So I am toying with the below idea for a One-shot or side quest. Can you please provide your thoughts?
Quest: <Town> is looking to clear out an infested mine. Reward 1000 GP
<Town>
Mayor: Travis Wiltin (Fighter <level> LE)
Taverns:
Lost wayfare -operated by Tina Bladelinger (Human LE)
Divine rest: operated by Benard Alebelly (Dwarf LE)
Shops:
Lola’s Oddities - Sells Magic Items - Operated by Fred Fisher (human LE)
Glowing Hammer - Sells Weapons and Armor Up to +1 - Operated by Thomas Crag (Human LE)
The Blubbering Idiot - Sells Misc items and travel gear - Operated by Lola Amakiir (Elf LG)
Lola wears a cursed necklace given to her by the Mayor. While wearing the necklace it cannot be willingly removed. The creature can't cast spells, activate magic items, and can only communicate with basic words.
The Mayor has posted the quest to lure adventures into the mine in order for them to die or leave without clearing the mine. He also sends them to the various shops to equip themselves for the adventure. All goods in the stores are from previous victims of this scam. They will sell items at a premium as they assume that they will be getting them back in the next few days from the Mayor.
The mine is riddled with traps and is occupied by level-appropriate intelligent monsters. (I.E. Kobolds, Orcs, fiends, etc.) The mayor has “hired” these monsters to live in the mine, maintain the traps and kill adventures and pass all treasure back to him. In exchange, the occupants have a “safe” place to live and the mayor provided them with what they need.
When the Adventures come into town to talk to the Mayor he will try to get as much useful information (class, strengths, weakness, spell preferences, etc) about the party and inform the occupants of the mine.
Plan using Tomb of Horrors as a guide for mine, but add more monsters.
If the party is able to capture and integrate a leader of the mine they will tell them about the deal with the mayor.
"The mayor has “hired” these monsters to live in the mine, maintain the traps and kill adventures and pass all treasure back to him. In exchange, the occupants have a “safe” place to live and the mayor provided them with what they need. "
I can't imagine kobolds, goblins, or most other monsters agreeing to give the mayor all of the treasure they find. Even with the information on the party, there is no guarantee that some of the inhabitants won't be killed by the adventurers, so it isn't necessarily a "place." I could see them agreeing to a cut, but, not everything. Add, if the mayor gets too greedy, why wouldn't the monsters simply take him, maybe get someone else who is willing to give them a better deal a chance to take his place.
I rather wonder what levels you are talking about and how many players. You mention Tomb Of Horrors as your guide, and that's a very high end Adventure. The original was for levels 10 to 14, and it's actually not a 5th Edition Adventure, it's an older Module. The current version is the Tomb Of Annilhilation, and it goes from 1st all the way to 11th. I'm going to assume you mean the Tomb Of Annihilation, since +1 weapons and armor are the kinds of things that you stop giving out after level 4. At 5th level you're handing out the +2s. You mention "level-appropriate intelligent monsters". Orcs and Kobolds are in the right range for level 1 to 4 characters, but then you mention "Fiends" and few of them are so low level.
If you are running a low level adventure, as the low end magic items would seem to suggest, then the Tomb Of Horrors is about the worst guide I can imagine. It's high level, and very lethal, with traps that can instantly kill, and destroy the body so that character is gone forever. If you're running the Tomb of Annihiliation, then what's the purpose of the one-shot side quest in the mine? Why not just keep right on going with the Tomb of Annihilation?
I am unclear what the Mayor's motivation is. He wants to lure Adventurers into a trap laden, monster infested mine. He wants the party to die, and he's working with the monsters so he can get their stuff. He's got the Stuff from previous Adventurers and he sells it to the party. That's where I get confused. If he wants the monsters to win, why let the party get better equipment? He can get what ever he wants from the party just as easily after the monsters kill them, and it will be much safer for his monsters if he doesn't sell the party any stuff. I also wonder why the shop is there at all in terms of the plot you want to run. If the players already have good stuff, they don't need to buy more, but if they do need it, what is the Mayor going to gain? It seems like a lot of trouble to go to in order to get the minimal amount of gold a party of adventurers with no magic items would have.
