Running LMoP for my group and can't quite wrap my head around the conclusion section of Wave Echo Cave. It makes no mention of vanquishing Mormesk. If the characters choose to assist Mormesk and defeat the spectator, he gives them some of his treasure and access to his books. Alternatively, they can just defeat the spectator on their own and then use RP to come to a positive conclusion with Mormesk. Either way, he's still there. In the Cave. Inhabiting a room. That you now, possibly, have a 10% stake in.
Do the Rockseeker brothers just post a "Keep Out" or "Do Not Disturb" sign on his door? What am I missing?
Also, what's the 10% stake worth? Especially of a mine that was never really a mine to begin with and whose capability to make magic items has waned?
I'm very confused...
Appreciate any insight anyone can provide on this topic and these questions.
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#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
You get to be creative! Perhaps if you give him some of the treasure that was once his, or his treasured possession (a pipe I think?) you could have him fade into incorporealness and dissipate. If they did this as an RP encounter, then continue as an RP encounter and add something narratively fun.
Or perhaps they can find a way to liberate his spirit so he is no longer condemned to undeath.
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"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
A lot of stuff at the end of the campaign seems to be left open-ended to allow you to craft more adventures of your own in the setting. Mormesk has some potential as a future adventure hook... you could even plant an important object of his somewhere else and allow the party to use it to free his soul. In the book his prized pipe is actually in his room with him, but you could just as easily have the party find it somewhere else and use it to release him. Or you could keep him there, maybe he becomes less crazy once the mine starts being used correctly again and becomes a friendly, helpful spector who could set the party on quests to recover mystical artifacts.
All good suggestions and I was already leaning towards having him remain and occasionally having the party recover old tomes for him in exchange for important information/old stories about the mine.
I guess I kind of expect them to state something to that extent since they obviously do it for the map in one of his books.
Has anyone else figured out the logistics for the mine? What 10% might be? Don't get me wrong...another chance to riff and have the characters responsible for helping the Rockseeker brothers get the magic forge back to its original state.
Looking for some inspiration I suppose.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
I'm playing through the campaign and we haven't gotten there yet but... My plan is to give them 10 gold a week. It's a 4 person party, so to say the mine is making 400gp a week is pretty impressive, and it gives the party enough money to fool around a bit, but not so much that they would be comfortable resting on their laurels for the rest of their characters lives.
Has anyone else figured out the logistics for the mine? What 10% might be?
Great question!
How central will the mine be to your campaign? Do you want it to be a permanent base of operations or "quest" hub? What does your world economy look like? How much "fixing" do you want the characters to have to participate in (is their downtime)? Will the characters get some allies and form allegiances?
By the end of the Lost Mine the characters should be level 4-5, that means they are just about to become a bit more important in the world. Other parties can now become interested in this thing. Having an operational mine in that area also changes politics, there could be more conflict between Neverwinter and Leilon, and perhaps Phandolin itself.
Some of the above questions are tough, but that's ok, because you can always have a few more things required to get the mine fully operational. Do what works for the time of story and world that you want to DM and your players want to play in.
In my version, the mine was a bit drained and needed elemental magic to restore it, so they had to go and capture some elemental essences and see what happened. I also cheated and had a young copper dragon take it over (she was in Phandolin and helped the party discreetly earlier) (a) because that seemed interesting (b) it set up a relationship between my party and dragons and (c)
When in doubt, do what sounds fun, and let the players be creative.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Again, great answers and I've been leaning towards the mine being a bit of a focal point for them. Especially having to restore it to its former glory (via high level magic).
Thanks all! :)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
I just started playing 5e this year by DMing LMoP. I really like how many open hooks the LMoP left to move forward in each of the encounters throughout the campaign. This is a great way to start playing 5e, because is so well designed and fun to build off of. Ive been less impressed with full modules ive bough as follow ups. it seems like the order the modules were written had a lot to do with how they were designed. it took a while for the modules to get the sandbox design going. LMoP is a good sandbox. others not so much.
