Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
Sign in- Marketplace
Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
Sign in
Baldur's Gate: The Call of the Shadow Flame
So I've devised a one shot that occurs in Baldur's Gate.
Before I ask my questions, I'm gonna summarise the plot:
Everything starts during evening at a tavern in Stonyeyes (the Outer City). The heroes are at one of the tables getting ready to have dinner and get drunk (not necessarily in that order), when a 12 years old beggar kid come into the tavern. The kid walks from table to table asking something to the costumers, but all of them shake their head.
At some point, a guy at one of the tables grabs the kid violently and puts a knife on his throat. "We said we are NOT interested, you filthy scum!", yells. "Maybe you have something inside your ears that doesn't allow you to hear properly; I guess my knife can help you out with that", says while he chuckles and drags his knife throughout the kid's cheek until it reaches his left ear."
Heroes will probably say something to this guy in order to help the kid, and depending on how they handle the situation, they could start a fight with this guy and his crew of thugs.
After this, heroes will talk to the kid, whose name is Odi. He will tell them that a man has approached him during the night and has told him that if he finds a group of adventurers to help him out with a task, he would give him 10 gp.
The kid tells the players they will find this misterious man at Garymor Stables and Menagerie. When they arrive there, a man wearing a black hood will appear and will tell them he needs their help.
He's a noble called Verion Bormul, a very famous and beloved member of the Parliament of Peers who's running for a post in the Council of Four after the assassination of Duke Belynne Stelmane. He needs the players' help because his political rival, Karina, a powerful archmage also member of the Parliament of Peers, has stolen from his house the documents that prove she's a corrupt person who plots to take control over the city.
Verion Bormul asks the players to infiltrate Karina's house in order to recover the documents that she has stolen from his office. He will pay 100 gp per head if they succeed (players can haggle). He asks the players to bring the documents tomorrow morning to him at the the same place they've met.
Karina's house is at the Manorborn, within the Upper City. They have three ways to reach the house:
When players reach Karina's house and find the chest with the documents, they will have to resolve a puzzle to open it (if they fail, some kind of guardian will appear to fight them).
As soon as the players get the documents, Karina will appear, freezing them with a spell. She will end up revealing that she's not the corrupt person here, but Verion. She tells the players (showing them the documents) that Verion is not only corrupt, but also one of the leaders of a demonic cult called The Shadow Flame, which kidnaps kids for their dark rituals.
She tells the players they should go to Verion's house immediately and stop him, because her spies have told her that he's performing a ritual tonight, where a kid they know will be sacrificed in the process. His name is Odi.
Players will go to Verion's house and find the caves under his house. There, they will fight daemons, cultists and, finally, Verion, who's about to kill Odi. Verion will probably transform himself into a daemon during the fight.
If players save Odi and kill Verion, they will meet Karina again, who promises she will look after Odi. She also pays double the amount Verion had promised them. Before leaving the house, players will realise Karina's got a ring with the symbol of Myrkul and also she's Verion's sister.
So this is the plot in broad terms.
My main question has to do with the level of the adventure. What level do you think players should be for such a one shot?
Do you think I could run this in just one session or would I need two?
Would you give me any other recommendations regarding the plot or anything else?
I'd honestly appreciate your opinion.
Thanks in advance! 😊
One thing about the bullet points, but having each option just lead to "a fight" but with different enemies is sort of not really a significant choice. The challenges of each approach should correspond to the skillset of the approach. Maybe the boat is more of a skill/environment-based challenge as you have to navigate the boat through rough waters. Maybe the sewer is more stealth-based, while the lower city? That can be a straight up fight.
As far as difficulty, can't say without the exact makeup of the fights. 5 is a good level for 1-shots
Yeah, I simplified it a lot, but my intention is to make every choice different in some way. There are some interesting NPCs on every choice. But yeah, maybe not all of them should lead to a fight. 🤔
Thank you very much for your advice. 😊
Yeah NPC's are fun to make, but they're rarely what players consider the memorable, worthwhile part of playing the game. Designing NPC's is like worldbuilding-- it's by no means a bad thing to do, you just need to acknowledge the fact that you're mostly doing it for your own amusement and most of the time the players will bypass it.
More often, what players enjoy is the feeling that their choices had a meaningful impact on the world or the story.
Yeah. I didn't say it, but the one shot is full of choices. It is true, though, that it's a one shot, so there's gonna be a certain amount of railroading. 😂
Based on the number of combat encounters and some of the monsters mentioned, I'd second CharlesThePlant's recommenndation of starting the party at level 5.
Looking at everything you have planned, this looks like bare minimum a four-hour session. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it went longer. Whether this one-shot is an actual one-shot or not depends on how much time you have available to play, how many players you have, and their experience level. A party of four or five semi-experienced players could probably knock this out in one day as long as everybody sets aside enough time. More players and/or inexperienced players will probably make social, combat, and exploration encounters take longer, which could mean having to pick a stopping point somewhere in the middle (maybe around the dramatic "you've been fooled" reveal) and turn it into a two-episode mini campaign.
Be prepared for the party to want to adopt the kid. Adventuring parties love kids and animals. You may want to have the true bad guy make the party leave the kid with him when he sends them to take the documents. This doubles as foreshadowing for him being the bad guy.
Consider adding more variety to the three routes to the manor. As it is, you have a Mass Effect 3 ending problem: the three choices are all basically the same. Each route is basically just a different fight from the other two. It will feel like a more meaningful choice to the players if they're told one route definitely has a high risk of fighting something, one route involves a maze or a series of traps or something along those lines, and one route is controlled by a gang of wererats or whatever and the party will have to negotiate safe passage. Instead of picking red fight, blue fight, or green fight, now the party gets to choose whether they want to get into a fight or avoid the fight either by trying to persuade a gang to let them by or by navigating a hazardous obstacle course.
Also, if you're committed to depicting a child coming to harm, you're going to want to discuss that with the players during session zero.
Amazing help you gave me here. I do appreciate it!!
Yeah, as I talked with the other user, I think it'd be better to make each path more different, not just a different encounter. You gave me pretty good ideas (the mace is something I've thought I could use for the dungeon).
Regarding the players adopting the kid, it's totally true. I need to find a way to make him stay with Verion or not being able to go with them. Good point!
And yeah, I am definitely going to tell the players in session 0 the tone of the adventure. That's a must. 😊
I also think level 5 is perfect for this adventure. I totally agree. By the way, would a monster with a CR of 9 be a deadly encounter for four lvl 5 players? 🤔
Thank you again for your help and your time. ❤️