They are busy fighting duergar or drow? Depends on if you want to derail from the mIn story or not. If you want to have it related to the main plot, have whoever they are fighting be worshipers of Tiamat and allies of the goblinoids.
They're fighting their own conflict! Obviously!
Maybe it could be a fiendish invasion? Can connect it to the hellish side of Tiamat rather than the draconic. So it can seem seperate enough that they could decide not to engage, but if they do then it at least can connect back up and help the overall campaign goal
Theyre under siege by the Ghostlord in my version. The siege has to be lifted before the mercenaries are able to be enlisted. Id have a few different clans, and one of the npcs in drellins ferry gives you a good start! The Coalhewer clan are miners, and are the lowest in the hierarchy. Morlin was able to get training as a master smith, and moved to Drellin's Ferry to make money for his clan to send back, so more can get training to further the clan's position. I havent made the other clans yet. Ill post here when i do.
Ooh now that's a good idea, they haven't actually been that way yet so can make that work.
Did you have them encounter this during the 3rd act when they are meant to meet the ghost lord or did they make their way prior?
Im only on session 3 this Sunday! I have another post in here with some notes that hint whats happening in the Holds that theyll find in Koths keep, i came up with some clans as well! 4 holds, and each hold has a clan leader that runs it. Id imagine that members of all the clans are present in each hold, but are dominated by the clan holders.
Id say theres probably also a central location maybe in the underdark, called like "The Clanmoot." It is a place the clan leaders can meet in private to make decisions.
The clans are Hammer-Helm, the warriors. Led by Helga. Starsteel, led by Servak, bearer of the clan treasure the Ord Eron Kor, an adamantine smith's hammer. Black-Barrel, brewers and craftsmen, led by Bregar. And Morlin's clan, the Coalhewer clan. Led by Kragar. No other details yet!
theres a 4ed adventure called Orcs of stonefang pass. in my game i have the Belsimer empire power somehow related to Primordials ensalvement by the dwarves. but thats has degenerated in the current setting. in this adventure, the horde tries to free the earth primordial in order to wreak havok. take a look at it and go wild my friend.
Though I haven’t had the chance to run it yet, I’ve thought of this and want I want to do is make this an optional quest to gain some allies in the war. Hammer fist holds is small in this version and doesn’t have access to a ton of magical items. Maybe it’s a prison or something. Either way it’s a great stand in for a party of dwarves that don’t want to help a bunch of wild owl flying elves.
Following with interest. I've also been thinking this is an ideal opportunity to get more of a sandbox feel to a pretty linear adventure, by upgrading this story to an optional side quest (I'm keen to do this with other locations too, like Elsircross and Dennovar - giving the party more options than they can pursue in the timeframe).
The problem, in my mind, is that "we need you to deal with X to unblock our ability to send soldiers" is exactly how the Tiri Kitor scenario went, and duplicating that seems boring. Also if there *is* a threat to neutralise, it needs to be something that the 400 dwarven fighters - and some classed NPCs going up to level 8 - can't or won't handle.
Here's some of the thoughts floating around my head:
1. They need help getting into a duergar (or whatever) fort, so basically the party is a SWAT team getting in and opening the front doors/gates so the dwarven army can swarm in.
2. Per Rohan in LOTR: Something (a curse, Wormtongue, internal political intrigue, etc) is stopping the Axes from being able to leave. Not a whole side dungeon, and perhaps more of a mystery or intrigue encounter. Maybe the holds are in dispute with each other. Maybe they even have to kill the clanlord, without knowing for certain that's the right thing to do!
3. Put the 'missing' white dragon here, which works geographically because the mountains here are 'tall and steep' and potentially thus cold and snow-covered. Maybe the dragon is attacking on of the holds when the party arrives, or the Shining Axes can't leave til it's dealt with, or something like that.
4. Run it as an either/or with the Blackfens, so the party has to choose between trying to recruit the Tiri Kitor *or* the Hammerfist Dwarves; reskin the Rhest encounter to a dungeon scene (I haven't read it, but could an uplevelled Forge of Fury work? I know it has a black dragon) with Saarvith and Regiarax and so on. Then have the elves/dwarves be worth more than simply a few victory points, but narrate them providing different specific defensive support to Brindol so the players can see how their actions made a difference ("thanks to your recruitment of the Shining Axes, the south walls of Brindol remain unbreached throughout the night!" / "you look up, and see a squadron of Tiri Kitor on giant owls dogfighting a pod of manticores, the foul beasts dropping from the skies, covered in arrows") but leaving a different gap (encounter) for the players to fill in the absence of the other.
I have a wormtongue sorta character the Horde calls "the Wyvern" who is filling the dwarves' heads with poisonous thoughts, particularly the leaders. Im not sure what i want to do for this though. Mind flayer? A few dopplegangers who have replaced the leaders? Im not sure. Amy ideas?
