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 Post subject: Submit your challenging encounters here for inclusion
PostPosted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 8:11 am 
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Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 10:40 am
Posts: 2046
If you wish to contribute and help our authors with some challenging encounter ideas, this is the place to post! Here is the general format:

Encounter Name:
Encounter Type: Social, Combat, Discovery, Transport, etc.
Setting: City, Wilderness, Building, Underground, Ruins, etc.
Description: Any short description or hints that help a GM work this type of challenge into their adventure.
Goal: Kill the bad guys, Convince someone, Locate object, Protect something
Obstacles/Hazards: Locked door, Enemy combatants, Darkness, Freezing temperatures, Trap to disarm (these take away characters, cause penalties, or otherwise stand in the way of success)
Limited Resources: Only X tries before setting off trap (limiting attempts), Only X torches to see while traveling, Only hold breath for X minutes (time limiting), Only achieve 1 of X objectives (objective limiting), etc.
Failure: What happens if the resource runs out or the obstacles are not overcome. Death? Delays? Bad guys get more powerful? Failed mission?

_________________
- John Bellando

Kelb'Bakari Masalio, Dark-kin Altherian Corsair, Gentleman Archaeologist, and Wandering Bard
"The highest compliment an Altherian can pay you is to shoot you with his flintlock. It means you were worth the expense."


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 Post subject: Re: Submit your challenging encounters here for inclusion
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 4:25 am 

Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 5:01 am
Posts: 84
I had this in a word doc but pasting it here has stripped the formatting: I'll edit it later if people don't mind. I also need to write the ending but thought people may like to comment on my initial thoughts?

Encounter Name: The Crypt
Encounter Type: Social, Combat, Discovery.
Setting: Wilderness Underground Ruins.
Description: This crypt is a short dungeon style environment that could be placed easily into the wilderness or in a city underneath a ruined building. It features a couple of puzzles, a chance to use social skills and a short combat set within a hazardous environment.
Goal: Convince the guardian to let you enter, find your way to the end and then defeat the lurking predators.
Obstacles/Hazards: Locked door, Hazardous environment, Enemy combatants, Darkness, Trap to disarm
Limited Resources: Only 1 try before setting off trap, then potentially time limited. Only one reward available from a selection at the end.
Failure: If the limitations are not overcome then death will happen and/or the rewards will be destroyed.

