Empire of the Ghouls - Out of Zobeck

Spoilers for the adventure follow…

After returning to kobold King Koto Crag-Claw’s palace with their prisoners and the rescued Rozalyn Turnyr, the adventurers were treated as heroes. Their efforts cleared Brik’s name and exposed the machinations of the Blood Kingdom against the city council of Zobeck. 

In addition to their treasure reward King Crag-Claw provided them a place to stay indefinitely and they always were guaranteed free meals at the Rampant Roach. Straic was made to pay for the damages to the restaurant and he provided his daughter’s rescuers any smithing services they required free of charge.

They spent the rest of the spring and most of summer in Zobeck then, but kept busy. Korwyn spent much of his time finding and then refurbishing a river boat to use for travel on the river Argent. He found it through a halfling river folk named Ply Waterfroth, who put him in contact with a kobold named Skitter who gave him a great price for the boat. Rolan studied the apothecary tools he’d found, but couldn’t figure them out yet. He also assisted Korwyn with his boat. Frost had Straic make him a fancy set of silver knuckles, and was gifted a sturdier but more battered set of magical brass knuckles by the kobolds. 

Rolan also received a note from a cleric of Valeresh who kept the shrine in Zobeck. He went to visit the shrine and conducted a ritual which resulted in a vision of two world trees burning in the Tomierran forest and in the Northlands. The old cleric assured Rolan that it was a vision of Ragnarok and must be averted. Rolan was more sceptical.

Korwyn received a note from an old shipmate telling him of how the Duke-Admiral of the Republic of Triolo was issuing letters of marque to attack the Mharoti Dragon Empire’s ships. The friend also sent him a magical ring of jumping to wear on his horn. 

Finally, Frost met Dalinda Plainsfoot, an old friend from his time as a caravan guard on the Rothenian Plains. She told old stories and bought a few rounds until eventually sharing that Baba Yaga and the mysterious and fiendish Master of Demon Mountain were both more active on the plains. The master was sending his Tiefling children as emissaries to the Blood Kingdom and Mharoti Empire. Frost listened intently and also purchased supplies for her to take back to the Plainsfoot and Frostbane tribes to aid their wintering on the steppe. 

Finally they all received a letter from Grigori, who has originally hired them to find his girlfriend, recounting how he had returned to his homeland, Krakovar, to join the rebels against the Blood Kingdom and their ghoul allies as revenge for the disappearance of his girlfriend, Illyana.

After conferring together, the adventurers resolved to go North to find the rebels in a city in the Grand Duchy of Dornig where Gregori had directed them. They prepared the boat and brought along Chitter, Skitter’s nephew on their journey up the river Argent. The heroes departed early in the month of High Summer. Autumn and Winter will soon follow. They cleared a trapper’s net blocking the river in the one major happening of the journey North towards the Freehold of Obertal, a two day journey up river from Zobeck to the point where they could no longer navigate the river on their boat, which they had named the Keister.

Tying up the boat on the seventh of High Summer, they saw two griffin knights circling over the ruined fort, possibly portending trouble…

GM Reflections

This was a really fun game. It was the first time this group has played in person. Additionally, everyone enjoyed the downtime activities from A Life Well Lived and the journey rules from Uncharted Journeys. I really opened up the aperture of the adventure, pointing them to corners of the world that relate to their character. They also have me some interesting backstory info that made it easy to create diverse quest hooks. It’s interesting that they are actually still kind of following the main adventure’s quest line. I think blowing this adventure out into a full sandbox is really cool though, because it allows us to explore so much of Midgard’s rich content. It was interesting getting to use the downtime rules not just mechanically, but to facilitate storytelling.

Everyone enjoyed the new systems, but we all agreed that Cubicle7 could have made them easier to present to players through better handouts, like creating a “menu” of downtime options, and the same thing with journey preparations, since it’s difficult to choose these without a list of options. These systems prompted lots of interesting and fun roleplay though, which leads me to my conclusion that Cubicle7 really has delivered on the social and exploration pillars of 5e that have been lacking for so long.