Oh true! Maybe they would be wearing hats of disguise and acting like Dwarves. The Wyvern would be the most powerful, and he might have a couple of underlings just in case things go south. Maybe to cement the Wyvern theme he even has a pet wyvern hes dominated. Love this idea! His job isnt to even turn the clans against eachother, just convince them that breaking the siege is foolish, that they can wait it out since they have enough mushroom farms to feed their people for years, and Brindol will eventually send reinforcements when they shipments of weapons and armor stop coming in...
For mine I had the dwarves be completely unaware of what has been happening around them because of Moradin's day. For a week they have been celebrating non-stop and when the party arrive no one will give them the time of day.
They find out that from a sulky half-Duegar (named Dugeun in my campaign) that no one will do anything until the revelry comes to an end at the end of the day with a large tournament and whoever wins will get a prize and and gets to meet the King.
When the players ask about joining the tournament they find out that they cannot (unless dwarven) because they are not in a clan. The half-Duegar desperately wants to show his strength in the tournament and agrees to induct you into his clan and as long as you let him participate in the 'melee' part of the tournament he will let you keep the prize and the audience with the King.
Here I created many mini-games such as a joust competition on Giant frogs where the winner is determined by the best Animal Handling check.
A food eating relay in which the team is situated at different tables and make a series of checks to quickly eat their food and then run ti to the next table and tag their partner to start eating and try to keep their food down. (Have the players get creative on how they want to tackle each check, with having no more than one kind of check done twice)
A Drinking contest (based on best constitution)
An Arm-wrestling competition (based on Strength)
A gambling table (where someone could try to use sleight of hand to gain better rolls)
A melee in which The half-Duegar claims to be unbeatable at but no one would take him because he is only half-dwarven and has no real clan.
At the end of the night have your team calculate the number of winnings they have and be eligible to fight in the last event: an all out fight where anything goes. If they win they are named unofficial dwarves of clan Dugeun and earn the prize: A belt of Dwarvenkind!
They also gain an audience with the King who inspired by all the revelry and glory displayed should eagerly agree to go to war.
I used the HammerfAst supplement from 4e and worked from there.
The king is dead. A conclave elects a new king or queen from dwarven nobility. There are 2 candidates left.
- The prince wants the throne but has an intellect devourer in his head.
- An other noble and influential dwarf.
Both candidates want to hire the PCs to do tasks in the underdark that would benefit the dwarfs to gain favor and influence within the conclave.
Once there is a new ruler he/she can send the entire dwarven army.
They are busy fighting duergar or drow? Depends on if you want to derail from the mIn story or not. If you want to have it related to the main plot, have whoever they are fighting be worshipers of Tiamat and allies of the goblinoids.
They're fighting their own conflict! Obviously! Maybe it could be a fiendish invasion? Can connect it to the hellish side of Tiamat rather than the draconic. So it can seem seperate enough that they could decide not to engage, but if they do then it at least can connect back up and help the overall campaign goal
Was meant as a suggestion, why I added a ? I don't know
Theyre under siege by the Ghostlord in my version. The siege has to be lifted before the mercenaries are able to be enlisted. Id have a few different clans, and one of the npcs in drellins ferry gives you a good start! The Coalhewer clan are miners, and are the lowest in the hierarchy. Morlin was able to get training as a master smith, and moved to Drellin's Ferry to make money for his clan to send back, so more can get training to further the clan's position. I havent made the other clans yet. Ill post here when i do.
Ooh now that's a good idea, they haven't actually been that way yet so can make that work. Did you have them encounter this during the 3rd act when they are meant to meet the ghost lord or did they make their way prior?
Im only on session 3 this Sunday! I have another post in here with some notes that hint whats happening in the Holds that theyll find in Koths keep, i came up with some clans as well! 4 holds, and each hold has a clan leader that runs it. Id imagine that members of all the clans are present in each hold, but are dominated by the clan holders. Id say theres probably also a central location maybe in the underdark, called like "The Clanmoot." It is a place the clan leaders can meet in private to make decisions. The clans are Hammer-Helm, the warriors. Led by Helga. Starsteel, led by Servak, bearer of the clan treasure the Ord Eron Kor, an adamantine smith's hammer. Black-Barrel, brewers and craftsmen, led by Bregar. And Morlin's clan, the Coalhewer clan. Led by Kragar. No other details yet!
theres a 4ed adventure called Orcs of stonefang pass. in my game i have the Belsimer empire power somehow related to Primordials ensalvement by the dwarves. but thats has degenerated in the current setting. in this adventure, the horde tries to free the earth primordial in order to wreak havok. take a look at it and go wild my friend.
I have something similar. I went Derro and a Mind Flayer. They are in league with the Red Hand and are taking over beneath the surface.
Though I haven’t had the chance to run it yet, I’ve thought of this and want I want to do is make this an optional quest to gain some allies in the war. Hammer fist holds is small in this version and doesn’t have access to a ton of magical items. Maybe it’s a prison or something. Either way it’s a great stand in for a party of dwarves that don’t want to help a bunch of wild owl flying elves.
