Twilight's Children Campaign Log: Session 28

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

For those following my campaign, the latest installment, Session 28's Journal, is now up at the usual location:

http://www.TheMistway.com

as usual, with optional DM's commentary.

Featuring:
Waxing Horrific, part 3

Finally finished the du Cire adventure, with just a taste of where we're headed next.

Comments always welcome...

[Starscream]

very good session!
I haven't never read The Created but your take on it make me want to run it in my campaign. The idea that one golem still roams free is an exceptional (although classic) hook for new quest.

Duffy remains my best character and in my campaign (i'll do the DM/Player campaign) i will do a gunslinger to honor him

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Thanks for the compliments!

I'll be sure to tell Duffy's player he has a fan. I know he loves playing him.

Just to clarify one thing: The Created is a short module involving Maligno, published on its own. I ran that one back in sessions 22 and 23. The most recent adventure, "Waxing Horrific", is one of 13 mini-adventures from Children of the Night: The Created, an anthology of adventures about golems and other constructs. (There were also Children of the Night: Vampires, Ghosts, and Werebeasts, and the fan-produced Demons)

I'd previously used another adventure ("Seepage") from the same book in Session 2.

So, while I'm a fan of both books, I wouldn't want you hunting down The Created to read and being disappointed that it wasn't Children of the Night: The Created.

[Joël of the FoS]

Nice battles with the wax golems!

Same here, you made me consider adding these critters to my campaign.

Quite an impressive list of people turned to wax

I like how you spiced the battle with added hazards and the “evil” wax, then the fire. That is the difference between a battle that could have happened anywhere and a memorable one.

I also like to add to my monsters spells that are not from the PH, like the suffocation thing you did, it’s cool and make the monsters / encounters unique.

A molten wax monster would have been a nice addition, indeed. Perhaps it can attack them next time they are around, for revenge.

Hold monster on a golem? And they thought that could work?

Oh, cool idea to find the real version of a PC in the pens, but wouldn’t the wax version of Suriana and Gavin would have turned and attack the other PCs when they met Du Cire?

Indeed, always a challenge sometimes to have the players make links with things that were played years ago in real time. For that reason, my players have access to my journals (version without DM comments of course). When I think their PCs would remember it (as if it was only months ago in game, while it was years ago in real life for the players) I sometimes say « this rings a bell » and they search the journals to find the what/who/where/when/…

Interesting dream and “has built a kingdom” note. I’m looking forward to know more about this lead.

I like it when they test the fabric of the plane with spells or other tests!

Yeah, teleport. That is why I made a short list of spells that do not exist in RL (fireball, stoneskin, fly, teleport). To keep the atmosphere as though and gritty, nothing is free. And travel in RL is so much fun, why skip it

Looking forward to the Eyrie!

[Starscream]

Just to clarify one thing: The Created is a short module involving Maligno, published on its own. I ran that one back in sessions 22 and 23. The most recent adventure, "Waxing Horrific", is one of 13 mini-adventures from Children of the Night: The Created, an anthology of adventures about golems and other constructs. (There were also Children of the Night: Vampires, Ghosts, and Werebeasts, and the fan-produced Demons)

I'd previously used another adventure ("Seepage") from the same book in Session 2.

So, while I'm a fan of both books, I wouldn't want you hunting down The Created to read and being disappointed that it wasn't Children of the Night: The Created.

It is my fault, I wrote simply The Created but I meant CotN: The Created.
I've missed the Seepage adventures, time to check again the journals

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Same here, you made me consider adding these critters to my campaign.

Just remember, it does need quite a bit of work to make them more than just bags of hp you need to hit with fire.

Quite an impressive list of people turned to wax

Yes, perhaps a bit unrealistic that du Cire was so successful collecting such impressive people, but he surely would have hit a stumbling block with some of the others on his list.

I like how you spiced the battle with added hazards and the “evil” wax, then the fire. That is the difference between a battle that could have happened anywhere and a memorable one.

I do try. It's those sort of things that I often forget in the heat of the moment, too. So I was very sure to remind myself of them in big bold letters in my notes.

I also like to add to my monsters spells that are not from the PH, like the suffocation thing you did, it’s cool and make the monsters / encounters unique.

Yes, and also when I do use more normal spells, I like to dress them up with different looks (like all the chain stuff in the de Penible adventure).

Hold monster on a golem? And they thought that could work?

Note that Kerri's player has played very little D&D outside of this campaign, and is the type of player that wants to roleplay first and read rules later, only if necessary. So, despite being warned by Ludovic that "very few spells" would work, she still tried a few, hoping they might be the ones. I mean, the name of the spell seems like it's made to work on them, doesn't it? Hold... Monster. If it doesn't hold monsters, what good is it?

Oh, cool idea to find the real version of a PC in the pens, but wouldn’t the wax version of Suriana and Gavin would have turned and attack the other PCs when they met Du Cire?

If I went that route, I would have had them found early in the battle, and then had the wax versions immediately turn on the PCs. (Possibly un-doing all the damage they'd done, revealing that they were pulling their punches all along). Up until that point, they would have been following orders not to blow their cover unless absolutely necessary.

Indeed, always a challenge sometimes to have the players make links with things that were played years ago in real time. For that reason, my players have access to my journals (version without DM comments of course). When I think their PCs would remember it (as if it was only months ago in game, while it was years ago in real life for the players) I sometimes say « this rings a bell » and they search the journals to find the what/who/where/when/…

Good idea. With the journals online, they always have access to them, but it's a lot of text to dig through quickly.

Interesting dream and “has built a kingdom” note. I’m looking forward to know more about this lead.

So, I'm still keeping this closely under wraps, but I'll give a few clues. We had a pawn with "he will rise", then a rook with "he has built a kingdom." (pawn being the lowest piece, there's nowhere to go but up, so if someone rises to become King, he has to start at the bottom, as a pawn. The Rook is a castle, representing the kingdom he's literally building inside Ludovic's dream-self.) It shouldn't be too surprising that a Knight will follow shortly, and so on up. I probably won't go through all 6 different pieces, to avoid becoming stale and predictable, but I'm building to the point where the King of Dreams will reveal himself. And I will just say, he's not a new character. He's someone that's been hiding in plain sight in the campaign for a long time....

[Starscream]

Interesting dream and “has built a kingdom” note. I’m looking forward to know more about this lead.

So, I'm still keeping this closely under wraps, but I'll give a few clues. We had a pawn with "he will rise", then a rook with "he has built a kingdom." (pawn being the lowest piece, there's nowhere to go but up, so if someone rises to become King, he has to start at the bottom, as a pawn. The Rook is a castle, representing the kingdom he's literally building inside Ludovic's dream-self.) It shouldn't be too surprising that a Knight will follow shortly, and so on up. I probably won't go through all 6 different pieces, to avoid becoming stale and predictable, but I'm building to the point where the King of Dreams will reveal himself. And I will just say, he's not a new character. He's someone that's been hiding in plain sight in the campaign for a long time....

so the hype is rising!
i am taking note of this potential adventures, since in my campaign (but i think a bit far in the story) I want to insert the Dream lands and the Nightmare Court

[Joël of the FoS]

(but i think a bit far in the story)

Never hesitate to put long term adventure seeds in your game

[Starscream]

(but i think a bit far in the story)

Never hesitate to put long term adventure seeds in your game

I know, I know.
But between yours and Ron campaign journals I have too many hooks and ideas. Some of them must be postponed far in the story