Setup
As the players journey past a quiet section in either a disused area of town or anywhere in the wilderness have them make a perception check to notice something.
DC 10: The weather looks like it will be taking a turn for the worse, probably heavy rain is due soon.
DC 15: It looks like there might be shelter in a ruined building a short way off your journeys path. [Give this automatically if anyone asks directly about shelter]
DC 20: While hard to tell from the remains it’s likely that this burned out shell was once a temple of some sort.
If players specifically ask then they may try the following otherwise the rain appears after a short while and after a very heavy shower the skies then clear after an hour allowing the party to travel onwards. The shelter is the outline of what was once a sizable building now mostly blackened stone, collapsed walls and a thin covering of mud and slime over everything except the south easterly most corner which has enough of the floor above remaining to act as a basic shelter for up to six people if they don’t mind getting close.
Knowledge Local DC 18: The building was known to have been burnt down during a rage of Hurrian about 20 years back, gossip has it that the priest declared it a judgement from Hurrian himself and that it should not be built on that spot again and so it’s been abandoned ever since.
Knowledge Religion DC 15: From the remains of a couple of shattered floor tiles it appears that this was once a temple to {insert god of most vocal worshipper in the party} although the altar has been removed and other trappings missing or destroyed.
Tracking DC 15: It looks like someone has been in and out of the area a couple of times recently, heading to and from the area around where the alter stone would have once sat.
General looting DC 10: Other than the remains of a couple of shattered decorative bowls trodden into the mud and some small animal bones there is nothing here.
DC 15: Scraping through the mud you find a couple of copper coins wedged between blackened floorboards.
DC 25: Under a collapsed section of wall (Combined party strength score of 30 to lift clear, 25 to hold it in place while a character reaches under: if they do then get them to roll sleight of hand DC 10, if they fail then they bump another character removing that persons score from the total to support the stone. If the stones fall the reaching character takes d10(d6)+2 damage and is trapped until the stones are lifted again) there is a copper and oak collection plate engraved with the holy symbol of {insert god of most vocal worshipper in the party} worth 5 silver pieces and a further 3 silver pieces worth of copper coins scattered around it.
Players investigating the alter area further will notice that the moss and mud around it has been trampled flat as though something walked into or out of the area.
Introduction
Looking around the altar area you quickly realise that wooden base has been hinged at one side, the metal of the hinges blackened in a similar manner to the rest of the wood.
The altar is un-trapped although a DC 15 check will allow a character to stop the hinges squeaking noisily upon opening.
Swinging the altar base up reveals a rotting wooden ladder screwed to the wall and descending into dank darkness for at least the height of 5 men.
The ladder, although used occasionally is particularly slippery and fragile. A single climber must make a DC 15 climb check to successfully and safely make it down without incident, reduced to DC 10 if they specifically state that they are going either slowly or carefully. Assume they fall from half way if they fail and the full distance if they fail by 5 or more. If more than 2 people attempt to climb at once it WILL break dropping the second climber a distance of 30’ and the first climber 15’ onto a brick floor with rotted timbers and metal fittings standing up like spikes (take falling damage then make 1d4 attacks at 2d10(d6)+6 against each the fallers, a hit against avoidance results in d8(d6) piercing damage.
Standing in the gloom it is hard to make out meaningful shapes on the floor but the weight and feel of the air suggests a room almost matching the size of the temple above.
If the players do not have a light then it is likely that they will just stand around out of the rain, if they insist on moving around then describe how they keep banging shins on sharp bits of wood and metal and if they still insist on moving then start rolling dice and handing out constant low levels of damage until they start being sensible. Once they decide to use a light (they can improvise a torch from the debris if they spend 10 minutes fumbling and have an ignition source) continue.
As your eyes adjust to the flickering light you see that the debris on the floor is the remains of pews, nails jutting from the splintering timbers and candle holders, twisted chandeliers other iron fixings that undoubtedly came from the temple above. Drips of muddy, slimy water plunge occasionally from the sagging earthen ceiling overhead. The room is packed with such wreckage in large piles separated by thin winding paths. Following them single file eventually leads you to the far wall, under the area where the main temple entrance would have been where you make out a crudely fashioned but obviously new door in a badly sagging archway. Other archways along the side filled in with collapsed dirt attest to the fact that this was probably once a much larger location.
The door is untrapped and unlocked and in spite of how it looks is very close fitting, between that and a curtain on the other side there is no chance of players seeing through gaps.
Opening the door you are greeted by an overwhelming smell of rot and mould as you come face to curtain with what was once as richly embroidered velvet curtain, as you sweep it aside you are lucky to avoid a small shower of dead insects and maggots {any characters who are unlucky will get a hair full of crawling grubs as they brush past though}. The small room, barely 10’ a side is crowded; several hunks of rancid meat, inexpertly hacked from a sheep from their woolly appearance lie on a trestle table while two more pews stand in front of a hand carved altar, slumped behind it is a misshaped body: stumpy legs with a barrel like body and massively muscled arms surmounted by a ludicrously tiny head. The body is garbed in the filthy patched regalia of a priest of Hurrian that is many sizes too small for it.
Characters investigating the altar will find holy symbols from most of the major gods carved into it inexpertly, much as a child would carve their name into a tree. A DC 10 religion check will show some simple mistakes as though the person had had them described but never actually seen them before.
Investigating the body will show that he is suffering from some kind of rot, his skin around his left hand is blackened and split with pus dripping from it around what seems to be a small holy symbol of Hurrien stabbed into it. No heal check is needed to see if he is alive, his chest is clearly moving up and down. A DC 15 heal check will show that he is near death if left unattended, DC 18 suggests he’ll be more likely to survive if the arm is removed to prevent further spread. DC 20 also reveals that with simple attention he could be revived temporarily. It’s a DC 25 check to remove the arm down here if they want to although if they fail they will certainly kill him, it is DC 20 to revive him.
As you bring the gnome around his eyes roll wildly in his head and a huge grin splits his face, his mouth almost twice as wide as a humans. He starts gabbling away at you in a strange series of barks, whistles and clicks. After a moment he looks at you expectantly.
The gnome has no recollection of what his name once was, his poisoned arm has clouded his mind for a long time and what is left is more than a few lock picks short of a thieves tool belt. Have fun with non-sequiturs, friendly grins and head rolling, bouncing in your seat etc while playing him. He does understand Low Coryan or whatever other primary language the Characters speak but needs to be prompted first.
Sample questions for him to change topics to:
Do you think I could fit my knee into my mouth? (while staring at his elbow)
I used to be a Val you know but then I ate some rhubarb. (burb)
Have you always worn boots? (peering at characters head)
I hate mutton, do you like mutton? (scratch bottom, sniff it then offer fingers to character).
If players take their time with him let them finally get some answers from him. Drop some of these or paraphrases in when players ask appropriate questions.
The storm lord likes me, I’m his best priest ever now.
The first priest was a bad man. He did things then ran away.
He burned things when things went wrong and said the storm lord did it.
It’s wrong to blame others if you are a bad man.
No one comes to my sermons, that makes me really sad {pull a sad face}
I have to do them or the bad things will get out and do bad things.
They hurt my hand but the storm lord has stopped it hurting.
The players need to convince him that they are good guys. Make them work for it. If he doesn’t like something have him cower or cry. If someone starts to threaten him he’ll jump behind someone and whimper.
This is an extended social combat: Characters can either try to badger him until he breaks (everyone rolling intimidate/diplomacy) or to favour him (single player rolls diplomacy) or just threaten him (single player rolls intimidate). Priests of Hurrian who show their holy symbols/regalia gain +2 on all checks, Dwarves/Gnomes get +2 on all checks. Other non-humans get -2 and Dark kin who have obvious wings/horns etc get an additional -2.
He has a Discipline of 18 so players difficulty for all social rolls is 18 to score a meaningful point with him. He has 30 ‘stamina’ so after each successful point a player must roll social ‘damage’ of D(Insight)+ D(Logic) +Racial bonuses as above. Either Dice may explode. The last roll to drop his stamina to 0 or below determines the results:
Breaks: The Gnome sobs and in whimpers reveals the secret panel in the wall behind him.
Favour him: The Gnome reveals the secret panel and gives the key to it from inside his tunic.
Threaten him: The Gnome reveals the secret panel and gives the key to it from inside his tunic but will barricade the door once players enter it.


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