Dragon Of Icespire Peak DM Guide | Woodland Manse Quest
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- Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
- This time on Bob World Builder you get episode 9 of the Dragon of Icespire Peak DM guide series: the Woodland Manse Quest from the D&D Essentials Kit! Check out the D&D Essentials Kit on Amazon! amzn.to/2N8U60r (affiliate) ⏬ More below! ⏬
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What do you think about Cursed Classes? Personally, I expect to use it most often as a way to scale the difficulty of encounters with lycanthropes, vampires, and liches :)
It looks like a helpful add on to any collection
@@seanray1433 Certainly for people who already like monstrous races! Werebear orc, wererat goblin, weregator lizardfolk?? I should have mentioned the werealligator in the video...
@@BobWorldBuilder werealligator sold me on it
As an old skool rpg player, i don't like 'classes'
I really appreciate your videos. As a first time DM running dragon of icespire peak, its been a blast. And a huge help. Thank you
I'm glad to hear you're finding the series helpful! Thank you for your support :)
I’m preparing to run DoIP and have been thinking about that question regarding the anchorites. For me, I have made them unambiguously more gruesome, using human sacrifices to summon Gorthok. But, I don’t think they are necessarily evil, but they are most certainly against the expanse of civilization/law
I feel the same way. I think there’s room for DMs to take it in either direction, but as written, they’re not exactly evil
Currently running this campaign. Had a lovely tie-in with the Gnomengarde quest by positioning one of the half-orcs as the person who offloaded the mimic in that cave, trading it as a "chest full of gold" in exchange for some magical mushroom-based fertilizer (to grow all the blights and twist nature to their whims). Upon visiting Gnomengarde again, the characters were even able to followup on this by tracking the half-orc when he came back for more fertilizer (by force this time, but was driven off by the wary gnomes). The Party was able to track the half-orc back to another quest location... I was able to choose if they should track it straight to Neverwinter Wood, or throw them a curveball by tracking him to the Tower of Storms instead, further enhancing the mystery and looping in one of the harder-to-justify quest locations. The Centaur named Xanth had met the party along the way and told them of a foul creature he's seen making trips back and forth from the woods to the sea. It all worked out pretty well, and I honestly never thought I'd have a reason to sway the party out to the Tower of Storms without this little plot twist I came up with. =) Even in a sandbox campaign, there's always a story arch hidden in there somewhere.
As an added reward I am letting the party harvest Blood Sap from the Gulthias tree. The Blood Sap is a very rare consumable / throwable item. When consumed it gives the player barbarian rage for 1 hour. The rage cannot be ended early. Player suffers 1 point of exhaustion afterwards. When thrown on or applied to an object or creature, that object or creature is vulnerable to fire until the sap is washed off.
This is a great idea as one of my players wants to harvest the sap
These videos are super helpful! I'm slightly behind your campaign so they are usually at the ideal time too!
Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the series and that the timing is right for you :D
Love your videos! They have been invaluable in helping me DM my first even campaign. I agreed that the Anchorites of Talos didn’t seem all that “evil”, creepy maybe, but evil is a stretch. So here’s how I handled them:
During the Logger’s Camp Quest, when the players destroyed the Ankheg-attracting talisman, the Anchorite in boar form (whom they let go while going through the woods) squealed and ran toward them. After a little bit of fighting, the Anchorite basically said “look, I know you guys are just doing a job, we have no quarrel with you. If you give up Tibor Wester to us, we will allow you safe passage out of the woods. He has been destroying our homeland.” Tibor was insulted the players were even considering the demands of such a brute, so the players gave him up.
I made this a story hook for Woodland Manse in that Harbor wants to launch an attack for revenge for his brother and the loggers. The players are caught in the middle of appearing as half-orc sympathisers to the townsfolk, but also not wanting to go back to the woods and be discovered as having given up Tibor. I think I will encourage negotiation with the half orcs in woodland manse. I reckon the half orcs don’t really like these distant orc relatives taking up room in their domain and would welcome the chance to help reclaim their homeland from Cryovein to get their relatives off the couch so to speak.
I watched the gameplay video first. When watching this I was delighted to see the volume of additional and alternate ways this could go. Excellent.
