The Lesser Evil »

Quinntonia wrote:
Gonzoron of the FoS wrote: Yeah, but I mean what if they tell Dominiani they are keeping the real crown, and here's a fake to pass to Akriel's father or fiance or whatever your cover story was.

Well Damn.
In your cover story, are you having Akriel's needing the crown because she's being held hostage and her father or whomever will take the crown as a bribe to let her go, or was the story that the Crown had some mystical property that allowed her to get free?
If it's the latter, a fake crown might not be sufficient.
User avatar
Quinntonia
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 311
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:04 am
Contact:

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

So the story from Akriel has consistently been that she is being forced to marry Lucas against her will by her father. She is actually in love with Dr. Dorminiani, and knows that if she can get the Crown of Soldiers to him, he can then use that Crown to bribe Lucas to allow him to marry her without implication to her or her extended family.

She has played the innocent card very well, and every time the players show their suspicions, she acts even more desperate and bursts into tears and begs them for help, sobbing. That, and the fact that she is lightning quick on her feet to lie her way out of direct questioning, has kept them going thus far.
High Level Games, the industry's first choice in taking your games to the next level.*

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highlevelgames/
Twitter: @HLG_Corporate
Website: highlevelgames.ca

*Corporation may not exist except in podcast form.
User avatar
Quinntonia
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 311
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:04 am
Contact:

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

Cromstar wrote:
Perhaps the good Dr. could then convince them to let him perform the ritual to nullify it before returning the Crown to them...and thus give HIM the chance to swap a fake one for the real crown. Heck, if he had a fake ritual to perform, the crowning moment could be a spell that actually swapped the fake with the real one right in front of the PCs without their knowledge.

And if they want to keep the Crown and use its powers...I don't have an answer for that at the moment.

Thus far they aren't actually clear what its powers are. They know that it is a powerful artifact, but beyond that only the slimmest of hints.
High Level Games, the industry's first choice in taking your games to the next level.*

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highlevelgames/
Twitter: @HLG_Corporate
Website: highlevelgames.ca

*Corporation may not exist except in podcast form.
User avatar
Quinntonia
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 311
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:04 am
Contact:

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:
Did they happen to take the fake from the trap in the cavern?
They did not. They only have the original.
High Level Games, the industry's first choice in taking your games to the next level.*

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highlevelgames/
Twitter: @HLG_Corporate
Website: highlevelgames.ca

*Corporation may not exist except in podcast form.
Danko
Conspirator
Conspirator
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2015 1:43 am

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Danko »

Hello!
My approach to tying up GC adventures without tweaking levels is to give one player a Zarovan Vistana char. She is Hyskosa's daughter looking for her father (supposed to be rotting in Azalin's keep). She is shunned away from her people because of her father and unwanted interest to his fate and works.

So she ends up cooperating (befriending to some point in my campaign) with other PCs. They are keen on escaping Souragne (im using FoS Expedition material, some CotN: Ghosts and Sandover from CoTN: Werebeasts side tracks, so the party has had its mouthful of swamps and snakes and crocs already), so they willingly cooperate with Vistana.

Supposedly this will allow me to explain mist-travels and usage (sometimes erroneous - she's a young and uneducated Zarovan) of mistways. Also Im trying to play it safe fluff-wise in that some of the PCs may wish to inquire some random person like "what year is it today" (they haven't yet). As im playing GC "as published" this will pose problems with dates (thats why Zarovan and their reputed ability to travel through time). So I m saving Azalin for the final leg of hexad.

The campaign is not railroaded that much, so i believe maybe the party won't be jumping to TOD right after (so far they see no reason to do, refusing the way of the Crocodile as a chance to get somewhere more oriental). For this NOWTD-TOD transfer I will rely on trusty Rudolph van Richten recruiting them as henchmen to his main mummy-hunting expeditions (I think turning the tables will be a funny spin-off for everyone). This is a hook from Chiling Tales "Ancient Dead" story, so either I will have to tweak it or make Rudolph and his "main party" investigate the opening scenes of TOD.



My 2 cents.
User avatar
Hamiclar
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 293
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:07 pm
Location: Denver CO

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Hamiclar »

I like the idea of the pre adventure to tod. I may have my group return later on after the GC since they never found the treasures and I am going to have it eat the sorcerer up since the player has stressed his anger.

Back to the FOG how are you handling goblyns after their slain? Do they revert to who they were before transformed? I just started it Monday with Akriel meeting the group after they discover a burnt village with a 8 year old child they took to her aunt nearby for safety. Akriel met the group by summoning wolves and had them chase her to the players. Later I had another wolfwere change form outside starting as a man outside the house and then transforming into wolf and running away. The party found the tracks the next day, she stressed the man wanting her hand may not be reasonable. I play on playing the prison scene next session. On another note I had them read the background of Kartakass from FOG. the group was wary hearing singing and politeness of the people compared to the Akiri which wanted to sacrifice them to their gods and Souraugne which worshipped beings the group found heretic.
User avatar
Quinntonia
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 311
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:04 am
Contact:

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

Hamiclar wrote:I like the idea of the pre adventure to tod. I may have my group return later on after the GC since they never found the treasures and I am going to have it eat the sorcerer up since the player has stressed his anger.

