Editing User:Bill/Thunderspire Mountain Enhanced

'''[[User_talk:Bill/Thunderspire_Mountain_Enhanced|Discuss]]'''


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==Pregame==
The local Encounters group tapped me to run the Season 5 module, Dark Legacy of Evard. I agreed without hesitation, mostly because my efforts to put together a consistent play group have failed for the last two years, but also because I wanted to see how D&D 4 really handles. I've owned a copy of the game for several years, but I've done very little with it due to my general bias against D20 and all things D&D. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with the game; I'm just the sort of person that prefers to avoid popular things. 

Anyway, one of the regulars expressed an interest in playing the season at a higher level, Encounters starts at level 1. So I determined to run the game starting at level 5. That presented two immediate challenges. First, I had to generate a set of appropriate characters. One of the strengths of the Encounters program is that anyone, regardless of his or her familiarity with the game can show up totally unprepared and join the game. To preserve that, every element of every character needs to be available for quick and easy reference. Bearing in mind that this season coincided with the release of Heroes of Shadow and the Shadowfell campaign setting, I intended to use HoS characters exclusively for my pregens. Drastically underestimating the time commitment involved in fully detailing each of them, I decided to make one of each class and race option. And, just for my own amusement, I used all of the fey PC races. Ultimately, I completed nine characters with notes for each power, feat, and magic item relevant to them; at approximately five hours per character to complete.

The second challenge would be upgrading the adventure to be suitable for level five characters. Encounters resets to level one every season, so I was anticipating needing to revise the adventure significantly. However, due to an oversight, our Encounters group never ordered the season 5 materials. Undaunted, and because we were two-weeks behind on season 4, I had time to find a substitute. I selected H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth, an adventure for characters from levels 3-5. I probably could have saved myself some work by choosing a level 5 adventure, but I liked the tone of the book. The process of revising the adventure has been very informative too.

==The Characters==
Click the links below to learn more about the pregenerated characters available for this game. One overarching observation that I made during the character generation process was how similar in power level these characters were to starting Solar Exalted, from White Wolf's Exalted series. That may be nothing more than me projecting my own desire for these characters to be something greater than casual dungeon delving sociopaths, but I'm far from the first to draw these parallels. My years of experience with Exalted probably shows in the names too.

All characters were generated by hand using option two from the Player's Handbook for stats, with one minor adjustment. Instead of adding one to two stats at level four, I added three to two stats. This will be a small perk for folks choosing to play the pregens. I also used the equipment guidelines from the DMG to establish how many magic items each character would have. This was at times very challenging.
*[[Auden Grimson]]
Heroes of Shadow introduces a new Assassin variant, the Executioner. The class is designed around using debilitating poisons to set up the target for a killing strike. In fact it includes a class feature that literally says the character may choose to automatically reduce a creature with ten or fewer hit points to zero without a save. It's a little over the top, but I'm fine with it.

In effort to use every fey race in the game, I elected to make the character a gnome. It turned out to be disgustingly effective. The character is capable of using stealth reflexively and can create a variety of illusions to further mask his presence. Combined with the poison making gimmicks, it looks like an enormously fun character for folks that like details and playing a character who is never quite part of the group.

*[[Cleitemnestra the Widow]]
Heroes of Shadow fills in a couple blank areas including dark paladins. The Blackguard aren't necessarily evil, but rather than manifesting the benevolent and heroic side of a gods presence they express their god's wrath. On the surface, the class seems a little broken. It includes very nice at-will attacks that grant the character combat advantage. That by itself wouldn't be an issue except it also includes triggered powers that key off combat advantage and a class feature that stacks the character's Charisma bonus with its Strength bonus for damage against targets that the character has advantage on. Rather than worry about whether it was balanced, I embraced the idea wholly. I gave the character feats granting it advantage on all enemies the first round and proficiency with a fullblade for maximum damage. I also gave it a feat that eliminates the mobility penalty for wearing heavy armor.

To add insult to injury, I made her drow. While a suboptimal choice as far as the stat bonuses, having the ability to toss around darkness and stun targets, basically means she can grant herself and others advantage in any situation that she might otherwise not have it. I think the character has a lot of opportunity for creative backstory, though I haven't filled any of it in.

*[[Croesus Blacktongue]]
Up to this point D&D 4 clerics have been all about healing and buffing the party. Heroes of Shadow introduces the death cleric to fill in the gap of harming and debuffing clerics. Death clerics can provide some healing to a party, but not much. And the have a few quirks that really make them more effective controllers than leaders in my opinion. 

I knew that one of the regulars, the fellow who had asked about playing at a higher level in fact, had generated a death cleric, so creating this character was more of an exercise in completion than anything else. To be completely honest, I didn't put as much effort into this character as the rest because of that and it shows. Even so, in the event that he is unable to attend or his character gets killed, I have another cleric waiting in the wings. 

For Croesus, I went with a revenant. For the most part, I wanted to avoid combining races and classes from the same book. In this case it made sense to do so. However, in keeping with my fey theme, Croesus was an elf in his previous life.

