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Post by geneweigel on Jul 16, 2022 9:44:26 GMT -5
Hell I would have to dig through the forum. Here it is: Did you mention my story from last year? LGGCHe really was insistent about it not being a spider. I think Frank was nearby when I asked Gary but he was bullshitting with some guy.
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Post by Scott on Jul 16, 2022 10:00:49 GMT -5
Well, that’s that. I think you first mentioned it while we were talking a about the ToEE connections shortly after you noticed the four elemental symbols from the Temple also match the four items from inside the egg.
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Post by geneweigel on Jul 16, 2022 10:22:06 GMT -5
Looking at it with all information, what he told me is more complicated. Then you have to sift apart the creative process and arrive at "Who is this elemental dungeon that I have already did going to be for?" once the assignment to T1-4 (Or hypothetical "T2") mentally, way back in lets say 1978, it was a done deal. Even though it arrived later in his mind it no longer existed even longer than the T1-4 publication so that is what he was trying to convey.
Which technically I do myself. The dungeon for my ever present lich NPC was supposed to be for the lord of the anti-paladins who confounds all paladin PCs with tricks to make them fall but I misplaced the map then made a different dungeon from memory for the anti-paladin master. Then the original anti-paladin dungeon showed up, it was in a Dungeon magazine box, and when the players were continuing their relationship with the lich I just used it and built on it with newer variant traps.
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Post by GRWelsh on Jul 18, 2022 10:28:18 GMT -5
Interesting set of notes, Paul! I really liked how you handed Eclavdra in your campaign by making her a personality the PCs can role play with and perhaps be manipulated by. It is a logical way to direct the action to conform to the structure of the module (i.e. direct them to the Fane by providing some sort of rationale). That was brilliant! Special NPC's like Eclavdra should be more than just monsters the PC's attack on sight. It is much more satisfying to have players interact with certain villains and have some sort of ongoing dialogue.
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Post by Scott on Jul 18, 2022 15:58:49 GMT -5
I think the best thing to do is consider the Vault a setting, and not an adventure. Use it as a setting and write two or three short adventures that fit your campaign up to that point. one thing I still don't get is how the PCs make the jump to going after Lolth; it runs counter to everything the series was, but then it seems absolutely implied that the party is going to end up in the EGG bashing Lolth clerics. It seems unlikely that the PCs will be able to knock off Eclavdra and attack the Egg. Once they do one, it just seems unlikely that they will still be able to hang around and cause more mayhem. You'd really have to fudge it in their favor. Another issue is that after playing the whole series, your party might just be done with it and want to move on. I haven't decided if I want to give them any reason to go after the temple yet. Or Q1. AT one point I thought about having a party NPC kidnapped and sacrificed, but not sure I want to commit to reworking Q1 into something I like.
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Post by grodog on Jul 19, 2022 21:06:21 GMT -5
I think that it's an easy connection to make that the PCs would not distinguish among factions within the drow noble houses, and wantonly slay their way through G3 and D1. When they arrive at D3, they know the drow are the main bad guys, and since the priestesses of Lolth are the de facto rulers in charge, they go right after them. Getting to fight Lolth herself seems less likely to me without some sort of prompting, either via Eclavdra (as Paul did) or some other finger pointing going on (from the rakes, from the deep gnomes, etc.).
Allan.
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Post by Scott on Jul 20, 2022 5:46:21 GMT -5
I can’t see that. It just makes so much of the material in the adventures pointless. That fracture is one of the primary plot points. There is a lot that’s vague in the series, but the temples encountered are obviously dedicated to an entity other than Lolth. If I decide to extend the adventure past killing Eclavdra, I would have a party member killed/kidnapped by priestesses of Lolth, or maybe have the rakes hint that they have some powerful item in their possession that the drow took with them when they fled underground, like some ancient elf version of a Crown of Might.
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