Seems I'm late to the party again. Usually you have a million responses by now. I'll have to post twice to make up for everyone else's tardiness. I love a good story, and it seems like you've got a good one cooking. The politics are both complex, and pretty normal for a political madhouse like Menzoberranzan. You don't have to keep the houses together forever. When your fourth player gets his own house, he'll have to stop being a member of the other two. There's a light at the end of...
View full commentSeems I'm late to the party again. Usually you have a million responses by now. I'll have to post twice to make up for everyone else's tardiness.
I love a good story, and it seems like you've got a good one cooking. The politics are both complex, and pretty normal for a political madhouse like Menzoberranzan.
You don't have to keep the houses together forever. When your fourth player gets his own house, he'll have to stop being a member of the other two. There's a light at the end of this tunnel.
This is what I'm thinking for keeping those two houses together in the meantime.
First, you have X toadying up to Baenre in exchange for a seat. Good for a month at least.
Afterward, X has to keep on Baenre's good side, because Baenre hasn't paid up yet. Baenre knows that X will betray them the instant they get paid, so Baenre will try to string house X along for as long as possible. Good for as long as you want.
If X ever gets its seat on the council, the first thing they will do is betray Baenre for stringing them along for so long. That makes a good arc in which X sides with Bregan Daerth and the party works together to damage Baenre. It ends when X sides with Baenre again, which could happen at any time for any reason.
Somewhere in there Baenre and X will be all buddy-buddy and you can start the Chaulsin adventure, so you can put politics on hold then.
Thoughts on weaponizing a skull. - It's magically hardened to nigh invincibility and now it's the best bashing device ever. - It has secrets scrawled on the inside. - It's a magic killing device. You look into its eye sockets and kill people by saying their name three times. - It turns the wielder invisible. - It's cursed. Bury it under a building, and that house sees death on a regular basis. And my favorite: - It has a powerful spirit inside. All skulls have...
- It's magically hardened to nigh invincibility and now it's the best bashing device ever.
- It has secrets scrawled on the inside.
- It's a magic killing device. You look into its eye sockets and kill people by saying their name three times.
- It turns the wielder invisible.
- It's cursed. Bury it under a building, and that house sees death on a regular basis.
And my favorite:
- It has a powerful spirit inside. All skulls have spirits inside, it's a well known fact. They always talk, and they're always hilarious because they're annoying but too valuable to break.
Necromancy is the obvious way to weaponize a spirit, but it would be entertaining if the players could also access the spirit's powers by wearing the skull like a hat. Something like, this was the skull of a great warrior, and when worn upon one's head, it grants half a dozen abilities related to the warrior's specialty, and the spirit talks to you.
It would be very convenient for your dragon player if a house sent the party to Chaulsin to research the skull's powers.
btw, if anyone wants to give some more advice, I am adding another post for my campaign with a few questions. Not really any problems, just looking for some creative input from anyone who would like to add. I know everyone on here is either involved with their own dm stuff or playing a campaign, but if you are interested, go ahead and check out my latest post. Thanks.
If reality states some npc would punish someone in their society for the they act then use that to help balance out the situation. Calling that realistic balance approach "In any case, don't try to solve player problems with passive-aggressive behavior against their characters." Best learning tool for a player like that is running into a society that punishes and other pcs not wanting him around cause of the trouble he brings, might wake him up. Most players know when they are being...
View full commentIf reality states some npc would punish someone in their society for the they act then use that to help balance out the situation.
Calling that realistic balance approach "In any case, don't try to solve player problems with passive-aggressive behavior against their characters."
Best learning tool for a player like that is running into a society that punishes and other pcs not wanting him around cause of the trouble he brings, might wake him up. Most players know when they are being a%%holes and do it anyways, either they learn it won't work or get asked to leave the game. A soft talk might slow them down for a moment but would mean they only act like this later, when?, what session will they ruin?, are the questions you must think over after a talk. Talking like that doesn't impact bad players as much as in game stuff will.
That is why I gave the advice I did, you sound like a player trying to see things from the DMs view so you can form and opinion. Your opinion is one a player would give not knowing how DMing goes.
snakes can always be in the sand as unexpected traps, you could also try old pit falls into spikes/ old dried well/ snake pit, maybe try something with an oasis - if they fail endurance check etc...
what are those bugs that build the sand pit and wait for something to come a long and fall down the side then grab it and eat it? kind of like that thing in starwars, but make it your own.
lots of landmines, traps that switch the layout of a dungeon if tripped like the cube movie, traps that transport the party to the dungeon entrance, how about traps that knock the whole party out, then they wake up in a saw situation where if they dont solve the trap quickly, a party member is going to get killed very gruesomly.
Put them on the run, and a chance to get separated or lost. So they have to worry about being caught, find a way back to familiar places, and/or meet back up.
Cross the slippery rocks that jut out from the lake of acid, which deals painful amounts of damage to those who slip in. Tiptoe past the sleeping boss-equivalent beast. Pick a monster with tremorsense or something, so going for the coup de grace is still a skill check if they try it. If they fail, encounter as usual. Forage food from the deadly spore mushroom patch without triggering the deadly spores. Try to eat the horribly distasteful food gained from the deadly spore...
View full commentCross the slippery rocks that jut out from the lake of acid, which deals painful amounts of damage to those who slip in.
Tiptoe past the sleeping boss-equivalent beast. Pick a monster with tremorsense or something, so going for the coup de grace is still a skill check if they try it. If they fail, encounter as usual.
Forage food from the deadly spore mushroom patch without triggering the deadly spores.
Try to eat the horribly distasteful food gained from the deadly spore mushrooms. Haven't you always wanted a Constitution based skill challenge?
Tame that one beast with a good nose in order to track their target.
Show them the magic sword that is better than anything they own in the possession of a random hermit person. Wait for them to try to acquire it. Stealth or charisma or force, anything is interesting.
I love a good story, and it seems like you've got a good one cooking. The politics are both complex, and pretty normal for a political madhouse like Menzoberranzan.
You don't have to keep the houses together forever. When your fourth player gets his own house, he'll have to stop being a member of the other two. There's a light at the end of...
View full comment
- It's magically hardened to nigh invincibility and now it's the best bashing device ever.
- It has secrets scrawled on the inside.
- It's a magic killing device. You look into its eye sockets and kill people by saying their name three times.
- It turns the wielder invisible.
- It's cursed. Bury it under a building, and that house sees death on a regular basis.
And my favorite:
- It has a powerful spirit inside. All skulls have...
View full comment