*[[Dyzan Histruk - Windtouched]]
I've got these in alphabetical order, not the order that I made them or the order that the information appears in the book. For Dyzan, a name I lifted from Flash Gordon, I was looking for a class that would fill a leader spot. I was trying for two of each role and Heroes of Shadow includes three strikers. Perhaps because they're more difficult to play, it seems like there are fewer leaders than any other role. 

Anyway, I built a Sentinel Druid from the Essentials books to create a druid with an animal companion. I was really disappointed that the book only included spring and summer variants, but by dipping into powers from Player's Handbook 2, I was able to create a wind themed character better suited to the shadow themed Vryloka.

Vryloka are sort of a watered down version of vampires for players that want to do a vampire character but not the vampire class. Unless you're running a story that actually dips into the vryloka background, they're really just another boring sort of not-human. I really wish they had used the space for a more complex race, or even that they had reprinted the Shadar-kai.

*[[Helfyn Darkstalker]]
Speaking of Shadar-kai, I happen to have the Dragon Annual that features them and couldn't leave them out of a shadow themed group. To even better tie the character in with the theme, I gave Helfyn the vampiric heritage feat. I ended up with three vampires and four fey all together, one character is actually both.

I'd already made a chain fighter by the time I got to Helfyn and I wanted to steer away from that stereotype anyway, so I ended up making the character a glaive weilding Harrier Battlemind from Psionic Power. This class is absurdly mobile due to its emphasis on teleportation powers and that may lead to some folks thinking it's more of a striker than a defender. However, looking over the rest of its powers will make it apparent that the character is intended to control a section of the board. She can effectively manage two combatants while soaking up lots of damage and shaking off effects. The teleportation gimmicks add a fun bit of control and mobility, but it would be a mistake to focus on them too much.

*[[Luthor Frostwarden]]
For my other defender, I went with a Warden from Player's Handbook 2. This character and the Shadar-kai above are the only two characters built completely outside of Heroes of Shadow, which features no defenders at all. I think that is a substantial oversight by the publishers. Really, if a company is going to ascribe all characters to a tightly defined set of roles, I think it behooves them to cover all of those roles in a themed product like this. I mean really, it's four classes and possible four races designed to compliment those classes. 

I used the Frozen Soul feat to give it a little Shadowfell connection, but otherwise, it's a stock half-elf. The warden does include some nice options for this kind of game though. The Form of Winter's Herald and Winter's Grip powers are particularly well suited to the flavor of the Shadowfell in my opinion.

*[[Sarsariel Bloodthorn]]
Several people I've talked with have disliked the idea of vampire being a class. And at first blush, it is counter intuitive. However, after thinking it through, I see the logic. Due to the broad array of powers ascribed to a vampire and the wide range of races that feature vampiric members, it's too complex an idea to be handled as a feat chain. I actually see a lot of potential for using this kind of monster class in conjunction with the hybrid class rules to create some very interesting characters.

The craziest combo I could come up with for this class was to combine it with the Wilden from Player's Handbook 3. The idea of a blood drinking plant fey seemed especially alien to me. As I was writing it, the character seemed particularly potent. It uses Dexterity instead of Strength for its at-will attacks and its d10 slam attack stacks the character's Charisma bonus plus a level based increase for damage. It seems over the top, but she also only has two healing surges and half the hit points of a typical striker. In my opinion at least, the vampire makes lots of trade offs to be an effective striker who runs on the edge of her own death.

I think Sarsariel will be best suited to players who are willing to take big risks and back off when her regeneration kicks in.

*[[Seleme - Princess of Terror]]
Yes, the name is particularly melodramatic. As I was writing up this Shade Nethermancer the layers of creepiness jut got thicker and thicker. The Nethermancer wizard variant is one of two featured in the Heroes of Shadow; the other being the Necromancer. The nethermancer is a fun idea, manipulating shadows and creating zones. For her second school I went with enchantment to further enhance her mind control abilities. Like the Vryloka, the shade amounts to a funny looking almost human rather than a real race, and again they're best used for their background elements in my opinion. 

This character is actually the one I put the most thought into. Among her powers are two cantrips that enable her to use Arcana in place of an Intimidate or Diplomacy check, which I like to think of as her manipulating the shadows to terrify her target into submission. The creepiness inspired me. In addition to the fun powers, I gave the character the Arcane Familiar feat from Arcane Power and selected the Arcane Eye from the Dragon magazine article on familiars. A skull mask completes her look.

I'd recommend this character for folks that are looking for non combat solutions and lots of roleplaying opportunities. For an added bit of irony, I made her lawful good.

*[[Volistis Gloomlord]]
The last of my nine pregens is an Eladrin Gloom Binder. The Binder is a new Warlock variant introduced in Heroes of Shadow. Unlike previous warlock variants, the Binders don't have the ability to curse. The binder is instead a pure controller who manipulates creatures' positions on the field and generates hazardous zones. This caused some issues when it came to selecting equipment. None of the existing rods really compliment these abilities and Heroes of Shadow doesn't include any new ones. It's my greatest complaint about the book; more so even than not being able to build a complete party from just the presented classes.