You have names for some of the places. That's good. You have names for the NPCs who work there. Also good. You list Alignments, and they are all Evil but one, and that is Lola who is crippled by a cursed item. Why mention her or her cursed item? What is she there for? She sticks out as the only one who is Good, and the only one who gets any backstory. You tell us more about her than the Mayor.
Without knowing just how experienced you and your players are with D&D, I can't help much more. I suspect that as a New DM you might be biting off more than you can chew. I am a DM with decades of experience, and I don't think I could adapt the Tomb Or Horrors for low level play. Good luck!
I would say that this would work very well if you included one, simple step; the Monsters have double-crossed the Mayor - they're keeping all the gold.
Now the Mayor wants the party to kill the monsters and get the gold that they "should have" been giving to him. Perhaps they are to owell dug in and he's realised he's basically given them a fortress just outside town.
The party can perhaps find the dead bodies of other adventurers in the mines with similar letters from the Mayor asking for help, helping them to uncover the plot.
Traps are a bit of a tricky one. They are best, for the fun of the game, if they are set up in ways which give the players a decent chance of working them out. The issue with a "normal" trap is that the PC steps on it, it deals some damage, and then it's done. Better to have the traps present larger obstacles for them to overcome if they are triggered, EG a swinging bladed pendulum starts up, and now it's a challenge to get past or work out a way to stop it. Just having an arrow shoot out and one PC get hurt is kind of a feel-bad scenario, to me.
So you have a lot of suggestions for things to add but before doing them I would think about time.
it’s a one shot - so think about the session you want and how long you have - break things down into how long they should take - then remember it’s players so treble it.
let’s say you are planning a 3 hr session. For 4 players using character sheets they have created for the adventure. They won’t be as familiar so a basic fight against say a pack of goblins is going to take about 2-3 rounds at 2-3 mins per player. So 16-36 mins (let’s call it 25 mins) so if you have 3 basic fights that’s a third to half your time there.
plan it out like a three act structure, think how long you expect it to take, where you expect it to put your players and how it leads to the next thing
So I am toying with the below idea for a One-shot or side quest. Can you please provide your thoughts?
Quest: <Town> is looking to clear out an infested mine. Reward 1000 GP
<Town>
Mayor: Travis Wiltin (Fighter <level> LE)
Taverns:
Lost wayfare -operated by Tina Bladelinger (Human LE)
Divine rest: operated by Benard Alebelly (Dwarf LE)
Shops:
Lola’s Oddities - Sells Magic Items - Operated by Fred Fisher (human LE)
Glowing Hammer - Sells Weapons and Armor Up to +1 - Operated by Thomas Crag (Human LE)
The Blubbering Idiot - Sells Misc items and travel gear - Operated by Lola Amakiir (Elf LG)
The Mayor has posted the quest to lure adventures into the mine in order for them to die or leave without clearing the mine. He also sends them to the various shops to equip themselves for the adventure. All goods in the stores are from previous victims of this scam. They will sell items at a premium as they assume that they will be getting them back in the next few days from the Mayor.
The mine is riddled with traps and is occupied by level-appropriate intelligent monsters. (I.E. Kobolds, Orcs, fiends, etc.) The mayor has “hired” these monsters to live in the mine, maintain the traps and kill adventures and pass all treasure back to him. In exchange, the occupants have a “safe” place to live and the mayor provided them with what they need.
When the Adventures come into town to talk to the Mayor he will try to get as much useful information (class, strengths, weakness, spell preferences, etc) about the party and inform the occupants of the mine.
Plan using Tomb of Horrors as a guide for mine, but add more monsters.
If the party is able to capture and integrate a leader of the mine they will tell them about the deal with the mayor.
Looks good to me. What are you concerned about?
I am a New DM and just looking for opinions of those who are more experienced than I am.
With one exception, it seems like a good plan.
"The mayor has “hired” these monsters to live in the mine, maintain the traps and kill adventures and pass all treasure back to him. In exchange, the occupants have a “safe” place to live and the mayor provided them with what they need. "
I can't imagine kobolds, goblins, or most other monsters agreeing to give the mayor all of the treasure they find. Even with the information on the party, there is no guarantee that some of the inhabitants won't be killed by the adventurers, so it isn't necessarily a "place." I could see them agreeing to a cut, but, not everything. Add, if the mayor gets too greedy, why wouldn't the monsters simply take him, maybe get someone else who is willing to give them a better deal a chance to take his place.