This also marked a major break with the established story in Empire of the Ghouls. I found myself so enjoying the lore of Midgard that I really wanted to simply turn the adventure into a sandbox facilitated by point crawling using the Uncharted Journey rules. Interestingly they still decided to go North, which means I can continue to use the source material. Since they’re going to Grigori and the rebels I’m going to have them do a few missions into Krakovar and the Blood Kingdom, and potentially obtain the Robes of St. Adelind (although they don’t have the quest hook, so that will be more organic). Then they may earn the chance to meet the court in exile and escort Duke Avgost to the Wolfmark. They’ll also have opportunity to investigate the world tree in the Tomierran Forest.

Krakovan Rebels Pregens

I recently ran an adventure integrating some players from one campaign in another group for a one-shot. This is set in the Blood Kingdom in Kobold Press’ Midgard setting. It should be pretty fun! It uses the Lair of the Night Cauldron dungeon I created.

I knew I’d need to make some pregen characters so I brainstormed the following:

Pregen Brainstorming:

Krakovan Rebel Background

Dawn Blade Rogue (TOH)

Variant Human

Retired Adventurer Background 

Variant Human

Battlemaster Fighter

Haunted Villager Background 

Variant Human

Chaplain Fighter (TOH)

Krakovan Rebel Background

Variant Human

Chieftains Presence

Grisal Paladin

Dwarf

Oath of the Hearth (TOH)

Grisal Paladin

Dwarf

Oath of Safeguarding (TOH)

Grisal veteran

Dwarf

Legionary Fighter (TOH)

Grisal Paragon Warlord (KibblesTasty)

Dwarf

Mercenary Company Scion Background 

Final Character Briefs:

-Bozhin Vilensky: Human divine blade rogue Krakovar rebel. A religious fanatic who dedicated himself to serving the sun god, Khors, after his wife and daughter were taken by the darakhul ghouls after the fall of his home nation of Krakovar. He bitterly hates the Blood Kingdom’s vampire rulers and their ghoul allies. He follows Mladen Kramar and will do anything to destroy servants of evil.

-Elya Gajov: Human Battlemaster Fighter. Spearmaiden of the war goddess Sif. Elya had retired before the invasion of Krakovar, but has since joined the resistance. She is coming on this raid to help forge an alliance with the dwarves of the Black Fortress against the Vampire ruler of the Southwestern Marches. She leads a small band of rebels who are currently camped out in the swamps of the Yoshtula river. You are judging whether to allow the dwarves of Grisal and the Black Fortress to ally and help lead the thirty soldier of your band.

-Mladen Kramar: A Krakovan Rebel Chieftain Warlord. A stalwart memeber of the Krakovan resistance, you are on this raid to judge whether partnership with the dwarves of Grisal is worth Krakovan lives. If it is successful your Queen-in-exile will allow sixty troops to work at the disposal of Jaro Whitebeard of the Black Fortress. You are to support the raid and note everything to report back to your commanders in the town of Kariessen.

Adventure Pitch to Regular Characters:

To set the stage a bit for tomorrow; since it's going to be structured as a one-shot I'll be railroading you into the adventure a bit. Next session we can go back and play through your interaction with Jaro Whitebeard at the Black Fortress, but for this one you will be conducting a raid against some cultists who are led by Lady Illmalad's dhampir son, Fane. Rolan is in Whitebeard's care, convalescing from his experience wirh the Blood Cauldron.

You are tasked to kill or capture Fane, while taking whatever action you can to degrade or destroy his cultists' operational capability, and gather whatever information you can on their activities. 

If you prove yourselves, Whitebeard intends to place you in command of 30 dwarven heavy infantry. He is sending you with other Krakovan resistance members (the other players). If you are successful these rebel forces will contribute up to 90 of their troops to you, providing you roughly one full strength company sized force to oppose Lady Illmalad and the Band of the Twice Damned in the Southwestern Marches region and defend Morrowdown.