Volistis strikes me as an incredibly useful character. He's tailor made to control the battlefield. However, it would not be enjoyable for folks that want to get up close and personal.

===Building Your Own Character===
Anyone interested in creating their own character for the game may do so, following the instructions appearing on the [http://www.wizards.com/dnd/event.aspx?x=dnd/4new/event/dndencounters official page], then leveling up per the rules in the Essentials books to 5th. You may equip your character with any mundane gear you see fit, within reason, and select the following magical items to enhance your character's abilities:
*One sixth level or lower
*One fifth level or lower
*One fourth level or lower
*Any combination of magical items, including potions and alchemical items, with a gold piece value equal to or less than 840GP
All characters are subject to my review and approval.

==Session Notes==
I've made no changes to the background information of the module. The front material of book one offers several potential story hooks to involve players, but none of them are really level specific in nature. Although it could be challenging to get higher level characters to chase down kidnapped peasants, depending on alignment.

Overall, I really like the style of the adventure, the description of the Seven-Pillared Hall, and the NPCs. It reminds me a great deal of the chapter on Nexus in the Scavenger Lands book for Exalted; down to the gold-masked arbiter of justice. There are some significant holes in the story though. For example, only two of the Mages of Saruun are described and the details of the group's objectives are completely ignored. If the players spend any time investigating the NPCs in the hall, I may have to make some stuff up. I'll probably end up doing so anyway just to amuse myself.

'''Experience Totals/Participant Log'''

I prefer to award experience points to players rather than characters. So everybody who shows up, regardless of what character they'll be playing, will be logged here. Session one, I didn't keep track of who was present; so I'll have to add those folks as I recall their names.

{| width=50%
|- +1750
| <b>Player</b> || <b>Earned</b> || <b>Total</b> || <b>Sessions</b>
|-
| Andrew || 250 || (5750) || 1
|-
| Andrew D || 250 || (5750) || 1
|-
| Bruce || 1710 || (7210) || 5
|-
| Connor || 250 || (5750) || 1
|-
| David || 280 || (5980) || 2
|-
| Dylan || 2030 || (7530) || 7
|-
| Jason || 2140 || (7640) || 7
|-
| Layne || 250 || (5750) || 1
|-
| Maria || 680 || (6180) || 2
|-
| Matt || 680 || (6180) || 2
|-
| Paul || 1040 || (6540) || 4
|-
| Phil || 250 || (5750) || 1
|-
| Rachel || 2390 || (7890) || 8
|-
| Thomas || 810 || (6310) || 3
|-
| Tory || 250 || (5750) || 1
|}

===Session 1 - May 25, 2011===
The introductory encounter for the adventure pit the players against four hobgoblins and a hobgoblin warcaster. To beef up the opposition, I added a bugbear strangler. I set the scenario up by telling the players that their characters knew each other and had worked together before. I consider this to be an important thing to establish, simply to smooth over the awkward getting to know you phase of play and reduce inter-group conflict. In my experience there's a lot less opportunity for douchbaggery, like the rogue stealing from the other party members, when you establish that everybody is already friends.

In play this worked out to be a less than threatening encounter. A group of six player characters, made up of Cleitemnestra, Dyzan, Helfyn, Sarsariel, Seleme, and a death cleric created by Thomas, slowly and awkwardly took down all six monsters while suffering very little damage themselves. I generally prefer combat to run a little more quickly and to be a little more dangerous than how this worked out. The hobgoblins were completely ineffective and the party pinned down the bugbear before it could do much. I expect that the players will become more effective as they gain greater understanding of their characters' powers and develop some coordinated strategies. And, while that will address the speed at which the encounter is played out, it will only make the monsters less dangerous. For now I'm not going to worry too much about it. In the long run, if I continue to use 4e, I'll need to write my own monster profiles from scratch in order to tailor combat for the pace and drama that I like.

In all it was a good session for me. I learned a good deal regarding the inner workings of the game. The players made one small fumble though and killed the NPC intended to give them some essential clues. I probably could have fudged that or otherwise permitted them some kind of way out, but I strongly prefer to let the players work out their own problems.

===Session 2 - June 1, 2011===
This week only four players were in attendance. The weakness of the Encounters program is that it is an open game where the group composition can and will vary dramatically from week to week. In the previous season we had weeks with as many as a dozen players and one week with only three. In this instance it worked out well. The session was exclusively made up of roleplay, the closest thing to combat we had was a brief drinking contest. While I can manage a larger group for a roleplay intensive session, it becomes a bit confusing and players inevitably split up. It's also not the most exciting thing for some folks and it would have undoubtedly turned off somebody entirely that we didn't have any combat. I guess I could have thrown in a bar fight if necessary.

Over the course of the session a great deal of information was gathered and one of the important NPCs from the module was introduced. In the original material Brugg is a brutish ogre in charge of the enforcers who manage the Seven-Pillared Hall for the Mages of Saruun. As part of the upgrade for the module, I have revised the character to be an earth genasi who is as cunning as he is powerful. He's still a thug and a murderer, but now he's also smart. 

