#18: Ghost castle, part 2
Feb. 3rd, 2019 05:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkToday I got up late, but around noon I did go for an hour-long walk, so that was good. I visited the nearby cemetery for the first time, maybe next time I'll take pictures because I find cemeteries fascinating. This one is on a hill and even has a nice view.
Now to the undead: I had a lot of fun with them at yesterday's D&D session :) Though I think it might have been the rare session where I had more fun than my players. They had to make it through two floors of the ghost castle, and it took them the entire evening. I was pretty proud of myself for setting up a challenging scenario, but they got frustrated a few times. On the prison floor the corridor was narrow so they had little freedom of movement, and because they had shining lights that harmed all undead coming close to them the undead were hiding in the walls. Makes sense, but the players got frustrated because it was hard to hit their enemies, and then another big problem was that animals refuse to go near specters so they didn't know how to get the druid's animal companion past. They made it to the staircase eventually, though they did lose the two NPC allies (they didn't die, they were just Charmed to go back to the treasure chamber and the party decided to leave them behind.) Then on the ground floor they encountered more shadows – this entire time btw the druid was a snake with strength 3, hanging on the artificer who'd turned himself into a troll – and the cursed king, who they knew they shouldn't kill because then the very powerful ghost queen would seek revenge when she comes back. They managed to grapple him, almost all of them made it out of the castle and the courtyard – and then the second elf prince was out of other options, so he tried and succeeded in possessing one party member. And a ghost's possession ability is actually OP af, especially at this level (depending on how interpreted but much more so than I initially realized) so that's when the players got really worried.
With some hints they realized that they had to negotiate, made slightly harder by the fact that the party diplomats were both absent, the druid was a snake, the bard was possessed, so that left the artificer, who is generally not a diplomatic person. At this point the smaller elf prince reappeared, who'd thought the artificer and the party were his new friends, and was horrified, that was fun to play. (I did his voice, even.) In the end they came to the agreement that the party could take the artifact they'd come here for, the Crown of Bone and Fire, and bring it to the arcane university to study and keep safe, but they had to return all the other treasures they took. They did that and left safely; they even got the two NPCs back.
All in all, a success :) (Even if they are very disappointed to have to leave the loot behind.)
Now to the undead: I had a lot of fun with them at yesterday's D&D session :) Though I think it might have been the rare session where I had more fun than my players. They had to make it through two floors of the ghost castle, and it took them the entire evening. I was pretty proud of myself for setting up a challenging scenario, but they got frustrated a few times. On the prison floor the corridor was narrow so they had little freedom of movement, and because they had shining lights that harmed all undead coming close to them the undead were hiding in the walls. Makes sense, but the players got frustrated because it was hard to hit their enemies, and then another big problem was that animals refuse to go near specters so they didn't know how to get the druid's animal companion past. They made it to the staircase eventually, though they did lose the two NPC allies (they didn't die, they were just Charmed to go back to the treasure chamber and the party decided to leave them behind.) Then on the ground floor they encountered more shadows – this entire time btw the druid was a snake with strength 3, hanging on the artificer who'd turned himself into a troll – and the cursed king, who they knew they shouldn't kill because then the very powerful ghost queen would seek revenge when she comes back. They managed to grapple him, almost all of them made it out of the castle and the courtyard – and then the second elf prince was out of other options, so he tried and succeeded in possessing one party member. And a ghost's possession ability is actually OP af, especially at this level (depending on how interpreted but much more so than I initially realized) so that's when the players got really worried.
With some hints they realized that they had to negotiate, made slightly harder by the fact that the party diplomats were both absent, the druid was a snake, the bard was possessed, so that left the artificer, who is generally not a diplomatic person. At this point the smaller elf prince reappeared, who'd thought the artificer and the party were his new friends, and was horrified, that was fun to play. (I did his voice, even.) In the end they came to the agreement that the party could take the artifact they'd come here for, the Crown of Bone and Fire, and bring it to the arcane university to study and keep safe, but they had to return all the other treasures they took. They did that and left safely; they even got the two NPCs back.
All in all, a success :) (Even if they are very disappointed to have to leave the loot behind.)
no subject
Date: 2019-02-04 06:55 pm (UTC)Your ghost castle scenario sounds like a lot of fun! The possession mechanic is very powerful, but it can definitely be good signal to players that "bashing your way out of this one ain't the best idea". I really should implement something like that scenario (aka more diplomacy than bashing) in my offline campaign :)
no subject
Date: 2019-02-04 07:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-07 08:18 pm (UTC)