Encounter design: The haunted house

This week I have to build for my players a very strange encounter. Basically the players (in the Paizo's Rise of the Runelords campaign are on the trails of a serial killer. This week (or the next) they will be entering his manor to confront him.

The manor is sandbox-style, so I have some events scripted to make them catch up with the backstory of the manor, but mostly the party can do what he please. The main crossroads are if they go first upstairs (exploring the manor and going to the only light they can see from the outside) or downstairs, where the evil things are. If they go upstairs they will meet the ghost of the former wife of the serial killer. The ghost is evil, but his evil is directed toward her former husband and the players can chose to free her to gain a powerful ally in the upcoming battle or to fight her and rid the world of a nasty undead.

If they free her she will "possess" the body of one of them and be silent until the battle with her husband. If she survives the battle the player who hosted her will retain the ability to summon her until she dies (she cannot be healed in any way).

In addition to this one of my PC is a Pharasma (read Raven Queen if you play a standard 4E game) cleric recently rejected by his goddess and if he accept not to destroy the undead, regain the Paharasma's favor will be really hard for him, if not impossible. (Obviously he will be the hosting best candidate)

Just for the records my party is: Swordmage (4th), invoker (4th), cleric (3rd), ranger (3rd), barbarian (3rd).

Here's the Ghost:



Next in line: design the place where the PC's will meet her.

Garrus

Sunday I decided to give my new PC a face.

Starting from here the task is to become a CHARISMA 5 or 6 warrior (warden, to be precise).

BEFORE

AFTER

What do you think?

[Encounter][4E] Rise of the Runelords redesign - Siege of Santpoint:Ruckus at the market (Ep.02)

Second installment of this series.
In the original adventure the first three encounters are meant to introduce players to D&D 3.5 combat. Following the same guideline in the first encounter we introduced some dynamic terrain features (a running mob) and in this installment we introduce hazards.

This encounter, like everyone before and after him, is totally stand-alone. Inside the PDF you will find every stat you need. You can easily adapt him to your campaign too!

Hope you enjoy it!

Siege of Santpoint: Ruckus at the market

Obviously there's a new goblin too!

The Goblin Blood Dresser

I plan to do a spin-off, detailing these little buggers.
For now imagine the Blood Dressers like a goblin version of a psychopath blood-thirsty Wolverine. Play them go into frenzy when someone gets bloodied and remember that they do not care about their personal safety.

Now it's time for comments!
No, really. Give me some comment. Come on!

[Encounter][4E] Rise of the Runelords redesign - Siege of Santpoint:Trouble on the churchyard (Ep.01)

Like I've promised here we are with the first encounter redesign for the Rise of the Runelords Campaign.

Siege of Santpoint: Trouble on the churchyard

Inside the PDF you will find also 2 new monsters:
The Goblin Burner


The Goblin Gutter


Now I'm waiting for your comments :)

[Encounter][4E] Rise of the Runelords redesign - Intro

Ok guys, let's make this short.
I've decided to adapt the Paizo's Rise of the Runelords series to D&D 4E and play it with a bunch of strangers gathered in a RPG-related forum.

Last week the project started and we had the first session and it was pretty cool, but that's the 1st episode material and iI don't want to give it away now.

Now a couple of technical notes.

• I will not rewrite the adventure. If you want to know how the story develop and all about the cool NPC and settings of this series you have to buy the books. They are really cool and your money is not gonna be wasted on them. In these pages there are a lot of cool things and Paizo's products are the most high quality in the business (even more then Wizard's).
• I will redesign every piece of crunch out there, so everything (encounter, monsters, PNG, magic items and so) will be NOT under the Wizard's license and everything will be 4E compatible.
  Note: They have made a shitty license, I will survive without them.
  Note2: Hey publishers out there! If you like my work, I can be definitely hired!
  
• I'm not sure I will redesign all the maps. Maybe just a lot of them.
• Everything in this blog is (for now) under a CC Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported license. Have fun with it!
  If you use my stuff or if you link it, please let me know! I will be delighted to hear that.
• If someone out there wants to illustrate all or some of my works, let me know!
  

Said so, stay tuned for the first episode.

Ok, ok, just a little preview of the first encounter, ok? Here comes a small version of the map:

If you want some more juice, this encounter will feature also 2 new creatures and a peculiar way to give experience points.
What do you think? You like it?