Helfyn, played by Dylan, and Thomas's cleric of The Raven Queen, Rook, ended up in an impromptu drinking contest with Brugg at Rothar's Taproom while Auden, played by Andrew, looked on and Seleme observed through her arcane eye. I probably should have run this as a skill challenge based on endurance. Instead I ended up just rolling a couple 12 sided dice and calling it non-lethal damage. It worked out and the guys played along well. The cleric passed out quickly and Dylan let his resistance to questioning falter as Helfyn got more and more drunk. In the end Brugg robbed both characters and learned that the group of adventurers is seeking the Bloodreavers. The party learned that Brugg is a dangerous and important person.

The remainder of the session consisted of Auden putting the drunks to bed after pickpocketing in the open-air market around the custom house and Seleme doing some exploring. The open-air market is my first addition to the Seven-Pillared Hall, but I can see some potential story opportunities there. Auden also managed to meet Bennik the Wanderer, a traveling minstrel, who referred him to Terrlen Darkseer to guide the party to the Chamber of Eyes.

Everyone received about equal screen time this week, though I think I might have shortchanged Andrew a little. He was a mostly regular attendee last season, so I expect he'll be back and I'll have the opportunity to give him more time.

===Session 3 - June 8, 2011===
This week saw five players at the table. Bruce, Jason, Paul, Thomas, and Rachel. Bruce is new to 4e and indicates that he hasn't played D&D in about 30 years. Rather than proceed to the next encounter in the published adventures, I randomly selected the Goblin Thieves encounter. This encounter featured more monsters than the typical D&D encounter; a goblin underboss, two goblin hexers, two goblin skullcleavers, five goblin warriors, and an ogre savage. The DMG suggests only have two to three types of monster on the field at any given time. And while that's good advice, I wanted to mix things up and try the group against a larger mob of monsters. I am learning the ins and outs of the game myself, so developing a better understanding of the powers available to the common monsters is important.

The players, having elected to use the enthralled NPC hobgoblin that Thomas's character, Rook, acquired during the first encounter did not wait for Bennik to introduce them to Terrlen. This may become problematic next session as the players must struggle to navigate the Labyrinth unaided. The hobgoblin died when struck by a goblin warrior. And, while Rook was able to enthrall an ogre during this encounter he will be unavailable for the next several weeks due to a work commitment.

The players who have been able to attend more than one session are beginning to better understand their characters' abilities. Had I chosen to use few enemies they would have probably mopped them up with some haste. The overall tone of this encounter, which lasted almost three hours, was better than the first one in my opinion. Cleitemnestra, Rook, and Sarsariel were all bloodied at one point or another. While I don't really want to kill player characters in every encounter, I want the threat of death to be present and real for the players. It will inform their actions and change the course of an otherwise simple encounter. One of my greatest complaints about RPGs is that the frontal assault so often becomes the preferred strategy when a less bloody option would work. Establishing a potential consequence of death effectively counters that impulse and results in highly creative play, in my experience.

Rachel, who has played D&D only once or twice prior to this game, is having difficulty communicating the strategy that she wishes to employ to the rest of the group and she is reluctant to just cut loose with her characters' abilities out of fear for harming the other player characters. Once this issue is resolved combat will begin to speed up considerably as Seleme possesses a number of area attacks. The remainder of the group has similar communication issues, but are able to function effectively independent of the group because their abilities only target one or two enemies.

I'm not sure how to effectively foster tactical collaboration among the players other than by offering them the opportunity to play on a regular basis. Perhaps I can review the available abilities, establish some effective synergies and construct puzzles that can only be solved by performing the correct coordinated action. It smacks a little of pixel-bitching to me, but it could be fun.

It has also been brought to my attention that one of the gentlemen who ran the previous season of Encounters has started his own campaign on the same night. While this reduces my established player base by forcing the existing regulars to choose between Encounters and his game, I wish him luck. Ultimately Encounters is geared for folks with limited experience or opportunity to play. It is a great way to learn the game and meet other players. Once those two tasks are accomplished though, it's probably best that folks start up their own group. Really, if I were running Dark Legacy of Evard as it came from WotC, they'd all be level one characters with no opportunity to advance beyond third. Only due to my own initiative and effort is the game anything else.

===Session 4 - June 22, 2011===
I spent the last week in Reno, visiting with friends and enjoying the company of my fiancée. As a consequence, I was a bit out of the swing of things for this week's encounter. Even so, I chose to press on with the adventure albeit less prepared than I had been in earlier sessions. In no small part is this due to the next season of encounters starting August 10th. I would like to finish with Thunderspire Labyrinth, or at least the main storyline thereof, on time. 

