We re-started our Far Isles Freebooters campaign last night as a regular weekly game (as opposed to a “West Marches” style campaign). I used Joe Banner ‘s “Uncertain Reflections” from Perilous Deeps as the dungeon they explored. It was a lot of fun, very surreal and evocative, but I think I didn’t challenge them enough. I put some spells inscribed on heavy glass slabs in the dungeon, hoping our wimpy (and very lazy) dwarf magic user would agonize over how to get them out, but he outsmarted me and did rubbings of the spell texts using his map making supplies 🙂 They gained a new hireling (an emaciated fellow with a glass sphere containing a bleached skull for a head that they named “Twenty Questions”, or TQ for short) and some cool magic items, but not a lot of hard cash. Through quick thinking and creative spell use, they managed to destroy the citadel in the end, but the Magus may have lived to plot his revenge… all in all a great session and a nice reboot of the campaign.
We re-started our Far Isles Freebooters campaign last night as a regular weekly game (as opposed to a “West Marches”…
We re-started our Far Isles Freebooters campaign last night as a regular weekly game (as opposed to a “West Marches”…
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Aw wow, cracking start! Thank you for the writeup John Marron. What did you think of the region info for The Iron Marches – did it come up, and/or do you think it’ll be handy for future sessions?
Joe Banner The group was traveling through terrain that we had already established on our map to get to the dungeon, so I didn’t make a lot of use of the Iron Marches material. I decided to add that region to our map extending from the dungeon away to the north, in an area that the party has yet to explore. I did use one encounter from that section as a danger on their way to the citadel, the soft sands. Some of the Iron Marches material will be hard for me to incorporate since we’ve already established that the major island that they are exploring is largely uninhabited, but other parts will be easy to add. BTW – I found the dungeon itself to be a very nice change in terms of atmosphere. The glass spires, weird, thematic creatures, and unique areas all added to making this feel like “not just another dungeon”. The new follower was a disaffected minion of the Magus that they found hiding, as suggested by the write-up, and that worked really well. The party asked him what he was afraid of, and he gestured towards the steps leading to the Magus’ chamber (I decided he couldn’t speak, what with having a bleached skull in a glass sphere for a head and all), so the party avoided a potentially deadly encounter there and opted to work on the furnace instead.
Thanks for the info John! I’m glad you enjoyed the dungeon, I had a lot of fun writing it. Sounds like that hireling is working a treat so far (FYI – kudos to your players – my playtesters had a similar encounter but weren’t able to follow his advice or keep him alive!)
Also, kudos should be given to Jason and Niels Burger for the edits and awesome illustrations.