Thank you! Yes, this manse has a lot to offer that my players avoided because of how things went down :)
At first I was a bit hesitant to run the Anchorites this way, but then i remembered that the only "evil" actions or communications Ive included so far from them have been from Moesko (not in the woods) and Fharalai Stormsworn (away from my desk so can't check spelling), the villain of a later adventure I've been seeding early. This is helping me realize I can have a division in the faith, with the more traditional Neverwinter Wood Anchorites under Grannoc and the more zealos, ambitious, and truly evil ones under Stormsworn. Best of both worlds and then some!
Great content as usual, and I really like the idea of uniting with the half-orcs. There's a half-orc PC in my party, so the casting of them as evil doesn't go over too well.
Exactly! I'm guessing many new groups may not have orc or half-orc PCs because they're not in the rule booklet from the kit, but they're fun to play if you know they're an option! And this module paints them all as bad guys! I'm not a fan of "orcs are bad because...they're orcs." lol
@@BobWorldBuilder Yeah, orcs can be nice too! That’s part of why one of the first Phandalin NPCs the party meets when I run Icespire Peak is a beleaguered himbo-ish half-orc shepherd named Krozz with his supportive elf girlfriend Leila. They’re the first ones to tell you about Cryovain, who’s been stealing their sheep and threatening to destroy their livelihood, so you immediately have a stake in the adventure. And every party I’ve run Icespire Peak for has loved them. XD
I wish you had this video before I finished Icespire Peak last month. When my players got to the courtyard, the mystic lit the vines on fire and the psychotic clown (college of whispers clown) started laughing maniacally. So the encounter started with every enemy except for the stirges and the boars outside. After one irl hour of combat, they explored the mansion and found the map to the circle of thunder (which they ignored), and the cloak of billowing.
When they got out of the manse I told them the boars where nowhere to be seen and they got a bad feeling about it. I planned to add the boars to the raid on Falcon's lodge.
Back on Falcon's Lodge, Falcon makes a feast and invites them to stay the night, and the mystic and barbarian accept. The Clown makes an urgent face and pantomimes to the mystic so the mystic starts a telepathic link (mystic aren't broken at all xd) and the clowns tells the rest of the party that he murdered Pell, the stablehand boy, that morning before going to the manse so they should probably go. The party leaves for Phandalin and avoid the encounter with the 20 orcs, the boars and giant boar avatar :(
You had me at “college of whispers clown” lol
That’s certainly a whacky party you have there. At least they seem to work well together and have a good time :)
The Gulthias trees seems to be a reference from an earlier WotC adventure "Sunless Citadel" where the final boss was a vampire that turned into an evil tree that summoned twig blights.
While the orcs are a good snack for testing your players "morality", I'd save the main course for the dragon by making one simple adjustment: Cryovain is a mother protecting her offspring.
This would explain some things. First, why she fled. Because a white dragon most likely would of fought to the death (or become a slave) in the circumstances described for it leaving the north. Second, while the dragon did attack the orcs it did so strategically to end the fight quick by killing the chief first in order to scare the rest off. Because it couldn't afford to fight them all (perhaps injuries from the northern dragons) to ensure its offsprings protection. Third, it explains why it's acting very atypical for a white dragon. As it's only showing up from time to time to get food rather than pursue treasure and the annihilation of rivals around it (like the orcs/half-orcs and manticore). And lastly it gives a reason for why it flees after a mere 10+ hp in damage and why it refuses to leave its lair once you encounter it there. Plus it puts more importance on the Reavers, are they protecting the egg(s)? Waiting for the best opportunity to seize them? I.e. after someone kills the mother.
Either way, your players will now have to choose whether or not it's a "good" thing to essentially slay a beast doing what it has to in order to protect its young.
Will they negotiate on behalf of the town, offering it food and secured shelter in exchange for the dragons help with any local pests like the orcs? Will they offer to find her a safer lair further away from civilization if she's too proud to be in servitude of Phandalin? Or will they just kill her, seeking reward and glory? Taking the offspring for themself as a pet or source of great wealth.
Love it! Always up for a moral quandary! Especially since my party is planning to clear the Icespire Hold so the orcs can have it back. One or two places come to mind as potential dragon lairs should they make peace with Cryovain as well, and you're so right that Cryovain's behavior is better explained with this rationale. Plus I like the idea of a dragon watching over Phandalin! But I probably won't make it obvious until they're ~halfway into a fight with her, maybe spotting a lone egg hidden in a corner of the lair somewhere mid-combat.
Though I'll have to read through the expansion quests first to see the implications this could have. Is that where the "Reavers" you mentioned are from?
