The Final Battle

Hello and welcome to my world building blog!

In my past entries, I've discussed the many elements for the Ruins of Azamar campaign adventure, which we pieced together from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Master's Design Kit by Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc.

This week, we'll discuss the final element of the adventure; the climax.  The Design Kit describes the climax as:

"...that point, near the story's end, where the story is resolved: Great feats of daring are performed, important decisions are made, the heroes win or are defeated, and rulers or the gods reward the victors. In short. it's the Big Finish."

The book has a short list of suggested finishes to the adventure, like Bloody Battle, Chase to Ground, and Prevented Deed.  I reached deep into my random generator and pulled out the Throne-Room Duel.

"This is set up much like the Scattered Duels, except that you don't separate the heroes. It's harder to control whom fights who in this situation... but if it doesn't matter who has the final duel with the Master Villain, this is a classic climax choice."

To gain a little more insight, we'll reference the Scattered Duels.

"In this climax, the heroes have gotten to the end of their quest - they may have broken into, sneaked into, or escaped from imprisonment within the villain's citadel, or have marched into the little town where the villain is holed up - and they become separated.

"You can separate them by having traps and tricks break the party apart, by having them see two or three things they must resolve (such as danger to innocents or the appearance of minion villains) pop up simultaneously; they'll have to run in all directions at the same time or suffer failure.

"Once the party is broken down into bite-sized chunks, you confront each individual or small group with the enemy or enemies he most deserves to face - his personal enemy, the monster which defeated him before, etc. - for a grand series of climactic duels.

"This works best when the Master Villain is one which can be dueled; if he's a demon or god, the heroes may need an artifact to fight him."

The Throne-Room Duel is probably the most obvious choice our generator could have chosen for us, considering we pretty know that our heroes will be heading into the ritual area (throne room) to confront the cult leader.  I image the leader of the Cult of Ithaqua needs a cadre of members to help garner energy to open the portal, which will let the Death-Walker loose on the world.  Instead of our heroes being "broken down into bit-sized chunks," they arrive at the ritual room together to take on this group of energy-charged zealots.  Each hero will get their chance to duel the master villian in the final battle, in hopes of defeating him and thwarting the monster plan.

This entry will conclude my world building of Azamar and it's icy ruins of Ithaqua.  I have many other resources on world building I want to share.  And I hope you stick with me to discover the many worlds of role-playing games.

I hope you enjoyed the read, and until next time, thanks for reading.

Overwhelmed

 Hello and welcome to my world building blog!

Now that we have most of our components in place for our Ruins of Azamar adventure, it's time to discuss the plot of the adventure.  As we have been, we'll be using the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Design Kit by Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc.

The book states:  "The PLOT of your adventure is the pattern in which the story elements fall and the order in which the story events occur."  It lists plots like the A-B-C Quest, The Event, and the Geographic Progressions.  However, our random generator chose for us The Series of Villains plot.

"This is a very dramatic plot, and very well-suited to oriental campaigns. In it, the heroes have undertaken a quest, usually the finding and defeat of the Master Villain. They may have to travel to his citadel, or head off in another direction to find some artifact capable of defeating him, or run away from pursuing villains until they can figure out what's going on.

"All along their route, they are set upon by villains - each villain has a name and distinct personality, and each encounter is life-or-death for the heroes and villains; the villain never escapes to safety if the tide turns against him, he fights unto death.

"The adventure becomes a war of attrition; the villains gradually wear down the heroes, perhaps killing some of them, as the heroes go about their quest. By the time the heroes reach their enemy, there is no doubt that one side or the other will utterly perish.

"This is a type of plot not suited to happy-go-lucky campaigns or villains."

Holy crap!  Our heroes have a ton of villains they will encounter.  Considering our past entries, we already know two minor villains--the Loveable Rogue and the Misguided Moralist--work for the major villains, the Ithaqua Cult Leader.  They wil be obstacles in our heroes way.  However, the description above tells us there is a lot more they will encounter throughout this adventure.  Remember, we've already established the monstrous aberrations creating chaos on the countryside.  We could definitely bring them into the mix.  Maybe one of our side quests will introduce even more obstacles for the heroes.  I think the goal of this plot to wear the heroes down as they get further from home.  They deplete their resources, and by the time they reach the cult leader, they may have already depleted their energy, and could even be exhausted.

The possibilities are endless.

This entry is going to be short and simple, but we still have to discuss the final element our our adventure: the story's end and its resolution.

Next week, The Climax!

I hope you enjoyed the read, and until next time, thanks for reading.

It's Not Always About Combat

Hello and welcome to my world building blog!

Today, we will be exploring the minor villains the PCs will be encountering during our adventure of the Ruins of Azamar.  We'll be taking examples from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Design Kit by Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc.

These minor villains are the lieutenants of the master villain in the adventure.  We've already established our master villain is an Advanced Agent of Ithaqua.  The leader of the cult will be performing a ritual by the time the PCs get to him.  Of course, the minor villains will be the obstacles our heroes will encounter before getting to the cult leader.  And we can put them pretty much anywhere in our adventure.

The book gives a list of minor villains like The Avenger, The Corrupted Hero, and The Moronic Muscleman.  And it also states that "many Master Villains have two Minor Villains..."  So, I programmed my random generator to choose two for me.

The first one:  The Lovable Rogue

"This character is like the Master Villain of the same name, except that he has no minions of his own and serves at someone else's bidding. However, he's very independent, not always working in his employer's best interests; he often makes fun of the Master Villain's pretensions and may suffer that villain's retaliation because of it.

"It's possible to convert the Rogue to the heroes' cause; if they offer him money, action, adventure, a pardon for past crimes, or even if there's an attractive PC of the opposite sex who appeals to him, he may be tempted over to their side. If he isn't, he'll abandon his employer during the climax, escaping to safety.

"Character Level and Abilities: The Rogue is probably a fighter or thief at a level similar to the average player character level."

The lovable rogue is self-explanatory.  An encounter with him/her could be an opportunity for fun role-playing.  Will the PCs be able to persuade this rogue to their side?  Could he help lead the PCs to the cult leader?  How will Sylula Earthdance, the retired halfling archaeologist, feel about this recruitment?  The drama!

Our second minor villain is the Misguided Moralist.

"This fellow has been convinced that only by helping the villain achieve the Master Plan can he improve the world. He tends to be encountered all through the adventure's plot, usually escaping from the heroes and taunting them for their wrong thinking. Fortunately, he's no more effective as a villain than he is as a thinker.

"It's very hard to convert him to the heroes' cause; he's too wrapped up in his own cause. It can be done, however, if the heroes can demonstrate that the Master Villain has, say, lied to him.

"Character Level and Abilities: This character is usually a fighter or cleric a few levels less experienced than the average player-character."

To me, the misguided moralist has his wires crossed and thinks that what the cult leader is doing is the right thing to do.  He/she thinks that bringing about Ithaqua, the Death-Walker, could be the great reset the world needs.  This minor villain might show up early in the adventure as a harbinger, spreading the "word" of a great destruction, but not spilling the beans just yet.  I like the idea of him being a cleric of Ithaqua, preaching whatever he can to the masses.  A downright religious zealot.

Now that we have out Theme, Goal, Story Hook, Settings, Ally, Master Villain, and Minor Villains established for the Ruins of Azamar, the adventure still needs a plot.

Next week, The Plot!

I hope you enjoyed the read, and until next time, thanks for reading.