With that in mind, I shorthanded the set-up and skipped over what could have been some valuable role play to put the players at the Chamber of Eyes. This week featured six players; Bruce, Dylan, Jason, Maria, Matt, and Rachel. Bruce elected to play his own character this time out, a half-orc avenger. Maria took on the role of Volistis while Matt played Cleitemnestra. Dylan, Jason, and Rachel continued with their previous characters. I have been asking if they would like to try a different character at the outset of each session. One of the benefits of Encounters is that you can mix things up, but it's certainly not required.

Per the text of the adventure, the player characters were confronted by an antechamber with a locked double door and a balcony. I quizzed the players to see if they could remember what the hobgoblin spellcaster had told them in session one, five weeks ago; they did not. I had everyone that was present for session one make an intelligence check, which none of them passed. Had they done so, I would have reminded the players that the hobgoblin indicated they could bypass the main entrance by going through the balcony. Instead, Helfyn and Cleitemnestra attempted to smash down the door; immediately alerting the monsters on the other side. Even worse, they failed to successfully break down the door. In response to this, I had three goblin warriors with javelins take up positions on the balcony and attack Seleme; who was the most exposed at the time. Owing to her AC, and the ludicrously poor attack bonus that level one monsters have, this was little more than a nuisance. Her response was to blast them with Ebony Razors, one of her more powerful spells, slaughtering two of them outright and leaving the third bloodied. He was further abused by Volistis, who cast an acidic zone over the balcony, and Sarsariel, who used her Dark Beckoning power to finish the poor goblin off.

On his action, Dylan managed to have Helfyn pick the lock and assess the situation on the other side of the door before being noticed. A large, particularly hairy goblinoid, later revealed to be a barghest, was mustering several hobgoblins and bugbears to repel the player characters. The remainder of the session was spent wading through four hobgoblin soldiers, three bugbears, two wolves, and the barghest. Some notable highlights:

Matt at one point found Cleitemnestra surrounded, with only one path of escape. This led his character to be separated from the group, facing the barghest alone. By this point he had also blown through most of the character's powers. Against most level seven antagonists, I'd put my money on Cleitemnestra; I wrote her to be an implacable whirlwind of destruction. Unfortunately everything she can do is based off gaining combat advantage, something that invisible targets generally don't grant. Matt was in the undesirable and not fun position of being picked apart by a foe that he couldn't effectively oppose. The character did survive, but only just, and mostly because I rolled badly.

Maria did reasonably well with Volistis's powers, though she did argue for the most favorable interpretation of the text. I don't really appreciate that sort of rules lawyering, but it's kind of part of the game. She also used both of the character's daily powers. This is potentially very bad, as I intend to have everyone play the same characters next session; proceeding to the next encounter without a rest. I will probably allow her to use Web of Shadows again. Due to a misinterpretation of the movement rules on my part the spell was vastly less effective than it should have been in this encounter.

Rachel is catching on to the rules pretty well at this point. She has mentioned to me on more than one occasion that she does not enjoy or perform well on strategy games, however she seems to be picking up on the most effective application of her character's powers quickly. I would argue that she is better at this than she thinks.

Jason struggled a little with how his character's regeneration functions. Sarsariel is very strange compared to what is typical of D&D characters. Due to her regeneration, she can effectively go down multiple times in a fight and recover. In this encounter she was taken to zero hit points by one of the bugbears, but quickly recovered to kill it. About the only way the character will actually die is if a coup de gras is used to finish her off.

Overall, this was a reasonably successful encounter. The players were challenged and the characters were forced to expend a significant quantity of resources. The downside of it is that this amounts to a level nine encounter. And while both Sarsariel and Cleitemnestra were severely injured, both recovered. I'm not sure how high I would have to push the encounter level to actually kill one of the player characters.

===Session 5 - June 29, 2011===
This week I felt especially well prepared. The players had two options available to them to proceed through the Chamber of Eyes and I prepared maps for both. Naturally this meant that the players would find a third option that would make me look totally unprepared and utterly incompetent. I exaggerate a little. What actually happened is that the players picked this week to finally get smart about how they approached the encounter, and a large portion of the fight actually took place in the hall outside of the mapped areas I had prepared.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself. The group elected to take a five minute rest before proceeding on from the previous week's area. It was a wise decision. I allowed for the possibility of the group being discovered by a monster, but the players got lucky. Had the dice come up differently, they would have been split up and down to at-will powers in most cases. This week featured seven players; David, Dylan, Jason, Maria, Matt, Paul, and Rachel. Due to a small paperwork snafu, Maria ended up playing Croesus. I had Matt continue playing Cleitemnestra; Paul elected to play Auden. David, who has extensive experience with AD&D but little experience with subsequent editions, chose to play Luthor.

This week was a straight-up fight with little modification from the source material. I figured after the beating that they took the previous week, they couldn't handle too much more. I was correct in this assumption. Up against two hobgoblin archers, two hobgoblin soldiers, two human slavers, and a hobgoblin warcaster, the party was mostly challenged by the chokepoint of the door and just how little they had left resource wise. Working with unfamiliar characters put David, Maria and Paul at further disadvantage. 

