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Post by GRWelsh on Aug 29, 2021 11:25:23 GMT -5
I was thinking of doing a School of Magic themed adventure to make use of all of these miniature bookshelves I've been painting. Any suggestions? The idea is a way to allow Cindy's magic-user to find spell books and scrolls since she is behind in XP and power level compared to the others (through no fault of her own -- she's had a bad summer). I was imagining a place where young apprentices were once trained but is now in ruins. Because of magic, there can be tricks and traps still in effect.
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Post by geneweigel on Aug 29, 2021 13:12:28 GMT -5
Obscured somehow otherwise it would be a giveaway. Then a magic mess might be the reason they never returned. Some kind of collected magic waste creating monsters/effects ala xag-ya and xeg-yi (positive versus negative plane) from an experiment gone awry?
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Post by Scott on Aug 29, 2021 14:04:40 GMT -5
You're still in the Hochoch area? You could have an old wizards tower in the Dim Forest that was overrun years ago but the dungeons/workrooms were protected by traps and spells. You could tie something into the Valley of the Mage.
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Post by GRWelsh on Aug 29, 2021 15:56:42 GMT -5
Obscured somehow otherwise it would be a giveaway. Then a magic mess might be the reason they never returned. Some kind of collected magic waste creating monsters/effects ala xag-ya and xeg-yi (positive versus negative plane) from an experiment gone awry? Good ideas. I was envisioning it as a ruined upper works overgrown and mostly forgotten. But it could be obscured by an illusion as well similar to Hogwarts or the traditional fairy castle. I like the magical mess or waste ideas to discourage players from taking up residence. |
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Post by GRWelsh on Aug 29, 2021 15:58:55 GMT -5
You're still in the Hochoch area? You could have an old wizards tower in the Dim Forest that was overrun years ago but the dungeons/workrooms were protected by traps and spells. You could tie something into the Valley of the Mage. Yes, they're still in the Hochoch area. They've been adventuring on the southern edges of the Dim Forest and at the end of the last game they were planning on returning south to Hochoch, their home town. So, I was considering placing the abandoned wizard school in the Oytwood for a change of direction. Basically what you have suggested is what I was thinking of -- underground halls and workrooms protected by traps and spells, and also with a bit of whimsy thrown in like ghostly butlers, talking paintings, etc. I have been laying out some rumors for the Valley of the Mage as well. So far, all they know is that it is a very dangerous place full of strange monsters with little known about the Mage, himself. No one dares enter the valley. |
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Post by grodog on Aug 29, 2021 16:38:12 GMT -5
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Post by geneweigel on Aug 29, 2021 18:08:51 GMT -5
I had several schools of magic adventures but slowed down after Harry Potter became a thing. My teen daughters were into Harry Potter for about 5 seconds last year. Now they could care less after going to Harry Potter land at Universal 5000 times.
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Post by GRWelsh on Aug 30, 2021 7:55:01 GMT -5
The “Into the Forgotten Realms” tourney in Dragon 95 was set in Myth Drannor, as I recall. Thanks for the reminder, Allan. I remember this module from Dragon magazine and liked the insane lich who talks to the adventurers as if they are pupils, and the larva that claims to be a paladin cursed by the lich. I'm re-reading it now. Considering my theme of using adventures from Dragon magazine, this might be a good fit. |
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Post by GRWelsh on Aug 30, 2021 11:27:38 GMT -5
I had several schools of magic adventures but slowed down after Harry Potter became a thing. My teen daughters were into Harry Potter for about 5 seconds last year. Now they could care less after going to Harry Potter land at Universal 5000 times. I was thinking of "Toadwarts School of Magic Use" just to troll the Potterheads but didn't want to go all out with developing the houses, sports, etc. The boarding school concept doesn't really translate into AD&D. So it would just be a few easter eggs like talking paintings, ghosts or apparitions they can speak to, a chamber of secrets, and a giant chess board to overlap with classic D&D. The map that shows people walking around also would make a very good magic item. Eric's magic-user named "Harvey Plotter" (so named to troll Scott who is a Harry Potter fan) would have fit in perfectly at Toadwarts. That character is still alive somewhere on the Flanaess, so who knows... |
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Post by GRWelsh on Sept 4, 2021 9:44:23 GMT -5
I wrote up a room with a Sorting Cap and Potteresque houses of Huffledor, Fafflecraeft and Jabberwock. If anyone who cannot possibly be a wizard puts on the cap it will simply make a grumpy face and say, "Muggle." Sprites and fairies show up in the balcony to watch the Sorting Hat Ceremony, and cheer when someone is sorted into a house and laugh at the muggles. This almost not worth doing without Scott being here!
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Post by Scott on Sept 6, 2021 9:20:39 GMT -5
I thought Mark was a fan as well?
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Post by GRWelsh on Sept 6, 2021 10:49:52 GMT -5
Allison is a huge fan. Not sure about Mark.
