Legacy of the White Mage [12 quests]
Posted: June 9th, 2013, 7:42 pm
Anyone wanting to provide feedback can get it here. I had it posted in another thread, but now it's a much bigger project than when I started it. I'm trying to make this adventure a high-stakes epic for seasoned heroes, with Men-at-Arms, undead, and Skaven (or greenskins if the players don't have Skaven) as the main adversaries. Heroes often go several quests in a row without resupplying at the shop, thus are forced to rely on whatever items they find.
Alkanis was once a powerful nation, but their most recent war plunged the land into two generations of famine and disease, leaving the easily-corrupted ration-holders as the de facto rulers of each city. In the capital city Cirius, our heroes attempt an expedition to the manse of the reclusive White Mage, whose powers may restore life to the land and save its people from the ration-holders...except the expedition is stopped by Sheriff Gallos, the most brutal ration-holder of them all. The heroes must escape the Sheriff and see the expedition through, or die trying.
I still lack reliable Skaven stats though.
UPDATE 6/10/2013
Been doing a playthrough with four fresh heroes, adjusting the adventure as I go. There's a lot of variety here now that I step back and look at it: the adventure ended up unintentionally divided into chapters every three or four quests (escape the law, Dawn of the Dead, mysterious wizard manor, etc) and each "chapter" could easily be played separately as its own smaller adventure.
So far there have been several close calls, one or two where I let a doomed hero survive the Quest just on the sheer merit of his/her moxie.
Example: Karnak the Magnificent is a pansy Wizard. At the end of the City Constabulary quest he had no spells, he had a single, solitary body point, and he was the last of the heroes to leave the dungeon. He was two spaces away from the exit door -- remember, with 1 body point and no spells -- when he got completely surrounded by 3 scouts and 2 halberdiers, with one scout (1 bp remaining also) blocking the exit door. I decided if Karnak survived all 5 attacks, then managed to kill or even hit the scout at the door, I'd award him with a narrow escape. And he did it.
And so far everyone has taken one or more turns being carried out of the dungeon like a sack of groceries.
Also, I thought of a way to balance the fact that I know where everything is while playtesting: when I get to an area with traps or secret doors, I have the hero roll a red die for each mind point. If he rolls a 6, he searches (as in, he takes the cautious approach). Later if a situation seems suspiciously familiar ("wait, last time this happened, I got electrocuted!") he does the smart thing on a 5 or 6.
Alkanis was once a powerful nation, but their most recent war plunged the land into two generations of famine and disease, leaving the easily-corrupted ration-holders as the de facto rulers of each city. In the capital city Cirius, our heroes attempt an expedition to the manse of the reclusive White Mage, whose powers may restore life to the land and save its people from the ration-holders...except the expedition is stopped by Sheriff Gallos, the most brutal ration-holder of them all. The heroes must escape the Sheriff and see the expedition through, or die trying.
I still lack reliable Skaven stats though.
UPDATE 6/10/2013
Been doing a playthrough with four fresh heroes, adjusting the adventure as I go. There's a lot of variety here now that I step back and look at it: the adventure ended up unintentionally divided into chapters every three or four quests (escape the law, Dawn of the Dead, mysterious wizard manor, etc) and each "chapter" could easily be played separately as its own smaller adventure.
So far there have been several close calls, one or two where I let a doomed hero survive the Quest just on the sheer merit of his/her moxie.
Example: Karnak the Magnificent is a pansy Wizard. At the end of the City Constabulary quest he had no spells, he had a single, solitary body point, and he was the last of the heroes to leave the dungeon. He was two spaces away from the exit door -- remember, with 1 body point and no spells -- when he got completely surrounded by 3 scouts and 2 halberdiers, with one scout (1 bp remaining also) blocking the exit door. I decided if Karnak survived all 5 attacks, then managed to kill or even hit the scout at the door, I'd award him with a narrow escape. And he did it.
And so far everyone has taken one or more turns being carried out of the dungeon like a sack of groceries.
Also, I thought of a way to balance the fact that I know where everything is while playtesting: when I get to an area with traps or secret doors, I have the hero roll a red die for each mind point. If he rolls a 6, he searches (as in, he takes the cautious approach). Later if a situation seems suspiciously familiar ("wait, last time this happened, I got electrocuted!") he does the smart thing on a 5 or 6.