Back to the FOG how are you handling goblyns after their slain? Do they revert to who they were before transformed? I just started it Monday with Akriel meeting the group after they discover a burnt village with a 8 year old child they took to her aunt nearby for safety. Akriel met the group by summoning wolves and had them chase her to the players. Later I had another wolfwere change form outside starting as a man outside the house and then transforming into wolf and running away. The party found the tracks the next day, she stressed the man wanting her hand may not be reasonable. I play on playing the prison scene next session. On another note I had them read the background of Kartakass from FOG. the group was wary hearing singing and politeness of the people compared to the Akiri which wanted to sacrifice them to their gods and Souraugne which worshipped beings the group found heretic.

Yeah, they had done the Wrath of Adam and previous to that a small sub-domain of my own creation based on a portion of our homebrewed world. But only because I didn't really know if this would go any further than a short term campaign, as soon as I realized that it would, I jumped to the Grand Conjunction. My guess would be that we would play to the end of that and then retire the campaign entirely.
High Level Games, the industry's first choice in taking your games to the next level.*

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highlevelgames/
Twitter: @HLG_Corporate
Website: highlevelgames.ca

*Corporation may not exist except in podcast form.
User avatar
Hamiclar
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 293
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:07 pm
Location: Denver CO

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Hamiclar »

Way cool, I like the island thing, I had planned on playing an adventure with the Darklord Monnette but the group had water phobia so they could not go. Are you going to have the group go through Arkandale, Ghenna and or Markovia? I'm going to run them through the assassination of Duke Gundar. I plan on them finding Mendrauts, Duke Gundars son old room which was left as is was when he was slain in the Knight of the Black Rose. A copy of Madrigorian will be found there since the players have hinted at demons and such. The are scared of the mists and with them finding themselves in the core again it was a great seeing relief on their faces.
User avatar
Quinntonia
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 311
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:04 am
Contact:

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

I am basically sticking to the Grand Conjunction as written (mostly) at this stage.
High Level Games, the industry's first choice in taking your games to the next level.*

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highlevelgames/
Twitter: @HLG_Corporate
Website: highlevelgames.ca

*Corporation may not exist except in podcast form.
User avatar
Hamiclar
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 293
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:07 pm
Location: Denver CO

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Hamiclar »

Cool. I plan on my group being in Gundarak and with it centrally located they have access to Invidia before Gabrielle brat, which had just been freed from the former ruler. Sithicus is also a must I have half elves in the group and just mentioning there was a elven kingdom nearby it peaked their interest. I plan on the adventure their modified of course. The thief joining the group is on the fun from a crime family in Dorvinia which should be interesting in that they are heading that way anyway with the priestess being of Ezra.
User avatar
Quinntonia
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 311
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:04 am
Contact:

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

Yup, one of the most interesting things that I have come across is how vastly differently people run the Grand Conjunctions.
High Level Games, the industry's first choice in taking your games to the next level.*

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highlevelgames/
Twitter: @HLG_Corporate
Website: highlevelgames.ca

*Corporation may not exist except in podcast form.
User avatar
Hamiclar
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 293
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:07 pm
Location: Denver CO

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Hamiclar »

The results vary, I'm playing FOG right now and last session the family between the two towns were slaughtered by the wolves the group had attempted to hide in the barn the son had been ravaged in and the wolves just surrounded them while the neighbor did his thing. They eventually slew him but the damage was done.

I'm running the Radaga place next session, was real neat reading your result. I'm modifying my undead using VR guide to the walking dead to increase movement and a berserk option are going to throw my players off since they have been fighting common zombies the newest being desert zombies. Setting the area up with the terrain pieces going to be fun. I plan on combining pathfinder with the terra clips. I have not really played since I was a way younger. Its been great rewriting using the development of story for the group which has enjoyed it. All but one member has played before so its been a great experience teaching them to play the game and seeing them develop their characters.

How many people of your group have failed power checks? I have two and the rest were questionable from their actions from TOD in leaving the thief to be sacrificed by the villagers.
User avatar
Quinntonia
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 311
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:04 am
Contact:

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

There have been several.

The Gnome mage just failed his first, the human rogue who is their de facto leader has failed two, and the druid from Forlorn has failed one.

Of course, we had a fighter in the group previously who had failed several, and I kept explaining that he was one more failure from being an unplayable NPC. He was, however, already tragically far gone.
High Level Games, the industry's first choice in taking your games to the next level.*

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highlevelgames/
Twitter: @HLG_Corporate
Website: highlevelgames.ca

*Corporation may not exist except in podcast form.
User avatar
Quinntonia
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 311
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:04 am
Contact:

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

So we finally got together to continue to the game.