@@BobWorldBuilder As you've seeded how the half-orcs aren't "evil" you could easily seed Cryovains motherly pursuits prior to battle.
For example, you could have a NPC bring up how the dragon turned out not to be as dangerous as expected for it's kind. Leading to a player (or players) doing an arcana check, allowing you to suggest possible reasons for its behavior. And as they already question things so much, I am kind of surprised it hasn't been brought up.
The "Reavers" are the Stone-Cold Reavers you encounter at Icespire Hold prior to the dragon. They're a bunch of brigands who followed the dragon back to its lair to seize its horde at the right opportunity. Except there is no horde because the dragon has only gone hunting. Which leads me to believe they are put there for your players to have as warmup battle prior to Cryovain or give the players a chance to bolster their forces against Cryovain. But that's mechanics, logically they really shouldn't be there unless...
They are sticking around for something more valuable like a dragon egg. Or Cryovain is paying them to protect it or they're doing it voluntarily because they're actually dragon cultists.
Or here goes something juicy, they seized the egg and are using it as ransom against Cryovain. Forcing her to begin attacks on the town to feed the Reavers greed. And this of course encourages the players to fight the dragon sooner rather than later but also layers more questions of who really is "evil" in this adventure.
As for the expansion quests on D&D Beyond, they have to do with Talos mostly. So the half-orcs probably are evil unfortunately. And knowing this, whenever I run DoIP I'll probably add most of the Talos stuff after the dragons defeat. Because to me the Talos stuff really steals the thunder (pun intended) from the dragon with Gorthok even being the same CR. And I feel the dragon should be the big fight of the adventure, not a (albeit very cool) thunder boar.
@@karpmageddon4155 Thank you for these fantastic suggestions! I'm certainly going to incorporate these in the Icespire Hold DM Guide. I agree splitting the villainy between Talos and Cryovain was a weird move, and in what I've skimmed of the expansions, they do it again with cults of Talos and Myrkul. It already didn't make a whole lot of sense to me why this god of storms had all these boar-related incarnations and iconography. Probably going to have the Talos cult in the expansions be the real deal, and the half-orcs were being manipulated by them or something. In any case, I will have the Reavers be part of one of the cults trying to coerce Cryovain, maybe by stealing the egg!
My party hasn't gotten to the Manse yet, they're currently in Axeholm at the moment, but I had the orcs at Butterskull act pretty convincingly evil. However, I set up the orcs at the Shrine of Savras to be the son and rightful chieftain of the clan displaced by Cryovain who was looking for allies to retake their home in the mountains after the orcs splintered with most going to work with the Cult of Talos. Basically, I've set up that the Cult has been pulling the strings through this entire module. They are the ones that displaced cryovain, which then led to orc attacks all throughout the region. Once the orcs were displaced, they were approached by the Cult leader from the Manse, and most decided their clan was too weak and needed the power that Talos provided.
When my party reached the Shrine and saw there were orcs, the immediately launched into a full blown attack without speaking, as groups of adventurers are known to do. Killing the orcs and ogres before they had a chance to really parley. To really mess with the party, one orc had been writing in a journal about their experiences and how all they wanted was to return home. Party had a real "are we the baddies" moment. Also had disciples of Savras show up about an hour later (god of divination and all) knowing that the Shrine was ready to be restored and that they'd been told to "expect others here to stay and help." Another, oh man, we suck, moment for the party.
I felt this was a good middle ground between orc = bad. The orcs aren't bad, the cult is bad. The orcs were just fine living their best life until the cult came along.
I like the idea of the Manse leading to the Circle Of Thunder with the Gorthok fight. My current party is one to kick down the door but if they decide something different or my other game your tips for altenitive dates to get there may help. I will probably follow Sly Florish of the later Ancorites that show up to lead them there if my party decides to take the ask questions later approach.
Yes, the half-orc/orc party is provided as a travel encounter for the Circle of Thunder Quest! I'm probably going to use them as the messengers who let my party know that Gorthok is coming soon. If they do go right to the Circle and they have not allied with the orcs, you can employ a timer by rolling a d4 (showing the players) for the number of rounds until the half-orcs there summon Gorthok. If they are allies, Gorthok can be summoned just as they arrived! Let me know what you come up with!
@@BobWorldBuilder I ended up using the Centaur after they finished Dragon Barrow to warn them of Gorthok. We end up skipping the Manse that way.
thanks man, love your coverage of DOIP hope u do tha later modules from dnd beyond !!