Adventure Pitch to Joining Players:

For this mission, you will be conducting a raid against some cultists who are led by the vampire Lady Illmalad's dhampir son, Fane. 

You are tasked to kill or capture Fane, while taking whatever action you can to degrade or destroy his cultists' operational capability, and gather whatever information you can on their activities. 

Your characters will also evaluate the other PCs (the regular players) to decide whether your factions will contribute troops to a united company under their command to oppose Lady Illmalad. You know already that these heroes are reported to have cleansed the village of Morrowdown from an ancient fey evil, and rescued two paladins of the Black Fortress who were going to be sacrificed to their alien entity.

Lost Mine of Phandelver - Conclusion

Spoilers for the adventure...

The heroes departed the forge of spells, a little disappointed at the shell left of the fabled location. They went North, following a booming noise until they found waves crashing against a cliffside in a large cave.

After marveling at the vast amount of water in this underground area, the party continued onward in the cave, coming into another chamber where they saw a cliff rising up in front of them. They found some rope hanging down from the edge and clambered their way up.

Next the heroes stumbled from a side passage into a large pillared chamber and suddenly found themselves under attack from giant spiders and humanoid monsters with spider heads. They also began to be pummeled by spells, as two of them were knocked unconscious by a freezing blast of cold. While Aina helped Amafrey and Blaaz up, Anarath cast a wall of force across the chamber to halt further spell attacks as he searched for the enemy caster. The heroes defeated the spiders and spider-like creatures and began to search for the spell caster as they were hammered with fireballs exploding over their heads.

Anarath heard a taunting voice in his own ear, but struck nothing when he swung. Finally, the wizard cast a fireball blindly and heard a voice call out in pain. Yet no one appeared. He continued to cast area spells toward the enemy, as his friends moved into the area. Amafrey swung his sword blindly and connected with something invisible. Finally, they heard a thud after Anarath cast a last spell into a hallway to the South. Investigating, they found a Drow mage that they had killed. They found a staff and notes on his body, and quickly searching the surrounding rooms they found Nundro Rockseeker and saved him.

Gudren and his brother offered a fifth of the profits of the mine to the party as a reward for their efforts, and the heroes took a well deserved rest in Phandalin.

GM Reflections

It is quite satisfying to finally have completed this campaign. Scheduling issues, geographic separation, and moves made it difficult to play consistently, but it was fun. It did become difficult to get excited about continuing at times when the plot was dragging along, and I learned some valuable lessons about keeping the plot moving. I think I’ll play a bit more active role in doing that as we either continue with these characters or transition to something new. I see that as speeding up time and allowing time to pass. Adding smaller adventures or dungeons within the larger arc. I do still really like XP-based leveling, although it is much slower. But using a VTT I feel that it’s easier to manage than actually deciding when to award milestone levels, especially since that can vary so widely and be so unclear in published adventures. Many will not find that opinion to their taste, which is alright with me.

The boss fight with Nezznar used a higher level mage stat block from Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse. It was difficult, but my players seemed to enjoy it. They carved through the giant spider and ettercap minions very quickly, and it became a cat-and-mouse game with Nezznar. The dice fell in their favor too, because there were a couple times when characters would have been killed had I rolled better. I was nervous about a TPK though when the two healing characters went down with the first Cone of Cold I threw out. 

I thought the pacing went well for a finale though, and I still think that Lost Mines of Phandelver in its original form is an amazing adventure. It’s a great to introduce a new batch of players to the game, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it adapted in some fashion in almost every edition of D&D going forward.

Addendum to EN5ider Issue 3 Reactions

Several months ago I examined the first four issues of EN5ider, ENWorld’s long running Patreon magazine for 5e D&D. In my Empire of the Ghouls campaign, I finally had a chance to use issue three, which provided a framework to run an archery contest. I reskinned it as an axe-throwing contest during a beer fest for the goddess Ninkash in the Ironcrag dwarven canton of Gunnacks. It went phenomenally.