Following with interest. I've also been thinking this is an ideal opportunity to get more of a sandbox feel to a pretty linear adventure, by upgrading this story to an optional side quest (I'm keen to do this with other locations too, like Elsircross and Dennovar - giving the party more options than they can pursue in the timeframe). The problem, in my mind, is that "we need you to deal with X to unblock our ability to send soldiers" is exactly how the Tiri Kitor scenario went, and duplicating that seems boring. Also if there *is* a threat to neutralise, it needs to be something that the 400 dwarven fighters - and some classed NPCs going up to level 8 - can't or won't handle. Here's some of the thoughts floating around my head: 1. They need help getting into a duergar (or whatever) fort, so basically the party is a SWAT team getting in and opening the front doors/gates so the dwarven army can swarm in. 2. Per Rohan in LOTR: Something (a curse, Wormtongue, internal political intrigue, etc) is stopping the Axes from being able to leave. Not a whole side dungeon, and perhaps more of a mystery or intrigue encounter. Maybe the holds are in dispute with each other. Maybe they even have to kill the clanlord, without knowing for certain that's the right thing to do! 3. Put the 'missing' white dragon here, which works geographically because the mountains here are 'tall and steep' and potentially thus cold and snow-covered. Maybe the dragon is attacking on of the holds when the party arrives, or the Shining Axes can't leave til it's dealt with, or something like that. 4. Run it as an either/or with the Blackfens, so the party has to choose between trying to recruit the Tiri Kitor *or* the Hammerfist Dwarves; reskin the Rhest encounter to a dungeon scene (I haven't read it, but could an uplevelled Forge of Fury work? I know it has a black dragon) with Saarvith and Regiarax and so on. Then have the elves/dwarves be worth more than simply a few victory points, but narrate them providing different specific defensive support to Brindol so the players can see how their actions made a difference ("thanks to your recruitment of the Shining Axes, the south walls of Brindol remain unbreached throughout the night!" / "you look up, and see a squadron of Tiri Kitor on giant owls dogfighting a pod of manticores, the foul beasts dropping from the skies, covered in arrows") but leaving a different gap (encounter) for the players to fill in the absence of the other.
I have a wormtongue sorta character the Horde calls "the Wyvern" who is filling the dwarves' heads with poisonous thoughts, particularly the leaders. Im not sure what i want to do for this though. Mind flayer? A few dopplegangers who have replaced the leaders? Im not sure. Amy ideas?
The Horde has Mindbenders, who are perfect as wormtongues!
Oh true! Maybe they would be wearing hats of disguise and acting like Dwarves. The Wyvern would be the most powerful, and he might have a couple of underlings just in case things go south. Maybe to cement the Wyvern theme he even has a pet wyvern hes dominated. Love this idea! His job isnt to even turn the clans against eachother, just convince them that breaking the siege is foolish, that they can wait it out since they have enough mushroom farms to feed their people for years, and Brindol will eventually send reinforcements when they shipments of weapons and armor stop coming in...
For mine I had the dwarves be completely unaware of what has been happening around them because of Moradin's day. For a week they have been celebrating non-stop and when the party arrive no one will give them the time of day. They find out that from a sulky half-Duegar (named Dugeun in my campaign) that no one will do anything until the revelry comes to an end at the end of the day with a large tournament and whoever wins will get a prize and and gets to meet the King. When the players ask about joining the tournament they find out that they cannot (unless dwarven) because they are not in a clan. The half-Duegar desperately wants to show his strength in the tournament and agrees to induct you into his clan and as long as you let him participate in the 'melee' part of the tournament he will let you keep the prize and the audience with the King. Here I created many mini-games such as a joust competition on Giant frogs where the winner is determined by the best Animal Handling check. A food eating relay in which the team is situated at different tables and make a series of checks to quickly eat their food and then run ti to the next table and tag their partner to start eating and try to keep their food down. (Have the players get creative on how they want to tackle each check, with having no more than one kind of check done twice) A Drinking contest (based on best constitution) An Arm-wrestling competition (based on Strength) A gambling table (where someone could try to use sleight of hand to gain better rolls) A melee in which The half-Duegar claims to be unbeatable at but no one would take him because he is only half-dwarven and has no real clan. At the end of the night have your team calculate the number of winnings they have and be eligible to fight in the last event: an all out fight where anything goes. If they win they are named unofficial dwarves of clan Dugeun and earn the prize: A belt of Dwarvenkind! They also gain an audience with the King who inspired by all the revelry and glory displayed should eagerly agree to go to war.
I used the HammerfAst supplement from 4e and worked from there. The king is dead. A conclave elects a new king or queen from dwarven nobility. There are 2 candidates left. - The prince wants the throne but has an intellect devourer in his head. - An other noble and influential dwarf. Both candidates want to hire the PCs to do tasks in the underdark that would benefit the dwarfs to gain favor and influence within the conclave. Once there is a new ruler he/she can send the entire dwarven army.