Thank you! I'll definitely be doing some guides for them, but I have to figure out whether I want to do every individual quest or do one/two videos per module.
Thank you so much for your edited map. Silly Wizards!
My pleasure!
Thanks for this! You are an amazing help for a first timer. May I request a different colour in the thumbnail? The red matches exactly with the UA-cam "watch progress" bar making it hard to tell what video I am half way through.
Glad you found this helpful, and thank you for the heads up! I hadn't considered that. I'll be changing up the color for the next set of quests! While we're on color, what do you think about the background of this video? The normal blue matched my shirt too closely, but I'm not sure I like this gold either, so I'd appreciate a second opinion :)
I had the same thought about the red border, good to know you're changing it.
I found the gold to be okay, although a little bright at the top left. As you are often splicing in images from books, which often use earthy tones, using the gold makes it less jarring as compared to, say, soft pallet to sudden fluorescent pink.
@@gariko Yeah, the red was just me wanting to use different colors for each set of quests (green for starter, orange for 1st batch of follow ups, red for 2nd batch, ? for side quest locations...suggestions?).
In the next video or two I'm going to try a new background that I think will fit the "builder" aesthetic better :)
What about the Elvish wizard who first occupied the Manse and mysteriously disappeared? I do like challenging the source (Falcon) and delving into possible moral ambiguity and allowing space for adventurers to question. However, following the deaths of an entire logger camp with Ankhegs via similar animal sacrificed magic, there does seem like sufficient grounds for justice for the dead loggers and perhaps the missing scholar who owned and occupied the Manse. They did not build the Manse themselves. They could have build a home anywhere in the forest. It is possible the Elvish wizard died by some other means and the half-orcs merely occupied an abandoned place. Or the half-Orc are magical and could have attacked the Wizard in the forest, planted a tree that creates blights (all neutral evil) that follow their commands. The details reveal that the wizard's apprentices vacated after it was clear the wizard was not returning. Moreover, there are orcs at the location and that supports Falcon's assessment that the half orcs are working with the orcs.
After discovering the magical item that makes bird calls, the bard in our group who can speak to animals and befriend animals, recruited the ravens that were in the Pantry and recruited a swarm to help them attack the orcs and half orcs to avenge the disappearance of their beloved Elvish wizard.
Great point! I went with the location overview info -- the wizard disappeared years ago -- but the orcs booting her out makes just as much sense since that's what they tried at Dwarven Excavation, Butterskull Ranch, and Shrine of Savras. And that's probably the best use of the staff of bird calls I've ever heard! Well done :D
Going back through these videos after finally purchasing the Essentials Kit.
I would argue that if the adventure says “these half-orcs are evil,” then they are evil, even if you don’t see them being evil elsewhere. Evil beings perform non-evil actions all the time. Being told these half-orcs are evil isn’t saying what they are doing is evil, but that you should play them as willing or inclined to do evil.
Also, while I recognize the desire for religious tolerance, certain deities in Faerûn are objectively evil, and wanting to practice a religion venerating one of these deities is itself an evil act. Maybe it’s done out of fear, but that’s a question of mitigating circumstances, they’re still doing something evil.
I'm running this at the moment.... But there has been some hint of a evil hag in my campaign... Which next session they have been in this Mansion and it happens to have fallen just in time for Halloween... so with the mention of evil spell castors I'm using this for location of the hags lair under the tree. Also placed scarecrows in the pumpkin patches... That I'll be using as a encounter for my players... The orcs in the top room... I'm going to actually have them hiding out because of the hag.
On player also is a ranger who joined last session so back story is they are Falcons daughter and are along with Falcon. I'll update when next session is over
I'd say it's a bit easier for my group to see the half-orcs as evil because they did the Tower of Storms early on. It's hard to say that they were just protecting their territory when they created a beacon to draw ships in to be dashed on the rocks and the sailors drown in a storm. My group hasn't done the Woodland Manse or Circle of Thunder yet, but between seeing the destruction at the Logging Camp, and seeing Moeska's work at the Tower, there is little gray area left to see them as misunderstood or just trying to survive.
