I am a first time 5e DM working with a mostly new to 5e bunch of players. The party consists of six players: my son, a long time experienced 5e player and DM, my Brother - a long ago avid AD&D player but new to 5e, and the other players that have never played D&D. We are doing this mostly for my brother's kids to learn D&D. They are in High School.
I have homebrewed my own world. So far everything is going along well in that regard.
The earliest adventure is the party travelling to the "frontier" because they know there are lots of orcs on the frontier, and my brother's wife is playing a gnome ranger with Orcs as their favorite enemy. I am giving them plenty of low level encounters to get used to the mechanics of the game and some of the threats that are out there.
I next wished to give them an undead encounter because the party includes a Paladin and a Cleric. So I have constructed a small dungeon that begins with an orc burial mound. The players enter the mound and find ten mummified orcs. There is a concealed door that leads to their hall of heroes where an additional three mummified orcs should be resting, but they are not there. A new passage, not of orcish construction, leads away from there and eventually to a necromancer's base. But along the way, the party walks along a path cut into the wall of a crevasse where they will fight four troglodytes.
The party is level 2 right now and nearly level 3. It occurred to me at this point that the party may choose to hunt down the origin of the troglodytes, so I feel it is a good idea for me to have a troglodyte cave complex ready in case they do wish to root out all the trogs.
Has anyone done something like this and wishes to share their lessons learned about making a good quest around troglodytes?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
The troglodytes aren't relevant to the story, and if the PCs do decide to go trog hunting they're effectively wasting time.
Cut the troglodytes for some kind of risen orcs that will help spur them to the burial mound. Change the troglodytes into being "Orc Ghouls" - the stench and the bite/claw attacks all work and give them Undead as a creature type and that's done. It will save you work and leads them on towards the dungeon.
The party is level 2 right now and nearly level 3. It occurred to me at this point that the party may choose to hunt down the origin of the troglodytes, so I feel it is a good idea for me to have a troglodyte cave complex ready in case they do wish to root out all the trogs.
If the necromancer cut a tunnel to get to the burial mound, it would make sense that might have attracted attention from creatures in whatever your equivalent of the Underdark is. I don't think you necessarily need a separate, bigger nest of trogs at the ready -- just find a way to make it clear that they came from DOWN (and that it's a side track to the original quest), and if the party wants to pursue that line, they'll probably need to go get better equipped and come back because they could be underground for a long time
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Troglodytes are raiders. The party could be hired to retrieve an item taken by them on a recent raid, They would have to track them down, find their cave lair entrance, and fight them off. They often use drake and other lizards as guards that could be present.
Well, you've got most of my layout figured out. The original explorer cut a benched walkway along the wall to two "shafts" that lead down to the Trogs. From there, he built a bridge of rope and wood across the crevasse, and then continued his benched walkway along the opposite wall. He cut that about another seventy feet until it met an opening in the wall of the crevasse. At that point the path ended. The opening into the wall of the crevasse apparently leads nowhere. It could be that the original explorer found what he needed in that opening and then went back to the surface. But the Trogs had been given access to this crevasse in the process so they come up here looking for food now and then.
The necromancer's complex is a little further on. Another short shaft that dropped down about fifteen feet was inviting enough for the necromancer to have an underground complex made there. A well fashioned corridor leads away from the bottom of these short shafts and into his chapel of necromancy. This is a well furnished room with an altar at one end and "work tables" at the opposite end. An opening in the side of this room leads to a stairway down to his other quarters. The passage to his quarters is guarded by undead.
The necromancer came to this place by another route, so he didn't drag his furnishings down here along the benched in walkway. But after getting here, he found out he was near the orc burial mound. At that point, he arranged to get to the "graves" and learned that there was a crevasse and he could use that to make things easier. He sent his accomplice to cut a tunnel, and he found the crevasse and simply improved the bench walkway out to the orc burial mound. He contended with Trogs from time to time, but for whatever reason that didn't represent a problem of great concern for him. He got the path cut, and then robbed the Orc burial mound of three Heroes and brought them back to the necromancer.
The intent is to have the Party visit the necromancer's chambers and fight a few zombies and orc zombies. Given that this is restricted terrain, I believe the Party can beat the zombies in a tough fight. Only two zombies can fight at a time, while the party can use spells from behind their tanks. I didn't design this to be a Trog dungeon originally. I just wanted the Trogs there as an annoyance. But thinking on it a bit, the party may choose to go after the Trogs before they get to the zombies. So I am going to "make" a Trog dungeon crawl just in case. If the party doesn't go after the Trogs, I can use that dungeon later. Access to the Trogs is down a shaft that is seventy five feet down and extremely foul smelling. It is my hope that would keep the party away, but you never can tell with players what they might choose to do. A second incentive is that they are on a soft time limit. The time limit isn't hard and fast, but they will think it is.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
So I am going to "make" a Trog dungeon crawl just in case. If the party doesn't go after the Trogs, I can use that dungeon later.