The party initially staged itself in a chamber that featured a sort of reflecting pool that the adventure text describes as a source of fresh water. Helfyn and Luthor began scouting the three doors available to them. Luthor examined the center door while Helfyn took the one to the left. Luthor determined that there were monsters behind the door and took no further action, while Helfyn opened the south door a crack to peek inside. This revealed several monsters engaged in some sort of gambling activity at a table in the center of the room with a few more keeping to themselves further away. This may have been useful information had Dylan not blown his stealth check and the latch on the door snapped loudly shut as it closed; which immediately precipitated initiative checks.

The next three or so turns revolved around the monsters attempting to enter the corridor and the player characters tripping over themselves to get at the monsters. It was awkward and several of the players were effectively left out of the action because they lacked ranged attacks that would have enabled them to engage the monsters. When the players finally did make a push to assault the room, they quickly dominated the fight and put the monsters down. Even so, Helfyn and Cleitemnestra came under heavy attack while they were occupying the door. Helfyn was severely injured, but able to recover, while Cleitemnestra was killed. Since this is a hand-out character, I have decided that she will not be available for the remainder of the Chamber of Eyes and that Matt will be unable to select her in any sessions that he participates in going forward. The character will be available to anyone else that wishes to use her, once the final portion of the area has been cleared.

Once the action had concluded, I handed out the treasure indicated in the adventure text. By rights, I probably ought to be beefing this up a bit. However, I don't particularly care to load the players down with loot and, since this is Encounters, the continuity of the game isn't terribly high; which reduces the overall value of it anyway. I think the players get a lot more out of just playing than they do out of adding a couple more numbers that don't have an in-game impact to the sheet.

I am rating this as another successful session. David expressed great interest in learning more about how Luthor's powers function and I expect he will return. He is also eager to recruit players for his own game, which I approve of. Encounters is a very good way to meet other players and get a sense of how they play. Next session, I will make sure that I have a bit of the corridor mapped out in advance. I will be out of town for the July 13th session, so next time I will see if anyone is interested in running one of my random encounters or the interlude from the book while I'm gone. Last time Dylan did his own thing, and that would be cool, but I'm happy to share my work since we only have another five weeks before the next season of Encounters is scheduled to begin.

===Session 6 - July 6, 2011===
This week I presented several miniatures that I have been preparing to represent the player characters. Everyone seems reasonably impressed with them. While this season of Encounters is scheduled to terminate in another four weeks, I am planning to continue using these characters for a project at work. Professionally, I work with college students that have mild degrees of autism at a technical college. Role playing games offer a good opportunity for folks with social skill deficits to engage in structured social activity and practice those skills. And it was a good excuse to purchase more toy soldiers, which I enjoy collecting.

I digress. This week's game continued on with the Chamber of Eyes. Seven players were in attendance; Bruce, David, Dylan, Jason, Layne, Phil, and Rachel. Bruce continued played Jamorin the half-orc again, while Layne took on Auden and Phil used Dyzan. David, Dylan, Jason, and Rachel continued with their characters from the previous week as well. Both Layn and Phil indicate that they have experience with previous editions of D&D and that this is their first time using 4e.

I had hoped that the players would be able to complete it before I left on my trip to Seattle, unfortunately we were barely able to finish half of it. This time the players elected to go through the doors to the north, skipping the middle area. This immediately led them into a chamber occupied by three duergar. Rather than get tied up at the doors this time, the players swarmed into the room; surrounding the duergar. They probably would have made short work of them too, if they had been focusing their attacks more effectively on one target at a time. After two rounds, a goblin sorcerer (actually a redcap reskinned) arrived to complicate matters. This was a moderately effective ploy. The goblin only managed to get off a couple spells before he was pummeled into oblivion, but the distraction permitted the duergar to be more effective than they would have been by themselves. Two rounds later, the hobgoblin leader of the bloodreavers, Krand, showed up. In the module, Krand is set up as a fifth level leader. This group would have torn him apart with very little effort. So, I substituted the stats for the eighth level hobgoblin Hand of Bane. That made him a much more credible threat, and potentially would have put several of the characters in jeopardy if they hadn't been operating as a team. Working together, they managed to finish off the duergar and Krand much more quickly with less damage to themselves than I would have given them credit for. 

The pace of this session was pretty consistent. Everyone appears to be getting into the rhythm of the game. I made at least one major error this session though. I completely overlooked the first duergar warrior's expansion power. When I used it on the second one, it very nearly killed Jamorin. I think remembering it the first time would have changed exactly how things played out, even if it wouldn't have altered the outcome itself. The remainder of the encounter will be played out next week, while I am out of town on business. Dylan has agreed to run the remaining material. Hopefully he will write notes as well.

I've noticed a consistent confusion among new attendees when it comes to selecting a character. Since the new classes bear little resemblance to the traditional D&D ones, it's difficult to describe in any quick and easy fashion what a character is like. The warden and the sentinel are both druid-like in their flavor and emphasis on nature, but neither of them are exactly what an old school D&D player would expect a druid to be. The nomenclature introduced in the fourth edition, indicating power-source and general role, doesn't mean anything to people unfamiliar with the game either. I'll have to mull over some better explanations for the future. On the other hand, I am not planning to continue running encounters next season; so it won't be my problem for much longer. Instead, I will be running a weekly demo game of Rifts on Monday nights. Encounters has been very successful for connecting local players and increasing D&D sales at Astral Games. I would love to make the same opportunities available for another game. Additional details will be forthcoming.