I would say the option is there to make that more ambiguous, though, if you choose to. Make Moeska clearly acting on his own or an outcast of the group and have no deaths at the Logging Camp but all the miner's just being scared away if you want to make the half-orcs passible morally. Or on the flip side, have Falcon recount stories of his men or families that they have killed to show that it is more than just "protection." It gets even less gray when I follow the (very helpful) suggestion that you made in the Tower of Storms video to reference Fherelai Stormsworn in the tower, tying the works of Moeska to the cult at large. I just think there's too much in the story to have the half-orcs just be neutral or friendly characters, especially since they're actively trying to summon Gorthok to...probably not just defend their fort.
Haha yeah, Tower of Storms gives a pretty rough first impression. That one half orc kinda spoils it for the rest.
Regarding if the half-orcs are evil: I am new to DMing Dnd and well rather new to Dnd in general. But when I read about Gorthok who does the will of Talos and it states in the book that "does the bidding of Talos's evil followers" and that Gorthok revels in destruction. Also the manual states that Grannoc is praying for the destruction of Falcon's Hunting Lodge. Also if the players overhear the orc's it states they are planning a surprise attack as well.
I would say that if the PC's get captured or all fall unconscious, they would be taken to the tower of storms and run that adventure in reverse as they start in the tower.
Whoa, great idea! Tower of Storms is the next DoIP quest I’ll be posting about, so I’ll include that as a way to start the adventure
Possible spoilers for players.
I connected the woodland manse to the tower of storms. Players went to the Tower of Storms of the hopes of getting magic weapons (rumour changed to be said specifically at the Lionshield Coster, and discuss how they lost a shipment which was headed north to Neverwinter via boat).
As they went there, I prepared a letter to Moesko from Grannoc. Details including how they have gained new followers thanks to the dragon and currently in a Manse they found near the "power point" Fheralai had found on an old map. Also discussed the sacrifices were taken from a nearby loggers camp (which they already finished).
So setting up for the later encounter with Grannoc and introducing the name of a person important in the later digital adventures that come with the starter set.
When players defeated Grannoc (after first going to the stone circle), they found another letter from Fheralai to Grannoc, telling of Moesko's success in luring a ship, giving tge mission to summon Gorthok and would be ready to choose a lieutenant (insinuating Grannoc or Moesko).
So all useful for setting up connections for the continuing story.
This is gold! I really need to read ahead into the expansion quests so I can seed some information. Definitely going to keep these ideas in mind for a future video about those quests! Well done :D
@@BobWorldBuilder Further to it, I put a connection with the Stone Cold Reavers and the other faction (Myrkul) involved in the future story lines. Didn't do it the best, kind of rushed planning and players acted in ways I didn't account for, but I can hopefully salvage some things/make some further revalations.
Keep me updated! Your experience with the quests will be super helpful as I lay it out for my party and plan the DM Guides for those quests. Feel free to DM on Twitter as that will be easier to follow than a UA-cam comment thread!
@@BobWorldBuilder No Twitter account from me I'm afraid.
@@gariko Then the comments will have to do!
I'm finished with this quest. Something unexpected happened though: The players attacked Falcon, knocking out the servants in the process, and left everyone tied up before leaving. This would leave them helpless for the attack from the halforcs that would likely happen soon after. Not sure how to proceed. It shouldn't come up for another couple sessions, but I feel like this incident wouldn't go unnoticed.
Love your vids man!
Hi.... first of all, congratulations on the content over all.. it's such a calm and inspiring experience watch your videos.
As a 1 time DM in preparation this series has been super helpful. Just got this Kit and have been studying it.... and I was wondering if you have tips or ideas of how to make a one shot "mashing" 3 or 4 encounter of this history.. and if is not to much to ask... what level party would this be for? I have been thinking about mashing the orcs (and half orcs) some how for a level 4 party.... any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Tks for keep building and sharing with us all.😊
Hey Bob! Awesome video! I always wait for your videos to come out. As a first time DM, I just ran my party throughthe first three quests and I know, going forward almost all of the quests will involve orcs heavily. I had been wondering about how to tie in the Half Orcs and Orcs together with the theme, but the book really doesn't give kuch explanation. Thank you so much for giving us the idea of portraying these half orcs as more of a grey character and that they are just trying to save the forest. I do, however have a couple of questions: 1. I do not own any of the other D&D resources yet, but what is the relation between the Orcs from the mountains and the Half Orcs Anchorites? 2. I know you said you will put up a video later, however, can we have a vague idea on what you think is a good order of extra locations within the actual quests, so that, even if your video isn't posted by the time my players encounter those locations, I will have something to run by. 3. With your modifications to the encounter, how should we run the sequence where it is a race to stop the encounter? And if it doesn't get stopped and the players reach the location, how many enemies should be there? Since I assumed the enemies from Woodland Manse will be on our side at that point?