They didn't make it to the School of Magic yet. They spent the last session exploring the dungeon rooms they'd previously bypassed, and now they are completely finished with "Citadel by the Stream." They are planning on taking the magic spear Alkarg back to the temple of Pelor in their home town of Hochoch. At that point I will work in the rumors of the wizard school.
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Post by GRWelsh on Oct 3, 2021 7:35:14 GMT -5
Two weeks ago, the party returned to Hochoch and delivered Alkarg to the Temple of Pelor. That session was mainly a role-playing one. I had asked each player to come up with a relative, friend and enemy/rival to help develop their background. Osoric sparred with one his former mentors at the lists in Hochoch castle, and lost the bout; Aeray paid the priests of Pelor to cast remove curse upon him, and he was able to get rid of the magic sword that was causing him to hallucinate and see foes that were not there; the dwarf Krak reunited with the elf magic-user Laetrix, whom he had rescued in the past (Mark's secondary character); and Tory was able to visit her old mentor, the local witchy-woman (whom they all kept calling Chara, a reference to Wes' ex-girlfriend from the 90's who was into New Age stuff and Reiki), and learn the find familiar spell -- after casting it all night, a crow showed up (4 hp)! After reading the book of legends, Tory also told the rest of the party about an abandoned school of magic named Toadwarts said to be located in the Oytwood to the south of them... A place of hidden treasures, never recovered! So, they planned to go there next.
Last night, the party was:
Aeray, 2nd level paladin [Randy]
Osoric, 2nd level paladin [Brian]
Dain, 3rd level cleric of Pelor [Eric]
Tory Brewster, 2nd level magic-user [Cindy]
Balul, 4th level mountain dwarf thief [Ray]
Krak, 3rd level mountain dwarf fighter [Mark]
Laetrix, 1st level high elf magic-user [Mark/NPC]
The party headed southwest from Hochoch along the road west of the Realstream. They passed farms and tilled fields and encountered a Hochoch patrol coming the other way. They exchanged some civil words, and found out the patrols always had concerns about bandits on the roads or hiding in the woods at the borders of the lands controlled by Hochoch. After a full day's travel they came to the intersection of the Realstream and Javan River, where there was a guard tower with a ballista, a curtain wall mained by crossbowmen, barracks, stable and docks with several boats and rafts. The guard captain told the knights (paladins) and Dain the priest that they could sleep in the barracks, and the others could sleep in the stable. Krak the dwarf took offense to this, and the guards said they did not mean to offend. Krak pitched a tent outside. The other dwarf in the party, the thief Balul, snuck around that night and put horse manure in the empty boots of the guardsmen. The next morning, there was an outcry from the barracks and the guardsmen exclaimed, "Ach, it must be those mischievous fairies of the wood! They have played a trick on us again!" The Oytwood, it seemed, was known as a place of fairies and elves and avoided by the men of this region. The party crossed the Javan River with their mounts on a raft, to land on a small moss-covered jetty on the south bank. From here, they could see a path leading up into the forest heading in the general direction of where Tory thought Toadwarts was located. She only had a crude map and a general location, which seemed to be in the middle of the Oytwood south of the intersection of the Realstream and Javan Rivers, where the hills of the Stark Mounds came down into that forest. Following the trail, Tory had her crow familiar scout ahead along the path, and circle around them. The party came to a meadow with many blue wildflowers, and here they could hear the tinkling sounds of laughter and buzzing sounds. They spotted a tiny girl with dragonfly wings gathering dew from a flower in the meadow. The female elf Laetrix tried to approach and speak to her, but the fairy girl was startled, and flew off to the west, along with the other seemingly invisible sprites buzzing around the meadow. The party continued on and came to a fork in the path. They went right and the path climbed higher into the wooded hills. Ahead, they saw a white stag jump across the path. As they came to the point where the stag crossed the path, they could hear a crashing sound from the trees as a brown shape emerged -- an owlbear! The horses, which were mere riding horses and not war horses, were spooked! So were the ponies and donkeys. Osoric dismounted his horse right as the owlbear tore into it with claws and teeth. Aeray and Krak also dismounted, moving over to attack the owlbear. Dain, still mounted, got control of his horse and wheeled around. Tory lost control of her horse which bolted off, with her barely holding on. The owlbear tore into Osoric, clawing and biting. Osoric, Aeray and Krak all hit the owlbear with telling blows, but still it stood (30 hp). Just then, another owlbear came out of the woods to attack as well (also 30 hp!). Osoric faced it and struck it a mighty blow. Balul had dismounted, and moved around to flank one of the owlbears, and Dain did so as well. One of the owlbears caught up Osoric in a bear hug and killed him. Balul was swiped at with a claw. The party then slew both owlbears. They were in shock at the death of their comrade, whom they quickly found was beyond healing (below -10 hp). They decided to return his body to civilization, but they did first have the idea to search for the lair of the owlbears. I had each player roll a d6 with a 1 indicating they would find it. On the last roll, Cindy rolled a 1 for Tory's crow familiar. It spotted a cave below a rock overhang mostly concealed with foliage. Cautiously entering, they found a shallow cave with some straw and bones and four large eggs, as well as many silver coins and five gems (I let the players roll randomly using the Treasure Type). They returned to the river crossing, and decided to take Osoric's body all the way back to Hochoch. The town gates were closed for the night, and the gate warden would not let them in, so they slept outside. The next morning, they entered the town and took Osoric's body to the chapel of Heironeous at the castle in Hochoch. Sir Barakiel who had been Osoric's mentor sent a messenger to the rangers of the north, so that his brother Osgoth (Brian's secondary character) could be made aware of the paladin's death. They held a funeral, and Osoric was buried, with a headstone carved with his name, and Osgoth inherited his brother's possessions. Krak found a buyer in town for the owlbear eggs, and was offered 1000 gp per egg. I'll go through my notes to calculate the exact date... It is now sometime late in the month of Wealsun, or Berrytime to the elves (around June), with the town preparing for Richfest, when the noble Margrave gives out bread and copper coins and the midsummer season is celebrated.
