I actually haven't had the chance to play Dark Sun back when it was new. Having only been introduced to the game at the start of the 3.5 era, my only exposure to the setting has been with the fan adaptation made by athas.org. That game didn't end well, though - there was a heavy player vs. DM mentality during that game, and things eventually broke down. Fortnately, we've all matured as gamers since then. By the time Dark Sun was announced, I believed that we were ready to take on the harsh world of Athas again.
August couldn't arrive soon enough, however (and to think that we have to wait until September to get the books here in the Philippines), so I decided to run shorter games while waiting for all the new rules. The first such game was entitled The Verdant Passage, which is heavily based on the book of the same name. I set up the game this way:
- There are four 8th-level, pregenerated characters, each based on a character in the book. These four are the half-elf Sadira (wizard), the gladiators Rikus (fighter) and Neeva (barbarian), and the nobleman Agis (ardent).
- Since there were five players, I allowed the fifth person to make his own 8th-level character.
- All characters used the Inherent Bonus system introduced in the DMG2. While the characters will eventually wield powerful magical equipment, I didn't want loot-tracking to be a major part of the game. I also didn't want my players to get too attached to their equipment, because
- I decided to implement weapon-breakage rules. On a natural roll of 1 on any attack with the weapon keyword, the character can decide to break the weapon. If the player decides to, then he or she gets to reroll the attack. Metal weapons don't break if the natural result of the reroll is at least 6.
- Finally, I decided to simplify xp - the fights were always harder than usual, but after every session, they will increase a level, and can choose new feats and retrain as normal.
Things were going well, and we actually had two sessions left when schedules started getting dicey. Two of our players were scheduled for a 10-day trip to Turkey, while two other players and myself were scheduled to have a vacation in Bohol. So a few days before either trip, I convinced the players to have a whole day gaming session to be the equivalent of of the two remaining games. As that sounded tiring, I promised a 30 minute break after each encounter, as well as cooking them pasta for lunch.
So all went according to plan, and the heroes of Tyr were ready to go:
Some of you may note that this party is too rich in metal for an Athasian group. I'm sorry, but we just didn't have enough minis... >.>
There will be minor spoilers from here on, as I will assume that the readers have read or are familiar with the story of the Verdant Passage from here on out.
We last left the party right after meeting Nok in the forest beyond the Ringing Mountains, and they began in earnest to try and convince the halfling that they are allies instead of dinner. To test their devotion to the cause (as well as teach them the value of working together), they had to go through the Verdant Passage to retrieve the Heartwood Spear, which is the weapon they needed to kill King Kalak.
I decided to make the Verdant passage into a Complexity 5 skill challenge. Taking a lot of cues from DMG2, I had significant events occuring after a number of successes have been had, such as Nok creating a psionic illusion to make it look like the the bridge separated, a classic boulder rolling towards the party, and halfling aracanists on giant dragonflies. Yes, on dragonflies. Each new scenario changed the way skills can be used, and it was one of the most successful skill challenge I've been able to run.
After the first 30 minute-break, the party was now a spear (and a few other boons from Nok) richer, and they began to journey back to Tyr. The second encounter began in earnest when gith assassins sent by the high templar Tithian (who happens to be their ally - long story) met them on their way. This was a pretty straigtforward encounter, so I decided to add in two loadstones in the area to spice things up a bit:
Rikus the manly-man fights off two gith by himself. The large creep beside Neeva the barbarian is a naga. I wanted to make a Cistern Fiend, but didn't have the time to design a custom monster. So the naga worked.
After that second encounter, it was time for me to cook lunch. Sam volunteered to buy the raw materials since Patrick and her arrived by car (I think), while the rest paid for them. I was spared from paying because I was on cook duty. I like to think that I'm a decent cook, even if our kitchen is far from the cleanest:
The puttanesca sauce. The stove is quite dirty, but I assure you that I washed all things that made contact with food beforehand.
Noodles are cooked! Time to get rid of the maps and set the table.
After everyone had their fill of pasta, it was back to Tyr for everyone. The two gladiators were welcomed back to the arena, where they had the opportunity to fight for their freedom. A huge, psionically gifted bug known as the gaj made the competition harder than usual, though, and they had their hands full.