The players enjoyed the flavor I added through describing the contest, and of course got a laugh out of the constant rounds of beer the dwarves served (“We get to day drink and throw axes?”) I also threw in a churlish rival—the cousin of an ally NPC they’d met upon arriving in town. There was never any threat of violence, but it added dramatic tension as they advanced through the contest. I will note that I chose the region column on the table and it did seem like a lot of rounds to get to the finals, particularly when they get three shots a round to attempt to score three points and advance. They both were eliminated in the sweet sixteen round, but made a good lucky run of it. It did seem like if I hadn’t added the fun descriptive elements and if my players weren’t as engaged that it could have fallen flat though.

On the broader topic of festivals in games, I really enjoyed this first foray. I think it’s a cool idea to have some interesting mini games that riff on core mechanics which the players can choose to engage with or note. Describing the event can add flavor and world building (for instance, I had them attend a banquet in the temple of Ninkash the night prior. As a goddess of hospitality, they were given free room and board there. Lumbering keg golems moved around the tables, providing beer to them and their dwarven hosts).

Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Battle of Steel Springs (Part I)

Spoilers follow for the adventure…

Players defeated the mummy knight and discovered a horde of treasure, including a scroll of remove curse, hidden in his sarcophagus. The scroll was the object of their quest, which would allow Davgin to remove the curse from the rapier Fallon bought.

The party returned to Kalaman to find it strangely quiet. Except for the city guard and their own company most of the army was absent. They went to Castle Kalaman to investigate.

First they found Rookledust in her workshop, which she emerged from disheveled, whilst a whir of clockwork and machinery sounded out from inside. She was largely unhelpful, having spent the past several days working.

Next they went to Marshal Vendri’s office, finding a disheveled aide-de-camp examining maps and dispatches. She recounted how the Marshal had taken the bulk of the army to attack the Red Dragon Army’s supply lines toward Estwilde, while afterwards Lord Bakharis had taken most of the remaining troops against orders to attack the enemy near the ford of Steel Springs on the Inkwater River.

The heroes rested for the night, still exhausted from their adventure in the tomb, and then set out with their other troops towards the ford to attempt to save Bakharis’ force from destruction by his own hubris.

The march took two and a half days. Their scouts reported that the troops were in combat on the Western side of the Inkwater, being driven towards the river in disarray.

Attempting to save the army, the adventurers committed their own forces to battle, managing to drive off several enemy units and rally some of the remaining units of Bakharis’ force.

GM Reflections

This session provided me the opportunity to employ the mass combat system again from Kingdoms & Warfare. The players seemed to enjoy it more this time. They are once again back on the railroad though, with little time to rest. I would put more effort into building out a node-based plot, but the players have already expressed that they are excited to try a new campaign, but don’t want to simply end this one. So I’ll do my best to advance them in level and bring this to a satisfying conclusion.

Empire of the Ghouls - 28 Sept 2024 Session Planning Notes

Spoilers follow...