Yup, that's the trick. Have it ready, and recycle it if you don't use it right away
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I am a first time 5e DM working with a mostly new to 5e bunch of players. The party consists of six players: my son, a long time experienced 5e player and DM, my Brother - a long ago avid AD&D player but new to 5e, and the other players that have never played D&D. We are doing this mostly for my brother's kids to learn D&D. They are in High School.
I have homebrewed my own world. So far everything is going along well in that regard.
The earliest adventure is the party travelling to the "frontier" because they know there are lots of orcs on the frontier, and my brother's wife is playing a gnome ranger with Orcs as their favorite enemy. I am giving them plenty of low level encounters to get used to the mechanics of the game and some of the threats that are out there.
I next wished to give them an undead encounter because the party includes a Paladin and a Cleric. So I have constructed a small dungeon that begins with an orc burial mound. The players enter the mound and find ten mummified orcs. There is a concealed door that leads to their hall of heroes where an additional three mummified orcs should be resting, but they are not there. A new passage, not of orcish construction, leads away from there and eventually to a necromancer's base. But along the way, the party walks along a path cut into the wall of a crevasse where they will fight four troglodytes.
The party is level 2 right now and nearly level 3. It occurred to me at this point that the party may choose to hunt down the origin of the troglodytes, so I feel it is a good idea for me to have a troglodyte cave complex ready in case they do wish to root out all the trogs.
Has anyone done something like this and wishes to share their lessons learned about making a good quest around troglodytes?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
The troglodytes aren't relevant to the story, and if the PCs do decide to go trog hunting they're effectively wasting time.
Cut the troglodytes for some kind of risen orcs that will help spur them to the burial mound. Change the troglodytes into being "Orc Ghouls" - the stench and the bite/claw attacks all work and give them Undead as a creature type and that's done. It will save you work and leads them on towards the dungeon.
If the necromancer cut a tunnel to get to the burial mound, it would make sense that might have attracted attention from creatures in whatever your equivalent of the Underdark is. I don't think you necessarily need a separate, bigger nest of trogs at the ready -- just find a way to make it clear that they came from DOWN (and that it's a side track to the original quest), and if the party wants to pursue that line, they'll probably need to go get better equipped and come back because they could be underground for a long time
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Troglodytes are raiders. The party could be hired to retrieve an item taken by them on a recent raid, They would have to track them down, find their cave lair entrance, and fight them off. They often use drake and other lizards as guards that could be present.
Well, you've got most of my layout figured out. The original explorer cut a benched walkway along the wall to two "shafts" that lead down to the Trogs. From there, he built a bridge of rope and wood across the crevasse, and then continued his benched walkway along the opposite wall. He cut that about another seventy feet until it met an opening in the wall of the crevasse. At that point the path ended. The opening into the wall of the crevasse apparently leads nowhere. It could be that the original explorer found what he needed in that opening and then went back to the surface. But the Trogs had been given access to this crevasse in the process so they come up here looking for food now and then.
The necromancer's complex is a little further on. Another short shaft that dropped down about fifteen feet was inviting enough for the necromancer to have an underground complex made there. A well fashioned corridor leads away from the bottom of these short shafts and into his chapel of necromancy. This is a well furnished room with an altar at one end and "work tables" at the opposite end. An opening in the side of this room leads to a stairway down to his other quarters. The passage to his quarters is guarded by undead.
The necromancer came to this place by another route, so he didn't drag his furnishings down here along the benched in walkway. But after getting here, he found out he was near the orc burial mound. At that point, he arranged to get to the "graves" and learned that there was a crevasse and he could use that to make things easier. He sent his accomplice to cut a tunnel, and he found the crevasse and simply improved the bench walkway out to the orc burial mound. He contended with Trogs from time to time, but for whatever reason that didn't represent a problem of great concern for him. He got the path cut, and then robbed the Orc burial mound of three Heroes and brought them back to the necromancer.
The intent is to have the Party visit the necromancer's chambers and fight a few zombies and orc zombies. Given that this is restricted terrain, I believe the Party can beat the zombies in a tough fight. Only two zombies can fight at a time, while the party can use spells from behind their tanks. I didn't design this to be a Trog dungeon originally. I just wanted the Trogs there as an annoyance. But thinking on it a bit, the party may choose to go after the Trogs before they get to the zombies. So I am going to "make" a Trog dungeon crawl just in case. If the party doesn't go after the Trogs, I can use that dungeon later. Access to the Trogs is down a shaft that is seventy five feet down and extremely foul smelling. It is my hope that would keep the party away, but you never can tell with players what they might choose to do. A second incentive is that they are on a soft time limit. The time limit isn't hard and fast, but they will think it is.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Yup, that's the trick. Have it ready, and recycle it if you don't use it right away
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)