SPOILER ALERT! This intended for DMs and may contain plot lines if you're still playing through Lost Mines of Phandelver :-)
I need some help solving a problem with my players "cheating" a bit.
They've just arrived at Thundertree.
Ive been looking forward to this as thanks to some material from Curse of Strahd and Van Vichten's Guide to Ravelnoft "Nobody goes to Thundertree any more..." It's a scary zombie and blight infested ghost town in the style of Ravenholm from Half Life 2. (Evil DM cackle)
It should be scare a minute and I've set it up to be a challenge for the players to both think their way out of encounters they'll never win as well jas ust a murder hobo crawl.
Thing is... They keep taking long rests whenever they're more than 50% low on HP. Damn cheats!
Ive reminded them of the 1 LR in every 24 hours rule, but that hasnt really made much difference as right now they think theyve got all the time in the world to find Wave Echo Cave and deal with the other matters. They're holed up with Redioth as they've figured its the one place the blights and zombies won't attackk.
So....? How do I put a rocket up their behinds and give them a perilous sense of urgency?
They've arrived at Thundertree and found its a scary place.
Reidoth is a deranged druid who has planted a Gunthias Tree next to Venomgang's tower and wants to cultivate the blights - "his children" - for weird research. So he wants the dragon gone. In return he will tell or show the players where Cragmaw Castle is.
Venomfang wants Neverwinter Forest and all the wonderful vegitation Reidoth is cultivating in Thundertree as his lair, so he wants Reidoth gone. He will leave once down to 50% of HP, and has a magic item in his lair that will help get past the Spectator in Wave Echo Cave.
The cultists are squabbling amongst themselves as Favric, their arrogant, self appointed leader, has kidnapped Thundran, the wrong rockseeker brother who deosnt have the map. To reassert his authority over the other cultists he kills Thundran. Favric, if he survives, or his twin brother if he doesn't, will become an NPC in Waterdeep, a plot hook to Dragon Heist, a possible future campaign.
The players have yet to deal with Cragmaw Castle, but they'll need to go there to get a map of Wave Echo Cave.
Hamun Kost is an evil Red Wizard of Thay who has uncovered (thanks to "Arthindol" - the clue the players got from Agatha the banshee) a way into the Chardalyn cavern under Old Owl Well. He hopes to find a powerful spell there and use the Forge Of Spells to "perfect it" so that he can assist with the Rise Of Tiamat - a plot hook to a possible future campaign.
The Black Spider is actually an exhiled drider, but has a secret magic item that keeps them as a drow for a few hours each day. They want the forge of spells to rid themselves of that curse, and then to offer the forge to Lloth to regain favour.
Once the players get to Wave Echo Cave, they will navigate it's encounters and a couple of puzzles, deal with the undead, Mormesk and the Spectator.
Just as they're confronting the Black Spider, Hamun Kost arrives, thanking the players for doing most of the hard work, then appears to power the forge - but instead it ends up devouring him and implodes in on itself.
They will then have a big battle with The Black Spider who is livid. Half of the battle as written, an evil drow, but then the other half as a drider with giant spiders appearing as needed to heat things up. There will be a plot hook here though to a possible future campaign in Out Of The Abyss where Lloth seeks revenge.
So any help please... How do I build urgency into this story?
The Black Spider at our current stage appears to already have the map, so Im thinking "If we dont get to Wave Echo Cave by....X?... then all is lost!" But how long is X and who drops this message? Reidoth?
You are the DM right? Just tell them no. The druid in Thunder Tree shouldn't have let them rest with him so have him boot them out of his house. If they try to take a rest somewhere else simply have a wandering monster attack them - perhaps the cultists. The second time have the dragon attack them. That will likely result in a TPK as most will be asleep and so won't have armour or shields or weapons equipped. Have them roll up new characters that are tasked with finding what happened to the first party of adventures.
I like the idea of having Venomfang randomly swooping on the party if they try and settle anywhere In Thundertree. That’s good, thanks. But it still doesn’t build urgency to their ultimate quest. They’ll still probably make their way back to Phandalin or somewhere afterwards to rest.
Not if they are dead. Even a single breath weapon attacks will significantly hurt, depending on their level and class it could even 1 shot a few of them. There is no reason for it only to be a single attack either.
Just have some npc communicate to the players that the longer the black spider has unfettered access to the caves and the spell forge the more powerful he is likely to become, and the more fortified the caves will be.
But honestly if any group is going to fight the dragon at that level, having them go in with after a long rest usually isn't a terrible idea. The module even gives the option of long resting at the druids house.
If you think the fight will be too easy for your particular party you can always beef up the encounter a little or throw something extra in during or before the encounter. You could add some legendary resistances or legendary actions.
I like the idea of having Venomfang randomly swooping on the party if they try and settle anywhere In Thundertree. That’s good, thanks. But it still doesn’t build urgency to their ultimate quest. They’ll still probably make their way back to Phandalin or somewhere afterwards to rest.