Edit to add in some dates from my notes:
Wealsun 2: Hochoch
Wealsun 11: South
Wealsun 12: Osoric dies
Wealsun 14: Osoric's funeral
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Post by Scott on Oct 3, 2021 8:30:24 GMT -5
Sounds like a fun session. Bad luck for the paladin, but it's one of those things that can happen in the 1-2 level range where you're always one round away from death.
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Post by GRWelsh on Nov 25, 2021 16:15:21 GMT -5
I've fallen behind in my game write-ups but we are continuing to game every other week. Six weeks ago we took a break from AD&D when I ran a one shot ALIEN RPG scenario ("Hope's Last Day" from the core rule book). Four weeks ago, we returned to the AD&D campaign and the party once again tried to find the school of magic named Toadwarts in the Oytwood; they succeeded and began to explore it getting as far as the Grand Hall of the Picking Pail. Two weeks ago, they continued to explore the abandoned school finding a larva in the pantry and an underground river with a bridge of light over it.
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Post by GRWelsh on Nov 28, 2021 12:00:14 GMT -5
Wealsun 17: In last night's game the party explored the dormitories and common rooms of Wizarding houses Huffledor and Fafflecraeft, found some books and magic items and figured out the password to get past the portcullis. They killed a gelatinous cube and another larva, and encountered "Crying Curdle" the spirit of a former student. They crossed the bridge of lights over the chasm and met Azimeer the lich, the former headmaster, who spoke to them as if they were his students and the school was still active. Clearly, he was insane! Wisely, they did not attack, but retreated from the lich's pillared hall... Some challenges are best saved for another day!
The party was:
Aeray, 3rd level paladin [Randy]
Dain, 4th level cleric [Eric]
Tory, 2nd level magic-user [Cindy]
Balul, 4th level dwarf thief [Ray]
Krak, 3rd level dwarf fighter [Mark]
Laetrix, 1st level elf magic-user [Mark]
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Post by GRWelsh on Dec 14, 2021 8:29:51 GMT -5
In last Saturday's game, the party explored the caves below Toadwarts and wiped out over two dozen kobolds. They also found a cavern of glowworms and got a golden goblet out of a pool that had a gray ooze in it -- but not before it destroyed the plate mail on Eric's cleric!
Note: After this, the party had some urban adventuring in Hochoch. A plot hook I threw out was that Eric's cleric, Dain, had some hints from his own scriptures that "evil shouldn't be buried away" and "wickedness should be confronted and held up to the light of day!" Eric took this to mean the magic spear, Alkarg, which had been hidden below the Temple of Pelor in Hochoch. The party got some hints that the only way to destroy Alkarg was to melt it down in the dwarven forge it was made in... But that would be Grotheim, and ancient dwarf hall in the Barrier Peaks north of the Dim Forest, which were overrun by a dragon, trolls and goblins nearly 300 years ago! The party and especially Eric were not interested going to such an inhospitable place! The party heard about folk asking questions about them and their adventure at the village of Awad to the north... One evening, Dain was in the Temple of Pelor and looked up to see... himself! The duplicate attacked him, and they fought against each other, swinging maces! Dain called for help and the acolytes and temple guards came running. "Damn priests of Pelor!" the duplicate muttered to Dain, and then turned and ran away. Dain pursued, but the duplicate yelled "there's an intruder that looks just like me and he's chasing me! Stop him!" In the confusion, the duplicate was able to jump out a window and escape into the night. Meanwhile, Balul was the victim of a pickpocket who stole the magical rabbit's foot he recovered from Toadwarts school of magic. Balul and Krak chased the thief and his accomplice around the buildings of Hochoch, but were unable to catch them.
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