I'm also a new DM and I am having a hard time making campaign notes so if anyone has some can I look at them?
I exist sometimes, especially when I'm DMing Curse of Strahd.
I rather wonder what levels you are talking about and how many players. You mention Tomb Of Horrors as your guide, and that's a very high end Adventure. The original was for levels 10 to 14, and it's actually not a 5th Edition Adventure, it's an older Module. The current version is the Tomb Of Annilhilation, and it goes from 1st all the way to 11th. I'm going to assume you mean the Tomb Of Annihilation, since +1 weapons and armor are the kinds of things that you stop giving out after level 4. At 5th level you're handing out the +2s. You mention "level-appropriate intelligent monsters". Orcs and Kobolds are in the right range for level 1 to 4 characters, but then you mention "Fiends" and few of them are so low level.
If you are running a low level adventure, as the low end magic items would seem to suggest, then the Tomb Of Horrors is about the worst guide I can imagine. It's high level, and very lethal, with traps that can instantly kill, and destroy the body so that character is gone forever. If you're running the Tomb of Annihiliation, then what's the purpose of the one-shot side quest in the mine? Why not just keep right on going with the Tomb of Annihilation?
I am unclear what the Mayor's motivation is. He wants to lure Adventurers into a trap laden, monster infested mine. He wants the party to die, and he's working with the monsters so he can get their stuff. He's got the Stuff from previous Adventurers and he sells it to the party. That's where I get confused. If he wants the monsters to win, why let the party get better equipment? He can get what ever he wants from the party just as easily after the monsters kill them, and it will be much safer for his monsters if he doesn't sell the party any stuff. I also wonder why the shop is there at all in terms of the plot you want to run. If the players already have good stuff, they don't need to buy more, but if they do need it, what is the Mayor going to gain? It seems like a lot of trouble to go to in order to get the minimal amount of gold a party of adventurers with no magic items would have.
You have names for some of the places. That's good. You have names for the NPCs who work there. Also good. You list Alignments, and they are all Evil but one, and that is Lola who is crippled by a cursed item. Why mention her or her cursed item? What is she there for? She sticks out as the only one who is Good, and the only one who gets any backstory. You tell us more about her than the Mayor.
Without knowing just how experienced you and your players are with D&D, I can't help much more. I suspect that as a New DM you might be biting off more than you can chew. I am a DM with decades of experience, and I don't think I could adapt the Tomb Or Horrors for low level play. Good luck!
<Insert clever signature here>
I would say that this would work very well if you included one, simple step; the Monsters have double-crossed the Mayor - they're keeping all the gold.
Now the Mayor wants the party to kill the monsters and get the gold that they "should have" been giving to him. Perhaps they are to owell dug in and he's realised he's basically given them a fortress just outside town.
The party can perhaps find the dead bodies of other adventurers in the mines with similar letters from the Mayor asking for help, helping them to uncover the plot.
Traps are a bit of a tricky one. They are best, for the fun of the game, if they are set up in ways which give the players a decent chance of working them out. The issue with a "normal" trap is that the PC steps on it, it deals some damage, and then it's done. Better to have the traps present larger obstacles for them to overcome if they are triggered, EG a swinging bladed pendulum starts up, and now it's a challenge to get past or work out a way to stop it. Just having an arrow shoot out and one PC get hurt is kind of a feel-bad scenario, to me.
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So you have a lot of suggestions for things to add but before doing them I would think about time.
it’s a one shot - so think about the session you want and how long you have - break things down into how long they should take - then remember it’s players so treble it.
let’s say you are planning a 3 hr session. For 4 players using character sheets they have created for the adventure. They won’t be as familiar so a basic fight against say a pack of goblins is going to take about 2-3 rounds at 2-3 mins per player. So 16-36 mins (let’s call it 25 mins) so if you have 3 basic fights that’s a third to half your time there.
plan it out like a three act structure, think how long you expect it to take, where you expect it to put your players and how it leads to the next thing
I.E.
intro>>social>>combat>>rp>>puzzle>>rp>>combat>>rp>>final combat>>epilogue
Because that might not seem much but is a 4 hour adventure