Happy to finish my guides for the module for you all, including some of my earliest supporters! Hope your campaigns go well and leave you with lots of good times and memories!
First adventure path I’m running, and I LOVE this whole series. My plan was to watch a let’s play (but I found this), as I read/prep, but I’ll deff be returning to these videos. Would love more of these from other adventures!
Hey, I'm glad to hear they were helpful to you. I'm unsure if or what exactly I'll make content on next in terms of other adventures. But I might, when I actually finish fully running Call of the Netherdeep (which will be awhile), re-watch my videos, reflect on the campaign and do kind of a kind of 'advice I missed in my original videos' final CotN video.
Ya it sounds like you should for sure. You might think about 2 lair actions and upping his legendary action points, maybe even HP on the first two forms. Keep in mind on the last form with 7, if they do cooperate in doing charisma checks they could redeem him in a single round before the final form gets to do anything. If that happened to me, I'd probably try to extend it so he at least gets one turn and call it 5 checks or something. Hope your campaign is going well.
You talked about player death briefly but you didn't touch upon what I was trying to hear the most, what if my players die in the Netherdeep and there's still a ways to go to reach the final boss? How would l go about getting their new character involved again?
Great question! A lot of my choices are ultimately based on the exact context of the situation so you may have to adapt any suggestions I have. But for one, since it is an awkward time to start a new character you could make sure the party has the materials (found as loot?)for at least one revivify if they have a class that has access to that. If they do need to make a new char, that char may need to have existing ties to whichever faction is getting the party access to Cael Morrow. Some other options could be someone sent in with the rivals who betrays them (or gets betrayed by them). Those are just a couple of ideas, but you may have npc relationships or things within your own campaign that you can leverage but hope that gives you a few ideas.
I guess I would add that you always have the option to pull a punch or fudge a roll somewhere if things look really lopsided. I do that a fair amount. Or have the rivals or another npc aid or another monster chase away the threatening one. I try not to do it too often but if I think it serves the best story overall, I will. Sometimes the best story is a death, but some times are just awkward to have one. It should feel much better for you to quietly pull a punch in the nether deep only to not pull any later and play alyxian harder. But also feel out your group and dynamics.
I’m going full, over the top, JRPG ending boss battle with Alyxian. Crazy rockin music, dramatic roleplaying, the whole nine yards. Heck, I love the themes of the two moons so much, I’m gonna have Alyxian the Callous turn the battlefield from that ocean battlemap to a battle on the moon with his illusions!
The only thing i'm still not sure, is when do i tell my players how to destroy ruidium... when and how do they learn how the netherdeep was created and what the netherdeep actually is, my players are about to find theo and the hunter so... i'm thinking to use Theo to tell them that info, or maybe perigee 😅
I really aimed a lot of the series at first time DMs, especially because a lot of the commenters on some of the early videos told me that's exactly what they were, so I did have a lot of generalized advice as well.
Hey man. We are 1/2 though Witchlight with new characters but the girls want to go back to the Netherdeep lvl 12 crew. We did a 6 mo. out wrap up but the gang may be up for more. What are you planning that you can share? Suggestions?
A lot of what I would perhaps do post-module is tied to player backstories/using Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. A short version of some ideas would be having them need to get from the planet to Ruidus. Having something inside the planet, tied into Torog
The outline flowed out like water. Ruidius Rising is underway. 2 dungeons 3 levels deep Exandria and Ruidius with aberrations a plenty with a beholder as the bbeg who is trying to work with the consortium to corner the market on ruidium
Thanks for all the advice. I loved it. For the final fight in addition to your advices, I plan to give an immediate bonus turn to Alyxian after each of his forms are killed to both make it scarier and give him some more lines. Maybe an introductery line to show what his new form is about.
Well, 6 is fairly close, I don't always wildly rebalance things for one number difference. But if he's going down super fast in the first form you could think about doing one of the following: - Adding some HP to his other forms (although ultimately in the third form the HP might not be a huge deal if they're trying to redeem him). HP isn't always the most effective, but it is the sneakiest, nobody else knows his HP and if you overshot, you can always compensate back the other way. - Giving the second form another charge of Heavenly destruction - Upping his number of legendary actions. - You could fudge some of his rolls on anything. Saving throws to keep him alive longer, etc. This is another nice one because it's pretty quiet and easy to readjust if it feels like you overdid it. I wouldn't necessarily do all 3, or at least I'd implement them gradually perhaps.
Hi I just wanted to say throwing your guides on in the background have really helped me get work done while also brainstorming and musing how i would use your ideas to entertain my players. I'd love to see more guides from you and would even pay for a patreon if you broke down other adventures. I liked the new storm-wreck isles adventure and would love to see your thoughts on that. how you would beef it up and just more from you. I know you're a smaller creator right now, but this (adventure walkthroughs/guides) is a DND niche which is woefully under-served. Hope to see more from you, keep up the good work and can't wait for the next video. PS. you set this as a guild wars 2 gameplay video, maybe a different, newer game like baldur's gate 3 would generate more traction.
Hey, thanks for letting me know! Glad you enjoyed them. You're in luck about Stormwreck, just published an initial review. I don't know WHAT the deal is with Guild Wars 2. I've noticed that too, but the spot where you would turn it on/off in the UA-cam back end looks blank for me like it is already off. I even just checked again. I'm not looking for any traction from an audience for a different game (even if there probably is overlap).
Happy to finish my guides for the module for you all, including some of my earliest supporters! Hope your campaigns go well and leave you with lots of good times and memories!
First adventure path I’m running, and I LOVE this whole series. My plan was to watch a let’s play (but I found this), as I read/prep, but I’ll deff be returning to these videos. Would love more of these from other adventures!