In the meantime, the other members of the group went up to the templars' box in the arena, and with the help of Tithian, they were able to dispatch the high templar Larkyn:
Wynd, the custom character, delivers the final blow to the bloodied Larkyn.
I loved running this encounter. It was my first time splitting the party in 4E, and I had to make sure that each subgroup's fight was interesting without being too difficult. most of the opponents were lower-level than them: The only exceptions were Larkyn (level 12 skirmisher) and the gaj (level 12 Elite Soldier). The gaj was the last to go down, and for the last four rounds the "Larkyn group" didn't have anything to do. Which is just as well- the goal was to get everyone in position before Rikus throws the Heartwood Spear at Kalak. Although as it turns out, Neeva had a better chance of doing the athletics check in the mini-skill challenge included in the encounter.
In the end, Neeva throws the spear, delivering a critical blow to Kalak. The king was far from dead, however, even with a spear jutting out of his chest. he retreats to the ziggurat, and the party pursues him.
Just then they began to feel weakened (lost a healing surge) - Kalak's transformation ritual has begun, and if they don't stop him, all the people in the arena will be consumed, and a 2nd dragon will plague Athas. They confront him in his throne room:
Kalak was to be a very difficult fight for them - even with a critical wound, he is still designed as a level 17 solo controller, which could be too much for a level 12 party. So to help them with their monumental task of killing the sorcerer-king of Tyr, I included a skill challenge that was inspired by the Colossus of Laarn skill challenge (link is DDi-exclusive). Destroying the obsidian balls as well as his obsidian throne will weaken him, and perceptive characters will notice that his scales have not hardened to the fullest yet. Yay, weak spots!
However, I didn't quite like how the Colossus of Laarn didn't have hit points. I wanted Kalak to be potentially defeatable even without pursuing the skill challenge - after all, I nkew my players well, and I knew that many would prefer to just attack kalak directly. So I decided to give Kalak normal hit points, but after every 3 successes in the skill challenge, Kalak loses 1/4 of his hit points.
Even with all that, however, a level 17 solo is a level 17 solo. I used an adult gold dragon as a baseline, added defiling effects based on the stats of Nibenay the shadow king on the latest Ampersand, and ramped up his damage to what I felt was an accurate representation of the DMG tables. In the end, everyone was bloodied, and Agis was out of healing.
And then something really exciting happened. Wynd used his paragon path encounter power. By itself it deals 3d8 + dex damage, but with sneak attack, some bonuses from charging, and others, it would deal an extra +5d8 damage if it hits. He rolls his attack... and gets a natural 1. But Kalak is bloodied, three obsidian balls have been destroyed, and everyone was down to single-digit hit points.He had to try it. he decided to push his obsidian rapier to the limit and reroll his attack:
Even without the bonuses to crits from magic weapons, the attack still dealt 72 damage.
Me as DM: Wynd of Faenayon's elven tribe lunged with a surprising attack from behind, but Kalak's newly-formed scales were already too tough. But he pushed in hith all his might, and the rapier shattered into a hundred pieces - but not before it finally pierces into the the Kalak. He howls in pain, and Agis struck his exposed chest with the Asticles' sword. Kalak crouches to protect his exposed chest, leaving his head open for Rikus to jab the Heartwood Spear in and for Neeva to hack at his neck. The king is dead.
And there you have it, The Verdant Passage ended in the best way possible - with a critical hit. That the crit was possible through the weapon breakage rules was not lost on anyone. Rikus, Neeva, and Agis all lost weapons through that rule, but the reroll has resulted in a better result more often than not. And as such, we comment this rule as a reminder of how badass a Dark Sun game can feel like.
My next campaign is going to be set in the world of Dark Sun again. This time, though, it will be an independent game that is set in the faraway city-state of Nibenay. The Shadow King is rarely seen, and the templar-wives run the city. But news of King Kalak of Tyr's death has spread, and now even the Nibenese whisper of it. We just began our 1st session last Sunday, and I'm excited to talk about that some more.
Where's the like button when you need one ^__^
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