Secrets & Clues

• Gybick was the center of the "Mice," the late king of Krakovar's spy network.
• Velda Lupei is the secret leader of the Mice, and is in hiding in Gybick.
• Morrowdown, a village on the road between the Black Fortress and Gybick, has had several years of prosperity despite the undead, but now it's crops and harvest are failing--what could be causing this?
• Grisal controls the Black Fortress. Its warriors and paladins constantly battle the forces of the undead.
• The leader of Grisal is Enzali Hackel, the Defender of the North, a paladin of Khors.
• The great Commander of the Black Fortress, Jaro Whitebeard, leads the main fight against the Darakhul and the Blood Kingdom.
• The vampire lord, Baron Fandorin, of Fandorin Keep is rumored to be capturing dwarves of Grisal instead of merely slaying them in battle. The fell purpose is unknown.
• Baron Fandorin maintains a lair in the Walkers' Wood, called Whispergloom. 
• Whispergloom contains a secret tunnel to the Ghould Imperium.
• Tannenbirg Castle was destroyed by the ghoul assault on Krakovar, but has been rebuilt by the Grand Ruchy of Dornig. It is a center for rebel activity and military staging.
• The people of Wallenbirg are ready to throw off the yoke of the shroud-eaters, but they need someone to undertake the perilous journey north to cement an alliance with the Reaver Dwarves of the Wolfmark, who will take control and protection of the city once the vampires are overthrown.
• The queen of Krakovar is at Kariessen, along with her brother in law, the Archduke Avgost. They direct what forces remain loyal to them against the Blood Kingdom.
• The shrine at Liadmura has the symbols of Valeresh depicted on it. This mysterious structure stands against the wind and weather, and between it's pillars is an area that is mild like a spring day at all times.
• The city of Vallanoria has great military strength and infrastructure--it could be a good target for sabotage.
• They say Baron Urslav, lord of the city of Vallanoria has a bounty of 1000 gp for any rebel turned into him.
• The rulers of the Blood kingdom assemble at the palace in Vallanoria for Ghost Night, which marks the start of winter.
• The Band of the Twice Damned, a mercenary company serving the vampire lords of Morgau, is in Western Krakovar, fighting rebel forces and preying upon villages.
• The rebels opposing the Blood Kingdom's occupation of Krakovar are split in several factions. There are those loyal to the queen and archduke, the former spies of the king, the shield maidens of Sif, and other more opportunistic mercenaries.
• The Shield Maidens of Sif are now based out of the city of Jozht in the Wolfmark.
• One of these mercenary groups, which doesn't care about quarter or rules regarding civilians, is the Grim Accord.
• Many strange monsters walk the dark lands of the Blood Kingdom, released from the underworld and fell tombs by the undead powers that rule the kingdom.
• Many caves in the region have entrances to the underworld and the Empire of the Ghouls under Midgard. These are often treacherous and infested with monsters.
• Direct entrances with easier paths to major cities of the Ghoul Imperium are often heavily guarded locations within the Blood Kingdom.

Fantastic Locations

• Temple of Ninkash at Gunnacks: A massive feasting hall, with three fire pits, giant boars roasting upon spits. Five keg gollems march about, as dwarves fill massive tankards with the beer. Pillars carved with beer flowing and runic designs line the hall, leading to a massive gilded keg on a platform. Large distillery equipment is behind the ceremonial keg, with arcane symbols, and engraved designs of mighty feasts. The hall bustles with energy, as merry revelers enjoy the feast.
• At a certain point, the high priestess of Ninkash, Hilda Gunnacksen, appears and the hall falls silent, as she goes and draws a glass of golden brew from the ceremonial keg with a large glass stein. She raises the stein above her head and speaks and invocation to Ninkash, praying for the blessing of the goddess upon all present, that they might be free and fair in their joyous celebration as the days of high summer pass on into the fading of Autumn. She also prays that their axes will bite ever sharp on the morrow.

Ptolus Campaign: Unexpected Turns

My most recent session of my Ptolus campaign took an unexpected turn when the players decided the rates for rooms on Tavern Row in Midtown cost way too much. Where are the cheapest rooms, and where did they go? The Warrens.

The Warrens have a reputation as the roughest and poorest section of Ptolus. The streets are unnamed and the tenements and builds are closely packed. They found an apartment building advertising a vacancy through a scrawled sign directly on the exterior which could have been mistaken for graffiti. They paid a deposit of two months rent and paid the first month upfront for a single room. The room was unfurnished, on the second floor, with warped floorboards, dust and debris scattered about. The window had no glass, just a torn fabric covering fluttering in the breeze. Water damage around the window and mold and mildew throughout completed the scene. Outside in the hallway, individuals with sunken, blackrimmed, and bloodshot eyes quivered with the shakes from the drug shivvel. 

Certainly a far cry from the warm taproom of the Ghostly Minstrel, with its easy access to Delver’s Square and influencial clientel. 

But it’s what the players were interest in roleplaying, and for at least two of them, it made some sense for their backstories (one is a con artist, and the other grew up in the Warrens but left the city for a long time).