Hey, I'm glad to hear they were helpful to you. I'm unsure if or what exactly I'll make content on next in terms of other adventures. But I might, when I actually finish fully running Call of the Netherdeep (which will be awhile), re-watch my videos, reflect on the campaign and do kind of a kind of 'advice I missed in my original videos' final CotN video.
Good series. Thank you. 🙂
You're welcome!
I've been consistently playing with 7 players, and a couple of them are the min-maxer power gamer type. I'm buffing Alyxian up a lot.
Ya it sounds like you should for sure. You might think about 2 lair actions and upping his legendary action points, maybe even HP on the first two forms. Keep in mind on the last form with 7, if they do cooperate in doing charisma checks they could redeem him in a single round before the final form gets to do anything. If that happened to me, I'd probably try to extend it so he at least gets one turn and call it 5 checks or something. Hope your campaign is going well.
You talked about player death briefly but you didn't touch upon what I was trying to hear the most, what if my players die in the Netherdeep and there's still a ways to go to reach the final boss? How would l go about getting their new character involved again?
Great question! A lot of my choices are ultimately based on the exact context of the situation so you may have to adapt any suggestions I have. But for one, since it is an awkward time to start a new character you could make sure the party has the materials (found as loot?)for at least one revivify if they have a class that has access to that. If they do need to make a new char, that char may need to have existing ties to whichever faction is getting the party access to Cael Morrow. Some other options could be someone sent in with the rivals who betrays them (or gets betrayed by them). Those are just a couple of ideas, but you may have npc relationships or things within your own campaign that you can leverage but hope that gives you a few ideas.
I guess I would add that you always have the option to pull a punch or fudge a roll somewhere if things look really lopsided. I do that a fair amount. Or have the rivals or another npc aid or another monster chase away the threatening one. I try not to do it too often but if I think it serves the best story overall, I will. Sometimes the best story is a death, but some times are just awkward to have one. It should feel much better for you to quietly pull a punch in the nether deep only to not pull any later and play alyxian harder. But also feel out your group and dynamics.
I’m going full, over the top, JRPG ending boss battle with Alyxian. Crazy rockin music, dramatic roleplaying, the whole nine yards. Heck, I love the themes of the two moons so much, I’m gonna have Alyxian the Callous turn the battlefield from that ocean battlemap to a battle on the moon with his illusions!
Love it. I have some plans to possibly involve the moon a little more as well in the campaign, just post written-module.
The only thing i'm still not sure, is when do i tell my players how to destroy ruidium... when and how do they learn how the netherdeep was created and what the netherdeep actually is, my players are about to find theo and the hunter so... i'm thinking to use Theo to tell them that info, or maybe perigee 😅
I have never played a module before, but I'll still use most of this advice! Excellent views on how to end a campaign, not just for CotN
I really aimed a lot of the series at first time DMs, especially because a lot of the commenters on some of the early videos told me that's exactly what they were, so I did have a lot of generalized advice as well.
Hey man. We are 1/2 though Witchlight with new characters but the girls want to go back to the Netherdeep lvl 12 crew. We did a 6 mo. out wrap up but the gang may be up for more. What are you planning that you can share? Suggestions?
A lot of what I would perhaps do post-module is tied to player backstories/using Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. A short version of some ideas would be having them need to get from the planet to Ruidus. Having something inside the planet, tied into Torog
@@TheEssentialGameMaster Didn’t think of that. Thx!
The outline flowed out like water. Ruidius Rising is underway. 2 dungeons 3 levels deep Exandria and Ruidius with aberrations a plenty with a beholder as the bbeg who is trying to work with the consortium to corner the market on ruidium
This leaves room for an apothian adventure next with the characters leveled
LETS GOO
Hell yeah! Should be an epic battle.
Thanks for all the advice. I loved it. For the final fight in addition to your advices, I plan to give an immediate bonus turn to Alyxian after each of his forms are killed to both make it scarier and give him some more lines. Maybe an introductery line to show what his new form is about.
You're welcome. Hope the series helps lead you and your group to a really fun time!
How would you balance Alyxian for a 6-person party?
Well, 6 is fairly close, I don't always wildly rebalance things for one number difference. But if he's going down super fast in the first form you could think about doing one of the following:
- Adding some HP to his other forms (although ultimately in the third form the HP might not be a huge deal if they're trying to redeem him). HP isn't always the most effective, but it is the sneakiest, nobody else knows his HP and if you overshot, you can always compensate back the other way.
- Giving the second form another charge of Heavenly destruction
- Upping his number of legendary actions.
- You could fudge some of his rolls on anything. Saving throws to keep him alive longer, etc. This is another nice one because it's pretty quiet and easy to readjust if it feels like you overdid it.
I wouldn't necessarily do all 3, or at least I'd implement them gradually perhaps.
Hi I just wanted to say throwing your guides on in the background have really helped me get work done while also brainstorming and musing how i would use your ideas to entertain my players. I'd love to see more guides from you and would even pay for a patreon if you broke down other adventures.
I liked the new storm-wreck isles adventure and would love to see your thoughts on that. how you would beef it up and just more from you. I know you're a smaller creator right now, but this (adventure walkthroughs/guides) is a DND niche which is woefully under-served. Hope to see more from you, keep up the good work and can't wait for the next video.
PS. you set this as a guild wars 2 gameplay video, maybe a different, newer game like baldur's gate 3 would generate more traction.
Hey, thanks for letting me know! Glad you enjoyed them. You're in luck about Stormwreck, just published an initial review.
I don't know WHAT the deal is with Guild Wars 2. I've noticed that too, but the spot where you would turn it on/off in the UA-cam back end looks blank for me like it is already off. I even just checked again. I'm not looking for any traction from an audience for a different game (even if there probably is overlap).