So give them a clock: If you don’t make to place x by time y, something bad will happen.
SPOILER ALERT!
This intended for DMs and may contain plot lines if you're still playing through Lost Mines of Phandelver
:-)
I need some help solving a problem with my players "cheating" a bit.
They've just arrived at Thundertree.
Ive been looking forward to this as thanks to some material from Curse of Strahd and Van Vichten's Guide to Ravelnoft "Nobody goes to Thundertree any more..."
It's a scary zombie and blight infested ghost town in the style of Ravenholm from Half Life 2. (Evil DM cackle)
It should be scare a minute and I've set it up to be a challenge for the players to both think their way out of encounters they'll never win as well jas ust a murder hobo crawl.
Thing is... They keep taking long rests whenever they're more than 50% low on HP. Damn cheats!
Ive reminded them of the 1 LR in every 24 hours rule, but that hasnt really made much difference as right now they think theyve got all the time in the world to find Wave Echo Cave and deal with the other matters. They're holed up with Redioth as they've figured its the one place the blights and zombies won't attackk.
So....? How do I put a rocket up their behinds and give them a perilous sense of urgency?
They've arrived at Thundertree and found its a scary place.
Reidoth is a deranged druid who has planted a Gunthias Tree next to Venomgang's tower and wants to cultivate the blights - "his children" - for weird research.
So he wants the dragon gone. In return he will tell or show the players where Cragmaw Castle is.
Venomfang wants Neverwinter Forest and all the wonderful vegitation Reidoth is cultivating in Thundertree as his lair, so he wants Reidoth gone.
He will leave once down to 50% of HP, and has a magic item in his lair that will help get past the Spectator in Wave Echo Cave.
The cultists are squabbling amongst themselves as Favric, their arrogant, self appointed leader, has kidnapped Thundran, the wrong rockseeker brother who deosnt have the map.
To reassert his authority over the other cultists he kills Thundran. Favric, if he survives, or his twin brother if he doesn't, will become an NPC in Waterdeep, a plot hook to Dragon Heist, a possible future campaign.
The players have yet to deal with Cragmaw Castle, but they'll need to go there to get a map of Wave Echo Cave.
Hamun Kost is an evil Red Wizard of Thay who has uncovered (thanks to "Arthindol" - the clue the players got from Agatha the banshee) a way into the Chardalyn cavern under Old Owl Well. He hopes to find a powerful spell there and use the Forge Of Spells to "perfect it" so that he can assist with the Rise Of Tiamat - a plot hook to a possible future campaign.
The Black Spider is actually an exhiled drider, but has a secret magic item that keeps them as a drow for a few hours each day. They want the forge of spells to rid themselves of that curse, and then to offer the forge to Lloth to regain favour.
Once the players get to Wave Echo Cave, they will navigate it's encounters and a couple of puzzles, deal with the undead, Mormesk and the Spectator.
Just as they're confronting the Black Spider, Hamun Kost arrives, thanking the players for doing most of the hard work, then appears to power the forge - but instead it ends up devouring him and implodes in on itself.
They will then have a big battle with The Black Spider who is livid.
Half of the battle as written, an evil drow, but then the other half as a drider with giant spiders appearing as needed to heat things up.
There will be a plot hook here though to a possible future campaign in Out Of The Abyss where Lloth seeks revenge.
So any help please... How do I build urgency into this story?
The Black Spider at our current stage appears to already have the map, so Im thinking "If we dont get to Wave Echo Cave by....X?... then all is lost!"
But how long is X and who drops this message? Reidoth?
Many thanks for sticking through the long read!
You are the DM right? Just tell them no. The druid in Thunder Tree shouldn't have let them rest with him so have him boot them out of his house. If they try to take a rest somewhere else simply have a wandering monster attack them - perhaps the cultists. The second time have the dragon attack them. That will likely result in a TPK as most will be asleep and so won't have armour or shields or weapons equipped. Have them roll up new characters that are tasked with finding what happened to the first party of adventures.
I like the idea of having Venomfang randomly swooping on the party if they try and settle anywhere In Thundertree. That’s good, thanks.
But it still doesn’t build urgency to their ultimate quest. They’ll still probably make their way back to Phandalin or somewhere afterwards to rest.
Not if they are dead. Even a single breath weapon attacks will significantly hurt, depending on their level and class it could even 1 shot a few of them. There is no reason for it only to be a single attack either.
Just have some npc communicate to the players that the longer the black spider has unfettered access to the caves and the spell forge the more powerful he is likely to become, and the more fortified the caves will be.
But honestly if any group is going to fight the dragon at that level, having them go in with after a long rest usually isn't a terrible idea. The module even gives the option of long resting at the druids house.
If you think the fight will be too easy for your particular party you can always beef up the encounter a little or throw something extra in during or before the encounter. You could add some legendary resistances or legendary actions.
So give them a clock: If you don’t make to place x by time y, something bad will happen.
nah, I'd use Venomfang to push the party into action. No LR for you! <Breath weapon>. Though you didn't say what level they are.