But more than that, it was an interesting exercise in completely improvising an environment and events that occurred, like their trip to an eatery down the street that resulted in one trying a drug for the first time and playing Peg the Tom (the knife between the fingers game) in a high stakes bet. Or the confrontation in the morning after hearing a scream in the alley outside their house. The Warrens native knew to keep well enough away once he found out it was connected to one of the major crime families.

I've always wanted to try out a gritty, crime driven game. I didn't expect the opportunity to arise so soon. Looking forward to exploring a type of fantasy different from my normal fare.

The bigger takeaway is that it helps to have fictional ideas in your head for these situations. TV shows or movies that tell different stories help prime you for improvisation. The players don't care if you ripped off another form of media—they usually don’t even notice! Reading, playing other games, and watching interesting stories all give us opportunities to learn from and create our own unique stories. The coolest part about tabletop RPGs is that you never know where your players will take you once you jump the rails.

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Knight's Tomb (Part II)

Spoilers follow for the adventure…

The skeletons certainly shocked the adventurers, but they quickly turned them back to inanimate bones. With the threat past and the evidence of necromatic energy present, Asterius found himself more morally flexible, and the adventures found some treasure amongst the dead.

Next, Gringle spied a hidden door, which led to a lower chamber dominated by a still pool of water. As the adventures moved into the chamber, the water formed into an elemental creature, angry at its long imprisonment. Though the angry elemental fought hard, the adventurers soon defeated it. 

The party then spent the next hour or two searching for secret doors because they had yet to encounter the mummies that the preparatory materials indicated was in the tomb.

Eventually they found secret door in the stairwell from the front entrance, and through it entered an inner crypt. Within they fought three sarcophagi. The adventurers attempted to open one and awoke three wights. Asterius’ armored form helped block most of the wights attacks, and the spellcasters blasted down the undead knights.

At last they opened the secret door to another inner crypt, and were confronted by the awakened mummy of the leader of the knights of the tomb. He demanded that they leave and explained that the dead could not rest here because of the treachery of the master of Daargard Keep to the West. The foul energy of this betrayal had kept these knights’ spirits from departing, and they had slowly gone mad from their time in the tomb. The party attacked the knight after discovering all this…

GM Reflections

While I like the map I used for this tomb, it illustrated one issue Justin Alexander has also called out—placing essential story or rewards behind a secret door halts story progression. I will heed the warning better next time. This dungeon is so small though that it feels a bit sad not to use the entire thing. Next time though I’ll put the required reward in a place not blocked by a secret door and then have greater rewards for the secret area that are nonessential to the story.

Reading Gods of the North & Tower of the Elephant

Artwork from the Marvel Comic's adaptation of Tower of the Elephant. 

The first Conan story by Robert E. Howard I ever read was the Tower of the Elephant, based upon Matt Colville mentioning it in a video. That was an early influence as I first started playing RPGs, but I think that short story would be highly recognizable to any player. Reading these stories helps show the influences that resulted in our current games and media, and perhaps some themes, ideas, and atmosphere that we reinject to change up our games (what’s old is new again). Mild spoilers follow...

The set up of this scenario is certainly seen in how most D&D campaigns and quests are framed. It begins in a tavern or gathering place in an interesting city. Exposition identifying a fantastic location (in this case the mysterious tower) is provided. A hero has an initial fight, which demonstrates his cunning and strength. He even falls in with another adventurer who is doomed to an untimely death--though it could just as easily been Conan! The twists and the turns show me that you can set up a treasure of MacGuffin hunt, and still be flexible and offer some agency to player characters who may change the adventure (as when Conan mercy-kills the tower's sad prisoner, then follows its desires to destroy the tower and the evil mage who rules it).

The Gods of the North struck me with how similar it seems to some of the ideas I had long prior to reading it in the game I had with a single player (the saga of Hurkaz the mighty). Conan essentially is running through a similar land of cold and ice, and finds himself face to face with fantastic foes. I especially loved the descriptions of the frost giants. I think their description is certainly part of how our own frost giants developed.

Looking forward to chewing further through the collected stories of Conan and considering how they have impacted both our fantasy stories, and our fantasy roleplaying games.