Basically, the monks opened the door to Dr. Dorminiani's keep, and I played a recording of an hour of wolf songs on a loop to set the mood. I also mentioned that the permanent detect magic spell that was messing with the mage's permanent detect magic spell, which came in handy later.

It helped that every major doorway in the place is locked and described as heavy and solid, because in turns it gave me an ability to have Dr. Dorminiani claim that it wasn't safe to go outside because of the giant wolves (his own worgs and dire wolves) which I punctuated by having one of them viciously throw themselves at the courtyard door while the monks were taking their weapons and armour.

They then entered into the hall where they met Dorminia, lightning flashing in the sky, transmuted to blood red dappled light playing about the room on his thrown of claws. I even showed them the evil as shit looking picture in the module. I decided I would play him as extremely intelligent and quick on his feet, though I was certain that they were going to decide he was evil and want to kill him.

Of course, there was their first conversation, which took place around the dinner table, wherein he claimed that he had eaten earlier, since they had gotten there late at night. He discussed the Crown of Soldiers with them, told them the entire Crown's backstory and that only he had the ritual that could make the Crown inert and thus remove its evil from the land as well as turn the now powerless thing over to to Lucas so that Akriel could come and be married to him. They claimed they didn't have it at present, but it was safe and nearby. He chatted with them for a little while and then they all retired for the night into the guest rooms.

The next morning he had left his note for them that he had to go into the city and they decided to explore the place, as adventurers tend to do. So they did, but made some strange decisions. IN the end, they didn't want to have to provoke him if he really was an innocent victim in all of this and so were careful not to break anything or cause too much trouble while they were there.

So, they wandered up on the battlements, but chose not to go the park where the "patients" were. They went to the attic that was infested with bats and even saw the black curtain in the middle of the room that hid the passage to his crypt, but chose not to disturb anything or really get far enough into the room to look behind the curtain. They searched the tops of the battlements, finding the secret door to the library, and looked around it, including finding the spell-protected book calling the crown the Crown of Souls, but chose not to dispel the enchantment and look inside. They even found the strange necromantic magical quilt and just left it alone.

Then they finally broke into the old chapel, which has a fear effect, a phantom trying to scare them off, and a steel door that locked and enchanted to be impenetrable (they tried to dispel but it failed) and the room started howling that word which meant "vampire" at them. The mage even rocked a decipher script and history check so hard that I left him translate the word to "vampire." They saw the red coffin, and even went into the crypt with all of the busts that are reeking with evil. Then they teleported out and left it.

When Dr. Dorminiani came back (after dark) they talked some more, they questioned him about the chapel, and he blurted out, "You have found my secret and my shame, ah well, it is not use hiding any longer" and then proceeded to string them a long string of bullshit that said that he was descended from a long line of evil men and necromancers, which included at least one vampire, and that hat chapel was their crypt, so soaked with hellish evil that he had hired wizards to come and lock it up with enchantments for him. They bought it, they bought it all.

Even when they asked to view the ritual, wherein he chanted and burned incense and had candles for in excess of four hours before pronouncing the Crown inert and taking possession of it. If the mage had asked even once to make any kind of check on that ritual I was ready to explain that it was mostly show and gibberish and not doing what he claimed at all.

So, he gave them the letter for Akriel and 200 platinum coins and took the Crown and they went on their merry way, thinking that Dr. Dorminiani was a great man and a philanthropist.

I have no idea how I pulled it off. This group is usually so paranoid and untrusting that I never thought that this would work.

I mean, I am pretty decent on my feet and tried my best to frame everything in the best light possible, but they literally were in a room that was screaming vampire at them. They even said, "It's probably a warning." Which was correct, except it was warning them about him.

I am a low down dirty deceiver.
High Level Games, the industry's first choice in taking your games to the next level.*

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highlevelgames/
Twitter: @HLG_Corporate
Website: highlevelgames.ca

*Corporation may not exist except in podcast form.
User avatar
Gonzoron of the FoS
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 7555
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 8:02 pm
Gender: Male
Location: New Jersey
Contact:

Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Quinntonia wrote:When Dr. Dorminiani came back (after dark) they talked some more, they questioned him about the chapel, and he blurted out, "You have found my secret and my shame, ah well, it is not use hiding any longer" and then proceeded to string them a long string of bullshit that said that he was descended from a long line of evil men and necromancers, which included at least one vampire, and that hat chapel was their crypt, so soaked with hellish evil that he had hired wizards to come and lock it up with enchantments for him. They bought it, they bought it all.
BWAHAHAHAAHAHAH!
So, he gave them the letter for Akriel and 200 platinum coins and took the Crown and they went on their merry way, thinking that Dr. Dorminiani was a great man and a philanthropist.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH!!!! I'm dying here.... well played....

See? nothing to worry about.

:lucas:
"We're realistic heroes. We're not here to save the world, just nudge the world into a better place."
Post Reply