[D&D 4E][Character] Veleno pt.2

The character creation has gone pretty straight so far. Surprisingly the Wizard's Character Builder is an acceptable tool for character making.

The only issue I've had is related to my multiclassing idea. Apparently to be a rogue-cleric you need a lot of stats up to 13, so in the end I'm a little ugly/unpleasant and not so smart.
Not a problem for the unpleasantness, but I hope some of the other guys will create a social guy or we are doomed to be stuck bu the plot.
Some more problem in roleplaying a guy with a normal intelligence, not because I'm so smart I can't fake some lack of ideas, but instead because I'm a (little too much) analytical player.

Rule-wise the worst thing is that I've give up some nifty bonus (mostly damage-related) to get some better armor and the multicalssing feature. Good that I'm human, 'cause the extra feat is reeeeally useful now.
The best thing is that the extra power of the human plus the extra power for the multiclass feature are stacking a lot of options for me in combat, even for the first level, not to mention the extra armor class will make me a little more resilient in close combat. Definitely I need to get some shield proficiency.

The final draft is somehow very different to what I've had in mind. Veleno is sturdier, tougher and a lot more brutal of the converted assassin I was picturing. Now I can visualize him killing a target in a tavern fight, covering his track in the ruckus, more than in a dark alley, wrapped in a black cloak, waiting for his pray.

Numbers give him a bad temper and a likeness to solve problems bashing heads.

That's not a real problem, cause I like when characters go to unexpected directions.

Said so, I'm very satisfied from Veleno, but I can also easily pinpoint some problem with 4E character creation.

1 My PC is not what I wanted. The options are limited and if I want to make exactly the character I've in mind I have to accept some big compromise (ex. sticking to a rogue class, just adding the faith as a flavor) or to plan the leveling carefully.

2 I'm not a cleric and never will be. I will have to play a cleric-wannabe all my life. That is fun for me, but I can picture it frustrating for a lot of people. Probably the cleric with the rogue multiclass is a better choice for someone.

Forgetting something?
Yeah, the sheet.

HERE


Now it's your turn. What do you think of Veleno? Have you ever used the Character builder and what you think of it? Character creation experiences similar or really different from mine?

[D&D 4E][Character] Veleno

I'm about to start a 4E campaign as a player and I have to make a character.
I'm about to discover if the main complaint of players if true or is just fear of the change.
Is it real that you have too few options in character creation? Is it true that multiclassing is impossible? Is it real that making a character is frustrating?

I'm a storyteller and I HAVE to start from the character story before even think about numbers so... what I want to be?

First thought: I've had the idea of a big Tiamat tattoo spreading on my back with the dragons head wrapped on my hips, shoulders and around my neck. Why I have it? Who tattooed me?

Second thought: I usually like playing rogues, good-aligned characters and humans. Since the last time I played was a long time ago, there 3 things will be my first sure things. Why I have a evil goddess tattoo?

Long after these simple ideas the background start tanking shape.
This is what I have sent to my DM:

"In the land of ____ legends say that once every century a buy is born with the hell's mark. In a cold night, 20 years ago, my mother gave birth to a child, me, showing a dragon shaped birthmark on the neck. The time stood still for a long moment, while the midwife who was helping her stared at me. "The mark" she whispered just before taking her coat and running off in the night.
In the morning the city guards knocked at the door, but we wasn't there anymore.
My mother ran all day and night on my dad horse, well knowing what would happen to me if we were caught. Nonetheless after 5 days without sleep she stopped the horse and fell asleep under a tree shadow.
We was sold as slaves one week after that.
Long story short, wen I was 5, a cult of rogues and Tiamat religious fanatics buyed me and made me a thief and a burglar.
All the informations above was written in a letter my mother gave to me when we parted.
Two more things were written here. The identity of my father and why I have to kill him.

Today, after 15 years past that day, I've passed all the test my cult gave to me and I've earned the end of the tattoo who is progressively carved in the faithful skin as he rise in the enlightening process and the fifth and last head of Tiamat now circles my neck, while the others sits on my hips and shoulders.

Today the cult gave me a name. They call me "Veleno".

Today, after 20 years of slavery I've run, the skin still burning, trying to regain myself and my future.

For fifteen years I lied. For fifteen yeas my heart was devoted to ____, god of _____.
Today is the first day I can say that proudly.
Today is the first day of my vengeance"

Now I have just to open my Official Character Builder and discover if numbers are with me or against me.

Tomorrow (or the day after) the results.