Sorry for the wall of text! Thanks again for these videos. They have really helped me. PS: I saw you asking, but this golden background is good. Looks kind of like a map. :)
Thank you so much for the kind words! (and responding to my question about the background!)
1. The orc/half-orc relationship is unique to this module; the background info says the groups are 'ancient allies' and the half-orcs act as advisors to the orcs. The important part is that the orcs were recently booted from their mountain home by the dragon, and I guess sought guidance from the half-orcs (but this isn't clearly stated), so I decided the orcs' motivation is to find a new home by whatever means necessary, and the half-orcs just want to help the orcs get established in a new home around Phandalin because they don't really wanting them to stay in the forest.
2. Shrine of Savras could be done fairly early, but it's combat heavy so be careful. Tower of Storms is level 3/4ish, and I think it should be done before the party faces the wererats at Mt's Toe because they can get a magic weapon. Circle of thunder is balanced for sixth level and it makes sense to me near the end of the story, but Icespire Hold should be last - a final showdown with Cryovain.
3. Just keep a quick pace by encouraging them to travel there fast. Once they arrive you could say, "Gorthok will be summoned in 1d4 rounds unless you stop the half-orcs!" ...if they are not allied with the half-orcs. If they are allied -- boom Gorthok is summoned immediately as they arrive, and must be defeated! If he beats them (TPK but actually they all wake up the next day with exhaustion), the couterattack occurs as described in the last section of Woodland Manse.
Most of these are hastily written ideas, so I highly encourage you to come up with your own awesome ideas and share them here! Have fun :)
@@BobWorldBuilder Oh thank you so much for the inspiration and ideas! This is really going to help me out!
@@roshnimukherjee6927 My pleasure!
I took this encounter a different way. So far in my campaign, the half-orcs and orcs have killed people at butterskull ranch. After a visit to falcons Lodge earlier, the orcs and anchorites have tried to sacrifice Xanth the centaur's poor wife at the circle of thunder. My plan is to have the orcs and half orc anchorites be on the move. They've been foiled by the adventurers too many times, so they go to the shrine of savras to get reinforcements, and bring them to an attack on Falcons Lodge. This leaves the manse mostly unguarded, except for 1 half-orc who isn't as enthusiastic about Talos or violence, basically becoming a social encounter instead.
Hey Bob, Bob here! Quick question on magical items. Though necklace of fireball is awesome and could be useful, not only in this encounter but also against Cryovain), it is some what restrictive...meaning you probably wouldn't use the necklace once your martial party members are within range of the spell target. There are plenty of magic items given that are beneficial to martial characters, but I'm not seeing much love for spell casters. What items would you suggest be in this vault that will help spell casters in the fight against Cryovain?
Excellent question, Bob! There are a handful of utility items in this module useful for anyone (e.g. goggles of night, immovable rod, boots of elvenkind), but the only caster specific item that comes to mind is the hat of wizardry, which is obviously a wizards-only item. Anything that might boost their concentration, number of spell slots (pearl of power, ring of spell storing), or AC (cloak of protection, mithral armor?) would be great. I know Taking20 has a video about this topic ("_ best items for casters in D&D 5e" or something similar)...made I'll do a video about this sometime!
One thing I used was a Ring of Spell Holding. Can hold up to 5 slots worth of spells (1 level 5 or 2 level 2s and a level 1 for example). Could change the amount of slots it could have (call it 'lesser' or 'greater'). Gives casters a way to use unspent spell slots before a rest. Can also be given to someone else and charged by the caster so you can have two people casting spells.
One thing I read is that if you're worried about items being too strong, call them damaged, and give it a known breaking chance like some of the rods in the starter set has (at x time roll a d20 and on a 1 it is destroyed), or a limit of uses, or known chance to break (eg. if you are hit for damage)
@@gariko Totally agree with tweaking magic item strength to match your party!
My party slaughtered the orcs, many amusing points mind
I followed your advice, I was the dm.
You have fair points
always confused Lychees with Liches. Its super weird at the grocery store
Hi Bob, loving the series and relying on hit heavily as I DM a couple of playgroups through DoIP. As a new DM, and never having played, it’s been an incredibly helpful resource!
