Hello all, I'm running a Halloween adventure for a group at a local game shop, and am looking for suggestions on the synopsis I've written so far. The adventure is probably going to be between the levels of 10 and 15, but I haven't fully decided yet. Below I've posted the synopsis in it's entirety, and am looking for feedback and suggestions for when I start to write more in detail about what the adventure is going to contain. I'm looking at 4-5 sessions (once each week for the month of October) and don't plan on leveling up the party beyond 15 if we start below 15. Again, any feedback is appreciated.
The Ashford Revenants
A group of strangers find themselves in the Shadowfell's dark and twisted version of Waterdeep, but all share one thing in common. They're all dead.
After their deaths, the player characters awaken in the Shadowfell holding lanterns in their hands. As they navigate their way through their new surroundings, things quickly get out of hand as the residents of the Shadowfell greet them with sharp teeth and ravenous claws. While wondering the area, they stumble upon ruins of what was once a sprawling Gothic metropolis coated in ash. The streets are near empty save the occasional petrified humanoid coated with slag from a volcano that erupted years ago. Players piece together from the geographical similarities, that this area is in the same location as the city of Waterdeep on the Sword Coast. While a mirror of the City of Splendors, what remains of these imposing age old buildings buildings are uninhabited.
As the party progresses through the city, fighting their way past the undead, the shadows of former residents, and occasional demon, they should eventually find themselves in the Dock Ward, where a much smaller fort town exist all that remains of the people who settled here hundred of years ago, now subjugated by a lich known as Ailwin, Father of Slaves not long after the volcano erupted. In what was once the harbor not exists a landmass that does not in the material plane, and is the location of the village of Ashford. In more recent history, Shadar-Kai and Vampires have also settled in the area with the Shadar-Kai appearing first, with the vampires being more recent and the minority of the population. The players learn from interacting with locals that when the Shadar-Kai first arrived, it was only to investigate what remained of the area, but rather than find it destroyed, they discovered Ailwin had organized the survivors and began setting to work on reestablishing the city. Ailwin, being untrusting but not impractical, offered an alliance with the Shadar-Kai in which they were free to pilfer what remained of the city for protection from outside threats. As part of their alliance, a tribunal was formed to rule over Ashford, with Ailwin ever present, along with one Shadar-Kai chosen by the elves, and a third representative chosen by the volunteer military. Currently, Ailwin shares the tribunal council seats with a Shadar-Kai known as Edric, Prince of Nightmares to represent his people, and a vampire called Gertrude, Apostle of Blood as the military representative. The recent decision to allow vampires to co-inhabit Ashford has been met with heavy criticism by the Shadar-Kai community, and the election of Gertrude to the tribunal has put tenssions at an all time high.
By the time the players have explored a bit of the area, word gets to one of the three tribunal members and they are summoned to meet with said representative before formally being introduced to the tribunal. The tribunal discusses why the players are here, and Ailwin reveals to them that they have become revenants, trapped in the Shadowfell before being able to pass on. Edric suggests they are here because the Raven Queen wills it, while Gertrude bemuses them as poor unfortunate wretches, but welcomes them all the same. Each member has their own ideas and plots for the players, but the general consensus among the tribunal is that the party is in Ashford for a purpose, a destiny they must fulfill before Kelemvor's final judgement. Later, after the official meeting, each member offers the party a deal, Ailwin, offering to send them to Kelemvor should they assist him in finding evidence that the Shadar-Kai have broken the fragile peace between the three factions, Edric, offering to return them to life should they assist him in ousting Ailwin and the vampire clans, and Gertrude, who offers the party a place in Ashford if they help her preform a coup against Ailwin, and place the vampires at the top of the power hierarchy.
Looks like a solid setup for a Halloween-based adventure. I'm wondering... does the fact that the characters are revenants have any effects, mechanically? Like... do they acquire unique abilities or limitations as a result?
I'm going to be using the revenant variant from Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Heros without the change in ability scores, and keeping the Relentless Nature. The only way players will achieve true death in this scenario is by having their lanterns destroyed. I got this idea from Not Another D&D Podcast admittedly, but I don't think the DM used the revenant stats from the UA, just homebrewed the lantern thing (that only appears in like one episode actually, but I don't want to spoil it).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hello all, I'm running a Halloween adventure for a group at a local game shop, and am looking for suggestions on the synopsis I've written so far. The adventure is probably going to be between the levels of 10 and 15, but I haven't fully decided yet. Below I've posted the synopsis in it's entirety, and am looking for feedback and suggestions for when I start to write more in detail about what the adventure is going to contain. I'm looking at 4-5 sessions (once each week for the month of October) and don't plan on leveling up the party beyond 15 if we start below 15. Again, any feedback is appreciated.
The Ashford Revenants
A group of strangers find themselves in the Shadowfell's dark and twisted version of Waterdeep, but all share one thing in common. They're all dead.
Looks like a solid setup for a Halloween-based adventure. I'm wondering... does the fact that the characters are revenants have any effects, mechanically? Like... do they acquire unique abilities or limitations as a result?
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
I'm going to be using the revenant variant from Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Heros without the change in ability scores, and keeping the Relentless Nature. The only way players will achieve true death in this scenario is by having their lanterns destroyed. I got this idea from Not Another D&D Podcast admittedly, but I don't think the DM used the revenant stats from the UA, just homebrewed the lantern thing (that only appears in like one episode actually, but I don't want to spoil it).