===Session 7 - July 20, 2011===
Due to other commitments, Dylan was unable to sub for me last week. I am told that Bruce filled in with something. On the up side, the last few monsters in the Chamber of Eyes wouldn't present enough material to occupy an entire session and I didn't give him enough details to proceed beyond the combat. 

This week eight players were in attendance, three of them new. Connor played Auden, Tory took on the role of Dyzan, and Andrew J used Croesus. All three of them are new to fourth edition, Tory and Andrew are new to RPGs in general. Returning this week were Bruce, David, Dylan, Paul, and Rachel. Paul arrived after the new players had selected characters and as a result wound up playing Volistis. The others continued with their previous characters. 

In relatively short order, about an hour and a half, the group managed to finish off two hobgoblin archers, two hobgoblin soldiers, and a dire wolf. The tightness of the corridors made the encounter a little more challenging than it would have been if the players had encountered these threats in the open, but they were still no match for the combined power of the player characters. The most challenging portion of the the encounter was probably chasing down the last hobgoblin and even that really only took an extra round due to the firepower that the group is able to bring to bear. 

After killing off the last of the opposition, the group searched the Chamber of Eyes for clues as to the whereabouts of the captured humans. There was ample evidence that the captives had been held in the main temple area, and after some effort a letter relating their sale to a person calling himself Murkelmor was uncovered. I always find searching areas like this to be awkward because not every room in the complex has something to be found. New players especially are frustrated by rolling for nothing. 

The session continued after the group had returned to town. I offered everyone an opportunity to gather some information, which led the group to probe the Grimmerzhul trading post for clues as to the whereabouts of the missing slaves. This presented a small opportunity for folks to get in some actual role play, which has been sorely lacking the last several weeks while we've been working our way through the Hall of Eyes. The scene culminated with Seleme using both of her utility spells to mystically squeeze the desired information out of the duergar. The party then retired to the inn for a well deserved rest.

This session featured the first real screwing over of the party by a single player. Jason, playing Sarsariel, elected to conceal the substantial amount of treasure that was uncovered and keep it for himself. He made the necessary rolls to do so and until such time as Sarsariel starts throwing cash around it will be considered out of character knowledge that anything untoward has occurred. To be honest, I applaud Jason for taking the initiative to do something in character that has no direct, negative, impact on the party. The only one of these characters that might pass up such a chance based on alignment would be Seleme.

This was also the first time while running Encounters that I had to explain logical consequence to a player. One of the newcomers asked if he could go on a killing spree in the Seven Pillared Hall. I informed him that while he can choose to declare that course of action, it wouldn't go quite the way he imagined. Much like real life, actions have consequences. When you choose to assault innocent people on the street, law enforcement gets involved. Well armed law enforcement. Now, if the entire group were to go rogue and try to wipe out the town, that could get interesting. They might even be able to pull it off. It would however be an endless single encounter with no chance to rest that would probably drag on for the remaining sessions that we have; not fun.

If the group can avoid getting too hung up at the Horned Hold, they might actually finish the adventure in the next three weeks. I won't hold my breath though. One misstep and the group will be in a pitched battle the entire time. I have made some progress on my Rifts materials. Anyone interested in trying that game out should [[User:Bill/Rifts_Week_by_Week|visit the page]] I've set up for it.

===Session 8 - July 27, 2011===
This week was a smaller group than usual. In attendance were Bruce, Dylan, Jason, Rachel and one new player who's name presently escapes me. I will fill it in on the participant list as soon as I find my note. The new player has only just started playing D&D and his sole previous experience was attempting to work out the rules with a family member. The new player took on Volistis and everyone else continued with their characters from the previous sessions. 

I began the session by asking what, if there was anything else that the players wanted to accomplish while in town. This led to a brief shopping expedition where Helfyn attempted, unsuccessfully at first, filch a healing potion from the drow proprietor of an antique store that also traffics in minor magical items. This is a stock location from the Seven Pillared Hall and the NPC in question is the point of contact for at least one side quest. Even though our time on this game is short, my last scheduled session is next week, I had the character offer to trade the healing potions for completion of his errand. Fortunately the players didn't take the bait, I would probably have had to substitute one of my random encounters for whatever is in the published material. I didn't prepare the side quests for actual use.

After gathering themselves, the party advanced on the Horned Hold via the marked route on the map. This led them into an area with a substantial cliff on one side and a portcullised entrance in front of them. Utilizing Helfyn's teleportation power Dylan had his character enter the room, concealing himself under the table. This gave him a fair view of the two ogres and three orcs guarding the place. Using his ability to teleport enemy targets that he hits, Helfyn managed to teleport two of the orcs onto the other side of the portcullis; where the rest of the group was waiting for them. These were not basic orc warriors though. I rewrote the encounter to be 2000 experience points, and these were orc bloodragers. The players got a little nervous when the first one had taken 50 points of damage without becoming bloodied. The ogres, which I put in there as something of a decoy, were actually standard ogre savages and much weaker than the orcs. 

