4th & Dragon : Dungeons and Dragons...and stuff

So I’m teaching a new group to play D&D next week and I need something challenging but not TPK worthy to fight them. I’m going to have them play in my new steampunk world that I’ve been working on for the last few weeks so guns, cannons, gunpowder, zeppelins, and other such commodities are common. I’m going to have them be envoy’s of the king of a nation who are transporting a package to a robber baron to the north. The baron is a evil druid who lives in a orc populated swampland that crosses over two nations, the pc’s land and a rival neutral land. The baron is also a minor lord in the rival land so he holds some sway over their local politics.

The package the PC’s are transporting contains the phylactery of a recently destroyed lich king (the phylactery’s properties being neutralized) and it is a symbol of friendship between the king and the baron to solidify a better relationship with him and the rival nation because the pc’s nation is under attack and they are in desperate need of supply’s.

The pc’s will end up being caught in a snowstorm while traveling up a river into the mountains so they can reach the barons swamp and they must take refuge in a town.

So, there’s the jist of my adventure background. Now onto encounters!

The pc’s will begin at level 1, and by the time they reach the druid I’m hoping to have them be level 6 (they will be delayed in the town until spring, so they’ll have plenty of opportunities for adventure and then afterwards they’ll have to deal with the king’s wrath for not delivering the item and screwing over the kingdom :evil: ).

On the lich I’m going to need some help statting him out since I don’t really play druids at all and I’m not sure on good builds to give them a great run for their money. I’m thinking something like a Human Druid 6 Blighter 3 but again, I’m not good at this sort of thing and am in need of help .

Also if anyone has any interesting lower-powered encounters, I’m all ears .

A few wilderness-type encounters during their journey wouldn’t be a bad idea. Maybe they have to travel through a fairly wild area, maybe they’ll lose the road or need to take a shortcut in the snowstorm. One particularly good critter for low-level encounters of this type is the Twig Blight (MM2), taking note that in the 3.5 update it gets DR 5/Bludgeoning or Slashing instead of partial immunity to piercing weapons. Their motivations aren’t very complex, they’re easy to defeat as long as the party isn’t made up entirely of rogues with rapiers (personal experience), and in this scenario they can root themselves by the road covered in snow, waiting until they hear travelers passing by to strike.

Once they gain a few levels wolves and then worgs would be good opponents. The sudden snowstorm could have driven most of their typical prey from the area or into hiding, so in desperation carnivores have resorted to attacking humanoids.

As for the Druid, I’d make him single-classed, especially at level 9. Give him Alertness, Spell Focus: Conjuration, Augment Summoning, Natural Spell, and Companion Spellbond (PH2). Give him a Brown Bear or (mountain) Lion companion, possibly replacing Alertness with Natural Bond (CV) if you want. For tactics he can start out Wild Shaped into a large form and cast Summon Nature’s Ally III for a (mountain) Lion and order his companion to attack on the first round, then cast Animal Growth on himself, his companion, and his summoned critter, and then move in and attack starting on the third round. His companion and his summoned animal should both have Improved Grab, as should whatever large-sized form he’s Wild Shaped into. The PCs will most likely have Dispel Magic available, so the fight should prove to be challenging but not a TPK if they play smart.

Bandits.

A nation at war produces desperate people, including those who just want to take advantage of the situation, desperate villagers who’s towns have been stripped of food for the war effort, and possably even deserters from the press gangs.  Working this into the backgrounds and personalities of the bandits (if there’s any actual interaction) gives you a chance to bring the plot home a bit better.

An orc-populated swampland has orc encounters written all over it.  Particularly ranger/druid/barbarian (three choices, not triple-classed) orcs.  Dealing with orcs that use hit-and-run tactics instead of just charging and hacking at them makes for a change of pace.

Since this is a new group, these won’t be tired cliches to them.

Perhaps a portion of the swamp is particularly dark and nasty.  Lots of evil things might lurk in that sort of area.  Why take the ‘other’ road?  Well, the orcs are stirred up now, and have taken over the main road.  Why don’t the orcs block the ‘other’ road?  Even they are afraid of what lies down it.  A web-covered grove with an ettercap and accompanying giant spiders is a good encounter, as is a lesser Hag of some variety with an Ogre to bully.

Since the group is new to the game, do not neglect giving them chances to roleplay, and be sure to give them ample opportunity to set their own path and their own agenda.  Too many new players are coming into D&D with a computer game background, and are used to having their boundaries set by the limits of the program.  Time to teach them why face-to-face roleplay is better!

Cool, thanks for the input guys. I also am gonna have an encounter (probably before they reach the town, in the process of the storm) where they get attacked by orcs under control of this root demon thingy (it’s from Fiend Folio and I can’t remember the name right now...). Anyway, they get attacked by the orc root and then they have to save the village as the orcs storm it trying to make more root-demons. Simple. Ooh, and I’ll probably place that ettercap/spider encounter Andorax suggested in the cave while they’re searching for the root! Sweetness.

Well I’m probably going to go off on a tangent if I brainstorm any more campaign here so I leave you guys with one more question, do you guys know of any good ‘steampunk-ish’ encounters?

I’m thinking about having them travel by zeppelin about 1/2 the way from the capitol to the town (with it being attacked by bandits on the way of course ), and then travel through the haunted forest and all that jazz to the town.

A train ride to get them to the border to start their journey isn’t a bad plan....and no need to have this be an adventure at all, save descriptively.  Let them think of the heartlands as (relatively) safe for now...their disappointment will come later.

I once dropped a flying ship on (well, nearly on) my PCs to liven things up a bit...industrial sabotage.  Any survivors might have interesting tales to tell, and it adds to the storyline immensely when they’re slogging through the swamps and suddenly a ball of flaming destruction appears above them, heading right for where they’re at.

A story arc revolving around a mechanical man...frankensteinesque...running from those who don’t understand and just trying to figure out what his place in the world is.  Whether it’s science, magic, or both run amok to give this creation life is your question to answer, but it’ll get the PCs thinking about the outward limits of this new technology.

Demon Root = Yellow Musk Creeper?

Yes, that’s the one! (The Yellow Musk Creeper )

I’ve used a similar train idea in Eberron around halloween (except...it was an evil haunted spooky train...that was later attacked by ninjas of the Blood of Vol… ). I think I’ll have them use the train to get to the capitol, get their assignment, and then zeppelin to the town.

I think goblins using unstable grenades could work as well. The PC’s could have a lot of fun watching a goblin fumble with the grenade (natural 1) and blowing himself up.