I'm just getting my party into the cave now and will use the two magic items in the forge, the map, the tome it was in and Mormesk as 5 separate hooks into a homebrew sandbox. ive already tied in dragon cult, factions, Reidoth, dragonfang, and a couple more NPCs. And, im using ownership of the mine as a hook, too. They need to find an investor to hire crews and guards for the mine, (mining companies in Miabar seems good) which will lead to.... and a good wizard to build up the spell forge again, which will lead to...
So many options, and so much fun.
i'm gonna use this sandbox to level up characters before starting a commercial module (or not). My thought is that having lots of overlapping hooks makes it easier to move on, in case the PCs miss things or destroy Mormesk before talking to him. I see all these loose ends as great design work in LMoP, that allowed me to just start linking adventure ideas together without a ton of work.
I just started playing 5e this year by DMing LMoP. I really like how many open hooks the LMoP left to move forward in each of the encounters throughout the campaign. This is a great way to start playing 5e, because is so well designed and fun to build off of. Ive been less impressed with full modules ive bough as follow ups. it seems like the order the modules were written had a lot to do with how they were designed. it took a while for the modules to get the sandbox design going. LMoP is a good sandbox. others not so much.
I'm just getting my party into the cave now and will use the two magic items in the forge, the map, the tome it was in and Mormesk as 5 separate hooks into a homebrew sandbox. ive already tied in dragon cult, factions, Reidoth, dragonfang, and a couple more NPCs. And, im using ownership of the mine as a hook, too. They need to find an investor to hire crews and guards for the mine, (mining companies in Miabar seems good) which will lead to.... and a good wizard to build up the spell forge again, which will lead to...
So many options, and so much fun.
i'm gonna use this sandbox to level up characters before starting a commercial module (or not). My thought is that having lots of overlapping hooks makes it easier to move on, in case the PCs miss things or destroy Mormesk before talking to him. I see all these loose ends as great design work in LMoP, that allowed me to just start linking adventure ideas together without a ton of work.
I, too, was just coming into 5e after many years away from D&D. I figured I would do LMoP so I didn't have to develop much until I got my DM feet back under me if you will. I've definitely done that and, like you and the others above, have utilized Mormesk (and his map) as a good side homebrew story arc. Same with the mine, which also plays into their restoring Tresendar Manor (using Matt Colville's Strongholds & Followers book). It's been fun fleshing it all out and I greatly appreciate everyone's input and great ideas. :)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
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Running LMoP for my group and can't quite wrap my head around the conclusion section of Wave Echo Cave. It makes no mention of vanquishing Mormesk. If the characters choose to assist Mormesk and defeat the spectator, he gives them some of his treasure and access to his books. Alternatively, they can just defeat the spectator on their own and then use RP to come to a positive conclusion with Mormesk. Either way, he's still there. In the Cave. Inhabiting a room. That you now, possibly, have a 10% stake in.
Do the Rockseeker brothers just post a "Keep Out" or "Do Not Disturb" sign on his door? What am I missing?
Also, what's the 10% stake worth? Especially of a mine that was never really a mine to begin with and whose capability to make magic items has waned?
I'm very confused...
Appreciate any insight anyone can provide on this topic and these questions.
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
You get to be creative! Perhaps if you give him some of the treasure that was once his, or his treasured possession (a pipe I think?) you could have him fade into incorporealness and dissipate. If they did this as an RP encounter, then continue as an RP encounter and add something narratively fun.
Or perhaps they can find a way to liberate his spirit so he is no longer condemned to undeath.
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Or they could befriend him! Hang out, read books, play dragonchess or cards, the options are endless! Who doesn’t want a wraith as a friend?