The encounter as a whole was very challenging for the players. As it should have been. I wrote it expecting two to three more people to be there. They managed to come through it pretty well though. None of them were killed, though I think three of the five characters were bloodied by the end of it. In the interest of full disclosure I will admit that I fudged things in their favor a couple of times. All of the die rolls were legitimate, but I kept the ogres out of the fight for a couple turns by playing them more stupid than their stats would indicate and having them break down the portcullis rather than operate the lock. I also didn't allow the monsters to climb back up when Dylan teleported them off the edge of the cliff. The adventure permits characters to do so, taking damage for sliding down the rock face.

Wednesday, the third of August, will be our final session of this season of Encounters. I have enjoyed the project immensely and I look forward to reusing the material in the future.

===Session 9 - August 3, 2011===
This week had only one new player in attendance, Will. He elected to play Volistis. The other players were Bruce, Dylan, Jason, Rachel, and the young man from last week who's name continues to escape me. A couple more would have been highly desirable. 

The text of the adventure indicated that any Deurgar surviving the encounter at the Grimmerzhul trading post would retreat to the horned hold and appear in the second encounter. I followed those instructions, even though I had upgraded all of the duergar in question; which resulted in the players facing off against two duergar spell-casters, four duergar warriors, two duergar scouts, and another orc bloodrager. It was a tremendous encounter that would have been suitable for the final battle of the adventure. It made for a memorable conclusion.

The layout of the gatehouse was such that, even though the players opted to approach the workshop where the monsters had ensconced themselves, I was easily able to pin them down with the spell-casters. Both were 5th level characters, though one was a named character from the module that I had applied the Devastator (DMGI, p178) template to to upgrade him to an elite. This was my first time using the templates, but I don't think it will be my last. Assuming that I'm called to run another D&D game, I'll probably use them a lot for fast upgrades to basic monsters.

The party approached the skirmish with a great deal of team work and skilled application of their individual characters' powers. If I hadn't been able to pin them down for a couple turns and whack them pretty hard with spell damage, I think they would have been able to mop up the duergar pretty quickly. However, because they were all injured pretty badly in the first couple rounds, the fight went against them. The duergar managed to drop all but two members of the party, who fled, by the end of the night. I will say that the though the duergar warrior's power to grow to large size is impressive, the creature doesn't have enough hit points to really be dangerous once it gets there. In half of the cases for this game, the monsters went from bloodied to dead within a round.

It was a good finale in my opinion. That the party was almost wiped out doesn't actually bother me. I think it makes for a better end to the game than finishing the encounter and moving on to next season's adventure. It gave me more closure anyway. These characters, played by another group will be returning to the Thunderspire Labyrinth in a few weeks to start over. Sadly, I won't be able to make my notes for that game public due to confidentiality issues.

==Random Encounters==
Thunderspire Labyrinth isn't mapped, which I like. Instead, the author indicates that for every hour traveling through the labyrinth the DM should roll to see if the players encounter a group of monsters, with an increasing chance that they will for every subsequent roll. It's supposed to take about an hour to get to any particular destination in the Labyrinth, assuming the players don't get lost. I'm actively planning to use some of these to fluff out the module and feed the players some additional story hooks. The following list briefly describes the encounters and their source.
{|width=75%
| Pack Attack (Thunderspire Labryinth) || The Devourer (Thunderspire Labyrinth)
|-
| Questing Kobolds (Original) || Bat Cloud (Thunderspire Labyrinth)
|-
| Explorers (Underdark) || Lizardfolk Warparty (Original)
|-
| Treasure Seeker (Thunderspire Labyrinth) || The Would-Be King (Thunderspire Labyrinth)
|-
| Raiding Party (Underdark) || Soul Eater (Original)
|-
| The Dark Cultists (Thunderspire Labyrinth) || The Red Eye Gang (Thunderspire Labyrinth)
|-
| Troglodyte Crusaders (Thunderspire Labyrinth) || Gnoll Marauders (Thunderspire Labyrinth)
|-
| <s>Goblin Thieves (Underdark)</s> || Kruthik Nest (Thunderspire Labyrinth)
|-
| Slave Traders (Underdark) || Web of Death (Original)
|-
| Minotaur Seekers (Original) || The Praetor of Galth (Original)
|}
Odds of my using all of these in this game are pretty slim. I like having a big list to randomly select from anyway. Several of these include significant story hooks too, and could potentially derail us from the published adventure for some time. I'm actually hoping that happens at least once, just to demonstrate to a couple of the guys how to handle it. I actually prepared notes for all of these encounters, which is quite uncharacteristic of me. For most games, I make stuff up as I go.
[[Category:Campaign Notes]][[Category:D&D 4e]]