I was wondering if you covered the counterattack on Falcon’s Lodge at all?
I play this campaign with 2 parties. One party was like, yeah half orcs are evil (2 of the party are half orces witjh a hate against orcs) The other party was like Falcon is evil, and killed him
Haha oh man, I hope they resolved their debate!
I'm a Ranger' said said, "kill the orcs ' diplomacy over
Are you going to do Tower of Storms, too?
I sure am! The plan is Circle of Thunder, then Tower of Storms, Shrine of Savras, and Icespire Hold! I release videos from this series about every 3 weeks
I'm running this game for my nieces and they are going to the circle of thunder via Xanth. As written Gorthok is summoned here if he wasn't dealt with during the counterattack. My question is will the orcs still counterattack Falcon's lodge after the woodland manse?
I'm expecting my players to stop Gorthok, and in that case I'm going to nix the orcs' part of the attack too. My logic being that they are mostly emboldened by the half-orcs' connection to Talos. However, assuming your party has not allied with the half-orcs/orcs, maybe they would still lay siege on the lodge. It really comes down to whatever you think will be the most fun for your party! Please let me know what you come up with! :)
@@BobWorldBuilder I thought so as well, or maybe since without Gorthok Falcon and crew can hold for a siege amd can get word back to town for reinforcements, thereby adding a new side quest. Message could be sent by falcon 😏
That sounds great! Honestly, it makes the lodge location worth its space in the book :p
How do you recommend playing out the attack on the Lodge. Does Gorthok fight to the death or withdraw to fight again at the circle?
I think it would be more in Gorthok’s nature to fight to the death wherever encountered, on the assumption that it has been summoned and destroyed many times over the centuries. The only creature it might retreat from is Cryovain, but there could be other exceptions in your game :)
@@BobWorldBuilder and then summoned again at the Circle of Thunder?
@@MrBrianofarrell Potentially, I would think at least a week needs to pass, or a particularly intense thunderstorm, or some other significant event or sacrifice from the anchorites
first
I think you're also the first person to "first" one of my videos! I feel like I've made it to the big time lol
Bob World Builder you have I love your review and ways to make it better. Hey double first not bad for me 👍
@@filiplykkegaardkastrup1876 Thank you!
The alignment system and the concept of whole groups of acteurs being 'good or evil' in DnD is so horribly bad it makes my head hurt. Any system that dares to sell a single page as a "quest"(this word alone is yucky), where there's only a map of an encounter and no overarching story, no background, no reasons for why the Halforcs do what they do, nothing the players need to remember from the rest of the book, should simply label itself a battle simulator board game and not an RPG. This whole DM guide playlist would not need to exist if DnD would print decent adventures. You show pretty clearly how easy it would be to write an overarching meta-plot about themes of greed here, because Dragons hoard gold, the Manticor lets himself buy off in gold coins instead of meat, all the Dwarven greed God references and the Wererats in the Gold Mine... They thank so many playtesters in the back of the book, if all those people would instead invest half an afternoon into actual storytelling, there could be an awesome story to discover that ties all those references of greed together and make the players ask themselves why the banker is never showing his face and whose gold they are paid with for their errands which all seem to bring them to places where the mysterious Banker behind the closed door wants something greed-related to be handled.
Bearing this in Mind, I would never portray any group of persons as completely good or completely evil, because that just is a recipe to throw roleplay out of the window. Those Halforcs follow Talos, and that god feels the overall rise of greed-guided actions in the area. He is a force of destruction and as such he may be quite bad at articulating his plans to his followers, but SOMETHING in the Elven ruins under the woodland manse is bound to be the next goal of the Dragon/the Banker/Abathur, so Talos does what he does best and works through destructive forces, in this case his chosen Boar-shifting Tribe. They maybe don't know they are fighting against the Greed-metaplot, but they know they need to keep that tree in the well alive as long as it needs to grow deep enough so that its roots can destroy that SOMETHING in the ruins below so that Abathur doesn't get its greedy hands on it. After that particular destruction is finished for their God, they have no reason not to move somewhere else in true Talos style, being a seemingly random force of destruction but playing their part in the struggles of the gods.
Depending on how much of the Metaplot the players have realized until then, they could see the Greed in Falcons eyes to get the manse back and have an actual roleplay talk with the Halforcs to find out what's going on instead of wasting another evening rolling dice until the battlemap is emptied of everything that had hitpoints.