A lot of stuff at the end of the campaign seems to be left open-ended to allow you to craft more adventures of your own in the setting. Mormesk has some potential as a future adventure hook... you could even plant an important object of his somewhere else and allow the party to use it to free his soul. In the book his prized pipe is actually in his room with him, but you could just as easily have the party find it somewhere else and use it to release him. Or you could keep him there, maybe he becomes less crazy once the mine starts being used correctly again and becomes a friendly, helpful spector who could set the party on quests to recover mystical artifacts.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
All good suggestions and I was already leaning towards having him remain and occasionally having the party recover old tomes for him in exchange for important information/old stories about the mine.
I guess I kind of expect them to state something to that extent since they obviously do it for the map in one of his books.
Has anyone else figured out the logistics for the mine? What 10% might be? Don't get me wrong...another chance to riff and have the characters responsible for helping the Rockseeker brothers get the magic forge back to its original state.
Looking for some inspiration I suppose.
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
I'm playing through the campaign and we haven't gotten there yet but... My plan is to give them 10 gold a week. It's a 4 person party, so to say the mine is making 400gp a week is pretty impressive, and it gives the party enough money to fool around a bit, but not so much that they would be comfortable resting on their laurels for the rest of their characters lives.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Great question!
How central will the mine be to your campaign? Do you want it to be a permanent base of operations or "quest" hub? What does your world economy look like? How much "fixing" do you want the characters to have to participate in (is their downtime)? Will the characters get some allies and form allegiances?
By the end of the Lost Mine the characters should be level 4-5, that means they are just about to become a bit more important in the world. Other parties can now become interested in this thing. Having an operational mine in that area also changes politics, there could be more conflict between Neverwinter and Leilon, and perhaps Phandolin itself.
Some of the above questions are tough, but that's ok, because you can always have a few more things required to get the mine fully operational. Do what works for the time of story and world that you want to DM and your players want to play in.
In my version, the mine was a bit drained and needed elemental magic to restore it, so they had to go and capture some elemental essences and see what happened. I also cheated and had a young copper dragon take it over (she was in Phandolin and helped the party discreetly earlier) (a) because that seemed interesting (b) it set up a relationship between my party and dragons and (c)
When in doubt, do what sounds fun, and let the players be creative.
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Again, great answers and I've been leaning towards the mine being a bit of a focal point for them. Especially having to restore it to its former glory (via high level magic).
Thanks all! :)
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
I just started playing 5e this year by DMing LMoP. I really like how many open hooks the LMoP left to move forward in each of the encounters throughout the campaign. This is a great way to start playing 5e, because is so well designed and fun to build off of. Ive been less impressed with full modules ive bough as follow ups. it seems like the order the modules were written had a lot to do with how they were designed. it took a while for the modules to get the sandbox design going. LMoP is a good sandbox. others not so much.
I'm just getting my party into the cave now and will use the two magic items in the forge, the map, the tome it was in and Mormesk as 5 separate hooks into a homebrew sandbox. ive already tied in dragon cult, factions, Reidoth, dragonfang, and a couple more NPCs. And, im using ownership of the mine as a hook, too. They need to find an investor to hire crews and guards for the mine, (mining companies in Miabar seems good) which will lead to.... and a good wizard to build up the spell forge again, which will lead to...
So many options, and so much fun.
i'm gonna use this sandbox to level up characters before starting a commercial module (or not). My thought is that having lots of overlapping hooks makes it easier to move on, in case the PCs miss things or destroy Mormesk before talking to him. I see all these loose ends as great design work in LMoP, that allowed me to just start linking adventure ideas together without a ton of work.
I, too, was just coming into 5e after many years away from D&D. I figured I would do LMoP so I didn't have to develop much until I got my DM feet back under me if you will. I've definitely done that and, like you and the others above, have utilized Mormesk (and his map) as a good side homebrew story arc. Same with the mine, which also plays into their restoring Tresendar Manor (using Matt Colville's Strongholds & Followers book). It's been fun fleshing it all out and I greatly appreciate everyone's input and great ideas. :)
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."